CSVF Blog

It’s appropriate that the feasts of Padre Pio and St. Jerome fall within a week of each other.  Little unites the two, of course.  The lives of the saintly scholar and humble Capuchin hardly intersect, except at the point where their lives can teach us a lesson about passion.

Like Padre Pio, St. Jerome was famous-and remains famous-for the wild shows of passion he would often perform in his service to the Gospel.  Jerome’s letters to St. Augustine chronicle just some of the outbursts of his fiery personality.  When reading these letters, our nineteenth-century Christian sensibilities have a hard time reconciling such passion with “good manners.”  Niceness, however, is not a Christian virtue.  Loving in the truth is.  And in this, St. Jerome excelled.

St. Jerome is just one of the many fourth-century personalities for whom the Gospel appeared new, fresh, and a cause for cultural revolution.  He was among a first generation of young cultural elites to surrender all for the sake of translating the Gospel for his peers, the educated and civic-minded classes of the Roman Empire.  He made many mistakes, especially political ones.  But to read his life is to observe the power of grace shaping and corralling native human talent for the promulgation of Christian truth.  Out of his love for this truth, Jerome traded the comforts of the imperial government in Cologne and the papal household in Rome for a cave in Bethlehem, from which he led the Western world to a deeper understanding of the Christ whose life and grace are conveyed to us through the Scriptures.  

St. Jerome suffered much in his life, occasionally at his own hands.  His rashness led to some of his misunderstanding and persecution.  But Jerome fought real fights against a world hostile to grace.  To a culture loud with sin he bellowed back the call to justice and truth.  Passion is needed for this type of confrontation, graced passion that can touch the fallen passions of the world.  This is not a mystery the human heart can negotiate easily.  But the hot blood of one saint can do more to arrest hearts for truth than the daintiness of a society governed by “Christian manners.”

Father, you gave Saint Jerome delight in his study of holy scripture.  May your people find in your word the food of salvation and the fountain of life.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Join young adults for a series of lectures at Metro 53 Bar and Restaurant, 307 East 53rd Street, between 2nd and 1st Avenues. The event is from 7pm-8:30pm.

The second lecture of the Fall 2008 season is on October 6 by Kathryn Lopez, editor of National Review Online. Her topic this night will be “Faith and Politics: What is a Catholic to Do?” For more details, visit www.totnyc.org.

No Comments »

No Comments »

On Wednesday, October 15, the parish’s Hospitality Committee will lead a daylong excursion through Connecticut’s fall foliage country.  In the beautiful town of Essex (pictured above), participants will enjoy a steam train ride, a riverboat cruise, and lunch at the historic Griswold Inn.

The cost of the day trip is $115 a person.  The deadline for registration is Wednesday, October 1.  Please call the parish office for more information.

No Comments »

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.  

When it comes to the angels, no catechesis has surpassed that given centuries ago by St. Gregory the Great.  Today’s Office of Readings contains this excerpt from St. Gregory’s Sermon 34 on the Gospels:

You should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than a nature.  Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits.  They can only be called angels when they deliver some message.  Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels.

[. . .]

Some angels are given proper names to denote the service they are empowered to perform.  In that holy city, where perfect knowledge flows from the vision of almighty God, those who have no names may easily be known.  But personal names are assigned to some, not because they could not be known without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they come among us.  Thus, Michael means “Who is like God?”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and Raphael is “God’s Remedy.”

Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power.  So also our ancient foe desired in his pride to be like God, saying: I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven; I will be like the Most High.  H will be allowed to remain in power until the end of the world when he will be destroyed in the final punishment.  Then, he will fight with the archangel Michael, as we are told by John: A battle was fought with Michael the archangel.

So too Gabriel, who is called God’s strength, was sent to Mary.  He came to announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers.  Thus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers, mighty in battle.

Raphael means, as I have said, God’s remedy, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness.  Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly called God’s remedy.

God our Father, in a wonderful way you guide the work of angels and men.  May those who serve you constantly in heaven keep our lives safe from all harm on earth.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

No Comments »

2 Comments »

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver sat down recently with the Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson to discuss his new book entitled Render unto Caesar. In the resulting five-part interview posted at National Review Online, the archbishop comments on a number of topics, including the increased clarity with which the Church now treats the responsibilities of Catholics in public life.

All five parts of the interview are posted below.

