Pope asks communicators to consider silence

By Mary DeTurris Poust

On the surface it may seem a little odd that Pope Benedict XVI has chosen silence as the theme of the next World Communications Day, but to me it makes perfect sense. Having recently returned from a silent retreat, I cannot recommend the practice highly enough.

Silence, of course, does not simply mean refraining from talking. Real silence has to include a shut down of all those social communication gadgets that make a deafening noise of their own. If we're always spinning our wheels, it can become more and more difficult to communicate effectively. Or to do anything effectively, for that matter.

So as a writer and "communicator," I'd like to say, "thank you," to the pope for reminding us that we can't always just be talking and typing and blogging and tweeting. We have to take time to turn everything off, step away from our normal routine, and listen for that still, small voice.

Here's a little more on the pope's announcement from a CNS story:

Announcing that the pope had chosen "Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization" as the theme for World Communications Day 2012, the Vatican acknowledged it initially might appear strange to ask professional wordsmiths to focus on silence, but it said silence is essential for really processing the words people hear or read.

The Catholic celebration of World Communications Day is marked in most dioceses on the Sunday before Pentecost, which in 2012 will be May 20. A papal message for the occasion usually is released on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers, Jan. 24.

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which coordinates the observance, said that in the pope's thinking, "silence is not presented simply as an antidote to the constant and unstoppable flow of information that characterizes society today, but rather as a factor that is necessary for its integration."

Silence, the council said, favors discernment and reflection.

Particularly when talking about the word of God, silence is an indispensable part of welcoming the message the word is communicating, it said.

I have written about the importance of short but intense periods of silence in my own life HERE and HERE. I find as I get older I crave those silent times more and more. I'm lucky because I get some daily doses of silence (at least when school is in session) due to the fact that I work at home all alone. But, even there, I have to be careful not to fill the empty space with Facebook and Twitter and other "noise."

Are you able to make time for silence in your busy life? Has it changed your life in positive ways?

Tribute to Archbishop Hannan — one of a kind

OSV is mourning the loss of retired New Orleans Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, 98, who served on the Our Sunday Visitor board for 19 years and was elected a Director Emeritus in July 2006. The archbishop died in his sleep early this morning in New Orleans.

Peter Finney Jr., executive editor of The New Orleans Clarion Herald and one of Archbishop Hannan's collaborators on the book "The Archbishop Wore Combat Boots," wrote this reflection:

I walked into Archbishop Philip Hannan's Covington home late last year – it was 7 p.m. – and the then-97-year-old archbishop, in crisp black trousers and white clerical shirt, was seated with his back to me at the glass-topped table in his small dining room.

About an hour earlier, he had put away a dinner of steak and potatoes and vanilla ice cream. In front of him now was a blue binder with a large-print version of the Daily Office, the daily readings from the Old and New Testaments, including the psalms, which each priest commits to reading and reflecting upon every day.

He did not know I was there.

Archbishop Hannan, 71 years a priest, was not simply reading the Scripture passages – he was proclaiming them, in a voice so powerful and with diction so crisp that if you were to close your eyes, it was 1965 again, and he was this dashing, intelligent, daring, engaging, confident, whimsical, self-deprecating, street-wise 52-year-old bishop from Washington, D.C., striding off the Eastern Airlines jet at Moisant International Airport into an unknown, exotic and partially submerged city.

Yes, he had the family genes to live a long life – both his mother and father lived until they were 93 – but at his core was the absolute desire to do God's will daily and to inspire others to see what he saw and commit to that vision.

He feared nothing.

Crisis – in his, case WWII – doesn't really form character as much as it identifies it. As a paratroop chaplain for the 82nd Airborne, Father Hannan, then 32, held dying American and German boys in his arms, and the last rites he administered provided spiritual graces and consolation to all, whether they wore an American dog tag around their necks or had a Soldat buch (soldier book) tucked away inside the pocket of their uniforms.

He liberated a German POW camp and lifted up with one hand emaciated men who were little more than skeletons. The horrors of war confirmed his belief that without God, anything is possible. Because of God and the goodness of God's creation, life is precious. That's why he was such an American patriot and such a defender of human life and dignity.

He dreamed – big and often. His teachers, including a Brother Luke at St. John's High School in Washington, caught on to that very quickly. “Hannan," Brother Luke told him one day, "you get too many ideas. Skip every third idea.”

But that's the trouble with dreamers. They keep dreaming, and if they have enough conviction, it becomes a reality.

Archbishop Hannan had the rare ability to size up a person within 30 seconds. While many bishops tended to shy away from politicians to avoid potential entanglements, Archbishop Hannan reveled in working with elected officials to collaborate on projects, such as elderly housing or supplemental food initiatives or educational programs for children, which would help the entire community.

The first question he always asked any politician was: "What are the biggest challenges you face in doing your job?" How that person answered the question gave him an insight into the politician's personality and motivation.

Shortly after coming to New Orleans in 1965, he paid a formal visit to Mayor Vic Schiro. Inside Schiro's office were framed, honorary proclamations from all manner of civic organizations and photographs of him receiving special honors. The citations were everywhere – almost as though it was Vic Schiro wallpaper.

"When I saw that, I knew that all I had to do was flatter him, and he'd be very agreeable to working with us," Archbishop Hannan said, smiling. Schiro, did, in fact, help with zoning issues when the archdiocese wanted to build the first of its Christopher Homes senior residences.

