In last week’s bulletin, I wrote about the Precepts of the Church, focusing on the first precept of the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.  I was pleased to see a good number of people in attendance for our masses on the Solemnity of the Assumption this past week, even though it was not a day of obligation this year due to its falling on a Monday.

Given that the concept of the Precepts of the Church may be new for some of you, or at least something you may have not considered in a while, I thought it might be a good idea to address the other precepts over the next few weeks.  For our review, the Catechism states the following about these precepts (emphasis added):

The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor. (CCC 2041)

Instead of just going from one precept to the next, I would like to jump to the fifth precept for our consideration this week: Providing for the needs of the Church.

In our Fourth Diocesan Synod, held in 2017, a prominent theme was that of stewardship.  The tenth declaration from the Synod summarizes what we mean by stewardship:

As a Diocese committed to discipleship and stewardship, the community of Catholic faithful recognizes that everything we have comes from God and that He has given us gifts not just to use them for ourselves but also to share them with others. As faithful and generous stewards of God’s abundant gifts, those committed to discipleship and stewardship as a way of life pledge to share their talents, give of their time and contribute proportionately from their financial resources for the good of the Church and those in need.

You will have noticed in last weekend’s bulletin a summary of our financial position which offers some insight into the good financial stewardship in our parish.  In most parishes, unfortunately, a large majority of the financial support comes from a relatively small number of parishioners.  In other words, let us not be too comfortable with where we are, but heed the invitation to prayerfully reflect on how the Lord is inviting us to be more generous in sharing from our abundance for the good of the Church – locally here at the Cathedral, and beyond.  In that regard, you will see some information in the bulletin about our mission appeal that will be taking place next weekend.  Supporting the good work of the sisters who will come to speak with us is an excellent way for us to live our stewardship for the good of the Universal Church.

Lest you think stewardship is only about money, notice how the definition also includes being stewards of our time and talent.  In that regard, we have noticed some disappointing declines in the number of liturgical ministers at our masses.  It is becoming more and more difficult to fill some of the slots we need in order to make for a good experience at each Mass.  In particular, we have a great need for greeters and ushers, especially at our 5:00 PM Sunday Mass, and for people to do the livestreaming at our 10:00 AM Sunday Mass.  Please contact Vicki Compton if you are willing to exercise your stewardship of time and talent in these or any liturgical role.  

Father Alford

Feast Day: August 16^th | Patron of Hungary, Kings, Stonemasons/Bricklayers, Protector against the Death of Children

This week we begin 1500 years before Stephen’s crown was returned to Hungary from Fort Knox, with the calendar now standing at about 440 AD. If you were unfortunate enough to be on the shore of the Danube river (so, modern-day Hungary) at that time, you would find yourself on the run from Attila the Hun, who was sacking Roman outposts as he swept down the river pillaging the entire Balkan peninsula with his army of horse archers. Attila would, a decade later, be stopped from sacking Rome by a word from Pope St. Leo I, but during this campaign he and his brother Bleda burned and pillaged pretty much every settlement except for Constantinople itself. Thankfully, if you survived their onslaught, the barbarian brothers would be long in the historical rearview-mirror 500 years later when the only reminder of their presence was perhaps a shadow of “Bleda” carried down in the name of the city of “Buda”.  In any case, ironically, all this means that if we were to stand along the Danube in 1945, or 445, or 945, we would have found ourselves each time surrounded by bloodthirsty pagan hordes, though different ones each time. 

In 945, to finally get closer to the time of St. Stephen, if we again were standing there on the Danube, we would now be bumping elbows with “the Hungarians”, a conglomeration of Magyar tribes originally from Mongolia, actually descendants of the same people from which Attila and Bleda had come from. These tribes had recently gained control of the Carpathian Basin by defeating and displacing the prior residents here, members of the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, East Francia, and Moravia (who had been weakened by their own internecine conflicts). Many more details could be found if you were to delve into the Church records of that time, for that is where most of this history was recorded.  The “Chronicle by George the Monk” contains the first known reference to the Hungarians. Their first raids are recorded in the “Annals of St. Bertin”. The succession of their kings, who we will now get to know, are given to us in an anonymous monk’s “Gesta Hungarorum”. Archbishop Theotmar, 300 miles west in Salzburg, wrote around 900 of the Moravians and Hungarians allying against the Germans. His diocese has been in existence for 400 years, so Christianity was well established there in Germany, at that time ruled Louis the German, the grandson of Charlemagne. Theotmar, though, would die in battle against the Hungarians in 907, before their conversion to the faith that he championed.

