Vatican Radio REPORT- Pope Francis met with hundreds of students from Italian and Albanian Jesuit grade schools and high schools in an audience in the Paul VI Hall on Friday. At the sight of the enthusiastic young people, the Pope spontaneously decided to enter into a question-and-answer session with the students.
The papal audience in the Paul VI Hall with students, teachers and staff of Jesuit grade schools and high schools on Friday became a friendly dialogue between the 76-year-old pontiff and the young people.
The students, who had come from six Italian cities and one school in Albania, were passing the time singing a Christian rap song, when the Pope entered the hall unannounced. At his sighting, they immediately erupted into cheers and applause.
In response, it seems, Pope Francis decided to put his five-page written message aside.
“I prepared a text, but it’s five pages! A little boring,” he said to the young people, who responded with laughter.
He proposed to give short summary and then take questions from the students instead.
With sensitivity and humour, the Pope answered 10 frank questions, that ranged from his priestly vocation to his decision to forego the usual papal apartment.
When asked if it was a difficult to leave his family and friends and become a priest, the pope said it was. “It is not easy but there are beautiful moments and Jesus helps you and gives you some joy.”
When asked why he wanted to join the Jesuits, he said he wanted to be a missionary and he was attracted by the religious order’s missionary zeal and activity.
When asked why he decided to renounce the usual papal apartment, he said it was a question of personality, not of luxury.
“I have a need to live among people.” he said. “If I were to live alone, perhaps a little isolate, it would not be good for me. … It is my personality. … It is not an issue of personal virtue, it is only that I cannot live alone.”
He added that the poverty in the world today is a scandal. “All of us today must think about how we can become a little poorer,” he said, so as to resemble Jesus.
The Pope addressed more serious concerns as well.
When a student doubting his faith asked for words of encouragement, he likened the faith a long walk. “To walk is an art,” he said, “To walk is the art of looking at the horizon, thinking about where I want to go but also enduring the fatigue. And many times, the walk is difficult, it is not easy… There is darkness… even days of failure… one falls…
"But always think this: do not be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid of falling. In the art of walking, what is important is not avoiding the fall but not remaining fallen," he said. "Get up quickly, continue on, and go. … But it is also terrible to walk alone, terrible and boring. Walking in community with friends, with those who love us, this helps us and helps us get to the end.”
Three students from different grades also read letters to the Pope. They complemented him on his pontificate to date and expressed appreciation for his simplicity and his ability to reach out to young people with his poignant messages.
“You’re like a child,” said young Gugliemo in his letter. “You smile a lot, you are very good and kind.”
“If you have difficult moments, remember that god gave you this responsibility and he believes in you,” he encouraged.
“We know the work of a pope is difficult, but you’re getting on okay," the grade schooler joked.
Earlier, in the summary of his text, the Pope told the students that the purpose of education is to learn magnanimity.
“We need to be magnanimous, with big hearts and without fear,” he said. “Always bet on great ideals. But also magnanimity in small things and daily things.... Magnanimity means walking with Jesus, attentive to that which Jesus tells us.”
In his message to educators, he said education requires an equilibrium between security and risk. He also urged educators to find new non-conventional forms of education, according to the needs of the context.
The Pope concluded the meeting with a blessing.
Below, is Vatican Radio’s translation of the Pope’s official text for the meeting.
Dear children, dear young people!
I am happy to receive you with your families, the educators and friends of the big family of the Jesuit schools of Italy and Albania. To all of you, my affectionate greeting: welcome! With all of you, I feel truly that I am “with family”. And it brings special joy that our meeting coincides with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I would like you tell you first of all one thing in reference to St. Ignatius of Loyola, our founder. In the autumn of 1537, going to Rome with a group of his first companions, he asked himself: if they ask us who we are, what will we respond? Spontaneously, the response came: “We’ll say that we are the ‘Society of Jesus’!” (Fontes Narrativi Societatis Iesu, vol. 1, pp. 320-322). A challenging name, which indicated a relationship of very close friendship, of total affection for Jesus, whose footsteps they wanted to follow. Why did I recount this fact to you? Because St. Ignatius and his companions had understood that Jesus taught them how to live well, how to create a life that would have profound meaning, joy and hope; they understood that Jesus is a great master of life and a model for life, and that he not only taught them, but was also inviting them to follow him on this path.
Dear children, if I were to ask you the question now: why do you go to school, what would you answer me? Probably there would be many responses according to each of your feelings. But I think it could all be summarized saying that school is one of the educational environments in which we grow to learn to live, to become adult and mature men and women, capable of walking, of going along the road of life. How does school help you to grow? It helps you not only in the development of your intelligence, but with an integral formation of all of the components of your personality.
Following that which St. Ignatius teaches us, the principle element of school is to learn to be magnanimous. Magnanimity: this virtue of the great and of the small (Non coerceri maximo contineri minimo, divinum est), that makes us always look to the horizon. What does it mean to be magnanimous? It means to have a big heart, to have a great spirit; it means to have great ideals, the desire to do great things to respond to that which God asks of us, and exactly this doing of daily things well, all of the daily acts, obligations, encounters with people; doing everyday small things with a big heart open to God and to others. It is important, therefore, to tend to human formation aimed at magnanimity. School not only expands your intellectual dimension, but also the human (dimension). And I think in a particular way, Jesuit schools are attentive to developing human virtues: loyalty, respect, faithfulness, commitment. I would like to pause on two fundamental values: freedom and service.
Firstly, be people who are free! What do I mean? Perhaps we think freedom is doing everything we want; or venturing into high-risk activities to experience a thrill or to overcome boredom. This is not freedom. Freedom means knowing how to reflect on that which we do, to know how to evaluate that which is good and that which is bad, those behaviours that make us grow, it means always choosing good. We have freedom for the good. And, in this, do not be afraid to go against the current, even if it is not easy! To be free to always choose the good is challenging, but it will make you people who have backbone, who know how to face life, (and) people with courage and patience (parresia e ypomoné). The second word is service. In your schools, you participate in various activities that habituate you to not be closed in on yourselves and in your little world, but to open yourselves to others, especially the poorest and neediest, to work to better the world in which we live. Be men and women with others and for others, true champions in the service of others.
To be magnanimous with interior freedom and in a spirit of service is necessary for spiritual formation. Dear children, dear young people, always love Jesus Christ more! Our lives are a response to his call and you will be happy and you will build your lives well if you will know how to respond to this call. Feel the presence of the Lord in your lives. He is close to each of you as your companion, as a friend, who knows how to help you and to understand you, who encourages you in difficult moments and never abandons you. In prayer, in dialogue with him, in the reading of the Bible, you will discover that he is truly close to you. And learn, as well, to read the signs of God in your lives. He always speaks to us, even through the facts of our age and of our daily existence; it is up to us to listen to him.
