Solemn High Mass in the Dominican Church of Saint-Maximin, France, circa 1960

This summer at our parish of St. Dominic, Br. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, OP, who was ordained a deacon earlier this year, will be leading a 5-part series on the Biblical foundations of the Mass. Entitled, A Biblical Walk through the Mass, the series is meant to help Catholic better understand the Mass, especially the rich meanings behind its words and gestures.

Br. Peter Martyr will lead the series on each of the 5 Sundays of June at 3:30pm:  June 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.  The lectures will take place in the Parish Meeting Room at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, DC.

From the 2012 Rally for Freedom in Washington, DC

The Knights of Columbus will be holding a candlelight vigil outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, June 22 in response to this year’s Fortnight for Freedom initiative. Participants will pray for an increased respect for the right to religious liberty, guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The event will take place at the park space on the northeast side of the Capitol grounds, near the corner of Constitution Avenue and First Street N.E., at 8:45 p.m. It will be preceded by a 7 p.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s Church on Capitol Hill (corner of Second and C Streets N.E.).

As part of the the Vigil, our friars from the Dominican House of Studies will be leading those gathered in the singing of Compline, the Church’s night prayer.

The Knights of Columbus remind those who would participate that the event is meant to foster a spirit of prayer and peaceful demonstration, and therefore should refrain from the use of signs or banners.

For more information, click on the image below:

From the Church of St. Peter, Vienna, Austria

Preacher’s Sketchbook:

Each week, a Dominican member of the Province of St. Joseph’s Preaching Advisory Board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass. The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily. Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke

He rebuked his disciples… Perhaps he added this because the Lord knew that even the disciples would believe with difficulty in his passion and resurrection. Therefore he preferred to be the defender of his own passion and resurrection, so that faith would be born of action, and not discord of hearsay. Thus Christ refused to boast but preferred to seem unimportant… Do you boast, who are low born? Must you walk the same path that Christ walked…? This is the recognition of him, this is the imitation of him through obscurity and a good reputation, so that you may glory in the cross as he was glorified.

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke

[Christ] utterly abolished death and wiped out destruction. He robbed hell, and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy. He took away the sin of the world, opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven. These things proved him to be, as I said, in truth God. He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a reasonable silence until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.

St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation

The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon his word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption… What – or rather Who was it that was needed for such grace and such recall as we required? Who, save the Word of God Himself, Who also in the beginning made all things out of nothing? … For he alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father.

St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation

Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once [on the cross]: the death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. Death there there had to be, and death for all, so that the due of all might be paid. Wherefore, the Word, as I said, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body, that He might offer it as His own in place of all, and suffering for the sake of all through His union with it, “might bring to nought Him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver them who all their lifetime were enslaved by the fear of death” (Heb 2:14f).

Melito of Sardis, On Pascha

For the law was a word,
And the old was new,
Going out from Sion and Jerusalem,
And the commandment was grace,
And the type as a reality,
And the lamb was a son,
And the sheep was a man,
And the man was God…
This is Jesus the Christ,
To whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This is the mystery of the Pascha.

Resources

Readings

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Preacher’s Resource

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Additional Preaching Resources

• The Year of Faith: Annus Fidei website (Holy See) and the USCCB Website.
• The Holy See: Ordinary Time
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Salt and Light Media)
• The Torch
• The King of Ages
• Fr. Francis Martin Website
• Biblius Clerus, a resource of the Congregation for the Clergy
• The Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Fr. John A. Langlois, OP

Fr. Langlois received his License in Sacred Theology (STL) from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 1992 and was then assigned to Providence College, where he taught in the Theology Department and in the Development of Western Civilization Program. In 2000, he obtained the Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) in Church History from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), with a special concentration in the Reformation period. While teaching at Providence College, Fr. Langlois also served as archivist for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph from 2000 to 2002. He has been a participant in OPUS, a collaborative research group of Dominican men and women whose goal is to produce a comprehensive history of the development of the Order in the United States. In June 2002, he was appointed Student Master at the Dominican House of Studies and also joined the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. Since 2010, he has served as the Socius to the Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph.

It is with great joy that the Province of St. Joseph announces that the Master of the Order, Very Rev. Bruno Cadore, OP, has conferred upon three friars of the Province the degree of Master of Sacred Theology: Fr. Albino Barrera, OP, Fr. Romanus Cessario, OP, and Fr. Terence Keegan, OP.  Brief biographies of the new Magistri may be found below.

The Master of Sacred Theology is a degree conferred by the Order of Preachers on those of its members who have made an outstanding contribution to the theological sciences.  This is not a degree conferred for a particular course of studies, but for a life of truly outstanding scholarship. As the Order’s own Constitutions describe:

The masterate in sacred theology is conferred on those brethren who are recognized as eminent in promoting the sciences, especially the Sacred Sciences. Excellence of this kind is established by an ability for stimulating and leading doctrinal reflection and research as well as by published works of outstanding value and by significant status gained in a scientific field even outside the Order.

