A new blogger with wise things to say

Robert Waldrop of the Oklahoma City Catholic Worker and the Access to Catholic Social Justice Teaching website has a blog now, Bob's Blog ---- and he's got wise words in his first post from yesterday:

Speaking of Governor Frank Keating, any doubts I had about whether the bishops were corrupt or not went right out the window when they picked him, a politician who has never passed up a chance to grind the face of the poor into the dust, as the head of their new lay review panel. So I wasn't surprised when he popped up, promoting himself to apostolic nuncio, and announcing New Doctrine: Catholics who are mad at their bishops should not go to mass, they should go to another diocese and they should also stop giving money to the church.

Right, Oklahoma City Catholics are supposed to drive to Texas or Kansas or Arkansas to go to mass? And sure, while the President says we all have to do more to help the poor, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma calls upon Oklahoma Catholics to do less, to punish the poor because of our beef with the bishop. And to think that Call to Action wants to put laymen like Keating in charge of the hierarchy. May all the saints preserve us from the folly of our own leaders!

Fortunately, even though our religious leaders have been corrupted by greed and gluttony, the Church remains the Church, the mystical bride of Christ, a sure and certain guide in a time of trouble. Yes, we have bishops and archbishops and even cardinals who are cafeteria Catholics and who advocate the murder of the poor as a necessary adjunct to US foreign policy. But we as lay Catholics are not responsible for their sins, we have our own, and we can deal with theirs with our own prayers and especially, our own acts of reparation. The bishop's foolishness and wickedness calls for a response from the Catholic laity. We must do even more works of mercy, justice, peace, and environmental stewardship to heal the damages they have caused.

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around." - Orthodoxy, 1908
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since I'm in Milwaukee and the great news-bloggers Amy and Mark Shea are not, I'll experiment a little with newsblogging here.

Sunday Night with Mike Gousha: Timothy Dolan ch.4, WTMJ, NBC affiliate
(notes from someone who doesn't know shorthand)

short prerecorded bio, emphasized scholarship, humor, approachability
welcome from host
said he had "lots of anticipation, lots of joy" and was "so eager to get started."
He's been reviewing Milwaukee Church history.
Happily surprised at great vitality he's seen here since his appointment; says that the Church in Milwaukee has been noted for its great vitality since its very beginning, and has always had wide open arms for everybody, from the beginning.

Said that difficult and painful times are also great times of renewal.

Asked about his agenda for the archdiocese. Said he did not have one yet; that first he has to get out, has to get to know the people of the archdiocese, get to know his priests, deacons, parish workers, collaborators, has to listen and attend. After that, then.

Comments on World Youth Day.

Asked what kind of guy he was. "Pretty simple guy; I hope I'm friendly, I hope I'm open." and about giving himself to prayer.
"There's no time in my memory I didn't want to be a priest."

Question about challenges in the Church: sex abuse scandal
says we have a good beginning but now we have to do it, and that takes time and will be painful. Has some experience from St. Louis.
Must also restore trust: "If you don't have trust, religion is shot." Meetings with victims both one-on-one and structured listening sessions must continue and will continue.

Tangent about The Settlement: cannot happen again, safeguards already put in place to make finances transparent. touched on the difference between scandal and embarrassment (not the same thing.) Not wanting to add burden to Abp. Weakland more than he already bears. He was here in Milwaukee on Apology Day, commented on it.

More challenges for Church: vocations. 28 in major seminary, more in college formation. has met and consulted with the excellent vocation director. Abp. Weakland has started the turnaround in vocations already but we have to do even more. "Priests have to be contagious." Parents need to create a climate of encouragement to their children for vocations to priesthood and to consecrated life.

Asked about his Church political position. Big theatrical wink and half-grin, claimed there was no such thing. went on to comment on Church politics, said forget about all labels except he loves the Lord and loves the Church.
Specifically asked about differences between himself and Abp. Weakland: said there will probably will be some just like there were when Abp. Weakland came to replace Abp. Cousins. But Abp. Weakland and he have so much in common: both faithful bishops of the Church, both in love with Christ and with the Church, both reading the same Scriptures and praying the same prayers.......

Last minutes question on becoming a true Milwaukean; Miller vs. Busch, Brewers vs. Cardinals, bratwurst vs. toasted raviolis. Says it won't be too hard for him. Brags about blessings of his family, that we'll see lots of all his nieces, and that it's a true blessing to get moved so near to his brother Bob and his family.

Closing courtesies and goodnight.
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Wonders Never Cease!!! Miracle of Miracles!!!!!

Just a few minutes ago, EWTN [yes, EWTN!] announced that they will be picking up the installation Mass, live, on Wednesday!

The same EWTN that for almost two decades could hardly pronounce the word "Milwaukee" without squirming about.....

Maybe there _is_ real hope for the exterior unity of the Church.

[Wednesday, 3pm Eastern, is EWTN's coverage; most local coverage [ch. 4, 6, 12, & 58] will begin at 1 pm Central time]
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The picture of a pretty good shepherd, by Geoffrey Chaucer

A good man was there of religioun,
And was a povre Parson of a town;
But rich he was of holy thought and work.
He was also a learned man, a clerk,
That Christes gospel truly woulde preach;
His parishfolk devoutly would he teach.
Benign he was, and wonder diligent,
And in adversity full patient;
And such he was y-proved often times.
Full loth were him to cursen for his tythes,
But rather would he give, out of doubt,
Un-to his povre parishfolk about
Of his offering, and eke of his substance.
He could in little thing have suffisance.
Wide was his parish, and houses far a-sunder,
But he neglected not, for rain or thunder,
In sickness or in mischief, to visit
The furthest in his parish, great and little,
Upon his feet, and in his hand a staff.
This noble example to his sheep he gave,
That first he wrought, and afterward he taught.
Out of the gospel he these wordes caught;
And this figure he added eke there-to,
That if gold ruste, what shall iron do?
For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust,
No wonder is a lewed man to rust;
And shame it is, if a priest take keep,
A dirty shepherd and a cleane sheep.
Well ought a priest example for to give,
By his cleanness, how that his sheep should live.
He did not set his benefice to hire,
Nor left his sheep encumbered in the mire,
And ran to London, un-to Sainte Paul's,
To seeken him a chantery for souls,
Or with a brotherhed to be enrolled;
But dwelt at home, and kepte well his fold,
So that the wolf might make it not miscarry;
He was a shepherd and no mercenary.
And though he holy were, and virtuous,
He was to sinful man not despitous,
Not of his speeche dangerous nor digne,
But in his teaching discreet and benign.
To draw his fold to heaven by fairness
By good example, was his business.
But if were any person obstinate,
What-so he were, of high or low estate,
Him would be snibben sharply for the nonce.
A better priest, I trow that nowhere none is.
He waited for no pomp and reverence,
Nor maked him a spiced conscience,
But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, and first he followed it himself.
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Prayer for a Fresh Start, by Archbishop-elect Timothy Dolan

Praise be to You, dear God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

We thank You for Your constant gift of a fresh start and new beginning!

We extol You, Lord, for the vitality of the Church here, for its fidelity to Your Son's mandate to teach, serve, and sanctify.

We seek Your grace upon the vast array of people, projects, and proprams that teach Your people, serve Your people, and sanctify Your people.

We can do no better that uniting with our archdiocesan patron St. John, in placing our heads on the shoulder of Jesus Your Son, as St. John did at that first Eucharist, and in taking Your Mother into our homes, as St. John did after Your Son entrusted her to him before He died.

Without You, Lord, we can do nothing, but with you, all things are possible.

We believe You never call us to a task without giving us sufficient grace.

Give it now, Lord, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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The Cross is the only way to Paradise: from today's Office of Readings

Today is the day of St. Rose of Lima, and today's reading is from her writings. She was one of those few saints who really _was_ syruppy sweet pious from earliest childhood. She had a special calling to penitence for all the sins and crimes of her people, the Spanish conquerors of Peru. Saints tend to flock together, and in her day Lima was one of the places they flocked; several other saints, including the famous St. Martin de Porres, were her personal friends and spiritual companions.

St. Rose wrote:

Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: "Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven."

When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex, and status: "Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul."

That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying:

"If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities, and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men."
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Mary's Queenship ---- as we are anointed priest, prophet, and king.....

I'm sending you all over to Fr. Jim at Dappled Things, who has posted an absolutely beautiful homily for today's celebration of the Queenship of Mary. As Mary, so the rest of the Church in fullness of time.
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The Lord wills restoration for his own

from the prophet Ezekiel:

Thus says the Lord:
I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the
foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your
impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.

so let us pray:

Almighty and most gentle God, who from a rock made flow a fountain of living water for your thirsting people,
draw now from the hardness of our hearts tears of sorrow, that we may weep for our sins and, by your continued mercy, be made ready to accept their pardon.
We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
[opening prayer, Mass for the Gift of Tears]
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The Holy Church, my mother, my teacher, that has my love through all.