Part I - Archbishop Chaput comments on the recent statements made by Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden

Part II - Archbishop Chaput discusses the “decline” of the Church’s vibrancy in the years after the Second Vatican Council

Part III - Archbishop Chaput examines three aspects of Jesus’ relation to Caesar

Part IV - Archbishop Chaput highlights the West’s growing culture of death

Part V - Archbishop Chaput discusses abortion in American political life

No Comments »

The modern state has assumed much of the responsibility for providing its citizens basic human services.  Education, health care, and relief to the poor used to be the exclusive domain of the Church and other religious organizations.  Now, taxes and government agencies deliver what donations and religious once offered.  To be sure, access to these services has increased under the care of the state.  But as we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul today, we are reminded that there is one thing government efficiency and access cannot always provide, and that is charity.  Nor can the state’s handling of human services release Christians from the duty to exercise love for our neighbor.

In his encyclical Deus caritas est, Pope Benedict XVI commended the collective efforts of states to provide for their people, but he also emphasized that what man needs most is something the state cannot effectively give.

Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable. The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.

In a letter he once wrote, St. Vincent de Paul explained the Christian’s necessary relationship to the poor.

Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received.  On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor.  Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, he showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: He sent me to preach the good news to the poor.  We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause.

Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor.  He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty.  He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or hars the poor as done for or against himself.  Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor.  For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves.  That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor.  So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to be understanding where they are concerned.  We sympathize with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: I have become all things to all men.  Therefore, we must try to be stirred by our neighbors’ worries and distress.  We must beg God to pour into our hearts sentiments of pity and compassion and to fill them again and again with these dispositions.

God our Father, you gave Vincent de Paul the courage and holiness of an apostle for the well-being of the poor and the formation of the clergy.  Help us to be zealous in continuing his work.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

This past week Zenit published an interview with a non-Catholic physician who champions the teachings of Humanae Vitae.  Among other things, he calls the document’s argument “compelling” and “prophetic.”

I first read “Humanae Vitae” in 1991 and several times since then. I think it is an inspired document. I think it captures fundamental aspects of human nature. He [Pope Paul VI] really hits the nail on the head regarding the dark side of contraception, sterilization and abortion and their effects on society.

Although I do not think divorce, promiscuity, teen pregnancy are exclusively the result of contraception, I also think these are not unrelated to contraception. I think contraception is a heavy part of the fuel behind the sexual revolution and many of the problems in society we are facing.

I think “Humanae Vitae” is basically a prophetic statement.

Click here for the full interview.

No Comments »

Robert Bolt’s award-winning play A Man for All Seasons has returned to Broadway. Frank Langella stars as St. Thomas More.  Performances are scheduled to run through December.  For tickets and information, click here.

No Comments »

No Comments »

The Diocese of Beaumont (Texas) has begun to assess the overall toll taken by Hurricane Ike.  As you can see from pictures published on the diocesan website, several of its parishes suffered severe damage.  The bishop has adjusted the diocese’s ordinary fundraising goals to meet the immediate needs created by the storm.  As always, the faithful of eastern Texas would be grateful for any support or assistance you could give.

The Diocese of Lake Charles (Louisiana) has posted similar pictures here, here, and here.  They are also requesting help.

No Comments »

Joining me on today’s show were Angelo Matera, the editor and publisher of Godspy.com, and Fr. Dominic Legge, OP, a professor of theology at Providence College.  

With Angelo the topic of conversation was this weekend’s “Parable of the Two Sons” and the lessons it teaches concerning God’s mercy and Christian conversion. Later in the show Fr. Legge focused on the Second Reading from Philippians 2, which contains that famous hymn to Christ–”Though he was in the form of God . . .”  Fr. Legge explained how proper exegesis of the hymn can uncover facts about early Christian belief much more interesting–and much truer–than anything found in something like The Da Vinci Code.

Click below for the full audio.

 

 Word to Life - September 26, 2008: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (13)

1 Comment »

A message from Sr. Lucy Marie, SV:

Join with the Sisters of Life - be part of a new generation building a culture of life. First Saturday ~~ Witness for Life 

Sat, Oct 4th / 8am Mass at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC

Fr. William Elder will be the main celebrant.  Come to all or part of the morning.

