23 - Diocese of Juneau

Diocese of Juneau
Serving the Church of Southeast Alaska
March 23, 2007 • Published bi-weekly
www.dioceseofjuneau.org • Volume 38 Number 6
Cardinal
Pope reflects on Eucharist, makes
honored for
concrete suggestions for Mass
immigration
work, presses
reform
agenda on Hill
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Los Angeles
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony was honored
for his commitment to immigrants with the
Public Service Award from the National
Council of La Raza March 6.
In a ceremony during the organization’s
annual Capital Awards gala in Washington,
Please see IMMIGRATION page 2
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics
must believe in the real presence of
Jesus in the Eucharist, celebrate the
liturgy with devotion and live in a way
that demonstrates their faith, Pope
Benedict XVI said.
“The celebration and worship of
the Eucharist enable us to draw near
to God’s love and to persevere in that
love,” the pope said in his apostolic
exhortation, “Sacramentum Caritatis”
(“The Sacrament of Charity”).
The 131-page document, a papal
reflection on the discussions and
suggestions made during the 2005
world Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, was released March 13 by
the Vatican.
When Jesus instituted the Eucharist
at the Last Supper, he did not simply
thank God for the ways he had acted
throughout history to save people, the
pope said. Rather, Jesus revealed that
he himself was the sacrifice that would
bring salvation to fulfillment.
“The institution of the Eucharist
CARDINAL MAHONY SPEAKS
AT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH
SENATOR KENNEDY
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los
Angeles speaks at a press conference with Sen. Ted Kennedy,
D-Mass., in the U.S. Capitol in
Washington March 6. Cardinal Mahony met with Kennedy to discuss
comprehensive immigration reform
legislation. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
demonstrates how Jesus’ death, for
all its violence and absurdity, became
in him a supreme act of love and
mankind’s definitive deliverance from
evil,” Pope Benedict wrote.
Celebrating the Eucharist, he said,
“the church is able to celebrate and
adore the mystery of Christ” who is
present in the bread and wine through
the power of the Holy Spirit.
In addition to offering a spiritual
reflection on the meaning of the Eucharist, the liturgy and eucharistic
adoration, Pope Benedict made several concrete suggestions for further
study and for celebrating the Mass in
the Latin rite:
-- While he encouraged wider
knowledge and use of the Mass prayers
in Latin and of Gregorian chant, he also
repeated the synod’s affirmation of the
“beneficial influence” of the liturgical
changes made by the Second Vatican
Council on the life of the church.
However, he also endorsed the
synod’s suggestion that at Masses with
a large, international congregation, the
liturgy be celebrated in Latin “with the
(CNS)
exception of the readings, the homily
and the prayer of the faithful.”
-- He encouraged bishops’ conferences, in collaboration with the
Vatican, to examine their practices
Please see EUCHARIST page 14
INSIDE
“Chrism Mass
March 22, 2007”
By Bishop
Michael Warfel
PAGE 3
“Home Missions:
Committee
Distributes
Funds.”
By Doug Weller
PAGE 4
Special Insert
EASTER
By the Office of
Ministries
PAGE 7 - 10
PAGE 2
Make
Plans to
Travel
With Fr. Peter
To COSTA RICA & GUATEMALA:
Fr. Peter Gorges is putting together
a small group “Overseas Adventure
Tour” to Costa Rica and Guatemala,
leaving Seattle on September 22nd; returning to Seattle on October 10, 2007.
Price is $3,525 per person, double
occupancy. Single supplement prices
are available. See the brochure and
information sheet in the church office,
or contact Fr. Peter @ 907.738.8371
or gorges@gci.net, or GCT.com.
There is only room for 16 people. Our
group number is GG73-016 ‘Fr. Peter
Group’. If you sign up, please let
Fr. Peter know.
Bishop’s Schedule
March 22 – 23: Presbyteral Council in Juneau
March 24/25: Cathedral of the
Nativity
March 27: Guest Speaker for
Priests of the Diocese of Yakima,
Washington
March 28: Installation of Bishop
George Murray as the Bishop of
Youngstown
April 1: Palm Sunday, Kake
(USPS 877-080)
415 Sixth Street, Suite #300, Juneau, AK 99801
Publisher: Bishop Michael W. Warfel
Editor: Mrs. Karla Donaghey
Staff: A Host of Loyal Volunteers
According to diocesan policy, all Catholics of the Diocese of Juneau are to receive The Inside Passage; please
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monthsofJune,July&Augustwhenitismonthly)bytheDiocese of Juneau. Periodical postage paid at Juneau, Alaska.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Inside
Passage, 415 Sixth Street, #300, Juneau, Alaska 99801
NEWS
March 23, 2007
IMMIGRATION:
Continued from page 1
Cardinal Mahony and two members of
Congress, Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.,
received awards for their efforts on
behalf of comprehensive immigration
reform legislation.
A statement from Janet Murguia,
president of the National Council
of La Raza, said Cardinal Mahony
was honored for “the courage he has
shown in paving the way for true
immigration reform and for his longstanding commitment to immigrants
and his efforts to combat anti-immigrant policies.”
During his visit in Washington, Cardinal Mahony also made the rounds
of congressional and White House
offices, lobbying for passage of an
immigration reform bill that includes
a path to legalization for the estimated
12 million immigrants already in
the country illegally, a guest worker
program, appropriate border security
measures and improvements in the
system for reuniting families that are
separated by long waits for visas.
“If we leave any one of those out
we will have not dealt responsibly
with the situation,” Cardinal Mahony
said in a short press appearance with
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., “and
we will be back here five or 10 years
from now” trying to fix an even more
complicated problem.
He said any bill passed by Congress
must be “just, humane and comprehensive.”
Kennedy said a bipartisan group
that is drafting a comprehensive immigration bill hoped to have legislation ready to introduce within about
a week of the March 6 Hill visit by
the cardinal. Kennedy chairs the immigration subcommittee of the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
***
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Statement of the
Alaska Conference of
Catholic Bishops Concerning
the April 3, 2007 Statewide
Advisory Vote
The Alaska State Legislature has placed a measure before the Alaska voters seeking advice on whether the marriage provision of the Alaska State
Constitution should be amended. The amendment would make clear that
same-sex couples are not similarly situated to married couples and, therefore,
would prohibit the state, municipality or other subdivision of the state from
providing employment benefits to same-sex couples on that basis.
We, the Catholic Bishops of Alaska, urge Catholic voters and other persons of goodwill to respond to the Legislature’s request for guidance by
carefully considering the issue and voting on April 3rd.
At the time of the Constitutional vote on marriage in 1998, we publicly
spoke on our view of marriage as “a relationship that identifies a man and
a woman as husband and wife, makes them two in one flesh, brings children
into the world, [and] transforms two individuals into mother and father.”
The voters of Alaska, at that time, overwhelmingly voted to amend the
Alaska State Constitution to protect this traditional view of marriage by
adding the words: “To be valid or recognized in this State, a marriage
may exist only between one man and one woman.”
The Alaska Supreme Court, however, has since ruled that same-sex
couples are “similarly situated” to married couples. Consequently, the
Court has ordered that whatever benefits of marriage the state, or subdivisions of the state, provide to married couples must also be provided to
same-sex couples.
We respectfully disagree with the Court’s opinion which has the effect
of undermining both the institution of marriage and the marriage provision
of the State Constitution itself.
Same-sex relationships are not the same as marriage. Recognizing the
social and legal status of marriage as a relationship different from other
forms of cohabitation is not opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice
requires it. Differentiating marriage from same-sex relationships is exactly
what the marriage amendment passed in 1998 was about, which the Court’s
opinion effectively negates.
The Legislature, in response, has asked each of us, as voters, for our
input through the ballot box on April 3rd. In this Lenten season where we
are asked not only to deny ourselves but also to do things for the good of
society, we ask you to carefully consider the importance of the institution
of marriage to the common good and to vote in the statewide advisory
election on April 3rd.
Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, Archdiocese of Anchorage
Archbishop Emeritus Francis T. Hurley, Archdiocese of Anchorage
Bishop Donald J. Kettler, Diocese of Fairbanks
Bishop Michael W. Warfel, Diocese of Juneau
Paid for by Alaska Conference of Catholic Bishops, 415 Sixth St., Suite 300, Juneau, Alaska 99801
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THE INSIDE PASSAGE
From the Bishop
Most Reverend
Michael W. Warfel
Diocese of Juneau
March 22, 2007
A
hostess at the Alaska Airline
Board Room stopped me one
day and asked, “Are you a pastor or a minister?” I said, I’m a Catholic
Bishop.” She said, “Oh, I grew up
Catholic and went to a Catholic school
in Portland.” Then she said, “How is a
bishop different from a priest?” I explained that a bishop was ordained to the
fullness of the ministerial priesthood of
Christ and that priests are collaborators
with him in ordained ministry.” She
paused for a moment and then talked
about a priest she knew while growing
up. She said, “He made the priesthood
human for me.”
We know that priests have certain
functions within the Church but we
also expect that they must be more than
functionaries. The role of the priest is
very much intertwined with his humanity. As priests hold up before the people
of God the great images and stories of
salvation from the heart of the Christian
tradition, they are most effective when
they embody these images and stories
of faith.
The priest as ordained minister is an
alter Christus capitis ecclesiae – an
image of Christ the head of the Church.
