Urgently needed: The development of a healthy understanding of sexuality

"Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of the centrality of the family and the need to promote the Gospel of life. What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike. All have a part to play in this task – not only parents, religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment industries as well. Indeed, every member of society can contribute to this moral renewal and benefit from it. Truly caring about young people and the future of our civilization means recognizing our responsibility to promote and live by the authentic moral values which alone enable the human person to flourish. It falls to you, as pastors modelled upon Christ, the Good Shepherd, to proclaim this message loud and clear, and thus to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs in an ecclesial setting, you can give a lead to others, since this scourge is found not only within your Dioceses, but in every sector of society. It calls for a determined, collective response" (from the Holy Father's address to the bishops of the U.S., delivered yesterday at a Vespers service in the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception).

The Holy Father's Apostolic Journey

Today marks the arrival of the Holy Father in these United States for a very busy Apostolic Journey to New York and Washington. This will likely be the only visit of the Pontiff to these shores during his Pontificate. Without a doubt his most important address will be the one that is really the reason for his visit, the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on Friday, 18 April. He will also meet with and talk to the bishops of the United States and Catholic educators among others.

Reuters reports from an aiborne press conference that the Holy Father, in his characteristically forthright and gentle manner, when asked, addressed the sex abuse scandal in the U.S. and pulled no punches, saying: "We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry". Further, he acknowledged being "deeply ashamed and will do whatever is possible so that this does not happen in the future". In addressing the scandal that has rocked the Church in this country for some six years now, he also addressed the shortage of priests, saying that everything that can be done will be done to screen candidates for the priesthood "so that only really sound persons can be admitted. It is more important to have good priests," the Holy Father said, "than to have many priests".

Let us keep him in our prayers during these days and always. It is a blessing to receive support from the Holy Father on tax day. Ours are complete as of 11:15 PM last night- Deo gratias!

"the children of those who murdered the prophets"

This morning I read and reflected the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel in which Jesus has very harsh words for the scribes and Pharisees. This picked up on some reflections I have been engaging in regarding pastoral ministry lately. Specifically two things I have recently posted. One from Saturday in which I wrote that "It is a constant battle not be a phony in my pastoral ministry. I'll be honest, I fail because I need to 'finish the task'. What is the task? Or, more fundamentally, is there a task?" The second instance was something I reflected on earlier this month: "I know that in pastoral ministry, when people seek advice and counsel, most often the last thing they are looking for is to be challenged in their lives by the Gospel, by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Hence, too often, what counts for pastoral ministry is what most counsellors would call enabling behavior, amounting to nothing more than telling people what they want to hear, watering down Jesus' call to discipleship". So, as always, Jesus' words are also for us, for the Church and for me specifically.

Among the several appellations given to the scribes and Pharisees by our Lord is "blind guides" (Matt. 23,16). This blindness, observes Stanley Hauerwas, "is not unrelated to their desire to be guides" (Matthew pg. 199). Even in the Church, those who want to lead and who are even called to lead "often fear those they lead" (ibid). Specifically, "they fear hurting those they lead", mistakenly thinking "that their task is to make the life of those they lead secure" (ibid). Disciples of Jesus are not called to lead lives of safety and security. Yesterday's second reading shows that the earliest disciples understood the radical nature of Christian discipleship: "But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps" (1 Pet. 2,20b-21). Peter tells us that our calling is to suffer for doing good. In other words, suffering for doing good is our baptismal vocation. Suffer we will, but we must not suffer in a silly manner, in ways that are Pharisaical, but in an authentic, not a dramatic, fashion.

