This past week we had the privilege of celebrating the feast day of a mother and her son. On Thursday, August 27, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Monica. On the following day, the Church celebrated her son, St. Augustine. St. Augustine is recognized by many as one of the greatest and most prolific writers in the nearly 2000-year history of the Church. In fact, there is a saying that if someone claims to have read all of his writings, they would be lying.

But the Church would not have a St. Augustine without a St. Monica.
And that fact is true both on a natural level (which is obvious) and on a spiritual level. You see, St. Augustine was far from a saint in his early years. His mother saw that he was living an immoral life, but she supposedly had a vision that he would come back to the faith one day. With the hope given from that vision, she dedicated herself to prayer and fasting for her son. Finally, after 17 years of prayer, St. Augustine was finally baptized in Milan by another future saint, St. Ambrose.

There is a moving passage from the Confessions of St. Augustine, his spiritual autobiography, where he recounts a conversation he had with his mother as the end of her life drew near. He records the following words from his mother:

Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?

One of the greatest struggles faced by parents is the sadness they experience when their children have left the practice of the faith. If you, or somebody you know, is in that situation, I encourage you to ask the intercession of St. Monica for their loved ones. Her powerful prayers on earth helped to bring about one of the most important conversions in the life of the Church. From her place in Heaven, her prayers to the Lord on our behalf are even more powerful!

St. Monica, pray for us!

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

A little over a year ago, our seminarian Grant Wilson and I had a conversation about the possibility of his taking a Pastoral Year in the diocese. As you may know, seminarians in formation for the priesthood for our diocese study at seminaries located outside of the diocese, limiting their ability to connect with this local Church. And while Christmas and summer breaks offer the opportunity for these men to reconnect with their home diocese, it can still be difficult to get a good idea of what it is like to serve locally for more than a month or two at a time. In Grant’s case, he had not only been outside of the diocese for the past two years, he had been outside of the country, a practice in place for seminarians studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Suffice it to say that Grant was eager to be back home for more than just a summer, and we were glad to welcome him home for a more extended time.

During the past year, Grant has invested himself in various ministries here at the Cathedral. He has been involved in the ALPHA program, GriefShare, Family of Faith, and visits to the homebound, just to mention a few. He filled in on several occasions as Master of Ceremonies for Bishop Paprocki and was a regular presence for the various Cathedral liturgies. Grant shared in the common life of the Rectory by being present for prayer, meals, and other times of recreation with the clergy of the house. Over the past few months, he and Ryan Kehoe kept busy finding things to do, even as opportunities were limited due to the pandemic restrictions.

A couple of weeks ago, as he was preparing to conclude his Pastoral Year, Grant approached me to inform me that he had prayerfully come to the decision that he planned to step away from priestly formation for the time being. On the one hand, this was sad news as he has demonstrated so many fine qualities that would serve him and the faithful well as a priest. At the same time, I know Grant is at peace with his decision, knowing that it comes after having fully invested himself over the past year. He leaves the Cathedral and seminary formation a better man, and in that sense, this is not a loss for the Church, for I have no doubt Grant will continue to put the gifts he has developed in seminary and here at the Cathedral at the service of the Church in some fashion. In the end, God’s will is being done, which is all any of us should ever hope to do, and I fully believe that Grant is being obedient to what he believes God’s will is for him at this time in his life.

As Rector and Vocation Director for the diocese, I take this opportunity to thank Grant for his time here at the Cathedral over the past year, and for the several years of seminary formation with our diocese. I know that Father House, my predecessor as Rector, echoes these sentiments. We assure Grant of our prayers in thanksgiving for what he has shared with this Cathedral Parish for the past year and we pray for many blessings upon him in whatever lies ahead.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. 

“[F]or my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

(Is. 56:7)

These are the words we hear at the conclusion of our First Reading for this Sunday’s Mass. In the Old Testament, the Temple was the central place of worship, of it was there where God’s presence dwelled in a special way (cf. CCC 576). As Catholics, we also read this passage with the awareness that these words also apply to our churches, which serve as the central place of our prayer and worship of God. And God is present in a special way in our churches, even more than in the Temple of Jerusalem, for He is present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist in our tabernacles.

With that in mind, it is sometimes surprising to me that our churches remain largely empty for the vast majority of time throughout the week. Sure, we have masses when people gather together to pray, but what about the rest of the hours? Jesus makes Himself a prisoner in the tabernacle, patiently waiting for us to come to pay Him a visit, spending some time in prayerful adoration in the place where He dwells in a special way. And while it is true that we can (and should) pray anywhere, there is nowhere more special to pray than in a Catholic church.

If you have never taken the opportunity to stop into our Cathedral church during the day to pray, I highly encourage you to do so. The peace that we experience when we step into the silence of this temple can be a profound experience. And since it is a house of prayer, spend some time in prayer in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord. You could spend some time in prayerful thanksgiving for the blessings you have received. You could offer prayers for the various intentions for which family and friends have asked you to pray. You could pray a decade (or more) of the Rosary. You could read a chapter from the Gospels. Or consider this beautiful little story shared by St. John Vianney:

Listen well to this, my children. When I first came to Ars, there was a man who never passed the church without going in. In the morning on his way to work, and in the evening on his way home, he left his spade and pick-axe in the porch, and he spent a long time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Oh! how I loved to see that! I asked him once what he said to Our Lord during the long visits he made Him. Do you know what he told me? ‘Eh, Monsieur le Curé I say nothing to Him, I look at Him and He looks at me!’ How beautiful, my children, how beautiful!

Please know that this church is the Lord’s house, and He has made it a house of prayer for all peoples, especially we who are His sons and daughters. That makes this church your home, so please feel free to stop to pay a visit to the master of the house – He’s here waiting for you!

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.