November 2nd - All Souls Day - Are You Praying for the Dead?

"In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (2 Macc. 12:43–45)

Michael Jordan, Steroids, and Saints

Holy Thursday Homily on the Priest Scandal

Here's a homily from a Holy Thursday Mass in 2010 that was on the priest abuse scandal.  I'm posting it now so I can share it with someone who was interested in it.  Hope it helps.

Every Holy Thursday, by mandate of the Church, the homily is to focus on charity, the Eucharist and the priesthood.  Given the atmosphere of things right now, I want to spend most of my time focusing on the priesthood.

I love movies and so I watch a lot of previews online to see which ones I really want to see. 

I was recently watching one for an upcoming summer blockbuster in which the villain said a phrase that really caught my attention.  He said – “If you can make God bleed people will cease to believe in Him and there will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come.”

The same applies to God’s Church.  There are many out there who think that if they can make the Church bleed, people will stop believing in it.

And OH, they have tried.  The attacks on the Church in the last two weeks would be sad if they were not also a display of the most childish journalism.

1)  The Indianapolis Star published an article a few days ago on page 2 of the main section about protests in London calling for the Pope’s resignation.  In paragraph 7 that we learn it was a couple dozen protesters. 

A COUPLE DOZEN.  I just returned last month from the March for Life, which saw 250,000 young people protest the atrocities against life that our country commits daily, and not a word in the star.  30 people stand on the streets of London, and they make national news.  HUM

2) A little over a week ago, another article in the Star, pretending to be balanced, talked about the abuse case that is now making headlines and quoted two people on behalf of the Church.  First, Hans Kung.  What they didn’t say is that Hans Kung was one of the few people to actually be forbidden to teach theology by Pope Benedict when he was still a Cardinal.  Who honestly thinks that Hans Kung is going to speak on BEHALF of the Catholic Church or Pope Benedict.  REALLY?  Hans Kung?

The articles other voice “on behalf of the Church” was a member of the “Voice of the Faithful.”  The Voice of the “Faithful” is a group of people who consider themselves Catholic but who hate nearly every central teaching of the Church. 

Those are the two voices who are supposed to give a balanced perspective on the Church and celibacy??

The article also featured a juvenile understanding of things Catholic, interchanging celibacy and chastity as if they were the same thing – a pretty serious mistake when celibacy was the point of the article.

3)  New York Times writer Maureen Dowd has absolutely gone off the deep end with her story trying to link Pope Benedict to a case in Wisconsin.  I could spend 10 minutes debunking every lie in her article, but many have charitably done so on the internet.

4)  MSNBC published a headline which they apologized for a day later which said “Pope Describes Touching Boys:  I Went Too Far.”  The article had nothing to do with the pope.  Was the headline an accident?   To the average person on the street who won’t care to follow up with the facts, can that damage ever be repaired?

5)  Cartoons in editorials have been blatantly anti-Catholic and anti-priesthood throughout the country. 

6)  Newsweek magazine recently published an article by Fr. Richard McBrien, a teacher at, surprise, Notre Dame, who has been teaching outright against the Church for 4 decades.  Again, a big shock that he wasn’t exactly pro Church or pro priesthood.

6)  The media machine also loves to talk about a priest shortage (a sure sign that the priesthood is dying out in their minds) – but the United States has one of the best ratio of Catholics to priests in the world.  Are the numbers lower than the 50’s, yes, but that is because we had more than we needed.  A priest friend of mine is a pastor of a parish with about 500 people in it.  The rectory he lives in housed at least two priests in the 50’s, perhaps three.  My priest friend has three parishes and manages just fine - those priests had one parish.  Is there a decline, or is the situation just getting more realistic?

I could go on, but you’ve all seen the Church and the priesthood dragged through the mud

Before moving on, let me here say for the first of many times, the crimes committed against children by priests is sickening, needs to be punished to the fullest extent of both Church and secular law, it needs to be rooted out NOW.  Any bishops that knowingly protected those priests ought to resign instantly.  This homily tonight is not about justification of the tragedies that have happened in any way!

