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April 2021
April 18, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Just as in the story of Jesus and the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, today we again here in the Gospel, that disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. The breaking of the bread… I was recently going through the First Communion Register of the Parish – the earliest record we have is 1933. As I read through the list of names my heart warmed as I recognized parishioner’s past and present who made their First Communion here. Like the disciples in today’s Gospel, our founding brothers and sisters came to know the Lord in the breaking of the Bread in the very place you and I meet Him today! I love to hear Joan Tracey, Jack Corrigan, Ralph Daniels, Denny Roberts, MaryBeth Wardell and more recount their First Communion Day here at Saint Sebastian!
Bread is such an important part of our lives. When I lived in Denver I remember asking my superior is there any place I could go to get “good Italian Bread”? Can you imagine, no good Italian Bakery in Denver?? How did Mother Cabrini survive when she lived there? One of my favorite moments is “dunking bread” to taste Sunday Gravy; or bread to savor every last morsel on my plate. Have you ever had the delicious Easter Bread our Slavic/Polish Brothers and Sisters make at Easter Time? Delicious beyond words!
In our Catholic Imagination every bread serves as a symbol to remind us of the Bread of Angels that we are privileged to have as our Food to strengthen us in our daily lives; to forgive our venial sins; to strengthen us in charity; and, to make us one with one another, all the angels and saints, and the communion of saints in which we especially remember those we love who are part of the Eternal Wedding Banquet of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Breaking of the Bread we come to know the Lord, and we come to know ourselves!
One of the great sacrifices of the Pandemic has been the months that so many have gone without the gift and grace of this Heavenly Bread. One of the sad side effects of the isolation of the Pandemic is that so many of us have become comfortable in missing Mass, watching Mass at home in our PJ’s and a cup of coffee. In the words of Saint Paul, it is now the hour for us to wake from sleep: come home to Mass!
I am deeply heartened by the increasing number of people attending Mass each weekend. We continue to maintain our safe practices of wearing our masks, no sign of peace, and sanitizing the pews after every Mass.
We are aware all aware of the staggering statistics of the percentage of Catholics who do not attend Mass on a regular basis: before Covid it was 61%. Thankfully, post Covid 51% of that 61% state that they feel that the time has come for them to attend Mass more regularly: a Covid grace?
Why has Mass attendance become such a burden; and, why has it become so tragically less important for so many? I offer you the following reflections:
· Our Church has a high percentage of poor preachers, and an even higher percentage of music poorly chosen and poorly performed. Preaching needs to become the most important thing a priest does: we need the laity to assume more roles of leadership in our parishes.1 Budgets need to reflect the priority music is in celebrations that build faith.2
· We have lost a sense of Sunday as the “Lord’s Day”: the day for God and for families.3
· We have allowed ourselves to be fooled by the premise that I can be “spiritual” and therefore I don’t need to attend Church. You might be spiritual, but you are missing the central point of Catholic Spirituality: feasting on the Body and Blood of Christ.4
In the post-Christian age in which we live, may our Catholic Imagination be revived that all the faithful will grow in a new deeper appreciation for and practice of our Sunday celebrations, and come to know Him in the breaking of the Bread!
Until we meet at the altar, know that I thank God for each of you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In The Lord,
1 Rather than administration, pastors need to employ Business Managers and Bookkeepers. We need those who care for and alert the pastor to approaching capital needs and regular preventive maintenance. This will require that parishes become vibrant, sustainable of worship, learning, and service.
2 Music In Catholic Worship: #5: Good celebrations build faith; poor celebrations weaken or destroy faith. USCCB, 1982, revised 1998. And also, Are We Killing our Priests? The increasing demands that a pastor is architect, construction supervisor, accountant, as well as parish priest and all that that entails, we are creating a culture of burn out or worse. Father Francis Dorff, O. Praem., 1990.
3 Dies Domini, Pope St. John Paul II, 1993. “Leave everything on the Lord’s Day”, urges the third century text known as the Didascalia, “and run diligently to your assembly, because it is your praise of God. Otherwise, what excuse will they make to God, those who do not come together on the Lord’s Day to hear the word of life and feed on the divine nourishment which lasts forever?”
4 Ibid, #44. The Sunday Eucharistic gathering is an experience of brotherhood, which the celebration should demonstrate clearly, while ever respecting the nature of the liturgical action (44).
April 11, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
As I write to you, I look out the window and see the yard and Church - at this moment, both are bathed in the morning sun.
As I look at this beauty it is impossible not to see the yard as it was last Sunday: filled with children carrying their Easter Baskets filled with eggs; the sounds of children yelling to one another about their treasures; parents and Grandparents taking pictures; clusters of friends talking with one another; happy faces and voices grateful to be together!
Is it any wonder we sing: THIS is the Day the Lord has made: Alleluia?!?
My first thought is one of profound gratitude to God for the wonderful graces of the Lenten Season, but especially our celebrations of Palm Sunday, the Triduum and Easter Sunday. How good God is to us! In His goodness the Father sends us His Son to be our redeemer, and in Jesus we witness the fulfillment of the words “the measure of our Love is to Love without measure!” No one loves us like Jesus loves us – the Cross and the Resurrection are perfect examples of this love. But God shows us His goodness in so many ways. Let’s reflect together:
* We behold God’s goodness in the great gift we have to worship Him in the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty;
* We experience God’s goodness in the all who attended the great services through the Triduum, but especially for the GREAT crowd of witnesses who attended the 9am Mass on Easter, and the Easter Egg Hunt that followed ;
* We are touched by God’s goodness through the inspiring music offered us through the talented, dedicated, and hard work of Megan Morrow (who is really the Director of Music !) and our guest organist and conductor, Dr. John Romeri;
* We are grateful for God’s goodness in the servers who came forward to make the Triduum Services so prayerful and perfect:
* We are grateful to God for the hard work and generosity of Mike Sullivan who keeps the Church shinning;
* For Karin Schrott overseeing baby sitting (YEAH!) and the Easter Egg Hunt;
* We know God’s goodness in the dedication of Bob Short who is more like our Assistant Pastor, than a Pastoral Associate – we are so blessed in Bob;
* We thank God for Fr. Jordan the Younger, and Fr. Michael, for the hours they spent in the confessional, for their preaching, and for their presence;
* We thank God for the 4 new families who have joined us through the days of Holy Week – inspired by the sense of welcome and the beauty of our Liturgies;
* And most of all: we thank God for the gift of Himself and the wonders and graces showered upon us the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ!
Indeed, my dear ones, God has loved us with a love that knows no measure! May we always respond with grateful hearts for all the blessings He has showered upon us!
But, as I said last week, Easter begins the Great 50 Days, and today we continue our 50 Days of celebration.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Given to us by Pope Saint John Paul II, at the Mass for the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, Pope John Paul II proclaimed to the world that “from now on throughout the Church this Sunday will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.” Pope John Paul had actively promoted the message of St. Faustina.
In his 1980 encyclical on God’s mercy, Rich in Mercy, he developed a scriptural and doctrinal basis for our faith in the mercy of God. By linking the revealed truth about God’s mercy to one of the most solemn Sundays after Easter itself, he illumined the fact that the liturgy already proclaimed the divine mercy.
Pope Francis has urged us “not to be silent about the sorrows and injustices that surround us”. Only the mercy of God can give us the graces we need to not harbor resentment in our hearts towards our persecutors; to not be paralyzed by fear; and to come to forgive those who betray the dignity of another person as they try to invalidate God’s Presence in them because of race, gender, ethnicity, or orientation. The candles that burn by Our Lady of Perpetual Help and our Lady of Guadalupe are symbols to remind us of our need for God’s Mercy and to pray for the hearts of all men and women to live in peace and tranquility.
Until we meet at the altar, know that I thank God for each of you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In The Lord,
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March 2021
March 14, 2021
MY DEAR ONES,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Have you ever wondered how Operation Rice Bowl began? This is a very interesting sketch of it’s beginning.
RICE BOWL MAKES FAMILY TABLE AN ‘ALTAR’ OF SERVICE, SAYS FOUNDER
From its earliest days, the outreach was an ecumenical one, born of hearing “tremendous reports of suffering from Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa” during the early 1970s, said Msgr. Coll.
“It wasn’t just a question of hunger,” he said. “It was a question of starving to death.”
The horrors of the recent Vietnam War had also left parishioners “wanting to do something, rather than bomb something,” he added. “It was a moment in time, divinely inspired.”
In response, Msgr. Coll organized a meeting with area faith leaders and presented his Rice Bowl idea, which quickly took root.
“We had the whole city of Allentown involved, about 13 Protestant churches and one Jewish congregation, and then about 10 Catholic parishes,” he said.
Word spread beyond the Allentown Diocese, which had been partitioned from the Philadelphia Archdiocese only a decade prior in 1961, thereby incardinating Msgr. Coll – a graduate of St. Cyril of Alexandria School in Lansdowne – into the new territory. He soon received an inquiry from then Msgr. (and later Cardinal) John P. Foley, editor of the Catholic Standard and Times (the print predecessor of CatholicPhilly.com).
“While our little group was designing this project in the basement of the world, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was planning its Eucharistic Congress,” said Msgr. Coll. “So Jack called me and said, ‘What’s going on?’”
Msgr. Foley was prompted by more than his award-winning journalistic sense: he was also a member of the board of governors for the 1976 congress, and the theme for international gathering (the 41st of its kind) was “The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family.”
With the blessing of Pope Paul VI, the congress sought to examine both physical and spiritual hungers – and Msgr. Foley believed the Rice Bowl initiative “would dovetail perfectly” with such an undertaking, said Msgr. Coll.
Meetings with Philadelphia Cardinal John Krol and CRS soon followed, and by 1976, at least 118 U.S. dioceses had raised more than $5.1 million thanks to Msgr. Coll’s basic concept.
The little bowl also took Msgr. Coll to some of the very places his outreach had been launched to help. Through his new work with CRS, he traveled to Ethiopia, Yemen, Lebanon and Poland, while meeting St. Teresa of Calcutta and bringing relief supplies to several of her Beirut-based Missionaries of Charity sisters, whom he found sheltering “in a bombed-out building” during Lebanon’s long-running civil war.
Ministering firsthand to victims of hunger and violence only confirmed what had been in his heart from Rice Bowl’s beginnings, he said.
In fact, the name “Operation Rice Bowl” was itself chosen in part for its abbreviation as “O.R.B.,” evoking the Latin word orb, or “world,” said Msgr. Coll, noting that caring for others is central to the Gospel message.
“You do not find love — but love first, and then you will find love,” he said. “That’s one of the themes of Rice Bowl. Who is thy brother?”
Please pray for me as I do for you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,Fr. Jordan
Article by Gina Christian on February 16, 2021 in the Catholic Philly.
March 7, 2021My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Have you ever wondered how Operation Rice Bowl began? This is a very interesting sketch of its beginning.
Rice Bowl makes family table an ‘altar’ of service, says founder
A nationwide Lenten tradition traces its roots to the Philadelphia area – and to a priest who wanted to make the family dining room table an “altar” of sacrifice and service.
Now in its 46th year, Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) Rice Bowl initiative combines prayer, fasting and almsgiving to help those in need both in the U.S. and abroad. During Lent participants donate to the campaign by contributing money they save through fasting or preparing meatless meals like those eaten in impoverished nations.
Of each year’s collection, 75% goes to support humanitarian response and development programs that CRS – the official relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — operates in more than 100 countries, benefiting some 159 million people.
The remaining 25% funds local efforts to alleviate hunger, such as those directed by archdiocesan Nutritional Development Services (NDS), which provides assistance to some 50 area food cupboards and soup kitchens in the five-county area.
The change collected in the cardboard Rice Bowl containers has added up considerably over the years. Since its inception in 1975 and adoption a year later by the Catholic Church in the U.S., the program has raised more than $250 million. Some $62.5 million of the total has funded U.S. diocesan ministries and $187.5 million has assisted CRS’s international response.
Spiritual reflections and first-person stories of Rice Bowl beneficiaries round out the program, fostering encounters with the divine and with people from other cultures.
And that was exactly the point from the very start, said Msgr. Robert Coll, who created Rice Bowl while he was pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Allentown.
“The idea was simple,” said Msgr. Coll, an Allentown Diocese priest now retired and living in Florida. “I have food, my brother has no food, so I will give him some of my food.”
Specifically, Msgr. Coll encouraged his parishioners to “eat a truncated meal, maybe soup and a sandwich, and take the difference between that and what you would have spent as a kind of symbolic” form of aid, he said.
Donations would then be “taken to church and deposited” separately from the general collection, he added.
Article by Gina Christian on February 16, 2021, in the Catholic Philly. Part Two coming next week.
Please pray for me as I do for you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
Fr. Jordan
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February 2021
February 21, 2021
My Dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
I have had both vaccines! There is great deal of speculation about the side effects of the second vaccine. Luckily, I didn’t have any of the physical side effects, but I am very lethargic. Thank you for all your concern, congratulations, and support: I am most grateful!