The archbishop built 2,900 apartment units for seniors and the poor, with a lot of the funds coming through the government. He even tried to share his ideas with fellow bishops to show them how easy it was.

"That's OK, Phil," said Archbishop John Cody, who had moved from New Orleans to Chicago. "I've got my own plans."

You win some, you lose some.

Archbishop Hannan was never afraid to ask the question, which is why he spoke up to Pope John Paul II during a planning meeting in Rome for the 1987 papal trip when he urged the pope to use the occasion of his visit to speak directly about the historical struggles of black Catholics.

"The worst he could say was 'no,'" Archbishop Hannan said.

The pope said yes.

Perhaps the reason he has been known since 1965 as the Archbishop of New Orleans has been his conscious decision to take action – to witness to the Gospel. He put on his Army combat boots to slosh through flooded streets on the West Bank after Hurricane Juan in 1987, and he helped fill and stack sandbags.

Preach the Gospel always, and, if necessary, use words.

"I always thought that if people saw you doing something to help them, even if the idea didn't work out, they would give you credit for trying," Archbishop Hannan said.

He was a terrible driver, with a lead foot and white-line fever, because he was always in a hurry to do the next "thing." That's why his drive across the closed Causeway after Katrina at age 92 was so easy – there was no one else on the bridge, thank God. After riding out Katrina by himself in his TV studios with peanut butter, crackers and water, he had to get to the northshore, because that's where his people needed him.

When he showed up and gave a pep talk to first responders, grown men cried.

A few days later, the papal representative from Cor Unum, several other bishops and reporters took a helicopter tour out of Baton Rouge and flew over submerged New Orleans and landed in a grass field in Biloxi. As we emerged from the helicopter, rotor blades still whirring, there was Archbishop Hannan – along with his cameraman – to greet us with a microphone, his white hair flapping in the breeze.

At 92, he somehow had beaten the helicopter to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The tiny man seated at his dining room table late last year and powerfully proclaiming his fidelity to God and neighbor taught by offering his life as an oblation.

One of the great blessings of my life was to sit with him over the course of two years, beginning in 2007 when he was 94, and let him tell his stories. Those stories and the ones he told his first cousin Nancy Collins formed the basis of his autobiography, "The Archbishop Wore Combat Boots."

The title fit the man.

In Latin, the language in which he studied during his four years in Rome, he would be known as sui generis (one of a kind). And now we pray, requiescat in pace.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at pfinney@clarionherald.org.

Read Archbishop Gregory Aymond's statement on Archbishop Hannan's death and Archbishop Hannan's obituary.

Remembering a colleague, praying for his family

By Mary DeTurris Poust

The Catholic press mourns the loss of a talented writer this week. Christopher Ringwald, 55, former editor of The Evangelist, the weekly paper of the Diocese of Albany, and the author of three books on spiritual subjects, died Sept. 26 in an apparent suicide. He leaves behind his wife, Amy, and their three children.

Although I'd met Chris only once, we had talked on the phone now and then regarding columns and stories. When I heard the news of his death, I was stunned and saddened that he had found himself in such a dark place, a place he apparently couldn't escape. I ached for his family but I also ached for him, knowing that so many people would have been happy to help if they'd only known help was needed.

Chris had a long list of Catholic credentials to his name. His obituary in today's Times Union bears witness to the depth of his devotion to his Catholic faith and his commitment to helping others through his writing:

Chris's life revolved around his family and his Catholic faith. He cherished his wife, Amy Biancolli Ringwald, and their three children: Madeleine, Jeanne and Mitchell. Chris filled his days deliberately, packing in work, exercise, reading, lunches with friends, dinner with family, school and sports events and civic engagements. But on Sundays, he rested. Chris had a deep intellectual understanding of Catholicism, and lived his faith.

He was a devoted parishioner at St. George's Black Catholic Apostolate, St. Teresa of Avila, and then St. Vincent de Paul. Through the years, he taught carpentry in Peru, visited Albany homeless shelters, dropped in on friends in nursing homes, counseled alcoholics, delivered Christmas gifts and Thanksgiving food to needy families, and supported Emmaus House, an Albany Catholic Worker residence.

Chris was born in the Bronx and was educated at Georgetown University, the Columbia School of Journalism and St. Bernard's Institute. He worked as a carpenter, building contractor and a human rights lobbyist. As a journalist, he concerned himself with faith and justice. He was the author of three books: "A Day Apart," about the importance of the Sabbath in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths; "The Soul of Recovery," which explored the role of spirituality in addiction recovery (both published by Oxford University Press); and "Faith in Words," a series of interviews with writers about their spirituality.

His writing had been published in Newsday, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Commonweal and National Catholic Reporter.

Please pray for Chris' family as they face the incredibly difficult road ahead -- a life without a husband, without a father.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

Be a hummingbird

A little inspiration for your Tuesday morning from Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and Africa's first female Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died this week at the age of 71. May she rest in peace.

Archbishop Dolan: Threats to marriage will cause 'national conflict'

In a letter to President Obama this week, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, writing on behalf of the U.S. bishops, said the Obama administration's fight against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as between one man and one woman, would "precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.”