(LCO 96)

In addition, to receive the degree, it is required that the recipient:

• be commendable for his way of life and for prudence; and
• shall have devoted himself fully to intellectual work for at least ten years;

(LCO 97)

The conferral of the degree also requires each to offer a public lecture, the details of which have not yet been determined.

Fr. Albino Barrera, OP

Fr. Albino Barrera, OP

Fr. Albino F. Barrera, OP, is associate professor of humanities teaching moral theology and economics at Providence College. He received his License in Sacred Theology from Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 1994; and his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1988. His publications include Economic Compulsion and Christian Ethics (2005), God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency (2005), and Modern Catholic Social Documents and Political Economy (2001)

Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P.

Fr. Romanus Cessario, OP

Fr. Romanus Cessario, OP, is a professor of systematic theology at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, MA.  Fr. Cessario also serves as associate editor of The Thomist, and Senior Editor of Magnificat. He received his license in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 1972 and his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Université de Fribourg (Switzerand) in 1980.  He has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas since 1999.  Among his many books include: Christian Faith and the Theological Life (1996), Introduction to Moral Theology (2001), A Short History of Thomism (2005), and The Seven Last Words of Jesus (2009)

Fr. Terence Keegan, OP

Fr. Terence J. Keegan, OP

Father Terence Keegan, OP, is currently an associate professor of Religious Studies at Providence College, where he has taught since 1975. He received his licentiate from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, his diploma from Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, and his doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.  He is a member of the Catholic Biblical Association of America. His works include: Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (1981), Interpreting the Bible: Popular Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics (1985); and First and Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon (A Commentary (2006).

Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee by Dieric Bouts the Elder (15th century)

Preacher’s Sketchbook:

Each week, a Dominican member of the Province of St. Joseph’s Preaching Advisory Board prepares this Preacher’s Sketchbook in anticipation of the upcoming Sunday Mass. The idea of the Preacher’s Sketchbook is to take quotations from the authority of the Church–the Pope, the Fathers of the Church, documents of the Councils, the saints–that can help spark ideas for the Sunday homily. Just as an artist’s sketchbook preserves ideas for later elaboration, so we hope the Preacher’s Sketchbook will provide some ideas for homiletical elaboration.

Saint Ambrose:

Are you ashamed to do as David did?… When he recognized that he was himself condemned by [the prophet Nathan’s] story, he said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Therefore do not take it ill if what was said to King David is said to you “You are the man.” For if you listen with attention and say, “I have sinned against the Lord,” if you say,…“O come, let us worship and fall down, and weep before the Lord our Maker,” then it will be said to you also, “Because you repented, the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas:

The Apostle says, with Christ I am nailed to the cross, i.e., concupiscence or the inclination to sin, and all such have been put to death in me through the cross of Christ: “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed” (Rom 6:6). Also from the fact that I am crucified with Christ and have died to sin; and because Christ rose again, I, too, have risen with him rising: “Who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Thus, therefore, does Christ beget a new life in us, after the oldness of sin has been destroyed. Hence he says, And I live, i.e., because I am nailed to the cross of Christ, I have the strength to act well, now not I according to the flesh, because I no longer have the oldness which I formerly had, but Christ lives in me, i.e., the newness which has been given to us through Christ.

Saint Peter Chrysologus:

Why does [this woman] run through all the doors, pass through all the groups of servants, fly even to the private hall of the banquet, and turn the whole house of joy into one of lamentation and wailing? She did not come uninvited; she was under command. She entered not as one rashly daring, but as one ushered in. He who ordered her to be absolved by a heavenly judgment is the One who caused her to be brought to himself…. When she came, she came to make satisfaction to God, not to please men. She came to provide a banquet of devotion, not of pleasure. She set a table of repentance, served courses of compunction and the bread of sorrow. She mixed the drink with tears in proper measure, and to the full delight of God she struck music from her heart and body.

Pope Francis:

When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with “unction”, they like it when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme darkness, to the “outskirts” where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith. People thank us because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their everyday lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes. And when they feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of Christ, has come to them through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to us everything they want to bring before the Lord: “Pray for me, Father, because I have this problem”—these words are the sign that the anointing has flowed down to the edges of the robe, for it has turned into a prayer of supplication, the supplication of the People of God.

Pope Benedict XVI:

Faith and charity each require the other in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path.  Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized, or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen…. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbor along the journey.

Resources

Readings

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Preacher’s Resource

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Additional Preaching Resources

• The Year of Faith: Annus Fidei website (Holy See) and the USCCB Website.
• The Holy See: Ordinary Time
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Salt and Light Media)
• The Torch
• The King of Ages
• Fr. Francis Martin Website
• Biblius Clerus, a resource of the Congregation for the Clergy
• The Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Click here for their photos and a short biography of each.

