Paul Zalonski: October 2009 Archives

Biblicum.jpgHere's Benedict XVI's October 26, 2009 address to the professors, students and staff of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, on the centenary of its foundation. Carefully note the key points the Pope raises for the authentic study of Scripture as Catholics!

Cardinals, Most Reverend Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, Illustrious Rector, Illustrious Professors and Beloved Students of the Pontifical Biblical Institute

I am delighted to meet with you on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of your Institute, desired by my holy predecessor Pius X, in order to establish in the city of Rome a center of specialized studies on sacred Scripture and related disciplines.

I greet with deference Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, whom I thank for the courteous words he addressed to me on your behalf. I likewise greet the superior-general, Father Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, and I am happy to take the opportunity given to me to express my sincere gratitude to the Society of Jesus, which, not without notable effort, deploys financial investments and human resources in the management of the faculty of the Ancient East, the Biblical faculty here in Rome, and the headquarters of the Institute in Jerusalem.

I greet the rector and professors, who have consecrated their life to study and inquiry in constant listening to the Word of God. I greet and thank the staff, employees and workers for their appreciated collaboration, as also the benefactors who have made available and continue to make available the necessary resources for maintaining the structures and activities of the Pontifical Biblical Institute. I greet the former students united spiritually to us at this moment, and I greet you especially, beloved students, who come from every part of the world.

One hundred years have gone by since the birth of the Pontifical Biblical Institute. In the course of this century, it has certainly increased interest in the Bible and, thanks to Vatican Council II, especially the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum -- of whose elaboration I was a direct witness, participating as theologian in the discussions that preceded its approval -- there is much greater awareness of the importance of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.

This has fostered in Christian communities a genuine spiritual and pastoral renewal, which above all has affected preaching, catechesis, the study of theology and ecumenical dialogue. Your Pontifical Institute has made its own significant contribution to this renewal with scientific biblical research, the teaching of biblical disciplines and the publication of qualified studies and specialized journals. In the course of the decades several generations of illustrious professors have succeeded one another -- I would like to remember, among others, Cardinal Bea -- who formed more
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 than 7,000 professors of sacred Scripture and promoters of biblical groups, as also many experts now present in an array of ecclesiastical services, in every region of the world.

Let us thank the Lord for this activity of yours that is dedicated to interpreting the biblical texts in the spirit in which they were written (cfr Dei Verbum, 12), and that opens to dialogue with the other disciplines, and with many cultures and religions. Although it has known moments of difficulty, it has continued in constant fidelity to the magisterium according to the objectives themselves of your institute, which arose in fact "ut in Urbe Roma altiorum studiorum ad Libros sacros pertinentium habeatur centrum, quod efficaciore, quo liceat, modo doctrinam biblicam et studia omnia eidem adiuncta, sensu Ecclesiae catholicae promoveat" (Pius PP. X, Litt. Ap. Vinea electa (May 7, 1909): AAS 1 (1909), 447-448).

Dear friends, the celebration of the centenary is an end, and at the same time a point of reference. Enriched by the experience of the past, continue on your way with renewed determination, aware of the service to the Church required of you, to bring the Bible closer to the life of the People of God, so that it will be able to address in an adequate way the unheard of challenges that modern times pose to the new evangelization. It is the common desire that sacred Scripture become in this secularized world, not only the soul of theology, but also the source of spirituality and vigor of the faith of all believers in Christ.

May the Pontifical Biblical Institute continue, therefore, growing as a high quality ecclesial center of study in the realm of biblical research, making use of modern methodologies and in collaboration with specialists in dogmatic theology and in other theological areas; may it ensure a careful formation in sacred Scripture to future priests so that, making use of the biblical languages and of the various exegetical methodologies, they will be able to have direct access to biblical texts. In this regard, the already mentioned dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum has stressed the legitimacy and necessity of the historical-critical method, reducing it to three essential elements: attention to literary genres; study of the historical context; examination of what is usually called Sitz im Leben. The conciliar document maintains firm at the same time the theological character of exegesis, indicating the strong points of the theological method in the interpretation of the text. This is so because the foundation on which theological understanding of the Bible rests is the unity of Scripture, and this assumption corresponds, as methodological way, to the analogy of the faith, that is, to the understanding of the individual texts from the whole.

The conciliar text adds a further methodological indication. Scripture being only one thing starting from the one People of God, which has been its bearer throughout history, consequently to read Scripture as a unit means to read it from the Church as from its vital place, and to regard the faith of the Church as the real key to interpretation. If exegesis also wishes to be theology, it must acknowledge that the faith of the Church is that form of "sim-patia" without which the Bible remains as a sealed book: Tradition does not close access to Scripture, but rather opens it; on the other hand, the decisive word in the interpretation of Scripture corresponds to the Church, in her institutional organizations. It is the Church, in fact, which has been entrusted with the task of interpreting authentically the Word of God written and transmitted, exercising her authority in the name of Jesus Christ (cfr Dei Verbum, 10).

Dear brothers and sisters, while thanking you for your pleasant visit, I encourage you to continue your ecclesial service, in constant adherence to the magisterium of the Church and assure each one of you the support of prayer, imparting to you from my heart, as pledge of divine favors, the apostolic blessing.

Here's the Rector's PIB Centenary.pdf for the 100 years' observance and the video clip of the papal audience.

Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez

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St Alphonsus Rodriquez.jpgI stand at the door and knock, says the Lord. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sit down to supper with him, and he with me.


O God, in the faithful service of our brother Alphonsus You have shown us the way to joy and peace. Make us ready and watchful companions of Jesus, who became the servant of all, and now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.


On the life of Saint Alphonsus Rodriquez is posted here.



In the 1990's while reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Jesuit, I came across his poem honoring Saint Alphonsus. It reads,








In honour of
St. Alphonsus Rodriquez
laybrother of the Society of Jesus

Honour is flashed off exploit, so we say;
And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shield
Should tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,
And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.
On Christ they do and on  the martyr may;
But be the war within, the brand we wield
Unseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,
Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.
Yet God (that hews mountain and continent, Earth, all, out;
who, with trickling increment,
Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more)
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca Alphonso watched the door.
The Pope's press officer, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, addressed issues regarding the forthcoming Apostolic Constitution on Personal Ordinariates for the Anglicans entering full communion with the Catholic Church this today:

There has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than "technical" reasons. According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision.

Cardinal Levada offered the following comments on this speculation: "Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me. The delay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references. The translation issues are secondary; the decision not to delay publication in order to wait for the 'official' Latin text to be published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis was made some time ago.

The drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currently Article VI of the Constitution:

§1 Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement "In June" are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of CIC can. 277, §1.

§2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.

This article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis. With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See."

Cardinal Levada said he anticipates the technical work on the Constitution and Norms will be completed by the end of the first week of November.

Blessed Angelo of Acri

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Bl Angelo of Acri.jpgSeek the Lord, and you will be blessed.


Loving Father, we give You thanks for Your servant Blessed Angelo of Acri. You made him a gift preacher and graced him with the ability to bring sinners back to You. Inspired by his example, and helped by his intercession, may Your power work in and through us and bring You glory.


On the life of Blessed Angelo

New York Encounter 2010

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Each year Communion & Liberation gathers for the National Diaconia over the ML King weekend.  In addition to prayer and Mass, there are the conferences and opportunity to meet friends and focus on the work of living the path proposed by Msgr. Giussani. All the events have the purpose of meeting Christ, working on the gift of holiness and deepening our companionship. No CL event is truly a CL event without a cultural component, hence, there number of public events will accompany this weekend. This is what we call "New York Encounter," the 'Rimini Meeting's little brother'. The proposed program is NY Encounter 2010.pdf; please consider the possibility of a weekend of culture and beauty in NYC.
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All powerful and ever-living God, You gave us an example of marvelous courage in the blessed martyrs Dominic and his companions. For the joy that was set before them they endured the cross, despising its shame. Grant by their prayers that, faithful to Your commandments, we may bring forth the fruits of unity and peace.


Born in Cork County, Ireland c. 1566 he entered the Society of Jesus in 1598 after working on the continent. His vocation was to be a professed Jesuit brother. Captured by the English who attempted to get Dominic to reject Christ, he was tortured and hanged under the charge of being a traitor. With 16 other Irish martyrs (non-Jesuits) Brother Dominic was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992. More on Blessed Dominic's life can be read here.
'Finish Your Life on the Cross': Spiritual Motherhood in Saint Catherine of Siena's Letters to Priests" by Sister Gabriella Yi, O.P was published in L'Osservatore Romano (August 12th-19th English edition). The author, Sister Gabriella Yi, O.P., is a member of the Congregation of St. Cecilia in Nashville, TN (also known as the Nashville Dominicans). A few times in the past I have posted some items on spiritual maternity and its necessity in the Church today, especially in the life of the priest.

