Just What the Doctor Ordered

Ever get in one of those really rotten moods where no matter what you say or do, the entire day just gets worse minute by minute, hour by hour? Ever find yourself stewing and brooding over the petty and stupid remarks, complaints and/or demands thrown upon you when you are feeling your absolute worst? It is then that Our Lord will occasionally send us a little boost known as a consolation. Not a genie in the bottle with three wishes nor a goose that lays golden eggs, but a little respite from the ratrace, a small detour or rest-stop to allow you to catch your breath and keep things IN PERSPECTIVE. That happened to me recently. After a nearly three hour Finance Committee meeting where my blood pressure almost rivaled the nuclear incident at Three Mile Island atomic reactor plant, and weeks of haranguing criticisms and complaints over piciune and peripheral issues not related to the salvation of souls, I then got a nice email from a parishioner. I had been down the dumps all day and never expected to get any happy or positive message, at least not on that day.

He went out of his way to thank me and congratulate me on my 20th anniversary of priesthood and to express his gratitude that I have been his pastor for the past six years and that the Bishop just reassigned me for another six-year term. He thanked me on behalf of himself, his wife and his children. He expressed appreciation for the spiritual, theological, fiscal and physical care I have provided for both parishes under my care. It was so nice to read something nice for a change. It is so easy to be obsessed with the few complaints and to allow the vocal minority to cloud your view. Being a Sicilian makes it even more difficult since we never forget anything and take everything to the grave, if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, like a visit to Martha, Mary and Lazarus, even Jesus spent a little down time with people who appreciated Him and who expressed that appreciation. He did not spend 24/7 with His enemies and opponents. He did go away to pray and He did find time to relax and rejuvenate. If Our Divine Lord did that, who are we to think we can do without? Especially we priests, deacons and bishops, i.e., those of us in Holy Orders who are the public face of the Church, often bear the brunt of people's ire and anger for something WE DID NOT DO but sadly one of our colleagues did (or did not) do. The scandals only intensified the situation like cranking up the heat under the frying pan.

When you go to a restaurant and the service or the food is not up to snuff, it is easy to complain to the manager or if the service stinks, to leave a small or no tip whatsoever. We have no problem expressing our displeasure at cold soup, lukewarm coffee or if our special request to remove the onions was not observed. It is easy to identify the bad attitudes or poor service we get in public by those who serve the public. The rude teller is easy to report to the store manager. What about the good one? Why don't we make the same effort with the same zeal to identify a good worker to their boss? Why don't we make a point to tell the manager that the meal was superb and the service impeccable?

A priest friend of mine was called in to see his bishop. Whenever you get that call, your stomach sinks and you wonder "what did I do now?" Worse yet is when the Chancery calls you on Friday and makes you wait all weekend until Monday to see the Bishop. Gives you 72 hours of living hell imagining every possible worse case scenario. Well, my colleague went to the Diocesan HQ and saw the Boss. His Excellency began by saying "I got a letter the other day." Someone had written the bishop about one of his priests. The Bishop proceeded to say that 90% of the correspondence he gets is negative, pejorative and often petty. Much is just a difference of opinion, some is nothing more than someone bellyaching and occasionally there are the real, significant and urgent problems that need to be addressed and corrected ASAP.

This particular case, however, the Bishop read aloud a letter thanking him for sending Father X. to their parish. While not perfect and not yet a saint, this priest won the admiration and gratitude of this parishioner, his spouse and his entire family. The Bishop said he would like to get more positive letters and whenever he does, he shares them with the priest since the negative ones are too easily taken out of context and never forgotten. My friend literally wept since it was the first time his Bishop gave him a compliment. Not only did he get a positive letter from a parishioner but the Bishop also added his own words of appreciation for the work done by this priest.

This is why I urge my parishioners at least once a year to consider making an effort to recognize the waiter or waitress at their favorite restaurant by complimenting them to their boss. I urge them to compliment the doctor on his or her receptionist and on their nurses who rarely get thanked. I ask parents to send a letter at least once a year to the principal about one of your children's teachers, expressing your appreciation for their hard work. When I preach a mission or give a spiritual talk in another parish, I exhort the people to at least once a year write their Bishop and thank him for their pastor, parochial vicar and deacon. All too often we only WRITE to complain and criticize. All too frequently, we forget to ENCOURAGE those who serve us on a regular basis. Why wait to when Father is being transferred to express your appreciation of his priestly ministry to the Bishop in the hopes of getting him to stay? Better to let the Bishop know NOW about his good priests and deacons. Likewise, write the Nuncio to commend and compliment the good Bishop you have. Definitely write if you have bad, mediocre or inadequate clergy, but do not stop there. Whenever you encounter a good, holy, devout priest who does his job, celebrates a reverent Mass, preaches and teaches orthodox doctrine and who lives an exemplary and scandal-less life, then tell his superior once in a while. If we identify and recognize the good and the bad, perhaps more good will appear and less bad. It's worth a try.

Envy of Hanceville

Even Mother Angelica and the nuns at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL, were in awe. This is INDEED, the Monstrance of all monstrances; the Ostensorium of all ostensoria. This is from the Cathedral of Seville as published on the New Liturgical Movement and the American Papist. When Father Bob Levis and I were at the Temple in Hanceville for its dedication and consecration, I teased Reverend Mother the night before by saying any priest who does benediction with her seven foot tall Monstrance will get a real hernia after lifting it up. She replied, "Father, NO ONE but God Himself will even touch that Monstrance, let alone pick it up." Then she gave her loving familiar wink of an eye and smile of the mouth.

Ordinations, Anniversaries & Transfers

While May is commonly the month of priestly and diaconal ordinations, anniversaries and jubilees, June is often the month of TRANSFERS (new assignments). I recall being stationed at our cathedral when I was one of the more than 60 priest being transferred that month. I told the people to avoid driving on Interstate 83 the day transfers took effect. Too many clergy on the road and we are bad enough drivers as it is, let alone when we are in a bad mood ;-)



Seriously though, there will be a plethora of priests on the highways this coming month with newly ordained and newly transferred going and coming. Six years ago this June 16th I was assigned to my first pastorate, Our Lady of Good Counsel (Marysville, PA) and Saint Bernadette (Duncannon, PA). While my appointment by the Bishop was for a six year term, at his discretion he may renew it or make a transfer of pastors. Sadly, many dioceses work on the 'warm body' philosophy, i.e., whoever is available is part of the mix. Unfortunately, that does not always work for the good of Holy Mother Church. For instance, where there is a Pastor and Parochial Vicar(s), it can be difficult for the newly ordained and for the parish if the pastor has a temperment better suited in an assignment where he lives and works ALONE. Some priests just work better in single-man assignments. Whether they are obsessive-compulsive, neat-freaks or slobs, introverted or extroverted, the bottom line is that men should NEVER be a pastor where they have an assistant. These fellows like to be Lone Rangers and do everything themselves and can be envious if the new priest seems more popular with the people. Other pastors work better WITH someone else in the rectory. They need priestly fellowship. They collaborate and work with the Parochial Vicars and the Deacons. Some pastors have a personality and temperment that would drive any resident or associate insane. These despots should always be assigned in a one-man parish. Newly ordained should not automatically be sent to the largest parishes just because their size 'warrants' a parochial vicar. Some pastors and indeed some parishes thrive better with more mature, seasoned clergy whereas sometimes the newly ordained can learn bad habits if their first pastor does not SAY THE BLACK AND DO THE RED. If the pastor is politically correct but not orthodox; if he cuts corners on the Sacred Liturgy; if he imposes his opinion while denying legitimate options; if he is a company man seeking to climb the ecclesiastical ladder; et al., then why send him a newly ordained just because the parish registers go to a certain number? Better to learn the wisdom and experience of the pastor beloved not because he seeks popularity but because he is a real priest. He celebrates a reverent Mass. He preaches an orthodox sermon. He obeys canon law and can still be as pastoral and compassionate as Jesus Christ Himself.

