GUEST BLOGGER: EARTH DAY - GOD'S DAY

Chris sent this in for Earth Day (yesterday) and I though to share it with you.

Hi Fr. Valencheck,

I hope this email finds you well.

My name is Chris Payne. I'm a parishioner at St. Sebastian and a biology professor at Malone University in Canton (transferring to Franciscan U in Steubenville in the fall). I've written an earth day reflection to share with my protestant colleagues at Malone, but I thought that maybe it was something you could share via your daily letter (or similar venue) to help brighten some people's days and remind them there's still a beautiful world out there!

(This Apr 22 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!!)

I'll post it below.

Thanks, and God bless!

Chris

Ever take a walk through the forest in the ealive?

arly morning when the forest just feels 

The birds are singing. Nocturnal mammals can be seen scurrying, climbing or flying back to their homes to rest for the day. Flowers begin to open, and the morning throngs begin to wake – chattering with one another and grabbing their early morning bite to eat. Insect wings can be heard warming up and buzzing about as the dew dries in the rising sun, and the army of ants has already begun its work for the day. The trees rustle in the gentle breeze, and the water trickles in the nearby brook. The sounds and sights are enough to keep your attention for hours! OH HOW ALIVE IT IS!

But, also, strangely familiar...

Walk outside and down a busy street and you might find similar early morning energy from hustling, bustling, people -- some heading home from their night shift while others are just starting their first cup of coffee. Maybe you catch a glimpse of a child at play or someone deep in morning prayer. The commotion in a bustling suburban home or on a busy farm are not much different than these. The sounds and sights are enough to keep your attention for hours! OH HOW ALIVE IT IS!

It’s funny how much we’ve pretended for so long that “our” world is any different from that of the deer or wood thrush. In the forest, everything relies on one another. A beautiful ecology unfolds the more intently you examine the patterns and processes going on all around you...But isn’t the same true in the city? or the farm? So many people leading so many different lives, and yet all somehow interacting with one another. Somehow all part of an amazing ecology – somehow all part of one human family. And yet, we still rely on the organisms and landscapes all around us…

As Christians, we are called to celebrate and rejoice in life! And there’s no better way to do so than through our calling to love our neighbor (Mark 12:30-31). But who is our neighbor?

Truly if we are to envision ourselves in the image of God – who is love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit – then we can understand neighbor through the image of family. Not simply through our immediate family, but through intricate layers of family all interacting and reliant on each other: love of parents and siblings, love of classmates, love of co-workers, love of people in our town, love of people in our political party, (love of enemy!), love of our countrymen, love of all human life – love of the entire human family!

Yet, is this enough?

Just as each of these “layers” of family rely on and build from one another (as if concentric circles emanating from the shared love of our Holy and eternally loving Father), they still rely intricately on the complexities of Creation all around us. Somehow, love of family is subsumed in the greater story of God’s life-giving Creation. (And, more mysteriously and gloriously, the entire story of Creation is subsumed in the truth of Easter!). Those early morning walks examining the wondrous forest landscape and the strolls down busy city streets lead us to know that “our world” is in fact a part of an intricate and beautiful Creation that extends beyond our city streets and includes and contains all living things. Our call to love neighbor, then, must surely include love of all of Creation. Just as God’s Son truly loved all of us.

Know that as we advance our fields of ecological, biological, chemical, and physical sciences that we learn every day how our decisions impact those we are called to love. And sometimes – in fact, much of the time – our decisions instead hurt the life that God called us to care for (Gen 1:26, Gen 2:15). Ask yourself: “Do I make my daily decisions and live my life caring about how I impact those I’m called to love? Is my lifestyle promoting the sustainability of life throughout our planet? Do I truly love all life?”

“Isn’t now as good a time to start as any??”

This Earth Day, celebrate family and celebrate life. Give praise for God’s unimaginably complex and glorious Creation! Celebrate the interwoven and intricate ecologies of humankind and the world in which we live. Rejoice in God’s love for all of us, and delight in His calling for us to love neighbor. And most importantly, reflect upon the role you’ve been chosen to play in caring for God’s Creation. Isn’t today a wonderful day to do something about it? Answering the call will surely keep your attention for hours! OH HOW ALIVE IT IS!!

GUEST BLOGGER - A SPECIAL INVITATION

Today's blog is written by Mr. David Stavarz, seminarian for the Diocese of Cleveland.

