50th Anniversary of "Sacrosanctum Concilium," Part III

SACRAMENTALITY.  Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005.  For four days thousands, tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of the faithful came to pay their respects at his body.  The crowds waiting hours and hours in line held signs saying, "Santo Subito!"  [Make him a saint now!]

I got up at 3:30 in the morning to watch the live television broadcast of his funeral Mass.  I am not ashamed to say the liturgy brought tears to my eyes.  I thought, "Yes, we have witnessed a saint in our midst."  Next spring, Pope Francis will canonize St. John Paul II.

Old-timers will remember question #136 of the Baltimore Catechism:  "What is a sacrament?  A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace."  Pope Paul VI a hundred years later gave a contemporary version of this, saying a sacrament is "a reality imbued with the hidden presence of God."  In the seven sacraments, and indeed in just about all of created reality, we "see" the divine in the human, the infinite  in the finite, the spiritual in the material.  In the Catholic Church's vision, all reality is (or has the potential to be) sacred.

In certain individuals, we see holiness such that we call these persons saints.  In the signs of the sacraments, we know that Jesus Christ is really, truly present to us.  In all the workings of the church, and especially when it gathers for Sunday Mass, we encounter God--Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

In the sacraments, grace (God's invisible life) is made apparent to us through human signs (such as oil, water, bread and wine, light, gestures, even the love of husband and wife).  The Sacred Liturgy Constitution called for these signs to "speak" to us, the baptized believers, with profound and unfathomable insight into the love of God poured out on us.

THE DISMISSAL TO "GO IN PEACE."  A priest was giving a tour of a newly built shelter for homeless persons to reporters.  One reporter asked, "Are the homeless you help Catholic?"  The priest replied, "We don't do these works of charity because they are Catholic.  We do them because we are Catholic.  We serve all people in need."  

We use the word "church" with several meanings.  It is the physical building where we regularly worship; it is the worldwide communion of believers in Jesus Christ; and it is the faithful souls who gather around the altar with their priest at Mass.  At the end of Mass the priest (or deacon) sends us the church outside the church into the world.   We do not live in the church (building).  We live in our homes, in our own communities.  We are to bring the love of God, the teachings of Christ, and the joys and passion of the Spirit to wherever we reside, work and play.

Further, there is an ancient connection between the liturgy and the call to bring forth justice.  The prophet Amos cried out, "Let justice flow like water."  Jesus railed against hypocrites who knew how to pray in the temple but left widows and orphans without help.  St. James tells us, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only."  Genuine worship is fruitful.  Genuine prayer consists of praise of God in the church, and the church leaving the church building to do the works of justice and peace, to bring freedom to those enslaved, to proffer forgiveness to enemies and care for the poor.  We are sent forth to be Christ's Body in action in the world.

50th Anniversary of "Sacrosanctum Concilium," Part II

THE WORD OF GOD.  In 1993 the Diocese of Pittsburgh celebrated the sesquicentennial of its founding through a variety of events.  The culmination was a festive Mass at the Civic Arena (as it was then called).  Over 12,000 of the faithful joined hundreds of priests and bishops in a most lively liturgy, led by our then-shepherd, Bishop Donald Wuerl.  I can still remember the booming, evocative proclamation of the first reading from Isaiah.  The lector, a parishioner of nearby St. Benedict the Moor Parish in the Hill District, engaged every eye and ear in the large space with her resonant voice, as we hung on every phrase, and then affirmed "The Word of the Lord," with our lusty response  "Thanks be to God." 

One of the major changes in the liturgy was to widen the amount of readings from the Bible, during the Mass and in all the sacramental rites.  "The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of the Word."  With a three-year cycle of readings for Sunday Masses (and two-year cycle for weekday Masses) over 90% of the bible is heard and proclaimed.

The old-time Catholic saying that "the bible is for Protestants only" is downright false, and rejected by Vatican II.  From the earliest days of the church, the apostles and disciples reflected on the Hebrew Scriptures and listened to the at-first oral, and then, written, gospel stories of Jesus Christ, written down by evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Every Catholic is called to be an attentive, active listener of the Word of God during the Mass, and student of the sacred authors.

