Priests | OC Catholic

EPISODE#249
OC CATHOLIC RADIO: A NIGHT OF COUNTRY UNDER THE STARS

On this episode, host Rick Howick welcomes Kimberly Jetton to our studios in the Tower of Hope, on the campus of Christ Cathedral. Kimberly is the Executive Director of the Orange Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Orange. Today, she’ll share with us about the upcoming Orange Catholic Foundation Gala 2022 – “A Night of Country Under the Stars.” The gala’s special appeal will benefit retired priests in the Diocese of Orange.

In addition to honoring previous OC Catholic Radio guest Dr. Vincent Nguyen; the evening’s entertainment will be provided by none other than Gary LeVox, lead vocalist from the popular country group Rascal Flatts!

Originally broadcast on 3/12/22

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EPISODE#241
OC CATHOLIC RADIO: GUEST IS VESTMENT DESIGNER SEQUOIA SIERRA

Welcome to another episode of Orange County Catholic Radio, featuring host Rick Howick.

On this program, we welcome a local Orange County woman who leads a truly fascinating life. Her name is Sequoia Sierra. In addition to being a professed ‘lay Norbertine,’ she is also a rather accomplished fashion designer and seamstress. She founded a small company called The Liturgical Co, as she designs and creates a multitude of hand crafted altar vestments for clergy all over the world.

This is a fascinating conversation. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend!

Originally broadcast on 11/20/21

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REFLECTIONS OF A PRIEST DURING THE PANDEMIC

Worldwide, the pandemic has forced us to ask some very deep questions about life. As Christians we have been brought into conversations about death and the eternal things, what we call the “last things.” Not altogether comfortable things to think about, but deeply Catholic. As a person of faith I could not escape the nagging feeling that maybe I had not measured up so well to my Christian commitment. Before the pandemic it was easy to get distracted by the business of life. Now at times, it seemed like there was too much time, too much quiet.

Perhaps it was an opportunity to take stock and to make some changes. Was God reminding me that life is fragile and that there were some things in life that I was neglecting? I really do believe that God brings light out of darkness, even when it’s a rampaging virus. Where was God in all of this?

Around the time the virus hit, I also got a bad case of sciatica. Taking walks was not easy, but part of therapy. While walking around the parking lot of Blessed Sacrament Church I thought on how churches were temporarily closed with little or no access to Sacraments. Would people come back? Would faith grow or fade? Then as I passed a side door of the church I saw a bouquet of flowers left on the ground against the locked door. A way to say to God, “I love you.” I felt reassured.

Most priests found themselves jumping into the deep side of the pool called technology. All of the sudden we were putting together livestream Masses, short taped messages to the people, and online Go-to-Meetings to connect with larger groups of people. It was not the same as the real thing but it was the best way to stay connected. Pope Francis reminded us that livestreaming Masses was a temporary necessity and not a replacement for Mass celebrated together, priest and people. Someone told me it was nice to be able to attend Mass almost anywhere in the United States, visiting new places and hearing different homilies. More people told me how even with live streaming Mass, it was just not the same. As much as I wanted to hear how people appreciated what I was doing through livestream, I was glad to hear that it wasn’t enough. It’s good for now, but not forever.

Families have been impacted financially by the virus and this has had a negative effect on parishes and the Pastoral Center. Parishes, like families, struggle to make ends meet. Almost all parishes had to furlough full- and part-time employees. Some of them will not return. The Pastoral Center, like parishes, struggles to maintain programs with the furloughs that have been painful, though necessary. The priests and bishops of the Diocese took a cut in salary in order to stand in solidarity with many people who have had their own financial resources drastically impacted. That has been especially challenging for those priests who financially care for elderly parents or ill family members. Still, it has been important that we walk with our people, especially in the struggle of day-to-day life and worry.

Priests continue to do their priestly ministry. Confessions are heard, Mass is celebrated, anointing for those who are dying and counseling for people who find these times very difficult. Many weddings have been postponed until things get better; but every once in a while a couple walks out of church with a small contingent behind, eyes beaming over masks. Funerals don’t stop. People die and the Church with love gives them the last spiritual care on Earth that can be given as they make their way to God.

Priestly life and mission continues but with a different look. Masks and physical distancing are a must, and we wash or disinfect our hands continuously. Confessions are heard under an outside tent or from a car window. Masses are now celebrated outside churches. People bring their own chairs and umbrellas. Livestream Masses continue. Processions with the Blessed Sacrament happen, but from the back of a pick-up truck as it slowly winds through parish neighborhoods.

A directive from the governor of California closed down our churches again for a second time. I am slowly taking the Eucharist back to the church tabernacle after having celebrated Mass outside on the pavement. A young man with a candle goes before me. People are picking up their chairs, moving away with their umbrellas, not noticing that I am moving among them with the Lord. All of a sudden, a woman begins to sing softly Tantum Ergo and people slow down again and with reverence accompany me.

I am reminded that faith is not so easily abandoned. Parish life and faith are strong. We will get through this. The Church has gone through rough times from the very beginning and I suppose will until the end of time. But in each trial and over centuries, Christ has never left us and the Church has grown into a stronger witness of faith. He is here now, He will never leave us, and through this present test of life, I still believe.

VATICAN: LAITY HAVE ROLE, BUT MOST PARISHES MUST BE LED BY PRIESTS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy issued a new instruction on pastoral care that specifies the role of lay men and women in the church’s mission of evangelization and offers guidance in parish reforms and restructuring.

