BUM PASTORS YOU WANT OUT VS GREAT PASTORS YOU DON'T WANT TO LOSE

About ten years ago the Diocese of Cleveland changed from permanent pastorates to term limits.  I was on the committee to assist the then bishop in deciding.  I was less than enthused with the prospect.  As with most new new things (please, can we never have yet another new miracle method for teaching in schools that will be all the rage for three years and then never be heard from again) it sounded like a cure that would solve all of our problems.  The caution that I had at the time was that we were simply exchanging one set of advantages/difficulties for another set of challenges/difficulties and were we sure that we wanted this exchange.

Apparently we did.

The argument for pastor term limits are quite good.  If there is a problem priest, there is a date at which canonically he may be removed.  (Despite what many people think, the bishop does not have the power, except in limited circumstances, simply to move a pastor at will.)  It also provides a chance for a priest who thinks that it is time to move to have a convenient way and date to do so.  So there is a lot more flexibility and ability to change things up.  It gives a bishop a lot more power to help a parish that is failing under a particular priest and in some ways it gives the people more power.  If they don’t like the guy that is their pastor, when the time comes for the priest to renew his pastorate, it is the opportunity for the bishop to say, “Maybe not.  Your people are revolting.”

So why would there have been permanent pastorates in the first place?  (Chesterton warned against tearing down a fence unless you first know why it was there.)  The argument for permanent pastorates is quite good.  In an article in a recent First Things, the author listed some of the advantages to permanent pastorates.  The first is a certain amount of protection from punitive acts of a bishop.  It brings more power locally for a priest (and congregation) to say, “We will not do that here.”  (With term limits, there may be some fear that soon you will be moved to a difficult assignment for sparing with the bishop.)  There is more of a chance to develop long term relationships instead of the “father” of the parish changing every six years (making it a bit scary for staffs also.)  

A lot depends on the people involved.  Will a term limit cause a man not to do some difficult work such a replacing an expensive roof or firing a popular figure who is working against the goals of the parish?  Will he tempted to say, “Let the next guy handle it.”  Or would permanent pastorates cause another man to say, “Nobody can touch me, I’ll spend my days watching T. V.?”  

Is more episcopal oversight better than greater subsidiarity?  It is difficult to say.  A lot depends.  If you have a crummy pastor you are probably glad for term limits, if you have a crummy bishop, you probably wish for permanent pastorates.  

We seem to have stuck a balance in the Diocese of Cleveland (and a lot depends on the solicitude of the bishop who is sitting in the cathedra.)  We have six year term limits that are indefinitely renewable in theory.  So a problem pastor or a pastor who thinks he has run his course can be moved or move on.  Or, in theory, he could stay there for years if good still seems to be happening.

Which is best?  The answer is bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica. 

PLEASE JOIN ME

We received a letter from our Bishop this past Friday afternoon.  He asked that it be placed in the bulletin but unfortunately it was too late for us to be able to do so.  We did post the letter on the doors of the church and read it at all of the Masses.  But it is such an awesome request that it is replacing Monday Diary in hopes of getting the message out.

It is part of the great history of our faith that, when we face difficult times, we were called as a body to acts of prayer and penance to bring healing and ask for guidance.  We read about people of faith fasting, praying and wearing sackcloth and ashes as we as a people look to realign ourselves with all that God calls us to.

Currently we face a scandal in the Church.  Moreover, the we fully acknowledge when it had not been responded to well at all.  The bishops of the United States will be gathering beginning November 11th to call each other to accountability, develop a response and be better shepherds.

During this week leading up to their meeting, our Bishop is dedicating himself to prayer and fasting and has asked us to pray along with him:

For healing of those who have been abused.

For the just punishment and conversion of the perpetrators and those who covered up abuse.

For the bishops, that they may be holy shepherds who will do all they can to keep the sheep entrusted to them from harm.

I will join him and prayer and encourage you to do so also.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck

YOU CAN PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME . . .

Not too long ago we went from permanent pastorates to term limits in our diocese.  I was on the committee.  One of the points I bought up was that the reason there are two methods (you may have one or the other in a diocese, not one for some and one for others) is that they both come with their own set of problems.  Neither is particularly better than the other.  With one there is a particular set of difficulties and advantages and likewise with the other.  So today we have what we have and while it cleared up a lot of difficulties in the diocese, we are faced with a whole new set.

Many people would like to see a more Protestant form of choosing a pastor: that of a board at any given parish hiring and firing the priest.  Once again, that would mean some great advantages and some disadvantages.  One of the (depending on who you are this is either a dis or an advantage) is this: because a pastor does not have to worry about teaching and preaching about something that pleases a board, he may be more daring.  If a parish has a large percentage of euthanasia proponents, for example, he need not fear for his livelihood preaching that older Americans are people with dignity and rights too and should be treated as such..

