Recently in Archdiocese of New York Category

Saint Joseph Seminary - Dunwoodie was the setting today for a clergy seminar on Natural Family Planning (NFP) sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York Family & Respect Life Offices, The Couple to Couple League International and with the generosity of others as well. Some 40 clergy types (priests, deacons and seminarians) attended. It was a blessing to have Dr Theresa Notare, Dr Kyle Beiter, Richard & Vicki Braun, Dr. Jack Burnham, Fr John Higgins, Andrew & Tracey Pappalrdo, and Erik & Anne Tozzi as presenters.

One assumes that The New York Times would have been glad to receive an Op-Ed article from the new Archbishop of New York. The Archdiocese of New York is responsible for a very important part of the city's educational, medical, and charitable life. The newspaper refused to print it. Such censorship only whets the appetite to know what was thought not fit to print. There are many items that the Times, which claims to publish everything that's fit to print, has printed although they were not fit. There were, for instance, its mockery in 1920 of Goddard's hypothesis that rocket propulsion can take place in a vacuum, a denial of Stalin's forced famine in Ukraine and a whitewash of his show trials by its Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty, its advocacy of Fidel Castro, and its benign regard for the Soviet spy Alger Hiss. So there had to be some journalistic equivalent of a cerebral stroke to make the editors of the Times unable to print Archbishop Dolan's words.

The cause of the apoplexy was the Archbishop's imputation of bigotry to the newspaper. His charge was not self-indulgent whining. He did not have to go back farther than a couple of weeks for examples. First, in reporting widespread child abuse in Brooklyn's community of Orthodox Jews, there was not the "selective outrage" which animates The New York Times against criminous Catholic clerics, whose numbers are in fact proportionally much smaller than other religious and professional groups. 

Then there was the sensational front-page publicity of a paternity suit involving a Franciscan friar, going back twenty-five years, and getting more space than the war in Afghanistan and genocide in Sudan. Headlines also claimed that the Pope was seeking to "lure" Anglicans into his fold, when in fact he was responding to a petition. Then a columnist invoked the Inquisition, portrayed the theology of priesthood as neurotic sexism, and even mocked the Pope's haberdashery. The Archbishop said that her prejudice, "while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850's, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today." While a free press is free to criticize, said the Archbishop, such criticism should be "fair, rational, and accurate." 

Hostility raised to such a pitch that journalistic standards are abandoned, is provoked by an awareness that the Catholic Church continues to be the substantial voice for classical moral standards and supernatural confidence amid the noise of a disintegrating behaviorist culture. A tabloid is still a tabloid even if its editors dress in tweeds. Churchill said, "No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." Not to worry. Christ promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church. He did not include The New York Times, 30% of whose work force has been laid off in the last year and a half. 

Fr. Rutler's Weekly Column as Pastor of the Church of Our Savior in New York City. This is from the November 8, 2009 bulletin

I would not have used the word "crusade" to describe responsible Catholic leadership but it does grab one's attention. The recent interchange between Archbishop Dolan and Maureen Dowd (and the NY Times) is not all that interesting: most with-it Catholics know and understand the archbishop to be correct in his assessment. The thesis is not original to the Archbishop. A book length exposition on anti-Catholic bias was done by Philip Jenkins in The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (OUP, 2003). Jenkins explores the liberal anti-Catholic bias and the reasons why many just accept it while the same can't be said in the Jewish and Muslim communities.

Any person paying attention to life is keenly aware that the question of priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church is on the front burner. It never seems to simmer. If you are like me, you have heard the various theories and histories of role of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood. Likewise, you may recall that in 2002 and immediately thereafter (until today in some places) the value of celibacy was questioned by some and reaffirmed by others.

Last night the 64th annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner was held at NY's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It is a fundraising dinner (with the pretty people in attendance). Monies donated at this dinner support a variety of NY charities concerning medical care for the poor, children and under served. The beneficiaries are all very worthy works of charity (mercy).

Tonight, in the context of the Sacrifice of the Mass, Bishop Robert A. Brucato, auxiliary of bishop New York, received the Candidacy for Holy Orders of 18 men. This is an official step in declaring one's intention to be ordained with the approval of the bishop or major religious superior. The breakdown of candidates is as follows:

9 for the Archdiocese of New York and 1 for the Diocese of Bridgeport

7 for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and 1 for the Idente Missionaries of Christ Crucified.

Pray for all of us preparing for priesthood.

If you are interested, the rite follows.

The Rite of Admission to Candidacy follows the homily.

Calling of the Candidates

Examination

My sons, the pastors and teachers in charge of your formation, and others who know you, have given a favorable account of you, and we have full confidence in their testimony.

The bishop asks two questions for the candidates:

In response to the Lord's call are you resolved to complete your preparation so that in due time you will be ready to be ordained for the ministry of the Church? The candidates answer: I am.

The bishop:

Are you resolved to prepare yourselves in mind and spirit to give faithful service to Christ the Lord and his body, the Church?  The candidates: I am.

Acceptance of the Candidates

The Church receives your declaration with joy. May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment. All: Amen.

Invitation to Prayer

Brothers and sisters, let us ask our God and Lord to pour out his grace and blessing on these servants of his who desire to give their lives to the ministry of the Church.

Intercessions

Concluding Prayer

Lord, hear our prayers for your sons who wish to dedicate themselves to your service and the service of your people in the sacred ministry.

Bless them + in your fatherly love, that they may persevere in their vocation, and through their loving fidelity to Christ the Priest be worthy to carry out the Church's apostolic mission. We ask this through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

The life we lead is based on the influences we have. For some, like Father George Rutler, John Newman and John Vianney are two such influences. George Rutler, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and pastor of the Church of Our Saviour (NYC) gave the Terrence Cardinal Cooke Theology Lecture tonight at Saint Joseph's Seminary. Himself a convert, author, TV personality tried to dispel the florid presentations of the saint which detach reality from the soul. John Vianney (8 May 1786 - 4 August 1859) knew himself well as a farm boy who desired to serve the Lord as a priest in love. What ought to be resisted when thinking about Vianney is sugar coating his ministry and manner of living. His was not a life akin to pouring molasses on roast beef. The saint, in Catholic theology and as reminded by Rutler, is a person who shows us that living the gospel is possible, that conversion is possible, that real, self-giving love is possible because the saint shows us Christ. And since Christianity is not speculation but fact, the fact of the saint is a testament to the reality of Christ today.

Twenty-six years ago today God called Terrence James Cardinal Cooke, 62, to Himself. Under the motto of "Thy Will be Done" and at the age of 47, he was nominated archbishop of New York, succeeding Cardinal Spellman. The Cardinal lived his life in dedication to the Lord, often quiet and formal. His cause for canonization was introduced in 1992 and named a Servant of God by Pope John Paul II.

Almighty and eternal Father, we thank you for the exemplary life and gentle kindness of your son and bishop, Terence Cooke. If it be your gracious will, grant that the virtues of your servant may be recognized and provide a lasting example for your people. We pray through Our Lord Jesus Christ your son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.