All too often we hear, 'well, our diocese is too small (or too large) for us to make assignments and transfers based on priests personalities and temperments. No one is saying these should be the sole or even primary determining factors. Yet, for the common good, is it not possible to CONSIDER these points? Some pastors should stay more than 6 or 12 years and others need to be moved more often. Some pastors should always have supportive assistants who will work together and other pastors should always be by themselves and never have a parochial vicar.

Personnel Boards help bishops with making assigments but in some places they carry too much clout, authority and power. Often, the same gang of characters are on these boards year after year. When voters wanted term limits for politicians, priests on these boards and committees merely inserted a mandatory one year haitus and then allow another eon of membership. Many Personnel Boards work long and hard to ADVISE and COUNSEL the bishop but the final decision is HIS. He signs the appointment, he should make the phone call. Our Bishop met with every pastor during their final year of current term assignment and asked how things were going. He would inform you if there had been serious complaints or if he had some concerns. He asked, without obligating himself, if the pastor wanted a renewal or if he wanted a new assignment. When priests are treated like adults and with respect, they do and are better in the sacred ordained ministry. When they treat you like a number or as if your name was picked out of a hat (biretta, perhaps?), then you feel like you work for a corporation and not a family of faith or sacred institution.

Some dioceses allow the Personnel Board Director to be the point man when transfers and assignments are discussed and determined. While his advice and counsel are invaluable, the BISHOP is the one a priest promised respect and obedience to (and his successors), not to any committee or council. Like the parish council or finance committee in a parish, personnel boards and presbyteral councils are ADVISORY and only have consultative power whereas the Bishop (and in his absence the Vicar General) has DELIBERATIVE authority. This is why many of us prefer the Bishop to personally tell us there is a problem or we are being moved to a difficult assignment. Vicars for Clergy can and should be ombudsmen for the priests with the Bishop. The Bishop cannot address every issue, item or concern but the big stuff should remain in his episcopal lap. When a priest has an alcohol abuse or gambling problem, he needs his spiritual father, the Bishop, to admonish, advise, correct and support him in getting help. Middle management can only handle the benign or venial concerns. Serious trouble means going to the top. Unfortunately, due to the clergy sex scandals of the past, some prelates avoid their priests and deacons like the plague lest a lawyer chastize them for not keeping plausible deniability.

A few dioceses run not only like a corporate business with productivity estimates, etc., but some even work like the old Soviet Union with middle-management bureaucrats creating a buffer and making their own decisions as to who gets access to the Bishop and what he is privy to hear. Hence, you can have a doctrinally sound and wonderful Bishop but he is not kept up to speed on all that happens within his diocese and he may think he is. What he knows and who he sees can be determined by the equivalent of a politboro or cadre that 'protects' the C.E.O. from unpleasant or difficult situations. Though the word TRANSPARENCY became vogue in the aftermath of the National Review Board, some sychophants still successfully maneuver and manipulate what the local bishop knows or is told and to what extent and by whom.

Pope Benedict XVI challenged and commanded the bishops of America to rebuild the torn and tattered bridges linking the priests and deacons with their local Ordinary. We priests need bishops as much as laity needs priests, and vice versa. It is not a competition or contest. There are no 'sides' to take. Every bishop, priest and deacon, as an ordained minister, is answerable to Almighty God and is subject to the supreme, immediate, universal and full authority of the Roman Pontiff. PERIOD. Our people need to see and hear that we are UNITED in doctrine, discipline and worship. Holy Orders is not a job or career. It is an ontological change and reality which cannot ever be undone. Pray for priests. Pray for deacons. Pray for bishops. Pray for the Pope.

alter Christus

Tomorrow, May 28th, Father Ken Brighenti celebrates his actual 20th anniversary of priesthood and on Sunday, Father Jonathan Toborowsky (Young Fogeys blog fame) will have a solemn Mass of thanksgiving for his 10th Jubilee. Please remember both of them in your prayers as they mark these wonderful celebrations.

ACT OF CONSECRATION OF PRIESTHOOD TO IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, Mother of the Church, a priestly people, Mother of priests, ministers of your Son: accept the humble offering of myself, so that in my pastoral mission the infinite mercy of Eternal High Priest may be proclaimed: O "Mother of Mercy".

You who shared the "priestly obedience" , of your Son, and who prepared for him a worthy receptacle by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, keep my priestly life in the ineffable mystery of your divine maternity, "Holy Mother of God".

Grant me strength in the dark hours of this life, support me in the exertions of my ministry, entrust me to Jesus, so that, in communion with you, I may fulfil the ministry with fidelity and love, O Mother of the Eternal Priest "Queen of Apostles and Help of Priests".

Make me faithful to the flock entrusted to me by the Good Shepherd, You silently accompanied Jesus on his mission to proclaim the Gospel to the poor.

May I always guide it with patience, sweetness firmness and love, caring for the sick, the weak, the poor and sinners, O "Mother, Help of Christians ".

I consecrate and entrust myself to you, Mary, who shared in the work of redemption at the Cross of your Son, you who "are inseparably linked to the work of salvation".

Grant that in the exercise of my ministry I may always be aware of the "stupendous and penetrating dimension of your maternal presence" in every moment of my life, in prayer, and action, in joy and sorrow, in weariness and in rest, O "Mother of Trust".

Grant, Holy Mother, than in the celebration of the Mass, source and center of the priestly ministry, that I may live my closeness to Jesus in your maternal closeness to Him, so that as "we celebrate the Holy Mass you will be present with us" and introduce us to the redemptive mystery of your divine Son's offering "O Mediatrix of all grace flowing from this sacrifice to the Church and to all the faithful" O "Mother of Our Savior".

O Mary: I earnestly desire to place my person and my desire for holiness under your maternal protection and inspiration so that you may bring me to that "conformation with Christ, Head and Shepherd" which is necessary for the ministry of every parish priest.

Make me aware that "you are always close to priests" in your mission of servant of the One Mediator, Jesus Christ: O "Mother of Priests" Queen of the Clergy"Advocate, Co-Redemptorix and Mediatrix" of all graces.

Amen.

Fr. Z celebrates 17 year Jubilee

CONGRATULATIONS, Father Zuhlsdorf, on your 17th anniversary of priestly ordination. And to another dear friend, Father Schofield (UK) who celebrates his 5th Jubilee. Both famous priest-bloggers. Today is also the feast of St. Philip Neri.

ad multos annos
God grant you many years

The First Lady of Melrose Avenue Meets Papal Ambassador

My mom, Mrs. Elizabeth Trigilio, of Erie, Pennsylvania, met His Grace, Archbishop Pietro Sambi at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, DC (alias the Vatican Embassy). The Papal Nuncio was kind enough to give yours truly a personal blessing on the ocassion of my 20th anniversary of priesthood and assured me of his prayers for my two friends and co-authors (John Paul II for Dummies) Father Kenneth Brighenti (20 years) and Father Jay Toborowksy (10 years) as they celebrate their respective jubilees, too. My mother was given a private tour of the chapel where His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass and the gardens where he meditated during his recent visit to the U.S. capital. Following this spectacular display of Vatican hospitality, I celebrated the 5:15 pm Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, thanks to the kindness of Msgr. Walter Rossi.

