Hurricane prayers

My pal Fr. Guy answers your "who do I pray to?" questions at his blog, Omniapost.

Matthew 7:25

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd be typing: After experiencing an earthquake this past week, I now get ready to get myself and the buildings and grounds of St. Lawrence parish through tomorrow's hurricane.

But what about the people? There's really not much for me to do for them now; That's what government and public safety is for. People are "Doin' what they gotta do" (as we say in New Jersey): shopping, putting things away, even evacuating some places. Once the storm has passed, that's when the Church goes to work, helping those who have suffered any losses.

As the one who signs the checks to pay the bills here, it kills me that this storm arrives on a Saturday afternoon and continues through Sunday afternoon. Another weekend we'll lose a collection we need to pay bills (not to mention any repairs that may be necessary from hurricane damage). I ask anyone reading this, who will not be able to make Mass at their parishes this weekend, to "double dip" next weekend, and give two week's worth of contributions next weekend. And, if you were planning on blowing off Mass because of Labor Day weekend next weekend, then you've got to "triple dip" the weekend after that!

But, as the one who is shepherd of souls for this parish community, I ask all of you reading this to use common sense. IT IS NOT "FUN" OR "HEROIC" TO DRIVE THROUGH A HURRICANE-LEVEL STORM TO GO TO MASS; IT IS SELFISH AND FOOLISH. You not only put yourself and any passengers in the car at risk, but also the emergency service volunteers who will have to go out into the storm to rescue you, should something bad happen. Stay indoors. Pray. Read the Sunday Scriptures. Pray a Rosary as a family. Download some hymns from iTunes.

Remember, a hurricane is just a warm blizzard. Treat it appropriately.

Your mission this week

Watch for (any) mainstream media coverage of World Youth Day. See the contrast between the angry youth of the English riots/looting with the participants of WYD.

See if the media tries to draw comparisons.

A personal pondering: Is proficiency prevented by pudge?

Last week the Governor of New Jersey had an asthma attack, something he has kept under control for a number of years. Smelling blood (or maybe his breath, I suppose), the national media moved in to dogmatically declare a flaw in a potential Chris Christie run for the Presidency.

Said nicely, he has "health issues". The underlying message which you got, once the media included pictures of the Governor's girth: "He's too fat to be President".

Not a day later, the L.A. Times opined about Governor Christie: "Is America ready for a President who, frankly, doesn't look healthy?" O.K., let's start by getting the sarcastic replies out of the way:

• "Really, and how did a bodybuilder governor work out for you, California?"
• "Are we really striving for a President whose waist size matches the unemployment rate?"
• "Hey, California, 37 million people in your state you could've voted for and you brought back Jerry Brown. Seriously?"

This is just another passive-aggressive tactic of the liberal, democratic biased mainstream media. Their signal to let everyone start to pounce on Governor Christie. Leno, go to work. Conan, do your thing. Piers Morgan, well, no one really watches you anyway. Hey, maybe Tina Fey can put on a fat suit and try to do to Christie what she did to Sarah Palin? Maybe they can just refurbish the fat jokes they used on Ted Kennedy. Oh wait, they left his waistline alone.

Sad but true, the same bias exists in ecclesial circles. From the moment we're seminarians, we learn very quickly there's another evaluation going on besides academic or intellectual ability. I'll say it: Seminarians (and later Priests) are judged on their physical looks. I can remember getting off a bus with other seminarians during the 1996 visit of Pope John Paul to Baltimore. As we stepped off, a Priest pulled some guys out of the line and put them by themselves. We wondered what was happening? We found out: He needed seminarians to be interviewed on TV about the Papal visit, and was picking guys based on their looks (we knew this because the guys chosen looked like a GQ cover shoot; not a zit between the 5 or 6 of them). Nevermind some of these guys had never read any of the Pope's encyclicals; I'd bet some of them couldn't even spell "papal"! It carries through into Priesthood. If you're thin, somehow the judgment is made that you're a good, successful Priest, without anyone ever checking to see if they spend more time worrying about their looks than the parish to which they're assigned. If you're fat, the presumption is made that you've got something wrong with you. Hindsight, though, is always wonderfully honest in this regard. Nothing is less surprising in the Church then when a bella-figura Priest drops off the radar or announces he's leaving, the moment he's not the center of attention anymore. A well known example of this in recent history is the story of a young priest who had to be literally begged by a bishop (now retired) to become his secretary. The young man had a condition: he'd take the job only if, after a few years, he'd be allowed to go for further studies in Rome. The Bishop ok'ed it, and the young priest served as secretary, and then was sent to Rome. When he finished his studies and returned home to his diocese in the northeast, he found he couldn't function. He missed Rome, and in particular, a young Italian man he met while studying theology on his diocese's dime. When last heard from he was living in Europe with his special friend and teaching English to foreigners.

