Other notes and celebrations

In "Liturgical Notes for 2009," the Worship office for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati provides guidelines for the observance of tomorrow's Divine Mercy Sunday:

The Congregation for Divine Worship decreed (23May2000) that "throughout the world, the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that human kind will experience in the years to come." What does this mean for us in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati? Most importantly, it means the essential celebration consists in the celebration of the liturgy of the Second Sunday of Easter during which the homily should focus on the scriptural readings of the day. The three cycles of scriptural readings and the orations are all centered on the forgiveness of sins and God's infinite mercy. Other celebrations may be planned at times outside of the Eucharist.

The enthusiasm leaps right off the page, does it not?

For a more generous explanation, including how one obtains the indulgence that is part and parcel of the devotion, click here, here, and here.

A pilgrim (and a controversy) now on earth

In the Navarre New Testament Expanded Edition's treatment of today's Gospel reading, paragraphs 20 and 22 of Dominus Iesus are excerpted and referenced. When this declaration from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Ratzinger was released ten years ago, it caused a firestorm. The secular press ran headlines like "Catholics to Other Religions: We're Number 1". A follow up document, "Answers to Main Objections ...," was released to clarify misconceptions. Both of the paragraphs cited in Navarre fall under the heading "the Church and the other religions in relation to salvation," and this is a common area of inquiry for budding converts and others curious about the unique claims of the Church. Paragraph 20 is reproduced below:

Above all else, it must be firmly believed that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door”.⁷⁷ This doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); “it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation”.⁷⁸

The Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation”,⁷⁹ since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in God's plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being.⁸⁰ For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, “salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit”;⁸¹ it has a relationship with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.⁸²

Read a summary of Dominus Iesus from the Vatican Information Service here and my review of the Navarre New Testament Expanded Edition here.

Et tu Cincinnatus?

To date, thirty-three bishops in the United States have issued statements condemning Notre Dame president Fr. Larry Jenkins' decision to invite President Obama to deliver a commencement address and receive an honorary degree. Now comes word of Orlando bishop Thomas Wenski's Mass of Reparation in two weeks. Is anyone aware of public statements from either Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk or Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati? Archbishop Schnurr's witness to the Church's defense of the right to life has been remarkable in the short time he has been here; he has led two protests in front of Planned Parenthood and defended Church teaching on Catholic radio. Given Notre Dame's proximity to Cincinnati (five hours by car) and the fact that many of its students hail from here -- not to mention the school's unique role in the history of American Catholicism -- it behooves them to say something.

Off to the races

It's 70 degrees and sunny in Cincinnati today, so clan Leonardi is taking a day trip to Keeneland.

What's Keeneland? you ask.

Why, it's only the finest racetrack on the planet. Learn more here:

Keeneland is unique in that we are both a Thoroughbred racetrack and an auction company.

Founded as a model racetrack, we seek to continually improve Thoroughbred racing while at the same time preserve its finest traditions.

That philosophy has guided us for more than 70 years.

Today, we strive to fulfill our mission in a number of ways.

International horsemen gather annually for our spring and fall race meetings, which offer world-class racing in one of sports' most beautiful settings. ...

Denouncing denim

George Will writes the column that's been percolating in my head for years:

On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically -- running shoes, T-shirts. And jeans, always jeans. If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim.

Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche.

It is, he says, a manifestation of "the modern trend toward undifferentiated dressing, in which we all strive to look equally shabby." Denim reflects "our most nostalgic and destructive agrarian longings -- the ones that prompted all those exurban McMansions now sliding off their manicured lawns and into foreclosure." Jeans come prewashed and acid-treated to make them look like what they are not -- authentic work clothes for horny-handed sons of toil and the soil. Denim on the bourgeoisie is, Akst says, the wardrobe equivalent of driving a Hummer to a Whole Foods store -- discordant. ...

My similarly themed "dungarees" post is here.

The Cincinnati Obamarail!

Read about it here, and throw up your hands and raise your voice.

