"That Voodoo That You Do . . ."

Holy Cross seminarian Tim Mouton has been living and working at Holy Redeemer this summer before heading to Cascade, CO as a novice this August. His last day in Portland was Tuesday and as his flight home approached I discovered he had not yet been to Voodoo Doughnuts!

Regular readers of this blog know that this is a favorite spot of mine, a quintessentially Portland establishment, and an absolute must-see on any tour of Portland. So the Noems and I introduced Tim to the pastry delights that come in a pink box.

Josh had, what was for our gang at least, a new doughnut: Chester's Revenge . . . which featured caramel icing and Cheetos!

Being from Houston, TX Tim felt obliged to have the Tex-Ass doughnut, which as you can see here is quite a bit larger than the standard doughnut . . . like Texas!

I think Tim enjoyed his late-night feast, and I was glad to have made a visit before I head back East myself. While, I am glad to be heading back to the land of Dunkin Donuts as I move to the East Coast, it's still true that nothing compares to Voodoo!

Portland Brewfest 2010

My visit to Portland providentially coincided with the annual Portland Brewers' Festival, otherwise known as Brewfest. Every year, for the past twenty-three years, nearly eighty brewers from around the country, but especially from the West and Northwest, gather in Tom McCall Waterfront Park to share the fruit of their labors.

Huge tents line the Willamette River waterfront, and some nine refrigerated trailers are positioned to serve as bars, distributing the microbrews to thousands of thirsty revellers.

I was joined by seminarian Tim Mouton and Ken Hallenius, and we met up with the wonderful Mr. Bill Reed of the University of Portland and his wife and daughter.

You'll see that Ken was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with bacon as one of the elements on the Periodic Table. It was the hit of the festival! We stopped counting after the ninth person either commented on the shirt, conversed with Ken because of it, or asked to have their picture taken with him!

Thankfully, his popularity didn't deter him, or hinder us, from sampling numerous new brews. We beat out the crowds and the heat as it was Friday afternoon before the worst heat hit on Saturday. Portland is indeed Beervana!!

Portland Plate and Pitchfork 2010

This weekend, through the generosity of Kirk Mustain of Bon Appetit and the University of Portland, I had the opportunity to attend a very special dinner called Plate & Pitchfork. (Do check out their website, it is gorgeous!) Every year, the city's best chefs team with the many local and organic growers in the area to host dinners on location. The wonderful dinners feature the local and organic produce of the growers and also give diners the chance to tour the farms and enjoy the great outdoors.

Our dinner was hosted at Smith Berry Farm in Hillsboro, Oregon and was prepared for us by a team of Bon Apetit chefs, including the University of Portland's own James Green. The crew worked in tents out in the berry fields and directly next to our dining tables.

Our table included a number of great UP people including Fr. Gary Chamberland, C.S.C., Gary and Eva Hortsch, and Ken and Julie Hallenius.

The menu featured, among other things, a salad of local greens, an entree of lamb, a fabulous side of polenta, and a dessert with berries picked right at the Smith Berry Farm:

It was a delightful evening with great food, wine and conversation. A "pitch" perfect way to spend a summer evening!

Pacific City

My first order of business upon arriving in Portland was to head for the coast! A few days at the house in Surf Pines with Gerry Olinger was a nice break from the humidity of New York.

We enjoyed the requisite ice cream cone at the Tillamook Creamery and drove the Three Capes Loop, stopping to watch the windsurfers:

The weather was just so fabulous we had to sit and enjoy the views of Cape Kiwanda from the Pelican Brewery in Pacific City:

The Pelican is one of my favorite places on the coast because of the fabulous view you get from the brewery. No matter the weather, it's always a great place to sit, watch the surf and enjoy the award-winning cream ale. But since the weather was so spectacular it was a special treat to sit outside on their patio. I wasn't expecting that I'd get to Pacific City at all on this trip but I was glad we did:

I am very much looking forward to being near water once again after a long year in the Midwest!!