Last month kicked off our First Saturday Witness for Life and about 65 people attended - here’s what one man who was there stated:

It was an honor to participate in this morning’s vigil. Most humbling of all was to see the commitment, sincerity, and holy energy of the young people of New York City, who love their Lord and their Church, and the unmistakable effect they have on history, here, today. I remain very moved by the whole experience. More than moved; uplifted, dignified, joyful. Thank you again for prodding me into the privilege of helping out in some small way.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass begins our day in Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (the Sisters of Life will provide a Schola), Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows, and people can either remain in the Church to adore our Lord or attend the rosary procession to the local abortion clinic.

Upon return from the clinic (approx 10:15am) we will have a social (complete with coffee and bagels) with a short (15 mins) presentation by the Sisters of Life. You will hear of concrete ways to be of service, as Co-Workers, helping vulnerable pregnant women that are currently being served by the Sisters.

Promote this to your friends and keep the spiritual success of this effort for Life in your daily prayers. God Bless You.

No Comments »

On September 9, Sr. Marie Pappas, host of “Pathways of Learning,” invited me on her show to discuss the Year of St. Paul.  Over the course of the program we focused on many things, including the Apostle’s life, conversion, travels, and theology.

“Pathways of Learning” airs each Tuesday at 1:00 PM on Sirius 159, The Catholic Channel.

Click below to hear the show.

 

 Pathways of Learning - September 9, 2008: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)

No Comments »

The Archdiocese of New York is announcing a new “Come and See” program for women discerning religious life.  It will take place over the next five first Sundays.

Each Sunday program will be hosted by a different Religious Community and will consist of prayer, an introduction to the community’s life and mission through a study of its charism, and interaction with a sister from the community.  

Those interested must register before September 30.  For more information, please call Sr. Deanna Sabetta at 212-371-1011, ext. 2803, or email her at sr.deanna.sabetta@archny.org.

No Comments »

On October 17-19, The Frassati Fellowship here in New York City will sponsor a weekend retreat for 20s and 30s young adults.  Held at Villa Maria Guadalupe Retreat Center in Stamford, CT, the retreat will be led by Fr. Gabriel of the Capuchin Friars of the Renewal.  The cost is $95 if you register before October 4 (scholarships available).

For more information, click franciscanfriars.com/events/frassati.htm, or email frassati@archny.org.

No Comments »

As the Church celebrates the feast of Padre Pio today, we should note that his twentieth-century life can help us develop our understanding of Christian holiness.

First of all, we have pictures of the famous Capuchin friar.  What’s more, we have audio and video of his Masses and other activities.  This electronic access to Padre Pio’s life helps us contextualize his sanctity in terms of a human life actually lived. We can see that he looked like we do.  He also moved like we do.  He laughed, cried, and growled like we do.  He even prayed like we do.  In other words, seeing and hearing Padre Pio helps us to imagine better sanctity in the flesh.  This is because for us moderns pictures and video portray reality in ways that texts, paintings, and statues no longer can (which is somewhat lamentable). 

(A little experiment: which image of Padre Pio conveys to you better his graced humanity?  The one above, or the one below?)

Secondly, the proximity of Padre Pio’s life to ours gives us greater historical access to his personality.  Famous are the stories of his short fuse and excitable passions.  ”And this is to be equated with holiness?,” scoff the more puritanical among us.  Well, yes and no.  No in the sense that clinging to moral imperfections reveals a lack of abandonment to the transformative power of Christ.  One cannot love Christ and cling to sin at the same time.  Yes, however, in the sense that the transformation of the passions by grace is not immediate, for what is involved here is something more delicate (and more real) than simply hammering the passions into submission by reason, as if this is what the Gospel requires. Instead, Padre Pio’s life, with all of its blemishes, reveals to us the authentic way of holiness, which is friendship with Christ.  Like all the saints, Padre Pio lived boldly within this friendship.  He allowed Christ to transform him.  And if his love for Christ included momentary failures, we should not be scandalized.  These failures reveal nothing more than Padre Pio’s continued need for repentance, conversion, and the further deepening of his friendship with Christ.  In the end, he surrendered himself to these salvific realities perfectly.

When it comes to evaluating our own lives in terms of holiness, Padre Pio teaches us an important lesson.  When looking for guides to sanctity, we do better cozying up to hot-blooded saints than by standing stoically next to icy puritans.

Today’s daily dispatch from Zenit contains an interesting article on Padre Pio’s stigmata.