My mom was unable to attend any of the papal Masses due to health concerns. She has been visiting me since the day before Mother's Day and I took her to EWTN where I celebrated my 20th anniversary proper (see previous post). Tomorrow, we head to New Jersey to celebrate the 20th Jubilee of my dear and best friend, Father Ken Brighenti, whose actual date is May 28th (two weeks after mine). Being able to spend time with my mom and my close friends has been a special blessing for which I cannot be more appreciative. Father Ken and I have been friends since 1983 (that's a quarter century for you number-crunching bean-counters). My dear mother buried three of her five children and then her loving husband of 39 years. My sister died at the age of three days; my younger brother Michael died from Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 26; my younger brother Joe was killed at the age 33 by an underage drunk driver; my Dad died from leukemia six months after my brother Joe. My youngest only surving brother, Mark, has leukemia, but Deo gratias, is currently in remission. All this happened before I celebrated ten years of priesthood. Then, in just the past two years, my mom buried three of her siblings, one after another. So this special audience with the Papal Nuncio meant the world to her and I am indebted to His Excellency Archbishop Sambi for being so cordial, hospitable and compassionate. A real gentleman with real class. My dad would have loved to have met him and I am only sorry that he and my brothers were not here to share in my celebration of priesthood anniversary.

Last week, we enjoyed a gourmet meal at Da Filippo's Autentica Cucina Italiana in Somerville, NJ. One of the finest restaurants in NJ or NY. Filippo and his wife prepared a gastronomic festival for me & mom and several wonderful guests (Fr. Brighenti & his sister Priscilla; Lou & Sandy Falconeri, & their son, Anthony; Jack & Christine Adragna; Drs. Keith & Christina Burkhart and their two sons, Kyle & Christopher, and their daughter, Karly.) Deo volente, we will all be around in 2013 for the Silver Jubilee celebration.

non sum dignus Domine

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a gesture is worth a million.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The four dozen people who received Communion from Pope Benedict XVI on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ received the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling.

Imagine if this were done elsewhere, perhaps EVERYWHERE. While standard and mandatory in the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, it is still OPTIONAL and licit in the Ordinary form. If the option to receive Holy Communion 'standing' exists, then the option to 'kneel' or 'genuflect' must also coexist. Options imply a CHOICE. Sadly, some clerics feel it necessary to act as if they were Nazi stormtroopers and humiliate any of the faithful who freely choose to exercise their option to KNEEL and to receive on the TONGUE. Perhaps it is time to rescind the options of receiving standing and in the hand and go back to one method, KNEELING and on the TONGUE. We might see fewer irreverent and sacriligeous Communions and the public display of reverence would also bolster Eucharistic piety, devotion and affection. When something is valuable (not just monetarily but ontologically), we treat it with awe and respect. When something is trivial, we treat as pedestrian. The Real Presence of the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ DESERVES and WARRANTS our total attention, respect, love and affection. Crass and bourgeois behavior belittles Our Divine Savior. Reverence and attention to detail show deep and profound love. It also goes without saying that politicians who notoriously support abortion should not seek nor should they be given Holy Communion since their sinful endorsement of a grave evil disqualifies them from reception and makes it a sacrilege.

Corpus Christi

Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum

Now Here's Someone Who Really Loves His Job

tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech

Please remember me in your prayers on Wednesday, May 14th.

I shall be offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on my 20th Jubilee at the EWTN chapel in Irondale, AL. The day before, I will celebrate Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL (also known as the Temple) and my intention will be for Mother Angelica, Mother Vicar Catherine, the Poor Clare Nuns, the Knights of the Blessed Sacrament, the Missionary Franciscans of the Eternal Word, all the employees, volunteers, viewers, and supporters of the Eternal Word Television Network.

Maniple Mania

Thanks, Fr. Zuhlsdorf

When will the last "moo-moo" alb and burlap chasuble from the 1970's be cast into the nearest incinerator? When Father Brighenti and I were ordained in 1988, using a chalice veil and burse were considered reactionary. If you wore a biretta at Stations of the Cross, wore a cassock & surplice with a black cape at the cemetery, wore purple vestments for funeral Masses, wore black vestments for All Souls' or used a pall over your chalice, you were declared ANATHAMA SIT by the Kumbaya, Ricky-Relevant crowd as well as by the ubiquitous Liturgical Nazis with their Worship Gestapo. Is it not ironic that once the amice (symbol of the helmet of salvation) and the cincture (symbol of chastity & purity) were made redundant thanks to VELCRO ALBS, we saw a sharp increase in priestly vows being broken? Hmmmmmm.

Papal Paraphernalia

NOW, THERE'S A REAL MITRE




















Your Holiness,

When I become a priest, can I get a lace alb like yours?

John Paul II for Dummies (now in Polish !!!)

tu es sacerdos in aeternum

Here are some holy cards priests have used on the Ordination, First Mass or Jubilee (Anniversary)

See previous blog from May 7th (below)

20th Jubilee of Priestly Ordination

Twenty years ago, when Pope John Paul II was in his 10th year of his pontificate and Ronald Reagan was in his last term as President of the United States, me and my four classmates were ordained on Saturday, May 14th by Cardinal Keeler in the Cathedral of St. Patrick, Harrisburg, PA. After twelve years of seminary (including high school), I finally made it to the floor of the Cathedral. Just before being ordained, the deacons prostrate on the floor while the Bishop and congregation stand (during Eastertime) and chant the Litany of Saints. It is a very humbling and awesome experience to lay completely flat on the floor; a real sign of surrender to the Almighty Himself.

Just before the Litany, the Promise of Obedience takes place and the deacon places his hands inside the hands of the Bishop who looks at you, eyeball to eyeball, and asks "do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?" A poignant and graphic reminder of being a faithful servant. After the Litany, is the most important and significant part of ordination, the Laying on of Hands. The Bishop first imposes his hands on each of the ordinandi and this is done in complete silence. The imposition of hands and the subsequent formula of consecration are the valid matter and form of the sacrament. Then, in a gesture of sacerdotal fraternity, every priest present is invited to lay hands on the heads of the deacons about to become priests. Kneeling there, and feeling the weight of the Bishop's hands followed by the steady stream of priests from around the diocese, it is a very emotional part of the ceremony. The choir intones the ancient Veni Creator Spiritus while the priests express their sacerdotal solidarit. Since the time of the Apostles, deacons, priests and bishops have been ordained by the imposition of hands. That two millennia continuity is incredible.

Then the Bishop prays from the Roman Pontifical the necessary words to complete the sacrament and now the former deacons are full fledged priests. Now it is time to change from the liturgical dress of a deacon to a priest, meaning the stole which was worn diagonally across the chest is now hung straight down from the neck (Ordinary Form) or criss-crossed in front of the chest (Extraordinary Form). The Dalmatic is replaced by the Chasuble and thus the vestments of diaconate are switched for vestments of priesthood.

