Holy Cross Vocations United States Province // Holy Cross Vocations United States Province

Studying for Eternal Life

2012-02-01T01:00:00-05:00

At Trinity College, the largest college of the University of Cambridge, all students sign a matriculation book at the beginning of their studies. Ascending the stone steps of the library designed by Sir Christopher Wren, I was guided by a librarian to my name only after being shown the place where Isaac Newton signed so many years ago.

Simultaneously humbling and inspiring, these sorts of traditions mark my daily experience of Cambridge and doctoral studies. After a Great Court run (the run made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire), we the new students donned our academic robes and gathered in the dining hall at long wooden tables lined with burning candles for a feast.

Though the event was itself extraordinary, the master of my college summed up the evening with a couple of toasts and an address. His advice was simple and straightforward. Great minds have thought and dialogued here. He told us first that we walk in their footsteps; secondly, that we should get to work. To be certain, he explained, we only have a few short years to make a contribution to knowledge. And, knowledge changes the world.

The wonderful part about this matriculation process is that it is entirely secondary to an earlier one for me. As incredible as it might have been to sign my name in history’s rolls alongside figures like Newton and Byron, the real contribution I will make in this life can’t be captured in a degree but only in my vocation.

Yes, God called me to “matriculate” in the most demanding and fulfilling way when I signed my name to my final vows petition, having just professed to God forever the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the presence of Holy Cross, my family, and friends. I cast my name in the line of holy men: St. André Bessette, Blessed Basil Moreau, and many more, trusting that God might use me to contribute some sort of sign of His kingdom. And as a priest, the Eucharistic feast is the daily banquet of this calling.

It is out of this call to be a religious and priest that God, through Holy Cross, has chosen me to study. This means that not only am I studying to make a contribution to knowledge, but I am studying in order to understand our faith more fully. That’s what theology is: faith seeking understanding. And a contribution to this understanding, which does take a lot of work, is one that can be preached, taught, and can be useful to others on their journeys to life with our Lord.

Christ set forth, and enrolled each of us on a journey beginning at baptism and ending with the resurrection from the dead, one that ought to shape our every moment of every day. And we have been given Scriptures, the tradition of the apostles, and writings of thinkers from every era to help us to seek understanding of our faith. The deposit of faith you and I have been handed is vast and rich; great minds and saints have taught it and passed it on. Not to explore and utilize it would be as crazy as not bothering to learn the best ideas of Newton or the poems of Byron.

My studies of memory in theology mean that I read from the Old Testament through the 20th century, connecting the faith of the ages to our journey now. There’s a lot to do and not too much time. But it’s worth it because these are ideas with consequences—like our vows—that aren’t just about changing the world, but about Christ’s changing us in preparation for eternal life to come.

Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C., professed final vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on August 30, 2009, and then was ordained to the priesthood on April 10, 2010. After two years in parish ministry, he won one of the prestigious Gates Scholarships and went into doctoral studies in theology at Cambridge University. He is one of over a dozen Holy Cross priests in the United States Province pursuing advanced degrees to better serve as educators in the faith. Learn more about the work of Holy Cross in education, as well as hear from some of the other Holy Cross priests in advanced studies.

Catholic Schools Week: Jesus Lives Here

2012-01-29T01:00:00-05:00

“Jesus lives here.” That was one of the responses that we received from our students when we asked them to reflect on their experience of St. Adalbert School and what makes it special. That first grader stated succinctly, and with a wisdom revealed only to children, why our educational mission at St. Adalbert’s matters. Children need to know that Jesus is an integral part of their life and their education.

St. Adalbert School is a beacon of faith and hope for children growing up in a very tough environment. The school is situated on the West Side of South Bend, in one of the poorest areas of town, with some of the worst public schools in a state known for failing schools. Foreclosed houses and shuttered businesses are a common sight in their neighborhoods. The vast majority of the children speak Spanish at home, as they strive to master English in school. If they graduate from high school, they may be the first ones in their family to do so. You might say that the odds are stacked against them. But, that is when hope is most needed.

From its foundation in 1911, St. Adalbert’s has been an anchor for the immigrant children of the West Side. In the early years, the school offered bilingual education – in Polish and English. As the Polish families gradually moved away, the parish and the school both fell on hard times. By 2002 the average age of the St. Adalbert’s parishioners was 77 years old. Obviously, there were very few parish families with children to send to the school. However, that same year St. Stephen’s – a young, vibrant, Latino parish on the West Side – had to be closed for financial reasons.

Initially, all of the St. Stephen’s parishioners were invited to join St. Casimir Parish, because it, like St. Stephen’s, was staffed by Holy Cross religious. However, the demographics of St. Casimir were similar to those of St. Adalbert, and their school had closed decades ago. The following year, 2003, the Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend asked Holy Cross to accept responsibility for St. Adalbert’s, as well. Almost overnight, St. Casimir and St. Adalbert became predominantly Latino parishes, and St. Adalbert School became the new Latino school on the West Side.

This is the type of ministry that Blessed Basil Moreau, whose feast we celebrated on January 20, envisioned for Holy Cross – in a school, a parish and a neighborhood where we really make a difference. As he wrote in Christian Education, “If at times you show preference to any young people, they should be the poor, those who have no one else to show them preference, those who have the least knowledge, those who lack skills and talent, and those who are not Catholic or Christian. If you show them greater care and concern, it must be because their needs are greater and because it is only just to give more to those who have received less.”

These children need a school where they cannot fall through the cracks, where their teachers truly care about them and are willing to give them the extra time and attention that many of them need to excel. They need to be in a place where a teacher who notices that a student doesn’t have adequate winter clothing quietly donates a coat to the family. Most schools don’t see that kind of compassion as integral to their educational mission, but we do. That is how we educate the mind and the heart. That is how students recognize that, “Jesus lives here.”

Fr. Peter Pacini, C.S.C., is the pastor of St. Adalbert & St. Casimir Parishes in South Bend, Ind. He wrote this post for the Spes Unica Blog to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Learn more about the commitment of Holy Cross to Catholic Education in the United States, including the Alliance for Catholic Education and our Holy Cross parochial schools.

Fr. Wendel: Responding to God's Invitations

2012-01-27T01:00:00-05:00

Father Paul Wendel was born in Lancaster, New York, a town in upstate New York on the Erie Canal just east of Buffalo, where he attended St. Mary’s parochial school and high school. He graduated from high school in 1939 and in 1942, with American entry into World War II, he was drafted into the army and saw action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy in a medical battalion of the Fifth Army. Discharged in October 1945 he came home and made prompt use of the G.I. Bill to attend college.

The family had been Notre Dame football fans, members of the “subway alumni,” and Paul came to the University of Notre Dame for his college education. The atmosphere on the campus, the many opportunities for prayer and his contact with Holy Cross religious led him into the Congregation of Holy Cross upon graduation in 1949. He was ordained in his home parish in 1955.

