A Request for Prayers

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Deacon Bob

I would ask that all of you pray for one of my brother deacons of the diocese of Winona who is seriously ill.

May God give him strength and healing.

Thanks.

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The Outstanding Success of the Permanent Diaconate

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Deacon Bob

I didn’t take the time to write a post about the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. I should have.

On October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Council. As those of us old enough to remember recall, it was a magnificent event – not only the opening but the years that followed. Even though nearly 50 years has passed, and we are currently going through a re-thinking of its impact and its implementation, there is one fruit of the Council that has been an outstanding success and is bearing much fruit.

It is the permanent diaconate.

Many think of the permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, as a “Vatican II thing,” when in fact, it is a very ancient order. Vatican II simply implemented what the Council of Trent called for in the 16th Century, and Trent was simply re-establishing what had been the ancient way of ordering clerical life and service in the Church.

Before there were presbytyrs (who we now call priests) there were deacons, ordained by the Apostles themselves to assist them in the ministry of the Church. For centuries, there were three stable orders (deacons, bishops and priests) all of whom received the same Sacrament of Holy Orders, but ordained to different offices. The diaconate remained a stable, i.e., permanent order, in the Eastern Catholic Churchs, but in the West it became a transitional order to the priesthood, until 1968.

 

Today, there are over 17,000 deacons in the United States and thousands more worldwide. Most of us deacons do our work in the background, silently and diligently. Seldom are we recognized, and so be it…

We are called to preach the Gospel, whose herald we become at ordination. We offer homilies. We teach the faith, administer baptism, witness marriages, bury the dead, offer blessings, lead prayer and liturgy, and we serve the poor among us.

It is a beautiful calling, very rich indeed.

You may be interested to know that the renewed diaconate took root in the concentration camp of Dachau during the second world war. The priests there began to realize the importance of diaconal ministry, and after the war discussion of it implementation took fire, resulting in the documents of Vatican II.

Thanks be to God the Council Fathers implemented what Trent called for, and Pope Paul VI promulgated the decree!

Thank your favorite deacon the next time you see him, and pray for him.

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500,000 Hits on the Weblog

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Catholic Faith and Reflections has surpassed a half-million hits to the webpage. I have been blogging since October, 2008 and I am pleased in one way or another that this weblog has been accessed. I hope it has served its purpose which is essentially to be a place where readers can reflect upon our Catholic faith as it is expressed in contemporary life.

To all readers, I offer my blessing.

Deacon Bob Yerhot

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Pope St. Callistus I

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Santa Maria in Trastevere

Today is the memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, who died a martyr in the Trastevere area of Rome in 222 or 223. I posted on him last year this date, for his history is interesting.

Born a slave who lost his master’s fortune, he later was ordained a deacon for Rome. When the pope died in 217, Callistus was elected to succeed him (as often happened in those days, i.e., a deacon was elected pope!) Unfortunately, the loser in the conclave, Hippolytus, set himself up as an anti-pope and hurled all sorts of insults and the like Callistus’ way. So did Tertullian, a famous Church father. As pope, Callistus made some unpopular decisions such as those who had committed serious sins such as fornication, adultery, worship of false gods, etc, could be reunited with the Church after public penance. He also declared that slaves and free Christian could marry each other. Hippolytus and Tertullian strongly condemned these decisions. (Hippolytus later was exiled and still later reconciled with the Church and he is now venerated as St. Hippolytus.) The rather violent disagreements in the Church at that time about these doctrinal and moral questions may seem stunning to us today. As we know, St. Callistus’ decisions have remained the teaching of the Church and the protests of Hippolytus and Tertullian have faded into history.

Santa Maria in Trastevere

It is said that St. Callistus was martyred at what is now the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, and his body thrown into a well. There is a church over that well to this day. Also, St. Callistus is buried in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. It is a very ancient church will absolutely marvelous frescoes and mosaics, with granite columns that originally were taken from ancient Roman buildings of the Empire.

I would recommend any traveler to Rome to take the time to go to Santa Maria in Trastevere and visit Callistus’ tomb and the beautiful church in which he is buried.

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Church of the Week

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Deacon Bob
St. Mary's Catholic Church, Coon Valley, Wisconsin

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Coon Valley, Wisconsin

St. Mary’s Catholic Church

Coon Valley, Wisconsin

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Quote for the Day

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Deacon Bob

“When we age we are getting closer to the time when we will pass through death and experience fully the vision of God, who has been with us throughout our life as our Most Beloved.” — Alberic Smith, OFM

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The Social Doctrine of the Church: Peace

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Deacon Bob

The Church teaches that peace is the goal of life in society. It is much more than the absence of war; it represents the fullness of life. Working for peace can never be separated from announcing the Gospel, which is the “good news of peace” given to all people. At the center of that Gospel is the cross because peace is born of Christ’s sacrifice.

Peace is a universal duty founded on a rational and moral order of society that has its roots in God. Peace is founded on a correct understanding of the human person and requires the establishment of an order based on justice and charity. It is the fruit of justice. It is the fruit of love, for the function of justice is to remove the obstacles to peace; peace is an act resulting from love and can only be realized when it is built each day in pursuit of an order willed by God.

Peace is also the fruit of divinely willed harmony structured into human society which is brought into realization by men and women in their aspiration for even greater justice.

The world today needs the witness of unarmed prophets who often, as were the prophets of old, subject to ridicule.

For a more detailed discussion of this refer to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nos. 488-496.

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Quote for the Day

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Deacon Bob

“You would be surprised at what you could do if you tried.” – John Patrick Doyle, TOR

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Abortion and Mental Health

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Deacon Bob

The British Journal of Psychiatry recently published a piece of research done by Priscilla K. Coleman from Bowling Green State University. The article, entitled Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995-2009 is a meta-analysis of 22 studies that included over 877,000 participants. Its aim was, in an unbiased apolitical manner, to measure the association between abortion and indicators of adverse mental health. Adverse mental health indicators were considered to have been depression, anxiety, substance use and suicidal behavior.

This review offered the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion that is currently available in the world literature, according to the author.

She reports that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems and nearly 10% of the incidence of mental health problems was shown to be attributable to abortion. The risk was strongest when abortion was compared with women who had term pregnancies, and the mental health risks most strongly associated pertained to substance use and suicidal behavior.

I am not a statistician, but from what I can glean from the methodology used, it appears to be a pretty solid piece of research.

Think of it…. women who have had an abortion are 81% more likely to suffer from adverse mental health problems, especially substance use and suicidal behavior, as compared to women who either had an unintended pregnancy delivered, an intended pregnancy delivered, or “no abortion” which were the control groups. The “no abortion” controls were those in studies where intentionality of the pregnancy was unknown.

We know that mental health problems can arise from many things, so the study further was able to determine that 10% of those adverse problems were attributable to the abortion.

It is a complicated picture, but these results certainly point to the need to reach out to these women who are and will be hurting mentally for various reasons… at least 8 out of 10 of them. It is also imperative that women be told of the 10% attributable risk of mental health problems that can be directly attributed to abortion.

The article can be read at The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2011, 199: 180-186.

Posted in General Interest, Health Care, Human Development and Life | 2 Comments

The Normalcy of War In Our Times

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Deacon Bob

I was thinking about how when I was growing up, at least from the time I became conscious of world events, my country has been at war more often than it has not. My socio-political views were shaped by the Cold War with the Soviet Union during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Vietnam War during the mid-60s to early 70s, the conflicts in Nicaragua, Lebanon, Caribbean, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Add them up: I count eight. Those were just the wars/conflicts fought outside of our borders. Just as influential to my formation were the race riots in our own cities during the mid-60s, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy.

War has become the norm, not the abhorred exception.

I have wondered about this. What effect has the reality of war had on our social fabric as Americans, especially the development of our attitudes on family and marriage and what effect has our change in experience of marriage and family had on our global activities with other nations?

I would imagine some might think there is such a remote relationship between the personal experience of relationship and the country’s experience on the world stage that such questions are irrelevant or trivial. I for one think there are important connections.

Let me explain. Anyone who is continually subjected to distress/anxiety eventually will either become unaware of its corrosive effects, only to collapse from within, or that person will externalize that distress in a reactive or defensive manner. Furthermore, continual exposure to distress leads to a lessening of the natural avoidance of distressing situations and a corresponding increase in an opposing force which essentially is an experience of release carrying with it a certain level of pleasure.

If as a country we are continually exposing ourselves to the horrors of war, we eventually decrease our natural avoidance of such killing and experience an increase in “pleasurable” release that such actions can bring. In other words, winning a war brings us a high.

We weren’t created to find pleasure in war. It is not in our nature. It is in our corrupted nature perhaps, but not integrative to the human person.

I have come to think that such national behavior filters down into family life. The tolerance for unhealthy conflict increases and our capacity to then inflict harm on ourselves, be it our marriages or our families, also increases.

Marriage, as an institution upon which family is built, then either implodes from inner corrosion, or it explodes into conflict that tears it apart.

It is my thesis that if we really want to have healthy families, strong marriages and a stable society, then we have to stop shooting at neighboring nations.

Just stop shooting. Don’t pull the trigger. Save a life and a whole bunch of money.

God knows our families need both: life and money.

One of the biggest delusions we have is there are too many people out there (i.e., too much life) and that there is not enough money to care for each other. There is more than enough money –  it is just we as a nation are spending it foolishly; and we need more life, more living, and a lot less killing…. a lot less killing not only on the battlefield but in the abortion mills and the divorce courts and the living rooms of our families.

Let us pray for peace. God bless all of you.

 

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Quote for the Day

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Deacon Bob

“Live always in truth, that you may die in obedience.” — St. Francis of Assisi

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Deacon Bob’s Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Here is my homily for this weekend. I hope you find some meaning in it this week.

Blessings,

Deacon Bob

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A (audio)

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle A 2011 (text)

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Social Doctrine of the Church: War

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Deacon Bob

The Church condemns war. It asks all people to rethink war in a new way.  Pope John XXIII said in his encyclical “it is hardly possible to imagine that in an atomic era, war could be used as an instrument of peace.” (Pacem in terris, 1963). Pope Leo XIII in 1899 said war is a “scourge” and Pope John Paul II added, “it has never been and it will never be” (1991) an appropriate way of resolving problems between nations because it creates new and more complicated conflicts. Benedict XV said during World War I that it is an “unnecessary massacre” (1 August 1917). Pope Pius XII said in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, “Nothing is lost by peace; everything may be lost by war.” (Radio message 24 August 1939). Finally, Pope Paul VI so famously said in 1965 at the United Nations, “Never again some peoples against others, never again!… no more war, no more war!” (Address to the General Assembly 4 October 1965)

A war of aggression is intrinsically immoral. If attacked, leaders of States that have been attacked have the right and duty to organize a defense. The use of force of arms is legitimate only if the damage done by the aggressor is lasting, grave and certain; all other means of putting an end to the attack must be demonstrated as impractical or ineffective; there must be serious prospects of success; the use of arms must not produce eveil and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. This is commonly called the “just war theory” and must be considered in light of the pronouncements of the Holy Fathers mentioned above.  The Church places the burden of responsibility to determine whether these conditions exist squarely on the shoulders of those who have the responsibility for the common good.

The right to use force for legitimate self-defense is associated with the duty to protect and help innocent victims who are unable to defend themselves from acts of aggression. The use of force must protect also civilian populations from the effects of war.

In light of these teachings, one must render a judgment as the to legitimacy of the wars we are now fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For a more comprehensive discussion of this topic, refer to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church nos. 497-504.

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Church of the Week

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Deacon Bob

St. Peter’s Catholic Church

Rural La Crosse County, Wisconsin

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The Meaning of Success

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Back  in 1973, when I was a college freshman, a required reading was the book, The Meaning of Success, written by Michael Quoist. I honestly don’t remember its contents nearly 40 years later, but the title has never escaped my memory nor the question, “What is success in the Christian context?”

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was noted to have said so rightly, “It is fidelity not success that God desires.” Someone recently reminded me that one may lose every battle but win the war — referring to the spiritual battles of life. He went on to say that there was meaning  for Jesus’ three falls on the way to Golgotha, for one might think of his falls as symbols of human weakness which succumbs under the weight of sin, which our Lord was bearing on his shoulders as he walked to Calvary. Falling is not the ultimate problem; whether we get back up is.

So the question remains, “What is success in the context of Christian life? How does one measure it? How does on account for it?”

If you read the Gospels, the answer seems fairly clear for they tell us that when we face our particular judgment after death, Jesus will be asking us only one question, “Did you love and care for me in the poor?”

It all comes back to care for the poor in our love for Jesus.

Success is loving the needy in our midst.

There are two parables in the Gospels that speak of this. In the first, you recall, a rich young man comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit everlasting life?” Jesus tells him, “Honor your father and mother. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not covet. Do not commit adultery” The man said, “I have kept all these. What else must I do?” Jesus said, “Sell all you have and come, follow me.” Here was a man who obeyed the 4th through the 10th commandments, all of which have to do with loving one’s neighbor, i.e., the poor. But he couldn’t obey the first 3 commandments which were love of God above all else.

In the second parable, the Good Samaritan, we hear of priests and Levites passing by an injured man, avoiding him because of ritual impurity. They were focused on their love of God and the first three commandments, but neglect the last seven.

St. Vincent de Paul reminded us that there is no sin to interrupt our ritual prayers if a poor person asks for our help, for it is Jesus who is asking.

Let us not get caught up in the cultural definition of success as positive outcomes, production and the bottom line. Doing less is often success.

Is not success in the Christian context approaching closer and closer to the beatific vision, to the constant recognition of Jesus in each person we meet and reaching out to them?

It is a matter of vision.

This is what heaven will be.

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