Chrism Mass, 2010-final report

We had a full cathedral, despite terrible weather. People from all over the diocese came for the celebration. We had more priests show up this year than any in recent memory!

We had a dinner at a nearby parish gym with all of our seminarians, and we celebrated some of the fathers celebrating 25 and 50 years of service.

But serving as a Master of Ceremonies, I had an experience of dealing with our seminarians, our future priests, that left me definitely worried. Some of the seminarians openly rejected our requests that they assist as Ministers of Hospitality....they seemed to indicate that they were "too good for that job." Then I had the experience of asking two transitional deacons to assist with the transporting of the baskets with the Sacred Chrism at the end of Mass, and they both balked, saying, "It is too heavy!"

First reaction: "Gimme a break!"
Second reaction: "We're ordaining these guys priests in June?????"
Third reaction: We must be really desperate if we're going to ordain these Prima-donnas"

Well, it's late, I'm tired and cranky, and I need to pray and become more positive. I hope that they were just having a bad day.

Chrism Mass 2010

Tomorrow evening, our diocesan priests will gather at the cathedral in Trenton for the celebration of the Chrism Mass. The oils of the sick, the catechumens, and the Sacred Chrism will be blessed by the Bishop. As a volunteer in the Office of Worship, I'll be helping behind the scenes at the liturgy.

Lots of people ask me where the oils come from...it's pretty simple: a couple of us go buy about 40 gallons of olive oil, we take some of the oil, and add Chrism Essence (a spicy perfume) to the oil of the Sacred Chrism, and we divide the oils of the sick and catechumens insto separate containers.

Some people involved in ministry to the sick and dying have asked us to add some sort of perfume to the oil of the Sick....but unfortunately, that's not really in our Catholic tradition.

Palm Sunday evening

"The Church does not pretend, as it were, that it does not know what will happen with the crucified Jesus. It does not sorrow and mourn over the Lord as if the Church itself were not the very creation which has been produced from his wounded side and from the depths of his tomb. All through the services the victory of Christ is contemplated and the resurrection is proclaimed."

THOMAS HOPKO

Palm Sunday 2010

A familiar tune, but we do it a bit more simply at St. Anselm...and I like our simplicity. Using a simple piano helps me to focus more on the words of this great hymn.

Enjoy some images of Palm Sunday!

A Great evening with David Haas!

Well, if you missed tonight's concert with David Haas here at St. Anselm's....you missed one great, prayerful, uplifting, and joyful experience!

David's concert included old favorites, and some beautiful new compositions....soon to become as beloved as his "classics." As always, his stories, and his insights into the Liturgical Seasons were right on the mark.


Lot's of people thanked me for hosting this wonderful event at our parish church. As always, it was great to see David again.


If you were on the fence, and decided not to come tonight, I'm afraid that I have bad news for you....."Sorry, you loose!"

Liturgy and Justice

"The justice of God presented in the liturgy is anything but an abstraction, for the liturgy of the church sacramentalizes the presence of Christ, the Just One. For that reason, and for that reason alone, we can say that the liturgy not only proclaims the justice of the kingdom of God as something to be done but actually renders it present, not as an achievement of ours but as a gift of God. In its presence we are confronted with that which we are called to be, with that which God would make us be, if we permit it. Thus the liturgy not only provides us with a moral ideal but confronts us with an ontological reality in the light of which the ambivalence of our own lives is revealed for what it is.

Like the word of God in history, the liturgy is the revelation of God's justice in both event and word, cutting into human life both as good news and as denunciation. It proclaims and realizes the saving presence of the Spirit in the worlld, brings the presence of the kingdom, and enables us to realize where this is happening even outside the liturgy. Celebrating the liturgy shouls train us to recognize justice and injustice when we see it. It serves as a basis for social criticism by giving us a criterion by which to evaluate the events and structures of the world. But it is not just the world "out there" that stands under the judgment of God's justice, sacramentally realized in the liturgy. The first accused is the church itself, which, to the degree that it fails to recognize what it is about, eats and drinks condemnation to itself (1 Corinthians 11:29).

In saying "Amen" to the justice of God proclaimed in the liturgy, we are implicitly saying "Anathema" to all that fails to measure up to that justice."


MARK SEARLE

Preparing for Holy Week 2010

All of Lent is a preparation for Easter. One way of keeping a holy Lent, especially this late in the season, is to plan to participate in the liturgies of Holy Week.

I'm offering this post to give you an overview of the liturgies of Holy Week. If you have a question about Holy Week, please feel free to submit it as a comment.

For Christians, our every year has its origin and its climax at a time determined by the earth and the sun and the moon and the human-made cycle of a seven-day week. The marvelous accidents of earth's place and sun's place, of axis and orbit make cycles within human cycles so that days can be named and remembered and rhythms established. First, we wait for the angle of the earth's axis to make day and night equal (going toward longer days in the "top" half of earth, longer nights in the lower half).Then we wait for the moon to be full. Then we wait for the Lord's Day and call that particular Lord's Day "Easter" in English, but in most other Western languages some word that is closer to an old name, "Pesach" or "Pascha," made into English as "Passover."

In these generations, we are finding out how, on the night between Saturday and that Sunday, the church ends and begins not just its year but its very self.

We do not come to this night unaware. The church has spent the time since Thursday evening in intense preparation. Even more, we have had the 40 days of Lent to dear down and to build up toward this night.

And the night needs a week of weeks, 50 days, afterward to unfold. The 50 days are Eastertime; only after Pentecost does life return to normal.

The church came very early to keep something of the spring festival known to Jesus and the first followers. They were Jews and that first full moon of spring was Passover. For those who followed Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, this was the time when the story of the deliverance they proclaimed in the death and resurrection of Christ was placed beside the story already told at this festival, the deliverance of the captive people from Pharaoh. Very early, that proclamation came to be made not in words alone but in the waters where those who were ready to stake everything on such a deliverance, on this Christ and this church, passed over in God's saving deed.

- Gabe Huck in The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum

In the week we call holy, the Church celebrates the most ancient and beautiful rites in its spiritual heritage. These are the most important days of the whole church year, even though they don’t get tagged as “holy days of obligation.”

Holy Week begins with Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday). With different degrees of solemnity and procession, parishes will commemorate the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem and at this Mass each year, the story of the suffering of death of Jesus is recounted in the gospel. This year we will hear the Passion according to St. Luke. This story is proclaimed on only two days of the year: Passion Sunday and Good Friday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week are the final days of Lent and most dioceses will celebrate the Chrism Mass early in Holy Week. At this Mass at the cathedral, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils that will be used beginning at Easter.

