A special day for Catholics who teach in public schools

January 20th, 2012

Those of us involved with handing on the Faith in parishes or in the Catholic schools have many opportunities for the spiritual renewal that is so important to the success of our ministry.

However, there are other Catholic educators, teachers and administrators in public schools, who are equally deserving of a day to recharge their spiritual batteries and be recognized for the witness they bear day after day, week after week. They preach the Gospel, not by words, but by their example, by their diligence, and by their care for their students.

So on Saturday, Jan. 28, the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office will sponsor a Liturgy and Breakfast especially for Catholics who teach in public schools. It will take place at the Riverview, which overlooks the Hudson River in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. The doors will open at 9:30 a.m. Bishop Dominick Lagonegro will celebrate Mass at 10 o’clock.  Our guest speaker this is Sr. Peggy Murphy, O.P. a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville, N.Y.

Sr. Peggy, who holds a doctor of ministry degree in pastoral theology from Drew University School of Theology, currently is a professor of religious studies at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., where she also has served as a division chair. An educator and counselor, she is additionally a gifted musician, and expert on Celtic spirituality. She has appeared on television with Regis Philbin and in the Broadway production of “Nunsense.” Sr. Peggy is the recipient of countless awards, including several as a woman of achievement, which she certainly is. At heart, however, she is an educator.

The suggested fee is $20 per person. Many of our guests at this annual event tell us we should charge more but we want to keep it within the reach of everyone.

If you are a Catholic teaching in the public schools, you are cordially invited to join us. Or perhaps you have a friend or relative who is. Why not come and invite that teacher to join you?  You’ll meet lots of other like-minded men and women with whom you can share experiences, dreams and even your professional frustrations.

Just contact Helen Doon at the Catechetical Office by Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the latest. You can reach her at 212-371-1011, Ext. 2822 or e-mail Helen.doon@archny.org. She’ll be happy to take your reservations and answer your questions.

See you there.

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Our neighbors are hungry

January 12th, 2012

It’s always difficult for me to take down Christmas decorations. By the time I get to it, there are more pine needles on the rug than on the  tree. I am particularly reluctant to put away the crèche. As a matter of fact,  it’s still sitting in my living room, with the holy family, the shepherds, the wise men, the sheep, the donkey, the cow, a silly looking camel and three cats (if the Cathedral has a golden retriever , I can have cats). It’s such a sweet image, but it’s not accurate. That’s not the environment into which Jesus was born.

Forget the pretty crèches and the exquisite Renaissance Nativity paintings. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords was born into excruciating poverty. As I was reminded recently by a homilist, Joseph was probably a sort of odd-jobs man, not a master carpenter. He picked up work where he could find it. Mary probably couldn’t read and she certainly didn’t have a grand wardrobe. If she and Joseph actually did own a donkey, they were doing better than most of their peers.  They and Jesus, the Word made flesh, were among that mass of persons dehumanized into two word, “the poor.”

Putting food on the table would have been a daily struggle. Jesus probably went to bed hungry many times. In their tight little community, they most likely would have been dependent on the kindness of their neighbors and would have tried to help others in their turn.

Well, today, Jan 12, 2012, there are people right under our noses who live in similar circumstances. Nearly 325,000 children in the 10 counties and 4,400 square miles of the Archdiocese of New York are going hungry. More than 800,000 people have problems affording food. Do you live in the Bronx? About 35 percent of the children in your borough are hungry. Complicating things further are the facts that unemployment is higher and food is more expensive in this area.

This is a scandal but there’s no time for speeches. Our neighbors need food NOW. That is why Cardinal-Designate Dolan and New York Catholic Charities are mounting an Archdiocesan-wide food campaign, “Feeding Our Neighbors,” from Sunday, Jan.22, through Sunday, Jan. 29.

You personally can take part in three ways: by donating money to support emergency food programs, by participating in a parish food drive from the 22nd through the 29th or by volunteering your time at a food pantry to make certain that our neighbors get the food and the dignity to which they have a God-given right.

All the details you need to get involved and donate are right at this website.  Please bookmark the “Feeding Our Neighbors” website and check back frequently as it will be updated regularly throughout the drive.

Catholic Charities is making it so easy for us to help our neighbors, but time is of the essence and the need is growing every minute.

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Instead of New Year’s Resolutions

December 29th, 2011

Don’t know about you but I think New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time. Most of them don’t survive New Year’s Day.

Our friend, Father Jim Martin, S.J., culture editor of America and chaplain to Colbert, has a much brighter idea. Not only does it have a stronger chance of succeeding, but it will make us all better, happier Christians, too. Here it is.

Happy 2012.

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Proclaim the Word made flesh

December 22nd, 2011

Many parishes present this Christmas proclamation before Midnight Mass. But you don’t have to leave it there. Why not read it to your family and friends as you all gather to celebrate the feast. There are many versions of this proclamation, some with more modern language, but this is the grand old traditional one with which I grew up. I want to share it with you.  Happy Christmas!

