October 3, 2008 - Issue #18
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
New council forms to provide pastoral advice to Archbishop Schwietz
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz expressed hope that the newly formed Archdiocesan Pastoral Council will provide him with insight and advice on a wide range of issues affecting the local Catholic Church.
More than 30 Catholics, representing parishes from across the 138,000-square mile archdiocese, convened in Anchorage last month for the group’s first meeting on Sept. 20.
The main purpose of the council is to advise the archbishop regarding the broad pastoral work and mission within the archdiocese.
“I expect this group will give me a unique perspective in regards to where we might be going and what our priorities are,” Archbishop Schwietz said in a Sept. 18 interview with the Anchor.
“I want to know if there are better ways we can serve the various parishes,” he added.
Archbishop Schwietz said he hoped the council would engage in frank, honest dialogue about the needs and direction of the archdiocese.
“Hopefully we will be able to create an atmosphere of trust, where people feel free to speak their minds,” he said of the council. “They might not agree with each other or with me but at least we will have a forum in which to exchange ideas.”
In the process of choosing people for the council, parishes were asked to submit names of people from their community who could best represent their concerns on the archdiocesan level.
Other names were submitted from the clergy, religious, deacons and other sub-groups to ensure a well-rounded and diverse representation from across the archdiocese.
Archbishop Schwietz approved the final list of council members and said he hopes the members will provide a “sense of the people” within the archdiocese.
“I’m trying to overcome the sense that the bishop is stuck in Anchorage and only knows about what is happening in Anchorage parishes,” he explained.
As for the council’s specific duties, that will become clearer as the group matures.
“It will take time to help them understand their role,” Archbishop Schwietz explained. “I think in time they will make specific recommendations.”
Those recommendations might touch on how to foster collaboration across the archdiocese on matters of religious education or hot-topic issues like the age of confirmation, he said.
Nationwide, diocesan pastoral councils are a growing phenomena. A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ report revealed that 60 percent of U.S. dioceses had a pastoral council in 2004.
Bishops often turn to the councils to provide representative feedback on issues affecting the diocese. They also look to councils for long-range planning and visioning, as well as for short-term, task-oriented project implementation.
Other common roles for diocesan pastoral councils across the U.S. include: considering diocesan policy changes and suggesting responses to pastoral concerns.
Brother Loughlan Sofield, of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, met with the new members of the Anchorage Archdiocesan Pastoral Council on Sept. 20. His aim was to help members understand their role and purpose.
Brother Sofield has worked in more than 200 dioceses, both at the parish and diocesan levels to equip the laity in assisting with the mission of their parishes and dioceses. In addition to meeting with the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, he also met with various parish pastoral councils in Anchorage, Wasilla and the Kenai Peninsula.
According to Brother Sofield, the role of pastoral councils, whether they are at the parish or diocesan level, is helping to define the broad vision of the local church.
“Most pastoral councils fail if they don’t have a clear sense of purpose,” he told a Sept. 17 gathering of parish pastoral council members at Sacred Heart Church in Wasilla. “The Old Testament tells us, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ If we don’t’ have a clear sense of what we are about, ambiguity will breed anxiety, tension and conflict. So we have to be clear about what a pastoral council is for.”
Working class servants: Deacon candidates prep for ordination
Mick Fornelli describes his call to the permanent diaconate in classic terms of a religious vocation.
“I’ve been looking at service to the church for years,” he said. “In high school, I thought about the Marianist brotherhood (who taught in his school).” Later, a Catholic program sparked his interest in the diaconate.
After hopping around the country for several years due to job changes, he finally settled in Anchorage, which allowed him to prepare to become a deacon at St. Patrick Church.
On Sept. 20, Fornelli joined six fellow deacon candidates as they took a key step on their journey to ordination.
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz installed the seven men as acolytes at a ceremony at Holy Family Cathedral. It’s one of many steps as the men move toward their ordination as deacons on May 15, 2009 at the cathedral.
Acolytes assist at Mass, distribute Communion, and take the Eucharist to the ill.
Like many of his fellow candidates, Fornelli credits the Holy Spirit for inspiring his decision.
“If it was easy, it wouldn’t be as fulfilling,” he said.
Other candidates are Rick Ernst from Our Lady of the Angels Church in Kenai, Jon Hermon from St. Patrick Church, Bill Evans from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Dan Stowe from St. Francis Xavier Church in Valdez, and Curt Leuenberger and Harry Moore from St. Michael Church in Palmer.
Deacons are ordinarily not paid for church work. In addition to their families, they usually have full-time jobs in the secular world, yet donate another ten hours a week to work for the local archbishop.
Ernst, for example, is a biologist and pilot for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Kenai Refuge. He said he didn’t know any deacons when he heard about the program. But people in his parish – including parish administrator Mercy Sister Joyce Ross – encouraged him to attend the information night where he felt the call. Now, he said he’s “open” to whatever work Archbishop Schwietz has in mind for him.
A permanent deacon serves a unique role in the church. Unlike a transitional deacon, who will be ordained to the priesthood, a permanent deacon is ordained for special ministry, said Father Jim Oberle, director of the diaconate program.
“The benefit of the diaconate is that they can bring a Catholic presence to the social service ministries,” said Father Oberle.
This summer, the seven candidates served internships in social ministries like prisons, hospitals, programs of Catholic Social Services, and even, in the case of Rick Ernst, on tankers sailing the high seas.