Contemplating my mother's humiliated face, I will love her only twice as much. Without trading polemic for polemic, I will take pains to show her my love even in her guise of slave. While others allow themselves to be hypnotized by the wrinkles that are only natural to the features of the old, how much more truly will love show me her hidden strength, her silent dynamism ---- in a word, her perpetual youth ---- "the mighty forces issuing from her heart, finally ravishing all men's hearts."

Henri de Lubac, sj, The Church: Paradox and Mystery (via Gerard,with thanks)
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St. Pius X, Giuseppe Sarto, saint for the little people of God

Your new bishop, the poorest of all, has but one ambition ---- to see all the children under his care united in one large, happy family, in the shelter of which their souls shall be safe. For the well-being of souls I shall consider no sacrifice too great, and have nothing more at heart than your salvation. I know that for the salvation of my little flock, I shall have to bear great difficulties, encounter dangers, bear insults, and struggle against the foe who seeks its ruin. But my people will find me ever at my post, always meek and full of charity.
(Giuseppe Sarto at his installation as Bishop of Mantua)

He was a man of prayer, a loving and diligent priest and bishop (of Mantua, then of Venice) and eventually pope, and one of that subspecies of fool-for-Christ saints known as "giveaway" saints ----who could not be trusted to not give away everything he touched, the exasperation of his bishop as a priest because he _would_ pawn the candlesticks and thurible, the terror of his valet as bishop and pope because he would give away his last pair of socks.

But his greatest contribution to us who come after him was the final overcoming of a rigorist heresy known as Jansenism, for which we should give thanks every time we receive the Eucharist.

Before Pius X, under Jansenist influence, lay people actually receiving communion was rare. Although first confession was at age 6 or 7, first communion was delayed into the mid-to-late teenaged years, and it would be a full year before second communion. The Church had to have a law to command people to receive communion as often as once a year! (and some pastors resisted the law, not wanting their parishioners to receive that often; dissenters are not a new phenomena.)

But Pius X saw this dire situation and set out to do some things about it. He urged frequent communion for the faithful, communion every week or even every day. He set the requirements to be admitted to communion as the ability to tell the difference between the Eucharist and ordinary food, and the ability to show reverence appropriate to one's age; he regularly admitted children as young as 3 and 4 to first communion. And he issued a regulation that children who were regularly confessing were not to be excluded from communion ---- no more confession at 6 or 7 and first communion at 15 or 16 anymore!

So, whenever you go to daily Mass and Father comes to the altar rail or communion station presuming that at least some of you will want to receive communion, thank St. Pius X, the warrior against spiritual starvation.
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Hopelessly lured by Flos Carmeli, overcurious I took the test, and it claims:



what's your order?

I'm blaming it all on Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Dom Sebastian Moore! ! ! (Or was it the intercession of SS. Syncletica and Scholastica?)

O Lord, your are our hope; your truth supports us; your covenant fidelity to us is forever.

This is the prayer of the past two day's lessons.

On Sunday I went to Mass (not at my own parish, the streets are too torn up to unload safely there this summer) and arrived over an hour early, which is a standard hazard of using paratransit. I decided that I wouldn't enter the church proper right away, but find a quiet (except for the overhead speakers) corner of the atrium and pray the hours while I waited for the Eucharist before the one I was attending to conclude. And I heard the homily over those overhead speakers.

That homily was a call to arms. In the previous week the factional "reform" organizations had made their demands of the new bishop, that he announce that he's for them and against the other guys ---- as though a bishop could be the bishop for only some of the sheep! And issuing such challenges when he hasn't even been properly installed yet (that's not for another week)! But the Lord's house is a house of prayer for all people, the sacrifice is acceptable from all who believe ---- our first reading on Sunday says so. And, the pastor said, when next week comes and we sit Timothy Dolan in that big chair over there (he probably pointed, but I was only hearing this on the speaker), he will be the archbishop for _all_ the Catholics in the southeast part of Wisconsin, not just the bishop for the CUF or the bishop for the CTA but for both of those groups and all the rest of us as well. And prayers were called for, prayers for the archbishop-elect and for us in the time of trial. For the unity of the Church, and strength and courage in the Church's bishops, especially Timothy, who will soon be ours.

Which I did. Which I have been doing. When that Mass was over and I went in, I spent some time looking at the tenth oval spot in the clerestory, now a odd shade of gray but soon to bear the face of Timothy, tenth archbishop of Milwaukee, and praying espacially for his strength and courage, for we have seen here with pain what happens when fear enters a bishop's life, and we must not forget what we have learned or allow it to happen again.

In fact, at the very time I was parked in the Cathedral atrium, our archbishop-elect was about a mile away, celebrating the annual Mass for Peace and Justice at the Marcus Amphitheater for Irish Fest. He was invited many months ago, long before the appointment. And, according to what the Journal Sentinel said yesterday, there were people there from both factional groups to greet him (and put him on the spot). He handled the situation with great grace and good humor, and even stood an impromptu reception line for the 14,000+ worshippers after Mass. His shaking-and-kissing hand must have been worn out at the end.

How did we in Milwaukee come to such a gift? Some bishops are administrators, some are schmoozing fund-raisers, some few are totally incompetent idiots or power-thirsty politicians. Some are prayerful men of shepherd's heart, who love their people. And for as long as I've lived in this city, we have had only the last of these, not the former, and it appears from all evidence that we have been blessed with yet another prayerful, loving shepherd who will care for us and love us and defend us.

Even the Office of Readings readings have been confirmations, Monday's from St. Gregory the Great about how to endure the trials, and today's teachings from St. Bernard on steadfast love.

The Lord's covenant fidelity _is_ forever. Teach us to be ever more faithful.
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The things Catholics do (and no, I don't mean the backbiting or the bishop baiting!)

Feed the hungry.
Give drink to the thirsty.
Clothe the naked.
Visit the imprisoned.
Shelter the homeless.
Visit the sick.
Bury the dead.
Admonish the sinner (but themselves first).
Instruct the ignorant.
Counsel the doubtful.
Comfort the sorrowful.
Bear wrongs patiently.
Forgive all injuries.
Pray for both the living and the dead.

These are the things Catholics do. In my experience, the best way of finding the people who have right faith is to look for the people who have right behaviour.

Orthopraxy is as important as orthodoxy, and is a major (though not infallible) sign of orthodoxy ---- orthodoxy is not found without orthopraxy. In fact, orthopraxy can even bring one to more complete orthodoxy if one's not already there, for the Lord honors even the tiniest first halting steps to please and obey him, and pours out his grace plentiously. There is truth to the old saws "Behave as if you believed" and "Fake it until you make it."

Or, even sassier for early on a Sunday morning, the formulation of one of our more recent famous late catechumens:

Faith without works is like a song you can't sing,
it's about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. (Rich Mullins, "Screen Door")
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Interconnections with the blog world

John/Tom of Disputations and Mark of Minute Particulars have extended commentary at their sites set off by my little reflection on the Assumption/Dormition the other day. You will want to wander over to them, they both are excellent. An emailer has also raised the issue about whether all doctrine has to be formally defined, and if it would ease tensions with other apostolic churches, whether there can be un-definitions, returning unchallenged common universal beliefs to just that status. I'll have to chew a while on that one before I make comment or opinion.

And Terrence of the Provincial Emails takes noted exception to my lament yesterday about the return of our divisive ways here in Milwaukee. Terrence and I have to agree to disagree, but you can go over there and see his exception yourself. He has also adorned his post with complete links to all the mentioned groups, so if you _really_ want to expose yourself to Wanderer Forum or Call to Action, he's got the links. As for me: Lord, deliver us from the Wandering Actionites, please!
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I guess peace and unity couldn't last forever

According to the cover story of Thursday's Catholic Herald, also reported elsewhere, local CUF activist Mr. Al Szews [the acknowledged leader of the local Bishop Bashing Brigade for many years] has made his first demand [or is it challenge?] of the new archbishop-elect. According to Mr. Szews, the new archbishop must prove his true Catholicity by denouncing the Call to Action (CTA), one of two "reform" groups (the other being Wanderer Forum) which have made a tradition of plaguing the city of Milwaukee almost every year.

The strange thing about this is that the recently retired archbishop regularly called CTA on the carpet for its incorrect positions, not-Catholic attitudes, and neglect of the holy Tradition, and he publicly refused to make even token appearances at their conferences. Yet still Mr. Szews hated the last archbishop.

Why would Mr. Szews love the new archbishop for doing the same things as he hated the last archbishop for?
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He has lifted up the lowly: the Assumption/Dormition

Everything that the holy Church defines about Mary either has to do with who Jesus is, or has to do with who we his Church are. So, what is this doubly-named feast we celebrate today, and what does it teach us about the Lord or his Church that our Church has defined it?

The Assumption, aka the Dormition, of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Mary, at the end of her life on earth, was taken up to heaven by her Son, both soul and body. There she lives forever in the glory of the Presence of God in her resurrection body.