Christ is truly present in the word, as well as in the sacrament of the altar.  Homilies and sacramental signs, too, are to be biblically grounded.  All Catholics are also to pray from the Sacred Scriptures daily, in our homes and personal prayer, or in the Liturgy of the Hours, and in various non-Eucharistic services of the Word.  Our reading of the books of the bible at home will enhance our attentive listening to the Word of God in church.

THE PASCHAL MYSTERY.  As I walked up the aisle I felt a huge lump in my chest.  How could I possibly celebrate the funeral Mass of my own father?  I could barely put one foot in front of the other.  My brothers and friends accompanied Dad's casket to bring his body lovingly to the front of the church.  But the Holy Spirit was with me as I found the strength to sprinkle Dad's casket with holy water, and pray very familiar words:  "In the waters of baptism my father, Frank, died with Christ and rose with Christ to new life.  May he now share with Christ eternal glory."

The liturgies of the Catholic Church should use words and symbols that are understandable to the people.  But there are a few special phrases which every Catholic needs to know.  One of them is "Paschal Mystery."  The glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Paschal Mystery as "Christ's work of redemption accomplished principally by his Passion, death, resurrection and glorious ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.'"  Through the union of God and man, humanity is once again reconciled with the Father in and through Christ Jesus.  As St. Paul wrote, "Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being." (1 Cor 15:21)

The "paschal" of the phrase means "lamb," as in Jesus as the Lamb of God.  It is the Lamb of God who dies on the cross, only in mystery to rise from the tomb three days later.

The whole church is born out of the Paschal Mystery.  The church's liturgical and sacramental life, as well as the proclamation of the Gospels, make the Paschal Mystery present to the faithful.  Through the sacrament of baptism men and women are initiated into the dying and rising of Christ.  Through the sacrament of confirmation the baptized are strengthened by the Holy Spirit.  Through the sacrament of the Eucharist (the Mass), the Church comes to know, in the Sacred Liturgy Constitution's words, that "the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the source from which all its power flows."  Our faith in Jesus the Christ, who was born, lived, taught, healed, suffered, died on the cross and rose from the dead, is renewed and nourished when we come together at Mass. 

The Eucharist is a sacred meal, and offers us the Body and Blood of Christ to feed us.  The Mass is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, which is our hoped-for destiny after our death.  The Eucharist is also an unbloody sacrifice.  Christ died for our sins on the cross, in an act of total obedience to the will of the heavenly Father.  We remember and re-present his sacrifice in the Mass, and look forward to a new destiny after our deaths in the blessedness of heaven.

In the homily I offered at my Dad's funeral, I tried to tell stories of how he gave everything of himself in love to my mother, through 57 years of marriage, and to my brothers and me.  Dad never wanted to receive gifts for his birthday.  He only wanted to give gifts.  He drove my brothers and me to ball games, to dances and meetings, and to 8:00 a.m. Mass every Sunday. He showed us what sacrifice meant.  Dad lived out the Paschal Mystery in his almost 84 years on earth.  That's why I believe Dad (and Mom) are saints in heaven. 

It may sound cheesy  but in the homily I quoted the refrain of a Bruce Springsteen song, "Into the Fire," done in tribute to the firefighters who lost their lives at the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001.  I felt the refrain captured Dad's spirit of giving too:  

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love bring us love.

VERNACULAR LANGUAGE.  We priests had flown to tiny Talara, Peru, to visit Father Jack Price, a Pittsburgh priest and missionary.  It was Saturday morning, and the other priests had gone to the market to buy food.  A grizzled old man knocked at the door of the rectory.  I welcomed him in, saying one of the few words I knew in Spanish, "Buenos dias, senor."  He rattled off a long paragraph.  I looked stupid, I didn't understand him.  I mumbled, "No hablo espanol."  He said, "Padre?"  I said "Si!  Padre Francisco."  And somehow I got the message that this gentleman wanted to go to confession.  So we sat, I made the sign of the cross in Latin (very close to Spanish, I thought), I motioned for him to express his sins.  He did, in Spanish.  Is aid the absolution prayer over him, in English.  I told him his penance was "uno Padre Nuestro" [one Our Father].  The man grinned, we embraced in a sign of peace, and he left.  Somehow, despite our language differences, we celebrated the sacrament of penance.