The truth will come as no shock that Governor Christie's brain is separate from his stomach. His ability to make decisions and lead has nothing to do with what he has for lunch... or dinner... or as a snack at 11pm. The same rings true for Priests. This is nothing more than schoolyard bullying modified for grown-ups who never, well, grew up. You want to wish he would lose weight so he can feel healthier? That's fine. But to say he shouldn't be President because he can't say no to Yodels or because Americans don't want to see a President with some meat on him insults both him and all of us.

R.I.P. - Virgilio Cardinal Noë

The Vatican Information Service reported the death of Cardinal Noë yesterday at the age of 89. His Eminence had served as Papal Master of Ceremonies under Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and II, before being made Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica and created a Cardinal in 1991. He retired in 2002.

I first met the Cardinal in 1995, when my home parish made a pilgrimage to Rome. I was able to serve as Master of Ceremonies for a Mass he celebrated for our pilgrimage group at the Altare Alla Tomba. A few times after that initial meeting, I stopped in on him for visits on subsequent trips to Rome. He was always a gentle and kind man, gracious to me and the friends who came with me to visit.

May he rest in peace.

What's it worth?

These crazy days of 100+ degree weather meant that I spent a little more time than normal sitting in my air conditioned room watching TV. When some form of Law & Order was not on, I watched some of this new wave of shows:

Pawn Stars - the story of a family run pawn shop in Las Vegas, and the things that people think are valuable enough to sell.

Auction Hunters - two guys who travel around, bidding low on abandoned storage units and hoping to find treasures inside to sell high.

American Pickers - two more guys who travel around to meet people who've amassed all sorts of stuff, hoping to buy some of it from them to sell others at a higher price.

The Gospel this weekend fit right into these shows, as Jesus gave 3 parables about treasure. The first two parables compliment each other: the first guy finds the treasure by accident; he wasn't expecting it and suddenly there it is. The second guy knows what treasure he's looking for, and has spent his life looking for perfection before he finally finds it. In both cases, Jesus says the same thing: each guy "sells all that he has" to purchase their respective treasures. A great question for us. Would we be so bold to make that kind of commitment to gain a treasure?

What about the treasure of our faith? The opening prayer of today's Mass has the great line, "God our Father and protector, without you nothing is holy, nothing has value"(the better translation is nothing is "worthwhile", but "value" works better for my train of thought). It makes sense; we'll pay more for something that we want more (that's why air conditioners cost more this time of year than snow blowers!). So, I suppose, the first question to be asked is, "Is our faith a 'treasure' in our eyes?" Is it precious? valuable? something to be protected and guarded?

What are we willing to pay (or give up) for our treasure? Will we give our time for it? This should be easy, our time costs relatively nothing. Will we give time to God each day? Do I give God time in mental prayer? Do I give God time each week by my Mass attendance? As a Priest, do I freely give the Church my time with the Breviary? Do I see it as something I have to do or as something I have to "get over with" so I can do something else? The same with Mass; Do I celebrate/participate at Mass because I "have" to, or because I "want" to? Is Mass an encounter with God to be treasured, or some kind of spiritual jury duty I want to get out of as soon as possible? Too many of the laity, most particularly this time of year, simply blow off Mass. Mass is unimportant to them, and therefore not really a treasure. It's sad, really, the way they don't see any need to give God part of their time, and yet when their life falls apart they expect the Church to give of her time telling them they did nothing wrong. No, God didn't care that you missed Mass because your children play summer baseball, soccer, or compete in martial arts or cheerleading. You just keep on reinforcing these twisted priorities in your child's head; they'll come in handy later on when you're in a nursing home desperate for visitors and little Bobby or Betty have Yankee tickets.

