Monthly Archives: August 2018

Pope Francis’ invitation on the flight from Dublin

28 Tuesday Aug 2018

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Pope_Francis_in_flight_press_conference_3_Jan_18_2015_Vatican_Catholic_News_Credit_Alan_Holdren_CNA_CNA.jpegWhen questioned about the accusations in the letter written by Archbishop Carlo Viganó on the return flight to Rome after the World Meeting of Families in Ireland, Pope Francis did something quite revolutionary I think. He did not just say, “I will not say a single word on this” as many people have been focusing on. He went on to do something else, he opened a door and he made an invitation.

Although specifically addressing the crowd of journalists on the plane, he invited anyone who is interested to read the letter for him or herself and to come to their own conclusions but then he went further and made a specific invitation to the journalists (both on the plane and world-wide I think), “And you have the journalistic capacity to draw your own conclusions. It’s an act of faith. When some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, I may speak. But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

If the pope had countered the archbishop’s claims right then, the press would have been left reporting from the sidelines about the latest scandal in the Church and the latest skirmish between opposing Church factions. The image that comes to me is that of a tennis match – people passively watching from the stands and giving commentary as the two players on the court battle it out. By making his invitation, Pope Francis is welcoming the journalists (and through them the laity) onto the court itself and, in essence, is saying “You, also, have a role to play both in this game and for the good of the Church!” This is quite revolutionary.

“But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

It was a group of reporters (trained to investigate and uncover) who doggedly pursued and exposed the abuse scandal in Boston. It has been reporters who have helped to uncover abuses of power that have occurred in Ireland of which the pope just saw and heard firsthand prior to boarding that flight to Rome. Reporters are trained investigators. Inviting them onto the court and into the game carries ramifications.

It is not wise I think to try to judge the intentions of another person. Only God can see into the soul of a person and usually when we try to judge another’s intentions the only thing we do is hold up a mirror reflecting ourselves. But actions and words can be evaluated, judged and weighed. An invitation (especially at this level of power and authority) is an action. Inviting trained journalists into the game and onto the court does not strike me as the action of someone who is trying to hide something. Just my own thought.

Priests, bishops, cardinals and even popes might be wonderful Christians with amazing gifts and possibly even saints but that does not mean that they are skilled in the work of investigation and neither are Catholic bloggers and pundits despite their love for the faith and the Church. I do not know what has occurred in regards to these allegations nor who knew what at whatever level and (if true) when and as I watch all these things unfold I am extremely grateful that I am a priest in a parish. One thing I do believe though is that what appears to be needed at this time is a specific skillset. The skill to be tenacious in pursuing truth and uncovering abuse. This is the skill of the investigative journalist.

I must admit that I do not know all the details of what goes into an Apostolic Visitation (an action that is currently being requested of Rome by the U.S. Bishops). I do not know if it is set in stone that such a visitation be comprised of certain members of the church hierarchy alone but maybe an option in Rome’s response to this request would be to send a visitation team of which some members are faith-filled lay men and women who love the Church and who bring with them the skills of investigation – perhaps even some investigative reporters.

“But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

… and it will be good for the Church.

I am not the victim here. A reflection.

19 Sunday Aug 2018

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christ-on-the-cross-sketch-eug-ne-delacroixI have been ordained for twenty-three years now and my entire priesthood has been lived under the shadow of the clergy abuse scandal. It began when I was in seminary in Chicago. I remember spending the days in prayer, class and formation for priesthood and then watching the six o’clock evening news as the latest wave of the scandal broke. Talk about a disconnect! But seminaries (by their nature) exist in a bubble. After ordination there was the news from Boston and other parts of the country but that was “out there” – still somewhat removed. It all came crashing home when the bishop who ordained me was accused of abuse and admitted to this abuse. He spent the remainder of his days praying and working in the laundry room of a monastery. A priest from my diocese (former pastor to the parish to which I now serve) was arrested and is currently in prison for abusing a child. A priest classmate was removed from ministry for inappropriate contact with a minor. And now it is all stirred up again with the recent report from Pennsylvania. My whole priesthood and the priesthood of now at least a couple of generations of priests has been lived under the shadow of this scandal.