God our Father, in Saint Pio of Pietrelcina you gave a light to your faithful people. You made him a pastor of the Church to feed your sheep wit his word and to teach them by his example.  Help us by his prayers to keep the faith he taught and follow the way of life he showed us.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Every once in a while, something like this slips into the pages of the New York Times.  It’s a must read.  

Not everything described squares perfectly with the Church’s teaching on life, but the experience of this couple lends real life credence to the episcopal responses given recently to Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden.  Stories like this one can flesh out for us the core of Church’s Gospel of Life.

Click here for the full text of David Hlavsa’s “My First Son, A Pure Memory.”

No Comments »

This is the last weekend to see the Museum of Biblical Art’s exhibition “Albrecht Durer: Art in Transition.”  

Born in 1471 in Nuremberg, Germany, Albrecht Dürer began his career immersed in a conventional naturalism found in the Low Countries. Although his artistic inheritance was rooted in Flemish late Gothic painting, he became profoundly influenced by the work of Italian contemporaries, and struggled to blend the Gothic traditions of the North with Italy’s triumphs in mathematical perspective and color. Painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and art theorist, Durer was perhaps the only Northern artist to fully grasp the complex relationship between scientific theory and art in Italy. Drawing from the formidable collection of Durer graphics at the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany, “Albrecht Durer: Art in Transition” is a chronological presentation of the artist’s life and times and the advances he made to improve the popular perception of graphics as a higher art form. The exhibition, which is restricted to only three venues in the United States, includes a fully-illustrated catalog with text by Dr. Mechthild Haas, Graphics Curator, Hessisches Landesmuseum.

“The Florence Portfolio” is composed of 20 etchings created in July 1993 by six contemporary artists exploring the theme of sacrifice in the Old and New Testaments. Selections from each artist’s contribution to “The Florence Portfolio” are on display in the Museum’s Education Gallery. The etchings - probing, surprising, and haunting - represent high achievement in the graphic arts and comprise a modern compliment to the masterful engravings in “Albrecht Dürer: Art in Transition.”

Beginning Monday, the museum will remain closed until October 7, when it will debut its new exhibition “Chagall’s Bible: Mystical Storytelling.”

No other modernist painter melded the traditions of Jewish Hasidism, eastern Orthodoxy, and western catholic tradition into such dramatically rich and personally significant expressions of biblical narratives. From his White Russian youth in Vitebsk to his professional life as a painter in Paris, Chagall recorded in his graphic works and paintings symbolic elements derived from each of these religious traditions. The intersection of Hasidic and Christian iconographies in Chagall’s representations of biblical heroes, prophets, or scenes of the Crucifixion yields an intriguing dynamic tension, which has never been adequately addressed in a major museum exhibition. This exhibition will identify salient details in Chagall’s oeuvre that demonstrate the intersection of his fascination with Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as, the interaction between his cultural roots in Russia and his fondness for France.

Click here for the museum’s hours and location.

No Comments »

In 1984, Pope John Paul II canonized Andrew Kim Taegon and 102 of his companions, all martyrs of the land of Korea.  

Introduced to the Korean peninsula in the seventeenth century, Christianity became a public reality there in the nineteenth century with the arrival of French missionaries who brought the sacraments and the fullness of ecclesial life to the Korean faithful. Though officially banned by the Confucian state, the practice of the faith grew steadily.  

St. Andrew Kim’s parents were converts, and his father would eventually die for his new faith. Andrew studied for the priesthood in Macao, and returned to his homeland as Korea’s first native priest.  Before long, however, in 1846, Andrew was arrested, tortured, and beheaded.

In today’s Office of Readings, we reflect on a letter St. Andrew Kim wrote as his last exhortation to the Korean faithful.  It dovetails nicely with today’s Gospel, which is the parable of the sower (Lk 8:4-15).

Look at the farmer who cultivates his rice fields.  In season he plows, then fertilizes the earth; never counting the cost, he labors under the sun to nurture the seed he has planted.  When harvest time comes and the rice crop is abundant, forgetting his labor and sweat, he rejoices with an exultant heart.  But if the crop is sparse and there is nothing but straw and husks, the farmer broods over his toil and sweat and turns his back on that field with a disgust that is all the greater the harder he has toiled.