So what is our faith worth to us? If you had to have your faith appraised, what would you be able to show the appraiser to get him to up the value? This week's Gospel (along with the past 2 weekends) asked us to consider God's presence in the world and our response to Him.

A Week in the Life of a Priest

YouTube has this great video produced by the Archdiocese of Sydney (and featuring their Vocation Director).

Sandro Magister on "how it happened"

Italian Vaticanista journalist Sandro Magister, writing about today's appointment of Archbishop Chaput on his Chiesa blog, seems to give the backstory of who else was in consideration. An interesting read, check it out HERE.

Abp. Chaput to Philadelphia

This morning's appointment of Archbishop Chaput to the See of Philadelphia has been announced by every Catholic journalist and blogger... AND NOW is finally official because of the announcement by Rome.

John Allen has what may be the first interview with the Archbishop about the move east. It's available by following this LINK to the website of the National Catholic Reporter.

(See, I can link to the NCR and not get the cooties! By the way, the picture was taken in 2000)

Whoa!

Today I received in the mail an advance copy ofThe Word Among Us' Advent edition. Last Advent I bought copies for parishioners so they could have something extra for their Advent preparations.

Besides the daily meditations, the booklet also has an insert with the daily Mass readings, as well as the Mass parts. This year it means the new translation, and it's odd to see it in print in something so familiar as The Word Among Us.

I read through the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer, and all I could say was "Whoa!".

Big posters on the wall of the Mount

Two weeks ago, I was on retreat at my alma mater, Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The seminary organizes this annual retreat for alumni (though any Priest is welcome), which gives us the chance to roam the halls, campus, and vicinity as we did when we were students.

On a bulletin board in the hallway which contains faculty offices, two large posters were on a bulletin board. I took pictures of them, and I think you can click to enlarge them.

The Gospel of Matthew 11:25-30

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. ...
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus (1883)

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Fr. Corapi and the bigger issue

For Priests of my generation, Fr. Corapi has been a well-known figure. A frequent face on EWTN, we are used to getting his name mentioned to us by regular church-goers. "I love watching Father Corapi" is something we're all used to hearing.

Maybe that's why I've always had a small amount of resentment towards him.

It's not about his shows. I can honestly say I have never really sat through a Fr. Corapi TV show, but from what I have seen and heard his stuff is pretty orthodox. His voice has always seemed a bit "over the top", but no more than other Priests and Deacons I've known that have a "Mass voice" and a "Regular voice". The truth is his voice has always reminded me of the public speaking voice of Jim McGreevey, and I think anyone who has heard both of them speak from behind a podium will attest to this. What I resented about Father C. is probably the same resentment infantry soldiers have towards fighter pilots: While infantry soldiers are "on the ground" fighting for every square inch of ground to gain in the battle, the pilots take off from someplace behind the battle lines, fly over, drop a few bombs, then go back to land at the safe spot. To some extent, it's easy to be orthodox if you have gigs like this. You show up at an event. Your audience is almost completely those who feel the same way as you do, you make them laugh, get serious, tell Catholics what the liberals are doing wrong, say Mass, sign some autographs, and you're done and out of the town 6 hours after you arrived. Oh yeah, and you get paid, not only for being there, but for all the tapes, books, CDs, and DVDs people are encouraged to buy.

When this is all said and done, my hunch is that it's not going to be about sex, it's going to be about money. This guy lives on a ranch in Montana. Once I went searching for information on his website about the possibility of having him speak in a parish I was assigned to at the time. The fee was something like $3,000, beside his expenses (travel to and from Montana, which can't be cheap).

The latest blog entry I heard is that his religious superior asked him to stop living alone in Montana and live in community with other clergy. This Fr. Corapi refused to do, and this is where his abandonment of the Priesthood stems.

