Mission Field Code

OLV @ TEN 24 MAY 09 (TOM)

An extraordinary man

Rochester's venerable priest-historian Fr. Robert McNamara, whose "Saints Alive" vignettes are featured on my right bumper, died yesterday. Pray for this good and holy priest. Kudos to Mark Hare of the Democrat & Chronicle for writing a fitting tribute:

The Rev. Robert F. McNamara, the longtime historian and archivist for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, died Friday.

At 98, he was the oldest priest in the 12-county diocese. A native of Corning, the Rev. McNamara earned an undergraduate degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a master's in literature from Harvard University before beginning his seminary studies in Rome.

He was ordained on Dec. 8, 1936. He served briefly as the assistant pastor at St. Francis Xavier Church in Rochester and joined the staff of the Catholic Courier, the diocesan newspaper, in 1938.

Later that year, he was appointed to the faculty at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, where he taught history, Italian and liturgy. He remained in that role until the school closed in 1981.

The Rev. McNamara's priesthood extended several decades on either side of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which ushered in many changes to church life.

"He always said, 'I have one foot in the past, one foot in the present and my eyes toward the future,'" said the Rev. William Graf, the Rev. McNamara's friend of 55 years — and a former student and faculty colleague.

The Rev. McNamara, a self-taught historian, was the author of numerous books and articles and is best known for his 1968 history, The Diocese of Rochester in America. In 1999, at the age of 88, he authored a new edition, adding history through 1993 — the 125th anniversary of the founding of the diocese.

As the history was re-released, the Rev. McNamara told the Democrat and Chronicle that, "I like to think I'm a teller of tales. I'm not a sentimentalist, but I'm sentimental enough. I like to tell stories about people because history is stories about people."

For several years, he lived in the rectory of St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Irondequoit, where he began writing a weekly column on saints, called "Saints Alive" — another way of telling stories about people. From St. Abercius (second-century bishop of Hierpolis, in what is now western Turkey) to St. Zita (the patron of domestic servants and homemakers who lived in 13th-century Italy), the collection includes more than 350 stories. (That series can be viewed by going to www.irondequoitcatholic.org and clicking on "Saints Alive.")

Expressing sorrow at the Rev. McNamara's death, Bishop Matthew Clark said: "We were graced by his prowess as a writer, researcher, historian and archivist, and his magnificence as a minister and servant of God." ...

Mike Latona's obituary for the Catholic Courier is here.

Fr. McNamara's history of the diocese has been on my mental wish list for years. If anyone knows where in Rochester I can pick up a copy, please let me know.

Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine

What makes the community is the Mass

Fr. James Schall, S.J., in the current edition of the Adoremus Bulletin:

At Mass, we are full of the Lord, not ourselves. What makes the community is the Mass, not vice versa. The priest is not an actor. He is a priest. He points beyond himself. What he does is not of his own making. He is a servant. He literally follows the books. He does not write them. With his people, he praises the Father through the Son in the unity of the Spirit, whom he, along with them, worships. This worship is what goes on at Mass, nothing less.

You'll also find Archbishop Ranjith's foreword to True Development of the Liturgy: Cardinal Ferdinado Antonelli and the Liturgical Reform from 1948 to 1970, by Monsignor Nicola Giampietro, to be published in English by Roman Catholic Books in the autumn of 2009. Archbishop Ranjith is the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Tony, Tom, and Morris

The president of the American Life League reports on the appalling associations of a couple of Rochester deacons (Gene Michael first broke the story):

Rochester New York’s Democrat and Chronicle ran a report about a month ago entitled “Rochester community seeks more interfaith dialogue.” The main purpose of the news item was to focus attention on a Jewish-Christian program, “The Two Thousand Year Road to the Holocaust.” The program marked a turning point in the cooperation occurring between Jewish organizations and interfaith organizations including the Catholic diocese of Rochester. Among those who currently participate in the program, designed to raise awareness about the Holocaust that occurred during World War II, are Catholic Deacon Thomas Driscoll, Deacon Anthony Sciolino and Morris Wortman, M.D., an abortionist.

