"The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself, 'should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson.'" -- Redemptionis Sacramentum, 61.
Editor:
On behalf of the directors, staff and members of the Cardinal Newman Society and the more than 367,000 people who signed our petition opposing Notre Dame's honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama, I would like to publicly thank Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk for his prayerful witness for a strong Catholic identity on Catholic campuses.
In anticipation of Pentecost, Archbishop Pilarczyk was sent a spiritual bouquet from the petition's signers which included 116,741 Mass intentions, 146,944 rosaries, 57,728 aspirations, 236,615 general prayers, 74,974 Divine Mercy Chaplets, 28,862 days of fasting, 19,877 novenas, 37,125 eucharistic holy hours, and 3,272 Masses offered by Catholic priests.
As the battle for the souls of Catholic campuses continues, the church is blessed to have shepherds like Archbishop Pilarczyk -- and they will need our prayers more than ever.
Patrick J. Reilly
President
The Cardinal Newman Society
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)
The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon.
"The aim of this Year for Priests", he went on, "is to support each priest's struggle towards spiritual perfection, 'upon which the effectiveness of his ministry particularly depends', and to help priests, and with them the entire People of God, to rediscover and revive an awareness of the extraordinary and indispensable gift of Grace which the ordained ministry represents, for the person who receives it, for the entire Church, and for the world which would be lost without the real presence of Christ".
"Although the historical and social conditions in which the 'Cure of Ars' worked have changed, it is right to ask how priests can imitate him by identifying themselves with their ministry in modern globalised societies", said the Pope.
"In a world in which the common view of life leaves ever less space for the sacred, in place of which 'functionality' becomes the only decisive category, the Catholic concept of priesthood could risk losing its due regard, sometimes even in the ecclesial conscience".
The Holy Father identified two conceptions of the priesthood, "which do not in fact contradict one another". On the one hand "a social-functional conception which identifies the essence of priesthood with the concept of 'service'. ... On the other hand there is a sacramental-ontological conception" which sees priestly ministry "as determined by a gift called Sacrament, granted by the Lord through the mediation of the Church".
"What", the Pope asked, "does it mean for priests to evangelise? In what does the primacy of announcement exist? ... Announcement coincides with the person of Christ", he said, "a priest cannot consider himself as 'master' of the Word, but as its servant".
"Only participation in Christ's sacrifice, in His 'chenosi', ... and docile obedience to the Church ... makes announcement authentic. ... Priests are Christ's servants, in the sense that their existence, ontologically configured to Him, have an essentially relational character. The priest is in Christ, for Christ and with Christ at the service of humankind. Precisely because he belongs to Christ, the priest is radically at the service of man".
John's birth is the dividing line between the Old Testament and the New. [...] He personifies the Old and is the herald of the New. He was born of aged parents because he was to personify the Old Testament, and he was named a prophet in his mother's womb because hew was born to be the herald of the New. Before he was born, when the Virgin came, he leapt for joy in his mother's womb. That moment marked the start of his mission: he is the precursor, even before he himself can see or know is purpose. [...] He is born, and named, and his father's tongue is tied. [...] Zechariah's silence is an image of how the old prophecies were hidden, dark, closed before the preaching of Christ. Everything is made clear with the coming of the One of whom those prophecies speak (St. Augustine, Sermones, 293, 2-3).
Someone, whom I am afraid will have a long stay in Purgatory, got the bright idea that people should receive in the hand. Supposedly, this was going to make people feel closer to Christ. As far I am concerned, it’s an experiment that’s been a disaster. I see disrespect and irreverence so often. By no means everybody – lots of people take the Body of Christ, receive it respectfully, and go back to their place. Others act like they haven’t the slightest idea what they’re doing. And if the Pope was open to bribery, which he is not, I would like to win the Lotto and bribe him to prohibit communion on the hand. However, I’m a good soldier. I’m a priest. I don’t make up the laws of the Church. So if you go to communion to me and put out your hand, you will receive the Body of Christ. But I’m very much happier when you receive it on the tongue. When I am in a circumstance where I am able to receive Holy Communion, when I’m not celebrating Mass, I receive it on the tongue. Some people may be annoyed by my response. But like everybody else, I’ve got a right to my opinion.
This acknowledgment needs to be accompanied, however, by a clear affirmation of the Church's belief that Jesus Christ in Himself fulfills God's revelation begun with Abraham and that proclaiming this good news to all the world is at the heart of her mission.
The bishops of the United States express our appreciation and support for our brother bishop, the Most Reverend John D'Arcy. We affirm his pastoral concern for Notre Dame University, his solicitude for its Catholic identity, and his loving care for all those the Lord has given him to sanctify, to teach and to shepherd.
Catholics of the Rochester diocese are familiar with the name of the great English martyr, St. John Fisher. We have two institutions named after him: a parish (St. John of Rochester, Fairport), and a college (St. John Fisher). Furthermore, in 1961, Pope John XXIII, at the request of Bishop James Kearney, named St. John, one-time head of the old diocese of Rochester in England, to be the patron saint of the American diocese of the same name.
