St. Dominic and Evangelization

This was in the Vatican News Service a couple of days ago.

In the general audience of February 3, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the life and work of St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, or Dominican Order.

St. Dominic was born in Caleruega, near the Spanish city of Burgos, in the year 1170. While still a student he "distinguished himself for his interest in the study of Sacred Scriptures and his love for the poor". Having been ordained a priest he was elected as canon of the cathedral of Osma, however "he did not consider this as a personal privilege, nor as the first step in a brilliant ecclesiastical career; rather, as a service to be rendered with dedication and humility. Do not career and power represent a temptation to which even those who have roles of leadership and government in the Church are not immune?" the Pope asked.

He then explained how the bishop of Osma "soon noted Dominic's spiritual qualities and sought his collaboration. Together they travelled to northern Europe on diplomatic missions. ... On his journeys Dominic became aware of ... the existence of peoples still un-evangelised, ... and of the religious divides that weakened Christian life in the south of France, where the activity of certain heretical groups created disturbance and distanced people from the truth of the faith".

Pope Honorius III asked Dominic "to dedicate himself to preaching to the Albigensians" and he "enthusiastically accepted this mission, which he undertook through the example of his own life of poverty and austerity, through preaching the Gospel and through public discussions".

"Christ", the Pope went on, "is the most precious treasure that men and women of all times and places have the right to know and love! It is consoling to see how also in today's Church there are many people (pastors and lay faithful, members of ancient religious orders and of new ecclesial movements) who joyfully give their lives for the supreme ideal of announcing and bearing witness to the Gospel".

As more and more companions joined him, Dominic established his first house in the French city of Toulouse, from which the Order of Preachers came into being. "He adopted the ancient Rule of St. Augustine, adapting it to the requirements of an itinerant apostolic life in which he and his confreres would move from one place to another preaching, but always returning to their convents, places of study, prayer and community life".

St. Dominic, the Holy Father continued, "was keen that his followers should have a solid theological formation, and did not hesitate to send them to the universities of the time". There they dedicated themselves to the study of theology, "founded on Holy Scripture but respectful of the questions raised by reason".

The Pope encouraged everyone, "pastors and lay people, to cultivate this 'cultural dimension' of the faith, that the beauty of Christian truth may be better understood and the faith truly nourished, strengthened and defended. In this Year for Priests, I invite seminarians and priests to respect the spiritual value of study. The quality of priestly ministry also depends on the generosity with which we apply ourselves to studying revealed truths".

Dominic died in Bologna in 1221 and was canonised in 1234. "With his sanctity, he shows us two indispensable means for making apostolic activity more incisive", the Pope concluded; "firstly, Marian devotion", especially the praying of the Rosary "which his spiritual children had the great merit of popularising", and secondly, "the value of prayers of intercession for the success of apostolic work".

Let me add a couple of quick observations before I get back to work.

1. The Holy Father asks, "Do not career and power represent a temptation to which even those who have roles of leadership and government in the Church are not immune?" This is most certainly true. One can claim power, especially a kind of spiritual power, over others that allows one to bend the will of another to my own. The power of Jesus, however, is found in service that puts the genuine needs of others first, openness to God and creation, humility that recognizes one's limitations, and magnanimity - a desire to do great things for and with God. It is a power "not of this world." St. Dominic had a spiritual power, as do all the saints. They evoke a response on the part of others, just as their Lord did. Some will oppose them, others draw inspiration from them and want to follow in their steps. But they cannot be ignored.

2. Pope Benedict, following Pope John Paul II, sees evangelization as an act of love and justice. Love, in that if my life has been transformed by the Gospel and the "surprising" encounter with Jesus, I should want others to experience that transformation, too. It flows from my love for Jesus and what He has done for me, to the love I bear for the good of my neighbor. Evangelization is also an act of justice because every human being has a right to know the truth: that they are loved by God, have dignity because they were created by Him, and have been redeemed through an act of love for them by Jesus' death on the cross.