To get back to those seven different Magyar tribes. As they were taking over those lands within the Carpathian peninsula, they had chosen to unite under one of their chieftains, Álmos. Three other Khazar tribes, after an unsuccessful revolt against their Khagan [King] joined those seven, calling themselves together the “Ten Arrows” [“On-Ogur”, probably the origin of the name “Hungarian”], and choosing Álmos as their Grand Prince around 850 AD. They thus definitively left behind their loose obedience to the Khagan further east (and south), and started the Árpád Dynasty, which would last 450 years and would count 8 members of its line as Catholic saints or blesseds, though of course we’re not there just yet! Among the first six successors of Álmos, Christian names are nowhere to be found: Árpád, Zoltán, Fajsz, Taksony, Géza, and Vajk. Each, unfortunately, were in the main cruel pagan chieftains, with Géza, though he was baptized at some point and did allow missionaries into his kingdom, continuing to practice pagan rites and mercilessly murdering relatives who could act as rivals to his power.

But baptism did not leave Géza’s son unconverted. Named Vajk at his birth in Esztergom, 30 miles North of Budapest, the only son of Géza and Sarolt, would take the name Stephen (after that famous deacon-martyr of the early Church) upon his own baptism at the hand of St. Adalbert of Prague. Providentially, his pagan father would arrange Stephen’s marriage to Gisela, a Christian princess of Bavaria (daughter of Henry II, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, who had taken over the Germanic lands after the Carolingians had fallen from power. The Germans and Hungarians were now on better terms and this marriage was one of the acts that solidified that congenial relationship). With the help of Christian Knights from Germany, Stephen would solidify his reign over all the Hungarian tribes, and later, with the support of both Otto III (then Holy Roman Emperor) and the consecration of Pope Sylvester II, would became the first King of a united Hungary and was crowned either on December 25^th, 1000 AD, or January 1^st, 1001. (The records we have speak of his being crowned on the “first day of the second millennium” which could be interpreted by the dating of that time either way).

– Fr. Dominic Rankin was recalling last week a time he dressed up as St. Louis of France for Halloween, important to note was that his homemade crown also incorporated some sort of bucket to maintain its structural integrity.  It also made it far too small, and rather uncomfortable. St. Stephen’s crown is actually far too large to fit a normal human head, so they insert a leather pad between the crown and the king to be crowned, making it fit properly, and far more comfortable than my bucket.

As you may recall, last year we spent time focusing on the third section of the Catechism which addresses our moral life in Christ.  We considered the Commandments, the Beatitudes, virtues, etc.  But there is a topic that I do not recall our addressing:  the Precepts of the Church.  Let us right away address two questions:  what do we mean by the Precepts of the Church, and what are the precepts themselves?

Let’s give the definition for the Precepts of the Church according to the Catechism:

The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor. (CCC 2041)

Now for the list of the Precepts of the Church:

1. Attendance at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation
2. Confession of serious sin at least once a year
3. Reception of Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season
4. Observance of the days of fast and abstinence
5. Providing for the needs of the Church

For the purposes of this article, I want to focus on the first Precept of the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.  In particular, how do we apply this Precept in light of what the Church celebrates on Monday (August 15) – the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary?  The Church in certain areas (including ours) has decided that certain Holy Days of Obligation, when they fall on a Saturday or Monday, would have the obligation dispensed, meaning you do not have to go to Mass.

End of story, right?  Not so fast!  Let me draw your attention to an important word in the definition I gave above, that these precepts are “the very necessary minimum” for our lives as disciples.  Is that what we should be looking for in the practice of our faith?  The necessary minimum?  I hope the answer for us is no.  But how we react to the fact that we do not have to go to Mass on Monday likely does say something about where we stand on whether the minimum is good enough for us.  Is it that much of a burden for us to go to Mass two days in a row?  If our answer is yes, I am afraid the evidence points to our leaning toward the minimalist approach.  If that stings your conscience a little, pay attention to that.

