Prayer vigils offer solidarity after Boston attack

Prayer vigils offer solidarity after Boston attack

Catholic Worldview Pt 1 Pg. 9
iCatholic Ask the Cat: HELL (uh-oh!) Pg. 10
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Volume 24 @ Number 4 @ April 28, 2013 @ $15 per Y ea r
Prayer vigils offer
solidarity after
Boston attack
Boston, MA (CNA/EWTN News).
In the aftermath of the Boston
Marathon bombings, people of diverse faith backgrounds are uniting
in prayer for the victims and offering support to all those affected.
“Even when our heart aches, we
summon the strength that maybe we didn’t even know we had,
and we carry on; we finish the
race,” said U.S. President Barack
Obama at an interfaith prayer
service in Boston on April 18.
“Scripture tells us to run with endurance the race that is set before
us,” the president observed. “As
we do, may God hold close those
who’ve been taken from us too
soon, may he comfort their families
and may he continue to watch over
these United States of America.”
President Obama joined numerous religious leaders in speaking at an interfaith prayer service
at the Catholic Cathedral of the
Holy Cross
On April 15, two bombs exploded shortly before 3 p.m. near
the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three individuals were
Runners pray at an interfaith prayer service for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing titled “Healing Our City,” attended by President Barak Obama
and first lady Michelle Obama at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on April 18 in
Boston. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
killed in the explosions, and over
170 were injured.
Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was arrested late April 19 in Watertown,
MA. His brother, Tamerlan, was
killed in a shootout with police
earlier that morning. On April 22
terror charges, which could bring
the death penalty, were formally
Turn to Prayer vigils, Page 7
Without evangelization Church
becomes babysitter, Pope warns
which recalled the lives of the first
Christians.
“They left their homes,” he recalled, “they brought with them
only few belongings, and going
from place to place proclaiming
the Word.
“They were a simple faithful,
baptized just a year or so—but
they had the courage to go and
proclaim,” the pope said.
Pope Francis then turned to
a point that he emphasized frequently in Buenos Aires. The early
Christians, he stressed, had nothing but “the power of baptism,”
which “gave them apostolic courage, the strength of the Spirit.”
But, he asked, do Christians today really believe in the power of
Turn to Pope Francis, Page 6
David Uebbing
Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News).
If Catholics do not proclaim Jesus
with their lives, then the church
becomes “not the mother, but
the babysitter,” Pope Francis cautioned in a homily and a separate
letter to his brother bishops in Argentina.
When believers share their
faith, “the church becomes a
mother church that produces
children (and more) children,
because we, the children of the
church, we carry that. But when
we do not, the church is not the
mother, but the babysitter, that
takes care of the baby—to put
Photo: L’Osservatore Romano
the baby to sleep. It is a church
dormant,” Pope Francis stated.
The solution to this is “to
proclaim Christ, to carry the
church—this fruitful motherhood of the Church—forward,”
he said.
The pope first mentioned the
importance of being spiritually
fruitful during the April 16 Mass
he celebrated for employees of the
Vatican’s Institute for Works of
Religion in St. Martha’s residence.
He based his homily on a reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
Sarah’s Place:
Meeting
health care
and other
needs in
Elliott Co.
“I don’t know what I would
have done without Sarah’s Place.
I have four children, real bad luck
with the men in my life, ran out
my ten year limit for public assistance, and you still believed in
me. Now I am a certified Nurse
Aide. Thanks for helping me.”
Sandy Hook. Sarah’s Place has
been in the business of helping
women like the client quoted
above since 1996 when it was
incorporated in Elliott County,
Kentucky as a 501 (c) 3 organization. It is a planned coincidence
that real job opportunities help
real people with real needs.
The need for nursing assistants
will increase 21.5% from 2002 to
2012. Elliott County has one of
the highest rates of elderly return
migration in the northeastern Appalachian region of Kentucky. As
a Kentucky State Certified Nurse
Aid, a graduate of our program
can work in a Nursing Home,
Home Health Agency, and HospiTurn to Sarah’s Place, Page 3
Page 2
April 28, 2013
Anniversary events offer opportunities to be “leaven”
KARen ROOD
Happy Easter. As we celebrate our risen
Lord we also experience the new growth
of spring. For many of us, this is a time
of action: gardening, preparing planting
beds, cleaning out closets. With this issue
of Cross Roads, I submit
to you another call to
action: volunteer for the
25th Anniversary Weekend of June 1-2.
In this Year of Faith,
we have been concentrating on the documents of Vatican II and the “Catechism.”
Through our baptism we “share in the
priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and
royal mission.” (CCC 1268) The “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” tells
us that the lay Christian faithful work
for the sanctification of the world from
within as leaven. Technically, leavening is
that which gives breads, cakes, muffins,
pancakes, cookies, and so forth the ability
to rise and increase in volume. Thus our
job as leaven is, in whatever we do, to lift
up the world by making Christ known
to others, especially in the testimony of
how we live our lives, thus spreading the
kingdom of Christ and increasing Christ’s
Church. “The Decree on the Apostolate
of the Laity” reminds us that this is so important that, should one fail to make our
proper contribution to the development of
the church, we may be said to be “useful
neither to the Church nor to himself.”
For some of us, exactly how to do this
is somewhat of a mystery. The 25th anniversary of the diocese presents us with
an incredible opportunity, especially on
Saturday, June 1, and Sunday, June 2,
to evangelize with our very presence.
From 6:30-9:30 p.m. on June 1, we will
celebrate “Family Fest” at the Kentucky
Horse Park. The Horse Park will be open
to any and all for free, without admission
or parking fees. The museum and kids’
barn will be open. Lee Roessler will have
a free concert in the concert hall for our
youth. There will pony rides, hay rides,
golf cart tours, and the fabulous “Horses
of the World” show—all for free. We hope
that many people from all over the area
will choose to enjoy this evening—Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Those needing
overnight accommodations can reserve
space at the beautiful Horse Park campgrounds. From the parking lot into the
park, there will be tables of various Catho-
lic entities offering information on the
various Catholic groups and organizations.
Many volunteers are needed: to greet people as they enter the park; to set up tables
and chairs for the various apostolates; to
assist with the golf cart line, pony ride,
and hay ride; as personnel in the first aid/
emergency assistance area;
and of course, to help clean
up. Also on that day we
need help setting up for the
Mass, which will be held in
the Alltech Indoor Arena on Sunday. On
June 2, we will have this diocesan Mass for
the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of
Christ in the Indoor Arena at the Horse
Park at 2:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed
to help with parking. We need hospitality
ministers and ushers, emergency assistance/first aid personnel, people to assist
with security, and, people to help clean up
after our cake and punch reception after
Mass. Most of the shifts for volunteers are
two hour time blocks.
If you are reading this and you are
struck by this incredible opportunity
to help, don’t wait. Please sign up now.
Get your Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop,
CHRP team, Cursillo small group, small
faith sharing group, etc., to sign up with
you or simply sign up as an individual.
and universal significance in salvation
history. Gloria & Creed are recited.
What is the “Hierarchy of
Eucharistic Liturgies?”
Feasts are the next rank down &
celebrate certain saints & apostles.
Memorials are of least significance,
and celebrate most of the saints. They
Solemnities celebrate events, beliefs
and personages of greatest importance can be obligatory or optional.
Each parish is offering the sign up forms—
either in the bulletin or in the pews or
somewhere in the nave—the parishes will be
collecting them and sending them to us. You
can also sign up to volunteer on-line: the direct link is http://www.freewebs.com/mpregistration/dioceseoflexvolunteers.htm, but the
link is also available on the
diocesan website at www.
cdlex.org. We need you.
Last of all, in this
springtime period of action, set aside June 1-2 as days devoted to
celebrating that we are not just part of a
small community, not just a part of a parish, but something bigger—we are a the
Body of Christ, the Church—found in the
Diocese of Lexington. Make plans to be
at the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday,
June 1, 6:30-9:30 p.m., and Sunday, June
2, where Mass begins at 2:30 p.m. For
more information on Family Fest, contact
Michele Faught at (859)253-1993, ext.
218. For information on the Anniversary
Mass, contact Karen Rood at (859)2531993, ext. 251.
Bishop Gainer’s Public Schedule
The Bi-Weekly Publication of The Catholic Diocese of Lexington
PUBLISHER: Bishop Ronald W. Gainer
April 2013
Apr. 27:
Apr. 28:
Confirmation for Regina Pacis Latin Mass Community at St. Peter Catholic
Church/Lexington – 9:00 am
Confirmation at Holy Spirit Catholic Church/Lexington – 6:00 pm
Confirmation at SS John & Elizabeth Catholic Church/Grayson – 11:00 am
EDITOR: Thomas F. Shaughnessy
ADVERTISING: Margaret Adams
DESIGN & GRAPHICS: Skip Olson
CIRCULATION: Dottie Tipton
Apr. 30 – May 1: Seminary visit to St. Meinrad School of Theology/Indiana
Cross Roads does not stand sponsorship for opinions,
advertising, facts or inaccuracies of the writers.
MAy 2013
Copyright 2013 Cross Roads. All rights reserved.
May 2:
Priests Personnel Board meeting – 9:30 am
Presbyteral Council meeting – Noon
May 3:
Year-end Mass for St. Joseph Homeschool Association at Pax Christi/Lexington
– 6:00 pm
May 5:
Confirmation at St. Anthony Catholic Church/Pineville – 9:00 am
May 6:
Dedication of the Memorial for the Unborn/Frankfort Cemetery – 5:30 pm
May 7:
Catholic Conference of Kentucky Board meeting/Louisville – 11:00 am
May 7 – 8:
Province meeting/Louisville
May 8:
Journey of Hope closing Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King/Lexington
– 7:00 pm
May 9:
Legatus at the Catholic Center/Lexington – 6:00 pm
May 11:
Confirmation at St. Paul Catholic Church/Lexington – 4:00 pm
May 12:
Confirmation at St. Gregory Catholic Church/Barbourville – 11:00 am
Reproduction of articles, artwork, photographs,
without written permission from Cross Roads and
its publisher is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.A.
Cross Roads USPS #005-881 is published bi-weekly
- except for June, July, August and December,
when only one issue will be published - for $15
per year by the Catholic Diocese of Lexington,
1310 W. Main St., Lexington, KY 40508-2040.
Periodicals postage paid at Lexington, KY.
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to
Cross Roads, 1310 W. Main St., Lexington, KY
40508-2040. Phone (859) 253-1993.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cross Roads would like to hear from you. Send
your letters and comments to: Editor, Cross
Roads, 1310 W. Main St., Lexington, KY
40508-2040. Or e-mail: [email protected]
Please include your telephone number.