"No sin is worse than another"

The Enquirer documents, in rather excruciating detail, the origins of the relationship between a singer-songwriter from Cincinnati, who died a tragic death last year, and her same-sex partner. Christianity factors into the story, as the parents of both parties are "devout Christians."

When Karen left West Chester Township for Ohio State University and Katie went to Oregon and then India and Nepal to participate in a youth ministry, Karen says, she couldn't get Katie out of her mind. And she couldn't understand why.

Katie came to Ohio State in January 1998, and the two became inseparable. Karen had a boyfriend of almost three years who was planning to propose, even as Karen was realizing that he wasn't what she wanted. Then Katie told Karen that she had been in a relationship with a woman. In a video, Karen says the revelation rocked her to her core.

"I remember thinking, if this person that I look up to and respect spiritually and as a person did this, then it could happen to me," she says in the video.

They tried to fight their feelings. As Christians, they thought, in Karen's words, that they would burn in hell forever. It was nearly three months before they kissed. And then it was three years, in which they lived in fear and hiding and sought counseling to try not to be gay, before they told their families about their relationship in 2001.

Katie's parents were also devout Christians, part of a large Montgomery family well-known to Cincinnatians because of her father Rob's role as the singer on the long-running local TV show "The Bob Braun Show."

They also believed that being gay was a sin, and Karen says it was years before they fully accepted her as their daughter's partner. Finally, Karen says, Katie told them: "She and I are always going to be together. You can either have me and her, or not have me at all."

Ultimately, Rob Reider says, he and his late wife, Gaile, decided that it was more important for them to have a relationship with Katie than to judge whether her relationship was "right." From a Christian perspective, everyone is a sinner, he says. No sin is worse than another. And God's grace is bigger than all of it.

"I can't understand the biology of it," Reider says, "but I can't view it as a sin anymore. I can't imagine my life without those kids and Karen."

Karen's parents, who are divorced, thought her relationship with Katie might be a phase. But two years later, in June 2003, Karen's mother, Elaine Boone, found herself walking her daughter down the aisle at the ceremony that joined Karen and Katie. She remembers saying of Karen, who was adopted after her parents spent five years on a waiting list: "Karen is my daughter and I love her, and if this is who makes her happy, this is what I want for her."

A letter-writer responds here.

A shepherd guides his flock

If the night were open, I know where I'd be next Thursday:

“A Shepherd Guides His Flock: An Evening with the New Archbishop.” That’s the topic as Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis Schnurr appears at the Cincinnati-area Theology on Tap speaker series for young adults in their 20s and 30s, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at Tickets Sports Café, 100 W. 6th Street, Covington, Ky., across from Mother of God Church. Park in the church lot. Find out more at www.totcincinnati.org

Suggested topics for the Q&A: (1) liturgical fidelity and catechesis, (2) noteworthy positive features of the diocese, (3) energizing priestly vocations, (4) promoting frequent confession.

Does anyone record these sessions?

Word up

My new Dell Inspiron 530 desktop computer works fabulously. The unit it replaced had a bad fan or an overactive drive, as it whirred like a propjet just before takeoff. The new hard drive/tower was supposed to come loaded with Microsoft Office, but instead came with Microsoft Works. Works is to Office what Yugo is to Lexus; it has limited functionality and its word-processing module has compatibility issues with other Microsoft products like Word, the main reason Office interested me. Short of shipping my computer back and forking over another $200 to put it on my system, I'm stuck. Is anyone familiar with a free -- or at least cheaper -- word-processing software that is compatible with Word? Or perhaps a retailer that sells Office cheaply?

Being inclusive

Ever wonder why, despite Cincinnati's heavy German population, Masses at the Cathedral sometimes look like a gathering of the United Nations?

Here's your answer:

[Karen Kane, director of the archdiocesan Worship Office] said being inclusive of others is part of the Catholic respect life teaching. She asked about ... how inclusive ministries are, whether to people of different races or those with special needs.

“A lot of times they’re just making it the best they can,” Kane said. “The church involves all of us and we want everyone’s gifts and talents to be used.”

Seven men

The just-out issue of the Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati profiles our seven ordinands this year -- the largest class since 2004. Their Mass of Ordination is 11 am this Saturday at the St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. Congratulations, (almost) Fathers!

