The Deacon's Bench

An Astronaut's Prayer

2009-07-19T17:44:00.004-04:00

Father, thank you, especially for letting me fly this flight.
Thank you for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be up in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that you have created.

Help guide and direct all of us that we may shape our lives to be mush better Christians, trying to help one another, and to work with one another rather than fighting and bickering.

Help us to complete this mission successfully.
Help us in our future space endeavors that we may show the world that a democracy really can compete, and still are able to be things in a big way, and are able to do research, development, and can conduct many scientific and very technical programs.

Be with all our families. Give them guidance and encouragement, and let them know that everything will be okay.

We ask in Thy name.

Amen.

-- Astronaut Gordon Cooper, the last American launched into solo orbit around the Earth.
He recited this prayer in space, and before Congress, in 1963.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's sermon

2009-07-19T08:35:00.005-04:00

Some months back, I remember reading about a wave of homiletic plagiarism that was hitting, of all places, Poland. But it's more widespread (especially these days) than many people in the pews may think.

And it's not just Catholics, as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

Ministers moving to a new church have a long tradition of dusting off some of their favorite homilies from the past. But in these electronic days, that's just where the recycling begins.

Clergy who run short of time or inspiration can turn to a plethora of websites offering ideas, outlines and, if necessary, entire sermons that can be downloaded in a ready-to-read-Sunday-morning format.

Users can search for sermons based on denomination (Assembly of God to Wesleyan), event (marriage or funeral), topic, Bible passage or even a particular day (from Yom Kippur to Mother's Day). SermonSearch.com has more than 100,000 subscribers paying $21.95 a month to search and download from its library of 20,000-plus sermons.

We know what you're thinking: Isn't this plagiarism?

The arrival of downloadable sermons throws religious leaders into the debate that has bedeviled college campuses since the first term paper went online. But where taking a term paper is clearly cheating, the sharing of sermons apparently isn't. Some preachers see it as a compliment. Even seminaries have a love-hate relationship with it.

"We used to trade information face to face, now we do it online," said the Rev. Dave Ridder, dean of Bethel Seminary in St. Paul. "But that raises the question of when does borrowing cross the line, and that can be a very thin line to walk. We encourage students to acknowledge the source of an idea, even if they make it their own. They owe that to the congregation."

Some congregations are unforgiving. "I have heard of ministers getting fired for this," Ridder said. "Their congregations say, 'If you're just going to read someone else's writing, what are we paying you for?'"

But at Bethel Seminary, professors rave about the potential educational value the databases offer.

"It's like law students looking at case studies," Ridder said. Through the online services, seminary students "can learn from the best by studying and analyzing the work of some of the most successful preachers in the country. We've always encouraged students to go out and listen to other preachers. Now they can do it online."

Of course, not every preacher who logs on is looking for enlightenment. "A preacher gets in a jam: It's Saturday night and you need a sermon for Sunday morning and, well, there you go," he said.

There's much more at the link.

Gnarly: from abuse victim, to prostitute, to surfer, to minister

2009-07-18T14:41:00.003-04:00

Real life stories of redemption and healing don't get much better than this. How long until Lifetime turns it into a movie?

From the Los Angeles Times:

It's another beautiful day in paradise and I'm out on the ocean, riding waves with a former national surfing champion and onetime prostitute who's about to join a seminary.

Go ahead, try to name one other state where I could have written that sentence.

"Terrific!" yells Mary Setterholm, my instructor, who forgives my every wipeout and cheers when I finally ride a wave all the way to shore.

Setterholm, who now runs a Santa Monica surfing school, won the U.S. Women's title in 1972, at age 17. And you're not going to believe where her trophy is:

On Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's desk.

Where do I even begin?

Perhaps with the e-mail from Ann Hayman, a minister at Brentwood Presbyterian, who remembered that I once wrote about a skid row prostitute who lived in a Porta-Potty but later turned her life around. Hayman, who worked with prostitutes for 28 years, had someone she wanted me to meet.

So I drove to Brentwood to meet Hayman and Setterholm. Over coffee -- and the next day at the beach -- Setterholm spun a tale both tragic and triumphant:

As a young child, Setterholm told me, she was physically and sexually abused repeatedly by a baby-sitter, and then beginning in seventh grade, she was molested for years by a now-deceased priest from her Catholic church in Westwood. When her family moved to the Huntington Beach area, Setterholm found herself drawn to the sea. There was honesty and security in the rhythm of the waves, but the ride to the shore was fraught with danger.

She routinely hitchhiked, and the men who picked her up -- some of them regulars -- took detours on the way to the beach. Setterholm was too damaged and confused to stop their advances, so she built a reality in which by charging them she established an illusion of control and even normalcy.

It was simple economics.

Survival.

"I was so used to perverted behavior by men, I didn't know that what I was doing fit into the context of prostitution," she said.

On the water, she was a fearless acrobat, but on the shore, she kept making all the wrong moves. She got married way too young, to the wrong guy, of course, and had five children before she had learned to take care of herself. When the marriage bombed, she returned to prostitution.

This pattern of self-destruction came as no surprise to a Catholic nun who helped Setterholm find her way past buried secrets, paralyzing hatred and self-loathing.

"I know many victims who try to work it out by getting into serial relationships," said Sister Sheila McNiff, and it appeared to her that Setterholm had done precisely that, digging herself in deeper all the while.

McNiff was the victim assistance coordinator for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, serving under Mahony as the church began dealing with its scandalous history. She first heard from Setterholm in 2002, when the surf queen called to tell of the abuse she'd suffered 30 years prior.

