INSTALATION OF BISHOP PEREZ

It has been a busy few days around here and so I am way behind on posting.  Yesterday was the installation of Bishop Perez.  Here's a shot of some of us waiting to get things started.

I parked across the street and saw this great view of the cathedral.  Another priest and I laughed when we admitted to going to confession just before hand just in case there was someone who wanted to do some damage during the ceremony.  Coming across a couple other priests and telling them the story, they admitted to doing the same thing.

If you are really interested in how everything went (it went well) there are plenty of videos for watching the ceremony.  What you probably did not see is that the city was as nervous as we were worked hard to make sure we were safe.  Here are some of the dump trucks filled with sand that were used to block off the streets around the cathedral to make sure nobody tried to ram the area with a truck bomb.

There were a few bomb sniffing dogs and police everywhere.  It was touching watching a police officer walk a couple of elderly nuns across the street.

Here is the bicycle brigade that was making the rounds.

The mounted police made an appearance.

Police cars lined up in front of the cathedral as the procession made its way in.  There were rumors that there were snipers on the top of a building or two but that is unsubstantiated.  But let me tell you, I felt safe!

I felt safe enough to take this shameless selfie with Bishop Perez

It is a shame that we live in that kind of world that we have to take such precautions.  But we made it in safely and enjoyed the celebration.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: A LITERAL GOD

So last week found me at the Jesuit Retreat House in Parma with these fine, young, transitional deacons:

They were on their final retreat before being ordained to the priesthood for service to the Diocese of Cleveland and I was fortunate enough to be their retreat master.  I was recalling the day of my ordination (18 years ago - when did that happen?) and what a beautiful day it was.  When ordination is about to begin and the weather is nice (which it mostly is) we all go out of the old chancery building and line up on the sidewalk in order to process around the outside of the cathedral and enter in through the main doors.  It is alway a sight to see.

The only people who do not line up along the sidewalk are those who have instrumental roles that day.  So, for example, the bishops, the pastors of the ordinandi, and, of course, the ordinandi themselves.  They line up "under the arch."  The arch is a piece of architecture that connects the cathedral rectory to the old chancery building the first floor of which is a giant stone arch (did you see that coming?) with an ornate iron gate.  

I tried to draw you a picture but it may just confuse you more:

It is something when, after so many years of watching others line up there on their ordination day to finally be in the class that lines up in this special place.

And it was!  Not perfect, but it was!  Fifteen minutes before the ceremony was to begin, we were all called to make our way outside and line up along the side walk.  And there they were, those about to be ordained, lined up under the arch looking excited and radiating holiness.

So my prayer and wish for them came true and I was very grateful.  

And then this happened:

So I guess technically I did get that for which I prayed.

WITH GREAT JOY, ST. SEBASTIAN PARISH PROUDLY ANNOUNCES . . .

Many of you are experiencing priests collecting boxes.  It is the time of year when those who are completing their assignments are getting ready to move where the Spirit (and their bishop) calls.  For these more seasoned men, the news of where they are going is largely handled over the phone.

But there is another group of men anticipation something similar.  They are our soon-to-be newly ordained.  The announcement of where they will be spending the next four years of their lives is not handled so casually.  Rather, it is more like a game show.  Those to-be-ordained and their future pastors are invited to the Cathedral Rectory where Bishop Thomas would make the big reveal.

I was really not all that concerned.  It is a great group of men and I would consider myself lucky to have any of them.  But for some reason, I woke up nervous that morning.  I would meet the guy with whom I would be working and living for next four years.  So I guess that is worth being nervous over.

I rode up to Cleveland with other Akron pastors who would be receiving a newly ordained.  (That made the trip so much easier.)  We were ushered into the Bishop’s parlor, a large well appointed room.  We sat on wingback chairs in front of the large marble fireplace over which hung a large painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary who presided over the room.  The rector of the seminary spoke to us first and told us his impressions of the men we would soon be meeting as we distractedly sipped at our coffee.