Ernst brought a Catholic presence to the liquid natural gas tankers that travel through Nikiski.
“There’s a crew of about thirty-three men on every tanker,” he explained, “and they are out for about nine months at a time, away from their families. The crews are Filipinos and the officers are Italian, so they’re mostly Catholic.”
Ernst said it’s a ministry of presence, which he thinks Archbishop Schwietz will want him to continue after his ordination.
A deacon, said Father Oberle, can reach these areas where a bishop cannot always be, and is ordained to serve the people of God.
“In Scripture, deacons waited on tables. They brought Communion to the sick,” he said.
This will be the fourth class of deacons ordained for the Archdiocese of Anchorage. Many current deacons serve in liturgical ministries at parishes.
Deacons are permitted to give homilies, baptize and to officiate at marriages, but Father Oberle said this is actually a minor part of their ministry.
The diaconate has an ancient history, appearing in New Testament writings and existing in the first years of Christianity. It waned in the Middle Ages and wasn’t revived until the 20th century, when Pope Paul VI restored the order in an apostolic letter in 1967, and provided further norms in 1972.
Today, the U.S. has 16,500 men who are permanent deacons, more than any other country. According to the Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate from Georgetown University, 93 percent of active deacons are married.
The present deacon candidates in Anchorage are going into their fifth year of formation, which has included spiritual development as well as classes presented by local scholars. By the time of their ordination, they will also have taken four classes through Seattle University’s Masters in Pastoral Studies program.
At ordination, deacons make promises of chastity and obedience to the bishop. A deacon may be married at the time of ordination, but in the event his wife dies following ordination, he is not allowed to remarry without a special dispensation. In the case of Rick Ernst, a lifelong bachelor, his promise will include celibacy.
Marian statue gives Dillingham church a Catholic feel
A new sculpture graces the landscape of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Dillingham, and it comes all the way from Italy. The marble statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, to which the church is dedicated, stands about three and a half feet tall, perched on a rock in front of the church.
Father Scott Garrett is pastor at Holy Rosary. Before the sculpture was in place, he said it was hard to tell that the church was Catholic.
“There’s a little cross on top of it, but it doesn’t hardly look like a church. I wanted something that would make it look more Catholic and more like a church,” Father Garrett said.
Father Garrett said the church scrimped and saved for two years from rummage sales and other fundraisers to purchase the statue. The rock was donated from a leftover stash of rocks from Nome that were used in constructing the city’s boat harbor. A local Dillingham resident, Jimbo Barnett, volunteered equipment and time to move the rock into place on Aug. 27.
Father Garrett said he chose a Nome rock for the pedestal because it looks silvery, almost like a cloud, and because it refers to St. Peter being called to be the rock on which Christ builds his church.
Angela Clark, a parishioner at Holy Rosary, said the statue of the Virgin Mary fits in well with the landscape of the church.
“I was shocked when I saw it,” Clark said, “Because I thought to myself, it seems it’s always been there. It looks like it belongs there and it’s been there for years.”
The statue depicts Mary holding a rosary, as she appeared, according to Catholic tradition, in an apparition to three children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The message of the apparition was to pray the rosary for world peace.
While Catholics are not required to believe in any particular religious apparitions, some have been investigated by the Catholic Church and validated as having been a circumstance in which a spiritual event took place, and those include the apparitions of Mary at Fatima.
Clark said it’s commonly misunderstood what Catholics believe about the mother of Christ, and how they relate to her spiritually.
“Many of my non-Catholic friends think we’re idolizing these images,” Clark said, “But we’re just using them to channel us to the Lord. He’s the only one we worship. The same is true of Mary. We only worship God, and we recognize Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ, who came to us through her.”
Clark said that praying the rosary has helped bring her closer to Christ, the center of her faith, because during the recitation of the prayers, one also contemplates what are called the mysteries, essentially portions of the narrative of Jesus’ life.
“It’s a really beautiful experience when you pray the rosary,” she said. “You’re praying to God but asking (Mary) for intercession on our behalf, and we’re praying for people that we love and have special needs.”
Scott said he hopes the religious sculpture will draw parishioners’ minds to Christ and the church as they prepare to participate in the rosary.
This article originally appeared in the Bristol Bay Times. It is reprinted with permission.
Parish Jubilee
Holy Cross celebrates with added saint relics, piece of True Cross in new altar
“The cross is the core of Christ’s message — and it takes a lifetime to absorb what that means,” Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz told a packed church, during Mass at Holy Cross Parish on September 14, the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross.
The Mass, celebrated on the parish’s feast day, was a major event for the midtown Anchorage church. It marked the beginning of Holy Cross’ Jubilee year, celebrating the 25 years since Holy Cross became a parish in 1984. And it was also an occasion for Archbishop Schwietz to bless the parish’s new crucifix and altar.
Pastor Father Dan Hebert greeted worshippers by proclaiming the Jubilee year. Jubilee, he said, means in Scripture “a time of rejoicing,” and he recounted the day that former Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley asked founding pastor Father Ernest Muellerleile if he would like to start another parish.
“Father Muellerleile said, ‘I jumped at the chance,’” Father Hebert recounted. The older priest had also founded St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in South Anchorage, and was known as a “building priest.”
The name Holy Cross was suggested by an Alaskan Native, Willie Wassilli. The parish began with 30 families, and while the church was being built, community formed around Masses held at Hanshew School, St. John’s United Methodist Church (which loaned the parish space), and a local mall. The new church opened in 1993.