April 28, 2013
Page 3
Sarah’s Place
Protecting God’s
Children for
Adults
For all employees and volunteers of
the Diocese of Lexington who in any
way provide a safe environment for
children.
Step 1: Complete a volunteer application
and acceptance form at your parish or school.
Step 2: Register and attend a class.
Parents and other interested persons are
most welcome. No children, please.
To register, visit www.virtus.org > Registration.
If you are having difficulties with the program, call the Chancellor’s Office at (859)
253-1993.
■ Catholic Center, Lexington
May 7, 1:00 PM
■ St. Paul Church, Lexington
May 8, 6:00 PM
■ Catholic Center, Lexington
May 21, 1:00 PM
Step 3: Bulletins will begin only after you have
completed your live training and paperwork
has been processed. You will receive email
notices that say [email protected] unless your
computer program blocks them. Access your
bulletins (12 per year; look for them on the first
Monday of the month) using these directions:
• www.virtus.org
• Enter your ID (email address) and
password
• Click on MY TRAINING at top toolbar
• Under TRAINING BULLETIN REPORT on
right green panel, click on CLICK HERE TO
SEE YOUR COMPLETE REPORT
• Choose a bulletin to read
• Hit SUBMIT after finishing EACH article
To update your account:
(To change information or where you
volunteer)
• Enter your ID & password
• Click on UPDATE MY ACCOUNT
• Edit your information and save
mind, body, spirit.
health problems.
Sister Sarah “Sally” Neale and Sister Maritia
Working far away from the families and their
Smith, both members of the School Sisters of religious community, in an area with literally no
Continued from Page 1
Notre Dame, have lived a life of diverse ser- other Catholics, Sr. Sally and Sr. Maritia set out
tal or as a part of a Family Caregiver Program. vice. In the first 20 years of their ministry, Sis- to collaborate with the community to identify
It’s a win-win situation: people in need of ter Sally and Sister Maritia served
a job are trained to help the vulnerable frail many different communities in
elderly in this community.
several geographic areas as dediSarah’s Place also partners with Our Lady of cated teachers, administrators, and
Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland and sponsors mentors. Sister Maritia continued
Community HealthWatch, a free screening in her role as an educator for the
program, in its Wellness Center twice yearly. next 20 years, while Sister Sally
The Safe Sitter Program, a medically accurate began her second career as a nurse
hands-on class for boys and girls ages 11 to 13 practitioner, providing health care
teaches students such skills as: what to do when at an inner city hospital and then
a child chokes, basic childcare skills, how to en- in underserved rural areas.
tertain children and keep then safe, safety for
And now for these past 17 years,
the sitter. This program is also co-sponsored by Sr. Sally and Sr. Maritia have proSarah’s Place and Our Lady of Bellefonte.
vided remarkable and faith-filled
CPR and First Aide Classes for infants, chil- outreach in their work in Sandy Sister Sarah “Sally” Neale, SSND, teaching a CPR class. CR
dren and adults are offered four times yearly. Hook, a small rural town in Elliott photo: Jill Heink
Sarah’s Place publishes a series of timely medi- County within the watershed of
cal issue articles in the county paper each year. the Big Sandy River and in the rolling foot- and prioritize the needs and the dreams of the
Past topics have included health care insur- hills of the Appalachian Mountains. Srs. Sally families of this region, and then they threw their
ance for the uninsured and underinsured, and Maritia saw a tremendous need to min- energies into serving these needs and providing
summer safety issues (burns, poisonings, and ister to a community that has long struggled the stepping stones to make the dreams into refalls), effects of, and actions to counteract do- with complex issues of poverty, lack of em- ality. With a clear mission and vision, Srs. Sally
mestic violence, child abuse and neglect.
ployment opportunities, and low rates of edu- and Maritia have founded and developed a nonSarah’s Place continues to empower those cational attainment, all of which contribute profit organization, Sarah’s Place. Created iniin any need with the resources and services to many social problems, including substance tially to provide shelter and resources for women
necessary to help them achieve a healthy abuse, domestic violence, and higher levels of and children suffering the effects of domestic
violence, Sarah’s Place has evolved since its incorporation in 1996 into a center of opportunity for all members of the community. Sarah’s
Place provides a wide array of services with the
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (MT 5:4)
goal of empowering people to become selfThe burial and care of the deceased is a matter of deep
sufficient and, in turn, to offer their skills and
talents to benefit the wider community. Sr. Sally
spiritual significance and a corporal work of mercy.
and Sr. Maritia give completely of themselves
In addition to that, there are only two places set aside by
in their roles as teachers, care givers, mentors,
Canon Law as sacred: your church for divine worship
and cheerleaders, providing encouragement and
and your final resting place for eternal peace.
hope in a region that faces additional challenges
in these recent difficult economic times. They
Your Catholic cemetery is committed to conscienhave established a solid bond of trust and respect
tiously performing a ministry of service to all the
throughout the entire community, and they are
faithful departed, as well as those they left behind.
wonderful models of the love that the Catholic
Church extends to all people.
Jesus promised comfort for those who mourn. And
As stated in the video commemorating
through Him, we at Calvary Cemetery will do
the 10th anniversary of Sarah’s Place, David
our part to see that you get it.
Webb, the vice president of the board of diOFFICE HOURS
rectors, emphasizes how anyone who talks
9 AM - 4 PM weekdays
with Sr. Sarah or Sr. Maritia immediately
Call Fran Borders for an appointment
understands that “her heart is on fire” with
GATE HOURS
faith, hope and love for the people of Elliott
8 AM - 5 PM everyday, year-round
County. Sr. Sally says of herself and Sr. Maritia that, “…our main work here at Sarah’s
Place is not the computer lab or the E Center
or the equipment—anybody can do that. Our
real mission is our walk with the poor and our
service as messengers of the Gospel.”
Sarah’s Place and the work of Srs. Sally and
Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington
Maritia are one of many outreach ministries
874 West Main St. Lexington, KY 40508 P: 859/252-5415 F: 859/252-0457 [email protected]
supported by the Diocesan Annual Appeal. n
Because He promised . . .
Page 4
in Honor of:
April 28, 2013
Donor:
in Honor of:
Holy Family, Ashland (AHF)
Julia Aldrich
Jean Fields
Al Janson
Fr. John Noe
Dr. James A. Campbell, Milford & Oddie
Tackett, Ed & Falsom Wright
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbert Aldrich, Jr.
Dr. & Mrs. Larry Fields
Mr. Terry Kurtz
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Slusher
Thomas Lambert
KY Jesuit Mission
Aidan Christopher Bahr
Mrs. Dale Carmack
Queen of All Saints, Beattyville (BQ)
Barbara & Harvey Slater
Nellie Tirey
Fred P. Tirey & Geneva
Mrs. Doug Bellamy
Jean Ann Peters
Jean Ann Peters
Church of the Good Shepherd, Campton (CCC)
Constancia M. Santos
St. Stephen, Cumberland (CS)
Our Lady of Fatima
Mr Ted Harrison
Sacred Heart, Corbin (CSH)
Brady Family
Our First Grandchild
Fr. Thomas Imfeld
Fr. Robert Damron, Fr. Thomas Imfeld,
Fr. Joseph Koury
Mary & Gene Lowe
Linda Chesnut
Barbara Topolsky,
Mr. & Mrs. Alex Topolsky
Glynn & Nellie Broadway
Scott & Sonya Grove
Samuel & Rita Perry
Vicki Sawyers
Glenn Proffitt
Mike & Gail Timperio
Mitchell Topolsky
Mrs. Annie Carter
Mr. David Gormley
Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Gray
Mrs. Madonna Moreland
Mr. Thomas J. Schneider
Mr. Mark Lyon Thomewill
Sts. Francis & John Catholic Community, Georgetown (GJ)
Mr. & Mrs. William Freville
Corine Gadasowski
Rodney Hutchinson
Fabian Jedlicki
Fr. Linh Nguyen
Gertrude Peskie
Our Troops
Our Military Personnel, Especially
Chris Pine
Robert W. Levendoski
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Fister
Mike Gadasowski
Lou Ann E. Hutchinson
Frank & Kim Jedlicki
James & Carol Kaulig
Jim & Maggie McGuire
Jean A. Myers
Jeanette Pine
Joan Potts
Sts. John & elizabeth, Grayson (GJe)
Father Larry Goulding
Rex Collins
Tony & Kathy Kluesener
St. Lawrence, Lawrenceburg (LL)
L. S. Chicoine (101 years old)
Benjamin Liam Hahnes
The Rue Family
Mary Chicoine-Smith
Brad & Laura Hahnes
Kenneth & Susan Rue
St. Jude, Louisa (LJU)
Monsignor Ralph Beiting K. of C.
Missionary Sisters of
The Precious Blood
Dominic & Cindy Capria
Sr. Patricia Cataldi, CPS
St. William, London (LW)
Helen Johnson
Lorenzo Santelices
Bennie Jo Thompson
Nile, Graff, Vian
The Bisceglia & Hale Families
Luther & Ann Moyers
Thomas Wakin
The Zecchini Family
Charles & Linda Johnson
Vince Santilices
Chip & Jamie Thompson
Vince Bales
Steve Byrd
Mary Carew
Rev. Jay VonHandorf
Vicente & Sarah Cano
Bernadette Stansbury
Mary Charles Brown
Sr. Rosemary McCormack
Rev. Paul Prabell & Deacons
Daniel & Emi Salazar
Dr & Dr Melecio Abordo, Jr.
Ms. Martha J. Byrd
Ms. Martha J. Byrd
Mary Carew
Steve & Dolores O’Connor
Rose Orlich
Rose Orlich
Rose Orlich
Rose Orlich
Rose Orlich
Mr. William Salazar
Our Lady of Mt. Vernon, Mt. Vernon (MVO)
Hannah Moore
Janet Lee Bullock
St. Luke, nicholasville (nL)
Mae S. Arnett
Laura Asher
Dr. & Mrs. Napthalie Catameo
Mrs. Betty Opoku-Owusu
Mrs Joyce Boatright
Darrell & Mary Susan Hale
James & Leslie Onkst & Family
Mr. & Mrs. Terry Poore
Mr. Peter J. Turnblazer
Jesus Our Savior, Morehead (MJS)
Annunciation, Paris (PA)
Jackson, Holy Cross (JHC)
Jose Arden Mordo
St. William, Lancaster (LAW)
Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Busroe, Jr.
Mother of Good Counsel, Hazard (HMG)
Joanna Rose Durbin
Dr. Neptholie F. Catameo & Annie
Theresa Acquah
Dr & Dr Melecio Abordo, Jr.
