Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
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To all my brothers and sisters celebrating Easter today – Happy Easter.
Christ is risen, alleluia!
He is rise indeed, alleluia!
Chrystus Zmartwychwstał!
Zaiste, Zmartwychwstał!
The Pascha from the Monastery of St. Onuphrius in Jabłecznej, Poland.
Words of Welcome from His Excellency The Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, Vicar General, R.C. Diocese of New York:
Most Holy Father, welcome to Saint Joseph’s Parish!
This community of faith was established in 1873 to serve the German Catholics residing in the Yorkville area of the Borough of Manhattan. In 1894, its present church was dedicated by His Eminence, John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York and the first American to be appointed to the College of Cardinals.
Since that time, Saint Joseph’s Parish has continued to attend to the spiritual needs of the German Catholic community. Indeed, Mass is celebrated here in German by a priest assigned to this work by the Bishops’ Conference of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the present time, however, the congregation is marvelously diverse, with parishioners whose ethnic backgrounds include the nations and peoples of Europe, Asia, Africa, and especially Latin America.
It is altogether fitting, therefore, that you are meeting here, Most Holy Father, with representatives from a wide array of Churches and Communions. For together they reflect the great variety of Christian traditions to be found throughout New York and across the nation and the world.
In 1965, with the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Bishops of the United States, guided by the Decree on Ecumenism, —Unitatis Redintegratio,— and directives of your predecessors, committed themselves to pursue ever more earnestly that unity for which the Savior prayed on the night before He died. Thus, they entered into dialogues with the Orthodox, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Evangelicals, the Southern Baptists, the Reformed and the Polish National Catholics, among others; and from these dialogues, has come forth an extraordinary number of carefully considered statements to lead us wisely and securely on the path toward unity.
Much, of course, remains to be done especially in our parishes and congregations, where ecumenical prayer, theological discussions, and the united pursuit of justice, charity, and peace need to be promoted and encouraged across denominational boundaries with unlimited trust in the providence of our Loving God.
With all of this in mind, we again welcome you, Most Holy Father. We know of your commitment to ecumenism, and we thank you most sincerely for addressing a number of unresolved theological issues among Christians in your splendid Encyclical Letters, —God Is Love— and —Saved by Hope.— Thus it is that we await your words with interest, gratitude, and genuine affection in Jesus Christ, the one Lord and Savior of us all.
Benedict XVI Papal Address to the gathered Churches is found at the USCCB website in full.
Just watched the EWTN coverage of the event. I noticed that New York’s Edward Cardinal Egan introduced leaders of the various Churches at the conclusion of the service but snubbed the Prime Bishop of the PNCC. That after his Vicar General made a specific reference to the PNCC. A faux pas or intentional, wondering minds want to know.
A welcome to the Bishop of Rome on his Apostolic journey to the United States. This Friday a delegation of Bishops from our Church will meet with Benedict at St. Joseph’s Church in Manhattan, along with leaders from other Catholic and Christian denominations.
Found this at Reformed Catholic: Guide for Elder Wannabe’s.
Here are some suggestions for those wanting (or —feeling called—) to enter the ministry. I’ve learned by experience that some of these items would be helpful to candidates and others pursuing ordination. Other items represent what I believe might be helpful. In any case, I offer them up for consideration for students and others to perhaps avoid some of the mistakes I’ve already made and many others have also perhaps made along the way
While certainly bearing a Reformed understanding on certain issues like ordination, on the whole I agree with points the writer makes.
I ran across a rather interesting (in the sad sense) point of view expressed in a blog post at Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit called George W. Bush’s Warm Embrace Of The Catholic Church
The Bishop of Rome has elucidated – very clearly – that the things Mr. Bush is engaged in are improper and sinful. Mr. Bush chose to ignore the Bishop of Rome on issues surrounding Iraq and the Just War doctrine. He chose to tell the Bishop of Rome’s delegation to get lost. He has ignored Rome on torture and other issues as well.
Perhaps Mr. Bush would be a perfect fit for the “American Catholic Church.” He certainly holds to the Americanist Heresy, condemned by Leo XIII in Testem Benevolentiae. He refuses to subjugate himself (as many Roman Catholics in the U.S. do) to the authority and teaching of the Church, preferring rather his own “enlightened” point-of-view. Just a recap of Rome’s teaching on the issue
The basis of these opinions is that, to make converts, the Church should adapt herself to our advanced civilization and relax her ancient rigour as regards not only the rule of life but also the deposit of faith, and should pass over or minimize certain points of doctrine, or even give them a meaning which the Church has never held. On this the Vatican Council is clear; faith is not a doctrine for speculation like a philosophical theory, to be relinquished or in any manner suppressed under any specious pretext whatsoever; such a process would alienate Catholics from the Church, instead of bringing converts. In the words of the council the Church must constantly adhere to the same doctrine in the same sense and in the same way; but the rule of Christian life admits of modifications according to diversity of time, place, or national custom, only such changes are not to depend on the will of private individuals but on the judgment of the Church.