Language can separate and language can unite.  For hundreds of years after the Council of Trent (1543-1575), the Roman Catholic Church prayed the Mass in Latin.  There was a universality about this ancient language.  The Mass was the same, whether said in Spain, Canada, Brazil, Korea, or Tanzania.  But few people knew Latin.  Most of the faithful needed a book, with Latin on the left, their particular language on the right, to understand what the priest was saying and doing.

After the Second Vatican Council the Roman Catholic Church went back to the earlier tradition, that of celebrating the Eucharist and the sacraments in the language of the people.  Whether in Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), Greek (the language Saints Peter and Paul knew, and the language of the markets around the Mediterranean Sea), German, French, Spanish, or any of the 200 languages of the world, the Mass would be "in the vernacular," that is, the particular voice of the people.  The key here is understanding.  Now the people (and sometimes the priest!) would know what the prayers said, and would be able to truly pray the prayers, not just rattle off the Latin whose meaning was obscure.  We are blessed to celebrate the Mass and the sacraments in the particular language we speak and know.  

In an ironic way today, once in a while Latin can unite, too.  Latin is often the language of the Mass when people of many tongues gather--say, at a papal liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or at a place of pilgrimage.  And we treasure certain songs and Mass responses which were set by famous composers to Latin centuries ago.  (For example, "Tantum Ergo" or "Pater Noster.")

50th Anniversary of "Sacrosanctum Concilium"

We in the Catholic Church have been going through a series of rolling 50th anniversaries, all related to the Second Vatican Council.  It began in 2009, with the 50th anniversary of the calling of the council, by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, in the Lateran Basilica.  The first session began on October 11, 1962 (and was marked in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI with the beginning of a Year of Faith).  This fall, on December 4, it is the 50th anniversary of the first of the 16 documents produced by the Fathers of Vatican II.  This is Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.  The final 50th anniversary will be on December 7, 2015, marking the conclusion of the fourth session, and the end of the Second Vatican Council.

For our parish bulletins I did several columns this past month on the 50th anniversary of the Sacred Liturgy Constitution.  I was limited by the 550 words I can write for a column, so these are short.  I'll put these together into one or two posts.  With the greater freedom of the blog, I may expand on one or two points.

"Pastors have the indispensable task of educating in prayer and more especially of promoting liturgical life, entailing a duty of discernment and guidance."  --Pope John Paul II, from the Apostolic Letter Spiritus et Sponsa, On the 40th Anniversary of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, December 4, 2003.

On December 4, 1963, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council produced the first of its 16 documents, Sacrosanctum Concilium (hereafter SC), the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.  This document was overwhelmingly approved (2,147 to 4) and promulgated by Pope Paul VI.  This document has been Vatican II's most visible impact on the People of God in the universal Catholic Church.  Pope John Paul II said in 2003, in the above quoted document, "With the passing of time and in the light of its fruits, the importance of Sacrosanctum Concilium has become increasingly clear.  The Council brilliantly outlined in it the principles on which are based the liturgical practices of the church and which inspire its healthy renewal in the course of time."

In two months the Church will mark the 50th anniversary of this important document.  Over the next five weeks I'll review this very special document.  I encourage readers to read the document itself (available online at  www.vatican.va   under "resource library/Second Vatican Council").  But readers already know much that it teaches.  You see the principles of this document each Sunday, when you pray in church with your brothers and sisters at Mass.  In an attempt to make the basic ideas of SC come alive, I'll tell some stories and invite you to reflect on these themes.