At this point you might be thinking: “Father Alford is trying to guilt me into coming to Mass on Monday.”  You are free to make assumptions (no pun intended) about my motives, but my true intention is to invite you to consider where you at in your journey with the Lord.  The Solemnity of the Assumption just happens to be a convenient way of broaching the topic in an interesting way.  With the Precepts of the Church, the Church expects certain minimums from us, but when we truly love something or someone, why talk about minimums?  

Father Alford

This past Monday, the Church celebrated the Memorial of St. Dominic. St. Dominic happens to be one of the favorite saints of both myself and Fr. Rankin. I’ll let you figure out why! I came across this prayer which was written by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, who knew St. Dominic and succeeded him as the leader of the Dominican Order. He wrote it as one prayer, but because it is long, it is sometimes divided up for each day of the week. Because it is long, I am sharing this prayer over two weeks. This prayer can be found in a foldable PDF form at https://www.marburydominicannuns.org/prayer-of-bl-jordan-to-st-dominic/

Sunday

O blessed father, St. Dominic, most holy priest and glorious confessor of God; noble preacher of His word, to you do I cry. O virginal soul, chosen by the Lord, pleasing unto Him, and beloved above all others in your day; glorious alike for your life, your teaching, and your miracles, to you do I pray. I rejoice to know that I have you for my gracious advocate with the Lord our God. To you, whom I venerate with special devotion among all the saints and elect of God, to you do I cry from out of this vale of tears. O loving father, help, I beseech you, my sinful soul, not only lacking grace and virtue, but stained with many vices and sins.

Monday

Holy Dominic, man of God, may your soul, so happy among the blessed, help my soul so poor and needy. Not only for your own sake, but for the good of others also, did the grace of God enrich your soul with abundant blessings. God meant not only to raise you to the rest and peace of heaven and the glory of the saints, but likewise to draw innumerable souls to the same blessed state by the ex-ample of your wonderful life. God encouraged numberless souls by your loving advice. He has instructed them by your sweet teaching; He has excited them to virtue by your fervent preaching. Assist me, therefore, O blessed Dominic, and bow down the ear of your loving kindness to the voice of my supplication.

Tuesday

Behold, O holy father Dominic, my soul, poor and needy, flies to you for refuge. With all lowliness of mind I cast myself down before you. I desire to approach you as one sick: yea and sick unto death. Most earnestly do I beseech and implore you by your merits and loving intercession to hear and quicken my soul. Fill it with the abundance of your blessing.

Wednesday

I know in very truth and have the fullest certainty that you, holy father Dominic, are able to help my soul. I trust that in your great charity you do desire to succor me. I hope that in His infinite mercy our Savior will accomplish every-thing you shall ask. This hope of mine is firm, because of the greatness of that familiar love which even here below you bore to our Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved of your heart, “chosen out of thousands.” He will refuse you nothing. Whatsoever you shall ask you will surely obtain, for though He is your Lord, yet He is likewise your Friend. One so dearly beloved will deny nothing to him whom He loves so much. He will give all things to you, who lovingly left all things for His sake, and gave up your self and all you possessed for love of Him.

Part II

Last week, I shared the first half of a prayer to St. Dominic. Here is the second half. I invite you to pray this prayer for the Dominican Order, either all at once or spread out during the week. This prayer can be found in a foldable PDF form at https://www.marburydominicannuns.org/prayer-of-bl-jordan-to-st-dominic/

Thursday

O holy father Dominic, we praise you and venerate you, because you consecrated yourself to Jesus Christ. In the first flower of your age you dedicated your virgin soul to the comely Spouse of virgins. In your baptismal innocence, shining with the grace of the Holy Spirit, you devoted your soul in fervent love to the King of kings. From early youth you stood arrayed with the full armor of holy discipline. In the very morning of life you “disposed your heart to ascend by steps” unto God; you went “from strength to strength,” always advancing from good to better. Your body you offered as “a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing unto God.” Taught by divine wisdom, you consecrated yourself entirely to Him. Having once started on the way of holiness, never did you look back, but giving up all for Christ, who for us was stripped of all, you fol-lowed Him faithfully, choosing to have your treasure in heaven rather than on earth.