We, as human beings, oftentimes make things more complicated than they need to be. I would actually say that, in general, we tend to make the whole of life more complicated and busy than it needs to be. A good portion of our younger years is filled with schooling - of studying, test taking, and paper writing. After graduation, our lives are filled with schedules, meetings, and long work hours. Careers in business, marketing, politics, the medical field, engineering, and the like require refined skills and immense learning and seem very complex to those not within those particular fields. In today’s technological age, our heads are filled with news of events that happen all around the globe and to be a good citizen we can sometimes think we need to constantly know what is going on in the world. Sometimes, doesn’t it seem like life should be more simple?

When it comes to religion, Catholicism is a faith that can seem especially complicated. In Catholicism there are loads to teachings, doctrines, documents, heresies, councils, popes, saints and so on that can seem to make living the Faith a very involved and complicated reality. But does living a good Catholic life really mean knowing all the little Catholic details?

It is certainly important that we know the Faith and know the Faith as best we can. Growing in our understanding of Catholicism can truly transform our lives. But the standard of living a good Catholic life isn’t just knowing every theological detail and being able to articulate the complexity of the Faith at any time. Living the Catholic faith, in today’s world especially, is and can be much simpler than we sometimes make it.

So what is essential to living a good and simple Catholic life? What can simply ground our faith to make it not just a complicated list of things to do and know? 

What makes our faith powerful and simple is a living relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s it. When we truly realize this relationship in our lives it breathes life into our every action and becomes the reason for our existence. Relationship is what helps us to live a good Catholic life. St. Therese of Lisieux knew this good life lived in relationship as “The Little Way”. She knew that a simple faith was best lived out in love, mercy, and devotion to Jesus in small ways everyday.

One of the greatest and generally lesser known ways we can come into a closer relationship with Jesus is by strengthening our relationship with Mary, His mother. In the Scriptures we do not hear much from Mary, but what we do hear from her is profound and forms the core of what our faith life should look like - namely, trust, self-gift, and mercy. Mary is one of the single most important persons in the Church behind Jesus not because of how she made faith more complicated, but through her example of how to live a powerfully, simple faith.

Fr. Michael Gaitley is a nationally recognized Catholic priest and writer who knows very well the importance of having Mary guide us to leading a simple life devoted to Christ. Fr. Gaitley also believes that having a relationship with Mary will lead us to encounter Jesus especially as He is the source of Divine Mercy. Mercy is what living a simple, yet powerful, faith looks like.

From June 23-25th Fr. Gaitley will be leading a retreat at Walsh University on Mary and Mercy. Throughout this weekend retreat, Father will help show just what a simple and devoted relationship of faith and mercy looks like, particularly through the example and intercession of Mary and other saints such as Therese of Lisieux, Maximillian Kolbe, and John Paul II. 

Fr. Gaitley wants you to see that the time is now for you to live a simple and real faith that is full of love and mercy. Maybe it’s time to strengthen your faith by making it a little less complicated and more about a simple and living relationship with Jesus, the Divine Mercy. If you want to grow closer to Jesus and Mary in your faith life please consider this retreat. This retreat could change your life forever. It could lead you to a life of faith that is simple, powerful, and renewed. 

GUEST BLOGGER: CAPITOL ERRER

1. Guest blogger:  Bernard A. Smith, of St. Sebastian Parish, Akron, recently retired after serving over  three decades as a federal prosecutor handling organized crime, public corruption, labor racketeering and appellate cases. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton in 1979 and a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1982.   

When Pope Francis spoke before a joint session of Congress in September 2015, he urged that the death penalty be abolished throughout America, a request with which one might presume a career prosecutor would disagree. Such an assumption would be incorrect, however, for Pope Francis’ request of Congress did not merely express a personal policy preference but was firmly grounded in Church teaching. As the State of Ohio contemplates executing condemned criminals for the first time since 2014, understanding why capital punishment cannot be morally justified is of paramount importance. Indeed, rather than tolerating executions, the citizens of the State of Ohio should demand that the death penalty be abolished. 

