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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

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.

Canon law isn't the most scintillating subject for most Catholics, even for priests, but it's a necessary science in our ecclesial existence. I am happy to let you know that the fourth edition, revised and updated, of Dr. John Huels' The Pastoral Companion, has been published by Wilson & Lafleur of Montreal in the Gratianus Series.

A link to the Table of Contents at the above link will demonstrate the topics covered. It seems to me that all pastoral ministers need this book.

It's on the website, www.wilsonlafleur.com, on the link for "new releases" or just follow the link above which may be easier.

The author was a professor mine at the University of Notre Dame and is quite good in his scholarship and pastoral insight. 

Funny, my 1000th post is on a book on canon law. 

The Catholic Handbook for Visiting the Sick and Homebound

Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2009 [an annual publication]; 245 pages. $5.00.

Since 2006 Liturgy Training Publications has been publishing this annual publication to assist the lay ministers called by the pastor to help him in his ministry of visiting the sick and homebound. At the time I was an editor at LTP and The Catholic Handbook for Visiting the Sick and Homebound was one of my responsibilities but since then there's been some slight improvements to the original manuscript. This resource is based on experience; I had knowledge that many people neither had the proper formation nor the familiarity with the ritual books enough to know which were the appropriate rites for the laity to exercise their ministry. Not infrequently did I hear the horror stories of liturgical abuse in the hospitals, prisons, healthcare centers and in homes. Gross ignorance of what the Church expected and a lack of pastoral skill caused more harm to the faith. Three years after the initiating this publication, but no longer in the employ of LTP but now in pastoral life, I continue to hear about and witness the spiritual malpractice of lay ministers when it comes to these matters. I believe God's people need to hear the Gospel proclaimed and the rites respected; all the more for those who are ill or weak due to age. This publication is not a panacea but it does ably assist in allowing Christ to be present to those in need.

This Handbook has all the tools necessary to make a proper pastoral visit to those who request the ministrations of the Church. The book has an excellent introduction, the nine rites available to the laity for such pastoral visits, the Gospel and holy day readings, a brief explanation of the readings and the list of patron saints. The Handbook shows the user how to make room for prayer in special circumstances.

Benedictine Sister Genevieve Glen's introduction is essential reading. It's not an overstatement to say that if you skip her introduction then you will miss some very essential theological and pastoral insights for effective ministry of care. For example, the introduction covers elements "using the book," being pastorally present, what needs to be done prior to a visit, carrying the Blessed Sacrament, prayer, use of music, and the like. Moreover, Sister Genevieve leads the user through what the rites mean, what needs special attention and the basics for good interpersonal skills. Remember, the Church's ministry is always personal. The ministry is directed toward the patient, the family and at times the healthcare professionals. As Sister Genevieve reminds the user: you bring a word of God to those in need, those visited also witness Christ to us --ministry is a two-way street.

The rites are taken from the Book of Blessings and the Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum. The Scripture readings are taken from the Lectionary. The Handbook carries the imprimatur of the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Recent additions to this volume are the "Order of Blessing of a Person Suffering from Addiction or from Substance Abuse," "Order for the Blessing of a Victim of Crime or Oppression and the "Order of Blessing of Parents after a Miscarriage." These new orders are very welcomed today since we often neglect the spiritual needs of those suffering from addiction, substance abuse, and the after-effects of crime, oppression and miscarriage. How often do we pray with and for those living with these experiences in their hearts? As ministers of Jesus Christ, priests and laity always need to keep in mind those who suffer.

Often overlooked is idea that it is Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit who works through the rites, not the personality of the minister. Let's be clear: Christ uses us to do His work; Christ does not do our work. Our responsibility is to act as Christ would act because it is He who heals and saves through ministry. The Church has beautifully responded to this human need with the appropriate rites. In doing so, the Church closes off the possibility for those who would want to do their own thing and doing it haphazardly.

Personal preparation by making the rites and Gospel message through prayer and study will help the user of this book more effective. The encouragement is that you enter prayerfully and deliberately into the heart of the Church through the Church's rites. Every lay person bringing Holy Communion to those not present at the Sunday celebration of Mass ought to get The Catholic Handbook for Visiting the Sick and Homebound annually. This book is also available in Spanish.

A Century of Prayer for Christian Unity is a celebration of the 100-year history of the Week of Prayer.  It is a useful resource for understanding the theology and practice of  prayer in common for the intention of the reconciliation of Christians.