Friday

O holy father Dominic, steadfastly did you deny yourself. Manfully did you carry your cross. Valiantly did you plant your feet in the footprints of Him Who is in very truth our Savior and our Guide. All on fire with the flame of charity burning strongly in your fervent soul, you de-voted your whole self to God by the vow of poverty. You embraced it yourself and by the counsel of the Holy Spirit instituted the Order of Friars Preachers to carry out the strictest form of evangelical poverty. By the shining light of your merits and example you enlightened the whole Church. When God called you from the prison of the flesh to the court of heaven your soul went up into glory, and in shining raiment you now stand near to God as our advocate. Come then, I pray you, and help me, and not only myself, but all who are dear to me. Help likewise the clergy, the people, and the women consecrated to God. I ask with confidence, for you always zealously desired the salvation of all mankind. You, after the blessed Queen of virgins, are beyond all other saints my hope, my comfort, and my refuge. Bow down, then, in your mercy to help me, for to you do I fly, to you do I come and prostate myself at your feet.

Saturday

O holy father, I call upon you as my patron. Earnestly I pray to you, devoutly do I commend myself to you. Receive me graciously, I beseech you. Keep me, protect me, help me, that through your care I may be made worthy to obtain the grace of God that I desire, to receive mercy, and all remedies necessary for the health of my soul in this world and the next. Obtain this for me, O my master. Do this for me, O blessed Dominic, our father and leader. Assist me, I pray you, and all who call upon your name. Be unto us a Dominic, that is, a man of the Lord. Be a careful keeper of the Lord’s flock. Keep and govern us who have been committed to your care. Correct our lives, and reconcile us to God. After this exile is ended, present us joyfully to the beloved and exalted Son of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who, with the glorious Virgin Mary and all the court of heaven, dwells in honor, praise, glory, ineffable joy, and everlasting happiness, world without end. Amen.

Feast Day: August 16^th | Patron of Hungary, Kings, Stonemasons/Bricklayers, Protector against the Death of Children

We’ve got ourselves quite the story this week (and the next two weeks as well. This’ll be another three-part-er.) We begin our tale on January 6, 1978. On that feast of the Epiphany, the US Secretary of State, an Illinois Senator, a Nobel Prize Laureate, and a Catholic Monsignor stepped off a plane carrying an ancient crown… No joke here, the Secretary of State was Cyrus Vance (who carried the crown), the senator was Adlai Stevenson (of Illinois), with them was Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi (who discovered Vitamin C and had won the Nobel Prize for Medicine because of that discovery in 1937), and along as part of the delegation as well was Msgr. George Higgins (a Catholic priest ordained in Chicago, who had attended Vatican II and had since gained fame for his defending the rights of workers.) 

But this is where our story gets even crazier. These men, and a few others, had been sent by President Jimmy Carter to return to Hungary the 1000-year-old Holy Crown of St. Stephen that had been spirited out of that country in 1945 to save it from the Communists, and in the intervening 32 years it had been safeguarded at Fort Knox! History is stranger than fiction! A Hungarian Army Colonel, perhaps part of the Hungarian Crown Guard, on May 4^th, 1945, had handed a non-descript black bag containing that sacred crown and the other Hungarian crown-jewels, to an American Army Colonel of the U.S. 86^th Infantry, in order to get them away from Hungary, where they had been hidden (buried somewhere in the castle to keep them from the Nazi’s), but where it was now feared that the Communists, who were coming to power in Hungary, would eventually find them. The Americans smuggled them west, and got them safely out of Europe, eventually all the way to safekeeping with the US Gold Reserve. History is way stranger than fiction!

If you were to fly into the Budapest at night, as that delegation just had after a hasty refuel in England, you would see clearly lit below you an ancient city divided by the Danube river. On the western bank you would see the enormous and ancient Budávari castle surrounded now by communist architecture, the aftermath of the brutal annihilation of the city between Nazi and Soviet forces in 1944. On the Eastern bank you would see much of the medieval brick and stone city still intact, with homes and churches stretching east up from the river. A hundred years before, these were actually two cities, “Buda” and “Pest”, beautifully perched on either side of the river, which merged into the one city of Budapest in 1872, becoming a united capital for the Kingdom of Hungary. Both cities had, for centuries, been known for their numerous lime kilns, with “buda” being the German word for “furnace” and “pest” being the Slavic term. There in its name itself, you can already see some of the cultural-overlap that had happened here over the centuries, but to get to the heart of that, and to find out more about that sacred crown, and the story of St. Stephen himself, we’re going to have to rewind the clock a bit further.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin once dressed up as St. Louis King of France for Halloween, and as part of his costume had to craft a crown out of cardboard, gold spray-paint, and glue-on plastic gem “stones”, … so nothing nearly as beautiful, historic, valuable, or sacred as that which crowned St. Stephen.