Fr. Wendel regards himself as having been blessed at every turning point in his life as a priest. He didn’t choose assignments but was always invited to take the next step. These steps included teaching high school, rector of a Notre Dame residence hall, university administration, seminary formation, pastor of a parish, and the work that he most enjoyed, directing retreats and giving spiritual direction. In 2004 he retired to Holy Cross House on the edge of the Notre Dame campus. Looking back on the last 56 years, he sees himself as having responded to the invitations when they came. This has led to a very fulfilling life.

Fr. James Connelly, C.S.C., is the Superior of Holy Cross House, the medical care for facility for Holy Cross priests and brothers of the United States Province. Along with Fr. Nick Ayo, C.S.C., he profiles some of the heroes in Holy Cross for the Spes Unica blog. Learn more about our heroes in Holy Cross, including our blessed founder and our first canonized saint.

Meeting God on the Mountain

2012-01-25T01:00:00-05:00

At 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru Peak is the highest point on the African continent. Located in northern Tanzania, just south of the Kenyan border, this dormant volcano is the tallest free-standing mountain (not part of a mountain range) in the world. Due to the flatness of the surrounding region, a single view from the summit sees a greater area of the earth’s surface than anywhere else on earth.

Kilimanjaro is almost always cloaked in clouds, usually clearing only in the late evening, when the darkness of the night sky reveals an incredible view of both the northern and southern hemispheres’ constellations. Before six o’clock in the morning, dawn breaks with a magnificent sunrise – but within a few short hours, clouds are already gathering again.

Although summiting Kilimanjaro doesn’t require any special equipment, it is particularly challenging because of the high altitude and low temperatures. Many well-prepared climbers are forced to turn back due to altitude sickness. Fortunately, I was not among them. I spent five days climbing Kilimanjaro with Patrick Murphy, a friend from my college years at Notre Dame. We were guided by Temba Gabriel, the father of one of my students at Holy Cross Lake View and the brother of Fr. Temba Leopold, C.S.C. A native of the place, he had learned the mountain from his father as a young boy.

We packed light, but we should have packed lighter – shortly before reaching the peak, we were still giving away extra food! We had just enough clothes though. We carried gear for every kind of weather – waterproof jackets and pants for the soggy weather of the rainforest; hats, sunglasses, t-shirts and shorts for intense sunshine of the moorland; and hats, gloves and winter parkas for the bitterly cold blizzard that we would find as we hiked through the night to the reach the summit at sunrise.

As we made our way up the mountain, we met fellow climbers from around the world. Graham and Kent came from Australia, Chris and Herbin are Dutch, and Hella is from Denmark. Helping each other, all of us made it to the top!

In a rapidly developing world, mountains remain secluded, mysterious places. Severe weather makes their majestic peaks uninhabitable, yet we still have a desire to climb them. Something draws us there! Reaching toward the heavens yet covered in clouds, our tradition of faith portrays mountains as the dwelling place of God.

When the Israelites marched out of Egypt into the wilderness of Sinai, Moses encountered the thundering, fiery presence of God on the mountain as he received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19). When Jezebel threatened Elijah’s life, he fled to Mount Horeb – and there he found the presence of the Lord in a tiny whispering sound as he hid his face in his cloak at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19). And when Peter, James and John climbed a high mountain with Jesus, they witnessed him conversing with these two great prophets, and heard the voice of God announce their master as His beloved Son and command them to listen to Him (Matthew 17).

Halfway through my time in East Africa, climbing Kilimanjaro was a very spiritual experience. Brilliant sunrises, spectacular views and stars hung carefully in the night sky revealed God’s creative energy in the world. The physical challenge of the climb made me very aware of my humanness. The deep silence of the night gave way to God’s voice, and conversations on the trail helped me to process the ways God’s active in my life. I was drawn beyond myself, drawn into prayer, and drawn deeply into God’s presence. Indeed, this mountain is the dwelling place of God. And so am I – God’s beloved son, with whom he is well pleased.

Mr. Mark DeMott, C.S.C., is a temporarily professed seminarian spending a ministry year in East Africa teaching at Holy Cross Lake View Senior Secondary School in Jinja, Uganda. He is a monthly contributor to the Spes Unica blog reflecting on seminary life in Holy Cross. Learn more about seminary formation for priesthood and religious life in the Congregation. Also learn more about the work of Holy Cross in mission in East Africa.

Homily for the Feast of Blessed Basil Moreau

2012-01-23T10:00:00-05:00

The following is the homily given by Fr. David T. Tyson, C.S.C., the Provincial Superior of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers, on the Feast of Blessed Basil Moreau at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.

Each year the members of the Congregation of Holy Cross across the world gather on this day to celebrate our Founder, Blessed Basil Anthony Mary Moreau. On almost every continent of the world Holy Cross priests, brothers, and sisters gather to pray and remember the legacy and charism that marks us as Holy Cross.

It was Father Moreau’s vision, coupled with his profound belief and trust in God’s Providence for Holy Cross, that he broadened his view of our mission to extend beyond the borders of France to places some had not even heard of – like South Bend, Indiana! His sending of young priests and brothers, followed later by young sisters, and his trust in Providence as central to our charism have led to the emergence of a truly international religious community of men and women that has planted its roots deep in many places in the world.

Today we are men and women of different cultures, different languages, and different points of view, bound together by our mission to build the Kingdom of God in the world. Father Moreau believed deeply that each one of us is called to live in God’s love by actively embracing and sharing the salvific mysteries of Christ’s life, especially the mystery of the Cross. Thus, “making God known, loved, and served” is essential to our charism, and essential to all of our ministries, wherever they may be. It fuels our zeal to be eager ministers of the Gospel, and it is the glue that seals our union.

Our first reading for this feast day is from the Letter to the Ephesians. In it we hear St. Paul’s exhortation to the Christian Community to live in a manner that reflects their high calling. In his writings to the Congregation, Father Moreau frequently draws upon these Pauline virtues when addressing the conduct of our lives as religious of Holy Cross.

In Humility, we are to set our lives beside the life of Christ, in light of the demands of God. In Gentleness, or Meekness, we are to discern and shape our reactions to things under the power and control of our Lord. In Patience or Long Suffering, we are to resolve never to give up, just as our Savior never gave up, while at the same time never using revenge or retribution in the name of the mission. In Love, we are to always seek the good of the other rather than our own. And to the extent that we live in this manner as Christians and professed religious, we will be at peace, in union with one another, laboring together to build a Kingdom of Justice, Peace, and Love.

In our Gospel reading for today’s celebration from St. Matthew, we are reminded that we should be able to pick up our cross because the Lord commands it of us. We are also reminded that the Lord tells us that if we are willing to lose our lives for His sake, we will find Life. Thus, the Cross of Christ is not folly, it is Hope. Losing our lives for His sake to gain salvation is not the folly of the Cross; it is the very gift of the Cross!

For our Blessed Founder, the Cross is not a reality that we are called to endure in life. Rather, it is a sign and instrument of Christian Hope and the key to our salvation. He told the Holy Cross community at a conference at Saint Laurent, “We must not only take up the cross, we must carry it with courage. If we drag it after us, if we abandon it after having taken it up; if we trample it under foot, it will not save us. So, let us follow that path that Jesus has walked for us, and we will arrive at a happy eternity.”