There is a pious disagreement among believers about the details, which is part of why this feast has two names. Some say that Mary died, and was resurrected from death to be taken into heaven by her Son; others say that she was just taken when her time came, like Enoch and Elijah (and, some say, Moses) were. The Church has refused to define this part, since it truly makes no difference; both opinions are legitimate.

Just as Mary was the very first believer, totally obedient to the will of God, totally faithful to the way of her Son, being our model and example in all of her life, she is also our example in her passing over from this life to the next. Where she is now, in the glorious Presence in heaven, both soul and glorified resurrection body together, is where we are called to be ourselves, and where in time's fullness we will be. Mary has already been taken up by her Son; we all will be resurrected and taken into the presence of God at the last days.

We live in hope. We live in active fruitful faith.

Our Lady, Mother of God, Mother of the Church,
Assumed into heaven, body and soul together,
Pray for us both now and when we meet death
that we be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
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The Bishops' Fast: they should not repent alone

At the USCCB meeting in June, our bishops declared for themselves a fast today, the vigil of the Assumption/Dormition, to do penance for their responsibility for the current Scandal over the Situation. They say that we may join with them if we desire. In some places, there will be holy hours, penance services, vigils, or other gatherings for special prayer. (Summa Contra Mundum posted yesterday a letter about such a vigil in the Cathedral in Chicago.)

Our bishops need us, just as we need them. We are only the Church if we are the Church together, we do not stand alone. We make our bishops stand alone too much, and that can weaken faith, weaken trust, and let fear enter in, let self-pity enter in. Then stupid and sinful and scandalous things are done. They lose the ability to discern between true scandal and ordinary public embarrassment, and do dumb overprotective things, forgetting that secrets kill but embarrassment sets free.

We have a duty to honor and attend to and obey and nurture and care for our bishops, just as they have a responsibility to teach and guide and shelter and protect and respect and love us. And we have, in large part, failed in our part of our relationship with our bishops. Some of us have even blogged that they "can't recall two words" their bishop taught, or that Osama bin Laden has more effect on their life than their bishop.

So our bishops should not be repenting alone today. We all need to repent with them, and change our lives in firm purpose of amendment.

Save us, spare us, have mercy on us, O Lord!
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Jesus' obedience and ours from a letter of Maximilian Kolbe in today's Office of Readings:

Dear brothers, see the greatness of man's dignity conferred by God's mercy. By obedience we surmount, so to speak, the limits imposed upon us by our weakness, we are made conformable to God's will which in his infinite wisdom and prudence guides us to act correctly. As a matter of fact by clinging to God's will ---- and no creature can resist it ---- we surpass everything in power.

This is the way of wisdom and prudence, this is the only way we can render the greatest glory to God. If there were another and more suitable way Christ surely would have showed it to us by his own words and example. But Sacred Scripture described his long sojourn in Nazareth in these words: He was subject to them and painted the picture of the rest of his life for us in the colors of obedience thus showing that he had come upon earth to do the will of his Father.

Therefore, my brothers, let us love our most loving Father in heaven with the greatest love and let our obedience be the proof of our perfect love which we put into practice especially when we are asked to give up our own will. There is no more authoritative book to teach us how to grow in God's love than the book of Jesus crucified.
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St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave himself away.

Today is the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Remarkable in so many ways, even before we get to the part he's famous about. As a child he has a vision/dream of Our Lady offering him either of two crowns to be his, one representing perfect holy chastity, the other the blessing of martyrdom; in his 11-year-old's innocence he asks if he can have them both, please. And, as it turned out, he did have them both.

After successful university studies in mathematics and physics, he joined the Conventual Franciscans, earned two doctorate degrees, and taught seminary for a while, then launched out into an apostolate evangelizing by the press and radio, in both Poland and Japan. At the outbreak of hostilities, he was the superior of a very large community in Poland; and because he was a priest, and Polish, and intellectual, and outspoken in the press, he was a prime target of the Nazi occupiers. He was arrested and released several times, the final straw for the Nazis was his sheltering between 3 and 4 thousand Polish refugees in his friary, at least a third of them Jewish. This earned him a one-way pass to Auschwitz. Where he continued to minister and evangelize despite extreme hardships.

Then came a particular day in the last week of July, 1941. Someone had escaped from Block 14A, and according to the rules, 10 prisoners from the same block were to be killed by starvation for every escapee. So 10 men from 14A were selected to be killed, one of them cried out in mourning for his wife and children. Fr. Kolbe stepped out and petitioned the commander to take the place of one of the selected, the one who cried out. Asked who he thought he was, he said he was a priest. Then he offered the officer a reason on the officer's level ---- "I am old and frail, he is young and strong and has a family." And his offer was accepted. He was locked away in the starvation bunker with the other nine from 14A and twenty others from the blocks of two other escapees. He ministered to his 29 fellow victims, leading them in prayers and hymns and offering meditations on the passion and last things, and helping each one to die in peace with God. After two weeks or so, the camp personnel were getting impatient; five of the prisoners were still alive and one, Fr. Kolbe, was still conscious. They needed the room for a new set of victims, so on August 14th they killed Fr. Kolbe and the others still alive by lethal injection.

Most loving Father, whose Son Jesus Christ came to give his life as a ransom for many: Grant to us the grace, as you did grant it to your servant and priest Maximilian Kolbe, to be always ready to come to the aid of those in need or distress, not counting the cost; so that we may follow in the footsteps of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn..... the words of the prophet Joel for us in these days:

But now, now ---- it is the LORD who speaks ----
come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.
Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,
turn to the LORD your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent,
will not leave a blessing as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the LORD your God?

Sound a trumpet in Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
call the people together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom
and the bride her alcove.
Between the vestibule and altar let the priests,
the ministers of the LORD, lament.
Let them say,
"Spare your people, LORD!
Do not make your heritage a thing of shame,
a byword for the nations.
Why should it be said among the nations,
'Where is their God?' "
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From today's Office of Readings, from one of the dialogues of St. Catherine of Siena, doctor of the Church (and my name-saint):

My sweet Lord, look with mercy upon your people and especially upon the mystical body of your Church. Greater glory is given to your name for pardoning a multitude of your creatures than if I alone were pardoned for my great sins against your majesty. It would be no consolation for me to enjoy your life if your holy people stood in death. For I see that sin darkens the life of your bride the Church ---- my sin and the sin of others.

It is a special grace I ask for, this pardon for the creatures you have made in your image and likeness. When you created man, you were moved by love to make him in your own image. Surely only love could so dignify your creatures. But I know very well that man lost the dignity you gave him; he deserved to lose it, since he had committed sin.

Moved by love and wishing to reconcile the human race to yourself, you gave us your only-begotten Son. He became our mediator and our justice by taking on all our injustice and sin out of obedience to your will, eternal Father, just as you willed that he take on our human nature. What an immeasurably profound love! Your Son went down from the heights of his divinity to the depths of our humanity. Can anyone's heart remain closed and hardened after this?

We image your divinity, but you image our humanity in that union of the two which you have worked in a man. You have veiled the Godhead in a cloud, in the clay of our humanity. Only your love could so dignify the flesh of Adam. And so by reason of this immeasurable love I beg, with all the strength of my soul, that you freely extend your mercy to all your lowly creatures.
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Getting Clobbered by the Word

As sometimes happens, a passage of the Scriptures jumps out as though one has never seen it before.

I had one of those this afternoon.

I was going through the epistles looking for passages for prayer to go with the Penitential Psalms these last few days of our very early and long Dormition Fast. [You might remember from my blogs in early June that some of us in Milwaukee were drawn to prayer and penance and offering up the pain from our little local crisis for the entire miserable national "Situation" until at least the bishops' fast and the Assumption/Dormition.]

And this one, 2 Cor 1:23-2:11, jumped out of the pages and clobbered me over the head:

By my life, I call God to witness that the reason why I did not come to Corinth after all was to spare your feelings. We are not dictators over your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your happiness; in the faith you are steady enough. Well then, I made up my mind not to pay you a second distressing visit. I may have hurt you, but if so I have hurt the only people who could give me any pleasure. I wrote as I did to make sure that, when I came, I should not be distressed by the very people who should have made me happy. I am sure you all know that I could never be happy unless you were. When I wrote to you, in deep distress and anguish of mind, and in tears, it was not to make you feel hurt but to let you know how much love I have for you.

Someone has been the cause of pain; and the cause of pain not to me, but to some degree ---- not to overstate it ---- to all of you. The punishment already imposed by the majority on the man in question is enough; and the best thing now is to give him your forgiveness and encouragement, or he might break down from so much misery. So I am asking you to give some definite proof of your love for him. What I really wrote for, after all, was to test you and see whether you are completely obedient. Anybody that you forgive, I forgive; and as for my forgiving anything ---- if there has been anything to be forgiven, I have forgiven it for your sake in the presence of Christ. And so we will not be outwitted by Satan ---- we know well enough what Satan's intentions are.
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All the Church's riches

Lawrence the deacon, the last surviving deacon of the Church in Rome ---- the bishop, Sixtus, all the other deacons, and the vast majority of the presbyters having been executed a few days before ---- was ordered to appear before the rulers at a assigned time and place, bearing all the wealth of the Church.

