Nine Eleven and the Cross

          Nine Eleven. Words that now have a definite meaning in the English speaking world. Even in my own country, where the month and date are written in the opposite order, we know what 9/11 means.

          Nine Eleven. An event that changed America and the world. I’m sure everyone can recall what they were doing at the time. I was on my way home from the funeral of a priest - Father John Daly - who had had a deep effect upon me and my family when I was a young boy. Quite possibly I owe my vocation in large part to him. As a newly ordained priest he consecrated our home and family to the Sacred Heart, he taught me how to serve Mass, he frequently visited unannounced and blessed images and Rosaries… I had decided not to have the car radio on but to drive home in silence. When I got home the Chair of the parish council phoned me and referred to ―terrible events in America‖ and then moved on to the matter he wanted to discuss. Then a friend phoned and asked if I had my TV on and whether I had seen the planes hitting the twin towers, and had I heard the news of the plane that hit the Pentagon. I hadn’t. There and then, while still on the phone, I switched the TV on and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

          Today will be a day of much remembering, a day of thoughtful reflection, a day for prayer. It is regrettable that public prayer has - at least at the time I write this - been excluded from the acts of remembrance that will be held at Ground Zero. Prayer is instinctive to man. I bet that many who considered themselves non-religious found within themselves the desire to pray on 9/11.

          On the occasions when I have visited New York City, I have always tried to pay a visit to Ground Zero. It feels like a pilgrimage that one must make when one is so close to a place of such tragedy. It is a place where one asks how such an event could have been conceived in the hearts of men. It is a place where one realizes how quickly what man builds can be destroyed. It is a place where one makes contact with the lives of the individuals who lived and worked and died in that place, and where one ponders the heroism of so many who took part in - and lost their lives in - the rescue efforts. It is a place where one prays for those who died and who lost loved ones. It is a place where one prays that enmity between human beings will cease, that we may all be one in Christ who "is all and in all."

          It is also a place where I find the spirit of America. In visiting the memorial center nearby, I was touched to learn how, whenever a dead body - or what was left of one - was found in the rubble, work would stop, people would be silent, the American flag was laid over the remains on the stretcher, and a moment of prayer was observed: great dignity in the midst of grief.

          The bulletin cover today carries the image of the Cross-shaped steel beams that were found in the rubble or the World Trade Center, as if the Lord wanted to remind everyone - and the world - that His Son had already taken upon himself the suffering and death of all involved in this event. It was from the Cross that the Lord uttered his prayer for forgiveness for those who "know not what they do."

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          Tomorrow (Monday 12th) I join 27 other priests from the diocese for a retreat at Marygrove Retreat Center. The retreat will be preached by Father Benedict Groeschel CFR whom most people will know through his appearances on EWTN or his books. I’m sure you will keep your priests in your prayers.
God bless you. Fr John.

All faithful Catholics are bigots - according to CNN's Piers Morgan

If, like me, you accept the Church's teaching that homosexual activity is immoral and that the orientation itself is disordered (prepare for hateful comments now - in spite of the fact that homosexual orientation is not the only disordered orientation: so is paedophilia, addictions to alcohol, drugs, temptations to beat your spouse, or to kill your unborn child, or to steal - these are all disordered in need of healing and amendment of life), you're a bigot.

CNN's Piers Morgan: “I guess one of the reasons it’s troubling and difficult for people to come out [as gay] is because of the level of bigotry that’s out there against them. I have to say that your views you espoused on this issue are bordering on bigotry, aren’t they?” Morgan asked the candidate.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: “Are you suggesting that the Bible and that the Catholic Church is bigoted? Well, if that’s what you believe, fine. I think that—I shouldn’t say ‘fine!’ ... Saying a church is bigoted because it holds that opinion that is Biblically based I think is in itself an act of bigotry”

And this after the following exchange when Santorum demonstrates the true charitable attitude that all should have - far from bigoted:

MORGAN: How many sons do you have?

SANTORUM: We have four boys and three girls. [Large family by many standards. Presumably he knows a thing or two about bringing up a family.]

MORGAN: How would you feel if one of your sons turned around one day and said, "Dad, I'm gay"?

SANTORUM: I would embrace them, love them and try to help them through what I would see as a very difficult and troubling time in their lives. I know a lot of gay people. I know a lot of the folks that I've talked to who have gone through this, go through a lot of very difficult times in their life in coming to that decision and struggling with it even after admitting it. So, this is a difficult issue. I understand it's difficult issue. And my job as a father is to love my son unconditionally which I do and would do, and would continue what I could do to support him so he could live a good, a healthy and decent and faithful life.

For a CNN interviewer (who himself professes to be catholic) to be allowed to get away with calling his interviewee - and, by implication, all faithful catholics - bigots is, unfortunately, not beyond belief. It's the age we live in . Freedom of speech if you espouse the relativistic politically correct policies of the day, but not if you hold views that correspond to eternal truths, in this case concerning marriage.

As long as we know, that's fine. We can be prepared for martyrdom, if the Lord considers us worthy of such an honour.

See Lifesitenews.