Fireworks for the Fourth . . . and More

Before I left Staten Island, I had the pleasure of inviting Chris and Joey for the Fourth of July barbecue at Burbank Avenue, and then for a trip into Manhattan to see the Macy's Fireworks display. I think the guys were duly impressed with the size and quality of the display.

I was also able to hit a few more essential Staten Island landmarks, including the beautiful Franklin Delano Roosevelt boardwalk and the delicious Ralph's Italian Ices:

We also made it out to the Ballpark at St. George for a Staten Island Yankees game. Although the Yankees lost, we got more than we paid for, as the game went into extra innings, and we enjoyed the presence of the FDNY fireboat and Pipe Band before the game, and a fireworks display after the game:

New Superior General

Word has arrived from the General Chapter in Rome that Fr. Richard Warner, CSC has been elected Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Among many other roles, Fr. Warner has served as the director of Campus Ministry at the University of Notre Dame for the past twenty plus years. As such he was my boss when I served as a Campus Ministry Intern upon graduating from Notre Dame. Fr. Warner succeeds Fr. Hugh Cleary, CSC and will become the 12th superior general of the Congregation. Prayerful best wishes to Fr. Warner and his administration in their important work of shepherding our international community.

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Brendan Marracco grew up in the Huguenot section of Staten Island not far from where I grew up and went to high school. His parents say that he was smart and outgoing but didn’t like school very much – he was always just a little too headstrong, they say. After graduating from high school, Brendan enlisted in the Army and completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Not quite six months into his first combat tour in Iraq, on Easter Sunday morning 2008, Private First Class Marrocco sat behind the wheel of an armored vehicle, the last truck in a four-vehicle convoy on a routine escort mission. A machine gunner, Private Marrocco had become a driver just a few days before.

All he can recall of that drive back to base is the bright flash of light. “I hit a pressure wire,” that lay across the road, he says. The bomb shredded his armored vehicle. His best buddy, Specialist Michael Anaya, was killed. Another soldier was wounded; and Private Brendan Marrocco of Staten Island, NY became the first American combat troop to lose all four limbs and survive.

The surgeon who treated Brendan had to repair his carotid artery and replace eighty percent of his blood. “Any one of his injuries was life-threatening,” the doctor says. “It’s incredible. His life was saved, but I didn’t do it. He was meant to be saved.”

Today, Brendan Marracco can write, use a computer, work on a model car and use his phone to text message, even as he still awaits a double arm transplant. His physical therapists at Walter Reed say that “he has incredible balance and drive” and that he has mastered standing and walking a few steps more quickly than other amputee they’ve worked with.

Of course Brendan has good days and bad days – he gets tired easily, he can become cranky, and he’s often frustrated when people stare at him. But Brendan’s trainers say they “never catch him feeling sorry for himself – never hear him say, ‘I wish this had never happened.’ ” Brendan himself says, “I have no idea why I’m so happy.”

When I was home visiting my parents last week, I read a newspaper article about this incredible young man. It’s an amazing story of survival, resilience, determination, courage and strength. But, to be honest with you, none of this was what most captured my attention in the article.

What most impressed me was that Brendan believes his injuries are somehow part of God's plan. He believes that he has a mission now to "inspire people and touch lives.” In other words, I was most impressed, not by the things Brendan has been able to do for himself in recovery, but by the effect he is having on everyone around him.

First, there are the other wounded troops at Walter Reed, and the medical staff that work with Brendan. His caregivers watch TV with him long after their shifts have ended just to be around him, and the other troops look up to Brendan and are encouraged by the successes he’s had in recovery. He gives all of them both hope and perspective.

“It’s funny the complaining that goes on when Brendan’s not around,” one of his physical therapists says. “And then, when he’s there, everybody shuts up. It puts things in perspective for them. It puts things in perspective for me, too.”

