Remembrance Day

Let us pray:
God of Endless Ages,

From one generation to the next you have always invited us to come before you in our need.                          

                    

Hear our prayer on this Remembrance Day, 

We offer our prayer of gratitude for those who have gone before us in the protection of our way of life.   

We pray for those who are safeguarding that same life today and for those who rely heavily on our shared ability to protect the rights and dignities of others.

Allow us to be living instruments of your compassion, hope, truth, justice and reconciliation.  May the combined wisdom of our yesterdays lead us to a more stronger and united tomorrow that will allow us as your people to build a world healed of division and hungry for the time when we will share your gifts as one family living the dignity you have blessed us with.

We ask this in the Name of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.   Amen

Anglican Bishops "Rome"-ward Bound

Just weeks after a papal pilgrimage to England, the announcement that five Anglican bishops plan to resign by year’s end and join the Catholic Church is setting wheels in motion at the Vatican.
 

The Nov. 8 announcement seems to have caught Vatican officials by surprise. And the question of just how these bishops and other former members of the Church of England will enter the Catholic Church has quickly become an important topic of discussion inside the Vatican. 

Pope Benedict & Archbishop Rowan Williams

The bishops — Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Keith Newton of Richborough, and John Broadhurst of Fulham, along with retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk — cited Pope Benedict XVI’s “generous” invitation last year to Anglicans who are seeking “full communion” with the Catholic Church. 

In Nov. 2009, the Pope issued the invitation in an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Coetibus.” The document proposed that former Anglicans could enter into “full communion” with the Church as members of specially-tailored jurisdictions, or “personal ordinariates.” 

According to the Pope’s plan, these jurisdictions would be under the authority of local Catholic bishops, but members could maintain their “liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions,” including the traditional permission for priests to be married. 

With the five bishops’ announcement, eyes are now on the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has yet to provide details on the final shape these ordinariates, might take. 

But a timetable does seem to be on the horizon. The doctrine office’s head, Cardinal William Levada, will be leading a special closed-door discussion of the matter with the College of Cardinals on Nov. 19. 

One of the resigning bishops, Bishop John Broadhurst, told CNA that his decision to leave the Church of England came after many years of hoping that the Anglicans would move closer to Rome.

Instead, he said, Anglicans have distanced themselves further by embracing such radical departures from Christian tradition as permitting women bishops and blessing homosexual unions. 

But Bishop Broadhurst, who has been a priest for 40 years and heads the traditionalist group, Forward in Faith, said disaffection with Anglicanism did not lead to his decision.

As one who “believed in unity with the Catholic Church for a very long time," he said, "I don't think I can say no to it. It's as straight forward as that. You can't become a Catholic because you don't like being something else. That's not where we are, any of us."

The difficulties facing Anglicanism, he said, have less to do with issues such as gay clergy or women bishops.

 “The problem with Anglicanism is the nature of authority — we have no proper concept of authority so decisions are made that tear us apart," he said. 

In their joint letter of resignation, the five bishops said they were “distressed by developments … in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years.”

They said Pope Benedict’s invitation was “a generous response” to distressed Anglicans and “a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians. … It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter.”

Bishop Broadhurst said there remains a debate in more traditional Anglican parishes in England. Priests and lay people alike are contemplating their next steps. "Lots of people are interested" in pursuing the Pope’s invitation, he said.

Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster is the point man on the Anglican issue for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He said the bishops will be considering the new “personal ordinariates” in their countries during their annual meeting next week.

Vatican Radio reported Nov. 10 that the head of the English Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will travel to the Vatican next week. He is to take part in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Nov. 17.

Archbishop Williams is not scheduled to meet with the Pope. However, last year, when tensions arose after the Pope’s invitation to Anglicans, Archbishop Williams did travel to Rome for a private meeting with the Pontiff. 

Archbishop Williams greeted news of the five bishops’ resignation with “regret.” In a statement, he said: "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church." he said.

Whatever shape the ordinariate takes, for now, they are interested in having a good relationship with English Catholic hierarchy and maintaining their friendship with the Anglican Church, Bishop Broadhurst said.