Steve & Mary Jane Trimble
Holy Trinity, Harlan (HHT)
Dawn Nunez & Rick O. Campo
Mene Eleanor Aboldilla
Rev. William C. Bush
Rev. Patrick Fitzsimons
Fr. William Bush
Don & Irene Moore
Joe & Georgine Berka
St. Andrew, Harrodsburg (HA)
Rev. Joseph N. Muench, Jr.
Donor:
St. Julian, Middlesboro (MJ)
Good Shepherd, Frankfort (FGS)
Bryant & Carter Families
Frank Gormley
Karen Gray
Michael & Kathleen Haley
Mary Lou Schneider
Gibbs-Thornewill
in Honor of:
Father Ralph W. Beiting
Dr. Edwin Santos
Linda Tackett-Wright
St. elizabeth, Revenna (Re)
Holy Family, Booneville (BCC)
Sylvia Johnson
Donor:
St. Martha, Prestonsburg (PM)
Mr. & Mrs. Hank Batts, III
Mr. & Mrs. Hank Batts, III
Mr. & Mrs. Andre Brousseau
Ms. Kari Hammons
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Taylor
Carolyn & Scully Coons
St. Mary, Perryville (PMY)
The Reverend Robert H. Nieberding
Fr. Noel F. Zamora
St. Michael, Paintsville (PML)
Robert & Stephanie Roelker
Butch & Janice Clevenger
Christine R. Conley
Sha Reynolds
Rosemary Capo
Fr. Albert Fritsch,SJ
Belinda Gadd
St. Mark, Richmond (RM)
Our Children & Grandchildren
Janet & Henry Gaerke
Grandparents
Fr. Wilfred J. Fraenzle
Margaret Engel
Alice Hogsett
Our Military
Mr. & Mrs. James Adams
Mr. & Mrs. Gregory Gaerke
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Hahn
Mr. & Mrs. Gayle Hatton
Mr. & Mrs. Terry Meek
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Palmisano
Mr. & Mrs. John Wright
RP Regina Pacis, Latin Community
St. Philomena
Mr. & Mrs. Larry N. Rickert
Robert Houston
Rev. John Rickert
St. Luke, Salyersville (SL)
Norma & Richard Whitley
Sabrina & Paul Montgomery
St. Mildred, Somerset (SM)
Kevin Kavanagh, M.D.
Casiana Briones
M. Rammler, R. Kappula, Carlos,
Peter Joseph & Pat
Russell C. Kidder
Carol & Raymond Bianchi
Mr. & Mrs. Alberto Briones
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Bowcock
Mrs. Carmen Kidder
Our Lady of the Mountains, Stanton (SOL)
Teresa Bonilla
Shelby & Edith Kash
St. Leo, Versailles (VL)
Ruby & Cecil
Mr. & Mrs. Dan Ice
Pete & Carol Clark
Hilda Pullen
The Sisters of Notre Dame
Our Military Serving World Wide
Elsie Miracle
Frank Olis
Ralph & Bernie O’Reel
Susan Borland Family
Irven Reinmann
Kennedy, Reid, Jack, Adam & Will
Our Parents
Anonymous
Tim & Anna Cambron
Keith & Lisa Freeman
Debbie Graviss
Mr. & Mrs. Sam Iler
Catherine & Walter J. Leve
Luther Miracle
Thelma Olis
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph O’Reel
Melissa Pohlman
Monte E. Rrinmann
Ms. Marcia Sayre
Mike & Renee Ward
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Williamsburg (WOL)
Fr. Joe Koury
The Sisters of Divine Providence
Deacon & Mrs. John Coe
Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Jackson
Good Shepherd, Whitley City (WCG)
Anna F Hauke
Sr. Nancy Sutton
Sr. Jean McAullife
Mrs Vicky Culpepper
Mr. & Mrs. James Egnew
Mr. & Mrs. James Egnew
Prince of Peace, West Liberty (WLP)
Parents & Fathers & Mothers-in-Law
Imelda T Nunnery
St. Joseph, Winchester (WJ)
Fr. Jacob Kurian
The Woestman Family
Kathie & John Schweikart
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Woestman
St. Peter, Lexington (LP)
All the Clergy
Sofia Algiz
April 28, 2013
Page 5
“Send the generous men whom you may convince”
Cindy Olson
In a letter dated January 23, 1806, Father
Nerinckx writes to a friend about the process, objections and
answers that brought
him to the mission
lands in the New
World. Here we share
some the beginning of
the letter and how he
was constantly looking for more good men to join them on this
missionary field.
HOLY MARY’S AT THE ROLLING
FORK.
January 23, 1806.
Reverend and dear Friend:
Not to be wanting to our intimate friendship, nor deserve the reproach of delay, or even
of negligence, in so important a cause as the
honor of God, the propagation of the faith,
the salvation of our neighbor and of our own
soul, I can not help writing letter upon letter to call with loud cries, vigorous laborers
to one of the most
plentiful harvests,
and seek in every
direction whatever
is needed to labor
there. We agreed, when we last said farewell,
to employ all our zeal to succor, in person,
our brethren in America, who suffer and die
of spiritual hunger; and, till that end is obtained, to endeavor to secure the concurrence
of men better fitted than ourselves in word
and prayer. Let us keep our word. Let us not
lose courage, although our first attempts have
not answered our expectations. Persuade the
good whom you find; send the generous men
whom you may convince. The plan to be adopted, and the means to be used, were suggested in my letters last year. You have, doubtless, received them. If the motives and reasons
which induced me to undertake this voyage
can persuade others to follow, you may submit
to them the following.
In accordance with the parable of the Gospel, ‘I first sat down and reckoned the charges
that were necessary,’ counting my resources
with the utmost circumspection; and after repeated meditations on the subject, I found the
following motives for setting out:
1. The danger of my own defection from
the faith, either by being perverted or by falling into error, if I remained at home; and the
almost utter uselessness of my presence in Belgium in the actual state of affairs.
2. The not unreasonable hope of promoting the honor of God under this severe men-
ace: ‘Woe to me if I have not
preached the Gospel.’
3. The inclination of the
American people toward the
Catholic religion, and the
want of priests.
4. The urgent opportunity
of paying my evangelical
debt of ten thousand talents.
A dignified sinner in my
own land which abounds
in advantages, I almost despaired of doing real penance and making due satisfaction. Hence I concluded
that I had to undertake unavoidable toils and sorrows.
5. The favorable advice
of competent persons, without whose counsel I did not
deem it prudent to act.
Such were the principal motives of my resolution, and they were
strengthened by the following thoughts well
suited to spur me on:
First. The necessity, especially for his ministers, of a lively and abiding faith in God. The
objects of this faith were: 1. The greatness and
majesty of God, his domain over, and right
to, our ministry, and our duty to serve him,
everywhere. ‘I am thy servant and the son of
thy handmaid. All serve thee; how shall I not
serve thee?’ I also considered the quite incomprehensible honor with which he has deigned
to clothe us by introducing us into the holy
of holies, and by ranking us with the princes
of his people; an honor which God surely did
not confer upon us to let us stand idle. 2. The
labors, sweat, and sorrows of Jesus, our master,
in every way so worthy of love, and of his disciples, with whose sufferings we are acquainted.
3. Soldiers of earthly kings serve them without
choice, and are forced to serve them for a ration of bread and water; and what trials do
they not meet with, under how many forms
do they not face death without any remuneration? Can it then seem equitable for us
to shrink under any pretext whatever from the
sweet yoke or service of the Lord, who holds out
to us so great a recompense? 4. True, there are
the dangers of the sea; but merchants expose to
the same or greater dangers their money, their
goods, their bodies, their souls, their families;
and yet when they are broken down and exhausted by labors, they still find themselves
empty-handed.
Second. A firm hope of securing an eternal
reward for ourselves, and of procuring it to
so many others whom we will perhaps lead
back from the ways of error; hence the hope of
increasing thereby God’s glory, and of obtaining from Him, who is our stay and support,
reasonable aid. The horror of eternal pains,
which, according to the judgment already
written, await the wicked
and slothful servant, and
will torture him forever.
Third. A burning zeal
for the salvation of souls,
with the assurance of God’s
help, the protection of the
Blessed Virgin, etc. St. Ignatius preferred to live in
the uncertainty of his own
salvation and labor for
his neighbor’s soul, than
to die at once with the
certainty of being saved.
Aided by these and kindred thoughts, I felt ansiug in me that fortitude
which enabled me to say,
when the storm of objections arose, ‘What I have
resolved, I have resolved.’
The objections which I
successively answered, and my replies to them …
And those objections we will look at in
the next issue. n
Cindy Olson can be contacted at:
[email protected]
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Page 6
April 28, 2013
Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches
Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News). Pope
Francis said that people cannot be fully
united to Jesus outside of the church during a Mass to commemorate St. George,
the saint he is named after.
“You cannot find Jesus outside the
church,” he said April 23 in the Apostolic
Palace’s Pauline Chapel.
“It is the Mother Church who gives us
Jesus, who gives us the identity that is not
only a seal, it is a belonging,” he declared in
his homily.
The pontiff spoke about Christian identity as well as persecution, making it the
sixth time in two weeks he has mentioned
those who suffer for the faith.
Speaking about the Gospel reading for
today from St. John, Pope Francis underscored that “the missionary expansion of
the church began precisely at a time of persecution.”
“They had this apostolic fervor within
them, and that is how the faith spread!” he
exclaimed.
It was through the Holy Spirit’s initiative
that the Gospel was proclaimed to the Gentiles, the pope noted, and the Spirit “pushes
more and more in this direction of opening
the proclamation of the Gospel to all.”
The pontiff also repeated a line from his
April 17 homily in St. Martha’s residence,
when he emphasized that being a Christian
is not like having “an identity card.”
“Christian identity is belonging to the
church, because all of these (the apostles) belonged to the church, the Mother
Church, because finding Jesus outside the
church is impossible,” he said.
“The great Paul VI said it is an absurd
dichotomy to want to live with Jesus but
without the church, following Jesus out
of the church, loving Jesus without the
church,” he added.
Pope Francis said that “if we are not
sheep of Jesus, faith does not come” and
that it is “a rosewater faith and a faith without substance.”
The pope also commented on Barnabas,
who was sent to Antioch and was glad to
see that the grace of God had encouraged
people there to remain true disciples.
“Let us think of the consolations that
Barnabas had, which is the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing,” he preached.
“Let us ask the Lord for this frankness,
this apostolic fervor that impels us to
move forward, as brothers, all of us forward,” he remarked.
After the Mass in the papal chapel, the
Swiss Guard band offered a brief musical
performance in the Courtyard of Saint Damaso for the pope’s name day. n
Pope Francis
ministry.”
“A church that does not go out of itself,
sooner or later, sickens from the stale air of
closed rooms,” the pope wrote.