Lenten Hallmarks and Accountability
The traditional Lenten hallmarks of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are calling for our consideration once again. Are we able to look at these in a new way, or do we revert to the knee-jerk response drilled into our DNA from years of repetition? Let’s consider the following:
Prayer is first and foremost a conversation from the heart of God to our heart and vice – a – versa. Prayer is basking in the presence of the beloved. Do we make the time to build this kind of a prayer life, or do we keep making excuses that “we will get to it tomorrow?” Living alone, I can become glued to the idiot box. During Lent I intend to not start watching a show as soon as dinner is over, but use the 60 – 90 minutes for prayer, study, and spiritual reading.
Fasting is to deprive ourselves of something, so that the lack of one thing may be filled by the presence of another greater good. This Lent I want to two small meals and one larger meal each day. I also pledge myself to walking daily. Why do this? First to make a greater space in my life for God; Secondly to become healthier.
Almsgiving calls us to put the needs of another before our own needs, wants, or desires. We can do this monetarily, as we will be asked to do through the Catholic Charities Appeal. But, we can also offer the alms of reconciliation where we might have had a falling out with someone. Or, call someone or send a card to someone who could truly benefit from our trying to reach out to them. Throughout Lent I plan to call every household just to say hello and see how you are doing.
I don’t tell you all of this for some kind of vainglory. Rather, I ask you to check in with me from time to time and see how I am doing this Lent! I need to be accountable to someone.
Some Points of Information
Whether in person or virtually I hope you will participate in our Mission this weekend. Especially, avail yourself to Adoration and Confession. See the schedule in the bulletin for the time Confessions begin. Adoration begins at the end of Mass.
Lenten Masses and Stations of the Cross
There will be one extra Mass throughout Lent, and that Mass will be at 5:30pm on the Fridays of Lent. Stations of the Cross will follow at 6:05.
On the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, which is a Friday, Mass will be at 6pm. I am the celebrant and Monsignor Montecalvo will be the homilist.
Outreach Opportunities
A great way to give alms is by helping with our Parish Lenten Collections: socks, toiletries, and food. See the bulletin for more details.
Please pray for me as I do for you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
In the Lord,
Fr. Jordan, O.P.
February 14, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
I hope you are enjoying Bishop Conley's reflections concerning beauty, and the necessity and power with which beauty feeds the Liturgy and our works of Evangelization. His reflections are especially poignant during these COVID Days: how, even in the days of COVID, can we nurture beauty in our lives and in the way we Worship? The Bishop offers great moments of reflection: enjoy!
Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Role of Beauty in the Restoration of Catholic Culture
IV. Beauty in the New Evangelization
Clearly, beauty has a major role to play in the New Evangelization. I want to conclude with three points of guidance, which will help us incorporate beauty in our re-evangelization of Western culture.
The first point—and the most essential—is that we must present the truths of faith in a beautiful way. Our liturgical worship, in particular, must reflect God’s own beauty and holiness.
Worship, after all, is the basis of Christian culture. The beauty of the sacred liturgy is meant to radiate outward into the world. Liturgical beauty shapes the common life of believers, and it can also help to attract those who are outside the Church.
A leading liturgical scholar, Monsignor Nicola Bux, has said that: “a mystical liturgy celebrated with dignity can be a great help for people searching to find God.”
“Historically,” he notes, “great converts were struck by grace while attending solemn rites and listening to extraordinary chants.”
Monsignor Bux is right. To renew Catholic culture, and evangelize our contemporaries, we must restore beauty to the sacred liturgy. If we cannot restore beauty and holiness to our sanctuaries, we will not be able to restore it anywhere else.
My second recommendation is that we familiarize ourselves with the beauty of historic Christian culture. We do not all have to be scholars like John Senior. But we should open our hearts and minds to the beautiful things that the Incarnation has made possible.
Recently the fledgling monastery of Benedictine Nuns north of Kansas City have recorded two beautiful CDs of Gregorian chant for the record label Decca and sales have gone through the roof. People recognize beauty when they see it and hear it.
The Benedictine Monks of Clear Creek, the founders of whom are fellow classmates of mine from the IHP, started the monastery with 12 monks in 1999 and now count 42—all young and living lives of prayer and work, ora et labora—centered on chanting in Latin the psalms throughout the day.
It is interesting to talk to the local Oklahoma farmers who have lived in the area for generations, an area which has very few Catholics. They are enamored with the monks. Farming, and friendship, is an important point of common ground. Through dialogue and friendship, we can help the world to understand the Christian worldview that inspired the beauty we all appreciate.
Finally, I would suggest that we open our own minds to beauty, in all its manifestations. It is often said that all truth is God’s truth, wherever one finds it; and the same can be said of beauty: all genuine beauty belongs to God, wherever it may be found.
Christian culture is a supreme expression of beauty in the service of truth. But there is beauty to be found everywhere, throughout God’s creation and the field of culture. The Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, a favorite of Pope Francis, wrote that the whole world was “charged with the grandeur of God,” for those with eyes to see it.
So we must develop our own appreciation of beauty, wherever it exists. Then we can help others to see beauty for what it is: an earthly reflection of God’s glory—a glory that leads to truth and goodness.
V. Conclusion
In the midst of our present cultural crisis, we can take courage, knowing that God is not silent. He continues to speak powerfully by means of beauty, even to those who have become dulled to the realities of truth and goodness.
“Beauty will save the world,” wrote Dostoevsky. It will. When it points to God’s enduring love.
There are many souls to rescue, and a vast cultural wasteland to restore. Both tasks will require fluency in God’s language of beauty.
To speak this language, we must first begin to listen. And to listen, we must have silence in our lives. I pray that God will open our eyes and ears to beauty, and help us use it in the service of the Truth.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
Fr. Jordan
Originally published in Crisis Magazine on October 10, 2013
February 7, 2021My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
I hope you are enjoying Bishop Conley's reflections concerning beauty, and the necessity and power with which beauty feeds the Liturgy and our works of Evangelization. His reflections are especially poignant during these COVID Days: how, even in the days of COVID, can we nurture beauty and our lives and in the way we Worship? The Bishop offers great moments of reflection: enjoy!
Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Role of Beauty in the Restoration of Catholic Culture
II. Encountering the Beauty of Christian Culture
As I mentioned, I am a convert to the Catholic faith. I entered the Church in 1975, under the guidance of one of the 20th century’s great teachers—the late John Senior, co-founder of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas. John Senior was my godfather, and his ideas about faith and culture are a continuing inspiration to me.
My godfather loved beauty—not for its own sake, but for the sake of Jesus Christ, the creator and redeemer of beauty. Senior saw the beauty of this world in the light of eternity, and he helped others to acquire the same transcendent vision.
John Senior was not an evangelist, in the traditional sense of the word: he did not preach from a pulpit, or write works of apologetics. His goal in the classroom was not to convert us, but to open our minds to truth, wherever it might be found. And he did that primarily through the imagination.
In his own unusual way, Senior was a remarkably gifted evangelist. He had a deep love for the Church, and for the beauty of historic Christian culture. And that love was infectious. There were literally hundreds of converts to the Catholic Church at the University of Kansas in the 1970’s.
The Integrated Humanities program ran from 1970 to 1979, a decade that, with the exception of some really great rock and roll, was a cultural wasteland.
When I began the program, there was little of Christendom’s rich history in my cultural formation. At the University of Kansas, my fellow students and I had very little sense of our own cultural inheritance. We were ignorant of Western civilization’s founding truths, and we had only a passing acquaintance with the beauty they had inspired.
Our lives had largely been shaped by the crass appeals of the mass media, and the passing fads of popular culture. There was a lack of truth in our lives, certainly; but there was also a profound lack of beauty. Our souls were starving for both, and we did not even know it.
But John Senior knew what we were lacking. His fellow professors, Dennis Quinn and Frank Nelick, also knew. They knew that students had to encounter beauty, and have their hearts and imaginations captured first by beauty, before they could pursue truth and goodness in a serious and worthy manner.
Truth was the ultimate goal. But the search for truth involved certain habits of mind, and habits of life, which we—as students—did not have. Our pursuit of truth required an initiation into beauty: the beauty of music, visual art and architecture, nature, poetry, dance, calligraphy, and many other things.
Through these experiences of beauty, we gained a sense of wonder; and that sense of wonder gave us a passion for truth. The motto of the IHP was a famous little Latin phrase: Nascantur in Admiratione (“let them be born in wonder”).
The experience of beauty changed us. When we studied the great philosophers and theologians, we were open to their words. We no longer assumed that truth was found in the dictates of popular culture—just as we no longer saw modern fads and fashions as the pinnacle of beauty. Truth is perennial and beauty is timeless.
As I mentioned, a large number of students became Catholic through the Integrated Humanities Program. But this was not the result of proselytism in the classroom nor was it engaging in apologetics. It occurred because we became lovers of beauty, and thus, seekers of truth. Beauty gave us “eyes to see” and “ears to hear,” when we encountered the Gospel and the Christian tradition.
III. The Transcendent Language of Beauty
I know, from experience, that beauty can reach people who seem unreachable. It can open their minds to truths they might otherwise dismiss. Even hardened skeptics and postmodernists find it hard to deny the reality of beauty, when they encounter it in a setting conducive to contemplation and reflection.
We have to realize that our ambient secular culture has a tight grip on the imagination. It is hard to break through. But the power of beauty still has a force that can penetrate even the hardest of hearts.
The experience of beauty is transformative. It awakens a sense within us, that life is meaningful on the most profound level. Beauty can move us to humility, giving us a sense of wonder before the mystery of life. The encounter with beauty speaks to us about the true, awe-inspiring nature of existence.
This is why we speak of beauty as something “transcendent.” Every instance of real beauty points beyond itself, toward the infinite perfection of God. He invested this world with many forms of captivating beauty, so that created things would lead us to contemplate the transcendent glory of the Creator.
We can think of beauty as a kind of language, through which God speaks to our hearts and souls. He is always speaking in this way—to all of us—believers and nonbelievers alike.
The beauty of creation declares the glory of God, even to those who do not yet believe. In beauty, the Lord reveals himself. In a similar way, artistic beauty shows us that man is made in the Creator’s image—even if the artist himself does not acknowledge this fact.
The language of beauty is especially important in our time, because we live in a period of grave intellectual and moral confusion.
Beauty is not the only language God uses to communicate his glory. Our Creator also speaks to our souls through intellectual truth and moral goodness.
But these forms of communication have become problematic. Many people, especially in modern Western culture, are too intellectually and morally confused to receive such a message.
God still speaks to these individuals in the language of truth and goodness. But their understanding is blocked by popular misconceptions—especially the idea that truth and goodness are purely subjective, and thus relative to the individual or group. “To each his own” or “who’s to say.” What Pope Benedict called the “dictatorship of relativism.”
Fr. Robert Barron, the Rector of Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary in Chicago, a theologian and great communicator of the faith, has lately taught that in the New Evangelization we must “lead with beauty.” Fr. Barron says that postmodern man might scoff at truth and goodness, but he’s still enthralled with beauty. He says that beauty is the arrowhead of evangelization, the point with which the evangelist pierces the minds and hearts of those he evangelizes.
To say with the poet, “look up, look up at the stars” is to point to creation or even to an artistic achievement, invites the nonbeliever first to appreciate what is and then to consider the origin of that which is.
In a cultural environment bereft of wonder, beauty takes on an even greater importance than it would otherwise have. Something in the experience of beauty is almost undeniable, even for the person who rejects the idea of objective truth or goodness. Beauty can get through, where other forms of divine communication may not.
When we begin with beauty, this can then lead to a desire to want to know the truth of the thing that is drawing us, a desire to participate in it. And then the truth can inspire us to do the good, to strive after virtue.
In one of his pre-papal writings, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the experience of being “wounded by the arrow of beauty.” That is a wonderful image for an experience shared by believers and non-believers alike. God’s “arrow of beauty” can pierce through many layers of confusion and error.
When that arrow reaches its target, a way opens within the heart. The search for truth becomes possible, and an obstacle to faith disappears.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
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January 2021
January 31, 2021
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Many of you have commented to me about how beautiful last week's Saint Sebastian Day Mass, and the deep sense of awe and celebration you experienced. As our Mission Statement states: ...To Worship God through prayerful beauty…
Building upon both our Mission Statement and our experience last Sunday, I thought this article by Bishop James Conley on Lincoln, Nebraska, might be informative.
Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Role of Beauty in the Restoration of Catholic Culture
When I began my seminary studies, I had only been a Catholic for a few years. I had converted to the Catholic Church during my undergraduate years at the University of Kansas through a course of studies in the Great Books called the Integrated Humanities Program. When I started seminary, I was still learning the ropes of Catholicism.
In my first semester, I discovered that new seminarians needed to find a spiritual director. A number of my brother seminarians recommended Fr. Anton Morganroth, one of our professors.
Fr. Morganroth was a Jewish convert to the Catholic faith who fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938. He was a tall, imposing figure. He was both loved and feared by the seminarians.
One day I mustered up the courage to introduce myself to Fr. Morganroth and I asked him if he would take me on for spiritual direction. He gazed down at me in silence, sizing me up, and then simply said “report to my quarters next Tuesday at 7pm.”
