June 17, 2005 - Issue #12
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Out with the old Brother Francis, in with the new
With a screeching crunch of wood and metal, a massive Hitachi excavator on June 2 began dismantling an icon in Anchorage: the old Brother Francis Shelter.
The shelter, a pillar in the city’s homeless services efforts for the past 22 years, was demolished because it is no longer needed. A new shelter that has been operating for about a month now stands a few yards away.
The demolition event coincided with the launch of the final phase of fund-raising for the new shelter, a push for the last $1.2 million needed to complete the building project and establish an endowment.
The old shelter, a cavernous metal siding building, was the answer to a lot of prayers in 1983, when it was transformed from a dilapidated city equipment warehouse into what was supposed to be a temporary shelter for those with nowhere else to turn.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, before the shelter existed, between 12 and 20 homeless people were freezing to death in Anchorage each winter, according to Bob Eaton, who helped assess the homelessness situation in 1981 for then-Archbishop Francis Hurley.
The growing awareness of such tragedies spawned civic and faith-based efforts to get a decent shelter in Anchorage, but the municipality lacked funding to run a program and the archdiocese lacked a building.
Archbishop Hurley and then-Mayor Tony Knowles struck a deal: If the mayor would provide the space, the archbishop would run the program.
The two agreed on the old equipment barn on the northeast edge of downtown as a temporary solution; the city leased it to the archdiocese for $1 per year.
But it turned out not to be very temporary. The old gray barn functioned for almost 22 years as a safe place to sleep and find help getting off the streets.
Catholic Social Services has operated the program since its early days. About five years ago fund-raising started in earnest for a new shelter, and this spring Archbishop Roger Schwietz dedicated the new building.
The new Brother Francis was designed as a shelter, with proper office space for counseling services and even a medical clinic. At the old shelter, sleeping accommodations consisted of thin mattresses on the floor; at the new place guests have actual bunk beds.
"It’s cleaner, more sanitary," said Toni Nolan, who suffers from bipolar disorder and has been homeless "on and off" for about 10 years. "You feel a little more human not having to sleep on the floor."
Just before the demolition of the old shelter began, Archbishop Roger Schwietz and Mayor Mark Begich and other civic leaders kicked off the last phase of fund-raising for the new shelter. This final campaign is aimed at local donors and has a goal of $1.2 million to furnish the clinic, pay for finishing touches such as a parking lot and establish an endowment to fund the shelter’s operation.
Total cost of the rebuild is $7.6 million. The biggest chunk of funding raised so far is the $1.75 million in private donations of $20,000 or less. Major grants include $1.5 million from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development program and $1.4 million from Cook Inlet Housing Authority. The state Health and Social Services Department kicked in half a million dollars, as did the Rasmuson Foundation.
Wiseman ready for ordination June 25
The Archdiocese of Anchorage gains a new priest on June 25, when Deacon Eric Wiseman is ordained by Archbishop Roger Schwietz to serve the local church.
Deacon Wiseman, 56, joins the growing ranks of second-career priests. The Maryland native, who has been an Alaskan since 1982, has a master’s degree in public administration and worked for the state of Alaska until entering the seminary five years ago.
Now, he has a keen interest in hospital chaplaincy and said he looks forward to "serving the people of God in the archdiocese to the best of my ability."
He also joins a growing number of priests who have been married. His wife, Victoria, died in 1980, and it was after her death that Deacon Wiseman first considered a vocation to priesthood.
He said he’d like to see more attention paid to second-career vocations.
"I’d like to personally invite any widow or widower to consider the religious life or priesthood," he said.
Although a widowed priest may be unusual in the archdiocese, at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis., sometimes referred to as a seminary for "delayed vocations," Deacon Wiseman found himself part of a close brotherhood. The seminary Web site even has a picture of some of the 15 widowers studying there, some holding pictures of their wives.
As a seminarian, Deacon Wiseman took part in clinical pastoral education, a required course for those studying for the priesthood. The experience ministering to the sick and infirm made a deep impression on him, and he plans to further this education at Providence Alaska Medical Center in order to qualify for hospital chaplaincy.