I do not want to be too long, but I would like to address a specific word also to the educators: the Jesuits, teachers, school staff and parents. Do not be discouraged before the difficulties that the educational challenge presents! Educating is not a job but an attitude, a way of being; to educate we need to step out of ourselves and stay among young people, to accompany them in the stages of their growth, placing ourselves at their side. Give them hope, optimism for their journey in the world. Teach them to see the beauty and the goodness of creation and of humanity, which always retain the imprint of the Creator. But most of all, be witnesses with your lives of that which you communicate. An educator – a Jesuit, teacher, school staff, parent – transmits knowledge and values with his words, but he will be incisive on the children if he accompanies his words with his witness, with the coherence of his life. Without coherence, it is not possible to educate! You are all educators, there are no proxies in this field. Therefore, collaboration in a spirit of unity and community among the different educational components is essential and must be encouraged and nourished. The school can and must be a catalyst, the place of encounter and convergence for the entire educating community, with the sole objective of forming (youth), helping (them) to grow as mature persons, simple, competent and honest, and who know how to love with fidelity, who know how to live life as a response to the vocation of God and their future profession as a service to society. To Jesuits, then, I would like to say that it is important to nourish their commitment in the field of education. Schools are a precious instrument that make a contribution to the journey of the Church and of all of society. The educational field, then, is not limited to conventional schools. Encourage each other to seek new non-conventional forms of education, according to “the need of the places, times and people”.
Finally, a greeting to all of the alumni present, to the representatives of the Italian schools in the Fe y Alegria network, which I know well for the great work it does in South America, especially among the poorest classes. And a special greeting to the delegation of the Albanian College of Scutari which, after the long years of repression of religious institutions, in 1994 took up its activities once again, welcoming and educating Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim children and also some students born in agnostic families. In this way, school becomes a place of dialogue and serene encounter that promotes attitudes of respect, listening, friendship and a spirit of collaboration.
Dear friends, I thank you all for this meeting. I entrust you to the maternal intercession of Mary and I accompany you with my blessing: the Lord be always near you, pick you up from your falls and urge you to grow and to make always greater choices “with great courage and generosity”, with magnanimity. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
The papal audience in the Paul VI Hall with students, teachers and staff of Jesuit grade schools and high schools on Friday became a friendly dialogue between the 76-year-old pontiff and the young people.
The students, who had come from six Italian cities and one school in Albania, were passing the time singing a Christian rap song, when the Pope entered the hall unannounced. At his sighting, they immediately erupted into cheers and applause.
In response, it seems, Pope Francis decided to put his five-page written message aside.
“I prepared a text, but it’s five pages! A little boring,” he said to the young people, who responded with laughter.
He proposed to give short summary and then take questions from the students instead.
With sensitivity and humour, the Pope answered 10 frank questions, that ranged from his priestly vocation to his decision to forego the usual papal apartment.
When asked if it was a difficult to leave his family and friends and become a priest, the pope said it was. “It is not easy but there are beautiful moments and Jesus helps you and gives you some joy.”
When asked why he wanted to join the Jesuits, he said he wanted to be a missionary and he was attracted by the religious order’s missionary zeal and activity.
When asked why he decided to renounce the usual papal apartment, he said it was a question of personality, not of luxury.
“I have a need to live among people.” he said. “If I were to live alone, perhaps a little isolate, it would not be good for me. … It is my personality. … It is not an issue of personal virtue, it is only that I cannot live alone.”
He added that the poverty in the world today is a scandal. “All of us today must think about how we can become a little poorer,” he said, so as to resemble Jesus.
The Pope addressed more serious concerns as well.
When a student doubting his faith asked for words of encouragement, he likened the faith a long walk. “To walk is an art,” he said, “To walk is the art of looking at the horizon, thinking about where I want to go but also enduring the fatigue. And many times, the walk is difficult, it is not easy… There is darkness… even days of failure… one falls…
"But always think this: do not be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid of falling. In the art of walking, what is important is not avoiding the fall but not remaining fallen," he said. "Get up quickly, continue on, and go. … But it is also terrible to walk alone, terrible and boring. Walking in community with friends, with those who love us, this helps us and helps us get to the end.”
Three students from different grades also read letters to the Pope. They complemented him on his pontificate to date and expressed appreciation for his simplicity and his ability to reach out to young people with his poignant messages.
“You’re like a child,” said young Gugliemo in his letter. “You smile a lot, you are very good and kind.”
“If you have difficult moments, remember that god gave you this responsibility and he believes in you,” he encouraged.
“We know the work of a pope is difficult, but you’re getting on okay," the grade schooler joked.
Earlier, in the summary of his text, the Pope told the students that the purpose of education is to learn magnanimity.
“We need to be magnanimous, with big hearts and without fear,” he said. “Always bet on great ideals. But also magnanimity in small things and daily things.... Magnanimity means walking with Jesus, attentive to that which Jesus tells us.”
In his message to educators, he said education requires an equilibrium between security and risk. He also urged educators to find new non-conventional forms of education, according to the needs of the context.
The Pope concluded the meeting with a blessing.
Below, is Vatican Radio’s translation of the Pope’s official text for the meeting.
Dear children, dear young people!
I am happy to receive you with your families, the educators and friends of the big family of the Jesuit schools of Italy and Albania. To all of you, my affectionate greeting: welcome! With all of you, I feel truly that I am “with family”. And it brings special joy that our meeting coincides with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I would like you tell you first of all one thing in reference to St. Ignatius of Loyola, our founder. In the autumn of 1537, going to Rome with a group of his first companions, he asked himself: if they ask us who we are, what will we respond? Spontaneously, the response came: “We’ll say that we are the ‘Society of Jesus’!” (Fontes Narrativi Societatis Iesu, vol. 1, pp. 320-322). A challenging name, which indicated a relationship of very close friendship, of total affection for Jesus, whose footsteps they wanted to follow. Why did I recount this fact to you? Because St. Ignatius and his companions had understood that Jesus taught them how to live well, how to create a life that would have profound meaning, joy and hope; they understood that Jesus is a great master of life and a model for life, and that he not only taught them, but was also inviting them to follow him on this path.
Dear children, if I were to ask you the question now: why do you go to school, what would you answer me? Probably there would be many responses according to each of your feelings. But I think it could all be summarized saying that school is one of the educational environments in which we grow to learn to live, to become adult and mature men and women, capable of walking, of going along the road of life. How does school help you to grow? It helps you not only in the development of your intelligence, but with an integral formation of all of the components of your personality.
Following that which St. Ignatius teaches us, the principle element of school is to learn to be magnanimous. Magnanimity: this virtue of the great and of the small (Non coerceri maximo contineri minimo, divinum est), that makes us always look to the horizon. What does it mean to be magnanimous? It means to have a big heart, to have a great spirit; it means to have great ideals, the desire to do great things to respond to that which God asks of us, and exactly this doing of daily things well, all of the daily acts, obligations, encounters with people; doing everyday small things with a big heart open to God and to others. It is important, therefore, to tend to human formation aimed at magnanimity. School not only expands your intellectual dimension, but also the human (dimension). And I think in a particular way, Jesuit schools are attentive to developing human virtues: loyalty, respect, faithfulness, commitment. I would like to pause on two fundamental values: freedom and service.