St. Paul exhorts the Church at Ephesus to “preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” Father Moreau believed strongly in the essential nature of the unity of the members for the sake of the mission, and he frequently exhorted the religious to follow this virtue preached by St. Paul in today’s first reading. Therefore, our common life is not an end in itself. Rather, it is intimately linked to our mission as Holy Cross, and our zeal for the mission. Where we fail in our community life, our mission is simply rendered less effective.

So, my friends, it is with joy and gratitude that we gather here today to celebrate the Feast Day of our Blessed Founder, Father Moreau. For those of us who have joined our lives together in our profession of vows in Holy Cross, his story is very much our story. His work is ours today. As we leave here this evening, I hope that all of us who honor Blessed Basil Moreau on this day might again reflect on the words he used to inspire his spiritual sons and daughters about our mission many years ago.

“With the eyes of Faith consider the greatness of the mission and the wonderful amount of good that one can accomplish. And also consider the great reward promised to those who have taught the truth to others and have helped form them into justice: ‘They shall shine eternally in the skies like the stars of the heavens.’ With the hope of this glory, we must generously complete the Lord’s work.”

Blessed Basil Moreau, pray for us.

Learn more about Blessed Basil Moreau, the holy founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and see the locations where the United States Province serves around the world.

Happy Feast of Blessed Moreau

2012-01-20T01:00:00-05:00

The beatification of Blessed Basil Moreau took place in Le Mans, the place in France where he lived, died and was buried, as well as the home of the mother church of his order, the Congregation of Holy Cross. The beatification of Blessed Moreau testifies that he practiced the theological and cardinal virtues to a heroic degree and that he is a model of a life that exhibits vision, prayer, zeal, and extraordinary piety.

The first decades following the French Revolution, which were also the years when Blessed Moreau was first ordained a priest, the European world was moving in a direction that emphasized social individualism over the collective good, an ideological shift that continues to be prominent in our secular culture today. It is therefore appropriate for all people, both professed religious and the lay faithful, to use Blessed Moreau’s Feast Day as an opportunity to reflect on an idea that is central to the life of the Congregation of Holy Cross: a sense of community that would be in radical opposition to society’s growing emphasis on the individual.

Early in the life of Holy Cross, Blessed Moreau presented his religious with the Holy Trinity as the image of the union they should strive for among themselves: “Just as in the adorable Trinity … there is no difference of interests and no opposition of aims or wills, so among the priests, brothers, and sisters there should be such conformity of sentiments, interests and wills as to make all of us one in somewhat the same manner as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. This was the touching prayer of our Lord for His disciples and their successors: “That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you’” (Circular Letter 14).

In other words, characterizing the communal life of Holy Cross are individuals sharing a life of common prayer and work where the good of the community would be put ahead of the good of the self. Whether in educational institutions, parish life, or missionary endeavors, Blessed Moreau believed that the common life of the community would be the driving force for the evangelization and transformation of the people Holy Cross religious served. He hoped that the lived witness of the communal and common life of Holy Cross would lead observers to a radical commitment to the service of God.

The current Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross state it this way: “It is essential to our mission that we strive to abide so attentively together that people will observe: ‘See how they love one another.’ We will then be a sign in an alienated world: men who have, for love of their Lord, become closest neighbors, trustworthy friends, brothers” (Constitutions 4:42).

Like many others, my four years of high school consisted of playing sports, attending class, hanging with friends in the lunch room, and growing in faith and knowledge. However, these ordinary experiences where shaped and formed by the lives of the 10 or so Holy Cross religious that were the very flesh and spirit of the Notre Dame High School community (today called Notre Dame College Prep) in Niles, IL. What I never envisioned was that the joy, faithfulness, and love that I saw in this family who were my teachers, coaches, and mentors would inspire me to live my life in a uniquely “Holy Cross” way.

Although I initially discerned a vocation as a Holy Cross religious, I was eventually led by the Spirit and called by God to be a Holy Cross educator in the faith as a married man and father. Blessed Moreau’s charge that it is necessary to live a life of common prayer and shared faith is still entwined in the very depths of my heart. I primarily live out this life in my family, but I also live it out with the Holy Cross religious that I work with on a daily basis as the director of Campus Ministry, the dozens of Holy Cross lay educators that partner with me to make up the faculty and staff of Holy Cross College, and of course the hundreds of students with whom I am intimately connected on a daily basis.

Blessed Moreau’s Feast Day is one of great joy in which we give thanks and praise for his family of religious men and women who share a common life of faith and work together to bring hope to the world.

Mr. Andrew Polaniecki, who spent several years in formation with Holy Cross at Old College, is now the Director of Campus Ministry at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Ind. A great friend of and collaborator with Holy Cross, he helps us today celebrate the Feast Day of Blessed Basil Moreau. Learn more about the holy founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

The Delights of Parish Ministry

2012-01-16T01:00:00-05:00

At a recent Sunday Mass, one of the young children said to his parents during my homily, “If God doesn’t stop talking soon he’s going to lose his voice!” I’m hoping it was because my voice was a bit sore and not due to the length of my homily!

While pastors can sometimes be accused of playing God, it’s not often that someone actually thinks we’re God. Of course, when it does happen, as it has in all my parishes, it’s always one of the young children who thinks that the priest is God or Jesus. I’ve never gotten the impression that they’re approaching this from the theological concept of the priest as an “alter-Christus.” But they’re obviously assimilating something from the priest’s role at mass to make these connections.

Working with children is certainly one of the delights of parish ministry. While we do not have a school associated with Holy Cross Parish, there are many opportunities for me to interact with and enjoy our parish children.

Something as common as greeting the children before and after Mass is an opportunity to make a connection with them. I like to joke around and kid with them, which helps them see that I’m down to earth, friendly, and caring. I’m likewise able to do this when I visit the Religious Education classes held for the children on Sundays after the 8:30 a.m. Children’s Mass. Because of the number of children involved in our Faith Formation program, we have two sections that meet on alternating Sundays for an hour and a half. Each class has one or two catechists as well as a couple of aids to ensure that the children have adequate attention and support. Our director of faith formation is then able to bring individual classes to our Brother Andre Chapel in the parish center for a video or special presentation.

We offer a Children’s Liturgy of the Word during the Children’s Mass. After the opening prayer, the children gather in the front of the church for a blessing and are then led to the church hall by one of the children carrying the children’s Book of Readings. They hear two of the readings followed by an explanation from a catechist and an activity that helps them better understand the readings. They then rejoin their families for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Each year our first graders put on the Christmas Pageant at the children’s Christmas Eve Mass. There are plenty of angels and shepherds adoring the baby Jesus during the pageant! The homily is then addressed to them and the other children in the church. These first graders are even well enough behaved to remain in the sanctuary for the remainder of the Mass.

