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St. James Parish |
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| Fr. Ron Bacovin | ||
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St. James Parish |
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| Fr. Ron Bacovin | ||
Weekly Letter from Fr. Ron to his
Parish
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2010
Bishop-elect David O’Connell C.M. will be the next, the tenth, bishop of the Diocese of Trenton. He holds the title of Coadjutor which means that when Bishop John Smith takes his leave as bishop of Trenton bishop-elect O’Connell will immediately step in as his successor.
Rev. O’Connell will be consecrated as a bishop on July 30, 2010 at the cathedral in Trenton.
He was born and raised in Langhorne, PA.He has attended high school at St. Joseph in Princeton, NJ. He was ordained on May 29, 1982. He has been active in the field of education throughout his priesthood. He served at Niagara University, St. John University, Mary Immaculate Seminary – all under the auspices of the Congregation of Missions – the Vincentian Fathers. His bio lists a large number of honors and his work on various national committees.
During the press conference at which he was introduced to the diocese he was very personable, displayed a good sense of humor, and was at ease with all that was happening around him.
Though one can never be sure about such things I suspect that the pope will accept Bishop Smith’s letter of resignation five or six months from July. It will allow Bishop Smith to bring his legacy as bishop of Trenton to a close and at the same time allow Bishop O’Connell time to take things easy and get acquainted with his new surroundings (even getting a little vacation).
We welcome our new bishop to the dioceses and ask God’s best blessings upon him. Oh by the ways… we also welcome Bishop O’Connell to St. James Parish! He will be in residence here until he succeeds Bishop Smith and moves into the bishop’s house on W. State St. in Trenton.
More “Murphy’s Laws”
Young’s Law: All great discoveries are made by mistake. Corollary: the greater the funding, the longer it takes to make the mistake.
Willoughby’s law: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will.
Engle’s Law: When you stand up to be counted, someone will take your seat.
Ground rule for researchers: When you do not know what you are doing, do it neatly.
The Pineapple Principle: The best parts of anything are always impossible to separate from the worst parts.
Paul’s Principle: By the time you’re old enough to know your way around, you’re not going anywhere.
Sigstad’s Law: When it gets to be your turn they change the rules.
Handy Guide to Modern Physics: 1) If it’s green or it wiggles, it’s biology. 2) If it stinks, it’s chemistry. 3) If it doesn’t work, it’s physics.
A garden not just for summer:
Plant three rows of peas:
Peace of mind – peace of heart – and peace of soul.
Plant four rows of squash:
Squash gossip – squash indifference – squash grumbling – squash selfishness.
Plant four rows of lettuce:
Lettuce be faithful – lettuce us be kind – lettuce us be patient – lettuce be really love one another.
Plant some turnips:
Turnip for meetings – turnip for service – turnip to help one another.
And, there must be thyme:
Thyme for each other – thyme for family – thyme for friends.
Our collection for this past week totaled $11,680. The collection for the missions is $5,067.
I thank you for your generosity and sacrificial giving. In your estate planning and in creating your will I ask you to please remember your parish church.
...more thoughts from Fr. Gabe Huck. Fr. Huck has been living in the Mid-East for a while. While taking a walk one evening and as he was passing houses and places of worship he heard music – lots of music – not from the radio but they were voices of worship. It was a natural re-occuring event and confirmed again in his heart the power and nature of liturgy. So, he continues…
“Those of us who are Roman Catholic often hold one of two quite different images of what the Mass is and how it is to be done (or try to hold both together). On the one hand there is the image of the Mass that Gregory Dix beautifully set forth decades ago:
Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacles of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. We have found no better thing that in this to do, for kings at their crowning and for criminals going to the scaffolds; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church… tremulously, by an old monk on the 50th anniversary of his vows; furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all day in a prison camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonization of St. Joan of Arc – one could fill many ages with the reasons why we have done the, and not tell a hundreth part of them…
On the other hand, there is the image that Dix begins in the very next sentence:
And best of all, week by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom, the pastors have done this just to make the plebs sancta Dei – the holy common people of God.
To those who know a little of Christian history probably the most moving of all the reflections it brings is not the thought of the great events and the well-remembered saints, but of those innumerable millions of entirely obscure faithful men and women, every one with his or her own individual hopes and fears and joys and sorrows and loves – and sins and temptations and prayers – once every whit as vivid and alive as mine are now. They have left no slightest trace in this world, not even a name, but have passed to God utterly forgotten by us. Yet each of them believed and prayed as I believe and pray and found it hard and grew slack and sinned and repented and fell again. Each one of them worshiped at the Eucharist, and found their thoughts wandering and tried again, and felt heavy and unresponsive and yet knew just as really and pathetically as I do these things.
In the first image there is something that needs no assembly though it may have a very immense assembly and choirs galore. It takes on all those guises Dix names, from great cathedrals and football stadiums to caves and prisons. There can be a multitude or a minister alone. There can be the finest voices and instruments making some of the Western world’s greatest music. Or it can be all whispers. In all its guises, this image is about the sacred person and the sacred words and the sacred altar with its bread and wine. We can find much to criticize in this image, but for very many of us, it still names something of how we imagine the Mass.
In the second image, Dix is closer to what would concern us as we think about what silence and sound are to be in our liturgy. To be continued…
from the mind of Fr. Gabe Huck (Celebration Liturgical Service) – noted liturgist for the past half century in the USA. It’s about liturgy and singing…
“…Many of us in the West never got beyond an assumption that music is something that happens during the liturgy. It’s a wonderful thing, but it’s still frosting. This unspoken assumption has crippled us in the renewal. Tons of new music, tons of old music, trainloads of missalettes and hymnals, millions of dollars, and immense good will. But the underlying assumption remained: We want people to sing during the liturgy. We keep a mental preposition between “sing” and “liturgy”. We presume even now that liturgy is what the leader does and sometimes we sing during it. (emphasis is mine)
But the liturgy is us singing.
That’s the music we need! Perhaps you have taken part at some time in the last 30 or 40 years in a demonstration where the folks processing down the city streets were chanting back and forth, loud and strong: “Whose streets?” “Our streets!” So we ought to be demonstrating: “Whose liturgy?” “Our liturgy!” Give us words and chants to sing it, for in that chanting we will hear and know that we do this liturgy as an assembly. We don’t need music that feels like a break in the liturgy, we don’t need presiders who absent themselves from the singing of the assembly, we don’t need sweet, weak poems set to sentimental tunes. And God knows we don’t need solemn naysayers pontificating about how after Vatican II we gave up the only possible music to do the Roman liturgy. Nonsense!
“The challenge of Vatican II was immense: a liturgy sung by the assembly and its ministers. But the times in our Western world were hardly helping us toward this sort of responsibility. If anything, we were culturally prepared to be passive, to be audience, and that’s the expectation we so often brought to the task. We laid the burden on the ministers: Impress us! Inspire us! Entertain us! The megachurches grasped that that’s how the culture works, and they went with it. The rest of us knew there was something wrong, but how to struggle against the cultural assumptions?
… How to have sturdy tunes and chants with words that bear the weight of Eucharist? Yes, how to have tunes and words so sturdy that we come longing to enter into them again with our assembly, Sunday after Sunday?