He is ordained and sent out on a mission
as alter Christus capitis ecclesiae. As
an instrument of God, he is to provide
a remedy for sin – Christ crucified and
risen from the dead. A priest is meant to
be a bearer of the Paschal Mystery.
It is a lofty challenge to do this well,
for priests as with anyone of us. Paradoxically, it is because a priest is all
too human and impacted by original sin
that he may not attain another’s expec-
PAGE 3
March 23, 2007
Chrism Mass
tations. Nonetheless, it is through his
humanity that he can be most effective
in his priestly ministry.
There are a number of features that
are important for effective priestly
ministry. First of all, the ministry of a
priest within a diocese is most effective
and fruitful when it is in collaboration
with the bishop and the rest of the
presbyterate. The Vatican II document
on the Church, Lumen Gentium puts
it this way:
“Priests…are called to serve the
people of God. They constitute one
priesthood with the bishop, although
that priesthood is comprised of different
functions. Associated with their bishop
in a spirit of trust and generosity, priests
make him present in a certain sense in
the individual local congregation of the
faithful… As they sanctify and govern
under the bishop’s authority that part
of the flock entrusted to them, they
make the universal Church visible…
[And] in virtue of their common sacred
ordination and mission, all priests are
bound together in an intimate brotherhood, which should naturally and freely
manifest itself in mutual aid, spiritual
as well as material, pastoral as well as
personal…in a community of life, of
labor, of charity.” (LG #28)
Lest it not be obvious, the charge
that Lumen Gentium gives to me, as
the bishop, and to the priests serving
in the diocese, is to work together in
order to bring Christ and his message
of redemption to people. This requires
respect and trust, an openness to share
and listen to our particular vision for
the diocese as well as the struggles
before us and a genuine desire to be in
union with one another for the sake of
the people of God.
Second, in order to live out the lofty
charge set forth by Lumen Gentium,
a priest must be a person striving for
holiness – holiness understood as a
healthy integrated life in Christ. No
one can give what they themselves do
not have! In a fast-paced, noise-ridden, quick-fix world, we all need to be
reminded of the need to find the time,
the place and the means for our faith to
be nurtured. Specifically for the priests,
we have made a commitment to pray
the Liturgy of the Hours daily and the
Liturgy of the Eucharist on behalf of
God’s people. The liturgy is central to
priestly ministry. In order to be well
balanced, however, there is need for an
additional way for faith to be nurtured.
In addition to the practice of regular
sacramental confession and spiritual
direction, priests need time to share their
faith and lives with brother priests. In
Southeast Alaska, this requires some
effort and creativity.
Third, priests are expected to provide
reliable leadership. As priests rightly
expect to collaborate in the ministry
of the bishop, priests ought to expect
parishioners to collaborate with them in
their pastoral duties. Priestly ministry
is most fruitful when it is shared with
people. It is not a matter of replacing
specific duties reserved to the priest,
e.g., the celebration of Mass. Nor is
it a matter of trying to clericalize the
laity. It is simply a matter of helping
parishioners to utilize their God-given
gifts and energies for the building up
of the church in one’s local parish and
thus the diocese as a whole.
More than anything else, priests have
a duty to help set direction in a parish. It
must always be within the parameters of
the Catholic tradition and the direction
set by the bishop for the diocese. This
demands listening and observation and
trusting the counsel and advice of staff
and parishioners. It also requires the
courage to be able to make decisions.
Anyone who has had to make a difficult
decision affecting others knows well
that not everyone is going to support
that decision.
Fourth, priests have to be fully alive
and human. In his Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John
Paul II put it this way:
“In order that his ministry may be
humanly as credible and acceptable as
possible, it is important that the priest
should mold his human personality in
such a way that it becomes a bridge and
not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of
humanity. It is necessary that, following
the example of Jesus who ‘knew what
was in humanity,’ the priest should be
able to know the depths of the human
heart, to perceive difficulties and problems, to make meeting and dialogue
easy, to create trust and cooperation,
to express serene and objective judgment.” (PDV#43)
It is when a priest is mature and balanced, i.e. fully human, that his witness
to faith is most attractive. He must be, in
the words of Pope John Paul II, a “man
of communion.” This can be one of the
greatest challenges for the priest or the
bishop. We may be able to administer a
diocese or a parish well, celebrate the
liturgy and the sacraments properly,
teach the faith accurately but never really foster communion or energize faith.
While never ignoring the need to do our
ministry properly, we must do so in a
way that shows us to be affable, sincere,
generous, genuine, compassionate and
loving. And we must keep before us
always the image of Jesus who washed
the feet of his disciples.
Tonight, at this Chrism Mass, we
bless and consecrate the holy oils that
will be used within the diocese to celebrate our sacramental life. Intimately
connected with the blessing of oils is
the ordained ministry of the bishop and
priests who will utilize these oils in our
sacramental ministry. We bless the oil
of catechumens. It is used to anoint
those who have come to faith and seek
Christian initiation. We bless the oil of
the sick. It is used to pray for spiritual
healing and give hope to the suffering,
the infirm and the aged. We bless the
oil of Chrism. It is used to confirm the
faith of the baptized, dedicate altars and
churches and ordain men to priestly and
episcopal service.
It is my hope that as we make our
renewed commitment to priestly service
and bless these oils, we will always
strive to be the priests Christ desires us
to be, priests who seek to be of service
to the people of God.
PAGE 4
March 23, 2007
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Committee reviews requests for Home
Missions grants
By Doug Weller
SALINA, KANSAS—When people
think of missions, they typically think of
foreign countries, says Bishop Michael
W. Warfel.
But as chairman of the Committee on
Home Missions of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops, he can tell you
otherwise.
In 2004-05, more than 100 dioceses,
organizations and religious institutes
shared nearly $10.4 million in grants
from the committee to help them meet
specific needs.
Bishop Warfel, of the Juneau, Alaska,
diocese, and five other bishops were
in Salina last week to determine what
dioceses would receive money for the
coming year.
Salina Bishop Paul S. Coakley is a
member of the committee and hosted
the annual allocation session.
The collection for the Catholic Home
Missions Appeal will be taken April 28
and 29 in the Salina Diocese. Money
raised nationwide is returned to dioceses and groups that apply for grants
and show a need.
“These funds stay at home” rather
than go overseas, noted Bishop Coakley. The Salina Diocese has qualified the
past several years for a home missions
grant, which has been used to bring
sisters from religious communities in
Mexico to help minister to Hispanic
Catholics here.
Serving Hispanic populations is
where most of the grants are used, said
Carliss Parker-Smith, staff assistant for
the committee.
Money also is used for religious education programs, lay ministry formation
and education of seminarians.
A home mission diocese is one that is
less able than other dioceses to provide
basic pastoral services. They might
have few assets; a proportionally small
number of Catholics; difficult terrain,
extreme weather or great distances; a
severe shortage of clergy; poverty; few
or no Catholic institutions; a growing
ethnic population; or a local culture
that bears hostility toward Catholicism.
Most are in the West and South. This year, the committee is severely
limited by how much money can be
distributed because of the ongoing effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Last year, the committee approved a
special allocation of $3.2 million to
the Archdiocese of New Orleans and
USCCB HOME MISSIONS COMMITTEE DETERMINES DISTRIBUTION
OF FUNDS FOR COMING YEAR
Bishop Warfel, chairman of the Home Missions Committee, and five other
bishops were in Salina recently to determine what dioceses would receive
money for the coming year. (Photos courtesy of Doug Weller, The Register,
Diocese of Salina.)
the Dioceses of Biloxi, Miss., HoumaThibodaux and Lake Charles, La., and
Beaumont, Texas.
This year, just 63 grant requests made
the cut because of the limited funds.
“We hope it’s an anomaly,” Bishop
Warfel said.
What’s important, Parker-Smith said,
is getting the word out to Catholics of
the need and the importance of their
donations.
“It’s up to the people in the pews,”
she said.
(Both articles were submitted by
Doug Weller, editor for The Register,
newspaper for the Diocese of Salina.
Originally printed in The Register.
Reprinted with permission.)
Hispanics welcome Home
Missions committee
CELEBRATING MASS AT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Bishop Warfel was the main celebrant for the Mass in this Hispanic community of Immaculate Heart of Mary who receive Home Mission funds.
By Donetta Robben
HAYS, KANSAS — The Hispanic
community showed their appreciation to the bishops representing the
Committee on Home Missions.
After a two-day meeting in Salina
last week, four of the six bishops
visited Immaculate Heart of Mary
to celebrate Mass and visit with the
Hispanic community who receive
home mission funds.
Bishop Michael W. Warfel, Diocese
of Juneau, Alaska, was the main celebrant. Concelebrants were Bishop
Thomas J. Rodi, Diocese of Biloxi,
Miss., Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Diocese of Baker, Ore., and Bishop Paul
S. Coakley, Diocese of Salina. Seven
diocesan priests also concelebrated.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve
seen so many bishops in one place,”
Jesus Cano said. That’s because the Hispanic community in Hays are mainly from
northern Mexico, where there are
few priests.
Father Kevin Weber, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, said he was
Please see MISSIONS page5
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
March 23, 2007
The Heart of the Matter
By Mary Ann Nelson, O.P.
Director, Office of Ministers
907-586-2227 ext. 29
srmaryann@gci.net
I Allow You to Love Me
Without Reservation
A
s I began Lent this year,
my daily prayer has included responding to the
invitation of author Paula D’Arcy.