"I asked her, 'Where can I meet you?' " McNiff recalled. "She said, 'At the beach.' "

It wasn't long before nun and surfer had formed a mutual admiration society. Setterholm wasn't looking for a financial settlement with the institution that had betrayed her. She wanted to finally look into the eyes of church leaders, tell them what she'd been through, and pray that she'd be healed.

Read on to discover what happened next.

PHOTO: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times

Calling all deacons!

2009-07-18T14:25:00.002-04:00

The good people at America magazine have devoted much of this current issue to the ministry of the diaconate. (I mentioned something about that earlier.) Now they're asking for some response.

When you have a moment, check out this link to the deacon articles by Your Humble Blogger, Bill Ditewig and Scott Dodge. Then toss in your two-cents' worth. They'd like to know what you think. And so would I!

A culinary star whose recipes are second to nun

2009-07-18T14:14:00.003-04:00

The culinary world has a new star -- and it's not someone on the Food Network.

Take a look:

Emerging from the quiet of her convent, Sister Anastazja Pustelnik was confronted by a jarring image — her smiling face on posters plastered around town to hawk the cookbooks that have made the 59-year-old nun one of Poland's best-selling authors.

It's fame Sister Anastazja never bargained for when she left the material world as a young woman, expecting to toil in obscurity for God. But her ability to create easy-to-follow recipes for delectable cakes and traditional home cooking has resulted in five cookbooks since 2001 that have sold a combined 1.1 million copies in this country of 38 million.

Today, her cookbooks are found in shops and online, their glossy covers showing Pustelnik with an apron over her black nun's habit and a mixing bowl or serving platter in hand, generating the unwelcome fame thrust upon her.

"Once when I was walking through town and there were advertisements for one of my books, I felt like tearing them down," she confessed. "But I was afraid of paying a fine."

Sister Anastazja's success comes amid a broader trend of men and women of God earning renown and profit in Europe with cookbooks and TV shows. A Spanish television channel, for example, broadcasts "Bocaditos de Cielo" — Little Mouthfuls of Heaven — in which Sisters Liliana and Beatriz of the Franciscan Conceptionist Sisters Convent guide viewers through the culinary steps for making ancient sweet recipes while also offering insight into their cloistered life.

In Poland, a deeply Roman Catholic country with a strong bond to the late Polish pope, John Paul II, the appeal of Sister Anastazja also reflects how the Catholic church is still present in daily life even as economic growth and European Union membership push the country toward secularization.

Priests and nuns are common characters in Polish television serials. And a nun is a much more likely kitchen guide to Polish village housewives than such cooking superstars as Britain's Nigella Lawson or the American Rachael Ray.

Despite worldly success, Sister Anastazja says all her efforts are in service to God. After morning prayers, she walks every day from her convent to the Jesuit center in downtown Krakow to cook lunch for 20 priests, giving them "strength when they go out into the world." At Easter she bakes each priest a lamb-shaped cake to take on visits to their families.

One of her cakes, she said, came to her in a dream. The creation, dubbed "A Nun's Secret," layers cheesecake, pink fruity gelatin and yellow cake all beneath a shell of chocolate icing.

"It is only God who gives me the recipes. Who else?" Sister Anastazja, a member of the order Daughters of Divine Love, said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Jesuit center.

You can read the rest at the link.

Homily for July 19, 2009: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2009-07-18T11:41:00.005-04:00

Over the last few days, we’ve been hearing a lot about the anniversary of the moon landing, which happened 40 years ago Monday. A lot of us can remember where we were when it happened, and where we were when we watched the first person walk on the moon.

I remember being sound asleep in my bedroom on Morgal Street, in Rockville, Maryland. I was a 10-year-old on summer vacation, and my parents woke me up to come downstairs and see something incredible on television. They sat me down in front of our Philco black and white portable TV and I watched grainy pictures of a man in a space suit. My most vivid memory of the event was that the picture was awful, and I’d rather be sleeping.

I thought about it again, 40 years later, when I was going over this Sunday’s gospel, and reading how Jesus invited his apostles to “come away…to a deserted place and rest awhile.” I realized: you can’t find a more deserted place than the surface of the moon, in a quiet and airless place known as the Sea of Tranquility.

I think this time of year, a lot of us seek out our own “Sea of Tranquility,” our own deserted place where we try to unwind. For some of us, it’s not so deserted – my wife and I are going to visit Disney World in August. I know a couple families headed to the Jersey shore. For others, vacation time is a chance to just stay home, to have a “staycation,” to save money. There are basements to be cleaned out and gardens to weed and chores to finish. The best part is often just not having to go into work every morning.

And New York, in July and August, can be like a small town. You can actually get a reservation at a restaurant and a seat on a bus. There’s something to be said for staying home.

I’ve taken some vacations like that, and it’s often more relaxing than actually going away.

But if you are going away, and making a check list of what to take, remember to pack something else along with your SPF 40 and your Speedo and your camera.

Remember to pack your faith.

I have a sign in my office at home, quoting a saying that Carl Jung used to have hanging in his office: “Bidden or not bidden, God is present.”

Whether we realize it or not, God is with us. He is in our lives. He is continuing His work in the world.

After all, the last time He took a vacation was on the first Sabbath, when He rested.

So: remember Him. Pay attention to Him.

Because He is paying attention to us.

It can be easy to forget, or neglect, our prayer life. Especially when we’re on vacation. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. We can find excuses not to go to mass, or not to pray. We can shrug it off. But I remember what a seminary teacher used to tell his students before summer break: “You don’t take a vacation from a vocation.” And that includes the vocation each of us has – whether ordained or not.

It is our vocation as children of God.