Leading a parish, in some ways, is not much different than being the mayor of a town.  There are decisions that you make that you know will leave 10% ecstatic, 10% furious, and most the rest just fine.  Sometimes you weigh popular demand, sometimes you weigh Church teaching, sometimes you guess and you try to remember that the worst thing is not that someone might be angry because if they are angry, they are still invested.

It is an imperfect world and all of our human institutions, even those inspired by God Himself, are imperfect and are incapable of pleasing everybody so you try not to take it seriously when you’ve not pleased everyone.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: HISTORY MATTERS

I was reading a book yesterday in which a mother was lamenting the fact that her child had to learn everything from scratch.  Man has been around for a debatable number of millennia but each one must start at scratch again; here’s how to walk, this is the color blue, 2 plus 2 equals 4, it is wrong to hit your sister.

 

To some extent this is true, but each generation hopefully builds on the shoulders of giants.  There are still lessons we must learn on our own, “I don’t care what you say.  He loves me and so I’ll give him my Social Security number.”  But we then can build on the greater experience of humanity.  “Now you understand why you do not hand your Social Security number over to anybody.  Here is how you can get yourself out of this jam and how to prevent it in the future.”

 

Faith is like this too.  The lived experience of 2,000 years of Christianity informs us how Scripture is to be understood.  Every generation does not have to come up with this understanding on its own.  The early Church fathers, the saints, the people of God all guided by the Holy Spirit have provided us with the glasses through which we understand Scripture.  This helps prevent tragedies like this:

 

To assist with this, bishops are charged in paragraph 25 of Dei Verbum to make sure that Scriptures in quality translations are made available, that they use of Scriptures is explained, and that Bible are produced with copious notes to assist the reader in understanding the Scriptures. 

 

Interestingly, they are also charged to create such Bibles even for non-Christians (prudently distributed) with proper notes and fitted to their purposes.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: SEE HOW THEY LOVE ONE ANOTHER?

Continuing Lumen Gentium

 

Priests are reportedly (with some blaring exceptions) among the happiest people in the United States in their vocations.  In the book, “Why Priests Are Happy,” they claim an, “extraordinary high rate of priestly happiness and satisfaction.”  Perhaps this is because you don’t get into this life without some heavy reflecting and you only pick it if indeed you are cut out for it.

 

Be that as it may, we always seem to be talking about how to make priest’s lives happier.  Every year that I have been a priest somebody brings up the idea at some meeting or another that we should start living in communal rectories so that we can have more brotherhood.  (The diocese does in fact have a policy for this.)  The problem is: Do you get to pick with whom you live?  If you got to move in with your best friends that’s one thing, if you move in with a grouch who doesn’t empty the dishwasher, take a bath, and eats all of the Value Time Cheese Curls, that’s another.

 

So paragraph 29 sets up the ideal for the priesthood.  It assumes we are all holy, hard workers, and best friends.  But you have to start somewhere right?  So why not start with the ideal and then work it out from there?

 

Now, if the bishop is bishop in his own right, the priest is his vicar in the various parishes – his representative assisting him with the sanctifying and teaching of all the people: the ideal being the father/son (and I assume adult son) relationship.  That connotates mutual respect & love, and a certain amount of deference (obedience) on the part of the priest.  This is because it is not about the priest.  He just happens to get to be there.  It is firstly about God.  The priest reaches his highest dignity when celebrating Mass because it is then he stand in personal Christi, in the person of Christ.  The same follows with the other sacraments.  It is not the priest, it is Christ who acts.

 

In his other ministries, it is not about the priest no matter how charismatic, righteous, or holy he may be.  He is there to make the universal Church present.  He is the “on site” symbol of the entire Church, the universal (catholic) Church founded by Christ.  He is the tangible connection to the whole body.  That is why it is imperative that he be connected to His bishop (who in turn is connected to the rest of the Church . . .)  If he is not connected to his bishop in this international brotherhood that is fine.  But he is not part of the Catholic Church no matter how many times he uses the word Catholic, says Mass, and claims to be doing what Christ calls him.  This is true if he is celebrating the old Latin Mass or is a new contemporary break away.  He has decided to change the rules and so he is starting something new.  He no longer has the right to use the word “Catholic.”  It is to a great, universal brotherhood to which we are called.  “That they may all be one.”

 

This rather long paragraph (on which I have skimmed over and interjected a lot of my own thoughts – my apologies) also makes it possible to restore the deaconate for areas that make it difficult to have enough priests to fulfill the mission of the Church.  “It is even possible” says the document to confer this office on married men.  However, if single, the same rules of celibacy apply to them as it does to priests.  This is also true of deacons who are widowers. 

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: A TIME NOT TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Paragraph 26 of Lumen Gentium

 

A buddy of mine was leading a discussion group on the Vatican II documents to help celebrate the Year of Faith and afterwards some of the class went out for dinner.  Sitting on the table was the Flannery addition of the Vatican Council II documents.  I person came by and tapped the book with his finger and said, “You should join our church.  We actually live these documents.”  The person was from a break away parish in our diocese.