Lent ends at sundown on Thursday of this week and we enter the Paschal Triduum (pronounced 'trid-oo-um, it means 3 days). The Triduum is one feast, celebrated over three days.

The “three days” are numbered from sundown Holy Thursday to sundown Good Friday; from sundown Good Friday to sundown Holy Saturday; and from sundown Holy Saturday to sundown Easter Sunday. The liturgical moments of that one feast are:

- The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday night, including the presentation of the holy oils; the Washing of Feet and the procession with the Eucharist to the altar of reservation; prayer before the reserved sacrament continues until midnight.

- The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Friday afternoon, including the Word liturgy, the Solemn Intercessions, the Veneration of the Cross and communion from the reserved sacrament.

- The Easter Vigil (the first and greatest Mass of Easter) on Holy Saturday night, including the lighting of the fire and the lighting of and procession with the Paschal Candle, leading to the sung Easter Proclamation (the Exsultet); the Liturgy of the Word which, in full, includes 9 scripture readings; the liturgy of baptism and/or, if no one is to be baptized, the renewal of baptismal promises; and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Paschal joy overflows in the celebration of the Eucharist on Easter Sunday morning.

The Triduum closes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday night.

Yes, these liturgies are lengthy but they are also rich and beautiful in symbol, ritual, prayer, and song. It is a shame that many Catholics go to their graves without ever having celebrated the most important feasts of their faith!

Know that you are invited to celebrate this great Paschal feast! Set aside these hours to give thanks and praise to the One who set aside his life for us that we might have forgiveness of our sins and the gift of God's peace.


We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is our salvation, our life and resurrection;
through him we are saved and made free!
- Galatians 6:14
Entrance Song for Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

This weekend's Gospel is the dramatic story of the raising of Lazarus.

It is a story of friendship, and affection, and human relationships. It's also a story which gives us the best hint of our future in Christ....resurrection life!

Because we have 5 Elect in our midst, preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil, we reflect upon this Gospel passage as we enter the last days of Lent. Let's all take some time to reflect upon the promise of resurrection that is ours in our own baptism!

An end of Lent meditation

Folks, as we enter into the last days of Lent, I have to share with you a wonderful video, that was gifted to me. As I watched, I thought it a proper and very appropriate meditation for all of us as we enter the last days of Lent 2010. It's a video of a presentation by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, TX. He's doing a Keynote Address and I think it's wonderful! I really think Cardinal DiNardo is a true gift to the church in the United States: he's willing to dialogue with other Christian tradtions; he's episcopal moderator of the Catholic Pastoral Musicians; and his personal Episcopal Mottos is one dear to my own heart: "Ave, Crux Spes Unica"...."Hail the Cross our only Hope"....the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross throughout the world.

Enjoy this End of Lent meditation:

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick of Ireland.

At it's heart, this is a celebration of Evangelization!

Patrick, while young and vigorous, was called to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus. And he was called to spread the Good News in lands far away, with different languages.

Do we know anybody like St. Patrick who is called TODAY to spread the Good News in far-away lands and in new languages? Hmmm.................

RIP Richard Proulx

In the 1980's, as a seminarian at Notre Dame, I had the great good fortune of travelling into Chicago to meet Richard Proulx, the musician at Holy Name Cathedral.
His talent was already legendary, and my meeting with him that day will be forever etched into my mind. Richard had been battling failing health for a number of years, and recently died a few weeks ago. The American Catholic church has lost one of its best and most talented pastoral musicians. Enjoy the clip!

"Here comes everybody!"

100 traditionalist Anglican parishes seek to join Catholic Church

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- About 100 traditionalist Anglican parishes in the United States have decided to join the Catholic Church as a group. Meeting in Orlando, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America voted to seek entry into the Catholic Church under the guidelines established in Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus" ("Groups of Anglicans"), said a March 3 statement. The Anglican Church in America is part of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of churches which separated from the worldwide Anglican Communion in 1991. The Traditional Anglican Communion claims 400,000 members worldwide. The request means the 100 Anglican Church in America parishes will ask for group reception into the Catholic Church in a "personal ordinariate," a structure similar to dioceses for former Anglicans who become Catholic. Churches under the personal ordinariate can retain their Anglican character and much of their liturgy and practices -- including married priests -- while being in communion with the Catholic Church. Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia, primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, and Father Christopher Phillips of Our Lady of the Atonement Parish, an Anglican-use Catholic church in San Antonio, attended the meeting, according to the statement. The Anglican Church in America is the third group of Anglican churches to respond positively to the Vatican's invitation.

Sign of the Cross

"When we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross. Instead of a small cramped gesture that gives no nothion of its meaning, let us make a large unhurried sign, from forehead to breast, from shoulder to shoulder, consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates and sanctifies us.

It does so beacause it is the sign of the universe and the sign of our redemption. On the cross Christ redeemed humankind. By the cross he sanctifies us to the last shred and fiber of our being. We make the sign of the cross before we pray to collect and compose ourselves and to fix our minds and hearts and wills upon God. We make it when we finish praying in order that we may hold fast the gift we have received from God. In temptations we sign ourselves to be strengthened; in dangers, to be protected. The cross is signed upon us in blessings in order that the fullness of God's life may flow into the soul and fructify and sanctify us wholly.

Think of these things when you make the sign of the cross. It is the holiest of all signs. Make a large cross, taking time, thinking what you do. Let it take in your whole being--body,soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing--and by signing yourself with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God."

ROMANO GUARDINI

Recently, some friends and acquaintances of mine have been ribbing me about my support of President Obama, and progressive Catholic journals such as "America" magazine, the "National Catholic Reporter" and others. My friends have been urging me to follow instead, commentators like Glen Beck. I must confess that I don't have much time for, and even less patience for Mr. Beck's views.

Attached is a link to a recent article published in "America" magazine that I think, respectfully, and definitively, responds to viewpoints such as Mr. Beck's.

Glenn Beck to Jesus: Drop Dead
Posted at: 2010-03-08 16:23:19.0
Author: James Martin, S.J.



Glenn Beck said last week on his eponymous radio and television shows that Christians should leave churches that preach “social justice.” Mr. Beck equated the desire for a just society with—wait for it—Nazism and Communism.

I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes.