He compared it to a failed marriage in which the spouses "break up." Some "are nasty," while in others "people manage to be decent to each other. Well, I hope as Christians that we can be respectful.”

"I really do think that it's got to work, but it's a sensitive situation both within the Church of England and in the Catholic Church," he concluded.

Msgr. Marc Langham of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told CNA that the new Anglican jurisdictions may produce some unexpected fallout in Catholic-Anglican relations.

“It perhaps will mean that there will no longer be a voice within Anglicanism ... speaking in defense of that relationship with the Roman Catholic Church,” he said. 

Pope Benedict has repeatedly said that he has no interest in encouraging the further splintering of the Anglican communion, Msgr. Langham said. 

As for the unprecedented question of ordinariates, Msgr. Langham said that the interested Anglicans he has spoken with "really want to wait and see what the ordinariate looks like."

Questions such as "how it will work, how it will run, how it will be financed, what it's relationship will be to the local Catholic community" are on the top of their minds.

"Anglican ministers are going to give up a great deal before moving to this, and so I think are waiting really for a bit more information about it," he said.

The "short answer," Msgr. Langham said, is that no one knows how many people might eventually join the U.K. ordinariate.

An interesting ecumenical point for him so far in the dialogue about the creation of ordinariates is that Catholic authorities are receiving advice from their Anglican counterparts on how best to do so. This, he said, "is a great thing."

"It means that the ordinariate is helping to bridge the ecumenical divide rather than to exaggerate it."

Patient Prayer

A Mid-week reflection from Sr. Joyce Rupp - a solid reminder for all of us on the path to serenity:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
      --Psalm 25:4

How can we tell if we are doing God's will?

Psalm 25 suggests that we need to ask God for guidance if we are going to be living the ways of the Holy One. God can and will direct our paths if we are open, attentive and listening. For our part, we need to be patient, consistent in praying daily, willing to consult wise persons, and we need to regularly check our motivation -- “Why am I doing what I do?”

St. Ignatius insists that a key way to know if we are doing God’s will is to check on our peacefulness. We may not have many positive feelings about a decision or a direction, but if we have peace, we can be assured that we are probably in tune with God. We need to trust our truest self. No one else can tell us if we are on the path with God. Only our true self, that part of us that is in close union with God at the core of our being, knows this. Let us keep going there and trusting the Peace that resides deep within us.

 I turn to you for light and guidance,

Source of Truth and Peace.

Teach me your will and make me known to me
how best to live with peace in my heart.

Broken Lines

A quiet end to a long day...

Just calling it a day Church and needing to report that I am sorry the pages are running slowly. Our office internet connection is offline and we are not having great success in restoring it. We are joining the masses in waiting for our time to come. I have been assured that this problem might take up to a week to address.

Please be patient folks while I attempt to post from my phone.

Must love technology.

Prayers as always for you all. Good Night

Regarding Women: Irish Church Lacks a Grade

Irish Catholic women feel that they are not sufficiently appreciated by the church, but their faith remains strong, according to a newly published survey.

The research, which compared attitudes between Catholic and Protestant women, found that 74 percent of Catholic women surveyed felt that the church did not treat them with "a lot of respect." Among Protestant women, just 6.3 percent felt that lack of respect.

However, 61 percent of Catholic women said they looked to Mary as a positive role model who empowered them within the church, compared with 27 percent of Protestant women who looked to Mary.

When given a statement that the church had tried to control their position in society, 72.3 percent of Catholic women agreed compared with 19.7 percent of Protestant women.

The research, carried out by Trinity College Dublin among more than 500 women across 12 counties in the Irish Republic between 2002 and 2006, also found that religious faith remains strong among women and they remain actively involved in the church. Results were published in a book by Florence Craven of Trinity's Social Attitude and Policy Research Group.

Dominican Sister Geraldine Smyth of the Irish School of Ecumenics said she was not surprised by the figures.

She said the high percentage "needs to be listened to and attended to, not written off as lunatic fringe."

Sister Smyth said the Catholic Church "is wonderful at highlighting marginalization of women in society and standing up for vulnerable women in the social and political sphere," but that "does not translate in to the church where women are not sufficiently valued."