So he gathered all the Church's wealth and brought it to the appointed place.

He gathered together every widow, every orphan, every beggar and street kid, all the blind and deaf and lame and lunatic ---- all the riches of Christ's Church ---- and presented the riches to the emperor's representative, as he had been commanded.

But the riches of the Church were not the riches that the rulers were seeking; they were seeking jewels and precious metals and manuscripts of forbidden writings. So Lawrence was condemned to death ---- death by torture, by being cooked on a grill. According to the tradition, Lawrence kept his good humor even in dying. After some time, he informed his executioners that it was time to turn him over, since he was done on that side!

Holy St. Lawrence, help us to remember what and where the Church's riches really are, and pray for us that we may truly cherish them and never ever lose heart.
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August 9 ---- the martyrs, confessors, and innocents of WWII

August 9 is one of those days when a lot of commemorations come together "by chance" that are related; it could be called the day of all the WWII era saints someday. Today is the anniversary of the deaths of St. Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta a Cruce) in 1942, of the servant of God Franz Jagerstatter in 1943, and also the anniversary of the destruction of Nagasaki in 1945.

St. Edith Stein was a philosopher, a Carmelite monastic, a Jewish convert, who died in Auschwitz for being "non-Aryan." She was living in a convent in the Netherlands when the bishop there publicly denounced National Socialism and its pomps and works, including its racial policies. In retaliation, the Nazi occupation forces arrested and sent to extermination camps all the "non-Aryan" Catholic clergy and religious, including St. Edith. The Catholics were the first to be taken from the Netherlands.

Franz Jagerstatter was a farmer in a small town in the mountains of Austria, who, after a very rowdy youth, reformed his life and set out to live the Gospel, fully supported by his wife. It was noted by the others in the village that even though he was "too religious," that his duties to the farm and to his wife and daughters were always well fulfilled. When the Nazis took over, he continued to greet people with the traditional "Bless God" and not with "Heil Hitler," and he would not contribute to any of the Nazi collections except the police pension fund (he said he'd worked them too hard in his youth!). Eventually the draft came even for married men with children, and Franz had to tell them that heavens no, he couldn't go; he was executed for that refusal on this day in 1943.

And on this day in 1945, the second of the two chosen cities was destroyed in an instant, in the blinking of an eye. See my post on the 6th for details. If the goal had been to destroy the Catholic faith in Japan, they could not have chosen more shrewdly; but that was not the goal, that was only accidental.

All the martyrs and confessors and innocents of the Second World War, remember us.
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Where the bishop is, there is the Catholic Church.

Dave of Pompous Ponderings posted a query about "Independent Catholic" communities, such as Spiritus Christi and Jesus Our Shepherd, that function outside any bishop's protection, unsubmitted.

I hold that such communities cannot long survive and remain recognisably Catholic ---- because one of the earliest and most basic definitions of being Catholic is being where the bishop is. To claim to make a church where the bishop is not is to expose oneself to every dogmatic whim, every howling wind, every marauding predator. It is to cut oneself off from the rest of the believers ---- literally to be in schism. Those very few groups that have separated in the past and have remained recognisably Catholic and Christian only managed because either they took their bishops with them (like the Polish National Catholics) or they immediately put themselves under the shelter of another bishop (like Fr. Toth's parishes that became the core of the OCA). They did not make any claim to "independence" or to direct pastoring by Jesus Christ ---- that is a pride trap. Soon they will fall apart, or become excuses for fancy wedding chapels, or wander into strange and false beliefs. There are no foundations, and no accountability.

We need our bishops. We need to be taught, to be guided, to be chastened, to see that we are loved, to be shepherded, to shelter "under the bishop's cape." We are one body in Christ, and we cannot stand alone. To gather as one people around the bishop given to us, not allowing ourselves to be divided; submitting, not accusing; clinging, not dividing. A few days ago I posted a passage from St. Ignatius of Antioch about our union with our bishop; all things are to be done in order and in union with the bishop, and he with us.

We remember this every time we celebrate the Eucharist. We offer our sacrifice remembering "your servant Pope John Paul, our apostolic administrator Richard, Timothy our archbishop-elect, Rembert, and all the bishops...." as we prayed this past Sunday here, a little complicatedly since our diocese is still officially vacant until the 28th. We always pray in union with our shepherds, our teachers, our fathers in Christ.

As long as the "Independent" groups refuse to acknowledge that they need a father-in-Christ, a protective shepherd, they will fall prey to every whim and every prowler.

We who are Catholic Christians have no business wandering in the howling wilderness where the bishop is not. Where the bishop is, there is the Catholic Church. And there is the only place where we can be certain of that.
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A Transfiguration of Glory and a Transfiguration of Horror

Today, August 6, is the Feast of the Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John saw Jesus as he truly was, glorious with uncreated Light, conversing with Moses and Elijah. Flabbergasted, they said dumb things about staying there always, but were told they all had to go back down the mountain, back to "real life" ---- though what was at the top of Tabor was more real than the "real life" down below.

Also today, August 6, is the Commemoration Day of the destruction of Hiroshima, when the first of two cities, chosen because they had no military significance (therefore had no previous bomb damage to complicate the before-and-after photos), was utterly destroyed by a single bomb, its people transformed in an instant from living embodied ones to etched shadows on the pavements, and others left to slowly die over weeks and months from radiation-related illnesses unknown before. Those two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were not chosen because they were the heart of Japanese Catholicism; _that_ was accidental.

So, we celebrate this feast of our Lord, and remember our brothers and sisters who were doing the same in the Hiroshima Cathedral when they themselves were transformed in a single instant, to see the Lord for eternity as he truly is.

May the perpetual Light, which we celebrate especially on this day, shine upon them all.
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In Memory of Paul VI, who died this day in 1978.

Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, was the pope of my growing-up. He shepherded the ecumenical council to a happy and productive conclusion, he was the first pope of modern times to come all over the world to be with the Catholic people, he was a man of prayer and did not hide it, he left us many teachings, some of them daring and prophetic in their depth and breadth (like Humanae Vitae!).

And in 1977, he was inspired to find new archbishops from the monasteries, what some of us call "the season of Basil Who? and Rember' Wha?". It seemed for a while quite problematic, but became for those of us in Westminster and Milwaukee and the other places that were sent monks for bishops a true beyond-all-deserving blessing, to have these bishops of shepherds' hearts and deep prayer to be with us and for us and guide us.

For today's inspiration, here is a link to an exhortation of Paul VI on Christian Joy ("Gaudete in Domino") and also a link to his Last Will and Testament.
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See the New Link to Cruciform Chronicles, where there's a wonderful sermon posted today on the passage "rather, he emptied himself..." that I found to be a gift, and you may also.
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From a letter attributed to St. Barnabas (from today's Office of Readings)

When evil days are upon us and the worker of malice gains power, we must attend to our own souls and seek to know the ways of the Lord. In those times reverential fear and perserverance will sustain our faith, and we will find need of forebearance and self-restraint as well. Provided that we hold fast to these virtues and look to the Lord, then wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and insight will make joyous company with them.
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Lord, I hate pain.
I know pain is your gift; we cannot survive without it.
Thank you for your gift.
But I still utterly detest pain.
Pain makes it hard to do the things that need doing.
Pain scares other people.
It is hard to show your joy with gritted teeth and tears,
fighting not to weep or scream in public.
Pain lets me know when something's wrong,
but some things will never be right again in this life.
Pain lets me share with you, I know, I have seen it.
You are my help.
It still does not make it less detestable.
I've offered it up for a long long time
and I'm tired and sick of being sick and tired.
Help, Lord.
I hate pain.
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Being together with the bishop: from a letter from St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Polycarp, while St. Ignatius was travelling to Rome to be martyred.

If anyone can remain chaste in honor of the Savior's flesh, then let him do so without boasting. For if he boasts of it, he is lost; and if he thinks himself for this reason better than the bishop, he is lost. ....... .......Let everything be done for God's honor.

Hear your bishop, that God may hear you. My life is a sacrifice for those who are obedient to the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons; and may it be my lot to share with them in God. Work together in harmony, struggle together, run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as stewards, advisors, and servants of God. Seek to please him whose soldiers you are and from whom you draw your pay; let none of you prove a deserter. Let your baptism be your armor, your faith your helmet, your charity your spear, your patience your panoply. Let your good works be your deposits, so that you may draw out well-earned savings. So be patient and gentle with one another, as God is with you. May I have joy in you for ever!

If you are looking for resources to help you pray in union with your bishop in his upcoming fast on August 14th, there are helps available here, http://www.nccbuscc.org/liturgy/dop.htm .
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Emergency notice from Gerard Serafin

According to Gerard, there is major trouble with the Catholic Blog for Lovers. He cannot post to it or access it at all, though we-all can still see it.

Until he regains access, he's set up an annex, so he can keep on blogging. The annex address is

http://blogforlovers2.blogspot.com/

and he'll merge the content after things get fixed. May they get fixed very very soon.