"I want to see God"

What is the Tenth Commandment? How is it related to the Ninth and Seventh? What is “covetousness”? Why is greed for money more dangerous than greed for things? Are our desires bad in themselves? Is it always wrong to desire things that belong to our neighbor? What is envy and what is unique about it? Which beatitude is associated with the Tenth Commandment? How else did Jesus teach about it? How can we be detached from covetousness? What does the statement “I want to see God” express?

Join Brian Patrick and me tomorrow at 8:10 AM EST on the Son Rise Morning Show as we discuss Chapter 34 of the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults: "The Tenth Commandment: Embrace Poverty of Spirit."‏

Ideology trumps theology

And speaking of habitless nuns with an agenda, Gene Michael informs us that an arm of the Diocese of Rochester will be sponsoring a visit by Joan Chittister:

St. Bernard’s School of Theology will be hosting notorious dissident, Joan Chittister, on June 25 as part of the Spirit Alive initiative by the DOR. Chittister is famous for her dissent from the Church’s teaching on women’s ordination, abortion, artificial contraception, and homosexuality.

Here is what one bishop had to say about a Chittister appearance in his diocese:

Bishop Barry Jones has indicated that he will not remain silent as an American nun, infamous for her opposition to the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings and advocacy of female priesthood, preaches her agenda in his diocese. The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch has told his priests that this week’s visit by Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister is unauthorized and unwelcome according to The Press, a New Zealand newspaper.

In one diocese, the bishop issues a stern warning about this flagrant dissident. In Rochester, her speaking engagement is actually sponsored by the diocese.

Perhaps this is one reason why 4,000 fewer DOR Catholics are attending weekend Mass since the inception of Spirit Alive. I guess it doesn’t matter much, as ideology almost always trumps theology in this diocese.

"But what does this have to do with Resurrection ...?"

I didn't think it was possible to write a column about the Resurrection without mentioning or at least alluding to salvation, but in this week's Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati, Sister Carol Gaeke, O.P., shows how it's done.

Just like anybody

Last Sunday, our wonderfully omnipresent coadjutor archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr celebrated Mass at the Lebanon Correctional Institution and welcomed seven prisoners into the Church:

HAMILTON DEANERY — Seven inmates at Lebanon Correctional Institution (LCI) north of Cincinnati were welcomed into the Catholic Church on April 12, experiencing the joy and hope of the Easter season.

Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr celebrated an Easter Mass at the prison, during which the men received the sacraments of initiation. The inmates received into the Catholic faith are: Trevor Beekman, Alonzo Brown, Roan Coffey, Randolph Coffman, Roger Serrano and Joshua Wade. Jesuit Father Gene Carmichael concelebrated the Mass.

Christine Shimrock, a prison chaplain, said the inmates had written letters to Archbishop Schnurr petitioning him to say an Easter Mass at the prison and confer the sacraments. They, along with their fellow inmates, volunteers, and LCI staff were thrilled to welcome the archbishop.

“They’re always humbled when someone takes the time to come into their church world,” Shimrock said. “They understand that their parish is a little unconventional, but they are the Body of Christ just like anybody from any other parish. ...

This kind of witness, from shepherd and flock, leaves me awestruck.

Do you realize what a privilege and gift it is to be Catholic?

Welcome home, gentlemen.

“Conditions for constructive dialogue simply do not exist.”

Explain to me again why Catholic parents should bankrupt themselves to send their sons and daughters to a Catholic university versus a public university with a decent Newman Center(?)

South Bend, Ind., Apr 15, 2009 / 07:50 pm (CNA).- University of Notre Dame President Fr. John I. Jenkins, CSC, has denied a student coalition’s request for wider dialogue concerning the school’s invitation to President Barack Obama, saying “conditions for constructive dialogue simply do not exist.” Fr. Jenkins had initially offered to participate in a closed-door meeting with 25 members of the Notre Dame Response Student Coalition (ND Response), formed in reaction to Notre Dame’s invitation to the president to deliver the commencement address and to receive an honorary law degree. ...

Thugocracy

From Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati:

We are NOT Terrorists

April 15, 2009--A new Barack Obama administration Homeland Security report states that those of us who oppose the holocaust of abortion are "hate oriented" with the implication that we are terrorists.

Read the report (offensive phrases highlighted).