She said that if there is to be a meaningful process of Catholic renewal in Ireland, "the voice of women must be acknowledged, listened to and valued.

"Women have been excluded; this needs to be acknowledged and redressed in a practical way where the voices of women will be heard in structures within the church," she said.

The research confirmed anecdotal evidence and reports from various diocesan "listening sessions" around the country, where Catholic women expressed frustration about feelings of exclusion.

In the Diocese of Ossory, where more than 800 people participated in the session, the final report noted: "It was strongly felt that, while women make up two-thirds of the congregation, they have little say or role within the church and its structures.

"It was felt that if more people, particularly women, had been involved in leadership roles in the church the manner in which the abuse allegations were dealt with would have been different," it added.

In Kerry, where more than 500 people participated, many people expressed strong views that the church is marginalizing lay people, particularly women. Some said the Irish church's introduction of the permanent diaconate further excluded women from playing a "real role" in the church.

Castro's Gift to the Church: New Seminary

This week we celebrated the feast of St. Charles Borremeo -- the patron of seminarians --  and it brought big news from the global formation beat: hailed as Cuba's first new religious building since the 1959 Revolution, the weeksaw the opening of a new National Seminary outside Havana, with one of the more unlikely casts of characters you'll ever find on this beat on hand.

Two attendees at the dedication provide one of many cases in point: President Raul Castro sat in the front row and the Supreme Knight of Columbus Carl Anderson not far behind.

Comprising the Knights' chief and several clerics from South Florida and Washington, the US delegation to the rites was led by Archbishop Tom Wenski of Miami. The group will tour the island through the weekend.

Dedicated to Saints Ambrose and Charles -- the patrons of Milan -- the original Havana seminary was seized by the Communist authorities in 1966, and given insufficient quarters elsewhere. Able to house some 100 students, the new facility has its work cut out for it; often under duress, some three-quarters of Cuba's clergy left the island in the wake of Fidel Castro's rise to power, according to wire reports.

The development comes as church relations with the regime are "on a high" -- in the wake of a breakthrough 2008 visit by the Cardinal-Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the local hierarchy led by Havana's Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino has made several inroads, most prominently securing the freedom of over 50 longtime political prisoners earlier this year (most of whom have reportedly been sent to Spain immediately upon their release).

At the same time, the 74 year-old cardinal -- whose delicate tightrope-walk with the state has earned him a degree of distrust among the community's more hard-line elements -- has called Castro's government to conscience on the deteriorating political and economic situation, calling in a widely-noted April intervention for "quick" changes.

In his remarks at this week's dedication, Ortega underscored that the seminary project "has been able to count on state support through its conclusion," thanking both current and former Presidents Castro for making good on their pledge to back the effort.

The opening comes amid a decade-long "novena" of preparation called by the Cuban bishops leading up to 2013's 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Caridad de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity), the island's patroness.

Something of an early Christmas present to the Church in Cuba.

Patience & Acceptance

Good Afternoon Church - Happy Saturday!

This has been quite the week in your author's life with both hills and plateau's to navigate and enjoy. I've been without an Internet connection most of the week but I am assured that it will be fixed on Monday. I had not realized how very much I depended on this means of communication until it was taken away from me.

It has led me to a growing examination on what it means for to "accept the things I cannot change," in my everyday life.

Acceptance is something a christian must face daily. Acceptance is a cornerstone for our spiritual growth. Acceptance is a necessity if we are to grow in our developing lives. What does acceptance mean for me?

First it means keeping an open-mind to the changes that this world offers. It prompts me to avoid judging current circumstances as being good/bad or right/wrong - they can simply be circumstances or a situation that invites a response from me in an unbiased way. Situations can then be seen without fear.

Secondly, acceptance demands I remain honest with myself regarding all aspects of a given situation. That honesty will naturally extend to how I express and share my circumstances with both myself and others. Am I accurately and honestly seeing this situation for what it really is?

Lastly, acceptance requires that I be willing to make a change in my understanding of a situation or circumstance. Willingness is a means by which I ensure that I grow in my understanding of myself and others. It keeps me from growing complacent and allows me to take an active role in bettering myself and my relationships with others.