3. Returning to the theme of the famous lecture in Regensburg, the Holy Father reminds us that faith and reason must go hand in hand, since God is the source of both. There is no room in the Christian faith for anti-intellectualism or the fear of the human mind's questions. Faith without reason leads to fundamentalism. Reason without faith leads to materialism and selfishness. Study and prayer must be a part of the life of the priest, if he is to be an effective minister.

4. St. Dominic was a great intercessor, as well as one who was devoted to another great intercessor, the Virgin Mary. It is a tremendous temptation to Christians, but especially Christian ministers, to forget the power of intercessory prayer. In our age of crowded schedules and a "do it yourself" approach to life, it's too easy to neglect the reality that all really significant positive change in the world happens only when we choose to be God's collaborators!

What's That You Said?

At the Saturday night tent revival the preacher announces,
"Anyone with ‘needs’ to be prayed over, come forward, to the front at the altar.”

LeRoy gets in line, and when it’s his turn, the preacher asks:
"LeRoy, what do you want me to pray about for you?”

LeRoy replies, “Preacher, I need you to pray for help with my hearing.”

The preacher puts one finger in LeRoy’s ear, and he places the other hand on top of LeRoy’s head and prays and prays and prays, he prays a blue streak for LeRoy.

After a few minutes, the Preacher removes his hands, stands back and asks, “LeRoy, how is your hearing now?” LeRoy says, “I don’t know, Reverend, it ain’t ‘till next Wednesday."


ba-dum-bum

hat tip: Ralph Silva

Cheers from (and in) Boston

Cheers from Boston.

It's bright, sunny, and cold today. Fr. Mike and I marched a large part of the Freedom Trial yesterday: Bunker (Brede's hill), the Old North Church (very evocative - my favorite), Paul Revere's house (from 1680, oldest surviving urban house in the US), Quincy Market, real Italian cannollis, (yum!) and real New England clam chowdah.

Not to mention real New Englanders . . . and the intrepid Christine from Raleigh, North Carolina, who wins the distance prize. It is amazing how many parishioners were not only born nearby but have spent their entire lives in this parish. So different from the hundreds of other parishes we've worked in.

This is an enthusiastic, vibrant parish that is doing some very creative things with Generations of Faith as you can see here. We gather at 6pm (along with a simple dinner provided by the parish) and spend the evening together wrestling with charisms. A fun, enthusiastic group.

What is the object of human life?

What is the object of human life? The enlightened conservative does not believe that the end or aim of life is competition; or success; or enjoyment; or longevity; or power; or possessions. He believes instead, that the object of life is Love. He knows that the just and ordered society is that in which Love governs us, so far as Love ever can reign in this world of sorrows; and he knows that the anarchical or the tyrannical society is that in which Love lies corrupt. He has learnt that Love is the source of all being, and that Hell itself is ordained by Love. He understands that Death, when we have finished the part that was assigned to us, is the reward of Love. And he apprehends the truth that the greatest happiness ever granted to a man is the privilege of being happy in the hour of his death.

He has no intention of converting this human society of ours into an efficient machine for efficient machine-operators, dominated by master mechanics. Men are put into this world, he realizes, to struggle, to suffer, to contend against the evil that is in their neighbors and in themselves, and to aspire toward the triumph of Love. They are put into this world to live like men, and to die like men. He seeks to preserve a society which allows men to attain manhood, rather than keeping them within bonds of perpetual childhood. With Dante, he looks upward from this place of slime, this world of gorgons and chimeras, toward the light which gives Love to this poor earth and all the stars. And, with Burke, he knows that "they will never love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Russell Kirk

In the paragraphs above, from A Program for Conservatives, Dr. Kirk addresses conservatives. However, I believe he also describes the calling of the Christocentric Life. His words remind us of our pilgrim status in this world of tears. We are not called to material success. We are called to obedience. We are called to love. We are called to love He who is Love Himself. A society where a large number of Christians know and live this calling will be transformed. The True, the Good, and the Beautiful will find their true place in our culture only when many more of us are obedient to Love.