Fr. Dominic Bump, OP, Fr. Reginald Lynch, OP, and Deacon Michael Magree, SJ

The Catholic Times of the Diocese of Columbus recently printed an article on the number of priests ordained this year with a connection to our Dominican parish of St. Patrick.  The priests include our own recently ordained Frs. Dominic Bump, OP, and Reginald Lynch, OP as well as Deacon Michael Magree, SJ, who will be ordained later in June.  The article is printed below with the permission of The Catholic Times.

Three men with connections to St. Patrick Church, Columbus, have been or will be ordained as priests of religious

Father Dominic Joseph Bump, OP, a member of St. Patrick Church, and Father Reginald Mary Lynch, OP, who has been stationed at the parish as a Dominican brother, were ordained as priests of the Dominican order by Bishop Christopher Cardone, OP, of Auki in the Solomon Islands, on Friday, May 24 at St. Dominic Church in Washington.

Deacon Michael C. Magree, SJ, also a member of the parish, will be ordained as a priest of the Jesuit order by Bishop Thomas Donato, auxiliary bishop of Newark, N.J., on Sunday, June 9, at Fordham University in New York City.

Father Bump attended Grove City High School and is a 1996 graduate of the University of Cincinnati.  He most recently worked for the Bachman Miller Group in Dublin.

He entered the Dominican order at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati in August 2005 and made his first profession of religious vows there in 2006.  He was then assigned to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington to pursue studies for the priesthood.  During his years in Washington, he also served at the Ohio State Penitentiary and at the Arlington County (Va.) Detention Center, the Washington Hospital Center, and in the missions in Kenya.

He made his lifelong profession of vows in 2009 and was ordained a deacon in 2012. As a deacon, he served at Ss. Philip and James Parish in Baltimore, staffed by the Dominicans.  As a priest, he will continue to be assigned there as an assistant Catholic chaplain at Johns Hopkins University.

Father Lynch, of Hanover, N.H., is a 2003 graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

He entered the Dominican order at St. Gertrude Priory and made his first profession of vows in 2008. He then was assigned to the Dominican House of Studies to study for the priesthood. While in Washington, he served in ministries with the Missionaries of Charity and the Dominican Third Order.

He made his lifelong profession of vows in 2011 and was ordained a deacon in 2012. As a deacon, he was assigned to Columbus St. Patrick Church, where he will continue to serve as a priest.

Deacon Magree is a 1996 graduate of Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2000 and a master’s degree in classics from The Ohio State University in 2001.

In 2002, he entered the Society of Jesus, spending two years at the Jesuit novitiate in Syracuse, N.Y. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University in 2007, then taught high-school religion and Latin and led the choir at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia. In 2010, he continued his studies at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, earning a master of divinity degree, while serving as a deacon at St. Raphael Church in West Medford, Mass.

During his years in formation, he also worked with prisoners at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston and directed a program on the everyday practice of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola through The Jesuit Collaborative, a ministry of lay and religious partnering to share the gift of Ignatian spirituality.

After a trip this summer to MAGIS, the Jesuit pastoral program that precedes World Youth Day, he will return to St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, where he will serve part-time as a chaplain while completing his licentiate in sacred theology.

Masses of thanksgiving will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s by Father Bump at noon, Sunday, June 2; by Father Magree at noon Sunday, June 16; and by Father Lynch at noon Sunday, June 23.

The Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans, was founded in southern France in 1216 by St. Dominic de Guzman. The order is dedicated to the proclamation of the Word of God for the salvation of souls. The Dominican way of life consists of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and attends to study as the basis for preaching.  Dominican friars live in community, gathering each day for common prayer. There are more than 6,000 Dominican friars worldwide.

Fathers Bump and Lynch are members of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, based in New York City and established in 1805. It has almost 300 Dominicans who are engaged in parish ministry, foreign missions, campus ministry, retreat work, and education. The province also operates Providence College in Rhode Island.

The Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, were founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Today the Jesuits, the largest religious order in the world, continue to serve the church through its diverse ministries. Nearly 20,000 Jesuits serve the Church in 112 nations on six continents.

Deacon Magree is a member of the Jesuits’ Maryland Province, which encompasses New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Orleans. It includes five Jesuit universities, nine middle and high schools, 10 parishes, and four retreat centers. The Maryland Province, founded in 1833, is the oldest Jesuit province in the U.S.  and supports more than 300 Jesuits in a wide variety of missions.

There exists in the Church a long and venerable tradition of seeking out the first blessing of a newly ordained priest. In the Province of St. Joseph, it has become our custom for the newly ordained to offer their blessings to the faithful immediately following the celebration of the Mass of Ordination.  It also often coincides with the indulgence gained at participating in the first Mass of a new priest.  Below is a slideshow of our newly priests offering their first blessings at our church of St. Dominic in Washington, DC: