"You Have Done A Good Thing . . . People Will Always Have Need of God."

On this Feast of St. Luke, the Holy Father has just issued a letter to the seminarians of the world. I think it is a beautiful letter, and there is much to say about it. In fact, I'll almost certainly have more to say about it in future posts. But for now, I would just highlight the very beginning of the letter. The Holy Father writes:

When in December 1944 I was drafted for military service, the company commander asked each of us what we planned to do in the future. I answered that I wanted to become a Catholic priest. The lieutenant replied: “Then you ought to look for something else. In the new Germany priests are no longer needed.”

I knew that this “new Germany” was already coming to an end, and that, after the enormous devastation which that madness had brought upon the country, priests would be needed more than ever. Today the situation is completely changed. In different ways, though, many people nowadays also think that the Catholic priesthood is not a “job” for the future, but one that belongs more to the past.

You, dear friends, have decided to enter the seminary and to prepare for priestly ministry in the Catholic Church in spite of such opinions and objections. You have done a good thing. Because people will always have need of God, even in an age marked by technical mastery of the world and globalization: they will always need the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, the God who gathers us together in the universal Church in order to learn with him and through him life’s true meaning and in order to uphold and apply the standards of true humanity. Where people no longer perceive God, life grows empty; nothing is ever enough. People then seek escape in euphoria and violence; these are the very things that increasingly threaten young people. God is alive. He has created every one of us and he knows us all. He is so great that he has time for the little things in our lives: “Every hair of your head is numbered.” God is alive, and he needs people to serve him and bring him to others. It does makes sense to become a priest: the world needs priests, pastors, today, tomorrow and always, until the end of time.

Almost anytime Pope Benedict travels or makes some kind of announcement, the world press invariably mentions that he is a "former member of the Hitler Youth." By the Pope's own admission, this is true.  And yet the media's slander is still self-evident, because the clear insinuation is that Joseph Ratzinger was a Nazi. Of course he was not. Like so many German youths, he was involuntarily conscripted into the Nazi youth movement and into the military.

Here again, Pope Benedict makes this clear with a moving and telling story of his own vocation. The Nazi movement had no need of priests because it had no use for God. And it was precisely the Godless philosophies of the last century, Nazism and Communism, that were responsible for the murder of millions and millions of people.

How important it is that all the faithful, and especially young men, who hear so much of our modern world say that "priests are no longer needed" take the Holy Father's message to heart.  Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both knew personally the tremendous suffering unleashed in a world "freed" from God and faith. May we never forget those lessons, or our need for the Living God who is Love itself.

Opening of The School Year Mass

This afternoon I joined a large number of priest faculty and students, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl, in concelebrating Catholic University's Opening of School Year Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine. The Mass was televised live on EWTN and was followed the annual University Picnic.

The Liturgy was very well attended by the faculty and students of the University who filled the nave pews. After Communion, CUA's incoming President, John Garvey gave an excellent address about the nature of a Catholic University.

Among other things he said that . . .

"The Incarnation is centrally important – to our salvation, of course; but also to our faith; and (more selfishly and closer to home) to the intellectual life of the University. Jesus tells us who God is, how He loves us, and what He wants from us. If we believe in him, then the Gospel is as relevant to the work of the university as the general theory of relativity is to the work of the physics department.

But the Gospel is not just the special concern of the School of Theology and Religious Studies. In my own field of law, our belief in the Gospel affects the way we think about our relationship to the environment; our obligations to immigrant populations; the forms and limits of criminal punishment; the construction and support of families; and our care for the unborn and the dying.

Or think about the English department. Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor express a very Catholic vision of the world in post-war Southern fiction. Annie Dillard gives us a modern understanding of the message of Ecclesiastes in "For the Time Being." And Dana Gioia, one of our best modern poets and (would that this happened more often) chairman of National Endowment for the Arts for six years, writes that 'the Catholic, literally from birth, when he or she is baptized, is raised in a culture that understands symbols and signs. And it also trains you in understanding the relationship between the visible and the invisible. Consequently, allegory finds its greatest realization in Catholic artists like Dante.'"

(Photo Credits: The Catholic University of America)

Given that, even at Catholic colleges and universities, English departments today are largely wastelands of post-Christian secularism, I was pleased that President Garvey focused on these examples - and he quoted a Laetare Medal winner to boot!

After Mass, Father Terry Ehrman, C.S.C. (who is finishing up his doctorate in theology here at CUA) and I introduced ourselves and congratulated our fellow Domer on his appointment as President. He's already off to a great start.