O my God, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art infinitely worthy of love; I love also my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. Amen

(cross posted to The Christocentric Life)

Conversation with a Survivor

This morning I concelebrated the 6:30 a.m. Mass at Immaculate Conception Church in Malden, MA with Fr. Richard Bakker, SMA, a Dutch priest who prepared to be a missionary in Africa, but was conscripted by the Dutch Air Force as a chaplain three weeks before his intended departure, and who then spent his life teaching French and Greek in seminary.

He grew up in Amsterdam, and was eight years old when WWII began. He lived just a five minute walk from the house where Anne Frank and her family hid. He told me how of the 253 Jews in his neighborhood, only three survived the war. "I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. All the children I played with were killed." His father was a Dutch diplomat in England who brought his family to the Netherlands for a vacation during the summer of 1939, and wasn't able to return to England because the war began. At the age of eight, he was told by his father to never speak English again. "I thought it was stupid! I didn't know Dutch. My father said, 'Don't even say stupid. It's English!'"

He recalled with great fondness how the Dominican sister who taught him in kindergarten (he repeated that grade because his language skills were so poor) told him, "Here, I'll help you learn Dutch." At the time he probably thought she was just being kind. She may well have been trying to save his life, and the life of his family.

He told me a story of Edith Stein. In 1939, the Carmelites moved Edith and her sister, Rose, from a convent in Germany to one just across the border in the Netherlands, which was a neutral country. When she arrived, it was cold, and the Carmelites didn't have the heat on. "Begging your pardon, sisters" Edith asked, "Why have you not turned on the heat?"

"We don't have heat. Holy poverty, you know."

Edith discovered the abbot of a local monastery was German, and she spoke to him of the Carmelites' situation. Soon they had a heating system. It worked for over sixty years, until a couple of years ago. The Carmelites still were very poor, and couldn't fix or replace it. "Let's ask for Sr. Edith's intercession," the Carmelites said. Sure enough, the heat came on again, and has worked for the last two years.

"I didn't talk about the war for decades," Fr. Bakker told me. "Then one day I was asked by a rabbi I know to speak at his synagogue about the war. A woman sat crying in the back throughout my talk. Afterward, she came up and said to me, 'It's all true. I lived in Amsterdam during the war, too.'"

Many, many Catholic Dutch men entered the seminary after the war. "There were 72 in my minor seminary class alone! But of the 18 men I was ordained with, all the others left and got married." As in this country, many Catholic soldiers during the horrors of the war made promises to God. My mother once told me a long time ago, when my father was still working as an engineer and had to fly occasionally to Europe or Japan, how guilty he felt about flying at all. "Why?" I asked. "Because during the war, when he was navigating B-25s over Japan, and so many of his friends were being killed, he promised God that if he was spared, he'd never fly in a plane again." How many other Catholic men made promises along the lines of, "Get me out of this hell, and I'll become a priest." Who knows how many of them who survived kept their promises? I've heard enough stories to believe their numbers were not insignificant.

People often look at the exodus of priests that occurred after the Second Vatican Council and blame it on the Council itself, or in the way it was interpreted. But men who entered the seminary after the war and were ordained in the early to mid-50s would have had been priests for 10-15 years by the time of the Council. They might have been in their early to mid-40s; still young enough to be husbands and fathers, and mature enough to realize the choice to become a priest may not have been entirely free.

Some people will think I'm just making excuses for men who should have persevered, or who gave in to human weakness, or who just decided that being a priest was too hard, or no longer fulfilling.

Rather, I think it's sad that we - or at least I - haven't heard their stories. Why did they become priests in the first place? What happened that made them choose to leave? These and other questions, as well as the answers we could glean, could go far in helping us help young men today discern their vocation. Such a discussion could also help us improve our seminary formation process, too, so that we don't experience another exodus in the future.

Bunkie to Boston

Sherry and I had a wonderful time in Bunkie, LA. Fr. Jack, the pastor at St. Anthony of Padua, and Bonnie and Karen, two of his staff, were great hosts. About 100 people attended the workshop, and it's great to know the staff is 100% behind it. I hope to keep in touch with them to help them as they attempt to follow-up on some of the ideas we presented.