The 22-page document, titled “The pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the church,” was released by the Vatican July 20.

While it does not introduce new legislation on pastoral care, the Vatican press office said it was developed by the congregation as a guide related “to the various projects of reform of parish communities and diocesan restructuring, already underway or in the planning process.” It also clarifies the role of the deacons, consecrated men and women, as well as the laity, in dioceses where there is a shortage or lack of priests.

Those entrusted with participation in the exercise of the pastoral care of the community, the document states, “will be directed by a priest with legitimate faculties, who will act as a ‘moderator of pastoral care,’ with the powers and functions of a parish priest, albeit without an office with its duties and rights.”

The document also instructs bishops to not designate deacons, consecrated and lay men and women who are given responsibilities in a priestless parish as “pastor, co-pastor, chaplain, moderator, coordinator, parish manager,” which are typically reserved for priests “as they have a direct correlation to the ministerial profile of priests.”

Instead, those with responsibilities should be designated as “deacon cooperator, coordinator, pastoral cooperator or pastoral associate or assistant,” it said.

Laypeople, the document states, are called “to make a generous commitment to the service of the mission of evangelization,” first and foremost, through the “general witness of their daily lives.”

The Vatican press office said, “The text, fundamentally, recalls that ‘in the church there is room for all and everyone can find their place’ in the one family of God, respecting each person’s vocation.”

Msgr. Andrea Ripa, undersecretary of the Congregation for Clergy, said their office created the instruction as a way to help support and guide bishops and dioceses in parish reforms and diocesan restructuring.

The instruction was not a “one size fits all” approach, he wrote, but a concise overview of current norms and indications that can be utilized by the different dioceses and parishes according to their unique situations.

“Given that the church is mandated by Christ to be missionary, evangelizing and outward-looking, a reform of her structures is continuously required in order to respond to the challenges of the day,” the monsignor wrote.

“Naturally, this involves a certain reorganization in the way the pastoral care of the faithful is exercised, so as to foster a greater co-responsibility and collaboration among all the baptized,” he wrote.

The importance of the laity in the parish community was emphasized in the way bishops work on restructuring the diocese, particularly when it comes to closing or merging parishes.

In order for such restructuring to succeed, the document said, many factors need to be taken into account by including all members of the parish.

“Dropping plans upon the people of God from above, without their involvement, should be avoided,” Msgr. Ripa said in his written presentation.

The instruction underlined that certain reasons were not sufficient for suppressing a parish, including “the scarcity of diocesan clergy, the general financial situation of a diocese” or other situations that are temporary or reversible.

Legitimate reasons for suppression had to be “directly and organically connected to the interested parish community, and not on general considerations or theories,” it added.

Similarly, legitimate reasons for the deconsecration and sale of places of worship could not include “the lack of clergy, demographic decline or the grave financial state of the diocese,” it said.

POPE URGES PRIESTS TO TEND TO SICK, HEALTH CARE WORKERS DURING EPIDEMIC

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis prayed that priests would find the courage to visit those who are sick and offer accompaniment to health care professionals and volunteers working during the coronavirus epidemic while also keeping themselves and others safe.

During a live broadcast of his daily morning Mass, Pope Francis again prayed for the many people who have fallen ill because of the virus and for health care workers.

“Let us also pray to the Lord for our priests, so that they have the courage to go out and go to those who are sick, bringing the strength of the word of God and the Eucharist and to accompany health care workers and volunteers in the work they are doing,” he said March 10 at the start of the Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

His appeal clearly understood the need for priests to do so “while respecting the health measures established by Italian authorities,” Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press hall told reporters in a written response to questions.

The pope was also entrusting the city of Rome, Italy and the world to the protection of Our Lady during this time of a major health emergency, as a sign of hope and salvation, Bruni said in an earlier note.

The Italian government issued a late-night measure March 9 extending “red zone” restrictions already in place in the north to all of Italy, urging people to stay at home and avoid all unessential travel as part of already implemented plans to prevent the further spread of the virus.

The move came as Italy became the nation with the second-highest number of deaths related to the coronavirus and the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world with 9,172 known infections, according to the World Health Organization March 10. As of March 9, the virus has claimed the lives of 463 people in Italy, the Italian health ministry said.

The normally private daily Masses were being broadcast live on Vatican News and the Vatican YouTube channel to help people still be united in prayer with the pope, the Vatican had said.

In his homily, the pope reflected on the first reading in which God tells the prophet Isaiah that even though people’s sins are like “scarlet,” the Lord will make them “white as snow” if people are willing and obey his command to set things right.

The pope invited people to use the time of Lent to speak to God honestly about their sins because he is able “to change everything.”

Like Adam and Eve, people often try to hide from God when they realize they have sinned, he said. Instead, “do not be afraid to come and talk, have courage even in your misery” and shame, the pope said.

Another way people try to hide is by putting on appearances of not being a sinner and by proudly showing off their adherence to God’s laws or their acts of charity, he said.

“Vanity never heals. Rather it is poison, bringing disease to the heart, that hardness of heart that tells you, ‘No, don’t turn to the Lord, don’t go. Stay,” believing oneself as self-sufficient.

“Speak with the Lord. He knows, he knows who we are. We know too, but vanity always calls us to cover ourselves” and hide, the pope said.