Proclamation of the Birth of Christ

 In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world

from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;

the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;

the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;

the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses

and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;

the one thousand and thirty-second year from David’s being anointed king;

in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;

the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;

the whole world being at peace,

in the sixth age of the world,

Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,

being conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and nine months having passed since his conception,

was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary,

being made flesh.

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

 

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Don’t settle for less than the best

December 6th, 2011

A few weeks ago, at the beautiful chapel of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Ossining, the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office honored its most faithful catechists and catechetical leaders, and recognized those who have completed the various formation programs designed to give every parish excellence in religious education for children, youth and adults.

Additionally, two pastors, Rev. Raymond Nobiletti, MM, of Transfiguration in Manhattan and Msgr. Hugh McManus of Our Lady of Fatima in Scarsdale, received the Terence Cardinal Cooke Award for their support of the catechetical ministry. Bishop Gerald Walsh, rector of the St. Joseph Seminary, presided and joined Sr. Joan Curtin, CND, director of the Catechetical Office in presenting the awards and certificates.

Where do coordinators and directors of parish religious education programs and their catechists come from? They come from very neighborhood, every ethnic and national group, every walk of life. Most are moms and dads and grandparents. Most have other jobs. And that’s tough because as any qualified catechetical leader or catechist will tell you, parish catechesis is not a part-time effort. It takes much more time than the 90 minutes a week that are mandated by the Archdiocese for each parish. Anyone who has not served this ministry doesn’t know all the hidden extra hours these worthy people devote to the ministry. It takes a qualified leader.

Ideally the leader of parish catechesis (which is a more appropriate name than religious ed) should be a full-time director, that is, a professional who has a master’s degree in theology, religious studies or religious education. But that’s not always possible. What is possible is that anyone engaged as coordinator (this person would not have the above graduate degree) completes our training process, which will qualify him or her to be a catechetical leader. And this person should be paid a just wage for his or her professional commitment.

There is more to leading or teaching in a parish catechetical program than opening the doors, spending an hour and a half a week with the students, and then organizing the reception of First Penance, First Eucharist and Confirmation. In fact, to call the catechetical formation of your children a mere program is to grossly understate its importance. Catechesis is an ongoing process of Christian development, one that begins in early childhood and goes on for the rest of one’s life.

Parents of Catholic School students wouldn’t tolerate an unqualified principal or teacher, or one who works only a one or two days a week, to deliver the education excellence they expect for their children. Why should religious education parents have to settle for this?

Well, you shouldn’t have to. And you don’t have to. Support your parish so that it will be able to engage and justly compensate a qualified catechetical leader…or someone who is willing and able to attend the training that will qualify him or her. It may be the biggest favor you have ever done for your parish because when people are able to discover more about their faith, they become more engaged in their parish and will help it to thrive.

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Of wooden soldiers and crèches and courtesy

November 18th, 2011

 

By chance and the kindness of a friend, who had an extra ticket, I saw the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show last Monday. The last time I saw that show, I think it was still accompanied by a movie.

There were some new offerings, including a neat one about a mom and her daughter playing a video game, and some 3-D videos. Of course, there were plenty of set pieces, including the always-impressive “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” with the Rockettes. “The Living Nativity” has endured as well, complete with Mary, Joseph, the Infant Jesus, the shepherds, the sheep, the Magi, and their dromedaries. By the way, if you are really lucky and are near the Music Hall early in the morning, you’ll see those great, marvelous Arabian camels taking their morning walk. That’s a picture you’ll want to capture.

Isn’t it interesting that with the fuss every Christmas about Nativity scenes on municipal property, the concerns about the expression “Happy Holidays,” and all the rest of the noise, “The Living Nativity” endures? It wouldn’t be in the show if people didn’t love it so much. Now, of course, the Radio City Music Hall in not municipal property and there are many shouts of “Happy Holidays” in the show, but I think we can take some lessons.

If we love something enough, we can protect it – not by shouting and suing but by bearing witness to it. And we can all do our bit.  Think about your Christmas lawn display. Do you have a crèche (not one of those dreadful inflatable ones) out there? Do you have a crèche in the house, in a prominent place where your guests can see it?

When you come to Manhattan with your friends of other faith traditions and go to see the Rockefeller Center tree, do you invite them to see the crèche nearby at St. Patrick’s Cathedral? It will be up by the end of next week. And if you miss the live camels at Radio City, you can always check out the very large wooden one in the Cathedral. He has to be seen to be believed.

None of this is proselytizing or forcing your beliefs on other people. It’s just saying who you are.

Now, if you’ll permit me: a word about “Happy Holidays.” There are so many faith traditions in this country, especially here in New York where I live, and it’s nice when we can acknowledge someone’s religious holiday. For example, most New Yorkers like to say “Happy Chanukah” to our Jewish friends.  However if we are not sure of another person’s religion, “Happy Holidays” is a way to avoid offering some one felicitations for a feast he or she doesn’t observe. Sometimes, saying “Happy Holidays” is just good manners.

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Judgment and Purgatory – Part II

November 2nd, 2011

Did you find Part One of British Jesuit John McDade’s reflections on judgment and purgatory interesting and thought provoking. Here’s Part II.