Then there is Brendan’s brother, Michael. Always the more reserved and shy of the siblings, Michael was not a caregiver by nature. But not long after Brendan sustained his injuries, Michael left his job at Citigroup in Manhattan, left his friends, and his social life, and moved to Washington to live with and help his brother. “It needed to be done, and I was best prepared to do it,” Michael explains.

But perhaps Michael has been helped as much or more by Brendan than the other way around. “This tragedy has made Michael a better person,” their mother says. “He is more talkative, more interactive than he’s ever been, more forthcoming, and now he makes plans for himself and for the future, which” he never did before.

Because I was so struck by the positive effect Brendan’s suffering is having on others, I couldn’t help but think of this article when I read today’s second reading. St. Paul writes to the Colossians: “brothers and sisters I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the Church.”

This is a remarkable statement from St. Paul, and one that summarizes themes he develops in several of his letters, detailing the many trials he has endured in his missionary efforts.

But it’s also, at first, a puzzling statement. Why does Paul rejoice in suffering, and what could possibly be “lacking in the afflictions of Christ?” Is Paul saying that Christ’s sufferings are somehow deficient in worth or merit – that they are insufficient to redeem the sins of the entire world?

Of course not. What is lacking is that the infinite value of Christ’s cross is not known in the world. It is still a “mystery hidden from ages and from generations past,” as St. Paul says. And so God intends to reveal the mystery and power of Christ’s suffering through us, the members of Christ’s body, the Church, so that when we offer Christ to others they can actually see Christ in us!

St. Paul is trying to show us that when we suffer we participate in the saving act of redemption – not because Christ’s sacrifice was incomplete – but because Christ “has opened His own redemptive suffering to all human suffering.” Our suffering is not meaningless – it “brings to completion the word of God” – it is part of Christ’s cross, offering His hope and life to our brothers and sisters throughout the Church and the world.

I think that’s what Brendan Marracco is experiencing when he says he’s convinced that his injuries have a purpose in God’s plan, and that it’s to touch and inspire other people. I think that’s what those around him are experiencing: his fellow soldiers who now have new hope and determination for their own recoveries, and Brendan’s brother who now exhibits a greater openness to others and a deeper zest for life.

And I even dare to say that this is the answer to Brendan’s self-searching question: “I have no idea why I’m so happy.” He is echoing St. Paul, who says, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake!”

Of course suffering isn’t a good or pleasant thing. No, Brendan did not want to endure the injuries he suffered, any more than we want to suffer, or St. Paul wanted to suffer, or Christ in the Garden wanted to face the Cross.

And no, it’s not that we shouldn’t rage against the suffering we see in the world or not work diligently to alleviate as much pain and suffering as we can.

Rather, our Christian faith convinces us of a profoundly paradoxical, and yet fantastically optimistic and hope-filled truth: while we long for Christ’s return, when there will be no more suffering or death, we are not surprised to have a share in Christ’s cross, and we know that Christ is present with us in suffering.

Christ’s presence is the “better part” spoken of in today’s Gospel, and the “one thing,” the only thing, of which there is any need at all. So long as we have Christ – so long as we sit “at His feet listening to Him” – then even our suffering has meaning.

We can even be joyful in the knowledge that Christ gives our suffering a share in His power to save, and transform, and redeem, and give life. What greater “riches,” what greater “hope for glory” could there possibly be than “Christ in us,” “manifested to His holy ones” by the power of the Cross.

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Of the many parables Jesus told during His earthly ministry very few have had the popularity and impact of today’s Gospel story of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan has been portrayed in famous pieces of art; it has been used to name innumerable hospitals and health care systems; and in everyday speech the expression has become the standard means of referring to anyone who gives aid to someone they don’t know.

But there is a danger in thinking we know the story too well and thinking that we have the parable’s all figured out. In reality, the parable of the Good Samaritan is much more than a simple story of compassionate help. Indeed, the parable is a mini-Gospel encapsulating, in miniature and symbolic form, the entirety of the Good News and the model for all our own Christian living.