And how will all this sound? Listen to John Wesley, who knew a thing or two about singing assemblies:
…Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half-dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your vices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound…
Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually, so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he comes in the cloud of heaven. … to be continued….
(Personal note: I would go to catholic high school baccalaureate Masses with great anticipation of experiencing how a community would sing in such a prayerful way that inside I would be shouting “Yes!” Big disappointment – every time. The choirs were very good – the assembly was dead… dead, dead, dead. No joy on their faces, no enthusiasm in their voices and for the most part… no sense that they owned the liturgy.)
The collection this week totaled: $12,223 (higher than week’s total). Thank your support.
We welcome and congratulate Pat Brannigan on the occasion of his ordination to the diaconate and for his perseverance in attending classes the past several years. We congratulate his wife, Mary Ann, who was (and is) his main support and companion along the way. Both are not only committed Catholics and are involved in highly-respected and skilled professions. Multi-tasking must be second-nature to them.
Deacon Brannigan, amidst our parish community, will have a Mass of Thanksgiving this weekend at the 11:30 a.m. Mass. If you cannot be at Mass but have the time, please come to the Gathering area after the 11:30 Mass to congratulate him and reassure him of your prayers.
With the approbation of the universal and local church a deacon may baptize with the fully-approved liturgy of the Church. He may preside at weddings and funerals, preach with the approval of his bishop, and focus on specific ministries such as hospital care, etc. He has a particular “position” in lieu of his ordination… primarily through the recognition of the validity of his ordination and the approval of the local community. As per church, or canonical, law he is directly responsible not to his pastor but to his bishop. A deacon is not a “replacement” for a shrinking vocational shortage. He is a church representative in his own right - as a deacon.
The rebirth of the deaconate came after a long and historical absence. It took new birth in the concentration camps of WWII when imprisoned priests and bishops discussed and asked themselves how these atrocities could have come from a “Catholic” country. How did they, the church, fail in such critical aspects of their lives? They then asked how they could bring a new dynamic into the church… a dynamic that is most reflective and loyal to the early life of the Church. They searched the scriptures and part of the answer would be a renewed diaconate (as described in the scriptures). Many of those in the camps became bishops. They went to the second Vatican Council with much to offer and they had prepared others for a diaconate should it come about. It was no accident that the first deacons to have been ordained in the 20th century were from Germany . The rest is, well, history.
First Communion: We wish God’s best blessings upon the children who received their First Eucharist this past week. The day was beautiful, the liturgy was most excellent and the children’s angelic poise was most gratifying. (I do believe some of that poise quickly dissipated when, on a most warm day, they got home.) We thank and congratulate the teachers, their helpers, the Religious Director and staff for all the behind-the-scene work that goes on to make it all happen.
Liturgy stuff: “What we believe (or “how” we believe) determines how we worship.” That, roughly, is a liturgical truism… and it is why we take our liturgical practices so seriously. For years Rome” has asked English-speaking experts to go back, look at the prayers we use in Mass, and bring them more in line with the original Latin prayers. Thus the work for new translations has been in process for years. It is completed and it has just received the approval from Rome. The translations have been praised and panned – but they are coming our way. It seems most likely that they will be used first on the first Sunday of Advent, 2011. Words and phrases such as “co-substantial,”, “and with your sprit” (instead of “And also with you”), will be brought back into our prayers. It may seem a little awkward and certainly unfamiliar (unless you are as old as me) for a while. Many of us have been through this before and I suppose you could call this a return to home, etc…
Construction: I know a good part of the framing is up with a few windows installed. Some of the work now going on is the sort of which is not as dramatic as framing – but more detailed and, for the most part, unnoticed part of any construction.
Our collection for last week was$11,654. When doing estate planning and fashioning your will, please remember your church.
Last in a series on child abuse and clergy. I once served on a Big Brothers – Big Sisters Board and from the national office we were informed that accusations of child abuse would be a matter of “when” --- not “if”. We were instructed as to how to conduct ourselves when it might happen. In short, it was not to be hidden and cooperation with civil authority (and media) was expected from us. Statistically and across the board we would see that society is infected with pedophiles in the range of 3-6% of the population.
Many reasons have been put forward as to why people become pedophiles. “Street wisdom” lays the blame mostly on celibacy & homosexuality. Psychology Today magazine, in a March issue, has discredited such claims as have other studies. Recently, some bishops and Cardinals of the church continue to lay blame here when research keeps indicating it is not the case. Celibates and homosexuals become victimized by such ignorance. Of the priests in the Diocese of Trenton who were suspended from the priesthood for pedophilia (they did make the papers) I think I could point to only one who may have been homosexual. As for celibacy – marriage is no cure for pedophilia… the percentage rate remains the same across the board- married or single.
The major issues remain the pain and harm experienced by the children, the times when dioceses kept it hidden and abusers were protected.
It is painful for us to see new revelations appear time and again… and I believe more revelations will be forth-coming. We will find similar incidents in other countries (Spain, Italy, Poland… all seen traditionally as “Catholic” countries). I am not aware of any pro-active movements from such countries.
There will be reform. Pope Benedict is certainly aware and he is the ‘right’ person to effect such change. No pope has done more to deal with the problem. He has suspended two very popular founders of religious orders who were once thought invincible. However, the pope’s trip to Malta (the most Catholic country in the world) exhibited the depth of anger within European Catholic communities. The church in Germany sees thousands of Catholics leaving the church – perhaps an initial yet short eruption but devastating if it is sustained. Oftentimes when anger is given opportunity to be vented many other issues come along with it. Pope Benedict, justifiably or not, has sustained a great loss of credibility and respect that the popes of the last century have been given.
Perhaps the Vatican will give local bishops the authority to act quickly and decisively… such as being able to laicize (“defrock”) a priest rather than have it “go Rome”.
There is “collateral” damage in all of this. The church in the US has suffered hundreds of million dollars in settlements – money that supported or ran valuable ministries. The trust and moral authority the bishops (and priests) once enjoyed has been devastated. The anger and shame experienced by the many is without measure. But so many have not walked away for the church still proclaims the Holy Word and still offers salvation to the world.
In the US, any professional who learns of a case of sexual abuse is obligated by law to report it. If anyone reading this article has been sexually abused as a minor in the past by a priest please go your parish priest or to the Diocesan Center (609-406-7400) and report it to either Msgr. Rosie or Msgr. Vaughan. The operator will direct your call to the proper office. The diocese is anxious to learn of any such offense, willing to assist you and will bring it to the proper civil authorities. It is not easy to do but it will help you and may prevent any harm to others. Be as clear and precise as you can be when you report it – it helps a great deal.
Our collection for last week was$10,003.
Our finance committee met about ten days ago. We will be in the red again this year. The state of the economy has had its toll on us and on you. I do thank you for your continued support. RB
Most of what follows is by Fr. Richard O’Brien – a noted Catholic priest and columnist. In mid-March John Allen, the National Catholic Reporter’s senior correspondent and long-time expert on Vatican affairs, published an article that pitted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, former Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany (1977-82) and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1982-2005), against his current persona, Pope Benedict XVI (elected 4/19/05).
