The President and the Superior General

Recently, the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC), the Rev. Hugh Cleary, CSC wrote a lengthy letter to President Obama. Fr. Cleary, an American citizen, and native New Yorker, writes in the wake of the controversy involving the University of Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to speak at the Commencement exercises in a few weeks. The full text of the letter to the President was recently published in America magazine.

A Letter to President Obama
From the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross
Hugh Cleary | MARCH 30, 2009
D ear Mr. President,

As Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross and an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame I wish to offer you some personal reflections on the university’s decision inviting you to campus to deliver this year’s commencement address and to honor you with a Doctor of Laws degree.

In reflecting on your upcoming presence at Notre Dame, I am reminded of the way you seized an opportunity in your presidential campaign to address the issue of racial bigotry in our American culture. You used the occasion as a teachable moment for the nation.

In a similar way your presence at Notre Dame affords all of us, including yourself, a teachable moment. President Obama, you are superbly versed in the issues of our day. I have no doubt that your policy convictions are grounded in rigorous study and that all your important decisions are supported by your conscience. I am confident that you are likewise well versed in the Catholic faith conviction that human life begins at conception. Therefore, through this open letter, I would like to take advantage of your appearance at Notre Dame to ask you to rethink, through prayerful wrestling with your own conscience, your stated positions on the vital “life issues” of our day, particularly in regard to abortion, embryonic stem cell research and your position on the Freedom of Choice Act before Congress.

Perhaps such an impertinent request rings with insolence. I mean you no disrespect. But why not seize this moment as an opportunity to pray over the sacred truths we hold to be self-evident: "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life …”

Mr. President, you expressed our most essential faith conviction in your remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast this past February 5th, when you said: “There is no God who condones taking the life an innocent human being. This much we know.”

This much we know, President Obama, your statement on the unconscionable taking of an innocent life is truly our belief. It is the kind of clear, straightforward talk of your conscience convictions that we find so appealing. But sadly for us Catholics, your words do not express our meaning.

Innocent human life is conceived through sexual intercourse meant to be love’s most intimate, expression, save giving up one’s life for another. It is true that sometimes, tragically, life is formed in the brutality of rape or in the shame of incest. Likewise life is often conceived unintentionally through the enjoyment of sexual pleasures. An “unwanted” child comes in many forms such as an untimely presence; a disabled or deformed creature; an embryo of the wrong sex; a baby conceived out of wedlock, a child bearing a child.

Tragically, we have a tradition in our United States culture giving us permission to define the parameters of human life to suit our self-interest. Did we not justify our tradition of slavery by denying that a black human being of African decent was fully human? As I understand it, President Lincoln had a contrary view and took us to civil war for the sake of unifying our country’s conscience. And so now today we are engaged in a great civil war over conscience formation. The defense of human life is an obligation for all humanity, not just for Catholics.

President Obama I am embarrassed to admit that I could not participate in the last election cycle. I wanted to vote for you, but I just could not because of your position on abortion. In fact, I am finding it more and more difficult to vote for the candidates of our major political parties. My friends tell me to vote by all means, vote for the lesser of the evils. Unfortunately today’s evils seem so much larger than my conscience can bear, whether they pertain to abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, immigration, the economy, housing for the poor, gun control, health care for the uninsured, the environment, war for oil or weapons of mass destruction. I do love my country and I do want to vote. I just do not know how to vote while remaining true to my conscience formed by my faith convictions.

When I was a young man I thrilled to the stirring words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. calling us to stand before the door of a great truth and open it wide: “to stand up for that which is right and that which is just…We die when we refuse to stand up for that which is right. We die when we refuse to take a stand for that which is true. So we are going to stand up right here.”

Perhaps, Mr. President, at the University of Notre Dame, you can stand up for the great truth of life, walk through that door and take us, as a nation, with you. If you do, I have no doubt whatsoever, your greatness will be realized.

Be assured of my prayers, Mr. President, for you and your good and delightful family. What a blessing your family is to the nation. May God’s grace expand the love in your hearts day in and day out.

Respectfully yours,
Rev. Hugh W. Cleary, C.S.C.

Notrre Dame, President Obama....the latest

I know that times are tough under the golden dome of Notre Dame. The administration of the University has invitedd President Obama to speak at the commencement. He has accepted the invitation.

Many people are upset about this situtation. The graduating seniors are thrilled (98%) that the currently sitting President of the United States will speak at their Commencement Exercises. Many of the alumni of Our Lady's University are displesead that the President will be addressing our Alma Mater's commmunity at commmencement.
Let's try to pray for each other in these coming days. May we pray that we will all be open to the surprising ways of the Holy Spirit in these Easter Days.

Come, Holy Spirit!

Get Ready for "FLANAGAN'S WAKE"

Let's get the word out about the upcoming showing of "Flanagan's Wake."

The "Wake" will be here at St. Anselm on Friday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. There will be a light dinner available starting at 6:00 p.m. The $30 ticket includes two drinks and snacks during and after the "Wake."

The "Wake" involves some singing, much laughter, and audience-interaction. Get ready for a very fun evening.

We can use help in advertising this event. If you can put up some flyers, or sell some tickets, you can get both from Kayde in the Parish Office.

We're hoping to sell 400 tickets, which will fill the church. Let's get ready to wake Flanagan, and have some fun and a few "pints"

Happy St. Joseph's Day!

This is from Fr. Jim Martin, SJ

Well, the Pope is travelling today, the feast of St. Patrick to the continent of Africa. His first stop is Cameroon. It just so happens that his visit comes in the midst of a controversy over the implementation of the new translations of the Roman Missal.

It seems that the Bishops of South Africa have given permission to use the new translations of the Roman Missal to their parishes. This, despite the fact that the new translations haven't been officially approved by Rome and other English-speaking Bishops' conferences...and those approvals are still about two or three years off.

The reaction from the South African priests and parishioners has been universally negative. In fact, it can be described as total rejection. Once again, the Vatican and the Bishops are not listening to their people. Here's an article about the situation in South Africa that Pope Benedict is walking into today:

SAfrica protest over new Catholic Mass translation
By MICHELLE FAUL – 18 hours ago

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A new translation of the Roman Catholic Mass that is to be introduced worldwide in a few years is getting an accidental trial run in South Africa, where some parishioners are complaining it's too hard to understand.

The controversy comes as Pope Benedict XVI travels Tuesday to Cameroon on his first papal pilgrimage to the continent that has the fastest growing congregation of Catholics.

Critics say the new, more literal word-for-word translation is part of an attempt to roll back the progress made decades ago when the church halted its insistence on Latin.

Before Communion, for example, the prayer "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you" becomes "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." "One in being with the Father" becomes "consubstantial with the Father" in the Nicene creed.

And the congregation's response to the greeting that opens Mass with the priest saying "The Lord be with you," changes from "And also with you" to "And with your spirit."

In a misunderstanding, some South African church leaders started using the new version prematurely in some parishes, even though the English-language prayers won't be approved for global use for at least a couple of years. But instead of pulling back in the face of their mistake, they are continuing to use the liturgy.

Distribution of the prayers has fueled debate over whether the new translation — meant to more closely follow the original Latin text — will help deepen parishioners' prayer life or alienate them from the church.

"I think the church has been very lucky that the South Africans jumped the gun because it's showing the Vatican that there is going to be a worldwide problem when these new translations are put into effect," said Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

"Once again the Vatican isn't listening to the critics, and we're going to have another major embarrassment to the pope when these translations are put into effect and are forced on the people in the pews," he said.

Vatican II, the 1962-1965 meetings that inspired liberalizing reforms of the Roman Catholic Church, led to changes such as Mass being celebrated in local languages. Reese said prior to that, Mass was said in Latin and parishioners followed along in a missile that had an English translation.

The new Mass translation now is being used in some parishes of the Southern African Church, which also includes Botswana and Swaziland and serves some 3.2 million Catholics. The premature use, which began in late November, is being blamed on a misplaced letter advising that the texts weren't to be used immediately.

Bishop Edward Risi, in charge of the local bishops' liturgical department, said the new translation is "a more faithful rendering ... an echo of the scriptures. What the original Latin has done uses the scriptures and English must also reflect that."

The debate over translating the latest edition of the Roman Missal, the ritual text for celebrating Mass, began years ago.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a third edition of the "Missale Romanum," followed by a Vatican document a year later that insisted translations should stay close to the Latin and adhere to church doctrine. An international panel representing English-speaking bishops began tackling the job of translating the new liturgy.

But Clement Armstrong of Bryanston, South Africa, said some of the changes in wording are "simply nonsense." While his home parish has not yet adopted the changes, a church where he attended Mass over the holidays has.

"I am resistant to change and I think the older community in my parish will feel the same," he said. "I can accept change when there is a good reason but I cannot see one."

His daughter-in-law, Anne Armstrong agrees: "We are all familiar with the liturgy we have used since we were children. Why is there the need to say Mass differently?"

The Rev. Efrem Tresoldi warned in The Southern Cross, a regional Catholic weekly: "I've heard it said that younger people are leaving the Church because, among other things, the language used in our liturgy sounds foreign to them. I think this new version of the order of the Mass is even more alienating."

Lay leader Paddy Kearney also points to the theological implications in the "mea culpa." The new translation reverts to repeated pronunciations of guilt emphasized by beatings on the breast reflected in the Latin Mass: "Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."

Under Vatican II, the breast-beating was abandoned and people pronounced only once on grievous sinning.

"I think this is because some feel we need to have more emphasis on our guiltiness and sinfulness, because the feeling is that we have lost our sense of guilt," Kearney said.

There's a feeling, Kearney said, "that Vatican II was a mistake, that a lot has gone wrong as a result of its decrees and that we need to get back in line, get knocked into shape, that we need to inch back to where we were before."

In an article in The Southern Cross, Bishop Kevin Dowling agreed.

"I am concerned that this latest decision from the Vatican may be interpreted as another example of what is perceived to be a systematic and well-managed dismantling of the vision, theology and ecclesiology of Vatican II."

The Rev. Russell Pollitt also questioned whether nonnative English speakers in South Africa, where there are 11 official languages, would understand the more abstract concepts.

"The new text seems almost to imply that there is something inherently holy about Latin and inherently unholy about proper English," English Professor Colin Gardner said.

A taste of the future?

This recent article from "America" magazine was very thought-provoking. I studied with several women at the University of Notre Dame, who all obtained the same Master of Divinity degree as I and my fellow seminarians. Several of these women have been involved in pastoral ministry in parishes in the Midwest. So I thought of them as I read this wonderful article.

Exceptional Pastoring
Women in parish leadership
Mary M. Foley | MARCH 9, 2009



I am one of the few people I know who have been able to do what they most wanted to do in life. For the last four years, I have had the rare, joyful and privileged opportunity to pastor a Catholic parish as a laywoman. This ministry is rare; fewer than 500 men and women currently serve as pastoral leaders of parishes that do not have a resident priest pastor, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Those who serve have titles like parish/pastoral life coordinator, parish director or pastoral administrator. My service in this ministry ended when a new bishop decided to appoint only resident priest pastors in parishes. I am not sure how he will be able to maintain this practice over time, but the action is certainly within his rights as bishop. I look back on recent events with sadness and great disappointment, but with no animosity and with my bishop’s letter of recommendation in hand.

With all my heart I hope to serve once again in this ministry for our church. Looking for a new placement has given me some time to write and reflect. A couple of midwestern dioceses invited me to begin the application process, but it is lengthy and there are no concrete opportunities on the horizon yet. I interviewed in two dioceses in California. Neither diocese currently appoints anyone but priests to pastor parishes, but both dioceses talked with me about possibilities for ministry. I had a great time. We talked about the “parish life coordinator” model of ministry, as well as different configurations for parish pastoral teams. We discussed the church’s challenges today in terms of parish leadership, especially given the shortage of priests. Reflecting on these meetings, I realize that not only do I love parish ministry; I love talking about it. It is valuable to converse with different people around the country because our ideas and our imaginations can grow as a result.

I decided to put some thoughts to paper while I remain temporarily free of responsibilities and episcopal oversight. In saying the latter, I intend no slight toward any bishop I have ever worked with, for they have all been good men and I have loved them all. I wish only to acknowledge that I now feel freer than usual to speak publicly. As a woman serving in a very unusual ministry in the church, I am accustomed to being watched as though under a microscope, especially by people who would write to the bishop (or even the apostolic nuncio to the United States) if they thought anything I did was suspicious. At least for now, I do not have to worry about anyone sending letters of complaint to my supervising bishop.

My last assignment in ministry was especially challenging, because I was the only person serving in such a role within four dioceses in the state, and people were generally unprepared for such a change. In spite of the challenges, this was a ministry full of joy and one in which I felt most fully alive. In a word, it is a ministry for which I was made. Pastoring is my vocation. I deeply love my church, and I am thankful for every ministry opportunity I have had; but I am especially grateful for having had the opportunity to serve the church as a pastoral life coordinator.

What Is a Parish Life Coordinator?
For now, talking about the ministry may be a form of service to the church. What does it mean for the church to have women (or deacons or laymen) pastoring parishes? Note that I use “pastor” and “pastoring” as a verb. According to canon law, the title “pastor” always belongs to a priest. Yet canon law includes a special provision that allows a diocesan bishop to appoint a qualified person other than a priest to share in the pastoral care of a parish when there is a shortage of priests (Canon 517.2). In this case, a priest is named canonical pastor. This canonical pastor, or priest moderator, as the position is often called, is responsible for general oversight of the parish, but he is most often not involved in the daily pastoral care of parishioners or in parish administration. These responsibilities are entrusted to the one who is appointed parish life coordinator. The bishop also assigns a sacramental minister (a second priest), who comes into the parish for Sunday Mass and other sacramental celebrations.

The parish life coordinator is appointed to be the pastoral leader of the parish and the one responsible for its administration. While pastoring is ordinarily associated only with priesthood, it is good that this provision exists in canon law, because at this time in U.S. history, we do not have enough priests who can become pastors, and we will have more parishes in need of pastoring. I also know that God has entrusted gifts for pastoring to others like myself.



I do not know what the future holds for ecclesial structures and roles in ministry. I believe that the power of death cannot prevail against the church (Mt 16:18), and I trust that God will always make a way for people to receive the sacraments. The richness of the tradition of the Catholic Church is beyond comparison, yet I fear that fear itself will prevent us from adequately passing on this tradition from generation to generation. This is not something sentimental; it concerns the salvation of people and our mission as church.

Overcoming Fears
I have served in a ministry that is feared by some, who see it as devaluing priesthood. The only need we have, they would say, is to promote vocations to priesthood and religious life. Some fear that by encouraging lay ecclesial ministry, especially when it comes to leadership of parishes, we discourage these other vocations. This I do not believe. Religious vocations are God-given, and it is the task of anyone pastoring within the church (bishop, priest or parish life coordinator) to recognize, affirm, encourage, nurture and support all the gifts God has given to the community of faith. To me, this is an essential part of what it means to pastor. In the last four years, in a parish of 935 families, I encouraged two young men who may have vocations to priesthood, and I helped another man enter formation for the permanent diaconate. I gave vocation talks in our religious education classes and spoke about bishops, priests, deacons, brothers and monks, sisters and nuns and lay ecclesial ministers. I encouraged each child who thought that God may be calling him or her to one of these ministries and wrote letters to their parents, asking them to give encouragement as well. I also invited four laypeople to begin formation in a diocesan lay ministry program.

We are not the givers of religious vocations, nor can we choose what gifts will be given. Our proper task is to recognize all the gifts God has given to the church, especially in these challenging times. If we need vocations to the priesthood, and we do, then we must have pastors in parishes who will encourage them, whoever is doing the pastoring.

In the ministry of pastoring, I have also discovered that another concern compounds the fears of some: female leadership of parishes. When I was originally appointed, the bishop let me know that he expected me to attend cluster meetings with the priests. When the priests found out, some staged a minor revolt and protest to the presbyteral council. I avoided meetings until the matter was finally resolved. Then, over time, collegial relationships developed with some of the same priests who had originally objected to my presence.

At the parish level, I was informed by someone when I arrived that my coming was disruptive to the psyche of some of the people: “You have to understand that we have had this tradition for 2,000 years. Now, not only do we not have a priest pastor, but we have a woman on top of it!” Should such challenges prevent the consideration of women as leaders of parishes? In truth, I was never fully accepted by some people. Most, however, came around in their thinking. Our parish grew from 750 to 935 families, and our religious education enrollment of 535 students reflected a 25 percent increase over a few years. Many people said that I was able to minister with them in ways that some priests never could. Does this comment devalue priesthood? On the contrary, effective ministry does not diminish anyone. Rather, it helps our entire church.

The important task at hand for all pastors is to recognize the gifts that God has freely given for the benefit of the church. Then we must also educate the lay faithful about the state of the priest shortage in our country. Denial is another form of fear. Alternate models of ministry may be needed in particular times and places. We should help people understand the situation by providing them thorough orientation on new forms of ministry. Laypeople love the church, and they can learn, adapt and flourish under various models of pastoral leadership. God will provide priests for the church in the future, and God will provide what we need so that viable parishes can remain active communities of faith and local centers for evangelization. Consider starting a conversation about these things in your parish or diocese. Be not afraid.


Mary M. Foley has served in a variety of parish ministries for more than 20 years, most recently as pastoral life coordinator for a suburban parish of 935 families. She lives in the Midwest.
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This wonderful image of St. Anselm helps me to focus in these confusing days.

Over the last week, I've been on retreat with kids from a Catholic High School, I've presided at weekend liturgies at our parish, and most recently, I've represented our Diocese at a meeting of regional Liturgical Commissions wrestling with the important issues of how best to prepare our diocese for the soon-to-be-released Roman Missal. Along the way, I've had to preside at several funerals, visit the sick in the hospitals, and helped our Bishop to institute deacon-candidates for their upcoming ministries.

When I look at this image, I'm reminded of the patron of our parish....St. Anselm of Caterbury. Anselm was a monk, an intellectual, a liturgical innovator, and a scholar who helped to renew his community and other communities which looked to his for leadership and inspiration.

I believe that our parish of St. Anselm can continue this necessary ministry. We can continue to help our own people, and those of the local area, toward a more realistic living of the Gospel in our day.

It requires a vision of service, prayer, and ongoing conversion....an openess to new and innovative ways of doing traditional things.

Some people may find this scary and confusing....others may find it heretical....



I think people like Anselm, and John XXIII, and Oscar Romero, and other leaders in a time of radical change, sought to bring folks around to a vision of living this life in the light of the Resurrection of Jesus, and in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

I look to this image of Anselm, and I seek to follow his lead....to the Gospel of Life!!!!

A Letter from Pope Benedict

Tomorrow, you'll be able to read the full text of a letter from Pope Benedict to all of the world's bishops, discussing, and apologizing for, some recent events that have caused much confusion in the Catholic Church.


Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Papal Letter about the Lifting of the SSPX Excommunications - the Letter Itself
by Gregor Kollmorgen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Here, now, is the full text of the Pope's letter regarding the lifting of the SSPX excommunications itself, which has already been published in the most prestigious and reliable German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in an NLM translation:



Dear brethren in the Episcopal ministry!

The lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 without a mandate of the Holy See has led, both within and outside the Catholic Church, for a variety of reasons, to a discussion of such vehemence as we had not experienced for a long time. Many bishops felt at a loss before an event which came unexpectedly and could barely be integrated positively among the questions and tasks of the Church of today. Although many pastors and faithful were willing in principle to value positively the Pope's desire for reconciliation, against this was the question of the appropriateness of such a gesture, given the real urgency of a believing life in our time. Several groups, however, accused the Pope openly of wanting to return behind the Council. An avalanche of protests was set into motion, the bitterness of which made injuries visible which transcended the moment. Therefore I feel pressed to address to you, dear brethren, a clarifying word, which is meant to help to understand the intentions which have guided me and the competent organs of the Holy See in this step. I hope in this way to contribute to peace in the Church.

One mishap for me unforeseeable, was the fact that the Williamson case has superimposed itself on the remission of the excommunication. The discreet gesture of mercy towards the four bishops ordained validly but not legitimately, suddenly appeared as something entirely different: as a disavowal of the reconciliation between Christians and Jews, and therefore as the revocation of what in this area the Council had clarified for the way for the Church. The invitation to reconciliation with an ecclesial group separating itself had thus become the opposite: an apparent way back behind all the steps of reconciliation between Christians and Jews which had been made since the Council and which to make and further had been from the outset a goal of my theological work. The fact that this superposition of two opposing processes has occurred and has disturbed for a moment the peace between Christians and Jews as well as the peace in the Church I can only deeply regret. I hear that closely following the news available on the internet would have made it possible to obtain knowledge of the problem in time. I learn from this that we at the Holy See have to pay more careful attention to this news source in the future. It has saddened me that even Catholics who could actually have known better have thought it necessary to strike at me with a hostility ready to jump. Even more therefore I thank the Jewish friends who have helped to quickly clear away the misunderstanding and to restore the atmosphere of friendship and trust, which - as in the time of Pope John Paul II - also during the entire time of my pontificate had existed and God be praised continues to exist.

Another mishap which I sincerely regret, is that the scope and limits of the measure of 21 January 2009 have not been set out clearly enough at the time of the publication of the procedure. The excommunication affects persons, not institutions. Episcopal consecration without papal mandate means the danger of a schism, because it calls into question the unity of the Bishops' College with the Pope. The Church must, therefore, react with the harshest punishment, excommunication, and that is to call back the persons thus punished to repentance and into unity. 20 years after the ordinations this goal has unfortunately still not been achieved. The withdrawal of the excommunication serves the same purpose as the punishment itself: once more to invite the four bishops to return. This gesture was possible after the affected had expressed their fundamental recognition of the pope and his pastoral authority, albeit with reservations as far as obedience to his magisterial authority and that of the Council is concerned. This brings me back to the distinction between person and institution. The releasing of the excommunication was a measure in the field of ecclesial discipline: the persons were freed of the burden of conscience of the heaviest ecclesial censure. From this disciplinary level one has to distinguish the doctrinal area. That the Fraternity of Saint Pius X does not possess a canonical position in the Church is not based ultimately on disciplinary grounds but on doctrinal ones. As long as the Fraternity does not possess a canonical position in the Church, its officials do not exercise legitimate offices in the Church. One has therefore to distinguish between disciplinary level affecting the persons as persons, and the level of doctrine, at which office and institution are concerned. To say it once again: As long as the doctrinal issues are not resolved, the Fraternity has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers, even if they are free from ecclesiastical censure, do not exercise in a legitimate way any ministry in the Church.

Given this situation, I intend to connect the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", which since 1988 is responsible for those communities and individuals who, coming from the Fraternity of Pius X or similar groups, want to return into full communion with the Pope, in the future with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This shall make it clear that the problems now being treated are essentially doctrinal in nature, especially those concerning the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the postconciliar Magisterium of the Popes. The collegial organs through which the Congregation works on the questions arising (especially the regular assembly of the Cardinals on Wednesday and the General Assembly every one or two years) guarantee the involvement of the prefects of various Roman congregations and of the worldwide episcopate in the decisions to be made. One cannot freeze the magisterial authority of the Church in 1962 and - this must be quite clear to the Fraternity. But to some of those who show off as great defenders of the Council it must also be recalled to memory that Vatican II contains within itself the whole doctrinal history of the Church. Who wants to be obedient to it [sc. the Council] must accept the faith of the centuries and must not cut the roots of which the tree lives.

I hope, dear brethren, that with this both the positive meaning as well as the limit of the measure of 21 January 2009 is clarified. But now the question remains: Was this necessary? Was this really a priority? Are there not much more important things? Of course, there are more important and urgent things. I think that I have made clear the priorities of the pontificate in my speeches at the beginning of it. What I said then remains my guideline unchangedly. The first priority for the successor of Peter, the Lord has unequivocally fixed in the Room of the Last Supper: "You, however, strengthen your brethren" (Lk 22, 32). Peter himself rephrased this priority in his first letter: "Be ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you." (1 Peter 3, 15). In our time, in which the faith in large parts of the world threatens to go out like a flame which can no longer find food, the first priority is to make God present in this world and to open to men the access to God. Not to just any god, but to the God who spoke on Mount Sinai, that God whose face we recognize in the love unto the end (John 13, 1)- in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. The real problem of our historic hour is that God is disappearing from the horizon of men and that with the extinguishing of the light coming from God disorientation befalls mankind, the destructive effects of which we are seeing ever more.

To lead men to God, to the God speaking in the Bible, is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and the successor of Peter in this time. From it then it follows on its own that we have to be concerned for the unity of believers. For their strife, their internal dissent, calls their talking about God into question. Therefore, the effort for the common witness of faith of the Christians - for ecumenism -is included in the highest priority. Then there is also the necessity that all who believe in God seeking peace with each other, trying to become closer to each other, in order to walk, in the different-ness of their image of God, yet together towards the source of light - inter-religious dialogue. Those who proclaim God as love unto the end, must give the witness of love: devoted to the suffering in love, fending off hatred and enmity - the social dimension of the Christian Faith, of which I have spoken in the encyclical "Deus caritas est".

If then the struggle for Faith, hope and love in the world is the true priority for the Church in this hour (and in different forms always), then still the small and medium-sized reconciliations also belong to it. That the quiet gesture of a hand stretched out has become a great noise and thus the opposite of reconciliation, we have to take note of. But now I have to wonder: Was and is it really wrong, also in this case, to go to meet the brother, who "hath any thing against thee" and to try for reconciliation (cf. Mt 5, 23f)? Does not civil society, too, have to try to prevent radicalizations, to bind their possible supporters - if possible - back into the major creative forces of social life to avoid isolation and all its consequences? Can it be entirely wrong to strive for the lessening of tensions and constrictions and to give room to the positive which can be found and integrated into the whole? I myself, in the years after 1988, have experienced how by the return of communities previously separating themselves from Rome the interior climate there has changed, how the return to the great, wide and common Church overcame onesided-ness and lessened tensions, so that now they have become positive forces for the whole. Can a community leave us totally indifferent in which there are 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university institutes, 117 brothers, 164 sisters? Should we really calmly leave them to drift away from the Church? I am thinking, for example, of the 491 priests. The plaited fabric of their motivations we cannot know. But I think that they would not have made their decision for the priesthood, if next to some askew or sick elements there hot not been there the love of Christ and the will to proclaim Him and with Him the living God. Should we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical marginal group, from the search for reconciliation and unity? What will then be?

Certainly, we have long and have again on this occasion heard many dissonances from representatives of this community - pride and a patronizing know-it-all attitude, fixation into onesidedness etc. For the love of truth I must add that I have also received a series of moving testimonials of gratitude, in which was made perceptible an opening of hearts. But should the great Church not also be able to be magnanimous [in German its a play on words: "great Church - great of heart"] in the knowledge of the long wind she has; in the knowledge of the promise which she has been given? Should we not, like good educators, also be able not to hear some bad things and strive to calmly lead out of the narrowness? And must we not admit that also from ecclesial circles there have come dissonances? Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group for which there need not be any tolerance; which one can unperturbedly set upon with hatred. And who dared to touch them - in this case the Pope - lost himself the right to tolerance and was allowed without fear and restraint to be treated with hatred, too.

Dear brethren, in the days in which it came into my mind to write this letter, it so happened that in the seminary of Rome I had to interpret and comment the passage of Gal 5, 13-15. I was surprised at how directly it speaks of the present of this hour: "Do not make liberty an occasion to the flesh, but by charity of the spirit serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another; take heed you be not consumed one of another." I was always inclined to regard this sentence as one of the rhetorical hyperbole which occasionally there are with St. Paul. In some respects it may be so. But unfortunately, the "biting and devouring" is there in the Church even today as an expression of a poorly understood freedom. Is it surprising that we are not better than the Galatians? That we at least are threatened by the same temptations? That we have always to learn anew the right use of freedom? And that we have always to learn anew the first priority: love? On the day on which I had to speak about this in the seminary, in Rome the feast of the Madonna della Fiducia - our Lady of Trust - was celebrated. Indeed - Mary teaches us trust. She leads us to the Son, in Whom we all may trust. He will guide us - even in turbulent times. So at the end I would like to thank from my heart all the many bishops who have given me in this time moving signs of trust and affection, but above all the gift of their prayers. This thank I extend to all the faithful who have shown me during this time their unchanged fidelity to the successor of St. Peter. The Lord preserve us all and lead us on the path of peace. This is a wish that spontaneously rises from my heart, especially now at the beginning of Lent, a liturgical time particularly propitious to inner purification, and which invites us all to look with new hope towards the radiant goal of Easter.

With a special Apostolic Blessing, I remain


Yours in the Lord

Benedictus Pp. XVI

From the Vatican, on 10 March 2009

Back from a KAIROS

Back from another KAIROS retreat, which officially ends tomorrow afternoon.

This retreat was a very unique experience...with some very unique situations and retreatants and leaders.

Overall, I think that we need to take a "good, long, hard look at the KAIROS retreat program" for the near future, and in light of the current bad economy, evaluate the value of the program for the future.

Our new school administration also needs to reevaluate the place of retreats in the entire "Catholic character" of the high school community.

Wish I had better news about my experiences these past few days....

Jonah, a Reluctant Prophet

Today's first reading at Mass is the story of Jonah, a most reluctant prophet. I thought that this image would help us reflect on the call to be prophets today...and the demands of being open to God's often-surprising ways.

Later today, I'm off to Bucks County for another KAIROS retreat with the students from St. John Vianney High School. I'm praying that this will be a powerful time for them, when the Lord will touch them with love, grace, and peace.

Pray for me too!

Another KAIROS retreat for SJV

Later today, St. John Vianney High School will begin another KAIROS retreat, and I'm pleased to announce that once again I've been asked to be the priest on the retreat. I'm really very excited about the next 4 days, and for all of the retreatants and the retreat-leaders!

While I'll miss the regular activities of parish ministry, I think that being on a KAIROS retreat will envigorate me for many new initiatives in the parish. So, thank you, people of St. Anselm, for letting me take off for a couple of days to "hang" with the students at St. John Vianney High School.

Let's all pray that we can come back from our Lenten experiences renewed in the One who gives Eternal Life through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

The Big Chill

A lot of snow today! Here at St. Anselm, we have over 12" of snow on the ground. It's going to take a while to get it all plowed and cleaned up, so please be patient.

And be careful out there!

Rite of Election: Welcome to the Family!

This afternoon, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, in Trenton, the Diocese celebrated the annual Rite of Election. Close to 700 people filled the Cathedral for a beautiful liturgy recognizing the "election" of the candidates for the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil.

The Elect were joined by their families, friends, and the RCIA teams from their parishes, who have been bringing them to this point in their spiritual journeys. During the next few weeks of Lent, they will continue their intensive study, and preparation for the celebration of the Easter Sacraments.

Together, we welcome these newest "sisters and brothers" in the faith.!

Thanks for the Bishop's Annual Appeal 2009

Thanks to everybody for your generosity toward this year's Bishop's Annual Appeal. If you would like printed information about this year's Appeal, we have fliers available near all of the doors of the church, along with pledge cards in both English and Spanish.


A new aspect of this year's Appeal is the opportunity to donate online. Please be sure to mark "St. Anselm" as your parish if you choose this option.

There are many worthy opportunities to donate to charities in our area. Your donation toward the Bishop's Annual Appeal will help to fund the formation of seminarians and priests, and lay ecclesial ministers for service in our diocese.

Once again, THANK YOU!

Ash Wednesday

Greetings to everybody that visited St. Anselm today. The numbers of people at each of the 4 services was impressive and humbling. May our Lenten journey be blessed with many graces as we journey with the Lord to the joy of Easter!

Bishop's Annual Appeal 2009

Today, at all Masses, we "showed" the video to kick off the Bishop's Annual Appeal.

Put very simply, we're only looking for a one-time gift from every family in the parish towards this year's appeal.

Be realistic! If you can only afford $25....God bless you. If you can afford a gift of $100, then God bless.

We're only asking that each family do a small part in taking part in the B.A.A....we have almost 2000 families in our parish....if every family gave $25....we would reach our goal, and then get back what we "go over goal."

For all of your generosity....THANK YOU!

N.E.T. retreat 2009

This evening we had our annual Confirmation retreat, led by the young people from N.E.T. Ministries (National Evangelization Team). We have about 75 young parishioners preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation in May. The NET team did a great job in helping our kids see that living our faith is possible, even for young people.

Our celebration of Confirmation will be on May 6, 2009, and the minister of the Sacrament will once again be Most Rev. Donald J. Reece, Archbishop of Kingston, Jamaica. Archbishop Reece is no stranger to St. Anselm parish, having celebrated Confirmation here several times in the past 10 years. Since we are already twinning with a parish in Jamaica, having Archbishop Reece come back to celebrate with us will be a very exciting moment for the whole parish.

That's why I'm inviting the entire parish to join us for Confirmations this year. Anyone who is interested in furthuring our relationship with St. Anthony's parish in Jamaica should try to come to Confirmation this year. We can use help with the ministries of hospitality, in distributing Holy Communion, and especially with our Music Ministry. Also, we'll be serving a dinner for Archbishop Reece in between the two celebrations, and it would be great to show him our St. Anselm hospitality.

So mark your calendar for May 6...and let's rejoice in the gift of the Spirit!

Making a Federal Case of it

By TOM ROBERTS
Published: February 17, 2009



Cardinal Roger Mahony: (CNS photo)Mahony confirms probe, but U.S. attorney isn’t talking

LOS ANGELES .--.A recently impaneled federal grand jury is investigating how the Los Angeles archdiocese managed accusations that dozens of priests molested hundreds of teenagers and younger children over many years. The federal investigation, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times Jan. 29, threatens to ignite a new phase in the clergy sex-abuse scandal less than two years after the archdiocese agreed to pay $660 million to more than 500 victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Whether the efforts of U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, will write any new chapters of the story is at this point anyone’s guess. O’Brien’s spokesperson, Thom Mrozek, declined to acknowledge that such an investigation is even underway.

But Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony confirmed the probe in a Jan. 29 radio interview. Mahony said the archdiocese received a grand jury subpoena that called for the church to provide information on 22 priests accused of abusing minors. Of the 22, said Mahony, two are dead and the rest no longer serve as priests.

In the radio interview, Mahony said he did not know if he is a target of the investigation. No high-ranking U.S. prelate has ever been criminally charged as a result of their management of sex-abuse cases. Dioceses, religious orders and their insurers have spent billions of dollars over the past decade to settle thousands of sex-abuse claims against clergy.

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See also: Plaintiffs' advocates call for release of L.A. documents
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Mahony said it appeared the grand jury was looking into what priests were transferred where and “whether or not all the folks … in the parishes were notified.” He admitted that errors had been made in the past, but said that full disclosure of archdiocesan actions related to the 22 are included in the February 2004 “Report to the People of God” available on the archdiocese’s Web site.

Mistakes in dealing with clergy predators, said Mahony, resulted largely from the belief that the perpetrators needed psychological help and counseling, not referral to law-enforcement authorities. “We have said repeatedly that … our understanding of this problem and the way it’s dealt with today evolved, and that in those years ago, decades ago, people didn’t realize how serious this was, and so, rather than pulling people out of ministry directly and fully, they were moved,” said Mahony.

A diocesan spokesman told NCR that the cardinal was unavailable for an interview.

Lawyers for victims and members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) welcomed the federal probe. They contend that church officials around the country, including Los Angeles, knowingly moved dangerous predators from parish to parish or across state lines while minimizing or ignoring complaints of victims and others until the threat of legal action forced the church to settle cases.

Federal prosecutors say legal experts have wide latitude in deciding what cases to pursue and often cooperate with local law-enforcement and judicial agencies. There is considerable speculation in Los Angeles church and legal circles that the local district attorney’s office, which began investigating the archdiocese’s handling of sex-abuse cases in 2002, is providing information to the federal grand jury. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined comment on the federal proceedings.

The federal grand jury was reportedly impaneled last fall. The normal duration of such a panel is up to 18 months. According to the “Handbook for Federal Grand Jurors,” a federal panel determines “whether there is probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that a specific person or persons committed it.”

While interested parties wait to see where the federal probe is headed, they also await the release of documents — some say it could be tens of thousands of pages — from the Los Angeles archdiocese, promised as part of the 2007 settlement with victims. That process has been delayed because the original judge who was appointed to oversee the document disclosure recused himself from the case and because, say critics of the archdiocese, of objections to the process raised by church lawyers.

[Tom Roberts is NCR editor at large. His e-mail is troberts@ncronline.org.]

Getting Ready for Lent, 2009

With one week to go till Ash Wednesday, it's time to start getting ready physically and spiritually for this holy season.

Bring your "old" palms to the Church, and we'll collect them for the burning, and we'll use them for our ashes next Wednesday.

This weekend, we'll show the video introducing the Bishop's Annual Appeal for 2009.
If you have already made a gift to the appeal...THANK YOU! If you have not, please consider a gift to the appeal which will benefit the formation of lay ministers, future priests, and other vital activities throughout the Diocese of Trenton.

Please consider participating in the B.A.A. as your Lenten practice of giving alms!

Remember the other two pillars of Lent are fasting and prayer. To that end we invite you to take part in our Friday Simple Meals and the celebration of the Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings.

Bishop's Annual Appeal....2009

This weekend, we will speak about this year's Bishop's Annual Appeal. Many of you who have donated to this appeal in past years have already donated to this year's appeal. Thank you for your wonderful generosity!

Just for your information, and in keeping with our practce of being transparent, our parish's goal was raised by the Bishop's Development Office by over $2000 this year. This raise, despite our committment to not hiring any new staff positions, has been imposed on us with no input from our parish community.

Also, we have heard absolutely nothing from the Office of Catholic Education about the future of our parish's involvement in Pope John XXIII regional Catholic Grade school in Deal. As of this date, we have absolutely no idea how much money the diocese is asking us to donate toward the future of this school. While we all want to be supportive of the wonderful students and teachers at the school, the Diocesan Office of Catholic Education has been absolutely mute on this area.

It's our time to be Church, as the Bishop says in his video from the Appeal.
And so, I'm asking all of the 2000 families of our St. Anselm Parish, for a one-time gift of $25 to the Bishop's Annual Appeal for 2009. That will put us over our goal, and a percentage will come back to St. Anselm's too! With the left-over funds, we can reach out to our own parishioners, to our friends in Asbury Park and Long Branch, to the hungry and homeless who come to us for help.


It's a fact of life that the Bishop's Annual Appeal is given to us once a year. I promise you, that this is the one and only time of this year that I will speak to you about this issue. I pray that God will continue to bless you and your family for your wonderful generosity to St. Anselm, and to our local efforts to reach out to the poor and the marginal!

A Catholic Funeral, revisited

Today, we celebrated a very large funeral for a young person....only 21 years old. Funerals for young people are usually big events, and this proved true today. I must admit that I'm very proud of our parish bereavement committee, and how they host a funeral like today's celebration. They are so attentive to the many details of hospitality and reaching out to young people who may not be familiar with the Catholic celebrations of funerals. I really hope that the way we celebrate helps people to grow in their faith!

Companions Groups Starting Up

This weekend we announced the formation of the next season of small faith-sharing groups, otherwise known as our "Companions" groups. We have many different groups meeting at different times and locations during the season of Lent.
Please consider joining one of the groups. You'll be glad that you did!

Vatican flexes its muscles with Schismatic bishop

Vatican Demands Holocaust Denier Publicly Recant
By Rachel Donadio/New York Times

ROME — Responding to global outrage, especially in Pope Benedict XVI’s native Germany, the Vatican for the first time on Wednesday called on a recently rehabilitated bishop to take back his statements denying the Holocaust.

Late last month, the pope revoked the excommunication of four schismatic bishops, including British-born Richard Williamson, who in an interview broadcast last month denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Vatican Secretariat of State said that Bishop Williamson “must absolutely, unequivocally and publicly distance himself from his positions on the Shoah,” or Holocaust, which it said were “unknown to the Holy Father at the time he revoked the excommunication.”

The unsigned statement seemed a clear indication that the Vatican was facing an internal and external political crisis.
...

The statement from the Secretariat of State noted Benedict’s remarks last week in which he expressed his “full and unequivocal solidarity” with Jews and condemned all Holocaust denial, yet it went far beyond the pope’s earlier remarks in which he had never mentioned Bishop Williamson by name.
...

The statement from the Vatican on Wednesday also sought to address significant lingering questions about what conditions the society would have to meet before being fully welcomed back into the fold. It stated that the society would have to offer its “full recognition of the Second Vatican Council” in order to receive “recognition” by the church.

Maybe the mitre is a bit too tight?

Image: logo from Williamson's blog, Dinoscopus


Richard Williamson of the SSPX has posted on his blog the text of a letter of "apology" which he sent to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos who serves as a liaison between the Vatican and the SSPX. Included below is the introductory paragraph posted above the letter on Williamson's blog:

Following in the steps of Our Lord (Jn. XVIII, 23) and St. Paul (Acts, XXIII, 5), (SSPX founder) Archbishop Lefebvre gave his Society the example of never so cleaving to God's Truth as to abandon respect for the men holding God's Authority. In the midst of last week's media uproar, surely aimed rather at the Holy Father than at a relatively insignificant bishop, here is a letter written to Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos on January 28 by that bishop:

To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos

Your Eminence

Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.

For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:

"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."

Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.

Sincerely yours in Christ

+Richard Williamson


For the life of me, I can't find any real "repudiation of Anti-Semitism" or the inane remarks of this guy about his denial of the Shoah of the Jews! Stay tuned for the latest in this little winter drama.

Oh, the NCR (National Catholic Reporter) has an interesting story about some other brothers and sisters who have been "excommunicated" who seek to be welcomed back into the fold: the women who were ordained priests and bishops without Church recognition, and the priests who support their ordination. They've all been excommunitcated officially, but they all adhere to the teachings of Vatican II. Why can't they come back if the wackos in SSPX are welcomed back, even though they still refuse to acknowledge Vatican II as a legitimate Council of the Church? Interesting stuff indeed!

Is Anti-Semitism a real condition of membership in the Society of Pope Pius X?

This is reprinted from the current issue of AMERICA magazine, regarding the controversy over the lifting of the excommunications of the SSPX "bishops", espcially the strange remarks of "bishop" Williamson of England, who denies the Shoa of the Jews.


The Anti-Semitism of the Society of St. Pius X
Posted at: 2009-01-31 10:37:00.0
Author: James Martin, S.J.


The ongoing debate over Pope Benedict's decision to lift the ban of excommunication on four bishop-members of the Society of St. Pius X has been split into to general discussions. First, the (currently) more explosive issue of the reception of Bishop Williamson into full communion with the Catholic church in light of his absurd comments on the Holocaust, which the Vatican has rejected and Cardinal Kasper termed "gibberish." (This is the issue that has been receiving more media attention.) Second, the more complex question of why the pope would move to lift the ban on a group that has as its raison d'etre the rejection of the Second Vatican Council. The first, you might say, is a more political-historical question; the second a more ecclesial-theological one.

But the two issues are linked. For one thing, a rejection of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which includes a rejection of "Nostra Aetate," means that is more difficult for members of the Society to engage in dialogue with Jews, to respect Jewish history and to understand Jewish concerns, as well as to reflect on the sad history of Christian anti-Semitism.

Still, the question remains: Is anti-Semitism a pattern that pervades the Society of St. Pius X, or is it simply a bigotry expressed by only a few members?

The Society's website indicates the former. This appalling article, entitled "The Mystery of the Jews," is still on their official American website, as of this morning (Saturday).

It includes these comments, which read less like a contemporary theological reflection on the Jewish faith and more like passages Mein Kampf. For the record, the article was written in 1997:

"It is public knowledge that the Jewish sector, relatively small compared to the Gentile sector which devotes itself to the creation of wealth, controls especially the financial power that is exercised through banks."

"Then these Jews, in the name of their Law, their Torah, and to serve the material interests of their nation and race, demanded the blood of Him who had been promised them as their blessing. They stirred up the Gentiles against Jesus. Using them to carry out their plans, they crucified the One who was to be raised up as a "sign of contradiction".

"Judaism is inimical to all nations in general, and in a special manner to Christian nations."

"Catholics are not to enter into commercial, social, nor political relations which are bound hypocritically to seek the ruin of Christendom. Jews must not live together with Christians because this is what their own Jewish laws ordain and also because their errors and material superiority have virulent consequences among other peoples."

Bishop Williamson is one thing; an anti-Semitic tirade appearing on the group's official website is quite another. At this time, it is important to remember that in official Catholic teaching anti-Semitism is a sin, and, in the words of Pope John Paul II, an "evil."

James Martin, SJ

Getting ready for some Gospel!

We're getting ready to welcome the wonderful choir and priest from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Newark for our 5:30 p.m. Mass. We're looking forward to great singing, great preaching, and great and powerful prayer in Gospel style. Our Parish Life committee will help prepare and present a wonderful Pot-luck dinner.

We ask all families that plan to stay for dinner to please sign up on the registration forms in the church foyer. This way, we can be accurate in how many tables and chairs to set up.

Also, we ask each family that plans to come to the dinner to bring a tray of salad or enough desserts to share with others.

We will need help on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. to help set up the Learning Center's tables, chairs and decorations. Come join us for a fun evening of set-up, and preparation, and come sample some of the "liquid refreshments" to help us "warm up" for the Blessed Sacrament Choir.

Catholic-Jewish Relations Strained

Bishop's remarks on Holocaust strain US Jewish-Catholic relations

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Strained Jewish-Catholic relations are being felt beyond the Vatican and Israel as U.S. rabbis express their displeasure with Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop who has minimized the severity and extent of the Holocaust.

"It has been very hurtful to our Jewish partners," said Father James Massa, executive director of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. "They've been calling us for answers for what this means. The mood is very tense."

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel Jan. 27 postponed indefinitely a March meeting with the Vatican in protest over the pope lifting the excommunication of British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, who has claimed that reports about the Holocaust were exaggerated and that no Jews died in Nazi gas chambers

He was one of four bishops of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X whose excommunication was lifted by the pope Jan. 21.

The pope Jan. 28 renewed his "full and unquestionable solidarity" with the Jews and condemned all ignorance, denial and downplaying of the brutal slaughter of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

According to a letter posted on his blog Jan. 30, Bishop Williamson apologized to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos for "having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems." Cardinal Castrillon heads the "Ecclesia Dei" commission, which oversees the reconciliation of Lefebvrite Catholics with the church.

"Bishop Williamson's disgraceful remarks ... indicate his contempt for those who oppose his advocacy of Holocaust denial," said Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the American Jewish Committee's U.S. director of interreligious affairs.

"While we appreciate that Pope Benedict has again declared his support for the Jewish people and his rejection of Holocaust denial," he continued, "we fear that the Vatican's decision to invite (Bishop) Williamson back into the Catholic Church will give legitimacy to these outrageous lies and suggest toleration of those who perpetuate them.

"Doubtless, this will contribute to the deterioration of the excellent relations between Jews and the Catholic Church," the rabbi said in a statement.

The entire ordeal has created a lot of confusion, Father Massa told Catholic News Service Jan. 29.

There is a difference between the lifting of excommunication and being in full communion with the Catholic Church, he said.

"Removing excommunication doesn't mean they are fully reconciled as priests and bishops of the Catholic Church," Father Massa said. "Like any other Catholic, they can go to Mass and receive holy Communion, but they cannot perform the sacrament themselves as fully recognized ministers of the church."

The pope said he lifted the excommunication of the four traditionalist bishops with the hope they would take further steps toward unity, including the recognition of the authority of the pope and of the Second Vatican Council.

In 1988 French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre -- the founder of the Swiss-based Society of St. Pius X -- and the bishops he ordained incurred automatic excommunication for defying papal orders against their ordination.

"In no way am I excusing (Bishop) Williamson," Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, said in a Jan. 26 blog.

"But I am willing to entertain that however much pain his reinstatement might cause relative to this issue," he said, "it may not be the only basis upon which the pope should make his decision, nor should it govern the future of church-Jewish relations, as some have already suggested/threatened it will."

Though Jewish-Catholic relations in the U.S. may be strained at the moment, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the USCCB's Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the foundation is solid and he is confident they will forge ahead with friendships intact.

"We (Catholics) are embarrassed during this episode, like when a family member has said a shameful thing," Archbishop Gregory told CNS Jan. 30.

"We'll have to take those steps necessary to let them know we value those (Catholic-Jewish) relationships, as well as our bond, love and unity with our Jewish counterparts," he said, "and that we don't in any way indent to step aside from our great tradition of friendship in this country."

The archbishop noted he was to speak at an upcoming Jewish event in his city that he already had on his calendar, and he planned to take that opportunity to assure the Jewish community he will do whatever he can to reinforce Catholic-Jewish relations.

"That is what many bishops in America will have to do -- to take that opportunity to let them know of our esteem, and strengthen our relations," he said. "The vehicles are there. We need to use them. We need to show our Jewish friends our desire to continue to move forward."

It is important now for the Catholic hierarchy to explain theological and canonical distinctions to their Jewish partners, and assure them of the church's commitment to Jewish-Catholic dialogue based on Vatican II, Father Massa said.

"We are expressing our profound dissatisfaction with the egregiously offensive comments of Bishop Williamson," he said. "It is unacceptable for a bishop who seeks to be in communion with the Catholic Church to deny the historical fact of the Shoah."

Rumors aside, FOCA legislation no threat to Catholic health care

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Internet rumors to the contrary, no Catholic hospital in the United States is in danger of closing because of the Freedom of Choice Act.

As a matter of fact, the Freedom of Choice Act died with the 110th Congress and, a week after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, has not been reintroduced.

But that hasn't kept misleading e-mails from flying around the Internet, warning of the dire consequences if Obama signs FOCA into law and promoting a "FOCA novena" in the days leading up to Inauguration Day.

The Catholic Health Association "is strongly committed to opposing FOCA and (the board) is unanimous that we would do all we could to oppose it," said Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., an elected member of the CHA board of trustees since June 2006.

"But there is no plan to shut down any hospital if it passes," he added in a Jan. 26 telephone interview. "There's no sense of ominous danger threatening health care institutions."

Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is CHA president and CEO, was equally sure that FOCA poses no threat to Catholic hospitals or to the conscience rights of those who work there.

"I don't believe that FOCA will pass, although we will continue to monitor all proposed regulations for their potential to help people in this country and for any negative assault on the life issues," she said.

As introduced in previous congresses, the legislation "has never contained anything that would force Catholic hospitals or Catholic personnel to do abortions or to participate in them," she added.

But even in a worst-case scenario, if the most dire predictions were to materialize and a federal law were to mandate that all hospitals provide abortion services, "I want to make it very clear that Catholic health care will not close and we will not compromise our principles," Sister Carol told Catholic News Service Jan. 26.

If necessary, Catholic hospitals will take a lesson from "how people have dealt with unjust laws" in American history, "and we would respond in the same way," she said.

"A very timely example" of that is segregation, which was backed up by U.S. laws and Supreme Court decisions that were unjust, Sister Carol said. "It was a very long and very painful journey to deal with that and now we have an African-American president," she added.

Some of the confusion over FOCA might arise from the fact that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a long-scheduled postcard campaign to Congress against the possible legislation just as the false Internet rumors were reaching a peak.

The postcards, which are being made available for Catholics to sign at Masses over several weekends in January and February, ask members of Congress to oppose FOCA "or any similar measure, and retain laws against federal funding and promotion of abortion."

"At this time of serious national challenges, Americans should unite to serve the good of all, born and unborn," the postcards say.

The FOCA novena e-mails, the source of which has not been identified, have a different tone entirely.

Calling the legislation "the next sick chapter in the book of abortion," the e-mails say it will force all hospitals to perform abortions, increase abortions by 100,000 annually and "could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, Down syndrome babies, etc.) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have."

The rumors have spread like wildfire on blogs and Web sites. On the social networking site Facebook, three separate anti-FOCA groups with membership totaling nearly 130,000 (as of early Jan. 27) contain misinformation about what the so-far-nonexistent legislation would do.

Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, is "brand new as episcopal liaison" to the Catholic Health Association, a position he got in part because of his background as a medical technologist for three years in a Catholic hospital in Springfield, Ill., before he began his seminary studies.

"There is nothing definite yet about what is being introduced" in Congress, he told CNS Jan. 26. "But CHA is really committed to monitoring any proposed legislation and to upholding the sacredness of life in all our institutions."

Bishop Vann said the postcard campaign, run by the U.S. bishops' pro-life office and the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, is getting a good reception from Catholics in his diocese.

"It's real simple," he said. "It's the voice of everyday folks expressing concern about FOCA in whatever form it comes."

Getting Ready for Saturday!

We're getting ready for the Saturday, 5:30 P.M. liturgy, at which the choir from St. Michael's College in Vermont will help us sing the liturgy! All of us here at St. Anselm are very excited about this upcoming event. We're really looking forward to hosting this college choir who will help us sing the liturgy, and the wonderful dinner to follow the mass on Saturday!

Tell your friends and family members to come join us for a wonderful celebration in these cold dark days that will lift our spirits and will warm our hearts! Let's join together and praise the God who never fails to call us to His heart!

Catholic Primary Education: Uncertain Future

Just this past Saturday, the Diocese of Trenton announced that three schools in northern Monmouth County would be closing in June of 2009. The Office of Catholic Schools had conducted a study and consultation of all of the Catholic grade schools in the Bayshore area of Monmouth County for the past few years. The decision, announced this weekend was that three Catholic grade schools would close: St. Joseph in Keyport, St. Ann in Keansburg (pictured here) and Holy Family in Hazlet.

The current stats on enrollment are very telling: in the three schools combined, there is a total of less than 400 students! Geographically, they are all less than 5 miles from each other.

This development is raising anxiety for Catholic educators in our area. We have 5 Catholic High Schools within Monmouth County. What does the closing of these primary schools mean for the future of our Catholic High Schools?

All good questions. School boards need to plan for the long-haul, and try to keep tuition minimal while exploring outside sources of funding for education. It is a time when we all need to start anew, seek new ways of funding and development, and try new ways of passing on the faith.

The Lone Catholic Prayer at today's Inauguration

The lone Catholic cleric heard from today was the chaplain of the House of Representatives -- Fr Daniel Coughlin of the archdiocese of Chicago -- who offered the closing benediction at the post-inaugural lunch in Statuary Hall.

Here's Coughlin's prayer as delivered:

Let us pray.

Lord God of history,
we have been blessed to witness the meteoric rise of President Obama,
the long, faith-filled journey of African-Americans,
the vibrant hopes of a nation catapulting into new directions.

Lord God of the present moment,
we are blessed, as free people
to see your hand in the peaceful transfer of power,
and your guidance in the affairs of state.
May we be attentive to your word and reach our full potential,
with equal justice for all,
compassion for the least,
and self-discipline to achieve lofty goals.

Lord God,
be with us into the future,
bless us by shaping a changing world into a more stable one
where all peoples and all nations will live in peace.
Protect and guide with creative touch President Obama and Vice President Biden, their families, and all in public service.
May each day be filled with peace and satisfaction
because they are about building your reign here on earth.

This we pray today, tomorrow and forever.

Amen.


The first priest to serve as cleric-on-duty to the lower house of Congress, Coughlin was named to the chaplain's post in 2000 by the then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican.

A very historic day

A day of new beginnings, full of hopes and dreams, and great rejoicing. May the Lord bless us, our nation, and our future!

"Come, and see!"

This weekend's Gospel story is the call of the first disciples. John's account has the interesting dialogue between Jesus and Andrew about where Jesus "stays." The truest answer is that Jesus has come to "abide" with us "always."

This week begins national "Vocations Awareness Week," and we're called by our bishops to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, and religious life, and even to lay ecclesial ministries. In our own Diocese of Trenton, we've been blessed with a good number of young men responding to a call to ordained ministry. Some of these talented young men are from lands far away from America....and we're grateful for their willingness to respond to the call to serve the people of our diocese.

Let's pray that we can all be people who invite others to "come and see" the Lord by the lives we live.

Baptism of the Lord

A beautiful icon of today's feast. His baptism reminds us that in those waters, we all become brothers and sisters. Our dying and rising in the waters of baptism give us all a claim to the blessing of God who says to each of us: "You are my beloved child...In you I am well-pleased!"

Listening to what's in your heart

This morning at Mass, we heard about how Mary came to "ponder all of these things in her heart." After enduring mystical, scary, mysterious events, she gives birth to a baby, and despite many obstacles, raises him and nurtures him. Her faith, and her trust in God's ways helped to bring about the wonder of the incarnation. On this New Year's day, maybe we can reflect on the ways that Christ is being born in us today, and every day.

Thanks for the following video to Concord Pastor!

Mary, Mother of God