I will be heading out to Madrid this Christmas for a couple weeks to work with the Missionaries of Charity. They run an AIDS hospice for men as well as a number of other things.
I hope to keep posting through Christmas. We'll see what access looks like.
If I do not get to say it later, Merry Christmas to all.
AMDG
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Talking Tough
This priest brings up an interesting idea. He uses funerals as a place to reach fallen away Catholics who will attend funerals and weddings but not much else. Though I support his idea, I wonder if it comes on too strong. Anyways, it's definitely worth a read. It's from the Archdiocese of DC blog.
"I celebrate just over 50 funerals a year; about one a week. (People are dying to come to church here). And most of these funerals feature large numbers of fallen away Catholics and unchurched individuals. Most of these people I see ONLY at funerals and sometimes weddings. For this reason, in recent years, I have altered my approach at funerals and direct almost half of the sermon to the unchurched and call them to repent and return home. Surely in the first part I speak of the deceased, offer thanks to God for their life, entrust them to God and ask the congregation to pray for the repose of the deceased soul. I never fail to menton judgment and purgatory as reasons for this prayer. That is too often not mentioned at Catholic funerals, a terrible oversight if you ask me. But the bottom line is that I spend the first half of the sermon commending the deceased person to God’s benevolent mercy and care.
AMDG.
"I celebrate just over 50 funerals a year; about one a week. (People are dying to come to church here). And most of these funerals feature large numbers of fallen away Catholics and unchurched individuals. Most of these people I see ONLY at funerals and sometimes weddings. For this reason, in recent years, I have altered my approach at funerals and direct almost half of the sermon to the unchurched and call them to repent and return home. Surely in the first part I speak of the deceased, offer thanks to God for their life, entrust them to God and ask the congregation to pray for the repose of the deceased soul. I never fail to menton judgment and purgatory as reasons for this prayer. That is too often not mentioned at Catholic funerals, a terrible oversight if you ask me. But the bottom line is that I spend the first half of the sermon commending the deceased person to God’s benevolent mercy and care.
But given the terribly high loss in the practice of faith and the consequent grave condition of many of the souls at any given funeral I cannot allow (any longer) an omission to be made of summoning them to Christ. How can it be that God has led them to my parish and I would say nothing to them to dissuade them from their path away from God and his sacraments? So many souls today are not only unchurched and backslidden (fallen away), but they are often locked in serious, mortal sin. I cannot know this about any particular individual but it is clear that many are lost like sheep without a shepherd. While conscious of my own sin, I cannot remain silent (any longer) and fail to call the unchurched and fallen away back. And trust me, even at the funeral of strong Catholic families there are MANY who are fallen away. Add to that the fact that many funerals I celebrate are for people who themselves were not always fervent in the practice of the faith. Families of such as these have even more members in need of a sobering wake up call."
Full ArticleAMDG.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Catholics come home
Are you a fallen away Catholic? Do you know a fallen away Catholic? The Diocese of Sacramento is participating in the nation-wide "Catholics Come Home" project. Check out the website, starting with Bishop Soto's welcome to visitors. I enjoyed the video about famous Catholic converts. I'm the lowest of them all, but I'm in good company :)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Another Heroic Priest
"Foley is one of 14 Catholic priests serving in Afghanistan and spends much of his time traveling around the country to visit soldiers at forward operating bases and smaller combat outposts. He also handles nine Masses on weekends including a Mass in Spanish.
"You have to remember it may be your fourth or fifth Mass of the day but to them it's their first Mass, and to some out in the field it may be their first Mass in four or five weeks. For some it may be their last Mass," Foley said.
Among Foley's duties is visiting patients and staff at the hospital at Bagram as well as mortuary affairs. He frequently is called at all hours to go to the hospital to comfort a wounded soldier from his battalion or a service member who is Catholic; he performs the Catholic ritual of anointing of the sick as well as comforts the fallen soldier's buddies.
"It's very somber, very respectful - there's a love for that fallen comrade," said Foley, adding that he's inspired by the attitude of wounded troops.
"You'd be so impressed with the soldiers. When they come in (to the hospital), their first question is, 'How are my battle buddies?' And the second question is, 'When can I get back out there?' It's a pretty inspiring place to be'."
Whole article here.
AMDG.
"You have to remember it may be your fourth or fifth Mass of the day but to them it's their first Mass, and to some out in the field it may be their first Mass in four or five weeks. For some it may be their last Mass," Foley said.