One of the more surprising stories about the moon landing is one that was kept quiet for many years. It is about the deep faith of the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldren.

Aldren was an elder in the Presbyterian church. And he made a point of bringing with him on the moon mission a small amount of wine, and some communion bread. After they had landed and were preparing for their first moonwalk, he asked Mission Control for a moment of silence. In that silence, he offered a quiet prayer of thanksgiving. And then, in keeping with his faith tradition, he consumed the bread and wine. As a result, the first meal on the moon was a kind of communion. It wasn’t what we know as Eucharist – Presbyterians do not believe it becomes the body and blood of Christ.

But it was nonetheless a humble and holy act of remembrance.

Do this in remembrance of me, Jesus said.

Remembrance.

Buzz Aldren remembered. He traveled to the moon – and he remembered The One who made it possible.

Will we remember that when we head to the Jersey shore?

How about when we just take the subway to go to work? Do we take our faith with us on even that simple journey?

Because God is there. Bidden or not bidden, God is present.

Do we acknowledge that? Do we celebrate that? Do we honor that, with even just one hour a week?

I don’t want to wag my finger like Sister St. Margaret and tell you we should go to mass while on vacation, because we have to.

But I do want to suggest that we should go to mass…because we want to.

Because we want to offer the God who has given us so much – our lives, our livelihoods, our families, our faith—we want to offer Him praise. And we want to say, quite simply, “Thank you for this.”

We should go because we want to express our love for Him.

And we should go because we want Him to know this beautiful truth: bidden or not bidden, we are present.

We are here for Him. As He is here for us.

One of the lessons of this Sunday’s gospel is that after the apostles have done their amazing work – we heard last week about the miracles they performed – they returned to Christ, who reminded them that the job of being a faithful Christian isn’t all work. It’s rest. It’s prayer. It is seeking out a deserted place to find peace.

In the chaos of daily life, each of us needs to return to Christ, and to find a deserted place to rest, a sea of tranquility for prayer.

But as we do that, now may be a good time to recall what transpired on that Sea of Tranquility 40 years ago – and remember as well that the deepest and most tranquil sea is one we easily take for granted.

It is God’s love.

He has given us that bottomless, endless gift.

What are we going to give Him?

Need a laugh?

2009-07-18T10:51:00.001-04:00

This should do it. Quadruplets giggling. Go ahead. Smile. H/T Creative Minority Report.

Walter and me

2009-07-18T09:47:00.007-04:00

The last time I saw him, maybe a year ago, he was a shadow of his former self. He was in midtown Manhattan for an event, and they brought him into the newsroom to say hello. He was feeble, and pale, but there was still that familiar glint in his eye, and the trim white moustache, and that ordinary, grandfatherly look that had made him such a fixture in tens of millions of living rooms.

He was greeted by a warm round of applause and he looked around, smiling politely, at all the young faces he didn’t know, and had never worked with, in an environment (and an industry) that was radically different from the one he’d known, and helped to create, just a few decades before.

They sat him in a chair by the national desk and he greeted a few of the people he did remember, and who had known him way-back-when. Katie Couric came over and beamed; she literally knelt at his feet so they could be eye-to-eye. He made small-talk with everyone and then jauntily called out, “What’s our lead?”

Rick Kaplan, the Executive Producer of the Evening News, who had worked with Walter early in his own career, found an old picture of Cronkite and brought it out, with a Sharpie, and asked him to autograph it. Walter tried. But his fingers couldn’t hold the pen. And he finally admitted, quietly, “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

It was a poignant scene: an aging, legendary reporter who could no longer even hold a pen.

I had come to CBS 26 years earlier, just after the Cronkite era had ended. In fact, I began my job at CBS exactly one year after Dan Rather had taken over the anchor chair. Cronkite was a mythic figure, of course, and the news division at that time was divided into camps: the Walter loyalists, and the Dan loyalists. Cronkite in those days was rarely seen on television, and made infrequent appearances in Washington, where I worked. The buzz in the hallways was that Dan didn't want him around and had, in effect, ordered him banished. In essence, around CBS News, the idea of Walter Cronkite was more tangible than the man himself.

A few years later, in 1986, I had my first and only professional brush with him. He was going to narrate a piece for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty and the producer, Susan Zirinsky, knowing how much I was itching to write, asked me if I’d help her with the script. I was thrilled, and leaped at the chance. It was a feature piece about one of the "tall ships" sailing into New York harbor for the festivities, the U.S.S. Eagle. (Walter was an avid sailor, so it was a perfect fit.) I labored intently over my script, trying to imagine his voice in my head, refining and polishing it for hours on end, and finally turned it in. Susan was pleased. She made a few light edits, and faxed it to Cronkite in New York for him to narrate. Far as I know, he didn’t make any other changes. And a few days later, the piece aired, with that incredible, memorable (often mimicked, never duplicated) voice reading my words. My words!

Young writers live for moments like that.

Later that year, I left Washington, and moved to New York, to begin my writing career in earnest, with CBS News Radio. I never wrote for Cronkite again, but I did see him from time to time. He was usually surrounded by a horde of people. I never got to meet him or even shake his hand.

And so, I see him in my mind's eye and imagine him like so many Americans do: an image on a flickering screen, a voice heard from tinny speakers in a living room or a kitchen, a waiting room or a diner. How many TV dinners were consumed in front of him? How many hearts stopped when he interrupted the soap operas for a special report in the 1960's? He was a part of the landscape, a part of America, and Americana, like the Lincoln penny or the Golden Arches. For a time, he was the country's voice, the voice of information and illumination, part town crier, part herald, part sage.

I don't know that there will ever be another like him.

