Pietro Vittorelli, abbot of Monte Cassino needs prayers

RD Pietro Vittorelli.jpgThe 191st abbot of Monte Cassino Pietro Vittorelli, 50, needs our prayers for his recovery from a stroke he suffered recently. He’s recovering and doing therapy at a clinic in Switzerland.

Born in Rome, Abbot Pietro graduated in 1989 from La Sapienza (Rome) and later that year he entered the Archabbey of Monte Cassino. He was ordained a priest in 1994 following studies at Sant’Anselmo; Dom Pietro served as novice master, a consulter in bioethics as well as authoring articles in the area of Church’s Social Doctrine.
With the move of the Abbot-bishop Bernardo D’Onorio to the Archdiocese of Gaeta, Dom Pietro was elected abbot in 2007.
Members of Communion and Liberation ought to make Dom Pietro’s intention for good health particular in the daily prayer since the founding of the Movement has its spiritual paternity with a prior abbot-bishop of Monte Cassino, Dom Martino Matronola (+1994). We in CL are still inspired by the Rule and charism of Saint Benedict.
Saint Benedict and all Benedictine saints and blesseds, pray for Dom Pietro and us.
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Ecclesial Movements impact Synod of Bishops on Evangelization

By now you ought to see a significant theme in the work of Communio, both on this blog and as a way of being in the Church: it is as Dom Luigi Gioia, OSB Oliv., has said about this theological point, “To describe the whole Church, as well as each Christian community, as a communio before speaking of ‘body,’ or ‘society,’ or ‘institution,’ -terms which have of course their share of truth- is knowingly to make charity the essential element of a Christian community, the condition sine qua non of its existence, its raison d’être.” Charity has as its essential element of extroversion the living and sharing of the truth of the faith received by us from the Trinitarian life of God. Faith is a lens by which we live, it is not a pious statement of what we supposedly believe about God. The sharing of faith, this sharing of charity and faith in a communio, is the heart of evangelization.

 Categories being what they are, are helpful in seeing the division of labor and thinking. This is no less is the true for the Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 7 to 28 October, discussing “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.”
The leaders from the various ecclesial movements are worth noting because the vital presence they and the movements they represent have in the life of the Church:
  • Br. Enzo Bianchi, prior of the Monastero of Bose (Italy)
  • Maria Voce (Italy), president of the Focolari Movement
  • Marco Impagliazzo (Italy), president of the Sant’Egidio Community
  • Lydia Jimenez Gonzalez (Spain), director general of the “Cruzadas de Santa Maria” Secular Institute
  • Francisco Jose Gomez Arguello Wirtz (Spain), co-founder of the Neo-Catechumenal Way
  • Chiara Amirante, founder and president of the New Horizons Community (Italy)
  • Florence De Leyritz, member of the Alpha France Association (France)
  • Marc De Leyritz, president of the Alpha France Association (France)
  • *Father Julián Carrón, the President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation might be counted here, too, but he actually is listed by the Holy See among the bishops.

America’s Voice in the World’s New Evangelization

The Holy See has appointed 45 persons as Experts and Observers for the forthcoming Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 7 to 28 October on the theme: “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.”

While they are not the full members of the Synod of Bishops (they’re not bishops) these people do have an essential role in that they will contribute to the conversation and will help to frame the outcome. Noteworthy are the number of women invited: 10 experts and 19 observers.

There will be seven US bishops and ten other Americans at the Synod.

The is the list of non-bishops from the Americas which ought to be noted (more noted here):

Sr. Sara Butler M.S.B.T., professor, St. Mary of the Lake University, Mundelein, and member of the International Theological Commission

Sr. Paula Jean Miller F.S.E., professor, Department of Theology of the University of St. Thomas, Houston

Sr. Mary Lou Wirtz F.C.J.M., president of the International Union of Superiors General

Marylee J. Meehan, president of the International Catholic Committee of Nurses and Medico-Social Assistants

Fr. Jeremy Driscoll O.S.B., professor, Theological Faculty of Rome’s St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum, and professor, Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, OR

Edward Peters, professor, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit

Ralph Martin, director of graduate theological programs in the new evangelization at the Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit

Carl Albert Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus

Curtis A. Martin, founder and president of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students – Focus Missionaries

Peter Murphy, executive director of the Secretariat fo Evangelization and Catechesis, US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Ratzinger Prize 2012


The “Ratzinger
Prize” is also known as the “Nobel of Theology.” The Prize is sponsored by the
Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) Vatican Foundation, whose aim is to “promote
the publication, distribution and study of the writings of former university
professor Joseph Ratzinger.” The Prize, though, recognizes excellence in theological study and teaching and not the echoing Ratzinger’s thought. Vatican Radio explains more here.

In 2010, the Holy Father established, in consultation with other, a
Prize in Theology noting three areas: Sacred Scripture, Patristics and
Fundamental Theology.