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At the foot of the cross, in the heart of the redemption, Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted a "new motherhood of Mary," as he entrusted his mother to his beloved disciple and his beloved disciple to his mother. From this entrustment flows Our Lady's spiritual motherhood of each member of Christ's body, the Church, and especially her motherhood of his priests. Her maternal care for each priest was brought to our attention in a particular way by the Congregation for the Clergy's teaching that, in union with Mary, all women are invited to live out their vocation to spiritual motherhood by offering their prayers and sacrifices for the salvation of souls and the holiness of Christ's priests.

In his 1988 apostolic letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, Pope John Paul II speaks of motherhood and virginity as two important and related dimensions of a woman's vocation. He describes how the vocation to motherhood is inscribed in the very being of a woman: she is not only physically but also psychologically endowed with the capacity to create a space within herself for another human being. John Paul speaks of this as a special "entrustment" that God has made to woman; she has the beautiful privilege of bringing forth new life into the world by the generous use of her feminine gifts.

Even those called to a life of consecrated virginity are not excluded from this vocation to motherhood. For them, John Paul says, there is the possibility of "a different kind of motherhood: a motherhood 'according to the Spirit'." In the life of consecrated women, this motherhood "can express itself as concern for people, especially the most needy. . . ." John Paul is careful to point out that this concern for others on the part of consecrated women is motivated by spousal love for Christ. Just as natural motherhood is the fruit of the spousal love in marriage between husband and wife, spiritual motherhood is the fruit of the spousal love in religious life between the consecrated virgin and Christ.

What may come as a surprise to some is John Paul's insistence that spiritual motherhood is not limited to unmarried women: "And does not physical motherhood also have to be a spiritual motherhood, in order to respond to the whole truth about the human being who is a unity of body and spirit?" John Paul II evidently sees it as an important dimension of every woman's vocation.

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The doctor of the Church who most clearly articulates this vocation to spiritual motherhood is the 14th century Dominican tertiary Saint Catherine of Siena, who is perhaps best known for the prayers, sacrifices, and counsel she offered Pope Gregory XI in his decision to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome. In looking to her as a model of spiritual motherhood for priests, we discover that Catherine teaches not only by the example of her prayers and sacrifices, but also by the counsel she offers in her letters: "See that in everything you turn to Mary as you embrace the cross," "Make your home in the pulpit of the cross," and "Finish your life on the cross," encouraging her spiritual sons to identify themselves ever more closely with Christ the High Priest. Catherine's spiritual motherhood, as seen in these letters, offers us a rich source of inspiration as we enter into this "Year for Priests."

Catherine's letters to priests often include words of encouragement in times of difficulty, as she writes to Blessed Raymond of Capua, referring to herself in the third person: "I've heard from a servant of God who constantly holds you before God in prayer, that you have been experiencing tremendous struggles and that your spirit has been overtaken by darkness because of the devil's illusions and deceits." With this image of holding a soul before God in prayer, as a mother holding her child out so that its Father might take it up into his arms, Catherine reveals the maternal quality of her prayer. With a mother's intuition illumined by the Holy Spirit, she perceives the spiritual darkness he has fallen into and explains the enemy's tactics: "He wants to make you see the crooked as straight and the straight as crooked, and he does this to make you stumble along the way so you won't reach your goal." In the face of such diabolical attempts to impede his priestly ministry, Catherine assures Raymond, "But take heart. God has provided and will continue to provide for you, and his providence will not fail you." A priest's confidence is to be placed, not in himself, where it is sure to fail, but in God's providential care for him, especially in the form of his mother. As Our Lady's maternal love for her son embraced him from the moment of his Incarnation to his death on the cross, so, too, does her maternal love embrace his priests in her constant intercession for them. Thus, they can entrust their priestly hearts wholly to hers, especially in times of discouragement, as Catherine advises, "See that in everything you turn to Mary as you embrace the cross."

But it is not enough to embrace the cross-it must be mounted, as Catherine explains in her letter to Frate Bartolomeo Dominici: "After the fire of the Holy Spirit had descended on [the disciples], they mounted the pulpit of the blazing cross, where they felt and tasted the hunger of God's Son, his love for humankind." With this striking image, Catherine expresses the complete identification of Christ and his priests on the cross, blazing with the fire of divine charity, where they feel what he felt and taste what he tasted in his all-consuming love for us. Only from such a pulpit of divine charity do the words of priests wield supernatural power: "Then their words came forth as does a red-hot knife from a furnace, and with its heat they pierced their listeners to the heart and cast out the devils." Indeed, many of Catherine's own listeners were pierced to the heart, not only by her words, but also by those of the priests to whom she sent them in the pulpit of the confessional. Whether he is casting out devils in the confessional or at the altar, the pulpit of the cross is where the priest of Christ belongs, as Catherine implores, "So, my dearest son, I beg you-it is my will in Christ Jesus-make your home in the pulpit of the cross."

From this pulpit, a priest of Jesus Christ engages in a battle for souls, beginning with his own, which is why in her letter to Frate Ranieri Catherine urges, "I long to see you a real knight, fighting against every vice and temptation for Christ crucified with a true holy perseverance." With such chivalric imagery, she appeals to his masculine instincts for battle and adventure, as she continues, "For it is perseverance that is crowned. You know that victory is achieved by fighting and perseverance. In this life we are set as on a battlefield and we must fight courageously, not dodging the blows or retreating, but keeping our eyes on our captain, Christ crucified, who always persevered." Just as no soldier goes into battle at his own initiative, but solely at that of his captain, so too must a priest take his commands from Christ, who:

". . . didn't give up when the Jews said, 'Come down from the cross!' Nor did the devil or our ingratitude make him give up fulfilling the Father's command and our salvation. No, he persevered right up to the end, when he returned to the eternal Father with the victory he had achieved, the victory of having rescued humankind from darkness and given us the light of grace once again by conquering the devil and the world with all its pleasures. And it killed him: this Lamb took death for himself in order to give us life; by his dying he destroyed our death."

Finally, as no soldier dies for an abstraction he holds, but for a beauty he loves, so too must Christ's priests live and die for love of the beauty of his bride, the Church. Hence, Catherine concludes her letter to this priest simply with, "Finish your life on the cross."

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In these letters to Blessed Raymond of Capua and other priests, the voice of Saint Catherine of Siena as a spiritual mother is unmistakable. The authority with which she speaks is that of one whose spousal love for Christ united her so closely to him that his desire for the salvation of souls and the holiness of his priests has become her very own. As Catherine joins "that gentle mother Mary" in interceding for Christ's priests, she invites us to do the same. In light of the Congregation for the Clergy's document calling for spiritual mothers for priests and Pope Benedict XVI's dedication of the current year as a "Year for Priests," a rediscovery of this spiritual mother's letters to priests could not be more timely.

Blessed Benvenuta Bojani

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Lord, you gave Blessed Benvenuta the gifts of penance, prayer and humility. Through self-denial and contemplation on heavenly things may we too live in the Spirit and find rest and glory in you, the one God.

Born at Cividale in Friuli (Italy), Blessed Benvenuta Bojani, a consecrated virgin, and a Third Order Lay Dominican blossomed by a life of penance, prayer, and humility.
Bl Br Andre.jpgWhen I was a high school student at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, CT, I learned about Brother André but sadly the Brothers of Holy Cross didn't make too much of Brother André. I thought this was weird. The only saint candidate among the Brothers of Holy Cross and nothing much said to the students, faculty, alumni or benefactors. Really, knowing Brother André's story is to be filled with gratitude for the witness to simple, deep faith, the tenacity of his devotion and his virtue in the face of disappointment. Mind you, it is reported that he had a cold personality. A friend in Canada emailed me to tell me that Blessed André's cause for canonization is closer, elevation to the altars for God's praise and glory.

Brother André was born Alfred Bessette in 1845, the eighth of 12 children in a family in the farming village of St. Grégoire, 40 about miles southeast of Montreal. When Brother André died in January 1937, more than one million people filed past his coffin. It is estimated that ten million people have signed the petition calling for his sainthood and petitioning God to make desire possible.

About two weeks ago the Theological Commission for the Causes of Saints unanimously accepted the healing intercession of Blessed Brother André, the pious porter at the Collège Notre Dame; he later established Saint Joseph's Oratory and is credited with healing the sick, the lame and the blind. A commission of cardinals and bishops will now the Theological Commission's report on Brother André before recommending the cause for canonization to Pope Benedict XVI.

Blessed André is the latest Canadian to be studied for sainthood. If he's canonized he'll join a short of others. Besides the Northern American Martyrs, there's Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys and Saint Marie Marguerite d'Youville. There are 15 Blesseds waiting for their causes to be advanced.
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Zenit ran an interview the other about the recent development of possibilities of full communion of the Anglicans with Rome. The details of how this gesture of the Church has yet to be revealed by the Magisterium. Here is part of Karna Sawanson's interview with Monsignor William Stetson, secretary to the Ecclesiastical Delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the Pastoral Provision for former Episcopal priests. This part of the interview has to do with "personal ordinariates," the ecclesial structure proposed for living in the context of Anglican ways.