In the interest of equal time for the cousins across the Irish Sea, here’s a  link to the Irish Jesuits’ daily prayer site. You might want to bookmark it for daily prayer during this month of the holy souls. It’s available in many languages/

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Halloween: fantasy, reality and a family tale

October 31st, 2011

Today, Oct. 31, is the day most children love and many parents hate…because the latter have to deal with youngsters flying high on all the sugar they ingest with those Halloween treats.

It’s also a night for scary movies and nightmares. But have we lost the real meaning of death and the dead? We tend to avoid the topic except around this time of year, when All Hallows Eve is followed by All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and a whole month dedicated to the  holy souls. British Jesuit John McDade, writing for “Thinking Faith,” has some reflections on the reality of All Hallows Eve, death and Purgatory. You might find them very interesting and enlightening.

If you read Fr. McDade, you’ll also see his reference to cracks in the cosmos. We of Celtic background have  another phrase to describe this phenomenon: thin places. It’s said that if you chance on one of these thin places, you can hear the voices of those who have gone to the next life. You don’t hear them only on All Hallows Eve and they are not out to get you. But they know you are there.

Let me tell you a story from my Irish cousin Michael, who was a very staid businessman with a lovely family when he told it to me. On our old family farm in the west of Ireland, there was a spa well (it had a mineral vein), which was said to be a thin place. When Michael was a teenager, he didn’t believe a word of this. However, he reasoned, fear of voices at the spa well might be a way to get close to a pretty girl. So he’d bring the girl to the well, tell her tales, scare her to death, and then put a protective arm around her. You can figure out the rest.

Well, our Michael had great success with this gambit until late one night, when he was coming home alone on his bicycle. There was no moon and the rain was pelting down in sheets. Just as he passed the deserted spa well, the chain on his bicycle broke and he went sprawling into the mud. As he untangled himself from the bike, wiped the mud from his face and tried to get to his feet, he heard gales of laughter.

For the rest of his life, Michael never again stopped at the spa well and whenever he drove past it, even in broad daylight, he floored the gas pedal.

Boo!

 

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Rosary Ponderings

October 19th, 2011

There’s a marvelous relationship that so many Catholics maintain, whether they are active or inactive, in the fold or on the outs. It’s the relationship between them and their rosary beads.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have watched men and women produce rosary beads at wakes, regardless of whether or not they are church-goers. I have seen rosary beads appear during bad flights and in hospital waiting rooms. I don’t doubt that many people who lost or nearly lost their lives on that dreadful day 10 years ago had their beads in hand.

I particularly notice it with women, who move their rosary beads from handbag to handbag. They would no more leave their beads home than they would their money. I do it myself. During the past couple of weeks I attended a family wedding and a formal dinner. I automatically tucked my rosary beads, in their little silk purse, into my tiny evening bag. There was no room for my eyeglasses (I hope I didn’t accidentally snub somebody) but the beads made it. I have to admit mine need some serious attention from the silver polish but they always are with me.

During October, the month of the Rosary – the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was on October 7 – it is worth pondering that lasting relationship between Catholics and their rosary beads.

Perhaps our rosary beads and the Rosary prayer itself connect us to the maternal identity of the Church. No matter where we are – or are not – on our journey of faith, the rosary reminds us that Mary, the Mother of the Church, is our mother, too, since we are the Church. We have the security of knowing that she would no more abandon a wandering, angry or hurting son or daughter than she would her own flesh and blood, Jesus Christ. “Don’t worry, child,” she seems to say each of us, “I am still here for you and, more importantly, so is my Son, your brother.”

Of course, the Rosary is not a replacement for the Sacred Liturgy, nor was it ever intended to be, but pondering our own relationship with the two persons who are intimately connected to the Rosary might nudge us in the direction of the Sacred Liturgy and the sacramental gift of Himself that Jesus wants to give us.

Our rosary beads are a symbol of that connection we have to Jesus and Mary and the Church. It’s a connection that no one can take from us.

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The Catechetical Forums: not just for catechists

October 4th, 2011

Each autumn, the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office sponsors two wonderful events that enable catechists and parish religious education leaders to sharpen their teaching skills, increase their knowledge of the faith, and pick up invaluable tips on turning a good parish religious ed program into an excellent one.

This events are called “The Forums” and they take place this month in two convenient sites: this coming Saturday, Saturday, Oct. 8, at Sacred Heart Parish in Monroe and Saturday, Oct. 22, at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. Archbishop Dolan will celebrate the opening Mass in Monroe and Cardinal Egan will be the principal celebrant in the Bronx. Pastors and other clergy are cordially invited and encouraged to join them.

In addition to specialized workshops given by veteran religious educators for parish catechists and catechetical leaders, the Forums will offer presentations of interest to all Catholic adults interested in knowing more about the Faith. In this Year of the Mass, Msgr. William Belford, vicar for clergy and an expert on liturgy, will address the new Roman Missal. Another great liturgist, Sr. Janet Baxendale, SC, will lead a workshop titled “I Didn’t Know That!” Other workshop topics include Scripture, justice, media, guided meditation, Christian marriage annulments, vocations and more.

Find out more about the Forums and you wish to attend, you may pay at the door. See you there!

 

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