American criminal law traditionally has recognized a necessity exception to the prohibition against intentionally killing another person, taking several forms: (1) self-defense when faced with imminent threat of deadly force, (2) defense of a third person faced with a similar threat, and (3) soldiers in combat facing an armed enemy. To this list during the colonial period of our nation’s history might be added capital punishment, because secure prison systems had not yet been invented.² As secure facilities to imprison the most dangerous offenders did not exist, public executions were thought necessary both to incapacitate dangerous criminals and to deter others.³ 

Today, any issue concerning lack of adequate prisons has disappeared, as both federal and State prison systems contain maximum security facilities to incapacitate murderers and other violent offenders. This fact makes a definitive moral difference, as articulated by Pope St. John Paul II in his encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, which defended the inviolability of human life. Discussing capital punishment, Pope John Paul stated:  “It is clear that…the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity:  in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent” (emphasis supplied).⁴ The Pope then declared that “if bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means….” (emphasis supplied).⁵ The mandatory character of the latter statement is unmistakable. 

In short, according to Pope St. John Paul II, the moral test of strict necessity governs when even a murderer may be executed and, because of security enhancements in modern prison systems, the set of offenders who must be executed in order to protect society is functionally a null set. Under modern conditions, therefore, capital punishment cannot morally be justified under the strict necessity test, a standard which helps to protect the bedrock principle that a person’s right to life is inviolable.

After the publication of Evangelium Vitae, the discussion of capital punishment in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was revised. Now, paragraph 2267 of the Catechism says that the death penalty may be imposed, “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”⁶  It incorporates Pope St. John Paul II’s teaching that if “non-lethal means” suffice to protect society, then “authority will limit itself to such means” (emphasis supplied).⁷ Paragraph 2267 then concludes:  “…the cases in which the execution of the offender is absolutely necessary are very rare, if not practically non-existent” (emphasis supplied).⁸ In light of the Catechism’s teaching that, as a matter of practical reality,  circumstances in which capital punishment could be permissible do not exist, imposing the death penalty cannot morally be justified. To the extent that our legal system permits capital punishment, it is morally flawed. 

Other considerations also undercut any moral basis for capital punishment. In the Supreme Court’s 1972 splintered decision in Furman v. Georgia,⁹ which temporarily invalidated the death penalty nationwide, the controlling three-Justice plurality variously found that capital punishment as then administered was being imposed in an arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory manner largely because a jury’s discretion to impose it was unfettered. The death penalty was revived, however, only four years later in Gregg v. Georgia,¹⁰ where the Court approved a capital sentencing scheme requiring a trial bifurcated between guilt and penalty phases, lesser included offense instructions where applicable, a jury’s finding of at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt, the weighing of mitigating factors against any aggravating factor(s) and  appellate proportionality review in relation to similar cases. In sum, a jury’s discretion concerning the death penalty would be guided by legal standards. The implied premise underlying Gregg is that the courts are capable of ensuring that a capital sentencing system will function fairly.¹¹ 

Forty years later, however, the data demonstrates otherwise. A 2005 study conducted by the Associated Press found that, in Ohio, a defendant who kills a white person is twice as likely to receive the death penalty as a defendant who kills a black person.¹² The organization known as Ohioans To Stop Executions has reached the same conclusion.¹³ Even more sobering, the final report of the 2014 Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty cited an ABA Ohio Assessment Team study indicating that offenders who killed white persons were 3.8 times more likely to be sentenced to death in Ohio than those who killed black persons.¹⁴ Racial disparity in capital sentencing based upon the race of the victim has been found in numerous studies conducted in other death penalty states as well.¹⁵ And, Ohioans to Stop Executions has found that “two-thirds of all Ohio murder victims are people of color, yet in 2013 three out of four new death sentences were for the murder of white people.”¹⁶

Imposing the ultimate penalty—death—based upon the race of the victim is inconsistent with the concept of equality before the law. Nor can this practice be squared with the basic principle that all human beings are of equal, infinite value before God. When the death penalty is imposed far more often against killers of white persons than against killers of minority persons, then our society has concluded that it values the lives of white persons more than the lives of minority persons because it systematically imposes a harsher penalty when the right to life of a white person is transgressed. The statistics show that murdering a white person effectively is regarded as a more serious offense than murdering a minority person because the consequences of killing one versus the other systematically differ. Such systemic racial discrimination inherent in the capital sentencing system must be condemned as morally bankrupt. 