Several times each day I repeat this
prayer as a way of opening myself
to God:
Spirit of God, who
dwells in all creation,
I allow you to love me
without reservation.
I’ve discovered that this is easier
said than done! I do have reservations. Allowing God to love me with-
out reservation is a lifetime process
of letting go over and over again.
I’ve got blinders that keep me
from seeing clearly how God loves
me. Seeing this truth demands that
I expand my vision, let go of my
expectations and images of God,
and respond to what is deep within
my own heart.
Does any of this seem familiar?
Take some time to slow down. Find
a little space of silence and then pay
attention. God is waiting there!
No matter
what is happening in our
external reality, the inner
journey, going deeper into
God, is what
really matters.
Deep within, where God resides,
we can hear the divine summons
to rely on that power.
If we are gripped by fear, there
isn’t space within us for love. Fear
makes us try to control life and
control others, to cling to traditions
that bind us up, to fall into repetitious habits and patterns that bring
us no joy. Fear makes us wander
in dark and lonely spaces. Jesus
tells us there is something that’s
greater than fear, and it is within
us: God’s Spirit. Fear gets in the
way of believing this.
It begins with paying attention,
and opening a door. Our willingness to know who we truly belong
to: God. Can we imagine, and then
learn, to “free-fall into the loving
arms of God?” Think of the power
of love that could be expressed
through our lives if we weren’t
dominated by fear!!
The season of Lent offers each of
us an opportunity to discover our
reservations and let them go. Then
we can give ourselves to God’s love
without reservation. And the love
that is released through us affects
not only our lives, but will have a
ripple effect throughout the entire
universe.
PAGE 5
Faith leaders, parents urge Congress
to expand children’s health care
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit Father John Baumann came to Washington from
Oakland, Calif., in early March to tell members of Congress that “children are a gift
from God and they deserve the blessing of good health.” And he was not alone. Hundreds of clergy and parents
from across the country were
on Capitol Hill March 7 for a
Faith and Families Summit organized by the PICO National
Network, the community organizing network that Father
Baumann founded 35 years
ago. The Jesuit is executive
director of the Oakland-based
PICO, which began as the Pacific Institute for Community
Organizations but changed its
name in 2004 to People Improving Communities through Organizing. The interfaith
network now includes more than 1,000 congregations from 50 denominations or faith
traditions, representing an estimated 1 million people in 17 states. About half of the
members are Catholics, the priest said. (CNS photo)
MISSIONS:
Continued from page 4
especially impressed with Bishop Warfel
coming from Alaska.
“Alaska is heavy-duty mission territory,” Father Weber said. “His willingness to come here and provide for our
mission is an amazing thing to me. In
Alaska, many priests take flying lessons
because there are hundreds of miles
between the parishes they cover.”
About 250 people attended the liturgy,
which was laced with traditional music
featuring a small band and dancers in
colorful Mexican dress. The banquet
featured about 50 Mexican dishes. After
the banquet, there was entertainment in
dance and song, followed by a presentation of gifts to the bishops of an Aztec
calendar and a picture of Our Lady of
Guadalupe.
“It took us about a month to prepare,”
Sister Elvia Yolonda Mata Ortega said,
giving much of the credit to the Hispanic
community.
Sister Ortega is one of two women
religious brought to Hays from the Missionaries of Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
Mexico City, by the funding provided by
the home mission grant. Their ministry
is to provide support for the Hispanic
people and encourage them to become
active in their Catholic faith.
“In Mexico, the people work very hard,”
Sister Ortega said. “They cannot get food
and money easily. So when they come
to the United States, it can be difficult
to bring them to practicing their faith
because all they know is work.”
“The sisters are important to us,” said
Cano, who is married with three children.
“Many in our community cannot speak
English, and it is important that they
teach us about God.”
The home mission funds provide a salary for the sisters and help support some
of the cultural activities.
Grant money provided by the annual
Catholic Home Missions Appeal also
provides for four Mexican sisters serving
the Hispanic communities in Manhattan
and Goodland.
PAGE 6
March 23, 2007
News Briefs
Catholic News Service
Extension Magazine marks centenary with great cover art of
past
CHICAGO (CNS) -- For 100 years Extension Magazine, monthly publication of the
Catholic Church Extension Society, has entered the homes of Catholics, many of whom
sent in donations to help the church’s home
missions. For those old enough to remember,
many of Extension’s covers in the 1940s and
‘50s, painted by some of the leading artists
in the heyday of magazine illustration, were
celebrations of Catholic Americana done in
a style reminiscent of the Norman Rockwell
classics that graced the covers of The Saturday
Evening Post. To mark its centenary year, the
magazine is reproducing some of the best of
those mid-century covers. Extension Magazine
started reproducing the selected classic covers
with its January 2006 issue and is continuing
up to its April 2007 issue, when the centenary
year ends.
Church groups express
concern with police
violence in Zimbabwe
By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Recent
police violence and the arrest and torture in jail of
anti-government protesters have been the cause
for serious concern, said the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.
“The actions of the law enforcement agents
were provocative, insulting and dehumanizing,”
the commission said in a March 13 statement.
The police “exhibited highhandedness and
overzealousness in dealing with the situation,”
it said.
The commission said the Zimbabwean Con-
Muskrat love: A Lenten Friday
delight for some Michiganders
RIVERVIEW, Mich. (CNS) -- There’s an
alternative to fish for some Michigan Catholics abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent
-- muskrat. The custom of eating muskrat on
Ash Wednesday and Fridays in Lent apparently goes back to the early 1800s, the time of
Father Gabriel Richard, an early missionary
in Michigan whose flock included FrenchCanadian trappers. Legend has it that because
trappers and their families were going hungry
not eating flesh during Lent, he allowed them to
eat muskrat, with the reasoning that the mammal lives in the water. The story varies on just
where in Michigan the dispensation extends.
Among areas mentioned are along the Raisin
River, along the Rouge River, both of which
flow into Lake Erie south of Detroit, Monroe
County in the southeast corner of Michigan,
or all of southeast Michigan. The Detroit
archdiocesan communications department said
there is a standing dispensation for Catholics
downriver -- in Detroit’s southern suburbs and
below -- to eat muskrat on Fridays, although
no documentation of the original dispensation
could be found.
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
ZIMBABWEANS PROTEST IMPRISONMENT OF OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS
Zimbabweans living in South Africa carry
signs outside Zimbabwe’s consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 13, protesting
the imprisonment of opposition activists. Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe said he and other
opposition figures were severely beaten after
they were arrested in Harare March 11. (CNS
photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Reuters)
stitution “guarantees the freedom of association
and assembly, and yet the law enforcement agents
brutalized with impunity people who wanted to
enjoy their right to association and assembly.”
The commission called for the immediate release of all imprisoned activists and for a return
to the rule of law.
It called for a “thorough investigation into the
shootings so that those involved are brought to
book.”
An activist was shot dead by police, and several
people were arrested March 11 while protesting in
the capital Harare. Protesters were demonstrating
against the government, which banned a prayer
rally shortly before it was scheduled to occur.
Political rallies in the Zimbabwean capital had
been banned in February after violent protests
that month.
Among those arrested for inciting violence was
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for
Democratic Change, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party. After a March 13 court appearance,
Tsvangirai told reporters he and others were
severely beaten by police.
Three hundred activists were arrested March
12 as people demonstrated against conditions in
the country, where annual inflation is more than
1,700 percent and there are severe shortages of
food, fuel and medicine, according to U.N. news
agency IRIN.
The following day, two people were shot and
wounded by police during a gathering to remember the activist killed at the March 11 protest.
The South African Council of Churches, of
which the Southern African Catholic Bishops’
Conference is a member, called for “immediate
action to halt the persecution of Zimbabweans.”
The Zimbabwean government “should avoid
criminalizing the legitimate grievances of concerned Zimbabweans,” it said in a March 13
statement from Johannesburg, South Africa.
The council said, “The inhuman actions of
the security forces are rapidly closing the options open to the people of Zimbabwe in finding
amicable resolutions for the many challenges
confronting this troubled nation.”
PAGE 7
March 23, 2007
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Easter
By Steve Olmstead,
Family Outreach
I
n Northern Massachusetts there is a small
Episcopal church, All Saints, which according to church archives was given a gift of a
19th century copy of a painting of Jesus and
Mary by Andrea Del Sarto, who lived in the 16th
century. The painting was found discarded in the
attic of the rectory. It was hung up for a while,
but people didn’t like it and in the 1960’s it was
placed in a closet in the priest’s office.
A new priest in the mid 1980’s found it and
decided to hang it in the church. It wasn’t long
before people started to complain and he took it
down, hoping maybe he could sell it. He found
that a copy of the Del Sarto painting was worth
about $40,000 dollars. However, after getting
another opinion, he discovered that the painting
was not a copy, but the original 16th century Del
Sarto painting. It sold at an auction for 1.1 million
dollars. A painting no one appreciated, left to rot
in the attic of a church.
Too often Easter becomes like an old painting
left in the attics of our lives. We hang it up once
a year, but all too quickly forget about it or take
it down and rarely ever come to know its true and
lasting value.
Through the stresses, strains and confusion of
life we get discouraged and walk away from the
very source of life, purpose and significance. The
gospel of Luke records two such discouraged
people leaving Jerusalem the day Jesus rose from
the dead and their walk on the road to Emmaus.
While discussing the events of Jesus’ passion
and death as they walked, Jesus came among them,
although they did not recognize him. After telling
him of their disappointment about “all that had
happened to Jesus the Nazarene,” Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, interpreted
it all for them.
