GW Catholic Q & A

Mass for Life - homily

2012-01-25T10:27:00.000-05:00

Here is the homily (more or less) I gave on Monday at the Mass for Life at DC Armory. Hopefully, it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me. Major props to Him for His help (in every homily, of course, but especially this one given the importance, audience and length).

How many of you are loving life? You are loving life! You're here at the rally and Mass for life...with your friends and classmates... and getting ready for the march. This is such a great time. But, you are really loving life cuz...THIS IS ISN'T SCHOOL! You are here because you love Life and hopefully you love your life. One of the most important things to know is that you are surrounded by people who love you...who love your life. The Church loves you!

So, do you love babies? You love babies in the womb? Out of the womb? Do you love big babies? Will you love the big babies who will protest us today? Jesus calls us to love all babies...big or small...even our enemies. If you love babies, you are in the right place. Not every building in Washington, DC loves babies, unfortunately.

How many of you came here from outside the Washington, DC area? So many of you have traveled long distances to be here...rode on buses, slept on floors, gone without showers. We smell you, I mean, we love you and thank you for your sacrifices! How many of you are from the Archdiocese of Washington? For those of you not from here, our sports teams in DC don't give us much to cheer about, so we just cheer for...the Archdiocese/Catholic...yeah, Church! We do want to thank the Archdiocese of Washington for hosting us today. Get it up! They do an incredible job with the rally and Mass for life every year and we are eternally grateful.

My name is Father Greg Shaffer. I am a priest of Washington and the chaplain of the Newman Center at George Washington University here in DC. It is a tremendous privilege to be the homilist at this Mass. I want to start with an impression. It's a man who is very popular...a man of God who puts his faith in Christ out there for all to see. (pose of a man praying with one knee to the ground and his head on his hand). That's right, Pope Benedict! I was just Benedict-ing.

No, that was Tim Tebow, the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Yeah, Tebow! He is an extraordinary athlete and even better person. There is so much good to say about him; he is a great example to you in so many ways. The one thing I want to say is that Tim Tebow is not afraid. He is not afraid to be himself...to be the man God calls him to be. He is not afraid to follow Christ...to be a virgin...and to be pro-life...and for the whole world to know it! So, none of you should be afraid to be Catholic...to be chaste...to be pro-life.

How many of you have received the sacrament of Confirmation? That is an awesome sacrament! In Confirmation, the Holy Spirit sealed the deal on your gifts from Baptism. One of those gifts is courage. This is a gift that each one of you needs to be Catholic...to be chaste...to be pro-life. It's harder now more than ever to be a teenager and to be Catholic. Your friends might make fun of you for going to Mass or youth group or a Newman Center in college...or for waiting until you’re married to have sex...or for trying to avoid pornography and masturbation...or for coming to the March for Life. It will take some courage to post on Facebook later today that you were here. You will get comments like, "oh you're one of those anti-abortion people?" Simply reply, "I'm pro life."

This event -and, really, this whole day- is such a victory for life! This really is awesome. This place is a chamber of Heaven today. So, we are experiencing Heaven on earth! And, a victory for life. How do we continue this in our lives? How do we win victory in life and for life? I would like to offer three suggestions.

The first is that if we want to win victory, we need to know the way to victory. Back to Tim Tebow - he and his teammates were given the way to victory before the season began. It came in the form of a playbook...a big, fat playbook with a ton of plays and complex terminology. They had coaches who helped them learn the playbook and implement the plays. They had to work together and play as a team in order for the playbook to work and to have a chance to win.

It's the same with our faith. God has given us a playbook - the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What about the Bible, you ask? Well, the Catechism is based on Scripture and contains all of the main teachings of the Bible. It explains how to live the Bible. Now, you might be thinking, 'the Catechism is huge! I don't know it and wouldn't know how to learn it'. Well, you also have coaches to help you - parents, teachers, youth ministers, priests, religious, bishops, and even the Pope! This pope is a great teacher and a HUGE advocate of youth...as was his predecessor, John Paul II.

So, your coaches will help you to see that the Catechism tells us the way to victory in life....the way to happiness. It is in living the virtues. How many of you know what the virtue of chastity is? See, you know the Catechism! Living chastity means living sexual purity. If you want success in relationships, then chastity is the way. Chastity is all about control.

It's just like football. The most successful teams in football are all about control. A good defense controls the offense; girls, do you hear me? A good offense controls the football and the clock; guys, do you hear me? The offenses that are out of control, looking for a quick score or touchdown are not the most successful. It's the ones that take their time, control the ball, and patiently go down the field that have the most success. It's not the most exciting team to have, but it is the most successful...and fulfilling. Couples who do the same with relationships find the same results. Those who show control in living emotional and physical chastity and wait until they are married to have sex - wait until they cross the goal line to score a touchdown - they win victory. Those who don’t, well…one study (University of Chicago, 1992) found that men who have had sex before marriage are 63% more likely to get divorced than if they had not; women are 76% more likely to divorce if they have premarital sex. Chastity and all the virtues are the way to victory.

We need to know the truth in order to win victory. Football teams spend about half of their time preparing for their games by learning the truth about their opponents. We need to know our opponent and what his game plan is. Part of our opponent’s game plan is to attack life in the womb through abortion. He is going after our MVPs who are mothers. He wants to destroy the bond between mother and child which is the strongest bond on earth. He recognizes that motherhood is the most important work on earth. Let me repeat that to all of our young women here: motherhood is the most important work on earth. He has gone of offense to destroy not only life but marriage and family. He has some strong players in the game to do this: divorce, contraception, same-sex marriage, and pornography. And, now, he is attacking one of our best players: religious freedom. We need to know the truth about our opponent, the devil, and his culture of death.

We also need to know the truth about our team, the culture of life. A young woman named Kristen was pro-choice. She went to spend the night at the house of a long-time friend. On her way in, she noticed a pro-life bumper sticker on her car. Later that night, they were talking, and she asked, “what’s the deal with that bumper sticker? Aren’t you for a woman’s right to choose?” They then got into a discussion about abortion and her friend shredded every one of Kristen’s arguments, as Kristen has put it. Her friend knew her stuff and she told her the truth about life in the womb – that the baby has DNA at conception, a heartbeat at 18 days, brain waves at six weeks, and so forth. The baby in the womb is a person with rights, especially the right to life. Kristen said that her friend spoke with such wisdom and truth that she became pro-life that night! Now, she is a pro-life advocate. By the way, a short video called “180” is excellent in learning the truth about life in the womb and abortion – check it out on 180.com. Know the truth and speak the truth! As St. Paul writes, “be a good minister of Christ…let no one have contempt for your youth…save both yourself and those who listen to you”. We need to know the truth to win victory….for ourselves, for others, and for life!

Finally, we need to know the life. If you were listening to the Gospel, and I hope you were, you know where I am going with this. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We need to know Christ to win victory. Christ is the life! He is life itself. In the incredible first reading from Deuteronomy 30, God says when you can choose between death and life, choose life. We know that this really means to choose Christ...and His Gospel of Life. It's not until we choose Christ that our life really begins. He is the life. He became life for us. He entered into death - the man was dead on the Cross - and rose from the dead. He became life for us!

It is in the resurrection of Christ that we win victory. The Resurrection is our Victory! He won victory over death...over sin...over abortion...over the culture of death. He is the winning team. The game has been won...forever. The question is, then, will we be on the winning team? Will we share in Christ's victory?

At this Mass, we share in His victory. When we come to the Eucharist, Confession, or any of the sacraments, we share in the victory. Christ gives us His Grace that is a share in God's victory...a share in God's life. This life is soooo sweet! It is the sweetest life on earth. The life is so beautiful, so good, so holy, so pure, so exciting, and so joyful. It is Heaven on earth.

If you know people living the life, you can see their joy. You can see a glow to them. There's a secret to them and to anyone living the life. It is the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we encounter “the living God”, as St Paul writes. The Eucharist is the center of the life. It is the center of the lives of the saints...it is how to become a saint! It is the center of the lives if the saints you know. They go to daily Mass (in addition to Sunday Mass) and Eucharistic Adoration. They are living the life and they are loving life. I see it with so many of the students at GW who are coming out to the Eucharist in droves. They are finding out what Jesus has said that whoever receives the Eucharist has life...and will bear much fruit...and will live forever.

If you and I center our lives on the Eucharist, we will win victory and find happiness. I promise you that. Also, I promise you that if you center your life on the Eucharist, you will find your vocation...you will find your calling. I like to say the Eucharist is "C.O.O.L." - center of our lives. If we make the Eucharist "COOL", we will find happiness in this life and in eternal life.

Last point, and this is one that I make to my students all the time. You are good and you are loved. I want you to truly believe those two things deeply in your heart. If people really believed in their hearts that they are good and they are loved, the world would be a different place (and most counselors would be out of business). You are good. God created you, and God don’t make junk! Everything that comes from God is good. God actually said that you are very good when He created you. You are loved. I truly hope that you know that you are loved here. We love your life. I hope you each love your life. God loves your life. He loves you. He loves you for who you are. Before He formed you in the womb, He knew you and loved you. There is no one else in the world like you. God has a unique love for you. It’s very important on this day of big crowds and lots of faces for each of us to not lose sight of our uniqueness…and that we are persons and children of God. I think it’s important that each one of us says our first name aloud right now: _____________, you are good and you are loved. Can I get an “Amen”? Amen.

Homily - 3rd Sunday

2012-01-24T09:59:00.000-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

U.S. Government vs. Religious Freedom

2012-01-21T14:44:00.000-05:00

The cereal at breakfast didn't go down too well this morning. In the middle of my first bite of Honey Nut Cheerios, I scanned the front page of the Washington Post and saw the headline, "Birth Control Rule Covers Church Affiliates". The first few lines gave me stomach pains immediately: "Most church-affiliated organizations will be required to offer their workers coverage of birth control as part of their health plans, the Obama administration announced Friday, but they can get more time than other employers to comply."

I realized immediately what people have been saying for three years: our religious freedom is under attack. Yes, the issue of contraception is important. Yes, this is especially bothersome (and ironic) on the eve of the March for Life. Yes, this is very meaningful to me as a chaplain because I just had a fruitful night last Tuesday with our students talking about life issues, including contraception. Yes, I was hoping to just focus on life issues this weekend in my homilies (Sunday night and Monday). But, with this being the latest in a series of actions by our government, it points to a much bigger issue that should scare any Catholic, person of faith, or really any American who believes in the constitutional values on which our country was founded: our religious freedom is under attack.

The only good news I've heard or read all day with this is the last line of the Catholic New Agency article which is a quote from the Pope. He basically says that young people are our hope in this battle. This means you, GW Catholics!

(more excerpts from the Post)
The decision came as a bitter disappointment to organizations ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the National Association of Evangelicals, which had lobbied hard for a broad exemption for employers that oppose birth control on religious grounds.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, head of a system of 13 Catholic hospitals in Indiana and Illinois.

The rule, which was first announced last summer and which has drawn more than 200,000 comments, requires private insurance not merely to include birth control, but to do so without out-of-pocket charges. It will take effect beginning Aug. 1, as plans renew.

From the beginning, the rule exempted employers such as churches whose primary purpose is to inculcate religious beliefs and that mainly employ and serve individuals who share those beliefs. Religious advocates argued that this definition was too narrow, excluding a wide range of church-affiliated universities, hospitals and schools.

On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled a small change: Religious organizations will be allowed an extra year to comply with the requirement. But the rule itself and the types of employers covered by it will remain unchanged, she said.

The delay was no consolation to Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” he said. “The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand.”

------------
(from yesterday's Catholic News Service)

Coming at the start of an election year, Pope Benedict's words were clearly relevant to American politics, a connection he made explicit by mentioning threats to "that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion."

The pope said that many of the visiting bishops had told him of "concerted efforts" against the "right of conscientious objection ... to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices" -- an apparent reference to proposals by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, opposed by the U.S. bishops, that all private health insurance plans cover surgical sterilization procedures and artificial birth control.

In response to such threats, Pope Benedict said, the church requires an "engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity" with the courage and critical skills to articulate the "Christian vision of man and society." He said that the education of Catholic laypeople is essential to the "new evangelization," an initiative that he has made a priority of his pontificate.

Touching on one of most controversial areas of church-state relations in recent years, the pope spoke of Catholic politicians' "personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time," which he identified as "respect for God's gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights."

The pope was not specific about the bishops' relationship with such politicians, merely encouraging the bishops to "maintain contacts" with them and "help them understand" their duty to promote Catholic values.

While acknowledging the "genuine difficulties" facing the church in the United States, the pope concluded on a hopeful note, pointing to a growing appreciation for "Judeo-Christian" civic values, and a "new generation of Catholics," who he said will play a "decisive role in renewing the Church's presence and witness in American society."

March for Life this Monday

2012-01-18T10:07:00.001-05:00

March for Life is a gathering of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Pro-Life people from across the country, coming together to stand up for every human life and to bring an end to abortion. C'mon, GW, represent!!

Please join us for any of the following events:

Rally and Mass for Life!

... This year's mass will be especially wonderful because our very own Father Greg will be giving the Homily at the Armory. Join 10,000 other Catholics for a Mass that you will never forget. We will be meeting at 7 AM to head over to mass!

Lunch and March!

We will be back at the Newman Center for lunch at 1:15 and will be Marching to the Capitol shortly after. We will be getting dinner afterwards for all who attend!

You read that all correctly: You get Mass, Free Lunch, Free Dinner, and the opportunity to join with hundreds of thousands of people as they stand for Life! AND you get a FREE "GW CATHOLICS FOR LIFE" hat for attending either event!

FEEL FREE TO ATTEND ANY PART OF THE DAY THAT YOU CAN WORK INTO YOUR SCHEDULE. Email Amy@gwcatholic.com to sign up.

We will also be gathering after 7:30 Mass Sunday, at the Newman Center, to make signs and shirts! Bring your own shirts if you want to decorate!

“The Porn Post”

2011-12-23T10:32:00.000-05:00

A GW Catholic who is a former grad student but still connected with the Newman Center runs her own blog. She sent me the link to a post she made earlier in the month that has drawn a big crowd to her site. It is quite long but very good. Excerpts of “The Porn Post” are below. To view the full post, please click on today’s title.

The Porn Post

…To address why women find porn a bit lame and not arousing: this is probably because women, in general, crave more of an emotional connection with people. Porn does not give emotional connections, but makes up really weird (and sometimes awkward) scenarios where mind-blowing sex just happens to occur with random strangers. Women, in general, do not sit around waiting for the UPS guy hoping to have pornographic sex with him. They wait for the UPS guy to deliver the latest clothing item they ordered off the internet, sign their name on the tracking device, and send him off with a polite smile. Even if the UPS guy has a nice body and a flirty grin, he is not arousing in that way because we ladies don't build an emotional connection in this 30 second encounter. Sex should not and cannot be made into a purely physical act, forgetting about the emotional union that is formed.

Secondly, the fact that Jake (whose words are in italics below-FG) just brushes off the fact that some of his gal pals (I hope they find a new guy friend now!) find porn disgusting, exploitative, and potentially harmful to the relationship is worrisome. But then again, I guess men statistically value beer, sports, and porn over the women in their lives. If porn offended their can of beer, I'm sure that would be an entirely different story!

Women's biggest question when it comes to their guys' porn consumption: Does he want me to do that? Simple answer: No.

Good to know. But why? Jake's friend "Faisal" answers the question for us:

I wouldn't want my girlfriend to act like that in bed. It's not how I like to think of someone I love…

It seems that Jake has convinced the female editors of Glamour that no harm is done by allowing men to love their porn. Ladies, don't let him convince you. This may only be the published opinion of 102 men and their female editors, but I can guarantee that many of the 137,999,898 men in America also find porn to be a normal practice. While it can be difficult to find accurate statistics on this subject (because, well, it is shameful to admit that you watch porn, as Jake points out), it was cited in 2006 that approximately 70% of men between the ages of 18 and 34 had viewed porn in the last month. 10% of adults admitted to internet sex addiction, and this has definitely impacted marriages:

"At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said the Internet played a significant role in the divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half such cases. Pornography had an almost non-existent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago."

Let's follow the money, too. The most recent financial statistics are from 2006, and I can only imagine how they have grown in the past five years. Worldwide, the porn industry rakes in $97 billion worldwide, with $13.3 billion coming from the U.S. The porn revenue in the U.S. alone exceeded the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC at this time, and it was even larger than the combined monies from professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises. It is clear from the money that porn has become a major part of the entertainment industry.

Ladies, we like to think that the good, Christian men in our lives aren't a part of these statistics, but unfortunately, that isn't always the case. Talk to any priest or religious leader, and they'll tell you that sexual deviances (pornography, masturbation, pre-marital sex, etc.) are what they hear about more than any other struggle. Julie wrote a great piece about how important it is to stand by the men in our lives, encouraging and praying for them in their struggles against pornography. For anyone who is struggling with pornography addiction, or who is interested in learning more about it from a spiritual and physiological level, I really encourage you to listen to Matthew Frad discuss how to break free from pornography here and here.

We have to stand against pornography, together. Even when people, like Jake and Glamour magazine, try to convince us otherwise, it doesn't change the truth that porn goes against our very nature. It's time that we re-prioritize the things in our lives, putting the relationships that truly fulfill us above the disordered and artificial ones that do not.

Newman Center video: Fall 2011

2011-12-21T14:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Kara Dunford for putting together this excellent video of the Fall 2011 of GW Catholics at the Newman Center!!

"Adoration is where I find myself and where I lose myself" - Patty Silva

2011-12-20T15:03:00.000-05:00

Check out a video from onebillionstories.com featuring our very own Patty Silva, a sophomore GW Catholic, talking about the Holy Eucharist and Adoration. Of course, I am biased toward Patty and anything that is pro-Eucharist, but this pretty much blew my mind. Check out the video by clicking on today's title and send it your friends. Thank you for your witness and insights, Patty!

4th Sunday of Advent - homily

2011-12-19T10:19:00.002-05:00

If we have studied history, then we are familiar with and probably fascinated by dynasties. Dynasties are families which have had long reigns – hundreds or thousands of years – in a particular country. Dynasties have mainly been in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the United States, our experience with dynasties is rather limited…there was a TV show called “Dynasty” back in the 80s, but that’s about it! Sports fans in the US have had limited experience with dynasties also, but the few “dynasties” that have occurred lasted only about five to ten years. Some family dynasties in history have lasted two to three thousand years!

The word dynasty can also mean “house”; for example, “house of Windsor”. It can be an imperial or royal house and depends on the title of the ruler. This is our entry point to today’s first reading (2 Samuel 7). King David wonders aloud to Nathan about building a house for God. Here, the word house means “temple”. God hears this and responds to David through Nathan by saying that He will build a house for David. But, God uses the word house to mean “dynasty”. The Lord will build a dynasty for David. “The Lord will establish a house for you…Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever…your throne will stand firm forever”. This dynasty will be different from all others because it will be forever. As great as some dynasties have been, they are permanent at best (most have ended already). This one, however, has a starting point, but no ending point.

David’s dynasty becomes eternal when God raises up an “heir” to David’s throne. The Lord says that He “will be a father to (the heir) and he will be a son to me”. This is the entry point to our Gospel today (Luke 1:26-38). We hear about the conception of the heir. The heir is conceived through Mary who is betrothed to Joseph of the “house of David”. Joseph is of the dynasty of David. Jesus is conceived and born into the house of David…the family of David…the dynasty of David. The angel Gabriel announces who this child will be at that he is the heir to David’s throne who will make the dynasty eternal: “you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end”.

Mary heard all of this and she most likely knew what it meant. She was a faithful Jewish teenager who knew her Scripture; keep in mind she was between 14-16 years old at the time of the Annunciation. She knew about the heir to David’s throne through 2 Samuel, the Psalms, and elsewhere in the Old Covenant. She heard how Gabriel spoke of the child. She knew the enormity of the situation. This is a lot for anyone to process, much less a teenager! And, yet, Mary said yes! She said yes to bringing the Son of God into the world. She said yes to bringing the Christ into the world. She said yes to bringing the heir to David’s throne into the world. She said yes to help make David’s dynasty stand firm forever. And, through her yes, we are invited to participate in this eternal dynasty.

Two points about this incredible event. The first is that through Mary’s yes we become “coheirs” to David’s eternal dynasty. We hear this word in the second Eucharistic Prayer of the New Translation of the Mass – “coheirs to eternal life”. This means that what God said about the heir in 2 Samuel refers to us! We share in that announcement and in the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel. We share in all of the power and majesty of the heir who is Christ Jesus. He transcends all other rulers and kings; he is the longest reigning king in history. In Christ, we have a share in his eternal reign!

The second point is that all of this comes about through Mary’s yes. Through Mary’s yes, the heir is born and we are given a share in his eternal dynasty. Thank God for Mary! All that we have in Christ is through Mary. All that we celebrate at Christmas comes about through Mary. All that we celebrate at Mass and in the Eucharist is through Mary. It is through her that the heir to David’s throne is raised up and we are raised up to be coheirs to eternal life.

"There is no heart that cannot be changed by truth"

2011-12-16T10:41:00.001-05:00

Here are excerpts from an article by Kristen Walker at LifeNews.com about her heroic conversion story - Truth converted her heart to not only be pro-life but also Roman Catholic! Her heart was open to Truth, so it was changed by Truth. To view the full article, please click on today's title.

How One Conversation Turned Me Into a Pro-Life Advocate

In several previous articles for Live Action, I have alluded to the fact that I used to be pro-abortion, and fairly recently. The conversation that convinced me that abortion was wrong occurred in the fall of 2006

Before that day, I would have told anyone who asked that I was pro-choice. I was never involved in activism, unless you call giving the middle finger to pro-life protesters as I drove by abortion clinics “activism.” In fact, I never really gave abortion much thought. But in political debates — in which I frequently engaged — one of the accusations I liked to hurl at the opposition was that they were “anti-choice.”

…I had a friend. I’ll call her Sadie. She was a fellow rebel with me in high school and up through our early 20s. In the past couple years, we had fallen out of touch. She had converted and married a Catholic and had two babies. She’d become a sort of Betty Crocker, a model suburban housewife, albeit one who retained a marked tendency to listen to The Cure and smoke cloves.

Anyway, Sadie and I reconnected somehow, and she asked if I wanted to come spend the night. Her husband was overseas with the Army, so we could put the kids to bed and stay up all night talking like we did back in high school. I said sure, and she said she’d come by to pick me up.

I knew Sadie had become a Catholic Army wife, and I was prepared for the mini-van, the car seats, and the munchkins, but not for the pro-life bumper stickers.

Later that night, after the kids were in bed and I had imbibed some Jack Daniels and whooped her butt at Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, I said to Sadie, “What’s with the pro-life bumper stickers? I mean, come on. I know you’re Catholic and all, but haven’t you gone a little bit overboard?”

Sadie replied with something I had not known. She told me she’d always been pro-life.

“I thought you were a feminist,” I said.

She answered, “I am.”

“Then how can you not support a woman’s right to choose?”

I don’t remember exactly how Sadie walked me through the pro-life argument. I know what she didn’t do, and that’s invoke religion or God in any way. At the time I would have described myself as an agnostic pantheist, so I would have immediately rejected such language.

After about an hour of back and forth, I knew I was had. I couldn’t argue with her anymore. Every talking point I had, she had shredded with logic and knowledge. But I was still wavering.

During the course of our conversation, she kept alluding to photos and what a large part they played in helping someone understand what abortion is. Finally — and this is important — I asked to see them.

She showed them to me, and I had a completely different reaction than the one I’d had when confronted with the accidental website, or protesters bearing signs. My reaction before had not been horror at the dead baby, but anger at the pro-lifer for making me look at it. I thought it was “disrespectful of the dead,” and somehow glossed over how disrespectful it was to cause that death.

But this time, I had just had my mind and heart opened. I had slowly over the course of an hour been made to hear the truth, and now I was ready to see it.

I looked at the photos, and I had a visceral reaction. No words formed. But something inside me, something simple and human, said, “That is not okay.” I knew that what I was looking at was a dead human being. I knew it.

At that moment, I was pro-life.

I kept saying, “You just made me pro-life!” I kept repeating it the next morning as well, awed by the change in me and how it had happened. It was completely unexpected, and more than a little unwelcome.

I went home and got on the computer and went immediately to pro-choice websites hoping to be unconvinced. Reality was setting in, and with it the understanding that a pro-life viewpoint was not compatible with my lifestyle, my friends, my political and religious beliefs, or my irreverent sense of humor. I felt a mild sense of panic, because if abortion was what I unfortunately now believed it was, then it was not only wrong, it was reprehensible. It was not just something I was going to disagree with, it was something I was going to have to fight.

The pro-choice websites couldn’t unconvince me of the wrongness of abortion, and the scientific information I found only made things worse. More than anything, I wanted to find those photos discredited as fakes or misleading, but instead I found more photos, and plenty of authentication. I found a video in which a former abortionist turned pro-life activist, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, handled an aborted fetus and described it to the viewer. I watched and wept.

I started to feel duped, and a little angry. I felt lied to by the pro-choice side. I felt the terminology they used, like “clump of cells,” was misleading. I knew the information my friends had gotten in abortion clinics, and I knew now that it was patently false.

At the time I was blogging on MySpace — remember MySpace? — and had a lot of readers. I posted about my newfound viewpoint with trepidation, and people went a little wild. Over the course of the next year, I would lose a few dear friends over this issue and similar ones. Other people have remained friends with me, but it’s never quite been the same. The issue is so divisive that it really can make or break friendships, I’ve learned, especially when you do what I did and become an overnight activist.

You see, I was committed to a belief in human rights before I became pro-life, and I understood more and more as time went on that abortion is the ultimate human rights violation. It violates the most basic right — the right to life — for the most innocent and helpless among us — the unborn baby. It is the ultimate in the kind of “might makes right” thinking people condemn when it comes to wars, but embrace when it comes to a mother’s tyranny over her pre-born child.

The night I learned that abortion was wrong, I would have told you I was not only not a Christian, but that I disliked and distrusted Christianity. Less than a year later, I was confirmed in the Catholic Church. This is not to say the pro-life philosophy leads one to religion necessarily. In fact, I know pro-lifers of every political and religious persuasion and sexual orientation. But for me personally, I believe God used this issue to open my heart and start me down a path that I never expected to walk.

In many ways, Sadie is a completely different person than on the night we had that conversation, and so am I. But we are still good friends, and we are both still pro-life. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for having the courage to stand up for life in the face of someone who was pretty direct and challenging (that would be me), and the knowledge and wisdom to approach the issue from a secular, scientific point of view.

I am living proof of several things:

First, that it is essential for the pro-life apologist to be ready to tailor the argument to the person.

Second, that graphic images can absolutely change hearts when used correctly.

And third… Well…

You know that friend you have that you don’t even bother mentioning abortion to? The one who is so prickly and such a smarty-pants that you feel like you’d be shot down if you even tried explaining the pro-life viewpoint? I was that friend. And look at me now.

There is no heart that cannot be changed by truth.

The digital story of the Nativity

2011-12-14T10:11:00.000-05:00

I posted this video last year but it's worth seeing again. It's a funny depiction of the Nativity story which has been enormously popular on the internet and youtube (over 10 million views). I spotted one theological error in the story which is rather subtle. See if you can find it; the answer is in my post on 12/23/10.

Homily - 3rd Sunday of Advent

2011-12-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

Confession this Sunday night: "An absolute miracle of freedom"

2011-12-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

As we have been advertizing, we will offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Sunday night at St Stephen's Church for GW Catholics after the 7:30 pm Mass. Two priests will join me in offering individual confessions in the Church.

If you didn't receive a "Guide to Confession", we will have copies on hand. Also, you can click on today's title for a good examination of conscience.

Here's an excellent video to get us all ready for this "absolute miracle of freedom":

"Giving people advice on how to get to Heaven" - GW Catholic

2011-12-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

This week, one of our student leaders told the story of how she did some evangelizing in one of her classes. Btw, this is not the first time that a GW Catholic has courageously spoken up in class to either defend the Church or to clarify a teaching or both. I’ve heard of several instances of GW professors attacking the Church in class – the latest being a prof who stopped a class on the New Testament to ask, “For any Catholics here, where is the teaching on ‘Purgatory’ in the Bible?” (to which I would have replied, “Maccabees, Paul’s letters, Peter’s letters…and, professor, where does it say in the Bible that we only follow what’s in the Bible?"). Speaking of which, a couple years ago, a GW Catholic freshman brought in a pamphlet from the Newman Center on Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory and shared the main points from it out loud with her class…! The Catholic professor (there are some good profs here) told me about it and was very impressed…apparently, so were the other students in the class.

So, in this student leader’s class, the discussion focused on St. Augustine. The point was raised that St. Augustine was critical of people (e.g., heretics). And, the question was then posed, how can he be a man of love and a saint if he is critical of people. That’s when the leader raised her hand and said some incredible things. Now, keep in mind that this student starting coming around Newman last year, and admits it was only for the “free food”. She has had quite a year, to say the least. She now comes for more substantial food – spiritual food – and leads others to do so.

The first thing she said was that St. Augustine was “giving people advice on how to get to Heaven”. Whoa, great line. She defended him as a teacher who was trying to help people know and live the Truth. I heard her amazing line and was visibly moved by it. Another student witnessed my reaction and said, “there’s more”. The student then laid out her main teaching to the class which I will paraphrase. She said that to be a person of love means to correct people when you notice something wrong in what they are saying or doing. She gave the example of someone who has a piece of food in their teeth which is visible to others. If you love the person, then you will tell him or her about it. If you love someone, she proclaimed, then you will tell them when they are in the wrong. Bravo!

