"Seminary campaign far exceeds goal"

From St. Louis Review
By Joseph Kenny

The first capital campaign in the history of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary exceeded its goal by 21.7 percent, with $60,838,226 in pledges.

The goal had been set at $50 million to provide repairs, updates and physical improvements to a building that dates to 1931, while increasing its endowment.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, in a letter in today's Review, stated that donations to the "Faith for the Future" campaign are an expression of hope, especially during challenging economic times. The pledges are "a powerful statement of our hope in God's providence," he noted.

Archbishop Carlson also told the Review that the response to the campaign "shows the people's belief that we have to form good priests for the future so we can be a eucharistic people."

Frank Cognata, chief development officer of the archdiocese, noted that the seminary has formed more than 2,700 priests in the past, and the funds will prepare even more in the future. He said it was especially noteworthy that the campaign was conducted in a down economy and that participation met expectations. More than 2,000 volunteers helped make the campaign possible, with many of them making personal visits to potential donors.

The campaign has an unusually high $23 million in cash received to date, he said. About $2.3 million already was spent last fall for additional rooms for seminarians and other improvements. Another $3 million has been deposited into a capital fund to begin the preparation and planning. About $13.7 million has been deposited in the endowment.

Campaign expenses were held to 5.1 percent, a much lower number than expected. Matching gifts totaled $2.3 million.

About 100 parishes exceeded their goal. Bill Bellrose, chairperson of the campaign at his parish, St. Matthias in South St. Louis County, said the goal seemed hefty at first. The parish ended up raising $177,507, which was 161 percent of the goal.

"The most amazing thing about the campaign was that all you had to do was mention it was for the seminary and future priests, and people were standing in line to give. It just shows there's an awful lot of respect for the priesthood around the archdiocese," he said.

His pastor, Father Dennis Port, said: "I was so impressed by what they did. Obviously they want priests in the future."

He noted that five families in the parish are parents of priests. "The people have seen these men grow up and be ordained. I'm sure that helped, but the people are just remarkable and supportive of the Church," he said.

Msgr. Gregory Mikesch, pastor of St. Alban Roe Parish in Wildwood, served as coordinator of the Pastors' Advisory Committee. He called the generosity of the Catholics of the archdiocese remarkable. "They truly love the Church, love their priests and want to provide for the seminarians who will be serving them in the future."

Msgr. Mikesch said the campaign on the parish level was a united effort of many enthusiastic people.

Msgr. James E. Pieper, pastor of St. Clement Parish in Des Peres, said that in light of the economy, the generosity was truly overwhelming. "It did not seem likely as we were looking to it, but it indeed was a great, great tribute to the faith of the people," he said.

The people told him that the cause was a very good one. "The people are very much for vocations to the priesthood, and I think they looked on it as a vote of confidence in the future and wanted to do what they could to encourage vocations to the priesthood."

St. Clement was one of six parishes raising in excess of $1 million, and the parish ended up raising almost $1.7 million, 226 percent of its goal.

Another parish raising more than $1 million was St. Clare of Assisi in Ellisville, which raised $1.2 million, 130 percent of the goal, Msgr. Kevin Callahan, pastor of the parish, said the people "are really living stewardship and come through" on a variety of causes. "In this case, especially, they knew the importance of it. We have two seminarians at the parish. People know them, and there's a connection."

All three priests serving the parish went out and asked for commitments, he said. A DVD provided by the capital campaign was especially helpful, Msgr. Callahan said.

"We talked about our experiences in the seminary. It was not just another collection. The people could see the fruits of it by the priesthood and seminarians."

He noted that the seminary has a wide impact, including on other men who attended the seminary while discerning their vocation and decided not to be ordained. Those men also have received a good foundation from the seminary, he said.

As the number of seminarians has grown, so have the needs of the seminary, from the aging building to the increased need for up-to-date technology, from providing the best faculty and spiritual leaders to ensuring that an adequate endowment will be available to provide the archdiocese with priests both now and in the future.

Parishes big and small, rural and urban came through for the campaign. St. Paul Parish in St. Paul raised $235,535, twice its goal.

Msgr. John J. Hickel, pastor of the parish, said the campaign was well organized and didn't pressure people. "I was really proud of the response. For such a small parish it was amazing. If you would give me another cause I don't think I could match it. The DVD was a real winner. They could see there was an important need, and they responded to that."

Msgr. Daniel Hogan, pastor of St. Barnabas Parish in O'Fallon, said his parish also just told people of the needs. "We said, 'Give whatever you feel you're able to give.' Anytime we have a drive here, people really respond. They're just good people."

The parish raised $264,156, double its goal.

Msgr. Dennis Delaney, pastor of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Downtown St. Louis, noted that his parish is unique. "We count fewer than 100 households as registered parishioners. We serve, though, the extended community of visitors and tourists in this center city area, as well as the community of business and civil employees who daily join us regularly.