When they reached their destination, Jesus was
invited to join them. Luke writes that their eyes
were opened and they recognized him at the
breaking of the bread. He vanished from their
sight…so they set out for Jerusalem where they
recounted what had taken place and how Jesus
was made known to them in the breaking of the
bread.
I share this story not only because it is in
Scripture, but because I believe it reveals some
of the gift and power of the resurrection for our
lives. The two people on the road to Emmaus
were struggling with disappointment, sorrow, and
perplexity. The Risen Jesus came to them and the
Risen Jesus comes to us. The truth of the resurrection is not dependant on us. It is a reality!! In
our doubts and uncertainties Jesus comes.
The fact that their eyes were opened to the
Risen Jesus in the breaking of the bread is no
small matter. It speaks to the reality that we are
Eucharistic people. In this way every Mass is a
celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Every day, and especially every time the bread
is broken before us at Mass, God longs for our
eyes to be open to the reality that Jesus Christ is
alive, the Risen Christ is present with us. Death
and sin have been conquered through the love
of God in Jesus Christ.
With their eyes open and their hearts overwhelmed by the reality of the Risen Christ the
two return to Jerusalem on the same road they
were on before but now heading a new direction, with new purpose and hope. What a difference the Risen Christ makes! The two are on
the same road, but everything else is different.
Their hearts are different, their hopes are different, their direction is different, their purpose is
different. They have begun to live in the power
and truth of Easter.
New Direction - FAITH
To live in the reality of Easter is to believe that
Jesus is alive. It is to have our eyes and our hearts
open to life. Easter faith sets us on a journey to-
ward life and love. With the promise of life, we
are willing to face our fears, to acknowledge our
sins and to live in the light of God’s love. Easter
faith calls us to live our lives in the direction of
Jerusalem, where the suffering, sacrifice and
resurrection of Jesus ocurred. Our whole lives
then are oriented toward Jesus’ passion, death
and resurrection.
New Purpose - LOVE
With new direction and orientation Easter faith
calls us also to a new purpose. We are called to
be Christ-centered people. Our purpose is to
know Jesus Christ and to make him known to a
world lost in darkness and sin. Our purpose is in
Christ, with Christ, through Christ and for Christ.
“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also
ought to love one another” (I John 4:11)
New Vision – HOPE
The Risen Christ offers hope to a lost and dying
world. The Risen Christ conquered death that we
might have forgiveness of sins and the hope of
eternal life. Easter faith embraces hope, forgiveness and new life. The Apostle Peter wrote, “By
God’s great mercy He has given us a new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead.” (I Peter 1:3b) To live our
Resurrection faith is to embrace a “living hope.”
Our living hope is in Jesus who loves us and gave
Himself for us that we might be forgiven by His
grace, live for Him through His grace and look
with hope to eternal life.
Jesus said, “I came that you might have life
and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). The resurrection of Jesus offers us not a painting worth
a million dollars, but the possibility to live life
abundantly! To live life full of faith, hope and
love. To live as Easter People!
I will pray for you and ask that you pray for me
that together we would seek to live in the light
and glory of the resurrection of Christ!
PAGE 8
March 23, 2007
The Triduum
By Deacon Charles
Rohrbacher
T
he Triduum is really
one liturgy celebrated over three days
[tri (three) duum (days)]. The
Triduum is the center of the
liturgical year and its liturgies
are the benchmark for all of
the liturgy that the Church
celebrates. The great mystery
of the Lord’s saving death
and lifegiving resurrection is
so vast that it cannot be contained, even symbolically in
a single celebration. Instead,
the Church meditates on the
mystery over the three days:
the mystery of the Lord’s Body
and Blood on Holy Thursday;
the mystery of his Passion and
Death on Good Friday; the
mystery of the Lord’s descent
among the dead on Holy Saturday and the mystery of his
resurrection from the dead at
the Easter Vigil and throughout
the Easter season.
The Triduum begins with the
Evening Mass of the Lord’s
Supper. So that we might grasp
that humble service is integral
to the mystery of the eucharist,
on Holy Thursday we listen to
Gospel of John. Our bishop
and his priests wash the feet
of the disciples in the rite of
foot washing that follows the
gospel. After Holy Commu-
nion the sacrament is taken in
procession to a special place of
reservation and we keep vigil
with Christ through the night.
The next day, we gather in
the empty church building.
As we kneel, the bishop and
priests prostrate themselves
on the floor in silence before
the mystery of the suffering
and death of the Lord and
God’s unfathomable love for
us. We listen to the solemn
reading of the Passion; pray
the General Intercessions for
the needs of the entire world
on the day when Jesus gave
himself for the life of the world
and we venerate the wood of
the cross. On Good Friday, we
do not celebrate the eucharist,
but we do receive the reserved
sacrament.
On Holy Saturday, we ponder
the mystery of death of the Lord
and the complete self-emptying
of the Lord who lay lifeless in
the tomb. At the Easter Vigil
that night, we come together
to follow the new fire blazing
from the Easter candle into
the darkened church, where
in its light we read the story
of God’s faithful love, which
is remembered and proclaimed
in the seven readings of the
Easter Vigil, culminating in the
Gospel proclaiming the Lord’s
defeat of sin and death and
resurrection from the dead.
At the font, we witness the
baptism of the Elect who mystically die and rise with Jesus
in the waters of baptism, as we
did when we were baptized.
Filled with the light of Christ
they reveal to us in their own
persons Christ’s resurrection
from the dead. They receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit
when they are anointed with
the sacred chrism and are
fully incorporated into Christ’s
body when for the first time
they receive the Lord’s Body
and Blood.
At the Vigil and on Easter
Sunday, we the faithful, conclude the Triduum when we
renew our baptismal promises
and eat and drink the banquet
of immortality at the table of
the Lord. And for the next fifty
days we rejoice in the resurrection of Christ and in our own
new life in him.
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Easter Sacraments
Of Initiation
By Barbara Kelley, O.P.,
Pastoral Assistant, Prince of Wales Island
N
o liturgy in the entire Church year beats the Easter Vigil for its pageantry, rituals, symbolism and
sheer exaltation. For Catholics who attend this beautiful
liturgy, the Easter Vigil truly expresses the utter joy of
Jesus’ resurrection – after a long period of penance and
the intense days of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, when
they relived Jesus’ suffering and death. If your parish is
receiving new converts to the Church this year, you are in
for an especially moving and inspiring experience during
the Easter Vigil.
One special highlight of the Easter Vigil is the initiation into the Catholic Church of adult converts who have
undergone the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
(RCIA). After the homily, the assembly focuses attention
on the Easter Sacraments of Initiation: baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. Catechumens – adults who have
never been baptized – come forward to be baptized after
renouncing sin, evil, and the works of Satan and making
their profession of faith in the teachings of the Catholic
Church. The assembly welcomes the newest members of
the Catholic Church, and joins them in renewing their own
baptismal promises.
Now, the candidates, those who have been baptized
into another Christian denomination, step forward for the
Celebration of Reception. Because the Catholic Church
recognizes the validity of baptism by all Christian churches,
the candidates are simply asked to profess their beliefs in
“all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and
proclaims to be revealed by God” and are received into
full communion with the Catholic Church.
Together, the neophytes – all who have been welcomed
into the Church – take the next step into their initiation:
the sacrament of Confirmation. Through this sacrament,
they receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, strengthening them to be witnesses of Christ and “active members
of the Church …to build up the Body of Christ in faith
and love” (prayer before Confirmation). The climax of
the neophytes’ initiation comes with Communion when,
united for the first time with members of their parish, they
receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
Most of us “cradle Catholics” have no memory of our
own entrance into the Catholic Church. Witnessing the
initiation of adults who have chosen the Catholic faith for
their own and gone through a period of formation and education can be truly inspiring to those of us who were born
and raised Catholics. As we welcome the newest members
of our parish and our Catholic Church, let us rejoice that
they have joined us and inspire them to take active, full
participation in their new lives as Catholic Christians.
March 23, 2007
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
PAGE 9
Celebrating the Fifty Days of Easter
By Deacon Charles Rohrbacher
T
is, those baptized at the Vigil and to the rest of us,
to celebrate the sprinkling rite in place of the penihe liturgical ideal is that we celebrate Easter
all of whom are new creations in Christ, because we
tential rite at the beginning of Mass at all Sunday
not only for a day but for 50 days. The pashave
died
to
sin
and
been
reborn
as
adopted
sons
Masses throughout the year and especially during
toral reality is often that we stagger across
and daughters of God). Baptism is our dying and
the Easter season.
the finish line after a long Lent and an exhausting
rising with Christ, and the readings and preaching • Continue celebrating the sacraments of initiation.
Triduum celebration, not to continue celebrating but
for each Sunday of the Easter season are intended
ready for a long rest.
The Easter season is the prime time for infant
to deepen our new life in Christ. And of course,
Here are some thoughts on concrete ways we can
baptism, confirmation and first communion. Easter
because we are all neophytes, all of the Sunday
celebrate throughout the Easter season.