REVIEWING HISTORY.  Sunday, November 22, 1964, 5:00 p.m. Mass in St. Wendelin Church, in the Carrick neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh.  I am a 6th grader serving the last Mass in Latin.  I've forgotten which parish priest said the Mass (Msgr. Carl Hensler, the elderly pastor, or Father John Michaels, the young assistant).  With the other server I said the opening prayers at the foot of the altar in Latin, which Sister Mary Jude had helped us to memorize the previous year:  "Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui Laetificat iuventutem mean."  [In English, "I shall go up to the altar of God, the God who gives joy to my youth."]  The following week we began a "hybrid" Mass, part Latin, part English.  Within four years we were fully in English.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy may have been the first document approved by Vatican II, but it had a 100 year history of preparation.  In the 19th century German Benedictine monks began reading the ancient liturgical texts in their dusty archives, and found a wealth of information about how the Catholic Church celebrated Mass in the different centuries.  They also found how the Mass prayers changed over time.  This "liturgical movement" expanded to France, Britain and the U.S.  By 1947 it was endorsed by Pope Pius XII, who made some changes to the Easter Vigil in 1955.  The monks and scholars looked backward in time, to learn better the various traditions of prayer, particularly of the sacraments.  They also faced forward, in "aggiornamento," (an Italian word which means bringing things up to date, sometimes also translated as "opening the windows").  Pope John XXIII, who called for the Second Vatican Council in 1959, wanted the Church to be open to the modern world, while always retaining and renewing its venerable traditions.

"FULL, ACTIVE AND CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION".  The St. Paul Seminary chapel in the 1970s was a large airy room on the second floor of the DPC building.  Each of us seminarians had his own prie-dieu (kneeler) and chair.  But at Mass we were invited by our priests, Msgr. Don Kraus and Father George Saladna, at the Preface to leave our kneeler and place, and to come up into the sanctuary and stand in a semi-circle around the altar as the priest said the Eucharistic Prayer.  As my brother seminarians surrounded the altar, some kneeling and some standing in prayer, I intensely felt we were the body of Christ as we sang and responded to the presiding priest.

One of the key understandings which Vatican II taught was that the Mass, and all the sacraments, are celebrated by the whole church.  In the words of SC, we the baptized are "neither strangers nor silent spectators," but rather called to "full, active and conscious participation" in all rites.  The people of God participate using their voices in singing and in responding to the priest in dialogue, using their bodies by standing, kneeling or moving in processing, using their minds and souls while sitting or standing in attentive silence at the proclaiming of the Sacred Scriptures.  The priest is not the only one "working" during the Mass.  The various ministers carry out their respective ministries, and all people through the church participate and spiritually offer the sacrifice.

On Pilgrimage

Tomorrow 50 of our New Castle parishioners, with Father Nick Vaskov and I, will be leaving Pittsburgh for a pilgrimage of churches and historic sites in Italy.  We'll be visiting Rome and the Vatican, Assisi, Siena, Florence and Venice.  We'll attend the general papal audience in St. Peter's Square, and hope to see Pope Francis as he also is a pilgrim in Assisi on St. Francis of Assisi's feast day of October 4.

So my blog takes a two week holiday, while we are on pilgrimage.  I'll share parts of our journey on our return.  Wish us bon voyage and Godspeed!  See you in the middle of the month.

60 Years

A year ago, my friends Rosanne and Martie Saunders and I were attending the great Bruce Springsteen concert at the Consol Energy Center.  Our 59th birthdays were approaching, and I jokingly said, wouldn't it be great to get Bruce and the E Street Band to come to Pittsburgh to help us celebrate our 60th birthdays.

One thing led to another, and we began to consider using our big "zero" birthday not just as a celebration for us, but as a fundraiser for Sisters Place.  Both Rosanne and I had served on the Board of Directors of Sisters Place, and hold it in high esteem.

For those of you who don't know about Sisters Place, it is an initiative of the many Catholic women's religious communities in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, founded in 1997.  The not-for-profit organization provides supportive housing to single parents and their children, in the city of Clairton.  Sisters Place leases over two dozen townhomes in Clairton, and works with the parents (mostly moms) to complete their education, address any addiction problems they may have, give them healthy parenting skills, and put them on a pathway to having and holding a job.  Sisters Place also works with the children, to make sure they get a good education.