ARCHDIOCESE — God calls men to the priesthood in many ways. Some hear the call as boys while others pursue different paths before entering the seminary.

On May 23, seven men will be ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the largest group to be ordained since 2004.

Some set out to be teachers, one was in a religious order, while another had a military career. Still others bring business, computer, legal and medical backgrounds to the priesthood.

These are their stories.

Deacon Martin Bachman

Deacon Martin Bachman grew up like most Catholics — going to Mass with his family and serving his parish as an altar server until he was 21. It wasn’t until he was 17 that the seeds of a priestly vocation began to grow.

Deacons Shawn Landenwitch; Anthony Tozzi; Martin Bachman and David Endres. (CT/E.L. Hubbard)

He was at the Holy Spirit Center in Norwood when a woman approached him. “She didn’t know who I was; she said ‘One day you are going to be a priest,’” he recalls.

“I kind of put it on the back burner because I really didn’t think that was for me.”

A parishioner at St. Jude Parish in Bridgetown, Deacon Bachman, 33, studied computer programming at Cincinnati State and spent several years working in corporate information technology (IT). He jokes that he can still fix the computers at the seminary.

But during a layoff from work he re-evaluated his life and began seriously considering his call to the priesthood.

“I was out of work for a year, and I had a lot of time to think about where I was and where God wanted me to be,” he said. “I knew there had to be more than all the stuff I had, since I knew I wasn’t completely happy.”

He started attending daily Mass, and his vocation became stronger over the years.

Deacon Bachman began his seminary studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in 2001, receiving a bachelor of arts degree and then beginning his theological studies. ...

While the numbers take a dip for the next few years, the quantity of prospective candidates entering the seminary next fall is trending in a positive direction. As we look ahead, we can be hopeful. If Bishop Carlson can take Saginaw from two seminarians to twenty in four years, Archbishop Schnurr should be able to turn Cincinnati into a vocations powerhouse.

"almost painful to read"

In the "Vocation equation" thread, a priest dissects the profile of a local worship commission that appeared in a parish publication devoted to vocations:

The ... piece is so confused and contorted as to be almost painful to read.

One could spend hours taking apart the poor ecclesiology here, but suffice it to mention just a few things:

• Contrary to the author’s claim, the lay faithful are not “Eucharistic ministers.” They are extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. It speaks volumes that someone writing for a parish organ on the topic of the liturgy either doesn’t know this, or chooses to ignore it.

• She mixes “ministries” with simple functions, indiscriminately. For example, lectors with Mass coordinators. One is a legitimate ministry, as defined by the conciliar reform, another is an invented post. How can one be “commissioned” to be a Mass coordinator?

• In the last section, she completely distorts the church’s traditional understanding of vocation (a call from God to a particular and permanent state in life geared toward holiness), confusing it with the taking on of a temporarily deputed ministry, or sometimes merely a function in the Church. In so doing, she trivializes the true notion of vocation. At the end of the piece, it is almost humorous how she tries to have it both ways: on the one hand, she wants to claim that serving as, say, a lector or EMHC is a “call from God,” and on the other hand, she is begging people to sign on the dotted line to get the job done, because there is a “desperate need” in the parish.

Would that she, and her ilk, worked so zealously to promote priestly and religious vocations, which truly are “desperately needed”!

• Finally, as an aside, one can hardly help but notice that 7 of the 9 members of the worship commission pictured are women. One wonders how well the masculine perspective on worship is represented by this group. I don’t think it is a coincidence that parishes which have both a very confused ecclesiology, and very little masculine representation, do not draw many men to the holy sacraments and “full active participation” in parish life. I know nothing of this particular parish, but I think that is a very pervasive problem in American Catholic culture generally. I can make an educated guess how this plays out in the liturgical and spiritual life of the parish.

Lest anyone think I am picking on this parish and the DRE-author, bear in mind that parishioners have complained about the liturgical and catechetical aberrations taking place there for years. Moreover, the sort of twaddle in the piece is fairly typical of the approach to worship in the archdiocese, so it illustrates the challenge faced by our soon-to-be new ordinary. (Indeed, until recently the head of the worship commission taught an introductory course on the sacraments at the seminary.)