Deacon Wiseman described clinical pastoral education as "intense." Not only do you learn how to meet patients one on one and support them emotionally and spiritually, but you return to your pastoral care group and share with each other how your cases are affecting you and how well you are dealing with your patients.
"Everyone debriefs," he said. "You come to grips with yourself, your limitations, you build on your strength. The group listens to you, gives you their impressions of how you’ve handled a situation."
Sharing with other chaplains is an important part of the ministry, he learned.
"It’s a matter of emotional survival," he said. "You can be a chaplain for 20 years and you’ll meet something that hits you right between the eyes."
Archbishop Schwietz said Deacon Wiseman will make a good hospital chaplain, a position that is in demand here.
"He has good skills at working with the elderly and ill, which is good because it is often difficult to meet all the needs of our hospitals with priestly help," the archbishop said.
Deacon Wiseman spent his pastoral year, 2002-2003, at St. Andrew Parish in Eagle River.
Father Leo Walsh, the pastor, recalls him as "a very prayerful and humble man" with "a diversity of talents."
"I assigned him to teach kindergarten religious ed," Father Walsh said. "If you can teach the faith to kindergartners, you can teach it to anyone. It was fun to watch him integrate music and puppetry into the lessons."
Father Walsh endorses the idea of second-career priests.
"They bring a wealth of experience," he said. "It makes for a rich priesthood."
Deacon Wiseman brings a host of interests and hobbies to his new profession. He and his wife were avid ballroom dancers — everything from the waltz to the polka to the tango. He plays the accordion and an instrument called the guitarron, a kind of bass guitar used in mariachi bands.
Although he said there are no mariachi bands in the area, he hopes to bring some musicians together. And he’s studying Spanish, a language he speaks but wants to gain fluency in. To keep in shape, he fences at the Eagle River Fencing Club, a sport he practiced in the seminary.
Having once felt called to marriage, Deacon Wiseman said he is prepared now for a life of celibacy. His experience of marriage has enriched him, he said, and hopefully brought him an understanding of that state of life that he can share with others in his ministry. The Wisemans had no children.
After ordination and a brief vacation, Deacon Wiseman will move to St. Anthony Parish in East Anchorage, where he will be in residence while he serves the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament as chaplain and continues preparing to become a hospital chaplain.
Deacon Wiseman’s ordination will be the first in the archdiocese since May 2003, when Fathers Tom Lilly and Scott Garrett were ordained.
According to Oblate of Mary Immaculate Brother Craig Bonham, archdiocesan vocation director, the archdiocese will have one man in the seminary this fall when John Burger of Anchorage enters St. John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. Burger spent last year at the House of Discernment, a residence for men considering priesthood.
Deacon Wiseman will be ordained at 11 a.m. June 25 at Holy Family Cathedral. A reception will follow in the Holy Family Education Center. All are invited.
Msgr. Richard Allen, 74, dies of cancer
Msgr. Richard Allen, a priest of the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., who spent the last five years serving rural parishes in the Anchorage Archdiocese, died of liver cancer June 7. He was 74.
Msgr. Allen was diagnosed with cancer just six months ago; the disease quickly sapped the strength of the robust, barrel-chested man who, according to friends, exhibited boundless energy during his 49-year career as a priest.
He left Alaska in March for treatment in New York and returned once later in the spring after having undergone a round of chemotherapy. He returned to New York but then informed Archbishop Roger Schwietz in May that he and his doctors had decided to halt the treatment because it wasn’t working. He returned to Charlotte, where Jean Ponischil, his former parish secretary, cared for him for three weeks before he died.
Msgr. Allen never needed pain medication during his final weeks and died peacefully in his sleep, according to Ponischil.
"We prayed for a miracle," she said. "Maybe the miracle was that he didn’t have any pain."
Archbishop Francis Hurley, who met Msgr. Allen on a trip to North Carolina and invited him to come to Alaska, returned to Charlotte for the priest’s June 10 funeral.
"It was an upbeat funeral if I’ve ever seen one," the archbishop told the Anchor. He said so many people told such wonderful stories about Msgr. Allen that a good mood prevailed despite the grief they all felt.
"He had many, many close friends," Archbishop Hurley said.
