Lincoln's Birthday

I almost said it.

I knew the readings for Mass this morning focused on prayer, and, today being the 199th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, I got the idea (exactly when all my best ideas come - 5 minutes before going over to the church for Mass) to tie in the need for prayer with something about Abraham Lincoln. So, entering the words, "Abraham Lincoln Prayer" on Google, I came across his 1863 Proclamation for a National Day of Prayer, which he hoped would beseech God to end the Civil War.

So, with all these things bouncing around my head, and a little bit under the weather, I went out for 8am Mass and almost said, "Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of Abraham Lincoln". Blame it on the Dayquil I'm taking.

Still, it has me thinking of our 16th President. I found this essay about the mystery of President Lincoln's religion. It comes from Dr. Mark Knoll, a professor of history at Wheaton College in Illinois:

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States, has become a mythic figure in America's civil religion. Born into relative poverty on the midwestern frontier, he rose from humble origins through self-discipline, honesty, common sense, a considerable measure of ambition, and a ready wit to shepherd the nation through the black days of the Civil War. After his death, Americans found it irresistible to see his achievement in a religious light. It was soon noted, for example, that Lincoln -- the "Savior" of the Union -- was shot on Good Friday (April 14, 1865), that his efforts to liberate the bondslave and bind up the wounds of war were cut short by "martyrdom," and that his very name -- Abraham -- spoke of the father of his people. Although Lincoln himself originally saw the Civil War as a political struggle to preserve the Union, he came to regard it as a crusade for truth and right. He spoke of the United States as "the last, best hope of the earth," of its citizens as "the almost
chosen people," and of the War as a test to see if a nation "conceived in liberty . . . can long endure."

Considerable uncertainty arises, however, when Lincoln's own religion is examined. On the one hand, it is obvious that Christianity exerted a profound influence on his life. His father was a member of Regular Baptist churches in Kentucky and Indiana. Lincoln himself read the Bible throughout his life, quoted from it extensively, and frequently made use of biblical images (as in the "House Divided" speech of 1858). It was said of him, perhaps with some exaggeration, that he knew by heart much of the Psalms, the book of Isaiah, and the entire New Testament. His life also exhibited many Christian virtues. He was scrupulously honest in repaying debts from ill-fated business ventures of the 1830s. He offered tender sympathy to the widows and orphans created by the Civil War. He pardoned numerous sleeping sentries and other soldiers condemned to death for relatively minor lapses. He kept his head concerning the morality of the contending sides in the War, refusing to picture the North as entirely virtuous or the South as absolutely evil. And during his years as president he did regularly attend the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington.

On the other hand, Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian beliefs. While he read the Bible in the White House, he was not in the habit of saying grace before meals. Lincoln's friend Jesse Fell noted that the president "seldom communicated to anyone his views" on religion, and he went on to suggest that those views were not orthodox: "on the innate depravity of man, the character and office of the great head of the Church, the Atonement, the infallibility of the written revelation, the performance of miracles, the nature and design of . . . future rewards and punishments . . . and many other subjects, he held opinions utterly at variance with what are usually taught in the church." It is probable that Lincoln was turned against organized Christianity by his experiences as a young man in New Salem, Illinois, where excessive emotion and bitter sectarian quarrels marked yearly camp meetings and the ministry of traveling preachers. Yet although Lincoln was not a church member, he did ponder the eternal significance of his own circumstances, a personal life marked by tragedy (the early death of two sons) and difficulty (the occasional mental instability of his wife). And he took to heart the carnage of war over which he presided.

Whether it was from these experiences or from other sources, Lincoln's speeches and conversation revealed a spiritual perception far above the ordinary. It is one of the great ironies of the history of Christianity in America that the most profoundly religious analysis of the nation's deepest trauma came not from a clergyman or a theologian but from a politician who was self-taught in the ways of both God and humanity. The source of Lincoln's Christian perception will probably always remain a mystery, but the unusual depth of that perception none can doubt. Nowhere was that depth more visible than in his Second Inaugural Address of March 1865: "Both [North and South] read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes." Even more to the point was his reply when a minister from the North told the president he "hoped the Lord is on our side." Responded Lincoln, "I am not at all concerned about that. . . . But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

Prayers for Zednik; hockey geek fantasy day

Those of you who know me know that I'm a big hockey fan. The story around the NHL today is about the injury suffered by Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik. In a game last night in Buffalo against the Sabres, a teammate's skate came up during a fall, catching Zednik on his neck and cutting Zednik's cartoid artery. He was rushed off of the ice, and out of the arena to a Buffalo hospital, where surgeons closed the wound. He's resting comfortably in the hospital (the Panthers organization flew his wife up to Buffalo to be with him) and he's expected to make a full recovery.

So many people play hockey each day (myself included). I know the number of life-threatening injuries are relatively small. Sore muscles, middle of the night leg cramps, bruises, sprains, and yes, even the sports hernia, are all out there for the weekend warrior. But still, anytime you hear of something like this, you cannot but wonder how many times the potential for that kind of injury is present. So say a prayer for Richard Zednik as he recovers.

Now, on another topic. Back on January 12, I had the chance to participate in a hockey game played on the ice of the Wachovia Arena, home to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. Playing in a professional (albeit minor league) arena is one of those "fantasy moments" that a hockey geek like me rarely, if ever, gets to live out! Walking out of the locker room and through a dark tunnel that opens up onto an ice rink surrounded by seats (most of them empty, but still enough friends and family were there to cheer, boo, heckle the players, and take some photos) was absolutely one of the coolest things I've ever done. Some pictures were taken by spectators; here are the ones that I'm in:

Here's me wondering, "Where's the water bottle?"

Sending the puck up the ice just before a forward gets to it

Ah, the money shot! Check out that extension on the blocker save (and notice the puck is outside of the net)!

A group shot at the end of the game. We won, 4-3.

A Tale of Two Brains

A friend of mine, Pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska...

[at this point some of you are wondering why I've paused? while others have gone into convulsions and/or seizures because I dared mention the Lincoln diocese. So, for the latter, we'll wait for you to come back to consciousness.]

OK? Ready? Alright, as I was saying, I was sent this link to a YouTube video which, fresh off of the celebration of World Marriage Day, he thought married couples would find funny and insightful. Check it out.

The Meat Police (encore)

Recently a reader of this blog asked me if I'd re-run my article from last year about feeling like the "Meat Police" when I stopped into a pizza place on a Friday of Lent. So on this first Friday of the Lenten season, I thought it appropriate to grant his wish:

Priests wear many hats in their daily work. Yes, supernaturally we're "other Christ's", and "co-workers of the Bishops." But naturally, if you will, at times we wear the hat of an office manager, a teacher, a decorator, a floral designer, a carpenter, and quite often a janitor.

And today I realized we have another title that only comes out this time of year.

So there I was, walking into my local pizzeria, ready to get myself some lunch, when I realized that people are looking over at me. Then, suddenly, it's a little quieter than it was when I first walked in. People started contorting, twisting as if they were protecting whatever it was on their tables.

That's when it hit me. It's a Friday of Lent, officially a meatless day, it's lunch time, and I've become the freakin' Meat Police!

All the Catholics in the place are treating me like this is a roadside drunk-driver checkpoint, and I've got a flashlight pointed at their plates. "Hmmmm, is that a BLT I see?" "Did you seriously think a turkey burger doesn't count as meat?" I'm like those Gestapo agents in Hogan's Heroes who only seem to say, "Your papers, please.

"To be honest, I really don't care what they were eating. But it was kind of fun watching the Catholics in the pizza shop show me how incredibly bad they'd be at playing poker. The part of their brains that houses "Catholic guilt" works faster than the part of their brains that tells muscles not to make sudden movements in a vain attempt to hide the hoagie.

Your faces gave you away, but I'll let you off with a warning this time.

"Remember [gulp] you are dust!"

(AP Photo/Filippo Monteforte, Pool)

For those of you who either watched Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday Mass from Santa Sabina on Vatican Television or EWTN, or perhaps saw pictures from the event in newspapers or on the internet, you saw the Holy Father receive ashes from Joseph Cardinal Tomko, retired Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (and the Cardinal whose titular church is Santa Sabina).

