It's hot on the Fourth of July. It's a comfortable 77 where I am sitting, indoors with air-conditioning. Outdoors it's a blistering 93 degrees Fahrenheit, under a brutal sun.
We've has a week's worth of 90+ degree days. Most of the time I enjoy the warmer weather. It was a very mild winter in New Castle, Pennsylvania, 2011-12, and spring was simply gorgeous, with that streak of 80+ degree days at the end of March which prematurely brought out of the ground all the spring flowers. Some of the mild spring days bring out brilliant sunshine and impossibly blue skies--so unlike our usually cloudy western Pennsylvania springs.
But what's comfortable for me (with large doses of car and house and church air-conditioning) can be near deadly for others. Last Friday it reached 104 in Washington, D.C., followed by a "derecho," a harsh line of storms which killed two persons and left more than one million persons in the capital region without electricity. Some of those folks still have not been connected to the grid, five days later. Over the past few days many southern U.S cities have hit all-time high temperatures: 105 in Raleigh; 106 in Atlanta; 108 in Columbia, S.C.; and 109 in Nashville.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the past winter was the fourth-warmest on record in the United States. And the months of spring--March, April, May--were the warmest since record keeping began in 1895.
Further, nine of the warmest ten years on record have occurred since 2000. These statistics, put together into a coherent pattern, are what has come to be known as "global warning." Because of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, global temperatures are almost a full degree warmer than they were in the mid-20th century.
As I said, I like these warmer temperatures. (Beware: Suspect childhood remembrances ahead.) My recollection of attending grade school is that after Halloween, and certainly by Thanksgiving, Mom had to drag out of the attic the boots, gloves, scarves, tossel hats, and sweaters we needed to wear in order to walk the 7/10 of a mile to St. Wendelin Grade School. Winter went from early November to Easter. As I moved into adulthood, I joined my Dad as a charter member of the "I hate winter" club.
My first three years as a pastor, on the North Side of Pittsburgh, constituted two of the snowiest winters on record (1992-92 and 1993-94). Yet over the past 15 years my impression of a Pittsburgh winter has shrunk. In my mind winter is now a paltry ten week period from New Year's Day to St. Patrick's Day (1/1 to 3/17). Yes, there was that Halloween 10" snowstorm a decade ago, and the 36" of snow a nor'easter brought in the first week of February two years ago, but we've really escaped most of the wickedness of winter.
As a pastor, I like "no snow" and "mild temperatures." You don't have to shovel rain or heat, and higher temps in winter mean less expenses in the parish budget.
But global warming is a serious topic. No less than the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences issued a document in May 2011, "calling on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and by changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and other land uses." The authors of the report go on to say that "Failure to mitigate climate change will violate our duty to the vulnerable of the earth, including those dependent on the water supply of mountain glaciers and those facing rising sea level and stronger storm surges....All nations must ensure that their actions are strong enough and prompt enough to address the increasing impacts and growing risk of climate change and to avoid catastrophic irreversible consequences." (See a link to the full report at www.catholicclimatecovenant.org .)
No less than Pope Benedict XVI, whom some have dubbed "the greenest pope ever," wrote in his 2010 World Day of Peace statement, "if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us." (Read the full statement at www.vatican.va .)
Palm trees are not coming to New Castle next year. But if the current trend continues, and there is every indication that it will, we will continue to enjoy warmer temperatures. What that means for the rest of the planet is another story.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Health Care for More
On Thursday, July 28, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 5-4 to uphold the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). After the three days of oral arguments back in March, pundits right and left had opined that SCOTUS would strike the act down, in part or in full. However, when Chief Justice John Roberts read the decision, two "wild cards" on the court did not play their expected roles. Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with the four usual conservative members and voted to strike down the act, on the reasoning that the U.S. Congress had overreached in applying the Commerce Clause. The chief agreed with those five justices that the Congress' power to regulate commerce does not give lawmakers the authority to force people to buy insurance.
But in what may become known as a Solomon-like decision, Chief Justice Roberts ruled that the law's individual mandate represents a tax on people who do not choose to get health insurance--a tax the Constitution gives Congress the power to impose.
Even today, five days after the decision, there are reports from behind the Kremlin-like walls of the Supreme Court that Roberts at first sided with the conservatives, then changed his mind. However Roberts' decision-making played out, the Affordable Care Act will now continue its march toward near-universal coverage of health care for most Americans.
This decision is good news for the approximate 50 million Americans who today are without health insurance, as well as for other groups. Under-26-year-olds can continue to be covered by their parents' insurance. There will be no lifetime caps on the amount of dollars spent on an individual who needs health care. Pre-existing conditions will not prevent health insurance companies from accepting people for coverage. And, with the expansion of Medicaid and the still-to-be written health insurance exchanges, somewhere between 30 and 45 million Americans by 2014 will receive at least a modicum of basic health care.
From a political standpoint, Republicans are aghast, grasping at straws regarding the agreement by five justices that the Congress has to rein in its application of the Commerce Clause. Democrats are giddy, receiving the unexpected boost to President Obama's reelection effort through an unexpected route--a penalty that Obama (and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney) was at pains not to call a tax which Roberts called a Constitutional tax.
