Catholic Faith and Reflections

The Holy Father today nominated Bishop  John G. Noonan bishop of the diocese of Orlando. Formerly the auxiliary bishop of Miami, he was born in Ireland. He emigrated to the United States after beginning his college studies, eventually studying at Fordham, Florida Atlantic University, St. John Vianney college seminary in Miami and St. Vincent de Paul seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was ordained priest for the diocese of Miami and named auxiliary there in 1983.

May God bless his ministry!

Four days ago, the Catholic periodical, Commonweal ran an article by Peter Steinfels entitled, “Further Adrift,” in which he cites the February 2008 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Mr. Steinfels’ take on the survey is that the Church is bleeding badly and in a state of unrecognized grief. Here is a quote;

“For some Catholics, this grieving has clearly passed beyond anger. It seems to border now on resignation to either a death of faith or withdrawal from the church. For others, it means the impossibility of being in any way a ‘public Catholic,’ whether in their fields of work, their communities, their parishes, or their circles of family and friends.”

In the course of the article, he mentions the loss of members (one out of every three adult Americans who were raised Catholic have left the Church), Catholic teenagers’ low ranking on a variety of measures of religious faith, belief, practice, and involvement compared to youths from other denominations, and the effects the sex scandals have had on the faithful. He attributes the departure of so many from the Church in part at least to the Church’s teachings on premarital sex, homosexuality, role of women in the Church, abortion, and the episcopacy’s increasing willingness to engage the political aspects of society.

He suggests as solutions to this exodus some practical ideas: better liturgies, better homilies, all-out effort to catechize the young more effectively, bring adolescents into the life of the Church, as well as rethinking the Church’s position on some moral and theological issues of the day.

I think he has some points worth considering, specifically: we are losing many cradle Catholics to other denominations; we have done a very poor job in the area of catechesis of the young; and too often our liturgies fail to touch the hearts and spirits of the faithful.

What seems to be his central thought– that the Church is in a state of unrecognized grief and until it, especially the bishops, recognize this, we are in deep trouble — I wonder if this is an apt way to describe the data to which he refers. I don’t think one can take what is essentially sociological data and from them interpret the psychological state of an institution. Institutional mood states I suspect are correlated to different variables than mood states of an individual person.

The loss of a family member to another religion is truly an experience of grief and loss. Mr. Steinfels mentions that he may experience such a loss in the future with his grandsons. Many people have experienced such painful departures of family. Such grief and loss are understandable to many parents. This grief is attenuated, though, by the knowledge that once Jesus has entered a person’s life by the grace of baptism, he does not abandon that person and throughout that individual’s life God will be there at his shoulder along with the angels “to light, to guard, to rule, to guide.”

I invite you to read the article for yourselves at the link above and comment below.

If you would like to read Archbishop Burke’s statement on being named a Cardinal, log on to his press release at: Archbishop’s Statement

Let us all offer our prayers for Cardinal-designate Burke, that he may serve faithfully and humbly the Church which we all love.

The Holy Father today named 24 new Cardinals of the Church, including two Americans: Archbishop Raymond Burke (formally of the diocese of La Crosse) and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

The cardinal-designates will be formally installed in a special consistory on November 20 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Archbishop Burke, as many of you may know, was a native of Richland Center, Wisconsin in the diocese of La Crosse. Richland Center is only a short driving distance from my home on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River. He was a priest of the La Crosse diocese, later becoming its bishop only to be elevated to the archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri for a number of years. Since then, he has held various Vatican posts and currently lives in Rome

Archbishop Burke founded the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe just outside of La Crosse. It is a beautiful place for reflection, retreat and worship.

I think it is fair to say Archbishop Burke is a very orthodox prelate. Many locals had a hard time with what they perceived to be his style of governing and his willingness to stake out positions with regional politicians who identified themselves as Catholic but advocated moral positions contrary to the teachings of the Church. Many others in the local area were and are grateful for his leadership.

Those who know him says he has a great sense of humor. I sense that is true, despite his serious and deliberate manner of speaking publicly.

May he be a true instrument of God’s will. Let us pray for him.

Fr. Joseph M. Langford died two days ago in Tijuana, Mexico. Father Langford was 59, and it is reported he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Ordained in Rome in 1978 for the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, he began volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity shelter in Rome. As you know, the Missionaries of Charity are the religious order founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Fr. Langford approached Mother Teresa about his concern that at the time there was no branch of her order for priests. Later he and she founded the Missionaries of Charity Fathers.

I was somewhat familiar with the Missionaries of Charity in Rome in 1977-78, the years I was living there.  Although I never volunteered there, many of my classmates did and they spoke of a seminarian who was there.  I suspect he was Fr. Langford.

Small world.  God bless him. May his soul rest in peace.