So when Mr. Fromm writes:
If George Bush becomes a Catholic it will be a great day, if not then I will have lived under a President who prays to Jesus Christ and does his best to live his life as a Christian first and politician second.
…he should remember that an embrace of the Roman Catholic Church requires that the person doing so hold to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, on war, abortion, torture, the death penalty, truth, contraception, and on… An embrace of Christianity entails a whole set of life choices that go against everything the world teaches.
In other words Mr. Bush is about as Roman Catholic as ____________? Well, at a minimum, an Americanist heretic.
The real fact is that there is no single issue by which we must decide. None of the politicians who are on road to the White House are Catholic or truly Christian in any sense of the word, especially in the sense of faithful citizenship. None are for true freedom. None will desist from government intervention in our lives at home or from interventions overseas. Those who promise an end to abortion do nothing to actually stop abortion. As the Young Fogey might point out, they simply fan the flames of controversy, doing nothing in reality, but perpetuating their agenda and power above all else.
The answer is always found in the deposit of faith. I believe my Church to be correct on every issue because it teaches the true faith. That trumps politics, my country, the world, and especially my personal desires. Is it easy to be a Christian in the face of the world? No. It only happens when we take our desires, our needs out of the picture – focusing them and aligning them with Jesus Christ’s way. With that we bear witness to our faith and win true converts.
Check out the photo from Iraq at the Young Fogey’s site — vastly sad, vastly disturbing.
This is what it is all about. It is not mysterious “terrorists” lurking in the shadows. It is not about a few bad apples in a large society. It is about killing, and the vast number of innocents, in the vastly larger context of a society, all of whom are suffering.
It is these three children today. There will be more tomorrow, more the day after, more every day on into the future. Perhaps John McCain is right – it will be 100 years.
Whether we personally pulled the trigger, dropped the bomb, placed the mine or not, we got the ball rolling based on lies, false pretense, and a concerted effort to keep citizens of the United States in a state of fear. We went against the advice of world leaders and the pope. We initiated a war of aggression, not of defense. We gave those who harbor evil the excuse they needed, just as we have provided the excuse for the fathers and uncles of those children. Therefore we must admit our mistake. We must extricate ourselves. We started this war. Certainly we cannot end it just by leaving — but if one less dies because we leave then something real will be achieved. If one moment of truth emerges because we leave, then something real will be achieved.
God forgive our complacency in the face of the evil we are doing.
In fact it is about us – but not in the way many think.
I like the “we don’t need no Presence” and “it’s all about you — you, you, you.”
Thank you to Ben Johnson of the Western Orthodoxy blog who linked to this video.
A man who could have been like any other, was in many way, yet stood forth courageously. Something about being rooted in the scripture that gives us courage and sets us truly free.
Eternal rest grant onto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
From the Young Fogey:
Exactly – a picture and a word that encompass the entire morass in Israel, Korea, Vietnam, the former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, and just about anywhere else the U.S. decides to intervene and sacrifice its lives and wealth. While I fully decry threats to “freedom” and all other sorts of badness in the world, it is not incumbent upon us to save others from themselves. We can do charity, we can act as honest agents in negotiations, we can advocate, but we do not have to fix everything. We cannot. We have enough to take care of here at home. Being wealthy and powerful does not come with a demand that we be interventionist. It comes with a responsibility to ourselves and to charity.
Somewhere in the Middle East, Jesus Christ is strapped to a bench, his head wrapped in clingfilm. He furiously sucks against the plastic. A hole is pierced, but only so that a filthy rag can be stuffed back into his mouth. He is turned upside down and water slowly poured into the rag. The torturer whispers religious abuse. If you are God, save yourself you f***ing idiot. Fighting to pull in oxygen through the increasingly saturated rag, his lungs start to fill up with water. Someone punches him in the stomach.
Which is quoted off another site. If you read the comments attached to the article you see a kind of quibbling that misses the bigger issue. To me the bigger issue is this: When you look at the folks “over there” or imprisoned at Guantanamo or held at other “black sites” what do you see? The quick and easy answer is “the enemy” or even “my enemy.” Look closely. Jesus actually looked like these folks. Jesus spoke in dialects much like they do. Jesus ate a lot of what they eat, and kind of lived like they do to this very day. Jesus was innocent as some of them are. Jesus was tortured, although innocent, just like some of them are. Jesus was killed, although innocent, just like some of them are.
We are all created in His image – even my enemy. He also told us that what we do, even to the least of our brothers, we do to Him. In the end we have to ask ourselves, in light of what we know, do we have reason to hold these people prisoner, and even if we do – which is justifiable – why torture them? Take a breath and hold it for a couple minutes – and while doing so pray – Lord, help me to see you, even in my enemies. Help me to witness Your love and teachings even though my neighbors, village, city, state, country, and church do not want to hear it.
The image is an artist’s rendition of what Jesus may have looked like (from the BBC). Looks familiar – no?
A must read – an Easter sermon by Kim Fabricius: No payback!
Indeed, isn’t it that the most astonishing thing of all about the resurrection of Jesus: there was no payback!