"At St. John's our numbers are small, but the hearts of our people are great. The goal set for us was $29,000. Our people responded with gifts just over $50,000. Their response to the 'Faith for the Future' campaign reflects their appreciation for, and their commitment to, the formation of priests for this new millennium who are simple men, wise men, gentle men, holy men. Our people have made a commitment to the formation of priests, in the image of Christ, the one priest, for service to the glory of God and for the good of God's people."

Cognata pointed out that Archbishop Carlson initially met for three evenings with various campaign leaders in the parishes and made many other efforts. "He brought a real enthusiasm to it," Cognata said. "His past involvement and experience on other seminary boards offers a great insight to his commitment to vocations and the seminary. It also assures the stewardship of the funds raised will truly enhance this great seminary."

The chief development officer's thanks also go to Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, who was named prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome just a month after announcing the campaign, and Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Hermann, who served as archdiocesan administrator until the installation of Archbishop Carlson.

Archbishop Carlson said one of the things he told people he met with was "what we have to do first is pray and ask God what He wants us to do."

The result of the campaign is "a great example of the generosity of people responding to what God wanted them to do," he said.

The campaign represented the priests, the people and religious pulling together and supporting the future of priests in the archdiocese through the premier seminary in this region, Archbishop Carlson added.

"Benedictine monastery in Oklahoma elevated to abbey"

From Today's Catholic

Our Lady of the Annunciation at Clear Creek, a Benedictine monastery near Hulbert in the Diocese of Tulsa, has been elevated to the status of abbey. The change was announced Feb. 11 by Abbot Antoine Forgeot of the Abbey of Our Lady of Fontgombault in France, the monastery’s motherhouse. Father Philip Anderson, one of the original 13 monks who came from the French abbey to help found Clear Creek in 1999, has been elected abbot. He has served as prior of the monastic community since its foundation. “It’s a moment of perfection, and the moment you become fully what you were meant to be. To become an abbey is to reach a certain point of maturity,” the abbot-elect said. Clear Creek was established as a monastery at the invitation of Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa. In the 10 years since it was established, monasteries nationwide and worldwide have declined in membership, but the Oklahoma monastery has grown from its original 13 monks to its current population of 18 professed monks. Twelve of them are priests and six are brothers. In addition, the community includes eight novices and postulants and seven men who have made their first vows.

"Top Baseball Prospect Retires to Enter Priesthood"

From Foxnews.com

As a top prospect for the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Grant Desme might've gotten the call every minor leaguer wants this spring.

Instead, he believed he had another, higher calling.

Desme announced Friday that he was leaving baseball to enter the priesthood, walking away after a breakout season in which he became MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

"I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things," the 23-year-old Desme said. "I wasn't at peace with where I was at."

A lifelong Catholic, Desme thought about becoming a priest for about a year and a half. He kept his path quiet within the sports world, and his plan to enter a seminary this summer startled the A's when he told them Thursday night.

General manager Billy Beane "was understanding and supportive," Desme said, but the decision "sort of knocked him off his horse." After the talk, Desme felt "a great amount of peace."

"I love the game, but I aspire to higher things," he said. "I know I have no regrets."

In a statement, Beane said: "We respect Grant's decision and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors."

Athletes and the priesthood have overlapped, albeit rarely.

Al Travers, who gave up 24 runs during a one-game career for a makeshift Detroit Tigers team in 1912, became a Catholic priest. More recently, Chase Hilgenbrinck of the New England Revolution left Major League Soccer in 2008 to enter a seminary.

Desme spoke on a conference call for about 10 minutes in a quiet, even tone, hardly sounding like many gung-ho, on-the-rise ballplayers. As for his success in the minors, he said "all of it is very undeserving."

The Athletics picked Desme in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft and he was starting to blossom. He was the only player in the entire minors with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases last season.

Desme batted .288 with 31 homers, 89 RBIs and 40 steals in 131 games at Class-A Kane County and high Class-A Stockton last year. He hit .315 with a league-leading 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in 27 games this fall in Arizona, a league filled with young talent.

Desme went into the AFL championship game well aware it might be the last time he ever played. "There was no sad feeling," he said. He homered and struck out twice, which "defines my career a bit."

The Big West Player of the Year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Desme was ranked as Oakland's No. 8 prospect by Baseball America. There was speculation the Athletics might invite Desme to big league spring training next month.

Rather, Desme intends to enter a seminary in Silverado, California, in August. He said abbey members didn't seem surprised someone who would "define myself as a baseball player" was changing his life so dramatically.

Desme said he didn't consider pursuing his spiritual studies while also trying to play ball. His family backed his decision and he said the positive reaction to his future goal — the surprising news spread quickly over the Internet — was "inspiring."

"It's about a 10-year process," he said. "I desire and hope I become a priest." In a way, he added, it's like "re-entering the minor leagues."

Desme's first two years in the minors were beset by shoulder and wrist problems. He said his days off the field gave him time to think about what was most important to him, to read and study the Bible and to talk to teammates about his faith.

In retrospect, he said, those injuries were "the biggest blessings God ever gave me."

Pope to priests: Go forth and blog

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog.

The pope, whose own presence on the Web has heavily grown in recent years, urged priests on Saturday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures.

And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican.