ZENIT: What is the aim of establishing the personal ordinariates? Why was the pastoral provision not sufficient?

Msgr. Stetson: The pastoral provision is merely an administrative process for preparing married, former Episcopal priests to be ordained as Catholic priests at the request of diocesan bishops. The new ordinariate will provide a canonical structure similar to a diocese for the pastoral care of lay faithful who convert from the Episcopal church

ZENIT: This canonical structure seems to respond directly to a petition made two years ago by the Traditional Anglican Communion, which has about 400,000 members worldwide. Do you see many or most of these members entering into communion with the Catholic Church through the personal ordinariate?

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Msgr. Stetson: The Traditional Anglican Communion is in reality a confederation of so-called dioceses located in many different countries; it is made up of priests and lay people and bishops. The Traditional Anglican Communion as such has never been part of the Anglican Communion under the Archbishop of Canterbury. What will happen to the dioceses in particular countries will depend on the decisions reached by the Catholic hierarchy in the respective countries together with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Their numbers are greater in Africa and Asia.

ZENIT: What will the process look like for Anglicans, especially priests and bishops, entering the Church through the ordinariate?

Msgr. Stetson: The Apostolic Constitution allowing for the creation of ordinariates in each country has not yet been issued. For this reason we do not know the nature of the process. I would anticipate that it will be similar to that used for the last 27 years by the Pastoral Provision here in the United States, and its counterpart in England (that did not, however, provide for parishes and liturgy, as in the United States.)

ZENIT: The Vatican announcement provided for the possibility of an Anglican ordinariate having seminarians, who are to be prepared alongside Catholic seminarians, "though the ordinariate may establish a house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Anglican patrimony." Would this include the possibility of marriage for these Anglican seminarians?

Msgr. Stetson: The specifics have not yet been made known on this question. At the very least I would assume that the seminarians would have to be both married and studying in an Anglican seminary at the time they sought to enter into full communion, and then continue studying for the priesthood in a Catholic seminary. They would have to be dispensed from the norm of celibacy on a case-by-case basis by the Holy See. Future seminarians would have to be celibate.

ZENIT: What other traditions will the Anglicans retain when they enter the Catholic Church by way of the personal ordinariate?

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Msgr. Stetson: Small parishes that allow for greater cohesion together. A rich tradition of liturgical expression (language, music, vestments, space, etc.) in English, dating back to the 16th century. This would also include a great tradition of the use of sacred Scripture in preaching, love for the Fathers of the Church and theological expression beyond that of Roman Catholic scholasticism.

ZENIT: Why is the Vatican able to offer this concession only to Anglicans, and not Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc., who would like to enter the Church?

Msgr. Stetson: Anglicans have always enjoyed a special place in Roman Catholic attitudes toward the rupture of Christian unity in the West after the 16th century. The Church of England sought to retain many elements of the Catholic Church while at the same time being Protestant. The Church of England maintained a greater unity within itself and thus could be dealt with as a single entity in conversations with Rome.

Be united with one another, and God will bless you.  But let it be by the charity of Jesus Christ, for any union which is not sealed by the blood of Our Savior cannot perdure.  It is therefore in Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ that you ought to be united with one another.  The Spirit of Jesus Christ is a spirit of union and of peace.  How can you attract people to Christ if you are not united with one another and with him?

Saint Vincent de Paul
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O God, Who through Thy blessed Apostles Simon and Jude, has brought us unto the knowledge of Thy Name, grant us both to celebrate their eternal glory by making progress in virtues and by celebrating their glory to advance in virtue.

Blessed Bonaventure of Potenza

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Lord, Your strength gives joy to the just. They greatly delight in Your saving help. You have granted them their heart's desire.


Almighty God, You have made blessed Bonaventure Illustrious in the virtue of obedience and in love for neighbor. Through his prayers and example grant us to comply with Your precepts, to rejoice in spirit, and to advance on the way of perfection.


Blessed Bonaventure's bio

Saint John of Capistrano

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St John Capistrano.jpgThey sang, O Lord, Your holy name and praised in unison Your conquering hand.

God, our Father, You raised up in Saint John to strengthen the faithful in a time of stress. Establish us in Your safe protection and keep Your Church in lasting peace.


Poor Saint John gets associated with the migration of the swallows. How unfortunate to have your life and life's project get linked with the fowl. There is always a back story. He studied law, a civil servant, was married but the marriage was annulled with the wife's permission because as it was never consummated, a priest, a very effective preacher, healer and reformer and ecclesial servant. A disciple of Saint Bernardine of Siena and therefore had a devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus and promoted it. See the Wiki article on Saint John and Catholic encyclopedia article on him is here. A Franciscan hagiographical piece on the saint is noted here. Reading all this I'd say the birds didn't reveal the saint's importance.

Saint Peter of Alcantara

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May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through it the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Almighty God, You were pleased to distinguish Saint Peter with the gift of remarkable penance and lofty contemplation. May his merits help us to mortify our bodies so that we may deserve to share in the gifts of heaven.

He did what we are encouraged to do today: preach on the Prophets and Wisdom books of the Bible. The Catholic encyclopedia's entry on Saint Peter may be found here and the Wiki article may be read here.

Leaning on the Master

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I frequently stand in awe of people who, like Pope Benedict, can draw my attention to the essentials of faith, reason and culture. His audience on Wednesday where he speaks about St. Bernard is one of these instances because he shows me the beauty of St. Bernard, the purpose of theology study, life with the saints, and why we have to suffer some things for the Kingdom. For example, the Pope offers a corrective in my work as a seminarian.

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Here are a few germane sentences with emphasis added: In one place in the talk Pope says: "Faith is above all an individual and intimate encounter with Jesus; it means experiencing His closeness, His friendship and His love." He continues "St. Bernard, solidly based on the Bible and on the Fathers of the Church, reminds us that without a profound faith in God, nourished by prayer and contemplation, by a profound relationship with the Lord, our reflections on the divine mysteries risk becoming a futile intellectual exercise, and lose their credibility. Theology takes us back to the "science of the saints," to their intuitions of the mysteries of the living God, to their wisdom, gift of the Holy Spirit, which become the point of reference for theological thought."

And given that I think there's much discussion in a seminary work, sometimes too much discussion, I am leaning St. Bernard as he says, "but perhaps He can be sought better and found more easily with prayer than with discussion. We put an end here to the book, but not to the search." 

(Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday General Audience, October 21, 2009) 

It is a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism and a total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism. Indeed, it is a final rejection of Anglicanism. It basically interprets Anglicanism as a spiritual patrimony based on ethnic tradition rather than substantial doctrine and makes clear that it is not a historic "church" but rather an "ecclesial community" that strayed and now is invited to return to communion with the Pope as Successor of Peter.

The Vatican was careful to schedule simultaneously with the Vatican announcement, a press conference of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and the deeply humiliated Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury to enable the Anglicans to save some face by saying that this recognizes the spiritual patrimony of Anglicanism and that ecumenical dialogue goes ahead. That is like George Washington at Yorktown saying that he recognizes the cultural contributions of Britain and hopes diplomatic relations flourish. The Apostolic Constitution is not a retraction of ecumenical desires, but rather is the fulfillment of ecumenical aspirations, albeit not the way most Anglican leaders had envisioned it.

The press, uninformed and always tabloid in matters of religion, will zoom in on the permission for married priests. They will miss the most important point: that this reiterates the Catholic Church's insistence that Anglican Holy Orders are invalid, and perforce so is their Eucharist. These married Anglican priests have to be fully and validly ordained by a Catholic bishop. Following Orthodox custom, they are allowed to marry only before ordination and not after. And no married man may become a bishop. (Thus, any Anglican bishop joining one of these "ordinariates" would no longer be recognized as a bishop. Under special provision, Anglican bishops would have some right to pastoral authority, but would not be bishops.)

It remains to be seen how many Anglicans (Episcopalians in the USA) will be received into the Catholic Church under these provisions, but it is a final nail in the coffin of the rapidly disintegrating Anglicanism at least in the West and will radically challenge Anglicans in other parts of the world. Perhaps most importantly, it sets a precedent for reunion with Orthodox churches whose Holy Orders the Catholic Church already recognizes as valid. I should not be surprised if the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury eventually is received into the Catholic Church, at least when he retires and gets a patent of nobility and a pension.


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Fr. George Rutler is pastor of The Church of Our Saviour in New York City and is a convert to Catholicism from the Anglican Communion.

Saint Rose Catholic Forum

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Saint Rose Catholic Forum
is pleased to present
"Celebrating the Faith"

Luncheon with special guest Dr. Peter Kreeft
Professor of Philosophy at Boston College
October 25th - 1:00 pm

St. Rose Church, 46 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT

$10 dollar donation for adults, $5 for children requested not required. Please reserve your place by email: Strosecatholicforum@gmail.com or call the St. Rose Parish Office at 203.426.1014.