It was also great to sample some wonderful Cajun food: boiled crawfish, fried catfish, hush puppies, crab cakes, stuffed shrimp, crawfish etouffe. It was all delicious. My cholesterol's through the roof, I'm sure.

Tonight I got picked up at the airport by Margo Morin, a staff member at Immaculate Conception in Malden, MA. The parish is focusing on evangelization this year, and it sounds like some great things are happening. During our dinner conversation she mentioned that although they're a large parish, they only had twenty weddings last year! "Funerals definitely outnumber baptisms" she said. I think this will be a good workshop.

Oh, when you're in Boston, try the Harpoon 100 Barrel Ginger Wheat beer. It goes well with baked schrod (the fish of the day) and sweet potato fries. The locals pronounce it "Hah-poon."

Home for a Day

Back in CS - for one day. In Bunkie, Lousiana, the camellias are blooming, we ate crawfish and etouffee and about 100 attended the Called & Gifted from as far away as Baton Rouge. Tomorrow Boston. Hopefully, more later.

Gotta take Fr. Mike to the airport now. He's flying to Boston early to pack in a little sight-seeing.

Thomas Aquinas: Doctor and Saint

Happy belated feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. I received this short article from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. It was written by Fr. Michael Morris, OP, professor of Religion and the Arts, and frequent contributor to Magnificat, among other things. I had a fascinating Church history class with Fr. Michael, which he taught using religious and secular art to demonstrate different movements and issues as they were presented in their own age.

On St. Thomas Aquinas & "The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas" by Benozzo Gozzoli, 1471 - Fr. Michael Morris, OP

Known through the ages as "The Angelic Doctor," Saint Thomas Aquinas and his teachings act as a beacon of orthodoxy in a world of diverse approaches in theological history. This painting by Gozzoli, an apprentice to the Dominican artist Fra Angelico, is a visual tribute to Thomism's supremacy by the end of the fifteenth century. Yet the road to that pinnacle of acceptance was not easy. Thomas Aquinas had personal and professional challenges to overcome before the splendor of his theology became established.

Thomas was born in 1215, the son of the Count of Aquino and a distant relative of the Holy Roman Emperor. Because of his aristocratic birth he was made Benedictine oblate as a child with the expectation that he would mature in that Order and someday become abbot of the great monastery of Monte Cassino. But during his religious formation Thomas was attracted instead to the new order of mobile mendicants, the Dominicans, who professed evangelical poverty, and engaged in study, preaching, and teaching. As he made his move to join the Dominicans his family went so far as to kidnap him, hoping that he would change his mind. A legend arose that during his year of incarceration they even tempted him with a prostitute in order to subvert his vocation. But Thomas remained resolute and returned to the Dominicans where he became the pupil of Saint Albert the Great, a wise and holy teacher who saw his student's intellectual talents surpass his own.

As a student Thomas thought much and spoke little. His bulky figure and apparent dullness earned him the nickname "The Dumb Ox." He was an exemplar of piety and humility, virtues that further concealed his hidden talents. But when his intellect was tested it became apparent that beneath that unprepossessing exterior an engine of brilliance was ready to engage the world of ideas and penetrate the mysteries of philosophy and theology. Albert was the first to see his potential and declared to the brethren, "We call Brother Thomas ‘the dumb ox'; but I tell you that he will make his lowing heard throughout the entire world."