As people learned of his illness and death, letters poured in from all around North Carolina and Alaska, Ponishcil said. Many were from people Msgr. Allen had helped when they were in some kind of trouble, including numerous young people he had mentored, she said.
"He was for the downtrodden, the broken hearted and the mixed up," she said. "He was a compassionate person who never turned anyone down."
Ponischil said that during her 38 years as his secretary she learned of many runaways, drug addicts, convicts and others who were "having problems and in despair" whom Msgr. Allen took under his wing.
In Alaska, Msgr. Allen’s compassion, generosity and humor were legendary.
"He was really a mentor for at-risk kids," said Renamary Rauchenstein, parish director in Talkeetna. "He actually saved them."
The man loved life and loved to give, said Deacon Bill Frost, pastoral leader of St. Christopher Mission Parish in Willow.
"His suitcase was always so heavy you could hardly lift it," Deacon Frost said, remembering many back-straining trips to get Msgr. Allen from the airport when he came to Cordova, where Deacon Frost and his wife, Sharon, used to serve.
On one of his weekends in Cordova, Msgr. Allen saw a woman and child walking to town and learned that they didn’t have a vehicle and lived in bunks at one of the canneries, where the husband worked.
"On his next trip he brought a brand new bicycle for the kid and put it together for him," Deacon Frost recalled. "That’s just the kind of guy he was; he was always giving."
Msgr. Allen also loved adventure, friends said.
He led tours all over Europe, including at least one trip to East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. He took a church group to a ski resort in Austria so many times that the mayor gave him the key to the city. There were canoe trips to Canadian lakes for youths from North Carolina, and humanitarian trips to Jamaica with medical professionals.
A chance encounter with Archbishop Hurley in the mid 1990s opened up a whole new world — Alaska. The archbishop was visiting friends in Charlotte when they met and Msgr. Allen mentioned that he’d be retiring in a few years. The archbishop invited him to come work on the circuit, the archdiocese’s program that sends Anchorage-based priests out to rural parishes on the weekends for Mass.
Sure enough, after his retirement Msgr. Allen called the archbishop and offered to come.
He plied the roads of Southcentral Alaska in a white Subaru Outback, covering the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez, Glennallen, Big Lake and the churches on the Parks Highway. He flew to Unalaska and Cordova as well, but he preferred to drive, said circuit coordinator Holy Cross Father LeRoy Clementich.
"He loved it," Father Clementich said of Msgr. Allen’s work here. "He didn’t hunt, didn’t fish, didn’t climb mountains, but he had a great respect for ministry in rural places, the places nobody else could get to."
That missionary zeal was evident in his early days in North Carolina, friends said. Msgr. Allen used to travel around the Carolinas in a camper, tending to the few Catholics he found in the heavily Protestant region. In some places he went door to door to invite people to Mass.
Later in his career Msgr. Allen was assigned to urban parishes and held such administrative positions as diocesan vocations director. In 1976 he was named a monsignor, a mostly honorary title bestowed by the pope with the recommendation of the local bishop.
The title mostly embarrassed the priest, said his longtime friend Father Joe Mulligan of Charlotte.
"The folderol was not Dick," he said. "He had no pretense, no affect."
Msgr. Allen was a good homilist who "always reminded us to watch out for the less fortunate," said Jeanette Keida of St. Christopher in Willow. But what she may miss the most is his sense of humor, she said.
She told about the good laugh they had when St. Christopher still worshipped in a double-wide mobile home, before the current church was built. The old church had an outhouse, and Msgr. Allen needed to use it one cold day. All went well until he attempted to exit the facility, at which point he discovered that his shoes had frozen to the floor.
Msgr. Allen loved telling that story, Keida said.
He loved telling stories, period, Father Clementich said. People would joke that his liturgies came complete with three homilies, one at the beginning of Mass, one in the middle and one at the end.
That flair for storytelling came in handy when Msgr. Allen would travel back to North Carolina. He was a tireless fund-raiser for his Alaska flock, according to Father Mulligan.
"He was a great spokesman; he raised thousands of dollars," the priest said. "He was in his element telling about Alaska."