Luncheon from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Event #1

1:30pm: "Is the Church 'beautiful'? And is that a good reason to be a Catholic?"

Event #2

3:30 pm: Book signing and talk- Monsignor Conroy Room - Precious & practical profundities in the greatest book of the 20th Century: The Lord of the Rings

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Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King's College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 45 books. For more information, go to www.peterkreeft.com

Weak but love by You, O God

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We are weak, O God, and capable of giving in at the first assault. By your pure loving kindness you have called us; may your infinite goodness, please, now help us persevere.  For our part, with your holy grace, we will try with all our strength to summon up all the service and all the faithfulness that you ask of us. So give us, O God, give us the grace to persevere until death. This is what I ask of you through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ with confidence that you will remember me.

Saint Vincent de Paul

Blessed Josephine Leroux

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God our Father, You give us joy each year in honoring the memory of blessed Josephine. May her prayers be a source of help for us, and may her example and chastity be our inspiration.

The 18th century was a nasty time in history, it is also the time in which Blessed Josephine gave her life for Christ and the Church because of her call to the monastic life. A note on her background.
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The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, is making a pastoral visit to the US these next two weeks that is taking him on a multi-city tour, doing some wide ranging things like speaking about the environment, to meet with church leaders and faithful, lunching with the Fordham University President to breakfasting with schoolmates.

Patriarch Bartholomew has been a key figure in naming environmental concerns while making the faith an interpretative key for understanding and action. On the website noted below there are a number of items to sink your teeth into regarding this topic.

Bartholomew has been the Ecumenical Patriarch since 1991 looking after 250 million world-wide Orthodox Christians.

For more information the Patriarch's 2009 US visit see the website.

Blessed Contardo Ferrini

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Blessed Contardo Ferrini.jpgAlmighty God, You made blessed Contardo admirable in combining knowledge and piety. Grant us Your servants to acknowledge You the true God and to love You above all things.

"Our life," he said, "must reach out toward the Infinite, and from that source we must draw whatever we can expect of merit and dignity."

Blessed Contardo is an interesting man, read his brief bio.


In some places Blessed Contardo's memorial is on October 17, in the Friars Minor ordo the blessed is honored today.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in the name of Pope Benedict, is providing a formal way (a canonical structure) of allowing Anglicans to enter in Full Communion with the Catholic that sets up a structure similar to that of Opus Dei. Instead of calling the structure a "prelature" it is being called a "Personal Ordinariat." Many things attributed to the Anglican Communion may be brought into their being Catholic including the Liturgy, married clergy, and other customs not in conflict with the Roman faith.

This step is a concrete realization of the hard work done in the ecumenical dialogues the goal of which is full, visible union in the Church of Christ.

Read the CDF's statement
Read the joint statement of the Archbishops of Westminster and Canterbury

Blessed James of Strepar

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All-powerful God, You renewed the apostolic spirit in the gospel preaching of blessed James the bishop. Through his prayers may Your Church ever receive an increase in faith and in holiness.


Note: in some calendars the liturgical memorial Blessed James is noted for June 1 but in the ordo for the Friars Minor October 20 is the date of observance.

North American Martyrs

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In the eyes of the world they suffered pain, but God was testing them and found them worthy.


Father, You consecrated the first beginnings of the faith in North America by the preaching and martyrdom of Saints John and Isaac and their companions. By the help of their prayers may the Christian faith continue to grow throughout the world.


These 8 Jesuits were martyred in North America between 1642 and 1649 after being tortured. Three were tomahawked at Auriesville, NY and five died in Canada. Six were priests and two were donnés. May we be renewed in faith in Christ through His witnesses:

St. John de Brébeuf

St. Isaac Jogues

St. Gabriel Lalemant

St. Anthony Daniel

St. Charles Garnier

St. Noël Chabanel

St. René Goupil

St. John de la Lande

piano keys.jpegIn a piano concert in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, the Pope and a full house friends listened to the music of great composers in a concert sponsored by the International Piano Academy of Imola. The experience of the music was joined by some reflections of Benedict XVI's which said in part, music is the union of persons and peoples in that it accompanies every human experience. He also observed that music gives shape to what you cannot do with words because it arouses the emotions that are difficult to communicate. Likewise, he pointed out what we all know, that is, great music relaxes the mind, stirs deep emotions, and elevates the mind to God. Hear the report of the evening.

Prayer is our nature

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Prayer is more essential to us, more an integral part of ourselves, than the rhythm of our breathing or the beating of our heart. Without prayer there is no life. Prayer is our nature. As humans we are created for prayer just as we are created to speak and to think. The human animal is best described, not as a logical or tool-making animal or an animal that laughs, but rather as an animal that prays, a eucharistic animal, capable of offering the world back to God in thanksgiving and intercession. (Bishop Kallistos Ware)

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Father Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J., professor of theology at Fordham University and adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary will present a lecture at St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, Wednesday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m.

His subject will be  "Celibacy in the Early Church."  This lecture is part of the seminary's ongoing Dunwoodie Lecture Series. All topics for this year will center around the "Year for Priests" which was announced by Pope Benedict XVI last June and will run until June 19, 2010.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

About the presenter 

Father holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Freiburg in Germany. He entered the Society of Jesus after graduating from Regis High School in Manhattan.  He holds degrees in classics, philosophy and theology from Fordham University and Woodstock College. He was ordained a priest by  Terence Cardinal Cooke in 1971. Before coming to Fordham University in 1990 as a professor, he taught at Marquette University, in Milwaukee for fifteen years. He has held visiting chairs at John Carroll University, in Cleveland and at Boston College. In 2007, he was a visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University in Rome. His area of specialization is patristics or the study of the Fathers of the Church. Since 1997, he has been the managing editor of TRADITIO, a journal of ancient and medieval thought, history and religion published by Fordham University where he served as chairman of the department of theology at from 1992 - 1995.

He is the author, editor or translator of twelve books as well as the author of more than fifty scholarly articles. His works include, "The Bible, the Church and Authority: The Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology." One of Father's current project is writing on a book on St. John Chrysostom and translating into English for the first time two works by St. Augustine.

This  lecture is sponsored by the Terence Cardinal Cooke Chair in Sacred Theology at the seminary.

Information: 914-968-6200, ext 8292

Father John Oetgen, OSB, RIP

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On 10 October 2009, Father John Oetgen, OSB, PhD, 85, died in the monastery of his monastic profession, Belmont Abbey (Mary, Help of Christians), Belmont, North Carolina. He was 65 years professed of monastic vows and 58 years a priest. Abbot Placid Solari celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for Father John on Tuesday, 13 October in the Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians; he was buried in the abbey cemetery.

O God, Who did raise Your Servant Father John to the dignity of priest in the apostolic priesthood, grant, we beseech You, that he may be joined in the fellowship with Your Apostles forevermore.

I was speaking with one of the monks of Belmont Abbey two weeks ago, shortly before Father John's death, and I realized intuitively that the end was near for a dear priest, monk and acquaintance. I got to know Father John on my visits to Belmont and when I had the privilege to being there for two months this past spring I had the opportunity to get to know him better. Though diminished in body he was not frail in mind or spirit. His presence, though strained because of his physical weakness was a significant example to me of placing trust in the Lord. One good connection I had with Father John was caring for his Saint Francis garden: I was elated when he came to visit me there on his way back from the doctor's.

An appreciative interview with Father John published in the Spring of 2008 in Crossroads, the Belmont Abbey College magazine which gives a sense of who Father John was and why.

In February 2009, Abbot Placid gave him the Sacrament of Anointing, which I know he did several times later, in the company of the monastic community. My thoughts were posted here.

The Oblates of Belmont Abbey posted this obit for Father John.
The Gaston Gazette posted this obit for Father John.

May Father John Oetgen's memory be eternal.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

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Be mindful of our weakness, almighty God, and because we are oppressed by the burden of our deeds, grant that the glorious intercession of blessed Ignatius, Thy Martyr and Bishop, may protect us.

2009 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of Jesuit Brother Andrea Pozzo, the 17th century painter whose works adorn many churches in Europe, including the beautiful Saint Ignatius Church, Rome, Italy. (I love his work and have enthralled by it for years!) He was born November 30, 1642 and died August 31, 1709.

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Brother Andrea was known for his design, architecture and painting.  Several initiatives were planned for the anniversary, including a week-long celebration that was recently held in Vienna, the city where he worked for many years and where he died. The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome will hold an International Study Congress from the November 18-20. Participants will analyze Pozzo's work and offer insights and reflections for research and study.

Brother Andrea founded the artistic academy at the Roman College, the original name of the Pontifical Gregorian University. More on Brother Andrea Pozzo's life can be read here and here

Al Smith dinner at 64

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Al Smith.jpgLast 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).

