Toluu

Ten Reasons

+ the observations of a seditious catechist +

"My Mass of the Year"Today

A reader assisted at the 9 am celebration of the Ordinary Form in Latin at Cincinnati's St. Cecilia today. Here was his reaction:

My Mass of the year was at 9 a.m. today at my childhood parish, St. Cecilia, in Oakley. The celebrant, Fr. Earl Fernandes, was liturgically magnificent, particularly with a practice session beforehand with a 7 page "missalette".

Many golden memories from 60 plus years ago quickly came to mind, when we attended daily, served regularly, prayed and responded in those same Latin words and chants.

Did anyone else assist? How well-attended was it? My duties at the Son Rise Morning Show kept me away today, but I hope to be there in two weeks. Remember, it's the second and fourth Friday, at least in January. Let's show Frs. Weber and Fernandes our support by attending so that it continues.

Resolved: To leave you on your ownToday

Rochester's Bishop Matthew Clark issues a set of resolutions for his flock. Since none require him to lift a finger, I suppose my Rochester readers should interpret this to mean they're on their own in 2009 -- just like last year.

Let us resolve as one body in Christ to make a real effort to become better Christians in word and deed in 2009. By this I mean that we get more involved in the daily life of our parishes; that we go about our daily work and family life in a conscious imitation of Christ; and that we seek to learn more about our faith so that we can experience a deeper knowledge of God and the fruits of that knowledge.

This would include regular Mass attendance — every Sunday. Let us come to church not just out of a desire to fulfill this obligation of our Catholic faith but with a voracious hunger to worship the Lord in joyful community. For some, this might mean making a stronger effort to plunge into the Scriptures on our own, to attend a Bible study, to read good books and good Web sites about Christian life and practice.

For still others, this might mean a concerted effort to keep the spirit of the Sunday Mass in our hearts beyond the drive home from church. It will mean that we go to work each Monday as kinder, more compassionate supervisors or more cooperative, positive employees; that we ask God

Low-key, focused, prayerfulYesterday

This is one morning when it would have paid to sleep in. I assisted at the 7:15 am Mass at St. Louis Church with Fr. Binzer this morning. Here's what a reader tells me I missed at noon:

Thought you would be interested in the Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis Schnurr's appearance to say mass at St Louis at noon today. I usually go to St X for weekday mass and just happened on a birthday whim to go elsewhere.

His sermon lasted about 3 minutes but managed to recall Benedict's New Year's message about peace, which Archbishop Schnurr said emphasized poverty, certainly in material things but more importantly addressed spiritual poverty; Archbishop Schnurr then tied that to today's gospel reading where Jesus reads the words of Isaiah, and urged all of us to spread the glad tidings of the Kingdom to work for peace. So good, and inexplicably rare, to hear any priest use the thoughts and language of our gifted pope. If I were a priest, I'd be cribbing all the time.

During the intentions, he prayed for the diocese to work for holiness in the year ahead; another intention was for seminarians and increased vocations.

His style of saying mass was low-key, focused, prayerful.

Requiescat in pace, Father NeuhausYesterday

Since the news of his illness came so suddenly -- at least to me -- I suspect this loss is going to take a while to sink in. I'll be part of a trio of commentators discussing Fr. Neuhaus's impressive contributions to Catholic civic life on tomorrow's Son Rise Morning Show during the 8-9 am hour. From Victor Morton's obituary in the Washington Times:

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, one of the nation's leading conservative Catholic intellectuals and founder of the journal First Things, died shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday of complications from cancer. He was 72.

"As a priest, as a writer, as a public leader in so many struggles, and as a friend, no one can take his place," First Things editor Joseph Bottum said in a statement. "The fabric of life has been torn by his death, and it will not be repaired, for those of us who knew him, until that time when everything is mended and all our tears are wiped away."
...
He began political life as a liberal. An associate of Martin Luther King Jr., he backed Eugene McCarthy for president at the 1968 Democratic convention and led, along with actor Paul Newman, a tumultuous Chicago press conference backing the minority plank against the Vietnam War.

But starting with the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that declared abortion a con

"Let us all strive to be heroes"Yesterday

Go read Cincinnati vocations director Fr. Kyle Schnippel's heroic, iconic vision of the priesthood in the latest edition of the Catholic Telegraph:

(Any column that cites both Fr. Walter Ciszek and St. Margaret Clitherow is worth your time.)

In a conversation last week on things in the Vocation Office, the Fishers of Men DVD was mentioned. Stunningly, one of the group mentioned that there are priests who absolutely cannot stand the video, which I think is terrific. “It is too heroic,” they say; “it doesn't match up to reality.” (As an aside, the scene that usually elicits this response is one where a teen is severely injured in the car wreck and a priest runs up to anoint and absolve him; which is based on a real life event.)

Because so much of what we do as priests can be seen as 'humdrum,' we can sometimes forget that we are called to be living witnesses to the Gospel; that we, as priests, are called to be heroes.

It happens in my own situation at times. I sit here at my desk, in my office, writing a column, going through paperwork, waiting for a phone call, answering emails, not to mention all the things that I should be doing and am not; and I ask myself: “how is this being 'a living witness of the Gospel'?”

For priests who are pastors of parishes, it is so easy to get caught up in the business aspe