One of the highlights of the year for me is our Summer Vacation Bible School. Now in its fourth year, we have seen the number of participants grow each year. Along with the many adults who dedicate this week each August to the children, I’ve been particularly impressed with the number of parish teenagers who assist. They organize the fun physical activities for the children as well as put on skits for them, with a brief play on the last day. Many teenagers also work with the children at our fall festival, holly fair, monthly children’s movie night, and other family-oriented social activities. I always remind the teenagers that they are making a great impression on the children by participating with them in church-oriented programs and activities.

As priests, we have a wonderful opportunity to shape these children’s perceptions of church and religion from the very beginning of their faith lives. In each of my four parishes I have found my ministry to the children to be one of the most rewarding aspects of parochial ministry.

Fr. Jim Fenstermaker, C.S.C., is Pastor of Holy Cross Parish in South Easton, Mass. He is a monthly contributor to the Spes Unica Blog, reflecting on the work of Holy Cross in parish ministry. Learn more about the work of Holy Cross priests and brothers in parochial ministry as we seek to bring hope to the Church and world.

Math articles and loving to the end

2012-01-13T01:00:00-05:00

The University of Portland has enjoyed a full month for Christmas break in 2011-2012, and I have spent some of it reading over, editing, and critiquing two different mathematics papers that have not yet been published. I am a co-author for the first paper, but a graduate student at Notre Dame composed the actual draft of work from our research team. A journal sent me the other paper so that I could “referee” it, ensure that it’s both correct and worthy of publication.

Like many researchers, I find these kinds of jobs pretty tedious; most of the fun, insight-filled part of mathematical work occurs during the research discussions and the first write-ups. Nevertheless, while unexciting, this process of review is not at all easy or rote, because the reviewer has to think very carefully to determine whether each link in the chain of reasoning does indeed hold.

As I have been grinding away, I’ve found myself a little annoyed that the time spent on these two projects has made it more difficult to prepare for spring courses and simply enjoy the break. Perhaps more important, in the midst of this kind work, I can find myself feeling anxious about its place within my vocation: What does any of this have to do with being a Holy Cross priest, or even with being a follower of Christ?

We as a Church have just completed the winter Advent and Christmas seasons, and now we enter into a relatively short period of ordinary time before the long spring season of Lent. Christmas calls us to marvel at the mystery of Christ’s birth, expressed divinely by St. John’s Gospel Prologue: “And the Word became flesh.” Ordinary time and Lent, on the other hand, invite us to meditate more soberly on Christ’s life and work and redemptive suffering. And just as Lent comes to a close, on Holy Thursday, St. John’s Gospel offers a line that is simpler, but no less beautiful, than his Christmas Prologue: “He loved his own in the world, and he loved them to the end.”

Christ’s birth was a joyful spectacle: angels sang, shepherds adored, wise men bowed down. But the angelic and human worshippers certainly didn’t accompany Jesus for most of His days, and many of the Gospel stories relate experiences of controversy and perhaps even a kind of frustration. And yet, only Christ’s faithful perseverance through His life and His Passion are enough to save us. The love of God to send His only Son would have accomplished nothing had not the Son “loved us to the end.”

God calls each of us, and when we discern our vocation, it is an exciting and joyful thing. But any job, even a vocation, will probably include a certain amount of tedium, or controversy, or frustration. We may feel tempted to avoid those parts of the job, to cut corners there so that we can concentrate on what’s inspiring and more obviously life-giving. Yet it may be precisely in our faithfulness to these less glamorous tasks that we accomplish God’s ends by loving to the end.

Fr. Charlie McCoy, C.S.C., is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Portland. He is a monthly contributor to the Spes Unica blog, reflecting primarily on the work of Holy Cross in education. Learn more about the work of Holy Cross priests and brothers in the field of education to bring hope to the Church and world.

Ordinary time placed in service of the Church

2012-01-11T01:00:00-05:00

Sunday was the Epiphany, Monday Baptism of the Lord, and all of a sudden we’re back in Ordinary Time.

Years ago when I was teaching at Bourgade Catholic High School in Phoenix, I helped out with Sunday morning Masses at the Cathedral parish. One of those cool Sunday mornings in late January I arrived at the sacristy to a heated discussion over who would win the 15^th Super Bowl that afternoon: the Oakland Raiders, who had been there on two earlier occasions, or the Philadelphia Eagles, representing the AFC in New Orleans for the first of two appearances in the history of the Bowl. Even in the procession outside from the sacristy to the Saint Simon and Jude vestibule all the buzz around us was about the imminent clash between the two teams who had won their respective conference titles.

If it weren’t for the automatic respect for the sacred that was brought on as we entered the church, the heightened emotion about the game would never have calmed. Once we were lined up behind the cross, candle bearers and readers, we heard the familiar voice of the commentator, who began by welcoming us all to the third Sunday in Ordinary Time. I’m not sure where he had been just before stepping up to the lectern, but it struck me that there really wasn’t anything ordinary about that Sunday at all!

Just like the liturgical calendar, most of the time of our life is ordinary time, punctuated perhaps by extraordinary moments.

The ordinary life of most adult parishioners of Holy Cross’s huge El Señor de la Esperanza Parish in the midst of Canto Grande, on the outskirts of Lima, consists in 6 long days of hard work away from home, or taking care of toddlers, elderly and infirmed so that others can go to work and put bread on the table at the end of the day. There are those, however, who without breaking the routine of their ordinary days set their sights on doing extraordinary things in the midst of that routine. These are the students of the parish’s School for Pastoral Leadership.

Most are adults, some well into their 60’s and beyond, and many haven’t sat behind a school desk for decades except to attend parent-teacher meetings at their children’s schools. Many of these students are a challenge for their professors. After a 12-hour day of work and a long bus-ride back home, lots fall asleep at their desks, and some simply don’t find time to finish reading the texts assigned or the homework that’s due.

But the expectations aren’t lowered in order to accommodate the tough conditions of their lives. Over their 3-year cycle of weekly night classes, they are required to take Christology, Ecclesiology, Bible, Prayer in Christian Life, Criteria and Values in Pastoral Leadership, Christian Social Doctrine, Mary in the Bible, etc. In addition, they are expected to attend four master classes during the year on current issues of the Church and State.

These folks don’t make this sacrifice in order to get a better job or increase their salary. For them the School for Pastoral Leadership opens the door to serving the parish and chapel communities as volunteer chapel coordinators, directors of liturgy and social action, Bible teachers, leaders in the ministry to the sick, etc. They become the ones who make the parish work—guaranteeing the essential services that are needed to get the gospel message around and to put it into practice. And all of this emerges out of the normal routine of their lives. In effect, these students place their ordinary time wholeheartedly at the service of the mission of the Church.

Fr. Don Fetters, C.S.C., is a member of the District of Peru, one of several foreign missions overseen by the United States Province. He is a monthly contributor to the Spes Unica blog reflecting on the work of Holy Cross in the missions. Learn more about the missionary work of Holy Cross priests and brothers to extend the Good News of Jesus Christ across “borders of every sort,” including Peru.

Lessons from Prayer

2012-01-09T01:00:00-05:00

Since my arrival at Moreau Seminary on August 9, I have had a wonderful experience meeting new people, making new acquaintances and friends, forging new relationships, and learning many new things. I feel insanely blessed to have had the wonderful experiences that I have had over the past few months, and I am more than ready to dive in for Candidate Year, Part Two.

