Top Ten Catholics of 2008 meme

The incomparable Matt Swaim at the SonRise Morning Show tagged me for a meme on 'Top Ten' Catholics of 2009. Oy, vey! I hardly know ten people! But alas, I'll give it a shot:

Papa Benedetto! An easy choice, really. His time on the Chair of Peter seems to suit him fine. He looks younger and more energized than when he started, and has emerged from the enormous shadow of his beloved predecessor to shine in his own light and his own way. Viva il Papa!

Archbishop Dennis Schnurr Ok, a little brownnosing never hurt anyone! In his short time here in Cincinnati, I've had two chances to sit down and talk with him, once in a one on one, last night with the vocation advisory board. Both times, I have come away feeling very energized about the future of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Jaime S I had heard about this crazy woman who had a literal van load of children for some time, as she is friends with my sister. Having now been in email contact and recently met her in person, she is an embodiment of the joy that comes from following Christ and his Church in complete trust.

Matt Swaim The rise of Catholic Media, with a local face. Matt is paradigmatic of the young JPII Catholics who are engaged with the modern world, yet still call the world to conversion. It has been a joy working with Matt and the entire staff at Sacred Heart Radio over the last year, plus.

(how many is that, only four?!?!)

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus Convert, priest, scholar. His recent disclosure of cancer warrents a 'storming of heaven.' I enjoy his writing for his scholarship, but also his wit.

Seminarians, near and far The best recruiters of priests are happy priests. These future priests will be excellent recruiters in the near future. It is an honor and privelidge to work with our seminarians.

Anne Straus A new friend this year, it was her idea to begin the Prayer Warriors movement here in Cincinnati. She certainly took a risk in coming forward to suggest a new idea, but it has already started to bear fruit. One person can make a difference.

There are many other friends whom I could list, but I'll let it go at this, and keep three in pectore.

What do we seek? (Sunday Homily)

What do we seek? Saint Augustine’s wonderful line keeps echoing to us through the centuries: “Our hearts are restless until the rest in you, O God.” Yet, we continue to seek and not find, we continue to look, but not see; the doors we knock upon are not opened. Is this because God has stopped listening to our prayers? In this season where we prepare for the coming of Christ at the end of time in addition to Christmas; his can seem a disheartening prospect!

Yet, I think with the example we have from the Gospel account for today, we may take some solace; because what we start to see here in this passage is that the authorities from Jerusalem, seeking to fill the restlessness of their hearts in coming out to hear and witness John the Baptist’s mission out in the wilderness. When they come out to him, they come with questions, but they are the wrong questions! Even worse, as John directs them to the right questions, they refuse to follow his lead and stubbornly follow their preconceived notions of what they are after!

Let’s walk back through that dialogue to see where they went wrong, and then how we might learn from their mistakes so that we can ask the right questions.

First, it is important to call to mind the stark image that John presents in the Gospels, which we heard described last week: he is an imposing figure, and one which hearkens back immediately to the great prophets of old: the leather belt, the garment of camel’s hair, the un-kept hair and beard: his mere appearance is one to challenge the niceties of the day.

So, these leaders from Jerusalem come out and are confronted by this mysterious figure and ask the natural question: ‘Who are you?” John’s answer is one to direct them to the right question: “I am not the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed one.” So, who is? Do you know? John follows his role in pointing others to Christ, but they stay focused on him instead, asking him this litany of questions which he refuses to answer and constantly points back to Christ: Are you a prophet? NO! Are you Elijah? NO! “I am the voice crying out in the desert: make straight the paths of the Lord!”

What they fail to ask is if he knows the one who is coming, they are so focused on their own agenda, that they fail to see the forest for the trees.

Where it comes down to us, then, is that I think that the leaders from Jerusalem fall into a very likely trap that, perhaps, we too often fall into: we get so caught up in asking God to answer our specific questions and needs, that we fail to hear the direction in the answers, we fail to hear God giving us the directions to a deeper relationship with Himself.

