Tennis and the Priesthood

This article was just too fun not to post!

Archbishop Dolan is a Rockstar!

Check out this great video clip of the archbishop. What a gift to us!!!

Woman Warrior: St. Mary MacKillop

This weekend Pope Benedict XVI canonized six saints, including the great Br. André (of Montreal), and St. Mary MacKillop, the first Australian born saint. According to reports, Australia had quite a party celebrating Sr. Mary of the Cross.

The first nun, and mother superior of the Josephite Sisters, Mary MacKillop is also somewhat of a rarity in the canon of saints--she was excommunicated for "insubordination" by a bishop. (Her excommunication lasted less than a year.)

The story goes as follows:

But the full story is that Mary MacKillop was excommunicated out of "revenge," in the words of one priest familiar with her life, for uncovering a case of sex abuse by a Father Keating, in a nearby parish. Paul Gardiner, S.J., the former postulator of MacKillop's canonization process, told an Australian television documentary a few days ago, "Priests being annoyed that somebody had uncovered it--that would probably be the way of describing it--and being so angry that the destruction of the Josephites was decided on." A statement from the Sisters of St. Joseph has confirmed that the documentary's reports are "consistent with" studies of the event.

--James Martin, S.J. in America Magazine via The Deacon's Bench. Read the whole story here.

She was clearly a remarkable woman, and a wonderful reminder to us that not only is there a role for women in the Church, but that we have something powerful to fight for: the protection of innocence in all its forms through our witness to the faith.

Novena for Priests

In honor of the Year for Priests, The Magdalene Sisters will be praying this Novena for Priests. Please join us tomorrow in this special prayer. The Novena will end on Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd:

Jesus, Good Shepherd,
You sent us the Holy Spirit to guide Your Church
and lead her faithful to You through the ministry of Your priests.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, grant to Your priests
wisdom in leading,
faithfulness in teaching,
and holiness in guarding Your sacred Mysteries.

As they cry out with all the faithful, "Abba, Father!"
may Your priests be ever more closely identified with You
in Your divine Sonship
and offer their own lives with You, the one saving Victim.

Make them helpful brothers of one another,
and understanding fathers of all Your people.

On this Pentecost Sunday, renew in Your priests deeper faith,
greater trust in You,
childlike reliance on our Mother Mary,
and unwavering fidelity to the Holy Father and his bishops.

Holy Mary, intercede for your priests.
St. Joseph, protect them.
St. Michael, defend them.
St. John Vianney, pray for them.

The Stones Will Cry Out

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

He said in reply, "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!"

As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides."
-- Luke 19: 39-42 (Verses 39/40 were read at the Procession of the Palms on Passion Sunday.)

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for me. I've been watching the news more closely than ever before in my life--between health care and the scandals involving the Church in Ireland and Germany (and now again in the US). Last weekend was a joyful respite from my worries about the Church. With a guest in town, I was too busy to read obsessively the news. But, Monday rolled around and I fell back into the cycle.

When I was in highschool, I was pretty obsessed with Politics. We were an argumentative bunch, and being interested in and to a certain extent involved in politics gave weight to our arguments, and made us all feel like we were part of something more. When I got to college life and literature distracted me, and since then I have spent my time trying to avoid politics like the plague. (Its difficult to do in Washington, but so far I have succeeded.)

Two weekends ago, I felt drawn towards the news about the HCR Bill like a magnet, and thus began the old cycle of obsessively following news until I felt depressed and inadequate to confront the task at hand. Sunday evening at mass I was reminded to "rejoice" and I tried to focus on the truly important things.

And then the shit hit the fan. Major newspapers across the US and the world began a coordinated attack on the Church. And make no mistake--it is a coordinated attack, if not consciously than supernaturally, for there is great good happening in the Church today, and the Devil is surely out to destroy that good.

Make no mistake, the sexual abuse of minors is vile, and utterly reprehensible, and I mourn for the innocence stolen from these child's hearts. There is plenty to fault the Church with in its past handling of the sexual abuse of minors. But we should also credit them with the great good that has been accomplished in rooting out these evils. Great strides have been takes and new measures enacted that will help the Church in the future. Reputable sources have said again and again that Pope Benedict, above all other men in the Vatican, has been responsible for the great work that has been done in rooting out this "filth" (his word).

This, then, is where I am most distressed. Not only do the stories sensationalize and trivialize the real suffering of those involved, and not only do they fail to report accurately on the proceedings of individual cases, but they also slander our shepherd, who is a good man dedicated to serving the Church--and has never minced words with pedophiles (see paragraph #7 in his Letter to Ireland).