Requiescat in pace.

That's the way it was: Cronkite's first "Evening News" broadcast

2009-07-17T21:47:00.004-04:00

A fascinating glimpse at Walter Cronkite's very first edition of the "CBS Evening News," as replayed on the CBS late night program "Up to the Minute" in 1992.

Rest in peace, Walter.

Walking in Memphis, proudly

2009-07-17T15:39:00.003-04:00

Last month, the spotlight fell on Atlanta, and its bumper crop of priestly ordinations.

This month, it's Memphis.

From Rocco's place:

See, while a handful of dioceses have larger groups of seminarians, even the smallest of those are exponentially more sizable than the West Tennessee church, which'll ordain six new priests by summer's end -- twice as many as this year's diocesan crop in New York (Catholic pop.: 2.5 million), just three less than Chicago's (2.1 million) and the same number as were ordained for the nation's largest see, the 4.5 million-member archdiocese of Los Angeles.

For the stat-fans among us, LA is 61 times larger than its Elvisland counterpart.

Experience shows that in those places where identity and community are strong, every call in the life of the church is cherished and encouraged and -- most of all -- a living, joyful Spirit breathes in its members, vocations boom.

He goes on to quote the local paper:

"Memphis is in the growth mode," said Father John Geaney, spokesman for the Diocese of Memphis.

National numbers for seminarian enrollment for the past 10 years are low and stagnant, according to research from Georgetown University.

Eric Govea receives a blessing from Rev. Adam Rust moments after Rust was ordained as minister. The Catholic Diocese of Memphis ranks in the top five in the nation for recruits, although Catholics make up only 3 to 4 percent of the city's population.

Seminary enrollment is less than half of what it was in the 1960s. While there were once numbers upward of 12,000, fewer than 5,000 seminarians were enrolled in 2008-2009.

Yet the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, with 25 seminarians and 73,000 parishioners, ranks in the top five in the nation for recruits, said Geaney, although Catholics in the city make up only 3 to 4 percent of the population.

The two reasons for this growth, he said, were Bishop J. Terry Steib and Father Keith Stewart.

"The bishop insists that we keep looking for and doing all we can to form young men for the priesthood," said Geaney.

Stewart, the diocese's vocational director, has been called aggressive in his pursuit.

"He goes after people," said Geaney.

Stewart attributes his success to monthly "Evenings of Discernment" where interested parishioners are invited to pray and reflect on the calling.

"I'm just helping Jesus get his due," said Stewart. "There's a lot out there competing for a guy's attention. It's the chance to awaken somebody to church vocation, whether it's religious life as a sister or a priest."

Stewart also travels to other countries, where the priesthood is growing. Newly ordained priest Jacek Cowal hails from Poland, and the two priests to be ordained in August are both from Mexico.

During the ordination ceremony, the priests vow obedience to the bishop and his successors, meaning they'll live in diocesan area for the rest of their lives.

Another factor that might help explain the boom in Memphis is age. Memphis recruits are younger than the national average, said Geaney. The four priests ordained in June were in their late 20s.

While former Pope John Paul II had a particular pull with youth, Geaney said the church's leadership under Pope Benedict XVI did not factor into the overall decline of the priesthood.

"Frankly, it does not have much to do with the personality of the pope," he said. "It's the fact they believe they are called by God to do this work."

He continued to attribute the clergy's decline, in large part, to the availability of service work one could perform without any religious affiliation.

"America has a lot of people who believe in God, but an increasing number who say they are spiritual but not religious," he said. "We don't know why people are not responding to the call."

Whatever the reason, it's very good news for the people of Tennessee.

The U.S. gets another basilica

2009-07-17T12:45:00.002-04:00

It's in Florida, at one of my favorite churches: Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine (a stone's throw from Disney World.)

Details, from Florida Catholic:

Good things come in threes, including basilicas within Florida.

The Sunshine State will be home to the 63rd basilica in the United States when Orlando’s National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe is granted the honorific title Aug. 22. The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments forwarded the degree of the title of minor basilica to Orlando Bishop Thomas Wenski via a letter.

In September 2007, Bishop Wenski filled out an exhaustive application requesting consideration of the title for the shrine. The 76–page application had to follow strict guidelines and answer specific questions asked by the Vatican. He said he was pleased Pope Benedict granted the request and stated the designation solidifies the important and unique ministry the shrine offers to area tourists and travelers.

“Becoming a basilica ties the local community more closely to the Holy Father. It expresses our loyalty to the successor of St. Peter and our affection for him,” Bishop Wenski said. “The setting of the shrine is very beautiful, with magnificent artwork that was designed to lift up minds and hearts, which is what prayer does — it lifts our minds and hearts.”

The shrine will receive the usual symbols for basilicas — the ombrellino (an umbrella), which in times of inclement weather is used by the Holy Father, tintinnabulum (bell), to announce the arrival of a pontiff, and a coat of arms. Bishop Wenski said all of the items remind visitors that the shrine is now one of “the pope’s churches,” and more specifically, “it’s Benedict’s church.”

Ground was broken for the shrine on Dec. 8, 1984, by Bishop Thomas Grady and the shrine’s founding rector, Father Joseph Harte. Within two years, the initial facility was completed, and groundbreaking for the main church occurred Aug. 22, 1990, the feast of Mary’s Queenship, under then–Bishop Norbert M. Dorsey. It earned the designation as a national shrine in 2007.

A father-son team at the altar

2009-07-17T12:37:00.002-04:00

Periodically, I've posted stories of father-son clergy members, where dad's a permanent deacon and the son is a priest. (I'd love to find that situation reversed -- what a story that would be!)