Romance of the Divine Kind

National Review Online has posted an interview with Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the Church of Our Savior in Manhattan and author of a new book, Cloud of Witnesses. In the interview, he is asked how his book - a collection of stories about people he has known and learned from in his ministry - is a celebration of the priesthood?

Fr. Rutler responded: "I do not know of any condition of man, any state of life, which gives such immediate access to so many people of all kinds, as does the Catholic priesthood. That is why the devil especially hates priests. The moment a priest is ordained, he may hear the confession of a king or a beggar, and whatever palace or hovel he enters he is “Father.” This is not romance, except of the divine kind: It was ordained by Christ the night before he died. So when I write about people, I celebrate the fact that they were able to look over my frail shoulders and see a much bigger Man behind me."

To Be a Friend of Jesus

"Dear brothers and sisters, dear young friends,

Christ is always with us and always walks with His Church,

accompanies her and guards her, as He has told us:

“I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20).

Never doubt His presence!

Always seek the Lord Jesus, grow in friendship with Him,

receive Him in communion.

Learn to listen to His word and also to recognize Him in the poor.

Live your lives with joy and enthusiasm,

sure of his presence and of His unconditional,

generous friendship,

faithful even to death on the Cross.

Bear witness to all of the joy that His strong

yet gentle presence evokes,

starting with your contemporaries.

Tell them that it is beautiful to be a friend of Jesus

and that it is well worth following Him.

With your enthusiasm, demonstrate that,

among all the different ways of life

that the world today seems to offer us –

apparently all on the same level –

the only way in which we find the true meaning of life

and hence true and lasting joy, is by following Jesus."

- Pope Benedict XVI, today, in Portugal

Priest Bloggers

This year's World Communications Day coincides with the Year for Priests, and so our Holy Father has released a letter entitled, "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word."

Pope Benedict notes that "all priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, and the communication of his saving grace in the sacraments." In the new technologies "priests can discover new possibilities for carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God" - possibilities which "make us appreciate all the more Saint Paul's exclamation: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).

Here are a couple of highlights from the text of the letter:

- Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.

- Priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different "voices" provided by the digital marketplace.

- Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.

- Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ. They will best achieve this aim if they learn, from the time of their formation, how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord.

- Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a "soul" to the fabric of communications that makes up the "Web".

I certainly hope that this little corner of the web fulfills some of these goals, and I especially pray (and ask you to pray) that this last point might be true of me. May the Lord make all of us "enthusiastic heralds of the Gospel in the new "agorà" which the current media are opening up."

Portland as Economic Bellwether

                                Photo Credit: Leah Nash for the NY Times

Today the New York Times takes a look at the state of the nation's economy through the prism of Portland, Oregon. The article includes a look at Powell's Bookstore, seen in the picture above, and how their plans for expansion have been affected.

Lots of people have asked me if I have seen any fall-out from the economy in the parish: either in the form of decreased giving, or increased attendance at Mass.

I haven't noticed a specific increase in attendance other than to say Holy Redeemer has been experiencing a general growth in young couples and families as the neighborhood has been gentrifying over the past few years. I'm not sure what, if any, downturn there has been in the collection, but I do know that long term giving such as campaign pledges have been slower in coming in. We'll soon see about enrollment in the school for next year.

Like everywhere else, some people in the parish have been downsized from work or fear that they may yet be. There is definitely a hesitancy about how and when we will emerge from this particularly deep recession.

While we rightly feel concerned about our financial security, and our ability to provide for ourselves and our families, it is also important that we reflect on these words of the Holy Father, and seize the ever-present opportunity to ground our lives in God, relying entirely on that which truly endures:    

"He who builds only on visible and tangible things like success, career and money builds the house of his life on sand. We are now seeing, in the collapse of major banks, that money vanishes, it is nothing. All these things that appear to be real are in fact secondary. Only God's words are a solid reality."

Is This Good News or Bad News?

"New England is now slightly ahead of the Pacific Northwest in terms of the high rate of unchurched people," said Mark Silk, co-author of "One Nation, Divisible: How Regional Religious Differences Shape American Politics."

I'm not sure if my job just got easier or harder ;)

Gotta love all those Mainline Protestants and Kennedy Catholics in Massachusetts and Maine who have abandoned religion altogether! 

And please note that New York is not a New England State - it belongs to the Mid-Atlantic states, thank you very much :)

Welcome 2009!

". . . We'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne."

Happy New Year to one and all!

Christmas Greetings!