What's it like to impose ashes on the Pope? Cardinal Tomko was asked that question by L'Osservatore Romano, and the Zenit News Service translated part of the interview into English:

Like all Catholics, the Holy Father receives the ashes while the one administering them proclaims one of the two traditional exhortations: "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

Both formulae are difficult to say to a Pope, Cardinal Tomko told L'Osservatore Romano. Referring to the first formula, the cardinal said the Holy Father "would have every right to say this to me and to everyone else. How can I remind the Pope of this?"

And it was particularly difficult to say the second "as John Paul II got older [...] It was like reminding him again what he not only knew, but felt in his body," the cardinal said.

"The choice has always been difficult. At times I have used one formula, at times the other. It is a very personal aspect, but also very significant because in whatever case," Cardinal Tomko added, "I must opt for a formula that is neither from the Pope nor from me: They are the words of God before which we should all bow our heads."

Ashes, like dust, "are a very eloquent sign of weakness, of sin and of the mortality of man," and to receive them one recognizes his limitation, the cardinal affirmed. Wealth, knowledge, glory, power, titles and dignities, he said, "do nothing for us."

The time of Lent "is directed toward the resurrection, and also our hope, which is not limited to this life, nor detained by our limits," Cardinal Tomko said, "but rather is based on eternal life that is assured for us by Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection."

And it is Jesus, affirmed the cardinal, who "asks three things of us in this intense time of the liturgical year."

He said Christ asks for almsgiving, "an expression of a more attentive generosity [...] of our love and respect for the needs of our neighbor and those who suffer"; prayer, "which flows from the heart more than from the lips"; and fasting, "sometimes of the body, although today it can imply many modern forms of renunciation."

Last summer (when my diocese still had a radio show), I had the chance to interview Cardinal Tomko about a book he had written, called "On Missionary Roads" (available from Ignatius Press). You can hear the interview by clicking here. His English is excellent, and I was surprised to find out that he had actually visited my diocese a few times in the past, having a friend who was pastor of a predominently Slovak parish. I told him I'd be visiting Rome soon and asked if I could meet him. We had a great conversation on a rainy Rome day, when I was dying from a headcold and he insisted on feeding me a constant supply of orange juice and tissues. Being the groupie I am, I drank the juice and kept the tissue packet as a souvenir.

Lent and Denial

A Benedictine monk has written an article on the reasons why we are asked to practice self-denial during the season of Lent. It's posted on Ignatius Press' "Ignatius Insight" page, and you can get it by clicking here.

That Freakin' Phone!

The phone calls have started at the rectory. "Are you giving out ashes tomorrow?" (I'd love, just once, to answer, "No, this year we're giving out corn flakes!"). The regular Mass-goers aren't calling, after all if you went to Church over the weekend you not only heard what times ashes would be imposed, but you took home a bulletin with the schedule for Ash Wednesday written down.

Now, before I get the "You're not being pastoral; maybe this'll be the year that they come back to being practicing Catholics" comments, I acknowledge that some of this afternoon's and tonight's callers might be people who are regular Mass-goers who are simply looking for a church nearby their place of work. But I also know (as do my brother Priests, whose rectory telephones are ringing tonight just as consistently) that the majority of them are the People of God who haven't been to Mass since Christmas Eve, since they choose not to obey the Church's precept of weekly Mass attendance.

Take a look around while you're at Mass tomorrow and remind yourself: assuming everyone in the pews are Catholics, then this is how crowded it should be every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation (which, I might add, Ash Wednesday is not). Snap a mental picture, or if you wish, actually do bring your digital camera into church with you, sit in the first or second row, and with about 2 minutes to go before Mass begins, stand up, turn around, and snap some photos of the crowd. Then, the First Sunday of lent, do the same thing. Compare photos.

Well, now that my rant is done, time for me to make my Lenten resolution to be all warm and fuzzy.

Last of the Winter Virgins

Forget about the groundhog.

Today's feast of St. Agatha (of which my friend Fr. Guy has a great blog entry, having been to Catania himself for the festivities) marks the last of the four feast days of young virgin martyrs which the Church gives us during the winter months.

Beginning with St. Cecilia on November 22, then moving on to St. Lucy on December 13, then to St. Agnes on January 21, and concluding today, February 5, with St. Agatha, each month during the coldest and darkest months of the year, the Church gave us a saint with a similiar story: A young girl who dedicated her life to Christ, suffered because of it, and as a result died a nasty death. It's been written that "these four virginal lights illuminate the season of physical darkness."

Pauxatauny Phil? Stay in your hole. Once Agatha comes and goes, I know there's only 6 more weeks of winter, shadow or not.

My Coolest Rome Moment

Well, not really only mine. It was shared by two other people.

Last Monday afternoon I met a friend of mine for lunch. He's a seminarian studying for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, and like the rest of the guys who study at the Roman universities this time of year, he's in the midst of final exams. It worked out well: he was willing to take a study break, and I had a little bit of time away from my tour group. We met at "La Vittoria", a great place just outside the left collonnade of Piazza San Pietro (conveniently nearby the underground tunnel that leads up the Gianicolo to the North American College).

So now lunch is over, and we head out. Who is coming into the restaurant by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna. This guy is every Rome groupie's dream: a Cardinal, a member of Pope Benedict's group of former student alumni who still meet with him each summer (Schönborn was a doctoral student of then-Professor Ratzinger), and the general editor of the Catechism! See, THAT'S what makes Rome great! In the midst of a lunch with a friend, you can end up seeing someone you've only known through television or in books. Needless to say, I was unprepared for a meeting, and so had nothing to say to him other than, "Hello, your eminence, I'm from the United States." He walks into the restaurant, and I walk my friend back to the escalator up the hill.

It's now about 1:25, and I'm supposed to meet my friend Fr. Guy at 2pm in the Piazza. He's staying over at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and I'm walking right past it. Why not just meet him early? I get past the Swiss Guards by the Holy Office gate with a smile and body language that says, "Don't you know who I am? I belong here and I'm going to keep walking like I do every single day" (body language is key in the Vatican City-State). Then I get to the next stop, the Vatican Police. Here's where body language didn't work. Telling them I had a friend at the DSM was not enough to allow me to keep walking. Now they had to call ahead and tell Fr. Guy I was coming. Luckily, he didn't tell them I was some homicidal maniac dressed like a Priest, and I was allowed to go on to the Domus.

We hung out there until about 2:15 (during which time I told him about my run-in with Card. Schönborn), and then started walking across the piazza, heading to do some shopping. As we got behind the huge nativity scene, we spotted it: a Cardinal's zucchetto. In the midst of the greys, blacks, and browns of the square, that unique scarlet stands out like a lazer pointer used by many of the roman tour guides. He might as well have been wearing one of those bright orange safety pennants that used to be attached to the back of bicycles. It was Schönborn again! Since we were all heading to the same walkway, we met up with him, and this time I was prepared to say something coherent other than my name. Fr. Guy told him that he uses the Catechism in the monthly "Catholic Q&A" he runs in his parish. I told him I showed videos of an interview he gave on EWTN about the parts of the Catechism to my adult education program in my parish. The Cardinal couldn't have been nicer, and seemed happy to hear that the Catechism he had worked so hard to create (one which not a few people at the time of its release said that the laity would never be able to understand) was being used in parishes. By the time we got to the newspaper kiosk, he went his way, and we went ours.

Rome is great for run-ins like that, and that was the best one of this last trip.

John 8:32

A Deacon blogger has posted a Priest's rant, and it's making its way around cyberspace at lightspeed. For those of you not in the clerical state, this is a great sampling of what Priests talk about at get-togethers. Check it out.

PS - John 8:32 = "and you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free."

Ritorno da Roma

I'm sorry for not writing for the last few days. I just got back from Rome where I led a pilgrimage of 45 current and former parishioners on a tour of the city I love to visit.

As I'm writing this, it is now about 6:30am. I've been awake, off and on, since about 3am (9am Rome time), and thanks to the gift of jetlag, I've spent the last few hours catching up on e-mails, going through my regular mail, and unpacking and sorting the things I brought back with me from Rome (who gets the rosarys, who gets the medals, etc.).