Adding further moral weight against using capital punishment is the reality that the death penalty is sometimes imposed upon innocent persons. According to criteria established by the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1976 there have been nine exonerations of defendants who were sentenced to death in Ohio alone.¹⁷ “Exoneration” means that all charges against the defendant ultimately were dismissed, that the defendant was acquitted at a re-trial or that the defendant was pardoned based upon substantial evidence of innocence. No system of justice worthy of the name can tolerate not only the possibility that innocent persons might be sentenced to death, but also the established fact that innocent defendants have actually been sentenced to die, including in Ohio. 

In sum, the death penalty does not satisfy the moral test of strict necessity and is imposed in discriminatory fashion despite four decades of judicial effort to render the system fair. The citizens of the State of Ohio should conclude that capital punishment can no longer be tolerated because it is fundamentally indefensible and should demand its abolition. 

1. added above
2. Banner, The Death Penalty:  An American History, p. 23 (Harvard University Press, 2002). 
3. Ibid., pp. 10-13.
4. Evangelium Vitae, para. 56. 
5. Ibid.
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 2267.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
10. 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
11. Lazarus, Closed Chambers:  The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court, p. 117 (Penquin Books, 1999).
12. Akron Beacon Journal (May 7, 2005)(reporting the Associated Press study). 
13. www.otse.org.
14. Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty, Final Report and Recommendations, April 2014, Commentary to Recommendation 29.
15. Lazarus, Closed Chambers, p. 168 (summarizing the results of the famous Baldus study in Georgia); see generally, Bedau, The Death Penalty in America:  Current Controversies, pp. 29, 271 (Oxford University Press, 1997).
16. www.otse.org.
17. Details about Ohio’s exonerations are reported at www.otse.org.

GUEST BLOGGER: WHAT ROLLER COASTER RENOVATIONS CAN TELL US ABOUT CHURCH REFORM

Many, many thanks to Mr. David Stavars, seminarian at St. Mary Seminary in Cleveland and part time St. Sebastianite for being our guest blogger today.  (I probably wouldn't have had time to get anything out today!)  As always, you are awesome Mr. Stavarz.

Lately, there has been a good bit of hype amongst roller coaster enthusiasts about the supposed removal of the wooden roller coaster, the Mean Streak, at Cedar Point Amusement Park. Cedar Point, located in Sandusky Ohio and arguably one of the best amusement parks in the world, boasts an impressive lineup of coasters of which includes the Mean Streak. This wooden behemoth of a ride opened in 1991 as the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in the world and since then has given rides to over 26 million people.  Luckily, as I had an obsession with coasters especially in my younger days, it was phenomenal having one of the best amusements parks only an hour away. Every year, people from all over the world flock to "America's Roller Coast" to ride the newest and best rides, including the Mean Steak, at least up until the past few years.

Undeniably, as has been the case for many wooden coasters around the country, the Mean Streak has grown much meaner over its lifetime. The ride's old wood tracking - what the trains ride on - has made for a pretty harsh ride, while the track layout has become a bit mundane compared to the newer, innovative, and more exciting steel coasters. However, despite the relatively low ride attendance in the past few years, some people are still sentimental about the wooden coaster's future in the park. Even though the park announced that the Mean Streak would "Get the Axe" at the end of this year, there are still some that speculate about the ride's future. 

One of the theories of the Mean Streak's future involves renovation. Rocky Mountain Construction - the supposed renovation firm - is a company that takes old wooden coasters and converts them into new hybrid coasters using steel tracking. This kind of coaster renovation allows for a much smoother ride and also provides for the ability to change different elements of the ride for a whole new experience. The new steel tracking makes elements like inversions and steep turns possible on an old wooden coaster. One coaster enthusiast even took the time to create a model of what a renovation for the Mean Streak could look like. See the video here: (http://youtu.be/GhbJF3ZxPRQ)

Instead of completely bulldozing the previous structure, this company re-forms the coaster into something new, yet the engineers renovate the ride in a way that is true to coaster's past, a way that is true to its essential nature. Many times today, we want to just bulldoze. In order to make way for the future, we think that we must forget the past and completely start anew. Thanks to Rene Descartes and many others in modern philosophical thought, this way of bulldozing and forgetting the past is largely how the world views what has come before. However, I think it's always important to look and see what has come before and know why it was there before you start the bulldozing. Just because something is old doesn't mean it's obsolete, and furthermore it doesn't mean that what is old can't be re-formed into something new.