After dinner in the refectory, Fr. Morganroth would return to his room to play his piano—he played brilliantly. If you had an appointment with him he would leave the door ajar. You were to simply push the door open and take a seat in a chair next to the piano.
I remember making my way down the hallway toward Fr. Morganroth’s rooms for the first time, hearing beautiful classical piano music coming from his room. The door was ajar. I stood outside the door for a moment and just listened to the music. Eventually I pushed the door open, entered the room and took a seat. He looked over at me from the piano and nodded in approval.
I sat there, listening to the music. There was a musical score on the piano—a Mozart sonata—but Fr. Morganroth had his eyes closed the whole time. He was not reading the music. A few minutes went by. Then five minutes. Then seven minutes. Finally ten minutes went by. He completed the piece and there was silence.
I’ll never forget that silence.
We were both caught up in the beauty of the moment. It was probably the first time I had ever really heard classical music at such close range. It was something like perfection.
After a few moments of silence, eager to get started, I broke the silence and said “so, Father, are we going to have spiritual direction?”
Fr. Morganroth turned. He stared right through me and said “son, zat was your spiritual direction, you can go now.”
I returned the next week and we began our regular sessions, which were wonderful. But it was the beauty of that music that led the way; that opened my heart and mind to the realities of the spiritual life.
Most of us love the truth and beauty of our Catholic faith, and we want to share it with others. Most of us also know that our culture is headed in an alarming direction—toward a crisis that cannot be averted without Jesus Christ and his Church.
In fact, those two concerns—salvation and culture—are deeply related. The Gospel involves more than our individual salvation: it is also a universal mandate to, as Pope St. Pius X said, “restore all things in Christ.” Such a mandate extends beyond our own personal sanctification.
When we speak of evangelization, we mean not only the conversion of individuals, but also the transformation of culture. Christ is Lord of the public square, and our common life, just as he is the Lord of our homes and hearts. Thus, the Church’s evangelistic mission is also a mandate for cultural conversion.
The Second Vatican Council confirmed this cultural mandate, in its decree on the lay apostolate. Chapter II of Apostolicam Actuositatem taught that “Christ’s redemptive work, while essentially concerned with the salvation of men, includes also the renewal of the whole temporal order.”
“Hence,” the council said, “the mission of the Church is not only to bring the message and grace of Christ to men but also to penetrate and perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel.”
Cultural renewal is essential, because the Catholic faith is not just a private conviction. The mystery of the Incarnation changes everything. Our faith is meant to be the basis of a culture—a shared way of life that uses the things of this world to glorify God.
The great theologians teach us that grace does not abolish the good things of this world. Christ brings them, rather, to their fulfillment. Our faith is incarnational. All truth, all beauty, and all goodness, are “through him” and “for him.” These things are part of God’s redemptive plan. Truth, beauty, and goodness are integral to our salvation.
Faithful Catholics care about truth: like our Lord, we want all people “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We care, too, about goodness—especially moral goodness, the life of virtue so often spurned by contemporary culture.
But what about beauty? Where is the place for beauty in our evangelization of the culture?
This is an important question, and one we sometimes overlook or misunderstand. It is this question, the role of beauty in evangelization and cultural renewal that I want to consider.
The title of this essay is Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Role of Beauty in the Restoration of Catholic Culture. The title is taken from a passage in Book X of the Confessions of Saint Augustine. In Chapter X, Saint Augustine laments the fact that it has taken him 33 years to discover the beauty of the divine. In those immortal lines he cries out: “Late have I loved thee, O beauty ever ancient, ever new.”
Beauty is both ancient and new: we are at once surprised and comforted by its presence. Beauty exists in a sphere beyond time. And so beautiful things expose us to the timelessness of eternity.
This is why beauty matters, in an eternal sense. Beauty was part of God’s creative plan in the beginning, and it is just as much a part of his redemptive plan now. God has placed the desire for beauty within our hearts, and he uses that desire to lead us back to himself.
Truth and beauty are both gifts from God. So our New Evangelization must work to make truth beautiful. By means both ancient and new, we must make use of beauty—to infuse Western culture, once more, with the spirit of the Gospel.
By means of earthly beauty, we can help our contemporaries discover the truth of the Gospel. Then, they may come to know the eternal beauty of God—that beauty Saint Augustine described as “ever ancient, ever new.”
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
Fr. Jordan
Bishop Conley’s article will continue in next week’s From Fr. Jordan.
Originally published in Crisis Magazine on October 10, 2013
January 24, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
I am composing this column on the Solemnity of Saint Sebastian, and the day on which Joseph R. Biden, Jr. becomes the 46th President of the United States of America. Spiritually and socially it is a day of informational and emotional overload.
Emotionally, to watch a 78-year-old man become the leader of the free world, and to assume this Office with such determination, zeal, and heartfelt pleading plumbs the depths of the human heart, no matter on which side of the isle one places themselves. President Biden’s zeal for and his repeated appeal for reconciliation flow from his Catholic faith and education; from the crucible of the realities of life; and from, his deep-seated desire for America to truly be the city set on a hill. Today is also emotional as we step back and consider the life of our Patron, Saint Sebastian and what his life and example mean for each of us today.
Information informs and shapes our emotion. Saint Sebastian, a “double martyr” shines in our day as a beacon for our healing as well as reconciliation.1 The story of President Biden’s life informs us that faith in God; living the virtue of fortitude; and, humbly accepting what God allows and to what He calls us leads to our own flourishing and the wellbeing of others. Combining the emotion and information that today brings, causes me to remember the words of the Book of Revelation: I stand in wonder and awe in all that You do for me, Lord, Mighty God!2
As we celebrate our Patronal Feast this Sunday, our Parish observes a great achievement: at the 10am the Mission Statement, written and ratified by the members of the Parish Council, will be presented to the entire parish. Our Mission Statement reads:
To Worship; To Serve; To Learn
Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and filled with love for our brothers and sisters,
The people of Saint Sebastian gather regularly,
To Worship God, the source and end of our lives through prayerful beauty;
To Serve our brothers and sisters, especially the poor and the marginalized, who are incarnate reflections of the Trinity;
Through prayer , Faith Formation and works of evangelization we strive to grow in
Faith, Hope, and Love.
A Mission Statement is a living, breathing statement that articulates our vision; shapes our priorities, guides our stewardship; and forms, our community. I urge you to pray with, read and study our Mission Statement. What does the Mission Statement call forth within you? Where does the Mission Statement invite you to serve? Reading the Mission Statement what resonates within you that you would invite a friend to “Come and See” the way we Worship, Serve, and Learn; the way we live?
I will receive my first vaccine on Monday, January 25. As we are cautioned about the Corona Virus let us remain vigilant to stay healthy; but let us also be people of prudent hope! Remember, our Patron, Saint Sebastian healed those suffering from the plague of the Black Death, may he also free us from the Pandemic!
Please pray for me as I do for you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
January 17, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
This week Mr. Bob and I have been visiting with our Candidates for Confirmation, as well as with their parents. I am grateful to Bob for organizing this, as well as for the families to make time for us to “visit” their homes. Our Confirmation Candidates are bright, articulate, shy, and delightful young men and women. How I miss their presence on “our campus” for in person education, as well having their physical presence at Mass. At one time we were accustomed to the phrase “all the world is a stage”. In our day that phrase has become, “all the world is a screen – a Zoom Screen”. In a few weeks, Bob and I will begin the visits with the parents and students preparing for First Confession and First Holy Communion.
Last week, my column ended with these words, “Let’s dream about what a Catholic Culture can look like for us, here in 02906!”: have you thought about that at all? As your Pastor and as your Spiritual Father, I urge you to consider this question of Catholic Culture. Culture shapes our beliefs and forms our thinking and our actions. What opportunities for Catholic Culture are present to us at this time? Try these:
If you do not feel comfortable coming to Mass in person, watch our livestream 10am Mass found on our Facebook Page. (These Masses are recorded and can be viewed later if 10am doesn’t work in your schedule.) For those preparing for the Sacraments, weekly Mass, either in person or via livestream, is required. If there are any technical difficulties, please contact Bob at ssricgs@gmail.com. he will do all he can to help you.
In today’s bulletin you will find a “Do It Yourself House Blessing”. Take Epiphany Water home with you and follow the directions found in the bulletin.
Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr, Day: spend time as a family discussing how there is more that unites us rather than divides us: pray for greater racial unity in our country and throughout the world.
On Wednesday of this week for the second time in the history of our nation a Roman Catholic, Joseph Biden, will become the 46th President of the United States. First and foremost, pray for the safety of our new president, as well as the safety for all who will gather in Washington, DC to celebrate this new chapter in the life of our country. Much has been said about President Biden’s living of his Catholic Faith: how well do we live ours?
Wednesday is also the Solemnity of Saint Sebastian – the Patronal Feast of our Parish. Our Patron was quite zealous in living his faith: martyred twice. A few years ago one of our young parishioners took “Sebastian” as his Confirmation Name. When I asked him why he chose this name he said, “Saint Sebastian was willing to die not once but twice for Jesus, I hope I would have the same strength and character to witness to Jesus.” From the mouths of babes….. Through the intercession of Saint Sebastian may we, by the manner of our lives, become great missionary disciples, drawing many to Jesus, and to our Parish!
In Italian culture there is the well-established tradition of Sunday dinner: 3pm at either Nonna’s house or one of your Zia’s; everybody was invited, everyone knew they had better be there; and in reality, everyone wanted to be there. All generations together around the table, agreeing and disagreeing; watching whatever game was on TV or playing outside; everyone learning from one another, and even in the arguments, knew we were loved! Sounds a lot like Mass, doesn’t it?
May we bring that kind of Catholic Culture into 02906 - - - you might be surprised how happy we will become!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
January 10, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Today’s liturgical celebration of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord concludes the Church’s Christmas Season. The Christmas music concludes today, the Christmas decorations will be taken down tomorrow and throughout the week; and, the poinsettias, magnificent as they are, are yours to take home – first come, first serve.
I have found myself savoring these many days of Christmas! I love to come to Church, or go into my chapel, and gaze upon the Nativity Scene. Romantic that I am, I looked forward to each afternoon as I would come to Church, turn on the Christmas lights, and sit in our Church and behold the altar and its splendor, gaze at Our Lady and Saint Joseph in their new homes, and again look upon the Christ Child. One of the great gifts of these holy days has been seeing so many people coming to make a visit. One day, in the midst of the silence there was the sound of a cooing baby – perhaps two or three weeks old – his mother brought him before the Manger, and I thought I was looking at the reality of the Incarnation right before my eyes!!
Our celebrations were nothing short of perfection! The appearance of the Church, Megan and Patrick and their gift of music, and the “marvelous exchange” of Christ becoming incarnate for our sake – all magnificent moments of grace! At first my heart sank at the small attendance, and then I simply thanked God for all those who were there and hoped many of you were watching from home.
Albeit, this was a vastly different Christmas, but still, it was Christmas, and it was so beautiful!
This difference led to some reflection. How do you celebrate the 7 Fishes with three people; how could it possibly be Christmas without family; how do we celebrate our customs – those events and practices that are just part of our culture?
Culture - - there is so much discussion about it today. Do we still have any culture? If we lost it, how did we lose it? And, if we have lost our culture, how do we regain it?
Growing up in a very ethnic neighborhood in which every home sat in the shadow of our Parish Church, the Church was the foundation of our culture – our Catholic Culture. Throughout the Christmas Octave and in these days after the Epiphany I have reflected very much upon our “Catholic Culture”. I mentioned some points of this culture in my homily on Christmas Eve: the 7 Fish Dinner; the sharing of Oplatki (communion wafers) and the mandatory mushroom soup for so many Slavic and Polish peoples; “Babka” or Christmas Bread; keeping the tree and most of the decorations up until at least the Epiphany; the giving of gifts on Christmas Day and on Epiphany Day; and our celebration of the Epiphany on the 12th day of Christmas – January 6 – all of these and more formed our Christmas practices of our Catholic Culture.
All of these practices helped to reinforce that we are Catholics, and we live in a different way, by different ideas, and by different dreams. Josef Piper writes that “leisure is the basis of culture”;1 our Catholic Culture helped to provide that leisure even in the midst of business. Culture, the patterning of symbol to express a common meaning, leads us beyond the immediate, the impulsive and calls to meditate upon those dreams that form us into the people we are.
On Christmas Eve I preached about how Christmas gives us the path to a better future. I mentioned that dreams invite us to see what is and what could be. Dreams invite us to choose – perhaps much like Robert Frost and the “road less traveled that makes all the difference” how we will live. And dreams call us to ACT: how will we make our dreams a reality.
How ironic, as well as crushingly sad, were the events of Epiphany Day 2021! On the very day we celebrate Christ manifested as the Savior of all people, making us one, our country had etched upon our eternal memory that we are a divided nation; that the separation between right and left is leading us in a perilous direction. Everything about Catholicism and Catholic Culture is about unity, the oneness of mind and heart that calls us to live in charity with one another, even when we disagreed.
I am convinced that the more we regain every aspect of our Catholic Culture rather than bifurcated idea of culture offered to us by society, government, the media, and every other false prophet the happier we will become, and the many dreams we have for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, will become ever more a reality, and not a nebulous idea “light years away”.