This is the Priesthood epidemic of our age: Priests owning property. Secular (diocesan) priests certainly can own property, they make no actual vow of poverty as those entering religious life do. Those who do have another place have it for varieties of very legitimate reasons: Perhaps they inherited the home or money when their parent(s) passed away. Some saved money for years and perhaps share ownership with another priest or with family members. Some were able to buy the place at a significantly reduced price from an older Priest whose health now prevents him from using the home. I don't want this in any way to appear as if I'm saying the Priest acquired the house through illegal means (that's a whole other conversation). I'm simply talking, in this case, about diocesan priests who own private property.

In my humble opinion, the danger is this: This situation is radioactive; it may not affect them at once, but little by little, over a period of time, it has the potential to do so. The house can slowly change the way the Priest thinks about his life as a Priest in the Roman Catholic Church. How does it show itself? A Priest with a private home doesn't want to be assigned too far away from that home, so there goes his flexibility in assignments. Suddenly, besides the normal considerations, the house is a factor in where to exercise ministry. Priests are allowed a day or day-and-a-half off. Is that enough time spent in their retreat? A priest who owns another home soon finds that his day off expands to two days, then more (I know of a Priest who would leave his parish after his Sunday Masses, and then return on Wednesday morning). Another question to ask: Do his neighbors know he's a priest? Not that he has to put a blinking neon sign on the door, but has he deliberately gone out of the way to hide the fact that he is a priest? Some of my brothers, I fear, see the house as an "alternate reality", one in which they stop being priests in their minds the moment they enter this house. This place becomes their "home", while the rectory and parish they're assigned to as a spiritual father simply becomes the place they "work". If Bishops want to tackle the next great problem, here's where to start digging. Find out how many of your priests own or rent a private home.

In their defense, a little honesty here. I actually do envy those who do have their own apartment/condo/townhouse/home. So much in our priesthood is out of our control. One never knows, when you're going downstairs for a cup of coffee, who will be sitting in your kitchen. Some Parochial Vicars (Associate Pastors) live with Pastors who make it abundantly clear that they are only "borders" in the house, and that everything from having guests, to putting things on the shopping list, to inviting people for meals, must be run past the Pastor. So much of what we "have" is not really ours. You can see how the idea of having a place that no Bishop can take us away from with one phone call is inviting; we Priests love to "nest". The danger is in how much of our time does it occupy? How much does it factor in our commitment to obedience? If we choose it over our Priesthood, then there will be more Father Corapi's down the road.

A Priest on "Father's Day"

With Father’s Day upon us, I’d like to share a poem I read in a book of talks given by Archbishop Tim Dolan. This comes from his book, Priests for the Third Millennium. He concludes a talk on parish priesthood with a poem published in The Priest magazine, written about the fatherhood of the priest:

Who are you, man of Mystery, our Father?

By what arrogance do you approach the Holy –

offering your manliness to mate with Sacred Spouse,

and vowing with such singular abandonment

to wed yourself to Holy Mother Church

and so with her, in promiscuity divine, the seeds of Life?

Or can it be that, led by ceaseless calling,

summoned by the Matchmaker who serves the cause of Love,

pursued by the Relentless One, you have succumbed -

and so it is submission which, to unholy eyes, appears presumption?

How is it that, child-free, you are our Father?

Is it that you daily bear God’s children?

Is it that, with human voice, you speak a Father’s Word?

Is it that you, fasting and breaking fasts, call us to supper

and gather us at table for meal of Bread and Wine?

Or that you celebrate our rites of passage,

advising, chastising, baptizing us with water and with fire?

Is it that you lift us in prayer, holding,

embracing and blessing as only a Father might?

Or that you hear our calling in the dark

and come to take our hand and light a light –

Or, in your priestly parenting,

you come anointing, pointing the way past death to life?

Who are you, man of Mystery, our Father?

You’ve wed yourself to Holy Mother Church and, everywhere,

you sow with her, in promiscuity divine, the seeds of Life.

You bear and speak and feed, you shape and renew

and heal and bless as only a Father can do.