Council of Continuity

That's the theme of my new series for the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio.

We'll review the sixteen key documents of Vatican II through the prism of developmental continuity, doing our best to avoid the twin errors of antiquarianism and modernism.

Our touchstone will be Pope Benedict's now-famous "hermeneutic of continuity," which will be the focus of our kickoff segment tomorrow (Friday) morning at 8:10 am EST. Join us!

We do not want to apply precisely this dramatic description to the situation of the post-conciliar period, yet something from all that occurred is nevertheless reflected in it. The question arises: Why has the implementation of the Council, in large parts of the Church, thus far been so difficult?

Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or — as we would say today — on its proper hermeneutics, the correct key to its interpretation and application. The problems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face to face and quarreled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit.

On the one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call “a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture”; it has frequently availed itself of the sympathies of the mass media, and also one trend of modern theology. On the other, there is the “hermeneutic of reform”, of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God. ...

Really Hotmail

I've used Hotmail for personal email for almost a decade.

I chose it mainly because it was free and ... well, because it was free.

Until recently -- around two years ago -- its bumper ads were the usual variety of click-throughs for mortgage companies, credit card companies, etc.

Their target demographic has changed. Now, it's nonstop dating services featuring models in quasi-pornographic, come-hither poses.

The latest promises to "find your Latin lady" and displays a girl dressed in a metallic silver dress that has a neckline that plunges to just below her navel.

(We're not talking Wheelock's here.)

Switching services would be a nightmare, as I have several hundred names in my address book.

Perhaps I should bite the bullet.

Is it "arm chair" or "armchair?"

We're in the home stretch for the Crescat's "Arm Chair Theologian" award.

Everything depends on you.

(Next year: le grand prix.)

Pre-Order Guarantee

DOR Catholic Mike informs us that the latest effort by His Excellency Matthew Clark of Rochester to cement his legacy is a forthcoming book on the benefits of "Lay Ecclesial Ministry." (What's next -- Archbishop Weakland on the Theology of the Body?) One of Mike's commenters suggests boycotting it. A better idea is for my Rochester readers to review it for Amazon once it is released and let those who haven't lived under his unique brand of "ministry" know how it works in practice. From the publisher, Ave Maria Press:

Currently in the U.S., there are over 30,000 lay ecclesial ministers serving the Catholic Church, and another 16,000 studying in ministry formation programs--nearly five times the number of men preparing for ordination to the priesthood. A long-time advocate of lay ecclesial ministry, Bishop Matthew Clark offers his vast theological knowledge and engaging stories from years of ministry to make this an informative and accessible read for anyone called to leadership in today's Catholic Church. Forward in Hope examines the ever-growing significance of lay ecclesial ministry and the way it is changing the face of the Church.

Lovely and sweet

Our parish school held its annual May crowning this morning.

As in past years, it was lovely and sweet, with many Marian prayers and litanies and a collection of tasteful modern tunes ("Gentle Woman") and traditional hymns ("Hail, Holy Queen").

Many thanks to recently retired teacher Mr. F, who wrote the program, and the mothers and staff members who put it together each year. (Sorry, no pictures this time around.)

Thirty to forty years ago, we couldn't suppress these devotional practices fast enough, and it's wonderful to see them coming back.

It does make you wonder: had we maintained these healthy spiritual "expressions" for the faithful, perhaps we wouldn't have freighted the Mass with as many innovations and activities.

UPDATE. A friend sends a picture he snapped with his camera-phone:

JustWrong

The Catholic Courier of Rochester profiles Jack Jezreel and the JustFaith program, which unsurprisingly has taken off in the diocese:

(It also has some level of official status in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.)

Jack Jezreel didn’t set out to create a national movement of social-justice volunteers.

He simply intended to teach parishioners at Church of the Epiphany in Louisville, Ky., about social justice using Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults-style classes after noticing that the social-justice events he organized were sparsely attended.

"My experience was that people just seemed completely unfamiliar with the relationship between the Catholic faith and the Gospel that they are called to be Christ in the care of our most vulnerable sisters and brothers," said Jezreel, the founder and executive director of JustFaith Ministries.

In 1989, Jezreel adapted features from the RCIA program as a way to engage people and convert them to living out Catholic social teaching. The program he developed, JustFaith, is a 30-week adult-formation program that uses prayer, immersion, books, videos, retreat experiences, discussion opportunities and guest speakers to teach social justice and build communities.

"The central question JustFaith asks is, ‘How does this change you?’" said Jezreel, who spoke to the Catholic Courier prior to an April 15 workshop for new JustFaith participants at Rochester's Our Lady of the Americas Parish. The event also included a potluck dinner that was a chance for JustFaith graduates to meet Jezreel.

He said he was shocked at how well his program came together. Within a few years of initiating it, the program had attracted the attention of other parishes and soon was used in several. In 2005 -- a mere six years after Jezreel developed the program -- the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services partnered with JustFaith Ministries to help bring the program to parishes across the country. In 2007, Bread for the World partnered with JustFaith Ministries to create an ecumenical version of the program.

JustFaith has spawned several other programs, including JustSkills, which teaches participants the practical skills needed to do social ministry; JusticeWalking, or J-Walking, which is an adaptation of the JustFaith program for teens; JustMatters, six- to eight-week sessions that focus on a specific social-justice topic and culminate in a call to engaged action; and Engaging Spirituality, a new, 21-session program that connects contemplative living and social action.

Jezreel said he believes a key component of good social ministry is an active spiritual life.

"People who do social ministry well are people who are committed to a life of faith and prayer," he said.

Jezreel said the Diocese of Rochester has been one of the dioceses in the country that is committed to the program. The Rochester Diocese first offered JustFaith in 2003. ...

For a primer on why JustFaith is "JustWrong," see this past entry:

1) The apparent total rejection of personal salvation and sin -- which seriously distorts Church teaching, undermines evangelization, and could actually endanger people's salvation. This often accompanies "Reign of God" theology in my experience.

2) Collapsing Revelation, authentic interpretation and the interpretation of an individual theologian so that average Catholics going through would not know that there was a difference and that one obliges and the other is just an opinion. The distinction between revelation and the application in a specific situation is not maintained. Much that is really prudential is dealt with as though it is obligatory.

3) Reducing everything in relationship to God, conversion, and discipleship, to a very narrow set of economic and political concerns. ... I can't imagine anyone who buys into the JustFaith world view ever voting for a Republican, for instance, because everything is to judged by a very specific economic agenda. ...

4) A serious misreading and dismissal of the meaning and impact of the ordained role of Teaching, Governing, Sanctifying. Jack actually didn't say so, but I can't help but wonder if he believes that only the lay/baptismal office really exists or matters and the ordained office is just a power-play.

5) A focus so narrowly political that the work and vocations of lay Catholics are not relevant

...

Vatican I and II are described as in opposition. ...

Salvation "is not individual but collective."

The "old" (pre-Vat II) understanding of sin talked of 1) grave matter/full knowledge/full consent -- and "individual act of malice." This is to be contrasted with "prophetic" understanding of sin -- which is always social and never individual. The issue is not individual malice but social "blindness" that an entire community can participate in.

Parish to parish

From the Catholic Courier's account of the success of a Q&A call-in program offered by the Diocese of Rochester:

"Some questions were, ‘Why don’t we all do the same thing?’" she said. "Why doesn’t every parish do it the same way?"

Sister Heffernan explained that there are pastoral concerns that need to be met from parish to parish, and that the diversity of the diocese is reflected in its celebrations.

"Cultures do impact our practice," she said.

I'll wager that (1) the questions weren't posed as described, i.e., that
it was more like, "Why does everyone seem to be doing their own thing
around here?" or "Can you explain why when I visited St.
So-and-so across town a pink-haired man was traipsing around the altar in a leotard?" and (2) the questioner went away unsatisfied.

Want to have a big family?

Good luck moving them around:

DETROIT (AP) -- Some soccer moms will have to give up hulking SUVs. Carpenters will still haul materials around in pickup trucks, but they will cost more. Nearly everybody else will drive smaller cars, and more of them will run on electricity. The higher mileage and emissions standards set by the Obama administration on Tuesday, which begin to take effect in 2012 and are to be achieved by 2016, will transform the American car and truck fleet.