"The spread of multimedia communications and its rich 'menu of options' might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web," but priests are "challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources," he said.

The message, prepared for the World Day of Communications, suggests such possibilities as images, videos, animated features, blogs, and Web sites.

Benedict said young priests should become familiar with new media while still in seminary, though he stressed that the use of new technologies must reflect theological and spiritual principles.

"Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ," he said.

The 82-year-old pope has often been wary of new media, warning about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media, in particular, to trivialize sex and promote violence, while lamenting that the endless stream of news can make people insensitive to tragedies.

But Benedict has also praised new ways of communicating as a "gift to humanity" when used to foster friendship and understanding.

The Vatican has tried hard to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing field.

Last year it opened a YouTube channel as well as a portal dedicated to the pope. The Pope2You site gives news on the pontiff's trips and speeches and features a Facebook application that allows users to send postcards with photos of Benedict and excerpts from his messages to their friends.

Many priests and top prelates already interact with the faithful online. One of Benedict's advisers, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples, has his own Facebook profile and so does Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles.

In Saturday's message - titled "The priest and pastoral ministry in a digital world: new media at the service of the Word" - Benedict urged special care in contacts with other cultures and beliefs.

A presence on the Web, "precisely because it brings us into contact with the followers of other religions, nonbelievers and people of every culture, requires sensitivity to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute," he said.

Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican's social communications office, said that Benedict's words aimed to encourage reflection in the church on the positive uses of new media.

"That doesn't mean that (every priest) must open a blog or a Web site. It means that the church and the faithful must engage in this ministry in a digital world," Celli told reporters. "At some point, a balance will be found."

Celli, 68, said that young priests would have no trouble following the pope's message, but, he joked, "those who have a certain age will struggle a bit more."

"Vocations are Still a “Super-Priority”"

From The Catholic Key
By Bishop Robert W. Finn
Kansas City-St. Joseph

In my first months as bishop of the diocese I said Vocations were a “Super Priority.” While we have had a meaningful increase in vocations to priesthood, the diaconate, and some new vocations to consecrated life, I still offer this intention for more vocations to priesthood and Consecrated Life with fervor in my daily prayer. I hope you do also.

We are reaching the midpoint of the Year for Priests, inaugurated by Pope Benedict XVI last June. How proud I am of our priests who do so much for you, God’s people. Still, they need more help, particularly as the pastoral needs seem always to increase. This year, please God, we will ordain four new priests; and it remains possible that in 2012 we could celebrate the ordination of eight or nine new priests at once. I haven’t figured out how we will get everyone in the Cathedral; a pleasing dilemma!

Am I greedy to suggest that we need more priests? I believe that God is calling more men to this wonderful vocation, and we have to listen carefully and prepare well so that your sons can hear and answer that call.

What kind of life awaits the priest? To be sure, there are many joys, and also challenges. The priest is helped by God to give himself to many people. He shares in the greatest joys of people’s lives and is with them in times of hardship and sorrow. He is a pastor, a shepherd, a teacher, and spiritual father. He stands in the place of Jesus Christ, particularly in the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

How does a man discern a possible vocation to priesthood? The healthy man (healthy in body, mind and soul), as he matures, wants to give himself in an honest and generous way. It is important and normal that he sees the beauty of marriage, and its central meaning and purpose in society. At the same time, he realizes he has a spiritual dimension to his life and he wants to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and follow God’s call wherever it may take him. He works hard at every task before him, and finds joy in generously reaching out to others. He studies with zeal. He prays. He establishes caring friendships, and determines to live a moral life, growing in the frequent reception of the sacraments, particularly of Confession and Holy Eucharist.

As a man experiences this spiritual depth to his life, he does not seek a vocation that makes him materially rich or famous. Instead, having realized something of the cost and demands of authentic human love, he is ready to trust God and give himself to others out of love for God. He realizes that the Father in heaven has loved him a lot, and the awareness of this love and mercy makes him want to follow God’s plan in his life. Our seminarians are responding to this vocation to the priesthood. Our priests are living this out with dedication. Keep praying for them to persevere.

The role and support of parents is very important to those who are discerning God’s call. Your sons (and daughters) look up to you for approval. They should. Your love for them is unconditional and unselfish. I do not suggest that you should urge your sons to go to seminary, but pray for them, that they do whatever God wants for them. Support them in their search. I pledge once again to our parents that if we receive their sons as our seminarians we will do all in our power to see they get good formation.

Over the course of my priesthood, I have also had occasion to meet many outstanding men and women Religious. I was taught by and have worked closely with several Orders of Religious Women. There is a real renewal taking place in these vocations today. I have established an office for Consecrated Life, and we stand ready to direct young women and men who may be drawn to Religious life as priests, sisters or brothers.

Family the Focus of US Vocations Week

Click HERE to visit Vatican Radio website and listen to audio file of an interview with Fr. David Toups, director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, discuss obstacles to the promotion of vocations in the US. (look for small speaker icon at the end of the paragraph)

'Responsible, family-focused and vocation-oriented -- meet Generation XD"

While the article below is not an article about Catholic Vocations, it is an interesting article none the less...