Note this footnote:

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

This is a fear pressure attempt to silence free speech and stifle good work to help women and save unborn babies from death.

ACTION: As so aptly suggested by Cleveland Right to Life, contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives and demand that this wording be removed from the Homeland Security document.

"Just as the Church was preparing for Holy Week ..."

In a new press release, the Cardinal Newman Society rebukes the leaders of America's 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in their support for Notre Dame's plan to honor President Obama as its commencement speaker and with an honorary law degree. The release catalogues the Lenten activities of several of these schools, including Cincinnati's Xavier University.

At the beginning of Lent, Georgetown University hosted “Sex Positive Week.” The events consisted of an Ash Wednesday discussion about “arguably alternative forms of pornography,” a talk by a pornographic film director entitled “Relationships Beyond Monogamy,” and a talk about “dominance and submission, bondage and discipline, fetishism, cross-dressing” as “different expressions of power in love and play.”

The beginning of Lent also coincided with “Transgender Awareness Week” at the Jesuits’ Seattle University. It included a session on allegedly transgendered Bible heroes and heroines and “Criss-Cross Day,” when students were encouraged to “come dressed for the day in your best gender-bending outfit.”

“The Color of Queer Film Series” is taking place this semester at Loyola University Chicago. The series includes Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros about a 12-year-old boy who falls in love with a male police officer.

In a March article in The Hawk, the student newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, it was explained how the university finds the “middle ground between Church doctrine and student healthcare.” The director of student health services, Laura Hurst, was quoted stating that “the school's location offers enough convenience and opportunity to encourage students to purchase” condoms. "We're very fortunate that we’re not in a very rural pocket, we're right here on City Avenue," she said.

Just as the Church was preparing for Holy Week, Jesuit Xavier University in Cincinnati hosted “Queer Week” on campus. The Xavier website described the week of activities as a time “to embrace and celebrate the use of queer as an inclusive, unifying socio-political term for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, straight, transsexual, intersexual, gender queer, or anyone else who supports the equality of all identities and expressions.” Friday was “Same-Sex Hand Holding Day.”

Teatime

In answer to the question, "Is capitalism a model for countries to adopt?", Pope John Paul II famously wrote in his encyclical Centisimus Annus, "If by 'capitalism' is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a 'business economy', 'market economy' or simply 'free economy'." Sound familiar? It was widely interpreted as a nod toward the model adopted by the United States. If you believe this model, however it is labeled, is now threatened by the policies put forth by the current administration, then you should consider attending this Wednesday's Tea Party on Fountain Square.

"Someone is trying to tell us something"

In yesterday's Cincinnati Enquirer, Pete Bronson continued his new series of historical vignettes with a profile of Holy Cross-Immaculata. It included this mysterious episode:

It's not as dramatic as a weeping statue of the Virgin Mary. But what happened in the kitchen at Immaculata is just as supernaturally amazing.

Joe Rippe, one of the owners of Nisbet Brower lumber yard, had donated cabinets to remodel the church kitchen.

"The walls were so crooked we couldn't put these cabinets in," said Rippe, who owns and lives in Highland Towers on Mount Adams. So they decided to re-do the plaster walls.

"When the carpenter tore out a 3- by 4-foot section, there was a blackboard behind it," Rippe said. And on that blackboard, there was a name in chalk: Joseph Rippe.

"The carpenter was about ready to pass out," Rippe recalls.

"My father went to school up there in about 1908. He wrote his name on the blackboard, and later the room was remodeled and it was covered up."

When they tore out the wall, there it was - a message from 100 years ago. "This was on my birthday," Rippe added. "The priests said, 'Someone is trying to tell us something.'"

Pete asks for ideas for future stories. What say you, lovers of Cincinnati's Catholic history? Maureen and David, I'm sure you could generate ideas. One resource he might consult is the 1943 WPA Guide to Cincinnati, available from the historical society. The guide was given to workers who traveled here 70 or so years ago to work on New Deal-inspired projects like Columbia Parkway and contained descriptions and historical sketches of various neighborhoods in the city.