Father Barron on the obsession of atheists with religion - and why we need to pay attention to them.

Thanks to Accepting Abundance.

Mgr Georges Lemaitre - great priest and scientist

A Reluctant Sinner has posted an excellent article on his blog: Far from being opposed to science, Catholicism is its best advocate and defence - We should rejoice in men like Mgr Georges Lemaître, who are heroes of science and witnesses to the Church's devotion to reason and logic. In it he lists many catholic scientists who have made outstanding contributions to science and the often irrational reaction of "rationalist" scientists at the thought that the universe might have had a beginning, for this would inevitably lead to the conclusion that it came from something that was nothing material, i.e. a mind (Whom we call God.)

The comments are excellent too.

Great read.

Pope's prayer for teachers

From Vatican Information Service:

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for September is: "That all teachers may know how to communicate love of the truth and instil authentic moral and spiritual values".

His mission intention is: "That the Christian communities of Asia may proclaim the Gospel with fervour, witnessing to its beauty with the joy of faith".

Some good news from Ireland: 22 new seminarians commence studies in Maynooth.

The Seminarians, a photo by Irish College on Flickr.

An outsider might think that Ireland is producing no vocations. Not so! For sure it would be great if the numbers were higher, but here are the statistics according to Zenit for the last few years:

2006: 30

2007: 31

2008: 30

2009: 36

2010: 16

2011: 22

These figures are for the national seminary in Maynooth. Irish seminarians also attend the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. Altogether there are more than 90 seminarians for the dioceses of Ireland.

Bishop Says Men Are Responding With Hope to God's Call

MAYNOOTH, Ireland, AUG. 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Nearly two dozen new seminarians began their studies for the priesthood at Ireland's national seminary Sunday.

The 22 men have an average age of 25 and they come from 14 of the 26 dioceses of Ireland.

After an introductory month, 18 of the students will commence their academic formation in Maynooth and the remaining four will undertake their studies at St. Malachy's College, Belfast.

Monsignor Hugh Connolly, president of the national seminary, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, welcomed the students and their families.

"You come from a wide range of backgrounds, previous experiences, and the four corners of the country, but with one common factor -- you are responding to an invitation given in and through faith, to become priests who will spread the Gospel in the years to come," he told them. "I thank the families and friends of the new candidates for their strength and generosity in supporting the men thus far, and I invite you to continue to provide this vital encouragement. The road ahead has many challenges."

Bishop Donal McKeown, chairperson of the Council for Vocations of the Irish Episcopal Conference, spoke of the changes in the Church in Ireland.

"Despite the uncertainties of the future, all new seminarians are responding with hope to God's never ceasing call to proclaim his kingdom," he observed. "God still has faith in people. With grace and the vision of the Gospel, it is possible to build community, to promote healing and to build supportive relationships. God has asked you to accept his call to go out to the rich harvest where the laborers are few."

The new students bring the number of seminarians for Irish dioceses to more than 90.

In the last five years the total annual number of new seminarians beginning their studies in Maynooth has been: 16 in 2010; 36 in 2009; 30 in 2008; 31 in 2007; 30 in 2006.

Msgr Andrew Wadsworth on ICEL and the New Translation

From the Bishops Conference of England & Wales:

In a few days Catholic parishes in England and Wales will begin to use the new translation of the Roman Missal for the celebration of Mass. Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the Secretariat of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), talks about the new translation:

“There has been a lot of feedback from the countries that are already using elements of the translation. The Order of Mass is already in use currently in South Africa, in New Zealand and in Australia and a number of places including ourselves here in England and Wales are now implementing the sung parts of the Mass, and looking to an implementation of the Order of the Mass at some stage between now and the beginning of Advent."

Feedback

“Generally the feedback has been very positive. People find the elegance of the language, its dignity, the sort of cadence of the language - which particularly lends itself to the sung parts of the liturgy - they find all of that to be a great improvement."

Music

“The printed altar edition of the new Missal has the largest amount of music of any Missal the Church has ever produced in any language. The style of the music that’s in the altar edition of the Missal is Gregorian chant, which is a common form of liturgical song which is traditional in the Catholic Church and takes us back to the Church of the first Millennium and the earliest centuries. That’s the music which is in the Latin Missal, of which our English Missal is a translation."

“So the music that we have in the new Missal, that’s about to be implemented, is an English adaptation of those same Latin chants that are found in the Missal. Now we’re not saying that that will exclusively be the style of music that people have to adopt in their liturgies. The Church admits a great diversity of styles, not only of liturgical celebration but particularly of liturgical music."

Creativity

“I think it’s exciting to think that there will be a great moment of creativity. A lot of composers have already responded very positively to this challenge and a lot of new Mass settings are becoming available at the present time. A lot of very familiar settings that we’ve sung for a long time have been revised by their composers so that they meet the needs of the new text.”

In England and Wales, the Order of Mass in the new translation will be used in Catholic parishes from September 2011, and from Advent 2011 all of the Mass will be said using the new translation.

Listen here: ICEL's Mgr Wadsworth on the New Missal

Thanks to Fr Z.