Saint Luke sets the scene by introducing a scribe of the Law who attempts to test Jesus about what is required to gain eternal life. When Jesus turns the question back on him, the scribe correctly articulates the two great commands of the Jewish Law: “you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself."

Then the scribe asks a follow-up question: “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly. Instead, He tells the story of a man traveling along the Jericho road who has been beaten, robbed and left for dead. All his other identifying characteristics are gone; we do not know his name, or what he does for a living, or whether he is rich or poor, a Jew or a Samaritan.

We do know that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a very dangerous, desert road. Alone in the wilderness, the traveler would be at the prey of bandits and robbers lying in wait in caves along the route.

In this way, the victim in the parable really stands for every human being, traveling the perilous journeys of life, robbed of grace by the power of the Evil One, bruised and battered by the folly of sin, stripped of dignity and drained of life. The traveler is every man and woman born after the sin of Adam and Eve.

Luke recounts Jesus as describing three travelers who come upon the robbers’ victim while traveling along the Jericho road. The first, a priest of the Jewish Temple, and the second, a Levite, see the wounded traveler, but they choose to pass him by.

They were likely going to Jerusalem to perform some kind of religious duty, and any contact with a corpse would have made them ritually unclean. Not truly evil men, they are, more likely, good people caught in a moral dilemma, weighing two different goods . . . but they make their choice based on their needs, not the needs of their neighbor, the robbers’ victim.

The third traveler Jesus speaks of is a Samaritan. The Jews of Jesus’ time despised and feared the Samaritans as heretics and outcasts. And yet, the Samaritan proves to be the story’s character of profound compassion – a man willing to take a risk of falling victim to the same thieves as he leaves the road to investigate the wounded man.

The Good Samaritan lifts the victim up, carries him to a home, assures his safe shelter, anoints him with healing balm, and pays the entire cost for the man to be healed and restored.

Jesus says that the Samaritan was “moved with compassion” – the very same expression that Saint Luke uses, on several other occasions in his Gospel, to describe Jesus’ response to the need of lepers, and widows, and sinners for whom Jesus performed a great miracle of healing or raising to life.

So, if we can see ourselves in the wounded traveler, or perhaps in the priest and Levite who selfishly pass by, who exactly is the Good Samaritan?

It is God become human, Jesus Christ our Lord! You see, this parable is a kind of miniature Gospel, because Jesus is Himself the Good Samaritan, who though an outsider and the despised one, came to lift us up, heal us, and restore us to life and dignity. Even though we had fallen into the snares laid by sin and death, Jesus came and walked among us on the road of human life, with all its dangers and suffering, and He saved us and brought us home.

This parable is also a summation of our entire mission as Christian disciples, because when Jesus concludes the parable, he tells the scribe: “go and do likewise.” That’s more than telling him to think better of those who are considered outcasts like the Samaritans; or telling him to care for even those who are strangers – though clearly we should do those things. No, Jesus was really telling him to act like God!

Brothers and sisters, when we hear this parable of the Good Samaritan, we are supposed to find ourselves not only in the place of the victim traveler, but also in the place of the Good Samaritan, “moved with compassion” just as Jesus was whenever He encountered human suffering and human needs.

Compassion is the divine quality that, when present in human beings, enables us to feel deeply the suffering of others and move from being an observer to being a caregiver; from caring for only ourselves, to being a vehicle of God’s mercy and love in another person’s life.

That’s the deep and profound meaning of today’s parable: the answer to the scribe’s question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life,” is that we are to act as God has acted! We are to love one another as God has loved us.

So, we should ask ourselves: do we imagine that our responsibility as Christians is merely to do good when we happen to come across someone in dire need?

Or do we recognize that our Baptism has conformed us to Christ, and that we are to serve, as He served, all those who are wounded by sin, robbed of justice and dignity, and left for dead by the rest of the world?

We should give a high priority to building a more just and peaceful society, and economy, and government. We should be eager to spend our talents, and wealth, and energy for the sake of the downtrodden, the powerless, and the forgotten.