Firstly, be people who are free! What do I mean? Perhaps we think freedom is doing everything we want; or venturing into high-risk activities to experience a thrill or to overcome boredom. This is not freedom. Freedom means knowing how to reflect on that which we do, to know how to evaluate that which is good and that which is bad, those behaviours that make us grow, it means always choosing good. We have freedom for the good. And, in this, do not be afraid to go against the current, even if it is not easy! To be free to always choose the good is challenging, but it will make you people who have backbone, who know how to face life, (and) people with courage and patience (parresia e ypomoné). The second word is service. In your schools, you participate in various activities that habituate you to not be closed in on yourselves and in your little world, but to open yourselves to others, especially the poorest and neediest, to work to better the world in which we live. Be men and women with others and for others, true champions in the service of others.
To be magnanimous with interior freedom and in a spirit of service is necessary for spiritual formation. Dear children, dear young people, always love Jesus Christ more! Our lives are a response to his call and you will be happy and you will build your lives well if you will know how to respond to this call. Feel the presence of the Lord in your lives. He is close to each of you as your companion, as a friend, who knows how to help you and to understand you, who encourages you in difficult moments and never abandons you. In prayer, in dialogue with him, in the reading of the Bible, you will discover that he is truly close to you. And learn, as well, to read the signs of God in your lives. He always speaks to us, even through the facts of our age and of our daily existence; it is up to us to listen to him.
I do not want to be too long, but I would like to address a specific word also to the educators: the Jesuits, teachers, school staff and parents. Do not be discouraged before the difficulties that the educational challenge presents! Educating is not a job but an attitude, a way of being; to educate we need to step out of ourselves and stay among young people, to accompany them in the stages of their growth, placing ourselves at their side. Give them hope, optimism for their journey in the world. Teach them to see the beauty and the goodness of creation and of humanity, which always retain the imprint of the Creator. But most of all, be witnesses with your lives of that which you communicate. An educator – a Jesuit, teacher, school staff, parent – transmits knowledge and values with his words, but he will be incisive on the children if he accompanies his words with his witness, with the coherence of his life. Without coherence, it is not possible to educate! You are all educators, there are no proxies in this field. Therefore, collaboration in a spirit of unity and community among the different educational components is essential and must be encouraged and nourished. The school can and must be a catalyst, the place of encounter and convergence for the entire educating community, with the sole objective of forming (youth), helping (them) to grow as mature persons, simple, competent and honest, and who know how to love with fidelity, who know how to live life as a response to the vocation of God and their future profession as a service to society. To Jesuits, then, I would like to say that it is important to nourish their commitment in the field of education. Schools are a precious instrument that make a contribution to the journey of the Church and of all of society. The educational field, then, is not limited to conventional schools. Encourage each other to seek new non-conventional forms of education, according to “the need of the places, times and people”.
Finally, a greeting to all of the alumni present, to the representatives of the Italian schools in the Fe y Alegria network, which I know well for the great work it does in South America, especially among the poorest classes. And a special greeting to the delegation of the Albanian College of Scutari which, after the long years of repression of religious institutions, in 1994 took up its activities once again, welcoming and educating Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim children and also some students born in agnostic families. In this way, school becomes a place of dialogue and serene encounter that promotes attitudes of respect, listening, friendship and a spirit of collaboration.
Dear friends, I thank you all for this meeting. I entrust you to the maternal intercession of Mary and I accompany you with my blessing: the Lord be always near you, pick you up from your falls and urge you to grow and to make always greater choices “with great courage and generosity”, with magnanimity. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
POPE FRANCIS CELEBRATES "THE FEAST OF LOVE" ON SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Vatican Radio REPORT: It’s harder to open our hearts and let God love us than to love God in return. But the only way to really love Him is to love others, especially the poor. God is an expert in the science of tenderness and we should allow ourselves to be loved by Him. This was Pope Francis’ message at morning Mass Friday on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Francis referred to the solemnity as “the feast of love” of a “heart that loved so much” and repeated several times during his homily that Jesus loved us not with His words but with His deeds and his life. A love which, St. Ignatius said, "manifests itself more in deeds than in words" and that is especially "more giving than receiving." Pope Francis said "these two criteria are like the pillars of true love" and the Good Shepherd above all else represents the love of God. He knows His sheep by name, "because His is not an abstract or general love: it is love towards everyone ".
"A God who draws near out of love, walks with His people, and this walk comes to an unimaginable point. We could never have imagined that the same Lord would become one of us and walk with us, be present with us, present in His Church, present in the Eucharist, present in His Word, present in the poor, He is present, walking with us. And this is closeness: the shepherd close to his flock, close to his sheep, whom he knows, one by one. "
Reflecting on a passage from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Pope highlighted another aspect of God's love: caring for the lost, the wounded and the sick sheep:
"Tenderness! But the Lord loves us tenderly. The Lord knows that beautiful science of caresses, the tenderness of God. He does not love us with words. He comes close - closeness - and gives us His love with tenderness. Closeness and tenderness! The Lord loves us in these two ways, He draws near and gives all His love even in the smallest things: with tenderness. And this is a powerful love, because closeness and tenderness reveal the strength of God’s love”.
"But do you love each other as I have loved you?" Pope Francis asked this question of those present, emphasizing how love is "being close to others”, is "like that of the Good Samaritan" and in particular , in the sign of "closeness and tenderness". He also asked: How can we return all this love to the Lord? By "loving", by being "closer to Him," by being "tender with Him”, but this alone, he said, “is not enough”:
"This may sound like heresy, but it is the greatest truth! It is more difficult to let God love us, than to love Him! The best way to love Him in return is to open our hearts and let Him love us. Let Him draw close to us and feel Him close to us. This is really very difficult: letting ourselves be loved by Him. And that is perhaps what we need to ask today in the Mass: 'Lord, I want to love You, but teach me the difficult science, the difficult habit of let ting myself be loved by You, to feel You close and feel Your tenderness ! May the Lord give us this grace. "
Friday’s Mass was concelebrated by the Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, and Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, Msgr. Sergio Pagano. It was attended by employees of the Vatican Secret Archives.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
"Laborers for the Harvest" prayer by Pope John Paul II
Jesus, Good Shepherd, raise up in all parish communities, priest and deacons, religious, consecrated lay people and missionaries according to the needs of the whole world, which You love and want to save.
We entrust to You in a particular way our parish community; create in it the spiritual atmosphere of the first Christians in order that it may be a cenacle of prayer where we lovingly receive the Holy Spirit and His gifts.
Assist our pastors and all consecrated souls. Guide the steps of those who have generously welcomed Your call and prepared themselves for Holy Orders or the Profession of the Evangelical Counsels.
Direct Your loving gaze to the many well-disposed young people and invite them to follow You. Help them to understand that only in You they can achieve their fulfillment.
We entrust these great desires of Your Heart to the powerful intercession of Mary, Mother and model of all vocations, and beg You to sustain our faith in the certainty that the Father will listen to what You Yourself have instructed us to ask for.
Amen.
FREE CATHOLIC MOVIES - GRACE, GUTS AND GLORY - ST. FRANCIS XAVIER - WATCH
IN HONOR OF THE YEAR OF FAITH JCE NEWS will be showing some of the Best Catholic Films of all time. Here is the drama of GRACE, GUTS AND GLORY - The Life of St. Francis Xavier, in English :
A film on the life of Saint Francis Xavier of Goa (1506-1552), the apostle to India, Indonesia and Japan. A great miracle worker (resurrected people from the dead, communicated after death etc.) He died in China. One of the greatest Catholic saints of all times, whose body remains incorrupt (does not disintegrate) since the 16th century and is kept in the Catholic Cathedral in Goa, India. Saint Francis Xavier was Spanish Jesuit, follower of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Modern Pope Francis is also Jesuit.