What a great trip it was! Truly the "Most Valuable Player" of the week was the incredibly sunny and mild weather we had while we were visiting the city. When planning a tour, you arrange the airflight, hotel, bus transportation, meals, etc. You even get to plan the "just in case" stuff, like getting to the airport with plenty of time, in case of traffic or accidents (or even, as I've learned, a taxi strike). But the one thing that cannot be arranged, or a reservation made for, is perfect weather. That's what we had this past week. Rome in January can be rainy and chilly, but it's also the low tourist season. So the question becomes: would you rather be in mild weather as you get elbowed and groped by myriads of tourists trying to see the same sites as you, or would you rather see things with almost no crowds, bringing along a $5.00 Totes umbrella? We chose the umbrella route, but luckily, and perhaps through God's grace, those umbrellas stayed in the suitcases all week. The only rain spotted? Yesterday, on the windows of the airplane as we boarded to depart for home.

I could tell you my highlights, but I think I'm going to wait to hear from my pilgrims, and then post what they say about it. In the meantime, I have Mass in an hour and need to say my Office. Ciao!

Opinion Journal Today

James taranto, editor of the Wall Street Journal's daily "Best of the Web" has this in today's edition:

Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the decision in which seven men imposed their views on abortion on the entire country. This ruling, which had no basis in the text of the Constitution and only a tenuous connection to then-existing precedents, was supposed to settle the matter once and for all. Instead, it turned the court into a de facto review board for state abortion policies and made abortion--and by extension the court itself--into the most divisive issue in presidential politics.

Whoops!

Both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have articles noting, with some surprise, that today's antiabortion movement includes lots of young people. The Post piece includes this delightful bit of Fox Butterfieldesque puzzlement:

Despite the steady drop in abortions across the United States in the three decades since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in 1973 in the case of Roe v. Wade, a new generation of activists is taking up the cause with conviction and sophistication. There are Students for Life chapters on more than 400 college campuses nationwide.

What is the logic of that "despite"? Abortion tends not to be carried down through the generations: If your mother had an abortion when she was pregnant with you, the likelihood of your ever having an abortion is close to zero. The L.A. Times describes a meeting of an anti-abortion group called Generation Life, which sheds some further light on the subject:

"I feel like we're all survivors of abortion," Claire said. She has five sisters and a brother; most of her classmates, she said, come from much smaller families. The way Claire sees it, they're missing out on much joy--and she blames abortion. "I look at my friends," she said, "and I wonder, 'Where are your siblings?' "

They're not out marching for legal abortion, that's for sure!

What? No mint jelly?

Yesterday's Feast of St. Agnes meant another tradition took place. On this day each year, the Holy Father blesses two lambs whose wool will be used to make the pallia presented to newly appointed metropolitan Archbishops on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Despite the looks of the faces of Archbishop Harvey and Msgr. Gänswein in the background (who probably haven't had lunch yet), these guys aren't really destined for lamb chops (though one wonders what'd happen if we had a Pope of Greek descent?).

A musing on Daniel 3:67

"Cold and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever."

I just got back from the cemetery committal of a funeral I had this morning. It never fails that, at least once every winter, there's one of those cemetery services on a bitterly cold day. You know what kind of days those are by the telltale signs: First, you really don't walk on the grass as much as you walk on top of the grass (since the ground is so frozen that you don't sink into it). Second, your ears get so cold that they hurt. Third, the wind outside makes trying to manage the ritual book a challenge.

It gave me a whole new respect for the Giants, the Packers, and along with them, the fans who packed Lambeau and the rest of the people who had to work that game in the freezing cold (who gave new meaning to the words "working stiffs")

I know, "Cold and chill, bless the Lord", but, c'mon!!!!

Example #432 of "How we shoot ourselves in the foot":

Sent to me by a parent whose child recently made their "first penance". This was part of a note that was sent to parents of the first penitents:

"Due to the large number of children, we ask all parents and guests to refrain from going to Confession today so the priests will have more time with your children on their special day."

I wonder whether, in a few months when these children receive their First Holy Communion, a note will be sent home politely urging parents and guests not to receive the Eucharist on that day, so that the priests can spend more time with the children on their special day?

Experience has taught me that, without fail, on days when you're hearing the first Confessions of little guppies, you'll also going to catch a Marlin or two who haven't been to the Sacrament in years. To send a note home like that is the same as saying, "Don't worry, you don't have to feel guilty or emotionally moved while your here. Feel free not to sit there and reflect on your life while these children go to Confession. Instead, please, strike up multiple conversations with the people sitting all around you, so that the children experiencing God's mercy for the first time get used to the lack of reverence that they'll encounter in sacred spaces.

You want to allow the children to go first, that's perfectly reasonable. But to then "close up shop" after the last child is absolved loses a great opportunity.

Back in Black

I know it's been a while since I've written with any regularity here. I've had a few things going on in my life, both professionally (namely, late Advent and the Christmas season) and personally. As I said in a previous blog entry, there are plenty of places out there to satisfy your hunger for Catholic blogging, many of which I've been reading myself during my hiatus from writing. But regardless of that, I'm back here at the computer, keeping watch for all that's new and exciting in the world of Roman Catholicism. So let me see if I can "catch up" on some things:

1. Pope Benedict's Choice of Vestments. Much has been opined about the Holy Father's use of vestments and thrones used by his predecessors, as if this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. People everywhere wear jewelry that belonged to their parents or grandparents. President Bush uses a desk in the Oval Office which was used by Presidents Clinton, Kennedy, et al, all the way back to Rutherford Hayes! So if Pope Benedict uses a cope worn by Pope John XXIII, or a miter worn by Pope John Paul I, what's so bad? Has the Church stopped using copes? Do bishops not wear miters? Where's the gang that loves to criticize the Church's vast wealth? They should be out there praising B16 for recycling old vestments, rather than spending money on new ones. Culturally, we've become a "disposable" society that lives day to day with paper plates, plastic razors, cardboard juiceboxes, and instant furniture that is meant to last about 2 years, and then be thrown away so new, instant furniture can be bought at the local IKEA. So why the wailing and gnashing of teeth? Simply put, some in the Church (both clergy and laity) have an ecclesiology is only "skin deep". They see a vestment and immediately make a judgment. At the sight of an amice or a clerical shirt in any color other than black, their eyes send a message to their brain which causes such a drain of energy and memory space that they "step out" of the moment and lose themselves in their own funk. Yes, they'll give you their opinion about whether they either loved or hated what the Pope wore, but ask them their opinion about what the Pope said in his homily, and they've got no clue because they didn't listen to the homily. This brings me to my next topic...
2. Pope Benedict's Mass in the Sistine Chapel. Oh, sweet Jesus, get over it; he used an existing altar that is built against the back wall of the chapel. Depending on which blogs you read or with whom you spoke, this was the liturgical equivalent of either 9/11 or Viagra. Yes, his back was to the people (it's ok, I don't think they forgot what he looks like), but it also means that celebrant and congregation were all facing the same direction together (dare we say, "facing God"?). It means he was no longer the center of attention, and for some Priests, therein lies the hangup. For some of my brothers, a Mass in which they don't get to "do their shtick" is a Mass not worth having. This is why many don't believe in or celebrate private Masses; what's the point if there's no one there to impress? Also, for those who think this was an attempt by the Pope to "turn the clock back", you should be mindful of the fact that the Mass was in Italian, not Latin, and Eucharistic Prayer II (the shortest, perhaps with the awareness that babies and toddlers have tiny attention spans) was used.
3. The Society of Jesus' election of a new Superior General. Though one may ask, "What will the next Jesuit Superior General be like?", the better question is, "Will Jesuits listen to him?".

LifeTeen Lite

My fellow blogger Jeff Miller over at "The Curt Jester" has the story of Msgr. Dale Fushek and his continued desire to leave the band and go solo. Msgr. Fushek was the founder of the LifeTeen program in the Diocese of Phoenix, and for a while believed to be the "great white hope" in possession of the remedy for the mantra we keep hearing that the Church has nothing to offer to teenagers and that they're not attending Mass and that they'll never be back to the Roman Catholic Church (World Youth Day attendance numbers in the hundreds of thousands notwithstanding).