Bravo for many reasons, the first of which is the courage to say all of this in a college classroom in front of peers. Also, what she said is solid Catholic teaching about fraternal correction based in what Christ taught (Mt 18:15-17). It comes under the heading of the “works of mercy” as defined by the Church:

Corporal works of mercy:

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To harbour the harbourless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.

Spiritual works of mercy:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead.

So, she not only defended St. Augustine correctly, she defended love and mercy. She performed a spiritual work of mercy in her class by instructing others!

A plea to all GW Catholics based on all of this – if a friend of yours is in the wrong about something, speak to him or her directly about it. Speak the truth in love to them – to their face and not behind their backs. It is the adult thing to do. It is the Christian thing to do. As Jesus says, if he or she won’t listen to you, then bring it to the Church. Love calls you to speak to them about it. Mercy calls you to speak to them about it.

St. Nicholas = Santa Claus

2011-12-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the legend of Santa Claus is based on the true life of St. Nicholas? Today, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Nicholas, a bishop of the early Church. The article below from americancatholic.org helps to make the connection with our Christmas custom of gift-giving in briefly telling the story of this famous saint.

The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.

As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.

Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.

Comment:

The critical eye of modern history makes us take a deeper look at the legends surrounding St. Nicholas. But perhaps we can utilize the lesson taught by his legendary charity, look deeper at our approach to material goods in the Christmas season and seek ways to extend our sharing to those in real need.

Quote:

“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives, strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office, 16).

Homily - 2nd Sunday of Advent

2011-12-05T14:38:00.002-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice

Andrea Bocelli tells a "little story" about abortion

2011-12-02T09:46:00.000-05:00

I was talking with friends last week who told me the story of Andrea Bocelli. Bocelli is a famous Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist, and classical artist. He has recorded many classical and pop albums and operas, selling over 70 million copies worldwide. He is the biggest selling solo artist of classical music ever and widely regarded as the most popular Italian and classical singer in the world.

The story they told me, though, was about the beginning of his life which blew me away. Then, a few days later, I saw on Facebook that a GW Catholic had posted a video about Andrea’s incredible life. I will let Andrea tell his story on the video below. Btw, the song at the end says:

“I want to live like this with the sun on my face, and I sing happily, gracefully. I want to live like this, with the air of the mountains, because this enchantment doesn't cost anything.”

Blessed John Paul II Seminary video

2011-11-30T14:13:00.000-05:00

Please check out the following video from the Archdiocese of Washington on its new seminary, Blessed John Paul II. Shout-out to Andrew Buonopane, GWU '11, who is one of the seminarians at the new house!

Religious map of the U.S.

2011-11-29T10:58:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me a map which gives the percentage of Christians and all faiths in each state. Very cool. Click on today's title for the map and see the different religions by state and elsewhere by holding cursor over a state.

Homily - 1st Sunday of Advent

2011-11-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice

Homily - Solemnity of Christ the King

2011-11-20T08:56:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week, I was watching a news talk show. A senator from the "Super Committee" was asked what he really wanted in the whole budget and deficit discussion. He said, "If I was king", and then listed a bunch of things he would do. We see that a king has absolute power and authority in his nation. If he deems X, Y, and Z to be right and just, then X, Y, and Z happen. That's the kind of power a king has.

When we come to this feast of Christ the King, we understand that Christ is the king of not just one nation, but all nations! He is the King of the Universe. He has power over all things..."every sovereignty and every authority and power". That's the kind of power that Christ the King has.

If we look at the life of Christ, there is one event that shows us that he has power over all things. I was just talking with students about this on a few different occasions this past week. It is the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ shows us that he has power over all things...even death. His body had died...and came back to life! He conquered death! No one else in history has had power over death. Christ wins victory over all things!

If we look at the news on the TV or Internet, we might wonder if Christ is really winning. It would seem that death is winning over life. We who defend the culture of life might be asking when do we see victory of the culture of death. When, Lord? It may not be until the end times. The story (of life) ends with good winning over evil. That, we know. We hear this in today's second reading. At the end of the world, the Final Judgment, Christ will "put all his enemies under his feet". He will give back to the Father all that the Father gave him in ruling as King of the Universe.

In our own lives, Christ has power over all things. Many of you students are stressing about going home this week for Thanksgiving...going home to problems in the family, with friends or ex's, etc. Turn to Christ the King and believe in his power. Years ago, just before I was ordained a deacon, we had some bad stuff going on in my (extended) family. During the ordination, I prayed really hard for peace and reconciliation in my family. It was heavy duty stuff going on, so I implored heavy duty Grace. Within a week, there was peace and reconciliation in my family.

He has power over all things and situations! He can win victory over fear, resentments, hatred, sinful habits, whatever. Pray to Christ the King on your flight home or on your way to Thanksgiving dinner for him to help you. Pray that he will bring you victory and that good will win over evil in your lives.

Finally, this Thursday we will give thanks as a country. Every day should be Thanksgiving Day! Studies show that people who give thanks regularly are the happiest and healthiest people in the world. When we come to Mass, we give thanks to God. The word "Eucharist" literally means "thanksgiving". We give thanks for all our blessings, especially the Eucharist and Christ's death on the Cross for us. May each one of give thanks a few times a day, not just on Thursday, but every day this week for all the blessings God has bestowed upon us.

"Sexual Healing"

2011-11-18T10:43:00.000-05:00

Check...this...out. A great video! Thanks for the two students who recommended it.

"God is like..."

2011-11-16T10:01:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me the following. It reveals how some fifth graders can creatively express what God is like with the help of common products and companies. It's a great point to consider: in promoting the good qualities of their products, marketers and advertizers are tapping into the things of God (on a wide but basic level). Brilliant, kids!

A fifth grade teacher in a Christian school asked her class to look at TV commercials and see if they could use them in 20 ways to communicate ideas about God.

Here are some of the results: scroll down.

God is like. . .
BAYER ASPIRIN
He works miracles.

God is like. . .
A FORD
He's got a better idea.

God is like. . .
COKE
He's the real thing.

God is like. . .
HALLMARK CARDS
He cares enough to send His very best.

God is like. . .
TIDE
He gets the stains out others leave behind.

God is like. . .
GENERAL ELECTRIC
He brings good things to life.

God is like. . .
WAL-MART
He has everything.

God is like. . .
ALKA-SELTZER
Try Him, you'll like Him

God is like. . .
SCOTCH TAPE
You can't see Him, but you know He's there.

God is like. . .
DELTA
He's ready when you are.

God is like. . .
ALLSTATE
You're in good hands with Him.

God is like. . .
VO-5 HAIR SPRAY
He holds through all kinds of weather.

God is like. . .
DIAL SOAP
Aren't you glad you have Him? Don't you wish everybody did?

God is like. . ..
THE U.S. POST OFFICE
Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor ice will keep Him from His appointed destination.

God is like. . .
CHEVROLET
The heart beat of America.

God is like. . .
MAXWELL HOUSE
Good to the very last drop.

God is like. . .
BOUNTY
He is the quicker picker upper. . .Can handle the tough jobs. . .
And He won't fall apart on you.

Homily - 33rd Sunday

2011-11-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

Thoughts on Penn State

2011-11-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

The first thing to say about the news coming out of Penn State University this week is that we don’t know for sure what happened. All that we have been hearing has been surrounding allegations that have not been proven in a court of law. But, those at the university who are looking at the evidence and testimony to this point are making decisions which point to the allegations being true. There has to be much credible evidence to them that something seriously wrong did, in fact, occur in order for them to fire the university president as well as the long-time, legendary football coach, Joe Paterno. Anyone who knows how important Paterno is to Penn State knows that this is a knockout punch to the football program and maybe to the university itself. So, we can deduce from the decisions of the university’s board of trustees that the evidence points to the allegations being true.

If what we have been hearing is true, then the first thoughts are with the children (now young adults) who were victims of attacks by a pedophile. It’s unspeakable and unthinkable what they have gone through. Many of the heinous and criminal acts go back several years when the kids were very young. They had serious wounds inflicted upon them for which they have tried to find healing. These wounds have now been reopened with all of the public attention in the past week. And, new developments, statements, actions, and future trials might bring new wounds. Our deep, deep desire is that each and every victim of these and other sexual abuses finds some healing…some light in their darkness. We pray that they find healing.

One of the most pressing questions in all of this is how did nine years (or longer) go by without anyone doing anything about this? My guess at the main answer: pride. St. Augustine once said that, “pride is the root of all sin”, and I believe it. Pride in Penn State football and pride in Joe Paterno – they have become one and the same – is the only explanation, really, for how this can happen. In normal circumstances, there is nothing wrong in taking pride in a sports team, coach, or player. For example, I am proud to be a fan of the Washington Redskins (even though we STINK!). But, pride in college football teams runs deeper than most sports team, especially at Penn State. And, if the same man is coach at a very proud program like Penn State for 46 years and achieves much success, then there will be deep pride in him. This week, many people have described the situation at Penn State as a “cult”. Of course, he can become very proud in his own mind. While I wouldn’t say that Joe Pa is a proud man in general, it appears that his pride blinded him from doing what was right in regard to the sex abuse. Pride in him blinded others in the same way. This might have all been about him from the start. In other words, they were all thinking that if the charges against one of his coaches became public, what would happen to Joe and his legacy? They might have been thinking what would happen to Penn State, but, again, I think that Joe Paterno and PSU became one and the same.

One more thought from all of this is about the morality of our society on sexuality. It’s been intriguing to see how our relativistic society agrees with our Truth-filled Church on one aspect of sex: it’s good in some situations and bad in others. The difference is that society has reduced the amount of sinful sexual acts to almost nothing while the Church has maintained her view (any sexual acts outside of marriage are immoral). So, when society condemns a sexual act like abuse and actually shows an intolerance for evil, it is profound. I have heard the words “moral” and “immoral” on the TV more in the past week than in the past year(s). I just wonder, though: has tolerance of immoral sexual acts and opposition to moral absolutes by our society contributed to the sex scandals of our times?

Homily - 32nd Sunday

2011-11-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

"Jesus of Nazareth, Stand-Up Comic?"

2011-11-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

A student sent me the following article on wsj.com written by Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, culture editor of America magazine, and author of “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life“ (HarperOne). It’s pretty good in offering a different side of the Gospel stories and parables. Whether or not every example is true that Jesus was being funny or ironic, the point that we have being trying to make on different occasions is made: God does have a sense of humor (He’s the one who gives us our senses of humor!):

"Jesus of Nazareth, Stand-Up Comic?"

Was Jesus the Jerry Seinfeld of his day? Not really. His ministry on earth—to announce the Kingdom of God—was more important than being a stand-up comic or poking fun at surly soup vendors. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

On the other hand, the prevailing image of Jesus as the grumpy, dour, depressed prude who spent most of his life suffering is inaccurate. When you look carefully at the Gospels, you find a man with an obvious joie de vivre, a preacher who told funny stories to make a point, a leader who gave his disciples nicknames and a former carpenter who enjoyed a good joke.

So why do we often think of Jesus as gloomy, and why do all those statues, paintings and mosaics portray him as downcast? For one thing, it’s a reflection of the historical emphasis on the Passion and Death of Jesus. For the early Christians, the fact that Jesus was arrested, tried, tortured and crucified was appalling and confusing. So the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) took care to explain this period of Jesus’s life, at great length, to help the early Christians make sense of what transpired before the Resurrection. But as a result, those passages tended to dominate the rest of the Gospels.

Think of it this way: the time from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion represent only about a week in Jesus’s life. Most of the rest of his ministry—which lasted from one to three years–was often spent doing joyful things: sharing meals with disciples, welcoming those on the margins of society, healing the sick and preaching the “Good News.” Along the way, he showed some good humor.

Where? Well, we may not notice it because we’re too removed from it—culturally and temporally. In Jesus’s time, for example, his parables were probably not seen as just clever but, as Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., professor of New Testament of Boston College told me, “hilarious.” For people in first-century Palestine, the idea that someone with a plank of wood in his own eye would critique someone with a speck of dust in his was probably laugh-out-loud funny. “The parables were amusing in their exaggeration and hyperbole,” said Amy-Jill Levine, professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt.

Some of Jesus’s parables are ridiculous in their exaggeration. Take the story of a rich man who gives to his servants several “talents” to keep while he is away. Some of the servants invest wisely; one not at all. It’s usually seen as a serious story about the proper use of one’s gifts in life. But we may overlook the fact that a “talent” represented 15 years of wages. And to one servant the rich man gives five—the equivalent of 75 years of wages–a ridiculous amount, which would have made listeners smile. “Jesus’s parables are witty in their surprise,” said Professor Harold Attridge of the Yale Divinity School. Elsewhere Jesus bestows on the disciple Simon a new name: “Peter” or “Rock.” While most understand this as Jesus designating Peter as the foundation of the church (which he is) another possibility is offered. Peter (Cephas, or stone, in Greek) may also refer to the character of the tough fisherman—angular, sharp, hard-edged. In other words, it functions as a nickname: “Rocky.” And when the mother of James and John, two disciples, bossily ask whether her two sons will sit at Jesus’s right hand in heaven, he demurs. Later on he gives James and John a nickname: “Boanerges,” or “Sons of Thunder.” Is this a comment on their brashness, or perhaps even, as one scholar suggested to me recently, a playful way of referring to their strong-willed mother?

There are more overt signs of Jesus’s appreciation of a sense of humor. My favorite is the story of Nathaniel in the Gospel of John. When he hears that Jesus is from Nazareth he says, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” It’s a dig at Jesus’s hometown, which was seen as a backwater. What does Jesus say in response? You would expect the grumpy Jesus to castigate Nathaniel. But he does the opposite. Jesus says, “Here is an Israelite without guile.” In other words, here’s a guy I can trust! And Nathaniel joins the apostles. It’s an indication of Jesus’s appreciation of a sense of humor.

Christians believe that Jesus was “fully human and fully divine.” And being fully human means having a sense of humor. So let’s balance things out a bit and think not only about the “Man of Sorrows” but also the “Man of Joy.”

The Catholic Church on Divorce

2011-11-02T11:45:00.000-04:00

There has been much talk online and at the Newman Center about divorce because of a much publicized celebrity divorce of the past week. I found a good online tract on divorce from the Archdiocese of Denver which is below. Please click on today's title to view the article in full.

The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Divorce

Among Catholics, one of the most sensitive and often-avoided topics is the stinging reality of divorce and its consequences. While there must be a pastoral response to assist those parties who seek counseling when their failed marriage ends in divorce, one must never compromise the truth of Christ’s teachings for the sake of the pastoral response. The words and teachings of Jesus Christ on divorce are clear, and it is the responsibility of the Church and its pastors to safeguard, proclaim, and defend them. Let us, therefore, turn our attention to the words of Christ Himself recorded in the Gospel of Matthew:

“And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one”? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.’ They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman, commits adultery.’" [1]

These words sound like a great judgment upon a civilization such as ours, where there is one divorce for every two marriages and many consequent re-marriages after such divorces. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, in his radio series “Life Is Worth Living,” eloquently shows how this teaching is not just for Catholics and other Christians. Divorces, he says, go against everything man and woman were created to be.

“They are, indeed, especially wrong for Catholics,” he said. “But they are a violation of the law of God, the Natural Law of God, for everyone, whether he be Tibetan or Moslem, or a so-called Christian. Original Sin and the Deluge did not block out the divinely established order of man and woman. Conjugal love conquered both the deluge and Original Sin and survived both.”

In our article on the theology of the sacrament of marriage, we saw how humanity is part of both a natural order and a supernatural order. Because marriage is a union made by God, it is unbreakable. The Church teaches that the man and woman, who commit the rest of their lives to each other, truly become one. This is the way God intended marriage, and it is important to remember that marriage was instituted by God, not by man. When reflecting on divorce, you must ask yourself whose rules you are playing by when you agree to marry. “Certainly there are judges who will grant divorces, but how does God look upon them?” Archbishop Sheen says. “After the divorce, they are not two separate individuals as they are before the marriage. They are fragments of a joint personality, like a babe who has been cut in two. That is the way God looks upon any divorce, regardless of who the person be.”

One of the great tragedies in our modern culture is that the family is under attack from all sides. Countless movies, television shows and song lyrics depict single-parent families or do not include the parents at all. Commitment is replaced by a distorted notion of love where it is seen as OK to leave a relationship if it’s “not working out.” After all, they say, you only live once and you deserve to be happy. But the true fallout is rarely shown. Despite the reason for any divorce, the impact is almost always traumatic on all parties involved, especially children. In his concluding catechetical talk on the theology of the body on April 8, 1981, Pope John Paul II did not hesitate to use the phrase “plague of divorce” to emphasize the gravity of such an attack on the dignity of marriage.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church Defines Divorce

Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other until death. Sacramental marriage is the sign of the covenant of salvation, to which divorce does incredible injury. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery. If a husband, separated from his wife, becomes involved with another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery; and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself. [2]

Furthermore, the Catechism states that divorce is immoral because “it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.” [3]

But do we really believe that? Do we believe instead that the Church is “out of touch” with relationships and needs to “get with it?” The mentality of civil society challenges the divinely revealed truth that a valid marriage is an indissoluble union between a man and a woman. The Church responds by saying: “The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law. Between the baptized, ‘a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death.’” [4]

Innocent Parties

The Church is also fully aware that there are innocent parties who may be “the victim” of divorce by their spouse. Such spouses are unjustly abandoned and suffer the consequences of a civil divorce and the spiritual and psychological consequences accompanying a failed marriage. Many are concerned in their consciences whether their divorces which have been forced unjustly upon them constitute a gravely sinful act. The Church responds:

“…This spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.” [5]

All Decisions Have Consequences

All decisions have consequences, and divorce is no exception. Divorce is not wrong for Catholics only, but Catholics who are divorced have deeper spiritual consequences surpassing the civil responsibilities following civil divorce. It is critical for all who have undergone a civil divorce to understand that the Church still recognizes the validity of a marriage, even if it is a dissolved union at the civil level; for marriage is first and foremost a physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman. The words of Jesus Christ, echoed in the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, remain unambiguous:

“Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ—‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery’ [6]--the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence. [7]

“The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith .” [8]

The Church teaches that the separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases. The Catechism states: “If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.” [9]

Showing Sensitivity to the Divorced

In The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n.1651), the Church stresses that the community of the faithful should exercise a sensitivity to the divorced through works of charity.

Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons:

They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace. [10]

Homily - 31st Sunday

2011-10-31T14:40:00.000-04:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

Abortion hurts women

2011-10-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

One GW Catholic started an online discussion about how to talk to Planned Parenthood supporters who have popped up consistently on or around campus trying to get support from passer-bys. Here’s what she wrote, “so I'm walking to class today and the Planned Parenthood people were out canvassing, one goes ‘Hi do you have a moment and want to help save Planned Parenthood?" I said "Sorry I'm late to class and I'm prolife".

In the discussion, she asked other pro-lifers for good, quick replies as they passed by. One of our classiest (she was called this by the others) students said that she always tells them that she will pray for them. That’s amazing, but I’m not sure that always goes over real well with them!

Another GW Catholic posted the following article which gives three simple points to make to Planned Parenthood advocates. It comes from lifeaction.org and is pretty good. It helps make the point that I would make to them: abortion hurts women. While it’s a tragic reality, it’s probably the best argument currently in the debate. The article below touches on the physical and emotional harm abortion does to women. The link it offers for the abortion/breast cancer connection is very technical and scientific. Please click on today’s title for a more general site about how abortion increases the risk of breast cancer.

The article below suggests that money is the driving force behind the pro-abortion movement. It’s a big force, no doubt. But, the fact that 95% of all abortions are chosen as a means of birth control present other major factors that might be just as potent or even more so: lifestyle, freedom (or more accurately, license), and power. I might flush these out a bit more in a future post.

Here then, are three arguments to make in defense of women, and thus against abortion.

1. Abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. This truth, evidenced in prestigious, peer-reviewed cancer-research journals is a very important truth to disseminate. Why? Because the anti-breast-cancer movement – in its walks, marches, fun-runs, pink ribbons, shirts – is one of the most pro-woman movements in existence. Breast cancer is a modern plague on the women of our society, and abortion is augmenting its power. To support women – one assumes – is to be against that one disease that so effects women, to stand strongly against the cancer that has caused such tragedy in the lives of our sisters. To be pro-abortion and simultaneously set against breast cancer is to say that the lack of a child is worth the risk of terminal illness. I don’t claim that this position cannot be maintained – perhaps one could weigh the various costs of feeding a baby versus having chemotherapy treatment. No, I simply claim that this position chips away at the pro-choice foundation, that their’s is a movement in defense of the woman.

2. Abortion makes women sad. I do not mean that in some vague way. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, synthesizing data from 1995 to 2009, shows that “women who had undergone an abortion had an 81% increased risk of mental health problems.”

From the European Journal of Public Health 2005: Researchers examining deaths among the entire population of women in Finland found that those who had abortions had a 3.5 times higher death rate from suicide, accidents, or homicides in the following year. Suicide rates among aborting women were six times higher compared to women who gave birth and two times higher compared to women who miscarried.

Have you ever brought up the issue of abortion, not knowing some one has experienced it? Now there’s a heartbreaking situation, akin to speaking flippantly about the death of a family member to someone who has experienced such a loss. I can only speak from experience: Away flies the tolerant “we all have our beliefs, you your own, and me mine” position. Instead, post-abortion women react violently, shakily, and tearfully, full of anger, or guilt, or both. If abortion makes women sad, which seems to be readily apparent, then once again, the pro-choice movement is placed in the awkward position of claiming to have the health of women as their highest priority, while attempting to increase the availability of that-which-makes-women-sad.

A study that has never been carried out: Suicide rates in mothers who were strongly considering abortion, but chose life. Why not? Probably because it would be a very boring study, with lots of not-depressed mothers being not-depressed.

3. There are other women in existence! And no, I’m not talking about the fact that most children aborted are girls, though it is an interesting question to ask: When, exactly, do women’s rights begin? I’m talking about mothers who want to adopt! A 2008 study by National Center for Health Statistics found that 33.1% of women have at some point considered adoption. Of that number 4.9% were currently seeking adoptions. That’s 901,000 women looking for babies. By most recent statistics, there are approximately 129,000 children seeking adoption. Now I’m no mathematician, but that’s 772,000 women who want to adopt a child, but will not. It seems that if we killed less of our children, this would not be a problem. Shoot, even if we take the women who were currently seeking adoptions AND had already begun taking steps – 560,000 – there aren’t enough children to go around.

Why, oh why, do we put women at risk of cancer, depression, and in the terrifying position of violence against their own children, when there are so many women looking for children to adopt? It seems obvious that between hurting one woman and helping two, the most pro-woman action one could take would be to counsel a woman to consider adoption. The most pro-woman action one might take would be to rapidly reduce abortions in America, and thereby increase adoptions.

Though I understand why there exists the rather insane idea that the better choice for all women would be an abortion: Abortion brings in cash. Who is going to pay for all those Planned Parenthood ‘don’t-defund-us’ campaigns if everyone’s putting their children up for adoption?...

Homily - 30th Sunday

2011-10-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

"The largest genocide our world has ever seen"

2011-10-21T08:32:00.000-04:00

One of our former grad students runs her own blog (click on today's post to view the blog). She sent me the following post which is very well written and thought-provoking:

"The largest genocide our world has ever seen"

I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently with a friend who was visiting from home. This is the second time I've been there, and for those of you who have been to the museum know that it is a profound experience no matter how many times you see the exhibits.

The museum is very well done, as it highlights not only the Hitler and Nazi regime, but also the factors that led to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. There is also currently a special exhibit on Genocide, and how it is still happening today.

This happened to be the first exhibit that I walked through while I waited for my turn to go through the main permanent exhibition. While I was there, I just had the greatest sense of unease. It is awful that the genocides such as those in Rwanda and Darfur have happened and are continuing to happen. Why can't our world learn that this is not right? But the greatest sense of unease hit me when I sat down to watch a film detailing Hitler's rise to power. In this film, they defined genocide as the systematic murdering of large groups of people deemed inferior.

Systematic... done or acting according to a fixed plan or methodical system.
Murdering... the wrongful premeditated killing of one human being by another.
Inferior... a person lower than another in rank, status, or ability.

This definition of genocide is when it hit me, when I realized why I was feeling such unease in my heart. It was because we are committing the greatest act of genocide today in our world, and the worse part is that it is a legal and systematic act that ends the lives of millions of unborn children each year.

In the pro-life circles, it is not anything new to compare abortion to genocide and the Holocaust. However, I think my sense of unease came from the fact that the museum kept portraying all the defining qualities of genocide - all of which can blatantly be applied to abortion - but yet there wasn't even a mention of abortion whatsoever. Not even in the exhibit highlighting the atrocities in the genocides of our generation. There was an area where you could make a pledge to take action against the atrocities of genocide around the world, and I wrote that I will "continue praying for the respect, dignity, and protection of all human persons." This, ultimately, is what it comes down to. A lack of recognition and respect for the dignity of human life - even human lives that are different from ours, those lives that seem to be "inferior" to our "superior" intellectual and physical abilities.

As I spent hours walking through the exhibits, I was continuously struck by the similarities between the atrocities committed against the oppressed, mostly the Jews, during the Holocaust and the unborn children of the world today.

There was a section that highlighted the Nazi's T-4 euthanasia program, which shed light on the atrocities committed against men, women, and children with disabilities. They were used as experiments, and then exterminated because they were deemed inferior. I don't think there are many people that could see these atrocities and not see how wrong these acts were.

Yet, we are doing this today. It has been estimated that 90% of babies with down syndrome are aborted. This statistic doesn't even include the number of aborted children who test positive for other disabilities in the womb. I really would like to know how this is different from what the Nazis did during the Holocaust. How is almost completely wiping out children with different intellectual and physical abilities than the average person any different from the Nazi plan for euthanasia and extermination of those deemed inferior?

Of course, it doesn't end there. We all know from our history textbooks that Hitler and the Nazis set out to make the "inferior" races obsolete. 6 million Jews were exterminated because they were inferior, but that's not all. I think the numbers speak for themselves:

(The sources that Wikipedia used are listed on the main article thread.)

This toll doesn't really account for those that publicly and politically opposed the Nazis, although many of those can be accounted for in some of the above numbers. I am especially thinking about the many Catholic priests and laypeople who were martyred for standing up for the dignity of the Jews and others who were murdered.

Of course, the numbers differ depending on what source you use, but it must be recognized that none of these values are entirely accurate. How can one possibly track that many deaths? However, all in all, estimates for the total death toll from the Nazi genocide come to around 17-26 million individual lives lost from 1933-1945, or an average of 1.3-2 million deaths per year.

In comparison, there have been multiple statistical analyses tracking the number of abortions since 1973. An analysis in 2010 showed that 52 million abortions have been performed since Roe v. Wade legalized abortions in the United States, an average of 1.8 million abortions per year. How on earth can some humans be so blind as to not see that abortion has become our modern day Holocaust?

When we expand this to include the concept of inferiority, all you have to do is look at the numbers to see that abortion targets minorities. If looking at a map to see where Planned Parenthood builds most of their clinics isn't enough to notice this trend, you can also look at the statistics. Abortions are performed on more than 3 times as many minority children as it is on white children. From the census data in 2000, African-American women comprised 12.3% of the female population but accounted for 36.4% of the abortions in America in 2006. Hispanic women accounted for 25% of abortions in 2008, while they only made up about 12.5% of the female population in 2000. Meanwhile, 69% of America's female population check the "non-Hispanic, white" box on the census, but only account for 36% of all U.S. abortions. From 1973-2001, abortion alone has claimed more than 2.5 times as many African-American lives as the next five leading causes of death combined. Between Roe v. Wade and now, about 30% of the African-American population has been lost to abortion.

It is time for America to WAKE UP! We claim to be the heroes of defending freedom and protecting those who can't protect themselves, yet we are the leader in the largest genocide our world has ever seen. Yes, the latest action to try to defund Planned Parenthood is a start, but we have to go deeper than that. We have to appeal to the hearts of Americans. We can't do that with facts and numbers and percentages, but only by showing the reality of recognizing abortion as genocide. It can start with looking at the aftermath of the Holocaust that people still deal with today, but it ultimately has to come from a conversion of the American mindset and heart.

Where can we find the steadfast leaders we need to undertake this challenge?

The Catholic Church. Today. Yesterday. Every day.

One of the things that gave me the most hope as I walked through the Holocaust exhibit was that the Catholic Church was recognized as being the only one who consistently opposed Nazi programs of sterilization, experimentation, and extermination of the "inferior" races (despite the fact that many claim the leaders of the Church either ignored the Holocaust or were Nazi supporters). It gave me hope - especially as a Catholic - to see that we continue to publicly oppose these horrors still present in the more modern forms of contraception and surgical sterilization, embryonic stem cell research, and abortion. We will not change our tune - even when we are publicly criticized for it - because this steadfast spirit in opposition is the right thing to do. People can now recognize the horrors of the Holocaust, and so they recognize that opposing the Nazis would have been the right thing to do. I hope and pray that the time comes soon when people will see this opposition against the atrocities in our modern culture as the right thing to do now as well.

As I walked through the exhibit and saw a wall that honored many priests and laypeople, who devoted their lives to hiding the Jews, and as I saw pictures of priests being executed for publicly opposing the Nazi regime, I started to keep true to my pledge. I asked those priests that were in the photos, by name, to pray for us and an end to genocide. We can't do this alone, and who better to turn to in our time of need today than the army who opposed these atrocities during the Holocaus

"A young boy talking about death and the Eucharist"

2011-10-19T10:34:00.000-04:00

My sister sent me the following video which blew me away. Her description had me view this as soon as I could: " a young boy talking about death and the Eucharist. Amazing what he says!"

