Suffering With Joy

My Favorite Bishop

September 12, 2011

A couple of weeks ago I wrote on The Virtue of Religion. Today in Divine Intimacy Father Gabriel wrote on religion and justice saying:

…yes, Jesus has shown us in what the true virtue of religion consists.  it is interior worship, because “God is a spirit, and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24); but it is also exterior, because our whole being, including our bodies, must take part in the homage we render to God.

Religious who are wholly consecrated to the service of God by their vows practice the virtue of religion in the highest degree, provided they fulfill their obligations “in spirit and in truth.”  But even those who are not bound by vows should try in all their acts to have the intention of performing them for the glory, honor, and service of God; therefore, they should do them in such a way that they can be presented to Him as acts of homage, offering, and sacrifice.  Thus, the virtue of religion is not confined to the hours of prayer; it embraces our whole life, transforming it into one continual act of homage to God, in imitation of the life of Jesus and in union with it.

This gives me a chance to mention one of my favorite American bishops, Bishop Slattery of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  While we all have a responsibility to build up the body of Christ, bishops are our immediate leaders as successors to the apostles.  What they do to foster the virtue of religion makes a huge difference in how close the people under their care come to living Catholic life fully. Some of the things I really appreciate about Bishop Slattery are:

1) When other bishops were literally persecuting and treating as third class citizens those of us who desired access to the Traditional Latin Mass, he invited the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter to Tulsa for a congregation that began with 12 people in 1995.  Still under the care of the FSSP, St. Peter Parish is now poised to take over Our Lady of Sorrows convent in Broken Arrow and start a Catholic school for girls.  (The FSSP already has St. Gregory’s Academy for boys in Scranton, Pennsylvania.)

2) In 1999 he invited the Benedictine monks of Fontgombault in France to found Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek in Hulbert, Oklahoma. Starting with only 13 monks living in log cabins and sheds and celebrating the sacred liturgy in a converted horse barn, the monastery now has over 30 monks and has become self-sustaining and independent of Fontgombault with its own abbot.  This group of contemplative monks has brought the full Benedictine life and spirituality to eastern Oklahoma with enormous benefits, including founding a convent for contemplative nuns.

3)  A few years ago Bishop Slattery founded a diocesan Benedictine monastery in Tulsa with Father Mark Kirby, OSB, called Our Lady of the Cenacle.  Father Mark’s charge is to form women who adopt priests of the diocese, becoming their spiritual mothers according to a request to all bishops from the Congregation of the Clergy.  The bishop instituted a formal program for these women under the direction of Father Mark who is also spiritual director for priests of the diocese and writes Vultus Christi blog.

4)  In recent years he founded a diocesan liturgical institute (Te Deum Institute of the Liturgy) to restore the sacred liturgy, inviting one of the great Benedictine liturgists and former Abbot Primate, Father Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, to head it up.  The ongoing training for those involved in the sacred liturgy is second to none.

5)  Bishop Slattery continues to strengthen the Let’s Talk program for married couples begun in 1992.  This program was featured in the most recent issue of The Eastern Oklahoma Catholic. It’s purpose is to help preserve and strengthen marriages.

6)  The bishop also supports Natural Family Planning as a means for conversion and holiness, with feature articles in the magazine from time to time.

He has done much more, including supporting the growth of other Catholic rites within his diocese such as the Greek and Chaldean rites, and many programs for the laity (youth and adults) aimed at helping them live a strong Catholic identity.

The Tulsa diocese is a great place to live as a Catholic with all the opportunities to weave the virtue of religion into daily life and steady reminders to focus on God.  I can say that I wish my husband and I were able to move there, but God has His reasons for keeping us where we are.  Maybe the extra effort we must make in our spiritual lives because of conditions in our own diocese is making us stronger followers of Christ.

Tags: Catholic bishops, virtue

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

June 26, 2011

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, a Sunday meme hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing where you can enjoy posts for the week by other Catholic bloggers.