Then, about a half hour into the meeting, the Bishop lead the soon-to-be-ordained-preists in the room and sat them in alphabetical order across from us.  Fortunately the Bishop was not of a mind to prolong the torture and immediately went about the task of announcing the assignments.  Here are the results:

Deacon Peter Bang                       Holy Angels, Bainbridge

Deacon Jacob Bearer                     St. Francis de Sales , Akron

Deacon James Cosgrove           St. Christopher, Rocky River

Deacon Eric Garris                      St. Raphael, Bay Village

Deacon Matt Jordan                      St. Hilary, Fairlawn

Deacon Robert McWilliams                St. Joseph, Strongsville

Deacon Peter Morris                     St. John Vianney, Mentor

Deacon Anthony Simone           St. Sebastian, Akron

Notice Deacon Simone is at the end of the list.  It was agony waiting to see who would be coming to St. Sebastian.  When it was down to just Deacons Morris and Simone, I was as tense as a cat on the sting above a pool of swimming doberman pinchers.  Quickly enough, by process of elimination, it became clear that we would be blessed to have Deacon Simone at St. Sebastian!

About a month ago we had a dinner for this class at St. Sebastian.  Even though they were not supposed to know, for various (and good reasons if anybody from the diocese is reading this) they knew that one of those men would be coming here in June.  “If they were puppies,” they told me, “and we get to pick one of them . . . “  Well don’t you know Deacon Simone was at the top of the list!

The rest of the afternoon was a workshop basically detailing how best it might be for old men (me) and young men (the deacons) to live together in harmony.  Then we had to go our separate ways for they had a seminar to go to that evening.  It was like getting a new bike and being told you can’t ride it for two months.

When I went through this as a young almost priest, we left the meeting and found phones to call people and tell them where we were going.  Whey Fr. Pfeiffer was coming to St. Sebastian, all of his class and phones to immediately text to their family fiends where they were going.  At this meeting, WE ALL HAD PHONES and by the time the meeting was over, parishes were already posting the results! 

Please keep all of these men in your prayers.

You are invited to the ordination at St. John Cathedral on May 19th at 7:00PM.

MONDAY DIARY: JUST A SATURDAY

I usually draw Monday Diary cartoon during a quiet time on Sunday.  There isn’t going to be a stretch of quiet time this Sunday and Monday I will be spending most of the day signing teacher’s contracts the net result being: no cartoons today!

 

It was an enjoyable weekend however.  It started off with Fr. Pfeiffer and I taking a morning trip to Cleveland to our Cathedral of St. John for the ordination of 5 new priests who will be serving in our diocese.  The diocese predicted the apocalypse for downtown on that Saturday morning.  There was a marathon going on and the shooting of the new Avengers movie not to mention the outrageous amount of construction on East 9^th Street.  They sent out “Worship Traffic Passes” and warned us to show up extra early or we might not make it to the cathedral until after Communion.  So Fr. Pf and I found a kindly retired priest to take the early Mass, we cancelled confessions and took off for Cleveland.

 

Having an excellent parking spot because we got there almost an hour and half early having faced nearly empty streets, we walked down to the Hilton for some coffee and muffins.  As it turns out, the marathon was a 5K and was over already and movie wasn’t being shot for another week. 

 

The Ordination Mass was beautiful.  We saw some parishioners there and asked them later what they thought.  They had seats all the way at the back and couldn’t see much, “until,” she informed us, “I noticed people with their Ipods out watching the whole thing live streaming.  So we were in the building but watching what we couldn’t see on somebody’s computer.” 

 

Note to self:  Not everybody looking at a computer screen during Mass is doing something bad.

 

Getting back to good ole St. Sebastian (after a quick stop at Swensons) we had about an hour to set up for welcoming pilgrims to the parish.  St. Sebastian was picked by Bishop Lennon to be one five parishes that people could visit as part of the Year of Faith celebration.  To tell the truth, I was not expecting many people.  It was the first weekend and few people seemed to be catching on to what this whole thing was.

 

I was wrong.  As I write this we are only about half way through our first weekend hours and already about 75 people have shown up!  Wow.  Some are from neighboring parishes, some from far away – one couple was from Texas!  For most we were the first stop though for a couple they had been to St. Mary in Wooster already.  There is more information on the pilgrimages here and here.