Homily - 29th Sunday

2011-10-17T19:17:00.000-04:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

"33 minutes that will rock your world"

2011-10-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

1) Parents Weekend Mass, 11 am, St Stephen's, Sunday. Light reception after Mass in the Parish Hall - coffee, donuts, juice.

2) "DC Padres" baseball game, Sunday, 3 pm. Email Amy today is interested in attending.

3) Pizza after 7:30 Mass, Sunday.

"A Label that Sticks"

2011-10-12T10:51:00.000-04:00

Last night, we had an extraordinary speaker, Steve, who gave a powerful and inspiring testimonial about living as a faithful Catholic with same-sex attraction. He explained how his father not being there for him as a child led him to confusion in how he viewed and approached relationships with men. He had relationships with women and even got married, but eventually left all of that to be active with same-sex relationships that he knew in his heart were wrong. With the help of "Courage", a Roman Catholic apostolate which ministers to those with same-sex attractions, Steve has been living a life of chastity, freedom, and peace for many years. He is a heroic witness to the Gospel and the Cross of Christ.

To view Courage's website, please click on today's title. Here is an excellent article from its website which addresses the harmful labels given to those with same-sex attraction.

A Label that Sticks

Paul Scalia

When I was in high school, the students fell into many different groups: preps, jocks, cheerleaders, punks, deadheads, druggies, geeks, and all the rest. Just about everyone received an unofficial but virtually unchangeable assignment to a particular group. When I work in high schools today, I discover little difference. The groups still exist (with just a few changes in terminology), and the teachers and administrators still counsel against the labels. As they wisely explain, labels reinforce stereotypes and prejudices; they prevent us from accepting individuals and getting to know the real person.

There is one difference, however. While still warning children against stereotypes and labels, high-school administrations increasingly encourage one group of students to label themselves: those who experience same-sex attractions. With the assistance (and sometimes pressure) of such groups as the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, high schools across the country now routinely have student organizations dedicated to promoting the tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality. Indeed, New York City has an entire school—Harvey Milk High School—devoted to “gay, lesbian, transgendered and questioning youth.”

Is it worth pointing out, even at this late date, that the teachers and administrators were right about the dangers of labeling—and wrong when they allowed and encouraged homosexual students to be labeled? As with most errors, this one proceeds from a certain truth and often from good intentions. The truth is that adolescents with same-sex attractions have a higher suicide rate and are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs. Attributing these problems to persecution and harassment, the new groups pledge to create a safe atmosphere so that students will not be tempted to self-destructive behavior.

But in practice this agenda means more than just an end to the name-calling. It means the approval of homosexuality and, in a new form of name-calling, an insistence that adolescents who experience same-sex attractions “come out” as homosexual.

This is, to begin with, a failure of common sense. Such categorizations feed into the adolescent penchant for labels. High-school students want to belong to a group. They want an identity. Getting to know other people, figuring them out, sorting out who you are in light of who they are—that can be difficult work. Labels make it much easier. Many adolescents latch on to an identity for a time and then think better of it later. For this reason parents and teachers traditionally guard against pigeonholing students in certain categories.

The new approach, however, does just the opposite. It encourages labeling. Rather than struggle through the difficulties of adolescence, a high-school freshman or sophomore can now, with official support, profess to be gay—and he instantly has an identity and a group. Now he belongs. He knows who he is. Gone is the possibility that adolescents might be confused, perhaps even wrong. Adults typically display a wise reserve about the self-discoveries of high-school students: they know adolescents are still figuring things out, and they recognize their responsibility to help sort through the confusion. So why is all this natural wisdom somehow abandoned these days—in the most confused and confusing area of adolescent sexuality?

Of course, the phrases are tempting because of their convenience and efficiency. They are common, close at hand, and make quick work of a difficult issue. But they also identify an individual person with his homosexual inclinations. They presume that a person is his inclinations or attractions; he is a “gay” or is a “homosexual.” At some point adults have to admit that a fifteen-year-old who claims to be “a questioning transgendered bisexual” is really just confused.

Meanwhile, the schools’ endorsement of all this quickly undermines parents’ authority in an extraordinarily sensitive area. While the parents try to teach one thing at home, the school presents the opposite view, now not only in the classroom but also socially (which in high school might have a greater effect). And those parents who have a better way to handle their child’s difficulties will find their efforts thwarted. At home they strive to love their children, help them in their struggles, and teach a coherent truth about human sexuality. Meanwhile at school, children receive the propaganda and encouragement to argue precisely against what their parents say.

Much of this social engineering rests on the view that homosexuality is a fixed, inborn orientation. The school groups hold this as a dogma not open for discussion. In one of the presidential debates last year, when asked if he thought homosexuality was inherited or chosen, President Bush wisely and modestly answered that he did not know. With that he showed himself to be fairly well aligned with the scientific community, which itself cannot produce a uniform answer to the question. The supposed “gay gene” has never been proven or discovered. The most we can say is that certain people may have genetic predispositions towards homosexuality—which is a far cry from saying they inherit it.

The high-school organizations, however, have no qualms about pronouncing the matter settled. Insisting that homosexuality is inborn, they immediately conclude that an adolescent with homosexual inclinations must necessarily be homosexual, or gay, or lesbian, or transgendered—whichever label fits.

And once the label is assigned, it is awfully hard to remove. It lasts past high school and leaves the adolescent at the mercy of our culture’s extremes. What man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? Increasingly, our high schools distribute stones and serpents to hungry children. Adolescents legitimately confused or anxious about their sexuality receive the advice to assume the homosexual label, truncating their identities perhaps for their entire lives.

Given the obvious errors of this new approach, the question still remains, especially for parents: How should one respond to adolescents with same-sex attractions? Love must be the leading edge of the response. The school organizations attract adolescents precisely because they pledge unconditional acceptance and affirmation of the person, no matter what “orientation” he has. Never mind that receiving this acceptance and affirmation in effect requires signing up for the gay agenda, adolescents still perceive it as acceptance and affirmation. Parents need to understand how effective this is. The first point to make known, then, is not what is wrong but what is right: The child is lovable, and is loved. That love, more than anything else, instills in adolescents the trust and confidence they need to struggle with whatever painful and saddening realities they face.

Difficulties arise when the child insists on being accepted and loved not as a person but as a “gay,” “homosexual,” or “other”—when he wants to be loved according to the label. And our culture willingly indulges these labels for the same reason we used them in high school: we find it easier to deal with labels than with actual persons. Clearly this situation demands tremendous patience and perseverance; it requires parents to insist continually that, no, their child is not just the sum of his sexual attractions, that they can love their child while rejecting some of his actions.

Adolescents need to hear precisely this: People’s sexual inclinations do not determine their identity. Nor does every so-called “homosexual” feel attractions of the same character or to the same degree. Some have strong and lasting homosexual desires; for others, such desires are slight and passing. Lumping everyone together as having the same orientation or identity is a grotesque reduction of a complicated reality, and it massively damages the very people it claims to help.

Resisting the labeling temptation demands that we reject the culture’s vocabulary and adopt more precise terms. In popular usage, the words “gay” and “lesbian” imply a fixed orientation and the living out of a lifestyle. Even the term “homosexual person,”which is used in some Vatican documents, suggests that homosexual inclinations somehow determine, which is to say confine, a person’s identity.

Granted, the more accurate phrases do not trip easily off the tongue. But what is lost in efficiency is gained in precision. Terms such as “same-sex attractions” and “homosexual inclinations” express what a person experiences without identifying the person with those attractions. They both acknowledge the attractions and preserve the freedom and dignity of the person. With that essential distinction made, parents can better oppose the attractions without rejecting the child. And as the child matures, he will not find his identity confined to his sexuality.

Further, opposition to homosexual attractions and actions makes sense only when it is rooted in the full truth of human sexuality. Gay school groups gain approval and support partly because heterosexual unchastity (contraception, masturbation, premarital sex, adultery, and all the rest) has compromised so many. Our culture’s deliberate separation of sex from procreation has destroyed our ability to articulate a coherent explanation of sexual ethics. Parents and educators have damaged the tools that would allow them to explain why homosexual activity is wrong.

Understanding the full truth of human sexuality produces an appreciation for purity. Of course, all young people need to strive for this virtue. But purity takes on a greater significance for those with same-sex attractions. Nothing will confirm a supposed “gay” identity more quickly and solidly than homosexual actions. After a homosexual encounter, the adolescent must either admit the error of his actions and repent—or more boldly identify himself with his actions and look for a way to justify them.

As sexual license increases in our culture, we will encounter more adolescents confused about their sexuality and perhaps experiencing same-sex attractions. The easy option is to dissolve the tension by approving homosexuality and even encouraging it. But the most charitable thing we can do for such youth is to love them as God’s own images, to teach them the full truth about human sexuality, and to enable them to live it. Anything less is giving our children stones when they ask for bread.

Paul Scalia is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, and chaplain for the Arlington chapter of Courage.

DC Padres (priests' baseball team) this Sunday!

2011-10-11T10:46:00.001-04:00

Washington has a baseball team of priests and seminarians! "DC Padres" are 1-0 and playing our second game this Sunday, Oct 16, at 3 pm in Germantown, Maryland (Montgomery County Community College). I will be playing and most likely pitching at some point in the game (man, it's been a while since I pitched...like 10 years). Should be a ton of fun. If any GW Catholics are interested in attending, Amy will be driving a van that will leave GW at 2 and return by 6:30. Email me or her if you are in.

The first game which took place during our Opening Masses (d'oh, I couldn't play!) made covered by local and national media. Between 700-1000 people attended the matchup with a local team which came down to the last at-bat. Here is an article from the National Catholic Register and a cool video about the game from the Archdiocese of Washington:

WASHINGTON (CNA) — A baseball team of 11 Catholic priests and seminarians from the Archdiocese of Washington will play a team of high school and college varsity players to help promote vocations. The team’s first baseman, Father Larry Young, can’t wait for the game.

“We’re going to start something where we can play three games a year around the archdiocese. This is a forum to promote vocations to the priesthood in a fresh, different way,” said Father Young, the pastor of Our Lady’s Church in Leonardtown, Md.

Many of the players have experience in college or high-school baseball.

“There’s talent among the seminarians and the priests. I think we’ve got a good team,” the priest said.

The team, named the D.C. Padres, has a roster of five priests and six seminarians. Their first game is scheduled for 4:30pm Sunday, Sept. 4, at Bowie Baysox Stadium in Bowie, Md. Tickets to the 2pm Sept. 4 Baysox game will serve as admittance to the later D.C. Padres game. The team is also offering discounted tickets through the parish office at Our Lady’s Church.

The Catholic community is rallying around the D.C. Padres. One parishioner at Our Lady’s Church ordered the shirts and hats for the men, while St. Mary’s Ryken High school is lending the team their equipment.

During the game’s “third-inning stretch,” the team will talk to the crowd about the gift of the priesthood. They will invite young men to pray and consider whether God is calling them to follow him as priests.

Almost 500 game tickets have been sold, Father Young told CNA on Sept. 1. “It should be a nice crowd of people to watch this. People seem to react favorably. It’s a novelty, the first time,” he said.

“It’s kind of extraordinary for people to hear that priests and seminarians are playing fast-pitch baseball. Softball is one thing, and there’s basketball. But playing varsity baseball is a little unusual.”

Father Young developed the idea with Father Larry Swink, pastor of Jesus the Divine Word in Huntingtown, Md. Both men witnessed the success of the D.C. Hood basketball team, which is also made up of priests and seminarians.

The basketball team has been around for several years, and Father Young has played in a few games. “The basketball team this year is going to be awesome,” he reported. “Their team is stacked.”

The team travels to area parishes and has four or five games a year. During halftime, the crowd hears from a priest or seminarian, who talks about vocations. The Archdiocese of Baltimore also has a basketball team called Men in Black. Father Young recommended that other dioceses consider similar sports programs to encourage vocations.

“It seems like it’s spreading,” he said. “If nothing else, it creates buzz, and people talk about these things. It just keeps it in people’s minds. “It’s a nice, light, fun event that lets people see their priests out there in a different setting than they’re used to.”

Homily - 28th Sunday

2011-10-10T10:51:00.000-04:00

I don’t know if we have marketing majors here tonight, but I want each of you to put on your marketing hat for a minute. It’s not to market products because the two things I will ask about are not products. They are more difficult to market than products. The first is Heaven. How would you market Heaven, especially on a college campus? You might come up with slogans like, “The greatest party forEVER” or “The eternal buzz…and no hangover”. I would use the phrase from the first reading (Isaiah 25): “A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines”. That sounds so good! It sounds so appealing. The second is the Mass. How would you market Sunday Mass? If you have ideas, let me know! And, if you struggle with this, well, welcome to my world. Again, we can use the same inviting phrase from Isaiah 25: “A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines”. This, of course, is describing the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ. It’s not just convenient to use the same slogan, it’s true. Heaven and the Mass are the same realities because Mass is Heaven on Earth.

The Church has described Mass as Heaven on Earth for a long time, but one modern book brings this out very well. “The Lamb’s Supper” by Scott Hahn is an excellent read for those who want to learn more about Heaven, the Mass, and the Book of Revelation. Scott Hahn is a convert to the Church and one of the greatest biblical scholars in the Church. He used to be anti-Catholic and viewed the Mass as idol worship. But, then he came to a daily Mass one day and it changed his life. He is a genius but couldn’t make sense of the Book of Revelation which describes Heaven in vivid imagery. It was at Mass that he began to make sense of it all as he writes:

“I was giddy with the newness of it all. For years I had been trying to make sense of the Book of Revelation as some kind of encoded message about the end of the world, about worship in faraway heaven, about something most Christians couldn’t experience while still on earth. Now, after two weeks of daily Mass attendance, I found myself wanting to stand up during the liturgy and say, ‘Hey, everybody. Let me show you where you are in the Apocalypse! Turn to chapter four, verse eight. You’re in heaven right now’”.

We have copies of this book at the Newman Center library. What Hahn heard from the Book of Revelation is what we hear at every Mass. It is what is heard in Heaven: “Glory to God in the highest” and “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord” and “Behold the Lamb of God”. The language of the Mass takes us up to Heaven. When I say, “Lift up your hearts”, you say, “We lift them up”…to the Lord…to Heaven. When we come to Mass, we get a serious glimpse of what Heaven will be like. When Christ came, He brought Heaven to Earth. Now, He brings Earth to Heaven in the Mass. All of the language, gestures, and hymns of the Mass are to raise us up to Heaven. It really is a banquet…a wedding feast that is described in today’s Gospel. Jesus says Heaven is like a wedding feast; a wedding between us and God. The Mass is the preview to that feast because it is here that we come into union with Christ in the Eucharist.

The language of the Mass takes us up to Heaven. It is very important to have the correct language in order to have the fullest experience of Heaven on Earth. The language of the Mass used to be Latin, as you might know. Fifty years ago, Vatican II allowed the Mass to be in the vernacular (or native language) which for us is English. In the translation from Latin to English, some of the wording hasn’t been just right. The Church has tried for many years to get it right, and it finally has it. So, there are some changes coming to the Mass. The structure remains the same, but some of the wording will change on the first Sunday of Advent. Most of the changes will be said by the priest, but you will have some changes to your “script”. For example, I will say, “The Lord be with you”; your response will be “And with your spirit”. There will be changes to the Gloria and the Creed, too. You will need to relearn your responses, but we will provide cards so that you will know what to say. This is all so that the language of the Mass is faithful to the Latin and closer to the original.

Finally, a word about the man in the Gospel parable who didn’t have a wedding garment and was not allowed into the wedding feast. The host typically provided garments to all the guests; the man must have refused to wear it and was punished for it. I see the wedding garment as the “state of Grace”. The state of Grace is what admits us into Heaven, so we must always be wearing it. We never know when our time will come; we always need to be ready to go. A good friend that I have known since high school died suddenly on Saturday night. It’s such a shock. We had just talked that afternoon and he sounded great. He was an amazing and holy man who was probably wearing his wedding garment when he died. But, you just never know. We always have to be ready.

The state of Grace is what also admits us to Holy Communion at Mass, so we must always be in it to receive the Eucharist. If we have taken off the wedding garment through mortal sin, we need to go to Confession before receiving the Eucharist (receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin is sacrilege and a mortal sin). A mortal sin is a serious sin (such as skipping Mass on Sunday, getting drunk, getting high, any sexual acts outside of marriage) that is done with full knowledge and full consent. We have to know it’s a mortal sin for it to be a mortal sin. If we’ve taken off the wedding garment in these or other ways, Confession puts it back on for us to be ready for Heaven and able to receive the Eucharist…able to share in the “feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines”.

"Abortion, Adoption, and Steve Jobs"

2011-10-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

"Jesus and Burritos" + movie tonight, Newman Center. Eucharistic Adoration from 6-7 pm followed by Chipotle and then a pro-life movie, "Juno". Come on by!!

We ask God to grant eternal rest to Steve Jobs, genius and innovator. There are some serious reflections going on around the world about this man’s contributions to the world but also about life and death. Regarding the latter, even Steve Jobs reflected on death at his Stanford University commencement address in 2005:

“ No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.”

(As an aside, he also said this: “Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” As brilliant as Steve was, this wasn’t his wisest philosophy. It contradicts itself for a few reasons. One, his dogma was formed and shaped by the dogma of others. Two, he wants the students to follow his dogma and opinions. And three, if they follow his dogma, then they will have to discount it. )

Regarding life, below is a thought-provoking article from washingtontimes.com. It reflects on the impressive life story of Steve Jobs and asks an extremely important question on the inherent and yet global value of every human life.

Abortion, Adoption, and Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is one of the most powerful figures in our society. In Jobs’ story, we see a man of humble roots starting a company in his garage and transforming it into the world’s most valuable company with a net worth of $337 billion. Frequently described as this generation’s leading visionary, Jobs led the creation of not only the Macintosh computer, but also the iPod, iPad and iTunes.

Apple has played a major role in society. Apple and Microsoft compete for the OS market. Apple and companies like Lenovo, HP, and Toshiba compete for the laptop market. Apple is also involved as the major player in the tablet and mp3 player market. In capitalism, competition creates benefits for everyone. Without Apple, competing companies wouldn’t have had as much incentive to develop the competitive technologically advanced products that we now enjoy. Apple created the first GUI (Graphical User Interface) for a personal computer, which led the way for all operating systems in use today, including major Microsoft products.

The world would truly have been a different place without Apple. The success of Apple stems directly from the successes and failures of Steve Jobs. Yes, failure is a good and necessary thing. If Jobs hadn’t failed as drastically as he did (in his multiple failed ventures), he wouldn’t have succeeded as much as he did with Apple.

This speaks volumes to our culture: We need to allow businesses and people to fail so that they can be resilient and succeed.

Jobs story normally begins with him attending Reed College for a semester before dropping out and subsequently auditing art classes that would later help him create fonts for Apple products. He worked briefly for Hewlett Packard and Atari before founding Apple with two of his friends. A few years later, he was fired from Apple following a disagreement with the CEO. Over the years he founded NeXT Computer, and owned PIXAR working with Disney. NeXT was later acquired by Apple, which brought him back into the company. He then transformed Apple into its present state.

However, his story actually begins before Reed College. In a 2005 Stanford University commencement address Steve Jobs painted a brief picture of his beginnings: “It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.

Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.”

Jobs’ biological parents were Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah John Jandali. Although the details of Simpson and Jandali’s relationship have not been made public, we do know a good deal about Mr. Jandali. A Syrian immigrant, he came to the United States to pursue his higher education in 1949. According to The Daily Mail, he is now vice president of a casino in Reno, Nevada. At the time, however, Joanne’s parents would not allow the two to get married.

For that reason, Jobs was given up for adoption to his parents Paul and Clara Jobs.

Eighteen years later saw the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which paved the way for hundreds of millions of legal abortions to take place in the United States over the following years. In 1955, abortion was nowhere near as prevalent as it is today. It was primarily rejected by society as the termination of innocent life.

Instead, adoptions were preferred. Adoptions ensure that children are given life. Jobs’ adoption was very beneficial, creating and shaping him into the leader that he would later become.

What would a world look like in which Steve Jobs had been aborted?

Out of the 52 million abortions in the US in the past 38 years, how many other Jobs’s have we extinguished?

"Designed for sex"

2011-10-05T14:45:00.000-04:00

Fr. Tom Morrow spoke about dating last night at the Newman Center which engaged our full house of students. He laid out very clear and specific principles related to dating and preparing for marriage. Everything he proposed ran in stark contrast to the "hook-up culture" so it was a bit of a culture shock for some folks.

Along these lines, I found an excellent online article, "Designed for sex". Check out the full article by clicing on today's title. I'd be up for starting a discussion group for folks who like to discuss articles like this. Let me know via email if you're interested. Here is an excerpt:

Not Designed for It

The fact is that we aren’t designed for hooking up. Our hearts and bodies are designed to work together. Don’t we already know that?

In “Friends, Friends with Benefits, and the Benefits of the Local Mall,” a New York Times Magazine writer who interviewed teenagers who hook up supplies a telling anecdote. The girl Melissa tells him, “I have my friends for my emotional needs, so I don’t need that from the guy I’m having sex with.” Yet on the day of the interview, “Melissa was in a foul mood. Her ‘friend with benefits’ had just broken up with her. ‘How is that even possible?’ she said, sitting, shoulders slumped, in a booth at a diner. ‘The point of having a friend with benefits is that you won’t get broken up with, you won’t get hurt.’”

But let there be no mistake: When I say we aren’t designed for this, I’m also speaking of males. A woman may be more likely to cry the next morning; it’s not so easy to sleep with a man who won’t even call you back. But a man pays a price too. He probably thinks he can instrumentalize his relationships with women in general, yet remain capable of romantic intimacy when the right woman comes along. Sorry, fellow. That’s not how it works.

Sex is like applying adhesive tape; promiscuity is like ripping the tape off again. If you rip it off, rip it off, rip it off, eventually the tape can’t stick anymore. This probably contributes to an even wider social problem that might be called the Peter Pan syndrome. Men in their forties with children in their twenties talk like boys in their teens. “I still don’t feel like a grown-up,” they say. They don’t even call themselves men—just “guys.”

Now, in a roundabout sort of way, I’ve just introduced you to the concept of natural law. Although the natural-law tradition is unfamiliar to most people today, it has been the main axis of Western ethical thought for 23 centuries, and in fact it is experiencing a renaissance.

The hinge concept is design. I said that we’re not designed for hooking up, that we’re designed for our bodies and hearts to work together. We human beings really do have a design, and I mean that literally—not just a biological design, but an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual design. The human design is the meaning of the ancient expression “human nature.” Some ways of living comport with our design. Others don’t.

Homily -27th Sunday

2011-10-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

Please click on today's title for Sunday's homily. Once in the GW Catholics site, you might have to click on the smaller homily title twice.

Woman and a Fork

2011-09-30T10:42:00.000-04:00

Chipotle after the 7:30 Sunday night student Mass. If 300 people come to Mass (this Sunday or any Sunday this year), I will hit a local nightclub in my cassock. Nothing would make me happier than to have to make a fool of myself (and my "dress") on a dance floor.

Here is a cool little parable that a friend sent me:

Woman and a Fork

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things 'in order,' she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

'There's one more thing,' she said excitedly..

'What's that?' came the Pastor's reply.

'This is very important,' the young woman continued. 'I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.'

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.

That surprises you, doesn't it?' the young woman asked.

'Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request,' said the Pastor.

The young woman explained. 'My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming ... like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork ... the best is yet to come.'

The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge.

She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, 'What's with the fork?' And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork let it remind you, ever so gently, that…

The BEST is yet to come!

"Mars vs. Venus diaries" (this is funny)

2011-09-28T10:12:00.000-04:00

Our Tuesday discussions continue to rock with another solid turnout last night. We had two powerful and inspiring chastity speakers, Ty and Ellen. Ty spoke to the men and Ellen spoke to the women. My sense was that the talks were very helpful and well received. Part of the reason we separated the men from the women is that we are different and so we have different struggles living chastity. The principles are the same for males and females in living chastity (or any virtue) and we share Christ throughout, but approach them differently. Put another way, “men are from Mars, women are from Venus”; they share the sun, but approach its rays differently.

Along these lines, a friend sent me the following, “Mars vs. Venus Diaries”, which is hilarious. I know what students who know of my affinity for golf will think: this would have been my diary if I had gotten married.

Wife’s diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.

I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.

I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

Husband’s diary

Four putt; Who The Heck Four Putts!?

Here is an excerpt from last week's epic speaker, Fr Bill Byrne, talking about joy:

Homily - 26th Sunday

2011-09-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

Please click on today's title to listen to Sunday's homily through our website.

Confess!

2011-09-23T08:32:00.000-04:00

Please pray for our freshmen on retreat this weekend! NO Confessions or Vigil Mass this Saturday, but the usual student Sunday Masses will be celebrated this Sunday at 5:30, 7:30, and 10 pm at St. Stephen's.

Here's a little video I posted on Youtube the other day on Confession.

Catholic Life in the Ivy League

2011-09-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

Catholic Life in the Ivy League

NLM Guest Article by Stephen Schmalhofer

In 2004, Yale University admitted only 9.9% of the 20,000 applicants to Yale College. I enrolled in August and found myself on an Ivy covered playground. Yalies are often named among the happiest undergraduates. Administrators blanket the campus with self-congratulatory nods to Yale's U.S. Presidents, CEOs, and academic stars. The promise is that a Yale degree is a sorcerer’s stone, turning leaden undergraduates into gold, joining the brilliant, wealthy and powerful.

Why would anyone numbered among the chosen 9.9% decide to go to Mass?

In Yale's gothic courtyards, libraries, residential colleges, and Payne Whitney Gymnasium aka "the cathedral of sweat", I wandered. On Hillhouse Avenue, "the most beautiful street in America", I stepped into St. Mary's. It was an experience of beauty, an aesthetic wrapped in virtue and truth. On an Ivy League campus, it was a rare thing: unashamed, confident Truth! Not a self-conscious peer-reviewed hypothesis or a timidly footnoted factoid. Not a smug wink at old traditions and certitudes or a dissolving intellectual fad. It was the Truth, stripped naked, hung on a Cross, offered on an altar, Flesh to eat, Blood to drink.

I breathed the air of St. Mary's, taking deep drags thick with the Presence that separates a Catholic Church from an oddly decorated room. Incense burned with the prayers of two millennia. Candles flickered and kneelers dropped on hard wood. A bell chimed and I heard something come floating down from the choir loft. What was that music? It was so beautiful, so sublime, and so... sacred. I had never heard chant and my soul leapt like John in the womb of St. Elizabeth. My previously spoken prayers and off-tune responses seemed so inadequate. Chant returned my voice at Mass. The Kyrie was finally a suitable expression of penitence, before rolling into thanksgiving at the Gloria. Instead of sounding like the Pledge of Allegiance, the chanted Credo turned dogma into prayer. While every Mass is the source and summit of our faith, here was a place that worshipped as though that were true and not just a rote line in the Catechism. It reduced other campus religious offerings to ersatz ritual: Yale Divinity students burning the 10 Commandments for Ash Wednesday, Campus Crusaders for Christ huddling around a guitar, the campus chapel emptied out for silent "meditation."

If the liturgy wars were raging at St. Mary's, I was blissfully unaware. Instead of pandering to the fickle tastes of college students, I found something wonderfully consistent on Hillhouse Avenue. Priests said Mass without egotism. Instead of stumbling towards "relevance," homilies stayed fresh by addressing the saint's daily feast or the Holy Father's recent remarks. Ignoring pop songs and movie quotes, source material came from the great deposit of Catholic theology that every Dominican masters. Mass was never hurried or impatient, always paced with moments of silent reflection. Latin was simply the language for the Ordinary and most of the Propers, not a tribal totem. The schola stayed in the loft, only their chants entered the sanctuary.

An Ivy League athlete is naturally adjusted to sacrifice. A full load of classes is scheduled around morning film sessions, afternoon weight-lifting and evening practices. Without "redshirt" years, we race to gain weight. To make the switch from linebacker to defensive tackle, I learned new math: 7 daily meals for a total of 5000 calories = 60 lbs. I have felt the crushing weight of 500 lbs. on my back and oxygen starved lungs after morning runs. I have seen teammates limp into Mass with ice bags on their knees and neck, twisting with cramps as they kneel. This liturgy was demanding and that suited me perfectly. Disciplined eating made sense and fasting was the religious corollary. Prayerful posture was inoffensive as technique is drilled hundreds of time at practice. A football player told to face the sideline to receive a play-call will find "facing East" to be an appropriate liturgical orientation. My best coaches understood that they could not coerce us into effort or excellence. They must propose, instruct, and motivate with the unique and delicate temperament of each player in careful consideration. While liturgy at St. Mary's was demanding, it never imposed a specific emotion. I felt joy on the darkest of Good Fridays, and deep sadness on the most glorious feast days.

Even on an idyllic campus, there were crises of confidence. Why was I propping my eyes open over some dry textbook? Why did I wake up early to sweat in the gym? Why did my back hurt? Why was I force feeding myself? What is the point of a history major? Across campus the Friars' bore greater burdens. Their study was more intense than mine. Their regimen of prayer was more strict than any offseason training program. What animated them? Where did they draw strength? I have charged into the Yale Bowl on game day. At commencement, I watched the university president march to the podium. But when an elderly Friar exited the sacristy and tenderly processed to the altar, I saw a strength unmatched. Leaning forward, each step was a prayer with the weight of a thousand confessions and midnight calls pressing down. He wasn't walking aimlessly for a procession demands a destination. His destination was his strength: to the altar of God, to the God who gives joy to my youth!