Let’s dream about what a Catholic Culture can look like for us, here in 02906!
Merry Christmas; Blessed New Year; I love you!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
January 3, 2021
My dear Ones,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
A Blessed Feast of the Epiphany! Happy “Little Christmas”! As a child growing up this was a wonderful day! At Mass, the Children’s Choir would sing all the songs we sang for Midnight Mass; and, as on Christmas Eve, we would wear our special “Christmas Angel Robes. Because the Feast was celebrated on its traditional day, January 6, we were often in school. The Sisters made sure it was a special day: the older grades would go and sing to the younger grades and the younger grades had treats for the upper grades. The cafeteria prepared a special “Epiphany Lunch” of traditional ethnic foods. The day would end with an all school assembly during which our Pastor, Father Pekarik would give a talk about the significance of the Epiphany, and his talk always ended with a “surprise” that like the wise men, we were to find our way home immediately and the school day ended early. Why all this fuss about the Epiphany?
Today’s Feast, transferred to a Sunday in the revision of the Liturgical Calendar by the Second Vatican Council, demonstrates to us that although the searching of the Magi was completed when they found the Christ Child, a new - interior journey began in them which would change their whole lives. The Magi went in search of justice because they longed for the renewal of the world. They were pilgrims in search of the justice that they expected from God – the justice that would set right all the wrongs and all the sufferings of their lives. They imagined a King, and they found a Child. And the Child was not even rich, He was so poor they adored Him in a manger surrounded by cattle and lying in straw. How could such a King bring them justice?
As the Magi discovered, God is so often manifested in our lives in the way we least expect, not according to our plans or our imaginings. Like the Magi, we discover this difference begins our interior journey. The Child in the manger, God made flesh, asks us to change our ideas about power, about God and about humanity, and about ourselves. The Christ Child asks us to become like Him as we offer Him our hearts and pour ourselves out in loving service for others; no lesser gift is sufficient for Him! The Christ Child asks us to conform our lives to His divine exercising of power, to God’s way of being. Jesus invites us to become people of truth, of justice, of goodness, of forgiveness, of mercy. How does this inner journey take place?
Much like these months of quarantine and isolations, with the Magi, we must “go into the house” and encounter Jesus. To find the Savior, we need to enter the house, which for us is not the manger, but our hearts and the Church. As the Magi encounter Jesus, they fall down in adoration; and their adoration blossoms into acts of faith and love, which acknowledges Jesus, who is born of Mary, is the Son of God, made man. We experience the same encounter as we come to the manger today and anytime, we enter the Church. And, during these months we have encountered the Lord as we took our limitedness and gave it to God.
I am sure our grade school Sisters wanted us to have this encounter with Jesus as they made Epiphany Day so special. They hoped that this encounter with Jesus would lead us to know, love and serve God with every fiber of our being. What has been your encounter with Christ this Christmas? You need not bring gold, frankincense or myrrh: bring your heart; our Infant King will do all that needs to be done!
the challenge, the seeming defeat, or the joy!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord, -
December 2020
December 13, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
Happy Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday! Today we light the rose candle, the celebrant wears rose vestments, and there is more decoration in the Church than there has been since advent began, the Day of our Salvation is close at hand!
The first words of the Angel Gabriel to Our Lady are, “Rejoice! Full of grace, the Lord is with you!” The Blessed Virgin Mary is the preeminent person in the world capable of rejoicing, for joy is the elation we experience when our will desires something ordered to our true happiness and when we possess that desired good. As a result, Mary can truly rejoice. In fact, her life is an act of rejoicing, for every act of her sinless will stands as the human fulfillment of the will of God: her only desire!
I would like to share a story with you that fills me with hope and a reason to rejoice; I pray it will do the same for you.
Throughout our lives we have known priests who are pastors, and then those who are pastors in bright neon lights; pastors who seem to have an unending resource of energy, ideas, joy, compassion, while also being financial geniuses and plant managers. My story is about a pastor of that later type, and the way he brings joy and hope to his people. His name is Father Bill.
After being a successful Neumann Chaplain, and Vocation Director for his Archdiocese, Father Bill was given his first pastorate. He was appointed to a beautiful Parish, in a wonderful neighborhood, and with a great community spirit. He was succeeding a beloved pastor who, when he was young, had all the ideas in the world and enlivened a parish that had been if not asleep, certainly sleepy. However, after 29 years his energy and ideas had grown dim, and the parish was in maintenance mode. To his credit, he admitted this, and welcomed Father Bill with open arms.
In about 6 months things were changing. The Religious Education doubled; a fledgling Parish School became phenomenally successful and was attracting his caliber faculty and students. And although the pews were never empty, now those pews were crowded, and crowded with young people and young families. At the end of Father Bill’s second year as pastor, there were over 100 weddings, and soon thereafter the subsequent baptisms.
His secret? Father Bill offers four things that serve as the foundation of everything he does:
1.His days begin and end with a holy hour, no matter how early or how late it may be; 2. Be happy and know your people, and in knowing them, love them; 3. See talent and call that talent to service; and, 4. Remember, all of this is to bring your people to encounter Jesus Christ, and for them to come to know, to love, and to serve Him with all their hearts, as married people and parents, or as priests, Brothers and Sisters; or permanent Deacons, and help them discover that this encounter is the source of their joy, their hope, and their freedom.1
Okay, Fr. Bill is a really great pastor, how does this bring us joy? Several weeks ago I received a phone call early on a Tuesday morning, it was Father Bill. He said to me, “Jordan, at 9am today be at your computer and go to the website of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts; you will learn about a surprise”, and he hung up the phone. The surprise? Father Bill has been appointed the new Bishop for the Diocese of Springfield; he will be ordained a Bishop tomorrow morning, December 14, at the Cathedral in Springfield.
In his press conference Bishop – elect Bill said:
I am a Parish Priest and a Pastor. As the Pastor of the Church of Springfield I bring you Christ – He is all I have to give you! I hope that as we work together, we our zeal for Christ will grow, and together we will bring Him to all those may already know Him; those whose faith has grown cold or weak, and to those who don’t know Him at all.
When asked about how he intends to “get things back on track after the Pandemic”, he responded:
Oh I hope we don’t simply get things back on track! God invites us to make things BETTER – better than they have ever been because we need embrace Him, hear the Gospel, and rebuild His Kingdom here in Springfield BETTER than we ever have before – He invites us to be better!
A Bishop who brings us only Christ; a Bishop who calls us to be better; and, a Bishop who walks along beside us, as together we discover and live Jesus as the source of his joyful – freedom.
Bishop William Byrne – a reason to hope; a reason to REJOICE!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
1 Not only did marriages and baptisms increase, vocations to the priesthood and religious life also began to come from the Parish.
December 6, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
I am making an online Advent Retreat – it takes about 20 minutes each day. The retreat is entitled, “Unshakeable Joy”. I offer you the following from the first Sunday of the retreat:
The One Thing that Matters this Christmas
For this Unbreakable Joy Advent retreat, I inserted a few written meditations between your 19 videos that are specifically about this holy season. I hope you enjoy them.
From the book: Joy to the World by Chris Stefanick
Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Luke 10:41-42
Searching for happiness and success
You might be familiar with the story of Mary and Martha, in which Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet while her sister Martha does the cooking and cleaning. When Martha complains about the obvious, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better portion.”
That Gospel always bothered me! If Martha weren’t cooking and cleaning, no one would have eaten!
But if you think about it, Jesus didn’t say, “Martha, Martha, stop cooking.” He said, “Stop being anxious about many things.”
It’s okay to work hard. The Advent and Christmas season are full of hard work. In fact, sometimes we’re so busy we end up snapping at the people we’re working hard to create a beautiful Christmas for! But Jesus is telling us “Don’t be busy. Be occupied.” If there are a hundred things on your plate, make sure only one thing’s on your heart.
“There is need of only one thing.”
And what’s that one thing? It’s love. Receive each task as a gift from God, offer it back to him, and do it all with generosity, in imitation of Jesus.
I know. Easier said than done.
Lord, help me to BE like Mary when I have to WORK like Martha.
In the Lord,
-
November 2020
November 15, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
Today
Today is a day of great grace for our Parish. The freshening of the sanctuary walls; the more prominent placement of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in what Bob Short has called “the Lady Chapel”; the placement of the statues of Our Lady and Saint Joseph in the Sanctuary near her son, and his foster-father; and most especially the central placement of Our Eucharistic-Lord are sacramentals that offer us outward signs of our encounters with God and His desire to walk with us throughout life. Let us be truly thankful and offer God our fullest praise!
Covid
The numbers are frightening! Please be assured that we continue to sanitize the Church after every Mass. Please, stay safe and stay well!
The Presidential Election
Whether your candidate was elected or not, we are called to be a more united country than we were before November 3. I received an email from someone who attended our Rosary Novena from afar that said, “I guess the Novena didn’t work…”. I would urge those who feel this way to try to look at this from the point of view that God had a different answer than this person wanted. When we don’t “get what we pray for” it doesn’t mean that God has turned his back on us, rather God has another reason for allowing what transpires, or we are not ready for what we asked, or from what God allows, notice I didn’t say “wills”, something better that we have not yet imagined will arise from the answer we did not receive. Let us continue to pray for our country and pray for a peaceful transition of power.
The Church
Once again our Church must face the ugly sinfulness of her members as we are confronted with too many details about the debaucheries of Ted McCarrick and his rise to tremendous ecclesiastical power. These realities break my heart; and, they also infuriate and frustrate me! In a conference call with other pastors, one priest said, “we have no credibility in the eyes of the world, let alone our people: we are an embarrassment.” I fear that this statement is painfully accurate.
I continued to think about these words after the call ended. I looked at the crucifix and thought “no one believed you, Lord, and you were pure goodness, mercy, and love…” Just as my brother priest feels embarrassment, I would presume that Our Lady, the Beloved Disciple, and other followers of Jesus felt the same way as they heard the taunting words, “He saved others! Let Him save Himself, if He is God’s Son, as He claimed…..” To say that McCarrick and the other men like him is the Church’s share in the Cross and Passion of Christ, and our constant need for purification is too facile, too little, and extremely short sighted. I believe there are several difficult realities that must be faced.
First, the bureaucracy that is the Church is broken and has failed the Church and will continue to fail the Church until this brokenness and failure is confronted directly. The first step in reshaping this bureaucracy is not sweeping changes in the Roman Curia and Diocesan Chanceries, as tempting as these options are, the first step towards repairing our Church must be rooted in prayer. Every person from the current Pope to the youngest Catholic must pray for the healing, renewal, and restructuring of the Church – not according to MY designs, but according to the desire of Jesus. What does Jesus desire: “Father, may they be one as We are one…”. We must pray that we may healed, renewed and made one according to the mission Jesus gave us, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”. After we have prayed for healing, renewal and unity, and only when we have reembraced the Great Commission, then we can reshape curia’s and chanceries, reshaping them according to God’s desire and creating structures that make us one, and that truly serve our mission.
Secondly, we need to be true to who we are, and who we said we would be. In one way or another we have said that we will either be a disciple or a friend of Jesus. What kind of friends are we? Do we use our friendships to manipulate and broker the ends we desire, are we faithful to our fiduciary responsibilities; are we truthful?
While the report lays much of the “blame” for this tragedy at the feet of Pope Saint John Paul II and his Pontificate, two other questions can be asked: did Pope John Paul’s advisors tell him the truth about McCarrick, especially after McCarrick was passed over for Chicago, and twice for New York, and still the Pontiff was inclined to send McCarrick to Washington, DC?1 Were these advisors part of McCarrick’s group; we they true friends to John Paul; did they fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities towards their Saintly boss? Every priest knows what it is to be betrayed, and usually by those who are closest to him, and those who are supposed “to have his back”. Was the choice of McCarrick John Paul’s failure or the self-serving advice of those who advised him? Only God knows.
Lastly, but certainly not finally, to belong to the Church means to belong to Christ, it is in Him we place our trust; our Faith is in Him; and our Faith and trust rest upon no one person and only one person: Christ Himself. The Church is Christ’s divine creation, and the fact that she goes on despite the sinful – broken humanity that act in her name, proves her divinity. Are you tempted to leave the Church or disregard her and her teachings? The words of Saint Peter to Jesus come to mind, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life!” Let us pray and sacrifice for the renewal of our poor Church!
Please pray for me as I do for you and those you love!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
.
1 I always found it very disappointing that someone like McCarrick would be chosen to succeed James Cardinal Hickey: one the last great Churchmen of the 20th Century. His Eminence was holy, humble, kind, and always ready to say he made a mistake. To be followed by the likes of “Uncle Ted”: blasphemous.
November 8, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
Next Sunday at the 10am Mass we will bless the renovated Parish Hall, and dedicate the Blessed Sacrament Altar. Both of these occasions are great accomplishments and moments of profound thanksgiving.
