Cardinal George on the Year for Priests

I came across this earlier today. In it, Cardinal George addresses his brother Bishops on the unity and authority of the church and the role of the priest in the world today. It is here in it's entirety:

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
2009 FALL MEETING OF THE US CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
BALTIMORE
16 NOVEMBER 2009

My dear brother Bishops:
The Year for Priests proclaimed by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, aims to renew among ordained priests a sense of the sacred vocation that is theirs in the Church, drawing ever more confidently on the grace that was given them with the laying on of hands (I Timothy 4:14). It is also an opportunity for the whole Church to thank God for this grace, which is given to those called to Holy Orders for the sake of others’ salvation. It has already moved some of the faithful to thank their priests for their lives of self-sacrifice for Christ’s people. In this gratitude, we bishops, who shepherd our Churches with and through our priests, join wholeheartedly.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a recent homily, spoke about the Church’s “sacerdotal form,” explaining that the category of priesthood is an “interpretative key of the mystery of Christ and, in consequence, the Church…Jesus Christ’s priesthood is no longer primarily a ritual one but an existential one,” the Pope preached; the ordained priesthood affects every dimension of the Church’s life. Ordained so that Christ’s headship of his Church might be visible and so that the baptized will know where they must gather if they want to be visibly one in Christ, priests are called to ever-greater depths of pastoral charity by the demands of their ministry. To appreciate the many dimensions of priestly ministry, it helps to consider what the Catholic Church would be without the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Priestly Ministry rooted in Holy Orders

The priest teaches the people in Christ’s name and with his authority. Without ordained priests, the teaching ministry would fall primarily on professors, whose obligation is first to seek the truth in the framework of their own academic discipline and whose authority to teach derives from their professional expertise.

The priest governs the people in Christ’s name, exercising Christ’s authority in collaboration with the bishops. Without ordained priests, the only instance of real governance in any society would be that of civil and political leaders. Their authority comes from God through the people they have sworn to serve; but, in Catholicism, secular kingship confers no religious authority and a civil government has no right to deprive the Church of freedom to govern herself by her own laws and under her own leaders.

The priest counsels people to see the hand of God directing human affairs, using the discernment of spirits to govern souls and to free people from what oppresses them. Without ordained priests, counseling passes into the hands of therapists, dedicated to their clients and skilled in examining the dynamics of human personality, but without consideration of the influence of God’s grace.

The priest leads his people in worship, making possible the real presence of Christ, the head of his Church, under the sacramental forms of bread and wine. Without ordained priests, the Church would be deprived of the Eucharist, and her worship would be centered only on the praise and thanksgiving, the petition and expiation open to all by reason of baptism. Without ordained priests who love and govern their people in the name of Christ and with his authority, the Church would not be connected to Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, as Christ himself wants us to be joined to him. Without ordained priests, the Church would be a spiritual association, a faith community, but not fully the Body of Christ.

Episcopal Governance and the Sacrament of Holy Orders

During this Year for Priests, we bishops are called to reflect on our relationship to our priests, to help them grow in holiness, to deepen our fraternity with them, to unite them with us around Jesus Christ. We are called as well to examine the ministry that is properly ours by reason of the fullness of the priesthood given us at episcopal ordination. To us bishops, gathered into this Conference established by the Holy See in order to strengthen our unity with the Holy Father and among ourselves, the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch speak across nineteen hundred years of the relationships that constitute our own participation in the sacrament of Holy Orders and in the governance of the Church. On his way to martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote to the Philadelphians: “For all who belong to God and Jesus Christ are with the bishop; all who repent and return to the unity of the Church will also belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ.” And again, in his letter to the Trallians: “Your submission to your bishop, who is in the place of Jesus Christ, shows me that you are not living as men usually do but in the manner of Jesus himself, who died for us that you might escape death by belief in his death. Thus one thing is necessary,…that you do nothing without your bishop…”

Episcopal Governance and Catholic Communion

If such is not the universally accepted sense of Catholic communion, we bishops must look to ways to strengthen Church unity. Relations do not speak first of control but of love. If there is a loosening of relationship between ourselves and those whom Christ has given us to govern in love, it is for us to reach out and re-establish connections necessary for all to remain in communion. As you know, we have recently begun discussions on how we might strengthen our relationship to Catholic universities, to media claiming the right to be a voice in the Church, and to organizations that direct various works under Catholic auspices. Since everything and everyone in Catholic communion is truly inter-related, and the visible nexus of these relations is the bishop, an insistence on complete independence from the bishop renders a person or institution sectarian, less than fully Catholic. The purpose of our reflections, therefore, is to clarify questions of truth or faith and of accountability or community among all those who claim to be part of Catholic communion.