 

There was another interesting incident this weekend.  There was a man who took up a post across the street from the church.  He had a sign that said, “The end is near!  Repent!  You are going to hell!”  He also had a bull horn through which he informed everybody that Catholics are going to hell.  I asked him if it was just Catholics in particular or were there others in town that were coming along for the trip.  Apparently it is only Catholics.

 

I tried to get a handle on why we are so special and all he kept saying was that it was because Catholics teach that only Catholics are getting into heaven.  When I pointed out that it wasn’t true, he said I was mistaken.  There was an attempt to engage him in the documents of Vatican II but there was the more important task of yelling at people as they walked out of the church.

 

So what does one do with this?  I thought about the apostles who “went home rejoicing because they were found worthy” to be yelled at for believing in Christ and His Church.  What else are you going do with that?  Such is life.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

Last Thursday Fr. Pfeiffer and I went to Cleveland to our cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to watch our choir compete in the WCLV Jubilation choir contest.  They were finalists along with 5 other choirs from north east Ohio who were to perform and be judge live on the radio.  We did great though we did not win first place.  We did great though and I was so proud of our choir!

When our choir was taking their place in front of the sanctuary I heard a lady behind me whisper to her companion, "My goodness!  They just keep coming!  There's tons of them!"  It made my little pastor heart swell with pride knowing that over a dozen of them were missing to boot!

 

The contest did no start until 8PM and we decided to make an evening of it - especially considering that we are nearing the end of Fr. Pf's time here at St. Sebastian.  So we left early and went out to eat beforehand.  Heading toward an area of restaurants that I like we passed a tiny bistro that I had never seen before owing to never having walked down this little side street.  They had Fr. Pf's favorite item on the menu and so we popped in to have dinner.

 

A patron came over to our table and greeted us.

It was by way of thanking us for being priests.  It was terribly nice and thoughtful of him and lifted my spirits considerably.

 

Dinner went a little long and so I asked if there was coffee to go that we could drink on our walk back to the cathedral.  The waitress (who was very good and kind) winked and said, "Wait and let me check on that for you."  She came back with steaming hot coffee in paper coffee cups.

I may be a celibate, but I am not opposed to a little innocent flattery from a kind waitress. 

Then another waitress brought us our check quickly when we said we had to take off.  She took care of us efficiently even though she was quite busy.

We finished desert as she cashed us out.

MONDAY DIARY - CHAPTER 15

I warn those who are going to be ordained to write everything down because you will forget. That had to be admitted even in the writing in my journal ten years ago. “There is too much to even try to remember and so I will give snippets of things that are standing out even now,” I wrote.

Ordination morning started bright and early in my room at the seminary. I was in an older part of the building with dark wood doors, high ceilings, and thick plaster walls. The rooms were just large enough for a bed, a desk, a chair, a bookcase, a closet and a sink. The closets in the older sections were considerably smaller than in the newer (they were once nun’s cells) but the woodwork a better sound proofing more than made up for that inconvenience.

I prayed the Liturgy of the Office, dressed in my finest black suit, packed up the things that I would need for the rest of the day and headed off for ordination. I was driving my Uncle Leo’s Grand Am. He had been my confirmation sponsor but had died a few years back and so it way of having him with me in a way. In any event it beat the 1979 Ford LTD that I had been driving – an auto junkyard on wheels – such is the curse of being a seminarian at times. Actually it was beautiful on the inside with a front seat as big as a davenport, but the outside had quite seen its day and every few days it was necessary to pull over and break off whatever had been dragging along the road.

After parking in the cathedral garage the walk was made to the chancery building. On the way I saw my family, Mom and Dad, sisters and nephews in a coffee shop and popped in to greet them. They were so excited and a bit nervous themselves.

We met in the bishop’s parlor. It was early but Bishop Pilla was already dressed and so we felt obliged to do so also. This was the year right after Bishop Pilla had major heart surgery and he was a bit pale but able to joke with us and recap with us what we were to do that morning.