[update 08/02 6:40 am cdt: the original Blog for Lovers is back in business!!!!!! Now for it to stay that way. kmk]
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From today's Office of Readings for our local feast today: from a sermon by St. Augustine.

We are gathered together to celebrate the dedication of a house of prayer. This is our house of prayer, but we too are a house of God. If we are a house of God, its construction goes on in time so that it may be dedicated at the end of time. The house, in its construction, involves hard work, while its dedication is an occasion for rejoicing.

What was done when this church was being built is similar to what is done when believers are built up into Christ. When they first come to believe they are like timber and stone taken from woods and mountains. In their instruction, baptism, and formation they are, so to speak, shaped, leveled, and smoothed by the hands of carpenters and craftsmen.

But Christians do not make a house of God until they are one in charity. The timber and stone must fit together in an orderly plan, must be joined in perfect harmony, must give each other the support as it were of love, or no one would enter the building. When you see the stones and beams of a building holding together securely, you enter the building with an easy mind; you are not afraid of its falling down in ruins.

Christ the Lord wants to come in to us and dwell in us. Like a good builder he says: A new commandment I give you: love one another. He says: I give you a commandment. He means: Before, you were not engaged in building a house for me, but you lay in ruins. Therefore, to be raised up from your former state of ruin you must love one another.

Dear brethren, remember that this house is still in process of being built in the whole world: this is the promise of prophecy. When God's house was being built after the Exile, it was prophesied, in the words of a psalm: Sing a new song to the Lord; sing to the Lord, all the earth. For a new song our Lord speaks of a new commandment. A new song implies a new inspiration of love. To sing is a sign of love. The singer of this new song is full of the warmth of God's love.

The work we see complete in this building is physical; it should find its spiritual counterpart in your hearts. We see here the finished product of stone and wood; so too your lives should reveal the handiwork of God's grace.

Let us then offer our thanksgiving above all to the Lord our God, from whom every best and perfect gift comes. Let us praise his goodness with our whole hearts. He it was who inspired in his faithful people the will to build this house of prayer; he stirred up their desire and gave them his help. He awakened enthusiasm among those who were at first unconvinced, and guided to a successful conclusion the efforts of men of good will. So God, who gives to those of good will both the desire and the accomplishment of the things that belong to him, is the one who began this work, the one who has brought it to completion.
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Feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

In honor of today's little local feast, two wonderful links to a homily on how and why we dedicate churches ----- given at the third dedication of the Cathedral we celebrate the first dedication of today.

Adobe Acrobat text file (4 pages)
and
Real Audio file (19:00 minutes)
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The author of Suscipe: St. Ignatius Loyola

Today is the day of St. Ignatius Loyola, who gave to us the Society of Jesus, the Spiritual Exercises, some really good guidelines for the discernment of spirits, and the prayer Anima Christi, as well as that frighteningly challenging hymn Suscipe, which I blogged a few days ago.

And it all began with a war wound, a bout of bed rest, and a castle with an extremely limited library. When Ignatius asked for some good juicy chivalric romances to help make the time pass, the best his kin could come up with was a volume of the Lives of the Saints. In such humble ways great conversions begin.
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I touched my template and it did not die!

Gaze upon real sidebar links (and click on some,too)
Rejoice, Rejoice!
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Pray for me......as I go this evening to try to add some real permalinks to this site! Special thanks to Gerard Serafin for pointing me to the right part of public mind to get what there are of instructions. May nothing get permanently fouled.

While I'm there, have fun with Access to Catholic Social Justice Teachings.
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A Prayer from our archdiocesan seminary

O God,
show us clearly the heart of the kingdom of God.
We do not protest
even if our life is destined to lead to the cross,
or if the way leads to our losing our lives.
We will march in the face of distress and contrary winds.
Teach us how to dispense with unnecessary things.
Let us go forward without any fear
in order to fulfill our mission simply, surely, and steadily.
Reveal to us our station clearly,
and strengthen us to teach and guide, by our example, all persons.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

(St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee; Fr. Steve Malkiewicz)
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A Prayer for Michael Krejci, Russell Banner, John Bertolucci, and all the others.

Lord, we pray for your priests who must now go away from us. They have reformed their lives, they have been penitent, they have been restored and have given us your word and your sacraments faithfully. Yet now, for the good of the whole Church, they must go into anonymous exile.

Lord, you know them, every one. Give them the courage and strength and grace to bear this for you and your holy Church. Support and heal them, as you did Miriam in her leprous shame, and as you did David the King after his great crimes. Let your light shine in and through them, as it did in Margaret of Cortona and Mary of Egypt, in your anonymous one of Sachsenhausen, and in so many of your holy penitents through all ages.

We, who are also sinners, beg this of you, our all-good Lord. Amen.
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Empty-handedness from a prayer of St. Therese of Lisieux

In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my beloved!
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Another hymnal gem (this one modern enough to need a copyright notice!)

Hold Me, Jesus

Sometimes my life just don't make sense at all
when the mountains look so big
and my faith just seems so small.

So hold me, Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf.
You have been King of my glory;
won't You be my Prince of Peace?

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark.
It's so hot inside my soul
there must be blisters on my heart.

So hold me, Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf.
You have been King of my glory;
won't You be my Prince of Peace?

Surrender don't come natural to me.
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
than to take what You give that I need,
and I've beat my head against so many walls.
I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees.

And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn,
and Your grace rings out so deep
it makes my resistance seem so thin.

Oh, hold me, Jesus, I'm shaking like a leaf.
You have been King of my glory;
won't You be my Prince of Peace?

You've been King of my glory;
won't You be my Prince of Peace?

(by Rich Mullins. copyright 1998, Kid Brothers of St. Frank)
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Do we dare sing this hymn? Suscipe: the scariest prayer in the hymnal

Take, Lord, receive
all my liberty;
my memory, my understanding,
my entire will.

Take, Lord, receive
all I have and possess.
You have given all to me,
now I return it.

Give me only your love and your grace,
that's enough for me.
Your love and your grace
are enough for me.

Take, Lord, receive;
all is yours now.
Dispose of it
wholly according to your will.

Give me only your love and your grace,
that's enough for me.
Your love and your grace
are enough for me.
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"the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace."

Renew your wonders in our time, O Divine Spirit, as though with another Pentecost, and grant that your holy Church, by uniting in single-hearted and mounting prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus, and the shepherding St. Peter, may intensify the reign of the Divine Savior, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. ------Bl. John XXIII

Bl. John XXIII wrote this prayer for the entire Church to pray for the success of the ecumenical council (and I remember it from my childhood), but we very obviously need "the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace" so why not keep on praying for it, even now that the council's been over for thirty-some years?

If we had truly let the Divine Savior reign, would there be a "Situation" to drive us mad? Could we be "scandalized" by the ordinary embarrassments of life if truth, justice, love, and peace truly ruled in our lives? I believe not. The Accuser of the Brethren has no power over us if we together are single-hearted, if we refuse to accuse any but ourselves, if we refuse to play his foul and destructive and divisive game.

We are one people, one Church, one body in Christ. We are gathered to pray with one heart, waiting for the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to come. Come, fill our hearts, keep us one.
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ALL OF US

I sat in a courtroom -
A youth accused was seated there
And so was the prosecutor


Then Mary came to the tomb
And there were angels there
But no prosecutor


For the one who had condemned
Was still asleep
As the garden awoke


Whom do you seek, they said
For the tomb is empty
And she turned away


And in that turning
She saw One who was alive
And it was He


And as she worshiped Him
But did not touch His flesh
I looked within the tomb


And there was the courtroom
And the youth
And all of us


. . Pavel Chichikov
. . July 24, 2002
. . http://www.greyowlpress.com
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The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee

On Saturday, Thomas my eldest younger brother and I went to the vigil Mass together at the Cathedral of St. John. Back when I was an able person I used to go to the Cathedral semi-regularly, but not since I became so disabled because before the renovation it was not accessible. This was Tom's first time there, and my first visit since before the renovation.

We entered from the northeast, through the new fully-accessible atrium entrance. The walks are not lumpy and just the right safe amount of rough texture, and the ramp to the atrium door was shallow enough that I could push myself up it on the way back out.

Entering the Cathedral from the atrium, I was immediately overcome with awe. Immediately in front of you entering, directly across the church, is the Tabernacle in its glory. No minimally conscious Catholic entering from the atrium is going to fail to make reverence.
Those able-bodied people who can enter through the official "front doors" on the west end are confronted by the baptistry in the same way --- a baptistry that also bears some resemblance to a grave; we have been buried with Christ in baptism and have risen up with him to fullness of life.

Once one has entered, there is no mistaking what is central to our life, and in the church. The altar, large and square (as the heavenly Jerusalem is square), erected over the relics of the saints, up the three traditional sanctuary steps, canopied by a great crown-of-thorns corona and crucifix ---- the certer of life, the natural focus of attention and action. Everything focuses on the altar.