Our pastoral concern for ecclesial unity does not diminish our awareness of our own mistakes and sins. There are some who would like to trap the Church in historical events of ages long past and there are others who would keep the bishops permanently imprisoned in the clerical sexual abuse scandal of recent years. The proper response to a crisis of governance, however, is not no governance but effective governance. Loss of trust, we know, weakens relationships and will continue to affect our ministry, even though clerical ranks have been purged of priests and bishops known to have abused children and the entire Church has taken unprecedented means to protect children and to reach out to victims. In any case, the sinfulness of Churchmen can not be allowed to discredit the truth of Catholic teaching or to destroy the relationships that create ecclesial communion.

Relations in the Church and among priests and people are mutual. The faithful need the bishops in order to be Catholic, and the bishops need the faithful in order to be Catholic pastors. Pastors are given authority by Christ to govern the Church not according to their own whims or desires but according to the will of Christ and to keep the faithful united around him. Every pastor has Councils for this purpose: to listen to those to whom he has been sent to guide and govern. I believe I speak for all of us here when I say that the bishops look forward to the dialogues that will clarify and strengthen the conditions necessary for all of us to be Catholic.

The Unity of the Church and her Mission to the World

The Church, as St. Paul reminds us, has the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). If we are not of his mind, not of one mind, we cannot preach who Christ is to a divided world. The Second Vatican Council reminded the entire Church that we are to be a leaven for the world’s transformation. Catholic communion is to be the counterpart of human solidarity. Recently, we have tried to be such a leaven in the debate about health care. It is not for us to speak to particular means of delivering health care; it is our responsibility, however, to insist, as a moral voice concerned with human solidarity, that everyone should be cared for and that no one should be deliberately killed.

This voice and these concerns are not novel. My predecessor as Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Bernardin, speaking to the National Press Club in 1994, said that concern for health care “requires us to stand up for both the unserved and the unborn, to insist on the inclusion of real universal coverage and the exclusion of abortion coverage, to support efforts to restrain rising health costs, and to oppose the denial of needed care to the poor and vulnerable.” Participating in the same debate fifteen years later, we are grateful for those in either political party who share these common moral concerns and govern our country in accordance with them.

The challenge to governing effectively and pastorally as bishops and priests is to be public without being co-opted and to be who we are without being isolated. We approach every issue from the perspective of the natural moral law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for issues that are moral questions before they become political remain moral questions when they become political. To limit our teaching or governing to what the state is not interested in would be to betray both the Constitution of our country and, much more importantly, the Lord himself.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole world, of our public lives as well as our private lives, of our business concerns and of our recreational outlets, of our families and of our institutions, of the living and of the dead. In his name and as bishops of his Church, we gather now to seek his will for his people, and with his authority we govern. May Christ bless and guide, with the power of his Spirit, our deliberations and this meeting of our Conference. Thank you.

Francis Cardinal George OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

Pope Benedict Sings

In a few weeks, our Holy Father Pope Benedict will have a recording released of him reciting the "Regina Coeli" over the sounds of a choir. This particular recording of the "Regina Coeli" is the first that he sang after he was made pope. This recording took place May 1, 2005 in St. Peter's Square. Choir pieces were recorded later. The CD is called "Alma Mater." The release is slated for November 30th. Check out more info here.

The Door has been Opened

Two days ago, about 10:30 at night, as I was working on the opening lessons for a series I am giving at the local Newman center where I am the advisor, my phone rang. It was my girlfriend, clearly distressed and upset. Apparently things were being said between her and her mother and they progressed again to me being Catholic. Misunderstandings again were spewed forth and my girlfriend was trying her best to allay her mother's fears and misconceptions. She could only take so much. I was called in the middle of this.

Soon after she called, she gave her mother the phone and I spoke with her. God must have thought that it was the right time to talk about all the misconceptions. I answered the best that I could in that short time, but I am sure that there will continue to be questions. At least that door has been opened now. I told them to come to me whenever they have a question on anything Catholic. She even acknowledged that they should have been more open about asking.

All I can say is praise be to God. If anyone reads this besides me, prayers would be great. God bless you.

Love & Marriage

A popular crooner once sang about this. I'm not going to sing right now.

Marriage in today's society has been trivialized. No more emphasis on the covenantal bond that will be established. No more giving of oneself completely to each other. No more respect for what marriage truly is. Marriage is just not about the day that it happens. It's more than the dress. It's more than the family members, it's more than the honeymoon. Marriage is "the matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by it's nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." (CCC 1601). Let me delve deeper into this.

A covenant is a kinship bond between two parties, with conditions or obligations, established by an oath or it's equivalent. This is the master theme of the Bible. It is God's way of drawing humanity into a familial relationship with him through divine oaths. Basically, it's God's love affair with the human race. God wants us to draw ever nearer to him and he has established these covenants in order for us to become his sons and daughters. We are to pattern our marriages after the covenants that God has established. In the New Testament, these covenants are wonderfully preserved and ratified through the 7 sacraments. A man and a woman don't just promise to love each other for the rest of their lives, they are entering into a covenant of kinship and creating their own family with God at it's center. This partnership is to be patterned after Christ's love for his Bride, the Church which is the marriage covenant par excellence.