There is the lesson for campus chaplains, for youth ministers, for parents, for pastors. The temptation is to provide undergraduates with an endless supply of activities, bands, dinners, trips, and lectures. These can be great blessings. But first consider: Why are they wandering? Instead of a diversion, make sure they find something beautiful and true. A soft-spoken Bavarian whose primary focus is the Queen of the Sciences, not biology or physics, remarked that “as soon as one recognizes the incomparable grandeur of the whole, one's vision penetrates farther and the question arises about a God who is at the origin of all things."

Homily - 25th Sunday

2011-09-19T23:29:00.002-04:00

Please click on today's title to listen to Sunday's homily through our website.

"Values ought to shape our choice and not be trumped by it"

2011-09-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

Rosary for Life today, 3 pm. Please meet at the Newman Center and then we will walk down to pray the rosary outside the abortion facility on campus (Washington Surgi Clinic, next to the Dakota Hall dorms).

A student sent me the following video on Youtube involving Fr. Robert Barron. Fr. Barron has done numerous videos, most notably the "Catholicism Project" which we will show at the Newman Center soon. In this video, he addresses the issue of "two minus one pregnancies" in which mothers with twins choose to abort one of their babies. It's a very good video commentary.

Fr. Barron might get some grief from people over his laughs and sarcastic remarks. My suggestion would be to do another take without all of those. They serve a point that some of the rationale from pro-choice advocates and even mothers who have chosen abortion is so crazy that it is just laughable. But, in our hyper-senstitive culture, his reactions are perceived as being insensitive and condescending. Then, Fr. Barron would be perceived as being mean and insensitive even though he is not and does not intend to give this impression. In all of this, the message might get lost because people often look for any reason to attack the messenger when they can't substantially attack the message.

My favorite line is the last one: "values ought to shape our choice and not be trumped by it"

"Even demons believe!"

2011-09-14T10:17:00.000-04:00

Happy Feast of the Triumph of the Cross!!

Today, we begin Wednesday Adoration at the Newman Center which goes from 12:30-10 pm every week this semester. Over 30 students have made a weekly commitment to adore our Lord in the Eucharist for 30 minutes. (The 30/30 club) They have come to recognize and believe what even demons believe: that "this is my body" means this is my body.

Even Demons Believe!

Is The Lord Truly Present In The Eucharist? You Better Believe It!

Take From: "The Light Is On For You".

Msgr. Charles Pope - It was almost 15 years ago. I was At Old St. Mary’s here in D.C. celebrating Mass in the Latin (Extraordinary Form). It was a solemn high Mass. I don’t suppose I thought it any different than most Sunday’s but something quite amazing was about to happen.

As you may know the ancient Latin Mass is celebrated “ad orientem” (towards the Liturgical East). Priest and people all face one direction. What this means practically for the celebrant is that the people are behind him. It was time for the consecration. The priest is directed to bow low,his forearms on the altar table the host between his fingers.

As directed I said the venerable words of Consecration in a low but distinct voice, Hoc est enim Corpus meum (For this is my Body). The bells rang as I genuflected.

But behind me a disturbance of some sort, a shaking or rustling in the front pews behind me to my right. And then a moaning or grumbling. What was that? It did not really sound human,more like the grumbling of a large animal such as a boar or a bear,along with a plaintive moan that did not seem human. I elevated the host and wondered,“What was that?” Then silence. I could not turn to look easily for that is awkward for the celebrant in the ancient Latin Mass. But still I thought,What was that?

But it was time for the consecration of the chalice. Again,bowing low and pronouncing clearly and distinctly but in a low voice: Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei,novi et æterni testamenti;mysterium fidei;qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem pecatorum. Haec quotiescumque feceritis in mei memoriam facietis (for this is the cup of my Blood, of the new and eternal covenant; the mystery of faith; which will for the many be shed unto the remission of sins. When so ever you do this,you do it in my memory).

Then,I heard another sound this time an undeniable moan and then a shriek as some one cried out:“Leave me alone Jesus! Why do you torture me!” Suddenly a scuffling as some one ran out with the groaning sound of having been injured. The back doors swung open,then closed. Then silence.

Realization – I could not turn to look for I was raising the Chalice high over my head. But I knew in an instant that some poor demon-tormented soul had encountered Christ in the Eucharistic,and could not endure his real presence displayed for all to see. And the words of Scripture occurred to me: Even Demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).

Repentance – But just as James used those words to rebuke the weak faith of his flock I too had to repent. Why was a demon-troubled man more aware of the true presence and astonished by it than me? He was moved in the negative sense to run. Why was I not more moved in a positive and comparable way? What of the other believers in the pews? I don’t doubt that any of us believed intellectually in the true presence. But there is something very different and far more wonderful in being moved to the depth of your soul! It is so easy for us to be sleepy in the presence of the Divine,forgetful of the miraculous and awesome Presence available to us.

But let the record show that one day,almost 15 years ago,it was made quite plain to me that I held in my hands the Lord of Glory,the King of heaven and earth,the just Judge,and Ruler of the kings of the earth. Is the Lord truly present in the Eucharist? You’d better believe it, even demons believe that!

Homily - 24th Sunday

2011-09-13T10:26:00.006-04:00

Please click on today's title and then "click here to listen" on the GW Catholics site.

Thoughts on 9/11

2011-09-09T12:09:00.000-04:00

My father died when he was 51. One day, he was on a beach and loving life, saying that it was the most relaxing weekend of his life. The next day, he dropped dead of a heart attack. It was such a complete shock to our family, parish, and local community (which for our family lasted about a year). Nothing of any serious nature had happened to our family in my first seventeen years, so this was definitely a moment of crisis. The word crisis literally means something that can go one way or another. Would this tragic event bring us closer together or divide us permanently? Which way would we go? Thankfully, it brought us closer together. We remain close, and that closeness is being passed to the next generation.

In a similar way, 9/11 was a definite moment of crisis for our country. It was a total shock to all of us who watched the horror unfold before our eyes. Nothing like this had ever happened to our country. Would this tragic event bring us closer together or divide us permanently? The immediate days that followed September 11, 2001 showed incredible signs of unity. Our goodness seemed to triumph over the evil inflicted on us (as big as it was) through the widespread and overwhelming response of faith and prayer, acts of charity and generosity, and heroic commitment to national service. It seems to me that when we remember 9/11, we remember all of this and are united. This weekend will bring all of this back as we celebrate the 10th anniversary. So, we can enjoy a deeper unity as we happily celebrate the goodness of 9/11 even with the painful reliving of the evil.

The Archbishop of New York has offered his thoughts about where we are on the 10th anniversary. What are your thoughts or remembrances?

Archbishop Dolan: Let 9/11 Legacy Be One of Hope

Says 10-Year Anniversary a Time to Remember, Go Forward

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 8, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, is a moment to not only remember, but also to go forward, says the president of the U.S. bishops' conference.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York wrote this in a statement released days ahead of the anniversary that marks a decade since four hijacked planes crashed in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, some 3,000 died as a result of the attacks, including 19 hijackers.

"We reverently recall those who were most directly affected by this tragedy -- those who died, were injured or lost loved ones," Archbishop Dolan wrote. "In a special way we recall the selfless first responders -- firefighters, police, chaplains, emergency workers, and other brave persons -- who risked, and many times lost, their lives in their courageous efforts to save others."

It is estimated that more than 400 first responders, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, died in New York on 9/11. Most died when the north and south towers collapsed.

The archbishop said that it's important to not only to remember the attacks, but also the response: "We turned to prayer, and then turned to one another to offer help and support. Hands were folded in prayer and opened in service to those who had lost so much."

Going forward, Archbishop Dolan said that as a country "we remain resolved to reject extreme ideologies that perversely misuse religion to justify indefensible attacks on innocent civilians."

"This tenth anniversary of 9/11 can be a time of renewal," he added. "Ten years ago we came together across religious, political, social and ethnic lines to stand as one people to heal wounds and defend against terrorism.

"As we face today's challenges of people out of work, families struggling, and the continuing dangers of wars and terrorism, let us summon the 9/11 spirit of unity to confront our challenges. Let us pray that the lasting legacy of 9/11 is not fear, but rather hope for a world renewed."

9/12

In a column published Wednesday on the Web site of Catholic New York, Archbishop Dolan reflected that in addition to what took place on 9/11, there was a lot to be learned from 9/12.

He recounted how the parish priest of St. Peter's, located near Ground Zero, told him: "We New Yorkers don’t just remember the horrors and sorrows of 9/11; we also celebrate 9/12."

"It took me awhile to get the insight of his statement," the archbishop admitted. But then he explained: "New Yorkers were shocked, scared, angry, saddened and shaken by the unforgettable death and destruction of 9/11, true; but, New Yorkers were not paralyzed or defeated!

"They immediately rallied, becoming people of intense faith, prayer, hope, and love, as the rescue, renewal, resilience, rebuilding, and outreach began. And it has not stopped since."

"9/11 could have turned us into petrified, paranoid, vicious animals, and our demented attackers would thus have won," Archbishop Dolan continued, "or, it could bring out what is most noble in the human soul, such as heroic sacrifice, solidarity in service, non-stop rescue efforts, communities bonding, prayer for those perished and families mourning, healing and renewal."

"9/11 did not have the last word," he added. "9/12 did."

GW Catholics at World Youth Day (video)

2011-09-07T15:30:00.000-04:00

A HUGE thanks to Kara Dunford for putting together this amazing video of our WYD pilgrimage!

Maryland, Monopoly, Mass

2011-09-06T21:03:00.000-04:00

I was asked to make video posts more often on the blog rather than typed ones all the time. Also, the suggestion was for me to answer your questions on here via video...so send me your questions!!

Feedback on the video approach would be much appreciated...as a commercial used to say, "it's not fancy, just fabulous".

23rd Sunday - homily

2011-09-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

Students have asked me to podcast my homilies. Click today's title for yesterday's homily. Please invite other GW students (Catholic and non-Catholic) to listen to them on here or through our website, gwcatholics.com. It's a simple way to spread the Gospel (i.e., do the work on salvation as we celebrate Labor Day)!

Pope to youth: "The world needs the witness of your faith"

2011-09-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

Here is Pope Benedict's homily at the closing Mass of World Youth Day:

Dear Young People,

In this celebration of the Eucharist we have reached the high point of this World Youth Day. Seeing you here, gathered in such great numbers from all parts of the world, fills my heart with joy. I think of the special love with which Jesus is looking upon you. Yes, the Lord loves you and calls you his friends (cf. Jn 15:15). He goes out to meet you and he wants to accompany you on your journey, to open the door to a life of fulfillment and to give you a share in his own closeness to the Father. For our part, we have come to know the immensity of his love and we want to respond generously to his love by sharing with others the joy we have received. Certainly, there are many people today who feel attracted by the figure of Christ and want to know him better. They realize that he is the answer to so many of our deepest concerns. But who is he really? How can someone who lived on this earth so long ago have anything in common with me today?

The Gospel we have just heard (cf. Mt 16:13-20) suggests two different ways of knowing Christ. The first is an impersonal knowledge, one based on current opinion. When Jesus asks: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”, the disciples answer: “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. In other words, Christ is seen as yet another religious figure, like those who came before him. Then Jesus turns to the disciples and asks them: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter responds with what is the first confession of faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”. Faith is more than just empirical or historical facts; it is an ability to grasp the mystery of Christ’s person in all its depth.

Yet faith is not the result of human effort, of human reasoning, but rather a gift of God: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven”. Faith starts with God, who opens his heart to us and invites us to share in his own divine life. Faith does not simply provide information about who Christ is; rather, it entails a personal relationship with Christ, a surrender of our whole person, with all our understanding, will and feelings, to God’s self-revelation. So Jesus’ question: “But who do you say that I am?”, is ultimately a challenge to the disciples to make a personal decision in his regard. Faith in Christ and discipleship are strictly interconnected.

And, since faith involves following the Master, it must become constantly stronger, deeper and more mature, to the extent that it leads to a closer and more intense relationship with Jesus. Peter and the other disciples also had to grow in this way, until their encounter with the Risen Lord opened their eyes to the fullness of faith.

Dear young people, today Christ is asking you the same question which he asked the Apostles: “Who do you say that I am?” Respond to him with generosity and courage, as befits young hearts like your own. Say to him: “Jesus, I know that you are the Son of God, who have given your life for me. I want to follow you faithfully and to be led by your word. You know me and you love me. I place my trust in you and I put my whole life into your hands. I want you to be the power that strengthens me and the joy which never leaves me”.

Jesus’ responds to Peter’s confession by speaking of the Church: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church”. What do these words mean? Jesus builds the Church on the rock of the faith of Peter, who confesses that Christ is God.

The Church, then, is not simply a human institution, like any other. Rather, she is closely joined to God. Christ himself speaks of her as “his” Church. Christ cannot be separated from the Church any more than the head can be separated from the body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12). The Church does not draw her life from herself, but from the Lord.

Dear young friends, as the Successor of Peter, let me urge you to strengthen this faith which has been handed down to us from the time of the Apostles. Make Christ, the Son of God, the centre of your life. But let me also remind you that following Jesus in faith means walking at his side in the communion of the Church. We cannot follow Jesus on our own. Anyone who would be tempted to do so “on his own”, or to approach the life of faith with kind of individualism so prevalent today, will risk never truly encountering Jesus, or will end up following a counterfeit Jesus.

Having faith means drawing support from the faith of your brothers and sisters, even as your own faith serves as a support for the faith of others. I ask you, dear friends, to love the Church which brought you to birth in the faith, which helped you to grow in the knowledge of Christ and which led you to discover the beauty of his love. Growing in friendship with Christ necessarily means recognizing the importance of joyful participation in the life of your parishes, communities and movements, as well as the celebration of Sunday Mass, frequent reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and the cultivation of personal prayer and meditation on God’s word.

Friendship with Jesus will also lead you to bear witness to the faith wherever you are, even when it meets with rejection or indifference. We cannot encounter Christ and not want to make him known to others. So do not keep Christ to yourselves! Share with others the joy of your faith. The world needs the witness of your faith, it surely needs God. I think that the presence here of so many young people, coming from all over the world, is a wonderful proof of the fruitfulness of Christ’s command to the Church: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). You too have been given the extraordinary task of being disciples and missionaries of Christ in other lands and countries filled with young people who are looking for something greater and, because their heart tells them that more authentic values do exist, they do not let themselves be seduced by the empty promises of a lifestyle which has no room for God.

Dear young people, I pray for you with heartfelt affection. I commend all of you to the Virgin Mary and I ask her to accompany you always by her maternal intercession and to teach you how to remain faithful to God’s word. I ask you to pray for the Pope, so that, as the Successor of Peter, he may always confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith. May all of us in the Church, pastors and faithful alike, draw closer to the Lord each day. May we grow in holiness of life and be effective witnesses to the truth that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God, the Saviour of all mankind and the living source of our hope. Amen.

"Go in search of those less fortunate"

2011-08-31T08:48:00.000-04:00

(Zenit.org) Faced with human suffering, God expects youth to give the best of themselves, Benedict XVI told World Youth Day participants at the end of the Way of the Cross this evening (August 19).

The Pope and the youth celebrated Christ's passion and death with a Via Crucis along the streets of Madrid. Reflections from the Little Sisters of the Cross accompanied each station, and sculptures used in Spain's celebration of Holy Week were set along the procession.

Regarding these images, the Pontiff said that "faith and art combine so as to penetrate our heart and summon us to conversion."

"When faith's gaze is pure and authentic, beauty places itself at its service and is able to depict the mysteries of our salvation in such a way as to move us profoundly and transform our hearts," he reflected.

The solemnity of Christ's death on the cross was marked with silence and the sound of drumbeats.

"The cross was not a sign of failure, but an expression of self-giving in love that extends even to the supreme sacrifice of one's life," the Pope stated. "The Father wanted to show his love for us through the embrace of his crucified Son: crucified out of love. The cross, by its shape and its meaning, represents this love of both the Father and the Son for men."

Benedict XVI urged the young people to "take upon our own shoulders the sufferings of the world, in the certainty that God is not distant or far removed from man and his troubles."

In all human suffering, he said, "we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us."

The love of Christ should increase our joy, the Holy Father continued, encouraging the youth to "go in search of those less fortunate."

"You are open to the idea of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very best: your capacity for love and compassion," he said. "The different forms of suffering that have unfolded before our eyes in the course of this Way of the Cross are the Lord's way of summoning us to spend our lives following in his footsteps and becoming signs of his consolation and salvation. … Let us eagerly welcome these teachings and put them into practice. Let us look upon Christ, hanging on the harsh wood of the cross, and let us ask him to teach us this mysterious wisdom of the cross, by which man lives."
--- --- ---

…Addressing a gathering of professors in Madrid as part of the events of World Youth Day, Pope Benedict said, "In truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the 'house' where one seeks the truth proper to the human person. Consequently it was not by accident that the Church promoted the universities, for Christian faith speaks to us of Christ as the Word through whom all things were made and of men and women as made in the image and likeness of God."

An honor, responsibility

The Pope said the University "embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view man solely as a consumer."

He then called on professors to take on the "honor and responsibility of transmitting the ideal of the University: an ideal which you have received from your predecessors, many of whom were humble followers of the Gospel and, as such, became spiritual giants."

"We should feel ourselves their successors, in a time quite different from their own, yet one in which the essential human questions continue to challenge and stimulate us," the Holy Father stated. "With them, we realize that we are a link in that chain of men and women committed to teaching the faith and making it credible to human reason.

"And we do this not simply by our teaching, but by the way we live our faith and embody it, just as the Word took flesh and dwelt among us. Young people need authentic teachers: persons open to the fullness of truth in the various branches of knowledge, persons who listen to and experience in own hearts that interdisciplinary dialogue; persons who, above all, are convinced of our human capacity to advance along the path of truth."

Pope to youth: "seek the Truth"

2011-08-30T10:11:00.000-04:00

13 days ago, twelve of us from GW waited all day in the Madrid heat along with 500,000 other youth to see and hear from Pope Benedict XVI. It was quite an experience, one that none of us will ever forget. While it was tough, it was grace-filled. Most of us were reasonably close to where the Holy Father was; two in our group were very close (the pic at the bottom was taken by Amy, our campus minister). Here are some excerpts from what the Holy Father said to youth as World Youth Day began, courtesy of zenit.org:

Hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth from around the world have gathered in Spain's capital this week not simply to meet other like-minded young people, or even to see the Pope, but because they wish to hear the word of God, says Benedict XVI…

"Why has this multitude of young people come to Madrid?" the Holy Father asked. "While they themselves should give the reply, it may be supposed that they wish to hear the word of God, as the motto for this World Youth Day proposed to them, in such a way that, rooted and built upon Christ, they may manifest the strength of their faith."

"Many of them have heard the voice of God, perhaps only as a little whisper, which has led them to search for him more diligently and to share with others the experience of the force which he has in their lives," he continued. "The discovery of the living God inspires young people and opens their eyes to the challenges of the world in which they live, with its possibilities and limitations.

"They see the prevailing superficiality, consumerism and hedonism, the widespread banalization of sexuality, the lack of solidarity, the corruption. They know that, without God, it would be hard to confront these challenges and to be truly happy, and thus pouring out their enthusiasm in the attainment of an authentic life."

The Pontiff said that "with God beside them," young people will "possess light to walk by and reasons to hope, unrestrained before their highest ideals, which will motivate their generous commitment to build a society where human dignity and true brotherhood are respected."

World Youth Day, Benedict XVI said, is a "special opportunity to gather together their aspirations, to share the richness of their cultures and experiences, motivate each other along a journey of faith and life, in which some think they are alone or ignored in their daily existence."

He stressed that faith-filled youth "are not alone," and that "many people of the same age have the same aspirations and, entrusting themselves completely to Christ, know that they really have a future before them and are not afraid of the decisive commitments which fulfill their entire lives."

…Words can be used for entertainment or information, but the words of Jesus have another purpose, Benedict XVI is telling youth in Madrid. The words of Christ are meant to reach the heart and take root.

The Pope arrived in Madrid today to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of youth who lined the streets in welcome. As many as 1 million are expected to participate in this 26th World Youth Day, which ends Sunday.

"There are words which serve only to amuse, as fleeting as an empty breeze; others, to an extent, inform us; those of Jesus, on the other hand, must reach our hearts, take root and bloom there all our lives. If not, they remain empty and become ephemeral. They do not bring us to him and, as a result, Christ stays remote, just one voice among the many others around us which are so familiar," the Holy Father told the young people in an afternoon event at Plaza de Cibeles.

The Master, the Pontiff continued, teaches "not something learned from others, but that which he himself is, the only one who truly knows the path of man towards God, because he is the one who opened it up for us, he made it so that we might have authentic lives, lives which are always worth living, in every circumstance, and which not even death can destroy."

…"It is always a good thing to keep seeking," he told them. "Above all, seek the Truth, which is not an idea or an ideology or a slogan, but a person: Christ, God himself, who has come into our midst! You rightly wish to plant your faith in him, to ground your life in Christ. He has always loved you and he knows you better than anyone else. May these days so rich in prayer, teaching and encounters help you to rediscover this, so that you may love him all the more."

There will not be a great transformation in the Church starting tomorrow, admits Benedict XVI. Though there are a half million young Catholics gathered in Madrid to celebrate World Youth Day with the Pope, the "seeds" of this experience are like the seeds of the Gospel -- part is lost.

World Youth Day will be the "beginning of a friendship with God and with others." It will open them to a "universality of thought" and make them aware of a "common responsibility." So these days do give much fruit: "God's sowing is always silent; it does not appear in the statistics. … And we trust in this silent growth, and we are certain that, although the statistics do not say much about it, the Lord's seed really grows."

…"I would say that these WYDs are a sign, a cascade of light -- they give visibility to the faith, visibility to the presence of God in the world, and thus give the courage to be believers," he said. "Often, believers feel isolated in this world, somewhat lost. Here they see that they are not alone, that there is a great network of faith, a great community of believers in the world."

The Pope noted how World Youth Day fosters friendships that cross the borders of cultures and countries. "The birth of a universal network of friendship that unites the world with God is an important reality for the future of humanity," he affirmed, "for the life of humanity today."

He recommended seeing WYD as a sign and part of a great journey. "It creates friendships, opens borders, makes visible that it is beautiful to be with God, that God is with us," he said. And, "in this connection, we wish to continue with this great idea of Blessed Pope John Paul II."

"That is why it gives me great joy to listen to them, pray with them and celebrate the Eucharist with them," the Pope continued. "World Youth Day brings us a message of hope like a pure and youthful breeze, with rejuvenating scents which fill us with confidence before the future of the Church and the world."

"Of course, there is no lack of difficulties," he said. "There are tensions and ongoing conflicts all over the world, even to the shedding of blood."

"But, with all my heart," the Pontiff affirmed, "I say again to you young people: let nothing and no one take away your peace; do not be ashamed of the Lord. He did not spare himself in becoming one like us and in experiencing our anguish so as to lift it up to God, and in this way he saved us."

22nd Sunday - homily

2011-08-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

I welcome all of you back to GW and hope that had a great summer! To all of our new students here, I especially welcome you. I am Father Greg Shaffer, the chaplain of the Newman Center which is the Catholic student center on campus. It is located at 22nd and F, a yellow townhouse behind the Smith Center. It is the "home away from home" for many of our 3,000 GW Catholics.

We have a couple dozen student leaders who are putting together a lot of cool things this year. They are all fired up like Jeremiah. You will learn quickly that we specialize in free food. Jesus first, food second. Every Tuesday we have a free home-cooked meal at 6 pm which rocks; Mass at 5:30 before the dinner. This Saturday, we'll have free Chipotle at our Opening BBQ. Just about every other Sunday, we'll have food down in the Parish Hall after the 7:30 pm Mass. We have retreats, Adoration, service opportunities, parties, Catechism classes, and Bible studies led by our Focus missionaries. The missionaries will be outside after Mass to introduce themselves to you and sign you up for Bible study. Last year, these Bible studies were very popular among students. So, check out Focus and check out the Newman Center as you start your new year.

You probably have already made goals for the year - academic, personal, physical, social, etc. I hope you have spiritual goals, as well. Let me suggest a good spiritual goal for you this year: pray every day for at least five minutes. This is not including Grace before meals and the rote prayers you say in bed at night. The goal is to have a conversation with Christ every day for at least five minutes. If you can do more, great.

Now, this goal is rooted in what St Paul writes in tonight's second reading and which is flushed out by Jesus in the Gospel. St. Paul writes to the Romans and all of you as you start this new year, "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind". What a great line! The first part you probably get - don't just go along with the college crowd in terms of how you act and think. But, the second part is a bit more challenging to comprehend. Jesus helps us to understand when He says to Peter and all of us that we shouldn't think as human beings do but as God does. How are we transformed by the renewal of our minds? By thinking as God thinks! So, St. Paul’s line means do not think as human beings do, but as God does. We come to think as God thinks through prayer.

One form of prayer which you may know about is called “Lectio Divina”. This is when we pray over a passage or phrase or even a word of Scripture for a period of time. I think that Focus does this sometimes in their Bible studies. Let’s say that you spend this week praying over this Gospel passage. What would happen is that you would begin to think as God thinks suffering. In this passage, Jesus tells the disciples that He will suffer much…and even be killed. Now, we know that this happened to our Lord, but at this point, the Apostles didn’t know it and this was the first time they heard anything about it. Peter, as the leader, thought he was speaking correctly when he rebuked Jesus and said that this won’t happen: “God forbid, Lord” (bad idea, Pete). Christ slams Peter who He calls "Satan" for thinking about suffering as human beings do only. We can’t fault Peter because this is the way that we approach suffering. We try to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. In college, there is a fair amount of suffering: stress and anxiety, loneliness, homesickness, isolation, rejection, depression, or failure. You or your friends might try to avoid these or other kinds of suffering through the party scene, drunkenness, drugs, sex, gossip, slander, anger, pornography, etc. Christ tells us that we shouldn’t try to avoid our crosses. He didn’t! He took His up and says that if we’re going to follow Him we need to take up our own crosses. This is what God thinks about suffering. Human beings say to avoid crosses; God says to take them up.

So, when we pray over this passage, we are transformed in relation to suffering. Thinking the way that God thinks about suffering transforms us by the renewal of our minds. It’s a very effective way to pray…to think as God thinks…to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

I want to close with the best way to pray…the best way to know what God is thinking. We have a chapel at the Newman Center with the Blessed Sacrament present….the Eucharist is there… Jesus is in the house at 2210 F St. Go talk to Him. Spend your five minutes a day there in prayer. Praying in the presence of the Lord is the best way to pray…the best way to know what God is thinking. The saints say that when we pray, we put on the mind of Christ. Come and spend time with Him this year in prayer, that you may be transformed by the renewal of your minds, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Attending Mass in inclement weather

2011-08-26T18:18:00.000-04:00

The following reminder is from a bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on the eve of Hurricane Irene. GW students: Welcome back to Foggy Bottom...PLEASE be safe and smart this weekend.

"With the approach of hurricane Irene up the East Coast this weekend, I ask you to please remind any parishioners who have concerns, that they are not obliged to physically attend Sunday Mass if dangerous travel or road conditions exist.

Those who cannot safely attend Mass in person are encouraged to watch the Sunday TV Mass, which airs at 10:30 a.m on CW50."

Viva el Papa!

2011-08-19T09:39:00.000-04:00

Thanks be to God, we are in Madrid! It seems that we have been gone for much longer than two weeks, not because we aren´t enjoying our pilgrimage (quite the contrary!), but because we have been to so many places and done so many things. And, we have been spending this past week in Madrid for World Youth Day. The graces of our awesome God have been flowing in small and big ways and we are trying to be open to them all.

We got settled in to our challenging but hopefully fruitful accomodations on Monday morning. We were the first to arrive ("first ones here" - Clark W. Griswold) at the school outside of the city where we are staying this week. It presents many challenges such as sleeping on a gynasium (women) or classroom (men) floor with people we are just meeting, activity-packed days that start early and finish late, and being in the presence of teenagers who can be quite....energized...at all hours of the night.   It is a grace, though, to be there, and I have been able to meet some of the teens and do some ministry with them.

WYD started on Tuesday night with the Opening Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Madrid. The estimate was that 500,000 people were jam packed into the streets. It was very tight for several hours but overall a cool experience for our group. We have attended workshops, talks, concerts, dances, Masses with a huge amount of bishops and priests (sweet!), and other cool things. We have met people from all over the world and been in the midst of raucous cheering and chanting for the Church and homelands throughout the streets of Madrid for most of the hours of this week.

Last night, the Pope arrived!  It was an extraordinary day for us, one that none of us have ever experienced. We planted ourselves in a good spot (so we thought) close to where the Holy Father would drive by and be for the welcoming ceremony. We got there at 10 am, and stayed put in our contained area of asphalt in scorching heat until 9 pm. People were pressing in on us for much of the last several hours (as was the experience for most of the 500,000 or so that were there). So, our patience was tested. But, the amazing thing to me was the day itself before the Pope arrived. Hundreds of thousands of people under the age of 25 spent a whole day waiting to see a 85 year old man. And, they were chanting his name and getting excited all day. They have sacrificed a lot to be here and sacrificed much yesterday to be in the position to even get a glimpse of the Vicar of Christ. There were some exceptions, but the crowd was overall very well behaved and patient, given the extreme situation that tested comfort and patience.