But from my perspective, this decision is not about politics, it is about human rights. Finally our country can take a big step toward establishing in law what has been recognized around the world and by our church as a human right--health care. Health care is already a right for over-65-year-olds (Medicare), for veterans of military service, for under-7-year-olds, and for some poor people (Medicaid). But the link between employment and health care benefits is eroding, down to perhaps 40% of all full time workers, and costs of health care continue to spiral upward. With the Affordable Care Act working to include as many "free-riders" as possible within the unwieldy patchwork of current U.S. health care system, it may be possible for insurance companies, hospital systems, and doctors to work on moving from the super-expensive (and often wasteful) fee-for-service mentality towards a preventative care model of patient care.
Among my three or four loyal readers (thank you!) there are probably gasps! Almade will be thrown out of the Catholic Church for his heretical view agreeing with the Supreme Court decision. But read closely the one page statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued on June 28 ( www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-119.cfm ) in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
First, the bishops affirm the need of health care for all: "For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable." There. In what has been missed over the heated controversy over the religious employer definition, the Health and Human Services administrative ruling, and the possibility of the church funding contraceptives and sterilization procedures, the basic principle is still there. Health care is a human right, for all human beings. (See the encyclical of Blessed Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, paragraph 22.)
Then the bishops argue against Obamacare for three reasons: the potential of federal funds being made available for abortions; failure to provide statutory conscience protection in the HHS mandate: and ... the ACA does not go far enough. What?! Yes, the ACA does not go far enough. It "fails to treat immigrant workers and their families fairly." In the words of the bishops, "life-affirming health care" is held back from immigrants, legal (and presumably illegal). In other words, some people in this country will still be left out and unable to access health care (except through a hospital's emergency room doors).
Now we will see how seriously HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama administration are in wanting to revise their wrong-headed regulations of last September, and return to the decades long expansive view in law allowing religious bodies to employ members outside their religion and to serve persons not of their religion. Now is the time for the bishops (and us citizens) to push not against some vague watering down of religious liberty, but for practical political and legal acceptance of what the Catholic Church's health care institutions, colleges, universities, and social service organizations do: serve the poor and all comers with respect, competence, dignity and love, in the name of Jesus Christ.
But in what may become known as a Solomon-like decision, Chief Justice Roberts ruled that the law's individual mandate represents a tax on people who do not choose to get health insurance--a tax the Constitution gives Congress the power to impose.
Even today, five days after the decision, there are reports from behind the Kremlin-like walls of the Supreme Court that Roberts at first sided with the conservatives, then changed his mind. However Roberts' decision-making played out, the Affordable Care Act will now continue its march toward near-universal coverage of health care for most Americans.
This decision is good news for the approximate 50 million Americans who today are without health insurance, as well as for other groups. Under-26-year-olds can continue to be covered by their parents' insurance. There will be no lifetime caps on the amount of dollars spent on an individual who needs health care. Pre-existing conditions will not prevent health insurance companies from accepting people for coverage. And, with the expansion of Medicaid and the still-to-be written health insurance exchanges, somewhere between 30 and 45 million Americans by 2014 will receive at least a modicum of basic health care.
From a political standpoint, Republicans are aghast, grasping at straws regarding the agreement by five justices that the Congress has to rein in its application of the Commerce Clause. Democrats are giddy, receiving the unexpected boost to President Obama's reelection effort through an unexpected route--a penalty that Obama (and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney) was at pains not to call a tax which Roberts called a Constitutional tax.
But from my perspective, this decision is not about politics, it is about human rights. Finally our country can take a big step toward establishing in law what has been recognized around the world and by our church as a human right--health care. Health care is already a right for over-65-year-olds (Medicare), for veterans of military service, for under-7-year-olds, and for some poor people (Medicaid). But the link between employment and health care benefits is eroding, down to perhaps 40% of all full time workers, and costs of health care continue to spiral upward. With the Affordable Care Act working to include as many "free-riders" as possible within the unwieldy patchwork of current U.S. health care system, it may be possible for insurance companies, hospital systems, and doctors to work on moving from the super-expensive (and often wasteful) fee-for-service mentality towards a preventative care model of patient care.
Among my three or four loyal readers (thank you!) there are probably gasps! Almade will be thrown out of the Catholic Church for his heretical view agreeing with the Supreme Court decision. But read closely the one page statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued on June 28 ( www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-119.cfm ) in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
First, the bishops affirm the need of health care for all: "For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable." There. In what has been missed over the heated controversy over the religious employer definition, the Health and Human Services administrative ruling, and the possibility of the church funding contraceptives and sterilization procedures, the basic principle is still there. Health care is a human right, for all human beings. (See the encyclical of Blessed Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, paragraph 22.)
