The rumor is that Pope Francis has directed that the bishops and priests in the Vatican Curia are to take time to hear confessions in a nearby parish, Santo Spirito.
All I can say is I hope this is true, and if it is, then Francis has once again hit the nail on the head. It would be entirely consistent with his insistence that the Curia be staffed with pastors of souls.
God bless him!
Photo credit: www.cardinalseansblog.com
The Holy Father today at noon Rome time appointed Bishop Robert Deeley bishop of Portland, Maine.
Bishop Deeley had been an auxiliary bishop of Boston. He was born in 1946 in Massachusetts. He obtained his philosophy degree at the Catholic University of America, then went to the North American College in Rome, studying at the Gregorian University from 1969 – 1973, receiving his STB, and later his STL and his doctorate in Canon Law. He was ordained a priest in 1973 for the archdiocese of Boston and held various posts. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Boston and ordained a bishop earlier this year. He speaks English and Italian.
Congratulations, Diocese of Portland!
![doerfler[1]](https://bob.yerhot.org/https://bob.yerhot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/doerfler1.jpg)
Photo credit: www.shst.edu
The Holy Father today has appointed bishop of Marquette Father John F. Doerfler. Until now, Fr. Doerfler was the vicar general for the diocese of Green Bay.
Fr. Doerfler was born in 1964 in Appleton, Wisconsin. He studied at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota obtaining a degree in philosophy there. He then attended the North American College in Rome and studied at the Gregorian University getting his theology degree there. He was ordained a priest for Green Bay in 1991, obtained a S.T.L. in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America, a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Istitute for Marriage and Family Studies in Washington, D.C.
He has held multiple posts since then, including adjunct faculty member at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. He knows English, Italian and Spanish.
Congratulations, diocese of Marquette!
“Anything that is not God has value only if it refers to Him, creator of the universe, savior of all men, final end of creation.” — St. Maximillian Kolbe OFM Conv.
Photo Credit: communio.stblogs.org
The Holy Father today, at noon Rome time, appointed Cardinal Donald Wuerl from Washington, D.C. to the Congregation for Bishops. In doing so, he replaced Cardinal Raymond Burke. Cardinal Burke is someone well known in my local area, hailing from the neighboring diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin for which he was ordained priest and later bishop. Burke built a large shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe just outside of La Crosse to which a many pilgrims come.
Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Burke certainly have their contrasts. Pope Francis’ decision to relieve Cardinal Burke from the responsibilities of the Congregation for Bishops and confer those responsibilities to Cardinal Wuerl portends, perhaps, a change in the flavor and tenor future bishops in the United States will enjoy.
Having a role in discerning who among the clergy are worthy successors of the apostles and making recommendations to the Holy Father in regard to them, is a major responsibility and influential in shaping the episcopacy in the world.
May God bless Cardinal Wuerl in this added and new ministry to the universal Church!
The Holy Father accepted today the resignation of Bishop Joseph Latino of the diocese of Jackson, Mississippi and appointed Bishop-elect Joseph R. Kopacz from the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania as Jackson’s new bishop.
Bishop-elect Kopacz was born in 1950 in the diocese of Scranton, attended Christ the King seminary in New York, later getting a Master’s degree in Latin from Fordam, a Master’s degree in counseling and psychology in human development from Marywood University in Scranton. He was ordained a priest in 1977. He has held various diocesan positions since. He speaks English and knows Spanish and Latin.
Congratulations, Diocese of Jackson!
Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is a remarkable story that occured nearly 500 years ago.Here is an excerpt from Catholic Online about Our Lady’s appearance to St. Juan Diego near Tepayac hill near what is now Mexico City in 1531. The apparition site is the most frequently religious pilgrimages in the Western Hemisphere.
You can read the entire story at the link above.
The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religous preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:
“My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”
Juan …. went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediately with the bishop…..The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired……. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him…..
She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request….. Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who was again waiting for him there, of the bishop’s request. Mary responded:
“My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son….. Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under myshadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.”
While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him:
“My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him.”
…. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn’t the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisors to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle:
“Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.
It’s believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which means “one who treads on snakes”! Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son.
You may have already read this morning in the secular press that Pope Francis is Time magazine’s Person of the Year. He is only the third pope to received this designation from Time, the other two being Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.
