Paul Zalonski – Page 356

Metropolitan Jonah takes time off to re-orient self

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), according to reports, has placed Metropolitan Jonah on a leave of absence. The Synod of the OCA acted swiftly to seeming abuse of power. The Metropolitan Jonah, it seems, is facing mounting questions not only over issues of style of management but anger issues.

The news is found here. This is distressing given all the problems the OCA has faced in recent years.

In his words, His Beatitude speaks about the requested lenten quies.

The OCA news of changes

Being a bishop –and for that matter, a priest– in this era is tough. One can’t lead if the sheep don’t want to follow. Some see clearly what is needed for clear testimony and action so that the lex orandi tradition is not trampled. Deeper conversion to Christ and living a coherent life of faith is not easy when sin is rampant. Disconnected from reality is not a virtue for the Christian Church, Catholic or Orthodox. When His Beatitude was elected as head of the OCA just over two years ago there was much hope for good leadership in the OCA after the sexual and financial scandals of clergy and laity alike. His very addresses were received with enthusiasm because he spoke with authority. I, for one, said “Finally, someone who gets it.” Could the troubles faced by Metropolitan Jonah be the result of the negative aspects of American culture to engrained in attitudes of members of the Synod coupled with a exaggerated sense in the capacity to change human frailties?

We pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace of prudence for the OCA. May the all-holy Virgin Mary intercede.

Oscars 2011 and a nun

Not surprising that many people are interested in sensational stories like “Mother Dolores Hart: The Nun Who Kissed Elvis Presley.” I guess kissing Elvis is akin to winning the jackpot. Each to his or her own! Thom Geier’s story is exactly titled such on EW.com. I have to admit, however, I am fascinated –to a degree– by this woman’s gesture of following a vocation that had in mind her eternal destiny and not just money, fame and power. Hart’s life and enduring witness to Christ at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, Bethlehem, CT, is inspiring. Who wouldn’t be inspired by a beautiful woman giving her life to God through monastic consecration!

The following gives a flavor of Geier’s article: “Over the course of nearly half a century as a Roman
Catholic nun, Mother Dolores has had many jobs: choir member, baker, and coffin
maker. She’s served as prioress, the convent’s second in command, for nine
years. But for the past two decades, she has spent a good deal of time each
winter on another assignment that harks back to her earlier, pre-monastic life:
Oscar voter.”

Mother Dolores’ autobiography ought to be out soon.

China’s war on women and girls: one-child policy, forced sterilization, forced abortion & infanticide

On Wednesday I joined my friend Suzanne Tanzi, a
fellow traveler among friends in the lay ecclesial movement, Communion and Liberation, to an in-service billed as “Gendercide, Sex Trafficking and Violence Against Women” given in light of the Christian perspective as a way to give an alternate voice to the ideology of the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women. By the Way, Suzanne is also the editor of Traces magazine (you ought to subscribe!!!!).

The presentations were heavy and some of them need refining. The content was stimulating and possibly burdensome for the weak of heart. The truth of the violence against women around the world is devastating. I sat listening mourning the presence of evil actions in our society today. We are never very far from human frailty! On the train ride home last evening I stumbled upon a New York Post article about a Wednesday bust on drug use and mid-afternoon sex acts on a bench dedicated to Katharine Hepburn in the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on East 47th Street, got me thinking. This presentation was being given at Holy Family Parish a few steps away from these heinous acts! You see, wanton sexual behavior and drug are not very far from us. The human dignity is at being trampled. But hope enlightened the heart
and mind where one would be tempted to despair. I walked way from the afternoon having been received salt and light, thanks in part, from meeting Reggie Littlejohn.

Continue reading China’s war on women and girls: one-child policy, forced sterilization, forced abortion & infanticide

Cardinal John P. Foley retires to the USA due to illness

John Patrick Cardinal Foley, 75, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem retired from his work in Rome due to the illnesses of luekemia and anemia. He returned to his native Philadephia. His return to the USA was swift after submitting a letter of resignation to the Cardinal Secretary of State on February 8 and meeting with His Holiness, Pope Benedict on February 10; he was home on the 12th.

Foley is the former editor of the Phildelphia Catholic newspaper The Catholic Standard & Times and the former President of the Pontifical Council of Social Communications. The Cardinal held his position at the Holy See for 23 years.

His Eminence freely admits his physical diminishment but is facing his illness with courage and with Christ at the center. His diagnosis was received in September 2009.

Read the CNS story here.