When Pope Benedict arrived and greeted us, we all at least got a glimpse of him in person. He told us that Christ is the meaning of our lives and to hope in Him. He will speak more to us on this theme which has been repeated much this week. Our students are getting a healthy diet of that theme and are thinking deeply about the meaning of their lives, their purpose, and their vocation. This is a grace-filled time for them and their sacrifices are helping with that, whether they know it or not. They are trying to be open and are being rewarded in small and big ways. God has called them here and is speaking to them.  This will continue here until the closing Mass on Sunday where we will see and be inspired by "Benedito"!

Lourdes!

2011-08-12T10:43:00.000-04:00

We are just finishing up our amazing experience at Lourdes, France. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth. As I said at Mass this morning, it really is a preview to Heaven. This is definitely a place of Grace. There is so much peace here; everyone in our group has felt it since we first stepped foot on these sacred grounds on Wednesday night.

We just finished bathing in the miraculous Lourdes water. All twelve of us did this (individually) and were particularly moved by the experience. I took all of my intentions with me into the pool which means that many of you were with me at that poignant moment of healing.

All of us have been enthralled with Lourdes the whole time, but in particular, visiting the Grotto multiple times, the Eucharistic Procession, Marian procession, Confession and blessing from my good friend Fr. Dan Leary*, Lourdes baths, movie on the life of St. Bernadette, Eucharistic Adoration (galore!), seeing and praying for the malades (the sick), washing with Lourdes water as often as possible, and just sharing the grace-filled here with thousands of people.

We have all been praying for physical and personal healing the past two days - for ourselves and for many others back home, especially GW Catholics. God has indeed touched us profoundly through the powerful intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. Amazing stuff! Our Lady of Lourdes; pray for us!

* I providentially "bumped into" Fr Dan last night. It was unbelievable. I didn't know he was here and vice versa. He is serving as a chaplain at Lourdes for 10 days, basically to hear confessions of pilgrims. Our group really enjoyed hanging out with him last night after the procession, going to him for confessions qnd receiving his potent blessings/laying on of his healing hands.

Below is our group pic at Lourdes!

2011-08-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

Ciao!

2011-08-09T09:27:00.000-04:00

I'm checking in for a minute at an internet cafe in Rome. Our pilgrimage is off to a great start with three solid days here. Great group of GW Catholics! We have hit much of Rome since we arrived early on Sunday morning. We have enjoyed visits to St. Peter's (including walking all the way up to the top of the dome), St. Peter in Chains Cathedral (Cardinal Wuerl's titular church), food, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran (my favorite), food, Trevi Fountain, Vatican Museum, Colosseum, Roman Forum, more food, and other cool stuff. Wish I could upload some photos...maybe next time I'll be prepared.

Taking an overnight train to France tonight...bound for Lourdes and Paris.

Already some spiritual fruits going on in our group as we are all bonding nicely and enjoying just about every minute of this (there are some sacrifices involved in our pilgrimage but everyone is offering them up quietly and generously).

Ciao for now!

World Youth Day bound!

2011-08-05T09:45:00.000-04:00

Months ago, a boy I know emailed me about a crisis in faith he was having:

“Dear Fr. Greg, I am sad to say that I have drifted away from the church and not gone to mass for several months. My faith in God has been lost. But I want to believe I just don't know how…I need God, I just don't know how to get him…Do you think that you could help me find God again…”

We corresponded for a little bit, but months passed without word from him. Just this week, though, he sent me the following message which sounds a lot like a modern day parable. The boy assured me that it really happened. Amazing stuff!

“A boy was praying at camp. He was not sure if God existed, so he asked God if you are real make the wind blow hard on my skin. If you are real let a girl notice me. If any of these happen I will believe in you with all my heart. That second the wind blew so hard the tent blew away. At the end of the day A girl came up to the boy and said I dont know your name but I sat near you on the bus. Want to sign my goodbye card. Later that day the girl Facebook friended the boy. The boy later thanked God for his gift and believed in him with all his heart.

That boy was me.”
--------------------------------------

Leaving tomorrow on our World Youth Day pilgrimage! We’ll be back just before classes start.

GW Catholics, we can’t wait to see you back on campus! Bloggers, I’ll try to post about the trip during the next three weeks and will pray for you while we’re at the holy sites. Pray for the twelve of us!

We’re getting pumped for this:

What is World Youth Day?

2011-08-03T09:55:00.000-04:00

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that a group of us are going to World Youth Day in Madrid. Nine GW students and three of us adults are heading to Madrid to join over 1,000,000 Catholic youth from all over the world as well as Pope Benedict. From its title, many people think that it's just one day. It's actually a week long event and the Pope is there for a few days. We are making stops in Rome, Paris, and Lourdes, so it will actually be closer to a three week pilgrimage for us. A pilgrimage is different from a vacation in that it is a spiritual journey; it has a holy purpose and goal. It involves sacrifices and penances, mainly in the area of comfort. We will go out of our comfort zones in some ways and hope that God showers us with graces as He usually does with pilgrims.

What is World Youth Day? It is a Catholic celebration of and for youth from all over the world. It was started in the 1980s by Pope John Paul II in order to gather young Catholics for catechesis, prayer, and celebration of our faith in Jesus Christ and to call young people to follow Christ and His Cross. Millions of young people have grown in their Catholic faith, experienced the universality of the Church (how big the Church really is!), and found their vocations as a result of WYD.

Here is a video about the history of WYD. Get excited, pilgrims!

Saints are legit!

2011-08-02T09:29:00.000-04:00

I’m reading a book on the life of St. Bernadette, “A Holy Life”, by Patricia McEachern, Ph. D. It presents many of her writings and spiritual insights which are deep and profound. I have had a special love for St. Bernadette since I visited the site where the Blessed Mother appeared to her in 1858: Lourdes, France. It is an overwhelmingly grace-filled place. Many miracles have occurred at Lourdes in the past 150+ years, physically and spiritually (many people have been cured of physical diseases but also have had amazing spiritual conversions). This is especially meaningful and timely for us because a group of us from the Newman Center are going to Lourdes as part of our World Youth Day pilgrimage starting this Saturday, August 6. Pray for us!

As Cardinal McCarrick used to say, “I was thinking of you” when I read the following reflections on mortification by St. Bernadette. I wasn’t thinking that you should be practicing all that she writes (I don’t even live it…I have a long way to go to be a saint!). I was thinking that you would be amazed like me at the intensity of her thoughts. They are intense! She was a religious Sister of Charity who embraced suffering in union with Christ’s Cross; she died at the young age of 35. This book is filled with her journal-like writings, probably the first of its kind. I enjoy reading about saints tremendously, but especially about their interior lives. Stories about saints are incredible because they reveal the power of God’s grace through our nature. But, it is just as meaningful and maybe even more so to see what makes saints tick.

Saints are legit – legit in love with Christ and the Church…legit followers of the Gospel…legit men and women just like you and me…legit funny, smart, beautiful, etc. A glimpse into their internal lives is a glimpse into their souls which is where they have had a profound encounter with the living Christ and have been changed forever. As the following passage from St. Bernadette’s writings reveals, even something like mortification of the flesh which seems so foreign and unnatural to us is embraced and ultimately loved by the saints because it brings them in union with the Savior.

To learn more about mortification, please see my post from 2006 by clicking on today’s title.

“…Oh, yes, my Jesus! From now on, I want you alone to be my everything and my life. I shall follow you everywhere you go…Come my soul, courage. Climb to Calvary behind Jesus and Mary for just one more day. And then, with Jesus and Mary: Joy, Rejoicing, Eternity!

O good Cross! O precious thorns along the way, soon your wounds will be glorious.

A Religious must live with mortifications as a fish swims in water. For a Religious, there is something missing if she is not mortified. The serious practice of all her duties necessarily leads to practice of a continual mortification at every moment. If she is not mortified, she is lacking in her duty.

What is the source of offences against the Rule and against one’s vows? What is the source of the laxity of some communities? It is the fact that mortification has not been practiced or maintained. The mortification God asks of us is the precise observance of our Rule, its practices, its customs and the recommendations made by our superiors. A Sister who is truly faithful in this way practices mortifications judiciously and with absolutely no danger of vanity. I believe that she could enter Heaven without passing through the fires of Purgatory!

There are many daily mortifications that a recollected and attentive soul does not let slip away. For example, we please God when we get up in winter at the appointed hour without lingering and turning over in bed.

We should control our senses. Unrestrained curiosity is an obstacle to prayer. If someone enters the house, do not look or ask who it is. As for the sense of taste, we can practice any number of mortifications without anyone noticing it. A Religious should never express a preference for a particular food. You should never hear a Religious talk about food. It shows a lack of an interior life. When she goes to meals, she should be humbled by the fact that this necessity is an act we have in common with animals, then she should remember how the saints have acted.

A Religious who allows herself to eat and drink whatever she wants will never have an interior life…”

A pic of her incorrupt body (132 years after her death!)

18th Sunday - homily

2011-08-01T09:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know how much of the debt crisis debate you've been following, but it's getting out of control. I've been watching the news talk shows on a couple different channels and I have never seen such anger and frustration toward politicians of both parties. I don't know if we are financially bankrupt yet, but, based on the level of anger, it sure seems that we are out of money.

With all that's going on with this very serious situation, the timing of our first reading is quite ironic. Listen again to the words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah. It sounds as if God is speaking about our country:

Thus says the LORD:..
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.

One thing on which everyone agrees is that our government needs to cut spending. One of the main reasons we're in this mess is because leaders of both parties have been spending our money - our wages- on what is not bread...on things not needed...on things that don't satisfy. It's only now that we are all realizing that. If they had been spending money on programs across the board that satisfied all of us and our budget, then it would be a totally different situation and debate. We need to pray for our leaders this week, that they will heed the Lord and do what is right, not just for themselves or their party, but for the country so that we will all delight in rich fare.

We can take all of this and apply it to our moral lives as well. Have we made choices that have left us morally bankrupt? Have we chosen things that aren't bread, that aren't substantial or necessary? As our government has done much wasteful spending, have we gone after things that are a waste? For example, having a pure and chaste relationship with a significant other satisfies. This is like spending money on bread. On the other hand, unchaste relationships or acts don't satisfy...they are a waste. Sin is a waste! It's usually right after the act when a person realizes this. It's usually in Confession or preparing for Confession that a person realizes that sin doesn't satisfy...it doesn't make us happy.

Unfortunately for many of us, it's not until we have drained our moral bank accounts that we realize what satisfies us: the good. It's not until we see how wasteful vices are that we see how the virtues satisfy. Living the virtues means choosing the good consistently. What's good is what's from God. Only God and the things of God satisfy us.

God shows us one way how He satisfies in today's Gospel. It's the famous scene of Jesus feeding thousands by multiplying five loaves and two fish. It's one of the biggest moments in his ministry. He could have put on a much bigger "show". He has super powers! He could have done something much more spectacular, flashy, and entertaining. Instead, he simply fed a hungry crowd. He gave them what they needed. He satisfied them. That's what he does. He satisfies.

This story obviously points to the Eucharist. If you listened carefully, then you heard the Eucharistic language: "he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples". And, they were all satisfied. God is telling us that the bread He gives us - especially the Bread of Life - is what we are truly looking for. He is telling us that there all kinds of "presences" in the world - politics, riches, vices, whatever; the only presence that will really satisfy us is the Real Presence of His Son, Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist.

"You-NITED STATES who have no money"

2011-07-29T10:58:00.002-04:00

I watched some talk shows last night about the debt debate going on in Washington right now. Man, were people on both sides angry! I don’t remember seeing and sensing such frustration and anger on political talk shows in such a short amount of time. Each show revealed more and more contempt…it’s like this thing is growing out of control. I know that last night was a big night in terms of the House vote, but it seems like the whole situation is about to boil over. People are seeing this and addressing it, but it’s only in financial terms (or the ramifications due to our finances).

In an ironic and meaningful way, God will address this Himself on Sunday. In the first reading, His words through the prophet Isaiah can certainly apply to the United States:

Thus says the LORD:..
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.

We can hear the Lord saying, “You-nited States, who have no money…why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?” We are basically approaching the situation – if we’re not there already – of having no money. How did we get here? Because our government has spent money for what is not bread. Both parties are acknowledging that we are in this mess because of irresponsible spending. They have been spending money on things we don’t need…things that don’t satisfy us or our budgets. If they had been spending OUR wages on things that did satisfy, it would be a totally different situation and debate.

This reading leads to the bigger point which I think many people will come to on their own in the coming days, weeks, and months. We are not only approaching bankruptcy financially as a nation. We are approaching bankruptcy politically, morally, and nationally. People are getting so fed up with politicians – ALL of them – that that is what’s about to boil over. There might be a mass exodus from political discourse and movements because people are becoming so disillusioned and indifferent. I hope this doesn’t happen because politics and politicians are necessary. But, people have put a lot of their resources into politicians and political movements; I can see them coming to the point where they realize that they have spent their money on things that don’t satisfy. They will see the truth of the matter: politics and politicians don’t satisfy us.

We can then take this situation to a broader level of morality as a country and as individuals. Have the moral choices we’ve made gone to things that satisfy us? Do we each choose things of substance, for example, like going to Mass on Sundays? This is what satisfies us. Or, do we choose things on Sundays that fail to satisfy, like watching TV or shopping or playing sports? These things are not bad in themselves (maybe like a lot of the programs that politicians include in their budgets), but they aren’t bread…they don’t satisfy us . What God offers us at Mass – the Bread of Life ironically – THAT is what satisfies us. And, we can go on down the list, comparing good vs. evil, virtue vs. vice. One satisfies, the other doesn’t. The point God is making is that only He satisfies. Many of us have go after the things of the world and spend our money on things that don’t satisfy us -riches, possessions, the party scene, politics, whatever - until we finally see that only God (and the things of God) satisfies us.

Pay special attention to this Sunday’s Gospel. Christ gathers a big crowd and does something incredible for them. It’s not a big show with bright lights in which He offers them the newest, most attractive craze. He feeds them. He gives them food which satisfies them. It’s so simple! It’s obviously a preview to the Eucharist – listen for the Eucharistic language. We go around looking for all this “stuff” that will make us happy…will really satisfy us. And, after all the running around for the latest fad or hottest item, we see that what really makes us happy is that which fills us…that which fulfills us…that which satisfies us. And, “that which” has a name: Jesus Christ. The bread that He offers – especially the Eucharist – is what satisfies us.

“As marriage goes, so goes the Church”

2011-07-27T10:13:00.000-04:00

Weeks ago, a GW Catholic wrote on Facebook that he would never get married. I think it was in response to a politician who withdrew from the presidential race to be more devoted to his wife and family. Hopefully, the student’s post was more sarcastic than serious. This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard a student say – whether kidding or not – that he/she wouldn’t get married. It’s usually because they have lived through the dangerous and hurtful effects of their parent’s divorce or have many friends whose parents are divorced. This all occurred about the same time that good friends of mine witnessed the birth of their fourth son. I was thinking about how they met (at GW) and how they live out marriage, and thought about blogging about their situation as a great witness to Christian marriage. Soon after, same-sex “marriage” was passed into law in New York, so we had to address that here…and then, well, I went on vacation.

You students hear me talk a lot about discerning your vocation. This is the most important discernment in your life because your vocation – which every single one of you has – is primarily why God put you on this earth. He has a GREAT plan for each of you and it is through your vocation that you will live it out. I speak often about religious vocations because it is sometimes hard for young men and women to hear the Call. It is a supernatural gift that God is offering some of you. The call to married life is natural and more often on people’s minds and hearts. It is much more common; most of you are called to be married. I hope to focus more on marriage and preparing for marriage this year through homilies, discussions, and blog posts. It is SO important for each of you and for the Church. “As marriage goes, so goes the Church” is a common saying in the Church.

So, let’s build up marriage! My friends are an amazing example of a couple who is open to God, love, and life. They met at GW and were very active in their faith while here. I met them in 2005 as a seminarian helping out at GW Newman Center and St. Stephen’s on weekends from the seminary. God brought them together and they began to date. They grew to fall in love, and were actively discerning their vocations. At one point when things became serious, they each felt that God may be calling them to sacrifice their relationship and potential marriage in order to answer the call to religious life. What beautiful openness to God’s Will! Of course, when they asked me about this, I thought and probably even said to them, “are you crazy? He is calling you to be married to each other!” While I appreciated their docility, it was clear to me and their spiritual directors (their directors played the main roles in their discernment, I was simply a friend offering my opinion) that God brought them about to enjoy a life together as husband and wife. It was so obvious with the way He brought them together. I rejoice in stories like that and use their situation with other couples or individuals in discernment.

Below is a picture of this GW Catholic couple who now are loving life as husband and wife of six years with four beautiful boys. They are completely open to life and so we might see their family (and love) grow more and more.

Let’s build up marriage! To view a short video on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, please click on today’s title and scroll down to the video on marriage.

Meatless Fridays + Holding Hands during the Our Father?

2011-07-26T13:38:00.000-04:00

Last week, I spent a few days at the beach with a family I'm good friends with. It was an eventful time with them, to say the least. While I was there, I blessed their beach house which they just bought this year.  At the end of the house blessing (and before I used the Ace Ventura line, "thiss houssse iss clean"), I anointed the grandfather of my friends' kids. He has been having a problem with his eye that just doesn't seem to be getting any better even with much treatment.  I laid my hand over his eye during the anointing and blessed it. Well, the next day, the oldest kid, a senior in college, was involved in a car accident in which her family's favorite car was totaled. It wasn't her fault and she was fine, just a little shaken up. And, the grandfather called his doctor because his eye was feeling worse. So, when I woke up (laaate in the am), I was of course blamed by my friends for both of these occurrences...in a joking way, of course.  But, will they invite me back??

On Friday evening, I celebrated Mass with them in their house (confident that bringing more Grace to the place wouldn't result in bringing more problems) and then had an hour of reserved Adoration afterwards. (By the way, it is quite an experience to have a priest celebrate a "home Mass" in your home, especially on vacation. This family really enjoyed it and so will yours. So, consider inviting a priest on your next vacation.) One of the coolest parts of the few days was seeing the two daughters come in - on their own - for a few minutes of Adoration. Then, their Dad came in. Then, their grandmother. It was sweet!

Well, in the course of my conversation with these three generations of faithful Catholics, a few teachings and practices arose that they didn't know and asked why they haven't heard about them. So, I thought it would be good to present them here.

1)  Meatless Fridays throughout the year

Here's what Canon Law says in this regard:

"Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday." ( #1251)

This is from the Code of Canon Law of 1983. The breakdown in the way Catholics have approached this for many years most likely comes with the statement of the US Bishops' Conference (Episcopal Conference). In 1966, the Bishops' Conference in our country addressed and encouraged penance on Fridays (to honor in a small way the day of the week in which Christ sacrificed His life) and ended the law of abstaining from meat. Here's a part of their statement:

"Among the works of voluntary self-denial and personal penance which we especially commend to our people for the future observance of Friday, even though we hereby terminate the traditional law of abstinence binding under pain of sin, as the sole prescribed means of observing Friday, we give first place to abstinence from flesh meat. We do so in the hope that the Catholic community will ordinarily continue to abstain from meat by free choice as formerly we did in obedience to Church law… (Nos. 19-24 )."

Nowhere in the full statement are there guidelines on what penances we should do on Fridays. So, as my seminary professor taught us, it's just easier to go without meat on Fridays. Catholics should be doing some form of penance on Fridays (except on a solemnity that falls on a Friday), and even as the bishops wrote, abstinence from meat is the first choice.

For some of you, this might seem frivolous. And, sometimes, going meatless might not seem like a penance. But, here's the point: we should have Christ's sacrifice on our minds and hearts every Friday and in some way offer a small sacrifice to Him.  American Catholics might be confused on the best penance to offer, so keep it simple: go without meat on Fridays in and out of Lent.

2)  Holding hands during the "Our Father"?

Last year, Msgr Pope addressed this on the ADW blog:

"From the USCCB website: No position is prescribed in the present Sacramentary for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer. While the recently approved revised Sacramentary does provide for the use of the orans gesture by members of the assembly during the Lord’s Prayer, the revised Sacramentary may not be used until it has been confirmed by the Holy See. I might also note that in the course of its discussion of the this question, the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy expressed a strong preference for the orans gesture over the holding of hands since the focus of the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer to the Father and not primarily an expression of community and fellowship.

Some years ago in this parish hand hold at the Our Father was common. It was ended in the following way. The people were read the instruction of St. Paul who said: I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. (1 Tim 2:8) Hence the congregation was directed to lift their hands, palms upward to God (to distinguish it a bit from the priest’s orans posture). Since it was in the Bible that this is how people should pray it was well received and it ended the practice almost immediately. We have none of the hand holding at this time."

I remember seeing something from the Archdiocese a few years ago which recommended the orans gesture (with palms upward to God) as the preferrable gesture for each person during the Our Father, but I can't find it now. It might be in preparation for the new revised sacramentary that Msgr Pope mentions (and which will be in use the first Sunday of Advent this year) The current sacramentary does not give an assembly gesture for the Lord's Prayer, but apparently the revised one does, as Msgr Pope writes. So, this should be addressed as one of the changes with the new sacramentary - that our gesture during the Our Father is palms up to God while we pray it.

My former seminary rector taught us that the congregation's focus at that point of the Mass should be what's on the altar (the Eucharist). We should indeed be focused on the Eucharist as we offer our prayers and petitions to the Father and not on holding the hands of our neighbor which can distract us.

17th Sunday - homily

2011-07-25T09:47:00.002-04:00

"Ask something of me and I will give it to you". What a statement the Lord gives to Solomon in our first reading! Imagine hearing this from God...you can ask Him for anything and He will give it to you! This reminds me of when I first entered the seminary. I went in right out of college and working in a bar. There I was with 150 holy men and kind of freaking out. So, I spent the first few nights in the chapel basically asking the Lord, 'what the heck am I doing here?' One of the first nights I was alone with the Lord when someone else came in to pray. The guy kneels right behind me and starts whispering to God, but loud enough for me to hear, "Dear God, please give me...A MILLION DOLLARS". I turned around to see the guy laughing. I found out later he was one of the comedians of the house. We became good friends from that hilarious moment on.

If you could ask God for one thing, what would it be? You have the same opportunity as Solomon, you really do. Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel, "ask and you shall receive". Now, if you're thinking of asking for a million dollars like the seminarian jokester did, you might want to think again. Almighty God has infinite riches which are far more valuable than a million dollars or a new car or anything material. Solomon recognizes this and asks for something far greater than material goods: an understanding heart. He seems to amaze God with his wisdom. So, how do we show the wisdom of Solomon this week in asking God for something? And, I do want you to ask God for something this week.

This goes back to last week's second reading from Romans 8 that the Spirit helps us to pray as we should. Today, the Spirit gives us this Gospel passage that reveals what we should ask God for: the joy of the kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of Heaven might not seem like the sexiest choice for us in a material world centered on instant gratification. But, if we look at what the Lord is saying in today's parable, we see that the value of the kingdom is worth more than all the riches of the world combined.

He says the kingdom is like a treasure. This gets our attention because we know that a treasure has tremendous value. It's like a treasure buried in a field; it was an ancient practice to bury valuable items to keep them safe from intruders. It's so valuable that a person would sell everything he had to purchase the field where the treasure is buried. And, the kicker is that the person does this OUT OF JOY. This treasure is so much more valuable than all else in his life that he HAPPILY gives up everything for it. He has found his happiness! He gets rid if everything that he has – all the things that he thought would bring him happiness – in order to purchase the one thing that will bring him happiness. What a treasure!

Married persons do this when they give their lives to the other in Holy Matrimony. They have found their treasures and sell everything to be with them. Priests and religious have done this with their spouse and treasure, the Church. Soldiers have found a treasure in their fellow countrymen and give up everything for them. Policemen and women and firefighters, too, are willing to give up everything for their treasure, their fellow citizens. These are all examples and representations of the treasure of the kingdom of Heaven.

Brothers and sisters, ask God this week for joy...the joy of finding the treasure of the kingdom of Heaven. When we find this treasure, we experience the joy of the person in the parable. When we find Christ - and Christ is the kingdom of Heaven on earth -, OUT OF JOY we sell everything to purchase a life with Him. Christ is our treasure! Christ is our joy! When we live in Christ, we are the richest and happiest people on earth.

I went to the funeral last week of a woman who died suddenly. It was déjà vu in many ways with the funeral of her brother eleven years ago. Her daughter spoke about how her family was the richest family on earth because of three things: 1) their faith, 2) their family, and 3) their friends. These things are among the many riches of the kingdom of Heaven. This twenty-one year old young woman gets it that her large family has a tremendous treasure even though they have experience tragedy twice in the past eleven years.

Finally, the Eucharist is the visible form of the kingdom of Heaven. It is the greatest treasure on earth! It is the 'pearl of great price'. It is also the reminder that Christ sold everything for us; we are His treasure...we are his joy. We are worth it to Him. We are worth more than anything in the world to Him. And, He is worth more than anything in the world to us. May each one of us show the wisdom of Solomon in asking God for true riches this week. May each one of us ask Him for joy...the joy of finding the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus Christ, the greatest treasure in the world.

16th Sunday - homily

2011-07-17T14:57:00.000-04:00

"Whoever has ears ought to hear".

Do Catholics really hear at Mass? I think they hear one of two voices. Of course, there is only one voice coming through the mic at a time, either the priest or lector or whoever. But, I've gathered that Catholics hear one of two voices in their head during Mass. The first is from the old "Peanuts" cartoon. If you remember Charlie Brown's teacher who always sounded like this: "Wawawa Wawawa", you know, all gargled and unclear. It's now the voice that is synonymous with being tuned out. Some people are doing it right now as I speak. I'm talking and all they hear is, "Wawawa", and think to themselves, 'what do I have to do today?' or something....! The other voice is, "THE VOICE OF GOD"...! Some people hear God speaking to them loud and clear at Mass...it's beautiful. I guess there's a third voice: no voice. The majority of Catholics -75%- don't come to Mass anymore so they don't hear God's voice at Mass.

So, if you just heard THE VOICE OF GOD, you heard God talking about Hell. Sweet, loving, and merciful Jesus was just talking about Hell...and in a scary way: "wailing and grinding of teeth" and "fiery furnace". I'm a priest and I'm scared...! This parable applies to all of us Catholics -bishops, priests, religious, and laypersons- because it is in the Church that the Lord has planted good seed. We are the good seed. We become the weeds if we lead others to sin or apostasy -as some translations say- (apostasy is renunciation of faith) or are evildoers. At the harvest (judgment), the weeds will be thrown into the fiery furnace. This means that if we lead others to serious sin or enter into mortal sin and don't repent before we die, we will go to Hell.

Have Catholics heard this teaching from the Lord? Do we know that Jesus speaks almost as much about Hell as Heaven? He does this because He doesn't want us to go there! He gives us His grace and its that grace that gets us to Heaven. We need to live and die in a state of grace if we want to remain good seed and shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father. This parable is about being faithful Catholics. Just before Holy Communion, you will hear me say, "let all faithful Catholics come receive our Lord". This really means Catholics who are in a state if grace. If we remain in a state of grace, we remain good seed.

Do Catholics hear the Gospel in general? Have we heard the teaching on Confession? Do we know that Confession keeps us out of Hell? Do Catholics know the teaching on the Eucharist, that it really is the Body and Blood of our Lord and that "this is my body" means this is my body? 70% say no, the Eucharist is just a symbol. Where did they hear that? It's nowhere in the Bible and never been taught by the Church.

If we know the Lord, then we will hear the Lord. The whole key is whether we know Christ or not. If we have a relationship with Him, then we will hear Him speaking to us in our minds or hearts as THE VOICE OF GOD. If not, it will be WAWAWA. I remember speaking to an older couple who's kids are now adult Catholics. Their kids go to Mass on Sundays and are active in their parishes, but seem not to have ears to hear. I asked the parents if the kids know Christ, and they paused which seemed to indicate that they don't. If we know Christ, then we will have ears to hear what we should hear.

Finally, the second reading (Romans 8) tells us the key in getting to know Christ: the Spirit. The Spirit teaches us how to pray. Pray to the Spirit and ask Him to introduce you (or reintroduce you) to Christ. Pray to the Spirit for those who are in serious sin or apostasy. Pray that they will come back. May each one of us turn to the Spirit and come to know Christ who is the center of our whole faith. May we have the ears to hear what the Lord is saying to us.

"I was in shock!"

2011-07-06T14:45:00.000-04:00

A devout couple with whom I'm friends gave me a book on the priesthood, “Holy Hands”, by Fr. Clement Joachim Machado. Simple yet potent book! Fr. Machado is a missionary with an amazing worldwide ministry who writes about the power and importance of the priesthood mainly through “eight stories of lives transformed by the priesthood’s amazing power”. It's excellent for both laypeople and clergy. It has reminded me of the awesome gift I have been given as well as the examples in my priestly ministry in which people experience the Lord's healing through my hands.

Here’s a sample of the book (pp.135-138):

Faith Overcomes Death

I recall from my days as a hospital chaplain in Ottawa, Canada, the tremendous effect of grace from chance meetings with patients, being content to be God's instrument on any given occasion. It showed me the power of Christ through the priesthood, and the power of blessing, and anointing. One case I'll never forget. It was around Easter time. In fact- this strikes me deeply on recollection, but there are no coincidences with God- it was the Feast of the Priesthood, Holy Thursday.

Two nurses told me one of their patients had died. He was a priest, Fr. Richard, who had served as a missionary in Latin America until his health broke down. He needed acute care, so he returned to his home archdiocese in Ottawa, Canada. He was in his 70s. He had a chronic illness, and all that day, his vitals plummeted- his skin color changed, his heartbeat was weak and irregular- he was in his final hour.