There is a custom in some countries, especially the United States, to have the priest's pastor or mentor help change his vestments from those of a deacon to that of a priest. I had the distinct honor and privilege of having Father Robert Levis vest me on my ordination day. While my pastor was present (Msgr. Wilfrid Nash), he deferred to Father Bob who literally saved my vocation and inspired me along with my late cousin (Fr. Stefan Katarzynski) and my late original pastor (Msgr. Ennis Connelly) when I was but a child. I was asked one week later to vest my classmate Father James Burdess of the Diocese of Allentown, PA. It is a great honor to vest a deacon or priest and I am so happy to have been able to do so at least once in my priesthood.

The Anointing with Chrism and Traditio Instrumentorum (handing of the chalice filled with wine and a paten with a host on it) come next. Pope Pius XII decreed in 1947 (Sacramentum Ordinis) that while an integral part of the ordination rite, the giving of the symbols of office (Book of Gospels for the Deacon; Chalice & Paten for the Priest; Miter & Crosier for Bishop) are not the constitutive elements (matter) of the sacrament. The imposition (laying on) of hands is valid matter. Nevertheless, having your hands anointed by the Bishop almost brought me to tears as you realized this is done to signify that these hands are CONSECRATED so they may be able to CONSECRATE bread & wine into the Precious Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ. Once a priest's hands are anointed, they can never be anointed again. It is permanent like his priesthood. That is why a priest gets the outside of his hands anointed when he receives Anointing of the Sick unlike the laity and religious who get their palms anointed. The priest's palms have already been anointed at his ordination. Hence, when a priest is in the hospital, the chaplain has to anoint the forehead and back of the hands. Everyone else gets anointed on the palms. When the priest gives his blessing for the first time to someone during his first year of priesthood, there is a pious custom of kissing the open hands (palms) by the person who was just blessed to show respect for that anointing which took place.

In the Extraordinary Form (TLM), the priest had his hands tied together with a linen cloth called a maniturgium. This only exposed his thumbs and forefingers after his palms were anointed. Then the Bishop had the priest touch the chalice and paten with his four fingers. This symbolized the importance of what was called the 'canonical digits,' i.e., the two fingers on each hand a priest needed to celebrate Mass. In the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo), the fingers are not tied and the priest is handed the entire chalice and paten. However, many of us still used the maniturgium in that we wiped off the sacred chrism onto this linen and later presented it to our mother's at the First Mass the day after Ordination. Pious tradition was that when the mother of a priest died, she was to be buried with the maniturgium used at her son's ordination. Then, when she met St. Peter at the pearly gates, he would see the maniturgium and recognize she is the mother of a priest, and then got a first class escort to her heavenly reward. Poor dear old dad got nothing, except the bill for the reception after the First Mass. Today, many priests don't want their fathers left out, so when mom gets her maniturgium, dad often gets a small purple stole his son the priest used to hear his first confession.

When Cardinal Keeler handed me the Chalice & Paten, he said "Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to Him. Know what you are doing, imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord's cross." That phrase, KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, had great importance since it implies that every priest must celebrate the holy and sacred mysteries of the altar digne, atténte ac devote (worthily, attentively and with devotion). In other words, the priest should always celebrate a REVERENT and PROPER Mass. As Fr. Z. always says: SAY THE BLACK, DO THE RED.

The last part of the rite is the Sign of Peace and of course, the newly ordained priest first gives this gesture to the Bishop and then all the priests present in the sanctuary, again as a sign of fraternal solidarity in Holy Orders. Then the Mass proceeded as usual with the Offertory and Preparation of the Gifts. Each one of the newly ordained got to say a part of the Eucharistic Prayer, usually number one, also known as the Roman Canon. The Ordination Mass is something every priest remembers fondly as would a bride and groom their own wedding ceremony.


I was fortunate that all three of my brothers and my mom & dad were alive and able to attend my ordination 20 years ago. My sister died as an infant in 1960 but the rest of us grew up together as a typical Sicilian-Polish family. Before I was ten years ordained, however, I would have to bury two younger brothers and then my father, all within a short amount of time. My ordination picture is the only group photo of my parents, my brothers and me. The two days a priest dreads most are the funerals of his mother and father. This is why it meant so much to me to have my classmate and best friend, Father Ken Brighenti, present for my dad's funeral as well as the funeral of my brothers Michael and Joseph. Fr. Ken and I have been friends since 1983 (that's 25 years) when we met at Holy Apostles' Seminary. He was ordained two weeks after me on May 28th for the diocese of Metuchen, NJ. This allowed him to be Deacon not just at my First Mass, but also at my ordination since we had to transitional deacons available. After ordination, I made another good friendship with a priest, Fr. Dennis Dalessandro, who like myself, originally was born and raised in the Erie Diocese. Later, we separately transferred to the Diocese of Harrisburg. Fr. Dennis was ordained 25 years ago this past April 9th (his classmate is our own Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Harrisburg).



The First Mass of a Priest usually takes place the following day of his ordination (if on a Saturday) and normally in his home parish where he grew up. Mine took place at Blessed Sacrament in Erie. After eight years of parochial school I entered High School Seminary in 1976 which fortunately for me, was still in the city of Erie, albeit the other end of town. Priest friends from the Erie Diocese and the Harrisburg Diocese came as well did many seminarians and tons of relatives and neighbors. My dad invited everyone who rode the regular bus route with him when he used to be an employee at General Electric. He was so proud to have a son become a priest that he would talk about it every day on the bus all the time I was in high school and college seminaries. My mom invited several people from the Catholic hospital where she worked for 40 years as the head nurse of the Emergency Room and Trauma Center.



Traditionally, a priest's chalice is given to him from his parents. Mine had my grandmother's diamond embedded in it since she passed away while I was still in seminary. Every time I use that chalice I think of grandma and my mom & dad. I also inherited the chalice of my deceased cousin on my mother's side of the family. Father Steve Katarzynski was a pastor of a small parish in the boondocks of the Erie Diocese. He was forty-five years older than me but he visited our home every month and my dad gave him an Italian haircut in the basement each time. His love and devotion to the priesthood, along with that of Father Levis and my first pastor, Monsignor Connelly, inspired me to become a priest.



Usually a newly ordained priest invites a guest to preach at his First Mass. This is a great honor and I had the pleasure of preaching at the First Mass of a dear childhood friend, Fr. Daniel Senger, OFM. We attended Blessed Sacrament grade school and high school seminary together and had been friends since the third grade. When he asked me to preach his First Mass (which was about five years after mine), I was almost speechless. I had a Jesuit (a good one, though), Father Gerard Steckler, SJ, preach my First Mass. He taught at Gannon University with Father Levis (who vested me). I also had a 'second' First Mass when I celebrated the first time at the parish where I served as a Deacon in the Diocese of Harrisburg, St. Gregory the Great, Lebanon, PA. Fr. David O'Connell, CM, the current President of Catholic University of America, and my former Canon Law professor, preached at that Mass.



After being ordained and celebrating your First Mass, the newly ordained is busy going to his classmates' and friends' ordinations and First Masses in other parishes and dioceses. Then, within a few weeks or at least by the end of the month, comes the FIRST PARISH ASSIGNMENT. Priesthood put into practice and usually a period of baptism by fire which we can explain later.