Then the bishops argue against Obamacare for three reasons: the potential of federal funds being made available for abortions; failure to provide statutory conscience protection in the HHS mandate: and ... the ACA does not go far enough. What?! Yes, the ACA does not go far enough. It "fails to treat immigrant workers and their families fairly." In the words of the bishops, "life-affirming health care" is held back from immigrants, legal (and presumably illegal). In other words, some people in this country will still be left out and unable to access health care (except through a hospital's emergency room doors).
Now we will see how seriously HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama administration are in wanting to revise their wrong-headed regulations of last September, and return to the decades long expansive view in law allowing religious bodies to employ members outside their religion and to serve persons not of their religion. Now is the time for the bishops (and us citizens) to push not against some vague watering down of religious liberty, but for practical political and legal acceptance of what the Catholic Church's health care institutions, colleges, universities, and social service organizations do: serve the poor and all comers with respect, competence, dignity and love, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
An Unwelcome Comparison
Today the prosecution and the defense rested in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Jerry Sandusky, one-time assistant coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, is accused of 51 counts of sexually abusing ten boys. After the judge's instructions, the Centre County jury will begin deliberation tomorrow. By venerable U.S. law, Mr. Sandusky is innocent until judged guilty by a jury of his peers.
That said....
Am I the only one who sees so many comparisions of this case with the clergy sexual abuse scandal of the Catholic Church? Let me count the ways:
Jerry Sandusky. Like the priests who sexually abused, here is a man who seemed (seems?) to be universally loved, known to be very compassionate, one who went out of his way to help so many kids (Second Mile Foundation), even to the point of bringing the kids home with him, giving them attractive gifts, and taking them on exotic trips. Many of the kids came from difficult family situations, often without a father figure, which role Sandusky was more than willing to fulfill. When accusations of sexual abuse began to come forward, his friends and family cried, "It can't be him! Impossible! He's too kind, too compassionate. It could never be him!" He is persuasive in his protestations of innocence even to those closest to him (wife, other coaches on the team, the whole college football community).
Penn State Football, the legendary coach. Joe Paterno was one of the greatest football coaches in American history. He was also self-effacing, humorous, above reproach, igniting an eternal loyality among his fans. An icon in the state of Pennsylvania, he is "the pope of Happy Valley."
When Paterno is given information that names one of his closest aides a child abuser, he makes a half-hearted attempt to communicate what he does not believe about his co-worker and friend. No follow-up. No calls to reporters. No calls to the university president, who is not nearly as important as he. No nothing.
Penn State Administraton. "We'll take care of it." The athletic and university administrators know what to do--nothing. No investigating. No challenging questions. No talking to alleged victims. And certainly no reporting to law enforcement. Possible lies, certainly CYA all around.
The defense attorney. Like some diocesan attorneys, and some attorneys representing priests accused of child abuse, they use that time-worn technique, "pin the blame on the victim." The victims are lawyered up! The victims are only in it for the money! The victims were well coached in what to lie! And of course, the poor accused is guilty only of loving the boys too much.
The media. TV trucks, reporters, and internet scribes descend on Bellefonte to report on a trial of a man accused of child abuse. It is as if this is the first time in the 21st century, the first time in the U.S.A., the first time ever a man has so been accused. Obviously the esteemed and ever-so-knowledgeable media have never heard that legions of parents, grandparents, priests, ministers, youth ministers, rabbis, imams, teachers, athletic coaches, scout leaders, etc., have been accused, been convicted, and gone to jail for child abuse. No one in the media (and few of their listeners/readers) has learned one of the most important lessons of the clergy abuse scandal of the Catholic Church--that child abuse is all around us, and that all of us adults (whether legally mandated reporters or not) have a grave and solemn duty to protect all children from abuse of any kind.
I must be the only one to see the comparisons.
That said....
Am I the only one who sees so many comparisions of this case with the clergy sexual abuse scandal of the Catholic Church? Let me count the ways:
Jerry Sandusky. Like the priests who sexually abused, here is a man who seemed (seems?) to be universally loved, known to be very compassionate, one who went out of his way to help so many kids (Second Mile Foundation), even to the point of bringing the kids home with him, giving them attractive gifts, and taking them on exotic trips. Many of the kids came from difficult family situations, often without a father figure, which role Sandusky was more than willing to fulfill. When accusations of sexual abuse began to come forward, his friends and family cried, "It can't be him! Impossible! He's too kind, too compassionate. It could never be him!" He is persuasive in his protestations of innocence even to those closest to him (wife, other coaches on the team, the whole college football community).
Penn State Football, the legendary coach. Joe Paterno was one of the greatest football coaches in American history. He was also self-effacing, humorous, above reproach, igniting an eternal loyality among his fans. An icon in the state of Pennsylvania, he is "the pope of Happy Valley."
When Paterno is given information that names one of his closest aides a child abuser, he makes a half-hearted attempt to communicate what he does not believe about his co-worker and friend. No follow-up. No calls to reporters. No calls to the university president, who is not nearly as important as he. No nothing.
Penn State Administraton. "We'll take care of it." The athletic and university administrators know what to do--nothing. No investigating. No challenging questions. No talking to alleged victims. And certainly no reporting to law enforcement. Possible lies, certainly CYA all around.