 

“That’s interesting,” replied my friend, “because according to the very documents you site, it says very specifically that we must be connected to our bishop.”

 

The person did not believe him and went away angry.  Today, in chapter 26 it says just that.  The bishop with his fullness of orders is responsible for celebrating and making sure that Mass is celebrated within his diocese “from which the Church every derives its life and on which it thrives.”  The priest legitimately celebrates Mass when he is connected to his bishop.  (You can’t just decide to open a McDonalds on your own and neither can one open a Catholic Church similarly.)  Each local “altar” the gathered faithful in so far as they are connected to their pastor who is unified with the local see are rightly called Church.  In this we are called to unity in the Body of Christ.  For this reason every Mass is regulated by the bishop who is the local shepherd of souls.

 

In fact, he is the overseer of all the sacraments – the first preference of the one who may celebrate.  It is his job to sanctify and build up those within the diocese.  He does this first of all by example – living a Christian life and evermore striving to be better at it.

 

At the other end of this (personal commentary here) his not doing well at this (at least in the opinion of certain circles) is not an excuse for breaking our part of the bargain.  The Church has been filled with poor bureaucrats, misguided churchmen, and downright scoundrels.  But the cure has never been to further cleave open divisions within the Church.  One may be called to do more than the proverbial, “pray like he** and wait for the bodies to float by,” but division is never the answer.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: EVERYBODY IS A LITTLE INFALLIBLE I STATE INFALLIBLY

Lumen Gentium paragraphs 24 and 25

 

 

Walking in the park with Sebastian a conversation took place with a man from another faith also walking his dog.  We spoke about how, if they do not like their pastor, they can fire him and then the community can hire someone more to their liking and taste.  “The Catholic Church is not anything like that,” I replied.

 

“I know,” he said with some disapproval.

 

“The Catholic Church is less like a business that hires and fires its managers at the local branch when it sees fit and more like a family.  There is the popular cousin that everybody likes and wants to be around and the strange uncle that you put with because he is your uncle.  You can’t fire him out of the family.  And thus is the local parish too.  ‘Father’ is your spiritual father and you kind of learn to live with him like you learn to live with any member of your family.”

 

It is not much different with the local bishop.  In union with his fellow bishops and with successor of Peter, Vicar of Christ, he is charged with the care of his local family, the Church.  Like any parent he is less served and more servant.  Parents look as though they are in charge but they are really servants.  The provide a place to live, prepare food, make available clothing, teach and provide education, entertainment, protection, clean diapers, clothes, and rooms, chauffer, and any number of other services that are usually given to domestic help when means allow.  Just so is a bishop called to service to his family. 

 

As the local shepherd of the flock, we owe him some deference as a child owes it his parents.  And when it comes to faith and morals, we owe him obedience (unless, of course, he is morally and faithfully bankrupted.  He can’t order you to kill an abortionist for example.)  As an individual person a bishop is open to making errors.  Like any parent, he is not perfect and his office does not keep him from making mistakes.  However, when he acts in concert with the entire body of bishops and in union with the Supreme Pontiff, it is possible for him to speak infallibly as a body when it comes to faith and morals.

 

And there is that sticky infallibility again!  Nobody likes that idea much.  But it is not unheard of.  Even many of our Protestant brothers and sisters will claim that such figures as Joseph son of Jacob had the gift of infallibly interpreting dreams.  Even the man standing across the street from St. Sebastian last weekend and declared that we were all going to h-e-double tooth picks considered himself speaking infallibly as do many Protestant ministers.  “No!” one might declare, “the Bible absolutely teaches this!”  Then one goes down the street and meets another minister who says, “No!  It absolutely teaches this!”  Both speak with absolute authority (infallibility.)  They attribute their infallibility not to themselves but to the Holy Spirit.  Well, so do we.  We are just a little bit more honest about it.  And we have a larger sample, history, and Tradition to back it up.

 

And unlike some of our Protestant brothers and sisters, we cannot add any new revelation to deposit of Catholic belief.  All revelation ended with the death of the last apostle.  Thus one of the litmus tests to see of locutions or visitations from saints are true are not is if they are sticking to what has already been revealed.  For example, if a vision from the Blessed Virgin says something like, “Pray, pray, pray!”  Well, Okay.  We are still on message.  If she says, “The end is near.  Build a shack in the woods, buy food and ammunition because on August 15^th the world is ending,” then we know it is not of God.  So when a minister in a Church says that the know the end date of the world or other such things, though they seem to speak infallibly, we know that they are not.  And as Catholics, if a bishop or pope should speak thusly, we know would have stepped out of their authority.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WE ARE ONE BODY - ONE BODY IN CHRIST AND WE DO NOT STAND ALONE

Lumen Gentium paragraphs 22 and 23.