The gist of Allen’s insightful article is that there has been a great
transformation of Joseph Ratzinger’s attitude toward the sexual-abuse crisis from his years in Munich and most of his years in the Congregation for the Defense of the faith (CDF), and his years in the papacy.
“As late as November 2002,” Allen writes, “well into the eruption in the United States, he seemed just another Roman cardinal in denial.” Cardinal Ratzinger, like many others in the Curia and in various dioceses around the world regarded the sexual-abuse scandal in the priesthood as a creation of an essentially anti-Catholic media in the United States.
As Pope, however, “Benedict XVI became a Catholic Elliot Ness – disciplining Roman favorites long regarded as untouchable, meeting with sex abuse victims both in the U S and Australia, embracing ‘zero tolerance’ policies once viewed with disdain in Rome, and openly apologizing for the carnage caused by the crisis.”
People had all but forgotten that the Pope was once head of a large archdiocese in Germany. If they remember much of his pre-papal life at all, it is as a well-published theologian who held professorships in several prestigious German universities, and then as the widely-feared Prefect of the of the CDF, where he discipline fellow Catholic theologians for their alleged deviations from orthodoxy.
His time in Munich was viewed as only a brief transition from his years as a theologian to his years in the CDF and then only a brief transition from his years to the papacy itself.
But now it is his time in Munich that has suddenly come under close scrutiny because of the evident mishandling of a case involving a predatory priest. This priest was first sent away for therapy and then allowed resume his pastoral ministry, even when that ministry involved contact with children.
Indeed, it was only last month that the priest was finally removed from the active ministry altogether…
Munich’s vicar general at the time had assumed “full responsibility” for the priest’s reassignment and has insisted that then-Archbishop Ratzinger was not informed of the decision. Some have found this account unpersuasive. In any case, the reassignment happened on Cardinal Ratzinger’s watch.
If there is any defense at all, it is that there was little understanding among the bishops (or the Vatican) at that time of the nature and extent of this problem. They tended to view it as a moral issue rather than as a criminal matter, and assumed that such priests could be rehabilitated and returned to the active ministry.
There was also a concern at the time, shared by Cardinal Ratzinger, as head of the CDF, to protect the reputation of the Church and its priesthood. This became a poisonous formula for the imposition of secrecy, cover-ups, and the threatening of victims and their families.
Others, like Dominican Father Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and Air Force chaplain, issued warnings at the time, predicting with uncanny accuracy that the church would eventually suffer losses in excess of one billion dollars from lawsuits brought by victims and their families. Those warnings went unheeded. So too did the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin’s efforts to establish an effective policy that all U S bishops might follow.
Pope Benedict XVI removed Fr. Marciel , founder of the powerful Legionaries of Christ and a favorite of Pope John Paul II from the public exercise of the priesthood, and, as pointed out above, he personally met with, and apologized to, victims of sexual abuse by priests in the United States and Australia. But as John Allen writes, “relatively few people know or care how far the Vatican, or the pope, have (sic) come over the past eight years.”
Unfortunately, the Pope has not yet adopted any new accountability mechanisms for bishops. But if other cases surface in Munich, Allen observes “even fair-minded people with no axe to grind” may be led to ask, “Can Benedict XVI credibly ride herd on bishops… if his own record as a diocesan leader isn’t any better?” To be continued…
Quotes from The Sunday Visitor:
“This life is hell if you’re an atheist.” Jean Henry, a 90-year old from Easton, Md. who joined the Church this Easter after 4 decades as an atheist.
“Unless we have a vision of the beauty of sexuality to one of its fundamental purposes, which is the creation of new life, then we run the risk of reducing it to an entertainment.” Archbishop of Westminster (London) Vincent Nichols.
First part of a three part article.. (or four part…).
Almost nine years ago The Boston Globe initiated a series of articles revealing sexual abuse among children within the diocese of Boston. It was devastating and we soon found out that it affected almost all, if not all, the dioceses in the US. I don’t think there is a Catholic in the US who is not bothered by these revelations.
Though some claimed it was an anti-Catholic attack the truth remained, there were priests who were sexual abusers… and they were protected. This kind of activity being reported reached back into the 1950’s but probably has been going on much longer.
I myself was not angry at the papers reporting such crimes for I began to realize that if it had not been done it may have continued on for a long time.
Years ago, in the early 90’s the bishops were informed of the nature of the problem and how great the problem was and what would be the possible costs ... not only in terms of dollars but of the harm to the integrity of the Church. Our Bishop Reiss came back from that meeting and immediately instructed the Priest Personnel Director (Msgr. Nolan) to organize a workshop and call a meeting of all the priests of the diocese to be instructed not only about sexual abuse of minors but of sexual harassment, etc. Other bishops, but not all, started to get their houses in order.
I cannot explain the mindset of the bishops or all the intersecting reasons as to why they acted in negative ways for so long a period of time (perhaps even in denial). I can imagine a good number of reasons as to why it turned out as it did… but what is not comprehensible is the ‘apparent’ lack of concern for the victims. I say “apparent” because at times there were settlements that were kept private at the request of the diocese (for fear of scandal), or the family (they did not want their child to re-live the stress of what happened), or desired by both parties. For many of us, the resultant harm was not even imagined until people started to tell their
stories… and it tore at one’s heart to hear it time and again.
(In 1985, Archbishop Quinn of San Francisco wrote an article that appeared in America magazine. In it he noted that sexual abuse and its effects were not of major concern in psychological and psychiatric studies and textbooks. When bishops did send men off for an evaluation of abusers often they were reassured that rehabilitation had been effected and they could be put back into parish work. Many of the bishops took the evaluation and recommendations of the experts as reliable. Later was it realized that rehabilitation is rarely, if ever, accomplished.)
To me it seemed at times as though the Catholic Church was ‘victimized’ in the media in the sense that it appeared to be the only organization being covered in the news. In one state a repeal of the statute of limitations was to be applied only to the Catholic Church – any state organization (e.g. a school board) would not be held to the same standard. That has not yet come to pass. Of course, as a priest I suspect I would be more sensitive to such attention and I may have been somewhat myopic in my observations.
Over the past nine years the Catholic Church has become a model to other organizations as how to protect children. In the US there is in effect a “zero tolerance” policy, offenders are now subject to faster processes of being laicized (people like the term “defrocked” – but that is not how the process is labeled). Most dioceses, like ours, have a committee of men and women, lay and cleric, who review accusations made against a priest. If they find that the accusation is credible (and sometimes if not credible) the priest is removed from ministry until it is resolved.
It is very likely (98%) that if a priest is accused of sexual abuse of a minor the accusation is true. Most priests fear that they may fall into that 2% category of false accusations. To be continued
If you got a chance to look at the construction site you will see that most of the framing is in place and some wallboard has been put up.
No particular order to this week’s notes but some beautiful and varied thoughts for your reflection.