Well, we had to ditch the "bring Bruce to Pittsburgh" idea.  He is on tour in South America.   So we moved to the concept of a "60s for 60" party to benefit Sisters Place -- and to help Rosanne and I celebrate this milestone in our lives.  It will be held on Friday, October 25, at the John Paul I Pastoral Center in St. Juan Diego Parish, 201 9th Street, in Sharpsburg.  We are grateful to pastor Michael Decewicz for sharing this fine hall with us free of charge, and for the assistance of the parish staff.  Doors open at 5 pm, appetizers at 6, dinner at 7, and fun events at 8.  (No tickets will be available at the door.  Please let us know you are coming by October 18, so we can plan accordingly.)  

In the spirit of the 1960s, we will be serving food from that crazy decade.  We encourage guests to dress in costume representing the 1960s (prizes will be rewarded for the best!).  And we are suggesting a donation to Sisters Place of $60 per person, or some multiple.  (If you give $600 to Sisters Place for the party, we'll put your name above Rosanne and my name on the door.  If you give $1,666, we'll sing your favorite 60s song from the stage.  If you give $6,000 we'll come to pick you up for the party in a 1969 "Flower Power" Volkswagen Beetle.  If you give $6 million to Sisters Place, I will personally guarantee we'll rename the organization after you.)

If you are up enjoying a great celebration, contact fundraising director Melissa or executive director Sister Mary at 412-233-3903.  Make checks payable to "Sisters Place."  All donations tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.  (Rosanne asked me to put that sentence in, because she's a conscientious lawyer.)  And I hope that the clients of Sisters Place benefit greatly from our 1960s birthday party.

Dr. Reyes and the Social Ministry Institute

Every year Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the diocesan office of Human Life and Dignity hosts the Social Ministry Institute.  This one-day in-service allows social ministers, members of pro-life and justice and peace committees, priests and deacons, Catholic Charities staffers, and any interested Catholics to learn about new initiatives and network with folks.  

On Monday, September 23, the Social Ministry Institute was held at the Cardinals' Great Hall on the campus of St. Paul Seminary.  The keynote speaker was Dr. Jonathan Reyes, the executive director of the U.S. bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.  His address spoke to the theme of the day, "You are all witnesses."

I was free to drive in for a portion of the day, to listen to Dr. Reyes' talk and to stay for lunch.  Through the kindness of Helene Paharik, who serves both the diocesan office of Human Life and Dignity, and as Associate General Secretary, I was able to meet Dr. Reyes and have some time to converse with him.

Dr. Reyes came to the USCCB [United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] in December.  He followed John Carr, who served as executive director of the same office (under several different names) for 25 years.  John retired in June 2012.  He is now director of an institute at Georgetown University, dedicated to increase lay involvement in the work and implementation of Catholic social teaching.  I knew John as an acquaintance, having attended for ten years the annual USCCB-hosted national Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C. each February.  Over the years I had also had opportunities to break bread with John, when he came to Pittsburgh for various talks.

Over the past decade, John Carr became a lightning rod for criticism from certain Catholics for allegations which ranged from association with pro-abortion groups, to leading the U.S. Catholic bishops astray, to out-and-out heterodoxy.  I hasten to add I don't believe these accusations for a moment, and think that these criticisms are false, harmful, poisonous and possibly libelous.  

                                             John Carr

When Dr. Reyes' appointment was announced in September 2012, it was greeted with huzzahs from the right, and fear from the left.  Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter questioned Dr. Reyes' "thin resume" and lack of experience in the ways of lobbying in the hallways of Congress.  Amy Sullivan, in The New Republic (who knew anyone at The New Republic cared about the Catholic Church, even to criticize it?) expressed the opinion that this appointment was signaling that the U.S. bishops would pull back from an anti-poverty agenda.  On the other hand, blogger Micah Murphy cheered the appointment as "earth-shattering" and a move away from the example of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, and what he lebeled  "Post-Exposure Seamless Garment Syndrome."  (Do you think he likes the "seamless garment" pro-life metaphor of Cardinal Bernadin?)  Another blogger, Fr. Z (John Zuhlsdorf) showed his support of Reyes and rejection of Carr by sarcastically annotating the Sullivan blogpost.  Both Murphy and Zuhlsdorf implied that Carr was not orthodox in his thinking, if not out-and-out in favor of abortion.