The question that does need to be raised here is this – do the actions of this small portion of priests apply to the priesthood in general? To the over 400,000 priests serving today. 

A question here needs to be asked – what would motivate people to attack the Church and the priesthood in this way?

Some just like seeing if they can move something that claims to immovable by human beings

Some have genuinely been hurt by a member of the Church

But I suspect most see the Church as the last voice that speaks out against contraception, abortion, wars of aggression, unjust social structures, and unchecked greed. 

The real battle here is between two competing views of what sets human beings free.  Atheists and others who hate the Church particularly or Christianity in general like to offer one view of freedom.  They say, “If we can just get rid of God and get rid of the Church, then human beings will be truly free.  They believe, ultimately, that religion suffocates humanity and stifles its flowering.  That view is contrasted with the view of the Church.  What sets humanity free in the eyes of the Church is living as Christ showed us.   The two sides directly contradict the other, and so there is a war going on between these two views of where true freedom lies. 

We get a glimpse in tonight’s Gospel of those with the mindset that religion suffocates humanity, and we see what perhaps motivates them.

Something VERY interesting happens.  Peter says to Jesus, “You will NEVER wash my feet.”

Why is Peter so offended?? – It is because the world is safer where God does Godly things, and humans do human things. 

If we keep God over there, in heaven, the good guy, the guy who floats on a cloud, and if we are the human beings who are to simply continue to wallow in the mire and the muck of our lives, then we don’t have to go through the uncomfortable hassle of CHANGING, of SEEKING FORGIVENESS, OF CONVERSION!!

God, you stay over there, we say.  Be Holy, fix things, send down hail and fire if you want, just leave us alone.  Be God, and we will be human sinners. 

We want, down deep, to be left to the madness of our sins.  We want there to be a divide between the Holy and the Human.

So when Peter sees Christ on a knee, he freaks out.  Lord, you will NEVER wash my feet!”

But with Christ’s words, we see the gravity of this moment.  Peter wasn’t just saying that to Jesus to be nice.  He meant what he said, and we see the severity of the situation affirmed by Jesus when he says – “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”

That human beings can stand in the place of Christ, and be his presence in our midst through the sacraments is more than some can handle.  The Catholic Priesthood stands in opposition to the divide between the Holy and the Human.  The Priesthood reminds people that humans are supposed to do God things, and that God works and does human things. 

Priests are, in some ways, the last reminders to our world of what Jesus was sent to do.  A friend of mine once said “You don’t get it, you are the last sign of the Church to people out there.” 

He didn’t mean me – he meant THE PRIESTHOOD. He meant this white collar.  The priesthood is not an individual priest, it is something much more than that.  Trust me, I know my own limitations very well.  Indeed, no doubt, some of you probably wish I preached differently, or held my hands differently, or didn’t chant, or smiled more, and I’m sure you have a list for Fr. Joe as well – much shorter than mine of course! – and I’m sure he has a list of things for me that he’d like to see changed!  I, of course, have no complaints for him!  that myself and Fr. Joe have shortcomings is the whole point that most of the world doesn’t get.  The Holy and the Human, through Christ, through his Church, through his priests and through ALL OF US are to be mingled.  This mingling takes place most notably through the Eucharist.  We receive him, and the Holy and the Human mingle. 

Those that say to Christ – “You will never wash me” and who want God to stay in Heaven so that they don’t have to change have to overcome the priesthood itself.  They have to devalue the priesthood, they have to change it and bend it according to their own will.  The first thing they always come after – celibacy.  A great Church historian once said that all the great attacks on the Church start by attacking the priesthood and celibacy.  That is true from the earliest heresies through Arians, the Gnostics, the Agnostics, the Lollards, the Jansenists, the Donatists, the Hussites, the Lutherans, and now the dissenters of the Church and atheists.  The game plan has always been this – TOPPLE THE PRIESTHOOD AND WE TOPPLE THE CHURCH. 

Celibacy is said to cause all the problems that we see right now with the abuse cases.  They hear not just angry journalists but even some ex priests saying – “I made this vow in my youth, and it just became more than I was expecting.”  HELLO – does that sound like any marriages any of you know about??  EVERY vow becomes more than people bargained for.  Married Life, Religious Life, The Priesthood – it all is more difficult and MORE rewarding if lived right, than people bargained for. 

Also, those who hate the Church have always, throughout history, sought to make the priesthood a club that anyone can join, because they know that then it loses its power.  They portray the current priesthood as some rich boy’s club set up solely to keep others out and preserve power.  Let me just say that that historian was right, when you meet someone who is trying to change the Catholic priesthood into what they think it should be, you should run far away from them because Heresy and Dissent and hatred of the Church follow quickly in their footsteps.  To those people, the priesthood is no longer something that God gives as a gift to the Church, it is something humanity makes for itself.  The divide between the Holy and Human is reestablished.  Humanity is free to be irresponsible and live however they want once again. 

the Letter of the Hebrews in this morning’s office of readings smashes the portrayal of priesthood as an “all are welcome club” to pieces.  Referring to the priesthood, St. Paul says “ONE DOES NOT TAKE THIS HONOR ON HIS OWN INITIATIVE.”  The priesthood was established by Christ – about that the Scriptures are very clear. 

In the preparation of the Gifts, the priest pours water into that which is still wine and says silently, “By the mingling of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”  Priests are called in every age by God to be signs that in Christ the Holy and the Human have mingled.  In the Eucharist, the Holy and the Human have mingled.  And in all of us here, the Holy and the Human have mixed.  It is the Church’s vision of humanity which is meant to set us free.  May we not settle for the vision of humanity that those who hate the Church and want to devalue the priesthood offer up.

And so, we remember the words of that movie, “If we can make God bleed, people will stop believing in Him.”  Well God has been bleeding for 2,000 years now, and His Church has been bleeding for 2,000 years because it is full of people who sin.  Some rejoice at the blood because they believe it spells the end of God or of His Church or both, thus setting humanity free to rule itself.  We the Church mourn our sins, but just as those who hate the Church, we too rejoice over the fact that God is bleeding; we rejoice because Christ’s blood will win us a freedom that those who hate the Church could never imagine.

Halloween Special: 5 Interesting Facts on Catholic Death. Episode 5 - Eulogies

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, paragraph 382 notes:

At Funeral Masses there should usually be a short Homily, but to the exclusion of a funeral
eulogy of any kind.


Why is this?  Is the Church trying to again be difficult?  Nope.  Everything the Church does is for the best of all people involved. 

A lot of times, people want to give a eulogy at a funeral.  Here's the problems that I've noted in my experience

1) The person giving the eulogy (and, by extension, any of their family who know they are going to be giving the eulogy) are nervous throughout the funeral and can't really simply enter into the prayers, readings, etc. because they are thinking about what they are going to say.


2) The funeral has a beautiful flow to it, and each moment leads to the next, and their is a wisdom behind the flow of a funeral Mass that comes to us from centuries and millennia of experience.  EVERY TIME I've interrupted the flow to have everyone sit down to listen to a eulogy, it has felt like a healthy process and movement of the liturgy has been completely interrupted and thrown out of whack.

3) The homily (hopefully) helps the people get a good dose of authentic Catholic teaching and comfort about death and life.  There is no way to control what is said in a eulogy.  In addition to the potential of inappropriate things being said, there is also often times a spewing forth of a lot of false theology, song or movie quotes, confusing and frankly sometimes completely wrong understandings of death.

Because of all of this the place for a eulogy is at the showing.

Every family that I have helped guide toward doing the eulogy or eulogies at the showing instead of during the Mass has been thankful for the suggestion when it was all over with.

 

Halloween Special: 5 Interesting Facts on Catholic Death. Episode 4 - First Anniversary Masses

As mentioned below, the Church holds the anniversary of death to be an especially important time for those who remain behind to mourn the loss of a loved one.

Believe it or not, the Church places a GIGANTIC emphasis on the FIRST Anniversary of death, even more so than other anniversaries of death.

The "First Anniversary of Death" is such an important time, pastorally speaking, that the Church allows a "Mass for the Dead" (where the person's name is mentioned 4 times throughout the Mass) virtually any day of the year.

The Roman Missal notes that:

"[A] Mass for the Dead, [on] the first anniversary, may be celebrated even on days within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, on days when an Obligatory Memorial occurs, and on weekdays other than Ash Wednesday or the weekdays of Holy Week."

That means that a "Mass for the Dead" can be celebrated on any day outside of solemnities and feasts.  The first anniversary Mass can be celebrated during the weekdays of Advent and Lent and also during the Christmas and Easter season. 

That is a HUGE statement by the Church, and it is quite clear what the Church is saying: "The first anniversary is a time when the passing of a loved one is especially vivid, and so a Mass to pray for the deceased on that first anniversary is allowed on virtually any day in the Church's calendar."

Again, this is the Church being pastoral and reaching out to people, so it is sad to see that most parishes do not extend this to parishioners as an option. 

Again, it is much more pastoral for the loved ones left behind to have the Mass prayed for the deceased, as opposed to simply seeing them in the bulletin as the Mass intention.

Finally, the same thing applies to the first anniversary Mass with regards to vestment color - a person should be able to request that the priest wear either black, white, or violet.  

Halloween Special: 5 Interesting Facts on Catholic Death. Episode 3 - Anniversary Masses

The Church holds it to be a worthy custom to have a Mass said on or as near as possible to the anniversary of the death of a loved one. 

The Mass on an anniversary of the death of a loved one is supposed to be offered at your parish at your request.  It may not be able to be offered on the day of the anniversary, but provisions should be made to offer the Mass as close as possible to the anniversary of the death. 

At this Mass, the deceased is to be mentioned 4 times - during the opening prayer, during the prayer over the gifts, in the Eucharistic Prayer, and in the closing prayer.  The deceased could also be optionally named a fifth time in the petitions. 

In addition, the person requesting the Mass is supposed to have the option to have the Mass said with the priest wearing black, white, or a violet vestment, and it is supposed to be up to the person requesting the Mass, NOT according to what color the priest happens to like or not like.

It should be noted that in the typical American parish, if you went in and asked to have a Mass said for a deceased loved one or friend on the anniversary of their death, and you requested that the priest wear a black vestment, you should prepare to be assaulted by the priest.

Nonetheless, a Mass for the dead, using the prayers in the Missal for such an occasion, including the Eucharistic Prayer, with the priest wearing either white, violet or black is what the Church clearly envisions. 

As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal notes in paragraph 346, part e)

"Besides the color violet, the colors white or black may be used at funeral services and at
other Offices and Masses for the Dead in the Dioceses of the United States of America."


The Mass is not more "beneficial for the deceased" because their name is mentioned more frequently at this anniversary Mass for the dead, but it is more comforting for those of us left behind to hear our loved one mentioned by name in the prayers of the Mass.

I am saddened that priests who are touted as having a "hugely pastoral heart" will often refuse to offer anniversary Masses for the dead, even though they often bring much more comfort to the living than simply seeing their loved one printed in the bulletin as the Mass intention for the day.

"Pope Benedict, why in the world are you wearing a black vestment?  It is so depressing!"
Pope Benedict: "Maybe because death is sad, and the Church is okay with sadness."


Not all tears are bad - J.R.R. Tolkien

Halloween Special: 5 Interesting Facts on Catholic Death. Episode 2 - Sprinkling Cremated Remains

The book that has all of the relevant texts for celebrating funeral Masses in the Catholic Church is called the Order of Christian Funerals.  In that document in paragraph 416 we read:

"The cremated remains should be buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium. The practice of scattering cremated remains on the sea, from the air, or on the ground, or keeping cremated remains in the home of a relative or friend of the deceased are NOT the reverent disposition that the Church requires."

Remember, in our Catholic teaching, we have the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy.  One of them is "To bury the dead."  Scattering Aunt Edna to the wind is not a corporal work of mercy.
 
Translation: If the body is cremated, hopefully after the funeral Mass, then the cremated remains should still be either
1) buried in the ground or
2) placed in a mausoleum

NOT GOOD!  It is a Corporal Work of Mercy to BURY the dead

   

Halloween Special: 5 Interesting Facts on Catholic Death. Episode 1 - Cremation

1. "Although cremation is now permitted by the Church, it does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body.  The Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites, since the presence of the human body better expresses the values which the Church affirms in those rites" (Order of Christian Funerals, Appendix, paragraph 413)

Here a person may ask why the body is preferred at the funeral (even if the body is cremated afterwards).  The Order of Christian Funerals explains in paragraph 412:

The body of a deceased Catholic Christian is also the body once washed in baptism, anointed with the oil of salvation, and fed with the Bread of Life. Thus, the Church's reverence for the sacredness of the human body grows out of a reverence and concern both natural and supernatural for the human person. The body of the deceased brings forcefully to mind the Church's conviction that the human body is in Christ a temple of the Holy Spirit and is destined for future glory at the resurrection of the dead. This conviction in faith finds its expression in a sustained and insistent prayer that commends the deceased person to God's merciful care so that his or her place in the communion of the just may be assured. A further expression is the care traditionally taken to prepare the bodies of the deceased for a burial that befits their dignity, in expectation of their final resurrection in the Lord.

Translation - the body, even though it decays in the ground, and may turn into dust, is still something that both
1) merits our respect after death
2) serves as a more visible reminder about the resurrection of the body for those left behind (the living)


What the Church envisions is that ideally, if cremation take place, it take place AFTER the funeral Mass.

The Christian life is like a race...but what does that mean?

Our Lady of Guadalupe Spanish Mass on December 12th at 6 pm in Brazil, IN

"Overpopulation" and Ancient Rome

As I look around at what is going on in our country, I've felt, over the past few years, that I need to become more educated about what was going on in Rome in the years leading up to its utter collapse.  I know enough history to know that it collapsed from the inside, and I've heard and read enough references to know that there was a serious cultural decay in Rome prior to its disappearance as a civilization.

My brother Tony passed this quote on to me when he heard about the dust-up on this blog concerning "overpopulation."  It looks like the Romans were tiring of children just as our society is today.

From a book titled "Ancient Rome" by Thomas Martin, my brother sent me this quote, which I think is fascinating: 

“Wealthy people had increasingly come to prefer spending money on such luxuries instead of on raising families. Feeling that the expense and trouble of having children threatened its high standard of living, the elite failed to reproduce itself sufficiently. Children became so rare among the social class that Augustus passed laws designed to strengthen marriages and encourage more births by granting special legal privileges to the parents of three or more children. He made adultery a criminal offense as another attempt to protect marriage. So seriously did Augustus support these reforms that he exiled his own daughter – his only child – and a granddaughter for the extramarital sex scandals.  His legislation had little effect, however, and the prestigious old families withered away under the Empire. Demographic research suggests that three quarters of the families of Senatorial status died out in every generation. People from below the Senatorial class who won the emperors’ favor continuously took their places in the social hierarchy.”

This quote made me think of a story I heard on NPR a few years ago where Singapore, where, for many decades, the laws forced population control and limited the births of children so the country wouldn't "run out of room" has recently passed laws that PAY PEOPLE TO GO ON DATES in an attempt to get people to have children again as a collapse appears imminent in their social structure due to years of not having children.

God: please save us from ourselves.  Help us some day to eventually trust in you and your plan!

The Blessed Sacrament is Now Reserved at St. Vincent Clay Hospital

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The Blessed Sacrament is now on reserve at St. Vincent Hospital in Clay County, IN.  The eternal flame now burns at two places in Clay County, so stop by and pay our Lord a visit if you are ever in the area.  Thanks to Jerry Laue, the President of St. Vincent Clay and also chaplain Doug Givan for helping make this happen.

Some Scenes From My Life Recently

 

Getting ready for Mass

Sunlight from a window shining on one of the angel statues

Our St. Vincent DePaul Garden - "I am the vine, you are the branches, remain in me, and you will bear abundant fruit."  (John 15:5)

A sanctuary in the woods on my day away from the parish - "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau

I wnt to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henrydavid107665.html#8Rs63ECZsA6xf5tV.99