Every so often, I have people ask about the meaning of Mass intentions.  You have probably noticed that when we offer the Prayers of the Faithful, we always include an intention for a specific person.  In the bulletin, you will notice the list of Mass intentions that are coming up for the week ahead.  But what is this all about?  What exactly are Mass intentions?

When a priest celebrates Mass, he does so with two specific intentions in mind.  First, he offers Mass according to what the Church expects of him.  Priests are encouraged to pray the following prayer each time before they celebrate Mass:

My purpose is to celebrate Mass and to make present the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the rite of the holy Roman Church to the praise of our all-powerful God and all his assembly in the glory of heaven, for my good and the good of all his pilgrim Church on earth, and for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular, and for the good of the holy Roman Church.  May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us joy and peace, amendment of life, room for true repentance, the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and perseverance in good works.  Amen.

Let me draw your attention one line, where the priest promises to pray “for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular.”  The “in particular” mentioned here is the second specific intention, where the priest will intend to offer that particular Mass so that the fruits of the Mass will be applied to that person in particular.  To be sure, each Mass will benefit the entire Church, but it is also the case that individuals can receive special graces when a Mass is offered specifically for them.

One common misconception is that Mass intentions are only for those who are deceased.  That makes it pretty awkward when you see somebody’s name listed in the bulletin and you just saw them last week!  Having masses offered for the deceased is probably much more common, as this is one of greatest gifts we can offer souls who have died.  The Church’s presumption is that when people die, they need purification in Purgatory before being admitted to Heaven.  These souls rely on our prayers to assist them in their final steps toward Heaven, and the Mass is the greatest means to help achieve that end.  But masses can be offered for the living as well.  Several members of our diocesan Catholic Pastoral Center staff have had masses celebrated for them at the Cathedral on or near their birthdays.  In that regard, this past Friday (August 5) at the 5:15 pm Mass we had a Mass intention for Bishop Paprocki on the occasion of his 70^th Birthday!  Many blessings to him in gratitude for his leadership to our diocese!  On Sundays and Holy Days, there will also be a Mass offered for the parish family, as required by Canon Law.

In addition to the priest who has a particular Mass intention at every Mass, it is customary for all the faithful to bring a Mass intention with them to offer up with the priest.  This is made clear when, at the Offertory, the priest says to the people: “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Father Almighty.”  By virtue of our Baptism, we have a share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, though not in the same way as ordained priests.  Nevertheless, we are all priests in the general sense, and one of the primary things that a priest does is to offer sacrifice.  Part of that sacrifice is the intention we offer at Mass for somebody, living or dead.  Keep that in mind the next time you are at Mass.  Before Mass begins, take a moment before each Mass to name that intention in your heart, and unite it to the sacrifice being offered by the priest on your behalf at that Mass.

Father Alford

Ok, we complete our examination of the Church’s calendar of feast days this week.  We have seen how, because of such a spectacular number of saints, you cannotalways celebrate a saint on their actual day of death, or, at least they cannot all find a place on the Universal Calendar. For some saints, like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus who we started this whole project with, we do not know the day they died since we simply do not have records of that. For others, we have to move their feast-day to celebrate something more important, for instance St. Dominic, who we will celebrate on August 8th, actually died on August 6^th, but because Our Lord’s Transfiguration is celebrated on the 6^th, St. Dominic is bumped forward 2 days, onto a day which may not be his heavenly-birth-day, but happily falls on the day of his earthly birth. 

Why did we begin this investigation with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? Well, because two years ago, Pope Francis changed the feast on July 29^th from just being for St. Martha, to also include her sister Mary, and brother Lazarus. These are the kinds of smaller changes that happen constantly in the life of the Church that perhaps we don’t notice, but which gradually impact our life of faith. Why might Pope Francis have done this? If I had to guess, it actually has to do with St. Mary Magdalen, who has sometimes been conflated with Mary of Bethany, but whom scholarship has gradually shifted to thinking that the two Mary’s were different disciples of Jesus. Pope Francis, in 2016, upgraded the feast day of St. Mary Magdalen (on July 22^nd) from the level of an obligatory memorial to a feast, (this primarily means that she now has more of her own prayers at Masses on that day). After giving greater emphasis to St. Mary Magdalen, and focusing on the gift of mercy that she received from Jesus, Pope Francis wanted to give greater emphasis to the other Mary, reminding all of us of what it looks like to have close friendship with Jesus. He does not just forgive, He also wants to spend time with us in our homes!  