POPE ADDS YEAR OF MISSIONARY SERVICE TO VATICAN DIPLOMATS’ TRAINING

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis, adopting a suggestion made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, has decided that every priest preparing for service in the Vatican diplomatic corps must spend a year in ministry as a missionary.

In a letter to U.S. Archbishop Joseph S. Marino, president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains Vatican diplomats, Pope Francis said the year of missionary service should be added to the academy’s curriculum beginning with students entering in the 2020-2021 academic year.

“I am convinced that such an experience could be helpful to all young men who are preparing for or beginning their priestly service,” Pope Francis wrote in the letter released Feb. 17. In a special way, he continued, mission experience would be helpful “for those who in the future will be called to collaborate with the pontifical representatives and, later, could become envoys of the Holy See to nations and particular churches.”

Currently students — all already ordained priests — usually spend four years at the academy in central Rome. They earn a license in canon law from one of the pontifical universities in the city and then a doctorate in either canon law or theology. If they already hold a doctorate, then their time at the academy is only two years.

In addition to their university courses, the students study diplomacy, Vatican diplomatic relations, languages, international law, papal documents and current affairs.

Vatican diplomats represent the Holy See to individual countries around the world as well as to international organizations, such as the United Nations. But they also represent the pope to the local Catholic Church and coordinate the search for new bishops.

At the end of the Amazon synod, Pope Francis said he had “received in writing” a suggestion that “in the Holy See’s diplomatic service, in the curriculum of the diplomatic service, young priests should spend at least one year in mission territory, but not doing an internship at the nunciature as happens now, which is very useful, but simply at the service of a bishop in a mission area.”

POPE FRANCIS SENDS MESSAGE TO BROTHER PRIESTS

Dear brothers, 

A  hundred and sixty years have passed since the death of the holy Curé of Ars, whom Pope Pius X I proposed as the patron of parish priests throughout the world. On this, his feast day, I write this letter not only to parish priests but to all of you, my brother priests, who have quietly “left all behind” in order to immerse yourselves in the daily life of your communities. Like the Curé of Ars, you serve “in the trenches”, bearing the burden of the day and the heat (cf. Mt 20:12), confronting an endless variety of situations in your effort to care for and accompany God’s people. I want to say a word to each of you who, often without fanfare and at personal cost, amid weariness, infirmity and sorrow, carry out your mission of service to God and to your people. Despite the hardships of the journey, you are writing the finest pages of the priestly life.

Some time ago, I shared with the Italian bishops my worry that, in more than a few places, our priests feel themselves attacked and blamed for crimes they did not commit. I mentioned that priests need to find in their bishop an older brother and a father who reassures them in these difficult times, encouraging and supporting them along the way.

As an older brother and a father, I too would like in this letter to thank you in the name of the holy and faithful People of God for all that you do for them, and to encourage you never to forget the words that the Lord spoke with great love to us on the day of our ordination. Those words are the source of our joy: “I no longer call you servants… I call you friends” (Jn 15:15).

PAIN

“I have seen the suffering of my people”

—EX 3:7

In these years, we have become more attentive to the cry, often silent and suppressed, of our brothers and sisters who were victims of the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers. This has been a time of great suffering in the lives of those who experienced such abuse, but also in the lives of their families and of the entire People of God.

As you know, we are firmly committed to carrying out the reforms needed to encourage from the outset a culture of pastoral care, so that the culture of abuse will have no room to develop, much less continue. This task is neither quick nor easy: it demands commitment on the part of all. If in the past, omission may itself have been a kind of response, today we desire conversion, transparency, sincerity and solidarity with victims to become our concrete way of moving forward. This in turn will help make us all the more attentive to every form of human suffering.

This pain has also affected priests. I have seen it in the course of my pastoral visits in my own diocese and elsewhere, in my meetings and personal conversations with priests. Many have shared with me their outrage at what happened and their frustration that “for all their hard work, they have to face the damage that was done, the suspicion and uncertainty to which it has given rise, and the doubts, fears and disheartenment felt by more than a few”. I have received many letters from priests expressing those feelings. At the same time, I am comforted by my meetings with pastors who recognize and share the pain and suffering of the victims and of the People of God, and have tried to find words and actions capable of inspiring hope.

Without denying or dismissing the harm caused by some of our brothers, it would be unfair not to express our gratitude to all those priests who faithfully and generously spend their lives in the service of others (cf. 2 Cor 12:15). They embody a spiritual fatherhood capable of weeping with those who weep. Countless priests make of their lives a work of mercy in areas or situations that are often hostile, isolated or ignored, even at the risk of their lives. I acknowledge and appreciate your courageous and steadfast example; in these times of turbulence, shame and pain, you demonstrate that you have joyfully put your lives on the line for the sake of the Gospel.

I am convinced that, to the extent that we remain faithful to God’s will, these present times of ecclesial purification will make us more joyful and humble, and prove, in the not distant future, very fruitful. “Let us not grow discouraged! The Lord is purifying his Bride and converting all of us to himself. He is letting us be put to the test in order to make us realize that without him we are simply dust. He is rescuing us from hypocrisy, from the spirituality of appearances. He is breathing forth his Spirit in order to restore the beauty of his Bride, caught in adultery. We can benefit from rereading the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel. It is the history of the Church, and each of us can say it is our history too. In the end, through your sense of shame, you will continue to act as a shepherd. Our humble repentance, expressed in silent tears before these atrocious sins and the unfathomable grandeur of God’s forgiveness, is the beginning of a renewal of our holiness”.