The move to Moreau Seminary was a nervous experience for me. I had never lived that far from home or been somewhere where I knew very few people. I had practically no prior connection to Notre Dame or Holy Cross, but I knew that God had guided me to this decision. I had spent lots of time praying, reflecting, and thinking about this decision. I had a job, an apartment, friends, family, and lots of other things that I was very happy with, but I knew that I was looking for something more.

That “more” has included classes, learning my way around a new city, and learning a new way of life. Yet the challenges were what I was looking forward to the most. I was never deeply involved in my church growing up beyond attending Mass regularly, but I had always felt a strong desire to investigate the priesthood and religious life. As a result, it has been a wonderful gift this year to be assigned to help with Confirmation classes on campus through Campus Ministry because by being with these students as they prepare for Confirmation I am learning more about myself and my vocation. I take all of these moments as subtle nudges from God as to the direction I am supposed to be moving in.

As a matter of fact God continues to nudge me on a daily basis. There is a lot that I have to learn, but I know that God is helping me to grow. Part of that growth is my ever-evolving prayer life. I have grown to love the Liturgy of the Hours that we pray in common twice a day. It provides a structure and a springboard for my thoughts and prayer throughout the day. On busy days it helps provide necessary quiet time that I may otherwise forget to carve out, and on slow days it helps bring focus to a mind that may be wandering.

I would emphasize the growth of prayer as the single most important thing that I have tried to work on since coming to Holy Cross. While there is room for much improvement, I feel that with God’s help I can continue to grow. The first semester of formation has been a wonderful experience, and I firmly believe that the choices I made in the past year have led me down the right path in life.

Perhaps the biggest lesson I have received from my prayer is to take everything one day at a time, be patient. Don’t try to hurry things as God will reveal His plans for us in His own good time.

Mr. Tim Weed is a candidate at Moreau Seminary on the campus of Notre Dame. He and other seminarians at Moreau write a post each month for the Spes Unica Blog, sharing on their life and formation at Moreau. Meet our other men in formation, and learn more about seminary life in Holy Cross, and specifically about the Candidate Program at Moreau Seminary, which constitutes the first year of religious and priestly formation in Holy Cross for college graduates.

Vocations Awareness Week: It Takes the Church

2012-01-08T01:00:00-05:00

“It takes a village to raise a child.” That is the wisdom of an African proverb, and there is a great truth in it. I am willing to bet that most, if not all parents would say that they did not raise their children on their own. In fact, they could not raise them on their own. They needed the help of others so that their children could grow and mature into the people they have become today.

As the Roman Catholic Church celebrates Vocations Awareness Week January 9-16, I would like to propose a new, yet similar proverb about vocations to religious life and priesthood: “It takes the Church to raise a vocation.”

Certainly, in every vocation, there is an essential element that is intimately personal and even individual. After all, from the moment of our baptisms, God uniquely loves and calls each and every one of us by name.

That is why one of my favorite parts of the Rite of Baptism is when the priest or deacon asks the parents what name they give their child. In that simple, yet amazing moment we learn the name by and through which God will adopt and lead that child into becoming the saint that only he or she can be.

Moreover, we each have to give our own fiat or “yes” to God, giving the Holy Spirit permission to shape and mold us into the gifts that God created us in love to be. No one else – not our parents, godparents, siblings, friends, priests, teachers, fellow parishioners – can give that yes to God for us. We ourselves must give it, just as Mary – and no one else – could give her fiat to the Lord for her special calling.

And yet, Mary would never have been able to have given her yes to the Lord if she had not received before hand – and known she could have counted on later – all the support of those around her, including most of all her parents, Joachim and Ann, and her faithful husband-to-be, Joseph. Their witness, prayers, teachings, encouragement, and love were all essential in Mary being able to accept and live out the gift of her vocation from God. And so in a very real way, we can say that it took a community of faith to raise the Blessed Mother.

The same is true for all of us when it comes to accepting and living out our vocations, whatever they may be. It takes the Church to raise a vocation, because even though we must each give our own personal, individual yes, we can only do so when we have been blessed by the witness, prayers, teachings, encouragement, and love of the Church around us.

I know that is true of my own vocation. I know that I would not be living my life’s dream as a Holy Cross religious and priest if it were not for all those who helped raise up my vocation. Certainly, my family and especially my parents, Joan and George, stand at the front of that pack, but they certainly were not alone. Countless people come to mind from the faithful parishioners at St. Casimir Parish in Leavenworth to the humble Holy Cross brother who ran the orphanage in Chile to my friends in Campus Ministry at Notre Dame to even my Baptist roommate in college. And the list could go on and on and on. It took the Church to raise my vocation.

I know that it is true also of the vocations of many, if not all of the 49 young men we currently have in formation in the United States Province of Holy Cross. That is probably why one of the main pieces of advice our seminarians give to those discerning a vocation is to start talking to others about it. They know from their own personal, individual experience that they needed the rest of the Church to get them to the points they are at today in their vocations.

And so, in celebrating this Vocations Awareness Week, I encourage all young people who honestly want to discern God’s call in their lives to be aware that you need the support of the Church to do so. Do not try it alone, because you can’t. Reach out to others of faith around you, including faithful married couples, joyful priests, and engaging religious sisters and brothers. Seek their advice, their counsel, their support, their prayers.

And to the rest of the Church, I encourage you to be ready and willing to be aware of the need that young people in the Church around you have of you to be a part of the supporting cast in their vocations. Be ready and willing to witness to them in your own vocation. Be ready and willing to pray for them. Be ready and willing to offer them words of encouragement. Be ready and willing even to suggest to them in love, if the Spirit moves you, that God might be calling them to be a priest, a brother, or a sister.

After all, there is no vocation stork that delivers vocations to the Church. It takes the Church – the whole Church – to raise vocations.

Fr. Andrew Gawrych, C.S.C., is the Associate Director of the Office of Vocations for the United States Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He writes periodically for the Spes Unica Blog on issues of vocation and discernment. Learn more about discerning with the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Happy Feast of St. André!

2012-01-06T01:00:00-05:00

I have known the Brothers of Holy Cross since the day of my birth. My uncle is Br. Fulgence Dougherty, C.S.C. Growing up in Buchanan, Michigan (in the shadow of the Golden Dome), every three-to-six years this mysterious relative would visit us with exotic gifts and coins from a place called Bangladesh. The day I was born – the same for my five older siblings – a telegraph was sent to the Holy Cross Community in Dhaka alerting them (and my Uncle) of our birth. When Uncle Jimmy (this is what we called him) visited, he was treated as a celebrity, and his presence was always a reminder to my father to speak to us kids of Brother André.

Part of my father’s commitment and devotion to Holy Cross and Brother André concerned our summer vacations. For a family with eight kids summer vacations were special, and they had to be done within a very strict budget. Often we would head to campgrounds at or near Lake Michigan because the price was right and they were close.