The Lord is like a farmer and we are the field of rice that he fertilizes with his grace and by the mystery of the incarnation and the redemption irrigates with his blood, in order that we will grow and reach maturity.  When harvest time comes, the day of judgment, those who have grown to maturity in the grace of God will find the joy of adopted children in the kingdom of heaven; those who have not grown to maturity will become God’s enemies and, even though they were once his children, they will be punished according to their deeds for all eternity.

O God, you have created all nations and you are their salvation.  In the land of Korea your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption, whose growth you nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul, and their companions.  Through their martyrdom and their intercession grant us strength that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Mollie Zeigler Hemingway has an excellent piece in this morning’s Wall Street Journal commenting on the long noticed fact that the decrease of a people’s belief in God often leads to an increase in their superstition.

On the “Saturday Night Live” season debut last week, homeschooling families were portrayed as fundamentalists with bad haircuts who fear biology. Actor Matt Damon recently disparaged Sarah Palin by referring to a transparently fake email that claimed she believed that dinosaurs were Satan’s lizards. And according to prominent atheists like Richard Dawkins, traditional religious belief is “dangerously irrational.” From Hollywood to the academy, nonbelievers are convinced that a decline in traditional religious belief would lead to a smarter, more scientifically literate and even more civilized populace.

The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won’t create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that’s not a conclusion to take on faith — it’s what the empirical data tell us.

“What Americans Really Believe,” a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.

St. John Vianney summarized the point nicely when he said: “Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest, and beasts will be worshipped there.”

For the full text, click here.

1 Comment »

On today’s show I spoke with Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, and Fr. James Moore, OP. Both are newly-ordained priests.  Fr. Pius has been assigned to the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, OH, and Fr. James just arrived at the St. Thomas More Newman Center for the University of Arizona in Tuscon, where Fr. James informs us they engage in a little “street preaching.”

The readings for this weekend prompted us to discuss how God’s forgiveness and generosity sometimes lead us to experience envy, or at least of sense of injustice. How is it that the deathbed convert and Mother Teresa both go to heaven?  The First Reading from Isaiah tells us: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”  But what does this mean?  Tune in to see.

 

 Word to Life - September 19, 2008: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (16)

No Comments »

A parishioner alerted me to this video of Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, OP, a professor of the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, giving a lecture on the life of St. Paul.  About an hour in length, the lecture unfolds the biography of St. Paul, highlighting the key dates and events of the Apostle’s extraordinary life.    

Fr. Murphy-O’Connor is a Pauline expert, as the titles of his many books reveal: Paul: His Story; Paul: A Critical Life; Jesus and Paul: Parallel Lives; and Paul the Letter Writer: His World, His Options, His Skills.

1 Comment »

Come, you whom my Father has blessed, says the Lord; I was ill and you comforted me.  I tell you, anything you did for one of these you did for me.

Today is the Feast of St. Juan Macias, a Dominican lay brother who served Christ and his poor in early seventeenth-century Lima, Peru.

Born in Spain, the young Juan traveled to the New World seeking his fortune as a cattle rancher. After landing in Colombia, he eventually made his way down to Peru, where he met the Dominicans. St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres were still alive at the time.  Convinced of his vocation to the religious life, Juan entered the Order of Preachers in 1622.  

For over 20 years, St. Juan served as the porter of St. Mary Magdalen Priory.  Similar to other famous and holy porters, Juan cared for the poor who gathered at the priory door.  He also served as a spiritual guide to much of the city, sharing the fruits of his contemplation with all who sought his counsel.  

St. Juan died in 1645, and he was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1975.

Just and merciful God, your love prompted our brother Juan Macias to become servant of all.  By his example and prayers draw us into the mystery of your goodness so that we, too, may serve our sisters and brothers.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

The Cathedral of St. Patrick Young Adults are planning an apple picking excursion for Saturday, September 27.  They will leave from Grand Central Station at 9:30 AM and travel to Wright’s Apple Farm in Gardiner, NY.  Expenses will include $34.50 for the train ticket.

Email info@cspya.org if you plan to attend.

No Comments »

Canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI, and declared a Doctor of the Church a year later, St. Robert Bellarmine teaches us that truth has a way of creating peace by quelling the passions. 

Pseudo-Dionysius once wrote (and I cannot find the quotation) that a debater’s lack of angry passion in the heat of an argument reveals his solid possession of the truth.  In other words, anyone who firmly grasps the truth allows it to speak for itself.  As a result, only when one hesitates, or when one is less than convinced of his position, do the passions rise and substitute for solid argument.  This is food for thought while observing the current political campaign . . .