"Christmas offers a chance to welcome as a personal gift 

the message of hope that emanates 

from the mystery of Christ's birth" - Pope Benedict XVI

Merry Christmas from "Gift and Mystery"

Bishops' Meetings

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Pope St. Leo the Great and proclaims from St. Paul's Letter to Titus:

"A bishop, as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant . . . a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents."

This week, the bishops of this country hold their Fall meetings in Baltimore, Maryland. We should pray daily for our bishops who have been called to this beautiful but most demanding ministry.

Today, in the first session of the conference's meetings, Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, the president of the Bishops' Conference and considered by many to be the conference's real intellect, had the following to say. I think you will find that his speech sounds notes that are almost identical to other texts you have found on these pages:

"We can rejoice today with those who, following heroic figures like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were part of a movement to bring our country’s civil rights, our legal order, into better accord with universal human rights, God’s order . . .

 . . . We can also be truly grateful that our country’s social conscience has advanced to the point that Barack Obama was not asked to renounce his racial heritage in order to be president, as, effectively, John Kennedy was asked to promise that his Catholic faith would not influence his perspective and decisions as president a generation ago. Echoes of that debate remain in the words of those who reject universal moral propositions that have been espoused by the human race throughout history, with the excuse that they are part of Catholic moral teaching. We are, perhaps, at a moment when, with the grace of God, all races are safely within the American consensus. We are not at the point, however, when Catholics, especially in public life, can be considered full partners in the American experience unless they are willing to put aside some fundamental Catholic teachings on a just moral and political order . . .

. . . In working for the common good of our society, racial justice is one pillar of our social doctrine. Economic justice, especially for the poor both here and abroad, is another. But the Church comes also and always and everywhere with the memory, the conviction, that the Eternal Word of God became man, took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, nine months before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This truth is celebrated in our liturgy because it is branded into our spirit. The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice. If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that African Americans were other people’s property and somehow less than persons were still settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be president of the United States. Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good . . .

. . . (There are) those who would weaken our internal unity render the Church’s external mission to the world more difficult if not impossible. Jesus promised that the world would believe in him if we are one: one in faith and doctrine, one in prayer and sacrament, one in governance and shepherding. The Church and her life and teaching do not fit easily into the prior narratives that shape our public discussions. As bishops, we can only insist that those who would impose their own agenda on the Church, those who believe and act self-righteously, answerable only to themselves, whether ideologically on the left or the right, betray the Lord Jesus Christ . . .

. . . We extend that pastoral concern, especially at the beginning of a new administration and a new Congress, to Catholics of either major party who serve others in government. We respect you and we love you, and we pray that the Catholic faith will shape your decisions so that our communion may be full . . . "

Published

Well, I'm not sure this is what I had in mind for my first publication in America Magazine . . . but a letter to the editor I wrote two weeks ago was printed in the most recent edition.

My comment is in reference to an editorial written by Most Rev. Blase Cupich of Rapid City, S.D.  His Excellency does a very good job of articulating the Church's belief that racism is morally unacceptable for a Christian.  He makes the point that this is an important lesson to remember as our nation goes to the polls. The bishop writes: "to allow racism to reign in our hearts and to determine our choice in this solemn moment for our nation is to cooperate with one of the great evils that has afflicted our society."  He is most certainly right.

But in making his point the bishop made reference to Archbishop Joseph Rummel, the man I wrote my undergraduate history thesis about. With due respect, the bishop was now very much in my territory.

Though edited in the magazine, my response appears here in its original form:

"Bishop Cupich is right to remind us of Archbishop Joseph Rummel, the courageous Archbishop of New Orleans who publicly excommunicated three lay Catholics, including a politician, for supporting the intrinsic evil of racism. Rummel is certainly a bishop to be proud of in our Church's history in this country. Ever since I studied Archbishop Rummel as a history major at Notre Dame, I have been wondering when we will have brave bishops in this era who are willing to publicly excommunicate Catholic politicians who support the intrinsic evil of abortion. Since Bishop Cupich appealed to that history, I am sure he would be willing to follow Archbishop Rummel's courageous legacy."

Benedict on Paul - The Start of the Pauline Year

"His faith is the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ in a completely personal way; it is the awareness of the fact that Christ has faced death not for some anonymous person, but out of love for him - for Paul - and that, as the Risen One, he still loves him. 

Christ gave himself up for him. His faith comes from being transfixed by the love of Jesus Christ, a love that shakes him to his core and transforms him. 

His faith is not a theory, an opinion about God and the world. His faith is the impact of the love of God on his heart. And thus his faith is itself love for Jesus Christ."

 - Pope Benedict XVI