But, on two occasions, I remember wonderful extended trips to Montreal, Quebec. My father felt that it was very important for us children to get to know this wonderful man who so inspired his older brother (my uncle) a man called André ... the miracle worker of Montreal.

On my first trip to Quebec I was only 7 years old, and I wondered why these people walked up all those stairs on their knees and why were all those crutches on the wall. The second trip I was 16 years old and, with all those memories from nine years ago, I wanted to investigate. I looked at those people on their knees (they were still there) and in their faces I saw a faith that was awe-inspiring. As I went into the Oratory and, once again, saw those crutches and canes, I realized that these people had been healed through the intercession of this wonderful and holy man, Brother André Bessette, C.S.C.

I truly believe that my own vocation in Holy Cross goes back to Saint André Bessette. It amazes me that my uncle and André were alive at the same time. Although they never met, they were cut from the same cloth. As a “younger” Holy Cross religious I hope that I can share in their devotion to Saint Joseph and our Blessed Mother. Each day at Mass I pray that through the intercession of Saint André Bessette that my parish, myself, and all of Holy Cross will embrace his simplicity and prayerfulness.

Fr. John Dougherty, C.S.C., is the pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish, which is a parish sponsored by Holy Cross in Portland, Ore. He wrote this reflection on his connection to St. André Bessette for the Spes Unica Blog as part of our celebration of his feast day. Learn more about the first canonized saint in the Congregation of Holy Cross.

The Holy Cross ‘Brand’

2012-01-05T01:00:00-05:00

There’s a lot of talk these days about “brand awareness”. What’s your brand? How can we develop our brand? Can we project our brand more effectively? You hear it everywhere, and college campuses are not exempt. The problem with this current obsession is that it too easily becomes a preoccupation with the superficial. Logos and slogans and tag lines are only ink deep, and conversations about brand rarely go any deeper.

I prefer the more classical approach. Isn’t it better to ask: Who are we? Why are we here? What do we want to be? Where are we going? I think that’s what the brand people are trying to get at, but they’re just in too big of a hurry. So the other day I set aside some time to sit quietly and really think about who or what Holy Cross is. What’s the Holy Cross brand? And I came up with a few ideas. You can learn a lot just by watching.

One day this past fall I was out on campus and I noticed our president, Fr. Bill Beauchamp, C.S.C., across the quad. He was walking alone, probably from a meeting with a dean to a luncheon with a benefactor. Suddenly, he stopped and bent down and picked up something from the sidewalk, then walked on until he came to a trash can at an intersection where he dumped whatever he had picked up from the sidewalk into the can. What does this have to do with the Holy Cross brand, you ask? How about humility? Or zeal? Or love and respect for the people and the place where you live and work?

There’s another Fr. Beauchamp story that also answers the question: Who are we? A few years ago a young man found his way to our campus but didn’t know how he could possibly stay. Isaac was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, an orphan and a refugee from the savagery that wrecked the Horn of Africa. Isaac was penniless. Fr. Beauchamp quietly made sure that Isaac could become a student here and when he graduated, Isaac returned to South Sudan to help rebuild his country. The Holy Cross brand? Basil Moreau’s instructions were to give special care to the poor.

Here’s another brand story. In November, students here get a front row seat to see just what the Holy Cross brand is. Every year the residents of a men’s dorm, Villa Maria, produce a fund raiser for Holy Cross charities. “The Man Auction” allows groups of guys to develop an entertaining act that has a ‘date’ that goes with it. Women from all over campus bid on the acts. It’s always a huge success, and this year raised more than $20,000. The top-selling act: five Holy Cross priests singing a Beatles’ song and dinner for 21 students at the president’s house. The winning bid? $3,125. If the Holy Cross brand is anything, it’s a sense of humanness and humor. It’s self-effacing and down-to-earth.

There really isn’t a day that goes by that isn’t filled with examples of the Holy Cross brand that speak much louder and more deeply than any of the things that we spend hours designing. The Holy Cross brand really isn’t something that you can design and print. It’s a way of life. A lot of people like the idea of Holy Cross, but not everyone can live it.

Mr. John Soisson is the Special Assistant to the President at the University of Portland in Portland, Ore. He and Mr. Rob Curtis, the Pastoral Minister at St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, Ariz., team up to contribute to the Spes Unica blog the perspective of our lay collaborators in Holy Cross. Our lay collaborators not only join us in what we do, but they also help make us who we are. It is impossible to imagine our lives, our mission, or our vocations without them, and so to help those discerning with our community, we include their voices on our blog as well.

Listening to tradition

2012-01-04T01:00:00-05:00

I am pictured here holding one of my five godsons. (Yes, five, and they are all boys. When his mother was pregnant, I joked with the couple that they would have a boy since I did not know how to be godparent to a girl.)

The image of the two of us captures the essence of my present ministry in Holy Cross – studying religious education so as to tradition in a new key. You see, his mother is a pianist (hence the metaphor), and this boy himself will eventually play the piano, which he began to learn by listening in utero.

For me, that’s a powerful image – his listening from before birth – because the dissertation I am about to propose (to the faculty of Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education in New York City) is concerned with the neglect of listening in life in general and the role that religious education in particular plays in the enrichment, as well as the neglect, of listening.

It’s a curious aspect of modern life that listening, while the most utilized communication skill, is the least taught. And what tends to keep us in this condition is our assumption that we listen much better than in point of fact we do.

Nevertheless, if we were to concede that our listening could stand to gain some ground, doesn’t it make sense that such enrichment would come from religious tradition? Historically, religious traditions have given pride of place to listening. Solomon asked for a listening heart. Jesus appealed to his audience to listen to another parable. And in laying out his rule for monastic life St. Benedict summoned the novice to listen carefully.

Perhaps the Trappist monk Thomas Merton put it best when he wrote: “My life is a listening. [God’s] is a speaking. My salvation is to hear and respond.” Indeed, it was with such listening in mind that I promised to ensure the resonance of faith from one generation to the next – from that of my godson’s parents to his own. In the field of religious education we call this traditioning, literally “to hand on or give across generations”, but of late this practice has been recognized to be in need of renewal, to put it mildly.

So it is to such a ministry that I have been brought by providence and sent on assignment as a professional “educator in the faith.” As a seminarian, I did not foresee this particular path in religious life. I had studied theology before entering the seminary, but that my field is religious education, not theology per se, demonstrates to me that if you set yourself out on the journey with God wholeheartedly and listen deeply, then the path to a field rich in treasure will reveal itself. I am very glad to have left everything to gain such a field of treasure.

Ordained a Holy Cross priest in 2005, Fr. Kevin Sandberg, C.S.C., spent several years in parochial ministry at Holy Cross parishes in California and Arizona. Currently, he is doing doctoral studies in Religious Education at Fordham University in New York, N.Y. He is one of over a dozen Holy Cross priests in the United States Province pursuing advanced degrees to better serve as educators in the faith. Learn more about the work of Holy Cross in education, as well as hear from some of the other Holy Cross priests in advanced studies.