This week I wrote about The Feast of Corpus Christi – a little history and why we believe in the Real Presence.

At Archbishop Chaput on Catholic Social Teaching I took some excerpts from a recent talk he gave and made a few comments.

My Sabbath Moments post is about how my dog gives me lessons about a right relationship with God.

God bless all my readers and thanks for visiting.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: Catholic bishops, Catholic Church

Rogation Days

May 30, 2011

We might find it strange that in Paschal time we would have several days of penance, but the Church has good reason for it.  We are approaching commemorating the final hours of Jesus walking this earth.  For those of us who have a hard time saying “goodbye”, we understand the grief the Apostles, disciples and Mary must have experienced.  So although we are in a time of rejoicing, we are also in a time of sorrow immediately preceding the Ascension.

St. Mamertus, engraving

The History of Rogation Days

Rogation Days (from Latin rogare, to beseech) are a wonderful example of what Vatican Council II meant when in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium) it spoke of “organic growth.”  We owe these days to the churches of southern Gaul, specifically the church at Vienne.  This tradition dates back to the 400s under the great bishop St. Mamertus.

Just after the Burgundians had conquered the area of Vienne in the mid 400s, all sorts of calamities began to occur, not unlike today with earthquakes, floods, great winds, hail, sicknesses, starvation, etc. Crops were destroyed and many died.

The good bishop, unbeknownst to himself, began a practice in this time of trouble which has come to form a part of the sacred liturgy of the universal Church and which is Biblically based.  Remember that whenever the Israelites were suffering greatly, a good dose of penance and sacrifices accompanied by the psalms would bring them relief.

St. Mamertus prescribed three days of public expiation and supplication to God in which the faithful were to devote themselves to penance, walking in procession chanting appropriate psalms, and fasting.  The three days preceding the Ascension were chosen. Masters were required to dispense servants from work so that all could assist at the long functions that filled most of the three days.  In his time the procession lasted six hours as the people went from church to church throughout the countryside.  Before beginning, the people received ashes as on Ash Wednesday and were sprinkled with holy water.  Everyone walked barefoot, led by a cross of the principal church in charge of the observance.

A detail recorded by a monk of St. Gall’s tells us that Charlemagne would join the procession barefoot and walk from his palace to the stational church.  St. Elizabeth of Hungary did the same, for in 816 Pope Leo III brought this practice to Rome and from there it spread everywhere.  St. Charles Borromeo in the 1500s observed Rogation Days in his see of Milan, visiting over ten churches every day in procession.

Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B. wrote in the 1800s in his great The Liturgical Year series:

If, then, we would have a correct idea of the Rogation days, we must consider them as Rome does – that is, as a holy institution which, without interrupting our paschal joy, tempers it. The purple vestments used during the procession and Mass do not signify that our Jesus has fled from us, but that the time for His departure is approaching. By prescribing abstinence for these three days, the Church would express how much she will feel the loss of her Spouse, who is so soon to be taken from her.

Abstinence is no longer an obligation for Rogation days, nor are they holy days of obligation. Ashes and sprinkling the faithful with holy water is not part of the ritual anymore.  Also, the diocesan Bishop may transfer these days to three other consecutive days which are more accommodating to local custom and need.

Purposes of Rogation Days

The Church observes the Rogation Days for two reasons:

1. To, in Biblical terms, appease the anger of God and avert the chastisements which the sins of the world justly deserve, and
2. To draw down the Divine blessing on the fruits of the earth.

Today the faithful chant the litany of the Saints during the procession as well as Psalm 69 (Deus in adjutorium meum intende or O God, come to my assistance).  When the procession is over, the Mass of Rogation is offered.

How to keep the Rogation Days if you can’t observe them at your parish

In all the 18 years of living in our diocese, never once have I heard “Rogation Days” mentioned even though we are a dominantly rural diocese.  Never once have I seen them observed and I am well informed of what is going on regarding the sacred liturgy here.  I suspect the same is true for others here and there.  But you can be sure they are observed in the 1962 liturgy and in various other dioceses around the world.