Today, there are many in the larger secular culture that see the Catholic faith as old and obsolete. We hear this in regards to Catholic liturgy, ethics (especially sexual ethics), sacraments, devotional life, etc. Many of these elements of Catholicism have been around for centuries - since the very conception of the Church. Yet, in a modern world that tends to question reality and forget the past, these ancient beliefs and practices that have been passed on are what truly grounds us in reality. Just because there elements of the Church that are old, doesn't mean they are useless. As the hymn goes, the Church is ever ancient and ever new.

John Allen Jr., in his book, The Future Church: How Ten Trends Are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, explains that a major factor in future Church reform will be that of Evangelical Catholicism. By "Evangelical" he means a youthful, vibrant Catholicism that is returning to a stronger, more external, more orthodox practice of the faith in regards to liturgy, sacraments, devotions, prayer, ethics, etc. However, this return to orthodoxy, ritual, and tradition, this looking back to what has come before rather than bulldozing, is not a return to the same Pre-Vatican II Church. This re-formation is a conversion to a new era of the Church, yet one that is true to its past.

On one hand, the modern Evangelical Church will take the traditional, orthodox practices that were good from the Pre-Vatican II Church. However, this modern ecclesial renovation also means that some parts of Church practice that were rough and had possibly detracted from the true mission and purpose of the Church are going to be left in the past. Like coaster renovation, what is going to make the ride unbearable, taking away from the true purpose of the ride, will be changed. Furthermore, while modern Church reform tends to return to the roots of orthodox practice, it also has a crucial awareness to the situation and needs of the modern world. This looking to the modern world, while bring the tradition of the Church to it was the true mission and purpose of Vatican II in the first place.

In order to renovate, one must look at what has come before, but must also see what is possible in the current conditions. Allen says that the Evangelical Church is a Church that not only wants to dialogue with the modern, secular world, but also wants to convert it. Living out such a mission means having your ear close to the ground, listening to what is happening in the culture and acknowledging how the Church can speak Her truths to the people of that culture.

Having an eye to what is ahead means that exciting, new elements of the Church will emerge, but also elements that are rooted in and consistent with the Church's foundation and tradition. Even though the Church has been fundamentally the same in every century, how exactly that Church has looked had been different. 

I see this change happening is when a Mass with reverent praise and worship music also incorporating old Latin hymns into the congregation's prayer. I see it in parishes and youth groups that are centered around Eucharistic Adoration. I see it in women who wear traditional head coverings to Mass, not as a sign of submission, but of holy humility. I see it in the practice of traditional Catholic devotionals like the Rosary, Litanies, and Consecration to Mary amongst young and older people alike. I see it in websites like Word on Fire and Strange Notions, which bring the truth of humanity and Catholicism into dialogue on the Internet.

One way this change has happened in the Diocese of Cleveland is in the successful introduction of Theology on Tap. These are nights where young Catholics from around the diocese meet up at a bar, share conversation and fellowship, and listen to a guest speaker talk on some topic about the spiritual life or address some cultural issue from a Catholic perspective. This is the tradition of the Church reaching out into the modern world. This re-formation is like putting a new set of tracks onto an old coaster. 

What we need to recover, especially as we think about reform in the Church, is the understanding that the Church is ever new because it is ever ancient. Instead of the bulldozing mentality, look to what is truly good and adapt that good to what is needed. As the Church is rooted in its foundation, which is Christ and His mission of conversion in the world, the Church can present itself in a way that is ever new, ever cutting edge, ever relevant to a world that proclaims its irrelevancy. 

GUEST BLOGGER: INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH

I remember when Y2K (was supposed to) happen.  At the stroke of midnight on January 1st, windows still glowed with the blue of T.V. sets, planes stayed in the sky, and the lights didn't even flicker.  I turned to my cousin and said, "Well THAT was anticlimactic."  I felt the same about the RNC in Cleveland.  For MONTHS we had been told to stay away and that the city was going to go down in flames.  Again, the whole event, by the standard that cataclysmic events are measured, was more tame the the Cav's victory reception.

But a week ago, we were preparing for armageddon.  (I am NOT joking.)  During that maelstrom, one of the seminarians living at the rectory was invited to attend the Pro Life rally at the Brown's stadium.  I asked him to blog about his experience.  Please note that this article is not an endorsement about any person or political party but a description of his adventure that happened to be at the RNC, which just happened to be on our doorstep. 