GRATITUDE

“I do not cease to give thanks for you”

—EPH 1:16

Vocation, more than our own choice, is a response to the Lord’s unmerited call. We do well to return constantly to those passages of the Gospel where we see Jesus praying, choosing and calling others “to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message” (Mk 3:14).

Here I think of a great master of the priestly life in my own country, Father Lucio Gera. Speaking to a group of priests at a turbulent time in Latin America, he told them: “Always, but especially in times of trial, we need to return to those luminous moments when we experienced the Lord’s call to devote our lives to his service”. I myself like to call this “the deuteronomic memory of our vocation”; it makes each of us go back “to that blazing light with which God’s grace touched me at the start of the journey. From that flame, I can light a fire for today and every day, and bring heat and light to my brothers and sisters. That flame ignites a humble joy, a joy which sorrow and distress cannot dismay, a good and gentle joy”.

One day, each of us spoke up and said “yes”, a “yes” born and developed in the heart of the Christian community thanks to those “saints next door” who showed us by their simple faith that it was worthwhile committing ourselves completely to the Lord and his kingdom. A “yes” whose implications were so momentous that often we find it hard to imagine all the goodness that it continues to produce. How beautiful it is when an elderly priest sees or is visited by those children – now adults – whom he baptized long ago and who now gratefully introduce a family of their own! At times like this, we realize that we were anointed to anoint others, and that God’s anointing never disappoints. I am led to say with the Apostle: “I do not cease to give thanks for you” (cf. Eph 1:16) and for all the good that you have done.

Amid trials, weakness and the consciousness of our limitations, “the worst temptation of all is to keep brooding over our troubles” for then we lose our perspective, our good judgement and our courage. At those times, it is important – I would even say crucial – to cherish the memory of the Lord’s presence in our lives and his merciful gaze, which inspired us to put our lives on the line for him and for his People. And to find the strength to persevere and, with the Psalmist, to raise our own song of praise, “for his mercy endures forever” (Ps 136).

Gratitude is always a powerful weapon. Only if we are able to contemplate and feel genuine gratitude for all those ways we have experienced God’s love, generosity, solidarity and trust, as well as his forgiveness, patience, forbearance and compassion, will we allow the Spirit to grant us the freshness that can renew (and not simply patch up) our life and mission. Like Peter on the morning of the miraculous draught of fishes, may we let the recognition of all the blessings we have received awaken in us the amazement and gratitude that can enable us to say: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8). Only then to hear the Lord repeat his summons: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be fishers of men” (Lk 5:10). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Dear brother priests, I thank you for your fidelity to the commitments you have made. It is a sign that, in a society and culture that glorifies the ephemeral, there are still people unafraid to make lifelong promises. In effect, we show that we continue to believe in God, who has never broken his covenant, despite our having broken it countless times. In this way, we celebrate the fidelity of God, who continues to trust us, to believe in us and to count on us, for all our sins and failings, and who invites us to be faithful in turn. Realizing that we hold this treasure in earthen vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4:7), we know that the Lord triumphs through weakness (cf. 2 Cor 12:9). He continues to sustain us and to renew his call, repaying us a hundredfold (cf. Mk 10:29-30). “For his mercy endures forever”. 

Thank you for the joy with which you have offered your lives, revealing a heart that over the years has refused to become closed and bitter, but has grown daily in love for God and his people. A heart that, like good wine, has not turned sour but become richer with age. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for working to strengthen the bonds of fraternity and friendship with your brother priests and your bishop, providing one another with support and encouragement, caring for those who are ill, seeking out those who keep apart, visiting the elderly and drawing from their wisdom, sharing with one another and learning to laugh and cry together. How much we need this! But thank you too for your faithfulness and perseverance in undertaking difficult missions, or for those times when you have had to call a brother priest to order. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for your witness of persistence and patient endurance (hypomoné) in pastoral ministry. Often, with the parrhesía of the shepherd, we find ourselves arguing with the Lord in prayer, as Moses did in courageously interceding for the people (cf. Num 14:13-19; Ex 32:30-32; Dt 9:18-21). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for celebrating the Eucharist each day and for being merciful shepherds in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, neither rigorous nor lax, but deeply concerned for your people and accompanying them on their journey of conversion to the new life that the Lord bestows on us all. We know that on the ladder of mercy we can descend to the depths of our human condition – including weakness and sin – and at the same time experience the heights of divine perfection: “Be merciful as the Father is merciful”. In this way, we are “capable of warming people’s hearts, walking at their side in the dark, talking with them and even entering into their night and their darkness, without losing our way”. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for anointing and fervently proclaiming to all, “in season and out of season” (cf. 2 Tim 4:2) the Gospel of Jesus Christ, probing the heart of your community “in order to discover where its desire for God is alive and ardent, as well as where that dialogue, once loving, has been thwarted and is now barren”. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for the times when, with great emotion, you embraced sinners, healed wounds, warmed hearts and showed the tenderness and compassion of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-27). Nothing is more necessary than this: accessibility, closeness, readiness to draw near to the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters. How powerful is the example of a priest who makes himself present and does not flee the wounds of his brothers and sisters! It mirrors the heart of a shepherd who has developed a spiritual taste for being one with his people, a pastor who never forgets that he has come from them and that by serving them he will find and express his most pure and complete identity. This in turn will lead to adopting a simple and austere way of life, rejecting privileges that have nothing to do with the Gospel. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Finally, let us give thanks for the holiness of the faithful People of God, whom we are called to shepherd and through whom the Lord also shepherds and cares for us. He blesses us with the gift of contemplating that faithful People “in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church militant”. Let us be grateful for each of them, and in their witness find support and encouragement. “For his mercy endures forever”.