Forgive the lengthy reminiscences, but twenty years of priesthood brings back plenty of memories and in a time where morale is low, scandals and diocesan politics have discouraged many, it is vital for us priests to remember that special day we became an ALTER CHRISTUS so we could act IN PERSONA CHRISTI. None of us deserve this but God chooses the foolish to confound the wise and uses the weak to conquer the strong. Many of us priests had Psalm 110 sung at ordination and/or First Mass: tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech (you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech)


Please remember me in your prayers on May 14th and Fr. Ken Brighenti, my friend, classmate and co-author, on his 20th Jubilee Day, May 28th. I am very grateful for all the wonderful priest and deacon friends I have made these past two decades and I thank God for the love and faith my parents gave me which led me to the priesthood in the first place. I also thank the Lord for the wonderful laity He has allowed to enter my life. Some have become like family to me over these past score (20 yrs. for you non-Lincoln scholars). So while my biological family has decreased in time, my spiritual family keeps increasing. God is good.

Dictatorship of Relativism Revealed

Bill Moyers of PBS interviewed Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Barak Obama's pastor, where he makes this statement:

It went down very simply.

He's a politician, I'm a pastor.

We speak to two different audiences.

And he says what he has to say as a politician.

I say what I have to say as a pastor.

But they're two different worlds.

I do what I do.

He does what politicians do.

So that what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician.

Kathryn Jean Lopez from National Review brilliantly connects the dots and contrasts what Pastor Wright said with what President Bush said to Pope Benedict XVI at his official visit to the USA:

In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this "dictatorship of relativism," and embrace a culture of justice and truth.

The irony is that the clergyman (Reverend Wright) espouses the Dictatorship of Relativism whereas the politician (President Bush) embraces the concept of a Natural Moral Law. The former sees two worlds and two realities; political and religious, secular and spiritual (he says what policitians have to say; I say what pastors have to say. He does what he has to do; I do what I have to do). The latter recognizes that there is only ONE world and ONE reality. There is not a separate political existence from our religious existence. There is not one set of ethics and morality for those in government and another for citizens. There is one Natural Law and one Ten Commandments that bind on every human being regardless of race, gender, economic class, education level, etc. Politicians AND Pastors must speak the same language, that of TRUTH and JUSTICE. Faith and reason are not diametrically opposed. There is no intrinsic dichotomy either. Whether one explains the evil in religious or political terms is one thing but the substance, the essence of the act is either good or evil.

Slavery and Apartheid were legal at one time but they were always immoral and evil, regardless of popular opinion and in spite of what any court or legislature may decide from time to time. Segregation was always wrong, too. Polygamy (for the time being) is illegal AND immoral. Unfortunately, there are some who want to redefine marriage and the family. They advocate legalization of abortion and euthanasia. They present homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. They deny the intrinsic evil nature of masturbation, contraception, et al. Morality is relative, for these people. There is no universal code of behavior, no absolutes.

Such a system, must then allow Nazis to commit genocide since we cannot impose morality on anyone. If there is no universal natural moral law, then politics, popular opinion, and flavor of the month determine what is right and wrong, good and evil, vice and virtue. There could be no clergy sex scandal, either, since it is imposition of morality to say that all child abuse is immoral. Of course all child abuse is evil because there IS such a thing as an intrinsic evil.

BONUM FACIENDAM ET MALUM VITANDUM (do good and avoid evil) is the first moral principal known to all human beings since it is learned by reason. The Dictatorship of Relativism, however, is embraced in the dissident moral theology which espouses the axiom: "Do as much good as is possible and as little evil as is necessary." Nonsense like FUNDAMENTAL OPTION and FUNDAMENTAL ORIENTATION were spewed at us in the seminary to debunk the Natural Moral Law basis of ethical behavior.

Since there ARE moral absolutes, such as the intrinsic and perennial evil of abortion and euthanasia, then politicians who obstinately persist in publicly supporting these MUST be denied Holy Communion for their scandalous repudiation of the moral teaching of the Church. Prudential judgments, on the other hand, such as to an application of the Just War doctrine or whether the criteria for capital punishment is present in a particular case, often involve debateable opinions as then Cardinal Ratinger said before he was Pope Benedict. Abortion and euthanasia, however, are always gravely immoral and evil and can never be tolerated since they directly involve the intention killing of innocent life.

The Dictatorship of Relativism has produced three generations of cohabitating couples, rampant divorce and remarriage, polygamous and homosexual unions, etc., where sex is as much a personal option and preference as is one's choice of favorite color, flavor or cuisine. The straw-man argument used is that in Mediaeval Ages, the Church condemned all sex as sinful and only tolerated some for the sake of procreation. Reality is that human sexuality is HOLY and SACRED but only when done PROPERLY, i.e., in proper CONTEXT (between husband and wife who are validly married to each other AND when the marital act is oriented toward BOTH love (unity) and life (procreation). Openness to possible life AND the intimate union of spouses make extra and pre-marital sex as sinful as homosexual activity and as wrong as in vitro fertilization and surrogate pregnancies. Moral relativism, however, says the individual and/or society decide what is good and what is evil. Objective reality, on the other hand, which Holy Mother Church teaches, confirms that there is a universal code of behavior applicable to everyone and anyone, regardless of orientation, origin, education, status, intelligence, et al. This is why pastors and bishops MUST not speak in politically correct language or use political nomenclature. Clergy and Politicians must speak and act from the same page. Faith and Reason, Religion and Politics need to coordinate a unified attack on the moral evils that threaten civilization, namely, anything harmful to life, marriage and the family. These three are the foundation of the Church and the State. So both have a vested interest in defending them across the board. Once we commit to this war, then we become a culture of truth and justice.

Catholic Catharsis

Like criminal investigators on CSI, many are trying to do a post mortem on the recent papal visit to discern what really happened, i.e., what did the Pope's visit actually accomplish in light of what was intended to happen. I know many are melancholic to an extent. Liberals wanted him to loosen up Church discipline and dilute doctrine to warm up to non-Catholic Christians in an irrational scheme to effect a form of Ecumenism based on the lowest common denominator (being NICE). Conservatives wanted him to crack the whip and chastize the dissidents and miscreants who have wreaked havoc on the Church for 40 years in the infamous "spirit" of Vatican II. B16 arrived not as a politician nor as a policeman. He came as a shepherd. The pastor of the universal church came to invigorate the faithful remnant as well as encourage the growing number of neophytes. He came to show support by his mere presence. The Pope came to America and because he loves the Church in America. He may not like everything that is said and done by particular individual Catholic Americans, but he came for Mystical Body of Christ which is partially located in the United States.

His words of healing extended to the victims of clergy sexual abuse were not political; they were paternal. He was sorry that some of his sons misbehaved and misbehaved badly. It was like a father who apologizes for the crimes and sins committed by his offspring. The priests who abused children and the bishops who covered it up were nonetheless sons of the Church. Every family has its dirty laundry and the Holy Father wanted to express shame and sorrow that these horrible things ever took place. It was not his fault they happened. But he is the father of the family of faith we call the Catholic Church and like the father of any family, he extended a hand of remorse and reconciliation to those harmed by his own family members. Imagine how Adam felt when he learned that his own son Cain committed fratricide and killed Abel.

Our spiritual father also spoke to the other shepherds, the bishops. He reminded them that they have a lot of homework to do. They must repair the loss of trust many of the faithful have in light of how things were handled during and immediately after the scandal. They must also repair the loss of trust many priests have in their bishops after being thrown to the wolves and treated like a bunch of degenerate felons just paroled. The bishop has to be a FATHER rather than a MANAGER. The paradigm must be one of FAMILY not one of BUSINESS. Many problems continue in the USA because parishes and dioceses work like corporations. Liability, cost effectiveness, productivity, downsizing, risk management, etc. Terms used in boardrooms now permeate Catholic lingo in the dioceses and parishes alike.