To join the universal Church in these celebrations you can pray the complete Litany of the Saints and Psalm 69 all three days. Simple, isn’t it?

Why we need to keep the Rogation Days

Let’s take a look at 2010 and 2011:

• Major earthquake and destruction in Haiti
• Major Gulf oil spill and loss of life
• Civil war and rebellion everywhere in the Middle East
• The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami
• Terrible flooding up and down the Mississippi this spring
• Tornadoes throughout the South, the Midwest and eastern parts of the USA
• Slaughter of Christians everywhere in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, India, etc.
• Food shortages and extremely high food prices around the world
• Riots spreading across Europe and Greece falling apart
• Crop failures of all kinds the world over
  

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things that should be on the list.  Can anyone seriously say that we don’t need observance of the Rogation Days?  Are we not enduring great chastisements now? Do we not have troubles with planting and harvests the world over now because of many different calamities?

The Church gives us a great opportunity for instruction in the Catholic faith and spirituality with the observance of Rogation Days. Everywhere we have Catholic schools we have an opportunity to celebrate these days with the parish children in procession even if parents have to be at work.  Pastors can encourage parishioners to come for the sacred liturgy if they can and explain the meaning and purpose of these days to all.

As in so many instances, our sacred liturgy offers us the chance to re-orient ourselves to God – to reinforce a right relationship with Him. The world needs these days observed with a humble and contrite heart.  Remember that God told Abraham if he could find only ten just men, He would spare Sodom.  Can we not be among those ten just men today, calling God’s mercy on this sickened world?

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: Ascension, Catholic bishops, Catholic Church, Liturgical calendar, liturgy, psalms, suffering

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

March 6, 2010

Welcome to our regular Sunday Snippets where you will find a group of Catholic bloggers sharing their best of the week.  Some of us blog about a variety of subjects so you are sure to find something interesting.  Visit our virtual living room at This That and the Other Thing where RAnn is our hostess.  If you are a blogger, join us by creating a Sunday Snippets post and linking to RAnn’s site.  Sign in on Mr. Linkey to create a link to your site.

This week I posted quite a few items.  Archbishop Chaput of Denver gave a great talk to the Baptist University of Houston on the role of Christians in American public life.  You can learn a little history of Catholicism in America here.  I love this bishop!  The link is: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/02/a-pernicious-construct/.

Monday I gave into my arty side and posted a digital painting with a Good Friday themed poem here: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/01/marys-tears/.  I called it “Mary’s Tears”.

Lent for me is a yearly reminder of the need for reparation and forgiveness. I bring you Dr. Paul Takashi Nagai’s address to the parishioners on November 23, 1945 at the bishop’s Requiem Mass for those killed by the atomic bomb in Nagasaki.  Really, it’s awesome.  Find it here: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/02/the-way-of-reparation/. I tried to find out if his cause for sainthood had been advanced but the internet search yielded nothing.  I’m not giving up, though. Maybe I’ll write to his Cathedral of Maria parish in Urakami.

We’re used to hearing of Eucharistic Miracles in many centuries past, but what about today?  Here’s a video about recent Eucharistic Miracles that show Jesus is still trying to get our attention.  It’s a great subject for Lent and very impressive.

God bless all my readers.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin, Catholic bishops

Finally, a Tighter Directive from Catholic Bishops on End-of-Life Care

January 4, 2010

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote its usual one-sided whine in covering a November 17th mandate from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide nutrition, hydration, and medication to patients who are in a “presumably irreversible conditions … who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care.”

The bishops voted to revise the guide,  Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, at their November general assembly in Baltimore.  The bishops’ previous guide predated Pope John Paul II’s 2004 address to the International Congress on “Life- Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” and the August 2007 Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration issued by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

All Catholic health care institutions and workers have been notified of the new mandate.  Whether any will attempt to get around it remains to be seen, but predictably, Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, which advocates for the right of terminally ill patients to make life-or-death decisions is making false accusations about the mandate without, apparently, having read it.  She claims that these directives are in conflict with legal instructions from patients or their families and will apply to everyone.  The answer to the first is “Maybe”, to the second, “No.” The work-around stated as hospital policy, that someone or their surrogate who insists on starving and dehydrating the patient to death will be moved to another institution is not acceptable. Not surprising from someone who is in the business of killing.