A film on the life of Saint Francis Xavier of Goa (1506-1552), the apostle to India, Indonesia and Japan. A great miracle worker (resurrected people from the dead, communicated after death etc.) He died in China. One of the greatest Catholic saints of all times, whose body remains incorrupt (does not disintegrate) since the 16th century and is kept in the Catholic Cathedral in Goa, India. Saint Francis Xavier was Spanish Jesuit, follower of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Modern Pope Francis is also Jesuit.
CARITAS PROVIDES RELIEF TO FLOODED PARTS OF EUROPE
IND. CATH. NEWS REPORT
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RIP BISHOP JOSEPH SULLIVAN OF BROOKLYN
DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN RELEASE
Honor and Remembrance of Most Rev. Joseph M. Sullivan 3/23/30 – 6/7/13
RETIRED AUXILIARY BISHOP JOSEPH SULLIVAN OF BROOKLYN DIES AT 83
After a three-year period as a newly-ordained priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Queens Village, he was assigned to study social work, and in l961 he earned a master’s degree from the Fordham University School of Social Work. In that same year, he was appointed assistant director of Catholic Charities’ childcare division and four years later was named the director. Bishop Sullivan also earned a master’s in public administration from New York University. In 1968, when Bishop Francis J. Mugavero became the Diocesan Bishop, he chose then–Father Sullivan to succeed him as the executive director of Catholic Charities and appointed him Secretary to the Ordinary for Charities. He was elected executive vice-president of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities in l979. In the following year, on Oct. 7, 1980, he was one of three Brooklyn priests named Auxiliary Bishops by then Pope John Paul II. The others were late Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua and Bishop Rene A. Valero. Bishop–elect Sullivan was also given the title of Titular Bishop of Suliana. As an auxiliary bishop, Bishop Sullivan held the titles of Vicar for Human Services and Regional Bishop for the 62 parishes of the Brooklyn West Vicariate.
Other pastoral work in which Bishop Sullivan helped serve were health care issues and needs, where he played an instrumental role in the formation of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers, which joined the hospitals and related facilities of the Diocese with similar institutions conducted by the New York Sisters of Charity. Bishop Sullivan has served on numerous Church and civic boards concerned with health and human services on the national, State and local levels. These have included the chairmanship of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens and membership on the board of Catholic Charities USA. Also included in his activities outside the Diocese has been his service as chairman of the Social Development and World Peace Department of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In the late 1990s, he chaired an ad hoc committee that produced a pastoral letter on charity — “In All Things Charity: A Pastoral Challenge for the New Millennium” — approved by the U.S. bishops in November 1999. He said the message was intended “to reclaim the meaning of charity,” which he said had become a pejorative term in modern society. Bishop Sullivan is survived by his sisters Betty, Dolly and Fran, and brothers John, Pete and Ralph; he has over 100 nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews. He was predeceased by his brothers Gerard, Richard, Thomas and William. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be released as they become available.
Honor and Remembrance of Most Rev. Joseph M. Sullivan 3/23/30 – 6/7/13
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn mourn his passing
Retired Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Most Reverend Joseph M. Sullivan, died June 7, 2013, after a May 30th car accident on the Long Island Expressway in Syosset, New York. Bishop Sullivan was critically injured in the three-car collision and was immediately airlifted to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, New York. He died from injuries sustained from the impact.
REMEMBRANCE – Most Rev. Joseph M. Sullivan
It was a ten day
Showing off God’s creation
Crystal clear, blue sky, sunny,
Cool breezes lifting one’s spirit
A day that the Lord had made
A day to rejoice and be glad
Suddenly the sense of well being was shattered
Tragedy – a plane hits the North Tower
Onlookers gazed at the accident
Human error was suspected
And then another plane plunges into the Twin Tower
Naivete is stripped of its innocence
Mind was anesthetized by such monstrous evil
Tongue was silenced by incomprehension
The steel Goliaths were fatally wounded
Planes became lethal furnaces
Stoked intentionally by suicide bombers
In succession these symbols of financial power
Melt and implode — proud towers brought to their knees
All is darkness and eerily quiet
Ashes shower pedestrians and streets with ghostly pallor
Terrorists seemingly achieved their purpose
Spreading a gospel of fear to freeze human hearts
A day of darkness — of retaliation
Minds warped by hate protest injustice
What madness, what evil — to seek good by doing evil
But there was more to 9/11 than death and destruction
A city arose above the rubble
A kind of heavenly Jerusalem
A mayor transformed — a shepherd
Leading his flock of firefighters, cops and rescue workers
To risk all — to lay down their lives for the unknown
Heroism was the standard of this day
None greater than the civil servants
who braved all obstacles
To liberate those incarcerated by steel and cement
Confusion, bewilderment rained on all
But clarity of purpose ordered action
To do one’s duty despite the odds
And though thousands perished
Tens of thousand were rescued
It would be days and months thereafter
That would witness to godly truth
Light scatters darkness
Good overcomes evil
Love conquers hate
A still greater love than to lay down
one’s life for a friend
To give one’s life for any other
Faith is not diminished — it is restored
Hope has its roots and wings
Charity is God among us
For where there is love — there is God
“We mourn the passing of Bishop Joseph Sullivan,” said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. “During his tenure, Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens became a nationally recognized provider of social services. Even in retirement, Bishop Joe continued to serve on many boards for Catholic hospitals and health institutions. He epitomized the best of our Church’s teaching and the fundamental option for the poor. He was an outstanding priest.”Bishop Sullivan was born on March 23, 1930, one of 11 children of the late Thomas and Margaret Sullivan. Bishop Sullivan attended St. Ephrem’s elementary school and St. Michael’s Diocesan High School, both in Brooklyn, and Manhattan College. In 1950, he began studies for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, L.I., and was ordained June 2, 1956, by Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy in St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn.
After a three-year period as a newly-ordained priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Queens Village, he was assigned to study social work, and in l961 he earned a master’s degree from the Fordham University School of Social Work. In that same year, he was appointed assistant director of Catholic Charities’ childcare division and four years later was named the director. Bishop Sullivan also earned a master’s in public administration from New York University. In 1968, when Bishop Francis J. Mugavero became the Diocesan Bishop, he chose then–Father Sullivan to succeed him as the executive director of Catholic Charities and appointed him Secretary to the Ordinary for Charities. He was elected executive vice-president of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities in l979. In the following year, on Oct. 7, 1980, he was one of three Brooklyn priests named Auxiliary Bishops by then Pope John Paul II. The others were late Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua and Bishop Rene A. Valero. Bishop–elect Sullivan was also given the title of Titular Bishop of Suliana. As an auxiliary bishop, Bishop Sullivan held the titles of Vicar for Human Services and Regional Bishop for the 62 parishes of the Brooklyn West Vicariate.