Dead dogs and sinking ships

"Five times in the last 2,000 years the Church has to all appearances gone to the dogs," wrote GK Chesterton. "In each case it was the dogs that died." Perhaps we are in the midst of a sixth time. If so, Pope Benedict is confident the dogs will die again:

There is a surprising parallel to the story of Moses’ song after Israel’s liberation from Egypt upon emerging from the Red Sea, namely in the Book of Revelation of Saint John. Before the beginning of the seven last plagues imposed upon the earth, the seer has a vision of something "like a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb …" (Rev 15:2f.). This image describes the situation of the disciples of Jesus Christ in every age, the situation of the Church in the history of this world. Humanly speaking, it is self-contradictory. On the one hand, the community is located at the Exodus, in the midst of the Red Sea, in a sea which is paradoxically ice and fire at the same time.

And must not the Church, so to speak, always walk on the sea, through the fire and the cold? Humanly speaking, she ought to sink. But while she is still walking in the midst of this Red Sea, she sings – she intones the song of praise of the just: the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in which the Old and New Covenants blend into harmony. While, strictly speaking, she ought to be sinking, the Church sings the song of thanksgiving of the saved. She is standing on history’s waters of death and yet she has already risen. Singing, she grasps at the Lord’s hand, which holds her above the waters. And she knows that she is thereby raised outside the force of gravity of death and evil – a force from which otherwise there would be no way of escape – raised and drawn into the new gravitational force of God, of truth and of love. At present she is still between the two gravitational fields.

But once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death. Perhaps this is actually the situation of the Church in every age? It always seems as if she ought to be sinking, and yet she is always already saved. Saint Paul illustrated this situation with the words: "We are as dying, and behold we live" (2 Cor 6:9). The Lord’s saving hand holds us up, and thus we can already sing the song of the saved, the new song of the risen ones: alleluia! Amen.

Their faith came from the Resurrection

From Peter Kreeft's Catholic Catechism, reproduced by the Knights of Columbus in their free online catechism course:

21. Christ’s Resurrection

“Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified” (C 639).“The faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men . . . Peter and the Twelve are the primary ‘witnesses to his Resurrection,’ but they are not the only ones — Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared . . . .502” (C 642)

This is concrete evidence, not abstract myth (see 2 Pt 1:16). The Resurrection did not come from the apostles’ faith; their faith came from the Resurrection. It was not some inner mystical experience. For “far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized (‘looking sad’504) and frightened” (C 643).“Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem….” (C 644)

If Christ did not really rise, then those who say he did – his apostles and the 500 other witnesses – spoke untruth.They either knew their story was untrue or not. If they knew, they were deliberate liars, deceivers; if not, they were deceived. But liars do not suffer and die for a lie as they did; nothing proves sincerity like martyrdom. And if they were deceived rather than deceivers, they were hallucinating, or “projecting” their subjective faith into objective reality. But they touched the risen Christ (Jn 20:24, 29). He ate food (Lk 24:36-43). He had long conversations with many men at the same time (Lk 24:13-35; Acts 1:34). He was seen by all who were present, not just some (Mk 16:14; Jn 24:36, 50). No hallucination in history ever behaved like that.

And no hallucination ever had such power to transform lives, and to give love, joy, peace, hope, and meaning to millions of men for thousands of years. For the sake of this “hallucination” saints joyfully endured tortures, persecutions, crucifixions and martyrdoms. This “hallucination” changed soft, cowardly hearts into hard, courageous ones, and convened the hard-nosed, cruel Roman Empire to a religion of unselfish love. “By their fruits you shall know them” – how could such true fruit come from such a false tree? Pascal asks the simple question: “If Christ was not risen and present, who made the apostles act as they did?”

If the Resurrection did not really happen, then an even more incredible miracle happened, as St. Thomas Aquinas argues: “In this faith there are truths preached which surpass every human intellect; the pleasures of the flesh are curbed; it is taught that the things of the world should be spurned. Now for the minds of mortal men to assent to these things is the greatest of miracles.... For it would be truly more wonderful than all miracles if the world had been led by simple and lowly men to believe such lofty truths, to accomplish such difficult actions, and to have such high hopes” by a hallucination or a lie.

Happy Easter to you and yours.