Those of us who lead in the Church sometimes "hide from [ourselves] what [we] know to be true because [we] think that those whom [we] lead cannot bear the truth" (Hauerwas pg. 199). Hauerwas concludes that the same lack of sight that plagued the scribes and Pharisees "is a blindness that threatens the church no less than any people" (ibid). There is a difference, however, the "difference between the Pharisees and those who would lead Jesus's people is that the latter lead a people who have no reason to fear the truth" (ibid). The truth dear friends is that we are close to God's "upside-down kingdom", but if we wish to enter we must learn "to live as a people who believe that Jesus is the resurrected Lord" (ibid). Those who learn this and allow their lives be illuminated by this truth are free and joyful. Too often we "become lost amid attempts," like the Pharisees, "to make our difference depend on matters that do not matter" (ibid). For example I am not Catholic because I do not eat meat on Fridays, I do not eat meet on Fridays becaues I am a Catholic. I remain free to have a hamburger, especially if I observe the penitential nature of Friday in some other way, like performing acts of charity, which is probably better. I do not attend Mass on Sunday because I am Catholic, I am Catholic because I attend Mass on Sunday. These examples are not just shallow attempts at playing Captain Conundrum, but efforts to get things the right way 'round. Yesterday, quite by accident, I stumbled across a homily preached by Archbishop Niederauer at Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco's Castro district last Fall, in his characteristically wonderful and clear manner of speaking he made this point very well and linked it back to the central act of our faith- Eucharist:

"Around the Archdiocese of San Francisco, when I talk to our young people at Confirmation, I remind them and their families of the same truth that I’m calling to your attention this morning. Do you recall what probably bothered the Pharisees most about Jesus Christ? His awful taste in people! Their exact words were: 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!' And twenty centuries later, Jesus Christ is still welcoming sinners and eating with them. Indeed, feeding them with his own Body and Blood.

"We Catholics are a Eucharistic people. We are not a people who believe that, on the night before he died, Jesus had supper with his apostles and told them, 'Crawl the mall in memory of me.' Or, 'have brunch in memory of me.' No, we are the people who believe that, on Holy Thursday night, Jesus took bread, broke it, and said, 'This is my Body.' Then he took the cup filled with wine, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.' Then Jesus said, 'Do this in remembrance of me.' So each Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we do this in remembrance of Jesus Christ, and we believe that it gives meaning and purpose and direction to everything else in our lives, even the mall and the brunch."

Eucharist, which means simply giving thanks, is the key that unlocks our baptismal calling of learning to live as a people who believe that Jesus is the resurrected Lord, with whom we have died, been buried, and risen to new life. Hence, it is the key to living authentically, that is, truthfully.

Hierarchy update

Last week was monumental in the realm of episcopal appointments for the Church in the United States. Two new ordinaries were named by the Holy Father, Bishop Richard Edmund Pates, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was named bishop of Des Monies, Iowa and Fr. Anthony Basil Taylor of the clergy of the archdiocese of Oklahoma City was named bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas. In the naming of these two new ordinaries the Holy Father created no new vacancies.

Further, the Holy Father named three new bishops who will serve as auxiliaries: Msgr. James Douglas Conley of the clergy of the diocese of Wichita, Kansas as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Denver. Fr. Oscar Cantu of the clergy of the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as auxiliary of San Antonio. Fr. William J. Justice of the clergy of the archdiocese of San Francisco, as auxiliary of San Francisco. Msgr. Justice's appointment gives Archbishop Niederauer an auxiliary to replace our bishop, John Wester, who has been in Salt Lake City just a little over a year.

With these appointments the number of ordinaries serving beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75 remains the same at ten. These prelates are Cardinals Maida and Egan of Detroit and New York respectively, as well as Archbishops Hughes of New Orleans; Curtiss of Omaha, NE. Bishops serving past 75 are D'Arcy of Ft. Wayne/South Bend; IN; Murray of Kalamazoo, MI, Moynihan of Syracuse, NY; Saltarelli of Wilmingtn, DE; Tafoya of Pueblo, CO; Cullen of Allentown. PA. Archbishop Brunette of Seattle turns 75 early in 2009. Bishops Peña of Brownsville, TX; Carmody of Corpus Christi, TX; Higi of Lafayette in Indiana are all 74. It also bears noting that Archbishop Flynn of St. Paul/Minneapolis, who will also turn 75 this year, and Bishop Weigand of Sacramento have co-adjutors in the persons of Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Soto respectively.

The sede vacante dioceses in the United States now number seven, those being Charleston, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; Green Bay, Wisconsin; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Juneau, Alaska; New Ulm, Minnesota; Biloxi, Mississippi.

A prayer for a Sunday

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara, Archishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil (1964-1985-died 1999):

"Come Lord!
Do not smile and say
you are already with us.

Millions do not know you
and to us who do,
what is the difference?
What is the point of your presence
if our lives do not alter?

Change our lives, shatter
our complacency.
Make your word
flesh of our flesh,
blood of our blood
and our life's purpose.