He acknowledged that in going out the
church runs risks, but “I prefer, a thousand
times over, a church of accidents than a
sick church.”
The church, the Holy Father observed,
typically suffers from being self-referential,
only looking to and relying on itself.
This kind of self-centeredness “leads to a
routine spirituality and convoluted clericalism” and prevents people from experiencing
the sweet and comforting joy of evangelization, he warned.
Pope Francis finished his letter by greeting
the Argentinian people and asking his fellow
bishops to pray “I do not grow proud and always know how to listen to what God wants
and not what I want.” n
Continued from Page 1
their baptism?
“Is it sufficient for evangelization? Or do
we rather ‘hope’ that the priest should speak,
that the bishop might speak?”
This way of seeing Christianity often carries with it the attitude of, ‘I was baptized,
I made Confirmation, First Communion ...
I have my identity card, alright.’ And now,
go to sleep quietly, you are a Christian,” the
pope explained.
Instead, he said that believers must be
“faithful to the Spirit, to proclaim Jesus
with our lives, through our witness and our
words.” Pope Francis repeated this message
in a letter he sent to his fellow Argentinian
bishops who are meeting for their annual
full assembly in Pilar, Argentina.
“Mission,” he underlined, “is key to
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Carmela A. Dupuis-Executive Director
St. Paul Catholic School in Florence, KY
(http://www.saint-paul-school.org/), and its community of families
in Saint Paul and Saint Timothy parishes, is seeking a new principal
to begin employment July 1, 2013.
St. Paul promotes religious formation and academic excellence, and
strives to develop students who are effective, independent learners
and productive members of the community who live and love as
Jesus did. St. Paul’s student population of 400 is served by a staff of
28 in grades K-8.
Candidates for school administration must be actively practicing Roman
Catholics and should be eligible for Kentucky Principal Certification.
Interested candidates should mail, fax, or email a letter of interest, a
comprehensive resume or C-V, a recent Baptismal Certificate showing sacramental history, and a list of at least five references to
Stephen Koplyay, SPHR, P.O. Box 15550, Covington, KY 41015-0550,
FAX 859/392-1538, or [email protected] . EOE.
April 28, 2013
Page 7
Prayer vigils
Continued from Page 1
filed against Tsarnaev for his role in the
Boston Marathon bombing April 15.
The two blasts killed three and wounded
180 others.
Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston also
offered a reflection at the service, urging
those gathered that they must “overcome
the culture of death by promoting a culture of life.”
“Jesus gives us a new way to deal with
offenses, by reconciliation,” he said. “Jesus
gives us a new way to deal with violence,
by nonviolence.”
Stressing that the crowd’s “presence here
is an act of solidarity with those who lost
their lives or were injured in the explosions,” the cardinal called on the faithful
to see the tragedy as “a challenge and an
opportunity for us to work together with
a renewed spirit of determination and solidarity and with the firm conviction that
love is stronger than death.”
Other leaders and members of various
faith groups attended the service, including representatives of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Islamic Society
of Boston Cultural Center, First Church
Cambridge, Old South Church, and Trinity Church.
Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick
and Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino
also gave reflections at the service.
The Archdiocese of Boston is continu-
ing to offer a variety
of opportunities for
Mass and prayer for
all those affected by
the bombing.
On April 16, a
Mass for the victims of the attack
was celebrated at
the Cathedral of the
Holy Cross. Memorial and healing
Masses, Eucharistic
adoration and prayer
People gather in Boston Common for a prayer vigil the day after the bombings.
services were sched- Photo: AP/Julio Cortez
uled throughout the
Land at the time of the bombing. He ofarchdiocese.
Cardinal O’Malley was in the Holy fered Mass for all of those impacted by the
tragedy before returning to Boston for the
prayer service.
Members of other faiths, including the
Episcopal Archdiocese of Massachusetts
and various Jewish denominations, and
also hosted prayer services.
In addition, several colleges in Boston
are holding vigils and Masses. Harvard
University held three vigils on April 16
in honor of the victims, including one at
Harvard Divinity School. Northeastern
University and Tufts University also held
prayer services and vigils.
Boston College, a Catholic university located on the marathon route, celebrated a
“Mass of Healing and Hope” on April 16
for victims of the bombing, “including two
graduate students, M.B.A. student Liza
Cherney and joint J.D./M.B.A. student
Brittany Loring.” The Mass was celebrated
by university president, Jesuit Father William P. Leahy.
“We come with certain hurts and a sense
of confusion: Why do these things happen? How can we carry on?” said Fr. Leahy
in his homily, according to the Boston
College Chronicle.
“Christ proclaimed that ‘I am the bread
of life,’ and those words have extra significance to us,” he added. “We are seeking a
level of consolation, food that will sustain
us. The bread of life gives us energy, support and faith. Christ’s words sustain us
today, and in the future.”
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hope and healing for those who it need
most,” Fr. Leahy explained.
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Others from around the country have
joined in prayer to support victims of the
attacks. The University of Notre Dame offered a Mass on April 18 for all those affected, and the Catholic Chaplaincy at
George Washington University in Washington, DC, held a prayer vigil on the
night of April 15. n
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Page 8
April 28, 2013
Life in the Diocese of Lexington
Bishop Ronald
Gainer chrismates
the new altar in the
Eucharistic chapel
at St. Andrew in
Harrodsburg,
Thursday, April 18.
Fr. Noel Zamora,
pastor (at right) and
Fr. Chris Clay of St.
Lawrence in
Lawrenceburg
concelebrated the
dedication Mass.
Photo: Karen
Abbey
Below, UK graduate and undergraduate students, and
pastoral staff member Kevin Steele of Holy Spirit
Parish/Newman Center celebrated spring's start in the
spirit of St. Francis with a cliff line hike in the Red
River Gorge Sat. March 23. Photo: Kevin Steele
Bishop Ronald W. Gainer celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of Christ the King with his classmates from
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia. The bishop hosted a 40-year reunion of his class in
Lexington, April 9-11. Photo: Steve Bates, Richmond
Father John Moriarty,
pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton Parish, Lexington,
addresses the children,
during the Family Holy
Hour in Mary Queen of
the Holy Rosary Church,
Lexington, April 16,
marking the tenth
anniversary of the monthly
holy hour at the parish. Fr.
Moriarty led the first holy
hour ten years earlier. CR
photo: T.F. Shaughnessy
Father Dan Noll, pastor of Mary
Queen of the Holy Rosary
Parish, Lexington, belted out a
popular tune during the
diocesan 25th Anniversary
Sing-Along with the Priests in
the Cathedral of Christ the King
April 18. Bishop Gainer and
more than a dozen priests of the
diocese led the audience of about
250 people in hymns and songs.
CR photos: T.F. Shaughnessy
On Wednesday, March 27, the Catholic
Wildcats women's intramural basketball
team from Holy Spirit Parish/Newman
Center won the UK campus intramural
championship. Photo: Kevin Steele
Congratulations to five
members of the St.
Francis Church Hispanic
community in Pikeville
on receiving First
Communion on April 13.
Front row from left are
Yoselin Santos and Lesly
Angel. Back row from left
are Irben Santos,
Miguel Ramirez, and
Ivan Ramirez. Father
Bob Damron celebrated
the Mass in Spanish and
was assisted by Father
Danny Fister.
Photo provided
What’s going on in your parish?
Send us your photos & a brief description and we’ll publish
them in Cross Roads! Send them to: [email protected]
April 28, 2013
Page 9
This is the first in a series
on Catholic Worldview.
ne of the key characteristics of modern U.S. Catholic
culture seems to be the tendency to interpret and judge
Catholicism through the lens
of social, economic, political,
or environmental ideologies
rather than to interpret and
judge these various ideologies
through the lens of Catholicism. The unfortunate result
is that our language is replete
with ideological identifiers
such as conservative, liberal,
traditionalist, and progressive—identifiers that all
serve to condition and distinguish our own
personal brand of Catholicism from other
strains of the religion.
What we are left with is a deeply fragmented and compartmentalized Catholicism that stands in stark contrast to a Catholic worldview that calls us to communion.
It is a contradiction that actually clouds
and distorts true Catholicism, stripping it
of meaning and ultimately relevance.
But just what does it mean to see the
world from a truly Catholic perspective? In
the next several issues of Cross Roads, we
will explore this very topic through four basic and interrelated interpretative principles
that the regular reader of these reflections is
sure to recognize.
Principle #1: By God, For God
This principle, or key, concerns the truth
of who we are as human beings. Society offers us many answers to this question: we
are pure matter; we are pure spirit; we are
animals to be controlled, etc.
However, the Catholic faith teaches us
that we are ultimately a mystery. Consider
the following Scripture verses:
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what
we shall be has not yet been revealed.”
1 John 2
“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.”
1 Cor 13:12
These two passages (there are several oth-
Catholic Worldview I:
BY GOD, FOR GOD
Douglas Culp
ers) point to the reality that questions of
our identity lay beyond our direct grasp.
Our identity rests with God, in God. This
has serious implications for the multitude
of “-ism’s” that seek to reduce humanity
to one thing or another. It also has just as
serious implications for attempts to define
Catholic identity. But, here’s the thing, Catholicism never seeks to escape from such
realities. It lives in the tension and mystery
in a humility that the grasping ego disdains.
This obviously raises the question then of
who is this God who holds the key to our
own identity?
Three in One
Blessed Pope John Paul II in his apostolic
exhortation, Ecclesia in America, wrote the
following:
“Faced with a divided world which is in
search of unity, we must proclaim with joy
and firm faith that God is communion, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, unity in distinction, and that he calls all people to share
in that same Trinitarian communion. We
must proclaim that his communion is the
magnificent plan of God the Father; that
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Lord, is the
heart of this communion, and that the
Holy Spirit works ceaselessly to create communion and to restore it when it is broken.
We must proclaim that the Church is the
sign and instrument of the communion
willed by God, begun in time and destined
for completion in the fullness of the King-
dom. The Church is the sign of communion because her members, like branches,
share the life of Christ, the true vine (cf. Jn
15:5). Through communion with Christ,
Head of the Mystical Body, we enter into
living communion with all believers.”
This power-packed passage has much to
say in terms of what it means to be Catholic. However, for now, the importance of it
remains its description of God as communion. Now, if you were asked to describe
the meaning of “communion” in one word,
what would you say? Perhaps, you would
say “one,” “unity,” or some other related
word—and you would be right. However,
the best, most complete definition for communion can be found in St. Paul’s letter to
the Philippians (2:1-2):
“If there is any encouragement in Christ, any
solace in love, any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy, complete my joy
by being of the same mind, with the same
love, united in heart, thinking one thing.”