Then, his brain function was diminishing; finally, his heart beat its last.

I had gone to the nursing station to document my visit, as I was official chaplain and the protocol required record of pastoral intervention.

I had administered Anointing of the Sick with Viaticum a few months prior, but I knew I also could anoint him conditionally, if I was able to do so within 10 to 15 minutes of his supposed death- as there usually is a window between "apparent medical death" and "absolute death"- separation of his soul from his body.

Therefore the Church has always permitted a conditional anointing in a case where a soul has not departed from the body.

I returned to the nursing station after Fr. Richard's final anointing. But a nurse soon ran down the hall after me: "He jumped out of bed!" She had been preparing his body for the mortician, and he leapt up, opening his eyes. "I was in shock!" she said. She told Fr. Richard that all his vitals seemed to show he had died. He said he was hungry. He didn't leave the hospital, but was healthier than he had been in years.

Because of his chronic condition, he still required acute care. But he lived for two more years. See the power of the Church, the power of the Sacrament, not my own? It's incredible to say even the dead may be healed, restored, brought back to life. But these are signs of the Church. Christ said one of the signs would be that we would be able to raise the dead, heal people from demons. We have instances of this in the life of the mystics and the saints, too.

I recall another case of a woman, 50 years old, in extremely advanced stages of breast and ovarian cancer. She was dying. I anointed her, and the doctor said her death was imminent. "She'll likely not last a day," he said. Yet after the anointing, she revived. She got a burst of life and lived another nine months. Praise and glory be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Her recovery took the doctors aback. In fact, the doctors were stunned and became humbled. In private conversations they said it was a miracle, and they were more open to God. Publicly, they couldn't say what it was, but that it was scientifically and medically impossible. Medical personnel seem like gods. They have a say over life and death. They're experts. They judge conditions and have a great gift to see the evolution of the disease or illness, and they can tell when a person is nearing the end. So they are very accurate in prognosis and diagnosis and the likelihood of death.

But some things cannot be explained…

"Oh, how great is the priest," said St. Vianney. "If he realized what he is, he would die."

"Catholics and America’s Founding"

2011-07-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a happy and fun Fourth of July! Here's an article from thecatholicthing.org:

Catholics and America’s Founding
By George J. Marlin

For this Fourth of July weekend, a little history lesson. After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the vast majority of Catholics sided with the revolutionaries, because they considered themselves American, not British. “They understood the genius of America,” wrote the distinguished Catholic historian, Theodore Maynard, “Without hesitation they threw in their lot with Congress.”

American Catholics distinguished themselves throughout the war. John Barry is widely regarded as the “Father of the American Navy.” General Stephen Moylan of George Washington’s staff was the highest-ranking Catholic in the Army.

Out of respect for the Catholic presence in his army, George Washington ended the observance of the anti-Roman holiday known as “Pope’s Day.” In his directive he declared:

“As the Commander-in-Chief has been apprised of a design formed for the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy of the Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be officers and soldiers in this army so void of common sense as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this juncture; at a time when we are soliciting, and have really obtained the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as brethren embarked in the same cause – the defense of the liberty of America. At this juncture, and under such circumstances, to be insulting their religion, is so monstrous as not to be suffered or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our brethren, as to them we are indebted for every late happy success over the common enemy in Canada.”

Throughout the Revolution it was the American Tories who pursued a “no-popery” strategy to place a wedge between Catholic allies and Catholic patriots on the one hand, and on the other hand Protestant revolutionaries. But as so often happens in war, American soldiers became more tolerant of the men who fought and died beside them.

Bishop John Carroll (cousin of Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll), after a trip to Boston, expressed amazement at the change in attitude: “It is wonderful to tell what great civilities have been done to me in this town, where a few years ago a popish priest was thought to be the greatest monster in creation. Many here, even of their principal people, have acknowledged to me that they would have crossed to the opposite side of the street rather than meet a Roman Catholic some time ago. The horror which was associated with the idea of a papist is incredible; and the scandalous misrepresentations by their ministers increased the horror every Sunday.”

Bishop John Carroll

In the war’s final major confrontation, the Battle of Yorktown, it is estimated that 70 percent of the total American and French forces were Catholic. No one could deny, observed historian Charles Metzger, S.J., that American Catholics “contributed to the common cause far in excess of their ratio to the total population.”

With freedom came the responsibilities of governing and Catholics had an impact on the constitutional structure of the infant nation.

Two Catholics, Daniel Carroll (cousin of Charles) and Thomas FitzSimons of Pennsylvania, were among the framers of the Constitution who promoted the belief that power was derived from God and the people. And John Adams famously agreed. “Our Constitution,” he wrote, “was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

Catholics who sided with the revolution as the best way to achieve religious liberty were not disappointed by the Constitutional Convention’s final product. Article Six permitted Catholics to be part of the government: “But no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Finally, the First Amendment, which was ratified in 1791, adopted the phrase found in Catholic Maryland’s 1649 Tolerance Act which guaranteed Catholics equal footing within an impartial governmental structure: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”

Knowing that Catholics would now have the opportunity freely and publicly to profess their faith, Charles Carroll happily admitted: “To obtain religiously as well as civil liberty I entered zealously into the Revolution . . .”

The leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church wrote a letter of congratulations to George Washington upon his election as America’s first president: “Whilst our country preserves her freedom and independence, we shall have a well-founded title to claim from her justice equal rights of citizenship, as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes.”

In his reply, Washington described his belief in equality for all and closed with this hope: “And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; nor the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed.”

A good beginning and, in these troubled times for Catholicism in America, a precedent that deserves to be remembered.

Happy Independence Day!

14th Sunday - homily

2011-07-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

One of our students at the Newman Center has told her story publicly about how she went from, in the language of today’s Gospel (Matt 11:25-30), one of “the wise and the learned” to one of the “little ones”. Raised Catholic and very intelligent (as so many of our GW students are), she was an ardent atheist until just before she came to college. She vehemently opposed any doctrine or authority of the Church and was quite arrogant in the way she spoke to her parents or teachers about it. In looking back at all of that, she says she was a “big jerk”. She had a change of mind and heart. She went from thinking that she could figure everything out by herself, trusting her own judgment over that of her parents and Church, and that she could do this (life) all on her own to realizing that she didn’t know everything, trusting the authority of the Church, and that she couldn’t do this on her own. Her change was not just a change of mind. Her change was also and mainly of the heart. She went from pride and arrogance to humility and docility.

By the way, it’s not like she went from wise to unwise. Being a little one doesn’t mean we check our intelligence at the Church doors or that we blindly follow the Church’s teachings. Our Catholic faith is the most reasonable faith in the world! Some of the most intelligent people who have ever lived have been among the “little ones”. With this young woman, she now uses her keen mind to articulate the teachings and thinking of the Church in a profound way. It is so beautiful so see!

We might be confused by the Lord’s language in today’s Gospel: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones”. God reveals Himself and His mysteries to all people. What, then, hides the mysteries and things of God from the wise and learned? We have to first identify who the wise and learned are. This doesn’t just mean those who are intelligent just like “the rich” referred to in the Gospel don’t just mean those who have wealth. The wise and the learned are those who have become so full of themselves that they think that they know better than anyone, including God. They trust in their own judgment only. (By the way, “the rich” in the Gospel refers to all those who make money their god.) So, what hides the mysteries and things of God from the wise and learned? Pride. Pride hides.

An example would be in the need for God. There are many people – especially in this country and our own area – who don’t think they need God. If they are Catholics, then they aren’t here with us at Mass anymore, as I discussed at length in last week’s homily. They are saying either directly or indirectly that they don’t need the Eucharist. So many people have built their own kingdoms and have insulated themselves that they don’t need God. They trust in themselves. They have chosen to be hidden from the things of God. They have chosen to be hidden from the things of faith, especially the Cross and suffering. On a practical level, they are hidden from the mysteries and things of God simply by not being here. They are hidden from hearing God’s Word, from the teachings, from community, and from the grace of the Eucharist. All of these things are revealed to us who are here, the “little ones”.

I run into this dichotomy regularly as a priest, most often with the teachings of the Church. An example would be with the sacrament of Confession. The wise and the learned have made it clear to me that they don’t need Confession. It’s either that they don’t believe in it (again, they know better than the Church) or haven’t sinned. Their minds are made up and their hearts are hardened. It’s a tough sell! But, little ones have heard the teaching and have believed it, and see the need for the forgiveness of their sins. It is so beautiful! Most likely, it has been revealed to them that this is at the heart of the whole mission of Christ: the forgiveness of sins. We are seeing this dichotomy drawn out more and more among Catholics in our country with the current issues involving marriage, life, and other moral issues. The wise and the learned think they know better than the Church while the little ones humbly trust in Her teaching authority as given by Christ. As we celebrate independence as a nation tomorrow, we remember that true freedom is found in humility. Pride hides but humility reveals the Truth which brings us freedom.

Finally, brothers and sisters, Christ is one of the little ones! He is humble of heart and meek (said twice in today’s readings). He invites us to his humble heart which is a soft heart. He invites us to come to Him and He will give us rest. He is telling us that we can’t do this on our own. Life is too burdensome. We are over burdened – mainly with the effects of sin, either our sins or the sins of others – and carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. He invites us to come to Him so that He can give us rest. We will do that in few moments in Holy Communion. We will bring Him all of our burdens, all of our messes, and He will lighten our loads. Sin is heavy, but Grace is light. Through the Eucharist today, may each one of us have our loads lightened and our burdens lifted as we give all of our mess to the Lord…may we grow as little ones….may we grow in humility….may we grow in freedom.

"If anything is marriage, nothing is marriage"

2011-07-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

While I have addressed the specifics of the teaching of Christ and His Church on same-sex marriage, it is important to give a general sense of what is going on. Same-sex marriage is just part of the general movement of liberalism or relativism which basically says that anything goes because there is no truth. I was in college when I first became aware of this movement and have been majorly turned off by it ever since. The movement uses contraception, abortion, divorce, and homosexuality to advance its radical agenda. It hates Christ and the Church or any authority which threatens to stand in its way. Its relentless attacks on life and family, the two most precious things in our world, reveals its agenda which is evil by nature. I have known good people who have joined the movement, not because they see its evil nature, but because they think it is good. That’s one of the things about evil: it appears to be good. When we see evil for what it is, we don’t pursue it. But, evil presents itself as good and attractive. The movement uses good and attractive themes such as “freedom”, “choice”, “safety”, and “tolerance”. When these things come about through good means, they are good. But, when they are through evil means as in the ways I listed above, then they are not good. They only appear to be good. Philosophers call evil an “apparent good”. So, I would insert the word “apparent” in front of each theme.

Last point before I turn it over to the Archdiocese of Washington’s blog which gives an overview of the whole issue and corroborates my first paragraph. Pope Benedict XVI referred to the “dictatorship of relativism” just before he became pope. This is the movement I’ve been describing. Its tenets are that every belief is true and every act is allowed. It labels anyone who denounces an act as immoral or wrong a “bigot”. This is what “apparent tolerance” looks like; it tolerates everything (including sin) except opposition.

On Ignoring the “Canary in the Mine.” Why The Demise of Marriage Matters
By: Msgr. Charles Pope

New York State’s redefinition of marriage is the latest domino to fall in the trend sweeping the nation of legally recognizing so-called “gay marriage.” Many people, especially younger people, are prone to shrug and wonder what the big deal is about all this. Many, too, of all ages, have bought into the notion that this is all about fairness, and being unbigoted.

Perhaps part of the reason for this is that we in the Church, and other defenders of traditional marriage, have allowed this to become a discussion about gay “marriage” only, rather than about the overall and devastating effects of the sexual revolution, and the sexual liberationist movement in general.

Gay “marriage” is only the latest battleground. It was preceded by the no-fault divorce wave that swept the country, beginning in 1969. The battleground is also about the explosion in divorce rates. It is about rampant promiscuity and shacking-up (or more politely “co-habitation”). And gay “marriage” is now the latest coffin nail, as secular culture buries traditional marriage.

Sadly too, in many of the other “nails” mentioned in the previous paragraph, even Christians have long engaged in these practices and the Church has been too silent in the last forty years and lacked the prophetic voice we are only lately (too late?) rediscovering.

To those who are dismissive or minimizing of concerns related to the State defining marriage out of existence, we must re-articulate, in a credible way, that traditional marriage does matter, and that its demise is not only lamentable, but devastating for the future of Western culture as we have known it.

Consider the following quote from Robert P. George, a Professor at Princeton University and interview in National Review. He is answering the question, “Why should people care” :

Well, people should care because the whole edifice of sexual-liberationist ideology is built on damaging and dehumanizing falsehoods. It has already done enormous harm — harm that falls on everybody, but disproportionately on those in the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of our society. If you doubt that, have a look at Myron Magnet’s great book The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass, or some of the writings of Kay Hymowitz and other serious people who have examined the social consequences for the poor of the embrace of sexual liberalism by celebrities and other cultural elites. Marriage is a profound human and social good; its weakening and loss is a tragedy from which affluent people can be distracted (and protected) by their affluence for only so long. The institution of marriage has already been deeply wounded by divorce at nearly plague levels, widespread non-marital sexual cohabitation, and other damaging factors. To redefine it out of existence in law is to make it much more difficult to restore a sound understanding of marriage on which a healthy marriage culture can be rebuilt for the good of all. It is to sacrifice the needs of the poor, who are hurt the most when a sound public understanding of marriage and sexual morality collapses. It is to give up on the truth that children need both a father and mother, and benefit from the security of their love for each other. [1]

I have personally experienced what he is describing about the poor being the first to be hit with the effects. Having lived, as I did, in the one of the poorest sections of Washington DC, the breakdown of marriage and its effects were very clear. In that neighborhood, 80% of the homes were headed by single mothers. It was not unusual for women in their late 20s to be grandmothers already. The effects on the children of having no father, of children having children, and living in dysfunctional situations plagued, with many layers of promiscuity and confusion was very clear. 60% of the children in that neighborhood never graduated high school. Of those that did, 40% of them, were functionally illiterate. Over 70% of the young men had police records by age 15 and the teenage pregnancy rates hovered near 65% for girls by their 15th birthday. STDs are quite high and the District of Columbia has the highest AIDs rate in the nation.

Some want to blame all this merely on poverty. But prior to 1965, when poverty rates were worse in the Black community, more than 80% of children lived with two parents, graduation rates were much higher, teen pregnancy rates were quite a bit lower along with STD rates. The sexual revolution is a huge factor in the devastation of the poor, and it is rightly said, from a statistical point of view, that single motherhood has the highest correlation to poverty of any other factor.

And the fact is, this breakdown is reaching the suburbs where gang violence, youth crime rates, promiscuity, STD rates, teen pregancy, abortion rates, and many other deleterious effects have been on the rise for decades. And sure enough, all of this is happening at a time when the numbers of suburban children who no longer with both both parents is approaching 50%.

We who live and work in the “inner city” like to say, “We’re the canary in the mine.” This image goes back to coal mining days when the miners brought a canary down in a cage. If gas levels rose, the canary died first, signaling trouble, and sounding an alert that it was time to get out. So for years as the wider US population either shook its finger at the inner city, or pitied those living there, the fact is they were ignoring the canary in the mine. The gas has now reached the suburbs, and the effects are spreading. And the main ingredient of the gas is the breakdown of marriage and the traditional family.

We ought to care that traditional marriage is in crisis. It is clear that children thrive best under the care of a mother and a father, and that removing this fixture from our culture is devastating to children and to our culture. The canary is not lying. If we do not fix marriage and family, we are doomed.

As professor George states above, legislators defining marriage out of existence is going to make any restoration of it quite difficult. Some may argue that the phrase “defining marriage out of existence” is too strong, and that judges and legislators are merely widening its scope. But at some point, if anything is marriage, nothing is marriage.

This juggernaut will not stop. The polygamists are next (just google polygamy and see that the steam is building). After them come the incest crowd and other odd combinations. And there will be little legal basis to resist them. And in a secular culture that has lost any basis to morally reason, or determine right from wrong, who among the secularists will be able to say “nay?” Yes, in the end, if anything is marriage, nothing is marriage. Marriage, as a culturally recognizable institution seems doomed, it is being legally defined out of existence.

Tomorrow on the blog I want to revisit a notion I raised more than a year ago, when I wondered if we need to find a new word for what we mean by Christian Marriage. For it would seem that the word is losing any meaning with each year that goes by in the secular world. More on that tomorrow.

For now, we have every reason to be very alarmed at the demise of marriage in modern times. Those who want dismiss or minimize the effects of the loss of traditional marriage ought to think again. Try visiting my prior inner city neighborhood, look at the devastation. Heck, try visiting my old high school in the suburbs where the drafting lab, where I learned mechanical drawing, is now a nursery for all the single high school “moms” to park their kids while they try to finish high school. What was once unthinkable is now the “new normal.” And as traditional marriage and family continue to take a beating we are foolish to think that we are headed anywhere but into serious trouble and ultimate ruin.

Christ and 'Same-Sex Marriages'

2011-06-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

Continuing from yesterday’s post, the starting point in understanding the Catholic Church is Jesus Christ. All of the Church’s doctrines, liturgical practices, service, and disciplines are based in the life and teachings of Christ. So, really, I should have started this little series with “Christ and ‘Same-Sex Marriages’”. We need, then, to understand Christ’s teachings on same-sex marriage in order to understand the Church’s teaching. Many people will point to the Gospel only when referring to what Jesus taught and they have done so in the past few days with this issue. But, that significantly short-changes who our Lord is and all that He has revealed to us. Christ teaches us throughout Scripture from Genesis through Revelation. Why do we believe this?

In the Gospel of John, Christ is referred to as “the Word”. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God…And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:1-2, 14). So, Christ is the Word of God. When we speak of the Bible as the Word of God, we are speaking of Christ. Christ is the one speaking to us throughout all of Scripture. The Catechism emphasizes this in #102: “Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word…’You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers’ (St. Augustine)”.

It is the Word who resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers. It is the Word who resounds in the mouth of the author of Genesis, “God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him; make and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). This is Christ teaching us that every person – no matter what their sexual orientation is – is created in the image and likeness of God. This is the most important point to make about the Church’s teaching on the issue of sexual orientation, in my opinion. Our sexuality does not define us. We are first and foremost children of God made in His image and likeness.

So, the Word reveals to us who we are in Genesis. Then, He reveals to us how we are to live as children of God. He resounds in the mouth of the author of Exodus when He reveals the Commandments which are reminders of right and wrong to us who already bear the natural law in our hearts. Specific to the issue of homosexual relations, He resounds in the mouth of the author of Leviticus: “You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination” (Lev 18:22). He resounds in the mouth of St. Paul and reminds us that this (or any) moral law doesn’t change: “"For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct.” ( Rom 1:26-28)

Certainly, Christ’s teachings in the Gospel have primacy because “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”. His teachings in the Gospel* take on a deeper meaning by fulfilling his teachings of the Old Testament. Specifically regarding marriage, the Lord fulfills the teaching of marriage that is found in Genesis. He reaffirms what we have read “from the beginning” that marriage is between a man and a woman, and the “two shall become one flesh” in marriage. He thus includes marriage as part of the New Covenant and raises marriage to the level of a sacrament when He says, “what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mt 19). One person said recently that yes, Jesus taught that marriage is between a man and a woman, but He didn’t say that it wasn’t between a woman and a woman or a man and a man. Well, He has already condemned sexual acts between persons of the same sex in Leviticus 19 (and 20, too). Reason tells us that if God condemns homosexual acts, then He condemns homosexual marriage. Also, Christ didn’t have to say what marriage wasn’t because He declared what it WAS. It’s understood that marriage can’t be anything other than between a man and a woman because He reveals it so.

It would be like if He said that the sky was blue. He didn’t have to say it wasn’t red, green, yellow, orange, etc. He would already have said that it was BLUE! Or, if He said that 2+2=4 but didn’t say it wasn’t 3 or 5 or whatever. We would know that it’s 4 and so can’t be 3 or 5 or whatever. And, then when we went to do mathematics, we would see that this is the truth and is the basis for doing so much in math or the sciences. If we redefined what 2+2 is, then so much of mathematics and science gets seriously distorted and doesn’t work. When we look at what marriage is (as defined in yesterday's post), we see that the truth is that it is between a man and a woman and that it is the fabric of our society. If we redefine what marriage is, then so much of our society will get seriously distorted and won't work.

Finally, some people will say Jesus is all about love and not condemnation. Christ is all about love…He is love! He loves every person and creature who has ever been created through Him. And, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:17). Christ saves through love and faith. Part of that love through which he saves is the condemnation of sin. Christ loves sinners but condemns sin. He does this throughout Scripture. If Christ is love and Christ condemns sin, then love condemns sin. It is an act of love, then, to condemn sin. It is an act of love to say to someone, “please don’t do that, it will hurt you”. God essentially does this when He gives us the Ten Commandments and the Law. He is like a parent who tells his children not to touch a hot stove because it will burn and hurt them. Love means wanting what’s best for the other. Sometimes, it means telling the other that what they are doing or trying to do (sin) will hurt them.

If Christ didn’t love or want to save us, He would have basically said, “do whatever you want” (which is the mantra of relativism). But, because He loves us, He tells us throughout history what we should and shouldn’t do. Some people in His lifetime didn’t like to be told what to do, so they crucified Him. The same thing is happening today with His Bride, the Church. The Church continues the teachings of Christ. She continues to speak Truth in love. She continues to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do. Many people today (is this like 1st century A.D. as some have argued?) don’t like to be told what to do, so they crucify the Church every day. Our Lord promised that this would happen in John’s Gospel: “ If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (Jn 15:18-20)

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*In addition, His teachings through the authors of the New Testament are a reflection on how the Gospel fulfills the Old Testament and how they apply to His Church. For 2000 years, He has provided understanding of His teachings through the “theology” of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (theology means in Greek “the Word of God”). The Spirit is the interpreter of Scripture (CCC, #113) and so He helps the Church to interpret the teachings of Christ (the Spirit also inspired the sacred authors of the Bible).

The Church and 'Same-Sex Marriages'

2011-06-28T11:54:00.002-04:00

There has been much dialogue and debate about same-sex marriage since New York legalized it on Friday night. I have seen the Facebook comments of several GW Catholics on both sides of the issue. It’s been sad to see some people go on the attack, not just against the Church but against their friends. I know that this is an emotionally charged issue and hope that things calm down among friends. I need to address this issue – not so much to those on the far right or far left – but mainly to those in the middle who would simply like to know what the Church teaches and why it teaches it. So, here is part 1 of a series, “The Church and ‘Same-Sex Marriages’”, from “Catholics United for the Faith”.

Male and Female He Created Them: The Church and 'Same-Sex Marriages'

Issue: Why does the Church oppose government-sanctioned homosexual “marriages”?

Discussion: Two men cannot legitimately marry each other, nor can two women, no matter what any earthly judicial or legislative body may say. Marriage is by nature defined by the conjugal act between one man and one woman, a monogamous or exclusive union in which the two become one in a lifelong partnership (cf. Gen. 2:24; Mt. 19:4-6).

This truth is understandable not only through divine Revelation, but also through natural reason. For by nature, man and woman are made for each other. They complement each other both physically and socially. In contrast, homosexual relationships are unnatural and do not contribute to the growth of society. In fidelity to the teachings of Christ, the Catholic Church opposes homosexual activity and state approval of homosexual relationships.

The Catholic Church teaches that Christ elevated marriage to the level of a sacrament. A husband and his wife are called to imitate and participate in the nuptial union of Christ and His bride, the Church (cf. Eph. 5:21-33), in a communion of life and love that is open to the gift of children (cf. Catechism, no. 1652).

God created man in His image and likeness. He created them male and female, so that through marriage they might reflect the communal love of the Holy Trinity (cf. Gen. 1:26-28). From all eternity, the Father pours His entire being into His Son, and the Son into the Father. The eternal bond of love between Father and Son is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. This is an oversimplified explanation of a most profound mystery, the community of Persons in whose image we were created.

A man and a woman become one in marriage in a mysterious way that reveals the unity shared by the Father and the Son (cf. Jn. 17:22-23). As the infinitely loving bond between the Father and Son constitutes the Third Person of the Trinity, so in a similar way a child embodies the love of a husband and wife. The union of husband and wife is so profound that nine months later the couple often have to give it a name when a child is born! That is why the Church teaches that marriage is a communion of life and love ordered toward the good of the couple and the procreation and education of children, and that there is an unbreakable bond between the love-giving and life-giving aspects of marital love (cf., Catechism, nos. 1660, 2366).

God’s Plan for Marriage

Some people mistakenly believe that the Church has revised her teaching on homosexuality in recent years. On the contrary, the Church has never taught that suffering from the disorder of a homosexual inclination is in itself sinful. But the Church has always taught that homosexual acts are “intrinsically” and “objectively” disordered (ibid., nos. 2357-58) and “gravely contrary to chastity” (ibid., no. 2396). Further, having an “innate impulse” (not “instinct”) does not mean such a condition is normal or good, just as fallen man’s inclination toward sin is not normal or good.

God’s wonderful plan for marriage allows husband and wife to make up for each other’s deficiencies and thereby complete each other (cf. Gen. 2:18). This is known as complementarity, in which the husband and wife become one through the mutual giving and receiving of marital relations. This unity is reflected in the crowning fruit of their union: children. Although some married couples unfortunately cannot have children, they still complete one another through the expression of mutual love.

In contrast, homosexual activity lacks complementarity, but rather involves an illusory and vain attempt at communion. Under no circumstances can it be approved (Catechism, no. 2357).

If we abandon the monogamous union of husband and wife as the standard of marriage, there will be no logical argument against “marriages” between homosexuals as well as between polygamous heterosexuals. Government endorsement of homosexual “marriages” necessarily implies the acceptance of decadent polygamy and will only further undermine the moral fiber of our society.

As is the case with every dysfunction within the home, children suffer the most from the homosexual relationships of their parents. For some children, pain and confusion results when one parent leaves the other for a homosexual “union.” Others adopted into a “family” of homosexual “parents” will probably never experience the example and natural beauty of a true marital relationship. Furthermore, homosexual unions often promote the development of reproductive technology to the exclusion of procreation according to God’s design. Such technology makes the child a mere product of technology and denies the child the natural dignity and respect he deserves. Further, this technology denies the child his right to be born of a mother and father known to him (cf. Catechism, nos. 2376-77).

Teaching of Bishops

The U.S. Bishops’ Committees on Marriage and Family and Domestic Policy likewise affirm this perennial teaching:

The Roman Catholic Church believes that marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love. This union was established by God with its own proper laws. By reason of its very nature, therefore, marriage exists for the mutual love and support of the spouses and for the procreation and education of children. These two purposes, the unitive [love-giving] and the procreative [life-giving], are equal and inseparable. The institution of marriage has a very important relationship to the continuation of the human race, to the total development of the human person and to the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family and of society.

Furthermore, we believe the natural institution of marriage has been blessed and elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament…. Because they are married in the Lord, the spouses acquire a special relationship to each other and to society. Their love becomes a living image of the manner in which the Lord personally loves his people and is united with them. Living a Christian, sacramental marriage becomes their fundamental way of attaining salvation.

Because the marital relationship offers benefits unlike any other to persons, to society and to the church, we wish to make it clear that the institution of marriage, as the union of one man and one woman, must be preserved, protected and promoted in both private and public realms. At a time when family life is under significant stress, the principled defense of marriage is an urgent necessity for the well-being of children and families, and for the common good of society.

Thus, we oppose attempts to grant the legal status of marriage to a relationship between persons of the same sex. No same-sex union can realize the unique and full potential which the marital relationship expresses. For this reason, our opposition to “same-sex marriage” is not an instance of unjust discrimination or animosity toward homosexual persons. In fact, the Catholic Church teaches emphatically that individuals and society must respect the basic human dignity of all persons, including those with a homosexual orientation. Homosexual persons have a right to and deserve our respect, compassion, understanding and defense against bigotry, attacks and abuse.

We therefore urge Catholics and all our fellow citizens to commit themselves both to upholding the human dignity of every person and to upholding the distinct and irreplaceable community of marriage.[1]

Courage to Be Chaste

If you know of someone who engages in homosexual activity... we must love the sinner and hate the sin (St. Augustine). We must not neglect any opportunity to witness in charity the truths of the faith. We must reach out to them in love to affirm their human dignity but not their sin. Most importantly, we must pray for them, that their hearts would be softened to accept their trial with courage and avoid any occasions of sin.

If you yourself struggle with the trial of homosexual inclinations, do not despair. The Church stands willing to strengthen you in your efforts to remain chaste. Through frequent reception of Confession and Holy Eucharist, and through the prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture, you can identify and avoid occasions of sin and root your life solidly in Christ. Additionally, there are many people who have the same struggle and who win. Several organizations within the Church assist people with homosexual tendencies to live according to the teachings of Christ. If you, or someone you know, is in need of assistance from one of these groups, do not hesitate to call Catholics United for the Faith’s Catholic Responses department toll-free at (800) MY-FAITH (693-2484). The staff will refer you to organizations that can help you.

Questions for Reflection and Group Discussion:

1. Why is marriage reserved only for a husband and a wife in a monogamous relationship? How would I explain this to someone who is not Christian? How would I explain this to someone with homosexual tendencies?

2. Do I understand the important distinction between loving the sinner and hating the sin? Is it possible to live this balance? Am I concerned about showing Christ-like compassion as well as not compromising the truth?

3. Do I truly strive to love homosexual persons, even when they are not at present willing to abandon an openly homosexual lifestyle? Do I understand that for most homosexuals, the inclination to engage in homosexual acts usually constitutes a trial (Catechism, no. 2358)? What can I do to help people who are going through such a trial? What can I do to help their family members?