The Pope warned of the dictatorship of relativism. He is not stupid. He is very intelligent and very German, which means he is also very efficient. No one fooled him into thinking everything is A.O.K. over here in the States. No one deceived him into thinking we have no problems with liturgical abuses, dissident theologians and meglomaniac ecclesiastical bureaucrats in middle management. Oh, it looked good on TV. Everyone made 'bella figura' even to the sneaky clandestine giving of Holy Communion to notorious pro-abortion politicians.

I don't think the wool was pulled over the papal eyes, however. Rather than reading the riot act, this German pope will quietly, prudently but efficiently take care of the major problems we have in the USA and around the world. His Summorum Pontificum is the best example of his modus operandi. He wants the natural process of give and take (eros and agape) to occur so that what is best and beneficial in both new and old (ordinary and extraordinary) can mutually enhance one another. He knows we have lots of liturgical abuse occuring here in America and he knows we also have a problem with heterodoxy being proliferated in colleges, universities and seminaries. He knows we have a problem with devout faithful being beaten up for showing reverence for the Holy Eucharist when they kneel or genuflect for Holy Communion while priests who use illicit matter and form (if not quasi-invalid) go unscathed. But he also knows that the best way to handle things is to move prudently and methodically. Show viable alternatives to the dissent and abuse occuring in pulpits and sanctuaries around the world.

Let people see and experience the sublime beauty and majesty of the Church's patrimony, especially our liturgical heritage for two millennia. Rather than give in to the pseudo-dichotomy of the pre-Vatican II and the post-Vatican II Churches, B16 has started the process by which the Extraordinary form and the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite can be ACCESSIBLE and AVAILABLE to anyone and everyone. Latin and the vernacular, old and new, extraordinary and ordinary; they speak of the great "BOTH ... AND" (et ... et) whereas the heretics and renegades seek to divide and conquer by imposing a false "EITHER ... OR" (aut ... aut). Just as the Church has two lungs in terms of the Western and Eastern liturgical traditions, so, too, within the Latin Rite we have various legitimate expressions which when done reverently and properly and when understood in the light of orthodox theology, mutually help and enhance each other.

It will take a longer amount of time to clean up the mess left by the recalcitrants who thought their pseudo-Vatican II mandate to whitewash authentic art, dilute authentic doctrine and distort authentic authority would last a thousand years. The Fourth Reich died as quickly as the Third. The distorters and perverters of what Vatican II ACTUALLY said and intended are now cashing in on their social security checks. They are not the vibrant youth of today. They are the antiestablishment hippies of the past.

I have great hope that Pope Benedict XVI will gradually but consistently, prudently and efficiently repair what was broken while nuturing what has been good and growing within the Body of Christ. Some may have thought they fooled the 80 year old Bavarian as if dirt were swept under the carpet. He is too smart for that. He knows the machinations, the politics and the skullduggery some of our ecclesiastics are renown for as well as the cultural and social malaise infecting many of our faithful. He knows too well that we live in a culture of CONVENIENCE and have made convenience a religion if not a god itself. Catholic Americans are blessed with many economic and political privileges and opportunities other nations only dream of, yet we also succumb to the incessant hunger for CONVENIENCE. Liturgy, theology and morality --- all must be CONVENIENT, otherwise, people will drift away. This is the dictatorship of relativism, not just an absence of OBJECTIVE REALITY in terms of eternal truths, but also the addiction to comfort and convenience. Suffering, even salvific, is alien to a culture where people believe the Church, the State and even the Family owe them (the individual) something. It is no longer the 'pursuit of happiness' along with LIFE and LIBERTY that are seen as inalienable rights, but now it is the idea that the world and God Himself OWES me a comfortable and convenient life. Truth and Goodness, the objects of the intellect and will, become mere options. The end that a dictatorship of relativism seeks is MEDIOCRITY. Truth and goodness, holiness and sanctity, grace and virtue, etc., have no place in such a system.

Thanks be to God, Pope Benedict XVI is here to continue the work of Pope John Paul the Great. VERITATIS SPLENDOR says it all. True worship, true doctrine and true moral behavior are the only sources of real happiness and fulfillment for mankind. Communism, Socialism, Consumerism and Materialism tried to make lies appear appetizing to civilization. Once society abandons truth it ceases to be a civilization and deteriorates into culture of death.

PRAY for Pope Benedict that the Lord bless him with many years of good health, with good advisors and good assistants so he can continue his mission of healing and reinvigorating the Church in this new millennium.

Boycott HBO

WARNING: very graphic and offensive language below. All of it originates from one source, Bill Maher. Nothing has been done to censure him or cancel his show. Don Imus was properly reprimanded for his racist remarks about the ladies basketball team from Rutgers.

Bill Maher spews out similar hate-language against Catholicism and nothing happens. Had Maher issued similar insults against Islam or Judaism, he would have been fired the next day. Anti-Catholicism remains the last vestige of politicall correct prejudice.

Please contact HBO and cancel your monthly subscription until Maher is FIRED once and for all.

If your stomach can tolerate the filth, read what he recently said on the air. Both quotations are enough to warrant a total and complete ban. It would be a sin of ommision were a Catholic to stand by and say nothing. Repudiate Maher and denounce his show.

www.firebillmaher.com

Bill Maher just recently compared the Texas Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints scandal and its latest alleged abuse with the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in the United States in 2002. "I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult," Maher told his audience. "Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats."

On his May 18, 2007 edition of "Real time with Bill Maher," the host compared Holy Communion to homosexual oral sodomy and called for turning homosexuality into a religion. "Gay men, don't say you're life-partners, say you're a nunnery of two," said Maher. "We weren't having sex officer, I was performing a very private Mass, here in my car. I was letting my rod and my staff comfort him. Take this and eat of it, for this is my roommate, Barry. ... "

Arrivaderci, Papa Benedetto

Pope Benedict leaves the United States after a fantastic but brief visit. His detractors were proved wrong when they predicted at his election that the Ratz-weiler would bark and growl at anyone who dared defied his authority. The perennial gentleman, B16 never felt it necessary to bully anyone. His papacy is the same as his priesthood, his episcopacy and his cardinalate. The strength of his arguments, rooted in philosophical and theological truths are what conquer the weak errors of his opponents. He has no need to resort to some German caricature of a goose-stepping soldier yelling commands to subordinates. Joseph Ratzinger and Benedict XVI are the same man and he continues to act as he has always acted, with SINCERITY and with HONESTY. As Prefect for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he vigorously defended the precious gems and jewels of the Magisterium, i.e., the Deposit of Faith. He did this because he loves the Truth and ultimately, God is truth as much as God is love.

What I found offensive this week is the hint of conspiracy. Evidently, someone in the press has learned that a few prominent and notorious Catholic politicians who openly and obstinately support abortion were not only given Holy Communion, but allegations are that they were pre-arranged to do so. In other words, some priest or God forbid some bishop, made provisions so that John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi were told beforehand which priest to approach and thus be given Holy Communion without any hesitation or hinderance.

It is reprehensible that any politician who knows that the Holy Father has previously stated that anyone who openly supports and persists in supporting abortion in a public manner are ineligible to receive Holy Communion, would disregard this and casually take Communion anyway. Worse yet, however, is the clergy or prelate who premeditatively arranged such a sacrilege. Bad enough that a Catholic politician defies canon law, but it is contemptuous at least to have an ordained minister participate in such a defilement of the Most Blessed Sacrament. I have more patience and respect for a priest or bishop who is caught off guard or who acts even out of fear when a notorious pro-abortion politician approaches seeking Holy Communion. At least we can blame human weakness or MISGUIDED COMPASSION as Mother Angelica used to call it. When it is premeditated; when it is pre-arranged and pre-approved by an ordained minister; then it is REPREHENSIBLE.

Why not the effort and time spent on convincing the defiant politicians to NOT go to Holy Communion out of respect for the Sacrament and respect for the Pope? No, the effort went into the skullduggery and cloak-and-dagger of puuling the wool over the eyes of the Pontiff. SHAME. The same secret and clandestine behavior which made the clergy sex scandal what is was is happening again. Instead of dealing with a problem head on and instead of boldy standing up for what it right and against what is wrong, we have the resort to the old way of doing things: sweep it under the carpet. Pretend nothing is wrong and maybe nobody will notice.

Did anyone of the conspirators think for one second that the media would miss such a duplicity? If viewers of EWTN can identify Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, so can viewers on CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. These two openly pro-abortion politicians could have been persuaded to quietly sit out Communion. No, they were encouraged to go to Communion, according to reports revealing themselves as the Pontiff leaves for Italy. MATERIAL COOPERATION in evil, plain and simple, if anyone advised or coordinated the giving of Holy Communion to these notorious pro-abortion politicians.

If a Catholic who is in an invalid marriage and is in need of an annulment in order to have the current relationship convalidated, he or she is ineligible to receive Holy Communion. Imagine if someone said, "just go to Father X's line and he'll give you Communion." No different than giving Communion to a politician who supports abortion. Both should not take the sacrament (for different reasons, of course). What about the non-Catholic who merely wants to join the crowd at Communion time? Do we not have some restrictions on WHO can go to Communion?

I have seen Catholics defy Church doctrines and disciplines go to Communion regularly. I preach that such activity is wrong and should cease. Problem is that these people can and will find another priest or another bishop, another parish or another diocese and do what they want to do anyway.

Recall the Gospel injunction against leading others astray, 'better to have millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea" than to lead one soul down the wrong path. Whoever was involved in this trasvesty should repent, recant and repair the damage done. Things can be done PROPERLY and yet DISCREETLY and PRUDENTLY. There is never any need to resort to subtegfuge and deceit in a false claim of making the best of a bad situation.

Otherwise, the papal trip was a success IMHO. The Pope spoke to the UN, to America, to Catholics and to non-Catholics, to clergy and to laity, to youth and to us all. He gave us reason to be PROUD and HOPEFUL as Catholic Christians. He did not come as a policeman but as our Holy FATHER. But he NEEDS all of us to help him. Mostly, if we LISTEN and OBEY the Will of God, no matter how difficult, how painful, how inconvenient.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER ANGELICA

Mother Angelica celebrates her 85th birthday

ad multos annos

God grant her many years

As Pope Benedict XVI leaves the USA for Rome tonight, it behooves us to publicly thank Mother Angelica for founding EWTN. Her international Catholic network of television, satellite, radio, internet and short-wave paved the way for Pope John Paul the Great and now Pope Benedict to fully use broadcast media to its full extent. Before EWTN, we could only rely on the sporadic and not so objective eye of the secular media to cover Papal events. Even with cable and satellite, we were limited to CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc. Since the advent of the Eternal Word Television Network, we have FULL and unbiased, untainted and unadulterated coverage of papal visits, World Youth Day and other critical events involving the Successor of Saint Peter. Despite the ad hominem attacks, slander, and often diabolical lies thrown upon her sterling reputation, Mother Angelica has endured and survived her opponents and hostile enemies. Sady, some of her most vituperative attackers have come not from the secular media, but from within our holy church. How pathetic that any priest, bishop, deacon or religious feels it justified to villify a nun who has consecrated her entire life to our holy religion. How cowardly to attack a holy woman dedicated to spreading the true teachings and doctrines of Catholicism. Too often, I have heard clergy make not only uncharitable but downright obscene and heinous comments about Reverend Mother mereley because they object to her simple, honest and unabridged defense of the truth. "By their fruits, ye shall know them." Look at the extent of EWTN today. Look at how many people around the world know B16 and his writings thanks to EWTN. Not just global exposure but in depth coverage. Rather than sound-bytes, EWTN gives us fullness and accuracy when it comes to Vatican news and papal teachings. Catholic Culture itself, from music to literature, from history to theology, philosophy and art, are all given air space on EWTN.

Reverence, Balance & Good Taste

The recent papal Mass in Washington, DC, restored the joy of 0ur youth. While some of the music was ecclectic to say the least, the restoration of magnificent, exquisite and uplifting vestments was more than just a blast from the past. It signals a Renaissance of elegance and class not seen in generations.


viva Papa Benedetto & Msgr. Guido Marini

I was very impressed with the well orchestrated logistics employed by the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. The Papal Mass was well planned at all levels. All I had to bring was an alb and red stole. I sat with my friend, Fr. Dennis Dalessandro, pastor of St. Andrew, Waynesboro. We were just a few rows from other priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg and surrounded by clergy from Washington, Arlington, Baltimore, Allentown, et al.

The altar was prepared according to the liturgical prescriptions of His Holiness with a conspicuous crucifix and seven candles on it. Everything was done REVERENTLY and PROPERLY according to the rubrics. The Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal was celebrated with full solemnity. Hopefully, bishops and priests across the USA will duplicate Pope Benedict's attention to lex orandi, lex credendi. No liturgical abuses, no aberrations and no nonsense. Imagine, if this took place in EVERY cathedral and every parish in the world? We would have to build new seminaries and noviates. And this is precisely B16's plan. The more people SEE and EXPERIENCE the proper reverence demanded by the Ordinary and the Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite, the more they will mutually reinforce in each expression the organic and intrinsic need to identify the SACRED. The HOLY and Sacred mysteries of our faith deserve nothing less than our full, complete, active and conscious participation. This can only be done REVERENTLY and of course PROPERLY (in accord with the rubrics). Off-the-cuff, spontantaneous and innovative machinations have no place in divine worship.

Now, if we could just coordinate more consistent use of appropriate liturgical music and chant in every sacred celebration,

Vatican Soil: the Embassy of the Holy See (a.k.a. Apostolic Nunciature)

Tanti Auguri & Buon Compleanno Papa Benedetto

Today His Holiness celebrates his 81st birthday. The Pontiff wakes up on native turf as he spent the night at the Vatican Embassy. Archbishop Pietro Sambi and Pope Benedict eagerly await the arrival of the Dunkin Donuts man who promises to bring some Bavarian Cream filled just for 'You-know-who' ;-)

Heiliger Vater, Willkommen und Frohliche Geburtstag

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy welcomes

His Holiness

Pope Benedict XVI

on his first pastoral visit

to the United States of America

viva il Papa !

Fuzzy Morality

Pope Benedict XVI could not come at a better time for America. On the advent of a presidential election, Catholic citizens of the United States NEED a clear, strong and unequivocal voice of moral and doctrinal authority to help properly form consciences that will responsibily vote this coming November.