The new altar, designed by Dennis Kimberlin of Omaha, Nebraska, and selected by a parish sanctuary committee, has simple, elegant lines, with an opening into which Archbishop Roger Schwietz placed relics of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Pius X, St. Clement of Rome, fourth century martyr St. Procobius, and the true cross.
The archbishop circled the altar, pouring sacred oil at each corner, while the choir sang “Holy Ground.” He then carefully spread the oil over the altar, incense was brought to the altar, and finally, members of the parish brought the candles, linens and flower arrangements to prepare the altar for Mass.
Following the event, Father Hebert invited everyone to a celebration in the parish reception area.
“Come and eat,” said the priest. “This is not just snacks, this is a banquet.”
Holy Cross Parish now has more than 500 registered families, and is still a young parish that represents a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Father Muellerleile died in 2002, not long after retiring from his work as pastor. Father Hebert succeeded him, and both men were assisted by Precious Blood Sisters, Sister Joan Oberle, and Sister Loretta Luecke, who still serves as parish administrator.
Empowering the laity
Presentations clarify role of pastoral councils
It’s no secret that the Anchorage Archdiocese sees a lot of priests come and go through the years.
With a lack of local clergy to serve area churches, the archdiocese has relied heavily on outside priests on short-term assignments. Often times, dioceses will “loan” priests to Alaska for three-year terms, before calling them back home for other work.
More remote parishes and missions in Alaska have grown accustomed to seeing traveling priests once a week, or less.
“We are a territory that often receives priests to help us out for a time,” Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz explained in a Sept. 18 interview with the Anchor. “These priests are often here for just a few years – we have a lot of those situations.”
The constant turnover can sometimes create a sense of instability for parishes, especially when it comes to establishing long-term goals and directions. This is particularly true when a new priest comes to town with a radically new vision for a parish.
Three years ago, in order to address this problem and to foster greater collaboration with the laity, Archbishop Schwietz directed all parishes in the archdiocese to form parish pastoral councils.
“Pastoral councils can be a stable element in a parish,” he explained to the Anchor. “When a new pastor comes in, he will have a group to work with that has a sense of the history of the parish and knows what’s going on.”
Last month, the archdiocese invited Brother Loughlan Sofield, of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, to visit with local parish councils in Anchorage, Kenai and the Mat-Su areas. He has advised hundreds of diocese around the world. His aim in Alaska was to help clarify the mission and work of parish pastoral councils. He also worked with members of the newly formed Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (see related article on page one).
The goal of a pastoral council is to “look at where and how is God calling us,” Brother Sofield told a gathering of parish pastoral council members in Wasilla.
The work of a pastoral council is different but related to the work of the pastor, he said.
“There is a tension but to me it is pretty clear,” he explained in an interview with the Anchor. “The priest or the staff is responsible for the day to day pastoral and administrative tasks of the parish. The pastoral council is concerned about setting a vision and a mission for the parish. Then they meet with a variety of parishioners. Their roles are completely separate; however, a pastoral council is advisory to a pastor, so they are always working together.”
The effectiveness of a council depends largely on how the local priest or pastoral administrator views their advisory role, Brother Sofield said.
“Some people see advisory as, ‘We’ll sit down and talk and then I’ll make my decision and do it,’” he said. “If each pastor comes in and says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ then you’re not going to get people on the pastoral council after a while. They are going to get frustrated.”
But a pastoral council is not intended to turn church leadership into a democracy or a board of directors either.
During the Wasilla meeting, Father Tom Brundage, the judicial vicar for the archdiocese, said the 1983 Code of Canon Law (the law of the Catholic Church) explicitly states that the local councils are “pastoral councils” rather than parish councils.
“This was deliberate,” he said. “I think there was a fear that people would see these as a board of directors, similar to a protestant church. By making it a pastoral council, it puts the emphasis on pastoral. Its only real aim is to look to the pastoral good of the parish.”
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) did not explicitly mention pastoral councils but it did lay the theological groundwork to empower the laity for greater leadership roles within the church.
The “Pastoral Council Manual” for the Anchorage Archdiocese states that a pastoral council’s mission is to provide “pastoral planning for the faith community it serves.” This is done through “extensive prayer, listening, discernment and learning.”
The functions of a pastoral council include: informing the pastor of the parish’s needs and gifts, developing a parish mission statement and pastoral plan for evangelization and ongoing pastoral planning, recommending policies and programs, reviewing the effectiveness of existing programs, and recommending ways to implement the larger archdiocesan goals on a local level.
The policy manual adds that, pastoral councils work best when the pastor operates as a “servant leader” who “actively consults with the council by defining problems, exploring solutions, and facilitating discernment.”
Clear direction is key, Brother Sofield said, and that can only be done by spending a good deal of each meeting in prayer and reflection about the needs and gifts of the parish.
“If we’re not spending time in prayer how are we going to discern where and how God is calling us?” he asked workshop participants in Wasilla.
He recommended each pastoral council come up with a clear, concise mission statement.
“But the mission statement isn’t something that you as a council sit down and work out,” he said. “It comes after you have listened to people and identified the needs of the parish.”
With a clear mission, a pastoral council can operate effectively.
“If you’re not clear about your purpose then you’ll have a lot of activity going on but it won’t be moving in any specific direction,” he said.