The bells started peeling in the bell tower about fifteen minutes early. The class gathered to pray and to dedicate ourselves once again to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin. The Bishop signaled us over and prayed with us one last time and we were sent to line up “under the arch”, a large passage that allowed cars to pass into the heart of Cathedral Square that connected the cathedral to the chancery building. Traditionally this is where the bishops and main celebrants line up while the rest of the priests and deacons line up along East 9th street. For the first time we were lined up under the arch on this beautiful, sunny, Saturday morning. Bells still peeling in the tower above our heads, the crucifer started his journey down East 9th Street, turned right at the corner up Superior Avenue, and finally into the door of St. John the Evangelist Cathedral.

KNOW NEWS THAT'S GOOD NEWS

News doesn’t seem to be news unless it is scandalous or gossipy. Bucking the trend, here are a couple of stories that you might still find of note.

This past week a number of Ursuline nuns celebrated sixty years of ministry. They were of that hard working, backbone of the diocese stock that taught countless numbers of young people of many generations and began ministries that many of us take for granted today. Some kind soul had, in his will, that when these particular nuns reached their 60th anniversary (can you imagine how many cumulative years of ministry that involves?) they should be treated to dinner from his estate; and not just any dinner, but seriously good and expensive dinner at a fine restaurant.

Each sister was able to ask one companion sister to escort her and off they went to Moxie’s. The restaurant pulled out all of the stops, treating these treasures to the fussing they deserved. A fine time was had by all. God bless the nuns and those who remember the blessings they have been to the life of the Church.

A second story involves a church choir competition in Cleveland sponsored by a local classical radio station (WCLV 104.9) and the United Church of Christ. “The mission of this competition or “challenge” is to remind Cleveland and the surrounding areas of that beautiful and time-honored tradition of choral music in our houses of worship and to further heighten the standard of music in the 21st century.” It was the first for Cleveland and the Cathedral Choir of Saint John the Evangelist was the only Catholic Choir to make it all the way to the final six. Choirs were rated not only their talent, but on the scope of the repertory and their mastery of varying styles.

The final competition was held on our ordination weekend. The choir had to sing at 9:00 on Friday night for they would not be able to be there in the morning. The announcement of the winner of the competition was scheduled during ordination making it impossible for their capable leader Mr. Greg Heislman and many of the singers to attend. One wonders if someone kept a cell phone on vibrate in order to hear if they won or not.

As it turns out the cathedral choir did indeed win this first competition. Congratulations all around! We are fortunate to have such a choir and further blessed to have a bishop who supports having the finest choir in the land as we remember that the Catholic Church has always been patroness of the arts. Praise God.

DAWNING HOPE

Being about six months away from the time of priesthood ordinations every diocese that will have men ordained this year have either already had or will very soon have ordinations to the transitional deaconate. A man must be a deacon for at least six months before he is ordained to the priesthood. Last night five good men were ordained to the transitional deaconate for the Diocese of Cleveland; Deacon Joseph Brankatelli, Deacon Stephen Flynn, Deacon Michael McCandless, Deacon Jared Orndorff, and Deacon Ed Suszynski. Please keep them and all who will soon to be ordained to the priesthood in your prayers.

This year marked a change for this diocese. Not only do we have a new bishop but we also have a new liturgist for the Diocese. I will admit that I went as much to see how different the liturgy would be as much as to see these fine men be ordained.

One of the most drastic changes was that the mass was held at the Cathedral. Deaconate ordination has been held at the seminary chapel in recent decades. It is a nice enough chapel but as you can imagine is rather small which always limited the number of people who could attend. Being held at the cathedral opened the event to the entire diocese (a bit late to let you know that now I suppose!)

The other change was the extensive employment of seminarians. Their fellow classmates (more of our future priests of the diocese) who used to minimally supplement the serving and music ministries now performed the ministries almost in their entireties. They also served as ushers at the doors.

Only toward the end of my stay at the seminary were seminarians given a place to sit en mass. We scattered about the cathedral for any of the events that took place, which unfortunately allowed some to have their view obstructed by the greater downtown area. Later there began to be a designated area for us to sit. Last night those participating in prayerful support sat and it was heartening to this priest, as theologically wonderful as having them spread out may be, to see all of the young men gathered who you hope will make it possible for you to semi-retire in your old age.