“The message that the cross embodies seems foolishness to those who hold themselves aloof from it, who regard whatever surpasses their understanding as foolish. But for those of us who sense its inner truth, it is the power of God to unblind us. As Scriptures says, “I will confound the wisdom of the worldly-wise and defy the erudition of the clever.” Today, our own great modern thinkers are abashed before the wisdom of God, as were the ancient Jewish scholars and the Greek philosophers. The Jews wanted miraculous deliverance; the Greeks wanted ultimate proof. And here we preach a crucified Christ! A scandal. To the Jews, a dead end; to the Greeks, gibberish. We believe not because we called God and God answered our expectations, but because God calls us and we answer. To us, Jesus is the Christ, the wisdom and power of God, whose foolishness is more subtle than human wisdom and whose weakness is more compelling than human power.”
(St. Paul to the Corinthians)
“There seems to be a principle here, a pattern in my life. Every single time – almost without fail – when I want to do good, I end up doing evil. In the depths of me, truly my spirit delights in walking the way God asks. My mind sees that noble ideal and hears God’s voice. But there is another voice, the voice of my flesh, which wields a whip and points the other way. I am a prisoner between these two voices.
My God, what a wretch! Who can rescue me from this striving, anchored self?
Thank God! It is done! In Jesus, the Christ!
This I – who serves my weakness in sin – is strong enough to rule myself and serve God.”
(St. Paul to the Romans.)
“During the war (WWII), a British friend of Madeleine L’Engle lost her husband and her three small children in an air raid. For the rest of the war, she worked for the destitute, doing ‘her passionate grieving in private’. Later she fell in love again with a man who asked her to marry him and begin a family again. She knew the awful risk. ‘But she made the dangerous decision. She dared to love again.’
Years later, :’Engle told the story at a college, “and during a reception a handsome young philosophy professor came up to me; she had been married and her husband had died; she told me she was not going to do as the Englishwoman had done; she was never going to open herself to that kind of pain again; she refused to be vulnerable.
“I do not think that I would want to be a student in her philosophy classes.”
(Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water.)
The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as of all serious endeavour in art and in science… He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. The sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as feeble reflexion, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.
(Albert Einstein, “My Credo”)
Again, if you have not done so I encourage you and invite you to contribute to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. The payments can be made in installments. There is literature and pledge cards in the Gathering Area.
Please remember St. James Church in you will and estate planning. Pamphlets are available at the rectory to assist you.
Easter Sunday
Some people are shocked when they put the written accounts of Christ’s resurrection side by side to compare them. An Anglican bishop did just that while touring through Israel and was so shaken by it that he lost his faith! An important note: though the early believers and people of today can become very much confused about the Resurrection they also see the dramatic changes that took place in the lives of the disciples after Easter/Pentecost. Their (the Apostles) boldness and their martyrdoms in proclaiming the Passion, Death and Resurrection cannot be explained other than their witness and belief in Christ’s resurrection. C’est vrai! It’s true!
Seeing and believing in Jesus’ resurrection was just as much a challenge to the disciples of Jesus as it might be for us today. Surely the disciples, men and women, were aware of how each of the others were faring, aware of their suffering and certainly aware of some of their martyrdoms. But the news neither discouraged nor deterred them from their very deep convictions. Christ was raised from the dead – and so He will do the same for us.
The challenge really lies in seeing and believing that the risen life comes through our self-sacrificing love of others. When we do this we are eyewitnesses as well. Last Sunday I posted the article from Living Liturgy, 2010. That article reflected on the concept of sacrifice. For all that the Church may be found ‘guilty’ of, her love and sacrifice far outshines and surpasses whatever has disgraced her (and by church I mean all the faithful – not just the organization). In our situation of instant gratification (e.g. can you now live without e-mail, texting, Facebook, or even endure slow computers etc?) and much of the world telling us to spend and pamper ourselves with the best we can afford the very idea of sacrifice is a cold wind in our face. While the idea of sacrifice may seem to many to be outdated and useless the fact is that others benefit from our sacrifice. Others need our sacrifice sometimes just for their survival or a sense that they are not forgotten, not invisible and are of worth to someone… and yes, to God. The very concept of love includes sacrifice within it. While all of this seems restrictive and not life-giving at all, we ought to hear St. Paul’s thoughts on such things. He noted that when he became a ‘slave to Christ’ never did he feel so free! Hopefully you have had a similar, if not complete, experience when you first fell in love with someone… if so, you know what that is like.
We may not be able fully to understand the Resurrection of Jesus. Perhaps we can treat it like love: “try it, you’ll like it!”
From a hymn comes the beautiful reminder: “If we die with the Lord we shall rise with the Lord.”
From St. James staff and me we wish you a blessed and holy Easter!
A special note of thanks to the hundreds of people who through their Lenten and Easter service made this Lent special. Of special note: to those who fed the poor, visited the sick or to those in prison, who ‘worked’ the Beatitudes and who see Christ in others. A further special note of thanks to all who made the liturgy go so well: ushers, altar servers, choirs and cantors and organists and musicians, bell ringers, lectors, to the Good Friday CRASH participants, volunteers to have their feet bathed, those who watched and pray before the Eucharist, who prepared the Easter Vigil and the lighting of candles, ringer of bells, director of Liturgies, LOAVES AND FISHES participants, RCIA leaders, instructors, hospitality team, HILLARY, JAMES & JOHN (RCIA candidates), Prayer of Faithful preparers, presenters of gifts to the altar, DECORATORS, cleaners and organizers of our church, cross bearers and banner carriers, banner makers, Palm Sunday processioners, prayers on behalf of St. James Church, deacon and Parish Staff.
Please remember St. James Church in you will and estate planning. Pamphlets are available at the rectory to assist you.
“Grant me no more than to be a sacrifice for God… I am God’s wheat and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts to make a pure loaf for Christ… Entreat Christ for me that by these means I may become God’s sacrifice… only let me get to Jesus Christ!... Let me imitate the Passion of my God.” St. Ignatius of Antioch from his letter to the Romans.
From Living Liturgy, 2010
“St. Ignatius was an early second-century bishop of Antioch who, during a persecution of that city, was captured, bound, and led to Rome to face being devoured by wild beasts in the coliseum. What is so striking about the seven letters he wrote to various churches on his journey to Rome and impending martyrdom is the sheer joy he takes in dying for Christ. for Ignatius, this is the way to true discipleship; he prays in his letter to the Romans (3.2) that he desires more than anything else not to be called a Christian, but to be one. Self-sacrifice is the way to live our Christian vocation because that is how we conform ourselves to Christ who gave his all for our salvation.
To be sure, few of us are called to be martyrs. In fact, “sacrifice” is something from which we all tend to recoil. Giving up something we want, delaying our own gratification, or self-sacrificing of ourselves for the sake of others all too often aren’t things we choose to do. These next days of entering into Jesus’ paschal mystery through the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday) liturgies and our own everyday living can be a clarion call to us, reminding us that we are created in God’s image, and that means we love with an unselfish love, we give without counting the cost, we sacrifice without recoiling. These are days in which we relearn the deepest meaning of sacrifice.