A while back Msgr. Fushek was accused of activity with minors, and was suspended from publicly exercising his Priestly ministry. But he continues to defiantly dwell in disobedience by leading "non-denominational" prayer services in a convention center.

Hey, speaking of priestly narcissism, check out this article on the topic, which appeared in this past December's issue of Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

New Year's Musings

A Happy New Year to all.

I didn't intend to take time off from blogging, it just sort of happened. Certainly, after fifteen months of the blog, the initial zeal is over. I never intended it to be a daily journal, and there are plenty of blogs out there to fill that pocket in you.

Here at the parish, we just had an 8am Mass for today's Holy Day. We have one more Mass at 11am, but right now I'm taking some pleasure in looking out my office window at the cars driving by the parish, the passengers wondering why there are no cars in the parking lot at this time? The answer: there is no 9:30am Mass this morning! 8, 9:30, and 11 is our usual Sunday schedule, and despite publishing the Mass times for today in our bulletin and announcing them at every Mass this past weekend, there are (obviously) people who either don't listen that well, or leave after receiving Holy Communion, and so are neither there to hear the announcements nor to grab a copy of the bulletin.

It's hard to believe we've arrived at 2008. This year will be the tenth anniversary of my ordination, so I've had this year dancing around my head for a number of years already. I've been speaking to some classmates of mine (including a great afternoon a few days ago with classmates from the dioceses of Trenton and Wheeling-Charleston), and we're trying to arrange an "anniversary trip to Rome" this coming October. Our class did a trip while we were still seminarians, back during Christmas of 1996. Today is the kind of day that begs you to look back at your life: where you are, where you thought you'd be, friends who you've lost contact with, and friends who you didn't have a decade ago.

But, like Jesus said, no one can plow a straight furrow whilst looking back. New Year's Day is just as much about looking ahead than behind. There's something about today that brings out the optimist in everyone: I will lose that weight. I will contact old friends. I will pray more, read more, study more. There's lots of unknown adventures out there, and lots of things I can't wait to see and read. So, for the new year, I make the words of today's first reading my own wishes for you:

The Lord bless you and keep you!

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you!

The Lord lift his countenance upon you and grant you peace!

Merry Christmas

I'm about to go and set up for Midnight Mass. A blessed Christmas to all! Thank you for taking some time out of your day to see what I have to say.

What Would Willy Wonka Do?

I just got this in a pre-Christmas confession...

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been ____ since my last confection."

In retrospect, maybe they meant gluttony?

Cantalamessa on impurity

After telling all of you to read Fr. Cantalamessa's Advent sermons, last night I finally got around to reading them myself. This is the season for Priests to hear lots of Confessions, and one of the sins that a confessor rarely hears today is impurity (so much so that when we do hear a penitent say the word, it "stands out") I bring this up because Fr. Raniero's first Advent sermon had this quote (and I placed what I thought were important passages in bold print):

"... there is a tendency to minimize sins against purity to the advantage (often only in theory) of attention to our neighbour. It is an illusion to believe that we can put authentic service to our brothers – which always demands sacrifice, altruism, forgetfulness of self and generosity – together with a disordered personal life, entirely directed toward gratifying ourselves and our own passions. We end up, inevitably, instrumentalizing our brothers, just as we instrumentalize our own bodies and the other sex. He who does not know how to say no to himself does not know how to say yes to his brothers.

One of the "excuses" that contributes most to encourage the sin of impurity in the popular mindset is the discharging of any responsibility, the claim that it hurts no one, that it does not violate anyone's rights unless, it is said, we are talking about physical violence. But apart from the fact that it violates the basic right of God to give a law to his creatures, this "excuse" is false even in regard to our relations to our neighbour. It is not true that the sin of impurity ends with those who commit it.

In the Jewish Talmud there is an apologue that illustrates quite well the connection that exists between sin and the damage that every sin, even personal sin, does to others: "Some people found themselves on a boat. One of the passengers took a drill and began to make a hole beneath his seat. The others seeing this said to him: 'What are you doing?' He answered: 'What is it to you? Am I not making a hole under my seat?' But they replied: 'Yes, but water will come in and we will all drown!'" Is this not what is happening in our society? The Church too knows something of the evil that can be done to the whole body by personal mistakes of the clergy in this sphere."

Young Fogeys out there, take heed.

And yet more Cantalamessa on Advent

The third and final Advent sermon by Fr. Cantalamessa to the Holy Father and the Papal Household has been translated and posted on the Zenit News Service website.

The More Things Change...

Hanna Montana, 2007

Dee Snider, 1980s

ps - and before the "knowitalls" write to tell me that her real name is Miley Cyrus and Hanna is the character she plays, I know that, so save your fingers the stress.

More Cantalamessa on Advent

The Zenit news agency has the English translation of Fr. Cantalamessa's second Advent sermon to B16 and the Roman Curia. You can get it by clicking here.

NJ Legislature: Death sentence is immoral (unless it's an embryo and there's potential for profit).

Today's Newark Star-Ledger has an article about the the New Jersey General Assembly's vote to abolish the death penalty in the Garden State.

"It is simply not for us to decide who should live and who should die," said Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden).

If only they kept that thought in their heads when they voted for embryonic stem cell research.

More Latin from the NYT

Fresh off of their op-ed piece promoting the virtues of studying the Latin language, the New York Times has a review of two similar-themed books in today's edition. Tolle! Lege!

Cantalamessa on Advent

I should've posted this last week, but Father Raniero Cantalamessa's first Advent sermon for the Holy Father and the Papal Household has been posted on his website. Take a read.

Italy is in a funk, and not the good, "George Clinton", kind of funk!

Today's front page of the New York Times has an interesting article about the collective "national funk" that's happening in Italy right now. Check it out.

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

Here's some video of Blessed Teresa, sharing thoughts that are appropriate during this time of year when it seems every parish has penance services and extra hours for Confession.

Escriva on YouTube

They are few and far between, the number of beatified Blesseds and canonized Saints of the Church that we have captured for posterity on video. But here's part of a clip of St. JoseMaria Escriva talking about the Mass, Confession, and the influence a mother can have on her family (thanks to Fr. James Searby of the Diocese of Arlington, VA, for letting me know this clip exists on the internet).

Gov. Romney's Speech

Fr. Richard Neuhaus has an excellent article on Gov. Mitt Romney's recent speech at the Bush41 Library in College Station, TX, entitled, "Faith in America". Check it out.

Plenary Indulgence

(I just love putting a headline in that will drive anti-Catholics - and perhaps a few of our own brethren - nuts should they Google and stumble upon it.)

Today's daily bulletin from the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Our Lady's appearance in Lourdes (which will be celebrated in February of 2008), is allowing Catholics to receive a Plenary Indulgence.

My Italian is not super good, but essentially here's what the decree says: "On the occasion of 150th anniversary of the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Cave of Massabielle, neighbor to Lourdes, a Plenary Indulgence is granted daily to the faithful from the day of December 8, 2007 until the day December 8, 2008, when devoutly and in the conditions established, they will visit the Cave of Massabielle, and, from February 2 to 11, 2008, they will visit, in whichever temple, oratory, cave, or decorated place, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes is solemnly exposed for veneration by the public."

Now, not everyone can jump a plane and go to France, but the second part of the decree is key: From February 2-11, 2008, anyone will be able to receive the Plenary Indulgence daily at any church, shrine, outdoor grotto, etc., anywhere in the world (as long as it's an image of O.L. of Lourdes they're venerating). Your parish doesn't have a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes? Get a few people together and offer to buy one for the parish.

Start talking it up in your parishes. Some pastors will see the words "Plenary Indulgence" and immidiately resolve not to mark the occasion.

"a tremendous way to train the mind"

Today's New York Times has an op-ed piece by Harry Mount on the usefulness of the Latin language in today's world. Check it out.