Eucharist was standard summer Saturday evening in Milwaukee ---- three hymns, sung Gloria and psalm and Lamb of God, recited Creed and Our Father, no choir. No cringing, either.

After Mass was over, I took Tom on a fast little tour. I showed him the wonderful windows that had been buried for decades behind atrocious hanging electric light fixtures, and the mosaic Stations, once overwhelmed by huge frou-frou frames, now standing forth beautifully and boldly. Also the portraits of the nine archbishops staring down from the clerestory (no forgetting the past here!) and I pointed to the roundel where sometime before spring the face of Timothy Dolan will be joining them, if he keeps to the tradition begun by Archbishop Moses Elias Kiley when he rebuilt the Cathedral after the 1930's fire. We also read the most recent dedicatory inscription, a wonder of understatement --- "not without difficulty," indeed! Asbestos, rotted wiring, architectural surprises, bishop-bashers, church politicians in faraway places....... Tom wondered how the dedicatory inscription of his diocese's new cathedral will read when it's dedicated in September (Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles).

One fast prayer at the shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, then we had to leave. Tom's gone back to Los Angeles, But I'll definitely be back regularly.
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Thank you

to Mike, of the Enemy of the Church? blog, for his reposting of my meditation on the icon of Anonymous of Sachsenhausen.

Pray for our bishops. Pray for our past perps. Care for each other with kindness. As Fiona ("Semper Fi") of freecatholic says, being a beacon of Christian love does not require beating people over the head with the lantern.
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Restitution, the current news (kind of part 2)

Here's the article from the current July 18th Catholic Herald, page 4:

Contributions to offset settlement pass $307,000
Total includes anonymous stock gift of $183,532

by Laurel Nelson-Rowe
Catholic Herald Staff

ST. FRANCIS ---- The contributions to defray costs of the Milwaukee Archdiocese's $450,000 out-of-court settlement with Paul Marcoux continued to grow last week, totaling $307,370, including an anonymous gift of stock valued at $183,532, as of July 15th.

The fund-raising effort over the last several weeks was spearheaded by close associates of former Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland in a grass-roots effort called Friends for Weakland, and has included other contributions, according to Wayne Schneider, archdiocesan finance director and controller. The Milwaukee Archdiocese has not been involved in the fund-raising initiative, but has received and tracked the incoming monies, he said.

Ethel Gintoft, retired Catholic Herald associate publisher and executive editor, was among those leading the Friends effort. She said the funds raised helped "show the public and show Archbishop Weakland that he has many supporters," and the efforts "enabled a lot of healing" for Catholics throughout the archdiocese and beyond.

Schneider clarified that the $149,928.82 in stipends, honorariums, and gifts received by the archdiocese because of Weakland's work over 25 years ---- an amount that grew to total $196,723 based on earned interest ---- had been given to St. Francis Seminary periodically at Weakland's direction while he was archbishop.

These contributions, made seven times over 25 years, "offset the cost to the archdiocese to balance the seminary budget, and prevented the seminary from curtailing its services or discontinuing programs for seminarians, deacons, lay ministers, and others," said Jerry Topczewski, archdiocesan spokesman.

He noted that at the time the Marcoux allegations surfaced and news of the archdiocesan settlement was disclosed in May, Weakland insisted he would try to repay the settlement amount to the diocese. The Milwaukee Archdiocese "never felt the amount had to be satisfied," he said.

Topczewski said decisions on use of the monies raised to date, and if contributions continue, donations meeting or exceeding the $450,000 settlement amount will be referred to incoming Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. "It would seem to make sense that since the $450,000 came from the archdiocesan real estate and properties account, that would be the account to be reimbursed" but that will be done at his discretion, Topczewski said.
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The full story, more or less, of a restitution repaid.

On Saturday 13th from Akron on my journey, I posted a tiny bit of good news from Milwaukee, belatedly but first in St. Blog's. Gerard picked it up on Monday, and reposted it on his much more popular blog, and even called me "a good reliable source." (Thanks, Gerard!) But now that I'm back at the anchorhold with my own computer and my stack of Catholic Herald, I'm overdue for full story telling ---- especially since it seems now nobody agrees what's up, and I don't want to be nailed as inaccurate even if I'm not really a news site.

As everybody knows by now, on May 23rd we all learned that the details of our long-ago confessed and forgiven sins can become the business of everybody, and then on May 31st our beloved retired archbishop made a complete and very public apology, during which he made it clear that he considered himself bound to make restitution to the archdiocese for the money spent on the settlement with my ex-classmate Paul M.

In the Catholic Herard of June 6th (the issue that covered the apology) there was a letter to the editor signed by a very diverse group of Milwaukee Catholics, proposing that we faithful of Milwaukee show appreciation for Archbishop Rembert's service to us by helping to erase that perceived debt, maybe even by the feast of SS. Peter and Paul at the end of June. I blogged this letter in its entirety on June 7th. A few days later, the local television news outlets were covering a group of elderly ladies who called themselves "Friends for Weakland," who were beginning a direct mail campaign using their Christmas card lists to raise money to ease the archbishop's burden. In short order they had erected a simple web site, www.friendsforweakland.com, with a link to the apology and a form to print out to send money. They figured that $253,000 would be sufficient to cover the balance. In the June 20th Herald on page 7, there was a news blurb about the Friends for Weakland Committee, and the web site dedicated to "Help to lighten the archbishop's burden."

Beginning on July 1st, the Friends web site was going to start issuing updates of the amount they had raised; that report on the first said they had raised $85,000 to that date. Of course, the archdiocese was also receiving other funds from the letter on the 6th and from other inspired Milwaukee faithful.

In the July 4th Catholic Herald, on page 21, an article titled "Finance Council to take active role in overseeing settlements" had two paragraphs at its end:

Schneider and Cusack said the archdiocese is being particularly careful with the accounting and acknowledgement of incoming donations to defray the amount Weakland said he will repay the archdiocese for the $450,000 Marcoux settlement.

The monies, which amounted to $265,000 as of Tuesday, July 2, are the result of individual contributions and grass-roots fund-raising efforts ---- including the "Friends for Weakland" campaign ---- and are not associated with Milwaukee archdiocesan fund raising in any way, they emphasized. A May 31, 2002, archdiocesan statement showed $196,723 in monies from Weakland's stipends, honorariums, and gifts, and account interest. This is to be applied to repay the settlement.

The Friends web site picked up on this, and as soon as they could confirm this, they declared their goal achieved, sometime before the weekend. By Tuesday 9th (the next time I saw a computer, I was traveling) the Friends had spoken to the archbishop about what to do with excess monies they had not yet sent to the archdiocese; and had changed the address on the printout form from themselves to the Cathedral Center for homeless women and children. I waited a few days just in case something went wrong, and also because I'm not a news blog. I figured one of the news bloggers would jump on this, even if only to prove how crazy Milwaukee Catholics are. When no one I could read with Netscape had posted it by Saturday 13th, I did, and Gerard, sweet Gerard, picked it up.

So I came home this weekend, and in my huge pile of accumulated postal mail was the July 18th Catholic Herald, the current issue, which has a very interesting article on our topic, I'll post/publish this, and make that article a separate post, lest I lose all this typing again.
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Earlier this afternoon I typed into blogger for almost an hour (I'm no touch typist!), and lost the entire text when the zonealarm on this machine alerted --- oh, drats! But, I'll try again. I owe it to Gerard Serafin, who trusts me.

I am safely back in Milwaukee, and dear brother Thomas went back to Los Angeles this morning. We had a few adventures last night; I took him to the Cathedral for Mass Saturday evening. Will write about it later, we were both wowed.
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No Blogging tomorrow

We (eldest younger brother Thomas and I) drive back to Milwaukee tomorrow, so there will be no blogging. The next you see me, probably Saturday, I'll be back at my own beloved anchor hold and my own trusty computer. (No more Blogger in Netscape! No more sticky spacebar!) But tomorrow, I contemplate the Ohio Turnpike and the Indiana Toll Road. karen marie.
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Have some heavenly friends been whispering to Gerard also?

At Gerard Serafin's Blog for Lovers [http://blogforlovers.blogspot.com/] there's a fantastic posting today on King David, God's Anointed, called "Zero tolerance and the Word of God." Go there, it needs to be read.
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In the time of ordeal, cling to what is certain.

When the trials come, and they regularly do, and all around shakes and spins, comes and goes, distorts strangely and cannot be trusted, the only thing is to hang on tightly to the things that are certain, the things that are known to be true and do not change.

For me, that always seems to go back to the very first chapter of my very first CCD book in first grade, with the questions at the end of the chapter. The first questions: and still the most sure things.

Q. Who made me?
A. God made me.

Q. Why did God make me?
A. God made me to know him, and to love him, and to serve him, and to be happy with him forever and ever.