Yet, the people of God continue to amaze. Even through all of this they have remained committed to the Church and to their priests. Even now they are rallying in support of their priests and bishops and they recognize that not all should be tainted by the sinful actions of a few. This is heartwarming and appreciated but I do feel a need to say and clarify something.

I am not the victim here. No priest, no bishop is the victim here. I appreciate the kind words and thoughts and expressions of concern but we must commit ourselves to remembering and remaining focused on who the true victims are.

The victim is the man who has not been able to enter into authentic relationships throughout his life because he was wounded by a trusted priest as a young boy. The victim is the person who died of a drug overdose trying to numb the pain of sexual abuse. The victims are the parents who did their best to raise concerns but watched as abuser priests were moved from one assignment to another. These are the victims and we must not let our focus shift from them and we must stand with them.

I hate that we are back in this again. I hate that this ugliness steals so much attention and energy from the true work of the Church. I know that there will be consequences to this and that these consequences will be painful and that these consequences will affect and handicap the ministry of the Church. It all sickens me. Priests will be viewed with suspicion once again. There will be rude comments and jokes and possibly worse but we must be clear – no priest is the victim here and we should avoid the temptation to fall into that role.

The healing that is needed can only come if we remain focused on who the true victims are – those men and women who suffered at the hands of abusing priests and bishops within the Church who valued damage control over the pain of the people entrusted to their care. Any temptation to paint the priest, the bishop or the institutional Church as the victim in this must stop. It goes nowhere and it does nothing good. It is, in fact, a form of narcissism that only further victimizes the very men and women who have already endured so much pain.

When the news broke about the bishop that ordained me I was chaplain at one of the high schools in my diocese. I remember so much prayer and concern offered for the bishop (even over the school intercom) yet hardly anything being offered for the victim. Maybe it is human nature. The bishop was known and was loved by so many people and he did good things as our founding bishop and the victim … well, he was not known – just a name from a different state. But the victim was more than just a name. He was a person who had been hurt and who only wanted what we all want – an authentic and human life.

If there is one thing that these years of priesthood under the scandal of the clergy abuse crisis has taught me is that I am neither the victim in this situation nor the perpetrator of these heinous acts. There is a freedom found in this recognition. I am simply a priest ordained at this time and in this context of church and my duty is to strive to be the best priest that I can be.

Please, if you truly love your Church and want to support your priests, do not turn any of us into the victim in this moment of pain and do not allow us to make ourselves the victim. Shifting focus away from the true victims does no good. It is tempting but it is not right nor is it ultimately just. Sometimes the most caring thing to say to another disciple is that, yes, there are crosses to be carried in life. Is it fair? No, but this is the cross we are given at this time. Only when we let go of the temptation to view ourselves as victims or allow others to paint us at the victim can we as priests, bishops and Church honestly stand with the ones who are the real victims and together find the truth of God’s Kingdom in this whole sad, ugly and sinful affair.

I am not the victim here.

Christ, the living bread.

18 Saturday Aug 2018

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face_of_jesus_610x300Mary Lou was a woman I came to know in a previous assignment. She has since passed away. May she rest in peace. Mary Lou was one of those people who had the gift and (I think) the discipline of hospitality. Whether she was receiving one guest for a simple visit or a party of fifteen for a dinner, she knew how to welcome people, put them at ease and (in a good sense, never overbearing) see that their needs were met. I think that she saw hospitality as a holy act – a way of discovering and acknowledging the good in the other person. When you left Mary Lou’s house you were nourished on a multitude of levels.

In today’s first reading we are told that Wisdom has built her house and set her table for the banquet. Wisdom invites us in that we might be nourished, that we might learn and that we might forsake foolishness and all that leads away from true life. The revelation of the Gospel is that not only has God set the banquet but that God himself, Christ our Lord, is the banquet! Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” When questioned on this our Lord does not back off but rather doubles down and says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” God has set his banquet where he, himself, is the food that nourishes and strengthens!