Well, here's one more, from Florida Catholic, which also relates how the team pictured above -- the Thesings of Miami -- shared homiletic duties one Christmas. A duet?! Check it out here.

A patron for handgun owners?

2009-07-17T12:25:00.005-04:00

Um, yes.

That would be St. Gabriel Possenti -- if a group of "handgunners" gets its way. CNS posted a brief item about their efforts to have him declared their patron saint, and that led me to this website -- gunsaint.com -- which tells his story and provides some interesting links.

I was especially struck by the group's logo -- surely the only image of a saint that contains a pistol.

Pope fractures wrist

2009-07-17T07:30:00.003-04:00

Those of you waiting for your personally autographed copy of the latest encyclical may have to wait a while. This just in, from the hills of northern Italy:

Pope Benedict XVI has suffered a small fracture to his wrist after falling while on holiday in northern Italy, the Vatican and hospital officials say.

The Pope, 82, went for a check-up at a hospital in the alpine town of Aosta.

"It is nothing serious," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi was quoted as saying.

Reports say the Pope walked into the hospital with an aide. Pope Benedict, elected pontiff in 2005, was formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

An official at the Aosta hospital where the Pope was taken told Italian news agency Ansa that checks were continuing, but that first results showed "a small fracture to the right wrist".

The Pope's wrist was X-rayed, hospital officials and the Vatican said.

The pontiff has been staying at a house in the village of Les Combes in the Valle d'Aosta region. It was a favourite vacation spot of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Made in Hong Kong: the budding diaconate of the East

2009-07-16T17:40:00.003-04:00

With diaconate ordinations booming in this of the world, it's useful (and sobering) to see what's happening in Asia. (H/T to Deacon Chick)

Take a look-see:

Three permanent deacons have been ordained here as the diocese prays for more priestly and religious vocations during the Year for Priests.

Francis Cheung Ka-wai, Francis Fung Sze-chung and Peter Leung Shing-kwok, all married men above the age of 55, were part of a group of five ordained as deacons on July 11.

With their ordinations, the number of permanent deacons in Hong Kong now stands at 11.

Deacon Fung, a retired school principal, told UCA News that he was “inspired” by the examples of three other permanent deacons in Hong Kong to pursue the seven-year diaconate formation program.

As a member of the Diocesan Commission of Interreligious Dialogue for some years, Fung said he “sees God’s love in various religions, whose believers are brothers and sisters in a global village.” He has represented the diocese at interreligious seminars and his eldest daughter is a Canossian nun.

Deacon Leung not only serves as the deputy editor of diocesan Chinese weekly “Kung Kao Po,” but also heads the 300-member Hong Kong Central Council of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, an international Catholic charity.

He admitted that he found theological studies hard. “With prayers and faith, I gradually deepened my understanding,” he said.

Leung added that he would now become the SSVP’s spiritual director, and do pastoral work in his parish and at hospitals.

Deacon Cheung served in the government’s Department of Justice until 1989 and is now a solicitor in a law firm. He is a member of the Dominican Laity and is the first Dominican deacon in Hong Kong.

He said he would like to help lead the lay organization, the formation of seminarians and his congregation’s development in mainland China.

Hong Kong, where priestly vocations have been few in recent decades, has been the only Chinese diocese since 1997 to ordain permanent deacons.

And yes, you read that correctly. Formation lasts seven years.

You can find more details at the link. Congratulations, brothers! Ad multos annos!

PHOTO: Bishop John Tong Hon of Hong Kong and concelebrants at the ordination Mass pose for a photo. First row (from left) : Deacon Francis Cheung Ka-wai, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, Bishop Tong, Deacons Francis Fung Sze-chung and Peter Leung Shing-kwok.

Dog bites man

2009-07-16T15:30:00.003-04:00

From the "Duh" Desk, old news made to sound new:

Couples living together before marrying have a higher chance of getting divorced than those who wait until they were engaged or married, according to research out Tuesday in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Denver, also found that couples who lived together before marrying reported lower marriage satisfaction.

"We think that some couples who move in together without a clear commitment to marriage may wind up sliding into marriage partly because they are already cohabiting," said senior researcher and study co-author Galena Rhoades.

"It seems wise to talk about commitment and what living together might mean for the future of the relationship before moving in together, especially because cohabiting likely makes it harder to break up compared to dating," said another researcher, Scott Stanley.

More than 70 percent of couples in the United States live together before marrying, according to the article.

Yet the researchers "have found evidence that cohabiting before engagement, even only with one's future spouse, is associated with lower marital quality and higher divorce potential," the article read.

Okay. My question: is the problem co-habitating per se, or the sorts of couples that co-habitate?

In my experience, couples who choose not to live together before getting married tend to be more conservative, more religious, and less inclined to divorce anyway, for moral reasons. As a (male) parishioner put it to me not long ago, just after he got married: "I got a lot of grief from people in my office who were shocked that my fiance and I weren't living together. I told them, very simply, 'I wasn't brought up that way.'"

From the e-mailbag: thoughts on being a "Catholic judge"

2009-07-16T14:10:00.003-04:00

This arrived in my e-mail this afternoon, from Deacon Marv Robertson, in the Diocese of Lansing. I asked him if he'd mind my sharing it on the blog, and he happily gave his permission:

I recall some weeks ago, the question posed on your website, is there such a thing as a "Catholic judge?"...

When the Great Guru was asked by a pilgrim if there was anything certain in life, he answered, "Yes . . . and no!"