So, without further ado, here is David Stavarz's article entitled, 

"Are You a Lion or a Sheep?"

Last week, during the RNC in Cleveland, another seminarian and myself were blessed to be invited to the Browns Stadium for a Pro-life Luncheon hosted by the Republican National Coalition for Life. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience! As a seminarian, it is really often amazing where, at times, one finds oneself. My life is certainly blessed. 

Being the second full day of the convention, Josh and I were not sure about how exactly we were going to make it all the way to First Energy Stadium considering all the hype that surrounded this RNC. However, as God's providence outdoes all human attempts to worry about everything, we were able to catch the RTA into the city and walk a few blocks to our destination without any trouble.

Once we arrived at the stadium, despite walking a good distance in our suits in the Cleveland heat, there was not much time for relaxation. For the representatives and delegates especially, there was much important work to be done for the Pro-Life cause on the Republican platform. There were some protesters outside, but otherwise it was a peaceful and uncontested event.

At the beginning of the program, our own Bishop Roger Gries, OSB was asked to give the opening remarks and prayers. Frankly, and not to the detriment of the subsequent speakers, with his short talk, I think the bishop hit the nail right on the head. Bishop Gries challenged those in the room not if they were a true Republican elephant, but if they were a sheep or a lion. He explained that many times in our modern society, especially when it comes to life issues, religious people are seen as sheep. People of faith, like sheep, are seen as unintelligent, passive, and, hence, easily dismissed. We simply aren't taken seriously. 

Granted we live in a turbulent culture that is increasingly anti-religious and even somewhat hostile to religion, but in my view as religious people, as people who follow Jesus Christ, we have two options: apathy or chivalry. And I don't think that it is the apathetic people who Jesus wants to find when He comes again. Before the prayer, the bishop called for us not to cower like lambs when it comes to life issues, but roar like lions so that our voice is heard and it is not one that is easily unheard. Bishop Gries added that as Christians we need to be in the center of the culture, not out on the fringes, never to be heard.

The event itself was hosted, as it had been for many years, by Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the RNC/Life, constitutional lawyer, author of twenty-six books, and female activist who has had an instrumental contribution to the Pro-Life cause in the Republican Party. Over the years, Schlafly has been a lion who has unabashedly promoted life and the dignity of the human person both as a politician and as a mother of 6 children. I could tell the room was filled with respect for Mrs. Schlafly as she was greeted with a profound applause. Before the meal, videos of her speaking before Congress cycled on screens around the room. She was certainly not a woman who sheepishly let the culture change around her. She believed in Christ through her Roman Catholic faith, stood up for what she believed, and addressed the cultural changes with a roar.

Next, Mr. Lou Holtz, legendary college football coach (most notably from Notre Dame), gave the keynote presentation. His talk was inspiring, moving, challenging, and was really what everyone - Democrat or Republican - needed to hear. Holtz drew from much of his personal experience as a coach and as a father in our culture to highlight the various challenges to life issues in our country. Granted, Coach Holtz has more resources and means than your average joe on the street, but he has not been a sheep, but he has chosen to be a lion in the pro-life cause. 

Reading some of the coverage of his talk at the event, Holtz has even received flack from the media for this talk at that very event. One quote that I guestfound memorable was, "We can tell people how to make a living, but we can't tell them how to make a life." In other words, the precious nature of a human life needs to be protected before the frail nature of what goes into our pockets. Human lives are and will always be more important that anything else in this world.

All in all it was a great experience going to the luncheon, meeting people who were highly involved and passionate. It was an honor to represent seminarians in a Church who is, at times, greatly persecuted, yet greatly cares about the Pro-Life issues, the dignity of the human person, and the future of our country. In the years to come we should take to heart the bishops words truly becoming lions and not sheep, undeniably fighting for our faith and what we believe in.

GUEST BLOGGER - ANOTHER PATHWAY

At various times on this blog we have talked about how to obtain art.  Yesterday was a focus on going to galleries.  An Anonymous commenter sent in the following addition:

As an artist, I have to comment. Every artist starts somewhere. There are art leagues and clubs in nearly every city and county. Nearly all of these groups have at the very least, annual shows of their members' work. These artists are the 'roots' of the artist's life and work. This is where you find the up and coming. This is where to actually meet the artists closest to their own elements. Look in arts section of your local newspaper or on line. You can find a small show most any weekend. In our area most of the openings are on Friday evenings. That is when to go--the artists will be at the receptions, and we love to talk to someone new about our work. The work will be impressive, affordable, and you might even get a glass of wine. Don't just support the arts, support local arts.