The defense attorney. Like some diocesan attorneys, and some attorneys representing priests accused of child abuse, they use that time-worn technique, "pin the blame on the victim." The victims are lawyered up! The victims are only in it for the money! The victims were well coached in what to lie! And of course, the poor accused is guilty only of loving the boys too much.
The media. TV trucks, reporters, and internet scribes descend on Bellefonte to report on a trial of a man accused of child abuse. It is as if this is the first time in the 21st century, the first time in the U.S.A., the first time ever a man has so been accused. Obviously the esteemed and ever-so-knowledgeable media have never heard that legions of parents, grandparents, priests, ministers, youth ministers, rabbis, imams, teachers, athletic coaches, scout leaders, etc., have been accused, been convicted, and gone to jail for child abuse. No one in the media (and few of their listeners/readers) has learned one of the most important lessons of the clergy abuse scandal of the Catholic Church--that child abuse is all around us, and that all of us adults (whether legally mandated reporters or not) have a grave and solemn duty to protect all children from abuse of any kind.
I must be the only one to see the comparisons.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Practicing Christian Stewardship
Since I started this blog, I have cribbed posts from the weekly column I write for our parish bulletins, entitled "Faithful Chronicles." Here are the columns for this Sunday and next Sunday. I wrote this for general information for our parishioners, but also with an eye to the upcoming $125 million first-ever Capital Campaign for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which will begin early in 2013.
When I was a summer seminarian intern, like first year theology student Chris Mannerino,who is with us in the two parishes until August 5, on my first Sunday in the parish the pastor asked me to come into the rectory dining room. After the first Mass of the morning, he, the two parochial vicars and the housekeeper spilled the collection from the Saturday evening Mass onto the dining room table. The pastor instructed me to go into the kitchen and get a knife. Then he sat me down, and showed me how to open the offertory envelopes from the parishioners, make sure the amount inside the envelope was marked on the outside of the envelope, put the cash in a pile in the middle of the table, and set the envelope aside, so that later the parish secretary could record the contribution of the parishioner or family. (I used the knife when there was so much scotch tape on the envelope I couldn't open it with my hands.) When we were finished opening the envelopes, we counted the cash, checks and coins, marked the total on a sheet, and moved onto the next Mass's collection.
Back in the 20th century there were no tamper-proof bags (the ushers put the collection in an old pillow case), no diocesan procedures to prevent theft, no laity involved with a revolving list of money-counters. This was my introduction to parish fundraising.
Taking up a collection at Mass is probably as old as readings from the bible at Mass and boring homilies by the priest. In poorer countries the collection might have little money, but include a few chickens or basket of vegetables for the priest's meals. Today in the bulletins I read from parishioners and their travels near and far, it is not unusual to see Sunday offertory collections exceeding $30,000 for one weekend, and $100,000 for Christmas.
We still take up a collection for the needs of each parish at every Sunday and holyday Mass, as well as 12 second collections in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for a wide variety of local, antional and international Catholic needs. But in recent years the Catholic Church has learned that such collections have to be part of a comprehensive vision of how to use God's gifts. Such a vision is called Christian Stewardship. It starts with reflecting on two of my favorite passages from the bible:
"Jesus said, 'The gift you have received, give as a gift.'" (Matthew 10:8)
"As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." (I Peter 4:10)
What identifies a good steward? Someone who safeguards material and human resources and uses them responsibly. Who is a good Christian steward? Ah, that means much more. In the words of the U.S. Catholic bishops, in their ground-breaking 1992 pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciples's Response, "As Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord." (Read the entire pastoral letter at www.old.usccb.org/stewardship/disciplesresponse.pdf .)
Being a good Christian steward begins with being a discple of Jesus Christ--someone who wishes to follow the Lord with all his/her heart, soul and being. Disciples look to the life and teachings of Jesus for guidance in living as Christian stewards.
By virtue of our baptism, we are called by Jesus to follow him. This means we desire to shape and mold our understanding of our lives and the ways in which we live by the teachings of Christ and his Church. We practice stewardship of God's creation, by appreciating the awesome God-given beauty and wonder of nature, and protecting the environment. We practice stewardship by respecting all human lives, from conception to natural death. We practice stewardship by honoring our vocation (single, married, widowed, vowed religious, deacon, priest, bishop) as Christ desires. And we practice stewardship in the four steps of the above definition:
Christian stewardship invites me to see my whole life in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It challenges me to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to me, the unique person that I am. Each person who takes up the disciple's way of stewardship is going to do it a little differently, because of our uniqueness. But all can contribute, and all contributions (of money, time, energy, skill, talent or prayer) are valuable and worthwhile.
One of the mistakes we pastors have made is to limit the generosity of the faithful. We tell the parishioners, we need X, Y and Z for our parish. Can you help? X, Y and Z are important, and help to implement our parish's mission. X could be the amount of money needed to run the basic parish functions and offices. Y could be things or scholarships for parish school, CCD, or festival. Z could be volunteers in liturgical or social service ministries. These are all good things. It is worthwhile to share the church's needs with the faithful, so they can respond generously.