Recommended Reading:
Holy Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Vatican II Documents
Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics; Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons; Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Humanae Vitae; Pope Paul VI
Familiaris Consortio; Pope John Paul II
Letter to Families; Pope John Paul II
Mother and Infant; Fr. William D. Virtue
Sex and the Marriage Covenant; Dr. John Kippley
Brave New Family; G.K. Chesterton
Précis of Official Catholic Teaching on Marriage, Family, and Sexuality
Biotechnology and the Assault on Parenthood; D. DeMarco

To order, call Benedictus Books toll-free: (888) 316-2640. CUF members receive 10% discount.

Faith Facts:
Answers to Catholic Questions; Suprenant and Gray
Catholic for a Reason; Hahn, Scott, et al.
Courageous Love; Mitch, Stacy
Mission of the Messiah; Gray, Timothy

To order, call Emmaus Road Publishing toll-free: (800) 398-5470.

Related Faith Facts:
• Marriage in God’s Plan
• God or Goddess?: Our Heavenly Father Knows Best
• Why Not Women Priests?
• No Bull: Papal Authority and Our Response

© 1999 Catholics United for the Faith, Inc.

Last edited: 8/20/99

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[1] Origins (August 1, 1996), 133.

Feast of Corpus Christi - Homily

2011-06-26T14:50:00.002-04:00

Today is my favorite feast of the liturgical year: the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. We celebrate God's amazing gift to us of the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist. I wish I could give an exposition or deep reflection of the beauty and richness of the Eucharist. But, I need to address a big problem in our Church regarding the Eucharist: Sunday Mass attendance. The drop in Mass attendance is staggering, to say the least. In 1958, a Gallop poll found that about 75% of Catholics went to Mass every Sunday. Now, less than 25% go every week. That is incredible. It is incredibly sad. Consistent with those numbers is the results of a survey from years ago that 70% of Catholics don't believe in the Eucharist. I believe that people don't believe because they don't know the Gospel passage we just heard, John 6...they don't know the teaching on the Eucharist.

There are a variety of reasons why Mass attendance has declined so dramatically in the past 50 years. The first one I offer is the sins of the Church…of bishops, priests, and religious. The Eucharist has hardly been preached about for the past 30 years or so; we just haven’t heard it talked about. I mention the Eucharist every time because it always relates to the readings and to our lives. Then, we have the sins that we've been reading in the papers the past ten years - the sexual abuse scandals. Priests and religious have also committed verbal abuse that have driven people away. I have worked with many people who came back after being away because they had had a bad experience with a priest. One of the first things I do is to apologize to them on behalf of the Church and beg for forgiveness. It is heroic that they and anyone who has been abused in any way are back.

Another percentage of Catholics stop coming to Mass because of some of the teachings of the Church. It's like the scene in today's Gospel where Jesus lays out the teaching on the Eucharist (and by the way, He teaches more on the Eucharist than any other teaching). Many of the disciples quarrel or grumble about the Lord's teaching. Then, they leave Him over the teaching, as if to say that they know better than God. Many Catholics have done the same thing. They have quarreled or grumbled about the Church's teaching on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, or other moral issues. They have left the Church over these teachings, as if to say they know better than the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Then, there are a percentage of Catholics who have simply fallen away. I'm convinced that there are many Catholics at GW who have simply fallen out of the habit of going to Mass. We are trying to invite them back.

The scariest part of all this for me as a priest - the thing that is foremost in my mind when it comes to Catholics who don't go to Mass - is what Christ says in today's Gospel, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you". He is talking about grace...sanctifying grace that we need to get to Heaven. We need the grace of the Eucharist to have life now and forever. We need to receive the Eucharist if we want to go to Heaven. I worry about Catholics who don't receive the Eucharist. I worry about their salvation. I worry that their souls are in grave danger.

So, this is the problem. What is the solution? The Eucharist. The solution to the problem is to re-present the teaching on the Eucharist. When parents ask me how to get their big kids back to Church, I tell them to talk to their kids about the Eucharist. The Eucharist is when it gets personal and real. It is not just bread and wine, it is the Body and Blood of Christ! It is a person! When people get it about the Eucharist, it changes everything. It changes the way they approach Mass. If they've left the state of Grace due to mortal sin, they go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion. They dress appropriately for Mass. They arrive on time and maybe even early. They stay until the final blessing and maybe even a few minutes after Mass to give thanks. And, they actually pray during Holy Communion, realizing that they have Jesus in them.

The Real Presence affects their whole lives. They realize that the Eucharist is real, that Christ is really there. If He is there in the Eucharist, He is there in Confession and all the sacraments. He becomes a real part of their moral lives. Living charity, chastity, and all the virtues becomes even more real. They have heard Him say to them, "this is my body", and so they try to give their bodies to Him. They try to make Him a real part of their lives as He has made Himself such a real part of their lives in the Eucharist.

So, I ask you to help me and all priests in inviting people back to Mass. You can do a bigger and better job of this than we can. Don't be afraid to tell them that the Mass is mainly about the Eucharist, and that they need to receive the Eucharist if they want to get to Heaven. I have done this with many, many people -including 10 year old kids- and they get it. It is an invitation to receive eternal life...NOW and forever. It is an invitation to receive the happiness, joy, and peace that the Eucharist brings. It is an invitation to thank God for all of our blessings, especially Christ on the Cross and present in the Eucharist.

God dissed on Father's Day

2011-06-24T11:13:00.000-04:00

Those of you who saw my Facebook status on Sunday know that I went to the U.S. Open golf tournament. I mentioned that I went wearing clerics (Roman collar and black garb) and a GW hat. I was able to do this because it turned about to be a rather cool day (as June days in DC go). My buddy who invited me really wanted me to wear them...and ultimately, so did I. My motivation wasn't entirely pious and today I will confess vanity in my intentions. Sure, I wanted to make a good witness, but wasn't sure if a prestigious golf tournament at a posh country club with an expensive ticket (provided by my friend) was the best setting for that. But, I also had the notion that a TV camera might catch a different kind of father on Father's Day and I could do a little advertizing for GW Catholics! Also, I just thought it would be fun and different. After praying about all of this, I decided to go with wearing black.

Man, did I get a bunch of looks! I wasn't looking for this, but knew it would probably happen. I had a blast talking to different people who came up to me and made comments in passing. One man thanked me for helping Rory McIlroy's ball just clear the water on hole #6. A young woman said to me that she liked seeing a priest who like golf. But, then, she told me that she missed Mass that day. I talked to her for a bit and eventually offered to hear her confession on the practice putting green which was vacant. Oddly enough, she walked away at that point..! I ran into several people I knew that probably wouldn't have happened if I wasn't wearing the collar.

The biggest realization I had about the looks I got had to do with Sunday Mass. There were 50,000 people there at Congressional for the final round. So, most likely, there were over 10,000 Catholics. Current stats suggest that about 70% of Catholics don't go to Mass on Sundays, so there were about 7,000 Catholics who missed Mass last Sunday. With as much walking around that course as we did, I probably was visible to most of them! My thought coming away from the day, then, was that over 5,000 people saw me and thought, "I didn't go to Mass today".  This was one of the first things that that young woman said to me. I didn't intend this when I dressed for the event, but maybe God did. He writes straight with crooked lines, you know.  Sunday Mass was probably the last thought that folks would have at the final round of the U.S. Open, but maybe it's been one of the first thoughts afterwards for some of them, who knows!

Obviously, I didn't see the TV coverage live. But, when I got home to catch some highlights, one of the predominant stories was about something NBC did in one of its segments. The video below is the introductory segment to the final round.  They assembled a moving tribute to the tournament and to American virtue and patriotism given that the national championship was being played in the nation's capital. They showed golfers, soldiers, and children reciting the national anthem with inspiring instrumental music as a backdrop.  What the piece lacked was a complete national anthem. The phrase "under God" was omitted...not just on the first playing of the anthem, but also on the second.

I have seen many video collages for sporting events, some of which have inspired patriotism. I don't remember ever hearing the recital of our national anthem included in them, so this appeared to be a new approach. It seemed awkward to have kids reciting the anthem (which is pretty long for a short video) with all of the images and music going on. To me, it just seemed a bit much...for a golf tournament! Anyway, my guess is that the anthem wasn't inserted in the piece for artistic reasons. It wasn't expected or necessary, and again, seemed to make the whole piece too busy.

Then, we get to the omission of "under God" and we start to see what's going on here. Someone at NBC decided to delete a part of the national anthem that the kids had recited and that countless Americans have fought to include. I don't think it was the NBC president or executives, although the apology they offered never included the words "under God" when they talked about deleting a portion of the anthem. That would have been nice. Nevertheless, they wouldn't be that stupid to offend most of America, no matter what their political persuasions are. It's just bad business. They have probably lost many viewers through this, including me. It was most likely a rogue producer who they hired. He (or she) decided not just to omit "under God" in the anthem, but to include the anthem in the piece for the sole reason of omitting "under God".  He wanted to make a political statement from the get-go. The problem is - other than ticking off millions of Americans - that the omission defeats the whole purpose of the video (American patriotism). Whatever political points he tried to score canceled out any professional points made in the video. Looks like God never straightened out his crooked lines. That'll happen when you dis Him on Father's Day.

Wow!

2011-06-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Here's an impressive article about one of the best Catholic campus ministry programs in the country, Texas A&M, from the National Catholic Register. Wow, they have a great program. God is good!

Saying 'Howdy' to the Faith

At Texas A&M, Mass and the Sacraments Draw Students

by Anthony Flott, Register correspondent Friday, May 27, 2011 12:11 PM

Even with 46,000 students on campus, Texas A&M has always had a small-town feel.

“It’s a very open and friendly campus,” said Father David Konderla, who grew up in nearby Bryan, Texas, and whose ties to the university date to a part-time job there in high school.

Yet a long-standing and official Aggie tradition — greeting everyone with a “Howdy!” — seems to be dying a slow death.

Students “all have iPod buds in their ears and they’re all texting away as they walk across campus,” Father Konderla said. “People don’t see each other.”

But while one tradition fades, another is thriving down in College Station: Catholicism. That’s mostly due to the efforts of A&M’s St. Mary’s Catholic Center, which Father Konderla directs. Well known in Catholic campus-ministry circles, it’s now drawing attention outside Texas and among laypeople. Most recently, George Weigel sang its praises in his nationally syndicated column.

“Texas A&M is a special place, culturally; in many respects, it seems to have skipped the ’60s, such that its 21st-century life is in palpable continuity with its past,” Weigel wrote in February. “That’s a deeply Catholic cultural instinct, which St. Mary’s has seized to build a program that is a model for the entire country.”

The program ministers to about 15,000 students. Father Konderla oversees a staff of 30, a $2.1 million budget and a 30,000-square-foot campus center that opened in 1998 and includes a 5,000-volume library and 850-seat church.

Big numbers, but they all start with the One.

“The most important aspect of the center, of the whole thing, is bringing these students face-to-face, if you will, with Jesus,” Father Konderla said. “Putting them into a real, integrated, intimate and personal relationship with Jesus, the very center of everything that is: the center of history; the center of every subject they study on campus.”

No wonder how he identifies the center’s most important programs.

“Mass and the sacraments,” Father Konderla said. “Apart from that, everything else we do coming out of the Mass is getting ready to go back into it.”

There are 14 Masses offered weekly at A&M. Weekend Masses attract 4,000 to 5,000 students. Confession is offered six days a week and also draws lines of penitents.

“The students have a hunger for and a love of the teachings of the Church,” said Douglas Jeffers, a 2010 graduate from Sugar Land, Texas. “All of the various activities — educational programs, service programs, evangelization, etc. — are thus able to be sustained by the grace flowing from the sacraments and are able to refer the students back to the worship of God in the Holy Sacrifice.”

‘High-Energy Encounter’

The most popular program outside Mass is Aggie Awakening, a student-led retreat program held for 100 students three times a year.

“A very high-energy encounter with Christ through their peers” is how Father Konderla describes it. There’s a waiting list of more than 400 students to attend. Six slots are reserved for students from other schools who want to model their retreat program after Awakening.

Father Brian McMaster, a 1995 Aggie grad and now vocations director for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, attended an Awakening as a freshman, then helped staff 10 more.

“It has three main impacts,” Father McMaster said. “One is that it’s a solid expression of the Catholic faith. Secondly, it’s done in a dynamic way, and it’s led by the college students. They are witnessing to the faith themselves. Thirdly, it’s a great introduction into a spirituality of communion, of really receiving charity and love from your fellow students. It’s a way of being drawn into the larger community of the student center.”

Awakening is one of seven retreat programs. There are retreats for incoming freshmen or transfers, for women and a “Busy Student Retreat.” St. Mary’s students each semester also host up to six retreats for confirmation and/or junior-high/high-school students within a 100-mile radius of campus.

“Ask a Catholic a Question” is another popular program. Students are positioned on campus in booths or standing at busy locales while wearing bright-colored shirts that say: “Ask a Catholic a Question.”

“Even when a student’s question cannot be fully answered right away, promoting positive discussion about our faith is a great way to correct false pretenses and fallacies about the teachings of the Church,” said Suzanne Simpson, a senior biology major from Kingwood, Texas.
Conversions and Vocations

St. Mary’s offers numerous other faith-based programs and activities. A sorority, Kappa Theta Beta, has about 90 members. Knights of Columbus Council No. 10624 is in its 20th year on campus and has won several awards for its work. There are groups for weekly Bible study, apologetics, praise and worship, community prayer and devotion, and a weekly Rosary. There are programs for young professionals and graduate students and for A&M faculty and staff. Students can join a social-justice committee, pro-life group or jail ministry. There are opportunities to serve Lenten soup kitchens, attend domestic and international service and mission trips or receive spiritual direction or help with vocational discernment. There’s a Catholic radio station and an institute for non-credit theological studies. And more.

Programs are frequently evaluated and new ones occasionally added. A recent addition, “Revolution,” introduces students to Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body. Small study groups form after introductory presentations.

“The students at St. Mary’s really walk the walk,” Simpson said. “They practice their faith by living it and leading by example.”

That example bears fruit through a striking number of conversions and religious vocations. Father Konderla said an average of 60 converts enter the Church through St. Mary’s, up to a dozen via baptism and the rest from non-Catholic Christian denominations.

Jeffers, a former Church of Christ member, had begun moving toward conversion prior to his involvement with St. Mary’s. His experience in the ministry and its RCIA program sped along his entrance into the Church at the 2007 Easter vigil.

“St. Mary’s was the place where I was first exposed to its being lived out,” Jeffers said. “The faith was very vibrant there, and I was drawn into a deeper relationship with Christ and with his holy Church through my time at St. Mary’s.”

He’s also among the many A&M students to enter or progress toward religious life. He’s a first year pre-theology student at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas, studying to become a priest for the Diocese of Austin.

Father McMaster, another vocation fostered through St. Mary’s, calls the Catholic campus-ministry program a “powerhouse to our vocations.” According to Father Konderla, St. Mary’s has about eight students enter formation for the priesthood or religious life each year. More than 130 have been ordained or professed final vows in the past two decades.

How’s it all managed? The “Howdy Culture” might be specific to Texas A&M, but Father Konderla says a vibrant Catholic campus ministry can happen anywhere.

“There’s not some magic here that makes this the only place this can be done,” Father Konderla said. “It is being done in a number of other places around the country, and it is terribly important that all of us do it and do it well, because we have 90% of our Catholic students at secular schools like A&M.

“It’s too important to the mission of the Church in the United States not to do this well.”

Varsity Catholic!

2011-06-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

Earlier this summer, I emailed all of the GW athletic coaches I could. Basically, I introduced myself and offered any kind of help to them and their players. I had lunch with one of the coaches yesterday and hopefully will help his team out in some way next season. I began the email with:

“A few years ago, a Catholic chaplain to a struggling girls’ volleyball team in Nebraska started a Bible study with some of the young women. Not long after that, the whole team adopted a quote from Scripture as their theme: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). Later that season the team won the state championship.”

The GW website has stated that about 4,000 students are involved in athletics here. Wow! Among so many other talents, GW students are athletic. I would very much like to be involved with our sports teams (huge sports fan here) and hope to attend many more games than I have in the past two years. It would be great to personally get to know the athletes, give talks to the teams, or lead Bible studies for athletes. But I have done the math and am guessing that I would need some help…! So, that has led me to look into another program that FOCUS offers: Varsity Catholic.

From what I understand, Varsity Catholic works the same way FOCUS does. If we wanted Varsity Catholic at GW, we would bring in more missionaries (in addition to the regular missionaries we have now) who would work mainly with athletes. They would establish relationships with GW athletes, lead Bible studies with them, and engage in mentoring them. Check out the VC website by clicking on today's title. Here’s what their "What We Do" section states:

“In our hope to serve the formative needs of student-athletes, we seek to have a consistent presence, always wanting to be available for them. We offer them an opportunity to learn how to live as Christian athletes on the college campus. In Bible studies, they have a chance to encourage teammates and fellow athletes while being instructed in teachings consistent with the Catholic Church.

In one-on-one coaching/mentoring, we give them an opportunity to go deeper in their walk with Christ and help them become a leader among their peers (c.f. 2Tim 2:2).

Seeking to impact the local community, we host service events with the athletes at soup kitchens, homes for the elderly, hospitals and schools.

Seeking to impact the world, we host Mission Camps. These provide high caliber instruction in sport for impoverished youth, while also proclaiming our faith through our witness and instruction.”

Also on their site is this video about Cameron Meredith, a Nebraska football player who became Catholic in college and is part of Varsity Catholic. Cool stuff!

Solemn Feast of the Most Holy Trinity - homily

2011-06-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

Today is another Sunday of much celebration. We celebrate the glorious feast of the Most Holy Trinity. God is three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We should never take for granted that we know who God is and that He invites us to know Him and His love. It is also Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all our dads, granddads, goddads (godfathers), and our spiritual dads. Please call or send an email to your priest and thank him for being your spiritual father. Pray for priests today.

Today is also the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. It is the national championship...a big tournament which is right up the road at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. The Open was first held at Congressional in 1964 and was won by Ken Venturi. I saw a story about him on TV the other night. It is compelling. He struggled in his career even though he had immense talent. So much of his story, though, was about his father. His dad sounded tough...and that he was hard on Ken. He never seemed to affirm Ken even after he won the Open. Years later, Ken was ready to bag the game altogether but then, his father said to him, "son, you were the best I ever saw". Ken was telling this story as an old man, and this statement of his dad's seemed to make his life! He told the interviewer, "my dad said I was good". This was a huge statement to him that went deeper than golf, I believe.

It's a huge statement for any of us to hear from our fathers that we are good. Approval from our parents is so important for all of us and our self-worth. They are the first to define us. We bond with our mothers in the womb and they usually overwhelm us with love and approval. So, it's really the approval of our fathers that we seek. If our parents, especially our dads, show and tell us that we are good at an early age, then we are set for life believing that we are good. But, if not, then we might go most of our lives like Ken Venturi doubting our self-worth.

Fatherhood is so important; I am so grateful to fathers who are faithful and loving toward their kids. But, many are not even there. I looked up the stats on this and about 30 percent of homes in the U.S. are fatherless. Abandonment is the ultimate rejection. Additionally, there is a percentage of fathers who might still reside at home but are too busy for their kids. They don't go to their games, don't tell or show them they love them, are harsh with them, or might even abuse them. There are many people in this church and walking the streets of Washington today who have a "father wound". I work with several GW students who seem on the outside to have it all together but are a total mess inside because their dads never told them they loved them or that they are proud of them.

It's not just with how we view ourselves that fathers play an enormous role. It's with how we view God. Even psychologists tell us that how we view God is based on how we view our fathers. Many people with a "father wound" see God as mean, strict, or harsh. But, our readings today paint a different picture. In the first reading - from the OLD testament- God is "merciful and gracious...slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity". Yes, this is from the Old Testament. Throughout Scripture, God is merciful and slow to anger...slow..to...anger. He is rich in fidelity always! God is always with His people and constantly offering His mercy. He is a God of "love and peace", the second reading says. God loves us!

For people who have a "father wound", this news of who God is is shocking and fresh. They come to know real healing by coming to know God their Father. They come to know that God loves them, not for winning the U.S. Open or anything they've done or haven't done, but just for who they are. God loves us! If we really believed that in our hearts, our worlds would be different. If everyone believed that, the world would be different.

The greatest sign that the Father loves us is the Son. God sends His Son into the world, the Gospel tells us, to save us...so that we will be with Him forever. This is why He created us. He continues to send His Son to us in the Eucharist by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we receive God's love in the Eucharist today - as His love comes within us - may we realize His love. May each one of you know deep in your hearts that you are good and you are loved by God the Father.

St Andrew's, meet Fr. Dan Leary

2011-06-17T10:51:00.001-04:00

It's all about Christ

2011-06-15T10:05:00.000-04:00

Last week I went to Illinois for a conference with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students). Many of us university chaplains who have FOCUS at our schools attended "Chaplains days" which is part of the five week training for new FOCUS missionaries. First of all, it was held at the Newman Center at the University of Illinois which has been called a "Catholic Disneyland". It is immense. Several years ago, they built the Center to consist of a Catholic dorm (for about 600 students), a large Church, cafeteria, courtyards, offices, Institute of Catholic Thought, and a Newman Center. What a complex! They have a huge staff which includes seven priests. Being there was an experience itself. Here's a pic:

GW Newman Center someday (!)

The conference was a chance for us chaplains to be with each other and the missionaries and to learn current FOCUS philosophy and strategies. We had to go to "class" several times during the three days (my attendance was not perfect). I was able to meet two of our three new missionaries who appear to be excellent and cool: Bryce and Julie. Cassandra is on a FOCUS mission trip in Calcutta and Dan is returning this year. I think we have another great team, thanks be to God!

Most of you know FOCUS and were involved in one way or another last year with the program. For those of you who don't, FOCUS is an outreach to Catholic college students at mostly non-Catholic universities like GW. It is an incredibly fruitful program that is in its 14th year. FOCUS is now at 60 universities in the U.S. with over 200 missionaries. Most of the missionaries were there in Illinois. What an impressive group of young men and women who are just out of college and are giving two years in service to the Church. The missionaries mainly start up Bible studies with college students in their dorms or elsewhere on campus and work with the chaplain to help bring students to the sacraments and programs of the Newman Center. Last year, FOCUS helped to double our Mass attendance at Sunday student Masses, increase confessions dramatically, and bring more students to Eucharistic Adoration.

These missionaries don't just sacrifice two years of their lives. They sacrifice income. I don't just mean the money they would have made in the world with a primo job out of college (one of our missionaries last year could have made $60 k on Wall Street). I mean that they don't get paid by FOCUS. They have to raise their own income! This is the biggest challenge for many of them. God provides for them through generous donations of family members, friends, and supporters of FOCUS. Pretty radical stuff!

So, while I was with the missionaries in "class", Mass, or Adoration, I was thinking to myself, what motivates them to do all of this? Why have they given two years of their lives, endured the criticism or mockery of others in doing so, have to fundraise their income, follow the intense structure of FOCUS, put themselves out there in bold and oftentimes zany ways on campus (e.g., last year our missionaries dressed up in a hippo costume on campus to draw the attention of students), and be willing to step onto the front lines to preach the Gospel? They are so talented and can do pretty much whatever they want to be successful in the world. So, why are they doing this?

There's really only one answer: Jesus Christ. They are doing all of this for Christ. It is such a beautiful witness! The missionaries that I saw in Illinois are happy, cheerful, kind, and filled with peace and joy. Christ becomes so visible in and through them. It is so obvious that He is the reason they are there. It is so obvious that He is the reason for FOCUS in the first place. FOCUS is not about a program; it is about a person, Jesus Christ. I brought them to GW so that more of our students would have a deep relationship with Christ, primarily in the Eucharist. It is all about Christ for Curtis Martin (the inspiring founder and president of FOCUS) and all of the men and women who work for and with him. This was the main thing I learned in "class" last week. It's pretty much the same thing that GW students have taught me these past two years. Why are such talented young Catholics so generous with their time and gifts? Jesus Christ. It's all about Him.

Are you praying?

2011-06-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty common question of mine around the Newman Center and parish. It often catches people off guard as they try to put their finger on what is missing in their life. They are struggling with sin or anxiety or minor depression and can't understand why. When I ask them, "are you praying?", they give me a look of embarrasment if they haven't been praying and also relief because the light just went on in their mind. After saying "duh!" to themselves, they launch into an all-out explanation of agreement with me that prayer is what is missing in their lives. Sure, they say grace before meals and do their prayers as they go to bed...but they aren't really praying...I mean, really praying.

Of course, there are many GW Catholics who pray and pray hard. They are really coming to know Jesus Christ through a daily conversation with Him. They are speaking to Him from their hearts each and every day and this is changing their life. They have an academic life, a social life, and a prayer life. The more their prayer life grows (like the mustard seed), the more it begins to shape the rest of their life.

So, wherever you were this past school year in your prayer life, are you praying this summer? I know that some of our biggest pray-ers don't have the opportunity for daily Mass as they do at GW. I know that many of you are much more isolated in living out your faith now at home. And, it's much more difficult to be outward as a devout Catholic at home than it is here for many of you (I know that some are hiding their devotionals from even their parents!).

In whatever situation you find yourself right now, you can and should pray every day. Don't worry about for how long you pray: quality is more important than quantity to God. Sure, holy hours have a special significance in our faith and more time with God brings more fruits, but it's more important right now to have consistent prayer. Of course, be as generous with God as you can, but even that's aonly five minutes a day, that will be enough. "If but a pin is given in homage, and given with a good heart, it would be enough for Jesus, who loves only the good will" (St. Louis de Montfort).

Go to your "Catholic bunkers" (chapel, bedroom, nature) and pray for at least five minutes every day. If you can do more than that, great. But, this will be your starting point if you don't already do this. You can pray the rosary or at least portions of the rosary (you should be praying at least a decade a day), read the Psalms or Gospels, go to usccb.org/nab for today's Mass readings, spend a few minutes in Adoration if possible, or just enter into a silent conversation with the Lord (God speaks to us in silence). Do one of these each day this summer, and the next thing you know... you have a prayer life.

Pentecost - homily

2011-06-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

“Lord, send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth”. (Psalm 104)

In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited his native Poland one year after becoming the first Polish Pope ever. While this was a very meaningful trip personally for His Holiness, God planned it to be more than a sentimental nine day tour. In fact, He used the visit as a way to bring the fall of communism. In your study of the fall of communism in Europe, have you ever seen the Holy Spirit’s name mentioned in a history book? And, yet, He should get the most credit. At one of the early Masses on the trip, the Holy Father began his homily with our psalm: “Lord, send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth”. This wasn’t just a nice prayer that the Pope thought sounded nice; he was actually calling down the Holy Spirit upon that gathering…upon the million people there...upon the whole nation of Poland. His prayer was that the Spirit would renew the face of the earth in Poland. He called the Spirit to renew the people in freedom and in truth.

It worked. There would be evidence that the powerful and awesome Spirit of God descended upon the Polish people and renewed the face o f their country. Millions of people came to see the Pope; the rest of the country listened to him on the radio or watched him on TV. And, they took to his message…big time! He connected with them about Christ…about freedom…about the Cross…about truth. During those incredible nine days, the Polish people were so inspired to work toward living freedom that the Solidarity movement arose not long after. Communism fell first in Poland and then throughout all of Europe by 1989, ten years after the Pope’s visit. Looking at that incredible turn of events, we see that the Pope’s prayer was answered: the Spirit renewed the face of Poland and all of Europe.

It was really like Pentecost. It wasn’t as dramatic as “tongues of fire” as we heard in the first reading. But, ultimately, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall is pretty dramatic stuff. It’s all the same Spirit. It was the Spirit who renewed the Polish people. It was the Spirit who renewed the Apostles. They were cowering in the upper room, afraid to even be seen in public because people might identify them as followers of Jesus. Then, the Spirit came upon them as tongues of fire and they went out preaching the risen Christ to no end. 3,000 Jews were baptized that day and the Catholic Church officially began. The Spirit has been renewing the face of the earth through the Church ever since.

We should pray that prayer often. “Lord, send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth”. Renew the face of our family. Renew the face of our marriage… of my priesthood…of my life…of this campus. We began last school year at the GW Newman Center with a Mass to the Holy Spirit and asked Him to come upon us and renew the face of the campus. Boy, did this happen this year! The Spirit gave us definite signs that He has begun to renew the face of our campus for the better. Pretty incredible stuff from the Spirit at GW.

The Spirit is often imaged as the “breath” of God. Another translation of today’s psalm says, “Lord, send forth your breath”. God breathes His Spirit on us and in us (at Baptism). He breathes life on us. He creates life through His breath of the Spirit. He re-creates life through the breath of the Spirit. We are recreated…renewed by the Spirit. We are made new again. In today’s Gospel which is John’s Pentecost, Jesus breathes on the Apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. What He says next is very significant for us as Catholics. He says, “ Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” We know it’s the Spirit who renews us. Now we know how: through the forgiveness of sins. The Spirit makes us new by forgiving our sins and wiping them clean. He does this primarily through the Sacrament of Confession; Confession renews us. Every person who comes out of the confessional is made new…a “new creation”, as St. Paul would say. Even if we confess the same sins over and over again…the person who confesses sexual sin walks out of the box a chaste person! Jesus gives priests the power to forgive sins (and this Gospel – John 20:19-23 - is the main Scriptural basis for the Sacrament of Confession) so that His people are made new again. I offer confessions so often to GW students and to the parishioners here when I can so that you will be made new.