Meeting Dr. Reyes was something other than this internet flaming.  He is a charming man, disarming with his smile and admission that, yes, his appointment by the U.S. bishops was "a non-traditional" appointment.  He is an historian by trade, with a Ph.D. in European history from Notre Dame.  He taught at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, got into administrative posts there, and then was named to direct the $35 million budget of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver.  He told me that his friends on the left are skeptical of his associations with conservative Catholics; his friends on the right can't understand his hands-on advocacy of service to the poor, and founding of "Christ in the City," a ministry in Denver to bring college-age students in direct care of the poor, within a supportive Church environment.

                                     Dr. Jonathan Reyes

Dr. Reyes admitted to me that he has a lot to learn about public policy and lobbying, and trusts that his staff at the USCCB can teach him a lot.  But he also was frank to say that he brings a more evangelical perspective on the work of the bishops' conference, and the opportunity to bridge the divides between left and right in the church.  His conversation with me was peppered with the healthy "both-and" of Catholic social thought.  (For example, we Catholics both oppose abortion and euthanasia, and support pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants and healthcare for all.  We oppose so-called gay marriage, and support more peace-building initiatives.  We oppose war, and support a family wage and increases in the legal minimum wage.)  I sensed that Dr. Reyes was not going to back down from the social justice and human life teachings of our church and our bishops.  He was interested, at the same time, of deepening the Gospel-based motivation of those who work in promoting peace, justice and human life for all human beings, and being honest that (unlike the days of Great Society and War on Poverty) today government may not always be the best vehicle to carry out this work.

Dr. Reyes' talk for the Social Ministry Institute gave hits of his emphases   It was more a sermon about the new moment of the Catholic Church to bring the Gospel into the world, and the furthest from a public policy snoozer.  It was "evangelical" in the classical theological meaning of the word, and not in the U.S. political sense.

I enjoyed my 40 minute conversation with Dr. Reyes, and am glad that Helene Paharik made it possible to meet him.  I am not shy to say that I highly admire John Carr, and the labors he did over a quarter-century with the bishops conference, and all the national and international initiatives he participated in, carrying out the Catholic Church's mandate to serve the poor and needy, to bring peace and justice and freedom to our sin-filled world.  But maybe there is something to be said for some slight tacking in the practical means the church in the U.S. pursues justice and peace.  My heartfelt prayers go out to Dr. Jonathan Reyes in his new position.  I pray also for his highly competent staff at the Department for Justice, Peace, and Human Development, the bishops who serve on the Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace Committee, and all who want the Catholic Church to bring Christ's call for "liberty to captives" to life in our world.

35 Years

How things change.  Don't we often say that?  I am very much aware of the nature of change, as the 35th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood approaches, on September 30, 2013.  Here are a few statistical markers of the changes from 1978 to 2013:

• World population in 1978, 4.3 billion souls (2013, 7.1 billion)--a 65% increase.
• United States population 222 million (today, 317 million)--a 42% increase.  
• Dow Jones average 805 (today, 15,191)--an incredible 1888% increase.  
• Inflation 7.6% (today, 2.0%).  
• Cost of new home $54,800 (today, $245,000)--a 447% increase. 
• Median household income $15,060 (today, $52,000)--a 345% increase.  
• Gallon of gasoline $0.63 (today, $3.65)--a 579% increase.  
• Postage stamp $0.13 ($0.46)--a 353% increase.  

And our church has changed.  The biggest effect of Vatican II came in 1970 when "the new Mass" became widely used in the U.S.  The priest switched from praying in Latin with his back mostly to the people to praying in the "vernacular" (language of the people) and facing the assembly.  But in 1978 Holy Communion was only distributed by a priest (no Eucharistic ministers), only with one species (no Precious Blood offered to the congregation), and only on the tongue (not in the hand).  For four years in my first assignment at St. Therese, Munhall, there were three of us priests for only six Sunday Masses.  But we also had to help with distributing Holy Communion at two more.  Pastors still wore their black cassocks and birettas over to church from the rectory.  It was only in the early 1980s that we priests stopped coming out of the sacristy to begin Mass and go back into the sacristy at the end of Mass--no greeting of folks in the back of church or at the entrances.