Vows Bleg

This Friday, Sr. Pamela of the Franciscan Daughters of Mary makes her intial vows with the community and is being vested with the habit of her order.

May Our Lord continue to guide and form her into a beacon of light for the wider community.

Daily Prayer for Priests

in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is now up and running.

Ok, I'll drop the birthday post!

Since I am starting to get flack about leaving the birthday post up, I have to add something.

Let's just say it was an absolutely fabulous weekend.

Friday, I spent the day 'Up North' with confessions at Sidney Holy Angels for the grade school kids, a class presentation at Lehman High School, and the afternoon at mom and dad's before dinner with them.

Saturday was a John Vianney day: 8:00 Mass and confessions at Holy Name, Mount Auburn as part of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants; 11:30 Mass and more confessions at the Cathedral; and a confession spot at Our Lady of Victory in the afternoon as well. Went to dinner with a priest from the Cathedral, hit the sack about 9:00; whoo hoo, the party life of a priest!

Sunday involved a drive to Fairborn for Mass at Wright State and then a Bonzai run back to the Cathedral for our little gathering of welcome for Archbishop Schnurr (who has apparently read this site! YIKES!) The reception afterwards was very nice, saw many friends I hadn't seen in quite a while, too. dinner afterwards with a friend and commentator here was good.

Monday, Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Originally, I was scheduled for the early shift at the Cathedral, but another priest had to switch with the late Mass; then the pastor approached: 'do you have a Mass elsewhere today?" Yes, Candidacy at the Seminary. "Good, I'm taking the late Mass then." (he said it a bit more diplomatic than that, actually.) So, I ventured through more ice to the seminary for Candidacy Mass with three seminarians (two Toledo guys and one Cincinnati), presided over by Archbishop Schnurr. As is consistent with Masses at the Cathedral and Seminary, beautiful and solemn without being flashy or gaudy. The afternoon saw some shopping (majorly broke now!) and an evening meeting.

Today, back at work, alas.

32 years ago today....

I made my auspicious entrance into the world, but the story is quite fun.

My poor mother was on bed rest during most the pregnancy with complications, don't really know what they all were, but since she wasn't allowed to pick up my sister, Tania still hasn't forgiven me!  Well, what was bed rest turned to panic as labor pains started nearly two months early!  YIKES!  Dad rushed mom to the Hospital, while grandparents watched the other four at home.

They hit the neo-natal unit, or whatever it's called, and you know one of those Oh, S**T moments that dawns on someone's face, ummm.... The nurse was trying to read the baby's heartbeat with a stethascope, when all of a sudden her face panics and looks at my mom: "I think I hear two heart beats!"  The Doctor looks at her: "What?!?!  Give me that!"  After a few seconds, his face does the same utter transformation.  "We got issues here, people!"

They were able to slow down mom's progression and get things quiet for the night, so dad headed home.  Unbeknowst to him, however, the parking lot had iced over and he fell getting into the car!  Oi!

Well, to make matters worse, my older brother had a propensity to run through the house and trip and fall into those old, huge, cast iron heaters that sat beside doors and such, busting his head open.  Yep, managed to do that the next morning!

So, dad's back at the hospital with mom, bro's upstairs getting his head stitched together and mom's in the OR for a C-Section.  What a grand and glorious day it was!  They ripped me from the comforts of the womb first and sure enough my twin bro showed shortly afterwards.  (We always contend that they named us backwards, but that's beside the point.)

Dad managed to call his in-laws, and reported: "Mom and the boys are doing fine."  "Boys, plural?"  "Oh, yeah, sorry, didn't get a chance to call, we had twins!"  Yep, dad's life was effectively over at that point!

The nurse's felt so bad for mom, because we were so small, she couldn't hold us (I was in intensive care at the time), plus her other son was upstairs; they went against doctor's wishes and took mom up to see Keith.

Well, 20 days later, they finally brought us home and put us where else?  Under the Christmas Tree!  (Tania was, and still is, looking for the gift exchange on that one!)