Old Job, New Marini

My pal, Fr. Guy Selvester, has a great comparison on his blog of papal vesture last year and this year. Same event (Vespers for the 1st Sunday of Advent), same place (St. Peter's Basilica), same Pontiff, just a different head of the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations. Check it out.

By the way, with my diocese deciding to put Catholic radio evangelization on "hiatus", my last episode of Proclaim the Good News had Fr. Guy and I reminiscing about our years of hosting the show. You can listen to that last episode by clicking here.

An open letter to Pope Benedict

Your Holiness,

It's me, your favorite (just kidding). I've got a problem and I'm hoping you can fix it for me.

For the past year or so, I've been bringing your book, Jesus of Nazareth, into the confessional on Saturday mornings. It's phenomenal. It's great. Thank you for writing it. But my problem is this: it's got so much "packed in" it, that it's taking me longer than I ever expected to read it. More than a year later, and I just began chapter eight today! Now I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the lamp, and thankfully there have been weeks when the number of penitents coming for Confession have made it impossible for me to read more than a page or two, but still there's so much there to devour. Now you've got me wanting to read the books you mention in your book, like Neusner's A Rabbi Talks With Jesus from Ch. 4!

Now, to add to my reading, you've written this brand new encyclical on the virtue of hope (which means I'll probably want to skim through your last encyclical on the virtue of love just to "bring myself up to speed"). Plus, I keep hearing that there's more volumes of Jesus of Nazareth coming down the pike. Finally, I've still got loads of Ignatius Press stuff of yours that I either read years ago and forgot, or haven't read yet.

Holy Father, please, can you slow down a bit? You name it: I'll buy you a Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, boxed sets of past seasons of CSI, whatever. You like Sudoku? I bet you'd be great at it. I'll get you enough Sudoku puzzles to fill your free time, just give me a chance to catch up!

This is what I wanted to tell you when I met you last October. However, as you probably recall, I was a nervous mess who couldn't put words together in a sentence. So if you lay off the writing for a while, I promise to send you a big, hefty gift card for you to spend on yourself.

Respectfully,

Fr. Jay Toborowsky

Hope you've got time to read

Pope Benedict's latest (published today) encyclical is on the virtue of hope, and can be downloaded from the Vatican website by clicking here. Happy reading.

Advent Cards?

Just wondering, anyone ever see greeting cards for Advent? You know, something like, "Have a good Advent", or, "Advent is when we take the time to prepare for our Savior's coming. Hope you make good use of it."

If you know of any place that sells them, let me know. If not, and I gave you the idea that you'll make a small fortune off of, then give me like 25% of the profits or I'll start praying those cursing psalms against you.

Anglican Angst over America

Reuters has an article in which Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has criticized the United States:

Asked in an interview with the Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel, if he [Dr. Williams] thought the United States had lost the high moral ground since the 9/11 attacks, he replied "Yes".

Really? Well, if anyone would know what the warning signs are when a world power loses their moral authority, I suppose he's the man who knows what to look for.

"Black Friday" gives way to "Scarlet Saturday"

I just got done watching EWTN's repeat broadcast of the ceremony from Rome for the creation of the new Cardinals. I love "Church things", but getting up at 4:30am to watch it live is too much. Although now that I think of it, I suppose getting up at 4:30am to watch Pope Benedict create new Cardinals is the ecclesial equivilent of getting up at 4:30am to be at some store when it opens at 5am the day after Thanksgiving for some Christmas shopping! Besides, I was there in St. Peter's Square when Pope Benedict made the announcement, thangyaverymuch. I even got myself a copy of L'Osservatore Romano that evening (the next day's edition always comes out in the late afternoon of the day before) with the announcement of the nuovi Cardinali from the kiosk along the right side of the colonnade, complete with their names in their order of precedence. That was the second time I was there when Pope Benedict announced his creation of new Cardinals, the other being a Wednesday audience on the Feast of the Chair of Peter back in 2006. I'm always there for the announcement, but never the actual Consistory. Oh well, what do they say? "Always the bridesmaid..."

However, at the last minute with fears of an impending downpour, the ceremony was moved from an outdoor event in the Piazza San Pietro, to inside the basilica itself. Kudos to those who made such a change at the last minute seem so flawless (on television, anyway). I understand that there was no way to fit everyone in the square into the basilica, and so many people watched the event on the jumbotron monitors placed throughout the square (if only Bernini could see his square today). But anyone who has been invited to a high school graduation knows there's always that chance that a June thunderstorm will move the ceremony into a cramped gymnasium without advance notice. Romans have a great attitude about such things: they show contempt, then shrug and deal with it. But I can imagine the "wails and gnashing of teeth" that must've been coming from the foreigners who came specifically to watch that event. Especially, I'm thinking of the Americans, because we can have a sense of, "How can something like this happen to someone as important as ME?" I mean, put yourself there: The announcement has been made that the ceremony is moving indoors, and each Cardinal can have, let's say, 125 tickets to gain someone entrance. Who gets in? More importantly, who doesn't get in? Here I'm also thinking of my brother Priests, because some of us can get awfully cliquish and elitist when we want to be. I'm sure there were plenty of clergy who said, "It's OK, give my ticket to someone else." But I'm sure there were also plenty who said, "I HAVE to be there. Don't these people know who I am? How many committees I'm on? If I'm not in there, what will people say about me?" Hehehehehe, ah, the "high school lunchtable drama" of it all.

Getting back to the ceremony, it was nice to watch Cardinal Foley receive his biretta. I've met him a few times through his work for the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and my work in radio. He was even kind enough to come on my show as a guest. I saw him last month during my Rome visit, and he was kind enough to sit and chat for about a half hour at the headquarters for the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. He never let on that he was about to be named a Cardinal, though I'm sure by then he knew it was going to happen. He put in a lot of years in service to the universal Church, and his creation as Cardinal is a well-deserved reward for his work (despite the fact that some bloggers are acting as if it's something "long overdue"). Congratulations to him, as well as Cardinal DiNardo. I wonder if Stetson makes a hat in red watered silk?

(thank you Reuters for the photos)

Happy Thanksgiving (update)

For those of you who are into this articular Thanksgiving tradition...

Alice's Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving

Two of my favorite moments on one of my favorite television shows (The West Wing) had to do with Thanksgiving. Thankfully, YouTube has made them available for all to see. Enjoy.

Papal Pranzo

I want a number 2 combo with a diet Sprite,

and remember to tell them extra ketchup packets.

(thank you AP for the photo)

Bp. Serratelli's Trifecta

Back in June, Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli began a four part series of articles on the Church's liturgy and maintaining the sense of the Sacred. The latest piece of that takes the form of a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese (though he's letting the rest of us know what the letter says - because it is a beautiful letter for all the Catholic faithful to read, but also probably so that Joe & Jane Catholicparishioner will know the letter their pastor got and perhaps hold him a little accountable to it). You can link to the past two entries by clicking on Part one and Part two, but if you want to go straight to the pastoral letter, click here. Better yet, if you want Bp. Serratelli's letter with an concurrent explanation, check out Fr. Z's commentary.

As I did with the other two letters, let me give you a taste without spoiling your appetite for the meal:

• "The priest presides at the Eucharist in persona Christi. The priest is the servant of the Liturgy."


• "Priests, as well as deacons, are not free to change the rubrics or substitute their own words for the prescribed texts. Such fidelity expresses true love for the people we serve."


• "Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law."


• "It may take a child-like humility to do as the Church asks in the celebration of the Liturgy. However, true love is never proud."

Finally, after reading the letter, take a step back and consider this: Bishop Serratelli was just made the Chairman of United States Bishops Committee on Liturgy.

To quote "The Great One", mmmmmmm how sweet it is!