 

There was an interesting show on NPR about a year or two ago talking about the Protestant Church movement and the decline of the mainline Churches.  They cited the uptick in startup Churches and were unable to give a convincing argument as to why people should return to the mainline Churches.  A man called in and said that he and his friends were no longer enthralled with their traditional Protestant Church and so they started meeting on the weekends at their houses.  There they sang, read the Bible, talked about what they read, and praised God.  Their authority for doing this was the Holy Spirit (who always seems to give people the authority to do what they want.)  The person being interviewed simply said, “You are doing what the Protestant movement calls us to do.  I can’t argue with you.  Do well and praise God.”

 

This is another example of the great divide between the Catholic and Protestant universal view.  This type of thinking is not compatible with Catholic ecclesiology.  If someone were to say, “I’ve started my own Church, declared myself a priest, and now celebrate Mass with my own community under the authority of the Holy Spirit,” we would not be so resigned to say, “Well, I guess you’ve got a Church going.  That’s what God wants.”

 

In addition to being called into unity (in belief, practice, authority, and worship,) we believe Jesus still sanctifies and teaches on earth.  Not in some mysterious way that only affects us from some past event, but does so actively today through the Holy Spirit and in the persons of His bishops who act in persona Christi as leaders in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which He founded.

 

The local Church is headed up by a bishop.  For example, the Diocese of Cleveland is headed up by Bishop Lennon.  He is the source of our unity and he is to (to the best of his ability) lead us with fatherly care and concern.  We are his primary focus though as bishop, his care must extend to the whole of the Church and so he works in cooperation with his fellow bishops to bring about unity and peace in the Church and in the world, particularly among the poor, the suffering, and those who are undergoing persecution for justice sake. 

 

Another example would be the pastor of a parish.  My primary duty and prayers go to the people of St. Sebastian and I don’t step on the toes of other parishes who are under the leadership of other pastors.  But I do extend my prayers to those parishes and my cooperation with those other pastors to make the Catholic presence in this city stronger and healthier.

 

This is part of the power of our unity.

 

(Just a reminder that we are skimming over these paragraphs.  To read them in their entirety they are easily found on the Vatican website.  Happy Year of Faith!)

FIRDAY POTPOURRI: MOM SAYS YOU HAVE TO LIKE ME NO MATTER WHAT

We no longer have a legitimate pope and I look forward to that day when a true pope sits on the throne of Peter.

 

(Bet you never thought you’d read that here.)

 

That is not my sentiment however, but one that I come across now and then.  (As Christians we really are all over the board aren’t we?)  If fidelity were an egg thrown against a wall, I hope most of us would be on the bull’s eye, but there would be goo all over the target.

 

Interesting historical note:  If we have not had a true pope for a while, we never will.  Only a pope can choose the manner in which he is elected and he is elected by those he appointed as cardinals for only popes appoint cardinals.  If there is no pope, no illegitimate pope can elect cardinals and therefore there are no cardinals and no authority available to elect anybody.  Therefore, either the current pope is the pope, or the whole Catholic experiment is a failure and the gates of hell have prevailed.

 

Thus do we enter into paragraph 20 of Lumen Gentium.  The mission that Jesus gave to His disciple is a mission forever because it deals with truth and truth is absolute.  (It is either true all of the time or it is not true at all.  It can’t be true on Monday but not on Tuesday.  Neither can it be true in the 11^th century but not in the 22^nd.)  This is why the apostles handed on their office to successors: to ensure that the mission continues.  There were many people who helped spread the Good News, but there were some “proven men” who take over governing at their death.  These are known as bishops and as we mention earlier their succession should be able to be followed from a current bishop all the way back to an Apostle and ultimately to Jesus Christ Himself.  Thusly, not only is the office of Peter handed down through the ages as a see in which the Church finds unity and leadership, so the local Church is given a bishop handed down through the ages as a source and symbol of our unity and who is given to us for leadership.

 

Here is an interesting thing:  The office of bishop is given to us by Divine institution to take the place of the Apostles to shepherd the Church, as such, “whoever listens to them listens to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and Him who sent Christ.”  Dems pretty strong words.  Does that mean that a bishop can be a jerk and says, “Ha! Ha!  You have to like me anyway!”

 

Well, we are not supposed to hate anybody.  But we are not talking about a personality contest.  This concerns itself with the passing on of truth.  If you hate the bishop because he tells you truth, then you hate the One from Whom truth comes for He is the source of all truth.  (Please remember the earlier part of the document which states we are responsible for that which we know to be true.)  Which, if you think about it, makes sense though it probably could be stated less archaically for mondern ears and therefore less open to misunderstanding and ridicule.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: BLUE PRINTS OF A CHURCH

In yesterday’s post, a Lutheran stated that she believed in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  She was not referring to the Catholic Church per say.  The fact is that we use the same words but we often mean very different things.  This is along the same lines of speaking with someone from the UK (or just about anywhere else in the world outside of the US) about football and wondering what game exactly are we talking about.