Other pastoral work in which Bishop Sullivan helped serve were health care issues and needs, where he played an instrumental role in the formation of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers, which joined the hospitals and related facilities of the Diocese with similar institutions conducted by the New York Sisters of Charity. Bishop Sullivan has served on numerous Church and civic boards concerned with health and human services on the national, State and local levels. These have included the chairmanship of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens and membership on the board of Catholic Charities USA. Also included in his activities outside the Diocese has been his service as chairman of the Social Development and World Peace Department of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In the late 1990s, he chaired an ad hoc committee that produced a pastoral letter on charity — “In All Things Charity: A Pastoral Challenge for the New Millennium” — approved by the U.S. bishops in November 1999. He said the message was intended “to reclaim the meaning of charity,” which he said had become a pejorative term in modern society. Bishop Sullivan is survived by his sisters Betty, Dolly and Fran, and brothers John, Pete and Ralph; he has over 100 nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews. He was predeceased by his brothers Gerard, Richard, Thomas and William. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be released as they become available.
Education:
• In 1950, Bishop Sullivan began studies for the priesthood at Immaculate
Conception Seminary in Huntington, L.I., and was ordained June 2, 1956
• In l961, Bishop Sullivan earned a master’s degree from the Fordham
University School of Social Work
• Bishop Sullivan also earned a master’s in public administration from New
York University.
Organizations & Affiliations:
• Bishop Sullivan’s leadership was instrumental in expanding Catholic
Charities into a vast network of services with over 160 programs and
services throughout Brooklyn and Queens. First appointed to Catholic
Charities in 1959, Bishop Sullivan served as Executive Director from 1968 to
1979.
• In 1959, he was appointed to Catholic Charities and was named Executive
Director in 1968 and served in that capacity until 1979.
• Bishop Sullivan served as President and Member of the Board of Trustees
(2004-2010) of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
• Bishop Sullivan led the Cadre Study in the 1970s, a renewed Catholic
Charities Movement (commonly known as the Cadre Study) with its triple
goals of quality service to people in need, humanizing and transforming
society, and calling the larger church and society to join the National
Conference of Catholic Charities (now Catholic Charities USA) in this struggle.
• He was the Chair of the Board of Trustees (1974-1975) and Episcopal
Liaison (1982-2000) of Catholic Charities USA and was a member of the 20th
Century Task Force on Housing.
• He also served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Community
Council of Greater New York, and President of Fidelis Care, New York.
• As an auxiliary bishop, Bishop Sullivan held the titles of Vicar for Human
Services and Regional Bishop for the 62 parishes of the Brooklyn West
Vicariate.
• He played an instrumental role in the formation of St. Vincent’s Catholic
Medical Centers, which joined the hospitals and related facilities of the
Diocese with similar institutions conducted by the New York Sisters of
Charity.
• Bishop Sullivan has served on numerous Church and civic boards concerned
with health and human services on the national, State and local levels. These
have included the chairmanship of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn
and Queens and membership on the board of Catholic Charities USA.
• He served chairman of the Social Development and World Peace Department
of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• In the late 1990s, he chaired an ad hoc committee that produced a pastoral
letter on charity — “In All Things Charity: A Pastoral Challenge for the New
Millennium” — approved by the U.S. bishops in November 1999. He said the
message was intended “to reclaim the meaning of charity,” which he said had
become a pejorative term in modern society.
• He served on the New York State Commission on Health Care Facilities in
the 21st Century and United Hospital Fund’s Leadership Committee for the
Strategic Health Initiatives for New York.
• He has served on various committees of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, New York State Catholic Conference, and numerous health
and social service organizations.
• He was the past Chairperson of the Catholic Health Association Board of
Trustees and served on the Boards of Sisters of Mercy Health System in St.
Louis, United Hospital Fund, Health and Hospitals Corporation of the City
of New York, Health System Agency of New York City and New York State
Healthcare Trustees. He was a board member of Milbank Memorial Fund,
North Fork Bank Foundation and Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
Awards:
• In 2009, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens honored Bishop Sullivan
with the prestigious Bishop’s Humanitarian Award.
MOB OF 60 EXTREMISTS ATTACKS SEMINARY AND BEATS PRIEST IN BANGLADESH
ASIA NEWS REPORT
raid seminary, attacking rector and some students
A mob of about sixty people attacked the building, violently beating Fr. Uzzal and some seminarians. Previously they had attacked a tribal Catholic village, stealing cows, goats, utensils. And threatened to burn homes. On June 5, the parish of Tumilia under attack.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) - A mob of dozens has raided a seminary of the diocese of Dinajpur, northern Bangladesh, injuring the rector and a group of students inside the building at the time of the attack. The raid took place at 3 pm yesterday: about 60 local fanatics broke down the doors of the Jisu Niloy seminary, pouring inside the compound. The group targeted the rector Fr. Uzzal, surprised in his room while he was resting; the assailants knocked down his door and violently beat him and some students present at the time of the attack.
During the assault, the fanatics blocked the young students of the seminary and beat them with violence and brutality. The Jisu Niloy seminary is located Bolakipur and refers to Marimpur parish in the Diocese of Dinajpur.
Previously, the same mob had raided the nearby tribal village - Catholic majority - of Tivipara and Bagja. The assault occurred at 1 .30 pm, they plundered the inhabitants of 40 cows, 50 goats, a van, fruit and many other objects and utensils. Before leaving, the assailants threatened to come back the next night and burn the residents homes.
Most of the men fled the area for fear of new attacks, the women and children, however, have found refuge in the Catholic mission, where there are more security guarantees. The Catholics of the area belong to the tribal Santals, Urao, Mundas, Kharias and Malos.
Over the past few days there have been a wave of assaults and targeted violence against the Christian community in Bangladesh, a largely Muslim nation: June 5 it was the turn of the parish of Tumilia, which was attacked by extremists. The parish priest Fr. Abel was beaten and robbed, along with another priest.
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed)
raid seminary, attacking rector and some students
A mob of about sixty people attacked the building, violently beating Fr. Uzzal and some seminarians. Previously they had attacked a tribal Catholic village, stealing cows, goats, utensils. And threatened to burn homes. On June 5, the parish of Tumilia under attack.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) - A mob of dozens has raided a seminary of the diocese of Dinajpur, northern Bangladesh, injuring the rector and a group of students inside the building at the time of the attack. The raid took place at 3 pm yesterday: about 60 local fanatics broke down the doors of the Jisu Niloy seminary, pouring inside the compound. The group targeted the rector Fr. Uzzal, surprised in his room while he was resting; the assailants knocked down his door and violently beat him and some students present at the time of the attack.
During the assault, the fanatics blocked the young students of the seminary and beat them with violence and brutality. The Jisu Niloy seminary is located Bolakipur and refers to Marimpur parish in the Diocese of Dinajpur.
Previously, the same mob had raided the nearby tribal village - Catholic majority - of Tivipara and Bagja. The assault occurred at 1 .30 pm, they plundered the inhabitants of 40 cows, 50 goats, a van, fruit and many other objects and utensils. Before leaving, the assailants threatened to come back the next night and burn the residents homes.
Most of the men fled the area for fear of new attacks, the women and children, however, have found refuge in the Catholic mission, where there are more security guarantees. The Catholics of the area belong to the tribal Santals, Urao, Mundas, Kharias and Malos.