In ancient Israel sacrifice was the backbone of the people’s religious expression. Sacrifice originated as an act of worship and a way for a people to draw near to God. Although there were both animal and grain offerings, perhaps the most symbolic and telling for us during these days of the Triduum are the animal sacrifices. A pure, unblemished animal would be offered to God. The surrender of a prized, living thing, impresses on us that sacrifice is intimately related to life. And here’s the twist: the animal’s life is sacrificed – its dying is an offering to God – so that life might return to the people as a gift from God. Death brings new life. Further, since blood was considered to be the seat of life, the sprinkling of the sacrificed animal’s blood upon the people was key: this symbolized the return of life from God to them. Spilling blood made possible receiving blood (life).
All sacrifice, then, required a surrendering of life for the sake of the people. This observation offers a context for interpreting these three days: Jesus surrendered his life for the sake of the people so that we might have life. Holy Thursday-Good Friday: each time we share in the Eucharist we don’t have blood sprinkled upon us, but we actually take the Blood within us for the sake of own life and, ultimately, for the sake of another. Jesus’ sacrifice of life brings us new lie and invites a sacrifice of our own lives. Holy Saturday-Easter Sunday: at the Vigil we hear the story of salvation in the readings – we hear of God’s almighty deeds on our behalf, how much God has continually be faithful in offering us life. Our life of self-sacrifice has prepared us to burst with the joy of new, risen life we celebrate. We can dare to sing unending alleluias only when we have surrendered to the unending demands of sacrifice – giving our own selves for the sake of others. Jesus is the model.
…No, we are not all called to be martyrs. But we are called to be disciples and in that conform ourselves to Christ. In little ways of self-sacrifice – being patient with others and ourselves when we are tired, taking some time to visit a lonely person, doing without something we don’t need but would like to have and using the money to (help the poor) – we are strengthened as disciples who are better able to witness to God’s love and care. These sacred days are a gift of life indeed. The life we receive is no less than divine life.”
Collection for 3.21.10 was $13,374
One of the disconcerting elements that can enter into the heart of a person of faith is a sense that s/he does not seem to make any progress in their spiritual lives. In fact, they may have the feeling that they are going backward and their spiritual life today falls far short of what it was years ago. It seems surprisingly real and it something more than a feeling. One could end up in despair or in a state of apathy: “why try at all?”
When I was in the seminary a deacon, just about two weeks from his ordination, decided to give a recital (he was a pianist) to anyone who wished to attend. I went to that recital and was enthralled by it. I used to play at the piano but I never was able to play the piano. He played for about forty-five minutes with no sheet music in front of him. He played the music of Bach, Chopin, etc.
Then something happened that caught me by surprise. At the end of his recital he stood up and apologized for how poorly he played and said something to the effect that Beethoven would have turned over in his grave if he heard this recital. Now, here I am thinking that I would have given almost anything to be able to play like that. (Thinking about that later on I realized, of course, that was not true – otherwise I would have made the time and effort to do just that.) Nonetheless, to a person like me who could just about bang out “Chopsticks” on the piano upon hearing an accomplished musician say that about his ‘wonderful’ recital just was taken aback. How could he even think it?
I would later come to realize that he spoke with sincerity. I also came to realize that as one becomes more proficient in some area of life they also come to expect more of themselves. They see what can be accomplished, they can see perfection and if they fall short of it they know it. They are simply aware of much more than the ordinary ‘layman’. A conductor sitting at a concert expects more, much more, than one who is only somewhat familiar with the ins and outs and the nuances of a finely-tuned orchestra. The conductor will hear things we do not hear and enjoy the music all the more – and will also be more in tune with any little mistake that might go unnoticed by us.
By analogy, the more you progress in your spiritual life the more you want. The more you come to love God the more you want to love God… to a point where God’s will is your will and your will is God’s will.
While the season of Lent may lead us along the road that draws us closer to God our own intensity increases so that even a short distance now seems too long. For the experienced person of faith there is also a danger to which they must attend: maybe they have stopped their journey and are just resting on what they have (maybe even have become smug). Such spiritual lethargy is dangerous to the soul.
Where are you on your journey? If lost or far behind, look at your soul with the eyes of faith or pick up the pace. If you have, in a way, given up – it is never too late to continue on. There is much to be gained!
The Bishop’s annual Appeal is still in process. If you have not signed up for his appeal I ask you to consider giving ten or twenty dollars a month for the next twelve months (of course more would be very much appreciated). You may have received this information in the mail… if not there is a table with pledge cards and information in the Gathering area of the Church. The cards can be placed in the collection basket. I have made my pledge when I opened my mail – and I made my pledge in one payment (I figured I saved about $5 in stamps). Please consider the bishop’s appeal.
As I write this it seems as though construction on the addition will start in today. That poured concrete flooring had a good length of time to cure and should be quite strong. Here’s hoping the weather is good, the people are there and we can see some walls going up!
The collection for3/7/10 was 14,731. Thank you for your generosity. Please remember St. James Church in you will and estate planning. Pamphlets are available at the rectory to assist you.
I would like to thank you for your kind and supportive words to myself and family at the news of the death of my brother. You thoughts and prayers truly were consoling and a source of strength.
John L. Allen, Jr. is one of the most knowledgeable people on the universal Roman Catholic Church. His recent book, The Future Church, describes the “face” of our Church and some possible future trends. Though the Euro-catholic church is mostly gone (or will be) there will be strong pockets throughout Europe of vibrant Catholicism. (Secularism is strongly entrenched in most European countries.) We are already a global church and the great majority of Catholics are in the southern global setting. Issues we consider ‘hot-button’ issues (abortion, gay-rights, celibacy, etc) are of little or no interest to these Catholics.
The global church is concerned more about witch-craft (yes, you read that correctly), economic and political situations, etc. Their morality and church issues are quite conservative but in other areas they are very social-justice oriented. In some instances, in the face of oppression, the bishops of one country have been responsible for the overthrow of that government. They did not write eloquent letters – in this case they simply told the leader to either get out or he will be thrown out. Within a year that leader called for elections, was defeated and pretty much not heard from since. And the faith is growing. In one African parish, if you were to be at Mass, it would be filled with people and lots of children – you would not be sure whether you were in a church or in a nursery school. An African seminary has over a 1,000 students – and if all were ordained it would still not meet the needs of the church. In the last century and a half there has been an explosion of numbers who have come to the Catholic Church. (The Pentecostal Church is making great inroads as well.) Because there is such diversity (tribal and otherwise) some Latin is making its way back into the liturgy… such as the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, the Pater Noster, etc. The reason is that to pray in one dialogue or language in huge national gatherings may give offence to others --- and so here there is common ground.
The wonderful priests we have had during the summer over the years are the face of this World Church. Sometimes they pay a high price for their faith, e.g. I have recently heard from Fr. Danjuma that Christians in state of Jos are still persecuted and martyred by Muslims. Usually there has been peace – but for now there is danger in their every day living.
I am only part-way through the book but already it is changing on how I view the universal Church.
From the intro of the book: “(Fr. Karl)Rahner believed that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) launched a “qualitative leap” toward a new stage in Church history, in which the church will no longer be dominated exclusively by European or Western cultural forms, functioning in other parts or the world like an “export firm.”… Rahner said that the significance of the shift to this World Church is on a par with the transition in the first century from Christianity as a sect within Palestinian Judaism to a broad-based religious movement in the Greco-Roman world. “A frontier has been crossed,” Rahner wrote in 1979, “behind which it will never again be possible to return, even to the slightest degree.”
We are now two and a half weeks into the Lenten season. Some are well into a heightened spiritual journey, some are doing the minimum in fasting, prayer and almsgiving (the three traditional disciplines of Lent) and others are still trying to figure out what to do. It’s how we seem to function. Whatever stage you find yourself in it is never too late to join the (Global) Church’s liturgical season of journeying with Christ in his redemptive actions.
The collection for 2/28/10 was 12,971. Thank you for your generosity. Please remember St. James Church in you will and estate planning. Pamphlets are available at the rectory to assist you
“The Sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.” Catechism of the Catholic Church #1468.
I thought I’d go through the basics of the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation). A ritual is given to the Faithful so that we might easily and with familiarity approach our God asking forgiveness of our sins.
The penitent can go to confession privately behind a screen or face-face-face with the priest.
Fr. Kris Stubna
*An Act of Contrition: “My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.
I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.
Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name my God, have mercy.
We are to confess our serious sins at least once a year. The Church encourages us to go to confession often in order to deepen our relationship with God and to grow n humility and virtue.
Why confess to a priest? The short answer is that is the way Jesus set it up on Easter Sunday evening.
“Whose sin you forgive are forgiven them” he told his apostles (and commanded them to preach “repentance and forgiveness of sins” to all nations.
At least one pope had the practice of going to confession each and every day.
Stations of the Cross are held every Friday evening, 7:30 p.m. at the chapel.
Collection for Feb. 21st: $12,714. Please remember St. James Church in your will.
Thank you so much for the giving!
From the 2010 Sourcebook (a liturgical publication from the Archdiocese of Chicago) comes the following:
“Lent is the season of grace and conversion, of penance and reconciliation, of renewal of our baptismal promises. Lent is marked with seriousness, consciousness of the poorest of the poor, attention to prayer and liturgy, attentive listening to the word of God, and “with gladness of spiritual desire await holy Easter” (Rule of St. Benedict, 49).
The duration of Lent varied in history: one week, three weeks, and finally six weeks. Since the third century, it has encompassed 40 days of fasting. Because Sundays are not days of penance, the beginning of Lent was moved back to Wednesday preceding the First Sunday of Lent at the beginning of the sixth century. Until the eve of the Second Vatican Council, Septuagesima (seventy), Sexagesima (sixty) and Quinquagesima (fifty) were the three Sundays preceding Lent, celebrated with violet vestments, creating a sort of “pre-Lent”. By that time, focus on the baptismal character of Lent had almost vanished. Preparation for Baptism was replaced by an emphasis on sin and penitence.
Lent originated as days of preparation for the Easter initiation of catechumens. The Second Vatican Council restored this baptismal character and the central importance of the catechumenate to the season, along with a call for penitential practices on the part of those already baptized (see General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar, 27).
Even if there are no catechumens, the whole community is called to return to its Baptism and to renew its Profession of Faith and commitment at the Easter Vigil. The baptismal character of Lent is one reason why it is inappropriate to empty the font of holy water during this season. During Lent, the environment is pared down. We fast from decorations and flowers and lively music, but the primary signs and symbols remain in place: altar and ambo, cross and font, water and oil, incense and candlelight, bread and wine. None of these are removed. Even during Lent, the font and holy water continue to mark our comings and our goings – babies get baptized, the deceased are sprinkled, and Catholic bless themselves with Sign of the Cross…
Lent is marked by two themes, the baptismal and the penitential. It is a time of purification and enlightenment for the elect, and a time for the local community to join them in a spirit of repentance and conversion. The already baptized, even if they don’t remember their Baptism, can renew the baptismal promises they or their parents made for them. This season shakes us out of our baptismal complacency to remember our ongoing conversion journey, the already and the not yet.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17 this year, and ends before the celebration of the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. Remember that Lent is a joyful march toward holy Easter, and that all readings, rituals, and penitential practices are not done mournfully, but are done with the risen Christ in mind and heart. The Lent-Triduum-Easter cycle leads us to Pentecost as the baptized people of God inspired to be Church through the Holy Spirit.
Collection for Feb.14thth: $11,342
Please remember St. James Church in your will. Thank you so much for the giving!
Re construction: the contractors were able to put up several tiers of concrete block (foundation) and fill it in. You may remember that we had a lot of rain but when the time was opportune they laid the concrete floor. They were able to cover it but since then we have had a little bit more rain and even more snow. Right now a few feet of snow lays on top.
Some little odds and ends…
Why do we call our Sunday gatherings “The Mass”? From the Catholic Encyclopedia we have an answer. “The word Mass (missa) first established itself as the general designation for the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the West after the time of Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604), the early Church having used the expression the “breaking of bread” (fractio panis) or “liturgy” (Acts 13:2, leitourgountes); the Greek Church has employed the latter name for almost sixteen centuries.
“There were current in the early days of Christianity other terms;
+ “The Lord’s Super” (coena dominica),
+ the “Sacrifice” (prosphora, oblato)
+ “the gathering together” (synaxis, congregation),
+ “the Mysteries”, and since Augustine, “the Sacrament of the Altar”.
“With the name “Love Feast” (agape) the idea of the sacrifice of the Mass was not necessarily connected. Etymologically, (the origin of words) the word missa… is simply derived from mission… The reference was however not to a Divine “mission”, but simply to a “dismissal” (dismissio) as was also customary in the Greek rite…
“This solemn form of leave-taking was not introduced by the Church as something new, but was adopted from the ordinary language of the day…”
“Sin” vs. “sins”: sometimes the singular form of sin is used in our prayers and at other times the plural form is used. The singular form most likely refers to our state of separation from God while the plural form would refer to a number of specific sins for which we are responsible. So God would take away the sin of the world (our situation of being separated from God) while God takes away our sins (absolves us) of many particular and specific sin for which we are responsible.
Before the priest takes the Holy Eucharist unto himself he says the following prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit, your death brought life to the world. By your holy body and blood free me from all my sins, and from every evil. Keep me faithful to your teaching, and never let me be parted from You.
Should you go to a Byzantine Catholic or a Russian Orthodox Church you will most likely see it beautifully decorated in rich colors and gold. From 0ne, a publication of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), is this interesting story: “In 1947, 4-year old Viktor Proskuriakov stood in the door of his home in Borylav, a small town in western Ukraine, and shouted, “Mom, I was in heaven!” When Mrs. Proskuriakov asked her son to show her this heaven, he led her to an old church, which the Soviet authorities had closed and converted into a museum of atheism.
Now, as the elderly mother recounts the story, she is convinced her son stumbled upon a secret Divine Liturgy celebrated by members of the then under ground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.”
Churches are places where we expect to find a “little piece of heaven”. Whether a small chapel, a great baroque or gothic cathedral. We expect these places also to be a places of peace as well as holy ground where believers come together to celebrate weekly, to celebrate marker events in their lives (baptisms, wedding, funerals, etc), and to keep God as a focus in their lives.
People tend to think that Sunday Mass is a “little” Easter celebration. Rather, the “ “Mass at Easter is a big Sunday celebration.” Fr, Jake Empereur, S, J. Liturgist.
Mrs. L’s 4th grade class have considered how to put their faith into action and have created “Good Deeds trees” -- maybe a good idea for all of us (you can see them in the Gathering Area).
Collection for Jan. 17th: $11,126
Please remember St.James Church in your will. Thank you so much for the giving!
On my trip to Lourdes this past summer I made a stop at Ars, France. It is a small country village. Thousands of people came to this village because of a priest who served as its pastor for several decades. In this “Year of the Priest”, this priest has been singled out by Pope Benedict XVI as a model for priests to follow. He was well-renowned as a confessor and, literally, people from all over Europe and beyond would travel to go to confession to him.
His name is (St.) John Vianney. It would not have been unusual for him to be in the confessional for twelve or fourteen hours a day. His work/prayer day averaged 18 – 20 hours. Because he would at times consider himself unworthy to be a priest or a pastor he tried to leave his parish at least on two occasions (his parishioners always found him and brought him back). He served as pastor of this village of Ars for over 40 years… it had a population of approximately 200 people.
On Thursday, February 11th at 7:30 pm, St. Paul’s Church, Princeton will be hosting a play entitled “VIANNEY” The admission is $5.00. Ticket information will be forth-coming
Pope Pius XII: from the magazine Inside the Vatican (Jan. 2010) is an article on PPXII. He died in 1958 and was the pope during WWII. Was he anti-Semitic and/or unconcerned about the fate of the Jewish people during his pontificate? “Almost overnight the Pope who had for years been hailed by the New York Times for having “put himself squarely against Hitler” and being a “lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent” was suddenly being accused of silence, if not outright collusion with Hitler, during the Holocaust.”
“The New York Times itself consistently documented the Vatican’s bold anti-Nazi and pro-Jewish statements. Consider, for example, a few of the paper’s headlines: “Vatican Denounces Atrocities in Poland; Germans Called Even Worse than Russians” (Jan. 23, 1940); “Vatican Amplifies Atrocity Reports: Weight of Papacy Put Behind Exposure of Nazi Excesses” (Jan. 24, 1940; “Pope is Emphatic about Just Peace; Jew’s Rights Defended” (March 14, 1940); “Vatican Says Nazism is Foe of Christianity” (Nov. 20, 1940); “Pope is Said to Plead for Jews Listed for Removal From France” (Aug. 6, 1942; “Vichy Seizes Jews: Pope Pius Ignored” (Aug. 27, 1942.”
“Most people writing on Pius XII give 1963 as the beginning of the assault on his character, and associate the attack with the appearance of Rolf Hochhuth’s play The Deputy – a bitterly hostile caricature of Pope Pius XII.”
A historical perspective: anyone raised in the ‘late ‘40’s and 50’s is very much aware of the hostility of the Church against (atheistic) communism… especially as personified in the Russian government. That same government set out to destroy the Pope’s reputation (for obvious reasons) and it seems that much of the material for The Deputy came from material compiled by Russian propagandists.
“Gene Krupp is the latest of many Jewish defenders of Pius. After years of study he is convinced that Pius saved more Jews from the Nazis than did any other individual, group or nation. One of the first to make that claim was Pinchas Lapid, a Jewish scholar, who estimated that Pius was responsible for saving some 860,000 Jews.”
In another article, references are made to a Joseph Lichten who was director of the Anti-Defamation League and who was extremely knowledgeable about everything that happened to Jews in Europe and about exactly how Pius and the Church responded to the tragedy of the Holocaust. Among many things noted by Lichten: “Pius XII’s humanitarian efforts to ease the lot of Jews continued throughout the war. French, Dutch, Ukrainian bishops acted on behalf of the Jews on instructions from the Pope.” Again: “Thousands of Jewish refugees poured into Vatican City; thousands of others sought shelter in the basilicas and other buildings of the Holy See outside the Vatican Wall. No less than 15,000 were sheltered at Castel Gandolfo (the summer residence of the popes).”
It seems that a revisionist history of PPXII’s legacy and a reversal of respect for his papacy during WWII is set in the minds of many… an injustice? Many scholars have already weighed in – and I am sure there will be much more to come. But for now… I’ll stand with Pius XII.
Parish Finances: Weekend of 1/24/10. Our Parish Finance Committee recommended that in order to avoid confusion we will report one figure for the past week’s collection. That one figure will include the amount receive from the Sunday collection, electronic fund contributions and Sunday collections that come to the rectory later in the week.
Collection for Jan. 17th: ----$13,592
An additional $923 was given for Haitian Relief Fund… bringing the total to over $7,000. Thank you so much!
The December issue of Columbia magazine (put out by the Knights of Columbus) had a stunning cover of some of the many stars, quasars, dust clouds, etc of our galaxy. I have had a strong interest in astronomy and some of the sciences such as the more esoteric studies (string theories, of gluons, neurons, etc). Much of it seems to go beyond my grasp but I do love to read about it and grasp as much as I can. In this magazine appeared an article by Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno who works at Vatican Observatory. The International Year of Astronomy is celebrating the 400th anniversary of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei’s first use of a telescope.
His (Brother Guy’s) mission at the observatory is simple: perform good science.
He writes that in 1891, Pope Leo XIII established the observatory to show the world that the Church supports science. In that era science was more taken up by secular professionals and some of those professionals had promoted the idea that their work was better for being free of “clerical prejudices.” This let to the misconception that science and religion were somehow at war.
The church had to find reliable ways to establish such times as when Easter should be celebrated for any given location, in any year. Thus the church, in 1582, turned to the astronomers for help. Even before then, writes Bro. Guy, astronomy was one of the four courses (called “quadrivium’ – the others were geometry, arithmetic and music) that every university student had to master in the Church’s medieval universities before they could go on to study philosophy or theology.
A common thread in Christian theology from the Church Fathers to the present day is that a good God created this universe and found it good. In fact, it is so good and so loved that God the only Son to be part of it and to save it.
Some of the most important advances in our understanding of the universe have come from priests, monks and other children of the Church. Jesuit priests Grimaldi and Riccioli devised the names of the features of the Moon that are used even today. By the way, they did their work in Rome less that 20 years after the Galileo trial. The idea that stars could be classified by their spectral colors, the basis of all modern astrophysics, was pioneered by Fr. Angelo Secchi in 1865, using a telescope on the roof of St. Ignatius Church in Rome. The Big Bang theory came from the early 20th century work of a Belgian priest and mathematician, Fr. George Lemaitre.
Today, the Vatican Observatory employs a dozen active priest and brother astronomers, with several Jesuits working in supporting roles. They come from four continents and speak nine languages and work in almost every field of modern astronomy. Their detailed research results are published in the same journals as any other astronomer’s work and they regularly collaborate with astronomers at universities and observatories around the world.