The new Blessed Sacrament Altar places the Lord exactly where He belongs: in the center of the sanctuary, as a reminder that He is the source, center, and end of our worship. The carpenters have been able to use a great deal of the existing frame, which helps the Altar look like it has always been here. The Palanza Group has done a superb job in their construction, painting, and placement of the statues of Sacred Heart, Our Lady, Saint Joseph, Saint Anthony, as well as the placement of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
None of this would be possible without the great generosity of Albert Terrano and Allen Walentukonis who have given this wonderful gift in memory of their late mother, Cornelia Lucia Apuzzo. Cornelia will always be remembered when we look at the entire sanctuary, and Albert and Allen’s generosity never forgotten.
The Parish Hall is a project that I never thought would never end. Beginning in August of 2019, the great search began. The search was to answer the question once and for all why, after all the masonry work has been completed; a new French Drain installed on the south side of the Church; why was there always water in the hall?
The search was finally resolved when, through the assiduous study and unstoppable searching of Armando Ricci and his workers, every drain unclogged; unknown drains were discovered; and, every drain in the floor of the Parish Hall removed (they were all collapsed or broken apart) and replaced with new French Drains around the entire perimeter of the Hall.
Once the drains were repaired, before the new floor could be laid, an asbestos abatement was necessary because the old tile was filled with asbestos.
Before the new floor could be laid the entire Hall, as well as the Kitchen, and Miss Marie’s former office had to be repaired and painted. As I recently mentioned in the Sunday announcements, Mike Sullivan has given an uncountable number of hours spackling and painting the walls in the hall, the bathrooms, and even built a new wall in the kitchen. He has spent days sealing and waxing the floor until it is perfect, and most of the time Mike worked off the clock. We can never repay Mike: Thank you!!
I pray that as many as possible will be with us in person or via live streamed.
When I look at all of these great improvements, the innumerable gifts of time, talent, and treasure, the words of Saint Paul’ Letter to the Philippians come to mind:
I thank my God, on every remembrance of you!
Always in every prayer of mine for you,
with joy;
I have you in my heart!
May God reward all of you in only the way He is able!
In the Lord,
November 1, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
Growing deeper in Grace and in Peace
Perhaps you will remember that I used this phrase in my column last week, as I quoted the words of one of my Dominican Brothers. This phrase (drawing upon the Letters of Saint Paul) has stayed with me and resounds with increasing urgency every day!
Grace and peace seem so far away whether on the streets of Providence, or Philadelphia, or too many other cities throughout our country, or even the world.
The passionate displays of anger, accusation, scapegoating, and deadly violence boggle the mind and crush the heart. People on “both sides” are wounded and killed. Everyone is brought into an emotional upheaval that will take generations to heal if healing is ever possible.
There have been and will be massive mostly unread tomes about the sociological and psychological causes and effects of this pandemic of hatred in which we find ourselves, I offer you this preacher’s reflection about what has thrust us into this malignant environment.
From the malaise of the millennials, to the entitlement and self - absorption of the nouveau – riche, to the those who bemoan the loss of the “new deal” for which we have striven since the 1940s, we have, either accidentally or unknowingly, lost the sense of God. As we remove God, or God as we understand Him, from our sense of being, essence, action, thinking, and legislation, we lose the sense of ourselves. As we lose, sideline, or misplace God, we lose, sideline, and misplace ourselves.
Whether one believes in God or not, this is reality: we are all made in God’s image and likeness, and therefore we are good. God wants two things in our lives: that we are saved, and that we are happy. We can only be genuinely happy when we live in a constant awareness of this reality. Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Ignatius of Loyola would refer to this awareness as our remembrance that at all times and in every place, “we are in the presence of God”. Living in awareness for God’s presence is how Ignatian Spirituality can teach “Magis”,1 or being a man for others. This is how Salesian Spirituality erects “Christian Humanism” as the way to live a happy and useful life. This is how Dominican Spirituality embraces that all men and women are called to be the “Sacred Preaching of Jesus Christ”: that simply by seeing us or hearing us, we radiate Jesus Christ and His constant awareness that ‘what you do to the least of brothers and sisters, you do to me’. The Sacred Preaching of Jesus calls us to bring the saving message of the Gospel to others.
How do we grow in Grace and Peace?
To help us grow in Grace and Peace, I offer you these three steps:
1. When you begin the day, say this prayer:
a. “My God, I give You this day! I offer You now, all of the good that I shall do, and I promise to accept, for love of You, all of the difficulty that I shall meet. Help me to conduct myself during this day in a manner pleasing to You. Amen.”
b. Quickly review your day, and as you do ask God to be with you through everything moment, especially those that may be most challenging.
c. As you come to each moment of the day, especially the difficult parts, say, “Stay with me, Lord!”
2. As you take a break whether for coffee or at lunch, look back over the morning: thank God for what went well; ask for Him for insight about what was difficult.
3. As you go throughout the day, become accustomed to saying, “Mother of God. show me your love in my great need: there are none who can withstand your power. O show us you are our Mother!”
4. When you are going to bed pray, “Thank you, God for this day. For what I have done well: I praise You. For my sins, forgive me; heal those I have hurt; and help me to learn from my fall! I love You!”
Simple, baby steps that I hope will help us to grow in God’s Grace and His Peace!
Please pray for me as I do for you and those you love!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord, -
October 2020
October 25, 2020
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!
My heartfelt hope and prayer is that this pandemic has led us all to a deeper awareness of the grace and peace of Jesus Christ in our lives and the lives of those whom we are so privileged to serve.
These words of my Dominican Brother, Fr. James Marchionda of the Central Province of our Order speak to so much that is in my heart at this time. They remind me that while “new normal” is the phrase we hear over and over again, for we who believe in Jesus we cannot be complacent with a “new normal”, we must be better than we were before this life changing event. Can you name the deeper awareness of the grace and peace of Christ in your life? I have inklings of this deeper grace and peace as the days role on. Is your relationship with Christ deeper than it was in March? Do you pray every day? Are you kinder to your spouse, other people, and to yourself than you were when we began this time of isolation and purification? May the Grace and Peace of Jesus make us better!
Civil Unrest
During this time let us pray that the civil unrest that marks our country and our cities may cease, and we can begin the road to healing. In the most recent event in our own city, what are your reactions and mine? On Sunday afternoon I was on Blackstone Boulevard to bless the home of a new parishioner. As I was waiting to cross the Boulevard the procession of motorcycles that is now the center of our local news passed before me. You can imagine the shock of these bikers as they came flying down Blackstone and saw me in my habit waiting to cross to the other side! Horns blew; riders made the peace sign; others blessed themselves. When they passed me I never thought I would be thinking about the faces I saw as much as I am.
And the election….. I worked for Dr. Fauci when I was a young Theologian in Washington, DC in the late 1980’s: I can only say that he was brilliant and kind. I lived in Wilmington, DE from 1980 – 1982, and again in 1991 – 1992. Do what your heart tells you to do.
In all of these events I urge you: when they go low, we go high!
Growing deeper in Grace and Peace
The best way to grown in an awareness of Christ’s Grace and Peace is to spend time with Him. To make that possible there are a number of prayer possibilities in the coming week and a half, either in person or via livestream. Please see these possibilities announced in the Bulletin today, or on our website. I urge you to consider two of the times for prayer, praise, intercession, repentance, and thanksgiving.
Around the Parish
Later in the bulletin you will see how different projects are progressing. I am grateful for your generosity as well as the generosity of specific benefactors, and the hard work of so many that make this renewal of our Church facility even more beautiful than it was. Sue Carlino and I walked around the Parish Hall today and she remarked, “Father, this is just beautiful! You have a real Parish Center here!” Thanks be to God, we do.
Please pray for me as I do for you and those you love!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
Fr. Jordan
October 18, 2020As we prepare for a very contentious election, let this Novena to Saint Martin de Porres encourage and comfort us.
Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P., puts the finishing touches on his sculpture of St. Martin de Porres.
Saint Martin de Porres was a Dominican - Lay Brother. He endured great discrimination because he was an illegitimate mixed - race - child. Pope St. John XXIII declared him the "Patron of all those who work for justice."
Novena to Saint Martin de Porres
Most humble St. Martin, your burning charity embraced all, especially the sick, the afflicted, and the poor. We turn to you in our present difficulties seeking intercession. Please ask God on our behalf for civic harmony and racial healing at the time of this national election.
By imitating your submission to God’s will, may we have peace in our hearts. You served others without seeking anything for yourself except closeness to our crucified Lord. May we too find intimacy with Jesus through our care for all who are in need. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
October 11, 2020My Sisters and Brothers,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Mass Survey
Again my thanks to you and for your great participation in the Mass Survey. Bob Short is busily analyzing the results, and we discussed the results at length during the Parish Council Meeting last evening.
The reason for this change is for the benefit of our Religious Education students and their families. You may remember that Religious Education Classes were taught on Sunday Morning for the older students, and Monday afternoon for the younger students. The Monday afternoon slot was not the best time for the students, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find and to retain good teachers. When Bob and I suggested this schedule there was strong support for the change. Religious Education Classes need to stay where they are currently scheduled.
The Mass Survey presents us with the heart of the matter: At this time, are we able to sustain and support two Sunday Masses?
The Survey indicates that 33% of our parishioners have not returned to attending Mass in person – and that statistic is from the 75 people who answered the survey. I would think that we are much closer to 50% of our parishioners have not returned to attending Mass in person. Currently, people are voting with their feet, and the Noon Mass is very poorly attended, and we may need to cancel the Mass. When more people return to Sunday Mass, we can always add a Mass on either side of the 10am Mass.
When the Councils, Bob, and I have a definitive decision, you’ll be the first to know. If you have any thoughts or questions, please do not hesitate to call me, to come in to visit, or email me at pastor@stsebastianri.oeg.
Finances
Thank you to all of you who have sent in donations, or “catch – up” budgets. Your steady generosity is of tremendous assistance!. Sue Carlino is like a human adding machine! Each week as we study the collections, she tells me, “Father, at this run rate we will be…”; you are responding and that is a great assistance.
Online Outreach
Please check our Parish Facebook page to participate different initiatives we are trying. Covid Crazy: Pandemic Fear” made its debut of Monday. As I say the title is not making fun of the anyone; nor is it about taking the pandemic lightly: Covid Crazy: Pandemic Fear is about allowing our faith to help us deal with everything that we are facing.
Keep watching for Liturgy 101 with Fr. Jordan, coming to a living room near you!
The Parish Hall and Kitchen
If you are tired of hearing about this project - - - I’m with you: I can’t wait until this is complete.
We owe our Maintenance Man, Mike Sullivan and his good friend, Russell Furia, all the gratitude in the world! While we had to pay for asbestos abatement; repairing the drains; and part of the floor, Mike and Russell are receiving only a nominal payment. In reality, Mike and Russell have donated their time, and they have also bought a significant part of the materials. Both rooms were not simply a paint job. This project involved building three new walls in the kitchen; plastering large parts of the hall; and, working 12—14-hour days. As I said to these two gentlemen, “I will never be able to repay you for what you are doing for this Parish, and for me!” Please join me in grateful prayer for Mike and Russell’s extremely hard work and generosity! God Bless you and your families, Russell, and Mike!
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
October 4, 2020
My Sisters and Brothers,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Mass Survey
Elsewhere in today’s bulletin, you will find a brief analysis and summary about the results of the Mass Survey. First, thank you!, for completing the survey: this survey had the greatest amount of participation in the 2.5 years I have asked for your feedback! Thank you! The Parish Pastoral Council meets this Monday Evening and we will discuss the results and see if we are able to arrive at a consensus. More to follow.
Finances
Over the last three Wednesday’s, Kathy Harrington, Sue Carlino, and I have met with three major stakeholders in the life of the Parish: the Parish Pastoral Council; the Parish Auditors; and the Parish Finance Council and Trustees. These meetings provided the opportunity for Kathy and Sue to “meet” everyone and discuss the stewardship of the gifts we have been given.
There is a lot of good news in the numbers. There is also the reality of a need for increased income to be able to hold the anticipated deficit at $15,000.00. I shared this with you last weekend in the announcement for the 10am Facebook Mass.
At the beginning of the Pandemic many parishioners experienced a substantial financial change in their lives. Many of you have very graciously shared those difficulties with me; I pray for you and that you and your family have all you need! If your financial status has become more stable and you can consider resuming your giving – Blessed be God! If you are not able to contribute at the level you once did, please remember this truth: “Stewardship: Not equal gift; but equal sacrifice.” Your sacrifice may now be different, but your gift means even more!
For those who have not returned to Mass in person, please consider mailing in your weekly budget, or sign up for online giving.
While the words, “we are in this together” may lead you to think of our Governor and Coronavirus; it has another meaning as well: if we are not going to allow the deficit to grow, but stand for the possibility to conquer it, we are in this together!
The Sacraments
The Mass Survey revealed to me how many are still not attending Mass in person because of coronavirus and the accompanying dispensation to not attend Mass.
I am concerned that those who are not attending Mass in person have been without the Sacraments since March. If you want to go to Holy Communion or need to go to Confession, please let me know and I will more than gladly bring the Sacraments to you! We could also arrange an “outdoor” opportunity for you to receive both of these Sacraments. Please be in touch with me if you would like me to bring you Communion.
Civility is a sign of God’s Presence in our lives
The Desert Fathers offer us a lot of great advice for living our daily lives happily and peacefully. Father Moses offers this advice:
If you are constantly yelling and pointing out the sins and failings of another, it is because you don’t know your own sins, and don’t like yourself.