ENCOURAGEMENT

“I want [your] hearts to be encouraged”

—Col 2:2

My second great desire is, in the words of Saint Paul, to offer encouragement as we strive to renew our priestly spirit, which is above all the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Faced with painful experiences, all of us need to be comforted and encouraged. The mission to which we are called does not exempt us from suffering, pain and even misunderstanding. Rather, it requires us to face them squarely and to accept them, so that the Lord can transform them and conform us more closely to himself. “Ultimately, the lack of a heartfelt and prayerful acknowledgment of our limitations prevents grace from working more effectively within us, for no room is left for bringing about the potential good that is part of a sincere and genuine journey of growth”.

One good way of testing our hearts as pastors is to ask how we confront suffering. We can often act like the levite or the priest in the parable, stepping aside and ignoring the injured man (cf. Lk 10:31-32). Or we can draw near in the wrong way, viewing situations in the abstract and taking refuge in commonplaces, such as: “That’s life…”, or “Nothing can be done”. In this way, we yield to an uneasy fatalism. Or else we can draw near with a kind of aloofness that brings only isolation and exclusion. “Like the prophet Jonah, we are constantly tempted to flee to a safe haven. It can have many names: individualism, spiritualism, living in a little world…” Far from making us compassionate, this ends up holding us back from confronting our own wounds, the wounds of others and consequently the wounds of Jesus himself.

Along these same lines, I would mention another subtle and dangerous attitude, which, as Bernanos liked to say, is “the most precious of the devil’s potions”.[22] It is also the most harmful for those of us who would serve the Lord, for it breeds discouragement, desolation and despair. Disappointment with life, with the Church or with ourselves can tempt us to latch onto a sweet sorrow or sadness that the Eastern Fathers called acedia. Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík described it in these terms: “If we are assailed by sadness at life, at the company of others or at our own isolation, it is because we lack faith in God’s providence and his works… Sadness paralyzes our desire to persevere in our work and prayer; it makes us hard to live with… The monastic authors who treated this vice at length call it the worst enemy of the spiritual life.”

All of us are aware of a sadness that can turn into a habit and lead us slowly to accept evil and injustice by quietly telling us: “It has always been like this”. A sadness that stifles every effort at change and conversion by sowing resentment and hostility. “That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life of the Spirit, which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ”, to which we have been called. Dear brothers, when that sweet sorrow threatens to take hold of our lives or our communities, without being fearful or troubled, yet with firm resolution, let us together beg the Spirit to “rouse us from our torpor, to free us from our inertia. Let us rethink our usual way of doing things; let us open our eyes and ears, and above all our hearts, so as not to be complacent about things as they are, but unsettled by the living and effective word of the risen Lord”.

Let me repeat: in times of difficulty, we all need God’s consolation and strength, as well as that of our brothers and sisters. All of us can benefit from the touching words that Saint Paul addressed to his communities: “I pray that you may not lose heart over [my] sufferings” (Eph 3:13), and “I want [your] hearts to be encouraged” (Col 2:22). In this way, we can carry out the mission that the Lord gives us anew each day: to proclaim, “good news of great joy for all the people” (Lk 2:10). Not by presenting intellectual theories or moral axioms about the way things ought to be, but as men who in the midst of pain have been transformed and transfigured by the Lord and, like Job, can exclaim: “I knew you then only by hearsay, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:2). Without this foundational experience, all of our hard work will only lead to frustration and disappointment. 

In our own lives, we have seen how “with Christ, joy is constantly born anew”. Although there are different stages in this experience, we know that, despite our frailties and sins, “with a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, God makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and start anew”. That joy is not the fruit of our own thoughts or decisions, but of the confidence born of knowing the enduring truth of Jesus’ words to Peter. At times of uncertainty, remember those words: “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail” (Lk 22:32). The Lord is the first to pray and fight for you and for me. And he invites us to enter fully into his own prayer. There may well be moments when we too have to enter into “the prayer of Gethsemane, that most human and dramatic of Jesus’ prayers… For there we find supplication, sorrow, anguish and even bewilderment (Mk 14:33ff.)”.

We know that it is not easy to stand before the Lord and let his gaze examine our lives, heal our wounded hearts and cleanse our feet of the worldliness accumulated along the way, which now keeps us from moving forward. In prayer, we experience the blessed “insecurity” which reminds us that we are disciples in need of the Lord’s help, and which frees us from the promethean tendency of “those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules”.

Dear brothers, Jesus, more than anyone, is aware of our efforts and our accomplishments, our failures and our mistakes. He is the first to tell us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28-29).

In this prayer, we know that we are never alone. The prayer of a pastor embraces both the Spirit who cries out “Abba, Father!” (cf. Gal 4:6), and the people who have been entrusted to his care. Our mission and identity can be defined by this dialectic.