What do they see? Encounters with the glory of God. They see a universe that is both rational and beautiful. “The awe of stars can help put our small lives into a larger perspective – and you don’t need an advanced degree to enjoy this stuff,” writes Bro. Guy.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote about “The Love that Moves the Stars.” In it he quotes Psalm 8:4-5: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, what is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man, that you should care for him?” “It is my hope that the wonder and exaltation which are meant to be the fruits of this International Year of Astronomy will lead beyond the contemplation of the marvels of creation to the contemplation of the Creator, and of that Love which is the underlying motive of his creation – the Love which, in the words of Dante Alighieri, ‘moves the sun and the other stars’ (Paradiso XXXIII, 145). Revelation tells us that, in the fullness of time, the Word through whom all things were made came to dwell among us. In Christ, the new Adam, we acknowledge the true centre of the universe and all history, and in him, the incarnate Logos (Word), we see the fullest measure of our grandeur as human beings, endowed with reason and called to an eternal destiny.”
A few months ago I started to write personal “thank you” notes to those who have helped in our Capitol Campaign. I will send them out – but I am only 1/3rd of the way there… but I will complete them in due time.
Parish Finances: As notes in last week’s bulletin I will inform you of what the community has contributed each weekend. It will include the collection, an average of what we receive through electronic giving plus any contributions that came in during the past week. I noted that we need approximately $13,000 each week to meet our expenses.
Collection for Jan. 10th: ----$9,875
Average electronic giving: $1,000
Receipts this past week: $4,126
Total-----------------$15,001
Thank you so much!
On the cover of the Dec. 7, 2009 edition of America magazine is a most interesting and colorful picture of the city of Sanaa, Yemen. Inside the magazine is an article written by David Pinault in which he describes some of the trials and martyrdoms that Jews and Christians face every day, not only in Yemen, but in other parts of world as well.
Years ago, Fr. Hans Kung wrote a book in which he believed that possibly the most important issue we will have to deal with in the 3rd Millennium is the relationship between Christianity and Islam. He urged dialogue, understanding and coming to mutual acceptance. At the time he wrote the book I do not think any possibility of open extremism (with its attendant violence) was on the horizon.
From the account in America magazine Mr. Pinault writes:
“Several years ago, in a conversation with Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of Yemen, Pope John Paul II petitioned for the construction of a church in Yemen’s capital. The president promised he would see to it. Nothing has come of the promise. There are no churches in Saudi Arabia either, despite the presence of over one million foreign Christian workers and a personal plea from Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. Pope Benedict noted that in the 1990s the Italian government permitted the construction of a Saudi-financed mosque in Rome, a short distance from Vatican City. Yet so far Saudi Arabia’s leaders have refused to follow suit and recognize the right to freedom of worship in their own country. Anwar Ashiqi, a Saudi religious scholar, summarized the government’s position: “It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a church in Saudi Arabia only after the pope and all Christian churches recognize the Prophet Muhammed.”
“I raised this issue in a conversation in June with a Sunni imam in Yemen’s capital. An affable individual in his early 30’s, this imam directs a mosque in Sanaa and is known as a hafiz (someone who has learned by heart the entire Koran). When I pointed out the disparity – mosques in Rome, no churches in Sanaa – he said this struck him as right. Islam, he stated, is al-din al-niha’i (the final, definitive religion). But Christianity and Judaism, he said, were religions from the past, outdated and superseded. “They may be permitted to exist,” he continued, “but they shouldn’t be allowed to propagate.”….
“What this man articulated was an attitude I encountered in all too many conversations in Sanaa: a resistance to religious pluralism. By pluralism, I mean the notion that spiritual paths alternative to one’s own have value; that these alternatives have something to teach us, even as they challenge us by their difference; and that one’s religious identity and spiritual life are deepened by the self-reflection triggered in the encounter with diversity. Such encounters can take place only in settings where freedom of worship is allowed to flourish….” (pg. 14)
Some tensions in the world today may be seen as a clash of cultures. I can’t help but to lean toward the idea that it is a clash of religions as well. This is All the more reason to enter into dialogue, to seek understanding, and to live in mutual tolerance. Fortunately some large steps have been taken in that direction… such as an Islamic professor at one of the Vatican Universities in Rome. Let us pray for and support efforts that work toward a peaceful religious world.
On Tuesday, December 21, I was in an accident which resulted in my being taken to the hospital, observed overnight and sent home on Wednesday afternoon. The accident resulted in a fractured sternum and one fractured rib. It was a loss for me to have missed the Christmas Celebrations and opportunity to be at prayer with you on these very holy days. At the present time, though somewhat uncomfortable, I am on the mend. I want to thank you for your many good prayers, good wishes and concern.
Msgr. Ron B
Though we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany this weekend (January3) it is positioned as the twelfth day of Christmas (on our calendar that would be January 6th). We moved it to a Sunday celebration so that all may be more attentive to it’s importance and meaning. For those of you who are interested in whether or not there was a star, a star that stopped over the town of Bethlehem, I have this news update from a friend of mine. Re the universe:
“Last evening I went to my prayer group. We joined another prayer group for the evening so we could all view this DVD entitled Star of Bethlehem. You can access information about it at www.Bethlehemstar.net. The dvd broadcasts a discussion by a Christian lawyer who struggled with questions about the star we hear about in the Gospels. He wondered: Is the history of the star authentic or did the Church trump it up to fit the story? So the lawyer explores astronomy and mathematics as well as the prophecies in the Old Testament about the birth of the Messiah. What results is a compelling, elegant connection between the Scriptures and science. They become like the lion and the lamb, not just peacefully coexisting but validating each other. It is worth looking into; in fact, once is not enough. So much information and thought goes into the film that it becomes necessary to view it again to appreciate all the ideas. I suspect you would enjoy it--and would probably enjoy bringing it to an audience at St. James.”
The feast of Epiphany is important to all followers of Christ because it is the feast that celebrates the revelation of Jesus as Lord and that salvation is open to all nations… to all who hear and take Christ into their hearts.
“Had we celebrated the feast of Epiphany on January 6th then this Sunday would have been a celebration of The Most Holy Name of Jesus. “In Hebrew Jesus’ name is “Jeshua” (in English, “Joshua”), and it means “Yahweh Saves.” Translated into Greek the name becomes “Iesous”, and in Greek it becomes connected with the Greek verb “to heal.” The Name has come to us in the Latin Form “Jesus.”
In the third century it was common to use contractions for the sacred names of Jesus… The use of contractions was a way of honoring the sacred name of Jesus. (In Hebrew the Jewish name of God is Yahweh but so sacred is this name that Jewish people always use a contraction of it: YWH.). Thus the name of Jesus was contracted to IHS. In later centuries IHS was said to mean “Jesus, Savior of Men”. But that was never the original meaning of those three letters….
“There should be some awe in us when we ponder Jesus and say his name. there should be some revulsion when the Sacred Name is misused. It is time to once again to learn to do what the sisters taught us, what our grandmothers taught us, and bow our heads when the Name is said. Not only might that bow change us, it might change others as well.”
(Priest magazine Dec. 2009 pg. 27)
A most heart-felt thanks to all who worked to make the Holy Day liturgies so beautiful and to have them run so smoothly… to all those who were in the sanctuaries and to those who worked behind the scenes and gave so much of their time.
We thank our blood donors who gave their time and blood so that others might live.
I want to extend a personal note to thank those who sent me Christmas cards, gifts, good wishes and good “goodies”. I am genuinely touched and beyond words sufficient enough to express a proper gratitude – but it is there.
email to stjames1@bellatlantic.net