Philippine archbishop visits Anchorage area
Filipino Archbishop Orlando Quevedo visited the Anchorage Archdiocese June 9-12, stopping off in Talkeetna, Kenai and Eagle River to further explore the partnership between his Cotabato Archdiocese on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Archbishop Quevedo’s visit is a follow-up to the trip that Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz made last fall with a delegation of seven Alaskans to the Cotabato Archdiocese. On that trip, the archbishops formalized their "global solidarity partnership," a program facilitated by Catholic Relief Services.
Both archbishops belong to the same religious order, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which Pope Pius XI referred to as "specialists in difficult missions," and Archbishop Quevedo told the Anchor last week that that charism has influenced the fledgling partnership.
"We have the same idea of mission and that idea of mission is a giving type of mission, not a receiving one," said Archbishop Quevedo, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The mutuality of the partnership, rather than the inequality of a First World diocese merely funding projects in the Third World, is a key component of the global solidarity partnership, he said. Mindanao’s Catholics have much to offer their Alaskan counterparts in the way of spirituality, a strong sense of family and their experience cultivating active, organized faith communities, he said.
In Cotabato City on Nov. 6. in a small chapel at Archbishop Quevedo’s residence, the two archbishops celebrated Mass in the presence of the Alaskan delegation, Filipino clergy and Catholic Relief Services workers and then put their pens to an official partnership agreement binding the people of their archdioceses.
"We seek a Spirit-filled relationship out of which will grow mutual understanding and support," the agreement states. "This relationship will enrich the lives of our people through the sharing of who we are and what we have. We desire a partnership rooted in communion that is characterized by openness and solidarity."
Archbishop Quevedo said he came to Anchorage to get an idea of how to work toward creating solidarity between people an ocean apart. He said the partnership involves "two sister churches praying for each other" and also sharing skills and experiences that may be rare in the other archdiocese.
The Filipino archbishop said people in his archdiocese have an "inferiority complex" about being able to contribute to a partnership with a diocese in a developed country.
"What can we give?" the archbishop said people are wondering.
"There is no one so rich that he does not need anything. There is no one so poor that he cannot give anything," he said. "Whether you are a poor person or a rich person, you can give for the church."
In the Cotabato Archdiocese, church leaders nourish "basic ecclesial communities," groups of 10-40 parish families that meet regularly to share their faith and focus ministries on liturgy, family life, catechesis, youth, social action, interrreligious dialogue and programs with indigenous people.
Archbishop Quevedo said the Philippine archdiocese is well-known for the work of its basic ecclesial communities in promoting peace and building relationships among residents in an area that has been a battleground of four major armed conflicts since 1997. Parishes stood with victims of violence during the fighting and continue to work to heal relationships damaged by years of war.
The Alaska visitors participated in basic ecclesial community life, staying in the homes of parishioners who gathered to dance, play music, share their faith and support each other’s livelihoods.
"How people in poverty can still be very happy because of their faith — that’s something we can share," the archbishop said. Coming from Cotabato, where basic ecclesial communities are at the root of parish life and beyond, the archbishop said that visiting the United States, he sees a loss of spirituality.
"The life is hectic, you go to work and back, go to work and back, and often the Sunday, Sabbath, is for cleaning cars and shopping and not so much really for spending the day as a rest day … given to the Lord," the archbishop said.
"Some of the values that are lost are those that are most important in life, values of the family, Gospel values; and the values that take their place are very often materialistic, secular. That sense of the sacred is lost," he added.
Filipino people are also affected by American choices and American policies, the archbishop said. Globalization is not just an economic concept but also affects cultures and values.
The Philippines was ruled by the United States for 48 years between 1898 and 1946; the last U.S. military base on the islands closed in 1992.
"American policies with regard to economics would be something the Filipino government would either support or at least comply with," he said. He listed the war in Iraq, quotas of sugar or other imports and immigration regulations as some of the Philippine policies influenced by Americans.
Plans to host a delegation from the Cotabato Archdiocese in Anchorage next spring are under way, according to Angela Liston, the Anchorage Archdiocese’s Catholic Relief Services liason.