As far as making final decisions for a parish, the archdiocese’s policy manual states that “At all times the guidelines, authority, and function of the Pastoral Council are subject to the teachings of Sacred Scripture, the Canon Law of the Church, solemn pronouncements of the Holy Father, the decrees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archbishop of Anchorage.”
The policy adds that the actions of the pastoral council will “have significant effect only when there is some form of ratification by the pastor/parish director.”
Ordinarily this ratification should occur in the normal course of discernment and decision making within the council. However, if the pastor observes that the council is departing from church teachings it is the obligation of the pastor to bring clarity.
“The pastor/ parish director ultimately has the right and obligation to grant or withhold approval of council decisions,” states the policy. “This authoritative pastoral office seeks to preserve the unity within legitimate diversity.”
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz is adjusting well to his new digs at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Anchorage.
In order to save money on rent and commuting costs, the archbishop moved into the parish rectory in early August from his hillside rental in Southeast Anchorage.
For the past two years, the archdiocese had rented a home for the archbishop, an arrangement that was made necessary when the archdiocese sold the archbishop’s former residence in order to help settle sex abuse claims.
The long-term goal is still to build a permanent archbishop residence near Holy Spirit Center in Southeast Anchorage. Those plans are on hold, however, due to the economic downturn. It could be two more years before construction begins on a permanent home, Archbishop Schwietz explained.
“With the economy going the way it did, it seemed premature to start building right away,” he said. In the meantime, he didn’t want the archdiocese to continue paying rent for his residence.
“I figured I could probably get by with something cheaper and smaller,” he said. “The most logical thing was to move into Our Lady of Guadalupe. They have a space that is very convenient, close to my office and close to the airport.”
The parish has welcomed their new neighbor.
“It is a privilege to me to have the archbishop at our parish,” said Father Vincent Blanco, pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe. “It is humbling to me and it is inspirational.”
Father Blanco said parishioners have expressed joy at having the archbishop close by.
Archbishop Schwietz has noticed.
“When I’m out and about on parish grounds, people are very gracious in greeting me,” he observed. “And living in the rectory has been fine. People come and go but they have not intruded on my privacy.”
Archbishop Schwietz lives in the rectory with Father Jim Oberle and Father Blanco. There are also two guestrooms available for visitors.
“People come and go all the time – we have a lot of guests stay here,” Archbishop Schwietz said. “It’s nice to meet them.”
The rectory has formed into a community life for the priests who live there.
“We usually have morning prayer and Mass together,” Archbishop Schwietz said.
A local parishioner built a small altar for the priests so they can celebrate Mass in the mornings. Occasionally guests will join them.
The duration of the current living arrangement is unknown. That depends on when the new home can be built.
While staying at the parish, Archbishop Schwietz said he hopes to be of assistance to the church. He plans to help celebrate several regular Masses at the parish and he may assist in logistical matters as well.
Father Blanco said the archbishop’s biggest impact, however, is his presence.
“He has a ministry of presence just by being here,” he said.
News & Notes
Feast of St. Francis occurs on Oct. 4
On Oct. 4, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans. He is the patron saint of animals, ecology and merchants.
Many Catholic churches host a “blessing of the animals” – at which a priest blesses pets or farm animals on the feast day.
In Anchorage, Catholic Social Services will mark the Feast of St. Francis with a special Mass celebrated by Anchorage Archbishop Emeritus Francis Hurley. The Mass will be at Brother Francis Shelter on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 10 a.m.
In 1181, St. Francis was born into a wealthy merchant family in Italy. According to biographer Thomas of Celano, as a young man, the future saint reveled in adventures and parties with peers “addicted to evil and accustomed to vice.”
But inspired by God, he began to pray more. While meditating on the crucifix in the dilapidated church at San Damiano, he heard Christ say, “Francis, rebuild my church.”
Religious Profile The Society of Saint Sulpice
Dedicated to Jesus Christ, the High Priest, the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice was born of the apostolate of Jean Jacques Olier, its founder. The Sulpicians are a community of diocesan priests whose vocation is to serve those ordained to the priesthood.
James P. Oberle, Ph.D., STL, is the only member currently serving in Alaska. He wears several hats for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, heading the Office of Evangelization and Worship, the Holy Spirit Center and also works with the continuing formation of clergy, including directing diaconate formation.
The Sulpicians were founded at the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris in 1641. The purpose was to initiate a seminary system and to implement the teachings of the Council of Trent. The first seminarians were already ordained. Also founding seminaries at this time was Saint Vincent de Paul. This was part of the French School of Spirituality. The Sulpicians came to North America (Montreal) in 1649 and to the United States (Baltimore) in 1791. Worldwide they operate seminaries in France, Zambia, Japan, Vietnam, Canada, Columbia, Brazil, and the United States.
According to the communities Web site, the Sulpicians are the only priests in the world with the sole responsibility of educating fellow priests. For more than three and a half centuries, the community has dedicated themselves to assisting bishops by providing seminary education and ongoing formation of fellow priests. They are diocesan priests who belong to an association known as the Society of St. Sulpice.
Father Oberle plans on continuing his ministry in Alaska for the foreseeable future
For more info about the order, log on to the community’s Web site at www.sulpicians.org. |
Soon Francis understood Christ was asking him to rebuild the faith of Christ’s people and so he began to preach, urging a return to God and the church.
Following Christ’s admonition to sell everything and give it to the poor, St. Francis gave up all his worldly diversions, attachments and inheritance. Others soon joined him, vowing poverty, chastity and obedience. The brotherhood – approved by Pope Innocent III – grew to 5,000 in 10 years.