Where does this leave me today? Less frustrated than I was most of the week. I am grateful to have the opportunity to express myself today and to be able to grow in my relationships with others. I am also a little humbled by how easy I take for granted this mode of communication. If I am to be rigorously honest than I would also have to admit that I managed to get some others things accomplished this week that I might not have.

Enjoy your weekend, Church.

All Souls Day

The souls of the just are in the hand of God
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.

-- From the Book of Wisdom, taken from  the Mass for All Souls

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. 
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Women Deacons: Chicago Pastor says Yes

The Roman Catholic Church is pretty clear on who may join the priesthood: men only.

And the way church leaders see it, there's no room for debate, even though many adherents to the faith would like to see women in the ranks.

 

Fr. Bill Tkachuk

Now, an Evanston pastor, the Rev. Bill Tkachuk, is raising the question of whether women can become deacons -- ordained ministers a step below priests.

 

His parish, St. Nicholas, has been kicking around the topic for months, and a longtime female member has expressed interest in becoming a deacon should the Vatican open up the option to women.

Experts said that's unlikely to happen anytime soon, given how slowly change comes to the church.

Like bishops and priests, deacons are ordained through a sacrament called Holy Orders, which is available only to men. Deacons aren't allowed to consecrate the Eucharist at mass or hear confessions, but they can preside at baptisms and weddings. They often help priests with other liturgical and administrative duties.

There are "transitional" deacons who are on the road to the priesthood, and "permanent" deacons, who are not studying for the priesthood and, unlike most Catholic priests, may marry and have children. There are perhaps 500 active permanent deacons in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Pope John Paul II closed off internal debate on allowing women to become priests. Among the church's arguments: Jesus selected only male apostles. But there's no ban on talking about female deacons.

Supporters note that the New Testament references female deacons, though the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops indicates "there is no conclusive evidence that this office or the persons who fulfilled these roles were truly 'ordained' like the male deacons."

While many Chicago area parishes have husband-and- wife "deacon couples" who minister in a variety of ways, only the husband technically is a deacon. Tkachuk would like to see women serve in that role, and he's pushing for "a broader conversation" on this unresolved issue.

St. Nicholas has hosted parish events centered on the topic, and Tkachuk has used the weekly bulletin to spur discussion and chronicle developments. He plans to reach out to Cardinal Francis George to take up the issue. George didn't return phone calls on the matter.

St. Nicholas member Lynne Mapes-Riordan isn't waiting for an answer. She has put her name forward as a potential candidate for deacon.

"I love liturgy . . . and serving others" and being part of faith community, said Mapes-Riordan, 47, of Evanston, an attorney and married mother of two.

She sees the "prosperity and spirit" of the larger church tied in part to becoming more inclusive. But is this a back-door way of getting women into the priesthood?

"That's not my agenda," she said.

In recent months, several Chicago area priests have signaled their support for women in the priesthood -- which George batted down in a recent column in the Catholic New World, an archdiocesan publication.

Feast of All Saints

Good Morning Church - with spooks and ghouls behind us we push forward today towards the end of the Church's year. November 1st is the Feast of All Saints.The Feast of All Saints is a holy day of the Church honoring all saints, known and unknown. While we have information about many saints, and we honor them on specific days, there are many unknown or unsung saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been specifically honored. On All Saints Day, we celebrate these saints of the Lord, and ask for their prayers and intercessions. The whole concept of All Saints Day is tied in with the concept of the Communion of Saints. This is the belief that all of God's people, on heaven, earth, and in the state of purification (called Purgatory in the West), are connected in a communion. In other words, Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe that the saints of God are just as alive as you and I, and are constantly interceding on our behalf. Remember, our connection with the saints in heaven is one grounded in a tight-knit communion. The saints are not divine, nor omnipresent or omniscient. However, because of our common communion with and through Jesus Christ, our prayers are joined with the heavenly community of Christians.


Pope Benedict XVI offers these words for us surrounding the Feast of All Saints:

"When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple - true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts." 

 

Happy Feast one and all!