Fr. Bob's Corner

“For so many, the need to belong is strong but the search can be discouraging and lonely. One may feel isolated, unsure whether there is a place of love and nurturing for them. They do not feel at home anywhere, or with anyone. There is no place at a table for them. Their isolation can be anguishing; their spirit diminished. Every person has a need to belong.” This is a quote from The Downtown Chapel Web Site by one of the priests (Fr. Bob Loughery) who serves this community in Portland Oregon. This Site and ministry certainly deserve a visit, and I especially recommend the Christmas Portrait Slide Show for those of you who are visual. Please visit the site (Downtown Chapel) for more videos, the priest’s blogs, and this very special ministry in the downtown core of Portland, Oregon by the Holy Cross Fathers. It is a very special gift to help one begin the New Year with the blessing of hope.

As I was preparing my homily for the New Year – Feast of Mary Mother of God, I came across Deacon Greg Kandra’s web site: The Deacon’s Bench. In his homily for the New Year he refers to a Martha Mason, of Lattimore, North Carolina. Martha was a survivor of Polio but lived in an iron lung for 61 years. The New York Times reported on her death this May 2009: Martha Mason, Who Wrote Book About Her Decades in an Iron Lung, Dies at 71. The story is truly inspirational, but also scary, when you think about it. Here is a quote that reflects both: "I live in a stable of nightmares," she once wrote, "but hope keeps them in harness."

In my homily for this weekend (the preached version only), I made reference to this absolutely heroic life; a life that inspires hope, meaning, and thankfulness in any one who knew her or reads about her.

The Vatican is presently researching and reviewing women religious in the U.S.. Many are threatened and even angry for many reasons – why only women religious being a common concern. Be it as it may, many religious orders are in crisis situation (men and women)  with few or no new vocations. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit helps all involved to understand this present crisis, and that it will inspire a hopeful, loving response-answer-solution. One good article on this issue can be found in the Nov. 23, 2009 of America Magazine:  America Magazine – A Visitor’s Guide: How the Vatican Investigation could prove beneficial by Doris Gottemoeller

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Matthew Kelly is coming to Cornwall as part of our Diocesan Speaker Series this fall. Who is Matthew Kelly, you might ask? Well the best way to tell you is to show you. In March of 2009 he gave a mission at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish – Chandler Arizona (Theme: The Genius of Catholicism). Major segments of this mission were filmed and now appear as Videos on the parish website. In The Genius of Catholicism, Matthew Kelly talks about the 7 pillars of Catholic spirituality and challenges us to discover the relevance of Catholicism for modern problems, happiness, and day-to-day living. He challenges his listeners to be the best version of themselves – and to recognize and open their hearts to all their Catholic faith has to offer. The presentation will take place at St. Joe’s – General Vanier Auditorium on December 15th, 2009. For Further details please visit our Diocesan Website.

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A few words from Sister Joan in her latest Newsletter seemed extremely pertinent to me. I thought I would relay her words:

You Will Do Quite Well
When the phone call came, I remember the shudder of intuition that went down my arms. Sister Theophane, they told me, one of the strongest, most intelligent, most formative people in my life, the woman because of whom I had finally recovered from polio, had collapsed at one of our small houses in the inner city. The ambulance was on its way, they said. From ten miles out of town, I made it to the house before the paramedics did. “I’m going now, Joan,” she said when I dropped to my knees beside her. A nurse before she entered, a caretaker all her life, I had no doubt that she knew what she was saying.
“Sister,” I pleaded like any young disciple in the throes of fear at the loss of a mentor. “Hang on. Please hang on. Don’t go.”
She was lying on the floor beside the bed with her eyes closed, her hands clutching her chest. “No, it’s all right,” she said. “It’s over now.”
I was desperate. “But, Sister,” I could hear myself getting more insistent, “you can’t go.” I was fairly shouting now. “What about me!”
Her eyelids flickered for a second, she gave a long, tired breath, and she said very quietly, “History records, dear, that you will do quite well.” Sister Theophane lingered for forty days, but those were the last words she ever said. I have carried them in my heart ever since. They were a life lesson of immense proportion that simply went on growing and growing and growing in me.
The fact is that history records that we all really do quite well, however we do. Transitions complete us. We ripen. We learn. We hurt. We survive one thing after another. And we go on, whatever the odds against us. Then, in the end, we gain what we came to get—a kind of well-worn, hard-won wisdom. One way or another life batters us until we get the unavoidable. Sometimes we get it with glory; sometimes we get it in disgrace. Whatever the circumstances, the problem is that we all too seldom bother to stop and notice how much we have become in the process.
–from Called To Question by Joan Chittister (Sheed & Ward)

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A few days ago I received an email entitled: The unforgettable Commencement Address. I was rushing out the door to a medical appointment when I clicked the email link and was confronted with these words: “I thought that you might enjoy reading this particular address to a graduating class.” Following were a few word of introduction to a man named Paul Hawken, who I had never heard of, and then a fairly long speech. I promptly filed the email in a folder entitled: Read at Leisure.  A few days later, as I read the speech, I understood why it was labeled ‘unforgettable’.  Here are just a few sentences that typify its unforgettableness:

“Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.”

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Yikes, I don’t like this editorial! (2009 America Magazine). I mean, I don’t want to hear this opinion because it sounds too much like reality. A reality that most of us, I suspect, don’t want to hear. When the stock market tumbled in September 2008 I wasn’t at all surprised. In fact, every bone in my body seemed to expect it.

When I read this editorial about the economy in America Magazine this June 2009, my bones seemed to ache with a sense that it is very true. Are we really facing our problems, or have we just been undergoing cosmetic surgery?

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