St. Francis is well known for his connection to nature. He called on his “little brethren the birds” and “Brother Sun” to rejoice in their Creator. But unlike pantheists who deify creation, St. Francis did not love nature for itself, but as a reflection of God’s glory.
Little emphasized are St. Francis’ courageous attempts to convert a Muslim leader during a Crusade – and his deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
When the saint prayed to share Christ’s passion, he received the stigmata – the nail and lance wounds Christ suffered in the crucifixion. His health failed, and in 1226, St. Francis – who had loved Christ so deeply – laid down on the hard floor, stretched out his arms as if on a cross and died.
For a short biography on St. Francis, see “Saint Francis of Assisi” by G. K. Chesterton.
Homeschoolers’ gym time
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton hosts an open gym time for home school students on the first and third Thursdays of each month. The gym times run 10-11:30 a.m. with children’s adoration led by Deacon Dez Martinez at 11:30 a.m. on the 3rd Thursday each month. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church is located at 2901 Huffman Road. All are invited to come. For more information, call 349-4399.
‘Muslim American Citizenship’
On Oct. 5, the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at Alaska Pacific University will co-sponsor a free public lecture by Zoubir Bouchikhi Al-timlimasan, Imam to the largest Muslim community in Houston, Texas. The talk begins at 2 p.m. in the Loussac Library’s Wilda Marston Theater. The event is co-sponsored by the Anchorage Public Library, and the Islamic Community Center of Anchorage Alaska.
Mass set for St. Francis Feast day
On Oct. 5, Archbishop Francis Hurley will celebrate a Mass at Brother Francis Shelter to mark the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. The Mass begins at 10 a.m. in Anchorage, at 1021 E. 3rd Avenue.
Marriage in the Catholic Church
The Archdiocese of Anchorage Family Life Ministries is hosting information sessions on marriage in the Catholic Church. Representatives from Engaged Encounter, World Wide Marriage Encounter, Natural Family Planning and Retrouvaille, along with local priests, will answer questions on issues such as marriage preparation and counseling. Father Thomas Brundage, JCL, Judicial Vicar at the archdiocese’s marriage tribunal, and Father James Oberle, SS, the Director of the Office of Evangelization & Worship will make presentations. The sessions, which begin at 7 p.m., will take place on October 3 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Soldotna, October 7 at St. Michael in Palmer and October 10 at Holy Cross in Anchorage. For more information call Julie at 297-7710.
Oct. 5 is Respect Life Sunday
On Oct. 5 U.S. Catholics will observe Respect Life Sunday. People are invited to join in praying that as a nation the United States will become one people committed to upholding the dignity and right to life of every human being. For more information, visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Web site at www.usccb.org/prolife/.
Editorial
Serving our pastors
The Catholic Church is not an institution of the priests, by the priests and for the priests, nor is it a democracy — governed by the voting power of the majority.
Rather, the church is founded by Christ, entrusted to the faithful, and established for the proclamation of the Gospel and the salvation of souls.
All Catholics are called to participate in the mission of this holy institution. Our roles may differ but we are called to serve, proclaim and defend the faith.
With the recent emphasis in the Anchorage Archdiocese on the role and scope of pastoral councils (see articles on page one), it seems appropriate to look again at how the laity is called to serve the church.
Since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has placed a particular emphasis on the role of the laity – those men and women who are not ordained to holy orders or consecrated to religious life. That includes most Catholics – the vast number of working men and women, mothers and fathers, families and single adults who shape the face of the church.
Vatican II (1962 to 1965) sought to clarify how these faithful contribute to the life of the church. Quoting the Vatican II document, “Lumen Gentum,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the faithful, by virtue of baptism, are “sharers in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.” (CCC 897)
By virtue of their special vocations, lay Catholics often serve the church in the temporal things – the social, political, and economical aspects of life.
In this sense, “Lay believers are on the front lines of Church life,” the Catechism affirms. (CCC 899)
But there is also a necessary role for the laity within the actual churches. Again, the Catechism affirms the activity of the laity “in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it.” (CCC 900)
The laity may become lectors and proclaim the Word of God during Mass. Others may become acolytes and serve as eucharistic ministers. Still others serve as theologians, catechists, teachers, writers, apologists and public speakers. The list goes on.
Pastoral councils are another way for the laity to serve. In our archdiocese, we have a new pastoral council that advises Archbishop Roger Schwietz, as well as myriad parish pastoral councils that advise local pastors.
While Vatican II did not specifically mention pastoral councils, it did establish the principles underlying them.
The Catechism states that, “In accord with the knowledge, competence, and preeminence which they possess, [lay people] have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful…” (CCC 907)
Pastoral councils are not constructs for the laity to overpower priests or pastoral directors or limit their legitimate authority. Rather, a pastoral council serves the pastor — offering advice and relaying the needs and vision of the parish. This interaction flourishes when each fulfills their rightful calling.
While co-laboring with pastors, the laity must always respect a pastor’s duty, which is to make sure that the laity’s work contributes to unity with the local archbishop and faithful communion with the universal church, guided by the pope.
— Joel Davidson, editor
Pastoral Councils allow sharing of pastoral leadership
September 20th brought an historic event to our Archdiocese as the newly constituted Archdiocesan Pastoral Council met for the first time at the Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage.