To be of the same mind, with the same
love, united in heart, thinking one thing—
that is communion. And if we look at the
Trinity, that greatest of mysteries, we see
one God and three Persons in perfect communion.
If this is who our God is, then what does
it mean for us and our identity?
Since our identity rests in this God who
is communion, then it means that we too
must be made for communion. The “Catechism for the Catholic Church” states
as much in the first paragraph of the first
page, when it asserts that we were created
freely and out of love by God for eternal life
in communion with God.
Communion with the God who is communion is the destiny planned for humanity. If we are to truly live and to be most
fully alive, it only makes sense that we need
to live in harmony with that for which we
are made. Communion with God, that is
to say, being of the same mind, with the
same love, united in heart, thinking one
thing with God, then becomes the goal and
foundation of Christian life.
Consider this: a pen is made for writing.
If you use the pen in a manner that is in
harmony with its purpose, you can communicate your thoughts in writing. These
thoughts can be read back to you or to others and a process of communication and
self-revelation can occur. However, if you
use the pen instead to stab your neighbor,
what results? Besides getting slugged by
your neighbor, you will have obviously created disorder.
This is to say that our lives will be orderly and full only to the extent that we live
in harmony with that for which we were
made, to the extent that we live in communion with God. Of course, this is easier said
than done right? We have talked of nothing so far but mystery. We are a mystery to
ourselves because our identity rests with the
God who is a mystery and hidden forever
from our direct grasp. So what are we supposed to do?
Page 10
April 28, 2013
MidKnight M’Ladyes, a
Lexington Catholic High
School a capella vocal group,
performed for Bishop Ronald
W. Gainer and the staff of the
Catholic Center, following
the monthly staff Mass and
luncheon April 17.
CR photo: T.F. Shaughnessy
Email Vaticat at [email protected]
with any questions you have about
your Catholic faith, and - if we print
it - you’ll get a $5.00 gift certificate
from Orange Leaf!
involved in it.” Do we have that divine revelation? Well, Scripture seems to suggest Judas is damned: “…but woe to that man by
whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would
be better for that man if he had never been
born.” Because if he wasn’t condemned,
he would end up in eternal bliss in heaven,
and if that’s where he is, then it’s not logical to say that it would be better for him if
he hadn’t been born, is it?
But the Church says we shouldn’t be too
quick to assume this. In one of his General
Audiences, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
said, “…the mystery of the choice remains,
all the more since Jesus pronounces a very
severe judgment on him (Judas). What’s
more, it darkens the mystery around his
eternal fate, knowing that Judas repent-
Q: “How bad do you have to be,
or what have you had to do, to
be sent to hell?” from Gracie K.
A: Well, Gracie, whenever I hear a person
ask this question, I always wonder what
they’ve been up to! Just kidding. Actually,
it’s a great question – one I usually hear
phrased this way: “If God is all-good and
all-loving, how could he send someone to
hell?”
Some people, many of whom are Christians – because of this premise of God being all-good and all-loving – will even claim
that hell (and, by extension, Satan) doesn’t
exist. Since we know that God’s ways aren’t
our ways (he tells us this himself in Isaiah
55:8-9), we need to look at the other stuff
he’s told us about himself. For example, if
we look at Matthew 25:41-46, we are told
by Jesus himself that hell is very real. So, if
God is indeed all-good and all-loving, why
would he tell us this if it were not so?
Blessed John Paul II, in his General Audience of July 28, 1999, taught about hell
and damnation. He said, “Damnation remains a real possibility, but it is not granted
to us, without special divine revelation, to
know which human beings are effectively
Detail of Michelangelo’s fresco, The Last Judgment, in
the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, is a depiction of what
happens in Matthew 25:31-46.
ed and returned the 30 pieces of silver to
the chief priests and elders saying ‘I have
sinned in betraying innocent blood.’ [MT
27:3-4] Even though he went to hang himself, it’s not up to us to judge his gesture,
substituting ourselves for the merciful and
just God.”
Since the Church doesn’t definitively
hold that Judas went to hell, does it hold it
for any other person or persons? Yes. In the
same Audience I mentioned above, JP II
said, “They are the spiritual creatures that
rebelled against God’s love and are called
demons. What happened to them is a warning to us: it’s a continuous call to avoid the
tragedy which leads to sin and conform our
life to that of Jesus, who lived his whole life
with a ‘yes’ to God.”
According to the catechism, “this [sin]
consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably
rejected God and his reign.” (CCC 392) “It
is the irrevocable character of their choice,
and not a defect in the infinite divine
mercy, that makes the angels’ sin unforgivable.” (CCC 393)
When they were created, the angels had
to make a choice that was irrevocable –
they couldn’t take it back. It’s different for
us, though – we can change our minds all
the way up to the point of death, which,
then and only then, makes our choice irrevocable. (CCC 1033)
So it’s NOT a question of God “sending”
someone to hell, it a question of “choosing” to go there of our own free will. God
gave us that choice and will respect that
choice. Besides, if we’ve freely chosen
against him, then it means we don’t WANT
to be with him.
So I guess the short answer to your question, Gracie, is that God doesn’t send anyone to hell; we send ourselves when we
choose against him. iC
April 28, 2013
Page 11
Theologian: Same-sex unions discriminate against married couples
Rome, Italy (CNA/EWTN News). After a
Vatican official stated that the Church could
support same-sex civil unions, a Swiss theologian is saying that if they are equated with
marriage these unions discriminate against
married heterosexual couples.
“Besides containing an erroneous moral
message, it actually means to objectively discriminate against married people, who intentionally have engaged in a union ordered towards the task of the transmission of human
life, accepting all the burdens and responsibilities of this task,” said Swiss theologian Father
Martin Rhonheimer.
“Conferring legal equality to same-sex
unions signifies to publicly establish, in the
law system, the principle of dissociation of
sexuality and procreation,” he explained in an
April 22 telephone interview with CNA.
His comments come after Archbishop Piero
Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee
for International Eucharistic Congresses, expressed his openness to same-sex civil unions.
“In these discussions, it is necessary, for
example, to recognize the union of people of
the same sex, because there are many couples
who suffer because their civil rights are not
recognized,” he said April 20.
“What cannot be recognized is that that
couple be a marriage,” said Archbishop Marini.
A second Vatican official, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the head of the Pontifical Council of the Family, who spoke on the subject on
March 27.
Archbishop Paglia, said that the church is
opposed to anything that treats other unions
as equivalent to marriage between a man and
a woman, but that it could accept “private law
solutions” for protecting people’s rights.
In a Vatican press conference on Feb. 4, he
said that there are “several kinds of cohabitation forms that do not constitute a family”
and that their number is increasing.
But Archbishop Paglia persisted in reaffirming that it is society’s responsibility to
preserve the unique value of marriage.
Fr. Rhonheimer, who teaches political philosophy and ethics at the Pontifical University
of the Holy Cross in Rome, said accepting
same-sex civil unions is equating them with
marriage, which “by its very nature is a union
between a man and a woman.”
But he does not exclude private law solutions protecting same-sex couples’ civil rights
and facilitating, for example, mutual care in
case of illness and old age, or adaptations in
the field of inheritance law.
“When equating homosexual unions to
marriage, however, the legal system starts including a principle which in fact transforms
the nature of marriage as a social and legal way to approval of homosexual behavior or to or placing them on the same level as marriage
institution,” Fr. Rhonheimer stated.
legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
would mean not only the approval of deviant
“Besides being discriminating against
The document, says the common good re- behavior, with the consequence of making it a
those who bear considerable sacrifices in quires that laws recognize, promote and pro- model in present-day society, but would also obraising children and contribute in a most es- tect marriage as the basis of the family.
scure basic values which belong to the common
sential and irreplaceable way to the common
“Legal recognition of homosexual unions inheritance of humanity,” the document says. n
good of society over time,
it also has non-predictable
long term consequences
for the entire legal and social system,” he added.
He explained that approving same-sex unions could
only be consistently argued
for by assuming there is no
moral relevant link between
sexuality and procreation,
an idea which is the legacy
of the “sexual revolution” of
the second half of the 20th
Century having disastrous
effects on the societies of
Western countries.
“Any attempt of proving the equality, in social
and political terms, of hetTaylor Manor is the only Catholic facility serving the senior adults
erosexual and homosexual
of the Bluegrass. We strive to meet the physical, emotional and
unions is vain, simply because homosexual unions
spiritual needs of our residents through a continuum of care. We
are by their very nature
offer four levels of care:
non-procreative,” Fr. Rhonheimer said.
Respite Care: short-term care or extended medical care for senior
According to the Swiss
adults returning to a home setting.
professor, the church
teaches that homosexual
Personal Care: Gentle assistance for independent residents.
orientation is a disorder,
but people who experience
Intermediate Care: Supervised care for residents with a degree of
that disorder should not be
independent mobility.
blamed or somehow seen
as guilty for having it.
Total Care: Comprehensive medical, physical & personal care for
“On the other hand, the
senior adults.
church teaches that homosexual acts are gravely
The Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker and our resident chaplain are
and intrinsically sinful
committed to enhancing the spiritual life of our residents through
and that therefore persons
daily Mass, the availability of the Sacraments and prayer. We also
with homosexual orientaprovide additional opportunities for Christian worship each week.
tion should abstain from
sexual acts, being contiLocated in the heart of Central Kentucky, Taylor Manor is just 18
nent (equal to unmarried
people),” he said.
miles from downtown Lexington. We are a private pay, nonprofit
The Vatican’s Congregaministry funded by generous supporters who choose to help us
tion for the Doctrine of the
honor the fathers and mothers we serve.
Faith published “Considerations regarding proposFor more information, visit us online or call us to schedule a visit.
als to give legal recognition
to unions between homosexual persons” in June,
859.873.4201 • www.taylormanor.org
2003, which stated that
300 Berry Ave., Versailles, KY
“respect for homosexual
persons cannot lead in any
Page 12
April 28, 2013
La Música en la Misa (Parte I)
Danny Hernández
La música religiosa ha tomado un giro importante en nuestras celebraciones religiosas
en las últimas décadas. La misa, los días santos, reuniones parroquiales, eventos espirituales y demás, son acompañados de melodías
alusivas a nuestra fe e interpretados con un
sabor cultural local e internacional.
Cantos que proveen un momento de alabanza y oración a través del lenguaje unísono
que comparten nuestras culturas y países de
habla hispana, se han hecho relevancia tradi-
cional para la celebración de la santa misa.
Músicos de la comunidad proveen un servicio generoso en su tiempo y talento; y, existen
ministerios musicales desde el sencillo coro de
voces y guitarra hasta agrupaciones tan organizadas y musicalmente complejas, que reflejan
el ímpetu sonoro de nuestras comunidades y el
ahínco noble de nuestros músicos creyentes.