Contributors are among the best informed Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, and Reformed theologians. Each essayist offers significant insights into the history, theology, and spirituality of the Week of Prayer in particular, and of ecumenical prayer in general.

The book is available through the Graymoor Book & Gift Center: 845-424-3671, ext. 3155 or www.graymoorbooks.com.

We are made for others. The human heart naturally reaches out, even craves and depends on friendship. The truest desire of communion of heart, mind and body happens in the with God (or at least it ought to begin with God) and then there ought to be a communion with another human being as is found in marriage, friendship or religious life. From experience, we understand that man and woman are incomplete without some fulfilling relationship but the fulfillment comes not from any relationship; it comes from a place deep in the human experience, the correspondence of the heart. Christians exist in a companionship that has divine and human coordinates. Analogically, we say the same of God. Catholics are not Unitarians (though you would not know by the way they act and speak about God sometimes); Catholics believe in and relate to God who is a trinity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit. Further, Catholics say that the Trinity decided, because of their love, that the second person of the Trinity, would become man and open the gates of heaven so that humanity might know, love and serve God.

When it comes to the concrete, our faith in Christ as the Word made flesh indicates to us that we engage in reality precisely because the Lord entered into human history. But there are obstacles for a solid engagement of culture in an era that holds fast to a variety conflicting epistemologies that are contrary to the Gospel and orthodox theological reflection. Moreover, it may be difficult for some people to believe in and experience the reality of love: do we know that we fight to love and to receive love? Do we really accept that humanity is impoverished when love is absent or dysfunctional? Then there is the issue of believing that the intentions of a lover toward his (her) beloved are pure and oriented toward the good. Sadly, the idea that we ought to have affection for ourselves is often perceived as new news and met with no small amount of skepticism. One way of engaging life is having affection for ourselves -NOT egotism-- but a genuine affinity for the self which opens the door to see life differently. Affinity for self and others can be another way of speaking about love, but the use of the word "affinity" gives us a new set of eyes and legs for engaging reality that is before us. Having affection for oneself means that we lean toward our destiny more seriously, intentionally and with wholesomeness so as to live a companionship desired for us by God.

A recently published book puts our view of reality, love and God on end. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Always Believe in Love, edited by Marian T. Murphy, OCD (New City Press, 2009) is a wonderful collection of writings of this relatively unknown saint-to-be, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Elizabeth was a Carmelite nun who spent five years in a Carmelite monastery before dying at the age of 26. She is revered as a mystic with a profound understanding of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, and that's not only because her religious name in the convent acknowledges a fact after a spiritual experience. The book includes extracts from Elizabeth's diary, letters, poems, retreat notes, a prayer, a chronology and a select bibliography among other things. This volume is my first introduction to the person and thought of Blessed Elizabeth save for Father Henry dropping her name in a homily or two. The holy and human attractiveness of Blessed Elizabeth confirms my suspicion that we want, need men and women to point the way to a deeper union with God: with Elizabeth (and countless others) there is no reason why Catholics have to search for mystical experiences in other faith traditions. What I came to realize is how profoundly centered on the love of the Trinity this young woman was, and how her mission to lead others directly to Christ was keen. What the Second Vatican Council asked us to do, that is, to reclaim to claim a personal holiness centered on the Incarnation, Elizabeth promoted in the 19^th century by telling us: "Look at every suffering and every joy as coming directly from Him, and then your life will be a continual communion, since everything will be like a sacrament that will give you God." There's no separation from between life and God.  Do we live our lives with this conviction? Can we see this belief in our daily actions? One learns among many things in this volume that Pope John Paul II was influenced by Blessed Elizabeth and so made it his mission to make her known to the Church. At the foot of Elizabeth we realize ever more deeply that in being loved we can love.

As the editor Sister Marian said so very well in her excellent introduction: "The saints are God's glorious palette, and without them, as Chesterton said: 'we could lose the humanity of Christ'; for in them, we experience his rootedness in our ordinary lives. Their passionate, single-minded following of Christ fascinates us as we recognize the source of their, and our, true greatness."

I was poking around the Religion & Ethics Newweekly and found a review of David Anderson's review of several books on the 19th century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins. His essay,The Grandeur of God and the Life of a Poet, takes the reader through a number of recent studies on the life and work of this rather beautiful, if not complicated Jesuit priest.

I highly recommend this review and the reading of at least one of the reviewed works if you want to lay claim to being liberally educated.

What's helpful here is that there's a list of related books. A good feature, I say.

David Anderson's review...