Gozzoli portrays Thomas seated, wearing his Dominican habit and holding up a book with a passage that reads: "the truth my mouth recounts, but wickedness my lips abhor." Taken from the Book of Proverbs (8:7), this passage points to that quest for truth that Thomas undertook while not speaking ill of others. But this does not mean that Thomas was not eager and willing to patiently disagree with and correct those whom he felt were in error and straying from the truth. He refuted the Muslim philosopher Avveroës, shown lying prostrate at his feet, whose interpretation of ancient thought led Christians to heterodox ideas. As Thomas sits in honor at the center of the composition, an array of his writings are spread open over his lap radiating beams of light as does the sunburst over his breast (a symbol of Christian wisdom that connects Truth and Love). His Summa contra gentiles is a brilliant apologetics of the Catholic faith and his Summa theologiaeprovides a likewise excellent synopsis and ordering of theological questions and ideas. Thomas's great contribution to scholastic thought was the careful integration of Aristotelianism into speculative theology. That plus the synthesis of Plato and St. Augustine in the quest for natural and supernatural knowledge became the hallmark of his work. Gozzoli has included the figure of Aristotle standing on Thomas's right holding open his work on Ethics. On Thomas's left stands Plato holding his work, the Timeus.

At the pinnacle of the painting Christ appears in an aureole and imparts a blessing. He is flanked by Moses with the Tablets of the Law, representing the Old Testament, and by Saint Paul and the four Evangelists representing the New Testament. For Thomas there was no conflict between revealed truth and reason. He raised questions in order to confirm belief. "You have written well of me, Thomas," reads the Latin inscription above. It refers to an appearance Christ made to the friar. When asked what he wanted as a reward, Thomas replied: "Only you, Lord." Indeed, the very presence of Christ in the Eucharist inspired the saint to compose an office of the Blessed Sacrament and the classic hymn Pange Lingua.

When Thomas began to teach at the University of Paris a conflict over jurisdiction between the secular clergy and the mendicants reached its apex. That plus a residual doubt over the appropriateness of integrating the teachings of the pagan Aristotle while penetrating the mysteries of the faith triggered not just controversy, but outright violence.

Aquinas had to lecture at times behind an armed guard sent into the classroom by the French king. Yet as Gozzoli's painting attests in the bottom register, the teachings of Thomas were skillfully defended and embraced by the popes in succeeding generations.

Clement IV wanted to make Thomas a bishop but he shrank from such ecclesiastical honors. Nevertheless, the role of the pope's theologian with the title Master of the Sacred Palace, an honor traditionally given to a Dominican, can trace its roots to the importance to the Magisterium of Thomas's teachings. From the Council of Trent to the modern era when Pope Leo XIII decreed that all seminarians base their education on the work of the Angelic Doctor, the light of wisdom that radiated from the heart of Saint Thomas continues to influence our quest for knowledge and truth.

Intercessory Prayer & Spiritual Combat

Much talk about the blogosphere today about Archbishop Chaput's address in Rome about which I posted below. The two points that are grabbing everyone's attention is Chaput's assertion that we are in a spiritual war with Satan and his confession that he thought that after 20 years as a bishop "things would change and things would be a lot better but I don't think they are.

"I think we live in disappointing times, in times of confusion, and in some ways that is the result of our failure to understand that we have an enemy in the Devil, but also we have enemies in the world around us."

He pointed to a "great talk" from an American Protestant pastor he once heard which was titled "We preach as though we don't have enemies," and reflected that this sentiment "is true in the United States... .”

"I think it's important to understand the we are in a battle, we really do live in a time of spiritual combat and I think we've lost that sense of the Church," Archbishop Chaput stated.

Even though we both hail from Colorado these days, I don't know the good Archbishop, but I am bemused by how much we seem to have in common.

For one thing, I'm marking a 20 year anniversary this month myself. 20 years ago, I was a young, over-educated secretary, on one of the those bleak, cold, rainy, grey days that you get in Seattle in January. The chrism was still wet behind my ears. I was all alone, in a strange parish, kneeling during the consecration when, as Florence Nightingale put it long ago "God spoke to me and called me to his service."

No, I hadn't an inkling about charisms or the Called & Gifted or the Dominicans or the Catherine of Siena Institute. That would all come later. But it was the call I had been praying for, longing for, waiting for. Within a month, I had signed up for graduate school and each small step of obedience led to another. (I was once asked by a take charge kind of woman what my five year plan was for the Institute. I couldn't help but laugh. All I've ever had is a two year guess.)