Where to cling when all else is failing. Sirach also had something to say about hanging on in the ordeal, in chapter 2 of his book:

My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for an ordeal.
Be sincere of heart, be steadfast,
and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
Cling to him and do not leave him,
so that you may be honoured at the end of your days.
Whatever happens to you, accept it,
and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,
since gold is tested in the fire,
and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust him and he will uphold you,
follow a straight path and hope in him.
You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not turn aside in case you fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust him,
and you will not be baulked of your reward.
You who fear the Lord hope for good things,
for everlasting happiness and mercy.
Look at the generations of old and see:
who ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?
Or who ever feared him steadfastly and was left forsaken?
Or who ever called out to him, and was ignored?
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful,
he forgives sins, and saves in days of distress.
Woe to faint hearts and listless hands,
and to the sinner who treads two paths.
Woe to the listless heart that has no faith,
for such will have no protection.
Woe to you who have lost the will to endure;
what will you do at the Lord's visitation?
Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words,
and those who love him keep his ways.
Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him,
and those who love him find satisfaction in his Law.
Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared
and humble themselves in his presence.
Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, not into the hands of men;
for as his majesty is, so too is his mercy.
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From the depths; Psalm 130

From the depths I call to you, LORD,
Lord, listen to my cry for help!
Listen compassionately to my pleading!

If you never overlooked our sins, LORD,
Lord, could anyone survive?
But you do forgive us;
and for that we revere you.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits for him,
I rely on his promise,
my soul relies on the Lord
more than a watchman on the coming of dawn.

Let Israel rely on the LORD
as much as the watchman on the dawn!
For it is with the LORD that mercy is to be found,
and a generous redemption;
it is he who redeems Israel
from all their sins.

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This morning, I spent some time with the icons. Actually, with a set of icon prints that traveled with me in the case with the Liturgy of Hours book. There's a couple dozen of my favorite friends there, some canonized, some not yet, and one (at least) never-will. Who was calling to me this morning. For some reason, the holy Anonymous, priest of Sachsenhausen, called to me. I don't think of him very often.

Holy Anonymous, unlike other priests who fell afoul of the Nazis, wasn't there because he was a priest: in fact, he was very reticent about even being known as a priest, lest he become a cause of scandal. He was there because he had done some shameful act that notified the Nazi government of his illegal sexual orientation.

Yet, in a concentration camp, among the lowly and loathed "pink triangles," he prayed and wept and lived a nameless penitential life, serving his fellow inmates both sacramentally and in the most humble practical service, until he was killed in the camp. No one who survived knew his name or history before the camp ---- only that the love of God shone through him, a humiliated and sorrowing, penitent and holy, priest of the Church.

Is here our saint for our brother priests, who for the good of the Church in our land must disappear forever into anonymous limbo? All our local Churches have them. Priests who confessed and repented, served civil and canonical penalties, did both penance and therapy for many years, and have been successfully restored --- sometimes for decades ---- and now in spite of double and triple jeopardy are to be driven out, even sometimes against the wishes of their victims, to survive wherever they can. Holy Anonymous is, in many ways, theirs. He reminded me this day that our "past perps" need our prayers too. I had neglected them, but no more.
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A little learning this afternoon .......

On not falling for phonies; by Chad Brechbuhler, age 6 weeks.

Pacifier is no-good, it does not fill tummy.
Spit it out and keep on screaming.
Mama will bring bottle, bottle is good, bottle has FOOD!
Stop screaming, start drinking!

(Chad is my nephew, the son of my second-youngest sister Victoria.)
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Some wise words..... Psalm 124

"If the Lord had not been on our side,"
this is Israel's song.
"If the Lord had not been on our side
when men rose against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive
when their anger was kindled.
Then would the waters have engulfed us,
the torrent gone over us;
over our head would have swept
the raging waters."

Blessed be the Lord who did not give us
a prey to their teeth!
Our life, like a bird, has escaped
from the snare of the fowler.
Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

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And some not-so-wise words...... the Knapp family reunion

E. Pauline Ilg Knapp raised four children alone through the Great Depression and World War II; her youngest child, my father, was only a few months old when her husband died.

The four children, their three surviving spouses, and the vast majority of their 27 children, 17 children's spouses, and 46 children's children, came together yesterday in one (unfortunate?) public park in a suburb of Akron, Ohio, to party hardy, eat potluck provided by the 27 cousins, party some more, catch up on family news, get walking children wet in the wading pool, ogle babies, catch up on more family news
(Mick's Karen's retired; Bob's Chrissy's now a nun named M Theresa; the oldest third-generation child just turned 18; etc.), party some more.......

No injuries, a ton of fun, let's do it again in 2 or 3 or 4 years, but with a chart and nametags next time! was the sense of the party. And yours truly, socializing with the elders, has, for the first time known, assembled a full accounting of all four lines of descent in one place, for that chart everyone says we really have to have next time.

And my sister Susan says she might have some poor orphan jars of banana peppers needing a new home in far-away Milwaukee at a certain anchor hold..............

Peace from Mick's oldest, karen marie
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No, I have not been called.....
I've only been up to my eyebrows in family. Continue to keep all of the descendants of Pauline Knapp in your prayers, the reunion party is tomorrow.

Back on July 1st, Doug Sirman wrote a somewhat cryptic note on his blog about my revealing things about myself on my blog, and about twisted situations and twisted perceptions. I wrote him right back thanking him for the birthday present but admitting that I had no idea what he was writing about. But I think now I've got a little idea, courtesy of tonight's Evening Prayer. In Psalm 116 it says:

I trusted, even when I said:
"I am sorely afflicted,"
and when I said in my alarm:
"No man can be trusted."

How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call upon the Lord's name.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfill
before all his people.

In the past six weeks or so there have been periods of just hanging on for dear life while chaos seemed to reign and the Lord's love and protection and mercy seemed very far away. One of those times triggered the posting Doug Sirman was referring to ---- when "Spare us, save us, have mercy on us, O Lord" was the only possible prayer, when our wounds were still fresh and livid, not mostly-scarred-over and a dull background ache. Now, I"ll probably never comprehend why my ex-classmate decided to beat the living daylights out of my local Church ---- but all of us _will_ heal and _will_ continue to serve. Maybe even in time to be ready to go again when, on August 28th, they sit Timothy Dolan down in that big chair in the Cathedral, and, with our new shepherd, we get back to work praising and healing and evangelizing, and performing the works of mercy.

News fron Milwaukee:

Full restitution for the Paul M settlement has been made to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. All excess funds are being directed to the Cathedral Center for homeless women and children at the request of the archbishop. The "Friends of Weakland" website is staying up, at least for a while, to assist the Cathedral Center apostolate. The seeming-impossible is indeed possible.......
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General update: Now safely in my dad's home in Akron. I'm posting from my brother Michael's computer, which has some problems ---- he only has Netscape (Blogger is strange in Netscape) and his space bar sticks. Until I get back to Milwaukee, there will be no bold or italics, and no hot links, only urls to cut and paste. Oh, well.

Reintroduction to our clan's assorted kidfolk is proceding nicely. God is good.
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There is only The Church, and the Church is one

As I keep writing here, sometimes to the point of monomania, there is only the Catholic Church, which we should not set out to divide with extraneous inappropriate adjectives. In this morning's Office of Readings, we are given a passage from the Didache, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, about the celebration of Eucharist and the oneness of the Church. (So I'm not alone in that belief...... sometimes here in the blogging world it would seem so.....)

This is what the Didache says:

Celebrate the Eucharist as follows: Say over the cup, "We give you thanks, Father, for the holy vine of David, your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever."

Over the broken bread say, "We give you thanks, Father, for the life and the knowledge which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever. As this broken bread scattered on the mountains was gathered and became one, so too, may your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. For glory and power are yours through Jesus Christ for ever." .......

When you finish the meal, offer thanks in this manner: "We thank you, holy Father, for your name which you enshrined in our hearts. We thank you for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus. To you be glory for ever. ............ Remember, Lord, your Church, and deliver her from all evil. Perfect her in your love; and, once she has been sanctified, gather her together from the four winds into the kingdom which you have prepared for her. For power and glory are yours for ever." .............

On the Lord's Day, when you have been gathered together, break bread and celebrate the Eucharist. But first confess your sins so that your offering may be pure. If anyone has a quarrel with his neighbor, that person should not join you until he has been reconciled. Your sacrifice must not be defiled. ..........
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From today's Office of Readings: a sermon by St. Augustine.

I acknowledge my transgression, says David. If I admit my fault, then you will pardon it. Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others. This was not the way that David showed us how to pray and make amends to God, when he said: I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. He did not concentrate on others' sins; he turned his thoughts upon himself. He did not merely stroke the surface, but he plunged inside and went deep down within himself. He did not spare himself, and therefore was not impudent in asking to be spared.

Do you want God to be appeased? Learn what you are to do that God may be pleased with you. Consider the psalm again: If you wanted sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; in burnt offerings you will take no delight. Are you then to be without sacrifice? Are you to offer nothing? Will you please God without an offering? Consider what you read in the same psalm: If you wanted sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; in burnt offerings you will take no delight. But continue to listen, and say with David: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God does not despise a contrite and humble heart. Cast aside your former offerings, for now you have found out what you are to offer. .............