But a Christian steward goes deeper, and asks more basic questions: What can I give? To whom should I give? In what manner can I give? Can I stretch my giving to be sacrificial? For what reasons do I give?
If you are reading this, I ask, have you ever heard of the concept of Christian stewardship? Do you have more questions? It is my hope over the next several months to enlighten our parishioners more about this very exciting, and very challenging, message, of committed discipleship to Jesus the Christ and stewardship of all my gifts in his name. Drop me a line if you have questions, or maybe wish to tell me a story when you practiced true Christian stewardship, or saw someone else do so.
When I was a summer seminarian intern, like first year theology student Chris Mannerino,who is with us in the two parishes until August 5, on my first Sunday in the parish the pastor asked me to come into the rectory dining room. After the first Mass of the morning, he, the two parochial vicars and the housekeeper spilled the collection from the Saturday evening Mass onto the dining room table. The pastor instructed me to go into the kitchen and get a knife. Then he sat me down, and showed me how to open the offertory envelopes from the parishioners, make sure the amount inside the envelope was marked on the outside of the envelope, put the cash in a pile in the middle of the table, and set the envelope aside, so that later the parish secretary could record the contribution of the parishioner or family. (I used the knife when there was so much scotch tape on the envelope I couldn't open it with my hands.) When we were finished opening the envelopes, we counted the cash, checks and coins, marked the total on a sheet, and moved onto the next Mass's collection.
Back in the 20th century there were no tamper-proof bags (the ushers put the collection in an old pillow case), no diocesan procedures to prevent theft, no laity involved with a revolving list of money-counters. This was my introduction to parish fundraising.
Taking up a collection at Mass is probably as old as readings from the bible at Mass and boring homilies by the priest. In poorer countries the collection might have little money, but include a few chickens or basket of vegetables for the priest's meals. Today in the bulletins I read from parishioners and their travels near and far, it is not unusual to see Sunday offertory collections exceeding $30,000 for one weekend, and $100,000 for Christmas.
We still take up a collection for the needs of each parish at every Sunday and holyday Mass, as well as 12 second collections in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for a wide variety of local, antional and international Catholic needs. But in recent years the Catholic Church has learned that such collections have to be part of a comprehensive vision of how to use God's gifts. Such a vision is called Christian Stewardship. It starts with reflecting on two of my favorite passages from the bible:
"Jesus said, 'The gift you have received, give as a gift.'" (Matthew 10:8)
"As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." (I Peter 4:10)
What identifies a good steward? Someone who safeguards material and human resources and uses them responsibly. Who is a good Christian steward? Ah, that means much more. In the words of the U.S. Catholic bishops, in their ground-breaking 1992 pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciples's Response, "As Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord." (Read the entire pastoral letter at www.old.usccb.org/stewardship/disciplesresponse.pdf .)
Being a good Christian steward begins with being a discple of Jesus Christ--someone who wishes to follow the Lord with all his/her heart, soul and being. Disciples look to the life and teachings of Jesus for guidance in living as Christian stewards.
By virtue of our baptism, we are called by Jesus to follow him. This means we desire to shape and mold our understanding of our lives and the ways in which we live by the teachings of Christ and his Church. We practice stewardship of God's creation, by appreciating the awesome God-given beauty and wonder of nature, and protecting the environment. We practice stewardship by respecting all human lives, from conception to natural death. We practice stewardship by honoring our vocation (single, married, widowed, vowed religious, deacon, priest, bishop) as Christ desires. And we practice stewardship in the four steps of the above definition:
- We understand that all that we have and are comes from God, and we are very, very grateful to God for all these gifts.
- We use the gifts of time, education, skill, talent and energy for good purposes. We don't waste our gifts on fruitless pursuits.
- We share our gifts with our family, our church, our community and the needs of poor people, as Jesus taught. We don't hoard our gifts for ourselves.
- At the end of our lives we again give thanks to God for what we have received, and hand them over to God's purposes with whatever increase we have brought through our hard work and ingenuity.
Christian stewardship invites me to see my whole life in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It challenges me to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to me, the unique person that I am. Each person who takes up the disciple's way of stewardship is going to do it a little differently, because of our uniqueness. But all can contribute, and all contributions (of money, time, energy, skill, talent or prayer) are valuable and worthwhile.
One of the mistakes we pastors have made is to limit the generosity of the faithful. We tell the parishioners, we need X, Y and Z for our parish. Can you help? X, Y and Z are important, and help to implement our parish's mission. X could be the amount of money needed to run the basic parish functions and offices. Y could be things or scholarships for parish school, CCD, or festival. Z could be volunteers in liturgical or social service ministries. These are all good things. It is worthwhile to share the church's needs with the faithful, so they can respond generously.
But a Christian steward goes deeper, and asks more basic questions: What can I give? To whom should I give? In what manner can I give? Can I stretch my giving to be sacrificial? For what reasons do I give?