La música y nuestra Iglesia están ligadas desde hace muchos siglos, casi desde el comienzo
de esta última. De hecho, la música le debe
a nuestra Iglesia Católica que haya sido tomada como una ciencia artística y matemática.
Aunque, el principio de la música nació con
el canto gregoriano, y su uso era exclusivo de
los monasterios y sus ocupantes, la música
evoluciono a través de los tiempos. La música –al principio de nuestra Iglesia, era usada
solamente para el culto y era compuesta especialmente para el servicio donde sería utilizada:
oraciones y misas. El uso de música en las bodas, funerales, misa de coronación de reyes y
días festivos, entre otros vendría siglos después.
Cada comunidad pagaba a un talentoso
músico que a su vez hacía de compositor y
director coral, el cual, podría pasar el resto
de su vida en este trabajo y sus composiciones serían propiedad de la parroquia que lo
contrataba.
Las cortes reales fueron las primeras interesadas en conseguir un músico en sus audiencias y fiestas. Buscaban los músicos más
talentosos para privatizarlos de manera que
compusieran música solo para su entretenimiento o voluntad. Es aquí donde la música
crece en popularidad y se vuelve un trabajo de
paga, fuera de las iglesias.
Es importante notar que en aquellos tiempos, músicos talentosos y virtuosos compositores no gozaban de la fama y fortuna de sus
contemporáneos hoy día. Todo lo contrario,
vivían una
vida de mucha tensión
y miseria.
Muchos perseguían el ser contratados por algún principado para asegurarse un trabajo de por vida.
A través del tiempo la música fue mezclando
y desarrollando nuevos estilos
según la región, cultura, e instrumentos de la época. Los
grandes maestros de la época
clásica y el renacimiento marcaron fuertemente las tendencias musicales, y la competencia, a veces no amistosa entre
ellos, los llevó a progresar e
inventar nuevos estilos de acuerdo a la demanda popular y
evolución de la sociedad y sus tiempos.
Al principio de la historia de la música
secular, es decir “no sacra”, la Iglesia se disgusto con la idea de ceder la música a la gente,
pues le parecía a sus dirigentes, que la música
era de origen divino y a la vez muy poderoso;
y debería ser usada solamente para alabar a
Dios y compuesta de manera sencilla, sin
grandes arreglos musicales o insinuaciones
melódicas al placer intelectual humano. Objetó el paganismo musical de entonces protegiendo el simbolismo religioso de ésta, pero
poco a poco entendió que la música, siendo
un don divino, era un ente demasiado grande
de controlar y demasiado hermoso de negar
al mundo. Entonces prestó sus templos para
la propagación de la buena música para el
gozo de la humanidad. Insistiendo en la diferencia entre música sacra y música popular,
sabiéndose responsable de controlar el poderoso efecto musical en la humanidad, dejo de
preocuparse por dominar el progreso musical
popular y dio a las masas la oportunidad de
gozar musicalmente la historia, el dramatismo
social, militar, romántico y experimental de
los tiempos.
Hoy día, la música “comercial” es una industria gigantesca. Desgraciadamente, encontramos ramas musicales que se dedican a
propagar lo peor de la humanidad y la sociedad. Traicionando su origen divino. Su musicalidad es pobre, atónica incluso, sin ningún
cuidado interpretativo. Existen multitudes
de intérpretes que no buscan engrandecer el
alma y promover el contacto especial entre
el hombre y su Creador sino engrandecer sus
bolsillos a costa de propagar tendencias destructivas entre sus oyentes, abaratando y vulgarizando el valor musical de nuestro tiempo.
Al popularizar este tipo de música y mensaje,
promueven la deshumanización y el abuso
de
poder,
celebran el
asesinato y la
práctica de
una vida sin
control, festejando la muerte y los sentimientos de venganza. Popularizan la infidelidad y
denigran el don de la sexualidad, apartando el
amor de su origen divino reduciéndole morbosamente a un acto violento.
Sin un fin creativo sino destructivo, la
música es un arma poderosa en contra de la
formación sana de nuestros hijos. El efecto
social de este tipo de música hoy día es preocupante. A los grandes maestros y sus grandes
obras musicales que, con su armonía y riqueza
interpretativa basaban su melodía en el idilio
etéreo entre el alma humana y su origen divino, en celebrar la creación y su belleza, poco
a poco quedan en el olvido. Mientras que en
salas de conciertos vacías, estas obras y sus intérpretes contemporáneos luchan por sobre-
El Peregrino
vivir y ofrecer a la humanidad unirse como
hermanos en sintonía con la creación que nos
rodea, la música destructiva y sin decoro triunfa y se populariza día con día.
Durante el Segundo Concilio Vaticano en
los años sesenta, la Iglesia reviso sus reglas
y rejuveneció sus opiniones para la práctica
musical durante las celebraciones de nuestra
fe, especialmente la celebración eucarística o
misa. Permitió el uso de musical con ritmos
populares y con instrumentos locales de cada
cultura y redujo sus exigencias interpretativas
en sus parroquias. Sus reglas y estatutos sobre
el ministerio de la música se incluyen en su
compendio litúrgico y ayudan a los músicos
de iglesia a ofrecer un acompañamiento musical a los fieles durante sus oraciones. Se han
permitido impregnar algunos cantos de antaño con arreglos músico-culturales para facilitar la participación de los fieles y homogenizar la espiritualidad y el mensaje de la liturgia
del día para el creyente moderno y local.
Todo músico de iglesia debería estudiar estar reglas y al menos reconocer las partes de
la misa en sus más grandes partes: el propio
y el ordinario de la misa. En la segunda parte
de este artículo mencionaremos las características musicales más sobresalientes de nuestra
misa, entrando de lleno en el mensaje principal de nuestro tema. n
Los Nuevos Kentukianos en la capital
María Karen López
Louisville. El 27 de febrero, la organización
nacional de Sindicato de Libertad Civil Americana (American Civil Liberties Union) en
Kentucky conocido por sus siglas en ingles
como ACLU en conjunto con la colisión de
los Soñadores de Kentucky de la Universidad
de Louisville organizaron una manifestación
en la capital para poner presión política. Se
condujeron discursos con el tema “Nuevo
Kentuckiano” dados por cinco inmigrantes en
Kentucky. En los discursos hablaron sobre sus
experiencias como habitantes del estado y el
gusto de vivir en Kentucky.
El lema, “Yo soy Kentuckiano” fue inspirado
por el tema de Martin Luther King Jr. de “Yo
soy un hombre” durante el movimiento civil
en los E.E.U.U. Los coordinadores del evento
tomaron la idea para aplicar el tema de activismo, unir a los inmigrantes y los nativos de
Kentucky.
Los “Nuevos Kentuckianos” son inmigrantes y refugiados de toda la comunidad de Kentucky. Hay más de 140,000 hispanos en el
estado según el censo de E.E.U.U. donde no
se incluye toda la diversa comunidad de inmigrantes en Kentucky. La mayoría de los que estuvieron presentes fueron hispanos de todo el
estado. Estudiantes de la Universidad de Eastern Kentucky (EKU), de Western Kentucky
(WKU) y de la Universidad de Kentucky (UK)
manifestaron su apoyo a la nueva comunidad
en Kentucky.
La presión política se enfocó en la legislación
396, donde permitirá a los conductores de vehículos sin documentos que puedan manejar
con un certificado. Los que estuvieron presentes
obtuvieron juntas con 25 de los 30 legisladores.
Al final del día la legislación pasó al Comité
de Transporte y pasará a las próximas votaciones. Esto es un triunfo para la política de Kentucky. A nivel nacional, Kentucky puede ser
el sexto estado que toma decisiones estatales
para ajustar las leyes e incluir a los “Nuevos
Kentuckianos”. Una estudiante de la Universidad de Louisville, Shaky Palacios confirma
que “esto es solo un pequeño paso para una
reforma inmigratoria nacional”.
Con triunfos como el que ocurrió en el evento
de “Nuevo Kentuckiano”, se siente la esperanza
de que haya una propuesta justa para la reforma
inmigratoria. Sin embargo, los soñadores de
Kentucky y el ACLU no quieren esperar y continuarán abogando y poniendo presión política
para lograr los cambios y crear una comunidad
inclusiva y diversa en Kentucky. n
April 28, 2013
Page 13
El significado del tiempo pascual
Alma Garcia
Pascua es la más antigua y la más grande de
las fiestas cristianas, más importante incluso que
Navidad. Su celebración en la vigilia pascual
constituye el corazón del año litúrgico. Dicha
celebración, precedida por los cuarenta días
de cuaresma, se prolonga a lo largo de todo el
período de cincuenta días que llamamos tiempo
pascual. Esta es la gran época de gozo, que culmina en la fiesta de Pentecostés, la cual completa
nuestras celebraciones pascuales, lo mismo que
la primera fiesta de Pentecostés fue la culminación y plenitud de la obra redentora de Cristo.
Los cincuenta días que van desde el domingo de resurrección hasta el domingo de
Pentecostés han de ser celebrados con alegría
y exultación, como si se tratara de un solo y
único día festivo; más aun, como un “gran
domingo”. Estos son los días en los que principalmente se canta el Aleluya.
Es una descripción muy significativa. Demuestra claramente que hoy la Iglesia interpreta
la pascua y sus resultados exactamente en el
mismo sentido que lo hacía la Iglesia de la antigüedad. En ésta interpretación de la pascua,
el nuevo calendario es todavía más tradicional
que el anterior. Explicaremos porqué.
Antes de la reforma del calendario y del misal,
el tiempo de pascua era presentado como apéndice de la Pascua más que como parte intrínseca
de la misma celebración pascual y su continuación durante todo el período de cuarenta días.
Los domingos que seguían se llamaban domingos después de Pascua, y no domingos de Pascua,
como se les designa actualmente. Era realmente
un tiempo de carácter jubiloso y festivo; pero no
se le podía definir como una celebración ininterrumpida del día mismo de Pascua.
Este período pertenece a la parte más antigua del año litúrgico, que, en su forma primitiva (siglo III), constaba simplemente del domingo, el triduo pascual y los cincuenta días
que seguían al domingo de Pascua, llamados
entonces Pentecostés o “Santo Pentecostés”. El
nombre no se refería, como ahora, a un día
concreto, sino a todo el período.
Pentecostés era una larga y gozosa celebración de la fiesta de Pascua. Todo el período
era como un domingo, y para la Iglesia primitiva el domingo era sencillamente la Pascua
semanal. Los cincuenta días se consideraban
como un solo día, e incluso se les designaba
con el nombre de “el gran domingo” (magna
dominica). Cada día tenía las características de
un domingo; se excluía el ayuno, estaba prohibido arrodillarse: los fieles oraban de pie como
signo de la resurrección, y se cantaba repetidamente el Aleluya, como en la Pascua.