The prayer of a pastor is nourished and made incarnate in the heart of God’s People. It bears the marks of the sufferings and joys of his people, whom he silently presents to the Lord to be anointed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the hope of a pastor, who with trust and insistence asks the Lord to care for our weakness as individuals and as a people. Yet we should also realize that it is in the prayer of God’s People that the heart of a pastor takes flesh and finds its proper place. This sets us free from looking for quick, easy, ready-made answers; it allows the Lord to be the one – not our own recipes and goals – to point out a path of hope. Let us not forget that at the most difficult times in the life of the earliest community, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, prayer emerged as the true guiding force.

Brothers, let us indeed acknowledge our weaknesses, but also let Jesus transform them and send us forth anew to the mission. Let us never lose the joy of knowing that we are “the sheep of his flock” and that he is our Lord and Shepherd.

For our hearts to be encouraged, we should not neglect the dialectic that determines our identity. First, our relationship with Jesus. Whenever we turn away from Jesus or neglect our relationship with him, slowly but surely our commitment begins to fade and our lamps lose the oil needed to light up our lives (cf. Mt 25:1-13): “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me… because apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:4-5). In this regard, I would encourage you not to neglect spiritual direction. Look for a brother with whom you can speak, reflect, discuss and discern, sharing with complete trust and openness your journey. A wise brother with whom to share the experience of discipleship. Find him, meet with him and enjoy his guidance, accompaniment and counsel. This is an indispensable aid to carrying out your ministry in obedience to the will of the Father (cf. Heb 10:9) and letting your heart beat with “the mind that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). We can profit from the words of Ecclesiastes: “Two are better than one… One will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls, and does not have another to help!” (4:9-10).

The other essential aspect of this dialectic is our relationship to our people. Foster that relationship and expand it. Do not withdraw from your people, your presbyterates and your communities, much less seek refuge in closed and elitist groups. Ultimately, this stifles and poisons the soul. A minister whose “heart is encouraged” is a minister always on the move. In our “going forth”, we walk “sometimes in front, sometimes in the middle and sometimes behind: in front, in order to guide the community; in the middle, in order to encourage and support, and at the back in order to keep it united, so that no one lags too far behind… There is another reason too: because our people have a “nose” for things. They sniff out, discover, new paths to take; they have the sensus fidei (cf. Lumen Gentium, 12)… What could be more beautiful than this?” Jesus himself is the model of this evangelizing option that leads us to the heart of our people. How good it is for us to see him in his attention to every person! The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is nothing else but the culmination of that evangelizing style that marked his entire life.

Dear brother priests, the pain of so many victims, the pain of the people of God and our own personal pain, cannot be for naught. Jesus himself has brought this heavy burden to his cross and he now asks us to be renewed in our mission of drawing near to those who suffer, of drawing near without embarrassment to human misery, and indeed to make all these experiences our own, as Eucharist. Our age, marked by old and new wounds, requires us to be builders of relationships and communion, open, trusting and awaiting in hope the newness that the kingdom of God wishes to bring about even today. For it is a kingdom of forgiven sinners called to bear witness to the Lord’s ever-present compassion. “For his mercy endures forever”.

PRAISE

“my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord”

—LK 1:46

How can we speak about gratitude and encouragement without looking to Mary? She, the woman whose heart was pierced (cf. Lk 2:35), teaches us the praise capable of lifting our gaze to the future and restoring hope to the present. Her entire life was contained in her song of praise (cf. Lk 1:46-55). We too are called to sing that song as a promise of future fulfilment.

Whenever I visit a Marian shrine, I like to spend time looking at the Blessed Mother and letting her look at me. I pray for a childlike trust, the trust of the poor and simple who know that their mother is there, and that they have a place in her heart. And in looking at her, to hear once more, like the Indian Juan Diego: “My youngest son, what is the matter? Do not let it disturb your heart. Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your mother?”

To contemplate Mary is “to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. In her, we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong, who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves”

Perhaps at times our gaze can begin to harden, or we can feel that the seductive power of apathy or self-pity is about to take root in our heart. Or our sense of being a living and integral part of God’s People begins to weary us, and we feel tempted to a certain elitism. At those times, let us not be afraid to turn to Mary and to take up her song of praise.

Perhaps at times we can feel tempted to withdraw into ourselves and our own affairs, safe from the dusty paths of daily life. Or regrets, complaints, criticism and sarcasm gain the upper hand and make us lose our desire to keep fighting, hoping and loving. At those times, let us look to Mary so that she can free our gaze of all the “clutter” that prevents us from being attentive and alert, and thus capable of seeing and celebrating Christ alive in the midst of his people. And if we see that we are going astray, or that we are failing in our attempts at conversion, then let us turn to her like a great parish priest from my previous diocese, who was also a poet. He asked her, with something of a smile: “This evening, dear Lady /my promise is sincere; /but just to be sure, don’t forget / to leave the key outside the door”. Our Lady “is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice… As a true mother, she walks at our side, she shares our struggles and she constantly surrounds us with God’s love”.

Dear brothers, once more, “I do not cease to give thanks for you” (Eph 1:16), for your commitment and your ministry. For I am confident that “God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness. Human history does not end before a tombstone, because today it encounters the “living stone” (cf. 1 Pet 2:4), the risen Jesus. We, as Church, are built on him, and, even when we grow disheartened and tempted to judge everything in the light of our failures, he comes to make all things new”.