Like all of us I have been greatly saddened and appalled by the clergy abuse report that was released this past week in Pennsylvania. I will not go into the details here. It can be found throughout the news in all sorts of outlets. I will say that Bishop Stika has written a good pastoral letter for our diocese responding to the report and copies of this letter have been placed in the bulletin and I encourage all of us to take his words to heart. What I have found myself reflecting upon though is how this abuse and its coverup (whether it occurred within the past ten years or decades ago) occurred at the hands of men who were within (at least on the surface of things) the banquet itself. These were men who were celebrating the sacraments and leading church communities. This is partly why I think the horror and shock is so profound.

We know that the efficacy of the sacraments is not affected by the sanctity or lack of sanctity of the minister. St. Augustine helped the Church to figure this out. God’s grace provides despite the limits of sin. But neither is the grace offered through the sacraments magic! The banquet has been set, all are invited, Christ has made himself the bread of life but our hearts, our wills must be open and willing to receive and be transformed by what is offered! The guest of the banquet has a role to play. The guest of the banquet must be willing to receive and be transformed by the hospitality that is offered in the banquet. Woe to the guest (even the guest afforded a role in the banquet) who remains closed and unwilling to be transformed by the life that is offered in the banquet.

St. Paul writes, “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.” Every sacrament is an opportunity to encounter Christ – to be healed, to be converted, to be challenged, even to be reprimanded and called to repentance if needed. Every sacrament and every instance of prayer is an opportunity to grow in a deeper understanding of the will of the Lord. It is not enough to just go through the motions or to multiply more motions. This is not the wisdom of the banquet. The wisdom of the banquet is found in one name – “Jesus”. Every sacrament, every moment and every day of the disciple, must be a moment of encounter with Jesus where we realize the new life that is found in him alone and where we honestly recognize that the only thing we truly have to offer in return is our poverty, our weakness, our sinfulness and, ultimately, our trust and love.

If the clergy involved in these scandals had learned this the Church would be in a different place today. Sadly, they did not. Sadly, many people do not. Their sin does not have to be ours.

Jesus, you are the living bread!

Growing in Faith

12 Sunday Aug 2018

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safe_image(This homily is geared toward our parish “Growing in Faith Day”.  It focuses on the gifts of community, faith and the Eucharist.)

I have recently had two events occur that have allowed a reset in my life. The first was a gift I received for volunteering at Bays Mountain Park. It is a large insulated cup that allows me to now drink water throughout the day rather than automatically turning to soda. The second was a simple suggestion I received from my doctor to try to avoid “white” foods (i.e. potatoes, white bread, white rice, pasta).

These two things may not sound like much but I have been trying to live by them for a couple of weeks now and I can tell that they are having an effect. My energy level is more consistent throughout the day where it was not before, I’m sleeping better and I even think that some weight is starting to come off. I can now pull my belt in another notch!

Sometimes we need resets in life and they do not even have to be big in order to create lasting and beneficial effects and often even a mundane change can have spiritual impact. Now that I am sleeping better and have more consistent energy throughout the day, I am finding that I am actually attentive and praying during my morning holy hour rather than snoozing! This basic and often overlooked connection of the physical and spiritual it witnessed to in today’s first reading when the angel gives the very practical instruction to the prophet Elijah to “get up and eat” in order to have strength for the journey!

Resets are needed in the journey of life – individually and also in the life of community. Today is a bit of a reset for St. Dominic Church. It is not that the parish is not being community nor that faith and worship is lacking but (as with all things in life) we can get running and busy and without even thinking about it not realize that we are not really acting to full healthy capacity and are rather running on fumes. Here is another health tidbit – the second most traded commodity in our world today is coffee and therefore caffeine. What does that say about our world and our lives? Before my reset I was drinking caffeine pretty much all day long but caffeine is a diuretic – it allows a form of energy but it dehydrates at the same time. Sometimes our souls and our faith life can get dehydrated even as we honestly strive to live the life of faith.