Take away the quietness
of a clear conscience.
Press us uncomfortably.
For only thus
that other peace is made,
your peace."

A prayer request for Fr. Thomas Kraft, OP

I added a new link to the Spirituality section of my blog. It is a link for Fr. Tom Kraft, OP. He is a Dominican priest without whose ministry I would not be Catholic- Okay, that is not the world's best endorsement. By way of redemption, he was instrumental in helping me discern that I was not called to be a priest. So, precisely because of his ability to deal with difficult pastoral cases, like me, he is a gifted, loving, and prayerful priest, the likes of whom the Church could use a lot more - Anyway (Phil Hartman as Vickie in So I Married An Axe Murderer eye roll), he is seriously ill with cancer. He witnessed our marriage and baptized our oldest child. I remember being poor graduate students with a small baby and living in a fourplex and Fr. Thomas coming over to our apartment for a pastoral visit and holding our little guy, ever so tenderly and tentatively. He belonged to a group of fellow Dominicans, who called themselves the Pilgrim Friars, who did some great bluegrass and gospel music- he is a guitarist. One of my nicest memories is of Fr. Thomas, another dear brother, Rob, and I having a Mass, just the three of us, in a small chapel in a Cistercian monastery. In short, he is just a great person and a wonderful priest.

Please pray for him and for all who suffer from cancer in all of its various and debilitating forms. Our hope, I know Fr. Thomas' hope, is in Jesus Christ our Lord. I remember attending a football game with Fr. Tom and somebody, in exasperation, yelled Jesus! He quickly chimed in at the top of his blessed lungs- IS LORD! Amen- Alleluia!

"Spitting in a wishing well"

The Breeders song Cannonball, while not, at least in my book, the quintessential Breeders (a band with an ever-changing lineup apart from the Deal sisters) song, it is still cool and probably their biggest hit. Why The Breeders, why today? Well, I read an interview in Spin today with Kim Deal, who is back living in her native Dayton, taking care of her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's, along with her sister, Kelley. In her wonderfully frank, dismissive and yet kind way, she discusses her sobriety. In answering the question

"Did you fear that sobriety would affect your ability to make good music?", she answers:

"Oh yeah. Not doing drugs had such a bad connotation for me: If you didn't do drugs, you were boring. But now I find it way more fraught with danger- in a good way. Every time I go up and talk to somebody, it's like, 'Hello, this is going to be awkward and weird in a few seconds because I am f******g part of it.' Which is way more interesting than it was before. It's strange and I really like it. And it's ugly- it's so awful and ugly everyday."

I can relate. It may seem weird to people who know me, but I am not really a people person. It is a constant battle not be a phony in my pastoral ministry. I'll be honest, I fail because I need to "finish the task". What is the task? Or, more fundamentally, is there a task? Blogging is therapeutic for me and, at times, when I use it improperly (i.e., using it to gain approval, to get an ego boost, or as a confessional), a bit passive-aggressive , which is why I maintain accountability with what I write. That being written, some of the best meetings I have had with people, especially those in recovery who have asked me to help them spiritually, have consisted of maybe twenty words over an hour. The silence is awkward at first, with some people this awkwardness remains, which is not helpful, but being with someone and feeling comfortable enough to be quiet is something that is healing. It is a gateway to prayer, a way to communicate. Kim Deal's insight really challenged my modus operandi. I have to quit feeling like I always have to meet expectations and have an opinion. Even if I have a word, an opinion, a correction, some information, I do not feel like sharing it, which is okay. My week away was so very badly needed.

So, the questions are all wrong- the question is Why not Pixies? This is our late traditio.


Oh, and because of accountability and the nature of this blog, I feel the need to disclaim that the kissing is a person (i.e., Kim Deal) kissing herself in the mirror. While I am disclaiming and, on a bit of a passive-aggressive note, it bears pointing out that my blog was first called Scott Dodge for Nobody, riffing off an old KRCL Sunday night program that I miss terribly, Tom Waits for Nobody. Maybe I am just feeling inferior because no dedicated reader has come up with a cool Καθολικός διάκονος banner.Mon Dieu! That is so passive-aggressive that even if somebody offered a banner I'd reject it. See how weird and circular such reasoning is? It is not healthy.