Over the past few days there have been a wave of assaults and targeted violence against the Christian community in Bangladesh, a largely Muslim nation: June 5 it was the turn of the parish of Tumilia, which was attacked by extremists. The parish priest Fr. Abel was beaten and robbed, along with another priest.
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed)
NEW SEMINARY BUILDING BLESSED BY BISHOP FISCHER IN AUSTRALIA
DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA REPORT
Address: Blessing of a New Seminary building, Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park, Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Sunday 26 May 2013
Address of Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP - Blessing of a New Seminary building, Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park, Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Sunday 26 May 2013
Listen at Bishop Anthony’s podcasts
Listen at iTunes
Download an audio file of this AddressThere is a delicious irony in young men discerning their vocations, along with leading lay people, seminarians, clergy and bishop gathering here today to bless a new seminary building. The first owner of this land, after God and its Aboriginal custodians, the builder of Kenilworth, was Mr Jack McCreedie. A wealthy merchant and amateur astronomer, he went to great lengths to keep the good Lord out of here, even declaring in his will that no portion of it could ever be associated with the Church of Rome and its popish pomps. Yet here we are.
When McCreedie’s land went up for auction in 1926, a group of Catholics, led by the parish priest of Granville, Rev Dr PJ Sheehy, successfully raised the funds to buy it. Fr Sheehy then invited the Sisters of Mercy to inhabit the precinct, so they might have an outpost from their Parramatta convent, and could establish a school and novitiate. A hall was soon erected that became Blessed Oliver Plunkett church and school. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day 1929, just as the Great Depression was setting in, but the nuns and Catholic community were undeterred.
During the renovations a carpenter discovered a bottle in a closed fireplace. In it were parchment-wrapped statuettes of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Mother, apparently dropped down the chimney some years before by Catholics aspiring to have a place of their own. By the time Plunkett was canonised in 1976 the site had become Mary’s Mount in popular parlance, St Oliver’s was a parish in its own right, and there’d been many improvements. The anti-Catholic McCreedie had comprehensively failed to impose his will from the grave and a rather different Will was clearly operative. The popery of the priest, nuns and laity had by now seeped deeply into the land and stones.
Though the building passed out of Church hands for a time and became the Conservatorium High School, we eventually bought it back in 2011 and have now modified it as the common spaces for our seminary, including the chapel, reception and parlour, library, study and classrooms, refectory and kitchens, offices for the Rector and Vice-Rector, recreation room and amenities. For this work I acknowledge Mr Michael Digges, our excellent Diocesan Business Manager, who has led the present development, Mr John O’Brien the architect and SydneySyders the builders.
Today I want to pay particular tribute to Fr Arthur Bridge, the Parish Priest of Harris Park, and the parish, who have been so cooperative with this venture and who recognise that enabling the training of future priests is an investment in the future of their parish and the whole Diocese of Parramatta. Likewise, I want to thank the Rector of Holy Spirit Seminary, Fr John Hogan, and the seminarians for being so patient and understanding through the overcrowding of the site at St Marys while a new site has been identified, purchased and improved; I expect a similar generous patience as they enjoy this new facility while living in temporary accommodation. I also want to acknowledge Kieran Lahey, the Diocesan Property Manager, who has managed Stage One of our project.
In due course, and by the grace of benefactors, Stage Two will see us build enough rooms for our present seminarians and for some more. Some more, I say, because this seminary is a symbol of our confidence that the recent increase in vocations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Parramatta will continue. For this I recognise the contribution of Fr Warren Edwards, our Director of Priestly Vocations, and all our clergy for they are all vocations promoters. The renovation and erection of these new premises seconds the decision of Bishop Kevin Manning who, with the support of our priests, had the courage to establish the temporary seminary in a suburban house(s) in St Marys. As it now moves from one Mary’s Mount to another, we pray that Mary the Mother of Priests will intercede and protect this new project which is a powerful expression of the love of Christ and His Church for the people of Western Sydney.I, for one, am very proud of our seminarians, their Rector and formators. I think they have built a genuinely fraternal community that is serious about and effective in spiritual, human, intellectual and pastoral formation. This is also a real community of prayer. It is a healthy place for young men to grow up in faith and virtue while discerning their vocation. There is a strong sense of priestly identity here and I think it is bearing real fruit.
St Paul once asked, “How are people to call upon Christ if they don’t believe in Him? And how are they to believe in Him if they’ve never heard of Him? And how are they to hear of Him without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14) In the Gospel passage we just heard (Mt 9:35-37) Christ the Preacher was out on mission, touring the towns, preaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Good News. This new seminary must be a powerhouse of Gospel preaching, and so of the spiritual and intellectual formation that makes that possible, where the Word of God and the teachings of the Church are presented and studied, prayed and contemplated. From here will emerge a large part of the preaching of the next generation within this Diocese. But words will not be enough. Here you must lay foundations for a life of continued growing in holiness, so that people may see that you believe what you read in the Gospels, that you teach what you believe and that you practice what you teach. The harvest is plentiful, the Lord says today; there are souls like fruit ripe for picking.
Souls like fruit ripe for picking; but also harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. The Church and the rest of humanity need men who are not only intellectually and spiritually well-formed, but also humanly and pastorally. Men of passion and practicality who will take on the real challenges, as Fr Sheehy and his parishioners did, as the nuns who came next did. Priests who will not stay at home waiting for the world to come to them, but will get out there among God’s people like Christ in our Gospel passage, bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ, spending themselves completely in service.
As Pope Francis said in his Chrism Mass homily this year, priests need to live “with the smell of the sheep” and the fish, as “shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men.” While I favour high standards of hygiene amongst my seminarians and clergy, I accept the Holy Father’s thought that we must be willing to risk getting our spiritual and emotional hands dirty, risk sweating from the sheer hard slog of the pastoral life, risk confronting the things that stink about our world, risk getting up ‘close and personal’ with those in pastoral need. If our desire for monastic tranquillity or our willingness for celibacy is really driven by fear of people, then priesthood is not for us. Celibacy is, of course, about self-gift; it is the ink with which some people write of their undivided love for God and His people. And priesthood is that most exciting of self-gifts, conforming oneself to Christ the Priest who ‘celebrated the greatest and only Mass’ from the Cross amidst the blood and gore, the spittle and mud.
Our seminary is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. There used to be an Octave celebrated after Whitsun: like Easter and Christmas, Pentecost was thought so important it needed a week of days. Well, instead of an Octave we offer the Holy Spirit a seminary full of His devotees. Paul reminds us in our first reading today (I Cor 1:26-2:5) that we rely in the end not on the wisdom of this world or the fashions of the age, not even on the best of human thinking, but on the power of the Holy Spirit.
St Thomas Aquinas, my beloved Dominican brother, perhaps the greatest theologian in history and the patron saint of sacred science, declared at the end of his life that all he had written was just so much straw compared to the glory he had glimpsed in a vision of God. As my special gift to our seminarians today, in addition to this new house, I entrust to their care a relic of St Thomas Aquinas. I pray that he will guide you in your studies and teach you the humility to rely, as he did, on the Holy Spirit. Within these walls, as you come to a deeper knowledge of God and yourselves, you must ask for that Wisdom that comes from above. With the grace of the Holy Spirit you will get over the sense of your own unworthiness for this great calling, not because you come to think yourselves worthy, God forbid, but because you will come to know Christ’s love for His priests and the power of His Spirit operative around you and within you.