Santacruzan: A Filipino tradition migrates to Anchorage
Filipino-American Catholics have transported a dazzling celebration of Christianity from the Philippines to Anchorage. "Santacruzan," a community prayer event that involves costumes, lots of flowers and a public procession, marks the supposed finding of Christ’s cross in the fourth century by St. Helena.
Filipino people call her Reyna Elena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor who greatly influenced the spread of Christianity by legalizing the religion in the empire. Queen Helena visited the Holy Land in 327-328 AD, when legend maintains that she found the cross on which Christ had been crucified.
In Anchorage on June 4, Reyna Elena and other figures from history were personified by women and young girls clad in satin dresses, butterfly sleeves, beads and lace, processing along with other parishioners through the streets of downtown Anchorage. Men dressed in sheer white barongs, a formal Filipino shirt, sang and chanted prayers as they pulled a wagon adorned with a Marian statue and rose garlands. Others in the procession carried wire arbors decorated with flowers and wispy white fabric.
In the Philippines, Santacruzan concludes a month of May festivals honoring the Virgin Mary, but in Anchorage, the procession is delayed to ensure warmer weather.
The Filipino Religious Tradition, a group of Filipino-American Catholics in the Anchorage area, has organized 24 annual Santacruzan processions and upheld other Filipino devotions here.
The June 4 procession looped around a few city blocks downtown, concluding with a Mass at Holy Family Cathedral celebrated by Father Luz Flores of Anchorage, who is himself from the Philippines.
"When we process," the priest told the assembly during his homily, "it’s the total, collective, family faith that is expressed in our devotion." He explained that along with honoring the Virgin Mary, Santacruzan participants "do something good for others" and serve as "models to our children."
Anchorage Filipinos prepared for the celebration of the holy cross with a nine-day novena of prayers that began May 20.
Decades of Devotion: Sisters of Perpetual Adoration religious community celebrates 20 years in Anchorage
This spring marked, quietly and with little fanfare, a special anniversary in the Archdiocese of Anchorage and a milestone in the lives of six women.
It’s been 20 years since a group of Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from Guadalajara, Mexico, arrived in Alaska to found Anchorage’s only community of cloistered religious.
The Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament, an attractive but modest facility tucked away on a side street off Lake Otis Parkway, was host to an anniversary Mass on May 28. Archbishop Roger Schwietz, retired Archbishop Francis Hurley, who invited the sisters to Anchorage when he served as archbishop, and several priests of the archdiocese concelebrated.
Archbishop Hurley said the monastery represents "the key place that the Eucharist is in the lives of those who believe in Christ."
In a commemorative video made to mark the event, Therese Syren, a member of the family that donated five acres to build the monastery, described the value of such a community within the archdiocese.
"It was as if (Archbishop Hurley) said, ‘I want to give every man, woman and child in my archdiocese an opportunity to go to this monastery and draw out a blank spiritual check for whatever they want, whenever they want, and all you have to do is give this five acres,’ " Syren said.
"It never entered our minds that we might have a monastery," Syren said, but the family reacted to the archbishop’s proposal with "total surprise, total joy."
One of Syren’s sisters had been a member of the Perpetual Adoration Sisters, so the family felt a kinship with the order. Coincidentally, Archbishop Hurley had grown up in San Francisco near a community of Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. So it was to them that he went with the proposal for an Anchorage monastery.
Although the San Francisco group was unable to provide Sisters, they referred the archbishop to a sister community in Guadalajara that had more than 30 nuns in residence. Originally, eight sisters arrived in Anchorage in spring 1985, but two of them eventually returned to Mexico.
Cloistered nuns live a life unlike most religious sisters. They commit themselves to a monastery for life and move only with the approval of Rome. They remain behind the enclosure of the cloister, even at Mass when other worshippers are separated from them by a five-foot-high divider in their small chapel. They rarely leave the cloister for any reason, although a necessary doctor’s appointment might take them away.
Even when the sisters studied for U.S. citizenship and took their oath to become citizens, it was arranged for the proceedings to be done within the cloister.
Why, one might ask, would the sisters leave Mexico if they are not really a part of the Anchorage community?