 Mom and dad left the ankle bracelets on till they could tell us apart, which for dad was somewhere around our 18th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Kurt!

Love of Priesthood is Love for Church

In the comments thread of this post, there was a highlight of a post by Diogenes. Well, go read it first, then come back.

Diogenes critiques a priest who 'loves being a priest' but is unwilling to accept some Church teaching.

To me, this is a great source of schizophrenia, and I want to explain further what I mean when I say: "I love being a priest."

I love being a priest because I first love the Church, and I want to give my life in service to her, as the bride of Christ. My love for what I do as a priest is because it is a way that I am able to give my life for my bride, the Church; it is the way that I show my love for the Church; by dieing to self to live for her.

My love of being a priest is not narcissism, at least I hope not. It is not a love for power, prestige, honor. You can keep all that, it is fleeting and if you start to desire it, you will eventually sell your soul to keep it. I want to save my soul, not sell it.

I think a marriage analogy is never more fitting here. Ask a married man if he loves being a husband and father. If yes, why?

If it is for the 'privileges' of marriage: the act of marriage, a wife who will pick up after him, make him dinner, care for the children, wash and iron his clothes; how long will that marriage last? six months, maybe?

However, if he loves being a husband because it is the way that he expresses his love for his wife, it nourishes and enriches the relationship that he has with her, a relationship that is so strong and complete, that life erupts in many forms: children, alms giving, joy, friendships, etc. the husband's love of being a husband is sustained and nurtured because of his love for his wife, to whom he will give his very self because he knows that his path to salvation necessarily involves her path to salvation first and foremost; not to mention any children that come from their union.

I hope this makes sense, as I've been thinking on this the last few days since the article was published and there were comments that appeared on the Enquirer site about "It is impossible for an 18 year old man to forgo sex his entire life." On the surface, that comment is absolutely true. However, if he willingly forsakes sex becuase of his love for the Church and his willingness to give his life for the Church, then it is extremely possible; and not just possible, his life will flourish because of it.

Prayer Request

Deacon Tony Tozzi's mother passed away last week, with the funeral being celebrated tomorrow. Tony is a transitional deacon for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, anticipating ordination in May, 2009.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon her.

Church out to amplify 'The Call'

With a huge thanks to Dan Horn of the Cincinnati Enquirer, a story he and I have been working on hits the press this morning:

The Rev. Kyle Schnippel places his prayer book on the table and takes a seat, waiting for the future of the Catholic Church to arrive.

It's an early Monday morning in November and Schnippel is among dozens of job recruiters preparing to make a pitch to students at La Salle High School. He hopes to find a few interested in the priesthood, but he knows he could be in for a long morning.

He's competing for the teens' attention with engineers who have built high-tech equipment, businessmen who run multimillion- dollar companies and military recruiters with cool gear and tales of adventure.

"They have better toys," the priest says of his competition.

But if anyone can convince teenage boys to consider a lifetime of celibacy, prayer and a $24,000 salary, it's Schnippel.

St. Andrew, A Model for Advent

My homily for the First Sunday of Advent, delivered at Holy Redeemer, New Bremen, Ohio. On a side note, it was good to put faces to names, specifically Jamie S. and Wife, Mother, and so much more.