In 1978 70 year old Vincent M. Leonard, the 9th bishop of Pittsburgh, ordained our class of 12 men.  There were 333 parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh that year (today, 200)--a decrease of 60%; 525 active diocesan priests (today, 242)--a decrease of 46%; 24 deacons (today, 110)--an increase of 460%; and about 950,000 Catholics (today, 635,000)--a decrease of 33%.  In those days the expectation was that it would take 15 to 18 years for a newly ordained priest in Pittsburgh to become a pastor.  Today if you are lucky if you get four years as a parochial vicar before heading a parish.

1978 was also "the year of three popes."  After 15 years serving as the Bishop of Rome, Paul VI died on August 6.  Albino Luciani was elected pope on August 26, taking the unique name John Paul I and honoring his immediate predecessors, the architects of the Second Vatican Council.  But he unexpectedly died of a heart attack on September 28 after only 33 days in office.  Karol Wojtyla, the 58 year old archbishop of Krakow, Poland, was elected pope on October 16, the first non-Italian to sit on the chair of St. Peter in 455 years.  He took the name John Paul II.  Next year he will be formally declared a saint.

Of the 12 of us ordained in 1978, one has died, two left the ministry after seven years, and one is off the job.  Several of my classmates have served in Lawrence County over the years.  Most of us have been pastors twice as long as we were assistants (now, parochial vicars).  Several of us have served in multiple church or multiple parish situations.  Four of us have served at the level of the diocese, one classmate is now an episcopal vicar, one is rector of a major seminary.  Almost all of us have multiple pastoral responsibilities.  the only thing we have escaped is the burden of being named a bishop.

On September 30, 1978, we walked into St. Paul Cathedral, Oakland, under black bunting, as the church mourned the death of Pope John Paul I, who had died a mere 48 hours earlier.  Since then we have prayed for three popes, served four and a half diocesan bishops (including one diocesan administrator--sorry, Bishop Paul Bradley!), preached too many sermons and celebrated too many Masses, baptisms, weddings and funerals to count.  We have more weight and less hair, more yesterdays and fewer tomorrows than when we were ordained.  But I dare to say that we are nevertheless even more committed to serving Jesus Christ and his people as priests of the Catholic Church that we were on our ordination day.

On the last Sunday of September, we will gather with our families and close friends for a concelebrated Mass and festive supper to mark this anniversary.  We have been faithful to this anniversary celebration every single year.   We'll hug each other, tell jokes, do a little clerical gossiping, whisper stories of our last visit to the doctor, and pick the guy who will host our anniversary celebration next year.  We are more cynical and yet at the same time wiser through the passing of the years.  

Please pray for my classmates and me.  Pray for all in Holy Orders--deacons, priests, bishops--who serve the church.  Pray for increased vocations to the priesthood, religious life, married life, single life, and ministry to the church.

My classmates:

• Father Bob Cedolia, pastor, St. Anne Parish, Castle Shannon
• Father Mike Decewicz, pastor, St. Juan Diego Parish, Sharpsburg
• Father Sam Esposito, episcopal vicar, vicariate 2
• Father Vic Molka, pastor, St. Valentine Parish, Bethel Park
• Father Ben Vaghetto, pastor, St. Alphonsus Parish, McDonald, pastor, St. Patrick Parish, Oakdale/North Fayette, and adjutant judicial vicar
• Father Tim Whalen, rector, St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe
• Father Rich Yagesh, pastor, Holy Child Parish, Bridgeville

and our honorary classmate, Father Dan Whalen, brother of Tim who was ordained in the great jubilee year of 2000, who is pastor of Holy Spirit Parish, Millvale, and St. Nicholas Parish, Millvale.