He no doubt deserves this, although I am confident he doesn’t seek it. For a man who seemed rather uncomfortable in the spotlight the night he was elected and stood in the main loggia of St. Peter’s to speak and bless us all, he has shone an ability to manage the constant scrutiny and visibility that he now experiences.
Here is the official Vatican response:
This fact is unsurprising, considering the resonance and very widespread attention given to the election of Pope Francis and the beginning of his pontificate. It is a positive sign that one of the most prestigious acknowledgements in the field of the international press has been attributed to one who proclaims spiritual, religious and moral values in the world, and who speaks effectively in favour of peace and greater justice.
With regard to the Pope, for his part, he does not seek fame and success, since he carries out his service for the proclamation of the Gospel and the love of God for all. If this attracts men and women and gives them hope, the Pope is content. If this nomination as “Person of the Year” means that many have understood this message, at least implicitly, he will certainly be glad.
Here is a link to a video produced by Time explaining their decision in his favor.
The Holy Father is launching a campaign to end hunger in the world. In conjunction with Caritas Internationalis, he released this video message today. You can view the video below and can read the article regarding it at the link that follows it. The video is in Italian but it has English subtitles.
Our Holy Father is, I believe, becoming the prophetic voice in our world today. I am amazed how he says essentially nothing novel but he says it in a way that is refreshing, conveying a newness to what we have always professed to believe and practice.
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-launches-appeal-to-end-global-hunger
I occurred to me today, in a conversation I had with a man, how shrewd and subtle pride can be. I suppose you might shrug your shoulders and mutter, “So what’s new?” indicating that such an occurrence is well within common sense. To me, today, it struck me as a renewed awareness.
I find it unsettling that those who have an inner sense of pridefulness are often very quick of thought and speech. If I offer a word of encouragement overlaying a challenge to such a person, the response is facile, with a tinge of smugness and a statement of fact that deflects the underlying encouragement and challenge. It strikes as subtly condescending, coupled with a “slight of hand” in a sense, that rejects the encouragement or the challenge.
A loving challenge is rebuffed by a smirk and a subtlety.
Maybe these are times when a Mother Teresa response would be appropriate. Love the person regardless and offer him a blessing, however quiet and reserved. It is difficult not to feel defeated, though, bewildered more than a bit and left trying to make sense of it. Always rather distressing when Truth is rejected.
Our Lord did say in the Gospels that we must be both shrewd and meek, both bold and humble in our proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus certainly was all of that and at the right times. He certainly gave us a clear model to follow in situations like these. In the Gospel accounts of his passion, he was shrewdly overridden by the pride of his accusers. His response, for the most part, was silent witness to the Truth, and acceptance of his mission.
May we all follow closely the example of our Lord.
“The name of Jesus is a standard in battle, that is to say, in the fight against evil.” — St. Bernardine of Siena, OFM
The Holy Father has issued his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. I have yet to read it in its entirety, (I’m still working on it!) but from what I have read it is a clear challenge to us all. Here is the link to the text. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.pdf
I keep hoping to see something in it referring specifically to the diaconate and its evangelical mission. So far, I haven’t seen anything. Certainly, at the heart of the diaconate is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One only needs to look at St. Stephen, deacon and martyr and St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr to see biblical examples of this. Inherent in the rite of ordination to the diaconate is the reception of the Book of the Gospels at which time the bishop reminds us we are heralds of the Gospel.
Certainly, too, our Holy Father is showing all of us deacons how to be deacons in his outreach to the poor and the marginalized. He lives out his diaconate. Just today I read in the Italian newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera, how Francis is expecting the archbishop at the Vatican in charge of the giving of alms to the poor to sell his desk and to be out among the poor and not expect the poor to come knocking at his door. The article also mentioned how when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, then Cardinal Bergoglio would slip out at night dressed as a simple priest and spend time, in cognito, with the poor in the streets.
Francis’ biggest homily on the diaconate is the manner in which he is living and instructing all of us to live.
MIght I be asking too much if I were to ask him to mention deacons in his writings?
I have copied here in its entirety the homily delivered by Pope Francis at the closing Mass for the Year of Faith. It speaks for itself. By the way, the relics of St. Peter are now on public display for the first time. Peter’s bones were cradled by the Holy Father during the recitation of the Creed during this Mass. Quite a moving image.
This is the official Vatican translation.