Much of my anger about the articles has faded. The facts have been corrected elsewhere (check out my quick list below of sources I consider invaluable)--though they still have not been corrected by those who perpetrated them (especially not the New York Times). And this battle is by no means over--we must be watchful and diligent.

For my part, I can't take the media attention anymore. When Father read the words of the reading from St. Luke quoted above at mass on Sunday, I could hardly hold back the tears. Which the whole word is crying out in anger (some of it deserved), I just want to leap into the defense of Pope Benedict. I'll be that stone, crying out to praise the Lord and thank Him for his blessings.

To that end, I am really enforcing a silence. I am turning off all these outside voices for the Triduum, to allow myself to be free from worry and to really rejoice in the Feast at hand. I encourage you all to do the same.

Essential Sources:

+ As pertains to the Milwaukee Case please read the article written by Fr. Thomas Brundage, who was the presiding judge on the case (and who has not been called upon as a source by any of the major news outlets!!!). (HT: Thomas Peters)this statement from the current Archbishop of Milwaukee

+ For a factual rebuttal of the specific claims of the New York Times article, please check out Fr. Raymond J. De Souza's article in National Review--this includes a timeline based on the documentation between Archbishop Weakland and the CDF.

+ John Allen is the only good thing about the National Catholic Reporter. Read his articles here and here.

+ Furthermore, keep tabs on The Anchoress as well. She is links heavily to real sources, and, as a former viticm of sexual abuse, speaks from a place none of us can imagine, with grace, circumspection, and fairness. This, I think, is the most comprehensive, powerful, prayerful, courageous and hopeful post I've read yet. UPDATE: Read this morning's post too.

Let me close with this quote from Pope Benedict on the occasion of his very first mass as Pope:

My dear friends –
at this moment I can only say:
pray for me,
that I may learn to love the Lord more and more.
Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more
– in other words, you, the holy Church,
each one of you and all of you together.
Pray for me,
that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.
Let us pray for one another,
that the Lord will carry us
and that we will learn to carry one another.

[Pope Benedict XVI, 24 April, 2005]

Pope's Letter to Ireland

Have you read the Holy Father's letter, released Saturday, to the Church in Ireland? You should. It is amazing. And new. And bold. And personal. And healing.

(Pope Benedict needs a lot of prayers, by the way. This is a hard time for the Church, but thank God he is our Head.)

St. John Vainney

My little children, your hearts, are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.

--Saint John Vianney


Today is the feast of St. John Vianney, and as it is also the year for Priests, I think we should note this day especially. Saint John Vianney is one of the greatest saints of our time, and a model for all Christians, not just for priests. As a parish priest, we should look to him to help us in dealing with our own pastors, and in praying for our pastors that they comfort, strengthen and encourage as needed and willed by God.

St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Humble Hope

“To God who has so abundantly blessed the church through the Dominican Order; may the Order of Preachers, under the mantle of the Mother of God, continue to flourish in fraternal love purified in obedience to the truth.”
--Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P.


(HT: Whispers)

On Celibacy

Most of you probably know about Human Life International, and it's president, Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer. They do amazing work, and if you don't, please take a moment to check them out.

Fr. Euteneuer also writes a weekly column which he send to the HLI mailing list, and I wanted to point out to you this week's excellent commentary on Celibacy.

Number One: Celibacy is a gift to the world, not a rule imposed by the Church on a few seemingly-abnormal men. Celibacy initiates men into a life of spiritual fatherhood in a strikingly positive way for others. We are called “father” for a reason: we bring spiritual life to our people through the sacred mysteries which we handle, and they are drawn into a spiritual family thereby. A truly dedicated priest has thousands of spiritual children who sometimes make immense demands on him—I often wish I had only seven children like my father! In an age where men have massively renounced their sacred duty to generate, protect and nurture families, there are myriads of selfless, celibate men sacrificing themselves in a truly manly way for the sake of God’s family and, indeed, even for the sake of many individual families.

...Number two: Celibacy is the personal renunciation of the legitimate goods of marriage and family as a fruitful sacrifice for the kingdom of God. The astonishment of this generation that a perfectly normal, red-blooded male could make that particular sacrifice is exactly the point of celibacy. The world needs to know that there are some men walking around who are not bound either by the expectations of society or by the terms of our fleshly human nature. They are bound by only one concern; that of a kingdom that is not of this world, and they are willing to sacrifice everything for it. The presence in society of men who make this sacrifice is profoundly challenging to a culture that wants to reduce everything in life to the pleasure principle...

For the full article, click here, and to subscribe to Fr. Eutenuer's Spirit & Life newsletter, click here.