And if we fear that we do not have the wisdom, or the strength, or even the depth of compassion that is necessary to love others as God has loved us, we can listen once more to the words of Moses from tonight’s first reading:

"This command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you . . . No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out."

Brothers and sisters, through Baptism, and Confirmation, and the Eucharist Christ’s Spirit is “very near” to us – “already in our mouths and in our hearts” – ready to “move us with compassion” for our brothers and sisters, so that we can “go and do likewise.”

It is only for us to listen to that inner voice of the Spirit and “to carry it out.”

City Golf

Back when I was in high school and college the Koeth family would gather annually for a family golf outing. It was no small affair - it came complete with an official clothing line, prizes and a post-round dinner! 

It's been quite some time since an outing of that magnitude has been organized, but this past week my uncle Tim organized a round of golf with me, my Dad and my brother Matthew at Silver Lakes Golf Course here on Staten Island. Afterwards, Mom, my aunt Ginny, and my sister-in-law-to-be Christine joined us for dinner.  

Though it was a 90 degree day, the humidity was low and there was a nice breeze. We began our round just ahead of schedule and easily worked our way around a CYO tournament that was being played on the course that day.

By the time we finished our round; in record time thanks to a quick pace of play; it was a delightful summer evening for al fresco dining. 

Silver Lakes has a recently renovated and expanded restaurant in its clubhouse and we enjoyed a fine meal as the sun set over the fairways.

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”

For quite some time now we have been accustomed to interpreting this passage as referring to the small number of religious and priests laboring in our western society and the large number of faithful – the harvest in parishes and schools – who need a pastor to bring them the sacraments.

In particular we have been encouraged to hear and respond to the Lord’s command to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest,” by praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Now this is a perfectly accurate, indeed an imperative, interpretation of the text. Without the priesthood there can be no Eucharist, and the Church cannot live without the nourishment of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

Therefore, we are, all of us, responsible for building up a culture of vocations, assuring that young people in all Catholic families are encouraged to discern whether they might have a vocation to religious life or priesthood, and that those who seek to answer the Lord’s call are given the support they need.

During the past year I’ve had the privilege of working on the staff of my community’s collegiate seminary on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. We have twenty young men – bright, energetic, prayerful young men – who are in formation for priesthood in the Congregation of Holy Cross while they work on their undergraduate degrees.

And here in Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish we have seen in the past decade four men from our parish ordained to the priesthood – myself included. So, I firmly believe that we are in fact seeing the answer to our prayers, and the fruit of our hard work in supporting vocational discernment.

Even as the Church in this country, and indeed around the world, suffers under the dark cloud of the sexual abuse crisis, we are seeing a new generation of holy young men and women coming forward, not seeking prestige or honor for themselves, but knowingly embracing religious life and priesthood as a life of sacrificial service.

We need to keep up our fervent prayers for vocations and our support for seminarians, religious and priests.

BUT, it would be a terrible mistake if we were to leave our interpretation of today’s Gospel text at that point. If we did so, we would have failed to understand the even more direct and personal way that this Gospel challenges each and every one of us, and demands a response from us.

In today’s Gospel Jesus sends out on mission not only the Twelve – the Apostles whose ministry is perpetuated in the bishops and priests of the Church – He sends out seventy two disciples, a symbolic number representing the elders who assisted Moses and all the nations of the world in the book of Genesis.

That is to say that Jesus sends out a great multitude of His disciples on a mission of evangelization, proclaiming the Good News of the coming Kingdom. If we imagine that we can simply pray for God to send more priests and religious to evangelize the world, and that this alone fulfills our obligation as disciples, we are sorely mistaken. All of us are called to participate in the Church’s evangelical mission – to proclaim Christ to the ends of the world.

Recently, in one of his monthly prayer intentions, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI put it this way: “May all the people of God, whom Christ has commanded to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, diligently fulfill their missionary responsibility.”