 

When we as Catholics talk about the unity of the Church we mean that we are one in belief, worship, and leadership.  That is why being “under the pope” is so important to us.  If a church or congregation does not recognize the authority of the pope (or the bishop for that matter), they cannot be considered within the unity of the Church.  So also goes the idea of apostolic.  Most people mean (including Catholics) that the faith handed on the apostles is the same faith that we pass on today.  (This being an interesting thing to challenge.)  But additionally, the Catholic Church believes in apostolic succession.  This means that Jesus laid hands on His apostles (who we recognize as the first bishops) and that they laid hands on others who became bishops and priests, who laid on hands and made bishops and priests, all the way up to the present day.  This means that your bishop (or priest) should be able to trace his line (kind of like a family tree) back through bishops all the way to Jesus Himself.  And so we turn to chapter III of Lumen Gentium. 

 

(17/18)  Like the human body, the body of Christ on earth, the Church, has a certain structure to it in order that it might function well.  We make no bones about it, the Church is hierarchical.  Jesus, as its chief shepherd, picked a group of His disciple whom he made what we now call bishops.  Those bishops, needing assistance in local Churches, chose men to be priests and deacons.  Among those “bishops,” Jesus chose one, Peter, to be the first among equals to govern and unite the whole body under the guidance of the Holy Spirit this Church that He founded.

 

This inner group of apostles with this chosen leader is a permanent body to guide the Church into unity until the end of the world.  They were fully commissioned at Pentecost to bring His Word to the ends of the world.  This is what the chief architect and cornerstone, Jesus, built for us before He ascended into heaven that He might continue to bless, instruct, and comfort us and allow us to participate in the mission.

 

The wings of a bird are a burden to them when they are not flying.  But with wings, they soar to the heavens to the envy of all living creatures.  Having a hierarchy came seem like that from time to time.  On a case by case basis, it may seem occasionally appear like a terrible burden, but in the greater pictures it has allowed us to soar. 

 

I am reminded of a quote posted here before by Thomas Babington Maccaulay, an Anglican historian writing in the 1800’s who said of the Church and in particular the papacy: “The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable.

 

“The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the papacy remains. The Papacy remains not in decay, not a mere antique, but full if life and youthful vigour. The Catholic Church is still sending forth to the farthest ends of the world missionaries as zealous as those who landed in Kent with Augustin, and still confronting hostile kings with the same spirit with which she confronted Attila . . .

 

“Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of the all. She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca.

 

“And she may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.”

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ONE MAN'S TREASURE . . .

Yes, we’re still on the same document.  This week’s chapter is on Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings (beginning with section 122.)  First, it names art as “the noblest activities of man’s genius, this is especially true of religious art and of its highest manifestation, sacred art.”  (Long time readers of A.A. know I have some particular opinions in this discussion.)  For this reason the Church has always been a patroness of the arts and “has been particularly careful to see that the sacred furnishings should worthily and beautifully serve the dignity of worship.”  (Editor’s note: maybe not on an individual basis from time to time, but as a whole – if you catch my drift.)

 

Art is tricky.  One man’s art is another man’s handi-wipe (and sometimes the opposite is true also – quite literally.)  So, some guidelines were set forth:

 

(123)  There is no particular style that the Church embraces, rather, the artistic expression of all people’s and times is to be cared for and preserved.  (Hang on to those felt banners.)

 

(124)  Bishops are charged to make sure that art in their diocese is worthy and to promote its commissioning and preservation.  True art is to be held in esteem and “sumptuous display” is to be avoided.  (I’d like to know what they had in mind with that phrase.  Some of my favorite churches I would label sumptuous.)  Conversely, bad, pretentious, and mediocre art is to be “removed from the house of God.”

 

(125)  The placing of statues and such is to be maintained but in “moderate” numbers (one man’s moderate is another man’s dehydration) and in “proper order” in order to maintain proper orthodoxy.

 

(126)  There should be a commission of experts in a diocese to assist a bishop in determining what pieces of art are worthy and he is to make sure that no such art is damaged or destroyed.

 

(127)  Bishops and priests who love art should have a special concern for artists and guide them in creating works of sacred art, even to the establishing or supporting of schools of art that would accomplish this endeavor.  Artists need to keep in mind that they share an imitation of God the Creator.

 

(128) This section basically says to take these points and develop new norms for sacred art.

 

(129) Seminarians are to be given classes in the history and production of art, its preservation, and be able to give good advice to artists.

(Painting by Eric Armusik)

MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES

Though it sounds nice enough, this is actually known as the “Chinese curse.” “Interesting” has no value. It simply means that someting draws your attention. So St. Maxamilion Kolbe’s life was very interesting, but I would not want to live it. Patty Hirsh’s life was interesting but . . .

So occasionally someone desiring to give a priest a compliment says, “Oh! You should be a bishop some day!” Every priest knows this is meant as a compliment but most know it is an ecclesiastical curse. And for those priests who don’t see it as a curse there is the adage, “He who wants to be a bishop deserves to be one,” also not meant in kindly terms.

If there were glory days for being a bishop they are over and have been for some time. We have occasional glimpses of what seems to be pretty swell lives but those moments are few and far between and not quite what they are cracked up to be. In fact there is a problem about getting priests to become bishops. There was, perhaps, at one time, a false modesty in which a man might refuse the office, “Oh, but I am not worthy,” as opposed to today when it appears that more and more priests say, “No thank you,” and pray they are not asked the second time (when it is much more difficult to say no.)

This post was on the docket today before the latest news broke out in the Diocese of Cleveland. If you missed it the Vatican reversed some of the closings of parishes in this diocese. Now if I do something for which I might be taken to task for by my parishioners it is just that – I have a group of parishioners mad at me. But if I go to the next parish over for dinner they most likely have no idea what I did to make a few people angry. If you are bishop and something like this happens, it is on the front page of the newspaper. As the song goes, “Nowhere to run to nowhere to hide. . .”

There are some bishops that I tend to agree with and those whose decisions on certain issues I might not, but I don’t believe there is one bishop who wakes up in the morning thinking, “How can I destroy the Catholic Church?” No matter what he might do, he thinks he is doing the best for his diocese – for the people he is charged to serve. I also fully believe that Christ founded a not just a religion but a Church, His Church, and that He left people in charge to assist us; namely the pope and bishops. Like St. Peter they are sometimes brilliant and sometimes not so much. But you know what, 2000 years later and having every other government on earth either defunct or changed dramatically the Catholic Church struggles on. And that God pulls this off using fallible human beings is just further evidence that it is the Holy Spirit holding things together.

So I guess this is a call to respect and honor the office of bishop (and by no means wish it on anybody.) By this I do not mean that everything a bishop does is correct and that concerns should not be brought to his attention (it is our right and duty to do so) but to bear in mind that he is our spiritual father of the local Church and to respect the office. And should things not seem quite right in the state of Denmark to pray all the more for your bishop. The best outcome is that either he or we convert to truth and that we can be united once again in Christ.

SPECIAL EDITION: Bishops decry HHS rule, urge Catholics to stand up for religious liberty and conscience rights in homilies at Vigil for Life

ACTION ALERT!

The following was sent to all parishes late Friday from Bishop Lennon:

“This week the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services issued a mandate which required religious non-profits to cover sterilization, contraceptive services, and some abortion-inducing drugs as part of their employee healthcare benefits.”

Even if you believe in these things this disregard for our Constitution has far reaching implications. If the establishment clause can be ignored than all of the Constitution may eventually be ignored. Taking action on this new law should be a high priority of all citizens regardless of their personal beliefs.

This weekend a letter concerning the action of our diocese will be read at all Masses and distributed to all Catholics in the Diocese of Cleveland. It is not yet available on-line as of this posting. Please make sure that you read it and ACT!

Here is a post on the Diocese of Cleveland site.

Here is even more information on the USCCB website on what you can do right now.

Please pray.

HISTORY MAY NOT REPEAT, BUT IT DOES RHYME

You can’t have a bishop who is not bishop of some place. That is, there are no bishops out there who are just roaming around with no diocese attached to their name. Therefore Bishop Pevec is the bishop of Mercia, Bishop Gries is the bishop of Presidio, and Bishop Quinn is the bishop of Socia.

Interestingly enough all these bishop are also auxiliary bishops of Cleveland. They live and minister right here in the Diocese of Cleveland. The places mentioned are their titular titles. The dioceses are no longer in existence. In fact, the bishops are forbidden to travel there because then they would be obliged to take control and claim the see of the diocese. Interesting reason to not be able to go some place – I wonder how many other similar situations there are like that in the world. . .

Now, admittedly it is a sad a tragic thing that 50 some odd parishes closed in the diocese of Cleveland, but it is not historically unique. Parishes and schools, convents and as seen above even dioceses have grown up and then disappeared. At times, the faith of an entire country can all but dissipate into thin air.

When I was a kid my parish school had already closed (this is the very early 1970s.) My sisters had attended that school but when my time came they were afraid to take me so they closed the school – or so my sisters explained it to me that way. The next parish over had closed their school too and one more on the far side of town would be closed within the next few years. There is still one open in town and doing its best to survive. It was simply a matter of big industry leaving town, the baby boom being over, the nuns pulling out (because they were already experiencing a shortage) and the increasing cost; factors not so different from today.

I still mourn the closing of the parishes and schools in Cleveland. I wish they could stay open forever – the communities, the architecture, the art, the history. . . But this sad state of affairs cannot be viewed, through the lens of history, as terribly unique or unprecedented – just sad. This is the constant state of the Church and will continue to be as long as this earth endures.

PART OF THE WHOLE

Your neighborhood parish is not a church. It is a parish. The building is a “church building” but the institution is a parish. We belong to the Catholic Church. The local Church is the diocese. Within the local church are parishes each acting under the leadership of the local bishop. Priests are his assistants in bringing Christ to the local Church.