Sunday and all the Sundays of the Easter season
Masses during the Easter season are Masses of
• To begin with, celebrating the Easter season always
are the perfect time for baptized candidates for full
the Neophytes.
begins with baptism. In two weeks in four parishes
communion with the Catholic Church to come into
in our diocese, the Elect are going to be baptized, • Don’t put away the font! If you have a portable
the Church and be confirmed.
confirmed and receive first eucharist at the Easter
font, leave it full of water and accessible so that • If possible, now that the Lenten fast is over, celVigil. Begin your Easter celebration at the Vigil.
all of the baptized can bless themselves as they
ebrate our new life in Christ each week of the Easter
come into the church. And it is always an option
season by food and fellowship after Mass.
This Way of Being
By Josephine Aloralrea, O.S.U.
Parish administrator, Yakutat
I
It’s a long liturgy, but a rich one and you will have
the opportunity to see, in front of your eyes, the
death and resurrection of the Lord. That’s right,
because the neophytes (new creations) will have
been plunged into the waters of baptism and died
and risen with Christ. With them we celebrate the
death and resurrection of Jesus as a living reality
in our midst. And at the Vigil we renew our own
baptismal commitment and celebrate the new life
we have in Christ, freed forever from the bondage
of sin and death.
• Go to Mass or the Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest every Sunday during the Easter
season. These Sundays are tailor-made for what
the Rite of Christian Initiation calls mystagogical
preaching at the Masses of the Neophytes. Which
is to say, preaching directed to the neophytes (that
n the Cup’ik language the word for Mystery and Creator is “Cellum Cua.” The literal translation
is the Spirit and Person of the Universe. The root word “cella” may mean universe, consciousness, awareness, air and weather. It’s multi-levels of meanings speaks of a pervading presence
of the Holy and Sacred within creation and life. This sense of sacredness in creation invites us to
have a deep respect for the dwelling of the Spirit of the Universe. This Spirit is the source of the
interconnection of all creation.
This way of being and attitude is the heart of the wisdom of our ancestors. Often one hears the
elders teach and say to the youth, “have respect for the land and its resources at all times.”
The Cup’ik word for respect is “qiqcig” which is a sense of honoring what is sacred. Its literal
description is to cast one’s eyes down and not look directly but glance sideways. It is as if one is very
much aware of the sacredness of creation. Normally we are
asked to treat properly others, animals, plants and the world
of the spirit in a reverent way.
This way of being reflects the goodness of our Creator.
The effect of the Creator’s goodness is the beauty of balance, harmony and peace. This is well expressed by Black
Elk: “Peace...comes within souls of men when they realize
their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its
power, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe
dwells, Wakan Tanka and that center is really everywhere,
it is within each of us.”
This perspective or way of being is reflected in renewal and
restoration today. In the book, Dancing With A Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality, Rupert Ross calls us back to respect and
reverence for our Creator. He says: “Anyone who dedicates
himself to helping others, instead of simply advancing his
own interests, demonstrates a commitment to the spiritual
ideal of harmony and inter-connectedness ....What we must
“When you send forth your spirit
understand is that this struggle to retrieve and restore the
they are created, and you renew the
traditional value of respect for all creation is central to the
face of the earth.” (Ps 104, 30)
Elders’ concern about the loss of Native culture.”
PAGE 10
Easter Bread
(Italian Sweet Bread)
INGREDIENTS:
5 cups unsifted flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 packages Fleischmann’s active
dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon anise oil OR 1 teaspoon
anise flavoring
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
2 drops yellow food coloring
DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix 1 1/2
cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved
yeast. Combine milk and margarine in
a saucepan. Heat over low heat until
liquids are warm. (Margarine doesn’t
need to melt.) Remove from heat and
add anise oil and yellow food coloring
to make a “buttery” yellow color. Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2
minutes at medium speed of electric
mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add
3 eggs and 1/2 cup flour, or enough flour
to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed
2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
Add enough additional flour to make a
soft dough.
Turn out onto lightly floured board;
knead until smooth and elastic, about 8
to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl,
turning to grease top. Cover with a clean
dishcloth or plastic wrap; let rise in warm
place, free from draft, until doubled in
bulk, about 1 hour. Punch dough down.
Cover; let rise again until almost double,
about 30 minutes.
Punch dough down again; turn out
onto lightly floured board. Divide in
half; form into two large round balls
or a dozen “buns”. Place on opposite
corners of a greased baking sheet. Cut a
cross 1/2-inch deep on top of each ball.
Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Beat 1 egg with the 1 tablespoon water.
Use to brush tops of loaves.
Bake in moderate oven (350 F.) about
35 to 45 min. (15 to 20 for buns or 2
loaves), or until done. Remove from
baking sheet and cool on wire racks.
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
March 23, 2007
Catherine of Siena
W
By Mary Ann Nelson, O.P.
Office of Ministries Director
T
his is the 21st century;
can you imagine what
life was like in the 14th
century? It has been referred to as
a “distant mirror” for our times:
troubled and chaotic. It was also
the world in which Catherine of
Siena lived.
Born in 1347, in Siena, Italy,
Catherine was the twenty-third of
twenty-five children of Jacopo and
Lapa Benincasa. The impact this
young woman had on church and
society was so profound that even
though she only lived to the age of
33, within eighty-one years of her
death, she was canonized a saint.
Each year the Church honors her
on April 29th.
Catherine set her heart on Christ
and vowed herself to Him at a very
early age. For two years after that
she lived in a “room of her own”
within her family home, pursuing
an intense life of prayer and meditation. As a teenager she joined
a group called the Mantellate,
women who were affiliated with the
Order of St. Dominic. They wore
habits but lived in their own homes,
serving the needs of the poor and
sick. What was most unusual was
that these women were generally
older widows. Catherine’s association with them came as a direct
result of her prayer. She understood
that God was calling her out of the
solitude she had dwelt in, to begin
caring for those who were sick,
destitute, and dying. Still Catherine
found time in her life for silence
and contemplation.
Her holiness became widely
known. Her whole life spoke of the
freedom, joy and power of contemplative intimacy with God. She was
empowered to speak and act with
authority in the name of Christ, and
experienced the cost of doing so.
She spoke the truth of the gospel
with freedom, boldness, fidelity,
and love for the broken body of
Blessing of the
Easter Foods
Christ and wounded world.
Catherine was passionately
committed to non-violence in
the pursuit of transformation for
both church and society. She was
fiercely loyal to the church, and at
the same time was an outspoken
critic of its corruption. Though a
woman without any formal position or standing, she was sought
out by popes and politicians for
her wisdom and gifts of negotiation. Her ministry of itinerant
preaching attracted many to the
gospel. She was unflinching in
her passion for the truth, and just
as equally convinced that genuine
truth can only be spoken with love.
Catherine’s wisdom came neither
from theological degrees nor from
official mandate. It is believed that
she was unable to read and write.
Yet she presumed to speak in the
name of Christ, dictating words
that she believed God had spoken
to her in mystical prayer.
This remarkable woman was
named a Doctor of the Church in
1970; an honor that recognizes
the power of her teaching, and
one that was previously bestowed
only on men.
Troubled and turbulent times
in the history of the church and
the world test our courage and
hope. We remember the faith of
Catherine of Siena, and pray that
her courage and hope can sustain
and empower us.
hat do you include in your Easter
basket? You may be surprised to
learn that the custom of blessing food for
Easter arose from the discipline of fasting
and abstinence from meat, milk products
and eggs throughout Lent in the Middle
Ages. When the feast of Easter brought the
rigorous fast to an end, these foods were
again allowed at table, and people showed
their joy and gratitude by first taking the
food to church for a blessing.
This blessing is a wonderful practice!
Many parishes, especially Polish and
Slavic, still participate in this custom of
the blessing of the Easter food or baskets
on Holy Saturday. The food is then taken
home and eaten on Easter.
The content of the Easter basket varies from culture to culture and family to
family. Here are some of the contents and
their meanings:
• Colored boiled eggs that symbolize
life and rebirth, and especially Christ’s
Resurrection from the Tomb.
• Lamb meat signifies Jesus, the Lamb
of God.
• Kielbasa, spicy sausage of pork,
indicates God’s favor and generosity.
• A sugar lamb represents Christ Resurrected. It’s a typical Polish Easter
symbol.
• Bread symbolizes Christ, “the Bread
of Life.”
• Salt reminds each person, “You are
the salt of the earth.”
• Wine symbolizes the blood of sacrifice
spilt by Christ at the crucifixion.
After the rigorous fasting of Lent, these
foods have a special place. The following
blessing prayer may be used to bless your
Easter basket or your Easter feast that
breaks the Lenten fast.
God of glory, the eyes of all turn to you
as we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin
and death.
Bless + us and this food of our first Easter
meal.
May we who gather at the Lord’s table,
continue to celebrate the joy of his resurrection and be admitted finally to his
heavenly banquet.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen.
Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Sunday Scripture Readings:
March 25, 2007
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first
to throw a stone” (John 8:7c).
March 25, Fifth Sunday of Lent
Cycle C Readings:
1) Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126:1-6
2) Philippians 3:8-14
3) Gospel: John 8:1-11
By Dan Luby
Catholic News Service
Righteous indignation is the fuel that makes scandals
burn so hot. Ironically, the person most often burned
is the one who lights the fire.
Despite that, high dudgeon seems hard to resist,
especially for people who have been successful at
religion. After all, who hasn’t, on discovering people
caught in a major public offense, felt the pleasurable
desire to savor the sinner’s fall from grace? Who among
us hasn’t, from time to time at least, been tempted by
the corrosive allure of watching someone receive a
richly deserved comeuppance?