En cierta manera hemos de recuperar el es-
No basta con recordar el misterio, debemos mostrarlo también con nuestras vidas.
Resucitados con Cristo, nuestras vidas han
de manifestar el cambio que ha tenido lugar.
Debemos buscar “las cosas de arriba, donde
Cristo está sentado a la diestra de Dios” (Col
3,1). Esto significa compartir la libertad de los
hijos de Dios en Jesucristo.
Todo el misterio de la redención.
píritu del antiguo Pentecostés y el sentido de
celebración, que no se conforma con un día,
ni siquiera con una octava, para celebrar la Pascua, sino que requiere un período extendido de
tiempo. Hemos de verlo como un todo unificado que, partiendo del domingo de Pascua,
se extiende hasta la vigilia del quincuagésimo
día; una época que San Atanasio designa como
la más gozosa (laetissimum spatium).
Celebrar la resurrección.
El misterio de la resurrección recorre todo
este tiempo. Se le contempla bajo todos sus
aspectos durante los cincuenta días. La buena
nueva de la salvación es la causa del regocijo
de la Iglesia. La resurrección se presenta a la
vez como acontecimiento y como realidad
omnipresente, como misterio salvador que
actúa constantemente en la Iglesia. Así, se
deduce claramente del estudio de la liturgia
pascual. Comenzando el domingo de Pascua
y su octava, advertimos que los evangelios de
cada día nos relatan las varias manifestaciones
del Señor resucitado a sus discípulos: a María
Magdalena y a las otras mujeres, a los dos
discípulos que iban camino de Emaús, a los
once Apóstoles sentados a la mesa, en el lago
de Tiberíades, a todos los Apóstoles, incluido
Tomás. Estas manifestaciones visibles del Señor, tal como las registran los cuatro evangelistas, pueden considerarse el tema mayor de
la liturgia de la palabra. Así, es ciertamente en
la octava, en la que cada día se nos presenta el
acontecimiento de Pascua bajo una luz nueva.
Después de la octava, no se pierde de vista
la resurrección, sino que se le contempla desde una perspectiva diferente. Ahora se destaca
sobre todo la presencia activa en la Iglesia de
Cristo glorificado. Se le contempla como el
buen pastor que desde el cielo apacienta a su
rebaño, o como el camino que lleva al Padre, o
bien como la fuente del Espíritu y el que da el
pan de vida, o como la vid de la cual obtienen
la vida y el sustento los sarmientos.
Considerada como acontecimiento histórico
y como misterio que afecta a nuestra vida aquí y
ahora, la resurrección es el foco de toda la liturgia
pascual. Es éste el tiempo de la resurrección, y
por tanto de la nueva vida y la esperanza.
Y como este misterio es realmente una buena nueva para el mundo, es preciso atestiguarlo y proclamarlo. Los evangelios nos presentan
el testimonio apostólico y exigen de nosotros
la respuesta de la fe. También hay otros escritos del Nuevo Testamento, como los Hechos
de los Apóstoles, que han consignado para nosotros el testimonio que los discípulos dieron
de “la resurrección del Señor Jesús”.
Participar de la resurrección.
Durante el tiempo de Pascua no celebramos
sólo la resurrección de Cristo, la cabeza, sino
también la de sus miembros, que comparten
su misterio. Por eso, el bautismo tiene tan gran
relieve en la liturgia. Por la fe y el bautismo
somos introducidos en el misterio pascual de
la pasión, muerte y resurrección del Señor. La
exhortación de San Pablo que se lee en la vigilia
pascual resuena a lo largo de toda esta época:
Los que por el bautismo fuimos incorporados a Cristo, fuimos incorporados a su
muerte. Por el bautismo fuimos sepultados
con él en la muerte, para que, así como Cristo
fue despertado de entre los muertos por la gloria del Padre, así también nosotros andemos
en una vida nueva (Rom 6,3-11).
La conmemoración litúrgica de la resurrección está en el corazón del tiempo pascual.
Sin embargo, ésta no agota todo el contenido
de este período. Pertenecen también a este
tiempo los gloriosos misterios de la Ascensión
y Pentecostés. Sin ellos, la celebración del misterio pascual quedaría incompleta.
Parece ser que en los primeros tiempos cristianos, antes de que el año litúrgico comenzara
a adquirir forma en el siglo IV, la Ascensión y
Pentecostés no se celebraban como fiestas aparte, estaban incluidas en la comprensión global
de la pascua que tenía la Iglesia entonces. Se
conmemoraban implícitamente dentro de los
cincuenta días y eran tratadas como partes integrantes de la solemnidad pascual. Por eso, no
es extraño que se refiriesen a todo el período
pascual como “la solemnidad del Espíritu”.
El Padre Robert Cabié, en un estudio exhaustivo de la Pentecostés en los primeros
siglos, observa que la Iglesia primitiva, en su
celebración de lo que ahora llamamos tiempo pascual, conmemoraba todo el misterio
de la redención. Esto incluía la resurrección,
las manifestaciones del Señor resucitado, su
ascensión a los cielos, la venida del Espíritu
Santo, la presencia de Cristo en su Iglesia y la
expectación de su vuelta gloriosa.
A la luz de lo que sabemos de la cristiandad primitiva, el período de Pentecostés celebraba el misterio cristiano en su totalidad,
de la misma forma que el domingo, día del
Señor, celebraba todo el misterio pascual. El
domingo semanal y el “gran domingo” introducen ambos al cuerpo de Cristo en la gloria
adquirida por la cabeza.
La experiencia de la Iglesia primitiva puede
enriquecer nuestra comprensión del tiempo
pascual. La conciencia viva de la presencia de
Cristo en su Iglesia era parte importante de esta
expresión. Dicha presencia continúa poniéndose de relieve en la liturgia y se simboliza en
el cirio pascual que permanece en el presbiterio.
Los Hechos de los Apóstoles nos recuerdan los
cuarenta días que median entre la Pascua y la
Ascensión como el tiempo en que el Señor resucitado está con sus discípulos. Como en tiempos
pasados, la Iglesia conmemora hoy esta presencia
histórica, al mismo tiempo que celebra la presencia de Cristo aquí y ahora en el misterio de
la liturgia. Durante el tiempo pascual, la Iglesia,
esposa de Cristo, se alegra por haberse reunido
de nuevo con su esposo (cf Lc 5,34-35). n
Page 14
April 28, 2013
Gay marriage and the breakdown of moral argument
FATHeR ROBeRT BARROn
In his classic text “After Virtue,” the philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre lamented, not
so much the immorality that runs rampant
in our contemporary
society, but something
more fundamental and
more dangerous: namely,
that we are no longer
capable of having a real
argument about moral
matters. The assumptions
that once undergirded any coherent conversation about ethics, he said, are no longer taken
for granted or universally shared. The result
is that, in regard to questions of what is right
and wrong, we simply talk past one another,
or more often, scream at each other.
I thought of MacIntyre’s observation when
I read a recent article on the Supreme Court’s
consideration of the much-vexed issue of gay
marriage. It was reported that, in the wake
of the oral arguments, Justice Elena Kagan
remarked, “Whenever someone expresses moral
disapproval in a legal context, the red flag of
discrimination goes up for me.” Notice that the
justice did not say that discrimination is the
result of a bad moral argument, but simply that
any appeal to morality is, ipso facto, tanta-
mount to discrimination. Or to state it in MacIntyre’s terms, since even attempting to make a
moral argument is an exercise in futility, doing
so can only be construed as an act of aggression.
I will leave to the side the radical inconsistency
involved in saying that
one has an ethical objection (discrimination!) to
the making of an ethical
objection, but I would
indeed like to draw attention to a very dangerous implication of this incoherent position.
If argument is indeed a non-starter, the only
recourse we have in the adjudication of our
disputes is violence, either direct or indirect.
This is precisely why a number of Christian
leaders and theorists have been expressing a
deep concern about this manner of thinking. Any preacher or writer who ventures to
make a moral argument against gay marriage
is automatically condemned as a purveyor of
“hate speech” or excoriated as a bigot, and,
in extreme cases, he can be subject to legal
sanction. This visceral, violent reaction is a
consequence of the breakdown of the rational
framework for moral discourse.
A telltale sign of this collapse is our preoccupation, even obsession, with poll numbers in
regard to this question. We are incessantly told
that ever-increasing numbers of Americans—
especially among the young—approve of gay
marriage or are open to gay relationships. This
is undoubtedly of great interest sociologically
or politically, but in itself, it has nothing to
do with the question of right or wrong. Lots
of people can approve of something that is in
fact morally repugnant, and a tiny minority
can support something that is in fact morally splendid. But, finally, so what? Finally, an
argument has to be made. In the absence of
this, the citation of poll numbers in regard to a
moral issue is nothing but a form of bullying:
we’ve got you outnumbered.
Still another indication of the breakdown in
moral argumentation is the sentimentalizing of
the gay marriage issue. Over roughly the past
25 years, armies of gay people have come out of
the closet, and this is indeed welcome. Repression, deception, and morbid self-reproach are
never good things. The result of this coming out is that millions have recognized their
brothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, uncles, and dear
friends as gay. The homosexual person is no
longer some strange and shadowy “other,” but
someone I know to be a decent human being.
This development, too, is nothing but positive.
The man or woman with a homosexual orientation must always be loved and treated, in all
circumstances, with the respect due to a child
of God. Nevertheless, it does not follow that everything a decent person does or wants is necessarily decent. Without a convincing argument,
we cannot simply say that whatever a generally
kind and loving person chooses to do is, by the
very nature of the thing, right. This is why I
am never impressed when a politician says that
he is now in favor of gay marriage, because he
has discovered that his son, whom he deeply
loves, is gay. Please don’t misunderstand me: I
am sincerely delighted whenever a father loves
and cherishes his gay son. However, that love in
itself does not constitute an argument.
The attentive reader will have noticed
that I have not proffered such an argument
in the course of this article. That will have
to be matter for another day. What I have
tried to do is clear away some of the fog that
obfuscates this issue, in the hopes that we
might eventually see, with some clarity and
objectivity, what the Catholic Church teaches
in regard to sexuality in general and the question of gay marriage in particular.
Church’s witness not beholding to the right or the left
JASOn HALL
Mr. Hall is the policy analyst for the Catholic
Conference of Kentucky, the public policy arm
of the Commonwealth’s Catholic bishops.