The Broglio Brouhaha

Today's announcement from the Vatican that Pope Benedict has appointed American Archbishop Timothy Broglio to succeed Abp. Edwin O'Brien as head of the U.S. Military Ordinariate has been making its way around the blogosphere. So let me put me 2 Euro in the pot:

I first met the Archbishop when he was just Monsignor Broglio, one of the Priest-Secretaries to the then-Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. My seminary class was in Rome for a pilgrimage during Christmas of 1996, and one of the Priests who accompanied us was classmates with Msgr. Broglio at the Pontifical Gregorian University. One evening during the trip, Msgr. Broglio took us on a tour of the public rooms of the Apostolic Palace. We saw it all: from the Bronze Doors, past the statue of Constantine up the Scala Regia stairs, into the Sala Regia, and into the Sala Ducale. Absolutely amazing. But two parts of the tour were, in particular, the "kickers":

1. We were walking through the Sala Ducale, and honestly none of us were looking out the windows since we were so busy looking around the rooms we were being shown. So at one point, Msgr. Broglio stops, pulls a huge floor-to-ceiling curtain aside, and says, "and THIS is the central balcony of St. Peter's." Here we were in the spot where the Popes not only appear at Christmas and Easter, but standing in the spot where they all passed following their elections. I found some photos I took of the moment:


2. As we were walking back from the central balcony, Msgr. Broglio waved at a maintenance man as if to say, "have a good night". The man walked over, said something in Italian to him, and Msgr. B. turned towards us and said, "Oh, this is neat, I wasn't expecting this. Follow him and I'll be right with you." With that, he walked away, and we followed the man to a closed door. He reached into his coat, pulled out a set of keys, opened the door, and gestured for us to go in. There we were, only 17 of us, in the Sistine Chapel. We had it all to ourselves, and what I remember was the quiet. All of us were shocked into a stunned silence as we looked at the walls and ceiling. Now I've been in there a few times before whilst visiting the Vatican Museums, but there's always a crowd and always noise. This time it was all ours, if only for 10 minutes or so. Sorry, no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

So that's my Msgr. Broglio story. Following that trip he eventually because Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and to Puerto Rico, and now he becomes the spiritual father to our Catholic military personnel. Ad multos annos! Thanks again for the tour.

Thought of the day

Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Just once...

You "Young Fogey" Priests out there will relate to this.

Picture it: You're a Priest helping out at one of these penance services that are about to spring up all around, now that Advent is around the corner (I know this because I'm getting the requests to help at them!). You get that person who treats the Sacrament with that casual indifference that secretly causes you to have the desire to go all "Old Testament wailing and gnashing of teeth" on them. But you ignore their "blah" attitude, talk to them, give them a penance, and then ask them for an Act of Contrition. And what do you get? "Oh my God, I am hardly sorry for offending thee and I... and I... uh, I... [giggle, giggle] I can't remember it, Father. Oh, well." [giggle, giggle]

Just once, I'm dying to say, "Oh, that's O.K. God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself, and sent... and sent... [giggle, giggle] Well, what do you know, I can't remember the absolution, either! Well, I guess you're not getting forgiven!" [giggle, giggle]

"Oh, Father, I can't remember."

Why I oughtaaaaaa

First Love, Now Hope

Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog has the story about the impending release of Pope Benedict's second encyclical, this time on the virtue of hope. Check out what Fr. Z has to say.

That's just wrong!

Today, as I drove through a residential neighborhood back to the rectory on an overcast day, a sight caught the corner of my eye.

No, it couldn't be. Impossible. On November 14, someone already has their Christmas tree up and lit in their house for passers-by to see.

Instantly, I knew what had to be done. I had to call in the Church's elite squad dedicated to preventing the premature celebration of Christmas: the Advent Traditionalist Force (or ATF, for short). This little known corps of ecclesiastical agents give a whole new meaning to "The Church Militant". Surprise is their best weapon, and so they're not too keen of gathering publicity for themselves or being photographed (I was lucky enough to sneak this photo a few years ago while I watched them on a raid). Any of you thinking about stringing up some garland early? YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Joan, Jeanne, Joseph, and Chico

I was in Rome last October when the book "Joseph and Chico" hit the bookstores. It's a hardcover children's book, in Italian (which is why I could read it without too much use of a dictionary), which looks at the life of Pope Benedict through the eyes of one of his feline neighbors from Germany. Its publication gained gravitas when Msgr. Georg Gänswein, the Pope's personal secretary, wrote the book's introduction.

I tell you this because Joan Lewis' blog today tells the story of her meeting with Jeanne Perego, the book's author, who was in Rome to meet Pope Benedict for the first time. The whole story is here, but the tagline is the best part:

She happily recounted her Wednesday meeting with Benedict XVI – Chico’s friend Joseph. Then she came to the punch line. At the end of their conversation Pope Benedict looked at her, smiled broadly, and said, “You know, I always wanted to write a book about cats, and now a cat is writing a book about me!”

How humble I am

I probably shouldn't be telling you how lucky I am, but I just want to prove a point:

For the last year, I've been getting an amazing amount of confidential e-mails from more than a few widows of foreign despots, as well as lawyers for dozens of deceased distant relatives (I never knew I had) who named me as the sole beneficiary in their wills. They all want to give me millions of dollars, if I'd just send them my name, mailing address, bank and credit card account numbers.

Now, nothing would be more fun than to spend the $1.9 trillion dollars I'd have in my bank account by now, if you add up all the money these e-mails wanted to give me. But the truth is that I need to remain humble, and so I have forsaken these opportunities for easy wealth in favor of staying simple.

However, being the kind of guy who doesn't mind "sharing the wealth", if you think you can handle "instant wealth", please send me your name, address, bank account and credit card numbers, and I'll pass them along the next time I get one of those e-mails.

Two reasons why I shouldn't read the newspaper in the morning

Each morning I go through three newspapers: a local one, a state one, and a national one. This morning two articles made me nuts enough to choke on my morning coffee:

The first one was in today's Star-Ledger (our state newspaper). Right off the bat, it annoyed me with the headline,"A limited American visit for an older pope" (italics added by me). You can hear the undertone, "Here we go again, another John Paul II. A feeble old man who can't do much. He'll be dead soon, so no point is listening to what he has to say." I mean, the Dalai Lama is 72, but the press never prefaces their stories about him with comments about how he's not getting any younger! Soon we'll be getting the stories about how "Pope Benedict comes to visit a flock largely divided on issues such as abortion, birth control, homosexuality, the ordination of women, 'less filling' or 'tastes great', Ginger or Maryann, Darren 1 or Darren 2, Sean Connery or Roger Moore, etc." The bottom line is that Pope Benedict has shown himself not to be a traveller. So the very fact that he chooses to make a visit to the United States, when you can only count on one hand the other countries he has visited, says something about how he perceives a need for a visit.

The second article was an AP article that appeared in the Express-Times (our local newspaper). In the section called "Teen Scene", talking about how the ever-ambiguous "many people" feel that school nurses in middle schools should be able to dispense contraceptives (without parents' knowledge, of course). Unfortunately it's not posted on their website, so I can't give you the link so you can share my rage. When I was in 6th grade, our school nurse gave vision tests, scoliosis tests, and handled nosebleeds from schoolyard fights. My, how times have changed!

Pope John XXIII

YouTube has some great video snippets I hadn't seen before, including this one with footage of Pope Blessed John XXIII. I've certainly seen plenty of photos of him, but never so much of him speaking conversationally.

Wow, that was fast!

From the Catholic World News:

Baltimore, Nov. 9, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Baltimore's Archbishop Edwin O'Brien has removed a pastor who invited a female Episcopalian priest to join him in celebrating a funeral Mass, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Father Martin was removed from his parish assignment at a meeting with archdiocesan officials on November 8. The priest, whose unorthodox liturgical practices had prompted several prior complaints, said that the Episcopalian priest had not participated in the Consecration during the October funeral liturgy, although he had invited her to read the Gospel. There were conflicting reports on whether or not the Episcopalian cleric had received Communion; Father Martin said that he could not recall administering the Eucharist to her.

On the orders of the archbishop, Father Martin resigned his parish assignment and issued an apology for "bringing scandal to the Church," the Sun reports. A spokesman for the Baltimore archdiocese explained that the pastor's removal was called for because "he has repeatedly violated Church teaching."

Father Martin was serving as pastor of three different parishes in south Baltimore, where he had worked for 5 years. His removal comes just 6 weeks after Archbishop O'Brien was installed as head of the Baltimore archdiocese.

But, "I gotta be meeeeeeeeeee"

Check out this article from the Catholic News Agency.