This council is a consultative body which grew out of the process that began some four years ago, when I called together pastors and pastoral leaders and others in ministerial roles in our parishes to begin a process of creating a pastoral plan for the archdiocese.
We began our work by reflecting on collaboration because I wanted this dynamic (collaboration) to be the vehicle by which we did our work together. After several years and many meetings, we finally completed our work and presented our pastoral plan to all in the archdiocese. What took place Sept. 20 at Holy Spirit Center is the beginning of the next phase in this collaborative process.
The pastoral leaders who prepared the Pastoral Plan were generous and hard working. This next phase, however, must expand beyond them to involve the faithful in our parishes so that the faith, energy and experience of as many people as possible will combine together to give impetus to the new evangelization called for in our Pastoral Plan.
Thus I have called for the establishment of a pastoral council in every parish as well as on the archdiocesan level. Many parishes now have or are in the process of forming their pastoral councils and now the council on the archdiocesan level is established. Our archdiocesan council is composed of a representative from each parish and from some other diocesan level entities. There were more than 30 people present at that first meeting, which was guided by Brother Loughlin Sofield, of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, a gifted and well experienced process leader who has worked throughout the country and abroad.
Why do we have pastoral councils?
These councils are a reality that grew out of the Second Vatican Council and have been evolving since that time. A pastoral council exists solely to do pastoral planning, as opposed to a parish or diocesan finance council which focuses on temporal realities such as budgets and facilities. An article on pastoral councils by Mary Ann Gubish which appeared in Church magazine this Fall puts it this way:
“The New Commentary on Canon Law (Paulist Press 2000) further explicates the purpose of councils at both the diocesan and parish levels. The very concrete and clear explanation suggests that pastoral councils exist to plan in a consultative way by a three-pronged interrelated process of investigating and considering pastoral needs and proposing recommendations. While planning is common to other groups or projects in a diocese or parish, the Code of Canon Law is affirming that a pastoral council is the only ecclesial body that exists solely to do pastoral planning.”
I encourage all our pastoral councils to take time to reflect on the nature of a pastoral council so as to avoid the trap of getting into issues that belong to the work of the finance council. It will perhaps take some discipline and practice but these councils will make a valuable contribution to the parish as well as to the archdiocese. In order to accomplish their purpose, the pastoral councils must see their mission as being gatekeepers of the parish mission.
According to Gubish, “A parish without a profound sense of mission is in big trouble because it does not know why it exists and therefore will lack the passion and energy to move forward.”
What is the mission of the parish? In general terms, the USCCB statement on the parish in 1981 states: “a parish seeks to become ever more fully a people of God, sharing the mission of Christ, and developing the structure necessary for supporting its community life and carrying out is mission.” Since each parish and diocese is unique, its mission statement will be somewhat unique, but the one thing in common for all pastoral councils is that they keep the parish or diocese focused on mission. It is through this structure that the faithful can fulfill the responsibility they have been called to by Vatican II: “the laity have an active part on their own in the life and action of the Church. Their action within the life of Church communities is necessary that without it the apostolate of pastors will frequently be unable to achieve its full effect.” (Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People)
I firmly believe that we are beginning a new and exciting phase in our life together in the Archdiocese as we initiate our pastoral councils. It is a way in which the faithful can share the responsibility of pastoral leadership and give effective assistance to bishops, pastors and pastoral leaders in a collaborative partnership. It is a way in which we can grow in communion as disciples of Jesus Christ, sharing in his mission.
Old Mass complements the new
Editor’s note: As announced in the Aug. 8 issue of the Catholic Anchor, Father Tom Brundage received training last month in how to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. He studied for one week at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago. The following are Father Brundage’s thoughts and insights from that week.
The Tridentine Rite was the format used to celebrate Mass for the 400 years prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Born four days after the start of Vatican II, I have no memory of the older Mass. There are about 400 rubrics (gestures or actions during Mass) in the Tridentine Rite and I must admit that about 350 of them were unfamiliar to me.
After the conclusion of Vatican II, the Novus Ordo (the new order or Mass) was introduced throughout the universal Catholic Church and was widely accepted by most Catholics. This “new Mass” allowed for the use of the vernacular (the language used in a particular area). The altar was brought out into the sanctuary and the priest faced the people for the vast majority of the Mass.
After Vatican II, the Tridentine Mass did not disappear entirely. In a variety of places, small groups of Catholics still gathered to celebrate this Mass — sometimes in union with the universal church and sometimes not.
In 1894, with growing concern for those who were still devoted to the Tridentine Mass, the Holy See issued a letter “Quattuor abhinc annos,” which granted bishops the authority to authorize the use of the Tridentine Rite in his diocese. Some bishops allowed its use and some did not.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued the papal letter, “Summorum Pontificam,” which allowed all priests to celebrate the Tridentine Rite. The pope defined the Tridentine Rite as the “extraordinary form” of the Mass and the Novus Ordo as the “ordinary form” of the Mass.
In “Summorum Pontificam,” the Holy Father stressed that this expanded permission to celebrate the Tridentine Rite was a pastoral outreach to the faithful who still cherished and treasured it.
In France on Sept. 12, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that this allowance for wider use of the Tridentine Rite was not a regression within the church or in any way a repudiation of Vatican II. The pontiff stated, “There is no opposition at all between the liturgy approved by Vatican II and the liturgy celebrated according to the old rite.”
There are two reasons, one canonical and pastoral, the other personal.