Among Foley's duties is visiting patients and staff at the hospital at Bagram as well as mortuary affairs. He frequently is called at all hours to go to the hospital to comfort a wounded soldier from his battalion or a service member who is Catholic; he performs the Catholic ritual of anointing of the sick as well as comforts the fallen soldier's buddies.
"It's very somber, very respectful - there's a love for that fallen comrade," said Foley, adding that he's inspired by the attitude of wounded troops.
"You'd be so impressed with the soldiers. When they come in (to the hospital), their first question is, 'How are my battle buddies?' And the second question is, 'When can I get back out there?' It's a pretty inspiring place to be'."
Whole article here.
AMDG.
A culture of vocations or a culture of death
I heard a story from a friend of mine the other day. Someone said to him, "I know what we can do to stimulate more vocations: the Church needs to change. It needs to allow priests to get married, ordain women, and be more gay friendly." He replied, "The Episcopal Church does all of that, and they have an increasing shortage of laity." His interlocutor responded that the Catholic Church is not the Episcopal Church. He then said, "Let's keep it that way."
I don't believe there can be such a thing as a "vocations shortage." God always calls enough men and women to serve His Church as priests and religious, but today not enough of them are answering that call. Why? In Pope John Paul II's letter on priestly formation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, he diagnoses two causes: cultural disease and ecclesial malaise. For 18, 22, 29, or however many years they've walked the earth, young men have been told that the world is here for them. They are unique consumers defined by what kind and how much of the stuff they buy. Virility is defined by how many women you've slept with. You are only "educated" to the degree you subscribe to rationalistic scientism. Certain strains of feminism demand that we accept that "to be equal" means "to be the same." And above it all, the implicit assumption that "truth" is a quaint medieval notion only held to by right-wing troglodytes. Sacrificial love - the kind modeled by Christ - is an almost foreign concept today.
JPII proposed the solution offered by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: sacrificial obedience to the Faith. Most of the people who read this blog are surely lay people, and I must tell you that it is part of your mission as a lay person to create a climate of vocations to the priesthood. So I ask you: 1) Would your life in Christ inspire a young man to become a priest? or 2) Would your life in Christ cause a young man to go running into the arms of the culture of death? Think about what all young Catholic men who are considering the priesthood face today: an atmosphere of suspicion because of the sex scandals, parents who want him to find more remunerative work, impurity as a way of life for his friends, and priests and DREs who allow error to contaminate the faith, if not kill it.
Every diocesan event I go to - no matter how big or how small - I always ask at least one young man if he has ever considered being a priest. And you know what? None of them has ever outright said, "No." Even if they did, that doesn't mean they don't have a vocation. Speaking for myself, I definitely said "No way" the first time someone ever suggested the priesthood to me. But you, the laity, are primarily responsible for leavening the culture. And it is part of your unique vocation to live and work in the world to create that culture which encourages priestly vocations. If a seminarian ever stays in your parish, take a moment to encourage him. Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world. And above all, pray a lot.
I don't believe there can be such a thing as a "vocations shortage." God always calls enough men and women to serve His Church as priests and religious, but today not enough of them are answering that call. Why? In Pope John Paul II's letter on priestly formation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, he diagnoses two causes: cultural disease and ecclesial malaise. For 18, 22, 29, or however many years they've walked the earth, young men have been told that the world is here for them. They are unique consumers defined by what kind and how much of the stuff they buy. Virility is defined by how many women you've slept with. You are only "educated" to the degree you subscribe to rationalistic scientism. Certain strains of feminism demand that we accept that "to be equal" means "to be the same." And above it all, the implicit assumption that "truth" is a quaint medieval notion only held to by right-wing troglodytes. Sacrificial love - the kind modeled by Christ - is an almost foreign concept today.
JPII proposed the solution offered by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: sacrificial obedience to the Faith. Most of the people who read this blog are surely lay people, and I must tell you that it is part of your mission as a lay person to create a climate of vocations to the priesthood. So I ask you: 1) Would your life in Christ inspire a young man to become a priest? or 2) Would your life in Christ cause a young man to go running into the arms of the culture of death? Think about what all young Catholic men who are considering the priesthood face today: an atmosphere of suspicion because of the sex scandals, parents who want him to find more remunerative work, impurity as a way of life for his friends, and priests and DREs who allow error to contaminate the faith, if not kill it.