From The Independent (UK)

Today's 8-14-year-olds will embrace their digital culture to create a financially responsible, ambitious and environmentally-aware generation, according to the largest poll of its kind in Europe.

Nicknamed "Generation XD" by entertainment giant and the survey's commissioner Disney, the digitally-aware European adults of the future will be fundamentally different from today's Generation X, the report suggests. Disney predicts that today's young people will eschew their celebrity-dominated upbringing to focus on traditional family values and traditional vocations. In every country surveyed, "Mum" and "Dad" were the two people most admired in the world, whilst the top five future professions overall were vet, teacher, footballer, doctor and police officer.

"As the kids of Generation X, who embraced all mod cons in their twenties, you'd expect Generation XD to be fully versed in how the internet can help them." said Tom Dunmore, consulting editor of technology magazine Stuff. "What's interesting though, is how they are embracing both cutting edge technology and traditional family values in their approach to life."

"While David Beckham does inevitably get a mention, fame and celebrity are secondary to family and they aspire to be vets and teachers rather than singers and celebrities, which is both surprising and encouraging."

Disney also believes that the credit-crunched environment today's 8-14-year-olds have grown up in has had a profound effect on their attitude to finances. The survey revealed that 70 percent save their pocket money instead of spending it immediately, and 64 percent would rather work for themselves than for somebody else. An impressive 97 percent of Generation XD believed that it was important to care for the planet, with 74 percent already recycling regularly.
Disney interviewed over 3,000 8-14-year-olds in six countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain) to compile the study, the largest pan-European survey of the age group. Despite the fact that children born between 1995 and 2001 have witnessed more technological developments during their youth than any other generation, respondents overwhelmingly used technology to improve face-to-face interaction - face-to-face contact is still the most preferable way to meet up with friends (30 percent) beating texting (15 percent), online chat (14 percent) and mobile (8 percent).

A Look at the State of Vocations in France

From Lifesite News
By Hilary White

ROME, January 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Church in France, among the places where the fashionable “liberalism” of the 1960s and ‘70s has most taken hold, is dying out, with Mass attendance, priestly vocations and seminarians at record lows. At the same time, the growth of the doctrinally and liturgically “traditional” movements, who tend to be strongly pro-life and pro-family, is continuing.

The Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP Institute) has just issued its survey on the situation of the Church in France and reports that the French Catholic Church is in freefall. Between1965 and 2009, the number of French identifying themselves as Catholics fell from 81 per cent to 64 per cent. The number attending Mass once a week or more fell from 27 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the same period.

The statistics, published in the Catholic weekly La Croix, show the effects of institutionalized “liberalism” in Catholic teaching. Sixty-three per cent of those who still consider themselves Catholic believe that all religions are the same; 75 per cent asked for an “aggiornamento” in the Church to reconsider Catholic teaching forbidding artificial contraception, while 68 per cent said the same thing for abortion.

According to official Catholic Church statistics, the total number of Catholic marriages (-28.4%), baptisms (-19.1%), confirmations (-35.3%), as well as priests (-26.1%), and religious sisters (-23.4%), has continued to fall between 1996 and 2006.

Statistics compiled by the traditionalist Catholic group Paix Liturgique show that the decline is sharpest in the most doctrinally “liberal” dioceses with regard to priests and future ordinations. Due to the critical shortage of vocations to the priesthood, it is estimated that up to a third of the dioceses of the Catholic Church in France - some dating to the second century AD - will be forced to close or amalgamate by 2025.

In November last year, Paix Liturgique reported that only 9000 priests are serving the Catholic faithful in France. In 1990, the total number of ordinations in the country was 90. Paris had 10, with two for a local independent religious order. Seven are predicted for 2010, and four for 2011.
There are fewer than 750 seminarians currently studying for the priesthood, with about a hundred of these being for religious orders, not dioceses. The diocese of Pamiers, Belfort, Agen and Perpignan have no seminarians. The drop in vocations to the priesthood will result, the group said, in at least one third of French dioceses either effectively ceasing to exist or being forced to amalgamate over the next 15 years.

But in small pockets where traditional liturgical practice, combined with traditional moral doctrine, is encouraged, French Catholicism is flourishing. Two years ago, Pope Benedict issued the document “Summorum Pontificum,” allowing the use of the pre-Vatican II Mass in Latin. Despite it remaining a “taboo” subject to the liberal faction of the French episcopate, the older rite, what is now being called the Extraordinary Form, is acting as a catalyst for growth in the few areas where it has been accepted by bishops.

More than 14 per cent of ordinations in France were for the Extraordinary Form in 2009, according to Paix Liturgique, with 15 French priests ordained for it. Almost 20 per cent of seminarians, 160, are destined for the Extraordinary Form. The group notes that if the current trends continue, in a few more years more than a quarter of all French seminarians will be studying for the older form of the liturgy, a rite that naturally selects against doctrinal and moral “liberalism.”

According to a CSA poll taken in September 2008, a third of practicing Catholics in France said they would willingly attend a traditional Mass if it were available.