Recently, I was made aware of a priest telling his parishioners that they could, in good conscience, vote for a politician who openly supported abortion AS LONG AS the voter did not agree with that position. Then he quoted from the American Bishops' (USCCB) statement Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (Nov. 2007), specifically:


34. Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods. A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. In such cases a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity.


35. There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons. Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.

When taken out of context, paragraph #35 could erroneously be used to justify material cooperation in grave evil AS LONG AS there were no formal cooperation. That is NOT what (then) Cardinal Ratzinger said in his letter to the American Bishops (July 2004). He makes an important distinction between remote and proximate material cooperation in evil. The Church has always condemned formal cooperation in evil where a person gives consent to evil being done by another. When someone does not agree, however, they can still be guilty of material cooperation in evil when they provide the means by which the evil is performed. Direct or proximate material cooperation in evil occurs when a person provides necessary tools to perform the evil act, e.g., when someone sells illegal drugs they are a material cooperator in evil since they are providing the necessary means to commit evil, either illegal drug use or illegal drug distribution. Selling dangerous materials such as radioactive or biological material used for weaponry is material cooperation in evil even though personally, they object to acts of terrorism. Likewise, Doctors, nurses and other who make abortion or euthanasia possible are material cooperators in evil. If it is the biological father who drives the biological mother to the abortion clinic, he is guilty of direct (proximate) material cooperation in evil even if he personally is against abortion. Were he to give internal consent, it would also be formal cooperation in evil.

The medical personnel who perform the abortion or who assist the doctor are also direct material cooperators in evil. Remote material cooperators are those who provide indirect means to carry out the evil. The merchant of a sporting goods store sells amunition to a hunter. Legal and moral. If that hunter commits an immoral act by using the bullets he just bought to kill an innocent person, the merchant is not guilty of direct material cooperation in evil. He MAY be guilty of remote material coopertion in evil if he neglected to report to the police suspicions or apprehensions he may have had when he sold the amunition.

Politicians who personally oppose abortion and euthanasia but who VOTE for legislation to allow, permit or continue such immoral activity are MATERIAL COOPERATORS IN EVIL. If they are candidates whose office can and will affect the curtailment, restriction or possibile abolition of such grave evils, and they consistently vote to keep these heionous acts legal, then they are DIRECT (proximate) material cooperators in evil. VOTERS who elect these candidates but who disagree with their position on abortion or euthanasia, are also material cooperators in evil. They are proximate and culpable if viable alternative candidates exist.

Pope Benedict clearly stated:

3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

He also states in the Nota Bene:

A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons

Note that the qualification for voting for a 'pro-abortion' candidate when you personally disagree with their position is PROPORTIONATE REASONS. Since abortion and euthanasia are non-negotiables, they cannot be equated with moral issues such as economic justice, just war or even the death penalty. Since abortion and euthanasia always and directly involve innocent victims, they are always grave evils to be avoided. The only time a Catholic can vote for a politician who is not overtly 'pro-life' is when he or she is more pro-life than their opponent. You cannot ignore a pro-abortion candidate just because you agree with his or her economics, or other political platforms. They are not equal issues.

Hence, Catholics who vote for pro-abortion candidates merely because they agree with their position on secondary issues are guilty of material cooperation in grave evil. It would be like a person ignoring a candidate's anti-Semetic or racist positions just to vote for them because you agree with their financial policies. Likewise, someone who advocates unrestricted abortion must be opposed. Period. The other issues like the economy, the environment, the war, etc., can be used if the abortion/euthanasia issue is unclear or unknown. Proportionate reasons means that HIGHER goods, like protecting innocent life, outweigh economic issues, like taxes, etc. Some evils are intrinsically evil. When there are no 100% opponents of these evils, then we can incrementally opt for the lesser of evils if there are no other alternatives.

Beware of the Usual Suspects

Just when you thought it was safe to change the channel from EWTN ...

Get ready, the mainstream liberal media will be bombarding the airwaves, internet and blogosphere with the rantings and ravings of the heterodox spin doctors and dissident pundits once B16 lands on US soil.

Dan Rather may be retired, but CBS, ABC, NBC, and of course CNN will go to their usual pool of Catholic malcontents, miscreants and recalcitrants to offer their 'balanced' view lest anyone suspect for a moment the secular media would give Pope Benedict or the Catholic Church a free ride. The shrinking minority of the so-called 'loyal opposition' (a true oxymoron) will be given free air time during the papal visit as has been done in the past during the reign of JP2.

Sister Joan Chittester, OSB, who opined that the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI was the equivalent of a 'spiritual tsunami' will be the most conspicuous 'expert' consulted by the social progressive, secular humanist media elite. Then of course, Father Thomas Reese (everyone's favorit Jesuit) and Fr. Richard McBrien (who will mysteriously find and wear his clerical attire while on camera, but just on papal visits, mind you) will be given a chance to spew their 'side' of the story. American media thinks it is being 'fair' when they give equal time to theological dissenters just as if this were the Democratic response to the Republican President's State of the Union Address.

There is no such thing as 'loyal opposition' when it comes to TRUTH, be it doctrinal or moral. Science does not tolerate contradiction. Either 2 + 2 = 4 is true or it is false. It CANNOT be both. Either the Pope and Magisterium are correct or they are false. Since the dissenters contradict the authentic teaching authority of the Church, they oppose God, the source of Revelation. They oppose the Son of God Who founded the Church on Peter and the Apostles (and their successors the pope and bishops in union with him)

Voice of the Faithful and We Are Church and every Tom, Dick and Harry lapsed Catholic will find a microphone and camera, just wait and see. You won't find many reporters interviewing Mother Angelica, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, or Karl Keating (Catholic Answers). We will see ex-priests, ex-nuns and ex-Catholics complaining about no women priests; no married clergy; no abortion; no contraception; no gay marriages; etc. Will the cameras, however, show you the YOUNG and HAPPY women in large numbers who wear traditional habits like the Poor Clares at EWTN or the Nashville Dominicans? Will we see the growing numbers of seminarians in dioceses where the bishop is orthodox and where the sacraments are celebrated reverently and correctly? No, they will show you the decaying and dying vestiges of the infamous 'spirit of Vatican II' church. Priests and nuns in street attire, not wearing ecclesiastical garb; and usually old, grumpy and obnoxious throw-backs to the 1960's besides.

Pollsters will tell us that a 'majority' of Catholics disagree with the Pope and Magisterium. Even if it were true, SO WHAT? Does the vox populi determine reality? When everyone thought the world flat, did it make it so? But I question the veracity of those figures. Who pays these bean counters to crunch the numbers? If the majority of Catholics renounce Catholic doctrine and discipline, why do they stay Catholic? Why is Catholicism still the largest religion on earth with over one BILLION members? Why are converts still coming into full communion with the Catholic Church every Easter Vigil around the globe? When 3 MILLION young people came to Rome for WYD towards the end of Pope John Paul's pontificate, the news media barely covered the event. Had three of those youth got drunk and turned over a Fiat, it would have been a breaking news flash.

Buckle your seat belts, boys and girls, it is going to be a bumpy ride, at least from the perspective of the secular media. On the other hand, watch the coverage on EWTN and you WILL see and hear what is really out there; a Catholic RENAISSANCE, begun by JP2 and continuing with B16.