May we allow our gratitude to awaken praise and renewed enthusiasm for our ministry of anointing our brothers and sisters with hope. May we be men whose lives bear witness to the compassion and mercy that Jesus alone can bestow on us.

May the Lord Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin watch over you. And please, I ask you not to forget to pray for me. 

Fraternally,

Francis

Editor’s note: The full version of this letter, including notes and references, can be found online at https://bit.ly/2MRzXLt or http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190804_lettera-presbiteri.html#_ftn1

JEREMIAH REVISITED

Last month, California’s Senate passed a bill (S.B. 360) that would require priests to report crimes of child abuse they hear in confession. It doesn’t apply to all penitents — only, roughly speaking, to other priests or church employees. Failure to report would be punishable by a fine or imprisonment. The lower house of the legislature is expected to take the bill up in September.

The Code of Canon Law forbids a priest to betray the confidence of a penitent for any reason, even to save his own life. The penalty for doing so is automatic excommunication. S.B. 360 thus puts priests to a stark choice: Separate yourself from the Christian community or go to prison.

To be sure, it is difficult to see how the law could be enforced. It applies to a small subset of child abusers. And those, if they seek the sacrament at all, can confess anonymously, behind a screen. Even if the penitent were known to the priest, only the two of them would know of the communication, and both would have reason to keep it secret.

If it were enforced, I trust the courts would hold it unconstitutional. The First Amendment says that the government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion, and it is hard to imagine a more obvious violation than this. It’s as close as a constitutional democracy can get to behaving as the Islamic State group does (“renounce your faith or die”) toward Christian and Yazidi captives.

I have been thinking, though, about how we got to this surprising turn of events. It is dismaying that the California Senate has so little concern for the sacrament of reconciliation. But in that regard it is not unlike most Catholics.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reported in 2008 that three-fourths of all Catholics never go to confession, or go less than once a year. Many of the 30 parishes in Sacramento, where the California legislature sits, offer the sacrament just 30-45 minutes per week, or only by appointment.

The decline is similar to the fall-off in Mass attendance, but even steeper. Fifty years ago 2 in 3 Catholics attended Mass weekly. Today it’s fewer than 4 in 10.

I can only speculate about why the sacrament of reconciliation has fallen into greater disfavor. One likely reason is that Catholics today, like other Americans, have lost our sense of sin. We make mistakes. We have addictions. We mix up our priorities. We address our problems with 12-step programs and self-help manuals. But we don’t weep because we have offended God and seek his forgiveness.

We have also lost our sense of the sacred. There was a time, not so long ago, when confession and Communion were connected. The rites of Saturday prepared us for Sunday because, like the centurion, we worried about having a fitting abode to receive the Lord. For many Massgoers today, reception of the Eucharist is a more informal thing, sort of like a business casual self-serve brunch.

Catholics and other serious believers have worried a lot this past decade about religious freedom. I share their concern, and S.B. 360 is a good example of what we are worried about. But in the long run religious freedom will only matter if religion matters. We have ourselves to blame for the direction the law is heading.

This is what the Lord said to Jeremiah. “And when they ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ say to them, ‘As you have abandoned me …, so you shall serve foreigners in a land not your own.’”

PRIESTLY MARTYRDOM TO UPHOLD SEAL OF CONFESSION NOT A NEW PHENOMENON

NEW YORK (CNS) — A symbol of the historical commitment priests have to the seal of confession greets people as they cross the threshold of a Catholic church in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Above the door is a stone-carved image of St. John Nepomucene holding two fingers to his lips, signifying that priests must never reveal what is said to them in the confessional, even if that means paying the ultimate sacrifice of death.

This church is named for St. John Nepomucene — considered the patron saint for the seal of confession — and it’s adorned with artwork that tells the story of this 14th-century Bohemian priest who chose death rather than reveal what was said during the sacrament of penance.

His story demonstrates how seriously the Catholic Church takes the privilege between priest and penitent that a member of the clergy is willing to sacrifice his freedom, or even his life, to protect the seal of confession, said Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, a canon and civil lawyer who teaches at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.

It also shows that the current struggle for the church to have governments fully respect the sanctity of the seal of confession is not a new one, Father Pietrzyk told Catholic News Service in a May interview.

St. John Nepomucene was born sometime around 1340 and became a popular priest in what was then known as Bohemia. Ultimately, he was invited to be a confessor at the court of King Wenceslaus IV in Prague.

According to historical accounts, a jealous King Wenceslaus ordered John Nepomucene to tell him what his wife, Queen Johanna, revealed in the confessional and when he refused to break the seal of confession, the ruler made threats of torture and eventually had him bound and thrown off the Charles Bridge in Prague, where he drowned March 20, 1393.

Father John Nepomucene’s martyrdom for the seal of confession was accepted by the church and he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729.

“St. John Nepomucene is a symbol of what all priests know and that is the seal of confession is absolute and the privilege between priest is penitent must be absolute,” said Father Richard D. Baker, pastor of St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in New York City. “What happens there never, never is repeated.”

Father Pietrzyk makes a point of sharing this chapter in church history with the seminarians he teaches in his penance class at St. Patrick’s Seminary to help them understand why priests are willing to be martyred to protect the sanctity of confession.