In September, Archbishop Dominique Rey of the southern diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, ordained two priests to his diocese in what is now being called the “Extraordinary Form.”
This move, though heavily criticized by many in the liberal factions of the French Church, followed the ordination of 14 priests and 11 deacons in the newer “Novus Ordo” form in June, demonstrating that the two forms can live side by side.

Paix Liturgique reports that the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon has about 80 seminarians in the only seminary in the world that trains priests in both the pre-Vatican II and the newer rite.

In July, Paix Liturgique reported significant growth in Mass attendance in areas that have allowed the use of the older form. In addition to the existing 132 “authorized” places of worship and 184 served by the canonically irregular Society of Saint Pius X, an additional 72 new chapels and churches have been allowed for the use of the Extraordinary Form. This represents an increase from 55 per cent in two years, compared to an increase of between 2 and 5 per cent between 1988 and 2007.

Even more unexpectedly, the requests to dioceses from the laity for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form, have also dramatically increased. Paix Liturgique reports that more than 350 groups of French Catholic families have formally requested the older form of the Mass from their dioceses all over France and more than 600 groups have formed to promote the older form and have asked for it informally, making direct requests to parish priests.

"Why This Life?"

Pope Benedict XVI - Safeguard the Family Founded On Marriage

VATICAN CITY, 27 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Before praying the Angelus on this Sunday of the Holy Family, the Pope reminded the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square that "God wished to reveal Himself by being born in a human family, and hence the human family has become an icon of God.

"God is Trinity", he added. "He is communion of love, and the family - with all the difference that exists between the Mystery of God and His human creature - is an expression thereof which reflects the unfathomable mystery of God-Love. ... The human family is, in a certain sense, the icon of the Trinity because of the love between its members and the fruitfulness of that love".

Commenting then on today's Gospel reading which narrates how the twelve-year-old Jesus stayed behind in the Temple without His parents' knowledge, the Pope explained that "Jesus' decision to remain in the Temple was above all the fruit of his intimate relationship with the Father, but also the fruit of the education received from Mary and Joseph".

And he went on: "Here we may catch a glimpse of the authentic meaning of Christian education. It is the result of a collaboration that must always be sought between the educators and God. The Christian family is aware that children are God's gift and project. Hence it cannot consider them as it own possessions but, serving God's plan through them, is called to educate them in the greatest of freedoms which is that of saying 'yes' to God in order to accomplish His will".

The Holy Father them addressed some remarks to participants in the Feast of the Holy Family which is being celebrated today in Madrid, Spain. "God, by having come into the world in the bosom of a family, shows that this institution is a sure way to meet and know Him, and a permanent call to work for the loving unity of all people. Thus, one of the greatest services which we as Christians can offer our fellow men and women is to show them the serene and solid witness of a family founded upon marriage between a man and a woman, defending it and protecting it, because it is of supreme importance for the present and future of humankind.

"In truth, the family is the best school in which to learn to live the values that dignify individuals and make peoples great. There too sufferings and joys are shared, as everyone feels cloaked in the affection that reigns in the home by the mere fact of being members of the same family".

Benedict XVI prayed to God that family homes may always experience "this love of total commitment and fidelity which Jesus brought into the world by His birth, nourishing and strengthening it with daily prayer, the constant practice of virtue, reciprocal understanding and mutual respect.

"I encourage you - trusting in the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, Queen of Families, and the powerful protection of St. Joseph, her husband - tirelessly to dedicate yourselves to this beautiful mission the Lord has placed in your hands. Be sure of my closeness and affection", he concluded, "and I pray you carry a very special greeting from the Pope to those of your loved ones who suffer greatest need and difficulties".

Catholic seminary has 20-year enrollment peak

St. Meinrad, in Indiana, is ahead of national averages.

From The Associated Press
ST. MEINRAD — The nation's sixth-largest Catholic seminary is reporting its highest enrollment in two decades as more men flock to the southern Indiana campus to pursue the priesthood.

The influx of students has left the St. Meinrad School of Theology straining to find classroom and living space for students at the campus, 65 miles west of Louisville, Ky.

St. Meinrad, which trains future priests for dioceses in Kentucky, Indiana and across the nation, began the year with 121 students - its highest number since 1988.

Church leaders and seminarians said a combination of spiritual and practical factors are behind the growth.

The Archdiocese of Louisville's seminarian ranks were all but depleted in 2002 and 2003 at the peak of the child sexual abuse scandal involving numerous priests.

Some of the seminarians at St. Meinrad said that crisis actually prompted them to consider the priesthood. They said they believed the church would avoid repeating such scandals through more rigorous screening and training of would-be priests.

“I think that there is a sense of hope in the church” now, said Adam Carrico, of Pewee Valley, Ky., who is studying at St. Meinrad for the Louisville archdiocese.

“We've experienced some troubles,” he said, “but I think we've learned from what happened in the past, and there's kind of a sense we can move forward and there is a tomorrow.”

Part of St. Meinrad's growth also reflects increasing arrangements with dioceses around the country to train their seminarians.

Both the Louisville archdiocese and the seminary are ahead of the national average in seminarian enrollment, which has remained largely the same in the last 15 years as the Catholic population has grown, while the ranks of priests have aged and declined.

Louisville Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz credited archdiocese leaders for starting to reverse declines in seminarians even before he arrived in 2007 from Knoxville.

When Kurtz arrived, six men from the archdiocese were starting in seminary.

Kurtz said there's “no magic number” for recruitment goals, but he said ordaining four or five priests per year would “be a great blessing” toward easing the priest shortage.

The archdiocese has two priests working with recruits in addition to their parish duties.

Kurtz holds an annual “dinner with the archbishop” to encourage youths to consider joining the priesthood or religious orders. This year, the event drew hundreds of teenagers, the most in recent memory.

Jerry Byrd, a student from the Indianapolis archdiocese, said his path to the seminary began more than a decade ago as he converted to Catholicism as a teenager.

“My whole concept of a priest was based on priests I knew,” he recalled. “They were old and bald and slow.”

But one such priest told a class of people converting to Catholicism that “we need young men” in the priesthood, because “without the priests, we don't have the sacraments; if we don't have the sacraments, then we're not a church.”

Dear New Visitors and Long Time Visitors,

Obviously there has been a huge gap in posts here on Roman Catholic Vocations. I pray it will not continue indefinitely, but for the time being the demands of life have made it necessary to put something on the back burner. God willing posting will resume in the near future.

Till then, have a Merry Christmas!

Roman Catholic Vocations

Video from Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations

St. Damien of Molokai

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

"Seminarian with Maui links assists pope during ceremony"

From The Maui News

By Claudine San Nicolas

Photo at left: Patrick “Pat” Arensberg holds niece Julia Kaitlyn Smith during a family reunion two years ago in Hawaii.

A seminarian with ties to Maui held the microphone for Pope Benedict XVI throughout Sunday's canonization of St. Damien in Rome.

Patrick "Pat" Arensberg was born on Maui on Jan. 3, 1984, coincidentally the same birthday of Hawaii's first saint, Father Damien de Veuster, a 19th-century Sacred Hearts priest who served Hansen's disease patients in Kalaupapa.

Arensberg, 25, was baptized and received his first communion at Christ the King Church in Kahului. He attended Lihikai Elementary School up until the 3rd-grade when his parents, Joseph "Joe" and Julie Golis Arensberg, moved their family of seven children to the Mainland.

The Arensbergs - Joe, a 1975 St. Anthony High School graduate, and Julie, a 1974 Maui High alumna, have lived in Mobile, Ala., for the last 15 years. Pat is the fourth of their seven children and is studying at the North American seminary in Rome.

Contacted by e-mail, Pat Arensberg said he recently grew a strong devotion to Father Damien.

"He is a model for any priest, whether living in a parish or in a foreign mission country because of his devotion to the Lord and to the people he served," he said.

Just seven hours before Sunday's 10 a.m. (10 p.m. Saturday HST) canonization ceremony and Mass in Rome, Arensberg and Oahu resident Rheo Ofalsa were selected to serve as assistants to the pope during the canonization of five saints including Damien.

Arensberg's primary duty was to ensure that the microphone was placed correctly in front of the pope whenever he was to speak or pray.

"To have the opportunity to serve at the canonization was a real blessing," Arensberg said. "The whole event was very surreal, I couldn't believe I was in arm's distance from the pope the entire Mass."

The Arensbergs contacted family and friends on Maui as soon as they learned of their son's role. They also stayed up early Sunday morning in Mobile to watch the live telecast.

"We were so excited,"Julie Arensberg said about watching her son at the canonization. "We're just overwhelmed."

Joe Arensberg said he was proud of his son and happy about his choice to study for the priesthood.

"I was always hoping one of mine would choose a life of vocations," Arensberg said.

Joe Arensberg worked on Maui as paramedic but left the job nearly 20 years ago to study to be a teacher. He now teaches theology at a high school in Mobile, where he intends to share stories of Hawaii and of Father Damien.

"He was always one of those people local Hawaii Catholics could look up at," he said.

Pat Arensberg called it a blessing to be at Damien's canonization.

"I think that is is a great thing for Hawaii to get its first saint," he said. "Hopefully, it will be a call for a deeper relationship with Christ for all Christians, especially Catholics, that live in Hawaii.

"May they learn from the example of Father Damien: To love all our brothers and sisters as Christ did and to help those who are in need, no matter how dire the situation may be."

"Catholic priest kidnapped in The Philippines"

From Spero News
By Martin Barillas

A Catholic missionary was abducted from his home on the evening of October 11 in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Four assailants burst into the Father Michael Sinnott at his residence while he was strolling in the garden. Dragging him to a waiting pickup truck, he was then trundled into a waiting speed boat at a local beach.

The whereabouts of the octogenarian priest, born in Ireland, are still unknown, while no group has yet to claim responsibility for the terrorist act. There are distinct suspicions that a Muslim terrorist group may be responsible, since priests and other Christian missionaries have been abducted or murdered in the past by Abu Sayyaf – an ally of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have operated for decades in hopes of setting up a separate Muslim state.