Of course this means that you would have to leave the Catholic Church, which has long championed that particular aspect of the Gospel. The term “social justice” originated way back in the 1800s (and probably predates even that) and has been continually underlined by the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the church) and popes since Leo XIII, who began the modern tradition of Catholic social teaching with his encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum in 1891. Subsequent popes have built on Leo’s work, continuing the church’s meditation on a variety of social justice issues, in such landmark documents as Pope Pius XI’s encyclical on "the reconstruction of the social order," Quadregismo Anno (1931), Paul VI’s encyclical "on the development of peoples," Populorum Progressio (1967), and John Paul II’s encyclical "on the social concerns of the church" Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987). Social justice also undergirds much of Catholic social teaching on peace. “If you want peace,” said Pope Paul VI, “work for justice.”

The Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church, published by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, says this:

The Church's social Magisterium constantly calls for the most classical forms of justice to be respected: commutative, distributive and legal justice. Ever greater importance has been given to social justice, which represents a real development in general justice, the justice that regulates social relationships according to the criterion of observance of the law. Social justice, a requirement related to the social question which today is worldwide in scope, concerns the social, political and economic aspects and, above all, the structural dimension of problems and their respective solutions....

Justice is particularly important in the present-day context, where the individual value of the person, his dignity and his rights — despite proclaimed intentions — are seriously threatened by the widespread tendency to make exclusive use of criteria of utility and ownership.

Oh, and social justice is not just some silly foreign idea. American Catholics know that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have an Office of Justice, Peace and Human Development. On that website the U.S. bishops say: “At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.” I.e., social justice.

Okay, you get it, right? Social justice is an essential part of Catholic teaching. It's part of being a Catholic. So Glenn Beck is, in essence, saying “Leave the Catholic church.” Or, if you like, the Catholic church is a Nazi church. (Which would have surprised Alfred Delp, Rupert Mayer and Maximilian Kolbe.) Or a Communist one. (Which would have suprised Jerzy Popieluszko and Karol Wojtyla).

But Glenn Beck is saying something else, which might get lost in the translation: Leave Christianity. Again and again in the Gospels, Jesus points to our responsibility to care for the poor, to work on their behalf, to stand with them. In fact, when asked how his followers would be judged, Jesus doesn’t say that it will be based on where you worship, or how you pray, or how often you go to church, or even what political party you believe in. He says something quite different: It depends on how you treat the poor.

In the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 25) he tells his surprised disciples, that when you are meeting the poor, you are meeting him. They protest: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

But our responsibility to care for “the least of these” does not end with simple charity. Giving someone some money, or clothes, or shelter, is an important part of the Christian message. But so is advocating for them. It is not enough simply to help the poor, one must address the structures that keep them poor. Standing up for the rights of the poor is not being a Nazi, it’s being a Christian. And a Communist? It’s hard not to think of the retort of the great apostle of social justice, Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Recife, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."

The attack on social justice is the tack of those who wish to ignore the concerns of the poor and ignore the social structures that foster poverty. It's not hard to see why people are tempted to do so. How much easier life would be if we didn’t have to worry about the poor! How bothersome--or to use John Paul's felicitous word on this topic--"irksome," they are! How much more comfortable it woud be if we could focus only on our personal piety! How much easier life would be if we didn’t have to worry about unjust social structures!

But ignoring the poor, and ignoring what keeps them poor, is, quite simply, unchristian. Indeed, the poor are the church in many ways. When St. Lawrence, in the fourth century, was ordered by the prefect of Rome to turn over the wealth of the church, Lawrence presented to him the poor.

Glenn Beck's desire to detach social justice from the Gospel is a subtle move to detach care for the poor from the Gospel. But a church without the poor, and a church without a desire for a just social world for all, is not the church. At least not the church of Jesus Christ.

Who was, by the way, poor.

"Faith grows when it is well expressed in celebration. Good celebrations foster and nourish faith. Poor celebrations may weaken and destroy it.

To celebrate the liturgy means to do the action or perform the sign in such a way that its full meaning and impact shine forth in clear and compelling fashion. Since liturgical signs are vehicles of communication and instruments of faith, they must be simple and comprehensible. Since they are directed to fellow human beings, they must be humanly attractive."

Music in Catholic Worship
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Link to the official site of the BCDW

Many people have been asking about where to find "official" information about the new translation of the upcoming new Roman Missal. Well, here's the link to the U.S. Bishop's Committee on Divine Worship page on the New Roman Missal:

http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal

Some more information about the new Roman Missal

This is a message from Bishop Arthur Serratelli, of Paterson, NJ, who is the current chair of the Bishops' Committee on Divine Worship for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For many years, Bishop Serratelli was a profesor of Scripture at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. Before being named Bishop of Paerson, he served as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Newark.

Bishop Serratelli's message is full of hope and encouragement.

A video from our friends in Cincinatti!

This well-done video was sent to me by some friends in the Archdiocese of Cincinatti, Ohio. It features their two archbishops! The outgoing archbishop...Archbishop Daniel Pilarcyzk, and their new archbishop, Archbishop Dennis Schnur.

They present some of the important issues facing our American Church as we prepare to receive the new translations of the Missale Romanum. As the archbishops point out, "change is never easy." Very true.

This past week, I helped to host liturgists from across Region 3, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for our annual meeting. The hot topic, was, of course, how best to implement the new Missal, and to catechize our clergy, religious, and the lay faithful about this next step in the development of the Roman Liturgy.

In light of our recent meeting, I thought this video was very helpful. I'm grateful to my friends who sent this to me, and I look forward to working with the administration of the Diocese of Trenton in producing something similar to aid our efforts here.

FDLC Meeting of Region III

Yesterday started the annual meeting of the representatives of Liturgical Commissions from the Dioceses of Region III: Pennsylvania and New Jersey (FDLC: Federation of Liturgical Commissions). We're meeting at the Marriot hotel in nearby Wall township. We began our meeting with Evening Prayer, in which Bishop John M. Smith, the bishop of Trenton, joined us for prayer and then a great dinner.
Our first session was a report on the FDLC Board meeting in January, and other reports on the state of the Federation: financial, projects we're working on, and our publications currently available.
We have representatives from the following dioceses joining us for our discussion in these days: Erie, PA, Scranton, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Camden, NJ, Metuchen, NJ, Newark, NJ, and of course, Trenton, NJ. Pray for us, as we struggle with the huge issue of how best to catechize people for the upcoming edition of the new Missale Romanum. There are many different positions: some people are Cheerleaders, and think that this is the greatest thing from heaven. Some have serious questions about this new Missale...and struggle to try to make sense of it, and where to go with it. All positions are represented at a Regional meeting like this. Pray that the Lord will lead us to where He wants us to go!