Being part of a local Church is really beneficial for us. The fact that we are so interconnected is part of our strength. The Catholic Church tends to be more interconnected than most other non-Catholic religions. For this reason when a Catholic parish closes in a struggling neighborhood it tends to be more catastrophic for the neighborhood than when other faiths shutter their doors. Even if the people who attend the parish are not living in the neighborhood the presence of a parish brings resources, attention, people and a stronger political voice to the area because it does not exist on its own but as part of a much larger body.

We should pray for our parishes that they remain strong, viable, effective faith filled places. But we should also pray for the health of our respective dioceses. The stronger/better diocese we have, the stronger and better we are as individual parishes.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: HOW VERY EXCELLENT

Well let’s finish what we started.

You might want to send a letter to your bishop. Do you want to give him a heart attack? Write him about something positive that you are grateful for in his ministry or in the diocese in general. Then keep the address handy because you will have to send him a get well card during his recovery in the hospital.

The envelope should be addressed such:

The Most Reverend
Richard G. Lennon D.D., M.Th., M.A.
Bishop of Cleveland
1404 East 9th Street
Cleveland, OH 44114

(If you can’t find all the initials for your bishop that is Okay.)

The opening salutation is tricky. Traditionally it is, “Your Excellency,” or the more formal, “Most Reverend Sir,” however, many times these days when people are made uncomfortable by such formalities the much plainer, “Dear Bishop,” is used. How do you know which one to use? My general rule of thumb has been that if I know the man I write, “Dear Bishop” unless I know otherwise that he likes formalities – and if I do not know him at all I will write, “You Excellency” and allow him to tell me that we need not be so formal if that should be the case. But that’s me.

A good close is, “Respectfully yours,” especially if you have been. If you have not it really doesn’t matter how you close.

A couple other quick notes: A priest is given the salutation, “Dear Father Soandso” though there is a more formal, “Reverend Sir” for special occasion or if you don’t know his name. A permanent deacon is known as “Deacon” as in “Dear Deacon Lastname,” or “Dear Deacon,” and not “Dear Rev. Sir” which I believe (correct me if I am wrong) is reserved for transitional deacons.

DOWNTOWN

We have two seminarians as of the moment. When you have seminarians you need someplace to teach them – a seminary. A seminary needs graduate level teachers in theology, Scripture, ethics, and a host of other topics. Those teachers need training. All of this requires resources. LOTS of resources. That is one of the strengths of being a diocese. All together we accomplish quite a bit more than we could as a collection of individual churches.
In fact, we are not individual churches at all. True, we each have church buildings, but that is “church” in a slightly different understanding of the word. First we are the Catholic Church. The local Church is the diocese (or eparchy.) So, from where this is being written, we belong to the Church of Cleveland. Each of the entities within the local church are not “churches” per se but parishes. So the proper name of such a place is not St. Sebastian Church, but St. Sebastian Parish.

The institution of the diocese and bishops have been taking quite a beating on the chin as of late. Some of it well deserved. But we must not lose sight of the fact that their being allows us to be who we are. Despite the screaming headlines to the contrary there is also an incredible amount of good about a diocese and a bishop which is often taken for granted.

This coming advent we will begin using the new Missal. Priests need to be trained. Someone needs to inform and train them. Someone needs to call them together. Someone needs to make sure we are all on the same page. Someone needs to make sure St. Idontwantochange gets on board with the rest of the church whether the local priest wants to or not.

Or schools function because we are part of a larger system of diocesan schools that help us be accredited, helps us find qualified personnel, sets curriculum, negotiates benefits, helps inform about new laws and state mandates, etc. etc. etc.

Catholic Social Services, annulment work, having a place to complain to, having a voice in local government, having a unified diocesan wide voice, having an official teaching voice, the list goes on and on and on. That is why when a Catholic parish goes down in a struggling neighborhood it is far more devastating that when many other churches or institutions close. Because of our unity the neighborhood has a voice, has resources coming to it, and when the parish closes that extra attention disappears.

So we can talk about all the goofs, all the things we disagree with, and some of the scandals coming out of “downtown” (as we call the diocese in these parts) but it must also be remembered that we cannot be who we are without them. A tremendous amount of good comes from downtown. Great work, good deeds, great concern, and heavy loads are carried our daily by dedicated, determined Catholics working for the benefit of the whole local church.

Pray for them. For we are as healthy as we are as a Church.

MONDAY DIARY: BRAND NEW BISHOP

I

Last week, you may remember, there was no post on Tuesday owing to my road trip to Washington D. C. in order to see Cleveland priest Neal Buckon become ordained auxiliary bishop for the Arch Diocese of the Military for the United States. Bright and early I got up and packed the car, celebrated Mass and started off to meet two other Cleveland area priests for the ride east.