And now, 20 years later, I've been looking over the events and fruits of those years in preparation for some strategic planning meetings taking place when we get back from Boston. 73 US dioceses so far. And that doesn't include the Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Italian, Indonesian, Kenyan, and Singaporean dioceses. Called & Gifted workshop numbers 418, 419, 420, and 421 are coming up in the next week. No wonder I've spent a good deal of the last two days sleeping! Just contemplating all this makes me feel tired.

But what, you wonder, after all that work, is the real fruit? You remember the parishes and dioceses where things seemed to be taking off and then a pastor is transferred or a lay leader is side-lined. Or the vision never takes hold for reasons you can't identify. Scandal, illness, death, finances, personality conflicts and so many other things can stop things in their tracks.

The single biggest obstacle to renewal in our experience is the fact that the majority of Catholics are not disciples. That many Catholics, in fact, don't even possess an imaginative category for disciple. That the part of our parochial and diocesan culture which makes it so difficult to grasp the first, essential movement of faith is, as Archbishop Chaput noted, demonically empowered. In a very real way, we have been blinded by the enemy.

Our human weaknesses and sins are very real. The devil isn't making us "do it". But when individual and communal sin and brokenness is exaggerated and empowered by the enemy, we face a situation that can seem absolutely impervious to change.

The single biggest positive factor has been the gifted local disciple: priest, deacon, religious, or layperson, who is ablaze with the vision, dogged enough to persist in the bad times and creative enough to find ways past obstacles. Who possesses both the virtues of magnanimity and fortitude. And is willing to follow Christ in a thousand small obediences and sacrifices without seeing immediate fruit. And who knows that they are in a spiritual battle, that "this kind only come out through prayer and fasting".

But even the most radiant apostle or saint is not enough by his or herself.

At every Called & Gifted workshop I teach, I talk about the critical importance of organized, strategically focused, communal intercession for the spiritual renewal of your parish. Led, ideally, by the pastor. How that can transform the spiritual "climate" of your parish. How, where it is being done around the world, violence and conflict goes down and spiritual openness goes up.

In places where serious, sustained, intercessory prayer for the renewal of our communities takes place, miracles of healing, forgiveness, repentance, and faith occur when people just walk into the sanctuary.

Because the enemy's power has been broken and the presence of the Holy Spirit is palpable.

Over the years, I've given that talk at least 200 times. But very few pastoral leaders have taken me up on that challenge. Usually because we literally don't know that more than 24/7 "activity" in our institutions is possible or even desirable.

There is so much more that God intends to give the world through his Body, the Church, but we are not big enough channels as individuals. Only when we offer ourselves, our charisms, our vocations, our prayer together will God be able to do through his Church all that He desires.

Not faith without works. Or works without faith. But the faith and works of many, offered together.

Called & Gifted Around the Country

Fr. Mike and I travel to the heart of Dixie, to Bunkie, Louisiana (near Alexandria) for a Called & Gifted

while Barbara Elliott and Keith Strohm high tail it out to Santa Clarita, California (LA) for another C & G.

See you at 7pm, Friday night. Be there. Aloha.

Then, next week, its the heart of Yankeedom for Fr. Mike and I: The Archdiocese of Boston.

First, a Called & Gifted conducted entirely on week nights, Tuesday through Thursday, in Malden, Massachusetts followed by our standard weekend format in Westford, MA.

It's a great way to spend a February evening or weekend up north!

Catholic = Here Comes Everybody

I have noticed over the years that Intentional Disciples draws a large international readership. I suppose because we blog more on international themes than do most US bloggers. Sometimes even a majority of our overnight readers come from outside the US. But today, I think we are setting a record.

Only 39 of our last 100 readers were from the US
11 were from the UK
7 from India
5 from the Philippines
5 from Australia
3 from the Vatican City
3 from Canada
2 from Germany
2 from Italy

and Algeria, Thailand, Norway, Equador, Ireland, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, France, and Singapore.

True Catholicity!