And so we, on this Father’s Day, your untold children, grateful, pray,

“May life and Holy Spouse and God bless you.”

Tony Blair on children

I'm in the midst of reading Tony Blair's memoirs. This part made me laugh out loud:

"As things settled down a little, I took a break in Tuscany ... I had a great time with [his youngest son] Leo, able to spend proper moments with him. At five years old, he was getting to that fascinating age where you can almost see the brain sprouting forth. Except to the doting parents, babies are frankly pretty boring - sweet and cuddly, but still a bit inanimate, if you see what I mean. From about age three onwards, they get interesting and remain like that up to around twelve, when the dark mists of hell envelop them. Unbelievably, they emerge again as semi-civilized human beings around the age of twenty, you stop thinking you are a bad parent or there is genetic delinquency in the family, and realise they are still your children and you love them. There are exceptions, of course, but that's my experience." (pg. 525)

Reflection on the Priesthood by St. Norbert

On the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood, Norbert said, "O Priest! You are not yourself because you are God. You are not of yourself because you are the servant and minister of Christ. You are not your own because you are the spouse of the Church. You are not yourself because you are the mediator between God and man. You are not from yourself because you are nothing. What then are you? Nothing and everything. O Priest! Take care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: 'He saved others, himself he cannot save!'"

Has it really been?

I know, I promised I would write more on this little blog. Today, though, marks a new step in the life of my blogging. I'm writing is from balmy Orlando, Florida, on my new "toy", an iPad.

Since 2005, I've always been able to get away from the parish sometime on the 2nd week of Easter. It started when some of us were still Parochial Vicars, and so time off on the first week of Easter was usually reserved for our Pastors. This also worked out well with the schedule down in Orlando, which tended to be super crowded when schools were off, either Holy Week or Easter Week. This year, though, Easter was extraordinarily late, and the 2nd week of Easter was actually the first week of May. In looking at the calendar, with religious education over for the year and 1st Communion and May Crowning out of the way, I was able to get down.

So there you go, a blog entry from an undisclosed location. I'm here on the blogosphere, and now it doesn't matter where "here" is.

Bishop Conley on the new Mass translation

Click HERE for a transcript (provided by Zenit News Service) of an address by Bp. James Conley, auxiliary of Denver - and alumnus of Mount St. Mary's Seminary. Here are some appetite-whetting quotes:

In Advent, we are going to introduce a major new English translation of the Mass with the third typical edition of the Roman Missal.

What are Catholics in the pews going to make of the changes in the words they pray and the words they hear the priest praying? Will the changes make any difference in their experience of the Mass? In the way they worship? In the way they live their faith in the world?

This new edition of the Missal is the Church’s gift to our generation. It restores the ancient understanding of the Eucharist as a sacred mystery. It renews the vertical dimension of the liturgy — as a spiritual sacrifice that we offer in union with the sacrifice that our heavenly High Priest celebrates unceasingly in the eternal liturgy.

First Holy Communion rant

That's probably a bad title, because what I'm about to tell you can easily be seen at other church events. Pick one: wedding, confirmation, baptism, funeral. It's there.

Look at the irony: we spend weeks teaching the 2nd grade children that the Eucharist is an amazing gift from God, and that every church has the Eucharist kept in the Tabernacle, and that, when we are in the presence of the Tabernacle, that Jesus can see and hear us and we can speak to him. We teach them that the day they receive their 1st Holy Communion will be a truly special day, and that they should behave in a way that shows they understand it is a special day. We rehearse them to walk in a solemn procession, to keep their hands folded together in a prayerful gesture, to stand and sit and kneel at the proper times, to receive the Blessed Sacrament properly (either tongue or hand), and then to go back to their seat and reflect on that great gift in silence. Of course, we tell them not to spend the Mass speaking to the children on either side of them.

Then, the day of the Mass comes. The kids are fine. The grown ups? THEY SUCK!

I'll leave it at that.

Priests can relate

Some go for the stunning sunset, but there is no more magnificent sight to behold than an empty parking lot, that only a week before was loaded with cars because of CCD.

Excuse me, I need a tissue.