If you are reading this, I ask, have you ever heard of the concept of Christian stewardship? Do you have more questions? It is my hope over the next several months to enlighten our parishioners more about this very exciting, and very challenging, message, of committed discipleship to Jesus the Christ and stewardship of all my gifts in his name. Drop me a line if you have questions, or maybe wish to tell me a story when you practiced true Christian stewardship, or saw someone else do so.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Nothing Ordinary about Ordinary Time
This Sunday, June 17, we celebrate the 11th Sunday in Ordianry time. The liturgical season in the Roman Rite of Ordinary Time formally began three weeks ago, on the day after Pentecost. We have just completed the 93-day cycle of Lent/Triduum/Easter. We Catholics are also familiar with the Advent/Christmas cycle. Ordinary Time is the rest of the year.
With a title like "Ordinary Time" one might think that nothing happens in this season. This is far from the truth. To understand this, you have to go to a rather new concept in Catholic theology, the "sacramental imagination." Catholics who are already cashing in their Social Security checks remember the Baltimore Catechism (1884) definition of a sacrament: "An outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace." The current Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) definition of a sacrament is similar yet expanded: "Efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacrments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament." (#1131)
Catholic theologians have taken these classic definitions and expanded on them. They see in the "sacramental imagination" of us believers that grace (that is, God's life, love, presence) is all around us. God's grace and life are not just signified when a deacon baptizes a baby or a priest anoints a sick person in the hospital or when a bishop ordains priests. God's grace and life are also signified when a mom comforts her daughter when she cries; when a friend forgives a buddy for a cruel remark; when young adults give a year of their lives to do missionary work in Haiti or Alaska; when a married couple makes love; when a CCD catechist teaches his second graders about Jesus Christ present in the sacrament of holy communion.
In other words, God's abiding presence is all around us in our wounded world. Father Andrew Greeley identified several aspects of the Catholic sacramental imagination:
^Enchanted: Open to a world filled with angels, saints and mystery.
^Sacramental: A more general attitude that all created reality is open to the present of a God who "lurks" there.
^Analogical: It tends to emphasize the metaphorical nature of persons, places and things.
^Exists in a dense forest of imagery and story.
^Imminent rather than transcendent.
^Recognition that "all space is sacred and some space is more sacred."
[From The Catholic Imagination, 2000, pages 1-21]
This sacramental imagination is also connected to "vision." Cardinal John Henry Newman is often quoted as having said, "The real battles of life take place within the human imagination." In the words of Franciscan Father Michael Weldon, "It is there that our most foundational images of church dwell, the place of our most vital memories of religious epiphany, of comfort, healing or grappling with the realities of sin and death."
I can still remember attending Sunday 8:00 a.m. Mass as a third or fourth grader with my Dad and brothers, sitting in the little upstairs side balcony in St. Wendelin Church. Dad pointed out to me the difference between a low Mass and high Mass: the number of lit candles (two or six). I can still see him gently striking his breast when the priest raised the Host and the Chalice at the consecration of the Mass. And -- in that Catholic way -- I fondly remember conversations with Dad in our backyard, on a summer evening, after we had changed the oil in his car and my car. Nothing earthshaking was said, but the conversations in their own way were holy.
And so, Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. During the Sundays of Ordinary Time we hear Jesus teach through parables, like the mustard seed which images the Kingdom of God (this Sunday, June 17), and miracles, such as Jesus healing a woman afflicted with hemorrhages and raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead (July 1). We revere saints like John the Baptizer, whose feast we will celebrate on Sunday, June 24. John was conceived in the old age of Elizabeth and Zechariah to proclaim the coming of Christ our Savior. What could be more ordinary--or extraordinary!--when a childless couple who desire to have a baby have their wish fulfilled. We follow in John's footsteps when we witness to Christ's presence in our world, from the time we were in the womb.
Ordinary Time is filled with our ordinary lives: we get out of bed, shower and wash, go to work or take care of kids or do some volunteering, make lunch and wash dishes, watch a little tv and kiss our loved ones good night. But Ordinary Time is at the same time filled with the posibility of seeing God's grace in each and every one of these activities, and so many more. God's loving presence is extraordinarily all around us in Ordinary Time.
With a title like "Ordinary Time" one might think that nothing happens in this season. This is far from the truth. To understand this, you have to go to a rather new concept in Catholic theology, the "sacramental imagination." Catholics who are already cashing in their Social Security checks remember the Baltimore Catechism (1884) definition of a sacrament: "An outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace." The current Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) definition of a sacrament is similar yet expanded: "Efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacrments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament." (#1131)
Catholic theologians have taken these classic definitions and expanded on them. They see in the "sacramental imagination" of us believers that grace (that is, God's life, love, presence) is all around us. God's grace and life are not just signified when a deacon baptizes a baby or a priest anoints a sick person in the hospital or when a bishop ordains priests. God's grace and life are also signified when a mom comforts her daughter when she cries; when a friend forgives a buddy for a cruel remark; when young adults give a year of their lives to do missionary work in Haiti or Alaska; when a married couple makes love; when a CCD catechist teaches his second graders about Jesus Christ present in the sacrament of holy communion.