It is a commonplace that church life was in decline before the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation. Even though some bishops might not have been worth their salt, there were exceptions. One was John Fisher. The ambassador to England of Emperor Charles V called John “the paragon of Christian bishops for learning and holiness”.
John Fisher was born in Beverly, northern England, the son of a drygoods merchant. He was sent to Cambridge University at age 14, and for the rest of his life was associated with that center of learning. A brilliant student himself, he was ordained a priest at the early age of 22, and soon became headmaster of Michaelhouse College and vice-chancellor of the whole university.
In 1502, however, he resigned the mastership in order to become chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII. Lady Margaret and her chaplain worked as a team for the betterment of the University of Cambridge. She founded Christ's College and St. John's College at Cambridge, and established both at Cambridge and at Oxford a Lady Margaret professorship of theology.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fisher was trying to better educational standards. To promote current scholarship, he invited the great humanist Erasmus to join the staff of the university. In 1504, John was elected university chancellor, a post he held until death.
In the same year, King Henry VII named Fisher bishop of the small and poor diocese of Rochester, England. He might well have “graduated” from this small diocese to a more important one, but he always declined the suggestion. He said, “he would not leave his poor old wife” (the Rochester diocese) “for the richest widow” (other diocese) “in England.”
Lack of worldly ambition was typical of the man. His life was that of a scholar (he began to learn Greek and Hebrew at middle age); an ascetic (he prayed long, slept short, and ate little): and a pastor (he was most diligent in his duties as a bishop).
When the Reformation broke out, he was selected to preach and write against Lutheranism. Four volumes came from his pen in refutation of Martin Luther's teachings, although he himself thought that polemics accomplished less than prayers. In the whole English episcopate, he stood out against the political worldliness of his fellow bishops.
Only a man of independence could have withstood King Henry VIII when the king denied the validity of his marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon.
Henry had previously admired Fisher. Now he found him a frustrating obstacle in the way of his securing a declaration of nullity. Dr. Fisher stood firm; so did the king. Imprisonments, attempted poisoning, and warning gunshots did not budge the Bishop. Eventually, when the rest of the bishops weakly took the oath of supremacy to the king as head of the church in England, Fisher fell into the royal net and was accused of treason.
As the bishop lingered in prison, Pope Paul III declared him a cardinal. This honor only drove the king to quicker action.
Cardinal Fisher, condemned to death in a pseudo-trial on June 17, 1535, was taken to the scaffold near the Tower of London five days later.
The frail, aged victim declared to the people that he was dying for the faith of Christ's holy Catholic Church. He begged them to pray that he not waver. Then he recited the “Te Deum” in thanksgiving, and the psalm “In te, Domine speravi” (“In thee, Lord, have I hoped.”). His head, once severed by the axe, was impaled on a spike atop London Bridge, as a “warning”. But history has cherished the bishop and condemned the monarch who executed him.
Throughout the Church, a joint feast of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More is celebrated on June 22. However, in the American diocese of Rochester, Fisher alone is commemorated on June 22, since he is the diocesan patron.
DAYTON DEANERY — Cincinnati Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr will celebrate Mass July 10 during the annual Dayton Catholic Homeschool Conference.
Archbishop Schnurr will celebrate 8:30 Mass at St. Peter Church in Huber Heights.. The two-day conference, July 10-11, is held at St. Peter Family Life Center.
The event, hosted by the Dayton Catholic Homeschool Network, is open to all parents and high school students. For complete conference information, visit www.daytonhomeschool.com or call Alice Kompar 937-344-5535, preferably after 3 p.m.
Suggested early donation through June 30: $12 individual; $20couple; $8 teen. Scheduled presenters include: Father Earl Fernandes, Dean of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Fathers Martin Fox, Ryan Ruiz and Satish Joseph; Ginny Seuffert of the Seton Home Study School; and panelists.
His generation of fathers hadn’t heard of “quality time,” but the idea would not have impressed him. He never contented himself with just fitting his kids into his schedule when it was convenient. He knew that being there for “crummy time” is what counts: the phone call at 3AM from a stranded child needing a ride home; the sobs of a son failing to make friends at a new school; the cries of an infant child whose fever will not break.
My father and I were at daggers' ends during my teen years. It was the usual stuff: I thought I knew everything, and he thought that yelling at me would bring me to my senses. Yet he was always there. I had my sights set on becoming a boxing champion from the age of twelve. When I was fifteen, I had a preliminary match against a much stronger fighter who I was going to have to fight again a few days later. I lost that first match — badly. That night, Dad found me retching in the bathroom, devastated. He said, “I know tonight was rough, but you have a chance to redeem yourself this weekend. You’ve worked too hard. Don’t you dare throw away three years like this.” He gave me the courage to go back for the rematch and win. It is one of my most cherished memories of my father.
Posts
All Comments