Evidently, a Jesuit Priest at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia used the Sunday evening Mass to announce to everyone in attendance what he called one of the "worst-kept secrets on campus": that he is (in the words of New Jersey's previous governor), a "gay American". Thankfully, though, he didn't get into specifics about what went on on campus that made his homosexuality such a badly kept secret.

Well, Fr. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International has written an open letter to the priest, in part, saying, "Holy Mass is not a forum for your self-expression.", and, "Not only do you owe them an apology, you owe them a better example of priesthood,".

Amen! If the start and the end are like that, imagine the middle. See Fr. Euteneuer's whole letter by clicking here.

PS - once Homiletic & Pastoral Review updates their website to post the articles in this month's issue, check out an article on Priestly narcissism. Also included in the article: what's behind the growing phenomenon of the "obligation" to applaud the choir at the end of Mass. Stay tuned.

Anyone have paper towels for the spilled milk?

Doing their post-election wrap up, today's Star Ledger has an article which blames Tuesday's defeat of the $450 million stem cell ballot question on two "forces":

"Supporters failed to grasp an unintentional alliance of two forces: public discontent with the state's borrowing, and the work of conservatives and religious leaders who opposed the ballot question's passage."

"Religious leaders"? Why, whomever could they mean? Read further:

"Last month, Catholic bishops in the state sent letters to all churches explaining the Catholic position against embryonic stem cell research. Pastors read the letters at Mass and put them in church bulletins, said James Goodness, a spokesman for the Newark Archdiocese. The dioceses also produced a 14-minute video with the Knights of Columbus.

'I think that certainly a number of people did hear what the bishops had to say about the Catholic Church's position and were moved by that,' Goodness said."

Warts and all!

Thank You, New Jersey!

I know New Jersey gets picked on a lot (most of all by those of us who live here). But this morning, I've gotta tell you, I just LOVE my state.

Today's Newark Star Ledger has the story about how, yesterday, Garden State voters rejected a ballot question which sought permission to spend $450 million of taxpayer money to fund Stem Cell research. Research which would have been heavily dependent stem cells obtained through the destruction of human life.

The politicians were pushing "big time" for the passage of this question. Our governor even held a "groundbreaking" for a stem cell research facility at Rutgers University which, I believe thanks to the election results, now has no funding. The State of New Jersey has some serious fiscal problems, which are the result of some serious political problems. Their great hope was that one of these state-owned research labs would find a cure to some major disease (they tried "selling" this proposition to voters by giving them a litany of things that they guaranteed Stem Cells will cure: diabetes, paralysis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimers, global warming, rising oil prices, etc.). The state would then cash in on a healthy commission for bankrolling the research and development of the cure.

Here let me inject the fact that it's not all stem cell research that is morally wrong. Research using adult Stem Cells, including from adult fat cells? Fine; in fact, here I am. Research using Stem Cells obtained from umbilical cord blood? No problem. Research from fetal Stem Cells that have come from an unborn child that has tragically died in the womb of natural causes? Okay. After all, experience has taught us that these are the only Stem Cells that have produced any successful results. The problem is when human life will be intentionally destroyed in order to obtain the desired Stem Cells that we've crossed the line.

Also, separate from the ethical issues, pharmaceutical companies just aren't willing to cough up the bucks to fund the research themselves. Why not? A 2006 report on the cost of drug development noted that, "For drugs entering human clinical trials for the first time between 1989 and 2002, ... the cost per new drug [was estimated] to be $868 million. However, our estimates vary from around $500 million to more than $2,000 million, depending on the therapy or the developing firm." Isn't the $450 million being asked for a bargain, comparatively speaking? If science is "so close" to a breakthrough, shouldn't New Jersey's pharmaceutical companies be in open competition with each other to throw money at the project? Why are they keen on taxpayers footing the bill?

That's where the politicos erred. They thought they had promised enough cures to enough people to get the project approved. Believe me, I know that New Jersey voters weren't all suddenly struck with a "crisis of conscience" yesterday. But winning ugly is still a win, and I'll take it.

Ruini: Religious, Get Blogging!

The Zenit News site has an article about an address given by Camillo Cardinal Ruini, the Holy Father's Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, at a conference of the Superiors of Religious Communities of the Diocese of Rome. In the address, Cardinal Ruini said he had been told by a priest that young people have been using internet chatrooms and blogs to discuss Jesus Christ, and not necessarily in a good way.

How can the Church "get involved" in the discussion? His Eminence said, "I don’t understand the Internet, but especially young religious ought to enter blogs and correct the opinions of the youth, showing them the true Jesus.”

There's the challenge! The aereopagus of today is no longer a physical place, but a "cyber location". Young people (and not so young) thrive on the anonymity the internet offers to ask the deeper questions that they fear secular society would ridicule them over, should they ask them "in person". Clergy and religious should make themselves available on the internet so that these people with genuine questions have a place they can go for answers.

All Saints Day in Alpha, NJ

Yesterday's Solemnity of All Saints saw a "first" at my parish. Inspired by a classmate in Rhode Island who does something similar at his parish, I put out a display of all the relics of Saints that I, my pastor, and the parish possess. Here are some pictures; first, the "far off" view:

And now, the "close up" view:

In all, there were the relics of 33 Saints of the Church: Agatha, Agnes, Albert the Great, Ambrose, Anselm, Anthony of Padua, Augustine, Bonaventure, Catherine Laboure, Charles Borromeo, Elizabeth Seton, Gregory the Great, James the Greater, Jerome, John Chrysostom, John Neumann, John of the Cross, John Vianney, Josemaria Escriva, Laurence, Leo the Great, Lucy, Maria Goretti, Monica, Philip Neri, Pio of Pietrelcino, Pope Pius V, Pope Pius X, Robert Bellarmine, Theresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Aquinas, and Vincent DePaul. Add to that the relics of Saints Clement and Perpetua which were encased in the altar on the day of their dedication in 1961, and a white zucchetto worn by the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II, and it was a great reminder of the "great cloud of witnesses" who spur us on to holiness.

A Tale of Two Cities

The front page of today's New York Times has a story about the town of Beit Shemesh, an ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Israel. The people who live there (about 32,000), including a fair number of migrants from western Europe and the United States, have chosen to live in this community where the town's Rabbinate Council makes sure that orthodox Judaism is strictly followed. And, in true unbiased journalistic fashion, the article's author simply reports the facts without putting in his personal opinions about approved kosher cell phones that block 10,000 "questionable" phone numbers, public transportation that segregates men from women, etc. The reporter writes that the Israeli market economy has adjusted to meet the needs of these people, and that politicians are paying attention to them because of the power they'll wield in national elections. According to the article, "Because they live in tight communities like this one, and obey their rabbis, they have significant power in the marketplace, as well as in the voting booth, said Rafi Melnick, dean of the Lauder School of Government at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya." These are Orthodox Jews committed to living their lives in a certain way. They live in a community with others who feel the same way. In the words of my deceased Jewish grandmother, "They should live and be well."

But...

Remember back in July when the town of Ave Maria, Florida, had a community "open house" to show prospective residents and merchants the residential and commercial properties available for people who wish to live amongst committed Roman Catholics?

If you're a late-comer to the world of Young Fogeys, or if you forgot, I wrote about it in a previous blog entry.

Remember the journalistic cynicism as they spoke about the town they labelled, "Bibleland"? Evidently, in the world of mainstream media, you can be an orthodox Jew, but not an orthodox Roman Catholic. Remember how the ACLU said they were going to be "watching this town very carefully"?

In the end, it is a tale of two cities. Two cities inhabited by people who want to live their lives following God in the way they believe He asks them to do so. They should both live and be well, no matter what anyone thinks.

Comedy Relief

This has nothing to do with the normal, "Church" topics that this blog usually features. But it's one of my favorite commercials.

For the "hockey ignorant", Daniel and Henrik Sedin are identical twin brothers who play on the Vancouver Canucks. Also, at the end when they talk about how much money they made, a "Looney" is a Canadian one dollar coin (because it has a Loon on it), and a "Tooney" is the Canadian two dollar coin (probably because it rhymes with "Looney" and has the obvious connection to "Looney Tunes").