In other words, God's abiding presence is all around us in our wounded world. Father Andrew Greeley identified several aspects of the Catholic sacramental imagination:
^Enchanted: Open to a world filled with angels, saints and mystery.
^Sacramental: A more general attitude that all created reality is open to the present of a God who "lurks" there.
^Analogical: It tends to emphasize the metaphorical nature of persons, places and things.
^Exists in a dense forest of imagery and story.
^Imminent rather than transcendent.
^Recognition that "all space is sacred and some space is more sacred."
[From The Catholic Imagination, 2000, pages 1-21]
This sacramental imagination is also connected to "vision." Cardinal John Henry Newman is often quoted as having said, "The real battles of life take place within the human imagination." In the words of Franciscan Father Michael Weldon, "It is there that our most foundational images of church dwell, the place of our most vital memories of religious epiphany, of comfort, healing or grappling with the realities of sin and death."
I can still remember attending Sunday 8:00 a.m. Mass as a third or fourth grader with my Dad and brothers, sitting in the little upstairs side balcony in St. Wendelin Church. Dad pointed out to me the difference between a low Mass and high Mass: the number of lit candles (two or six). I can still see him gently striking his breast when the priest raised the Host and the Chalice at the consecration of the Mass. And -- in that Catholic way -- I fondly remember conversations with Dad in our backyard, on a summer evening, after we had changed the oil in his car and my car. Nothing earthshaking was said, but the conversations in their own way were holy.
And so, Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. During the Sundays of Ordinary Time we hear Jesus teach through parables, like the mustard seed which images the Kingdom of God (this Sunday, June 17), and miracles, such as Jesus healing a woman afflicted with hemorrhages and raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead (July 1). We revere saints like John the Baptizer, whose feast we will celebrate on Sunday, June 24. John was conceived in the old age of Elizabeth and Zechariah to proclaim the coming of Christ our Savior. What could be more ordinary--or extraordinary!--when a childless couple who desire to have a baby have their wish fulfilled. We follow in John's footsteps when we witness to Christ's presence in our world, from the time we were in the womb.
Ordinary Time is filled with our ordinary lives: we get out of bed, shower and wash, go to work or take care of kids or do some volunteering, make lunch and wash dishes, watch a little tv and kiss our loved ones good night. But Ordinary Time is at the same time filled with the posibility of seeing God's grace in each and every one of these activities, and so many more. God's loving presence is extraordinarily all around us in Ordinary Time.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
"The Order of Melchizedek"
This poem appeared in the May 2012 edition of U.S. Catholic magazine. It's author, Brian Doyle, is editor of University of Portland Magazine and a poet and essayist.
The Order of Melchizedek
Bizarrely enough, a priest friend of mine says,
What I remember clearest from my ordination
Is that when we were all sprawled on the floor
Face-first and silent and awed before the One,
My nose was freezing. I think every single guy
Felt the same way. There we were, soon to join
The Order of Melchizedek, priests of The Lord
Until we breathed our last on this lovely planet,
And we are all thinking Lord, hurry the bishop!
I mean, you have to laugh. I have often thought
In these years here at the end of my priesthood,
How exactly right and holy and human the start
Was, though, as a priest. Everyone was suitably
Awed by the vow, and the ritual, and the smoke
And ancient tradition of it; it's very real, and he
Who would make fun of it is missing the power
And glory of the promise--we were mere boys,
Taking a really unimaginable leap into wild lives,
Not knowing anything, really, of long loneliness,
Or how you can be given a sort of clan and tribe,
As a priest, of friends and parishioners, and kids
You baptize--I think I have 20 godchildren.
But my point is how very human the first minute
Is, sprawled out on the floor, not thinking of awe
Or prayers or promises, but of your ice-cold nose.
That's the exact right honest human way to begin.
By Brian Doyle
Spring is the usual time of year for priestly ordinations across the United States of America, and elsewhere. May the newly ordained men pray as well as this unnamed, holy, elderly priest.
The Order of Melchizedek
Bizarrely enough, a priest friend of mine says,
What I remember clearest from my ordination
Is that when we were all sprawled on the floor
Face-first and silent and awed before the One,
My nose was freezing. I think every single guy
Felt the same way. There we were, soon to join
The Order of Melchizedek, priests of The Lord
Until we breathed our last on this lovely planet,
And we are all thinking Lord, hurry the bishop!
I mean, you have to laugh. I have often thought
In these years here at the end of my priesthood,
How exactly right and holy and human the start
Was, though, as a priest. Everyone was suitably
Awed by the vow, and the ritual, and the smoke
And ancient tradition of it; it's very real, and he
Who would make fun of it is missing the power
And glory of the promise--we were mere boys,
Taking a really unimaginable leap into wild lives,
Not knowing anything, really, of long loneliness,
Or how you can be given a sort of clan and tribe,
As a priest, of friends and parishioners, and kids
You baptize--I think I have 20 godchildren.
But my point is how very human the first minute
Is, sprawled out on the floor, not thinking of awe
Or prayers or promises, but of your ice-cold nose.
That's the exact right honest human way to begin.