Second Sunday of Lent

Each year on this Sunday, we get a version of this Gospel Story at Mass this weekend.

This story asks us to imagine the possibilities that Gospel Living can give us.

As I told the story at Mass this morning, ..."the bedouin used to lie flat on the floor of the desert." When asked why he does this, his answer came: "The desert speaks to me." Later when asked what the desert speaks, the bedouin replied: "The desert says, 'I want to be a garden.'"

Great images for Lent.

The Transfiguration reminds us that Jesus IS the Messiah, and that he WILL take us to himself, and make us like himself in glory FOREVER!

Eternal Rest, my friend...

Gail Walton, director of music at the University of Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart, died yesterday at the Indianapolis University Medical Center after a long illness. She was 55 years old.

Walton had served as director of music in the Basilica since 1988, directing the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir as well as the Basilica Schola, which she founded in 1989.

Walton held degrees from Westminster Choir College and the Eastman School of Music, where she earned the doctor of musical arts degree in organ performance. The Eastman School also awarded her the prestigious Performer’s Certificate in Organ. Before joining the Basilica staff, she taught organ at Goshen College.

In addition to her work and ministry at the Basilica, Walton performed throughout the Midwestern United States and played concerts in the German cities of Bonn, Heidenheim, Mainz and Rottenburg/Neckar in the summer of 1991. In the summer of 1995, she took the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir on a tour of Italy, giving performances in Florence, Milan, Assisi and Rome. She frequently played dual recitals with her husband, organist and Notre Dame music professor Craig Cramer.

“A gifted organist and choral conductor, Gail always strove for musical excellence, whether in her organ playing or in choral conducting. Gail was a totally committed Church musician,” said Rev. Peter Rocca, rector of the Basilica. “She loved the liturgy and her principle aim was always to lift minds and hearts to God through music and song, both in her students and in the worshiping assembly. Gail exposed her choir members to a wide range of musical repertoire, from chant and polyphony, to modern Church music of a variety of styles.

“A perfectionist, Gail would settle for nothing less than the best, not only in her own organ playing and in that of her students, but also in the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir which sings regularly at the Sunday 10 a.m. Mass, and in the Basilica Schola,” Father Rocca said. “During the eight years that the 10 a.m. Mass was televised to a national audience on the Hallmark Channel, Gail became a recognized friend to many of the 1,700,000 viewers who tuned into the Basilica every week.”

According to Father Rocca, Walton also worked with numerous couples in preparing their marriages, assisted grieving families with funerals of loved ones and provided music for numerous liturgies for the Congregation of Holy Cross, such as final professions of vows, ordinations, jubilees, and the burials of priests and brothers.
“This bright, articulate and gracious woman, whose enthusiasm, dedication, professionalism, selfless energy, and humility enriched beyond measure our liturgical life in the Basilica and beyond, will be sorely missed,” Father Rocca said. “May she rest in peace amid the choirs of angels.”

A funeral mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday (March 2) in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Good Liturgical Theology

"The doom-sayers who complain that Roman Catholic worhsip has lost its mystery have forgotten, perhaps, that symbols are not tidy museum exhibits but messy transactions that involve the fundamental stuff of human existence: earth, air, fire, water; eggs, seed, fluid and meat; marriage, sex, birth, death. The merit of our recent reforms lies precisely in a re-ordering of the relationshiop between ritual symbols and human life. By "shortening the distance" between liturgical rites and the ordinary rituals of daily living (through use of the vernacular, for example), a more powerful confrontation between the two can occur. In a word, the refoms move us closer to the raw nerve-center of Christian symbols. We are invited to inch our way toward the edge of the raft, without the benefit of comforting buffers provided by such things as a dead language (such languages are easy to control and manipulate), silent prayers (which are readily ignored or replaced by our own pieties), and chushiony "background" music. Shortening the distance between ourselves and our ritual symbols allows those symbols to sift, critique, shape and judge the quality of our lives. In the reformed rites we find fewer hiding places."

DR. NATHAN MITCHELL

More on St. Brother Andre of Montreal

Bl. Andre Bessette
Feastday: January 6


When Alfred Bessette came to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870, he carried with him a note from his pastor saying, "I am sending you a saint." The Brothers found that difficult to believe. Chronic stomach pains had made it impossible for Alfred to hold a job very long and since he was a boy he had wandered from shop to shop, farm to farm, in his native Canada and in the United States, staying only until his employers found out how little work he could do. The Holy Cross Brothers were teachers and, at 25, Alfred still did not know how to read and write. It seemed as if Alfred approached the religious order out of desperation, not vocation.

Alfred was desperate, but he was also prayerful and deeply devoted to God and Saint Joseph. He may have had no place left to go, but he believed that was because this was the place he felt he should have been all along.

The Holy Cross Brothers took him into the novitiate but soon found out what others had learned -- as hard as Alfred, now Brother Andre, wanted to work, he simply wasn't strong enough. They asked him to leave the order, but Andre, out of desperation again, appealed to a visiting bishop who promised him that Andre would stay and take his vows.

After his vows, Brother Andre was sent to Notre Dame College in Montreal (a school for boys age seven to twelve) as a porter. There his responsibilities were to answer the door, to welcome guests, find the people they were visiting, wake up those in the school, and deliver mail. Brother Andre joked later, "At the end of my novitiate, my superiors showed me the door, and I stayed there for forty years."

In 1904, he surprised the Archbishop of Montreal if he could, by requesting permission to, build a chapel to Saint Joseph on the mountain near the college. The Archbishop refused to go into debt and would only give permission for Brother Andre to build what he had money for. What money did Brother Andre have? Nickels he had collected as donations for Saint Joseph from haircuts he gave the boys. Nickels and dimes from a small dish he had kept in a picnic shelter on top of the mountain near a statue of St. Joseph with a sign "Donations for St. Joseph." He had collected this change for years but he still had only a few hundred dollars. Who would start a chapel now with so little funding?

Andre took his few hundred dollars and built what he could ... a small wood shelter only fifteen feet by eighteen feet. He kept collecting money and went back three years later to request more building. The wary Archbishop asked him, "Are you having visions of Saint Joseph telling you to build a church for him?"

Brother Andre reassured him. "I have only my great devotion to St. Joseph to guide me."