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter’s Square
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Today’s solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the crowning of the liturgical year, also marks the conclusion of the Year of Faith opened by Pope Benedict XVI, to whom our thoughts now turn with affection and gratitude for this gift which he has given us. By this providential initiative, he gave us an opportunity to rediscover the beauty of the journey of faith begun on the day of our Baptism, which made us children of God and brothers and sisters in the Church. A journey which has as its ultimate end our full encounter with God, and throughout which the Holy Spirit purifies us, lifts us up and sanctifies us, so that we may enter into the happiness for which our hearts long.
I offer a cordial and fraternal greeting to the Patriarchs and Major Archbishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches present. The exchange of peace which I will share with them is above all a sign of the appreciation of the Bishop of Rome for these communities which have confessed the name of Christ with exemplary faithfulness, often at a high price.
With this gesture, through them, I would like to reach all those Christians living in the Holy Land, in Syria and in the entire East, and obtain for them the gift of peace and concord.
The Scripture readings proclaimed to us have as their common theme the centrality of Christ. Christ is at the centre, Christ is the centre. Christ is the centre of creation, Christ is the centre of his people and Christ is the centre of history.
1. The apostle Paul, in the second reading, taken from the letter to the Colossians, offers us a profound vision of the centrality of Jesus. He presents Christ to us as the first-born of all creation: in him, through him and for him all things were created. He is the centre of all things, he is the beginning: Jesus Christ, the Lord. God has given him the fullness, the totality, so that in him all things might be reconciled (cf. Col 1:12-20). He is the Lord of creation, he is the Lord of reconciliation.
This image enables to see that Jesus is the centre of creation; and so the attitude demanded of us as true believers is that of recognizing and accepting in our lives the centrality of Jesus Christ, in our thoughts, in our words and in our works. And so our thoughts will be Christian thoughts, thoughts of Christ. Our works will be Christian works, works of Christ; and our words will be Christian words, words of Christ. But when this centre is lost, when it is replaced by something else, only harm can result for everything around us and for ourselves.
2. Besides being the centre of creation and the centre of reconciliation, Christ is the centre of the people of God.Today, he is here in our midst. He is here right now in his word, and he will be here on the altar, alive and present amid us, his people. We see this in the first reading which describes the time when the tribes of Israel came to look for David and anointed him king of Israel before the Lord (cf. 2 Sam 5:1-3). In searching for an ideal king, the people were seeking God himself: a God who would be close to them, who would accompany them on their journey, who would be a brother to them.
Christ, the descendant of King David, is really the “brother” around whom God’s people come together. It is he who cares for his people, for all of us, even at the price of his life. In him we are all one, one people, united with him and sharing a single journey, a single destiny. Only in him, in him as the centre, do we receive our identity as a people.
3. Finally, Christ is the centre of the history of humanity and also the centre of the history of every individual. To him we can bring the joys and the hopes, the sorrows and troubles which are part of our lives. When Jesus is the centre, light shines even amid the darkest times of our lives; he gives us hope, as he does to the good thief in today’s Gospel.
Whereas all the others treat Jesus with disdain – “If you are the Christ, the Messiah King, save yourself by coming down from the cross!” – the thief who went astray in his life but now repents, clings to the crucified Jesus and begs him: “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). Jesus promises him: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43), in his kingdom. Jesus speaks only a word of forgiveness, not of condemnation; whenever anyone finds the courage to ask for this forgiveness, the Lord does not let such a petition go unheard. Today we can all think of our own history, our own journey. Each of us has his or her own history: we think of our mistakes, our sins, our good times and our bleak times. We would do well, each one of us, on this day, to think about our own personal history, to look at Jesus and to keep telling him, sincerely and quietly: “Remember me, Lord, now that you are in your kingdom! Jesus, remember me, because I want to be good, but I just don’t have the strength: I am a sinner, I am a sinner. But remember me, Jesus! You can remember me because you are at the centre, you are truly in your kingdom!” How beautiful this is! Let us all do this today, each one of us in his or her own heart, again and again. “Remember me, Lord, you who are at the centre, you who are in your kingdom”.
Jesus’ promise to the good thief gives us great hope: it tells us that God’s grace is always greater than the prayer which sought it. The Lord always grants more, he is so generous, he always gives more than what he has been asked: you ask him to remember you, and he brings you into his kingdom!
Let us ask the Lord to remember us, in the certainty that by his mercy we will be able to share his glory in paradise. Let us go forward together on this road!
Amen!
“So great the good I have in sight, that any pain is my delight.” — St. Francis of Assisi