Many blessings upon all who are ordained to the transitional deaconate and may you soon be standing with your brother priests on the altar of God to offer the sacrifice of the mass.

HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU HERE!

Considering that we live at the beginning of the third millennia and could have things quite bad architecturally, I feel rather fortunate to have the cathedral building that we do in the Diocese of Cleveland. Yet something about Saint John’s always made feel a bit uncomfortable and for the longest time I could not put my finger on exactly what that something was.

It finally became clear to me about ten years ago. I was singing in the choir in the loft for ordination. The organ pipes block the view for the choir and so if you want to see the goings on when you are not singing, you have to turn and look at a mirror positioned on the back wall. It is a long mirror horizontal with the floor. The view that it affords revealed what had caused my sense of tension with the building. You can experience what I did with the picture below. (It works much better in person but since you can’t all come here this will have to do.)

First, cover over the bottom half of the picture from about the height of a person down. Notice where the focus of the picture is. All the lines draw you to the back wall where the reredos is (and where the altar used to be.) Now, cover the opposite part of the picture from about the height of a person on up. Now notice where the focus is. It is about twenty-five yards forward where the new altar is. The use and the construction of the building are in contrast. It has an unsettling effect.

This happens in many church buildings because in many ways we are trying to look like one thing while in reality implementing another. At St. John’s, the top half of the picture suggests the symbolism of the mass in a much different way than the bottom half. What does the top half of the picture suggest? The people and the priest face (liturgical and in this case actual) east (toward the sun/Son) like Moses leading the people through the desert to the Promised Land. It is through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are led to the Father in heaven represented by the angles and the saints in the reredos.

The bottom half of the picture suggests the symbolism in a different way. The priest is not in a “leader of the procession” position but has turned and is in a “teacher” or confronting position. The action does not at first seem to lead beyond the particular group of people to something beyond however our theology of the mass (at least officially) has not changed. Every prayer is still being directed to the Father in heaven through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit on behalf of the Body of Christ.

Now, my opinion on which way a priest should face and five dollars will get you a cup of coffee and a biscotti. However, I will say this: It is far more challenging to properly symbolize what is happening at the mass with the priest facing the people as opposed to facing the same way as the people and so it will take a great amount of care on the part of pastors and ministers and catechists and parents and even worshippers to instruct, understand, and (especially on the part of priests) to properly use bodily symbolism to get across the true aim and nature of the mass.

The biggest obstacle to overcome is the idea that, although the priest is facing the congregation, he by and large is not addressing them. Many priests make eye contact with the congregation as they pray the words in the Sacramentary. Tabernacles were moved out of our churches because we were told by liturgists that is was confusing for the people. This is far more confusing. For years as a younger person I thought that I was being addressed (video example) rather than having the understanding that this was my privileged overhearing of the prayers being offered to the Father, “On the night He was betrayed . . .” (Perhaps that plays a part in my ego.) Yet there are parts addressed to the Father, parts addressed to the Body of Christ and parts to Jesus. That was clearer formally. If you were being addressed the priest turned toward you, if God, toward the East. Now, by our use of our eyes, our voice, and the position of our bodies we need to convey the same thing. It is much more difficult but absolutely necessary.

And it is also dangerous for the priest to over emphasize celebrating so that “people can see what is going on.” Taking that effort to the extreme leads to glass chalices and ciboria in order to make it easier for “the people” to see. Do you know what there is to see? Nothing. When the bread and wine turn into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, it will still look exactly the same. We are to look with the eyes of faith. We don’t need to see Him other than when we are afforded those short opportunities at the mass to give him worship and praise. To exaggerate “seeing,” is to divert attention away from what it is we are called to do and believe at the mass. This too is confusing. We walk by faith, not by sight and our symbols, actions, and gestures must reflect this.

Ah well – enjoy your coffee and biscotti.

IN OTHER NEWS:

If churches are to be “catechisms in stone,” great care must be used when messing with the symbolism during remolding. Below is an example. What is wrong with this shrine symbolically? The answer tomorrow.