By Brian Doyle
Spring is the usual time of year for priestly ordinations across the United States of America, and elsewhere. May the newly ordained men pray as well as this unnamed, holy, elderly priest.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
One of my favorite feasts of the entire liturgical year was yesterday, May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
Devotion to St. Joseph dates as far back as 800. St. Thomas Aquinas called attention to the role Joseph played in the Holy Family, as spouse of Mary and teacher of her son Jesus. The first and well known feast day of Joseph as just husband of Mary is March 19.
Nevertheless, attention to his role as a worker is a relatively young feast, as it was only established by Pope Pius XII in 1955. He saw the annual displays and parades of military might by the Soviet Union on "May Day" and wanted the world to know that a (communist) country which outlaws the practice of religion and enslaves workers is not a just or moral country. He also wanted to uplift the dignity of work and the rights of workers everywhwere. Prayers to St. Joseph can give hope to those who are unemployed and desparately looking for work. Blessedly the walls of the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, while the Catholic Church continues to pray to the carpenter (artisan) of Nazareth and foster father of the Christ Child.
It will surprise no one who knows me or reads my blog that I like this feast also because it reminds me of two special workers in my life, my Mom and Dad. After getting out of the Marines at the end of World War II Dad took a job in the J&L steel mill in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He worked as a clerk in the shipping and receiving department for 35 years. During the periodic strikes in the 1950s and 60s he worked as a bartender (easy for a teetotaler!) and day laborer in a moving company.
Mom dropped out of high school during World War II and was a "Rosie Riveter" in a mill in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Later she became an overseas telephone operator for AT&T, and after some years off to give birth to us four boys, she was a cleaning lady ("janitress") in a Downtown Pittsburgh office tower.
Both Mom and Dad were hard workers, never complaining about their menial jobs. They worked to put a roof over our heads and to provide food and education for their children. I know also that they benefited from the organizing of their respective unions, United Steel Workers (local #1858) and Service Employees International Union (local #5). It was the power of the unions which allowed them (and thousands of others) to receive something close to a living wage, with health care benefits.
To me, Mom and Dad were wonderful examples of the values of industriousness, justice and sacrifice--all values I'm sure that Joseph taught Jesus. It was with great pride that I dedicated my doctoral dissertation, Criteria for a Just Wage for Church Employees, to St. Joseph the Worker, and Mom and Dad.
Pope John Paul II, in his brilliant 1981 encyclical letter Laborem Exercens ("On Human Work"), said that work is valuable because we do it, not because of what we accomplish. In and through our work (whether paid or volunteer) we become "co-creators" and builders of a more just and peaceful society with God. May we remember all the special workers in our lives on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and follow his values and virtues.
Devotion to St. Joseph dates as far back as 800. St. Thomas Aquinas called attention to the role Joseph played in the Holy Family, as spouse of Mary and teacher of her son Jesus. The first and well known feast day of Joseph as just husband of Mary is March 19.
Nevertheless, attention to his role as a worker is a relatively young feast, as it was only established by Pope Pius XII in 1955. He saw the annual displays and parades of military might by the Soviet Union on "May Day" and wanted the world to know that a (communist) country which outlaws the practice of religion and enslaves workers is not a just or moral country. He also wanted to uplift the dignity of work and the rights of workers everywhwere. Prayers to St. Joseph can give hope to those who are unemployed and desparately looking for work. Blessedly the walls of the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, while the Catholic Church continues to pray to the carpenter (artisan) of Nazareth and foster father of the Christ Child.
It will surprise no one who knows me or reads my blog that I like this feast also because it reminds me of two special workers in my life, my Mom and Dad. After getting out of the Marines at the end of World War II Dad took a job in the J&L steel mill in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He worked as a clerk in the shipping and receiving department for 35 years. During the periodic strikes in the 1950s and 60s he worked as a bartender (easy for a teetotaler!) and day laborer in a moving company.
Mom dropped out of high school during World War II and was a "Rosie Riveter" in a mill in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Later she became an overseas telephone operator for AT&T, and after some years off to give birth to us four boys, she was a cleaning lady ("janitress") in a Downtown Pittsburgh office tower.
Both Mom and Dad were hard workers, never complaining about their menial jobs. They worked to put a roof over our heads and to provide food and education for their children. I know also that they benefited from the organizing of their respective unions, United Steel Workers (local #1858) and Service Employees International Union (local #5). It was the power of the unions which allowed them (and thousands of others) to receive something close to a living wage, with health care benefits.
To me, Mom and Dad were wonderful examples of the values of industriousness, justice and sacrifice--all values I'm sure that Joseph taught Jesus. It was with great pride that I dedicated my doctoral dissertation, Criteria for a Just Wage for Church Employees, to St. Joseph the Worker, and Mom and Dad.
Pope John Paul II, in his brilliant 1981 encyclical letter Laborem Exercens ("On Human Work"), said that work is valuable because we do it, not because of what we accomplish. In and through our work (whether paid or volunteer) we become "co-creators" and builders of a more just and peaceful society with God. May we remember all the special workers in our lives on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and follow his values and virtues.
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