We need this reminder in these turbulent days. Screaming and yelling is neither a sign of power or authority: it is a sign of self-loathing and fear. We need to strive with greater fervor to bring words that give life into the conversations and situations in which we find ourselves. Like you, I have stood back in shock at the profound sense of hatred that we so often encounter. Father Moses again offers us advice:
People will rant and accuse until they wrestle with the demon deep within themselves, and know that demon loved, forgiven, and redeemed by God!
Do not be afraid to wrestle with yourself! Its fruit is worth the struggle!
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
-
September 2020
September 27, 2020
My Sisters and Brothers,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
The other morning I was listening to the sage advice of my “Kitchen Cabinet Advisors’, aka the Monday Morning Counters, about different facets of parish life. I asked my Cabinet Members, “how much money did the Noon Mass bring in?”. The response was a noticeably quiet, “You don’t want to know, Father….”, tiny attendance – tiny collection. So, I began to ask some questions:
1. I asked: has there every been a Noon Mass before?
Everyone shook their heads and said “no”. I queried, “why did people suggest it”; again no one knew.
2. Then I asked why do you think people wouldn’t choose the Noon Mass?
The first response was “the football games” – my blood pressure began to rise; and I replied that the games begin at 1:30 and everyone would be home in plenty of time. I then learned that the games begin at 1. My blood pressure rose more as I wondered, “how did the NFL makes this decision without consulting me!?”
The second response was, “Father, what’s a Sung Mass?” Good question. The Sung Mass is the principle Mass of the weekend. Sung Masses can take many forms. At Saint Sebastian the Sung Mass looks like this: a. on the Sundays that call for the Gloria, it will be sung; b. if there is a big opening hymn, the cantor might sing a setting of the Introit as a solo; c. Sacramental Rites would normally take place at the Noon Mass, e.g. Anointing of the Sick; Baptisms; Commissioning of Parish Council members, etc.; d. Incense will be used for special celebrations. The real difference between a Sung Mass and let’s say the Masses at 5pm or 10am is the singing of the Gloria; and, the use of incense on particular occasions.
Our conclusion: we will continue to offer the Noon Mass and see how things go.
My wise cabinet then opined, “the Mass attendance numbers aren’t where they were before COVID.” I had one of those big “aha!” moments, and my mind was off to a new question: how do we encourage people to return to regular Mass attendance, and they still feel safe?
I found the following reflection from Father Roger Landry (printed in a recent Letter to the Editor of the Boston Pilot) a good place to start to answer that question. Fr. Landry started his reflection with this thought:
“It's a challenge for faithful to go from a habit of thinking Sunday Mass is optional for several months to Mass' suddenly being obligatory again almost overnight.”
Why is this happening now? What about COVID?
“Numbers of new infections are low in their regions, schools, places of employment, restaurants, stores, and places of entertainment have reopened, and people have resumed most of the activities of normal life. Combined with church protocols for safety, which have proven highly effective in preventing the transmission of COVID, there is no reason to continue a general dispensation. For those who are ill, caring for those who are ill, or those with health conditions that would make contracting the coronavirus especially perilous, the bishops have generally maintained particular dispensations.”
But isn’t optional Mass part of the new normal?
“Many people have gotten comfortable in the new normal of the pandemic. In priest online discussion groups, several pastors have described that their parishioners have told them that they haven't voluntarily returned to Mass in their parishes because they have come to prefer watching Mass making spiritual communions with a cup of coffee from their La-Z-Boy, or viewing livestreams from exquisite Cathedrals with great sacred music, or those featuring priests who are superb preachers. While it's good at least to watch Mass, in a culture of convenience, marked by consumerism both material and often spiritual, many Catholics over the last six months have formed new Sunday habits that they're not eager to give up. Others have simply gotten into the habit of living without Sunday Mass altogether, even virtual.”
What do we do?
“That's why I think it's essential for the Church, in hoping to draw people back to Mass, to focus less on obligation and more on the mind-blowing reality of what Mass is. God loved us so much that he not only humbled himself to take on human form and even further humbled himself to allow us, his creatures, to crucify him; he humbled himself to the extent that he hides himself under the appearances of bread and wine, so that we can spend time in prayer with him substantially present, and so that we can become one with him in Holy Communion. God has made possible for us to enter with him in time into his eternal acts during the Last Supper and on Calvary, so that we might journey with him through the new and eternal Passover from death to life.”
Give that some thought: the mind blowing reality of God’s love for us! Do we ever think that as we come to Mass? Do we remember, do we see and experience God’s love poured out for us over and over again, in His Word, in the Sacrifice of Calvary made real again through the Sacrifice of the Mass, especially at the moment of the Consecration? Do we experience the “kiss of God’ as we receive His Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine? If we truly did remember, we would never miss Mass when we are physically well enough to join the Community for the sharing of His Word, and the banquet Christ offers us!
Sung Mass; no frills Mass; family Mass: just consider coming back to Mass!
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
September 20, 2020
My Sisters and Brothers,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Trying to Hold It all Together
Schools, businesses, cities, and families: as we move through this “Pandemic Culture”, we are all trying to hold it all together. The Church is no different. The mind-numbing and frustrating budget meetings I have sat through trying to devise Budget A if we bounce back; Budget B if bounce back; and Budget C – that’s another story: we are all just trying to hold it all together. The Holy Father, and Robert Cardinal Sarah, the Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, witness the same effort to keep it all together.
Cardinal Sarah recently published, Let Us Return to the Eucharist with JOY!, a letter to all the Episcopal Conferences and Bishops throughout the world, a letter he wrote at the request of Pope Francis. There are three specific points for prayerful consideration, I want to share with you. The Cardinal writes:
As soon as circumstances permit, however, it is necessary and urgent to return to the normality of Christian life, to the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Eucharist.
Aware the God never abandons the humanity He has created, and that even the hardest trials can bear fruits of grace, we have accepted our distance from the Lord’s altar….. However, as soon as is possible we must return to the Eucharist with a purified heart, with a renewed amazement, with an increased desire to meet the Lord, to be with him, to receive him and to bring him to our brothers and sisters…
We “cannot be without the Christian community,” Cardinal Sarah added, “ we cannot be without the house of the Lord,” “we cannot be without the Lord’s Day.”
These three snippets place before us the difficult reality that we have lived for these last 6 months: to be away from the Lord; to be away one another. One of these is possible even though it may be difficult; but both of these simultaneously – a perfect storm for a crushing paralysis!
None of us should take unnecessary risks, even if we are immune – suppressed, or if we have any signs of an oncoming cold, sore threat, or GI issues. But for the rest of us, do we need to challenge ourselves? May we be safe and stay well, but let us be honest with ourselves.
Odds and Ends
Asbestos Abatement begins on Monday, 21 September. This will necessitate that the Parish Hall is completely off limits until after October 1 or 8. If you need a restroom, please use the one in between the priest and altar boy sacristies. If you are willing to help us paint the hall, please contact Mike Sullivan or Bob Short.
The Parish Council will meet with Kathy Harrington and Sue Carlino on September 16. On September 23 we, Kathy, Sue and I, will meet with the auditors; please keep this meeting in your prayers.
Finally, on September 30 Kathy and Sue will meet with the Finance Committee and the Trustees. Following these three meetings, a financial report will be published to all parishioners.
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
September 13, 2020
My Sisters and Brothers,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Thank You, and I’m fine
Thank you for all your concern last weekend when I experienced a little issue with my insulin. Your care and attention both at Mass and throughout the day, are very much appreciated! A real complication from this was not my health: it was my sister and brother-in – law who were watching and saw all of this unfold! I think my sister could have flown up her without a plane!
New Mass Schedule and Religious Education
We have begun the new schedule without too much trouble. The 5pm had a few more people than usual; the 10am had the best crowd, but still enough space for social-distancing; and the Noon - - - a whole 6 people. I am hoping that number was because of the Labor Day Holiday – time will tell. One more time, here is the schedule:
Saturday: Confession at 4 pm
Mass at 5pm – Low Mass
There is music, but not as developed as at other Masses.
Sunday:
9am: Religious Education
Grades 1,2, and 3; Confirmation II
10am: Family Mass –
Cantor and keyboard more varied styles of music.
11am: Religious Education
Grades 4,5, and 6; Confirmation I
Noon: Sung Mass
Please do not let this title, Sung Mass, frighten you! The only really extra singing is the weekly singing of the Gloria. And incense…used more than that to which you are accustomed, but we are not going
Hagia Sophia or Saint James Compostela!
Each one – reach one!
Some Financial Updates
Sue Carlino, the Financial Administrator appointed by Bishop Tobin, has been here in the Parish for about a month. We are becoming accustomed to one another, and I am grateful for Sue’s presence.
Currently we are 4%, or $5,400.00 behind, in budget income in comparison to the current budget, and where we were at this time last year. As Sue would say, “with that kind of run rate…..”: I am confident that we will catch up.
If you have been away and have not been using online giving, please consider “catching up” so we can close the gap that currently exists – we want to stop the run rate.
If the Pandemic has curtailed your regular giving that is certainly understandable. If your financial situation is more stable, please consider resuming your regular giving. Please remember: not equal gift, but equal sacrifice; our sacrificial giving will change as your circumstances change.
Your consistent generosity throughout these last six months has been wonderful and has allowed us to continue to pay our bills; to make salary; and to care for those in need: thank you so much!
Catholic Charities
This weekend is our Catholic Charities In Pew Collection. If you have not participated in the Catholic Charity Appeal this, I urge you to do so. Some data for your consideration:
Current Year Past Year
Goal: $72,000 $78,882
Given or Pledged: $85,968 $56,827
Donors: 44 138
Your generosity will allow the Church to continue its work among the poor and those marginalized by society. By law, no funds raised for Catholic Charities can be used to pay settlements to victims of clerical sexual abuse victims, or legal costs related to these cases.
Forty-four gifts raised a total of $56,827! Imagine of what we could do if the donor became 88!
Grateful for God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, Meeting the Challenge
With all that in the last months the capital campaign, Grateful of God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, Meeting the Challenge has taken a necessary and understandable back seat. As we strive to safely move ahead, Grateful for God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, Meeting the Challenge needs to return to our regular consideration, and be given the critical attention is so rightly demands.
Some data for your consideration:
Goal: $343,383.00
Pledged: $388,852
Paid: $207,938
Due: $ 180, 914
Donors: 71
Total Households: 332
Participation: 21%
I’ve mentioned it to you before, and I will say it once again; I don’t know if I did the best job pitching the campaign to you and getting you more involved: I’m sorry for that. During the active phase of the campaign, our parish community was in a very different place than where we now find ourselves. There was something about last Christmas that changed everything in a very positive way: a sense of joy; an excitement and a willingness to work together that was new and refreshing. A parish council member said to me, “Father, things are really beginning to change for the good.”
In a spirit of thanksgiving, I invite all of us to consider again participating in Grateful for God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, Meeting the Challenge. In making this request I acknowledge the difficulties of COVID and the uncertainties of the future; I also acknowledge the difficult relationships and experiences many of us have with the Institutional Church at large, and particularly with local Institutional Church. Because every dollar we raise now remains completely here with us, I urge us to see beyond our fears, emotions, and experiences not to hold us back from giving to our Parish alone: we are giving our power and our spirit away.1
Currently, $207, 938 has been paid into the Campaign Account. Giving the Diocese the $206,00 we owe them, that leaves us $1,938.00 Your participation in Grateful for God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, Meeting the Challenge will allow us to pay back our own money to the Inter Parish Loan Fund; we could create a genuine endowment for the Church with operating by laws; we would be able to care for the poor and establish an Evangelization Plan; we could pay our Staff a more just wage; and, we would be able to create and fund a Capital Improvement Strategic Plan that we will never this kind of deferred maintenance again.
Please pray about your participation in Grateful for God’s Providence: Sharing the Vision, your gift will help us to bring the God’s Love and the hope of the Gospel to each one of us here, and to those yet unborn.
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
.
1 Please remember 100% of everything we raise stays at Saint Sebastian, after we have paid the 206K to the Diocese. -
August 2020
August 30, 2020 - From Bob Short
As Father Jordan would write, “may the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!”
By the time you read this our Pastor will have returned. (That verb is in the future perfect tense, if any of my students happen to be reading this.) There is still time, however, for one more short essay. Two weeks ago I wrote about the loveliness of our weekday Masses at Saint Sebastian Church. Last week my subject was what a young Catholic in their 20s or 30s is looking for in a parish. In today’s column I am eager to pull everything together.
To do so I would like to tell you a bit about a Bible Study we have brought to the parish. It is not a program or a video; nor is it something of my own making. I first encountered this study about four years ago. Two young women started a Bible Study on Saturday afternoons, and a rotating cast would pack their Bibles and bring them to one of a rotating list of homes. The conversation always focused on the next day’s Sunday Mass readings, but many times these readings were a springboard to unexpected topics. Over Scripture and snacks we shared our joys and frustrations; asked for prayers and prayed with each other. Our discussions on the Bible readings always included some “head knowledge”—we referenced footnotes or shared half-remembered details of something heard once in a homily or a lecture—but the focus was always on the migration of this “head knowledge” to the heart.