Admiral Michael Mullen, USN, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was the guest speaker.

This was Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan's first Smith dinner since beginning his pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese of New York.

Watch the only media coverage of the dinner...
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In prayerful remembrance let us recall that Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, 58, archbishop of Krakow, was elected to the Chair of Peter taking the name Pope John Paul II 31 years ago today.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

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So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Lord, pour out on us the riches of the Spirit which you bestowed on Saint Margaret Mary. May we come to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all human understanding, and be filled with the fullness of God.

Consider knowing more about the message of Saint Margaret Mary, which forms some of our devotional life today. This is especially true when it comes to First Friday devotions and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, source of all love and mercy.

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Where else would a seminarian and a priest be doing on a rainy, Thursday afternoon in the middle of prep work for midterm exams & papers? If you guessed wine making then you answered correctly. Taking a break from an afternoon of meetings, paper writing and exam prep, Father Philip (from Burma) and I took a ride over to Saint Leopold Friary to see what the good Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are doing with their wine making project. Brother Giuseppe Maria is spear-heading a Franciscan making effort for two years. This second try seems to be off and running well.

Sacred Scripture supports wine drinking (and wine making, of course). Can one ever think of true Christianity without wine? If you 

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don't believe me look at 1 Timothy 5:23 which says: "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." If you want more holy Scripture, try on Revelation 6:5-6 for size: When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!"

Looking into the spiritual tradition you can see monks and friars making wine and beer for medicinal purposes. Let's just look a the Benedictine tradition for a second. In chapter 40 of his Rule for Monasteries, Saint Benedict doesn't think wine should be served to monks but he concedes that it may be served to the 

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sick and those who can't be persuaded otherwise. Saint Benedict writes: "However, with due regard for the infirmities of the sick, we believe that a half a bottle of wine a day is sufficient for each. And then he says: "We read it that monks should not drink wine at all, but since the monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately and not to the point of excess, for "wine makes even the wise fall away" (Eccles. 19:2). OK, so tradition is a beautiful thing and so let's enjoy a little bit of life. Just for the record, Mount Angel Abbey has a Festival of Arts and Wine.

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So it is no wonder Brother Giuseppe and his Franciscan brothers are making wine. This IS serious work!

Here are some photos of step two in making homemade wine.

Our Lady of Cana, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Jesus (Avila)

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Come, Spouse of Christ, receive the crown which the Lord has prepared for you for all eternity.


Graciously hear us, O God our Savior, that as we rejoice in the festival of blessed Teresa, Your Virgin, so may we be fed by her heavenly teaching and be strengthened in the love of true piety.


This is image of Saint Teresa was done by Bernini and it brings together notable themes of his life and work. Namely, the meeting of heaven and earth; God bowing down to touch the heart of man and woman. Bernini's influence on doing this sculpture was this passage from Saint Teresa's autobiography:

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying." (The Life of Teresa of Jesus, Chapter 29, part 13)


Recall that this saint's life spanned from 1515-1582 and she was a contemporary with Saint John of the Cross, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Peter of Alcantara (who encouraged the Carmelite reform) was a spiritual father to her. She is also 1 of 3 women Doctors of the Church. If what you read here appetizing to read more of Saint Teresa's life and work, I would recommend starting with the brief bio at New Advent, the Interior Castle and then or The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila.

playground.jpgG. K. Chesterton once wrote, "Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff's edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice. They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them they were all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song had ceased." Orthodoxy Ch. 9

Saint John Ogilvie

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ogilvie2.jpgO God, You revealed the power of the Spirit in Your holy martyr John. Through his example and prayers, strengthen us to serve the Church under the banner of the cross and to carry out in every land the missions entrusted to us by the successor of Peter.


Born in 1579 to a noble Calvinist family in Scotland, he studied on the continent converting to Catholicism at the Scots College in Louvain. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1599 and was ordained priest in Paris in 1610. Returning to Scotland in 1613 his ministry lasted for 13 months before he was betrayed, arrested and imprisoned. On March 10, 1615 he was interrogated, tortured and hanged for the charge of denying the king's supremacy in matters of religion. Pope Paul VI canonized Ogilvie in 1976. He is remembered for his fidelity to the Holy See and to the doctrine of papal primacy in matters spiritual. For more on Saint John Ogilvie, read a short bio here.

Saint Seraphin of Montegranaro

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God, our Father, You endowed Saint Seraphin with the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit, and made him an admirable witness of the riches of Christ. Through his intercession make us grow in knowledge of You that we may walk faithfully before You according to the truth of the gospel.


Pope John Paul understood Saint Seraphin's place in the daily call we all face to turn toward Christ...see what he had to say. Saint Seraphin is an excellent guide to holiness that we all need to heed (of course what saint do we not need to crawl with to God?).

Some his story is found in this bio or here...


The Catholic school system in the US has been in a very desperate shape for years: acute and chronic money problems, lack of good, solidly trained Catholic teachers and administrators, a coherent vision of Catholic education as it interfaces with the charism of the religious order/diocese operating the school, building & grounds in near of repair, low endowments, etc. Then there is the assessment of what is purported to constitute a Catholic school: poor formation in the faith, the arts & humanites and science suffer, good use of current technologies, and engagement with people who do things differently, engagement with the vulnerable and culture of life, etc. Many, many Catholic schools don't offer the Sacrifice of the Mass on a weekly basis for the students; and very few of them that I am familiar with offer reliable guidance and formation of the faculty and parents. In my book, if the bishop rarely shows up and the pastor visits the school only when there is crisis. then the problem is more acute.

Don't get me wrong: I am a product of a lot years Catholic education and wouldn't trade it for anything. I love my time in the Catholic schools I attended but I can see the gaping holes in education and experience. I also believe that the Church needs excellent schools and formation programs.

Five exceptions to this critical view may be the five schools in the Diocese of Bridgeport recently named "Blue Ribbon" by the US Dept of Ed. But for these success stories in Catholic Education there are thousands of others pointing to major problems.

Today, there is an article in Time that speaks to a corrective of what is noted above. The dynamic Mr. Ekicsen is asking the right questions and seeking reasonable solutions. The bishop of Patterson made an excellent choice in hiring Eriksen and I pray his project thrives. It will --the saints are behind him. Read about the Eriksen initiative...

I think of a few things that are contributing to a renewal of Catholic eduation in the US: 1) Luigi Giussani's The Risk of Education; 2) the Ed Conference; 3) UND's ACE program; and 4) Dwight Longenecker's booklet The Risk of Faith; 5) Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of reality because I know there are plenty of more good programs/schools out there so please forward the names to me.

Saint Wilfrid

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O God, by Whose grace blessed Wilfrid Thy Bishop did shine with such evident signs of holiness: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may ever be defended by his protection as by his teaching we have been taught to desire heavenly things.



The 7th century Benedictine saint, Wilfrid, who was abbot of his community, elected of bishop of York and who was a wildly talented man and influential is commemorated today. While relatively unknown in this part of the world, he is well-known in England because his tireless zeal for God's Kingdom. He is credited for acquiring land, building monasteries and churches, patronage of secular and sacred art, and for moving the Church in England from an independent Church to one more obedient to the authority of Rome. The veneration of Wilfrid ought not to be forgotten. Today, let us pray for the Church in England, including the bishops and Benedictines there. Regarding the Benedictines, I am particularly thinking of the monks of Ampleforth, Douai, and Downside Abbeys and the nuns at Stanbrook and Tyburn.

Blessed Pope John XXIII

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John XXIII.jpgToday is the liturgical memorial of Blessed Pope John XXIII. It is an optional memorial on the liturgical calendar and so the memorial is left up to the discretion of the celebrant. But that today is Sunday, the prayers for his Mass are not prayed because Sunday takes precedence because it is a "Little Easter." Today also marks the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Everyone remembers the image of Pope John's smiling face and two outstretched arms embracing the whole world. How many people were won over by his simplicity of heart, combined with a broad experience of people and things! The breath of newness he brought certainly did not concern doctrine, but rather the way to explain it; his style of speaking and acting was new, as was his friendly approach to ordinary people and to the powerful of the world. It was in this spirit that he called the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, thereby turning a new page in the Church's history Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the "signs" of the times. The Council was a truly prophetic insight of this elderly Pontiff who, even amid many difficulties, opened a season of hope for Christians and for humanity. In the last moments of his earthly life, he entrusted his testament to the Church: "What counts the most in life is blessed Jesus Christ, his holy Church, his Gospel, truth and goodness." (Pope John Paul II)

St John Church Stamford.jpgWord has been received that the Church of Saint John (Stamford, CT) has been given the high honor of being named a minor basilica by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.

Henceforth, the parish will be known as The Basilica of Saint John the Evangelist.

The Catholic community has been present in the Stamford sine the early 18th century but an official ecclesial community was founded in 1847. The current church was completed in 1886.