The Archbishop granted him permission to keep building as long as he didn't go into debt. He started by adding a roof so that all the people who were coming to hear Mass at the shrine wouldn't have to stand out in the rain and the wind. Then came walls, heating, a paved road up the mountain, a shelter for pilgrims, and finally a place where Brother Andre and others could live and take care of the shrine -- and the pilgrims who came - full-time. Through kindness, caring, and devotion, Brother Andre helped many souls experience healing and renewal on the mountaintop. There were even cases of physical healing. But for everything, Brother Andre thanked St. Joseph.

Despite financial troubles, Brother Andre never lost faith or devotion. He had started to build a basilica on the mountain but the Depression had interfered. At ninety-years old he told his co-workers to place a statue of St. Joseph in the unfinished, unroofed basilica. He was so ill he had to be carried up the mountain to see the statue in its new home. Brother Andre died soon after on January 6, and didn't live to see the work on the basilica completed. But in Brother Andre's mind it never would be completed because he always saw more ways to express his devotion and to heal others. As long as he lived, the man who had trouble keeping work for himself, would never have stopped working for God.

In His Footsteps:
Brother Andre didn't mind starting small.

Think of some service you have longed to perform for God and God's people, but that you thought was too overwhelming for you. What small bit can you do in this service? If you can't afford to give a lot of money to a cause, just give a little. If you can't afford hours a week in volunteering, try an hour a month on a small task. It is amazing how those small steps can lead you up the mountain as they did for Brother Andre.

Prayer:
Blessed Brother Andre, your devotion to Saint Joseph is an inspiration to us. You gave your life selflessly to bring the message of his life to others. Pray that we may learn from Saint Joseph, and from you, what it is like to care for Jesus and do his work in the world. Amen

Copyright 1996-2000 by Terry Matz. All Rights Reserved.

A new saint for North America!

Earlier today, it was announced that Holy Cross Brother Andre Bessette, C.S.C. would be canonized a saint next October 17th!

Here's the text of the announcement from the CSC site:

Friday, February 19, 2010
The Congregation's First Saint!
Earlier today, in Rome, the Holy Father announced that Blessed Brother Andre Bessette, C.S.C. will become the first saint of the Congregation of Holy Cross when he is canonized on October 17, 2010.

Announcing this great news, our Superior General, Most Rev. Hugh Cleary, C.S.C. said:

"Our entire Congregation of Holy Cross rejoices with the universal Church: Brother Andre, the miracle worker of Montreal, is the first formally recognized saint among us! Brother Andre’s early life was marked by physical frailty, poverty, illiteracy and family tragedy. Amidst them all, prayer was his peace and joy. His parish priest encouraged the orphaned Andre to seek the consecrated life as his vocation for he believed it was there that Andre would find his true home and deepest fulfillment. In recommending Andre, his pastor told the Congregation of Holy Cross that he was sending them a saint. And so it was. God chooses the weak and makes them strong. Andre was strong in faith, mighty in zeal. His humility allowed the healing strength of God to fill his being and thus bring healing to others. Through the intercession of St. Joseph, Brother Andre taught us all to pray and so to find the strength needed to live our lives in the truth of God’s love."


As you might expect this news is garnering significant attention in the Catholic world, and in the press in Canada. For more information, you can see articles at CNS, and at the University of Notre Dame's website, among many others.


Please join us in giving prayerful thanks to God for the sterling example and faithful intercessor He has given us in our Brother Andre Bessette. Let us also pray through Brother Andre's intercession, and through that of St. Joseph, that the Congregation of Holy Cross will be blessed with many more vocations to the religious life.

More Liturgical Theology

The liturgical asseembly is thus a theological corporation and each of its members a theologian whose discourse in faith is carried on not by concepts and propositions nearly so much as in the vastly complex vocabulary of experiences had, prayers said, sights seen, smeells smelled, words said and heard and responded to, emotions controlled and released, sins committed and repented, children born and loved ones buried, and in many other ways no one can count or always account for. Their critical and reflective discourse is not merely about faith. It is the very way faith works itself out in the intricacies of human life both individually and in common. Its vocabulary is not precise, concise, or scientific. It is symbolic aesthetic, ascetical, adn sapiential. It is not just something she and her pastor think or say, but something they taste, the air they breathe. It is a sinuous discourse by which they and those innumerable millions like them, dead and born and yet unborn, work out the primary body of perceived data concerning what it really means when god pour ... into the world as a member of our race. Nowhere else can that primary body of perceived data be read so well as in the living tradition of Christian worship.

REV. AIDAN KAVANAGH, O.S.B.

Rev. Bob Hovda on Liturgical theology:

"There is a modest and essential place in every liturgical celebraiton for human rhetoric, but it is a modest place, subordinate to the proclamation of the word of God in scriptuure, subordinate to the symbolic action of the whole assembly. Implied in all of this is the conviction that what is most important about public worship is that we gather the sisters and brothers together for a festival, a special occasion, a cebration of the reign of Gdod (not yet terribly evident in daily life nor in the institutions of society), that helps all of us feel so good about ourseles, so imprtant, so dignified, so precious, so free, so much at one.. not as escape, not merely in distinction to daily routine, but in judgment, in the Lord's judgement on those ways and institutions. A celebration of the reign of God that goes way beyond the tight, drab, rationalistic, verbose, pedagogical exercises we sometimes try to make of it___all those dreadful "themese" that we love___into a large, broad, fully human landscape, where Jesus is truly the firstborn of a new humanity, and where our other lliturical tools (festival excess and colors and tastes and textures and odors and forms and touches) penetrate the Babel of our words and points and arguments to heal the human spirit and to raise it up in the covenant communty's vision of new possibilities. Good liturgical celebration, like a parable, takes us by the hair of our heads, lifts us momentarily out of the cesspool of injustice we call home, puts us in the promised and challenging reign of God, where we are treated like we have never been treated anywhere else."

REV. ROBERT HOVDA

Ash Wednesday

The Christian Liturgy has never hesitated to speak, simultaneously, a language of sin and a language of healing... The simultaneous presence of both languages creates a tension that makes festivity possible. For unless festivity can deal with the unavoidable ambiguity of real life -- its scabs and its successes--it becomes escapist. By insisting that we acknowledge our pain---our failure and our finitude---the festivity of worship offers us the possibility of moving beyond it toward a vision of humanity healed and reconciled.

-NATHAN MITCHELL

What will you wear tomorrow?

For us Catholics, this is what we'll look like tomorrow.

The challenge of the next 40 days is to change the ways our hearts look.

Ours is a call to convert, and to become more like the Lord Jesus.

Ours is a call to become more human, and in so doing, to become more divine!

Check this out,...and enjoy!

A little something to warm your heart on a cold day!