2012

  • Rémi Brague, Professor emeritus of medieval and
    Arabic philosophy, University Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I) and professor of
    Philosophy of the European religions (Romano Guardini Chair), Ludwig-
    Maximilian University
  • Father Brian E. Daley, SJ, Professor of Theology,
    University of Notre Dame

2011

  • Professor Dr.
    Manlio Simonetti, Professor of Ancient Christian Studies and Patristic Biblical
    Interpretation, La Sapienza University
  • Father Dr. Olegario González
    de Cardedal    , Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology, Pontifical
    University of Salamanca
  • Father Dr. Maximilian Heim, OCist, Abbot of
    Heiligenkreuz Monastery, Austria, Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental
    Theology, University of Heiligenkreuz.
The Ratzinger Prize will be conferred on Brague and Daley on 20 October 2012, during the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

BEDaley.jpg

I am delighted that Father Brian won the prize not merely because I know him (lived with him when I was in studies at Notre Dame) but he is a generous man, a faithful priest, and terrific scholar and teacher. 

Father Brian is a New York Province Jesuit, studied at Fordham, Frankfurt and Osford, and he is an avid runner.

Saint Vincent de Paul



Vincent de Paul by Gagliardi.jpg

I want to remember the Vincentian community in here in Connecticut, and particularly at Saint Stanislaus Church in New Haven. 

My prayer is that the Vincentian priests and brothers fulfill what the Church prays in the Mass Collect (see below) so that their witness be bold and clear for the faithful following of Jesus Christ. We need the witness of Saint Vincent de Paul and his sons and daughters through the vowed life of the Vincentian Society today more than ever. In an age of diminishment in vocations, the love with which the Vincentians live their vocation needs to be extroverted.

With the Church we pray,

O God, who for
the relief of the poor and the formation of the clergy endowed the Priest Saint
Vincent de Paul with apostolic 
virtues, grant, we pray, that, afire with that same spirit, we may love
what he loved and put into practice what he taught.

Continue reading Saint Vincent de Paul

Saints Cosmas and Damian, patrons of doctors and pharmacists


Sts Cosmos and Damian.gifMay you be magnified, O Lord, by the revered memory of
your Saints Cosmas and Damian, for with providence beyond words you have
conferred on them everlasting glory, and on us, your unfailing help.


Today, the
Holy Church celebrates the liturgical Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian.
They were twins who were known to be doctors and/or pharmacists in the Roman
province of Syria but born in what is known as Turkey. According to their biographers, the saints accepted no
payment for their medical services; they were given the title of “Unmercenary” for loving God and man. The gospel line comes to mind: freely you have received, freely give. The brothers paid very close attention to the gospel as
it was a light for their feet. 


Continue reading Saints Cosmas and Damian, patrons of doctors and pharmacists

Young Catholic monks maintain tradition, respond to needs in faith


St Benedict french illumination2.jpgThe Benedictine Abbots are going home now. They’ve
been meeting in Rome since the 17th. Their work was not deliberative
in any meaningful way as much as they gathered for the reason to elect an abbot primate, to gain perspective, to meet new and old monastic superiors, to hear how the worldwide Benedictines can assist one another in living the life more effectively and intensely according to the Holy Rule and the mind of the Church. Time was spent in prayer, study, and pilgrimage. How could one not spend time in prayer before the holy places of the martyrs in Rome as well as some of the central points of interest to Benedictines. Cindy Wooden from CNS published this
article today as a sort of synopsis of one aspect of Benedictine life–the
attraction of new members. Father Michael Casey, a Trappist monk, priest, author and speaker, addressed the assembly. He, by the way, is one of my favorite contemporary monastic thinkers. If only the abbots and other monastic superiors would listen to Father Michael. Alas, they’re too timid and many can’t (won’t?) do the hard work necessary to figure out what they ought to do so as to not live in diminishment mode. One often gets the feeling that some monasteries would rather die than alter their Benedictine observance and the adherence to Christ and the Church. But, I will say that despite a lack of clear and intense thinking, praying and living, there are significant points of like for Benedictine monasticism in the USA.


What follows is an extract of what was published (read the text in full here):


PMCasey OCSO.jpg

One of the main speakers at the Benedictine abbots’
congress was Cistercian Father Michael Casey, an expert on monastic
spirituality from Tarrawarra Abbey in Australia.


Maintaining tradition while
responding to changing needs is an inescapable part of life, both for
individuals and for religious communities, he said. “The fact that we are
alive means that we are continually influenced by our past, continually
interacting with our present, and looking forward to the future. It’s really
just a matter of personal integrity, personal vitality that we do respect and
allow our past to continue speaking to us.”


Continue reading Young Catholic monks maintain tradition, respond to needs in faith

Norbertines vested, professed in Paoli, PA

daylesford abbey santc.jpgOn August 27, 2012, the Abbot of Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, PA, vested two secular priests in a traditional rite as novices of the Norbertine Abbey.

The video digest of vocation story of Father Herb Sperger being vested with the Norbertine habit can be viewed here.

Father David Driesch gives us his vocation story on the occasion of being vested as a novice at the same ceremony as Father Herb.

On August 28, 2012, Brother James Garvey professed first vows as a Norbertine. His narrative can be seen here.

Saint Norbert and all Norbertine saints pray for the novices!

If interested, here are two very brief posts on Saint Norbert here and here.