“To be a priest in the world today means to be a man of courage,” he said. “The sacredness of the sacrament is one thing they are committed to upholding and they do so with eyes open. They know the dangers and they are willing to undertake them because this is what God is calling them to do. This is what Christ is calling them to do.”

The Code of Canon Law states the penalty for a priest who violates the seal of confession is automatic excommunication, which can only be lifted by the pope himself.

The punishment is that severe because penitents must be able to confess their sins in specificity in order to be reconciled with God and trust that the priest will honor confidentiality of the confessional, said Father Thomas V. Berg, professor of moral theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

A bill going through the California Legislature would require a priest to report to civil authorities information concerning child sexual abuse learned in the confessional by another member of the clergy or a co-worker.

“I don’t think it would be a difficult decision for a priest to make when faced with this dilemma. Break the seal or go to jail? Absolutely, I would not break the seal of confession,” said Father Ryan P. Lewis of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Omaha, Nebraska. “I would go to jail.”

Though St. John Nepomucene is the most well-known martyr for the seal of confession, other priests throughout history were either jailed or condemned to death rather than reveal what was confessed in the sacrament of penance, including three in the 20th century.

St. Mateo Correa Magallanes, canonized by St. John Paul II in 2000, was shot to death in 1927 in Mexico after refusing the orders of Gen. Eulogio Ortiz to reveal the contents of the confessions of imprisoned members of an insurgency movement, the Cristeros.

He was joined by two Spanish priests — Blessed Felipe Ciscar Puig and Blessed Fernando Olmedo — both considered martyrs of the sacramental seal, executed in 1936 for refusing to reveal the contents of confessions of prisoners held during the Spanish Civil War.

Toward the end of the 20th century, Father Timothy J. Mockaitis of Eugene, Oregon, was engaged in his own battle against the state where he ministered to keep secret the contents of a 1996 confession he heard from a detention center inmate.

Father Mockaitis had been a chaplain at the Lane County Adult Detention Center at the time when he learned the confession he heard from an inmate and a suspect in a murder case had been secretly taped by jail officials and a state prosecutor was attempting to secure a legal way of listening to it.

The Archdiocese of Portland and Father Mockaitis objected to this use of a confession, demanded that the tape be destroyed and pursued the case through the legal system.

The 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals eventually ruled that the state of Oregon could not use the tape in a prosecution, but, it didn’t order the destruction of the recording.

“So, we only viewed this as a partial victory,” Father Mockaitis told CNS in a May interview. “As far as I know, that tape is still sitting in an evidence locker somewhere. That tape is a symbol of the state’s violation of a sacramental confession and a violation of religious freedom.

“It’s an affront to the separation of church and state and the fact that it still exists is a slap in the face to the church,” said Father Mockaitis, who wrote a 2008 book titled “The Seal: A Priest’s Story,” recounting the episode. “The fact is, in a country whose foundation is based on religious freedom, this tape never should have been made in the first place.”

History shows there have been attempts by governments to obtain information revealed in the confessional for centuries, an effort that continues today.

In the past two years lawmakers in the U.S., Australia and Chile, have crafted legislation that would compel priests to violate the seal of confession, in one form or another, to address the global child sexual-abuse crisis, said Father Ronald T. Kunkel, theology professor at Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois, near Chicago.

Father Kunkel has told seminarians at Mundelein to be prepared for the state to try and compel them, in some circumstances, to break the seal of confession.

“That threat is very real,” he said, “and that is something we simply cannot do.”

PRIESTS MUST BE MEN OF JOY, POPE SAYS AT MASS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A priest must be able to see the people around him as his children, as brothers and sisters, and must be willing to risk everything for them out of love, Pope Francis said in his morning homily.

In fact, the best example of this kind of priest is St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian order, he said Jan. 31, the saint’s feast day.

The 19th-century Italian saint, who saw so much poverty and so many children living on the street, was able to see the world around him with the eyes of “a man who is a brother and also a father and said, ‘No, things cannot go on this way!'” so sought to make things better, the pope said in his homily during morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

But, the pope said, this priest also had “the courage to see with the eyes of God and go to God and say, ‘Let me see here. This is an injustice. … You created these people for (a life of) fullness and they are in the midst of a real tragedy.'”

A priest needs to have both ways of seeing things — being moved by tragedy on a purely human level, yet inspired by the divine “to have the courage to go there and fight,” the pope said. “A priest is someone who fights with God.”

St. John Bosco did not approach the poor and troubled kids “just with the catechism and the crucifix,” he said. If he had started with doctrine, telling the kids, “‘Do this…’ the young people would have said, ‘Yeah, right. See you later.'”

Instead, St. John Bosco approached them with youthful vitality, letting them play, bringing them together as a group, like brothers, listening to them, crying with them, leading them forward and always being down-to-earth, he said.

But there is always the risk a priest may only see things from a human point of view and “nothing divine” or, the alternative “too divine and nothing human,” he said.

“But if we don’t take a risk we will do nothing in life,” he added. Those risks include being persecuted, gossiped about, criticized, for example, that “this priest is there on the street” with ill-mannered kids who “break the glass of my window” with their soccer ball.

St. John Bosco received from God the great heart “of a father and a teacher,” said Pope Francis, who briefly attended a Salesian school in Argentina.

The sign of a good priest, who knows how to see things with the eyes of God and a human being, is joy, and St. John Bosco was a great “master of joy,” he said.

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