As we begin the Church year once again on this First Sunday of Advent, we naturally start at the end. Instead of looking at the beginning of Creation in the Garden of Eden, we look first to the end of time and Christ’s return in glory. Certainly, it does seem an odd place to start a ‘New Year,’ but what the Church wants to do in starting in such a way is to give us a focus for our lives by focusing on what is of most importance to the Church. This focus on the End is a call to mind that we are to cooperate with the Grace of Christ in building up the Kingdom of God here on Earth, that at some point which we do not know, Christ will come again and we will be called to give account of the stewardship of the gifts that God has given to us to share.
Ok, great, how do we do this? That’s the challenge, and it really is a challenge that each one of us has to face individually; but there are some common elements that each disciple goes through. To highlight that example, I want to focus on the Saint who would be celebrated today, if today was not a Sunday.
November 30th is set aside to honor St. Andrew, one of the initial disciples of Jesus, and the one, importantly, who brought Peter to meet Jesus while they were in the wilderness with John the Baptist. It is a fairly simple story from the First Chapter of the Gospel according to John: Andrew is listening to John the Baptist when Jesus walks by, and John simply says: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Intrigued, Andrew follows after Jesus who turns and invites Andrew to ‘Come and See’ where he is staying. But before he goes, he first finds his brother Simon and brings him along.
This little episode, comprising all of 8 versus in the Scripture, provides a paradigm of how we are to be prepared for the Coming of Christ at the End of Time. Simply, through our own quest of Discipleship, through our own pilgrimage of faith, our witness to others in both grand and small ways, should be an invitation to that other person to ‘Come and See’ where Jesus is, both here in the Church and personally in our lives as Christian disciples.
The challenge, and how this becomes ever new in the lives of the Christian Believer, is that the situation is always changing, Our Lord keeps upping the ante on us, so that he is always putting us in new situations where we might respond to His invitation of Grace at an ever deeper level. We must be prepared to give our witness no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing.
Yikes, I know this sounds extremely Protestant, but it was ours before it was theirs! And, in fact, in talking with Protestant converts to the Catholic faith, even Protestant clergy members who have left behind everything to come to the One True Faith, one of the biggest stumbling blocks that they have found is the witness of ordinary Catholics who seem to not realize the treasures that we have here in the Faith. Their eyes start to be opened to the great mystery of the Eucharist, to the wonders of all the Seven Sacraments, yet they see a lackadaisical attitude among so many Catholics that they are confused.
So, what are we to do? We have to be constantly aware of opportunities that God presents us with to share our faith, and not be afraid to take advantage of that chance to invite someone else to ‘come and see.

The kids are going hungry tonight!

This morning, my dad, brother, a brother-in-law and I went Sport Clay shooting. For those unfamiliar with Sport Clays, its shooting after little clay pigeons, rabbits, sparrows, et al, set up in stations throughout a woods or a field.

While it was a great to spend time with the family; but as poorly as we shot, all the kids are starving tonight!

The good news, I beat my brother!

Happy Thanksgiving

What?!?!  Thanksgiving was yesterday?!?!?!  How did I miss that?

Ok, not really, just a day late on posting.

Since the family isn't getting together until tomorrow, as Thanksgiving Day proper is usually spent with in-laws and today is, well, Black Friday.  No gathering until Saturday it is.

With the added fact that I have Mass at Noon today at the Holy Spirit Center here in Cincinnati, no travels home for me.

Gladly, I had several invites over for the holiday, so I made some grand travels, for which I was exceedingly grateful.

First was off to Jackie's for a great feast.  As I arrived earlier than her family, I was put to work finishing some of the preparations, setting up tables and such.  The food was quite the reward, however!

I rolled myself out of there and headed to Rich's, where Chaos ruled the day.  I don't know how many teens and younger were there, but as I was leaving one thought popped into my head: "AHHHH, blissful celibacy!"  Celebrating with large families and extended families is great, it just makes me enjoy the quiet of this morning all the more!

Finally, one last stop at Anne's with her family.  No small children around here, but an elegant way to end the day.

Thanks to all for the hospitality!

Just for kicks

Rich went on a macabre bent and diagnosed his wishes for his funeral.  (by the way, this is a good idea to do, you never know when He's gonna call, afterall.)

Fr. Fox's comment (number 10) brought up a memory for me from my grandfather's funeral now two weeks ago.  Fr. Fox wrote: 

A little known fact: the Archbishop has specified the In Paradisum to be sung at all priest's funerals; perhaps he has simply make it clear he wants it, without making it a "mandate"; but it was sung at Fr. Schuh's funeral. It is properly sung, I believe, as the deceased's remains are borne from the church.