"We Are The World" for Haiti

Check out this video, and give to help Haiti.

You wonder why I hate the snow?

Piling up at parishes: cold, wet snow that's hurting the collection





By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Oh, the weather outside has been frightful, meaning that fewer Catholics have braved a trek to their churches during a series of weekend winter snowstorms.

This means in turn that the Sunday offertory revenue is down, creating a hole in parish budgets while at the same time snowstorm-related expenses pile up.

A series of storms have socked in large chunks of the mid-Atlantic region this winter. The first took place Dec. 19, the Saturday before Christmas. A second storm, not as large as the December blast, happened Jan. 30, another Saturday. But an epic snowfall, registering record totals in Baltimore and Philadelphia and dumping massive amounts of snow throughout the mid-Atlantic, started Feb. 5, a Friday, and didn't end until nearly 24 hours had passed. The region was hit again Feb. 10.

Bishops in many of the affected dioceses dispensed Catholics of the obligation to attend Mass those weekends, as safety considerations took precedence.

But as Catholics were missing from the pews, so too were their offertory envelopes from the collection baskets.

"Gone" was the word Father Mark Hughes used to describe the missing offertories.

Of the weekends affected by the storms, the offertories "all together would not add up to one Sunday," said Father Hughes, pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Kensington, Md., a Washington suburb.

A few parishioners double up on their offertories if they miss a week, he added. And some parishioners keep current by contributing on a monthly basis "if they've already paid," Father Hughes said. "Then you have the people who throw in the cash. That's gone."

At St. Philip Parish in the Washington suburb of Falls Church, Va., in the Diocese of Arlington, Father Kevin Walsh, the pastor, said the parish's situation is buffered somewhat by electronic giving.

About 20 parishes in the diocese, including St. Philip, use an electronic collection system. The contributions account for about 20 percent of the parish's income, Father Walsh told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 10 telephone interview.

"We were blessed," he said. "You can count on a consistent budget no matter what the weather is."

Even so, after the December snowstorm, "the cost of snow removal was more than the offertory," Father Walsh added.

Snow removal costs loom larger than the drifts piling up in church parking lots.

"We usually experience mild winters here, so didn't' have a whole lot budgeted for plowing," said Redemptorist Father John McKenna, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in largely rural Seaford, Del., in the Diocese of Wilmington. "It's a disaster."

Father McKenna said that with two weekends in a row with too much white stuff on the ground, momentum gets lost for such things as religious education and preparation for Lent, beginning Feb. 17, Ash Wednesday. "It's ground to a halt," he said.

While the church's parking lot was clear, when the priest spoke to CNS city and county plows couldn't get to the secondary roads where most members of the 900-household parish live.

Father McKenna said it was his "fondest hope" that parishioners would contribute to parish upkeep for the Sundays they couldn't get to Mass, "because the last two weekends have been a washout, attendance-wise," including a 95 percent drop in attendance after the Feb.5-6 snowstorm.

In Kensington, Father Hughes said the revenue foregone from offertories left a hole of about 4 percent so far in Holy Redeemer's fiscal year, "and that's on top of (being) down 10-11 percent due to the economy."

The same company that cuts the grass on the church grounds in other seasons also removes snow from the parking lots. "They do the snow whether we want it done or not," Father Hughes said. "This snowstorm is a blessing in disguise for them."

One bright spot, he added, is that the lawn and snow firm is owned by a parishioner who gives Holy Redeemer a 20 percent discount.

He added he was not likely to ask parishioners to help make up the difference. For one thing, an annual archdiocese-wide appeal was coming up, not long after a series of special collections in the parish over the past four or five months. For another, the parish is not in a financial bind, although the revenue falloff means it will be able to bank three-fourths or maybe as little as one-half of what it usually banks for capital projects.

And, as pastors talked with CNS, the Feb. 10 blizzard was strafing the mid-Atlantic and New England states, and another storm, though expected to be much smaller, was predicted to hit Feb. 16.

END

Super Bowl Ad Favorite

This definitely gets my vote for the funniest Ad during Super Bowl. Enjoy!

Just a little light humor for the weekend before the start of Lent!

The New Roman Missal....It's coming!

Many of you know that a new translation of the Mass is coming from Rome, and will hit our shores probably in 2012. There is much ink being spilled about this new translation...and its' many small faults. There is a whole page on the American Bishops' Site on the new Roman Missal, and the new translation: http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/

Also, Dr. Jerry Galipeau, over at World Library Publications, has a blog, and it's called "Gotta Sing, Gotta Pray."http://gottasinggottapray.blogspot.com/ Jerry's blog is a very good resource for those of us preparing for the implemenation of the new Roman Missal.

As with all changes, this is going to take some time and real patience. There is a whole "movement" in the American Catholic Church to have our bishop's go very slowly with this period of implementation. It was started by Fr. Mike Ryan, the rector of St. James Cathedral in Oregon. http://www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org/

Check out all of these sites, and let me know if you come across any other helpful sites.

Fr. Ted Hesburgh, C.S.C.

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Emjoy this neat video abour Fr. Ted Hesburgh, CSC, the President emerius of the University of Notre Dame.

Fr. Ted is now 93, and I pray for him almost every day. I'm looking forward to seeing him in a few weeks, in April. Let's all pray for him.

A new image of St. Anselm

After further searching the 'net for new images of St. Anselm, I discovered this lovely icon. I'm trying to research where the icon was written, and by whom. I've been looking for a nice original image of St. Anselm for our parish. If anybody can assist with this project, I'll be forever grateful.

Getting ready for the Bishop's Annual Appeal 2010

Next weekend, at all the Masses, we'll kick off the Bishop's Annual Appeal at all of the Masses.

We will view the video during Mass, and I'll be giving a short talk on the practice of Stewardship, and how the BAA is an integral part of good stewardship for our parish and for our diocese.

This year, I would like to ask each family to consider a gift of at least $50 to the BAA. We have close to 2,000 families in our parish, and I truly believe that if we all try to give something, that we will receive back a major portion of what we give.

More to come this week...

Pope B16 to Priests: BLOG ON!

Recently, Pope Benedict released the text of his message for World Communications Day. Here's the full text:

The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World:
New Media at the Service of the Word.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The theme of this year's World Communications Day - The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word - is meant to coincide with the Church's celebration of the Year for Priests. It focuses attention on the important and sensitive pastoral area of digital communications, in which priests can discover new possibilities for carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God. Church communities have always used the modern media for fostering communication, engagement with society, and, increasingly, for encouraging dialogue at a wider level. Yet the recent, explosive growth and greater social impact of these media make them all the more important for a fruitful priestly ministry.

All priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, and the communication of his saving grace in the sacraments. Gathered and called by the Word, the Church is the sign and instrument of the communion that God creates with all people, and every priest is called to build up this communion, in Christ and with Christ. Such is the lofty dignity and beauty of the mission of the priest, which responds in a special way to the challenge raised by the Apostle Paul: "The Scripture says, 'No one who believes in him will be put to shame ... everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent? (Rom 10:11, 13-15).

Responding adequately to this challenge amid today's cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul's exclamation: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16) The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.

The spread of multimedia communications and its rich "menu of options" might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different "voices" provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.

Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ. They will best achieve this aim if they learn, from the time of their formation, how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord. Yet priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a "soul" to the fabric of communications that makes up the "Web".

God's loving care for all people in Christ must be expressed in the digital world not simply as an artifact from the past, or a learned theory, but as something concrete, present and engaging. Our pastoral presence in that world must thus serve to show our contemporaries, especially the many people in our day who experience uncertainty and confusion, "that God is near; that in Christ we all belong to one another" (Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, 21 December 2009).

Who better than a priest, as a man of God, can develop and put into practice, by his competence in current digital technology, a pastoral outreach capable of making God concretely present in today's world and presenting the religious wisdom of the past as a treasure which can inspire our efforts to live in the present with dignity while building a better future? Consecrated men and women working in the media have a special responsibility for opening the door to new forms of encounter, maintaining the quality of human interaction, and showing concern for individuals and their genuine spiritual needs. They can thus help the men and women of our digital age to sense the Lord's presence, to grow in expectation and hope, and to draw near to the Word of God which offers salvation and fosters an integral human development. In this way the Word can traverse the many crossroads created by the intersection of all the different "highways" that form "cyberspace", and show that God has his rightful place in every age, including our own. Thanks to the new communications media, the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts, say once more: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me" (Rev 3:20).

In my Message last year, I encouraged leaders in the world of communications to promote a culture of respect for the dignity and value of the human person. This is one of the ways in which the Church is called to exercise a "diaconia of culture" on today's "digital continent". With the Gospels in our hands and in our hearts, we must reaffirm the need to continue preparing ways that lead to the Word of God, while being at the same time constantly attentive to those who continue to seek; indeed, we should encourage their seeking as a first step of evangelization. A pastoral presence in the world of digital communications, precisely because it brings us into contact with the followers of other religions, non-believers and people of every culture, requires sensitivity to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute. Just as the prophet Isaiah envisioned a house of prayer for all peoples (cf. Is 56:7), can we not see the web as also offering a space - like the "Court of the Gentiles" of the Temple of Jerusalem - for those who have not yet come to know God?

The development of the new technologies and the larger digital world represents a great resource for humanity as a whole and for every individual, and it can act as a stimulus to encounter and dialogue. But this development likewise represents a great opportunity for believers. No door can or should be closed to those who, in the name of the risen Christ, are committed to drawing near to others. To priests in particular the new media offer ever new and far-reaching pastoral possibilities, encouraging them to embody the universality of the Church's mission, to build a vast and real fellowship, and to testify in today's world to the new life which comes from hearing the Gospel of Jesus, the eternal Son who came among us for our salvation. At the same time, priests must always bear in mind that the ultimate fruitfulness of their ministry comes from Christ himself, encountered and listened to in prayer; proclaimed in preaching and lived witness; and known, loved and celebrated in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.

To my dear brother priests, then, I renew the invitation to make astute use of the unique possibilities offered by modern communications. May the Lord make all of you enthusiastic heralds of the Gospel in the new "agorà" which the current media are opening up.

With this confidence, I invoke upon you the protection of the Mother of God and of the Holy Curè of Ars and, with affection, I impart to each of you my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2010, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

A Great evening with my Byzantine friends

Today, I got a last-minute invitation for dinner with Bishop Gerald Dino, the Byzantine Bishop of Van Nuys, CA, who was home in New Jersey, visiting some old friends. I volunteered to bring the wine for dinner (thank you TRADER JOE'S).

At any rate, we were 7 for dinner at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Rahway, NJ., and we had a wonderful evening and dinner, and conversations.

Truth be told, I'm still not "really comfortable" having a real friend as a Bishop!

But, Bishop Gerry was very informal, and very gracious, and really a lot of fun....just like he used to be.....before he became a Bishop!

I look forward to being in contact with Bishop Gerry, and my other friends in the Byzantine Church in the near future. I'm progressing very definitely toward seeking Bi-Ritual faculties to help the Eparchy of Passaic by getting bi-ritual faculties to celebrate in both rites!

St. Anselm to receive The Mustard Seed Award from the NCEA!

National Catholic Educational Association


This evening, our Parish DRE, Janice Santanello called to convey the good news that our parish is to be the recipient of the NCEA's Mustard Seed award. Here's a brief description:



The Mustard Seed Award is given to parishes that exemplify active parent participation in their religious education programs. Through the outstanding efforts of the DRE, supported by the pastor, these parishes empower families and offer significant, creative, dynamic and consistent resources to encourage faith growth in parish and family settings.

Congratulations to Janice Santanello, Barbara Mullin, and to all of the wonderful, creative families involved with the many religious education programs of the parish. A special thanks to the Education Committee of the Parish Council, who are always "Dreaming" and "Visioning" new and effective ways to reach out to the families of our parish in their very busy circumstances. The Education committee is a real blessing to our parish community, and I am most grateful for their committment to spreading the Gospel.

The Diocesan Pastoral Plan....Real Objectives

Tonight, St. Anselm hosted a small, but very interesting gathering of representatives from several local parishes with the Director of the Office of Pastoral Planning, Mrs. Terry Ginther. Terry is a great facilitator, and she got us all sharing about what's going on in the Diocese about the need to come together, and to share ideas, and plans for moving into the future.

Specifically, she encouraged us all to go back to our parish pastoral councils with some fresh ideas about putting together do-able objectives that will respond to our goals as outlined in our Diocesan Pastoral Plan, as well as our Parish Pastoral Plan.

Thanks to Terry for coming back to St. Anselm, and thanks to all parish leaders who helped to host this gathering. LET'S DO THIS AGAIN!

A song of praise upon rising from the grave

H/T to Fr. Austing Fleming for this great video. Wow! Truly a great story of a woman rising from the dead, and singing as she does so!

Let's continue to pray for everybody in Haiti.