Scripture is to fill us head to toe

At a priest’s ordination as bishop the Book of the
Gospels is held open over the man’s head by two deacons, a way to communicate that the
Scriptures are crucial to the life of the bishop and that Christ has infused
His Word in his heart and mind. Archbishop Timothy Broglio said this when he
ordained Bishop Spencer in 2010:

“Those
writings inspired by Almighty God and identified and transmitted over the
centuries by His Church must fill you from head to toe. You must be imbued with that word so
that whatever comes from your mouth will be an expression of what you have read
and heard. You will have a special
opportunity to deepen the faith of those to whom you are sent.” We are to be
similarly filled.

Blessed Constantius of Fabriano

God of justice and truth, you made Blessed Constantius renowned for his unceasing prayer and his zeal for peace.
By the help of his prayers may we walk in the path of justice
and reach everlasting peace and glory.

Here the liturgical memorial of a Dominican friar, priest and prior, Constantius (Bernocchi) of Fabriano (1410-1481), is observed. He was a 15th century Italian Dominican whose reputation, even as a child, led sinners to reconciliation with Christ and the Church. His spiritual fathers included Blesseds John Dominici, Laurence of Ripafratta and Florence’s Saint Antoninus. Constantius was a man of many austerities, prayer and service to the least. Constantius’ work as the elected head of several priories was to restore the regular life of the Dominican friars. His first miracle was the cure of his sister but always a peacemaker.

Father Constantius was beatified in 1811 by Pope Pius VII.

Saint Polycarp

If you really want to know what tradition is look at the life of today’s
saint. Saint Polycarp had indirect knowledge of Jesus: he had known those who
had direct knowledge of the Savior. Polycarp was a disciple of the Beloved
Disciple, Saint John the Evangelist, who had converted him around the year AD 80.
And from Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, we learn that Polycarp taught him as a young
man what he learned about Jesus and the Kingdom from the Apostles, which the
Church hands down, which are true. Irenaeus testifies to the seriousness, holiness, and the devotion
Polycarp had for Christ.

The Martyrology tells us that Polycarp became bishop
of Smyrna and administered the diocese for some 70 years. He defended the
Church’s orthodox faith against those who taught a different doctrine,
especially Marcionism and Valentinianism (the most influential of the Gnostic
sects).

From a hagiography

“At Smyrna, the death of St. Polycarp. He was a disciple of the holy apostle John, who consecrated him bishop of that city; and there he acted as the primate of all Asia Minor. Later, under Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, he was brought before the tribunal of the proconsul; and when all the people in the amphitheater cried out against him, he was handed over to be burned to death. But since the fire caused him no harm, he was put to death by the sword. Thus he gained the crown of martyrdom. With him, twelve other Christians, who came from Philadelphia, met death by martyrdom in the same city”

Pius Parsch

The Church’s Year of Grace

Prayer: personal & lived in communio

Thinking about uniting ourselves closely to Christ I
was wondering what prayer is and it is connected with my relationship with Him. The Pope said earlier this month that “prayer, on the one
hand, must be very personal, a uniting of myself with God in my innermost
depths. It must be my struggle with Him, my search for Him, my gratitude for
Him and my joy in Him. Yet it is never something private of my individual ‘ego’
that does not concern others. Praying is essentially and also always praying in
the ‘we’ of God’s children. “In this ‘we’ alone are we children of Our Father,
which the Lord taught us to pray. This ‘we’ alone gives us access to the
Father. On the one hand our prayer must become more and more personal, must
touch and penetrate ever more deeply the nucleus of our ‘ego’. On the other, it
must always be nourished by the communion of those praying, by the unity of the
Body of Christ, in order truly to shape myself on the basis of God’s love” (Benedict
XVI, Homily for Episcopal Ordinations, 5 Feb 2011).

Luigi Giussani: 6th anniversary of death

Forgive, O Lord, the soul of Luigi, your priest from the all the chains of his of his sins and by the aid to them of your grace may he deserve to avoid the judgment of revenge,

and enjoy the blessedness of everlasting light.

May your memory be eternal, Father Luigi!

By the numebrs: Catholic grow and diminishment around the world

On February 19th,
the Cardinal Secretary of State, His Eminence, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone SDB
and Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the assistant for General Affairs, presented
the Holy Father the 2011 Annuario Pontificio. The Annuario is the pontifical
yearbook with everything you want to know and more. Highlights in this edition:

In 2010, the
Pope erected 10 new episcopal sees, 1 apostolic exarchate and 1 apostolic
vicariate. One diocese was elevated to the rank of metropolitan see, two
prelatures to the rank of diocese, and two apostolic prefectures and one
apostolic administration to the rank of apostolic vicariates.

The world’s Catholics
increased from nearly 1,166 million in 2008 to 1,181 million in 2009, an
increase of fifteen million faithful which corresponds to a growth of 1.3%.

The distribution
of Catholics among the continents. Between 2008 and 2009:

Continue reading By the numebrs: Catholic grow and diminishment around the world