I should mention that saints are not always added or upgraded on the calendar. Sometimes Popes choose to remove saints from the calendar, and not simply for space reasons. St. Pope Pius V, who we saw preceding Pope Gregory XIII, did some preparatory work for his successor and removed whole bunch of saints from the yearly calendar (Sts. Joachim and Anne, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and others) as well as some feasts we may now consider rather odd (the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, for instance).  Other feasts he “downgraded” to a lower class so they would not trump important seasons such as Advent and Lent. After Vatican II, something similar happened, with dozens of saints losing their feast day (examples being St. Philomena, St. Ursula, and St. Christopher) and others being moved to other days or upgraded/downgraded as far as their “class” of feast goes. There are a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes because devotion or knowledge of a saint has waned they may be removed, or other saints who are considered more impactful, loved, or needed at this particular time might take their spot. 

Here we can see how popular devotion actually ends up impacting the Church’s liturgical life. As saints grow, or shrink, in popularity, this can eventually change the Church’s celebration of them. That said, the Church also has an obligation to push back on fads and whims, holding before the world saints who challenge and shock us. You get into heaven not because of a popular vote but because of complete surrender to God! Still, each of us personally should choose saints as particularly close friends both for the ways that they challenge us, but also for the ways their lives or virtues attract us. Even if it is not a saint on the universal calendar, we can and should look up their feast day and celebrate accordingly!

A final nugget found in researching these essays: Hurricanes were originally not given alphabetical names, but the name of the saint on whose feast day they first made landfall. See the “San Calixto” hurricane (named after St. Pope Callixtus I, October 14^th, 1780), “San Ciriaco” (after St. Cyriacus, August 8^th, 1899, though his day has now been stolen by St. Dominic), or even Hurricane Betsy, nicknamed “Santa Clara” (after St. Clare, August 12^th, 1956, though her feast since 1970 has been restored to her actual day of death of August 11^th.) 

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has seen a shift in popular devotion to the saints over just the past year or two, with far more children choosing St. Gianna and St. Teresa of Calcutta as their patron saint at confirmation than before. This could be because we shifted to younger children receiving that sacrament over that same period so I wonder if the stories of Gianna and Teresa more easily captivate our young ladies’ hearts?

Last month, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade which granted legal access to abortion in our country.  In the years following that decision, it is estimated that more than 63 million abortions have taken place in our country alone, a staggering statistic to consider.  While this Supreme Court decision was a welcome step in the right direction for the protection of human life, there is much work to be done.  To some extent, changing laws is easy (though it may not seem that way), but the work of changing hearts and changing the culture is FAR more difficult.  But this is where the most important work of the Pro-Life movement lies.  To be sure, every effort, including working for a change in legislation, is necessary when it comes to building a culture of life.  But the work of converting hearts is where we have the most hope for lasting success.  Jesus Himself makes the call to conversion a central theme in His preaching, and it continues to be at the heart of the Church’s work in our world.

In that regard, a new grassroots effort has begun which is inviting the people of Illinois to undertake a campaign of prayer and fasting for the conversion of those in our state. Central to this effort is the recognition that Illinois is one of the states where the legal access to abortion continues, and our state is becoming a place where others will come in order to obtain an abortion.  Even though the recent Supreme Court decision promises to reduce abortions in many places in our country, the opposite will be true for our state.  As Catholics in this state, we cannot be unmoved by this sad situation, thus the invitation to turn to our two most powerful tools in combatting evil and sin – prayer and fasting.