NPM Board Meeting

Tonight we had a good meeting of the Board for NPM Trenton, the organizaton for clergy and church pastoral musicians. Mike Zorner, our parish's Director of Music, and I joined a very interesting group of talented musicians from all over the Trenton diocese. As I was reflecting on the people at the meeting, and the many hours of service that they regularly give to the vibrant worship-life of the diocese, I was very moved with a great sense of thanksgiving and admiration.

We're planning several different musical events for the upcoming year, designed to help parish musicians grow in their skills, and to promote vibrant worship experiences all over the diocese. Also, we're preparing for the national NPM Convention, to be held in Detroit, Michigan this July. I hope to be able to go to the national convention, and I look forward to learning more about the upcoming new Roman Missal.

The Reality of Haiti

This is a very disturbing video. Please be warned that it contains very graphic images of the dead bodies in Haiti. Let's listen to "The Cry of the Poor" as we watch this video, and together pray, in the words of Psalm 34, that God will "hear the cries of the poor."

I'm reminded of the tremendous poverty that existed in Haiti just before the earthquake hit. As a friend says, this isn't about the earthquake, it's about the poverty that existed, unexcusably, before the earthquake.

And I ask, can we make a new start of this poor country? Can we build a new, better, and more just society? Can we effect a TRUE change in HAITI? Let's pray....

A Prayer after the Earthquake in Haiti

A colleague from the Worship Office in the Diocese of San Jose, CA, has written this beautiful prayer. Please thank Diana Macalintal for these beautiful thoughts at this difficult time.

A Prayer After the Earthquake in Haiti

Lord, at times such as this,
when we realize that the ground beneath our feet
is not as solid as we had imagined,
we plead for your mercy.

As the things we have built crumble about us,
we know too well how small we truly are
on this ever-changing, ever-moving,
fragile planet we call home.
Yet you have promised never to forget us.

Do not forget us now.

Today, so many people are afraid.
They wait in fear of the next tremor.
They hear the cries of the injured amid the rubble.
They roam the streets in shock at what they see.
And they fill the dusty air with wails of grief
and the names of missing dead.

Comfort them, Lord, in this disaster.
Be their rock when the earth refuses to stand still,
and shelter them under your wings when homes no longer exist.

Embrace in your arms those who died so suddenly this day.
Console the hearts of those who mourn,
and ease the pain of bodies on the brink of death.

Pierce, too, our hearts with compassion,
we who watch from afar,
as the poorest on this side of the earth
find only misery upon misery.
Move us to act swiftly this day,
to give generously every day,
to work for justice always,
and to pray unceasingly for those without hope.

And once the shaking has ceased,
the images of destruction have stopped filling the news,
and our thoughts return to life’s daily rumblings,
let us not forget that we are all your children
and they, our brothers and sisters.
We are all the work of your hands.

For though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be tossed to the ground,
your love shall never leave us,
and your promise of peace will never be shaken.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
now and forever. Amen.

Copyright © 2010, Diana Macalintal

"Please help us!"

Here is a copy of the letter from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to all dioceses and parishes of the United States. It authorizes an emergency collection at all Masses this weekend to be directed to Catholic Relief Services.
I've already received several emails and letters asking what we're going to do here at St. Anselm. Thank you for your generosity at this important time. Let's pray for our sisters and brothers in Haiti, and for a quick response to help them.


Your Eminence/Excellency:

Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that ravaged Haiti on January 12, 2010 has already claimed thousands of lives including the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince. It has destroyed countless homes, churches, seminaries, schools, and other buildings and has left millions without the most basic necessities of life. Our faith compels us to pray for and reach out to our brothers and sisters in their time of suffering.

We invite you to encourage your pastors to take up a second collection for the people and Church of Haiti this weekend, January 16 and 17, 2010. These funds will be used to support the efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic Church, as they respond to immediate emergency needs for such necessities as water, food, shelter and medical care, as well as to the long term need to rebuild after widespread destruction, and to the pastoral and reconstruction needs of the Church in Haiti.

Catholic Relief Services is already mounting a major emergency response to this severe disaster and has committed an initial $5 million to fund relief efforts which are likely to go on for some time. Your help and the help of the Catholic people of the United States are urgently needed.

Next weekend January 23-24, many dioceses are scheduled to take up the Collection for the Church in Latin America. This Collection is vitally important for our ability to respond to the pastoral needs of the Church in Haiti and other parts of Latin America in the weeks and months ahead. We urge that you use both of these opportunities to express our solidarity and our loving support for our brothers and sisters in Haiti
and ask you not to substitute one collection for the other.

Additional information on the U.S. Catholic community’s response to this emergency and how U.S. Catholics can help can be found at CRS.org and USCCB.org

Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago
President

Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Chairman
Catholic Relief Services

The "M.C. Wars"

Came across this cute video. Enjoy!

The new Papal M.C. really enjoys the "old-style" vestments for himself and his boss.
Recently he publicly came out as a supporter of the "Reform the reform" movement, which seeks to rollback the liturgical reform of Vatican II, which was called for by the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.


Check out this recent article from Catholic News Service:

Papal liturgist endorses 'reform of the reform' of the liturgy

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The pope's chief liturgist, Msgr. Guido Marini, endorsed calls in the church for a "reform of the reform" of Catholic liturgy. "For some years now, several voices have been heard within church circles talking about the necessity of a new liturgical renewal," Msgr. Marini said. A fresh renewal movement would be "capable of operating a reform of the reform, or rather, move one more step ahead in understanding the authentic spirit of the liturgy and its celebration," he said. Msgr. Marini, who has served as master of papal liturgical ceremonies since late 2007, spoke Jan. 6 to a conference of priests from English-speaking countries gathered in Rome to mark the Year for Priests. The conference was sponsored by the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and the U.S.- based Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. The papal liturgist said the goal of the new reform movement "would be to carry on that providential reform of the liturgy that the conciliar fathers had launched" but which has "not always, in its practical implementation, found a timely and happy fulfillment."

How we Celebrate Funerals

The staff of St. Anselm's has decided to focus some energy this year on how we celebrate Funerals here in the parish.

We want to get some coordinated vesture for Funerals, including Priest-vestments, Deacn vestments, and a matching Pall cloth to vest the deceased.

We also want to get ready for those funeral celebrations where the family is requesting a funeral mass in the presence of cremains. That means we need some new furniture for such celebrations.

I really think that if we celebrate weddings, funerals, baptisms, and confirmations well, then the everyday and Sunday celebrations will benefit greatly!