However, Lori Dangberg, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Catholic Health Care, which represents California’s 55 Catholic hospitals made a disturbing statement.  She is quoted in the article as saying that if a situation was unresolvable, the hospitals would find some other way to accommodate the person.  How do you find a moral way of accommodating a person who wants to commit suicide or a family that wants to murder a member?  What about the fifth commandment do people not understand?

The bishops wrote:

The moral teachings that we profess here flow principally from the natural law, understood in the light of the revelation Christ has entrusted to his Church. From this source the Church has derived its understanding of the nature of the human person, of human acts, and of the goals that shape human activity…

28. Each person or the person’s surrogate should have access to medical and moral information and counseling so as to be able to form his or her conscience. The free and informed health care decision of the person or the person’s surrogate is to be followed so long as it does not contradict Catholic principles…

The Church’s teaching authority has addressed the moral issues concerning medically assisted nutrition and hydration. We are guided on this issue by Catholic teaching against euthanasia, which is “an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated.”[38] While medically assisted nutrition and hydration are not morally obligatory in certain cases, these forms of basic care should in principle be provided to all patients who need them, including patients diagnosed as being in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS), because even the most severely debilitated and helpless patient retains the full dignity of a human person and must receive ordinary and proportionate care…

58. In principle, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration for those who cannot take food orally. This obligation extends to patients in chronic and presumably irreversible conditions (e.g., the “persistent vegetative state”) who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care.40 Medically assisted nutrition and hydration become morally optional when they cannot reasonably be expected to prolong life or when they would be “excessively burdensome for the patient or [would] cause significant physical discomfort, for example resulting from complications in the use of the means employed.”[41] For instance, as a patient draws close to inevitable death from an underlying progressive and fatal condition, certain measures to provide nutrition and hydration may become excessively burdensome and therefore not obligatory in light of their very limited ability to prolong life or provide comfort.

59. The free and informed judgment made by a competent adult patient concerning the use or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures should always be respected and normally complied with, unless it is contrary to Catholic moral teaching.

37. See Declaration on Euthanasia.
38. Ibid., Part II.

40. See Pope John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the International Congress on “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” (March 20, 2004), no. 4, where he emphasized that “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.” See also Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration” (August 1, 2007).

41. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Commentary on “Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration.”

The new mandate is a much better document, emphasizing the importance of a properly formed conscience, compassionate about families faced with tough decisions, and clear on Catholic moral teaching. However, a key piece to the puzzle concerning implementation is the elephant in the living room: lack of catechesis on end-of-life issues at the parish and diocesan level.  Some Catholics are very fortunate to have bishops who are vocal about pro-life issues and publish steady, authentic teaching in their diocesan media.  But the priest has to stand up in the pulpit and tell the entire congregation what the Church teaches and why on these issues and do it often because of the pro-death atmosphere we breathe every day.

Support at the parish level for families in troubling circumstances is also a necessity.  Everywhere we must have a loving and caring approach to help people realize that what seems to be the greatest calamity is instead a gift from God and murder has no place in the heart of the Christian.

The Chronicle’s so-called journalism contained no quotes from Catholic medical personnel nor Catholic institutions who view this mandate as a boon and why.  Nor did they present any quotes from pastors who support the mandate and how the mandate helps people deal more peacefully with end-of-life decisions. Clearly, from the article, it appears that this is another “bash the big, bad bishops” slant.

Click on the links provided above to read the article and to read the bishops’ document.  You can order the document from the USCCB publications page on line.

Please join me in my nine month rosary novena for our country and conversion of those who are pro-death.

Tags: Catholic bishops, conversion, end-of-life, pro-life, rosary