Sometimes it is sung as the remains are incensed, which may be allowed (who knows anymore?), but another prayer, "Saints of God, come to his aid" is normal there, too bad not to have both.

FYI, if you have even a small number of competent singers as a choir, a chant such as In Paradisum works very well (hint, get a group together and offer such services in your parish). I know a parish priest who sings it himself.

At the end of the Visitation, grandma wanted the family to say a decade of the rosary together, as they used to say it as the children (my mom's generation) were all little.  Well, guess who lead it, perk of having a priest in the family, I guess.

Thinking that we are a Catholic family, I started the Fatima tune at the end of the decade.  What I intended to be a chorus ended up to be mostly a solo.

I was fine with it, just unexpected.

Long week for a short one

Whew,

After spending nearly two of the last three weeks out of the office, to say nothing of the family funeral; wow, this week is crawling by.

alas, more meetings tonight. Tomorrow looks better, thankfully.

The Hidden Joys of the Priesthood

My next article for the Catholic Telegraph runs in this week's edition:

“I hope you have all the joys as a priest that I have had.”  With these words, John Cardinal Foley welcomed a few of our seminarians as he was in Cincinnati to celebrate an occasion with Sacred Heart Radio.  It was a humbling testimony to a life of prayer and wonder that has been shared by a modern day Prince of the Church, whom one can tell by the sheer joy rolling out of him that he just loves being a priest.  He continued to our seminarians: “I’ve never had a bad day as a priest.”  In a career that has spanned four popes and an unlikely ascension to the ‘Pope’s Senate,’ all he wants to do is be a simple priest, what a great gift to witness the faith and devotion of this man.

However, this love and desire to be a simple parish priest is not held by Cardinal Foley alone.  Over this past summer, I spent a weekend with a priest friend in Akron, Ohio.  At the end of a long day where we celebrated Mass together, heard confessions and relaxed with other friends; he looked at me and opined: “Why are we not turning men away from the seminary?  This is the greatest life, if only they knew!”  I nodded in agreement: four plus years a priest, never a dull day, and the impact that the laity have had in my life, that impact I hope I have had in theirs.  Again, humbling that Our Lord could have called me, unworthy though I am, to this wonderful ministry.  “Who am I, Lord, that you should call me?”

Unfortunately, the joy of the priesthood is something that we do not see too often in our modern day.  The media often presents priests as frustrated old men, yet that is not the priesthood that I know.  The priests whom I know are dedicated, holy, prayerful men; men who love to serve Our Lord, who love to serve His people; men who want to be a bridge between heaven and earth, recognizing that it is only through God’s great gift that we are able to stand in such a way.

I admit, even when I was in the seminary, I did not think this was possible.  I was meeting new priests on a seemingly weekly basis, and there was something about each one of them that made me want to be like them.  It was not an effervescent bubbly joy that would turn sour quickly, but a deep sense of purpose that I did not see anywhere else in this world.  I have come to realize that it is the joy that comes from knowing Christ, which comes from giving one’s life over to Him, and realizing that in that giving over, there truly are many rewards, nearly all of which are unexpected.

Does this mean that every day is easy as a priest?  Certainly not, just as every day as a parent is filled with both great joys and deep hardships.  In fact, one of the most memorable days I have had as a priest was one of the greatest struggles, in how to make sense of the death of a ten year girl who was stricken with Cerebral Palsy.  It was extremely difficult to celebrate her funeral with joy, with hope in the Resurrection, yet, looking back, it is a day that I will always remember as a priest.

Because priests have declined in numbers over the last forty years, I fear that many of the faithful, especially the young faithful, have never experienced the joy that radiates from a priest on fire for the priesthood. 

Thank your priest for his service to the Church, for his willingness to give it all over to Christ.  But more importantly, encourage the same self-sacrifice among our young people of today.  I am convinced God is calling many more than those who are responding.  With your prayers and support, the seminary will again be filled with young men eager to be Fishers of Men.