Team Rubicon: To Give and Not Count the Cost

Team Rubicon was born out of the Haitian earthquake. Within 24 hours of the quake, it had already begun to take shape. Because this group couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

Team Rubicon is a self-financed, all-volunteer, rapid response, vanguard style medical rescue team that operates in the supposed 'denied' areas of post earthquake Port au Prince. The former Marines, soldiers, firefighters/EMTs, medics, RNs, and PAs of Team Rubicon are unpaid.

Their blog is chock a block with unedited pictures and stories and gives a vivid account of the realities of the last two weeks and what they have learned and is worth visiting. They've gotten a fair bit of MSM coverage but I hadn't seen anything around St. Blog's hence this post.

Jesuit Brother Jim Boynton is part of Team Rubicon. On January 23, he wrote this harrowing description of a single hour in Haiti:

"One woman of about 60 years old had infected wounds in her legs that allowed me to see the bones. Our doctors dressed the wounds and she bravely endured and hour long ordeal of scraping and removing flesh. I held her, we prayed, and I listened to her scream. To keep her mind off the pain I started singing the few songs in Creole that I know. A crowd formed and joined in with me. We all sang at the top of our lungs to keep the poor women distracted from the tremendous pain. She cried, held on tight, and sang. When it was over she said she will never forget us. When it was over she went back to living under the stars in a crowded park with open sewage."

On january 24, this news reached the team:

Two nights ago Brother Jim advised us that he learned through Jesuit channels that the man himself, el Popa, was aware of our team and verbally passed on his blessing.

Brother Jim leads team members in this version of St. Ignatius' famous prayer morning and evening:

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

Chaput: Works Without Faith Are Dead

Archbishop Chaput of Denver gave a speech earlier today at a conference in Rome: Priests and Laity on Mission. The Archbishop has hit the nail on the head again.

"But when we talk about a theme like today's topic – “Priests and laity together, changing and challenging the culture” – we need to remember that what we do, proceeds from who we are. Nothing is more dead than faith without works (Jas 2:17); except maybe one thing: works without faith. I do not think Paul had management issues in his head when he preached at the Areopagus. Management and resources are important – but the really essential questions, the questions that determine everything else in our life as Christians, are these: Do I really know God? Do I really love him? Do I seek him out? Do I study his word? Do I listen for his voice? Do I give my heart to him? Do I really believe he's there?"

Snip.

We have an obligation as Catholics to study and understand the world around us. We have a duty not just to penetrate and engage it, but to convert it to Jesus Christ. That work belongs to all of us equally: clergy, laity and religious. We are missionaries. That is our primary vocation; it is hardwired into our identity as Christians. God calls each of us to different forms of service in his Church. But we are all equal in baptism. And we all share the same mission of bringing the Gospel to the world, and bringing the world to the Gospel.

And yet, Kolakowski's devil was right. The fundamental crisis of our time, and the special crisis of today’s Christians, has nothing to do with technology, or numbers, or organization, or resources. It is a crisis of faith. Do we believe in God or not? Are we on fire with a love for Jesus Christ, or not? Because if we are not, nothing else matters. If we are, then everything we need in order to do God's work will follow, because he never abandons his people.

Fr. Mike and I have had so many conversations lately with priests, pastors, diocesan staff, lay Catholics in different dioceses - all on the same topic: how is it possible that a Church that possesses the "fullness of the means of salvation" (CCC, 292) does not also possess a culture of discipleship? How is it that so many active Catholics regard talk of discipleship as foreign, judgmental, exaggerated, bizarre, not-Catholic?

Think I'm exaggerating? I wish.

A while back, one sharp eye witness at a major gathering of diocesan leaders to discuss evangelization described watching one major diocesan player rise and object to the whole conversation: "I mean who do you know actually who wants to surrender their whole life to Christ?" No one actually is at a place to want to make a decision to give their life to Christ."

As Archbishop Chaput put it so tellingly today: Nothing is more dead than faith without works except maybe one thing: works without faith.

Your thoughts?

Is Talk of Discipleship Elitist?