From the archbishop's letter:

I write with a growing sense of urgency about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage...

The Catholic Bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by you and your Administration to strengthen marriage and the family. We cannot be silent, however, when federal steps harmful to marriage, the laws defending it, and religious freedom continue apace...

I know that you treasure the importance that you and the First Lady, separately and as a couple, share in the lives of your children. The Mother‟s Day and Father‟s Day proclamations display a welcome conviction on your part that neither a mom nor a dad is expendable. I believe therefore that you would agree that every child has the right to be loved by both a mother and a father.

The institution of marriage is built on this truth, which goes to the core of what the Catholic Bishops of the United States, and the millions of citizens who stand with us on this issue, want for all children and for the common good of society. That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing.

We as Bishops of the Catholic Church recognize the immeasurable personal dignity and equal worth of all individuals, including those with same-sex attraction, and we reject all hatred and unjust treatment against any person. Our profound regard for marriage as the complementary and fruitful union of a man and a woman does not negate our concern for the well-being of all people but reinforces it. While all persons merit our full respect, no other relationships provide for the common good what marriage between husband and wife provides. The law should reflect this reality.

For more information and the full text of the letter, visit the USCCB website.

Are we standing still or making 'progress'?

I thought I'd share my latest Life Lines column. Life Lines has appeared monthly in Catholic New York for the past 10 years.

By Mary DeTurris Poust

When I began this column 10 years ago, the world was a very different place. My plan to write about the intersection of faith and everyday life was propelled into high gear by 9/11 and all that played out in the days that followed, both in our country and in our home. Suddenly my young children had questions that had no real answers. I had questions that had no real answers. I think we all did.

There was nothing we could do but move forward, slowly, shakily at first, but with more strength and confidence as the days went by. Now, looking back, I realize that as much as the outside world has changed in the past decade, so has my internal world, the landscape of my soul. Much of it has been explored and expressed in the 650-word jolts I put on paper each month; more has been poured out on the pages of my books and the posts of my blog.

It has been a challenging journey, filled with desperate lows – like the one we all experienced on that clear September morning – and joyous highs – like the birth of my third child, the publication of my four books, and the ongoing interior pilgrimage that is my spiritual journey. Someone recently asked me if I had any breakthroughs to share. At first I laughed at the prospect, but the comment caused me to pause and reflect on the changes that have taken place without my even realizing it.

I think most of us imagine we’re standing still, whether it’s in our professional lives or personal lives or spiritual lives. We look at the big picture and can feel as though we’re simply not making progress. I know I often look at my cluttered desk, cluttered kitchen counters, and equally cluttered prayer life and think: “Nothing’s happening here.” But, when I go back to September 2001 and mentally walk the path from there to here in my mind, I realize I’ve come a lot farther than it appears on the surface.

You’ve heard me talk (whine?) in this space about my struggles with prayer, struggles with motherhood, struggles with multi-tasking, struggles with everything from laundry to oatmeal. I tend to be more open about my struggles than about my strides because I never want to get too comfortable, never want to sit back and think, “I’ve arrived.” Perhaps because we never really arrive. We may have breakthroughs, we may find ourselves stepping out into the unknown with total faith, but the truth is, there’s always more work to be done, always another step to be taken.

Today my prayer life is far different than it was 10 years ago, as is my spiritual focus. Where before I was simply happy to get something out of Sunday Mass while a fussy baby clawed at my hair, today my spiritual routine includes praying parts of the Divine Office daily, slices of silence sprinkled throughout my days, regular spiritual reading and sporadic spiritual blogging, an annual retreat, and the desire for ongoing pilgrimage – whether to Rome or Auriesville or simply to the farthest reaches of my heart.

Where have you been this past decade and where do you want to go next? Chances are, if you take some quiet time to reflect on your life, you, too, will realize you’ve moved much farther toward your goal – whatever that might be.

“God is in the details,” but sometimes we don’t take the time to notice the details. We want progress to come with a thunderclap, an “aha moment” that will change us all at once. But sometimes, most times, progress comes in the still small voice, in the tiny but brilliant flashes of light that change us bit by bit and forever.

Ablaze: A book to inspire the young people in your life

Are you looking for something to inspire your teens? Check out Brandon Vogt's review of Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints by Colleen Swaim, which features eight saints: Saint Dominic Savio, Saint Teresa of the Andes, Saint Kizito, Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, Saint Stanislaus Kostka, Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, Blessed Pedro Calungsod, and Saint Maria Goretti.

From Brandon's review:

...Swaim's masterful storytelling really brings them back to life. Saint biographies can sometimes be dry or stilted but this book is vibrant and breezy. In addition to the biographies, Swaim also includes helpful sidebars defining obscure terms and she's added 'extras' like recipes, prayers, and reflection questions.

Ultimately, these eight heroes show that holiness isn't some dusty old ideal but something that can be pursued and lived out in the present, by any young person. Ablaze is perfect for young people, particularly those in high school, but it would be just as good for anyone looking to discover some new heroes.

Read the full review at The Thin Veil.

Shaw: Is America condemned to endless war?

By Russell Shaw

Is America condemned to endless war? And if so, what implications does that have for the American psyche — the American soul?

A friend of mine who is a practicing poet writing under the pen name Pavel Chichikov shares a poem composed after hearing the roar of F-16s — presumably engaged in protecting the citizenry — over the section of Washington where he lives. A meditation on “security” as Americans have come to know it, it has a simple point: Security comes at a price. “There is a gate that must be closed,/ Documents that must be seen,/ Private life to be disclosed.” And then we are — safe?

I was thinking of these things as I skimmed the outpouring of commentary on the 9/11 anniversary. One piece in particular caught my attention, a page-one article by Greg Jaffe in the Sept. 5 Washington Post describing the evolution of U.S. military policy and the military itself in these last ten years. Jaffe quoted from a Pentagon assessment that called the present “a period of persistent conflict,” adding: “No one should harbor the illusion that the developed world can win this conflict in the near future.”

Jaffe himself spoke of “endless war.” It has numerous consequences. One is the creation of a tight-knit, highly professional military isolated in significant ways from the people on whose behalf it fights. Another is growing skepticism about peace.

Earlier this year, Jaffe noted, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate funds for the U.S. Institute of Peace (the money was later restored). “’Peace’ … has become something of a dirty word in Washington foreign-policy circles,” he wrote. President Obama doesn’t promise it. His approach is to look for ways of fighting — drone strikes and special forces operations — that are more “cost-effective” than putting thousands of troops into places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

You could argue that America has been fighting a war or getting ready to fight one for most of the last 70 years — ever since Pearl Harbor, that is: Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, and always background accompaniment courtesy of the Cold War or the war on terror. The difference now is that no serious person promises an end.

What state of mind does a permanent national security regime produce? Here’s Chichikov again:

So that at last the guards deform
The shape of life they should defend,
And no one knows of what they warn
Or if the siege will ever end.

Columns like this one generally conclude by offering solutions, but this tunnel has no easy way out. Neo-isolationism would be suicidal. Continuing America’s dual role as world policeman and anti-terror crusader will eventually drain our material and moral resources.

If there’s any escape from the bind, surely it lies in some form of innovative internationalism — the creation of a genuine, working community of nations. But that appears to exceed the political will of America’s leadership class, to say nothing of the leaders of other nations.

Pope Benedict XVI sometimes speaks of it, as in his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate with its advocacy of “a true world political authority.” Listed as its purposes were “to manage the global economy” in the face of the current crisis, “to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace,” and to deal with urgent issues of environmental protection and migration.

Most people, including most Catholics, shrugged that off. The pope is unrealistic, they said.

Perhaps. But this may be a case where idealism is the real realism. It looks a lot better than endless war.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

If you've ever doubted the slippery slope...

A truly horrifying report from LifeNews.com:

A woman who strangled and killed her newborn baby has been released and will face no jail time thanks to a judge who cited support for legalized abortion in Canada, where abortions are legal and paid for at taxpayer expense.

Katrina Effert of Wetaskiwin, Alberta gave birth secretly in the downstairs level of her parents’ home and then killed her baby son by throwing his body over the fence of their yard. Effert, 19 at the time of the infanticide, told the court she worried about what her parents would think of having to listen to the cries of a newborn baby in the house. Effert’s parents were not aware of the pregnancy and she initially told police she had not had sexual intercourse.

...But part of the ruling that also has pro-life advocates troubled is Judge Veit’s decision that Canada’s acceptance of legalized abortion entitled Effert to kill her child. Judge Veit ruled, according to multiple media reports, that because Canada allows abortions it reflects how “while many Canadians undoubtedly view abortion as a less than ideal solution to unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy, they generally understand, accept and sympathize with the onerous demands pregnancy and childbirth exact from mothers, especially mothers without support.”

“Naturally, Canadians are grieved by an infant’s death, especially at the hands of the infant’s mother, but Canadians also grieve for the mother,” said Veit, who said that, while what Effert did was “very grave,” there were no aggravating factors. Prosecutors said the aggravating factors included how Effert initially lied to police about whether she was a virgin and how she initially tried to blame the father of the child for her actions.

“I am of the view that those actions, along with the action of throwing her baby’s body over her back fence, are painful evidence of Ms. Effert’s irrational behavior as a result of her disturbed mind,”the judge said, according to the Sun News Network. “In summary, this is a classic infanticide case – the killing of a newborn or a justborn after a hidden pregnancy by a mother who was alone and unsupported.”

Ultimately, the judge rejected prosecutors’ call for a four-year prison term, saying the suspended sentence is “just” in the case.

Read the full story HERE.

Pope tells engaged couples to embrace 'forever' with conviction and faith

Pope Benedict XVI offered words of encouragement to engaged couples Sunday at the close of the 25th Italian National Eucharistic Congress in Ancona, Italy, urging them to have courage and embrace the "great mystery" of the marriage bond.

From a report on Zenit:

After one couple addressed some words to him, the Holy Father responded with an encouraging address on the beauty of human love and awareness of the challenges it faces.

He promised that both God and the Church are close to couples as they prepare for marriage, and acknowledged that problems with finding a stable job make it difficult to take on the commitment of marriage.

"Do not lose courage in face of the needs that seem to extinguish joy at the table of life," he said. "At the Wedding of Cana, when wine was lacking, Mary invited the servants to go to Jesus and she gave them a precise indication: 'Do whatever he tells you.' Treasure these words, the last of Mary's taken up in the Gospels -- virtually a spiritual testament -- and you will always have the joy of the celebration: Jesus is the wine of the celebration!"

The Holy Father exhorted the young couples: "Do not give up on pursuing the lofty ideal of love, which is a reflection and testimony of the love of God!"

The pope also told couples not to withdraw into their relationship but to "become leaven" in their communities.

More from the story:

"Beginning from the initial attraction and 'feeling well' with the other, educate yourselves to 'love well,' to 'want the good' of the other," he said. "Love lives from gratuitousness, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and respect for the other."

The Bishop of Rome told the couples to "educate yourselves henceforth in the liberty of fidelity, which leads to protecting one another, to the point of the one living for the other."

He invited them to prepare themselves to choose "forever" with conviction.

"Indissolubility, more than a condition, is a gift that must be desired, requested and lived, beyond any changing human situation," the Pope reflected.

He also offered an evaluation on popular culture's recommendation to live together before marriage.

"Do not think," he said, that "living together is a guarantee for the future. If you skip the steps of intimacy, which require respect for time and a gradual progression of expressions, you will ‘get burned’ in love; love needs room for Christ, who is capable of making a human love faithful, happy and indissoluble."

Read the full story HERE.

Father Frank Pavone placed on leave UPDATED

CNS is reporting that Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has been placed on leave from that organization due to questions surrounding his handling of finances.

From CNS:

Father Frank Pavone, one of the country's most visible and vocal opponents of abortion, has been suspended from active ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, over financial questions about the priest's operation of Priests for Life.

The suspension was made public in a Sept. 13 letter from Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek to his fellow bishops across the country, but Father Pavone told Catholic News Service that he was returning to Amarillo and planned to continue functioning as a priest there.

"My decision is the result of deep concerns regarding his stewardship of the finances of the Priests for Life (PFL) organization," Bishop Zurek wrote. "The PFL has become a business that is quite lucrative which provides Father Pavone with financial independence from all legitimate ecclesiastical oversight."

Bishop Zurek said "persistent questions and concerns" from clergy and laity about how the millions of dollars in donations the organization has received are being spent led to the action.

UPDATE: Father Pavone releases a statement denying the allegations, implying that the bishop is overstepping his authority, and announcing he's appealed the bishop's decision to Rome.

“For the past several years, my Ordinary, the Most Reverend Patrick Zurek, Bishop of Amarillo, has given me permission to do the full-time pro-life work that I have done since 1993. In 2005, I made a public promise in a Church ceremony in Amarillo, presided over by a Vatican Cardinal, that this full-time pro-life work would be a lifetime commitment. That’s a commitment I promise to fulfill without wavering.

“This past week, however, I received a letter from the Bishop insisting that I report to the Diocese this Tuesday, September 13 and, for the time being, remain only there.

“I am very perplexed by this demand. Despite that, because I am a priest of the diocese of Amarillo, I will be obedient and report there on the appointed date, putting the other commitments that are on my calendar on hold until I get more clarity as to what the bishop wants and for how long. Meanwhile, I continue to retain all my priestly faculties and continue to be a priest in “good standing” in the Church. The bishop does not dispute this fact. Rather, he has said that he thinks I am giving too much priority to my pro-life work, and that this makes me disobedient to him. He also has claimed that I haven’t given him enough financial information.

“Now, although Bishop Zurek is my Ordinary, he is not the bishop of Priests for Life. Each of our staff priests has his own Ordinary, and the organization has an entire Board of Bishops. We keep them all informed of our activities, and of our financial audits.

“I want to say very clearly that Priests for Life is above reproach in its financial management and the stewardship of the monies it receives from dedicated pro-lifers, raised primarily through direct mail at the grassroots level. To this end, Priests for Life has consistently provided every financial document requested by Bishop Zurek, including annual financial audits, quarterly reports, management documents—even entire check registers! Priests for Life has been completely transparent with Bishop Zurek and any other bishops who have requested information regarding our management and finances. Indeed, we have 21 bishops and cardinals who sit on our Advisory Board, and they are kept fully informed about our finances.

“Therefore, in the interest of preserving my good reputation as well as protecting the valuable work done by the Priests for Life organization, I have begun a process of appeal to the Vatican. This process aims to correct any mistaken decisions of the bishop in my regard and to protect my commitment to full-time pro-life activity for my whole life. We are very confident that the Vatican will resolve this matter in a just and equitable fashion. Because of this confidence, we are not currently making any changes in any positions at Priests for Life, or in any of our projects and plans.

“I also want to point out that, according to the canon law of the Catholic Church, because I have begun this process of appeal to Rome, the Bishop’s order that I return to Amarillo has been effectively suspended. Nevertheless, because of my great respect for this Bishop and my commitment to be fully obedient at all times, I am reporting to Amarillo this Tuesday, in hopes that I can sort this problem out with the Bishop in a mutually agreeable and amicable way.

“I would like to note that, unlike other organizations, which have sometimes been critical of the Church hierarchy or other institutions within the Church, Priests for Life has always remained 100 percent supportive of the Bishops, never criticizing any Church official, and always acting as a megaphone for the Bishops’ pro-life statements. Moreover, we serve dioceses and their priests and laity without asking for any speakers’ fees, and distribute millions of pieces of pro-life literature to dioceses completely free of charge. We do not seek parish collections, and we work to reinforce in each diocese the local pastoral plan which the bishop wants to implement for pro-life activities.

“We are committed to going forward with that same spirit, regardless of the recent action taken by Bishop Zurek.

“In the interest of full transparency, I would like to make it known that I do not receive any salary or financial remuneration from either the Diocese of Amarillo or from Priests for Life. Priests for Life, as a Private Association of the Christian Faithful, does provide for my residence and the expenses associated with the ministry, but these expenses are very small. Though, as a diocesan priest, I have never taken a vow of poverty, I have basically chosen to live in that fashion in solidarity with the pre-born children we are trying to protect—who are the poorest of the poor.

“I want to be clear that I do not harbor any ill will towards the Bishop of Amarillo, nor do I foster suspicions about his motives. I am merely confused by his actions. It is impossible for me to believe that there is no place in the Church for priests to exercise full-time ministry in the service of the unborn. We do it for the sick, the poor, the hungry, and the imprisoned. But where in the Church is the place where a priest can exercise the same kind of full-time ministry for the children in the womb? That is the question that is at the heart of my own calling.

“I am confident that we will be able to resolve this difficulty soon, without any harm to either my own reputation and without any slowdown of the valuable pro-life work we do at Priests for Life.”

Cardinal Egan: 'evil begot a lesson in goodness'

Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York, offered a beautiful homily yesterday at St. Peter's on Barclay Street in lower Manhattan, less than a block from the World Trade Center site. Here's an excerpt:

Ten years have passed since the terrorists attacked us. We were taken by surprise. We were shocked. We were wounded. We were grievously wounded. Evil had had its moment of triumph in Lower Manhattan.

This is, therefore, an anniversary that stings and sears the soul. It thrusts us back into an experience of infamy such as none of us would ever have imagined. Thousands of good and decent citizens of Greater New York were brutally murdered. An ugly chasm was dug into the heart of our City; and in the hearts of countless mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, children and grandchildren, friends and co-workers, there even now aches the nagging pain of loss for persons dearly loved and sorely needed...

All the same, from the crime of September 11th, 2001, we have learned a powerful lesson that we must never let slip from our memories. It is simply this. When truly challenged, the best of us forget ourselves and become men and women for others, men and women who march into harm’s way for others, men and women who are even willing to give up their lives for others.

In a bustling, competitive metropolis like ours, the citizenry can become quite self-absorbed. “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,” we sing; and “making it” is understood to require focus --focus largely on ourselves.

Thus, in our strivings and struggles, we can seem to be a people insensitive to the needs of others, a people who take little note of the weak, the frightened, and the hurting. And this is what many thought of us, until that dreadful morning when the terrorists came to do us harm.

Then we learned –-perhaps even to our own surprise –- that within the hearts of the best of us there resides a goodness that is incredibly selfless. We learned that, when summoned by great events, we become in great numbers remarkably committed to the well-being of others, even total strangers. We become a strong people, a courageous people, a noble people – a people for others.

Cardinal Egan went on to tell the stories of real heroes who gave so selflessly of themselves on that day, and in the days that followed:

The terrorists accomplished their heinous purpose. We cannot deny the immense and long-lasting harm they have done. Nonetheless, their evil begot a lesson in goodness that can never be repeated enough or meditated enough. Here in this City, when challenged by the most horrendous of events, men and women just like ourselves exhibited a love of neighbor beyond anything any of us might have expected. They proved how strong and noble we can be and gave us a measure against which to judge ourselves and our way of life throughout the years that lie ahead.

Read the homily in its entirety HERE.

9/11: A message from the pope

Here is the text of a letter from Pope Benedict XVI on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks:

To my Venerable Brother The Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
President
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

On this day my thoughts turn to the somber events. of September 11, 2001, when so many innocent lives were lost in the brutal assault on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the further attacks in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. I join you in commending the thousands of victims to the infinite mercy of Almighty God and in asking our heavenly Father to continue to console those who mown the loss of loved ones.

The tragedy of that day is compounded by the perpetrators' claim to be acting in God's name. Once again, it must be unequivocally stated that no circumstances can ever justify acts of terrorism. Every human life is precious in God's sight and no effort should be spared in the attempt to promote throughout the world a genuine respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of individuals and peoples everywhere.

The American people are to be commended for the courage and generosity that they
showed in the rescue operations and for their resilience in moving forward with hope and confidence. It is my fervent prayer that a firm commitment to justice and a global culture of solidarity will help rid the world of the grievances that so often give rise to acts of violence and will create the conditions for greater peace and prosperity, offering a brighter and more secure future.

With these sentiments, I extend my most affectionate greetings to you, your brother Bishops and all those entrusted to your pastoral care, and I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and serenity in the Lord.

From the Vatican, September 11,2011

From Philly: A new voice from the cathedra

By Greg Erlandson

It was an audio malfunction that perhaps best illustrated the transition that took place in Philadelphia yesterday.

At the start of the Installation Mass in the beautiful downtown Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul, retiring Cardinal Justin Rigali sought to greet and welcome the hundreds of attendees. His microphone failed him, however, and in that crowded cathedral, only those closest to him were able to hear his words.

His successor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, had no such technical problem when it was his turn to speak. He delivered a clear and impassioned homily leavened by humor and typical of his self-confident style.