Every diocesan event I go to - no matter how big or how small - I always ask at least one young man if he has ever considered being a priest. And you know what? None of them has ever outright said, "No." Even if they did, that doesn't mean they don't have a vocation. Speaking for myself, I definitely said "No way" the first time someone ever suggested the priesthood to me. But you, the laity, are primarily responsible for leavening the culture. And it is part of your unique vocation to live and work in the world to create that culture which encourages priestly vocations. If a seminarian ever stays in your parish, take a moment to encourage him. Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world. And above all, pray a lot.
Friday, December 11, 2009
We still Kant have that
I've successfully completed another semester at St. Patrick's, thanks be to God. This semester was more difficult than the previous two, mainly because I've been entrusted with more responsibilities around the house. But with Christ and the Blessed Virgin's help, it's all over. Pre-Theology just finished setting up for our end of semester Christmas banquet, so now I can finally relax.
My adviser, Fr. Stevens, is also the academic dean. I've noticed that all of my classes overlapped this semester: information I learned in my Ethics class became invaluable in my class on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. My philosophy courses have been invaluable. Part of what it means to be a priest is to know the world in which you will be living and speaking to the people. Many people - including many Catholics - are good Kantians now in that they believe faith and reason are completely separate spheres. Every time you hear a Catholic pol say, "I'm personally opposed to abortion, but..." he is revealing himself as a child of Kant.
This generation of priests and seminarians faces a unique challenge in the history of Christendom: we live in a secular world. We no longer possess a religious imagination. I'll quote a line from one of Fr. Stevens' favorite poems: So much depends on a red wheel-barrow. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to unpack the meaning of that sentence. Those of us who went to public schools never really got to learn skills like that. Much of my seminary education thus far has been picking up skills and ideas I should have learned in childhood. Philosophy helps me understand why I didn't - because my teachers' teachers were operating with a specific philosophy of education and epistemology in mind.
Truth is truth no matter the source, so we cannot simply dismiss modern philosophers out of hand. Believe it or not, even Michel Foucault had some unique insights into the human condition that are valuable for understanding the world we must engage. So take the time to sift through them, testing everything, keeping what is good, and bugger all the rest. If you're thinking about the priesthood, I strongly suggest learning some basic philosophy too since you'll need to know it later on if you pursue it. At the same time, don't lose sight of the most important thing. Academics are important here, but your spiritual life is the most important.
My adviser, Fr. Stevens, is also the academic dean. I've noticed that all of my classes overlapped this semester: information I learned in my Ethics class became invaluable in my class on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. My philosophy courses have been invaluable. Part of what it means to be a priest is to know the world in which you will be living and speaking to the people. Many people - including many Catholics - are good Kantians now in that they believe faith and reason are completely separate spheres. Every time you hear a Catholic pol say, "I'm personally opposed to abortion, but..." he is revealing himself as a child of Kant.
This generation of priests and seminarians faces a unique challenge in the history of Christendom: we live in a secular world. We no longer possess a religious imagination. I'll quote a line from one of Fr. Stevens' favorite poems: So much depends on a red wheel-barrow. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to unpack the meaning of that sentence. Those of us who went to public schools never really got to learn skills like that. Much of my seminary education thus far has been picking up skills and ideas I should have learned in childhood. Philosophy helps me understand why I didn't - because my teachers' teachers were operating with a specific philosophy of education and epistemology in mind.
Truth is truth no matter the source, so we cannot simply dismiss modern philosophers out of hand. Believe it or not, even Michel Foucault had some unique insights into the human condition that are valuable for understanding the world we must engage. So take the time to sift through them, testing everything, keeping what is good, and bugger all the rest. If you're thinking about the priesthood, I strongly suggest learning some basic philosophy too since you'll need to know it later on if you pursue it. At the same time, don't lose sight of the most important thing. Academics are important here, but your spiritual life is the most important.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
New Monthly Discernment Group in Sactown
We are starting a monthly discernment group for men 17-35 years old. Here is the info.
photo by roadsidepictures
Place: Leatherby's Ice Creamery (2333 Arden Way, Sac, CA)
When: Second Monday of each month
Time: 6:00 p.m. for dinner and ice cream ($5) followed by a talk
If you have any questions, feel free to call the Vocations Office (916) 733-0258.
AMDG
photo by roadsidepictures
Place: Leatherby's Ice Creamery (2333 Arden Way, Sac, CA)
When: Second Monday of each month
Time: 6:00 p.m. for dinner and ice cream ($5) followed by a talk
If you have any questions, feel free to call the Vocations Office (916) 733-0258.
AMDG
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