More Plates, revisited

The other day I received a comment on the previous entry about the 300 Anglicans who are soon to be "swimming the Tiber" to be received into the Roman Catholic Church. The author of the comment, let's call him "Bob", wrote this to me (with my emphases added):

Father,

Yeah, well, prejudice has caused folks to leave places and institutions before; this isn't the first time, you realize. (Think about white flight in previously stable urban environments; white folks who had a streak of bigotry moved out when the first black family moved in. Same thing in many schools in the south and midwest; many whites started looking for private schools for their kids when the local public school integrated.) Fear of another group increasing in power or prestige (the priesthood does have prestige, in Anglican as well as Catholic culture) is nothing new. You can be against women's ordination all you want, but I don't see the point in patting people on the back simply because they're fearful of women having an important role in the Anglican church.

My best friend from high school/college is in seminary now to become an Episcopalian priest, and she will be a wonderful priest, a gifted priest, a priest who serves God as well as any man I know. And though you don't know her, I can assure you that there's no need for anyone (including those 300 soon-to-be former Anglicans) to be afraid of her. She's a woman. She'll be a priest. May God be served always. (Be not afraid!)

This line of thinking is nothing new: The "phobia" defense. It presumes that, if I disagree with someone or something, I must be against it because deep down inside of me I'm really afraid of it. I'm too shallow and incapable to disagree with something on an intellectual basis, so therefore any dissent from their beliefs must be rooted in some irrational fear.

Of course, that's nonsense. I can disagree with, for example, the civil government recognizing same sex unions, but it does not mean that I'm afraid of them (despite the fact that I will be labelled a "homophobe"). The three parishes who have asked for reunion with Rome do not appear to be "bigoted", "prejudiced" (which would be odd, especially since there are women amongst the membership of the reuniting parishes) or "afraid" of women. As the news article says, they feel the vote by the Anglican Church of Ireland to ordain women to the priesthood is "a defiance of scripture and tradition." In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, all three "legs of the stool" (Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterial teachings) point to a male ministerial Priesthood. That's no more bigoted than saying that history, experience, and biology all point to only females bearing children.

When former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey formally left the Roman Catholic Church and was received into the Episcopalian Church because of his disagreement over the Church's teachings on homosexuality, no one accused him of being "fearful" or "prejudiced" against the all male Roman Catholic clergy. Words like "courageous" were used. People applauded his "journey of faith" and wished him well. We should do the same for the "Irish 300".

Uh, oh. We're gonna need more plates.

The Independent, an newspaper in Ireland, has the story of three hundred Anglicans who are about to be received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Why did they leave the Anglican Communion? They left over their disagreement over the ordination of women. "But wait", you say, "I thought it's only the Roman Catholic Church that loses members over women's ordination?"

Read the story. The membership of these three parishes left the worldwide Anglican Communion because they're against women's ordination.

Video Killed The Radio Star

[Note: I have already written this blog entry once, but when I went to post it my computer froze up and I lost the whole entry. That was last night, and after a night of not speaking to my computer, my anger has abated. So here's my second attempt.]

My life is getting back to normal after my Rome trip. My formerly dirty clothes are clean and put away. The things that friends asked me to buy for them have been (or are in the process of being) delivered to them. The gifts I bought for people have been handed out. The pile of mail that built up while I was away has been sorted, read, tossed, and the bills paid. I'm just about back to staying up until my normal bedtime and I'm waking up at my normal wake-up time. I suppose I'm as normal as I'm ever going to be. So now I can write this blog.

While I was away, the man who is the engineer for my radio show, Al Femia, had some health issues. He's had some health concerns in the last year or so, but now they're getting serious. The bottom line is that his doctor advised him not to work anymore, so while I was way he decided to leave the diocese's employ. While sad, Al's departure shouldn't have been a major problem, because there's another employee of the diocese who has been working on the radio show alongside Al for about a year. She's at every recording session, and she's become quite the expert in editing and producing the show. So "momentary sadness, but life goes on", right? Uh, no.

When I returned from Rome I was informed that the diocese has decided that, not only aren't they planning on hiring any replacement for Al, but that they are stopping the funding for the airtime we buy on one of the two secular stations the show airs (WCTC 1450AM), and they want to stop broadcasting the show on the other secular radio station (AM1470 WSAN) and the Ave Maria radio network in Michigan. While no one has technically said, "We're ending the radio show", you obviously can't have a radio show without being on the radio. I was told that I could continue to make shows for eventual broadcast when the diocese updates its website to allow for on-demand streaming audio, but I've been begging them to do this for four years, and still it's not accomplished (that's why I purchased the Podbean account last July).

In my humble opinion (to use an analogy), the radio show has been denied nutrition and hydration, and I cannot see continuing the show in a "persistent, vegetative state." So, as best as I can tell, I think the deathwatch has begun for Proclaim the Good News.

I'm proud of what was accomplished in the four years and four months that I served as the show's host. The show aired on both the eastern and western side of the diocese, as opposed to just the eastern side when I began. For that I have to thank my parish's Holy Name Society, as well as the parish itself, for paying for the airtime. When I began, we couldn't do telephone interviews because we didn't have the technology. Starting about three years ago with Father Kevin Lixey of the Vatican's Office on Church and Sport, we used telephone interviews to bring the universal Catholic Church into our local diocesan show. For that, I send a big "thank you" to people like Their Eminences Avery Cardinal Dulles and Josef Cardinal Tomko, Archbishop John Foley (recently named by Pope Benedict to the College of Cardinals, though probably not because of my interview), Fathers Benedict Groschel, Joseph Fessio, and Fred Miller, Catholic apologists Jeff Cavins, Scott Hahn, and Steve Ray, actor Jon Voight, former Florida Marlins manager Jack McKeon, and all the other people who took time out of their lives to be interviewed on PGN.

Early on in my time as host and moderator of the show, I was asked to come up with one of those "mission statements" for the show. While mission statements often make me throw up a little in my mouth, it did force me to read the document "Inter Mirifica", the first decree issued by the Second Vatican Council, on the topic of social communications. Paragraph fourteen says that "Ample encouragement should be given to Catholic transmissions which invite listeners ... to share in the life of the Church and which convey religious truths." Could the Council Fathers, in 1963, have foreseen things like iPods and the Internet? Heck no. I'm sure they thought radio and television were the final frontier, but science and technology have given us a whole "undiscovered country" ripe for the New Evangelization. The potential is endless: on demand Catholic Apologetics; literally getting the Church's message into the ears of people. That's wild.

In 1998, when I was ordained, I never thought I'd work on a radio show. My friend and the show's former host, Fr. Guy Selvester, brought me in because he could call me the night before and say, "Let's do a show tomorrow about what the Pope said in his new encyclical." He'd come up with the questions, and I'd do a "cram study" session in an effort to learn what the Pope actually said! Well, I hope I've done my part to give my listeners shows that taught them something new with each episode.

What about me? Well, I'm still a Priest at a 1,900 family parish, and there's Masses and confessions and funerals and hospital visits, as well as both adult education and RCIA once a week. The more I think about it, the more I like Job's way of handling life's curveballs: "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Lord." I'll figure out what to do with the Podbean site, and what to do with the time I used to put into arranging for guests, writing scripts, and taping the interviews. I remember Johnny Carson's exit line on his last episode as host of The Tonight Show: "I hope, in the future, if I find something new to do that excites me, that you'll be as gracious as you've been in letting me into your homes." Ditto.

AP Series

The Associated Press is currently running a multi-day series on their 7-month investigation of the sexual abuse of minors by their teachers in public schools. You can see the first day of the article by clicking here.

Hopefully this will open the eyes of those who still persist in thinking that the sexual abuse of minors is "something only celibate males do in an oppressive church". Ladies and gentlemen, this is a cultural, societal problem! What are we doing about it?

S--A--TUR--DAY Night!

At 11:30pm tonight, my luggage came home from its Roman Holiday. I was going to be angry at it and ask, "Where the (*&)% have you been?", "Don't you know I was worried sick?"

But then I realized. It's just a suitcase.