In “Summorum Pontificam,” Pope Benedict XVI stated that the faithful should first ask for the Tridentine Rite to be celebrated. In October, 2007, more than 200 people signed a petition to Archbishop Roger Schwietz, requesting that the Tridentine Rite be celebrated in this archdiocese. My concern as a canonist is that the faithful had done their part in requesting the Mass and hence fulfilled their obligation according to “Summorum Pontificam.”
The faithful thus had a right to the celebration of this Mass, if the local church was capable of celebrating it competently.
The second reason is personal. Some members of my family have expressed desires regarding their funerals and some have asked that I celebrate a Requiem Tridentine Mass for them. I would like to fulfill their requests.
In Sept. 2007, the priests serving in the Archdiocese of Alaska met during our annual retreat at the Holy Spirit Center and Archbishop Schwietz consulted with the priests about the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI’s letter regarding the Tridentine Rite. We noted that there were only a couple of priests serving in the archdiocese who had ever celebrated Mass according to the Tridentine Rite and most, like myself, had no memory of the old Mass.
It was decided that a couple of priests would study the Tridentine Rite in preparation for its celebration in the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Upon studying the matter more fully, most of us began to realize the daunting task of celebrating a Mass competently and proficiently in another language with a wide range of rituals. Out of reverence for the sacred nature of the Mass, there was general consensus among the priests that it would be better to celebrate the Tridentine Rite Mass well but later rather than poorly but quickly.
There was also concern expressed about the pastoral good of having our Catholics in their home parishes on Sundays and the suggestion was made that the public offering of the Tridentine Rite would best be held on a day other than Sunday.
A further issue concerns the fact that when offering this Mass publicly it is necessary to have altar servers trained not only in the use of Latin but also knowledgeable and experienced with the extensive rubrics of the Tridentine Rite. To attend such Masses, the faithful also need catechesis and instruction as this rite has not been widely used for the last 40 years.
An honest answer as to when a public Mass in the Tridentine Rite will be offered by me in the Archdiocese of Anchorage is that I do not know. Though the recent September workshops were intense (12 hours a day of instruction and practice). I am nowhere near competent or proficient in the Tridentine Rite. Celebrating this Mass prematurely would run the risk of dishonoring the Holy Eucharist as well as embarrassing the church and myself.
Using Latin in the Mass is the easy part of the Tridentine Rite. Considerably more complicated are the rubrics and this is where I need much more study and practice. If I get sufficient time for both, I hope to be able to offer the Tridentine Mass on a weekday in Anchorage by the end of this year or early next year.
In the meantime, the week at Mundelein reawakened the several years of Latin I studied in high school, college, and canon law school. I do not want to lose the momentum I gained in the use of Latin for Mass and hence I plan on using Latin for some parts of my daily Masses during the week. It would be my hope to begin offering a public Latin Mass in the “Novus Ordo” this Fall in Anchorage.
One of the myths of the Tridentine Rite is its rigidity. The priests who gave the recent workshops in Chicago, stressed this repeatedly.
There are, however, some requirements of the sacred space that would be used for the Tridentine Mass. There should be an altar, for example, which is attached to a wall in the sanctuary of a church. There should be sufficient space for a chalice and patin, two areas where a missal can be placed on the right and left sides of the Altar. The church should also have an odd number of stairs for the prayers at the foot of the altar.
As of press time, no decision has been made regarding the location of the Latin Mass in the Novus Ordo or the Tridentine Rite.
While it is easy to get lost on all the details of implementing “Summorum Pontificam,” the question of how we celebrate the Mass, whether in the ordinary or extraordinary form, should not be lost. Any and all Masses are the offerings of the church, by the church, and for the church. It is a memorial and a continuation of the sacrifice begun by Christ at the altar of the Cross. It is, in short, the most important event of our lives as Catholics.
Like Pope Benedict XVI, I hope the reintroduction of the Tridentine Rite will not be seen as turning back the clock or “undoing” the progress made at Vatican II.
Canon 337 §1 of the 1983 “Code of Canon Law” states that “the College of Bishops exercises power over the universal Church in a solemn manner in an ecumenical council.”
Too often in life we tend to see things in terms of either/or rather than both/and. The expanded use of the Tridentine Rite should be seen as a complement to the liturgy that we have learned to love since Vatican II.
I cannot remember, a time in my life when I refused an invitation to a meal, much less an invitation to a banquet: Wedding banquets, engagement parties … I’ve attended them all. I love the food, refreshments and the good company.
I must confess also that I was once invited to attend a banquet in my own honor. Think of that, being invited to go to Chicago with Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz to accept the Lumen Christi Award for work in the Alaska missions! It is still all a mystery to me: Why me? Lots of others in the church of Alaska have done more and better.
Anyway, if I had responded to Archbishop Schwietz’ invitation by saying: “Well, Archbishop, you know I really have a lot of things to do. Besides, there are some lunker trout on the Kenai just waiting for my fly rod. You wouldn’t want me to miss that ‘banquet’ would you? Why don’t you just go down there to the Catholic Extension banquet and bring the award back with you, ok?”
The Scriptures: * Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 * Matthew 22:1-14 |
Would you blame the Archbishop for saying: “Father, you get your stuff packed; we’re heading out on the red eye tomorrow night, ok?”
Bizarre as all this may sound, it is exactly the situation we encounter in Jesus’ story about a king who sends out his social committee members to invite his cronies to his son’s wedding banquet. You know the story, of course: The cronies of the king can’t be bothered with weddings. There are other important matters to attend to.