..........Search within your heart for what is pleasing to God. Your heart must be crushed. Are you afraid that it might perish so? You have the reply: Create a clean heart in me, O God. For a clean heart to be created, the unclean one must be crushed.

We should be displeased with ourselves when we commit sin, for sin is displeasing to God. Sinful though we are, let us at least be like God in this, that we are displeased at what displeases him. In some measure then you will be in harmony with God's will, because you find displeasing in yourself what is abhorrent to your Creator,
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Sporadic posting ahead

Though I'll try to post something here every day or so, don't worry about me until after the 20th. My eldest younger brother Tom's plane should have landed from LAX about a half-hour ago, so, allowing an hour or two for baggage and security and car rental, he'll be here at my anchor hold shortly. He'll crash here for a couple of days, maybe help me pack, and then he'll drive me and my assorted medical stuff to our native land, Akron, Ohio, to attend the Knapp family reunion. While there, I'll be "holding court" for lots of nieces and nephews and cousin's kids who only remember Aunt Karen as a photo on the refrigerator --- they haven't seen me since two new years' ago, a few have been born since then that I haven't met at all yet.

In Akron, we'll stay at the house of my Dad and of Mike, my second eldest younger brother, who has a computer he will probably let me use to post at least every once in a while. So I will not disappear entirely, I hope. Keep all the descendants of E. Pauline Ilg Knapp and Robert Knapp, who died in his children's infancy, in your prayers for safety as the more rambunctious of us party hardy and the less rambunctious work to stay out of the way. .
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A Psalm for Friday: Miserere

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness,
in your great tenderness wipe away my faults;
wash me clean of my guilt,
purify me from my sin.

For I am well aware of my faults,
I have my sin constantly in mind,
having sinned against none other than you,
having done what you regard as wrong.

You are just when you pass sentence on me,
blameless when you give judgement.
You know I was born guilty,
a sinner from the moment of conception.

Yet, since you love sincerity of heart,
teach me the secrets of wisdom.
Purify me with hyssop until I am clean;
wash me until I am whiter than snow.

Instil some joy and gladness into me,
let the bones you have crushed rejoice again.
Hide your face from my sins,
wipe out all my guilt.

God, create a clean heart in me,
put into me a new and constant spirit,
do not banish me from your presence,
do not deprive me of your holy spirit.

Be my saviour again, renew my joy,
keep my spirit steady and willing;
and I shall teach transgressors the way to you,
and to you the sinners will return.

Save me from death, God my saviour,
and my tongue will acclaim your righteousness;
Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will speak out your praise.

Sacrifice gives you no pleasure,
were I to offer holocaust, you would not have it.
My sacrifice is this broken spirit,
you will not scorn this crushed and broken heart.
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My REBORN acquaintance Brad Pardee, in his webzine "One Man Watching," has written an excellent essay on praying for those in authority (vol. 3 no. 5, 21 June 2002).

It concludes, "But our prayers, be they for bishops or pastors or bosses or police officers, can always be counted on to be useless if they are never prayed."
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A dinner out with "Pompous" Dave (who isn't!)

Yesterday was one of those go-go-go days. Because of the holiday today (which closed the hospital lab), I had to spend yesterday morning there; every two weeks I have to go bleed in a tube to be certain one of my medications isn't doing too much of a good thing. I usually hang around the hospital long enough to eat lunch in the cafeteria there, good cheap food I don't have to cook or clean up after; and yesterday I stayed as long as possible to enjoy the air conditioning. It has been stultifyingly hot here for a week, and I'm drained.

Then, come evening, the transit van took me to Noodles and Company to meet a gentleman I'd jousted with in the listservs for many years but never met in real life ---- Dave Pawlak of the Pompous Ponderings blog. We settled in at a table with our bowls of noodles before 5 pm and were still in the middle of animated conversation at 7:35 when the van service so rudely interrupted us to take me home. Face to face in real life is much superior to emails on flame-prone listservs. We agreed we had to do this again, soon. Maybe when I get back from Knapp reunion later in the month. And yes, we did toast the health of Archbishop-elect Dolan, which was our original excuse for scheduling dinner. Milwaukee is a glorious place to be a Catholic. Especially in tough times. And especially with folk like Dave around.
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Keep your eyes upon Jesus: St. Clare of Assisi wrote this to Bl. Agnes of Prague.

......You have one aim: as a poor virgin to embrace the poor Christ. Keep your eyes fast on him who for you was reckoned of no account and let your part be to be willing to be held of no account for him. Your spouse is he who is of comeliness beyond all the sons of men, and who for your salvation became the least of men and despised and smitten and wounded in all of his body and dying under the hard requirements of the cross. It is him you want to see, to gaze upon fixedly, to think upon deeply, and with desire to imitate.

When you suffer with him, you will reign with him; when you grieve with him, you will rejoice with him; when with him you die on the cross of harrowing demands or bitter circumstances, you will possess a heavenly dwelling place in the splendor of the saints; your name, written in the book of life, will be glorious among men. And, because you have done this, in place of the passing things of this earth, yours will be, for eternity and for ever and ever, the glory of the heavenly kingdom. In place of goods that perish yours will be the things that are eternal and you will live for ever and ever.
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At Nota Bene Sean is doing a series of spiritual commentaries on the Rule of St. Benedict that I can recommend very highly. He started about a week ago so it should be possible to scroll back his blog and catch up, if you want.
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Simplicity. Singleness. Submission.

Twenty-five years ago today, having finally turned 21 years old, I went to church to pray before the Eucharist; I made a prostration, then signed my full name, Karen Marie Agnes Jochebed Knapp, to a lifelong covenant commitment. For the rest of my days, I would be only the Lord's, living simply and singly and in obedient submission. And that is how it has been for the past 25 years.

Simplicity, singleness, and submission is the strong medicine and the firm witness against the unholy trinity of our age: money, sex, and power. Only the Real Trinity --- Father, Son, Holy Spirit --- can guard and protect, liberate and gift; the unholy trio can only enslave and take away and open one to predation.

To live in simplicity reduces money from false god to only the societal convenience and exchange symbol it truly is. The less that one owns, the less the temptation to guard it by force. As St. Francis said in one of his disagreements with the church politicians, "If we had property, we would then need an army to keep it." Of course, there are some things we need if we are to survive in this world. We need clothing, and food, and shelter. Milwaukee winters can be fatal without heating fuel; my disabled body refuses to work without the oxygen supply and the medications. Yet to let go of everything that is not actually need, and if necessary even that, knowing that, whatever comes, the Lord God will provide (and cash money will not), is the witness of simplicity.

To live in singleness is the acknowledgement that I have only one Love, and that nothing and no one must come between us. My whole being, body and heart and soul, belongs to no one except my Beloved, who is faithful to his covenants. This then frees me to love and serve all of my sisters and brothers, since no one of them monopolizes me or holds my conscience. Only my Lord and Beloved has me, so I am free all the way deep down; this is the witness of chaste singleness.

To live in submission means I cannot reach for power, that poisonous food that feeds pride. Others have legitimate authority over me: my bishop and my pastor, my employer and my supervisor when I was still working, my physician and my physical therapist, the moral law, the civil law insofar as it isn't sinful. I obey to the best of my ability, with a willing heart. Instead of grasping for power, I must embrace honesty and truthfulness, which nurture humility and peace. I must openly admit my failings. I can make no excuses. I cannot defend myself, even justly, by accusing anybody else of anything; I can only accuse myself. The very first signs that original sin had happened were hiding from God, then blaming someone else, and we who are baptized are to have none of that! I willingly and joyfully leave the "higher profile" "more important" places in life to others, being content in the place I have been placed, just as in ordinary life I must yield the right of way to all who come behind me in the aisle, since (pretty much by definition) they are all faster than me. To give up power and pride and exchange it for truthfulness and humility is the witness of submission.

Twenty-five years ago, on my twenty-first birthday, I really didn't have much of a clue about what was proper or canonically legal --- I only knew that the way of life I had been living since I was 19 and renamed (I wrote about this a few weeks ago) had to be mine forever. So I wrote three paragraphs on a sheet of paper, prayed, worshipped, and then signed at the bottom of the page, in the way of the covenant commitment, which I did know about from the charismatic renewal. A few years later, when I was in graduate school, I discovered that the Church had laws about such things that I wasn't in conformity with, and guiltily talked with my pastor. He told me not to worry, that there would be no problem as long as I was going to stay faithful and not need released, and as long as I never wore a costume. And so I have lived, and so I will continue, with the help of God.
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Better Or Better Off: another of Peter Maurin's Easy Essays.

1. The world would be better off,
if people tried
to become better.

2. And people would
become better
if they stopped trying
to be better off.

3. For when everybody tries
to become better off,
nobody is better off.

4. But when everybody tries
to become better,
everybody is better off.

5. Everybody would be rich
if nobody tried
to be richer.

6. And nobody would be poor
if everybody tried
to be the poorest.

7. And everybody would be
what he ought to be
if everybody tried to be
what he wants
the other fellow to be.
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