Do you seek to “diligently fulfill your missionary responsibility . . . to preach the Gospel to every creature?”

You and I may easily absolve ourselves from this responsibility because we think ourselves to be too young, or too old, or otherwise committed to work and to family here on Staten Island to be venturing into remote areas of the world to preach the gospel.

We might absolve ourselves of preaching the Gospel here in our own community because we think to ourselves, “surely there are other people who are better qualified for that kind of thing – people who are smarter, or holier, or more outgoing.”

But in today’s Gospel Jesus sends the disciples on mission telling them to “carry no money bag, no sack, and no sandals.” So do you really think He cares whether or not you have a college degree, or seminary training, or experience as a public speaker? No. All of us, and I mean all of us, as baptized members of His Body the Church are sent by the Lord to spread the news of His Kingdom to everyone we meet.

This does not mean, however, that all of us need to pack our bags for some remote part of the globe. The harvest is abundant right here in New Dorp! So how can each and every one of us participate in the Church’s evangelical mission?

Today’s readings provide several different clues, but I want to focus on just two.

First, in today’s Gospel, after Jesus instructs the disciples to carry no money, sandals or bag, He instructs them in this way: “Into whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this household” . . . and say to them, “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

If we build peace in our own lives, in our own families and homes – if we strive to live in the peace of Christ and to bring that peace to everyone we meet, we are participating in the evangelical mission of the Church.

How many families and workplaces do you know that are in desperate need of Christ’s peace? If through our devotion, prayer, patience and kindness we can bring some measure of peace to those places, we will be building and announcing the kingdom of God.

Second, in today’s Second Reading, St. Paul writes to the Galatians: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

If we accept our share of Christ’s cross – if we endure sickness and suffering with patience, faith and trust . . . If we boast not in our own strength, or intelligence, or wealth, but only in our weakness and in the crosses we are given to carry, we are participating in the evangelical mission of the Church.

How many people do you know who are convinced that they are alone in the world and that they control their own lives and destinies? How many people do you know who are convinced that suffering is a sign of God’s absence from their lives, or of His displeasure with them?

If we seek to do God’s will and to trust, not our own will, but God’s plan for our lives – if we recognize that even God’s beloved Son was given a cross, and we too embrace the cross in our lives, then we will be building and announcing the kingdom of God.

Friends, the harvest is abundant and the laborers are few. And so the Lord has sent each and every one of us out on mission to proclaim the Good News to all creatures.

As we receive the Eucharist today may we be strengthened to live and practice peace, and to embrace the redeeming power of the cross, so that every part of our daily lives might better proclaim the coming kingdom of God.

Stars and Stripes Forever

On Thursday I traveled back into Manhattan to join Tim Thompson for a performance of the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

We met at P.J. Clarke's for dinner and then went across the street to Lincoln Center. The heat and humidity has abated here in the city, at least for now, and it was a beautiful summer night out on the plaza.

The Philharmonic, under the direction of Bramwell Tovey, was joined by the United States Military Academy Band, under the direction of Lt. Col. Timothy J. Holtan. The combined Summertime Classics concert was entitled "Strike Up the Band," and as you might imagine it proved to be a rousing kick-off for the patriotic holiday weekend.

The set-list included: "Memories of America," "An American in Paris," "Hail to the Spirit of Liberty," "Symphony No. 4, West Point," "The National Game," "Armed Forces Medley," and the world premier of "L'Espirit du Tour: A Fanfare for Lance." The finale was, of course, "Stars and Stripes Forever." As the crowd stood and clapped along with Sousa's classic, I couldn't help but compare it to the singing of "God Save the Queen" or "Rule Britannia" on the Last Night of the Proms. I hereby make it a life-goal to attend one of those concerts in person!

A fantastic evening was topped off by the gorgeous summer breeze and phenomenal view of the night skyline from aboard the Staten Island Ferry John F. Kennedy. I love New York!