Saint John's is the second church in the State of Connecticut to receive this distinction. The first is the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury, CT. There are only 65 minor basilicas in the US.

UPDATE

The announcement from the Diocese of Bridgeport, October 17, 2009

The Stamford Advocate's article of October 17, 2009

Saint Daniel and companions

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Almighty, eternal God, You gave Saint Daniel and his companions the grace to suffer for Christ. Support our weakness with divine strength so that we may not waver in professing our faith in You, even as they did not hesitate to die for You.


Any time I hear the word "and companions" I wonder about the identities of these people. Knowing the names of the unmentioned saints is not mere curiosity. I figure that these men laid their lives on the line for Christ and the Church under great great persecution they ought to be known. Obviously they are important because the Church infallibly declared these men saints. And it would be too clumsy to name each person in the group in the Mass/Divine Office we simply say "and companions." The martyrology lists the companions as being Samuel, Angelus, Domnus, Leo, Nicholas, Hugolinus, and Elias.

More on the martyrdom of Saint Daniel and his companions may be found here.

Wayne Hellman & the Pope

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WHellmann & Pope Benedict.jpgIn the mid-1990s when I was in formation at Bellarmine House and a student in St Louis, Missouri, I made the acquaintance of Conventual Franciscan Father Wayne Hellman. Father Wayne was a professor of Theology at Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO. I think he was also the Friar Guardian of the local Conventual Franciscan House (St Bonaventure's Friary) and one of the nation's experts in Saint Bonaventure's theology. 

Wayne was frequently perceived as a zaney Franciscan professor but an incredibly bright and sensitive man, one that you can easily approach. I enjoyed his company. Until reading about his encounter with the young Joseph Ratzinger, didn't I realize the  interest and scope of theological formation and how he started off. The pedigree of theologians is always of interest to me because I am interested in history and trajectory.

My friend David Miros sent me and a few others a striking story published in the Saint Louis University News of Father Wayne's recent encounter with the Holy Father. Why is this striking to me and why should you read the story? Because it is a realization how the Holy Spirit works at the lowest and yet the most human of levels: the heart.
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It is custom in the Catholic Church to recall the ministry of past popes and to pray for them on the anniversary of their death. The Church sets aside special Mass prayers for the occasion. We do the same for each and every person who dies but the remembrance of a pope's death has universal importance given his place in history and the theological implications of his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.


God our Father, you reward all who believe in you. May Your servant, Pius XII, our Pope, vicar of Peter, and shepherd of Your Church, who faithfully administered the mysteries of Your forgiveness and love on earth, rejoice with You for ever in heaven.


More on Pope Pius XII may be found here and here. Pray for his beatification.

Saint Denis and Companions

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As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.


Father, you sent Saint Denis and his companions to preach your glory to the nations, and you gave them the strength to be steadfast in their sufferings for Christ. Grant that we may learn from their example to reject the power and wealth of this world and to brace all earthly trials.


Let us pray for France, the Church's eldest daughter and for the Archdiocese of Paris as it commemorates the martyrdom of Saint Denis and his companions. We all know that Catholicism is bit sclerotic in France at the moment and Saint Denis' intercession would be helpful in rectifying the situation.

Until recently I really didn't pay too much attention to "new apparitions" of the Blessed Mother. I had all I can do to maintain what knew or to explore what I wanted what I felt I needed to know about some of the trends in Marian devotion. One more apparition of the BVM, even if current and seemingly well-practiced, is not always interesting to me because of a perception that yet another devotion to the Virgin Mary is creeping its way onto my plate without ecclesial approval. Skepticism may be from the devil. I have raised the question about the truthfulness of this appearance of the BVM. But as Providence would have, the apparitions of Mary from Medjugorje have found me. A few people have written to me in the past suggesting that I have misread the situation (perhaps I have) in a place like Medjugorje. Now I have a friend, a Franciscan sister, keeping me informed on Marian visits. It's all helpful, indeed and I appreciate the feedback.

Reading the Catholic news services this morning I noticed an article saying that the Bosnian cardinal, Vinko Puljic, thinks someone at the Holy See (the pope?) is going issue a directive on Medjugorje's claim on the BVM making frequent visits there since the early 1980s. It is only speculation at this point that the Holy See will say anything soon, but I do think he's right in asking for such a directive to appear for pastoral reasons. A little more guidance from the Holy See would be extremely helpful. An evaluation of what has happened and what is happening could set the record straight and help direct a reasonable pastoral response. Throwing clichés and acidic words around on matters of doctrine, people involved and spiritual practice is tantamount to spiritual malpractice. Plus, fidelity to the teaching office of the Catholic Church is essential for true Catholics. I just hope the Holy See takes Cardinal Puljic's suggestion.

The Norwegian based Nobel Peace Prize awarded the 2009 prize to the 44th US President, Barack Obama. For what? They cite "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." (I think it would better if the English should read: among peoples, but who am I?) How would they know what his diplomatic policies and strategies are since the deadline was February 1, barely two weeks after Obama took office? What exactly has he done to merit such a prize? Why is this liberal body of culture makers so enthusiastic at President Obama?

But what about the USA? What about dreadful policies that rage against human dignity including the unborn, the elderly, sensible health care and legal reform, at home and abroad? What about strengthening political, ethical and economic cooperation between/among the Federal government and the states? What about Obama's administration pushing US policy of abortion legislation and other "reproductive healthcare" policies in other countries while holding money and food over the heads of poor nations? What about the Obama administration's pursuing Belmont Abbey College's rejection of contraception as health care in their benefits package? I sincerely and with full voice disagree with the peace award going at all to Obama, never mind so early in Obama's term as president with so little on the record to sink your teeth into. What type of peace are is the Nobel Foundation acknowledging and holding up as exemplary? The moral decay of this country, and in others, is becoming increasingly toxic and the Nobel is awarding Obama a prize for peace!?! Talk about a loss of credibility for a venerable institution such as the Nobel Prize for Peace.
In the August-September 2009 issue of Inside the Vatican, Angela Ambrogetti interviews Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, the archbishop-secretary of the Congregation of the Clergy on the year dedicated to the priest. In the interview Archbishop Piacenza notes:

1. "Among the new generations [of priests] there is a certainly a great desire for commitment, spirituality, rigorous training, a life of ascesis and penance.

2. "...the Church does not invent its doctrine [on the priesthood] but has received it from the Lord Jesus."

3. "Believers need to find a unique paternity in the priest. The priest's personal virtues, then the cassock itself, are indicative of his identity, which must be recognized by everyone. His presence in all fields, especially education, is fundamental for the Church's mission. Unless we resume our educational work, we won't be able to accomplish our apostolic mission! The Church cannot give up the education of the young, as most society is doing. It would be like renouncing our future."

4. "The Lord Jesus gave Himself completely to man. Everything and forever are in the logic of Christian love. This complete devotion requires order and disciple. The rule of prayer, for example, must be observed. Should it fall into disuse, for any reason, it must be restored immediately. The same importance must be attached to daily rest, to a wholesome diet and to holidays, which are for the priest, time of the spirit."

5. "The priest plays a decisive and irreplaceable role in the liturgy. He is not just an organizer of prayers and celebrations, as he is sometimes thought to be! In the liturgy, the priest stands for Christ Himself. In his offering to God, he repeats Christ's words and gestures with effectiveness. The thing which the priest really needs in the celebration of the liturgy is prayer. The risk of triviality, superficiality and secularization can be avoided through the education of the priest and the people of God. If we all think of ourselves as being in the presence of the Lord, the liturgy will look quite different to us, along with our faith."

Our Lady of the Rosary

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OL Rosary with Sts Dominic & Francis.jpgO God, Whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and resurrection hath purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation, grant we beseech Thee, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.


I want to recommend Ruth Rees's The Rosary in Space and Time which is an accessible and exceptional look into the most important devotional prayers we have: the Rosary. She explores the biblical, liturgical, and practical dimensions of the rosary. A convert from Judaism and a professional actress and writer, Rees brings us (me) to a deeper appreciation of this compendium of the Gospels.
Rutler & Walsh.jpgThe 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.

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Saint John Vianney loved his people in substantial ways: he revealed Christ to them and allowed Christ to speak through his priestly life in ways that challenged each person to take more seriously the desires of their heart and their state of life. Vianney was direct when it came to sin and sinful ways; he was devoted to the humanity of those whom he encountered, and he responded as Christ would if someone presented himself. Vianney may have been a poor student and a man of little sophistication as judged by the world, but he was a brilliant disciple of the Lord who acted like a shepherd for the flock. Like the apostle who is known for his zeal, the martyr his patience, the virgin her purity and the confessor his intellect, Vianney is known for his love. Can we model our lives accordingly?

Nearly 125 people attended the lecture tonight.
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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.

Saint Bruno

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We implore, O Lord, that we may be helped by the intercession of Saint Bruno, Thy Confessor; that we, who grievously offend Thy majesty by our transgressions, may by his merits and intercession obtain pardon of our sins.