New Year, New Home

2012-01-02T01:00:00-05:00

As we continue in the Christmas Season, we also begin a New Year. Here at André House, the New Year begins with exciting news. After years of renting a house, Br. Richard took the lead in finding a new home for the Holy Cross community living and serving at André House.

After months of looking for a suitable place, Divine Providence provided an opportunity real close to our old home – close as in just 5 doors down from where we rented. As a sign of how the housing market has collapsed here in Phoenix, we bought our new home for less than ¼ of what it sold for less than a decade ago.

Although we signed the paperwork in mid-December, we have not moved in yet. We still had our rent paid until the end of January. That was helpful as the new home needed a little bit of work – thanks be to God the emphasis is on the word “little” and that we did not need to make any major repairs. Our maintenance man has done a great job fixing some things in the bathrooms, some light fixtures, and other things.

So well have things progressed that Saturday, December 31, found several of us cleaning and sprucing the place up for the first short term residents. A group from King’s College – our Holy Cross college in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania – arrives January 2 to spend a week with us. They will stay in the new house that week.

One of our staff members noted how appropriate our cleaning activity seemed in light of the liturgical season. Just after celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family (December 30), our staff worked a full morning in the new home preparing it so that members of our extended Holy Cross family could come to visit us.

Some placed the beds in the bedrooms and got them ready. Others worked hard in the kitchen cleaning the counters and cabinets and making sure that bowls, glasses, utensils, and the all-important coffee maker with coffee could be ready. Others moved couches and chairs in the living room. All helped make sure that extra blankets and sleeping bags found appropriate places for the group of 12 Monarchs from Kings to have at least something to use for bedding in the three-bedroom house.

Two of the people helping with this project were Giancarlo and Rachel, seniors from Holy Cross schools – King’s College and Stonehill College, respectively – who are here spending the week with us as part of the interview process to join the Core Staff next year. (The majority André House Core Staff are recent college grads, or people of similar age, who commit to spending a year of ministry with us. We need about six lay Core Staff members each year). Rachel’s experience with delivering furniture and food to people who are poor in Massachusetts definitely came in handy. She knows how to pack a cargo van with furniture so that you maximize furniture transported without damaging it.

The more I reflected on the comment by a Core Staff member about preparing a home for people of our Holy Cross Family the day after celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family, the more I saw other connections to the Christmas story. As Mary and Joseph traveled and searched for a home, but found no room, many of our guests arrive to Phoenix looking for a place to find shelter. The blessing of having a family – traditional nuclear family, religious family, or whatever family – willing to prepare a place for you and to welcome you is indeed a gift. In this New Year, I pray that more people may become aware of our need for each other, and to care for each other as family.

The Nativity also tells of strangers coming from afar bearing gifts. Of the dozen people coming from King’s College to spend the week with us at André House, only a couple have been here before. In a sense, they are strangers coming from afar. But the strangers come bearing gifts – the gift of who they are and their willingness to share that with us and with our guests. They may not have gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but they do have the gift sung about in the story of the Little Drummer Boy. They have their faith, their talents, and their zeal. They come offering themselves.

I also pray that this New Year, 2012, will find more people willing to live their faith and less willing to define each other by traditional definitions of worth – power, wealth, or prestige. May all be more willing to recognize in other and to share of themselves the true blessings of zeal, cooperation, and the sharing of talents.

May the remainder of the Christmas Season find you basking in the light of Christ’s birth, and may 2012 truly be blessed.

Fr. Eric Schimmel, C.S.C., is the Director of André House of Hospitality in Phoenix, Arizona. He is in his second year as a monthly contributor to the Spes Unica blog. Learn more about the missionary work of Holy Cross priests and brothers to extend the Good News of Jesus Christ across "borders of every sort."

Vocations Office to attend FOCUS Student Leadership Summit

2011-12-31T01:00:00-05:00

The Holy Cross Office of Vocations will be joining FOCUS student leaders from across the nation January 20-23 for their 2012 leadership summit. Answering the Church’s call for a new evangelization, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students is a national outreach that meets college students where they are and invites them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith. The theme of this year’s student leadership summit, Illuminate, is drawn from Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Joining Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C., the Director of the Office of Vocations, at the FOCUS Student Leadership Summit will be Mr. Chase Pepper, C.S.C. Chase, a temporarily professed seminarian who made his First Profession of Vows in Holy Cross back on July 30, 2010, was a FOCUS missionary for two years before joining Holy Cross and the Candidate Program at Moreau Seminary.

The Summit will feature teaching and training sessions on four primary topics: Prayer, Evangelization, Discipleship, and Lifelong Mission. Fr. Jim and Chase will be attending and representing Holy Cross to help the FOCUS student leaders discern and discover where God is calling them on lifelong mission, to be men and women with hope to bring.

The extraordinary experience of studying in London

2011-12-28T01:00:00-05:00

Sometimes it takes a move outside of the ordinary to be able to see it with new eyes and to appreciate it more. This is, I take it, one of the reasons that students are encouraged to study in a foreign country. This semester has been my chance to move out of the ordinary, as one of the Old Collegians studying at Allen Hall Seminary and Heythrop College in London this fall.

I have had the extraordinary experience of being constantly surrounded with British accents, paying for things in pounds sterling, riding those famous double-decker busses, and having biscuits (small cookies, not the bread product) and tea after Mass. It has been great to live with other British seminarians and get to know them.

I speak of all these differences, yet in many ways the life is the same. 7:00am still feels too early to be getting up for Morning Prayer. The food is delicious here, and, just like back home, the meals have the curious habit of being scheduled to follow immediately after prayer. Basketball at the Moreau Seminary Gym may have been replaced by football (read: soccer) in the park, but it's the same idea of seminarians enjoying sports together. The community life here is robust and enjoyable. Living over in England has been an affirmation that people are people and the Church is Universal wherever you go.

Yet, things are also different in a hundred different ways. This has made me appreciate certain things from back home even more, an appreciation that I suspect will grow once I return. I miss light switches that can be flicked on rather than pressed. I miss the lecturers and classrooms at Notre Dame. I miss the freezing snow and cold, which South Bend brings. I miss the Grotto on campus and Lucernarium at Moreau Seminary. I miss friends and family.

And I miss Holy Cross, and all the people who make up this community. During our time in England, we have had the chance to visit Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C. and Fr. Aaron Michka, C.S.C, who are studying at Cambridge and Oxford respectively. Both of these were great experiences, because, regardless of how well we knew them beforehand, we already had Holy Cross in common. They already knew exactly what we are discerning, what things are like back home, and even some of the same people. There was something very comforting and homely about visiting them.

London has been great. I won't soon forget my time spend over here. I think I will miss things big and little, like the people over here, baked beans for breakfast, the English choral tradition, and certain elements of city life. Yet, it has also given me new eyes and new appreciation for my ‘ordinary’ life back home.

Mr. Benjamin Rusch is in his second year at Old College Undergraduate Seminary on the campus of Notre Dame. He and his fellow Old Collegians write a post each month for the Spes Unica Blog, sharing on their life and formation in Old College. Learn more about seminary life in Holy Cross, and specifically Old College Undergraduate Seminary. And meet the current Old Collegians who are in formation for priesthood and religious life in Holy Cross.