The new rules would bring new cars and trucks sold in the United States to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon, about 10 mpg more than today's standards. Passenger cars will be required to get 39 mpg, light trucks 30 mpg.

That means cars and trucks on American roads will have to become smaller, lighter and more efficient.

Eric Fedewa, vice president of global powertrain forecasting for the auto consulting firm CSM Worldwide in Northville, Mich., said the changes will make pickup trucks so much more expensive that they will be used almost exclusively for work.

And instead of a minivan or SUV, more parents will haul their families in much smaller vehicles with three rows of seats - something more like the Mazda 5 small van, he said. The Mazda 5 gets about 28 mpg on the highway. ...

Vocation equation

Lay Ministry* + Worship Commission = Mass Confusion

* A dozen years ago, the Holy See issued an instruction concerning, in part, the overuse of the term "ministry" with respect to members of the laity; in the documents of Vatican II, it is reserved expressly for the ordained priesthood. You would like to think that some day these authoritative instructions and teaching documents would see the light of day in our parishes.

The Mass never ends

FYI, Rochester's Sr. Joan Sobala, the prominent member of the Women's Ordination Conference that Bishop Matthew Clark put in charge of one of the diocese's few remaining tradition-minded parishes, is throwing another party for herself later this month:

"Social mission is faith in action"

Xavier University's Bellarmine Chapel publishes its "Social Mission Catalog," which lists all the various groups which purportedly act upon Catholic social teaching. You'll find the AMOS Project, the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, a Fair Trade Coffee organization, the omnipresent and pernicious "JustFaith," and something called the "Bellarmine Dismantling Racism Team (BDRT)." Yet in this seven-page catalog, there is no mention of a group dedicated to the defense of the unborn, a foundational principle in the Church's social mission. (Oddly enough, a search of the website for the super-busy other Jesuit outfit in town reveals a similar omission.) 'Must have been a printing error.

A fitting national bookend

Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput on the events of yesterday:

The May 17 events do have some fitting irony, though. Almost exactly 25 years ago, Notre Dame provided the forum for Gov. Mario Cuomo to outline the “Catholic” case for “pro-choice” public service. At the time, Cuomo’s speech was hailed in the media as a masterpiece of American Catholic legal and moral reasoning. In retrospect, it’s clearly adroit. It’s also, just as clearly, an illogical and intellectually shabby exercise in the manufacture of excuses. Father Jenkins’ explanations, and President Obama’s honorary degree, are a fitting national bookend to a quarter century of softening Catholic witness in Catholic higher education. Together, they’ve given the next generation of Catholic leadership all the excuses they need to baptize their personal conveniences and ignore what it really demands to be “Catholic” in the public square.

argumentum ex silentio

Right below a photo of our smug-looking president being robed by officials from Notre Dame on the Drudge Report, there appears a link to a story headlined "Vatican Silent on Obama Speech." The implication is that the Holy See must not object to the university's treatment of the president since they haven't issued a formal statement. Leaving aside the fact that the "argument from silence" is a logical fallacy, I seem to recall a certain curial prefect referring to this incident as "the greatest scandal."

Dean of the deanery

"Both the archbishops are doing confirmations at other parishes."

"Let's give our confirmandi a round of applause!"

"How many of you have an iPod?"

"Try that again -- this time use your gymnasium voice!"

Pray for Archbishop Schnurr; the reform of the reform won't come easy here.

A Catholic should prepare

Earlier this weekend, we spent some time performing a last-minute spiritual "tune up" for our oldest child before she receives her Confirmation today. We reviewed the section on the sacrament contained in Pauline Media's Basic Catechism. It's a very useful book, organized in a Q&A format and free of overly technical language. Written at a Readers Digest level of comprehension, it would be an ideal text for a high school- or middle school-aged student. The bulk of it is available online at the Daughters of St. Paul website. We were prompted to take a walk down the hill for confession yesterday afternoon by the following paragraph:

16. How should a Catholic prepare for Confirmation?

A Catholic should prepare for Confirmation by studying the Catholic faith, by praying and by witnessing to Christ. The candidate must be in the state of grace and have the same intentions as the Church. (1309-1310)

They all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer... (Acts 1:14).