St Mary Frances of 5 Wounds.jpgLord God, You endowed the virgin Mary Frances with gifts from heaven. By imitating her goodness here on earth may we come to share her joy in heaven.


A biographical sketch and another here. Saint Mary Frances has an extraordinary story and she is a model for all Christians and especially the Secular Franciscans. She was a stigmatist, a prophetess, an intercessor for miracles who desired to know God well and to take guidance from her guardian angel. Note the nearness of her feast today and the feast days of the Archangels and the Holy Guardian Angels.

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Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon sent a letter to the Archbishop of Greece and to all Metropolitans of the Church of Greece reflecting on their acerbic and uninformed opinion regarding theological dialogue with the See of Rome. Rigid adherence to one's opinion is sinful. Metropolitan John is a consequential theologian and therefore I think his insight matters. Clearly one gets the impression he distrusts imprudent public speculation as to when and how a "reunion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches" is to take place. A too hopeful stance is unrealistic and does not account for the continued dogmatic, ecclesiological differences yet to be resolved. One wonders if the Catholic theologians and media people actually do their homework or whether clichés is all they know. There is reason to believe we want to see partial reality.

Your Eminence,

Given that much turmoil has been unduly created by certain circles, on the subject of the official theological Dialogue between Orthodox and Roman Catholics, and that views have also been expressed, which often range between inaccuracy and open falsehood and slander, I am hereby addressing Your affection in order to clarify the following:

1. The aforementioned theological Dialogue does not constitute a concern of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and much less, that of a specific person, but is something that is taking place upon the decision of all the autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches without exception. Specifically with regard to the present period of the Dialogue, during which the undersigned has the co-chairmanship from the Orthodox side, the agreement of all the Orthodox Churches for the continuation of the Dialogue has been recorded in Memoranda signed by the venerable Primates of the Orthodox Churches, which are hereto attached in photocopy.  As Your Eminence will see when reading these Memoranda, even the most holy Church of Greece - and in fact with a Synodical decision - has admitted that "despite the existing difficulties, which spring from the provocative activities of Unia to the detriment of the flock of the Orthodox Church, the said Theological Dialogue must continue."  Consequently, those opposed to the said theological Dialogue are doubting and judging pan-Orthodox decisions, which have been reached synodically. By claiming solely as their own the genuine conscience of Orthodoxy, these people are in essence doubting the Orthodoxy not only of certain persons - as they misguidedly insist - but of the very Primates and sacred Synods of all the most holy Orthodox Churches.

2. The same things apply in the case of the said Dialogue.  We are informed that a certain professor in his letter to the Reverend Hierarchs is censuring the topic of primacy as a chosen topic for the theological Dialogue, and believes that the Dialogue should be concerning itself with other matters.  But the said professor is either ignorant of, or indifferent to, the fact that - again - the topic of the Dialogue was decided on at a pan-orthodox level. The attached Memoranda, signed by all the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, testify to and verify this.  The most holy Church of Greece thus accepts that "this discussion (regarding Unia) can, for the sake of facilitating the course of the Dialogue, be conducted within the framework of ecclesiology through the prism of the primacy".  This is precisely what we normally intend to do, during the forthcoming discussion of the subject "The Primacy during the 2nd Millennium", which is also when Unia first appeared. The remaining topics that the said professor referred to will by no means be overlooked by the Dialogue. However, during the present phase, as decided at an inter-orthodox level from the beginning of the Dialogue, the focal point of the discussion is Ecclesiology. It is duly respected and legitimate, for the said professor - or anyone else - to have a different point of view, but it is inadmissible to be crying out that Orthodoxy is in danger because the Primates who are shepherding Her do not share his opinion.  Where are we heading as a Church, my Reverend holy brother?

3. It is being propagated very falsely and conspiringly that the signing of the union of the Churches is imminent! A professor emeritus of Theology, who is well known for his ill-will towards my person, had visited a Hierarch of the Church of Greece and had told him that he knew with certainty (!) that the union had already been signed (in Ravenna!) and that the relative announcement was a matter of time!!!  Clergy and laity have approached me and asked me if it is true that the union is to be signed in Cyprus, in October!  Obviously, a feeling of unrest is being attempted among the people of God through this behaviour, with unpredictable consequences for the unity of the Church.  However, those who are disseminating these things are fully aware (as long as they have not been blinded by empathy, fanaticism or a mania for self-projection), firstly, that the ongoing theological Dialogue has yet to span an extremely long course, because the theological differences that have accumulated during the one thousand years of division are many; and secondly, that the Committee for the Dialogue is entirely unqualified for the "signing" of a union, given that this right belongs to the Synods of the Churches.  Therefore, why all the misinformation? Can't the disseminators of these false "updates" think of what the consequences will be for the unity of the Church?  «He who agitates (God's people) shall bear the blame, whoever he may be» (Galatians 5:10).

Your Eminence,

The responsibility of all of us, and mostly of the bishops who have been appointed by God to cater to the safeguarding of the canonical unity of their flock, is an immense one.

What is being jeopardized is ecclesiological: What is the authority and the prestige of Conciliar decisions? Do we conform to the Conciliar decisions as we are already doing - and being attacked for doing so - or do we conform to the "zealots" of Orthodoxy?  Can there be an Orthodoxy and Dogmas without any Conciliar rulings?

We ask you to please place yourself on the matter, before we are led to a complete demerit of Conciliar decisions, and before Your flock disintegrates because of negligence on our part.

In humility and in awareness of episcopal responsibility, we submit the above to Your affection and judgment and remain, 

in Athens the 26th of September 2009

With Respect, honour and love in the Lord

+ John of Pergamon

Orthodox Co-Chairman of the Committee for the Theological Dialogue between Orthodox and Roman Catholics

Faithful image of the Savior,
Poor and humble in Christ's way,
Let us sing of good Saint Francis,
Heartfelt homage let us pay!
Leaving home and wealth behind him,
Francis heard the Savior's call,
Serving God as poor and needy,
Trusting God to care for all.

St Francis meditating Greco.jpgPreaching Jesus and His mercy,
Francis made the Cross his boast,
Loving Christ within the Manger,
Praised His presence in the Host.
God in mercy gave him brothers
Joined in poverty and grace,
Vowed to serve Christ in obedience,
Freed by chastity's embrace.

What was hidden from the learned
To the simple has been giv'n:
To the child-like are revealed now
All the truths and joys of heav'n.
Preaching only Jesus' Gospel,
Francis sang of endless care
Which God, author of creation,
With each person wants to share.

Most high God, all good and mighty,
Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
With Saint Francis we would love You
And with Christ-filled lives attest:
From You, Lord, comes our salvation!
As did Francis, help us live
Lives of peace and true devotion,
That we thanks and praise may give!

87 87 D, suggested tune:  Nettleton
James Michael Thompson, (c) 2009, World Library Publications

Sonnet for Assisi

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Blind Francis, waiting to welcome Sister Death,

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Worn though he was by ecstacies and fame,

Had heart for tune. With what remained of breath,

He led his friars in canticles. Then came

Brother Elias, scowling, to his side,

Small-souled Elias, crying by book and candle,

This was outrageous! Had the friars no pride?

Music at deathbeds! Ah, the shame! the scandal!

Elias gave him sermons and advice

Instead of song; which simply proves once more

What things are sure this side of paradise:

Death, taxes, and the counsel of the bore.

Though we outwit the tithe, make death our friend,

Bores we have with us even to the end.

(Phyllis McGinley, 1950)

Saint Francis of Assisi

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St Francis in Sacro Speco.jpgLet us rejoice in the Lord, and keep a festival in honor of blessed Francis. Let us join with the angels in joyful praise of the Son of God.

Father, You helped our seraphic father Francis reflect the image of Christ through a life of poverty and humility. May we follow Your Son by walking in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi and by imitating his joyful love.


The Minister General and the General Definitory of the Friars Minor gave his worldwide brothers (and to the rest of us) a letter on the feast of holy father Saint Francis. It can be read Letter for St Francis feast 2009.pdf.

May I invite you to read the homily for this feast of Francis given/posted by my friend and classmate, Capuchin Father Charles, who serves as a curate at the nearby Sacred Heart Church. His perspective into the person Francis is worth the time.

The author of a recent book on Francis speaks on an American Magazine podcast. I don't know the reliability of the author's work, but it sounds interesting, especially in these days of Christian-Islam exchange.
Below is an extract of a homily given by Franciscan Cardinal Claudio Hummer to new bishops at a gathering in Rome on 21 September 2009. The stage is set...