Father Shay Cullen, a fellow Irishman and priest who leads PREDA – a child welfare and advocacy organization in the Philippines – called for prayers. Said Rev. Cullen in an email, “Please pray and use all contacts to spread the news and we demand that no violence are used by the authorities but peaceful negotiation be conducted for his release. We are with you Father Michael in Sprit and prayer.”

Father Michael Sinnott (80), a member of the Columban order, is originally from Barntown in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland. Ordained in 1954, he was assigned to Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1957 following his studies in Rome. Rev. Sinnott served in Mindanao until 1966 before being assigned to the theology staff in Dalgan Park, Navan. He returned to the Philippines in 1976 where he has served in a variety of pastoral and administrative roles. Since 1998 he has been involved with a school for children with special needs.

"Poker-playing priest has chance to win $1M"

From The Aiken Standard

By Rob Novit

Andrew Trapp's interest in becoming a priest dates back to fifth grade at St. Mary of Help of Christians School in Aiken.

He followed through on that path. Now 28, Trapp is serving as the assistant pastor at St. Michael Catholic Church in Garden City Beach.
Father Trapp has a new moniker in recent weeks - the poker-playing priest. He's good at it, too. In a tape-delayed broadcast from Los Angeles on Fox on Sunday, Trapp beat a professional poker player to win $100,000 - an unexpected prize he will donate to St. Michael's fundraising efforts for a new church building.

Trapp isn't through. He will return to Los Angeles with three other finalists in December for a chance to win $1 million for his church.

Trapp was there for the taping just over a week ago for the PokerStars.net Million-Dollar Challenge. After he won the $100,000 prize, he told only his parish priest and his parents, Don and Beth Trapp. So the atmosphere was surreal for him and his folks when they gathered in the school gym Sunday with 300 church friends who didn't know the outcome.

"The atmosphere was really exciting, like watching a 'Rocky' movie," Trapp said Monday. "I'm still amazed that I won, and I was really moved by the support and encouragement. I visited the different classes at school today, and all of them were excited about watching me on television."

But he's quick to point out to the kids that he's not advocating serious gambling. The online qualifying tournaments had no entry fee, and his trip to Los Angeles was provided expense-free.

Earlier, Trapp had gotten permission from his parish priest and bishop to pursue the poker challenge.

"They wanted me to be seen as a regular guy," he said. "It will help young people see that they can serve God and still have fun and be active, whatever their religious community is."

While growing up in Aiken, Trapp often played board games and draw poker with his parents and younger sister Lindsay, now a copy editor for a Louisiana newspaper.

The family was active at St. Mary, and Trapp began attending the church school as a fifth-grader. He started thinking about a daily prayer life and later that year watched a movie about Blessed Damien, who devoted his life to serving the lepers on Molokai.

That interest lingered for several years and then solidified after Trapp enrolled at Clemson University. He transferred to Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and remained there for seminary. He spent a year at a church in Bluffton before moving to St. Michael.

Trapp had learned to played Texas hold 'em at seminary and often played with friends there once a week or so. He was only "fairly good" at it but continued to enjoy the game. When he heard about the free online tournament last summer, he entered and, to his surprise, was among the winners invited to submit an audition video. Trapp described his work and his interest in helping the church on the video and was accepted.

Nationally-known poker player Daniel Negreanu served as a coach for all the players. The format was unusual; Trapp played celebrities one-on-one and defeated them, including ESPN commentator and former NBA player John Salley. That gave Trapp the opportunity to play Negreanu, again one-on-one, and each with the equivalent of $20,000 in chips.

The match didn't last long. Both players still had close to their original stake when Negreanu, looking at a straight draw, went all-in with his entire chip count. Holding one pair, Trapp called the bet. He picked up a second pair on the turn and then had to wait anxiously before Negreanu failed to make his straight.

"It's really amazing and scary," Trapp said. "Daniel is one of the very best in the world."

Beth Trapp said with a laugh that her son has said his parents will have to wait until the delayed broadcast to find out how he does in the finals.

"We're so proud of him," she said. "He's doing this for two reasons - to help with the church building and as a means of evangelizing. Andrew wants people to see he can be a young man in the priesthood and still have fun."

"Big guns in the spiritual warfare"

From CatholicCulture.org
By Phil Lawler

If you've ever spent autumn in New England, you know about the "leaf peepers"-- the tourists who flock to Vermont to enjoy the foliage in early October. But early October-- and specifically this day: October 6, the feast of St. Bruno-- bring different memories of Vermont for me.

Back in 2001 I had a truly unique experience. I was invited by the Carthusians of Arlington, Vermont, to spend a day with them and write a story about their way of life. They were celebrating the 900th anniversary of the death of St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order, and decided that it was an appropriate time for a bit of publicity.