St. Robert Bellarmine embodied Pseudo-Dionysius’ observation perfectly.  In his lifetime, Bellarmine came into contact with two of the most contentious events of the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries: the Protestant Reformation and the trial of Galileo.  In both instances, Bellarmine was so convinced of Catholic truth and the inviolability of its claims that his peace and calm earned him not only admiration but also souls to the side of Christ.  The Jesuit cardinal’s friendship with Galileo in particular elicited such humility and trust from the besieged astronomer that he submitted to the requests of the Church and publicly acknowledged the excesses of his hypotheses (which were only later proven to be somewhat correct).

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Bellarmine did not live to deal with the later and more serious stage of the Galileo case, but in 1615 he took part in its earlier stage. He had always shown great interest in the discoveries of that investigator, and was on terms of friendly correspondence with him. He took up too–as is witnessed by his letter to Galileo’s friend Foscarini–exactly the right attitude towards scientific theories in seeming contradiction with Scripture. If, as was undoubtedly the case then with Galileo’s heliocentric theory, a scientific theory is insufficiently proved, it should be advanced only as an hypothesis; but if, as is the case with this theory now, it is solidly demonstrated, care must be taken to interpret Scripture only in accordance with it. When the Holy Office condemned the heliocentric theory, by an excess in the opposite direction, it became Bellarmine’s official duty to signify the condemnation to Galileo, and receive his submission.

Click here for a letter Bellarmine wrote commenting on the Galileo affair.

God our Father, you gave Robert Bellarmine wisdom and goodness to defend the faith of your Church.  By his prayers may we always rejoice in the profession of our faith.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

1 Comment »

The two saints celebrated jointly by the Church today hail from the mid-third century.  Cornelius was the Pope in Rome, while Cyprian served as Bishop of Carthage.  They never met, but they corresponded and discussed many pressing topics stemming from the Roman persecutions, under which they too eventually suffered.  Cornelius was martyred in 253, and Cyprian in 258.

From a letter of Cyprian to Cornelius:

Dearest brother, bright and shining is the faith which the blessed Apostle praised in your community.  He foresaw in the spirit the praise your courage deserves and the strength that could not be broken; he was heralding the future when he testified to your achievements; his praise to the fathers was a challenge to the sons.  Your unity, your strength have become shining examples of these virtues to the rest of the brethren.

Divine providence has now prepared us.  God’s merciful design has warned us that the day of our own struggle, our own contest, is at hand.  By that shared love which binds us closely together, we are doing all we can to exhort our congregation, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings, vigils and prayers in common.  These are the heavenly weapons which give us the strength to stand firm and endure; they are the spiritual defenses, the God-given armaments that protect us.

Let us then remember one another, united in mind and heart.  Let us pray without ceasing, you for us, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve the strain of these great trials.

God our Father, in Saints Cornelius and Cyprian you have given your people an inspiring example of dedication to the pastoral ministry and constant witness to Christ in their suffering.  May their prayers and faith give us courage to work for the unity of your Church.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Below is a note written by Sr. Lucy Marie of the Sisters of Life.  The event she mentions was advertised here.

As Sr. Lucy explains, witnessing makes a difference one life at a time.

Dear Friends who Witness for Life,

Many of you were among the approx 70 who participated with us in our First Helpers Prayer Vigil this past September. The prayer and witness of all of you was so powerful. Was it really - do we ever know?

One young man who was present with us that day provided prayer support at another clinic elsewhere in our area this past Saturday. I was at home preparing to sit down to breakfast and we received a call from this young man that a woman had turned around at a clinic. He brought the young woman over. Another sister and I spent the morning meeting with her and giving her examples of all of the various resources and people that were available to assist her in her pregnancy. She left our convent having a new perspective and a new sense of life.

She kept telling us - “this was my second time coming to the clinic and I just didn’t want to do it. I read the brochure… but what really changed my mind was that young man who approached me and told me there was another way. He never condemned me and he was just so nice….I am so glad he was there… he was so nice.”

It make a difference to witness to life - this woman’s life is forever changed and she and her child are eternally grateful to each of you.

Next prayer witness and vigil - Sat, Oct 4th - Mass at 8am - St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

God Bless You.

No Comments »