Though they are separated physically, the Sisters are very much a part of the local Catholic community, through their continual presence before the Blessed Sacrament and their prayers, explained Mother Maria de las Victorias Amezcua, superior of the group.
Even in Guadalajara, Mother Amezcua said, people would ask, " ‘Why are you in the cloistered life? There are many needs — you need to go out-side.’ "
But the nun points to the Gospel, and the balance there between prayer and action. Some are called to lives of prayerful activity, she said, but others are called to a dedicated life of prayer to strengthen the church. Each is an important vocation.
"We pray for all the world, but especially for the archdiocese," Mother Amezcua said. "Our monasteries need to stay close to the people."
Archbishop Hurley echoed that sentiment.
"For those who believe in God, we believe they are praying on our behalf. While we’re busy with so many things, they remain in prayer."
When the Sisters arrived in Anchorage, Kim Syren, Therese’s mother, moved out of her home so the sisters could live there until the monastery was built.
Therese Syren described how a group of people — "some who hardly knew each other" — came together in a largely volunteer effort to build the monastery.
The groundbreaking was held on a rainy day in May 1986, and in 1987, after the public was invited to tour the soon-to-be-sealed cloistered section, the monastery was dedicated.
Syren said a task for the next 20 years is to "get the word out."
People are welcome to pray at the monastery. The chapel, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed, is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. Mass is at 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday, 7:15 a.m. on Sundays.
Prayer requests may be made on a special phone line, 566-4613, and written requests may be placed at a window in the foyer near the chapel. The monastery is at 2645 E. 72nd Ave., one block east of Lake Otis Parkway.
Also, the sisters hope that the word will get out that monastic life, an ancient tradition within the church, is a beautiful and important vocation. Although some women have expressed interest in the local community, no new sisters have joined the Anchorage monastery since the original group arrived.
The youngest of the sisters is now in her 60s. Mother Amezcua said the community has requested new Sisters from Mexico but so far has no commitment.
The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration were founded by Catalina Sordini in the 19th century. There are 84 Perpetual Adoration monasteries in the world, with over half in Mexico. Five, including the one in Anchorage, are located in the United States.
Everyone should feel welcome at Catholic Mass
Every community that gathers for an event of local interest, secular or sacred, will obviously be a blend of people, differentiated in many ways: age, culture, personal interest, physical and mental capacities, etc.
One thing’s for sure: We do not all fit neatly into the same space in the same way although the assumption often is that we do or should!
Unfortunately, as a church, a community of Christians, we have often assumed that everyone who comes to church will fit equally into the same sacred space and will have normal and equal access to all the sacred gifts that are offered there. That is not always the case, of course, and we are embarrassed to say that we "never noticed."
Many people who join the community for Sunday liturgy come with special needs: They come to pray and worship, but they need special and loving attention particularly in terms of access and physical space. The seating arrangements in our churches do not always adapt themselves well for those who are elderly and infirm, those who are physically or mentally disabled, or even to parents with children.
Moreover, it must truthfully be said that even our rules for liturgy, which are meant to bond us into a community, often discriminate against those who are disadvantaged.
Many people, for instance, find it difficult to stand for long periods of time. Others cannot kneel for parts of the liturgy. Many others need to be close to the sanctuary to be able to see and hear. Those who come in wheelchairs need access to Communion stations. Everyone needs a clear understanding of where the nearest exit is.
The ministry of hospitality, therefore, is becoming more and more a Christian demand in our churches.
What is of utmost importance, of course, is a Christian community that has learned the rules of Christian etiquette or, better Christian service, in the model of Jesus.
There should never be an occasion in our churches where anyone feels unnoticed or unwelcome. That would be the height of unchristian behavior. As Christians, as God’s people, we ought to be able to say: "Come as you are. There is room for everyone."
Archbishop's Column
Misunderstandings about Communion are a serious issue
There is a story told about our late Pope John Paul II on one of the first days after he was elected successor to the see of Peter.
The sisters who took care of the pope’s meals at his apartment were looking for him and could not find him in any of the rooms of the apartment, even though he was supposed to be there. After coming to a near panic, they checked the chapel once again to say a prayer and there discovered the pope lying prostrate before the tabernacle in profound prayer.