Finally, in a few moments, I will call down the Spirit on our gifts of bread wine, and ask Him to make them holy. It is through the Spirit that they become the Body and Blood of Christ. It is at this and every Mass that we are renewed by the Spirit in the Eucharist. As we approach Holy Communion today, let us say this prayer in our hearts so that we will be renewed: “Lord, send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth”.

Welcome, St. Luke's Episcopal!

2011-06-07T12:23:00.000-04:00

Bladensburg Episcopal church to become Catholic

An Episcopal church in Bladensburg has decided to become the first in the country to convert to Roman Catholicism, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington announced Monday.
Read the entire story by clicking on today's title.

Feast of the Ascension - homily

2011-06-05T11:06:00.003-04:00

"I am with you always, until the end of the age".

Many people who come to me for counseling or spiritual direction ask for evidence or proof, and it's most often about this point the Lord makes here. They want to know that He is, in fact, with us. They want to know that He is real. Just yesterday, a very devout woman demanded evidence, not exactly that the Lord is with us, but not too far off. It's a great desire of all of us to know that the Lord is with us. So, I will give you two points of evidence - two "proofs" - that the Lord is with us always.

The first proof is the Church. Look at the history of the Church from the Ascension 2000 years ago until now. At the time of the Ascension, there were 11 Apostles and a few disciples. It was a small group of people. And, then, the leader of the group left! He ascended to Heaven...to glory at the right hand of the Father. How in the world did it go from a small group of followers to now over a billion Catholics? How did the Church not just survive, but actually thrive? The only reasonable explanation is that the Lord has been with us. He did not leave us orphans when He ascended. There's no way we could have gotten to this point on our own.

In fact, He has been with us as head of the Church. Ten days after the Ascension, He sent His Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost. This event officially started the Catholic Church. The Spirit has been guiding and leading the Church ever since. It is the Spirit of Christ. The Catechism says that Christ communicated the Spirit to the Church in such a way that our communion with Him is even more intense now. As our second reading says, Christ is the head, the Church is the body. The New Testament says this constantly: that Christ and the Church are one. He is with us always. He did not leave us orphans at the Ascension.

So, He is still present in His mystical body, the Church. He is still present in a mysterious, unseen way. He is one with all disciples of all nations….to the ends of the earth. Christ is the bridegroom, the Church is the bride. The Church is the fullness of Christ on earth. That word “fullness” is key to understanding the Catholic Church. While the Lord is present in Protestant denominations, the fullness of Christ is found in the Catholic Church. In the Church is the fullness of Christ, the fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of Truth.

The second proof is the Eucharist. Many of us who have a relationship with the Eucharist will think that the Lord is mainly talking about the Eucharist in this line at the end of Matthew’s Gospel: "I am with you always, until the end of the age”. He remains visibly present to us in the Eucharist as He was visibly present for forty days before the Ascension. It is in the Eucharist that many of us have seen our “proof” or evidence that He is with us. This can happen at Sunday Mass, but for many of us, it has happened at daily Mass or in Eucharistic Adoration.

If you are looking for evidence that the Lord is with you, try going to a daily Mass. It is much more intimate than Sunday Mass, there are less distractions, and, well, it’s shorter (with no collections!). And, if you spend even a little time in Adoration each week, you will have an experience that so many of us have had: that there IS a presence there. It’s not just bread. There is something supernatural going on there, just like there’s been something supernatural going on in the 2000 year history of the Church. It’s hard to put into words, but the best way for me to describe the experience in the Real Presence is peace. You have an experience of peace…you have an experience of something being there. You have an experience that the Lord is with you always, until the end of the age.

"Light of the World - the Steven Tyler and Julia Holcomb story"

2011-06-03T11:10:00.001-04:00

Last week, I received the following email from a GW Catholic: “Not sure if you saw this, or are familiar with this story, but I came across it today and thought I would share it with you. It's kind of a long read, but it's a really touching story about a woman who was pressured to have an abortion at 5 months at a very young age (by Steven Tyler), has lived with the regret for her entire life, and eventually joined the Catholic Church because of the sacrament of Confession and defense of life.”

Here are excerpts from this powerful and possibly even shocking story given that it involves a popular musician, Steven Tyler, who is finding even more fame with “American Idol”. This woman, Julia Holcomb, has become a true American hero. To view the full story, please click on today’s title.

The Light of the World - the Steven Tyler and Julia Holcomb story

The Abortion

The doctor left the room and Steven came in. He told me that I needed to have an abortion because of the smoke damage to my lungs and the oxygen deprivation I had suffered. I said “No,” I wanted the baby. I was five-months pregnant. I could not believe he was even asking me to have an abortion at this stage. He spent over an hour pressing me to go ahead and have the abortion. He said that I was too young to have a baby and it would have brain damage because I had been in the fire and taken drugs. I became very quiet and repeated the answer “No” more than once. I said I should not be asked to make that decision while still in the hospital. He said I had to have the abortion now. He said I was too far along to wait because it would be illegal for me to get an abortion in another week.

He sat beside my hospital bed, but we did not look at each other. I said no again. Finally he gave up and said, “OK, you can go home to your mother’s and have the baby there.” I was worn out and began to feel hopeless. My mother and stepfather would not be happy to have me return home pregnant. I believed they would also want me to have an abortion. I began to feel like life was caving in on me. I had no health insurance or money and did not believe Steven intended to help provide for our baby or me. He had not been providing medical care for me up to that time. I believed he was abandoning me as my father and my mother had. I began to cry and agreed to have the abortion. Steven was relieved and happy. He reassured me that he cared for me and that after the abortion everything would be fine.

I was moved to another part of the hospital and a different doctor performed the abortion. It was a horrible nightmare I will never forget. I was traumatized by the experience. My baby had one defender in life; me, and I caved in to pressure because of fear of rejection and the unknown future. I wish I could go back and be given that chance again, to say no to the abortion one last time. I wish with all my heart I could have watched that baby live his life and grow to be a man.

The doctor did not explain what the procedure would be like. Steven watched when the doctor punctured my uterus with a large needle. Then I was taken to a room to wait for the contractions. Steven sat beside me in the hospital until it was over. When the nurse would leave the room he was snorting cocaine on the table beside my bed. He even offered some to me once, but I just turned away, sick inside. Steven, high on cocaine, was emotionally detached, witnessing the procedure but cut off from the normal reaction and feelings of horror you would expect. At the time I was shocked and hurt by his behavior.

But I know now that on an unconscious level, he must have been traumatized witnessing the death of his first-born son in such a horrific and direct way. Steven watched the baby come out and he told me later, when we were in New Hampshire, that it had been born alive and allowed to die. (I was not allowed to see the baby when it was delivered.) Steven told me later that it had been a boy and that he now felt terrible guilt and a sense of dread over what he had done. I did not know that such a thing could be legal. I could not imagine a world where a tiny baby could be born alive and tossed aside as worthless without ever seeing his mother’s face.

Nothing was ever the same between us after that day, though I did not return home for over a year. I became very quiet and withdrawn after the abortion. I was grieving the loss of my baby and I could never look at Steven again without remembering what he had done to our son and me. I had just lived through a horrific fire that nearly claimed my life, but the abortion made me feel like part of me died with my baby. I felt cheated and betrayed, and angry with myself for agreeing to something that I knew was wrong. I felt deep anger and almost hatred for the doctor who performed the abortion.

Everyone around me seemed to be moving on with life, but I was carrying a wound that would not go away. Steven was already involved with other women at that time. The fact that he was my guardian complicated things for him because he was legally responsible for me. I was young, had dropped out of high school, and did not understand my legal rights at the time. I felt completely powerless.

I left Steven in February 1977 and returned to live with my mother and stepfather. Steven called a few times after I returned home and then I never heard from him again.

Rising Out of the Ashes

The road to recovery was a slow process. When I returned home to my mother I was a broken spirit. I could not sleep at night without nightmares of the abortion and the fire. The world seemed like a dark place. My mother and stepfather now had a handsome little boy. He was a joy and I could not help but be happy when I was with him. My love for my half brother opened my heart toward my stepfather and I began to see that he was trying to be a good husband and father.

Mother had found that she missed the church and they were attending a United Methodist church in our area. I began attending with them and I remember a turning point for me was a week-long church retreat in the summer at the Oregon coast. There were young adults my own age, sing-alongs, campfires, Bible studies, prayer meetings, and I left there with a renewed sense of hope that God existed; He loved me in spite of my sins, and I could find forgiveness and a measure of real happiness within a family of my own if I began to rebuild my life.

Soon I was baptized. Mother helped me to get my GED, and I got my first job working as a receptionist. I began to attend youth activities, and the church became a lifeline that pulled me out of the fog of grief, sorrow, and guilt after my years with Steven. I found forgiveness in Jesus. I forgave myself, I forgave my mother and stepfather, and I prayed for the grace to forgive Steven.

I gained the confidence to move out and enroll in college. I rented a room of my own from an elderly widow who lived near the campus. That is when I met Joseph, who is now my husband.

My husband is my true hero. He has been a loving husband, a generous father, and hard-working provider for our family. My husband loves me and has forgiven me from his heart and has not let my past define his understanding of who I am as a person. If I had kept my baby I believe Joseph and I would still be married today, and our lives would be richer because of his presence in our family. God has been generous in giving us the joy of children and grandchildren who are a constant reminder of God’s presence in our life. I am amazed at the way God has protected me over the years.

Today I am a pro-life Roman Catholic, the mother of seven children, and this year my husband and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Joseph and I have six children of our own, and I give thanks for each of them, as they are truly a gift from God. We are also legal guardians to a beautiful little girl whose young mother made the choice for life in a difficult pregnancy, and then entrusted her to our care.

Joseph and I joined the Catholic Church, as adults through the RCIA process in 1992. The Catholic Church’s teaching on respect for life, as well as the sacrament of confession, has brought me an even deeper level of healing and peace. We have been active in ministries within the church that support the family, marriage and respect for life.

"Please slow down, Your Holiness!"

2011-06-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

We have a new logo for next year. This will be on all of our stuff – cups, posters, t-shirts, etc. You can view the new logo on our GW Catholics website - just click on today's title to go there.

Now, we just need a theme…mainly for the back of our t-shirts...

Last year: “To Jesus Through Mary”

This year: “Grace Happens” (my suggestion)

Any ideas from bloggers, especially GW Catholics?

------------------------------------

After getting all of Pope Benedict's luggage loaded into the limo, the driver notices that the Pope is still standing on the curb

'Excuse me, Your Holiness,' says the driver,

'Would you please take your seat so we can leave?'

'Well, to tell you the truth,' says the Pope, 'they never let me drive at the Vatican, and I'd really like to drive today.'

'I'm sorry but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! And what if something should happen?' protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning.

'There might be something extra in it for you,' says the Pope.

Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 105 mph.

'Please slow down, Your Holiness!!!' pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens. 'Oh, dear God, I'm gonna lose my license,' moans the driver.

The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio.

'I need to talk to the Chief,' he says to the dispatcher.

The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going a hundred and five.

'So bust him,' says the Chief.

'I don't think we want to do that, he's really important,' said the cop.

The Chief exclaimed, 'All the more reason!'

'No, I mean really important,' said the cop.

The Chief then asked, 'Who ya got there, the Mayor?'

Cop: 'Bigger.'

Chief: 'Governor?'

Cop: 'Bigger.'

'Well,' said the Chief, 'Who is it?'

Cop: 'I think it's God!'

Chief: 'What makes you think it's God?'

Cop: 'He's got the Pope as a chauffeur!'

"The mother of my Lord"

2011-05-31T10:10:00.000-04:00

Happy feast day! Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation when Mary visited Elizabeth. She traveled about 70 miles on rough terrain with Jesus in her womb in order to be with her kinswoman who was pregnant with John the Baptist. It is an incredible scene which is described below by americancatholic.org. The Visitation is the 2nd joyful mystery of the Rosary; the fruit of the mystery is love of neighbor. Mary stayed with Elizabeth and served her for three months.

This is a fairly late feast, going back only to the 13th or 14th century. It was established widely throughout the Church to pray for unity. The present date of celebration was set in 1969 in order to follow the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and precede the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24).

Like most feasts of Mary, it is closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. The more visible actors in the visitation drama (see Luke 1:39-45) are Mary and Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist steal the scene in a hidden way. Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic salvation. Elizabeth, in turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and addresses words of praise to Mary—words that echo down through the ages.

It is helpful to recall that we do not have a journalist’s account of this meeting. Rather, Luke, speaking for the Church, gives a prayerful poet’s rendition of the scene. Elizabeth’s praise of Mary as “the mother of my Lord” can be viewed as the earliest Church’s devotion to Mary. As with all authentic devotion to Mary, Elizabeth’s (the Church’s) words first praise God for what God has done to Mary. Only secondly does she praise Mary for trusting God’s words.

Then comes the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Here Mary herself (like the Church) traces all her greatness to God.

Comment:
One of the invocations in Mary’s litany is “Ark of the Covenant.” Like the Ark of the Covenant of old, Mary brings God’s presence into the lives of other people. As David danced before the Ark, John the Baptist leaps for joy. As the Ark helped to unite the 12 tribes of Israel by being placed in David’s capital, so Mary has the power to unite all Christians in her Son. At times, devotion to Mary may have occasioned some divisiveness, but we can hope that authentic devotion will lead all to Christ and therefore to one another.

Quote:
“Moved by charity, therefore, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman.... While every word of Elizabeth’s is filled with meaning, her final words would seem to have a fundamental importance: ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord’ (Luke 1:45). These words can be linked with the title ‘full of grace’ of the angel’s greeting. Both of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about Mary, who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because she ‘has believed.’ The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift of God himself. Mary’s faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the visitation, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift” (Pope John Paul II, The Mother of the Redeemer, 12).

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T10:34:00.000-04:00

An insufficient but heartfelt thank you to all who have served our country in defending freedom and justice, especially those who "have laid down their lives" for us.

6th Sunday of Easter - homily

2011-05-30T10:25:00.000-04:00

"Always be ready to give...a reason for your hope".

Recently, I was talking to a group of women whom I had just met. We were in a short car ride and talking about good things going on in the Church. I blurted out my usual line, "God is good". A couple of the women nodded in agreement, but one of them replied, "I don't know about that". The other ladies asked why she said it, and the woman expressed her doubts, mainly with the story of a friend whose twin girls died at birth. Her friend had been living a sinful life but began to turn her life around before she became pregnant. She now feels that God is punishing her for her past sins, and the woman with whom we were speaking feels the same way.

It's moments like these as a priest that I call on the Spirit of truth to help me out. My basic prayer is usually, "ok, Spirit, you gotta help me, because I have no clue what to say". The Spirit came through, as usual. After listening to this woman a few more minutes, I said, "God is not punishing your friend. The Catechism of our Church teaches that God does not seek vengeance for our sins. He is not punishing her. In fact, He is even more upset about the twins' deaths than she is, as sad as she is". I wasn't sure how that would be received by the woman who had said she stopped going to Church long ago. Her reply: "tell me more".

I told her what our second reading teaches: that Christ suffered for sins once. He was an innocent victim. He wasn't punished by the Father. Her friend is there with Christ on the Cross. She is not being punished. We reached our destination and as she was getting out of the car, the woman thanked me for my words which she said were "beautiful". Ahh, thank you, Spirit of truth for your beautiful words!

Folks, we always need to be ready to give a reason for our hope. We always need to be ready to give an explanation for our faith. Sometimes, we only have five minutes like I did in the car. This might be the only five minutes people will have with the Gospel their whole lives. So, we have to be ready. I know that it's a daunting challenge. It can be completely overwhelming to people to explain our faith at any moment - in a car or subway, at a party, or even on the street.

If we are really living our Catholic faith, then we will be asked about it at some point. People see us as the disciples of Jesus. They expect that we know our faith...that we know the Spirit of truth, as our Lord says in today's Gospel.

They want to know the truth about God and turn to us for help. They want to know the truth about suffering...about sin and evil...about Heaven. They want to know what the Catholic Church teaches. I went to a graduation party yesterday. Within the first five minutes of being there, a non-Catholic asked me, "did Jesus have any brothers or sisters?" We always have to be ready.

We don't always have to have the answers, but we should know where to find the answers. Certainly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the best resource. You can google search the catechism or other Catholic websites for your answers (like our GW Catholic Q&A blog site!). Yesterday, at the party, I simply gave a link to a website called "Catholic Answers" which addressed the question of Jesus's siblings (cousins is more like it).

So, you can go online to good Catholic sites or you can go to a good Catholic bookstore like the Catholic Information Center down the street for books on what the Churches teaches. But, you may want to start with a prayer to the Spirit. Ask the Spirit to help you to know the truth and to guide you to truth. He will. He is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of joy. When we come to know the truth, we come to know joy. And, then we can share that with others. The woman in the car showed real joy the next day when I saw her. She knew the truth about God and the Church's teaching on suffering! And, she said she would share that truth and joy with the mother of the twins.

Finally, God wants us to know and live in the Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Life in the Spirit - to which Jesus was raised - is a life of joy! When we live in the Spirit, we are filled with joy like the early Church was in the first reading. At the center of our life in the Spirit is the Eucharist. What joy this brings us to receive Christ in the Eucharist! If there is one teaching to know and to know well, it is the Eucharist. Jesus teaches more on the Eucharist than any other teaching. He wants us to know, believe, and share the truth of the teaching of His Real Presence in the Eucharist. When we know it, we know truth and joy. When we know it, we want to share it with everyone we know. We want them to know how awesome it is to live in the Spirit, the Spirit of truth.

5 Years of Priesthood: 'Time Flies When You're Having Fun'

2011-05-27T10:40:00.002-04:00

Five years ago today, twelve of us were ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Washington, thanks be to God. For me, the five years have flown by (‘time flies when you’re having fun’). For my former parishioners and current students, I’m sure it has seemed A LOT longer than that! I might offer some reflections on these past five years or on priesthood in general in the coming days, but, for today, I simply give thanks and praise to God for calling a great sinner like me to be a priest of Jesus Christ. It is an AWESOME call and AWESOME life. I said it when the Call first came to me and I've said it every day as a priest: I am truly not worthy. I am eternally grateful to God for calling me. Today's Gospel says it all: "it was not you who chose me, but I who chose you". (Jn 15:16).

Today's celebration is really about the Grace of Holy Orders...the Grace that we received on that day to act in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) in celebrating the Eucharist and all the sacraments and to live faithfully as alter Christus (another Christ). This Grace is real and it's powerful. "There but for the Grace of God, go I" (as a priest). His Grace has played the starring role in my faithfulness as a priest. "It’s not about success, it’s about faithfulness” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Our ordination received some cool press coverage because we had the largest ordination class in DC in over 30 years. And, four of us were heavily influenced and inspired by one priest, Msgr. Thomas Wells, to become priests. The article is below.

Also, a good friend of mine, Ty Roach, taped the ordination and just posted portions of it on youtube. It is under the Post article. Many thanks to Ty for taking the time to do this – it is a great gift!

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

'Wells Guys' Take Their Vows as New Priests
Men Recall Monsignor Who Inspired Them

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 28, 2006

To the seminarians he inspired over the years, Monsignor Thomas Wells exuded joy in everything he did: celebrating Mass, orchestrating large ski and golf outings, simply gabbing on the phone for a few minutes with people he loved.

And those he befriended know he would have found joy in seeing four Maryland men who worked with him be ordained yesterday for the Archdiocese of Washington. The four, with another ordained last week for an Illinois diocese, are nicknamed "the Wells guys" because they were inspired by the beloved priest, who was killed by a homeless man in the rectory of his Germantown church in 2000.

Before an overflow crowd of about 2,700, the Wells guys were among a dozen men who became Catholic priests at a solemn yet joy-filled ceremony at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington.

One by one, the names of the new priests were proclaimed "for service of the church of Washington." One by one, each answered "Present!" When they turned to face the congregation -- which gave them a long, heartfelt round of applause -- some struggled to contain their emotions. Blinking eyelids, bobbing Adam's apples and firmly pressed lips betrayed their composure.

Theirs is the second-largest group of new priests in the nation, and the largest class in the Washington Archdiocese since 1973. Nationwide, the number of new priests is declining. Final figures are not available, but initial reports suggest that 359 men will be ordained this year in the United States. That is a decrease from 438 last year and 454 in 2004. The Arlington diocese is ordaining seven, its largest class since 1999.

Even more remarkable is that so many priests in the Washington Archdiocese were nourished in their faith by one man. Four had worked with Wells at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Bethesda, and one met him at a parish in Bowie.

"It's so rare to see this many from one place," said the Rev. Edward Burns, who heads the office of vocations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "It just shows the impact one priest can have."

Wells had worked at Our Lady of Lourdes for a couple of years in the 1980s and then for five years in the 1990s. A year before his death, he was transferred to Mother Seton Parish in Germantown. Soon after he was killed, his friends set up the Monsignor Thomas M. Wells Society, which provides financial assistance to seminarians, sponsors retreats for men considering the priesthood and encourages prayer.

Now some of his proteges are drawing widespread attention. Outgoing Washington Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick prayed at Our Lady of Lourdes on Friday night. Each of the newly ordained priests was to have Masses this weekend.

A procession of more than 200 churchmen, including 180 priests, opened yesterday's two-hour ordination liturgy. Incense filled the vast, soaring nave. Happy women among the families of the 12 new priests dabbed their eyes with tissues. Little girls in flouncy dresses and hair ribbons pretended to be grown-up. And 8-year-old Dillon Smith, who said he wants to be a priest, watched the ceremony through a mini-telescope.

"It's been since 1973 that we've had a class this large, so what a great blessing that is from the Lord for us," said McCarrick, presiding at his last ordination because of his retirement in July.

Wells was 56 when he was killed six years ago. His sister, Mimi Shea, was at the ordination. "It's the first time I really feel, 'Wow, his death meant something,' " she said.

"I mean, I've never seen so many people so happy," said Shea, who directs the religious education program at Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, where Wells is buried. "The faith in this room is amazing."

The men Wells mentored invariably invoke his zest for life in describing the gregarious man who was jauntily called "Boomer."

He encouraged them to enter the seminary and stick with it. He organized groups to ski out west and play golf. He talked regularly with them on the phone, and "we'd just laugh for five minutes, nonstop, and then hang up," said one of the new priests, Rob Walsh, 36, whose family knew Wells for years.

"We were stuck in traffic once, and suddenly he's laughing at the top of his lungs, nonstop," said another of the new priests, Greg Shaffer, 34. "Then he says, 'I'm just thinking of the party we're going to have after you're ordained, after your first Mass.' "

"If it wasn't for his death, I wouldn't have seen it so clearly," said Andrew Royals, 26, whose family became close to Wells when the priest was at Our Lady of Lourdes. "It was almost like a bugle was going off in my ear. I thought, 'I could try to be one of those guys.' "

Although the men and others who knew Wells say they are grieving, a celebratory air surrounds this weekend because many believe Wells's spirit and the prayer that followed his murder are directly responsible for last week's ordinations.

Shaffer, Royals and Avelino Gonzalez, a 41-year-old Cuban-born naval engineer, were members of Our Lady of Lourdes. Walsh was raised in Sacred Heart in Bowie, another parish Wells had worked in. Another priest, Mike Lavan, 43, also belonged to Our Lady of Lourdes but transferred to the Rockford, Ill., diocese after Wells's death. He was ordained there recently but returned to Bethesda to join the events and celebrate a Mass.

"I believe he has a much greater influence now than he had on Earth," Walsh said Thursday of Wells as the Washington class met for a rehearsal at the shrine. "Father Wells's prayers are doing such good, not just for us, but for this whole group."

Many at Our Lady of Lourdes also credit the ordinations to their method of prayer. Unlike most churches, the parish takes the wafer consecrated at each morning's Mass -- which Catholics believe is the body of Christ -- and puts it on display all day, every day, in a side chapel.

It was Wells's handling of the Eucharist -- the wafer and wine used in Communion -- that parishioners and the new priests say so vividly represented his faith.

"When he lifted it up, his eyes were clearly focused on it, in what appeared to be deep prayer, and that was very moving. And he did that Mass in and Mass out. He held that, and he prayed," Cecilia Royals, Andrew's mother, said. Grieving for Wells, she said it would take 10 men to replace such a priest.

Years ago, Wells and some of his guys talked about taking a golf trip to Ireland to celebrate if they became priests. Next month, on the anniversary of Wells's death, a group of them will do just that: golf, and celebrate Mass.

Staff writer Caryle Murphy contributed to this report.

"Spiritual direction is necessary"

2011-05-25T10:43:00.000-04:00

There are many facets and practices of our rich Catholic faith that GW Catholics are just coming to know and appreciate. One of them is spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is when a person meets with a holy man or woman (usually a priest or a nun) on a regular basis in order to get, well, some direction spiritually. The director is like a guide on the spiritual path who helps the person to know which path to take to follow Christ. The main role of the director is to help the person discern the Will of God. He represents the Church in providing an objective point of view to the person’s situation or problems. It can be extremely helpful! One young man has been coming to me for direction for almost two years; he made the comment at our meeting last night that direction has helped him to figure out what he couldn’t discern on his own. Now, he is beyond excited to enter a religious community in July.

Don’t think that spiritual direction is only for people who will become priests or nuns! God has given me almost two dozen current directees, most of whom are not GW students. A handful are already married (and former parishioners), many are discerning marriage, and a few are discerning religious life. While discerning what their vocation is and how to live it are important to them, the common denominator with all of them is discerning their call to holiness. Btw, people who come for spiritual direction learn much about our Lord and His Way from their directors, but often give so much to them in terms of inspiration and witness.

I know that many of you want to grow in your faith. You want to grow in holiness. You wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t. But, you don’t know how. Many people start spiritual direction with me and say, “I know that I need this, I just don’t know how to do this”. I describe spiritual direction to them, saying that they simply tell me what is going on in their lives. It can be different from person to person and can often go in any direction (no pun intended). Really, it’s any direction that the Holy Spirit takes it; He is the real Director! Usually, though, it involves Confession, talking out problems or moral situations, prayer life, family life, q&a about faith, and vocational discernment. My director and I spend half of our time each month, it seems, talking about the Redskins or sports….I’m a deep guy.

I would like more GW Catholics to go to spiritual direction. Once a month is preferable, or at least a few times a semester. It doesn’t have to be a long meeting (an hour is the longest) every time. It’s just like going to the doctor…and a spiritual director is a “doctor of the soul”. It’s like a check-up for your soul. Many of you are carrying a lot of junk on your souls. I don’t just mean sin. I mean serious problems that you’ve been carrying around by yourself for a LONG time. Jesus basically says in Matthew 11:28, “bring me your junk”. Spiritual direction is a way to bring your junk to Christ (through the priest). It doesn’t have to be to me (I make this clear every time I start with a new directee), but it should be to some priest or religious.

In case the sin of pride is creeping in and you are thinking, ‘I’m not telling Father Greg my problems’ or ‘I don’t need this’, consider a few things. First, many GW students from different backgrounds and situations have come to me with their problems….even those who I have gotten to know well outside of direction. I believe they have had an experience with the Holy Spirit through our conversations. The Spirit has given them wisdom, joy, and peace…which is really Christ’s promise of Mt 11:28: “come to me…and I will give you rest”.

Second, as far as the need in general for direction, here are two strong witnesses. The first is a woman who just asked me to be her director. Wow, what a beautiful and powerful statement she makes! The second is a holy man in Rome you might have heard of who makes the case for spiritual direction. Check these out, look up Matthew 11:28, and plan on starting spiritual direction this fall.

1) “Why spiritual direction? Well, in reading the saints and teachings of the Church, it is clear that if a soul desires to progress in holiness, spiritual direction is necessary. Furthermore, I (humbly) acknowledge that God has had His Hand on my life (since a very young age), despite some necessary troubles and adversity, in a remarkable way. In fact, such have been the graces that He has granted me that I cannot take any credit for my own spiritual journey . . . I view all as a gift, that I have neither had the knowledge to understand in advance, nor the knowledge to seek for myself. Recognizing that I have a particularly strong will, yet even stronger desire to abandon my life completely to God, I know that my soul is in need of spiritual direction to accomplish His ends for my life. Currently, I am in a serious courtship with a fine young man (also a serious Catholic), and have recognized several points of conflict that might have been avoided (or recognized sooner) if I had been under good spiritual direction. Ultimately, I want to serve God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength; and in my prayer and sacramental life, God has been emphasizing to me that I need to put forth the effort to find a spiritual director.”

2) VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Anyone who wants to live their baptism responsibly should have a spiritual director, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he addressed members of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. The faculty was founded in 1935; the audience with the Holy Father was part of the institute's celebrations of its 75th anniversary.

Benedict XVI reflected on the Carmelite institute's emphasis on spiritual theology in the framework of anthropology. He said that in today's context, studying Christian spirituality from its anthropological foundations "is of great importance."

The Pontiff recognized that an education at the Teresianum not only prepares students to teach this discipline, but has an "even greater grace" in that it gears students to "the delicate task of spiritual direction."

"As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ," the Pope stated. "Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God."

The Holy Father noted how a spiritual guide helps ward off subjectivist interpretations as well as providing the counseled with the guide's "own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus."

He likened spiritual direction to the "personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross."

The Bishop of Rome urged the Teresianum students to "make a treasure of all that you will have learned in these years of study, to support all those whom Divine Providence will entrust to you, helping them in the discernment of spirits and in the capacity to second the motions of the Holy Spirit, with the objective of leading them to the fullness of grace, 'until we all attain,' as St. Paul says, 'to the measure of the fullness of Christ.'"