Can a dozen seminarians change the world, or at least the Parramatta end of the world? Well, a dozen confused, ordinary blokes cowering in the upper room at the first Pentecost were made by the Holy Spirit into apostles to the nations, foundations for an irrepressible Church. We need such apostles for Western Sydney and we need a place where the Holy Spirit may prepare and propel, inspire and enlighten, soften and harden, inflame and soothe them. Together with our existing priests, we will do great things together for Christ in the Spirit! May the Most Holy Trinity who has begun this good work bring it to completion!
Go to Holy Spirit Seminary Harris Park Blessing Photo Gallery
2013
Address: Blessing of a New Seminary building, Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park, Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Sunday 26 May 2013 |
| Photography: Alphonsus Fok & Grace Lu |
Listen to Bishop Anthony’s Address
Listen at Bishop Anthony’s podcasts
Listen at iTunes
Download an audio file of this AddressThere is a delicious irony in young men discerning their vocations, along with leading lay people, seminarians, clergy and bishop gathering here today to bless a new seminary building. The first owner of this land, after God and its Aboriginal custodians, the builder of Kenilworth, was Mr Jack McCreedie. A wealthy merchant and amateur astronomer, he went to great lengths to keep the good Lord out of here, even declaring in his will that no portion of it could ever be associated with the Church of Rome and its popish pomps. Yet here we are.When McCreedie’s land went up for auction in 1926, a group of Catholics, led by the parish priest of Granville, Rev Dr PJ Sheehy, successfully raised the funds to buy it. Fr Sheehy then invited the Sisters of Mercy to inhabit the precinct, so they might have an outpost from their Parramatta convent, and could establish a school and novitiate. A hall was soon erected that became Blessed Oliver Plunkett church and school. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day 1929, just as the Great Depression was setting in, but the nuns and Catholic community were undeterred.
During the renovations a carpenter discovered a bottle in a closed fireplace. In it were parchment-wrapped statuettes of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Mother, apparently dropped down the chimney some years before by Catholics aspiring to have a place of their own. By the time Plunkett was canonised in 1976 the site had become Mary’s Mount in popular parlance, St Oliver’s was a parish in its own right, and there’d been many improvements. The anti-Catholic McCreedie had comprehensively failed to impose his will from the grave and a rather different Will was clearly operative. The popery of the priest, nuns and laity had by now seeped deeply into the land and stones.
Though the building passed out of Church hands for a time and became the Conservatorium High School, we eventually bought it back in 2011 and have now modified it as the common spaces for our seminary, including the chapel, reception and parlour, library, study and classrooms, refectory and kitchens, offices for the Rector and Vice-Rector, recreation room and amenities. For this work I acknowledge Mr Michael Digges, our excellent Diocesan Business Manager, who has led the present development, Mr John O’Brien the architect and SydneySyders the builders.
A genuinely fraternal community
 |
| Photo: Alphonsus Fok & Grace Lu |
In due course, and by the grace of benefactors, Stage Two will see us build enough rooms for our present seminarians and for some more. Some more, I say, because this seminary is a symbol of our confidence that the recent increase in vocations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Parramatta will continue. For this I recognise the contribution of Fr Warren Edwards, our Director of Priestly Vocations, and all our clergy for they are all vocations promoters. The renovation and erection of these new premises seconds the decision of Bishop Kevin Manning who, with the support of our priests, had the courage to establish the temporary seminary in a suburban house(s) in St Marys. As it now moves from one Mary’s Mount to another, we pray that Mary the Mother of Priests will intercede and protect this new project which is a powerful expression of the love of Christ and His Church for the people of Western Sydney.I, for one, am very proud of our seminarians, their Rector and formators. I think they have built a genuinely fraternal community that is serious about and effective in spiritual, human, intellectual and pastoral formation. This is also a real community of prayer. It is a healthy place for young men to grow up in faith and virtue while discerning their vocation. There is a strong sense of priestly identity here and I think it is bearing real fruit.
St Paul once asked, “How are people to call upon Christ if they don’t believe in Him? And how are they to believe in Him if they’ve never heard of Him? And how are they to hear of Him without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14) In the Gospel passage we just heard (Mt 9:35-37) Christ the Preacher was out on mission, touring the towns, preaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Good News. This new seminary must be a powerhouse of Gospel preaching, and so of the spiritual and intellectual formation that makes that possible, where the Word of God and the teachings of the Church are presented and studied, prayed and contemplated. From here will emerge a large part of the preaching of the next generation within this Diocese. But words will not be enough. Here you must lay foundations for a life of continued growing in holiness, so that people may see that you believe what you read in the Gospels, that you teach what you believe and that you practice what you teach. The harvest is plentiful, the Lord says today; there are souls like fruit ripe for picking.
Souls like fruit ripe for picking; but also harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. The Church and the rest of humanity need men who are not only intellectually and spiritually well-formed, but also humanly and pastorally. Men of passion and practicality who will take on the real challenges, as Fr Sheehy and his parishioners did, as the nuns who came next did. Priests who will not stay at home waiting for the world to come to them, but will get out there among God’s people like Christ in our Gospel passage, bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ, spending themselves completely in service.
As Pope Francis said in his Chrism Mass homily this year, priests need to live “with the smell of the sheep” and the fish, as “shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men.” While I favour high standards of hygiene amongst my seminarians and clergy, I accept the Holy Father’s thought that we must be willing to risk getting our spiritual and emotional hands dirty, risk sweating from the sheer hard slog of the pastoral life, risk confronting the things that stink about our world, risk getting up ‘close and personal’ with those in pastoral need. If our desire for monastic tranquillity or our willingness for celibacy is really driven by fear of people, then priesthood is not for us. Celibacy is, of course, about self-gift; it is the ink with which some people write of their undivided love for God and His people. And priesthood is that most exciting of self-gifts, conforming oneself to Christ the Priest who ‘celebrated the greatest and only Mass’ from the Cross amidst the blood and gore, the spittle and mud.
Our seminary is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. There used to be an Octave celebrated after Whitsun: like Easter and Christmas, Pentecost was thought so important it needed a week of days. Well, instead of an Octave we offer the Holy Spirit a seminary full of His devotees. Paul reminds us in our first reading today (I Cor 1:26-2:5) that we rely in the end not on the wisdom of this world or the fashions of the age, not even on the best of human thinking, but on the power of the Holy Spirit.
St Thomas Aquinas, my beloved Dominican brother, perhaps the greatest theologian in history and the patron saint of sacred science, declared at the end of his life that all he had written was just so much straw compared to the glory he had glimpsed in a vision of God. As my special gift to our seminarians today, in addition to this new house, I entrust to their care a relic of St Thomas Aquinas. I pray that he will guide you in your studies and teach you the humility to rely, as he did, on the Holy Spirit. Within these walls, as you come to a deeper knowledge of God and yourselves, you must ask for that Wisdom that comes from above. With the grace of the Holy Spirit you will get over the sense of your own unworthiness for this great calling, not because you come to think yourselves worthy, God forbid, but because you will come to know Christ’s love for His priests and the power of His Spirit operative around you and within you.