For some years, I literally "worked both sides of the street." On Monday mornings, I would don my deacon's alb and stole, and preside at a Communion Service for our parish church. After breakfast with friends, I would drive to the Clinton County Courthouse, a "stone's throw" across a side street from our parish church, and don my black judge's robe. This dual role seemed to personify this Isaian verse: "For He has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice." ((11:10). For eight years, I was editor of the Michigan Probate Judges' quarterly law journal. I would often insert a mini-column entitled "Judicial Spirituality." During my tenure as president of that association, I scheduled and co-presided, as an optional event that was well attended, an ecumenical "Martin Luther King Day Memorial Service" at the Catholic student chapel next door to our conference's hotel. When the governor appointed a friend to the Michigan Court Appeals, I was invited to give the invocation at his investiture ceremony. I was a "retreat master" for the Catholic Lawyers Guild, and I also gave a retreat for judges. I was a charter board member of the Catholic Lawyers Guild, and served a term as its president. In appropriate cases where adoption finalization ceremonies were performed in court, I would offer a blessing to the adoptive child and family from the USCCB Book of Blessings. When the clergy abuse scandal hit in 2002, I accompanied our bishop to six strategic parish sites in the diocese, and lectured on Michigan's Child Protection Law. I served several years as Chaplain of the Thomas More Society at Cooley Law School. When I began teaching at the new Michigan State University Law School, I helped with the start-up of a Thomas More Society there.

I submit that my Catholic background and ministry made me a far better judge, enabling me to hone justice and mercy in accord with Gospel values, without compromising my secular oath of office. As an interesting historical footnote, the Olde English ancestor of the probate court (on which I served for 25 years) was titled "Court of the Archdeacon." Perhaps this personal review may help answer the question: Is there such thing as a Catholic judge?

World's oldest woman to give birth dies at 69, leaving babies orphaned

2009-07-16T13:46:00.004-04:00

Science can do amazing things. But just because it can doesn't mean it should.

A case in point:

A Spanish woman who gave birth to twins when she was 67 has died, leaving her two young boys orphaned just two-and-a-half years after becoming the world's oldest mother.

Carmen Bousada, who lied about her age to receive donor eggs and sperm in the U.S., died this week at age 69 after from cancer. It is not clear who will raise her 2-year-old sons, Cristian and Pau.

Her brother told Spanish newspaper El Periodico de Catalunya her illness was "very hard, she was in a really bad state recently.".

In an interview with Spanish television in December 2007, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer, she said family members could care for them if she died.

"I have a nephew, and their godfather is very good with the children. They are not going to be alone," she said at the time.

Bousada gave birth on December 26, 2006, at a hospital in Barcelona after being artificially inseminated at a fertility clinic in Los Angeles.

She told the clinic she was 55, the facility's maximum age for single women receiving in-vitro fertilization. The case ignited fierce debate over how much responsibility fertility clinics have over their patients.

Communion in the Sea of Tranquility

2009-07-16T06:57:00.003-04:00

Here's a poignant flashback to the anniversary of man's landing on the moon -- the launch happened 40 years ago today -- from New Zealand Anglican blogger Bosco Peters:

On Sunday July 20, 1969 the first people landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in the lunar lander which touched down at 3:17 Eastern Standard Time.

Buzz Aldrin had with him the Reserved Sacrament. He radioed: “Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”

Later he wrote: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly…Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”

NASA kept this secret for two decades. The memoirs of Buzz Aldrin and the Tom Hanks’s Emmy- winning HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998), made people aware of this act of Christian worship 235,000 miles from Earth.

The 2003 Episcopal Church General Convention resolved that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music prepare propers and collects for churchwide observance of the 40th anniversary of the event, July 20, 2009, and to include “The First Communion on the Moon” in The Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts and on the calendar in the Book of Common Prayer for July 20.

There's more, so be sure and visit the link.

Roots: visiting Sotomayor's Catholic grade school

2009-07-16T06:44:00.004-04:00

Where did the woman who is in line to be the next Supreme Court justice come from?

The New York Times visits Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, 55, was a student at Blessed Sacrament in the 1960s, attending kindergarten through eighth grade at the Catholic school and graduating at the top of the class of 1968. One of the red-brick buildings where she lived with her family in the nearby Bronxdale Houses public housing complex can be seen from the school’s asphalt playground.

Then, as now, the older students attend school in upstairs classrooms inside Blessed Sacrament Church, and the younger ones have classes in a beige-brick building behind it. Perhaps one of the scuffs on the floor of the classroom where Jacqueline sat was made by Judge Sotomayor. Perhaps not. It is impossible to know the depth of one woman’s impact on the school, just as it is impossible to know how the school might have shaped her life or judicial thinking.

But the children wonder, and they imagine.

“Sometimes I think, ‘What if I’m sitting at the same desk she sat in?’ ” said Branaijah Melvin, 11, one of 30 students attending summer school at Blessed Sacrament.

Much has been said about Judge Sotomayor’s uniquely American journey, from the Bronx projects to Ivy League schools to Supreme Court nominee. Blessed Sacrament is a place where many such journeys begin.

The school, on a beachless Beach Avenue in the Soundview neighborhood, is home to about 280 students during the regular academic year. Nearly 200 are Hispanic. Girls outnumber boys. It is a largely middle-class neighborhood. But this is the Bronx, not the suburbs. Graffiti has scarred mailboxes, traffic signals and the walls and doors of homes and storefronts, and loops of razor wire top parts of the church’s chain-link fences.

Several students live at the Bronxdale Houses. The average household income of city public housing residents is $22,728, and the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom unit, subsidized by the federal government, is $299, according to the New York City Housing Authority. For students from families who are part of the Blessed Sacrament parish, the annual tuition at the school is $2,900.