GUEST BLOGGER: THIS GUY ROCKS - er - MARBLES

Today's guest blogger is Deacon Jeremy Merzweiler.  He is a member of St. Sebastian and was ordained to the transitional deaconate two weekends ago with an eye toward being ordained a priest.  This is his first homily as a deacon and he has given permission for it to be printed on Adam's Ale.  Please keep him in your prayers!

 

 

Homily 10/26/14 – Priesthood Sunday

 

Are you made for the marble? 

 

By itself, this question does not make sense. 

 

Yet, for years I have asked myself this question.  Am I made for the marble? 

 

See, during my time at the seminary, as I served Mass and different liturgies throughout the years, I would always glance at the sanctuary floor and see the marble floor and ask myself, am I made for the marble?

 

Why the connection to the marble?  What does the marble signify?

 

If you have ever been to St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Cleveland and have seen the sanctuary floor, it is made out of marble. 

It is in this place where ordinations occur; it is in this place where seminarians lay down their lives on the marble and give of themselves fully to the Church, for the people of God, for all of you.   

 

Therefore, to be made for the marble is to be made for others! 

 

In fact, just this morning, 3 seminarians and I during the diaconate ordination Mass, literally laid down our lives and laid prostrate on the marble floor as the Church prayed for us by singing the litany of the saints.

 

In laying down our lives on the sanctuary floor, we are laying down everything, our whole lives. 

 

This ‘laying down of our lives’ is at the heart of a priestly vocation and any vocation for that matter.  Yet, we don’t lay our lives down for some thing, or some job, or some amount of money, but rather, we lay down our lives for some one.  And who you want to lay down your life for will form who you want to be. 

·        Married people lay down their lives for their husband or wife, and children. 

·        Single persons lay down their lives for the community. 

·        Religious, deacons, and priests lay down their lives for the Church!

 

This is really what today’s Gospel is all about.  When a Pharisee asks Jesus which commandment in the law is the greatest, he responds:

 

"You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

 

And….You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

 

In this, Christ makes love the greatest commandment. 

 

Yet, this type of love requires everything, your whole heart, soul and mind, everything needs to be laid down for God and for others! 

 

For it is Christ, who in John 15, before he enters into his own passion, says to his disciples that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. 

 

From all of this, we can say that all of us are made for the marble.  All of us are called by Christ to give our whole heart, mind and soul to others in love.

 

Throughout the diocese this weekend we celebrate priesthood Sunday, in which we are called to challenge those pondering the call to priesthood to consider it and to check it out. 

 

Basically, the message is that it is important to do something about the stirrings within your heart.  If you are thinking about priesthood, come talk to me, Fr. Rosing, Fr. Elbert or give the vocation director a call.    

 

It is extremely important to not ignore what is going on inside, to not ignore what you are being called to do. 

 

One person who understands this is Lebron James.  Since this last July, much hype and intensity has been centered around Lebron’s coming home.  In fact, the Cav’s regular season begins in just a few days. 

In his Sports Illustrated Letter in July, Lebron writes:

 

“I feel my calling here goes above basketball.  I have a responsibility to lead in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously.  My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I’m from."

 

When it comes to vocations, to living out the vocation we are called to live, like Lebron who could make a difference in Miami, we too could make a difference doing what we want to in life. 

 

Yet, I believe it can mean more when we lay our wants and desires down and be open to what God wants and desires for us in our lives. 

 

The lie that often comes with this is that God’s wants and desires are somehow against what we want and desire.  In fact, the opposite is true.  What God wants and desires for us is in fact the way that will mean more for us in life, it will be the way that will lead us to true happiness and joy. 

 

Therefore, be open to what God wants and desires for your life.  Do not be afraid of the stirrings of your heart.  Even though Jesus wants you to love with everything you have, do not live in fear, but instead give him your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole soul. 

 

And when you do this, not only can you say that you are made for the marble…

 

you can say that you are made for the Lord…

 

made for others….

 

made for love!