Let me tell you how these sessions most profoundly affected me: Like you, it sometimes takes a lot of courage for me to talk about what God has done in my life and how much I love God, and how that love is dwarfed by God’s love for me. Like many of the men of the parish, I was raised to be a stoic New Englander, and am only slowly learning how to articulate my emotions! At this Bible study, I was exposed to people with an ability to speak directly and honestly about the power of God in their lives. They did so casually, like one might observe the weather at the beach or the finer points of a delicious meal. In time, I was able to follow their model and speak simply about my relationship with God without the slightest embarrassment. I can’t imagine I could teach Confirmation class without this experience!
As the St. Sebastian Parish Council discussed evangelization efforts in July and August, I remembered this particular Bible Study, and with a little encouragement, we decided to try this format at our Parish. Let me tell you how our first day went.
There were five of us: two parishioners; one person who just moved to the neighborhood this month; one of the FOCUS Missionaries from Brown University; and a visitor from a parish across town. Socially distanced around the table in the Randall Room, we introduced ourselves while opening all the windows, propped open the door to the Room, as well as the door to the outside. We started off by reading aloud the selection from the 22nd chapter of Isaiah; and, after a minute or so of silent reflection we read last Sunday’s Gospel: the famous “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church” section of Matthew’s Gospel. Both readings used the imagery of keys to describe the power vested in a person, the power to lock that which will not be unlocked and unlock that which will not be locked.
How does this affect us? In Isaiah the key which is described must be a very large and heavy one—it is described as being carried not in a pocket but on a shoulder. It is a different sort of view as leadership: it is a sacrifice, a duty, but also an opportunity. Why an opportunity? Priests share in Christ’s ministry to forgive sins, using those keys entrusted to Peter to unlock the chains that bind us. When this ended up being the exact thrust of our guest celebrant Fr. Jordan Zajac’s audacious homily on Sunday morning, the hair on the back of my neck stood up!
We read the second reading last. It is the end of chapter 11 in Romans—a rich and evocative prayer Paul uses to end his discussion about the role of the Jewish people who had not accepted Jesus in God’s vast plan. That is how it fits into Paul’s Letter to the Romans, but how does it fit in with the Sunday Readings, and how does it fit in our own lives? This question led to discussion of what it means to be chosen by God, and how in Christ we are able to call on the Eternal Father with the intimacy of a child. At about this point we slid back into the choice of Peter, and how Peter knew more than anyone that his call was purely the gift of God, and nothing that this loveable, brash, impulsive retired fisherman had earned. Finally, we arrived at the million-dollar question: Jesus’ question posed to Peter, “Who do you say I am?” Linked with this question, though, is a very timely question in this age of loneliness and anxiety: Who does Jesus say that we are? We chewed on that for the last fifteen minutes of the hour we spent together. Like Peter, several of us had received a new identity in following Jesus, even if we didn’t receive a new name!
I don’t remember when it happened, but at one point the conversation petered out into nothingness—a sort of living, holy, and grateful silence at the gift of Himself that God has given us.
It was a tremendous gift to be with these people and hear them open their hearts. God is a wonderful Father. He knows that He has to treat me differently from you, just like a parent knows the exact touch that works with each of their children. We learned so much by hearing another talk about how God has unfolded in their life. Even though this group arrived as strangers, we quickly developed a rapport and trust. We were able to have faith in each other due to our mutual faith in God, I suppose. It isn’t so bad to be dragged out of our comfort to speak about our love of God. If you are a parent, and you want your child to have faith in their life, they will need to see you pray. Without your example recognizing the role of God in your life, it is unlikely they will ever learn to do so. Perhaps prayer together before bedtime is just what your family needs. Perhaps your teenager needs to hear what changed in your life that made you know that God exists, and not only exists but loves us.
You may have read those words and thought, “that seems impossible! I’m no holy roller!” You don’t have to be a street preacher! You just need to be yourself. Christianity, I think, is not a self-sufficient terrarium, beautiful but enclosed. It is most itself when it is slightly off balance, reaching out to someone new. You might just find out that you are most yourself in this reaching out as well.
The parish has a number of different initiatives in the works—both in-person and online—that will allow you to grow deeper in faith. Please keep up with the Parish bulletin so you can hear more about these other opportunities as they are rolled out! If the Bible Study I described in this column interests you, I hope you will consider coming to discuss the Sunday readings with us on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. We will meet in the Randall Room at the conclusion of the 9am Mass, and chat until 10:30. In September we will meet on the 12th and 26th. If anyone were to bring bagels, that would be a welcome treat!
At the beginning of this column, I said I would bring together my reflections of the last two weeks in the telling of this experience. How does the narrative of this Saturday Morning Bible Study achieve that goal? My shared story of myself and my fellow parishioners last Saturday highlight what every person is longing for, whether they acknowledge it or not. We all long for a place to belong; a place to pray; a place to be fed; and to be given a common mission. Saint Sebastian offers all of that and more! Through morning Masses and the community they create; through beautiful Sunday liturgies that cultivate the rich heritage of our Catholic Liturgical Life; and through Saturday Morning Bible Studies that feed us, unite us, help us to pray, and send us forth to be slat and light in an often dark and tasteless world!
As Father Jordan would say, “Each One: Reach One”: invite somebody to come to Saint Sebastian with you!
In the Lord,
Bob Short
August 23, 2020 - From Bob Short
As Father Jordan would write, “may the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!”
Our pastor is still on his well-deserved vacation, and so this will be the second of three columns I write in his absence.
Last week I wrote to you about something near and dear to my heart—the beauty of weekday Masses at our parish. I once met an Irish priest at a protest who talked to me a while about visiting Iona, the island off the Scottish coast where St. Columba founded an abbey in the 6th century. He called at a “thin place”, meaning one of those places where it seems that the line between heaven and earth is almost diaphanous. Come to Saint Sebastian with faithful expectation and you will find you have access to a “thin place” much closer to home!
I also told you last week about a conversation with a 30-something “roamin’ Catholic” who regaled me with two sentence reviews of every church in the greater Woonsocket area during a walking pilgrimage. While reviewing parishes as if they were pizzerias or barbershops strikes me as a bit distasteful, the conversation gave me a lot to think about.
What is it that Catholics in their 20s and 30s want in a parish when they come to a new town?
Other Young People
The truth is, being a young person in the Church is a bit lonely. It is hard to be a young Catholic in the 21st Century—sometimes it seems that the entire world is conspiring against keeping the faith—but having companions on the path helps. I definitely lost friends when I embraced the Faith. In time I gained better ones. We set up meal trains when one of us is going through tough times. We pray for each other. We lend each other books. I met every single one of these people at a Church event or through a friend I made at a Church event. I am a better parishioner at Saint Sebastian for having these friendships, and resolve to be that person for others. But how can we reach this critical mass of young parishioners? Keep reading for some of my observations.
A Welcoming Parish
Young Catholics want to worship at a parish that knows their name and says hello with a genuine smile. They want a parish that encourages them and inspires them to love God and neighbor in more concrete ways. I dropped my faith like a hot potato when I went to college, but when I started tentatively going back to church in my mid-20s, I was mystified that the people of my parish were so kind to me. Didn’t they know I was a shiftless, underemployed jerk who laughed at all the wrong things and partied too much? They didn’t care. They loved me all the same, and I found myself wanting to be the person they thought I was. In time, that desire morphed into wanting to be the person God wants me to be! It has been quite the adventure these past eight years, but it began with people smiling and inviting me to sit next to them.
Great Preaching
We have all sat through many kinds of homilies. There are the ones that fire us up. There are the ones that puzzle us. There are the ones that seem to cut us deeply—where we are very nearly offended, but realize in time that this was just the message God wanted us to grapple with. Yes, there are also boring ones. What kind of preaching will keep the “roamin’ Catholic” glued to their pew? It won’t be the ones that are simple life advice, or worse, some kind of bourgeois morality masquerading as Christian ethics. Jesus truly is a wise teacher, but that is not why we worship Him! In a homily, we want to understand the Bible better. Scripture can be confusing! (What does Paul mean when he says “in Christ”? He seems to say it an awful lot...) We young people also want preaching that can shake us out of our complacency. We have had enough of religion that is merely conservative, or merely liberal. We want the whole Gospel, undiluted, which predates all this political posturing and will outlive all our drab modern categories. Society makes it hard for us to be anti-abortion and anti-police brutality at the same time. We are sick of having to pick between supporting policies that defend the nuclear family and policies that give aid to the poor. Young and old, we Catholics are quite politically homeless, despite the efforts of those who are trying to turn us into captive one-issue voters. We want preaching that will lead us forward, not divide us. We are neither fish nor fowl: we are salt and light, the people of God. We want to grow deeper in our faith—both faith in God and faith in the Church. We want to be invited into the richness of Catholic culture and traditions. We want to see God through the eyes of the saints—those ones who know God best.
Beautiful Worship
The Mass is THE most important thing that happens at Saint Sebastian Church. We are incredibly lucky to already have a beautiful liturgy here. Last Sunday I spoke to a young man who recently moved to Providence. He has gone to a couple parishes, but what made him feel most at home at our parish? You already know his answer, but it was the people, the preaching, and the liturgy. What makes our liturgy inviting to young Catholics? “Richness” is a word I want to emphasize here. The priest leads us with clarity and dignity. The music chosen is not an interlude, but is part of the Mass—reinforcing the fact that this is one great, big prayer that we are all offering together. People seem to love arguing over the liturgy. I get it—we all have our own aesthetic preferences. I do not mean to demean your preferences if you are a great lover of the Latin Mass or a folk Mass, but in my experience young Catholics are looking for the best of the whole tradition. We want all the benefits of the rich musical tradition that is specifically Catholic. We desire the ritual beauty which marks the Roman Rite. We long for all that Vatican 2 taught us about worship: that the Liturgy is heaven joined to earth! Some seem to think that the only decision is between a parish with felt banners and poor music or the Latin Mass. We know that this is a false choice. If my contemporaries choose the Latin Mass rather than the Mass of the Roman Missal, it is only because the way the latter was celebrated left them hungry, wanting, and not encountering beauty. At Saint Sebastian Church we possess this beauty: this is a thing to celebrate. Many other parishes would be jealous to see the riches we have access to each and every Sunday. I can’t wait until our masks can come off and we can all sing with Meghan at full volume!
Forgiveness
Young people in the Church have rediscovered the benefit of frequent Confession. In Confession we find the love of Jesus waiting to embrace us. The young people here would find that St. Sebastian Church is a wonderful place to receive that most merciful of sacraments. Father Jordan hears confessions starting at 4pm on Saturdays, and is always open to schedule an appointment! We are incredibly lucky to have access to an experienced, nuanced, and loving confessor. Maybe you haven’t been in a while? Let’s surprise Fr. Jordan with long Confession lines when he gets back. A line at the Confession room is one of the finest signs of a parish that is alive in faith. It is a signal to young and old that we need mercy and we know that Jesus is the one who gives it.
Peace and blessings on all of you!
From
Bob Short
August 16, 2020 - From Bob ShortAs Father Jordan would write, “may the Grace of Our Lord remain with us always!”
Our pastor is taking a well-deserved vacation, and I will be writing a few columns in his absence. You probably will not learn as much, but I try to make sure they are entertaining to read!
One of my friends is a great lover of Medieval history. Like many of us, he has put on a few pounds during the quarantine, but unlike many of us he has come up with a rather Medieval solution: he has begun to train for a pilgrimage on the Camino in Spain. In the summer of 2021, he hopes to walk the traditional route from the Pyrenees to the tomb of St. James the Apostle in northwest Spain. The route is over 400 miles—not something you do without serious preparation. As part of this training, he invited me to take a pilgrimage walk with him and a mutual friend. Our trip would start in Lincoln, go through Manville, North Smithfield, and Woonsocket, ending at the Saint Theresa Shrine in Burrillville. All in all, it was 12 miles. Our friend, also a young Catholic in his 30s, has already walked the Camino and was filled with tips and wisdom from his trek. I do not want to get bogged down in details, but I did find it very interesting that many long-distance walkers will put anti-perspirant on their feet to stave off wet socks and blisters.
I am always on the look-out for new catechist talent, so I directed the conversation towards which parish he called home. Perhaps he might be willing to join a certain beautiful stone Church on a picturesque street in one of Providence’s most venerable neighborhoods…
Like many Catholics my age, he is a bit of a parish shopper—a roamin’ Catholic, he described himself. As he spoke about bouncing from parish to parish in his native Woonsocket, I wondered what it was that caused me to end my roaming days and call Saint Sebastian home. Next week I will go into my observations about what attracts young Catholics to a parish, but this week I’d like to go into something at Saint Sebastian that was a special draw for me: our daily Masses.
I found out this parish existed in late August 2015. I had just taken over the Upper Elementary Classroom at Ocean State Montessori School and felt like I needed more than a little divine help to get me through my first year alone in the classroom. Was there anywhere near my school that had a weekday Mass early enough for me to get to work on time? The next morning I parallel parked on Cole Avenue.
I found so much to fall in love with at these Masses. I will start with the people. For all sorts of different reasons they got themselves out of bed early in the morning and came to hear the Word of God and receive the Bread of Life. Some were here only on certain days of the week. Some were here day in and day out. A couple have moved away. A few have gone home to their eternal reward. I met Marie, Pat, and the Samits; Joe, Sarah, and Rocco; Jim, Dan, and Katherine. I could go on. I have met some of the kindest and warmest people I will ever know in that chapel. In the past five years these people have prayed for me, given me rides to school when my car was unreliable, taken me to plays at the Gamm, and most importantly given me a thousand smiles and how-are-you’s that helped me live my life in as Christian a way as I can!
Maybe you have never been to a weekday Mass before. The Mass is celebrated every single day here, not just on Sundays. Monday through Friday we have a Mass at 7am (8am during the summer). On Saturday, we have the daily Mass at 9am, which is an entirely separate thing than the 5pm Vigil Mass on Saturday evening.
Weekday Mass has a whole different feel than on Sunday. You will first notice what is missing: there is no organ or cantor. Most days only have one reading and a psalm before the Gospel, rather than two readings and a psalm. There is usually no Gloria or creed. Things are more hushed, humble, unadorned, simple, and intimate. The beauty of the prayers shine out. We can almost hear each other breathing.
These weekday masses at Saint Sebastian became as much a part of the rhythm of my life as my own breath. What should I describe to you? How when the days get shortest, the liturgy has unspeakable beauty as we approach Christmas. The sun rises during Mass, such that we who walked into the church in pre-dawn darkness are dismissed from the liturgy into bright daylight. Or I could talk about the wonderful selections from the Bible that we hear read aloud—like during the first few days of Holy Week when Isaiah’s prophecies of the Suffering Servant interpret for us the Gospel stories of the trap which is about to be sprung upon Jesus, who freely gives his own life up for us so that we might be freed from sin and death.
Father Jordan has referred to these weekday Masses as an endless retreat. That is an image that reverberates with me. Each day he opens up for us doorways we into deeper understanding of familiar Gospels. He applies them to our lives. He reminds us of God’s love and mercy, and the path of life laid out for us.
And at the end of Mass, we are fed the Eucharist. Words fail me on this subject. Maybe you have a hard time believing this truly is the Lord. Or perhaps you know it in your head, but you don’t feel a thing when you take Communion. No matter where you are on in your journey, come to a daily Mass. Act like you believe, and you will find your mind and heart following close behind. Those of us who exercise know that what builds up our endurance and our heart is high repetitions at low weight. This is the spiritual version of that. We are building up perseverance. But more than that, we are dismissed to glorify God in our lives as we head off to work or school or babysitting grandchildren. We separate and go off, carrying the Risen Lord in us.
These Masses for me are a place of rest—a fitting end rejuvenating end to a pilgrimage of any length. And like many pilgrimages, you will find that destinations become new starting points. We would love to see you there. Sit with me if you like. I’m usually sitting in the front on the left side. Sometimes I am somewhere else though. I’m the one with the black glasses.
In the Lord,
Bob Short
August, 9th, 2020
My dear friends,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
How can it be August 10th? In one way it doesn’t seem possible, and yet in another way it seems much later than August. I hope you are well and that you have had time to get some rest and relaxation, and that you are managing the day to day realities of life well.
As I noted in last week’s bulletin and today, I am doing my best to get away for a while, although it isn’t easy to find a place to go where one feels safe and that is easily accessible. My last week will be at our Dominican House in the Catskills; the first two weeks will be a great travel experiment!
While I am away, Bob Short will oversee the Parish. Bob will check voice mail and my email (pastor@stsebastianri.org) several times a day. Bob knows what to do if there is a sacramental emergency or if a funeral comes in. Bob will also be able to reach me at any time. There are priests from the College and the Diocese who will be celebrating Mass. I will be back for the Saturday morning Mass on August 29.
Getting Ready
My return date shows that September is just around the corner, and September brings the reopening of school. Who knows what the reopening school will look like? Let us pray for administrators, teachers, and students – like everything these last months – this will be a September like nonother!
I hope you have seen the YouTube post from Mr. Bob and me about resuming Religious Education. In his usual fashion, Bob has planned for every possibility – remote or in person. Please register your child/children for Religious Education, especially if they are ready to begin preparation for First Penance and First Holy Communion, as well as Confirmation.
New Mass Schedule
Beginning on Saturday, September 5 a new weekend Mass Schedule will go into effect. The Schedule is:
Saturday: Confession at 4 pm
Mass at 5pm
Sunday:
9am: Religious Education
10am: Family Mass
11am: Religious Education
Noon: Sung Mass
Parish Update
At long last the Parish Hall is just about complete! All of the construction work has been completed, including finding a hidden manhole! A completely new drainage system has been installed; a high-volume sump-pump; a new asbestos free floor; and two fresh coats of paint! We are extremely fortunate that the bequest from Connie Bissonnette paid for much of the work, and also for the tremendous generosity of two parishioners which has allowed the rest of the work to be completed.
Carpenters and design artists continue their work for the new Altar of Reservation (where the Tabernacle sits). I hope to see a complete rendering before I leave for vacation. The first sketch looks wonderful. The current screen remains and the center of it is raised a bit higher to allow depth for the Tabernacle as well as ease of access for the priest or Eucharistic Minister. During a visit with the designer I asked him if angels which were the sides of old pews could be used? He is working to incorporate these angels as well as the current sanctuary screen. We owe a profound debt of gratitude to Albert Terrano and Allen Walentukonis who have donated the Altar of Reservation in memory of their recently deceased Mother, Cornelia Lucia Pacheo. Thank you Al and Allen!
We are still interviewing candidates for the position of Director of Music and Organist. We have had many excellent applicants. Bob, Megan, and I met with two “finalists” and offered the position to a wonderful candidate. After some thought, she later turned down the offer because of the demands of being a senior in college. I am waiting to hear from the other possible candidate.
Sadly, Elaine Ginn, our Parish Receptionist, has chosen not to return both because of a decrease in hours and the new growth of COVID-19. We might try to manage Elaine’s position with some volunteer help.
Sue Carlino, the Financial Administrator, has returned to the Rectory after her father’s death. We assure Sue of our sympathy and prayers during this difficult time.
Some Final Reflections
In the midst of all the worries that surround us, find something beautiful each day, and find a reason to be grateful. As the pandemic, political unrest, the uncertainties of these months perdure, we must discover something good, something beautiful, something happy in each day! God did not create us to be miserable: He created us to be happy – and very often – to find the happiness in each day!
Until we meet at the altar…
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
July 26, 2020
My brothers and sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
As the weeks roll on it is apparent that COVID-19 is staying with us; spiking in those places that we refuse to follow its might and terror; and causing us to consider our every step, and its possible Corona consequences. As I mentioned to you last week, the unraveling of people is self-evident, I myself have felt like there were times when I was going to simply loose it: one more meal alone, or one more day of not being allowed to visit the Priory at PC – I am OVER this.
But that really doesn’t matter, does it? We are in this together. Friends of mine have written about the physical and spiritual effects of the pandemic and the quarantine that is attached to it. In this vein, I offer you a two part series about COVID – 19 and its spiritual realities. Both of these posts are written by Monsignor Charles Pope of Washington, DC. The first considers the uselessness of fear; and next week, a consideration of how to prudent, while being courageous.
Perhaps we could have an online discussion about these two articles? Please, let me know.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
[See this week's bulletin for the first of the two articles Fr. Jordan mentioned in this note!]
June 14, 2020My Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
Today, the Church celebrates Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Historically this solemnity was held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and then followed the next day of with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In Italy, Corpus Christi and the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart were holy days of obligation, all businesses and schools closed; and a great 4-day weekend was celebrated! This sequence of Feasts was given to us to teach us that the Eucharist gives us a pledge of love and future glory given to us in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Alas and alack, with the revision of the Liturgical Calendar in 1969, this sequence of celebration was lost. Nevertheless, over 4 days or one, Corpus Christi is another manifestation of the “one communion of love” we celebrate in the Trinity we are given through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The graces of the Eucharist are without number! Through the Eucharistic Feast Christ becomes our food; our souls are filled with grace; and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” The Eucharist is the food which nourishes us and allows us to live our Catholic Faith. The Eucharist is grace, the creative, sustaining, self-gift of God, fills our souls, forgiving our venial sins, making us one with another, and joining us to the Mystical Body of Christ. The Eucharist is the pledge of heavenly glory that we will know when we meet God as we gaze upon Him face to face. We need the Eucharist to keep us walking towards the heart of God, as we strive live to virtuously and in charity towards one another.
In the midst of the senseless riots that swept our country, we celebrated the Feast of Saint Norbert on June 6 (1080 – 1126). Saint Norbert is known as the “Apostle of the Eucharist and Reconciliation”. Norbert gained this title from a personal experience. St. Norbert gave his life to works of reconciliation. His conversion from corridors of entitlement and wealth was triggered by an act of violence perpetrated by civil and church authorities conflicted over who would control whom. Countless people suffered punishment and even death. He became a wandering preacher of peace who ceaselessly and unto death brokered peace between the church and civil power. Norbert would enter a meeting only after he had celebrated Mass, saying, “with the Sacrament of Charity filling my body and soul, I can only see Christ in those around me”. We need Saint Norbert today!
Do we need a new Saint Norbert today, or do we need the source of Norbert’s strength? We need to remember Saint Norbert’s example of reconciliation and charity, but by his example and experience we need to grow in our love for and our dependence upon the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Through COVID-19 we have learned how essential the Eucharist is to our lives! Many of you have mentioned to me how much you have missed the Eucharist; or how wonderful it is to be able to receive Communion again: may this recent experience lead us to love Christ in the Eucharist more and more!
As Catholics do we believe that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ? The Blessed Sacrament is not a symbol or a sign, but the living and real presence of Christ Himself. Do we act reverently in His Divine presence; are our souls in a state of Grace when we receive Him?
Sacraments effect what they signify. The Eucharist is the greatest sign of unity that exists between humanity and Christ! As we are united with Christ and the hosts of heaven, the Eucharist teaches us to live in unity with one another, and in recognition of that whatever race, gender, ethnicity, or creed we are all made in the image and likeness of God and we are therefore, ONE. Do we live this way?
The soul is filled with grace… it is grace alone that guides us to embrace and to live all that is given to us in the Eucharist. No wonder we cry out, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed!”
Until we meet at the altar… O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,
June 7, 2020
My Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of Our Lord remain always with us!
One cannot heal oneself
By hurting another!
These words of Saint Ambrose are most apropos after the events of the last week. How can hurting another heal me? It cannot.
Quite a bit of ink has been spilled about the death of George Floyd and the traumatic after math of this man’s horrific death. There can be no explanation for the manner in which George Floyd met his death other than insanity, fueled by a demonic hatred and rage that was completely lacking in reason or humanity.
The papers are filled with editorials, analyses, and philosophical reflections about the turmoil in which our country, and the world, find ourselves at this time. I do not want this weekly reflection to be a miniature editorial of the New York Times or any other major tabloid. I want to offer you the reflections of a person just like you, who has experienced the hurts and challenges of life, who happens to be your pastor.
The words of Saint Ambrose cause us to reflect upon how we can treat one another in a less than human manner. You have heard me say this before, but the ultimate cause for all of the rage and acting out rests in our inability to forgive one another. When we do not forgive, the poison of anger and resentment live within us, and more rapidly than the reproduction of COVID-19 or similar viruses, the poison infects us so profoundly that our vision becomes blurred; our reasoning skewed; and our hearts hard.
More often than we would care to remember, the injustices done to us, or worse done to those we love, are so psychologically scaring that we truly are never able to forget them. In the presence of such pain and trauma how can we ever forgive? On our own, we may not be able to forgive, but by offering God the hurt, His Grace forgives for us, and that same Grace begins to heal us in a way we never imagined.
How can such powerful Grace be active within us? Let these words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI guide our meditation:
When the sense of God is lost,
There is a tendency to lose
the sense of man!
Try this experiment:
1. Name a person and a particular situation you cannot forgive.
2. Each day say to God, “Lord, I offer you _______; they make me so angry and what they did only makes it worse…
3. Lord, please forgive them, I cannot.
Try this for a month or six months or however long it takes. I hope and pray that you will find what I have found:
God heals me,
When I try to forgive another!
Our country cannot go on as we are! We have uttered those words about the Pandemic in which we are living. But now, we are confronted not by an unseen virus; but we visibly behold how thousands of us have no respect for human life.
We are a country divided; a citizenry who is treated as if we have no intelligence or common sense as we are bullied by crass words that sound like threats and insulted by thoughts that contradict themselves. How did we get here? We have failed to forgive one another for all of our failures individually and as a nation. That poison has turned a great nation, blessed by God, founded on Judeo-Christian foundations to become a country that makes choices that deny the sense of God for the sake of making sure everything is done: MY WAY. The consequence of losing our sense of God leads us to look at one another as an object, perhaps even an animal; but we do not look at one another as a human person made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. We cannot go on as we are!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Until we meet at the altar… O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
In the Lord,