Grace Chemi, Blessed Sacrament’s principal, said some parents work two jobs.

“We have a lot of single parents, moms raising children on their own,” Ms. Chemi said. “We also have children being raised by grandparents.”

Jacqueline said both of her parents work hard. “I don’t really see my mom because she works a lot,” she said.

Alicia’s mother, Paula Dickenson, 42, is a single parent who makes about $10 an hour as a day care center teacher and is taking a semester off from pursuing a master’s degree at Lehman College to focus on her three children. Alicia enjoys baking cupcakes, and she is currently reading “New Moon,” part of the Twilight vampire series. “I’m actually half done,” she said.

Branaijah lives with her mother, father and younger sister. Painting is her favorite hobby. “I like to paint sceneries,” she said. “My mom sometimes frames them and hangs them up in the living room.” She is curious about Judge Sotomayor in a way that the members of the Senate committee, for all their questions, are decidedly not.

“She could have painted like me when she was my age,” Branaijah said.

The judge was a stellar student at Blessed Sacrament. “Her attendance was immaculate,” said Herminia Roman, the assistant principal, who was not at the school in those days but reviewed the judge’s file.

Take a look at the link for more.

PHOTO: Jacqueline Garcia, 8, above, in her summer math class at Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx, which Sonia Sotomayor attended as a child in the ’60s. Photo by Librado Romero/The New York Times

His view from the pew: what a bishop saw at mass on vacation -- UPDATED

2009-07-16T06:20:00.007-04:00

How often do you find a bishop who takes the time to look thoughtfully -- and critically -- at what people encounter when they attend mass?

So it's all the more impressive to encounter this column by Rhode Island Bishop Thomas J. Tobin:

During vacation this summer I followed my normal practice of attending Sunday Mass as a “private citizen,” that is, in secular attire, with the congregation, in the pews. Even though I truly cherish the privilege of leading the liturgy as I do almost every Sunday, it’s also refreshing once in awhile to be on the other side of the altar.

Doing so allows me to avoid the public spotlight, eliminates the pressure of having to prepare a homily, and helps me to return to the ministry relaxed and ready to go.

Whenever I join the rank-and-file, it’s amazing how quickly I assume the characteristics of what might be considered the “typical Catholic.” I planned my schedule so I wouldn’t arrive at church too early. I sat toward the back of the church to avoid special involvement. I complained, at least mentally, about the length of the sermon. I was dismayed to learn there would be a second collection – and yes, I did pry open my wallet to contribute to both! And I was appropriately irritated by the log jam of traffic in the parking lot after Mass.

Forget my need for “full, active and conscious participation.” I was on vacation. I wanted something short, sweet and to the point, just enough to fulfill my Sunday obligation.

These bad habits aside, there were also some more beneficial lessons to be had from sitting in the pews. Doing so created a broader perspective for me and a renewed appreciation for the truly “faithful” who come to Mass Sunday after Sunday. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on the nature of the Church and the function of the liturgy.

As I sat in the Florida church that warm summer evening, I was gratified by the large number of people who took time out of their vacation to attend Mass. While a few were obviously local residents, it was apparent that most of the people in church were visitors from other parts of the country, even other nations. In the congregation were young couples (I imagined them to be on their honeymoon), families with restless kids and sullen teen-agers, college students participating silently, senior citizens, and folks with disabilities for whom it was a real personal sacrifice to attend Mass. But there they were!

Reflecting on the assembly I asked myself: Why do these people come to Mass Sunday after Sunday? What are they looking for? What do they want? What do they need?

I believe, first of all, that people come to Mass on Sunday to be part of the church, part of the Christian community. Please understand that by community here I don’t mean a “hello, my name is _____, what’s yours?” experience, but something far more profound, an ecclesial community. Sometimes in the practice of liturgy we confuse the two.

The last time I attended Mass on vacation, the priest began by announcing: “As we begin today, folks, let’s take a few minutes to get acquainted with the people around you. Tell your neighbor your name, where you’re from, and what you do for a living.” And so the congregation sat down for this banal banter while the priest assumed his talk-show host persona and worked the middle aisle greeting people. Please…that’s not community; that’s a cocktail party!

People want to belong to a Church community to be with and pray with other people who share their faith, their moral values, their liturgical practice. They want spiritual companions who will break bread with them and accompany them on their life’s journey. Ecclesial community doesn’t depend on personal, intimate knowledge of others, but on shared vision and values. As a member of the Church I am in community with people I’ll never know, never meet. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, nonetheless.

Secondly, it seems to be that people come to Mass on Sunday because they long to hear the Word of God preached with conviction and enthusiasm. They want homilies that are doctrinally sound, personally prepared and relevant to contemporary life.

It’s a frequent complaint that our preaching has lost its spark, its zeal, that it has become too bland, cerebral and generic. Good preaching, on the other hand, needs to be clear, direct and simple. People seek moral guidance and want to learn the tenets of our Faith. They want to hear about the Ten Commandments, justice and peace, human life and family relationships, final judgment and eternal salvation.

In short, the faithful want preachers to preach as Jesus did, with power and conviction, challenging people, not avoiding difficult issues. People should leave Sunday Mass motivated to live the gospel throughout the week, but confident they possess the spiritual means to do so.

Thirdly, Catholics come to Mass on Sunday because they want to receive the Eucharist. This is a foundational element of Catholic life. Although national surveys have suggested that some Catholics lack proper understanding about the manner of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, I’m convinced that most practicing Catholics have a core belief that the Eucharist is really the Body of Christ. This “holy communion” is extremely important for them. Most members of the Church, while being unable perhaps to articulate the exact theology, know that the Mass is related to the Last Supper of Holy Thursday as well as the Cross of Good Friday.