When we have given ourselves over to rigorously
following all the rules and regulations, when we’ve
suffered patiently the loss of freedom required by
strict adherence to the law, when we’ve triumphed
over our own weakness at great personal cost, then
it’s all the more infuriating to see someone get away
with flouting the very laws we have followed so
diligently. It’s hard not to want to see such scoffers
punished, shamed.
In the story in Sunday’s Gospel, the revelation of
adultery provides the religious elite of Jesus’ time
a double helping of righteous indignation. Capturing the adulterous woman gives them the chance to
denounce publicly someone of demonstrably lower
moral standards than themselves -- always its own
pleasure -- and at the same time to put Jesus, their
most irritatingly peaceful and clever opponent, in
the hot seat.
Jesus slips out of their trap with an elegance that
belies the strength of his confrontation. “Let the one
among you who is without sin cast the first stone,” he
says, and slowly, starting with the eldest, they drop
their weapons and slink away.
To the extent that we recognize ourselves in the
self-righteous accusers, it is a story that invites sober
reflection in these remaining Lenten days. To the extent
that we see ourselves in the forgiven sinner, it’s cause
for great rejoicing.
What stones of condemnation might my hands be
holding, and how can I let go of them? Who in my
life has given me second chances after failures? How
might I express gratitude for that gift?
March 23, 2007
PAGE 11
Advising the U.S. Bishops
The National Advisory Council, mostly laywomen
and laymen, meet to advise the bishops about critical
issues facing the Church.
Because the 60-member National Advisory Council
(NAC) represents adult U.S. Catholics by age, gender, ethnicity, geography, vocation and avocation, it
has been called “the Church in miniature.” Before
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(USCCB) meets every November and June, its major
documents have been read, commented on and some
times revised by the bishops’ committees, based in
part on NAC’s work.
The National Advisory Council also makes its
own suggestions about items for future USCCB
work, identifying areas that need greater attention
and resources from the Church.
A Diverse Membership
The National Advisory Council (NAC) now has 60
members, chosen on vocational status and geography.
While one fourth of NAC’s membership is new each
March, another fourth concludes its service every
September. During their four-year terms, members
inevitably develop a sense of the Church far beyond
what they had experienced before they started.
The breakdown of people gathering for the March
2007 National Advisory Council meeting is:
• 30 Regional representatives, one laywoman and
one layman from each of the USCCB’s 15 regions.
These members are chosen by the region’s bishops,
who have come to know of their service on diocesan
pastoral councils or other involvement in the life of
the local Church. Some NAG members might be
parish or diocesan employees or staff members of
their state’s Catholic conference.
Fourteen of the USCCB regions are geographic; the
15th one was created by the bishops last November to
guarantee representation in conference activities for
U.S. members of Eastern Catholic Churches present
(18 of those 21 Churches throughout the world are
present in the United States). Welcoming its first
two formal representatives of those Churches will
further expand NAC members’ sense of belonging
to a worldwide Church.
• 7 Diocesan priests. The regions alternate by even
and odd numbering; the bishops of each region work
out a selection system. Some years there will be eight
diocesan priests because of the 15th region.
• 3 Male religious. The Conference of Major Superiors of Men can select up to three men, currently
one priest and one brother.
• 3 Women religious. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious names two sisters and the
Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious
names one.
• 2 Deacons. The regional representatives usually
include at least two permanent deacons. If not, the
USCCB president names two. Deacons can also be
at-large representatives.
• 10 At-large representatives, to ensure diversity
by occupation, age, gender, ethnicity and region.
All U.S. bishops are invited to make nominations
for vacancies and submit résumés for the people
nominated. The appointment is made by the USCCB
president.
• 4 Bishops. The USCCB’s Administrative Committee names four bishops to serve on NAC. Their
three-year service coincides with their rotating
membership on the USCCB’s Administrative Committee.
Terms are staggered so that every spring there are
usually several new people in each category.
How NAC Operates
For four days each March and September (Thursday
afternoon through Sunday morning), the Maritime
Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies outside Baltimore, Maryland, is filled with the work,
prayer and informal exchanges among NAC members. Last September they came from Hawaii, New
York, Alaska, Texas and practically all the states in
between.
Giving advice on documents already written represents NAC’s reactive ser vice. Making suggestions
about new initiatives constitutes its proactive ser vice.
The council is obliged to complete its reactive work
before developing proactive proposals.
Because the U.S. bishops’ special assembly this
June in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will be a communal retreat (usually held every three or four years),
there will be few or no “action items” for that gathering. This means that NAC’s meeting this month will
devote more time than usual to its proactive work.
All recommendations to the Administrative Committee of the USCCB are given by means of profile
voting (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly
disagree or abstain) by the entire group, once a small
group has worked on that agenda item. Last September’s meeting had two sessions for small-group
work, each lasting two and a half hours. That work
was briefly summarized in all-member sessions.
The National Advisory Council has reactive and
proactive committees, headed for one year by a
chairperson elected by the entire membership. Those
two chairpersons, plus NAC’s past chair, current
chair, chair-elect, secretary and the chairperson of its
Internal Affairs Committee, form NAC’s executive
board, which guides the preparations for and conduct
of each meeting. Three weeks before a NAC meeting, this board meets at the USCCB headquarters
in Washington, DC, to determine the agenda and
working groups of the upcoming meeting.
PAGE 12
March 23, 2007
Short Review of Islamic Doctrine
Q - Can you give a short review of Is-
The late Bishop Kenneth Povish,
original Q. B. mentor, wondered how
Muslims, profoundly bowing and
kneeling at prayer, kept those lines
straight.
lamic doctrines? I’m sure many readers
would like to have some understanding
of what Islam teaches. I realize your
column is about Catholic theology but
if you would take at least a brief look
Q - We really like the Great Amen
at Islam I would appreciate it.
at Mass when everybody joins with the
A - Islam has a saying that God’s choir for the loud happy singing getting
first creation was a pen and the first ready for the Our Father. Can you tell
word God revealed to Prophet Muham- the origin of that little word that has
mad was a reading. Every Muslim is just two syllables?
a student obliged to read, to study and
A - If it sounds like Hebrew, it is. It
always to seek knowledge. The ink of means “It is true” with emphasis. It’s
a scholar, according to the Prophet, is an acceptance of what has just been
more valuable to Islam than the blood said and done. In Revelation 3:14 Jesus
of martyrs.
himself is called “the amen” as a person
Islam does not claim to be a new faithful to his word. In the Gospels Jesus
religion formulated by Muhammad frequently uses the word to emphasize a
point of discussion as if to say “That’s it.
but rather “the
No further quescontinuation of all
tions.”
former religious
principles decreed
Q - Will you
by God through
comment on the
His revelations to
difference beall prophets.” Jetween the Virgin
sus Christ belongs
Birth and the Imon the list of great
maculate ConcepBy Father Isidore J. Mikulski
prophets, not as
tion because it’s
Write to: 7718 Westwood Dr.,
the divine Son of
Oscoda, Mi 48750
confusing? Last
God but one of the
month a regional
great Jewish chosen leaders from Noah survey showed that many Catholics do
to Zephaniah.
not know the difference between those
Muslims revere, but never worship, major doctrines.
Prophet Muhammad because there is no
A - If we keep in mind that the Imdeity worthy of supreme praise except maculate Conception is one of the titles
God, Allah, and Muhammad is God’s of the Blessed Virgin Mary perhaps it
messenger.
might be apparent that the other title, the
Islam is the “religion of the book,” the Virgin Birth, must refer to Jesus Christ,
Qur’an (Koran) revealed to the Prophet born of the Virgin Mary through the
in 571 C.E. by the angel Gabriel. It intervention of the Holy Spirit.
contains all essential Pillars of Faith
The Immaculate Conception explains
and Beliefs: recital of the Creed, prayer itself, of course. This doctrine, which
five times daily facing Mecca, giving was officially defined in 1854, teaches
tithes to the poor, observing Ramadan that Mary was preserved from original
fasting for a month during daylight sin from the first minute of her life. That
hours and a pilgrimage to Mecca.
unique privilege was accorded to her
With more than a billion members it because she was called to be the mother
was inevitable that Islam would face of Jesus Christ, son of God. No other
some fractious schisms, Shiites and woman can make that statement.
Sunnites being the two major sects.
The Virgin Birth, in which Jesus
Closer to home is the independent Black Christ was born of the Virgin Mary,
Nation of Islam with the late Malcolm means just what it says.
X and Minister Louis Farrakhan.
?
The
Question
Box
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
LIFE ISSUES FORUM
First, Do No Harm
By Susan E. Wills
The Hippocratic Oath has been taking
a beating recently. Abortion, assistedsuicide, allowing disabled children
to die following preterm delivery,
“hastening” a patient’s death through
dehydration and starvation – all these
are tough to square with the aspiring
doctors’ pledge: “I will prescribe a
regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment
and never do harm to anyone.”
While most doctors would refuse to
give dangerous steroidal hormones to
healthy athletes, in the last 50 years,
thousands have given steroidal hormones to girls and women solely to
disrupt the functioning of a healthy
reproductive system to avoid pregnancy
despite the serious health risks longlinked to hormonal contraception.
Does the fact that patients request
contraceptives relieve doctors of their
responsibility? Of course not! Doctors
are supposed to exercise their professional judgment, and not let patients use
them like human vending machines to
“get high” or get stronger or become
pregnancy-proof.