I can believe this story because I had the opportunity to be with the pope in times of prayer. I have seen him kneeling in profound prayer before saying his private Mass in his chapel. I have seen him standing in profound prayer during the Eucharist at various times and have seen him sitting in thanksgiving in profound prayer after Communion.
In every one of these situations, no matter what his physical position was, the Holy Father emanated a profound respect for Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, that is, for Jesus Christ himself.
This example comes to mind when I hear the responses of some people who find it difficult to adjust to the changes in the Communion procession, particularly the request that the community remain standing until the Blessed Sacrament is put away and the Communion sequence is completed.
There are some misunderstandings that are surfacing among a small number of people regarding the decision to remain standing during Communion:
• We are defying the practice of the universal church.
In fact, the practice of kneeling during Mass is an exception made for Catholics in the United States. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the universal church presumes the practice of standing during the Mass. This, of course, is an ancient tradition that is kept by the Eastern rite churches as well as the Orthodox Church. Surely it cannot be said that the practice of these churches is less respectful than the exception of kneeling that has been granted for the Catholic Church in the United States.
• These changes are optional.
Bishops in the United States are given the option of establishing certain postures for the community during the Eucharist. The bishops of the province of Alaska have decided upon these changes in accord with most of the dioceses of the West. For the sake of the unity of the community at worship, these postures are meant to respect both the Eucharistic presence of Christ and the presence of the community at the time of the reception of the Eucharist. Out of obedience to the church and her authority, all are expected to follow these mandates unless prevented from doing so by physical incapacity.
• We are taking away the opportunity to kneel in adoration of the Eucharist during Communion.
During Communion time, the Eucharist is present to the person who has just received, as well as to the people who are in the process of receiving. It does not make sense for people to argue that they want to be in adoration of the Eucharist they have just received while ignoring the Eucharist that is being distributed in their presence. There is opportunity for kneeling or sitting during the quiet period once the Communion rite has been completed.
Some argue that kneeling is more respectful than standing, but I regard this as an endless argument. Deep respect for the Eucharist, as I have seen in the late Pope John Paul II, is a matter of attitude that must be present no matter what the particular position of the person is.
As has been mentioned, there are always exceptions to this practice due to the physical condition of a person through age or infirmity. Those who are not able to stand are not required to do so.
The reasoning that I hear coming through most of the reactions against the change in the Communion rite positions is this: "I am used to doing it a particular way and I will continue to do it my way."
This kind of attitude strikes me as typical American individualism, which runs contrary to the expression of community that is expected to be present in the celebration of the Eucharist, as the Second Vatican Council has taught us.
It is not easy to change. I understand. I am simply requesting a goodwill effort to understand and conform to what is being requested in the liturgical directives.
Editorials
Msgr. Allen’s good deeds will live on
Msgr. Richard Allen has died, but the good he did in life will go on, probably for generations.
After 44 years of service in North Carolina, Msgr. Allen poured his considerable energy into the circuit priest program here for another five years. At 74, he was still going strong when cancer struck about six months ago.
Msgr. Allen was a priest in the most traditional sense — modeled on Christ himself. He was constantly reminding Catholics of their obligations to the poor, the vulnerable and those without much support. He led by example, setting up St. Vincent de Paul outreach groups, seeking out and mentoring at-risk youths, befriending AIDS patients and criminals.
That was Jesus’ way, of course. He helped lepers and people possessed by evil spirits. He stood up for the woman caught in adultery, dined with the tax collector and shared the Good News with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Jean Ponischil, Msgr. Allen’s secretary for 38 years, has lost count of people who called or wrote in the past few months to thank Msgr. Allen for believing in them and helping them when they were in pain or trouble. He was especially drawn to young people who had lost a parent or been harmed by one. Msgr. Allen acted like a dad to many, many such youths in the Carolinas and Alaska.
The recovered lives of all those young people is a lasting testament to a priest who tried to live like Christ.
Anchor is proud of national awards
Father LeRoy Clementich has done it again. He’s the best Catholic Scripture columnist in the United States and Canada, according to the journalists who judged the 2005 Catholic Press Association awards contest.