It’s true that our celebration and reception of the Eucharist is far too casual at times. It’s true that we’ve tended to neglect the wonderful presence of Christ in the tabernacles of our churches. But I don’t think our carelessness is a crisis of faith as much as a manifestation of our normal human nature. After all, we take many of our best gifts for granted all the time. Catholics believe in the Eucharist and fully realize how important it is for their spiritual lives. That’s one of the reasons they keep coming to Mass.

There's more, so be sure to read the whole thing.

UPDATE: My apologies. For some reason, the folks at RI Catholic took down the link -- evidently it was from an older column by the bishop that they were re-running, and dates from his days in Youngstown. Maybe it was posted in error. The links should now take you to the original piece.

"I call your attention to the ministry of deacons..."

2009-07-15T21:19:00.004-04:00

It's gratifying and humbling when a bishops salutes those other members of the clergy who aren't priests or bishops -- and this week, Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland doffs his miter to deacons:

Pope Benedict XVI has asked Catholics the world over to observe a year for priests from now through next June. I have already shared with you some information about this special year, with more to come. But for now I would like to write about another group of clergy in this archdiocese. I don’t mean the bishops. I call your attention to the ministry of the growing corps of deacons serving here across Western Oregon.

Every year I try to arrange for a gathering of our deacon community, including spouses. On Sunday, July 12th, we gathered at Portland’s National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, more popularly known as the Grotto. We spent some time together discussing matters that pertain to our shared ministry. We celebrated the Eucharist and enjoyed a fine dinner.

The Archdiocese of Portland was a bit slow in welcoming deacons as members of the clergy. Until 1993 there was only one deacon. But as of last year there were 60 deacons serving here in the archdiocese. Last fall I ordained four new deacons at our Cathedral. This coming Oct. 31 three more men will be ordained deacons for service in this local church. The directors of our Deacon Office, Father Richard Huneger and Deacon Vern Korchinski, tell me that 15 men are in the process of seeking application for acceptance as candidates into the deacon formation program, a venture of some four years. It is quite a sacrifice for them and quite a blessing for the rest of us in the Church.

Deacons are ordained for service across the archdiocese. This is sometimes misunderstood because most deacons tend to begin their ministry in their home parishes, much unlike the experience of newly ordained priests. Deacons are not hired by a pastor but assigned to a particular ministry by the bishop. Sometimes a deacon is hired for a particular responsibility by a pastor and this becomes the source of his remuneration. Obviously there has to be some cooperation between the bishop and the pastor, because a man can’t be working in one parish and assigned to another. Likewise, termination cannot take place without a cooperative process involving both the parish and the Archdiocese. Most deacons do their work gratis while maintaining their employment elsewhere.

Across Western Oregon there are many wonderful men involved in their diaconal ministry. The one who comes to mind first of all is John Ries, who will be retiring from diaconal ministry at the Cathedral at the end of August. He was ordained in the class of 1993 by my predecessor, Cardinal William Levada. Like most deacons, his ministry was varied and intensive. He was generous in his service of prayer at sacramental celebrations, especially Eucharist and Baptism. He instructed candidates who were preparing for the Easter sacraments in the RCIA Program. He frequently visited the sick and was actively involved in “Christmas in April” for many years.

Dr. Owen Cummings is a deacon who serves as professor of theology at Mount Angel Seminary, a frequent lecturer and spiritual director. He directed our own priests’ retreat in early June.

Deacon Jim Pittman is pastoral associate at Christ the King Church in Milwaukie. He has been extraordinarily successful in bringing together a host of resources to serve the needs of the poor, particularly food, clothing and furnishings. Deacon Raul Rodriguez served for many years in Southern Oregon and some years ago accepted responsibility for coordinating ministries at San Martin de Porres Mission in Dayton. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

Deacons were not at all uncommon in the early Church. In fact, in those days they were more involved with the work of the bishop than were the presbyters. This began to change in the third century. The office of deacon gradually became simply a stepping stone on the way to ordination to the priesthood. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council restored the diaconate in the early 1960s and, little by little, deacons have become very important partners with the bishops and priests in bonding our people together as one church and strengthening our evangelizing mission.

Check out the rest at the link. And thank you, Archbishop.

Godcast

2009-07-15T17:13:00.004-04:00

The good people over at Busted Halo have just put up their weekly podcast, which features a cameo appearance by Matt McClure, co-anchor of "Currents," the daily Catholic news show I produce for The NET.

And if you want to see what was going on during the podcast, you can check out our story on the BH folks right here.

And, for those big fans of BH's Mike Hayes (who also authors the blog Googling God), you can see him in the final segment of tonight's show at 7:30 pm ET (with an encore at 11:30.) Those outside New York City can watch the live stream.

Another brilliant ad from CatholicVote

2009-07-15T13:30:00.004-04:00

And especially timely. Just watch.

You can see more of their handiwork here and here. You can also visit the CatholicVote.org website.

If memory serves, this was produced by the remarkable guys at Brooklyn's own Grassroots Films (the same team that gave the world "Fishers of Men").

Quote of the day

2009-07-15T13:12:00.002-04:00

"We now record fetal heartbeats at 14 days post-conception. We record fetal brainwaves at 39 days post-conception. And I don’t expect you to answer this, but I do expect you to pay attention to it as you contemplate these big issues. We have this schizophrenic rule of the law where we have defined death as the absence of those, but we refuse to define life as the presence of those."

-- Sen.Tom Coburn, speaking to Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor at today's confirmation hearing.