This campaign is asking the faithful to pray and fast every Friday on bread and water, offering up these acts for the conversion of Illinois.  To be sure, we hope that one day the laws of our state will reflect our beliefs in the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.  And while our primary focus with this campaign is protecting innocent life in the womb, it must extend to other areas of life as well, including proper care for the poor, mentally ill, prisoners, etc.  Perhaps as important as anything to pray for is the conversion of heart that is necessary with regards to how we consider one another.  Division has never felt so strong and people on every side of every issue seem more ready to attack those who oppose them, verbally and physically.  While some division is to be expected as we seek to pursue truth and justice, the type of division that is becoming more common in how we speak of and treat others is nothing short of demonic.  That may sound strong, but consider that the primary work of the devil is to divide us, and he will never cease to find ways of making us see others as the enemy and worthy of our fiercest reactions.  The Lord invites us, however, to see others as our neighbors, as brothers and sisters.  Sometimes siblings and neighbors disagree, and there can be a place for that, but we must never lose sight of the necessity of always approaching others with charity, which is to will the good of the other.  And one of the greatest goods we can will for another is their conversion to truth according to God’s will, which will bring about the unity the Lord desires for us as His beloved children.

So let us join in praying and fasting for the conversion of those in our state, recognizing that the first ones for whom we offer our prayers for conversion is ourselves.  Only from that place of being converted ourselves will we be able to work for the conversion of others, motivated always by charity, and never by bitterness, anger, or hatred.

Father Alford

I don’t usually talk about current Church events in my Weekly column, but recently I have felt drawn to think about and follow Pope Francis’ penitential pilgrimage to Canada. I admit that I have only been reading a few articles here and there about his time visiting our neighbor to the north, but I soon hope to sit down for a while to watch some videos, read his homily transcripts, and see how the indigenous peoples of Canada received his visit. Pope Francis has been very clear about the reason for his visit to Canada this week. He is there to apologize for the ways in which the Catholic Church historically mistreated various indigenous peoples, especially in the administration of boarding schools in which native language and dress was prohibited. Recently, graveyards of students have been discovered, probably the remains of students who passed away from illness while studying, with no funds to return their bodies home. 

When I first heard about the Pope’s plan to travel to Canada, I was surprised because it didn’t seem like the Catholic Church was the only or even the primary perpetrator of these sins. The government paid for these schools, and other churches and organizations also administered similar schools. But, these facts do not excuse Catholics from the duty to do what we can to correct injustices of the past. The Church leads the world in many ways, and offering authentic apologies is another way for the Church to lead the world down the path of reconciliation. After Pope Francis met with Canadian Indigenous leaders in Rome, he said, “any truly effective process of healing requires concrete action.” Pope Francis’ concrete action in this case is to humbly ask for forgiveness with sorrow. Although the wounds may still feel fresh to many indigenous people, it is hard to ignore the authenticity and love that Pope Francis carries in his demeanor and words. Pope Francis is an 85-year-old man, and to make the journey to Canada, mostly in a wheelchair, is a striking sign of his authenticity. 

When a Pope visits a certain place, the ripple effect of those events lasts for generations. My first time seeing the pope in person (at least I’m assuming that I saw him, as I was four years old) was when Pope John Paul II came to St. Louis in 1999. Recently some parishioners told me that they were at the same event in 1999 with Pope John Paul II. In 1993, Pope John Paul II had also visited Denver. Although I wasn’t born yet, I have heard that the Pope’s time in Denver impacted an entire generation of young Catholics. His visit contributed to the re-opening of their seminary, the establishment of the Augustine Institute, and several other evangelistic initiatives. In 2015, Pope Francis came to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia to celebrate the canonization of St. Junipero Serra. I was there with my seminary at the canonization Mass. Although these events are only a very small part of what popes do in their ministry, the impact of their visit reverberates far beyond the few days spent there. I hope that Pope Francis’ time in Canada is fruitful. In a way, he represents every Catholic around the world, and he shows us how we should respond to sin: not with denials or cover-ups, but with humility and love for the one who has been hurt by the sin. 

On Monday, Pope Francis concluded a homily with the following words. May we all seek true reconciliation in our lives, always through the Cross. 

Dear friends, the reconciliation brought by Christ was no agreement to preserve outward peace, a sort of gentlemen’s agreement meant to keep everyone happy. Nor was it a peace that dropped down from heaven, imposed from on high, or by assimilating the other. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus reconciles by bringing together, by making two distant groups one: one reality, one soul, one people. And how does he do that? Through the cross (cf. Eph 2:14). Jesus reconciles us with one another on the cross, on the “tree of life”, as the ancient Christians loved to call it.