Marriage by it's nature (the essential character of a person or thing) is ordered towards an ultimate good and end which is Heaven and eternity with God. We are to prepare ourselves and our spouses for eternity with God. The graces that come with marriage because of it's sacramental nature can orient husband, wife, and their children to the greatest of all good. Naturally, man and woman come together not only for pleasure but for the creation and propagation of offspring. This is a natural order and a natural outpouring of the love between a man and a woman. It is a participation in the Holy Trinity that is God. Because God is 3 in 1 we too are supposed to be witnesses to the nature of God. It's how we are created. "The two shall become one flesh." We enter into the most sacred of all spaces when we go to the marriage bed. (This has been lost in today's culture and society. People tend to forget God and focus only on their own pleasures. This is one way the Devil has subverted humanity towards its own demise and destruction. Thank God for the Church.)

Why are children seen as a hindrance? Why are children murdered in the womb? How have we come to this? People don't trust God anymore and it is disheartening. We have to change the culture from death to life. We have to be God's hands on earth. We have to have the courage to stand for what is right. Children are a blessing and until we remember that, we must work to change attitudes and misconceptions. Are you ready to do that? A culture and people who kill their most innocent is a sad culture indeed. Only when marriage is truly seen for what it is can this attitude shift. Paterning it after Christ's is the way.

The covenant is at it's best when the spouses are both baptized. Why do they have to be baptized? Because "through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission." (CCC 1213-74). We have graces available even more when both parties are baptized. Unequal yoke is cautioned against in the Scriptures. However, if one person is not baptized, the grace of the sacrament of marriage is still there and in God's time and grace the spouse not baptized could come to the waters of regeneration.

Marriage is a sacrament simply because Christ ratified and made new the creation of God. Christ's life and death and Resurrection were all for the Church, his spotless Bride. Christ's bride must be spotless. God will not unite himself to something that is not. That is what marriage is about: Christ's love for his Church. Husbands are to "love your wives as Christ loves the Church...this is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:25,32) says St. Paul. You must be willing to give your everything for your spouse, including your life if need be.

In connecting this post with the main theme of this blog, since we are to pattern our marriage after that of Christ to his Church, there can be only one church; a visible church, one where you can actually see the bond of covenant between God and his people. Christ does not have many churches as his one bride but one Church, one people, one covenant. Christ is not a polygamist. It is logical to conclude and right that this one church, this one bride is nothing other than the church Christ established himself, the one, holy, apostolic, Catholic Church.

The Church Fathers

The Church Fathers are an important link to early Christianity as evidenced by this video. One of the Church Fathers, St. Augustine, writes:

The same is the holy Church, the one Church, the true Church, the Catholic Church, fighting against all heresies: fight, it can; be fought down, it cannot. As for heresies, they all went out of it, like unprofitable branches pruned from the vine: but itself abides in its root, in its Vine, in its charity.

Questions

I will make this post a bit different. I will ask questions and maybe I will get some responses back. Feel free to leave a comment.

How do I explain to people my Catholic faith, when they are not even willing to listen in the first place?

How do I tell them that I am not an anomaly within the church, but that I am the norm and the people they have interacted with are the anomaly?

How can I say what I want to say and yet be respectful of their differing beliefs?

I am discouraged and frustrated sometimes at the poor witness other "Catholics" are giving to non-Catholic Christians. It's because of this poor witness that a common ground is slowly eroding away. Or so it seems. I know that there is always hope and that I need to continue in praying for an openess and understanding for this other party.

How do I relate to them that, yes, I know "we all serve the same God...yet you in your way and I in his" as a great saint and theologian once said?

So many questions...

Life and Death to Life

On September 12th, 2009 my grandfather was called home to the Lord. It was a trying time, but it was a peaceful time. He was surrounded by his family, just the way that he wanted. We sang him home with is favorite song, "On Eagles Wings." It still chokes me up and I will never listen to that song the same again. (The following Sunday after his inurnment, the choir sang the song and I couldn't help but smile to myself. That is true comfort. I'm thinking that Grandpa pulled some strings to let me know that though he's gone from my sight, he is still very much alive.) I am missing his advice and his pure love for us all. Truly he was a great man and he drew his strength from the Lord.

I guess through this whole ordeal, you begin to realize the value of family and the comfort that faith in Christ brings to us. It is through our sufferings that we are made more in the image of Christ. Truly to be a Christian you share in the life of Christ. And Christ suffered and died. It is a part of life and indeed the birth into a new life. Victorious over death, in Christ we have no need to be scared. Our hope is the hope of the Resurrection at the end of time when we will be reunited in spirit and body with all of those who have ever lived and died in Christ. What a beautiful future. And we know how the story ends. We win. And there is nothing that will seperate us from the Love of God.

This is what the Catechism says about the Resurrection and what it means. And this is what it says about us and our own resurrection. I cannot but thank God for the opportunity to have known and loved my grandfather. I am praying that Grandpa remembers us and prays for us and that he heard what we all want to hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant...Come share your Master's joy." (St. Matthew 25:23).