After decades of sacrificing professional judgment to the demands of
patients, it’s not surprising that some
reproductive health professionals
began using even stronger and riskier
hormones to produce babies for women
struggling with infertility. In an estimated one-third of assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles women
are adversely affected by hormones
such as human chorionic gonadotropin
(HCG), with 3-8% of patients showing
moderate to severe reactions, including
blood clots, renal and liver dysfunction
and acute respiratory distress.
Increasingly, fertility doctors are using donated eggs from young women.
Over 15,000 donated eggs were used
in 2004, in the U.S. alone. For a fee of
$5,000 - $10,000, young women have
been subjecting themselves to horrific
health risks, often without a clear understanding of what is at stake.
The demand for donor eggs for use
in human embryonic stem cell research
and human cloning attempts has already
resulted in coerced “donations” of eggs
from research assistants in the Korean
scandal and the further objectification
and misuse of women as egg factories.
Thanks to a new coalition of scientists
and ethicists, the dangers of ovarian
stimulation and egg retrieval are coming
to light. Jennifer Lahl, founder/director
of the Center for Bioethics and Culture
and founder of Every Woman First, which
sponsors the website,
http://pull.xmr3.com/p/162E961/62468405/http-www.handsoffourovaries.com-.html, was joined at
a Congressional briefing on March 8
by other experts opposed to the human
egg trade.
Part of their presentation included discussion of a 2007 literature review by A.
Girolami et al. on “Arterial thrombosis in
young women after ovarian stimulation.”
Dr. Girolami and his colleagues found
34 cases of blood clots in arteries after
ovarian stimulation. These produced 15
cases of ischemic strokes (blood clots
caused loss of circulation to parts of the
brain), and 14 cases of blockage in other
key arteries. The occlusions produced 3
heart attacks and two deaths. Ten patients
suffered total paralysis or weakness of
one side of the body, in some cases requiring amputation. Nineteen of the affected
women were pregnant at the time the
blood clot occurred. Five women miscarried, 7 had “therapeutic” abortions, and
only 7 children survived to birth. The 34
women studied were young (average age
32) and had no history of disease.
The immediate goal of these experts is
a moratorium on human egg harvesting
for research, in the interest of women’s
health and social justice. You can learn
more about their efforts at
http://pull.xmr3.com/p/16229A0/62468404/http-www.corethics.
org-.html.
Susan Wills is associate director for
education in the Secretariat for Pro-Life
Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops.USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat.
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
March 23, 2007
PAGE 13
Religious called to imagine new future
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Present
trends suggest a declining future for
many communities of men and women
religious, but religious are called to
imagine a different future, Sister Doris
Gottemoeller said Feb. 3.
Sister Gottemoeller, former president
of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
and of the Leadership Conference of
Women Religious, and Father Canice
Connors, a former provincial minister of
the Conventual Franciscans and former
president of the Conference of Major
Superiors of Men, were the main speakers at Washington Theological Union’s
annual Religious Life Symposium.
The theme of this year’s symposium
was “Re-Imagining Religious Life in
the 21st Century.” Sister Gottemoeller
addressed the overall theme, while
Father Connors described a specific
effort by a community of Conventual
Franciscans in Syracuse, N.Y., to create a new center of Conventual life
and ministry.
Noting that a futurist tries
to analyze current trends and
prevailing forces and extrapolate them accurately into the
future, Sister Gottemoeller
said present trends in religious
life include:
-- “The aging and numerical
diminishment of traditional
religious congregations,” with
a median age of about 70 in
many congregations.
-- Withdrawal from or only
token presence in many institutions once run by one’s
congregation.
-- A “tendency of many
congregations to embrace an
individualism in spirituality,
interpretation of the vows
and communal practices,
which dilutes any distinctive
identity.”
-- “Initiatives of surprising creativity ... (and) great
generosity and willingness to
redeploy limited resources on
behalf of mission.”
Extrapolating from those and other
current trends in the church, she said,
“we can picture a church within 15 to 20
years which looks very different from
what we know today. Religious life
will be a vestigial presence at best. Our
intellectual, spiritual and ministerial
patrimony will be largely depleted.
“Most Catholics will have never met a
religious and will have no appreciation
of this way of life as a possible option for
themselves. The religious who remain
will be isolated in retirement centers
or absorbed into parishes without a
distinctive identity,” she said.
Describing religious life as a gift to
the church and a witness to a distinctive way of life that “contributes to the
holiness of the church,” Sister Gottemoeller asked her audience, “Can we
imagine a future in which this way of
life flourishes again?”
“It is eminently possible,” she said,
noting that in the course of church
history religious life has waxed and
waned.
But she said the future of a religious
congregation is up to that congregation.
“Individual members can live lives
of admirable holiness or apostolic zeal,
but they can’t change the membership
unless it wants to change,” she said. A
key to change that will lead to growth,
she said, is answering with clarity “the
fundamental questions: How will we
live and what will we do?”
On how to live, she said that “community living is the template for the
other dimensions of our life” because
“my living situation qualifies my
experience of poverty, of celibacy, of
obedience.”
“Within a congregation a corporate
spirituality is nourished by shared
prayer, reflection, ritual and celebration ... (as) part of the warp and woof
of daily living,” she said.
She said it is never easy to determine
how to adapt one’s founding charisms
to changing needs, but “whatever direction is chosen by an institute, I would
suggest that it must be prophetic and
corporate. ... It requires a facility in
drawing the gaze of the inquirer from
ourselves to the Gospel that we proclaim
and which animates us.”
“What is needed is deep discernment
on the part of each congregation, leading
to a clear vision, clearly expressed and
vividly demonstrated. In the absence
of that, our future is indeed perilous,”
she said.
Father Connors said that when he
was elected provincial minister in
the 1990s his province had just been
through four years of “low-grade depression” brought on by “ungrieved
losses consequent to the Covenant
House scandal.”
A province member, Father Bruce
Ritter, internationally renowned for
his work with runaway youths and the
founder and head of Covenant House,
was removed from that post in 1990 following allegations of sexual misconduct
with some of the youths he served.
“At the initiating assembly of my
term, the friars risked giving voice to the
sullen silence of grief and anger. ... The
consequence was a surprising
burst of creative energy within
our ranks and the sequence of
decisions to create new centers
of Conventual life and ministry,” Father Connors said.
He described an experiment
in Syracuse in which “eight
friars started from scratch
without the benefits and burdens of ministry assignments,
mandated to develop relationships and practices that would
ground and support community
life and mission.”
He described the prayer
life, community life, forms of
outreach to people in need and
alliances formed in the wider
community as that community seeks to find new ways to
follow in the footsteps of St.
Francis.
After completing his term
as provincial minister, Father
Connors became a member of
that community.
PAGE 14
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
March 23, 2007
News Briefs
Catholic News Service
More federal funding urged for umbilical cord-blood collection
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Lack of federal funding
could jeopardize therapeutic advances made in using
umbilical cord blood for curing diseases, said Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the U.S. bishops’
Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. Doerflinger told
Catholic News Service that the bishops supported
the 2005 law which authorized funds for collecting
and storing cord blood and for the establishment of a
National Cord Blood Inventory which would enable
doctors to match patients with compatible donors
through a centralized computer data bank. Although
the 2005 law authorizes $15 million per year from 2007
through 2010, Congress has to approve the funding
each year. For fiscal year 2008, which begins in October, the Bush administration budget proposes only
$2 million in funding. “We were active in supporting
the underlying legislation and we are in favor of full
funding,” Doerflinger said March 7 after attending a
briefing organized by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and
the main sponsor of the 2005 law. Smith called on his
congressional colleagues to approve the $15 million
permitted by law.
Catholic groups join call to bring
peace to Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new consortium of
organizations -- including several with Catholic roots
-- have proposed a $590 million plan to bring “proven
strategies of peace-building, humanitarian relief and
responsible economic development” to Iraq. “Twoand-a-half days worth of funding the military could
get you all of this for a year. Not bad, huh?” said
Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service
who is head of Network, the Catholic social-justice
lobby which is one of the backers of the proposal. The
plan would include: $290 million to respond to the
needs of an estimated 3.7 million Iraqis displaced in
and outside their own country, including an estimated
712,000 displaced since a Shiite mosque in Samarra
was bombed in February 2006; $100 million to restore
full funding of the Community Action Program and
an Iraqi war victims’ fund commonly known as the
“Marla Fund”; $100 million to support Iraqi civil
society, conflict resolution and peace-building strategies, and the advancement of human rights and rule
of law; $100 million to rebuild 143 Iraqi state-owned
industries with the potential to employ 150,000 Iraqis,
which would reverse the decline in U.S. economic
assistance.
EUCHARIST: “The Sacrament of Charity”
Continued from page 1
for the order and timing of the
sacraments of Christian initiation: baptism, confirmation and
Eucharist.
The three sacraments are
administered together for infants and adults in many of the
Eastern churches and for adults
joining the Latin rite, while
children in the Latin rite usually
are baptized as infants, receive
first Communion around the
age of 7 and are confirmed
several years later.
“It needs to be seen which
practice better enables the
faithful to put the sacrament of
the Eucharist at the center, as
the goal of the whole process of
initiation,” the pope said.
-- In expressing his concern
for the number of Catholics
unable to receive Communion
because of irregular marital
situations, Pope Benedict
confirmed church teaching
that those who have been divorced and civilly remarried
without having obtained an
annulment are not to receive
Communion.
However, the pope encour-
aged bishops to ensure they
have fully trained and staffed
marriage tribunals to deal with
annulment requests “in an expeditious manner.”