If you’ve been following the litigation challenging the now-infamous Health and Human
Services mandate requiring employer-provided
group health plans to cover abortifacients,
sterilization, and artificial contraception, you
may be aware that a company named Eden
Foods has filed one such lawsuit. Eden Foods
is an organic food company that began as a
co-operative venture with the mission of providing products “that are not nutrient depleted
and without toxic chemical adulteration.”
Eden Foods’ mission and business model is
very straightforward. They buy all of the food
they distribute from local, small farms that engage in no genetic modification and use no potentially harmful chemicals. In effect, they exist,
because they believe people should have the
choice to avoid putting artificially enhanced,
mass produced substances into their bodies.
Looked at in this way, it makes perfect sense
that Eden Foods would want nothing to do
with artificial contraception or abortifacient
drugs, which are artificially produced hormonal
products that do not even offer the nutritional
value of chemically-adulterated foods. And yet,
their challenge to the HHS mandate has generated fierce opposition from many who claim to
agree with the company’s founding principles.
Irin Carmon, writing for Salon, provides
the clearest example of the often over-the-top
rhetoric directed against Eden Foods. In a piece
published on April 11, Carmon accuses Eden
of employing “marketing...designed to appeal
to liberals,” while it has “quietly pursued a decidedly right-wing agenda.” Reading the piece
in its entirety, it becomes clear that Carmon
feels betrayed. For her, every decision, even
what we choose to eat, is a political decision
and must be interpreted in a Left vs. Right
paradigm. The organic food movement, in
Carmon’s opinion, belongs on the Left. Opposition to the HHS Mandate belongs on
the Right. So, the folks at Eden Foods must
be either hypocrites or con artists. In fact, she
closes her piece with an accusation that Eden
Foods has been “marketing itself to a liberal
clientele and then quietly harboring a rightwing, ideological agenda.”
There is a critical lesson to be learned here,
particularly for Catholics. Coming from a very
partisan political background, I know well what
it’s like to develop
that bunker mentality, where the
other party is so
dangerous that
political debate becomes little more than a noholds-barred effort to defeat them at all costs.
Certain news outlets are trusted, while another
is completely mistrusted. A Republican who
supports poverty programs or comprehensive
immigration reform will be called a “moderate
squish” and will often be purged in favor of a
“true conservative.” A Democrat who supports
true marriage and the right to life will be deemed
insufficiently “progressive,” unless they can offer
assurances that their views are still “evolving.”
The Catholic Church has a body of social
teaching that predates and transcends these
hardened partisan categories. We are called to
defend the inherent dignity of each and every
human person, whether in the womb, trapped
in a cycle of poverty, or forced to migrate to
provide for his or her family. Our political
culture is constantly telling us that we have to
pick and choose among these things and oppose the rest. We are told it’s a wonderful thing
to remove all artificial hormones from your
diet, but only a crazy ideologue would remove
them from their medicine cabinet. (And just try
to get a fair hearing if you want the chance to
articulate the actual reasons the church opposes
artificial contraception, not to mention the
redefinition of marriage.)
When we succumb to these social pressures,
we lose both our evangelical witness in our nation’s political life, as well as our prophetic voice.
Has picking one of two sides ever really worked
for us in the past, or resulted in the church’s
voice being co-opted by political power players?
We are called to be the light of the world
and the salt of the earth. To the extent we
are involved in political life, we should be a
positive influence, not allow ourselves to be
influenced. Our mission requires knowledge
of our principles, a desire to be truly consistent with them, and a willingness to boldly
proclaim what we know to be right.
April 28, 2013
Page 15
easter Season celebrates triumph of self-giving love
MSGR. JOSePH G. PRIOR
5th Sunday of EaStEr • april 28, 2013
“Love one another”
The bombings in Boston two weeks ago
were a tragic reminder of the fragility of human
life. So many injured by a
man-made object aimed at
the destruction of body and
spirit. Yet at the same time
the response in charity of
so many people in Boston
and around the country
offers us a witness to love. In
spite of the tragedy, in spite of the sorrow and
grief felt by many, in spite of fear many people
responded courageously offering their prayers,
help, support, and aid to assist all those effected
by the cowardly act of violence. It is a reminder
to us that evil cannot conquer goodness.
The acts of charity in Boston and around
the country indeed the simple acts of kindness and love that we see day in and day out
are reminders to us of the victory of Jesus’s
resurrection which we continue to celebrate
in the Easter season. Jesus’ resurrection is the
triumph of mercy over sin, of life over death;
it is the definitive victory of good over evil; of
love over hate; of self-giving over self-interest.
His life, death, and resurrection accomplish
the victory and show us how to live.
Jesus tells us “As I have loved you, so you
also should love one another.” Jesus’ life is a
life of love. He loves his heavenly Father. He
responds to the Father’s mission in love taking on flesh to ultimately lay it down for all
humanity. He offers himself completely. Jesus’
command to love is a command to lay down
our lives in love of our neighbor. The call to
love is the basis of discipleship and mission.
Giving of ourselves for the good of others is an
act of love and a witness to our faith in Christ
Jesus. As disciples we seek not only to learn
from Jesus but to imitate him in our lives and
to have our lives transformed in the process.
Each of us do this in a particular context
whether married, single, in the consecrated
or religious life, or in the clergy. While the
context of our lives may be different, the call
to love is the same. Laying down our lives for
others is the command of love. Difficult as
this is at times, it provides great rewards. The
Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assissi
reminds us of the fruits of such giving. “Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace, where
there is hatred, let me sow love; where
there is injury, pardon; where there is
doubt, faith; where there is despair,
hope; where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. O Divine
Master, grant that I may no so much see to be
consoled, as to console; to be understood as to
understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in
giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that
we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are
born to Eternal Life.”
Sometimes we are called to “lay down our
lives” through great acts of love. We certainly
saw this in Boston and other times when
tragedy hits our nation. We are inspired by
those who offer themselves in service to those
injured or in need. We are inspired by the
courage and the heroism that these people
bring to desperate situations.
At the same time, and perhaps more frequently, we are called to love in the everyday
and the daily routine of life. Every time we
encounter a fellow human being we have an
opportunity to “lay down our lives” in love.
Sometimes it is a simple word of greeting, a
word of encouragement, a word of hope, a
word of advice, a word of support, a word of
compassion. Other times it is offering a cup
of water, a loaf of bread, a shirt or jacket. Still
other times it is looking for the encounter:
looking for the homebound who need companionship, for the sick who need support, for
the homeless who need shelter, for the addict
who needs healing, for the jobless who need
work, for the isolated who need community.
The opportunities abound.
Jesus’ resurrection is the triumph of love. The
second reading for today’s liturgy comes from
the Book of Revelation and recalls this triumph
in terms of a “new heaven and new earth.” Jesus
victory over death is transformative. He transforms the world, indeed the universe, through
his love. Where that love is present, he is present, for God indeed “will dwell with them and
they will be his people and God himself will
always be with them as their God. He will wipe
every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no
more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for
the old order has passed away.”
Repackaged tripe that bows to cultural convenience
MIKe ALLen
In the ongoing debates about marriage,
some Christians (Catholics included) contend
that since “Jesus said nothing in the gospels
about homosexuality, he wasn’t concerned
about it.”
In logical terms, this is a non-sequitur, i.e., a
conclusion that does not
follow from the premise.
As Catholics, we affirm
both Scripture and tradition, knowing that the
Gospels do not contain
everything Jesus said. As
John’s Gospel concludes: “There are also many
other things that Jesus did….” (John 21:25)
Furthermore, silence on a topic does not mean
indifference, let alone assent. Jesus also never
spoke against setting cats on fire, but I’m fairly
sure he’d oppose it.
Nevertheless, the argument from silence has
appeal, because it fits with a popular narrative that separates Christ from his church—
namely, that Jesus was a tolerant, peace-loving
guy whose simple message of acceptance got
hijacked, first by Paul, and later by a powerhungry hierarchy, and turned into a rulesoriented, sex-obsessed institution controlled
by legalism and shame.
This view, however, is an anachronism that
interprets Jesus through a lens of 1960s antiinstitutional radicalism. And, in a supreme
irony, this tendency is prominent even among
self-identified biblical “contextualists” who pride
themselves on their interpretive objectivity.
Christianity, like Judaism, is an historical
faith. Unlike eastern religions (Hinduism,
Buddhism, etc.) with the perpetual cycles
of birth, death, and rebirth, Christians and
Jews believe in the movement of God within
history, a God who acts in and through real
events and persons.
Christians even believe the timeless God
entered history through the incarnation
of the Son in a specific time and place. He
walked in real towns, ate actual food, and
spoke a distinct language complete with dialect. He was “crucified under Pontius Pilate,”
we declare in our creed.
From the New Testament accounts, we
know with certainty that Jesus was a Palestin-
ian Jew, not only by ethnicity but by practice;
raised in a devout family, speaking as an adult
in the Nazareth synagogue, observing the Sabbath “according to his custom.” (Luke 4:16)
As a Jew, Jesus would have said little explicitly, if at all, about homosexual behavior,
simply because it was unnecessary—it was so
obviously contrary to Mosaic law and natural
law. Homosexuality was not
uncommon in the world, but the
Jews consistently condemned it,
along with other sexual behaviors
outside of the one-flesh union of
man and woman within marriage.
Jesus illumined this sexual complementarity in
pointing to the Father’s design for indissoluble
marriage: “Have you not read that from the
beginning the Creator ‘made them male and
female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to
his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.”
(Matthew 19:4-5)
And, what of this idea that St. Paul’s denouncing of homosexual behavior in Romans
1 is irrelevant because the ancients knew
nothing about “sexual orientation?” The truth
is that St. Paul would dismiss entirely the very
concept of “sexual orientation,” rooted as he
was in the Jewish (and Christian) idea that
our bodies as intrinsically united with our
souls. Man is made for woman, and woman
for man, an objective truth that supersedes the
transient world of desires.
Frankly, this dishonest and shoddy biblical
scholarship is reminiscent of an ancient heresy
which, like all heresies, is repackaged for
subsequent generations. This particular heresy
began with Marcion of Sinope, a 2nd Century
bishop who argued that Christ represented
a different God than the Jewish one, the latter deemed by Marcion to be a lesser deity,
a tribal and vindictive god of the Jews who
lacked the universal compassion of Christ’s
heavenly Father. He favored the rejection of
the Old Testament books and the emancipation of Christianity from its Jewish roots.
He was rejected as a heretic, just as the
church has consistently affirmed that the faith
cannot be properly understood apart from
God’s covenant with Israel. As St. Augustine
explained about the two testaments; “The
New is the Old concealed, and the Old is in
the New revealed.”
So don’t buy this repackaged tripe that repaints Christ and his teaching in a more culturally convenient light. Remember that he—and
his followers—were persecuted for a reason.
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April 28, 2013