Two minutes outside of Akron I hit 3mph highway driving. Something happened. As it turns out what was supposed to be a fifteen minute jaunt to our meeting spot turned into a one hour crawl. The worst part (or maybe the best part) was when I finally got to the front there was nothing to see – no evidence of why there should have been a jam. Such is life and thank goodness for cell phones.

We finally met up and my GPS sent us off and running. Apparently while we were heading east there was a horrible snow storm on our tail that we completely missed. The only poor driving condition with which we had to contend was a thick-as-pea-soup fog. It really was stupid of us not to pull over – but we were anxious for Washington.

And we made it without incident with just enough time to check in, change, and head out to the headquarters of the archdiocese for vespers. The military chapel was really quite small, maybe able to hold 100 people squeezed in. There is no cathedral for this archdiocese whose territory is world wide – wherever servicemen serve. The chapel, the archbishop pointed out, was made more beautiful because of articles from the Diocese of Cleveland that experienced so many closing as of late. Mass, nonetheless is said there every day for all of those in the military.

Prayer consisted of vespers and exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Choir members from the national shrine were there to sing and it was glorious. I was surprised at the amount of Latin and the quality of the music both in selection and execution – from the opening “O Salutaris” by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) to the closing “Ave Regina Caelorum” that was taken up loudly by all present. The Archbishop spoke rousingly about the need for chaplains in the military and how difficult it is to get Catholic chaplains to Catholic soldiers. The military will not allow deacons, nuns, brothers, sisters, or interested lay people act as chaplains because a chaplain of any denomination must be able to do everything that a minister of that denomination can do. So a denomination without a sacramental system (most of them) can have just about anybody roll in as chaplain. But since Catholics have a sacramental system and not everyone can hear confessions for example, we are extremely limited in who can act as a chaplain for us. Further the military is moving toward a “chaplain is a chaplain is a chaplain” mentality. So pray for our Catholic military. The semi-good news is that we ran into several young men who are studying to be priests and enter the military service. There are 30 of them in all. The bad news is that it is not nearly enough. The archdiocese pleads with dioceses throughout the states to send more men to serve. Currently, besides the Archbishop, Bishop Neal, Cleveland has two more priests serving in the military.

II

The next day we left for the ordination at the basilica early. I wish I had taken my camera. It had been twelve years since I was there and it would have been nice to share it with you. *sigh*

As I said we were early so we had time to kick around. We prayed in the in the Blessed Sacrament chapel for a spell and then I went to the Our Lady of Brezje shrine (being Slovenian) and prayed a rosary. And since they did not have a St. Sebastian shrine (their loss) and lit a candle for the parish and my loved ones just outside the Slovenian shrine.

The crypt church was turned into a giant sacristy of sorts for the ceremony. As soon as the noon Mass was over large racks of vestments were brought in. As priests showed up they were fitted with a chasuble and then went amongst the pews to vest up.

There is one priest from our diocese that always seems to know where to be at the right time and I noticed him standing off to the side by the stairs and so went to join him. “I was told to line up,” he said. So I stood by him thinking, “Ah! I have an in!” Indeed I was at the very front of the priests processing in. That is not to say that I was at the front of the line – the servers, seminarians, scores of Knights of Columbus were processing first and reached the sanctuary before I ever left the staircase!

The mighty pipe organ joined a small orchestra to fill the cavernous church with music. Many people from Cleveland were there, all kinds of knights in various uniforms, and of course many of our military personnel in their dress uniforms. As we reached the main steps we bowed, walked up to the altar and reverenced (kissed) it, and then were led by M.C.s to our seats.

But wait! The first people in line did not have the best seats! No! We had THE VERY WORST! Oh pride! Oh selfishness! I sat so far back in the sanctuary that I might as well stayed home and watched it on T.V. for all I could see! (Of course you can’t get Communion on T.V.) But not being able to see did have its advantages. It also meant that I could not BE seen and so was able to gaze around at the building to see what there was to see and not have to worry about not looking proper.

Before we began they presented the colors and we sang the National Anthem. (That’s the first time I did that at the beginning of Mass.) And unlike the Supper Bowel everyone here knew the words.

The music was very classical and clever. For example the Gloria was a mix of the traditional Latin chant and polyphony. So the people were able to sing the chant part and then the choir would blossom into some lovely choral piece for some measures and then back and forth to and from chant. It was quite effective.

I wish I could tell you more but it would only be things that I heard until we processed out. First in; first out! And we hit the crypt church, changed, and took off in order to miss the traffic – and still we got home around midnight.

III

On the way home a black car went wizzing past us as if we were standing still. It had Ohio license plates that read, “DIOCESE.” “Could that be our bishop?” we wondered. We tried to catch up to see but he was far too fast, tail gaiting, zipping in and out of traffic. “Oh! Are we going to make fun of him!” we thought. Then in Ohio we pulled into a gas station and there was the car with diocese license plates! We walked over to make comment and then discovered it was not only not the bishop but nobody connected with the Catholic Church. It would have made a great story though.