-- Pope Benedict said the
sign of peace at Mass “has
great value,” especially in
demonstrating the church’s
responsibility to pray for peace
and unity in a world too often
troubled by division, violence
and hatred.
While Catholics at Mass
should exchange a sign of
peace with those near them,
he also called for “greater
restraint” to ensure the moment does not become one of
irreparable distraction.
The pope said, “I have asked
the competent curial offices to
study the possibility of moving
the sign of peace to another
place (in the Mass), such as
before the presentation of the
gifts at the altar. To do so would
also serve as a significant reminder of the Lord’s insistence
that we be reconciled with
others before presenting our
gifts to God.”
POPE SIGNS
APOSTOLIC
EXHORTATION
ON THE EUCHARIST
Pope Benedict
XVI signs a
131-page apostolic exhortation
“Sacramentum
Caritatis” (“The
Sacrament of
Charity”) at the
Vatican March
13. In the document, the pope
offers reflections
on the Eucharist
and also makes
concrete suggestions for celebrating the Mass.
(CNS)
-- The pope also said the
church should consider providing new texts for the rite
of dismissal at the end of
Mass so that Catholics would
understand better the connection between what they have
just celebrated and the fact that
they are sent out in a mission
to bring God’s love and truth
to the world.
-- Pope Benedict said in order
to help Catholics “believe, celebrate and live ever more fully
the mystery of the Eucharist,”
several Vatican offices are
preparing a compendium of
texts, prayers and explanations
of the church teaching on the
Eucharist and of the eucharistic
prayers used at Mass.
-- He called for a general
improvement in the quality of
homilies and said bishops have
a particular responsibility to
ensure that the liturgies they
celebrate provide an example
for the whole diocese of a liturgy celebrated with dignity,
beauty and fidelity to the approved rites.
-- The pope asked Catholics
to pay more attention to how
their postures and gestures at
Mass communicate their faith
in the Eucharist, particularly
by “kneeling during the central
moments of the eucharistic
prayer.”
“Amid the legitimate diversity of signs used in the context
of different cultures, everyone
should be able to experience
and express the awareness that
at each celebration we stand
before the infinite majesty of
God, who comes to us in the
lowliness of the sacramental
signs.”
-- As for church architecture,
Pope Benedict encouraged parishes to ensure their facilities
Please see EUCHARIST page 16
PAGE 15
March 23, 2007
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
SHRINE OF ST. THERESE
www.shrineofsainttherese.org
2 PM Good Friday Outdoor Stations of the Cross
on Shrine Island April 6th
Rain or shine, Catholic or non-Catholic,
you are invited to come and pray the
Good Friday Outdoor Stations of the
Cross. Dress for the weather; bring a
friend or neighbor. Please try to car pool
as parking space is limited.
Alaska Wilderness Retreat:
Seven-Day “God in Nature” Experience--June 24-30
A 7-day retreat is being offered from June 24th –June 30 at the comfortable rustic
Shrine of St. Therese Lodge. Located on the waters along the Lynn Canal, participants will partake in an inviting schedule of morning conference followed
by an opportunity for hiking, returning each afternoon for Eucharist and quiet
reflection. Each evening will include an opportunity to share reflections of the
day. The retreat will be facilitated by Bishop Michael Warfel and Sr. Barbara Kelly,
OP, of the Diocese of Juneau. Rooms consist of
single or double with shared bathrooms. The
Reservation and deposit
cost for this week-long wilderness experience
required as number of
is $550 per person for a shared room and $700
retreatants is limited. For
for a private room. Cost includes accommodainformation and photos
tions, all meals, and transportation to and from
about the Shrine of St.
the Juneau International Airport.
Therese see the Shrine
Web Site: www.shrineofsainttherese.org For more
information about the
Wilderness Retreat, contact
Bishop Michael Warfel at
(907) 586-2227, Ext. 25 or
via e-mail bishopmike@gci.
net To Register: Contact Thomas P. Fitterer, Shrine
Director, fitterer@gci.net or
phone (907) 780-6112 or
write Shrine of St. Therese,
ALASKA WILDERNESS RETREAT 2005—In this
5933 Lund St. Juneau, AK
photo taken two years ago, Bishop Warfel poses with
group who spent time last year kayaking, including Fa99801-9760.
ther Thomas Weise, rector of the Cathedral, far right.
Job Opportunity
in Juneau Diocese
THE DIOCESE OF JUNEAU, ALASKA, A SMALL
MISSION DIOCESE, IS SEEKING A DIRECTOR
FOR THE OFFICE OF MINISTRIES.
RESPONSIBILITIES: include coordinating and supervising the Offices of Commissions, Communication and
Family Outreach, coordinating visitation to the missions,
overseeing diocesan events, as well as pastoral presence
in the missions and parishes of the diocese.
NEEDED QUALITIES: Catholic in good standing,
background in theology, has a pastoral heart, gives evidence
of excellent leadership and written and oral communication
skills, experience in coordinating and supporting ministers,
self-starter, flexible, able to work with a team, able to travel
extensively, sometimes do without conveniences, travel by
small plane (4 seater) or ferry.
MORE INFORMATION: more information and job
description upon request. Begin May 15th. Applications
due by April 1. Send resume with a letter of interest and
three references to Bishop Michael Warfel, Diocese of
Juneau, 415 Sixth St., Suite 300, Juneau, AK 99801 or
bishopmike@gci.net.
Evangelization for
(Extra)
Ordinary Catholics
www.spiritnetworking.com
This newly launched site is designed for Catholics
who want to live their faith more fully and share it
with others, purposefully, intentionally, and joyfully.
It will be a simple site for the everyday Catholic who
wants to learn about the New Evangelization- what it
is, how to do it, and why you should want to do it! It
is not hard or scarey. Trust me. It is
soooo easy. This is about “practical
evangelization.”
Do you need a lot of training to be an evangelizer? Well,
training would be good. But what if training isn’t available in your area? Don’t let that stop you! Learn what
you can about the New Evangelization from the resources on this site and the sites referenced here.
Web site designer and manager:
Linda Weaver
Member, Evangelization Committee for the Archdiocese of
Chicago, Parishioner, Holy Name Cathedral
PAGE 16
EUCHARIST:
Continued from page 14
are fully accessible to people with
disabilities and that the tabernacle
containing the Blessed Sacrament
is “readily visible to everyone
entering the church.”
“In churches which do not have
a Blessed Sacrament chapel and
where the high altar with its tabernacle is still in place, it is appropriate to continue to use this structure
for the reservation and adoration of
the Eucharist,” he said.
“In new churches, it is good to
position the Blessed Sacrament
chapel close to the sanctuary; where
this is not possible, it is preferable to locate the tabernacle in the
sanctuary, in a sufficiently elevated
place,” he said.
However, the pope said, the “final
judgment on these matters belongs
to the diocesan bishop.”
In the letter, Pope Benedict also
formally reaffirmed the obligation of celibacy for priests in the
Latin rite and the fact that, in
most cases, Catholics and other
Christians should not share the
Eucharist, which is a sign of full
unity in faith.
He reminded Catholics of the
obligation to be in a “state of grace,”
free from serious sin, before receiving Communion, and of the fact that
by receiving Communion they are
publicly proclaiming their unity
with the teaching of the church.
“Respect for human life, its
defense from conception to natu-
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
March 23, 2007
ral death, the family built upon
marriage between a man and a
woman, the freedom to educate
one’s children and the promotion
of the common good in all its forms
... are not negotiable,” he said.
Politicians and lawmakers
must introduce and support laws
inspired by those values, the pope
said.
Pope Benedict said, “bishops
are bound to reaffirm constantly
these values as part of their responsibility to the flock entrusted
to them.”
But the pope did not mention his
position on whether or not bishops
should declare publicly that they
would withhold Communion from
a politician who did not fully accept church teaching.
At the Vatican press conference
presenting the document, Italian
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice
was asked what the papal position was.
“He does not want to say that
which he does not say,” the car-
dinal responded.
The pope reminded bishops
that they must call all Catholics,
particularly politicians, to coherence of faith and action, “but he
cannot substitute himself for the
pastoral prudence of the bishop,”
the cardinal said.
--The complete text of the pope’s
post-synodal apostolic exhortation can be found at: www.vatican.
va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/
apost_exhortations/documents/
hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html
--Editor’s Note: The full text of
“Sacramentum Caritatis” (“The
Sacrament of Charity”) will be
printed by USCCB Publishing,
publication No. 7-002 (English)
and 7-800 (Spanish). USCCB
Publishing has begun taking prepublication orders. The price will
be $6.95. Orders can be made at
www.usccbpublishing.org or by
calling (800) 235-8722.
ydney
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You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses. Acts 1:8)
Knights of Columbus
The world’s largest Catholic, Family, Fraternal Service
Organization serving parishes and communities in
Southeast Alaska.
Are you interested in becoming a Knight or
reactivating your commitment to service?
Contact the K of C Council nearest you in
Juneau, Ketchikan or Sitka or call your local
parish for additional contacts and information.
Letters to the Editor
The Inside Passage accepts letters to the
editor about articles which have appeared in
The Inside Passage, issues concerning the
Diocese of Juneau or which offer a Catholic
perspective on current events. Letters may be
edited for length. Publication of a letter does
not imply endorsement of its contents by The
Inside Passage or the diocese, however, the
diocese maintains the right to refuse to run
letters contrary to Church doctrine.
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