So, the king says to the social committee: “Forget about these “friends” of mine: Go out and hustle in all the ordinary folks out on the streets. Someone is definitely going to enjoy this banquet.”
So, what is this story all about? Actually, Jesus’ biblical stories always have a historical and local background. As you will notice, Jesus is in “dialog” with the priests and elders of the people, the ones in Israelite society who were responsible for leading the people to the banquet of the kingdom of God, a right that they have from their God. The implication here, then, is that these religious leaders, interpreters of God’s word were preventing the ordinary people from fulfilling their heart’s desire to experience kingdom-banquet. In short, they were irresponsible religious leaders. So, once again, the king says: “Listen, I’m tired of waiting; go out and bring in anyone you find. We’re having a banquet, no matter what.
What then are the implications of this banquet story? First of all, every individual has equal access before God to the kingdom. No one stands between God and His people; God is the host, God makes the decision as to who is invited. That, ultimately is God’s decision, not ours.
My question, therefore, is this: Who is responsible for inviting in the ordinary folks out there, out there on the street, people who have never so much as heard of God’s kingdom? Bishops, priests, RCAI directors, evangelization leaders? No, we’re all responsible, lay folks especially. They know who their neighbors and co-workers are, they know who the folks are who seem so lost.
The point is, we’re all responsible for helping one another into the kingdom-banquet. The table is immense, worldwide. It covers everyone who is still out there searching for answers to the experience of the sacred. And who’s the Host? The One who makes no distinctions between person and person. “Come as you are,” God says, “I’ve got a special seat just for you. The door is always open.”
‘Milk and toast homilies’ have to go
I love Jesus Christ, I love his bride the church , and I love to serve him and her as a priest. This is the meat and potatoes of my priesthood.
Someone asked me why I came to Russia. I answer to save souls — mine being the first.
I love to preach and after 14 years I am finally beginning to be able to preach freely in Russian. It was not that way at the beginning. I was “shut-up” for the first years. I couldn’t preach because I didn’t know the language. This was the best thing the Lord could have done for me. During that time, I learned that words can sometimes be meaningless.
Homilies can be preached that neither convince, rebuke nor exhort. In other words there is no power in them.
I am guilty of so many of these meaningless homilies that the Lord shut me up to show me the privilege I have as a priest to preach his word every Sunday. I fear my purgatory will be to listen, over and over again, to my own milk toast homilies where I wanted to please, seek approval or not offend, by avoiding preaching that convinces, rebukes and exhorts.
In Russia I have found such a history of evil that hated God and his church. It has so ravaged this land and many souls for 70 plus years, that I find it easy to speak about deep religious realities like the devil, sin, repentance, injustice, fear, faith, conversion, hope and absolute moral truths — like life is sacred from womb to tomb.
It is easy, too, to speak of the need to protect, defend, and hold onto the sacredness of life because it is threatened by not only by political and social forces opposed to Jesus Christ and his church, but also by spiritual principalities and powers. In other words we are in a spiritual battle for souls and lives — yours, mine and your children’s.
If you think I am being too dramatic or exaggerating, this is not new. St. Paul preached this from the beginning and it is as true today. We forget that we are in a spiritual battle in the midst of everyday trials, joys, failures, and triumphs.
I have learned the Gospel has a power to save and the church has truths that convict. I have learned truth is not easily lived nor easily preached but we are called to do both, laity and priests. I have learned that people can be sincere about what they believe and can be sincerely wrong. I have learned that fear prevents us from deep acts of faith — acts which are often the only answer to many of life’s questions.
I have also learned that I fail often and need the gift of repentance as a steady diet. Thus confession is a weekly occurrence for me and gives me grace, hope and new life each time.
Lastly, I have learned that faith is not trying to fit church teaching into what I believe. Rather, faith is trusting the authority of the church and struggling with the truth that convinces, rebukes, exhorts and calls me to change.
I pray, like St. Paul, that God gives me the grace to stay faithful to the end so I will be among those who hear him say, “Welcome home my good and faithful servant.”
As I said before, I love Jesus and his church and have grown to trust him and his church more than myself. Maybe that is what is meant by the Gospel mandate to die to oneself. Corny? No, it is the Gospel and oh how I love to preach it these days.
What was Vatican II really all about?
On Dec. 4, 1963 the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council adopted the Dogmatic Constitution “Sacrosanctum Concilium.” This was the first document of Vatican II. At that time, I was a schoolboy translating “modern” Latin — Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Seneca, Ovid, Cicero, the Aeneid, and so forth. Thanks to Vatican II, we then had current documents written in the ancient language available to us. At the time, I didn’t know that God would call me to priesthood or that the “ancient” language would prove to be ever ancient and ever new.
Starting with the next issue of the Anchor, I will begin a series of columns, looking at the 16 documents of Vatican II. I hope to explore what the Council Fathers were attempting to do, the vision of Blessed John XXIII, and why he believed that the church needed to be brought up to date. How have we been faithful to that vision? Where have we fallen short? How can we effectively respond?
I will be your guide. Thus, these will be my impressions. I pray that I will be faithful and I welcome alternative opinions.
—Father James P. Oberle, S.S., Ph.D., S.T.L.
Director, Office of Evangelization and Worship
Catholic Anchor Associate Publisher
Letter to the Editor
There are no letters to the editor for this issue