Today, the Day of the Bible scheduled for November 3rd and 4th (Fr. James McIlhone will be with us and will talk about the parables in Luke’s gospel) and the other “Growing in Faith Days” we have set for spring are days for our parish as a whole to hear the instruction of the angel to get up, to eat, and to drink in order to be strengthened for the journey. Today we are being nourished in three ways and by three gifts.

Our society is biased toward the individual but here is a truth that we need to be reminded of – the individual needs community. We are nourished by community in a multitude of ways and on a multitude of levels – many of which we are not always even aware of. Yes, community takes work and it requires commitment but the community of faith which is the Church gives back more than it ever requires. It has been noted that Christianity cannot be a spectator sport but neither is it a solo act. We live the journey together. A person cannot be Christian without Church. As we come together today as community in Christ we are nourished.

There is no graduating from learning about and growing in our faith. There is always more to learn, to comprehend and to understand. No caring parent would want a child to stop learning with the conclusion of high school yet so often we are content to think that faith formation ends with the eighteenth birthday! Ridiculous! We are meant to be transformed, “from glory to glory”. Today is an invitation to take another step in understanding our faith and being further transformed in our relationship with Christ, our Lord and Savior. In this we are fed and our deep thirst is met.

“I am the bread of life,” says our Lord, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ and as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ we, ourselves, are transformed! In the gospel we are told that the people “murmured” about Jesus among themselves. On our own we cannot get there. All we can do is murmur. We need Christ – his grace and his body and blood given in the Eucharist – to make the journey and to ourselves be transformed. Only in the gift of Christ can we move from murmuring into proclaiming by our words and our very lives the Kingdom of God! Every time we gather for Mass the only bread “that comes down from heaven” is offered. May we never fail to receive and be nourished.

May God bless our St. Dominic community and may we listen to the instruction offered by the angel to get up, to eat, to drink and to be once again nourished for the journey!

The invitation to a mature faith

05 Sunday Aug 2018

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jesus-bread-of-life_960pOn this Sunday we are given an invitation. After the feeding of the multitude and our Lord withdrawing for some solitude we are told that the crowds in today’s gospel (Jn. 6:24-35) come in search of Jesus but their intent is not the most sincere and our Lord is aware of this. “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

We can live a form of “faith” that holds as its main goal and purpose the desire to be filled. This approach to faith can take many forms. The most blatant is the prosperity gospel that reduces Christianity to a commercial exchange between the human and the divine and God to a beneficent loan agent. “If you have faith, if you live a good life, then God will reward you materially,” is the mantra of the prosperity gospel. Another mantra is that you can have your best life now. This take on faith is very popular for many people and one can see why – it promises a comfortable materialistic approach to the rewards of faith while ignoring the inconvenience of the cross. The problem is that it is not Christian.

There is a commonality that runs through all these forms of faith based in the desire to be filled. Despite often loud cries to the contrary which proclaim Jesus as Lord, these approaches actually have the person as the center of existence and Jesus as just the means to the end of my material well-being, my emotional well-being, my personal sanctity and my eternal glory. The focus is not so much on Jesus as it is on me.
The gospel invitation which we are given today is to move beyond a narrow faith which seeks to be filled in order to find true faith and true relationship with Christ. After chiding the crowds for the real reason why they sought him out Jesus goes on to say, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” When the crowds ask for this real food, this true bread, our Lord says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

True faith is not found in using Jesus as a means to personal satisfaction but in seeking a living relationship with Christ and in committing one’s life to do the very real work of acknowledging him as Lord. Yes, there is an aspect of “work” to faith. Faith requires decision, commitment, toil, choices, and abandonment and sometimes even going against the stream, risking to be unpopular and even be persecuted for what one holds to be true. This is the work of faith – we see it in the lives of those first disciples and the same invitation is given to us today.

In contradiction to faith which seeks to be filled it is worthwhile to conclude with a prayer which expresses the work of true and mature faith. This is the Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Notice that where the faith of the crowd can only ask what it can get from Christ; this faith asks for the grace to give more for Christ.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
all I love and call my own.
You have given it all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and grace,
that is enough for me.