Father Clementich is a scholar who writes like E.B. White, breathing life and relevance into the dusty pages of the Bible with his engaging personal stories and connections to current events. Next Sunday’s readings make more sense and seem more pertinent when they’ve been previewed by the thoughtful, insightful "Father Clem."
Our man also took first for his column in 2003, and second place last year. What can we say? He’s the best.
The Anchor picked up four other awards at the press convention, held the last week of May in Orlando, Fla.
Ace freelance reporter Effie Caldarola received an honorable mention for her personality profile on Mercy Sister Arlene Boyd, who served in the archdiocese for 33 years before returning last year to the mother house in New York. Ms. Caldarola has been reporting and writing a popular column of her own for the Anchor since its inception in 1999, covering some of the biggest and most interesting local church news and sharing her keen personal take on spirituality and family in her column.
The association gave another honorable mention to assistant editor Kelly DuFort for a story on the new "global solidarity partnership" the archdiocese established last year with the Cotabato Archdiocese in the Philippines. Ms. DuFort traveled to the Southeast Asian nation with a group of fellow Alaskans and wrote a fascinating four-part series for the Anchor. Her reporting and photos and sharp editorial eye have greatly increased the overall quality of the Anchor.
DuFort’s Philippines series also picked up a coveted Eileen Egan Award honorable mention. The Egan is the top award that Catholic Relief Services gives for reporting on humanitarian and social justice issues. Other Egan winners were from such powerhouse publications as the National Catholic Reporter and Portland’s Catholic Sentinel.
The final award was an honorable mention for our editorial page — page 4 — where readers and the Anchor editorial staff share their opinions with fellow Catholics.
America sorely needs to hear the Good News, and Catholic publications are key to accomplishing this goal. The better informed Catholics are about their faith and how it relates to the modern world, the better able they will be to evangelize the culture.
Letters to the Editor
Anti-Weigel column was awful
After reading George Weigel’s May 6 column, I’m convinced that the publishers of the Anchor suffered from insomnia attacks, and in their desperate search for relief found it in Brian Doyle. Doyle’s list of progressive Catholics made my blood boil, and as for his claim that progressives are Christ-like, that is insulting to me or anyone of even limited intelligence. Admittedly, though, after years of patronizing comments via your newspaper, traditionalists should be properly conditioned by now. However, we recognize that it’s because of the false prophets who have controlled the American church for so long that we find ourselves in such a horrible mess, and that’s also the reason why so many have left the faith. The "modernisti" claimed that they were going to change the church for the better, but after 35 years, this "spy" is convinced that they sought only to destroy the true church.
Anchorage
New directive doesn’t sit right
In the April 8 Anchor, the only really "new" liturgical directive printed, i.e. to stand before/after Communion, states, "This is not to regulate posture rigidly in such a way that those who wish to kneel or sit would no longer be free." The devil has no knees. Standing while proclaiming, "O Lord I am not worthy," is an oxymoron. It’s against my conscience, especially when polls say faith in the Real Presence is at an all-time low. Real unity comes from our common faith, which proclaims the Mass as the "Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary." When "stripped of its sacrificial meaning, the mystery is understood as if its meaning and importance were simply that of a fraternal banquet" ("Church of the Eucharist," no. 10). I want my community to recognize Christ in the Eucharist, not just their neighbor. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal says kneeling is "laudably retained" where it’s been the custom. We "stand to lose" our unity and our faith.
Anchorage
Please, let us keep kneeling
While a person can show reverence to the Blessed Sacrament in any posture, the most reverent is kneeling. No one stands during Benediction. To change to standing during the Year of the Eucharist is puzzling. More puzzling is the verbal coercion by the priests to follow the new norm of standing. It has been likened to a gift of the Holy Spirit and so those who kneel are disobedient by implication. Attempting to kneel in one case has brought a no-no from the priest at the altar. Some people are standing only out of fear that they will be singled out if they kneel. The lack of compassion shown to those of us who in good conscience prefer to kneel is distressing. And in no way is it being done out of disobedience to the archbishop. This is not a matter of faith and morals. I feel like a Catholic leper.
Anchorage