And so the crozier of episcopal leadership in this historic, populous, but troubled Church was handed on. A new voice was heard, and it was neither boastful nor apologetic, but direct:

This Church in Philadelphia faces very serious challenges these days. There’s no quick fix to problems that are so difficult, and none of us here today, except the Lord Himself, is a miracle worker. But the Church is not defined by her failures. And you and I are not defined by critics or by those who dislike us. What we do in the coming months and years to respond to these challenges – that will define who we really are. And in engaging that work, we need to be Catholics first. Jesus Christ is the center of our lives, and the Church is our mother and teacher. Everything we do should flow from that.

Here are the marching orders Archbishop Chaput has given himself, and given his auxiliary bishops and priests.

He also laid down a gentle but pointed challenge to the numerous bishops, archbishops and cardinals in attendance and in the sanctuary. Turning toward them, with his back to the priests and laity in the pews, he said:

It’s crucial for those of us who are bishops not simply to look like bishops but to truly be bishops. Otherwise, we’re just empty husks — the kind of men Augustine meant when he said, “You say, ‘He must be a bishop for he sits upon the cathedra.’ True – and a scarecrow might also be called a watchman in the vineyard.”

Archbishop Chaput is taking over the helm of a dispirited Church hurt by late revelations of scandals, yet worried that some innocent priests are being accused as well. It is an archdiocese where striking Catholic school teachers showed up outside the cathedral under threatening skies in a rather inept effort to garner attention. It is an archdiocese with a serious clergy morale problem, in a city whose major newspaper is relentlessly hostile to the Church.

Yet it was apparent to most everyone in that cathedral that their new archbishop did not seem to be intimidated by these challenges, and this seemed most heartening of all.

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher, and was one of the invited guests at Archbishop Chaput's installation in Philadelphia.

When 'empty' leads to a new kind of fullness

By Mary DeTurris Poust

So often we hear the negatives of the empty nest syndrome -- quiet houses where parents long for the familiar sounds of now-grown-up children, even the video games that once made them crazy. We hear of spouses not sure how to communicate with each other now that the kids have moved out. Even the very name, "empty nest," echoes with a sense of sadness, something lost.

Perhaps that's why I loved this thoughtful column on the up-side of the empty nest over at Fathers For Good. In her column, "An Empty Nest to Build On," Kathleen Gallagher, Catholic Advocacy Network Director and Director of Pro-Life Activities for the New York State Catholic Conference, talks about how the departure of her two sons for college has changed her househould, for sure, but in positive and inspiring ways.

From the column:

Well, it’s a whole new adventure, and we’re diving right in. Joe has registered for a non-credit college course in archeology, something he’s always wanted to study. I have signed up for a watercolor painting class. Joe’s reading the history and military books he enjoys so much; I’ve got my mystery novels to take me away from all that reality.

Together, we’ve joined a health club where we run the treadmill and ride the bikes side-by-side at least two nights a week. We’re looking into the possibility of traveling, maybe even a cruise. We eat together, pray together and walk the dog together every day.

The walks are long; we talk a lot. Sure, we talk about the boys, how much we miss them, hope for them, fear for them. We trust that the values we have tried to instill early on have taken root and will kick in when they need them. We know they must make their own choices and learn from their mistakes. We believe their faith will sustain them.

But more than the boys, we talk about each other, possible career changes, downsizing, health habits. Sometimes it’s just surface talk about politics or the weather, sprinkled with jokes and laughter. Oftentimes it’s reflective, deep, substantive conversation. I find I am listening more, hearing more, learning more about my husband than I ever knew before. There is less distraction, less busy-ness, less noise between us. The pace of life has decelerated, leaving more time to focus, appreciate, apologize, forgive, enjoy.

As someone who will not have an empty nest for many more years, I read Kathy's column and wondered if there's a way to build some of that emptiness into our very full lives so that my husband and I can strengthen and sustain our marriage right now, in the midst of the chaos of life with three kids at home, rather than waiting for our 6-year-old to go away to college one day. Emptiness can be a good thing in the right circumstances and the right doses. Thank you, Kathy, for reminding us of that.

Read the full column HERE.

Mary's Meals: Feeding children around the globe

A charity with the noble aim of providing nourishment to hungry children throughout the world has been garnering some much-deserved attention lately. Mary's Meals, which grew out of two Scottish brothers' efforts to aid Bosnian refugees in the 1990s, provides one healthy daily meal for children in a place of education.

Writer and blogger Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle profiled Mary's Meals in the Sept. 18 issue of OSV. Here is an excerpt of her piece:

In his 45-second acceptance speech, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow told millions who watched him receive the CNN “Top Ten Hero” award last November that he thanked “God and Mary, the Mother of Jesus.”

Could it have been the dying mother in the mud hut in southern Africa surrounded by her starving children, the boy who wanted “enough food to eat and be able to go to school one day,” the suffering Bosnian war refugees, or the prodding of the Blessed Mother that ultimately ignited the fire in his heart to found Mary’s Meals, for which he received the award? More than likely, it was all of the above.

Read the rest of OSV's Mary's Meals profile.

And Rome Reports also recently highlighted the work of Mary's Meals, particularly the charity's efforts to bring relief to people facing famine in the Horn of Africa:

Mother hears daughter's heartbeat once more

No words necessary. Just watch the video. (H/t Kris McGregor. FYI: clip is close to one year old, but that doesn't take away from the message.)

Shaw: Churches must play role in ensuring London-style riots don't come here

By Russell Shaw

Commentary on the riots in London and other British cities has frequently made the point that what happened there could be a forerunner of something that might happen in America. And why not?

After all, it already has — think of Watts, think of the eruptions in Washington and other American cities after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. The scenery is familiar — we’ve been here before.

Yes, there are differences. The obsession in London with grabbing consumer goods was a distinctive, though not unique, feature — visible also in the United States, to be sure, but perhaps not to the same degree.

In the end, though, there’s more than enough similarity to warrant anxiety about what might lie ahead for America. A police incident, an angry crowd, and many U.S. cities could be in the hands of rioters and looters.

This isn’t a prediction. Maybe it won’t happen. God grant it doesn’t. But whoever says it couldn’t is living in a dream world.

That being so, it behooves Americans to take steps now to prevent it from happening if they can.

Given the human propensity for ignoring potential problems until they become real ones, chances are good that won’t be done. But one can hope.

As a first step, it would be useful to reach agreement not only on what happened in London but why.

As matters stand, there are significantly diverse views on that.

One version is that cutbacks in social problems, introduced by an austerity-minded government against the background of already existing poverty, provoked London’s poor and dispossessed to violent rebellion, just as it might do in the U.S. Emphasizing high unemployment, bad schools, a growing rich-poor income and lifestyle gap, and deepseated resentment as causal factors of human behavior, the explanation has about it more than a touch of economic determinism.

For their part, conservative analysts agree that the mindset of entitlement created by generous government social welfare programs had primed their London recipients to revolt, just as their American counterparts sooner or later may do. Stressing moral values (or their absence) as a cause, this explanation points to family breakdown, fatherless homes, greed, envy, permissiveness, and moral relativism as causes.

As a matter of fact, though, it’s not a case of either-or. Both of these explanations are partly right. It is simplistic to the point of absurdity to reduce the causes of the riots and looting to one thing only, whether the thing that supposedly explains everything be a set of economic grievances or a widespread moral collapse. Either explanation alone, without the other, presents a dangerously misleading picture of the social and individual pathologies that we witnessed in the streets of London.

It’s just here that churches can play an important role — if they so choose. The gospel uniquely equips them to preach both parts of the message we need to hear — a message that underlines the importance of justice and equity in the economic realm side by side with moral values like family stability and a sense of personal responsibility.

This is to say that — to head off trouble if for no better reason — churches are in a strong position to make the point that America needs a renewed, value-based secular culture in place of the decadent, morally bankrupt we’ve got now. Instead of blaming all our problems on poverty (on the one hand) or moral relativism (on the other), religious voices should be raised making the complex but realistic argument that both evils are deadly foes of a healthy civil society.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Entering the silence of Genesee

This past weekend I made a private retreat at the Trappist Abbey of the Genesee in western New York. I thought I would share some of the photos and details of that special journey. I'll begin the current post here and continue it at my own blog, Not Strictly Spiritual.

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I returned late yesterday from my private weekend retreat at the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y., where I was privileged and blessed to pray the Divine Office and attend Mass with the Cistercian monks who call this abbey home. To be honest, I'm not yet to the point where I'm ready to ramble on and on about my spiritual experience. Silent retreats are like that, at least for me. I want to hold onto that spirit of silence for as long as I can, even in the midst of the chaos of normal life. Right now, spending too much time trying to write my experience when I'm still trying to absorb it all would somehow corrupt the beauty of what happened there. And so much of what happened there is invisible, indescribable and still unknown to me. So I'll try to tell you a bit about the retreat in pictures and descriptions, and then throughout the week I'll be back with reflections and observations.

The photo above is a shot of the front of the abbey, which is a beautiful stone and wood structure where the monks graciously welcome visitors to join them in prayer. The abbey was founded from the famed Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and is the location written about by Henri Nouwen in The Genesee Diary.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and got my first taste of monastic prayer when I attended Vespers at 4:30 p.m. When you walk into the front door of the abbey, you can turn right to go to the bookstore, bread store (more on that another time) and sitting area where you can rest and look out at the magnificent view. If you turn left, you go down the hallway seen in the photo to the left. This leads to the chapel. Strict silence must be observed once you enter the hallway. Through those doors is the beautiful chapel, with its wood ceiling and stone walls.

Inside the chapel, guests are invited to sit in the stalls facing the monks, separated by a low iron gate. The circular altar is in the center. What a gift to be allowed into this space...continue reading HERE.

Remembering 9/11 in the pages of OSV

The lastest issue of Our Sunday Visitor, featuring multiple stories to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, is now available online. All of the 9/11 stories are open access to all readers.

I was privileged to interview three people -- a deacon, priest and sister -- who attribute their vocations to the events that unfolded that day. One man, Deacon Paul Carris, was actually on the 71st floor of One World Trade Center that fateful morning. Read his moving story by clicking HERE.

Russell Shaw writes "Ten Years Later, We Remember." Read that by clicking HERE.

Guest columnist Brittany Doucette reflects on how witnessing the New York attacks changed her life in dramatic ways. Read Brittany's story by clicking HERE.

There's much more in the new issue, so be sure to check it out, either online or in print.