Our priests need to be loved and supported in their vocation and mission, above all by their own Bishop and by their community. They wish to be recognised for that which they are and that which they do. They also need to be assisted and guided to renew in their hearts the true identity of the priesthood and the true meaning of celibacy. In this context, the renewal and reinvigoration of their priestly spirituality will be decisive, which has as its foundation in being true and unconditioned disciples of Jesus Christ, who has configured them to Himself, Head and Shepherd of the Church. For this discipleship, so determining of their lives, it will be of great help for priests to listen and to pray aloud the Word of God, the daily celebration of the Eucharist, the frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession, the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, frequent visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament, the recitation of the Holy Rosary and other means of spiritual enrichment and of personal encounter and intimacy with Jesus Christ. Also of great importance are the annual Spiritual Exercises and ongoing formation.

Moreover, it is necessary to awaken the missionary consciousness of priests. The Church knows there is a missionary urgency being experienced throughout the world, not only ad gentes, but also within the very flock of the Church already established for centuries in the Christian world. It is necessary to promote a true missionary urge in our Dioceses and in our parishes. All our countries have become a land of mission, in the strict sense. A new fire needs to be lit in our priests and in us ourselves, a new passion to make us arise and go to meet people where they live and work, to bring to them anew the Kerygma, the first proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, and of his Kingdom, to lead them to a personal and then a communitarian encounter with the Lord. Our beloved Pope, Benedict XVI, referring to the situation in the lands of age-old Christian tradition, has said, "We should give serious thought as to how to achieve a true evangelization in this day and age [...] It is not enough for us to strive to preserve the existing flock" (Discourse to the German Bishops, 21st August 2005), but we need a true mission. It is not enough merely to welcome those who come to us, in the parish or in the parish house. There is an urgent necessity to arise and go in search above all of the many baptised who are distanced from participation in the life of our communities, and then to seek also those who know little or nothing of Jesus Christ. The mission has always renewed the Church. The same will also be true for priests when they go into the mission. This, then, is a whole programme to develop during this Year for Priests.

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Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, OFM
Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

Blessed Columba Marmion

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God, our Father, you called your servant, Columba, to the monastic life. You bestowed on him the grace to understand the mysteries of your Son and to make him known as the ideal for all who have been baptized. Grant that we may learn from his example to live in Christ by opening our hearts in joy to the Spirit of your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The Church observes the feast of Blessed Columba Marmion today. He was an Irishman who became a monk in Belgium, a diocesan priest who fell in love with the Benedictine way life, its emphasis on seeking God and who served as abbot. Dom Columba died on January 30, 1923. Marmion's liturgical memorial, however, is observed not on his anniversary of death but on the anniversary of receiving the abbatial blessing, October 3, 1909. At that time the first Sunday of October was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in this era the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is observed on October 7th.

Two pieces to reflect up on...

The whole of the Christian life consists in carrying Christ to birth within us and in having Him live there'. This, of course is nothing more than a paraphrase of St. Paul's injunction in Gal. 4:19: 'until Christ is formed in you'. For Marmion this is not just our final goal, it is our daily, essential task:  to form Christ within us, through the Graces of the sacraments and our daily encounter with God in prayer. (Mark Tierney O.S.B, "The Life and Times of Columba Marmion")

And

... Revelation teaches us that there is an ineffable paternity in God. God is a Father: that is the fundamental dogma which all the others suppose, a magnificent dogma which leaves the reason confounded, but ravishes faith with delight and transports holy souls. God is a Father. Eternally, long before the created light rose upon the world, God begets a Son to whom He communicates His nature, His perfections, His beatitude His life, to beget is to communicate [By the gift of a similar nature ] being and life. You are My Son this day have I begotten You [Ps 2:7; Heb 1:5; 5:5], from the womb before the day - star, I begot you [Ps 110:3]. In God, then, is life, life communicated by the Father ... Creatures can only lisp when they speak of such mysteries... the Father, and the Son, with one same and indivisible Divine Nature, and both, although distinct from one another [on account of their personal properties, 'of being Father' and 'of being Son'] are united in a powerful, substantial embrace of love, whence proceeds that Third Person, Whom Revelation calls by a mysterious name: the Holy Ghost.

Such is as far as faith can know it, the secret of the inmost life of God; the fullness and the fruitfulness of this life are the source of the incommensurable bliss that the ineffable Society of the three Divine Persons possesses.

And now God - not in order to add to His plenitude, but by it to enrich other beings - exceeds, as it were, His Paternity. God decrees to call creatures to share this Divine life, so transcendent that God alone has the right to live it, this eternal life communicated by the Father to the Only Son, and by them, to the Holy Spirit ... To these mere creatures God will give the condition and sweet name of children. By nature, God has only one Son; by love, He wills to have an innumerable multitude: that is the grace of supernatural Adoption. (Dom Columba Marmion, OSB, Spiritual Writings.  Ed. P. Lethiellex. Maredesous Abbey, 1998.)

A very brief note on the canonization process of Dom Columba can be read here


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Join us for a dialogue with Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. on the publication of

The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture

 

Moderated by Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete,

Theologian, Author, Columnist

 

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 7:00PM

The Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60th Street (corner of 5th Avenue), NYC

·RSVP AND PROPER ATTIRE REQUIRED. No T-shirts, sneakers, or jeans. For men, jackets and ties required. Clerical dress or religious habits permitted. 

·To make a reservation, send an e-mail to RSVP@crossroadsnyc.com with full name and address.

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center, The American Bible Society and The Lumen Christi Institute


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His Eminence, Francis Cardinal George, 72, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago since 1997, is widely recognized as a leading intellectual figure in the American Catholic hierarchy. His new book, The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture, brings together some of his most influential writings on the Catholic vision -- not just of the Church herself, but also of all the peoples of the world. 

Weaving together intellectual insight and personal wisdom, this investigation offers a luminous Catholic vision of communion, illustrating the Church's relation to numerous religions as well as the secular world.  Drawing from both the author's observations of Catholicism in cultures around the globe and countless theologians' perspectives--including Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Thomas Aquinas, and Francis of Assisi--this analysis demonstrates how to recognize the self-giving, liberating God who provides freedom from the competitive, oppressive gods of secular modernity.  This overview also recalls an assortment of fascinating stories, from a poignant moment with a non-Christian in Zambia to the humbling dedication of volunteers who came to observe Pope John Paul II's visit to Mexico City.  

Confronting controversial issues head-on, this volume will inspire Christians everywhere while also offering non-Christians a renewed understanding of what a lived Christianity means for political and personal life today.

Guardian Angels

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Angels, Last Judgement.jpgGod has given His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.


O God, Who in Thine ineffable providence has deigned to send Thy holy Angels to watch over us, grant to Thy suppliants always to find safety in their protection and in eternity to share their happiness.


Angels are not mere nice spirits who do good things for us or make feel nice, or even warm our hearts when afraid. They certainly have the inspiration to that when needed. As I mentioned to my 3rd graders on Wednesday at CCD, the Guardian Angels are God's messengers sent to us guard us, teach us and to protect us. The primary duty of angels after worshipping God, as you know, is to deliver messages. Hence, they these holy spirits are called angels. A few years ago it was popular to wear angel pins and certainly the printing companies made a fortune off angel pictures, cards and posters.

What do we know about angels? We know they don't have bodies, they are created by God and they worship Him at the His throne, they're sent to give us something (a message) or to protect us from evil. The Church has always held the presence of angels as a reality since they are present, that is, seen and experienced in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The sacred Liturgy attests to the Catholic belief in angels especially when you consider the liturgical art, music, especially at Christmas, and poetic texts used in worship. And since 1608 the Church has included the feast of the Guardian Angels in the Roman Missal. The Catechism has a section on angels; review the paragraphs.

A perduring memory of my grandmothers is that of them teaching me the prayer "Angel of God, my guardian dear." Before bed each night when I slept over their respective homes, we would kneel by the bedside and say goodnight to God through His angels. Every day, right after Mass has finished, I pray the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer and the Angel of God prayer. Why? Because I believe God has given me these gifts and promises and I want to take advantage of the graces God offers through the angels. Do you pray to the angels?

Brush up on your knowledge of angels in a booklet published by the Catholic Information Service called, All About Angels. You can also listen to booklet as an audio file.

Say a prayer for the monks of the American Cassinese Congregation on this their patronal feast. As the founder of many monasteries, and since 1856 when official documentation from the Holy See came through, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer placed his monasteries under the care of the Holy Guardian Angels. His correspondence shows the confidence he had in the Guardian Angels. How more should we!

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

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St Therese Lisieux.jpgGod our Father, you have promised your kingdom to those who are willing to become like little children. Help us to follow the way of  Saint Thérèse with confidence so that by her prayers we may come to know your eternal glory.



I would recommend reading or listening to the booklet on Saint Thérèse's Little Way. It will bring you closer in understanding the same and shed light on her fresh approach to knowing the Lord.
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The general intention

That Sundays may be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the Risen Lord in the table of the Eucharist


The missionary intention

That all the people of God, whom Christ has commanded to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, may diligently fulfill their missionary responsibility.

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

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