Can a dozen seminarians change the world, or at least the Parramatta end of the world? Well, a dozen confused, ordinary blokes cowering in the upper room at the first Pentecost were made by the Holy Spirit into apostles to the nations, foundations for an irrepressible Church. We need such apostles for Western Sydney and we need a place where the Holy Spirit may prepare and propel, inspire and enlighten, soften and harden, inflame and soothe them. Together with our existing priests, we will do great things together for Christ in the Spirit! May the Most Holy Trinity who has begun this good work bring it to completion!
Go to Holy Spirit Seminary Harris Park Blessing Photo Gallery
SHARED FROM DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA
WHAT IS THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS - SOLEMNITY - NOVENA - LITANY - PRAYER
TODAY, June 7, 2013, is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been evident for many centuries under different forms. However, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation Nun of the monastery of Paray-le-Monial, France received visions of the Sacred Heart and spread its devotion with this feast. Jesus appeared asking for a devotion of expiatory love and frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour.
In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church. On 11 June, 1899, by order of Pope Leo XIII, all peoples were solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart. It is annually celebrated on the Friday 19 days after Pentecost.
12 Promises of Jesus given in the Vision
4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
12. I promise thee in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that its all-powerful Love will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of Nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
Lord Jesus Christ, we consecrate ourselves to You today, each one of us, and all of us together as a family. Your Sacred Heart, the heart of your crucified and risen Body, is the ever living source of mercy and grace, hope and love for all of us. We desire to pledge ourselves and our lives to You in return.
Teach us to be always united with You, through Your Holy Spirit in mind and heart, in all our thoughts, words, deeds, joy and sufferings. Grant that we may ever know You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly.
We wish to share in Your redeeming work in our world: that your Father's will may truly be done on earth as it is in heaven, that the civilization of justice and love may thus be built up in our land.
Heart of Jesus, help us to keep sin away from our lives. Help us to keep loving, serving and forgiving each other. Live in our hearts and in our homes always, Make us wholly Yours.
With Your Mother's Immaculate Heart, we renew our consecration to Your Sacred Heart, for the ever greater glory of the Father in Heaven, Amen.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, be with us and bless us now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
Padre Pio's Sacred Heart Novena
I. O my Jesus, You said "verily I say to You, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you", behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
II. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you", behold in your name I ask the Father for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
III. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away", behold I encouraged by your infallible words, now ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
O sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your and our tender Mother.
Say the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) and add, St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us
In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church. On 11 June, 1899, by order of Pope Leo XIII, all peoples were solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart. It is annually celebrated on the Friday 19 days after Pentecost.
12 Promises of Jesus given in the Vision
1. I will give them graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles. 4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
12. I promise thee in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that its all-powerful Love will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of Nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART
FOR INDIVIDUAL FAMILIES
FOR INDIVIDUAL FAMILIES
Lord Jesus Christ, we consecrate ourselves to You today, each one of us, and all of us together as a family. Your Sacred Heart, the heart of your crucified and risen Body, is the ever living source of mercy and grace, hope and love for all of us. We desire to pledge ourselves and our lives to You in return.
Teach us to be always united with You, through Your Holy Spirit in mind and heart, in all our thoughts, words, deeds, joy and sufferings. Grant that we may ever know You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly.
We wish to share in Your redeeming work in our world: that your Father's will may truly be done on earth as it is in heaven, that the civilization of justice and love may thus be built up in our land.
Heart of Jesus, help us to keep sin away from our lives. Help us to keep loving, serving and forgiving each other. Live in our hearts and in our homes always, Make us wholly Yours.
With Your Mother's Immaculate Heart, we renew our consecration to Your Sacred Heart, for the ever greater glory of the Father in Heaven, Amen.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, be with us and bless us now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
Padre Pio's Sacred Heart Novena
This powerful prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who recommended themselves to his prayers:
I. O my Jesus, You said "verily I say to You, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you", behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
II. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you", behold in your name I ask the Father for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
III. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away", behold I encouraged by your infallible words, now ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
O sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your and our tender Mother.
Say the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) and add, St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : FRI. JUNE 7,2013 - SACRED HEART SOLEMNITY
Ezekiel 34: 11 - 16
11
"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
12
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
13
And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14
I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
15
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.
16
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.
| Psalms 23: 1 - 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TODAY'S SAINT : JUNE 7 : ST. ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER
St. Robert of Newminster
CISTERCIAN ABBOT
Feast: June 7
Information:
| He was a native of Yorkshire, and even in his childhood an enemy to the usual amusements of that age, loving only prayer, serious reading, and useful and pious employments. Having finished his studies, he was ordained priest, and instituted to a rectorship of a parish in the diocese of York; but after discharging that office some time with great assiduity and zeal, he resigned that living, and took the religious habit in the Benedictine monastery of our Lady in York. Richard, the prior of this house, and twelve others, desiring to serve God according to the primitive institute of the Benedictine Order, left the monastery, with leave of the abbot, and endeavoring to execute their project, struggled with incredible hardships; till Thurstan, the pious archbishop of York, gave them a desert valley, called Scheldale, with the town of Sutton, where, in the midst of winter, and in extreme poverty they founded the celebrated abbey which, from certain springs, was called Fountains, in 1132. The Cistercian Order, which had been lately introduced into England, and settled at Rievalle, was perfectly agreeable to the fervent dispositions of this holy colony; and at their request the monastery of Fountains was received into it by St. Bernard, who in his letters extols the perfection and sanctity of this new nursery of saints, which, from the beginning, was a model to the whole order for devotion, austerity in fasts, labor, by which all the monks procured their subsistence, fervor in all religious exercises, and cheerfulness in singing assiduously the divine praises. No murmur or sadness was known among them; nor any strife or contention ever heard of, unless of charity or humility: they never yielded to rest, till fatigued with labor; and always came hungry from their slender table, which was chiefly furnished with pulse and roots from their garden. St. Robert seemed so far to eclipse the rest of this holy company by the lustre of his piety, that they all had their eyes on him in their religions duties, and studied to transcribe his fervor in their actions. Ranulph of Merley, baron of Morpeth, paying a visit to the monastery of Fountains five years after its foundation, was so struck with the edifying deportment of the terrestrial angels who inhabited it, that he obtained of the abbot Richard a certain number of those monks, and built for them a monastery called Newminster, near Morpeth, in Northumberland, in 1137, of which St. Robert was appointed abbot. The saint in his new dignity thought it his duty not only to walk before his brethren, but to go beyond them all in every religious observance; and all his virtues seemed to receive new vigor, and a new degree of perfection in this eminent station. His affection to holy prayer is not to be expressed. He recommended to God continually those committed to his care, and with many tears poured forth his soul for them night and day. He was favored with the gift of prophecy and miracles. He founded another monastery a Pipinelle, or Rivebelle, in Northamptonshire, and lived in the strictest union of holy friendship with St. Bernard; also with St. Godric, a holy hermit in those parts, illiterate as to secular learning, but a most spiritual man. St. Robert finished his course by a happy death on the 7th of June, 1159. Miracles attested his sanctity to the world. He is named in the Roman Martyrology. |
source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/R/strobertofnewminster.asp#ixzz1x6nU0Gif
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