From time to time the accusation is made by other Catholics, including – actually especially - those involved in ministry, that to speak of intentional discipleship is “elitist.” They have perceived that the phrase implies that some Christians are not just different, but somehow further along or more spiritually mature or more committed than others. These same people would likely agree that “faith is a journey,” and that how I live in relation to God (whether I think of myself as being in relation with God or not) varies from season to season in my life. However, to make the claim that some are different from others, especially if that can be construed as “better,” is one of the worst crimes in our egalitarian society.

This is a real misunderstanding of the nature of discipleship. You see, the invitation to be united to Jesus in a daily walk, to accept him as Lord of every aspect of one’s life, to “decrease so he may increase,” is offered to every person. You will not find a hint of elitism behind the offer whatsoever. The grace of God to enter into this relationship is offered to everyone through the proclamation of the Gospel, whether rich or poor, educated or not, healthy or ill, a notorious sinner or a more subtle sinner. I suppose where that proclamation is honest, complete, and supported by the power of the Holy Spirit that offer is clearer and more compelling, but not necessarily easier to accept.

In fact, the message and invitation seem to be more easily accepted by the more desperate and the simple. Jesus faced this issue during his ministry.

While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mt 9:10-13)

I have met people who have been profoundly changed through God’s grace, and who are striving to allow Jesus to be the foundation of their lives. Often they are ordinary people: not too well-to-do, not necessarily highly educated. Sometimes they impressed me with how gracefully they dealt with what others would see as many obstacles to happiness. Jesus apparently experienced this, too.

[Jesus] rejoiced (in) the holy Spirit and said, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." (Luke 10:21-22)

The “things” that remain hidden to the wise and learned, apparently, are what the 72 disciples reported happening during their mission. They were told to offer peace to the homes they visited, to eat and drink what was offered, to accept no payment, to cure the sick in the household, and to proclaim, “the kingdom of God is at hand for you.” …The seventy (-two) returned rejoicing, and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name." (Lk 10:5-9, 17)

“These things” – inexplicable cures, the casting out of demons, and even the idea of a kingdom of God somehow different from, yet growing within secular society are all attributes of Christianity that are hard for the sophisticated and intellectually gifted to accept. They are realities that are beyond the notice of the powerful and content – those who seem to have life “under control”. Yet for the disciple, they are not only possibilities, but in some cases, part of the experience of being delivered by God’s grace from a life focused on one’s self.

The claim that discipleship is “elitist” seems to come from those who are, in some ways, part of our cultural elite; at least they have the benefit of lots of education. Sort of like the Pharisees, who were the top of the religious heap in their day, complaining about the ease with which Jesus made sinners and tax collectors his disciples. Only in their case, they thought he wasn’t elite enough.

An Entire Nation's Catholic Clergy on Retreat Together

Fascinating.

In this year of the priest - over 5,000 Filipino priests - more than 70% of the country's 7,000 Catholic clergy - are going to be on retreat this week together with Fr. Ranierio Cantalamessa as their main preacher. It is the Second National Congress of the Clergy.

I've heard absolutely glowing, rave reviews from seminarians who made a retreat with Fr. Cantalamessa. But with 5,000 fellow priests for 5 days! May the Holy Spirit descend upon and bless this gathering.

The goal:

“The basic objective of the Congress is to provide priests with a deep and religious experience that will hopefully lead to a spiritual conversion and greater commitment. In other words, NCC II is the retreat of priests, for priests and by priests. The aim of the retreat is to achieve the interior renewal of the clergy.”

I wish it was possible for American clergy to do something similar. But our numbers are so much larger that it would be impossible. Let's pray for those Filipino priests this week as they seek God together.

Of course, the impact on parish life for the laity is enormous.

" . . . services in many parishes—Masses, weddings and baptisms—are being suspended for a week or until after the NCC II closes on Jan. 29.

Rosales said an agreement had been reached for parishes in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to have their priests say Mass first in the early morning before going to the congress later in the day.

In other provinces, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, lay ministers have been designated to attend to urgent cases, like the need to give communion or bless the dead, the cardinal added."