The coming of the great light

2011-12-24T01:00:00-05:00

It’s amazing how my life has changed in the past year. Last Christmas, I was serving as the pastor of St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, Arizona – about three hours north of the Mexican border. This Christmas, I am now serving as the pastor of our Holy Cross parish outside of Monterrey, Mexico, La Parroquia de Nuestra Madre Santisima de La Luz or Our Most Holy Mother of the Light Parish – about three hours south of the U.S. border. It was difficult leaving the people of St. John Vianney after nine years as their pastor, but thanks be to God, I’ve adjusted to life in a new and different world in Mexico.

Before I arrived here, many people expressed concern about my coming to Mexico in a time that has been marked by frequent drug violence, but I was at peace with coming here because I believed that this was God’s will for me and trusted in God’s providence. When I arrived, I was immediately moved by the warmth and the joy of the people as they welcomed me to their parish. I saw no initial signs of violence, although seeing frequent police patrols with officers carrying large automatic weapons in the back of police pickup trucks was a sobering sight for me! Life seemed to continue as normal for our people, who work hard to provide for their families and to get out of poverty.

Not long after I began serving here, several parishioners began to ask me to pray for family members who had been murdered or kidnapped. I also had the difficult task of celebrating some funerals for individuals who had been murdered. Beneath the joy and the warmth that characterize our people, I began seeing anxiety, fear, and a sense of helplessness.Our people clearly need the hope that our God and our faith offer us. The potential for violence touching families, as small as it might be, is a dark cloud that constantly hangs over our people.

As I reflect upon the reality of our people and the anxiety and uncertainty under which they live now here with the drug cartels of Mexico, I think of Mary and Joseph and the people of Israel living in anxiety and uncertainty under the presence of the Roman army in their land. The people of Israel had endured so many difficult times as they waited for centuries for the Messiah to come. Although the people’s lives necessarily continued on, they knew much darkness. They waited in hope for the coming of the Messiah, for the coming of the great light.

Jesus’ birth changed our world forever like nothing else before or since. Jesus taking on our human flesh in the Incarnation is an incredible mystery and the destiny-changing event in world history. Out of love for us, Jesus took on the limits, burdens, and pains that are a part of our lives. He did this to save us from our sins and to give us eternal life. Our faith tells us that all will be well because of this little child.

The people of Mexico need the light of Christ in their lives more than ever this Christmas. We all need Him, no matter which side of the border is our home. We know very clearly that He knows our pain, our fear, our anxiety. Most importantly, He is with us. May His light and His love touch our hearts this Christmas and help us to bring His light and love to a world in great need.

Fr. John Herman, C.S.C., is the pastor of La Luz Parish in Monterrey, Mexico. Learn more about the mission of Holy Cross in Mexico, and read more homilies and reflections by Holy Cross religious.

Fr. Harvey: Priest of the Theatre

2011-12-21T01:00:00-05:00

Father Arthur Harvey, C.S.C., was ordained at age 40, and he was already a distinguished man of the theatre. He collaborated with Walter Kerr, noted Broadway Theatre Critic, to build a drama program at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where Fr. Harvey finished an advanced degree in 1953.

He came to Notre Dame and breathed new, creative, professional life into theatre in Washington Hall. One priest named him “Frank Leahy of the Theatre,” and he did enjoy one season of hit plays after another. More than one generation of Notre Dame students were tutored in drama techniques and in life itself by Fr. Harvey, who put all his mind and heart into directing players and productions. Those who saw his mounting of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Death of a Salesman” remember his signature accomplishments. He did Shakespeare at Notre Dame, and Broadway musicals at Graduation Time.

For years in the summer a number of Holy Cross priests accompanied Arthur to summer theatre at the Wagon Wheel in Warsaw, Indiana. The director was a gifted faculty member of Northwestern University, and Fr. Harvey was in the thick of things there. We marveled at his evaluation of performances, and his enthusiasm for each and every play was contagious. Fr. Harvey was a perfectionist, and even with food and drink he demanded the best. He liked his coffee hot, and lukewarm was unacceptable.

He loved an annual summer pilgrimage to the theatre festival in Stratford, Ontario. He was friends with actresses Helen Hayes and Irene Dunne. He caught all the new Broadway plays season after season.

Toward the end of his 96 years he was bedridden and fed with a non-gourmet feeding tube for many years. The priest who directed plays and directed the details of his daily life surrendered in a peaceful way his ways to God’s ways. He was an example to us all of “how to go for it” and “how to let go.” I think the real ghost of Washington Hall at Notre Dame is not the Gipper, but a priest with cape thrown back over his shoulders who pounded the boards in pursuit of beauty and truth.

Fr. Nicholas Ayo, C.S.C., taught for many years as a professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Along with Fr. Jim Connelly, C.S.C., he profiles some of the heroes in Holy Cross for the Spes Unica blog. Learn more about our heroes in Holy Cross, including our blessed founderand our first canonized saint.

Advent Buzz in Parish Life

2011-12-19T01:00:00-05:00

This is a busy and exciting time of the year in a parish, as you well know from your own home parish. So much of our attention is focused on preparing for Christmas. The Advent focus on Jesus’ return in glory quickly gives way to preparing to commemorate His first coming on that Christmas morn. Advent is one of my favorite liturgical seasons in which to preach, with that dual focus on the first and second comings of the Lord.

Here at Holy Cross Parish, we recently held a Marian evening of prayer celebrating “Mary, Mother of Life,” sponsored by our parish Respect Life Committee and our Worship and Spirituality Commission. The service was led by Anne DiSanto, a parishioner who is a popular composer and performer of contemporary Christian music, and a member of our parish Respect Life Committee.

Each year at this time the diocese holds a vespers prayer service in which the Marian Award is given to a member of each parish in recognition of their outstanding service. This year we honored one of the most energetic and active members of Holy Cross Parish who is in attendance at just about every parish activity, and has probably assisted in one way or another with its planning or execution.

One of the highlights of the Advent season is our parish giving tree, through which parishioners donate hundreds of gifts for those in need. Along with families who contact us directly for assistance, we support a few local agencies that let us know of the needs of their residents or clients. Parishioners also have the option of donating toward our sister parish, Lord of Hope in Canto Grande, Lima, Peru, sponsored by the District of Peru of the U.S. Province of Holy Cross. We typically collect close to $2,000 in support of the parish.

Just last evening we had the annual transfer of the collected gifts from the church vestibule to the church hall. After the 5:30 p.m. Teen Mass, a large number of volunteers lined up from the vestibule down the stairs to the hall, passing each gift to its final destination on the appropriate table. It’s actually quite an exhilarating site to see so many gifts passed hand to hand all the way from the church to the hall, knowing that they will eventually end up in the hands of those in need this Christmas.

But right now we are still celebrating the season of Advent. As one who doesn’t like anticipating Christmas more than is necessary, my prayer at this time is that of the ancient Christians: “Maranatha!” Come, Lord Jesus!