Catholic Faith and Reflections

I wonder about the wisdom of financial security. I mean, I wonder if the energy we put into trying to obtain financial security is worth it. With the stock market doing its thing, and in all reality the impotency of all of us to do anything substantive about it, perhaps it is time for us to admit we are dependent on powers greater than ourselves in the financial world. If only we could be assured these powers were benevolent…..

One of my friends, who is coming for a visit today, is an inspiration to me in this whole area. He seems to have a grasp on the idea that money is simply a tool, a means, not an ends. He uses it, and trusts in the future. I hope to get there someday.

I am conscious of my age. I am finding myself recollecting a lot in the past months, recalling places, things and people that were a part of my life so many years ago. I recall the times without frequent transportation to and from cities, without frequent telephone contact because of “long distance” costs, without brocolli and cauliflower, without linguine (just spaghetti) and prosciutto, without plane trips to the west coast or news of space flights. I remember the prairie when it was prairie. I remember when nearly all farmers also practice animal husbandry. I remember when grandma was as much a part of family life as was mom and dad. Seemed like life was simpler, more relaxed, more oriented to faith and love and hope.

Why is it that Archbishop Sheen was so popular on TV back in the 50s and 60s with both Catholics and non-Catholics, but you cannot seem to get such a spokesman past EWTN nowadays? Why have we become deaf to a prophet?

Johannes Metz wrote a small book entitled, Poverty of Spirit. In it he speaks of the poverty of provisionality, i.e., the necessity of having to do somethings over and over again. Can’t help but think of this as I am up on the ladder in recent days painting my house. Gotta be done. Will have to be done again someday. Hope there is something grace-full about it!

Talking about poverty, my dad used to say that we needed an “old fashioned depression” to “straighten out” society. I don’t think I can agree with dad here, God bless him, but maybe more of us could live with less and know what poverty and dependency really is. God knows millions do elsewhere.

Surprise, surprise… I am reading how people are talking about Obama being powerless to do much with the economic mess.  Surprise, surprise… I read almost four years ago how people were talking about Bush being powerless to do much about the economic mess…. Surprise, surprise… Seems that Obama and Bush aren’t that different, are they? I just wish Obama would respect the unborn’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and he would see what is obvious that marriage can only be between one man and one woman if society is to be well-ordered and children are to be raised well.

If there are any men out there age 30 or older who want to explore a wonderful way of life, call up your local chancery office and inquire about the diaconate. Unbelievable vocation! You won’t be sorry.

If you have any answers to my questions above, drop a comment.

God bless all of you.

Deacon Bob

I have had the pleasure of becoming reaquainted with Fr. Chuck Stoetzel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Fr. Stoetzel was transferred to La Crosse on July 1. I had been assisting as deacon at the 6:30 am Mass there a few times a week before I head to the office for work, and he has graciously allowed me to continue to do so.

Fr. Chuck and I knew each other in 1977-78 over in Rome where we both studied. He was a year ahead of me. Since we re-met a few weeks ago, he has been bringing up names of former classmates and others who lived in Rome during those years who I have not thought of for over 30 years.

One of those names is the now Msgr. William V. Millea.

Bill, as I knew him, was a year ahead of me also in Rome. Even then he was an interested Vatican watcher. The summer Pope Paul VI died, and before John Paul I was elected in August, he rushed back to Rome from the United States to not miss any of the activity surrounding a papal funeral and election. I was spending the entire summer that year in Europe, going to an advanced language school and doing some traveling with friends.  I was in Oslo, Norway when I read that Paul VI had died, so I caught the very next train back to Rome. Bill flew to Rome from the States. He was eager to take me out to dinner the first night he arrived to mine me for whatever information I had learned about the funeral plans, etc., etc. I still recall the evening air on the Janiculum hill where we went to a restaurant to eat that night. I told him what I knew and I could tell he wanted a lot more information than I possessed.

I wonder what he thought later when I was picked to bear the cross at John Paul I’s installation. I don’t believe he was selected to participate.

But Bill has more than had his share of direct, first-hand experience since then with papal ceremonies. He has been one of several priests who make up the College of Cleric Prelates of the Apostolic Camera. Go ahead and google his name. You will see him in many photograpshs with the popes. He and the others are present in most of those ceremonies.

I find it amazing to learn how those from my past have fared. Some have done very well, as I hope Bill has done. Of course there are others too: Peter Sartain, now archbishop of Seattle; Tony Taylor, now bishop of Little Rock; Kevin McCoy, former rector of the North American College; Tim Recker, pastor of St. Theodore’s down in Albert Lea; Minnesota; Rick Colletti, rector of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona; Joe Morgan, pastor of Lake Placid, New York; Scott Marczuk, former rector of the cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas; Bob Kropak and Steve Valenga, both pastors of parishes in Cleveland; Msgr. Mike Curran from the Brooklyn diocese….I could go on.

Good men they were (are). God bless them all and the work they do in the Church.