I say that my experience was unique because Carthusians generally don't seek publicity-- to put it mildly. Theirs is the strictest, most ascetical order in the Catholic Church. The monks live in silence, utterly withdrawn from the world. When I commented to the prior on the oddity of a Carthusian "publicity campaign," he remarked that he could perhaps imagine another opportunity for a journalist to visit the Charterhouse in Vermont-- in another 100 years, to celebrate St. Bruno's 1,000th anniversary!

For that one day in 2001, at the monastery hidden near the top of Mt. Equinox, I had a glimpse of a totally different kind of life: a life devoted utterly to prayer and contemplation. When a man enters the Carthusian order, in a real sense he leaves the world in which you and I live. He gives up normal food, social life, travel, even speech for the rest of his days. Barring medical emergency he will not leave the Charterhouse until his remains are buried there. The Carthusian monk willingly chooses a life sentence, in solitary confinement, to devote himself totally to prayer. These are very, very serious Christian men: seasoned veterans of the spiritual combat.

Very few Christians are called to such an austere life. Most of us live ostensibly ordinary lives, absorbing a daily drubbing from the secular world. But we're engaged in spiritual combat as well. In fact we lay people are the infantry.

There are days when the skirmishing is rougher than usual, when I feel exhausted and bedraggled. Those are the days when I remind myself that while we're not alone. While we're grappling on the front lines, the big guns are booming from Mt. Equinox. Those are the days when I'm struck anew by the amazing diversity of vocations within the Church, and I thank God for my silent friends at the Charterhouse.

Army: Fr. Kapaun worthy of Medal of Honor

From The Wichita Eagle

By Roy Wenzl

Letter from the secretary of the Army about Father Kapaun

Father Emil Kapaun, the U.S. Army chaplain who died in a prison camp after saving dozens of soldiers' lives in the Korean War, is deserving of the Medal of Honor, the secretary of the Army has determined.

Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, in Marion County, and a former parish priest there, died of starvation and pneumonia in the prison camp at Pyoktong, North Korea, on May 23, 1951; he was 35. Soldiers who were with him have said that the communist Chinese camp guards murdered him because he rallied fellow starving soldiers to pray, to stay alive and to stay true to their country in the face of relentless brainwashing sessions.

Fellow prisoners of war have pleaded with the military for decades to give Kapaun the Medal of Honor. As a result, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, as early as April 2001 asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review Kapaun's eligibility for the honor.

In a letter Tiahrt received this week, Army Secretary Pete Geren wrote, "After giving this request careful, personal consideration, I have determined that Chaplain Kapaun's actions in combat operations and as a prisoner of war in Korea warrant award of the Medal of Honor.

"This brave Soldier clearly distinguished himself by his courageous actions. The Army and our nation are forever grateful for his heroic service."

Tiahrt said Thursday that the decision is not entirely complete. Congress and President Obama must sign off on it.

"But it's the Secretary of the Army who does the research and makes the key recommendation," Tiahrt said. "This is huge, and I'm very happy about this."

Tiahrt himself called Kapaun's remaining immediate family — his brother, Eugene, and Eugene's wife, Helen, who live in Bel Aire. The news stunned Helen, who spoke for her ailing husband.

"We are proud of him, as we should be," she said.

"But I don't think Father Emil would have wanted honors for himself. He would have said, 'Oh, shucks,' and thrown off any thoughts about honors to someone else."

The Roman Catholic Church has for several decades conducted a separate investigation to determine whether Kapaun should be declared a saint. That investigation has gained strength in recent months.

The Vatican earlier this year sent an investigator to Wichita to interview families and their doctors who say their children miraculously recovered from what looked like fatal medical problems after they prayed to the soul of Kapaun. Proving at least two miracles is a requirement for considering sainthood in the church.

The military during the Korean War had already awarded Kapaun the Distinguished Service Cross, its second-highest award. But fellow POWS said he deserved the nation's highest award.

A number of them dictated notarized affidavits testifying to his heroism under fire and in prison. Several fellow prisoners, after they were released at the end of the war, came to Wichita and Pilsen to extol Kapaun's heroism.

Kapaun was a chaplain of the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the First Army Division during the Korean War. Soldiers in that outfit saw him run through machine gun and artillery fire during a number of battles, dragging wounded soldiers to safety.

Four months after the war began, with the communist North Korean Army falling apart and the American army apparently victorious, the Chinese Army suddenly entered the war. Kapaun's 8th Cavalry regiment was surrounded and nearly annihilated by tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers in November 1950.

American soldiers who escaped the battle outside the North Korean village of Unsan said Kapaun refused to leave the wounded even after officers ordered and soldiers screamed at him to leave the battlefield.

In the following six months, on a horrific death march to prison camps and then in two prison camps just south of the Chinese border, Kapaun saved many lives. He escaped numerous times to steal food to bring back to starving prisoners, washed the filthy underwear of sick soldiers too feeble to do it themselves, and made pots and pans out of shredded roofing tin to boil the only clean water soldiers drank in the camps.

Soldiers said he used many skills he told them he'd learned as a farm boy growing up outside Pilsen.

They said he was a devout priest who violated camp rules every night by saying the rosary with fellow soldiers; but he sometimes spoke four-letter-words after confronting vicious guards mistreating prisoners.

When starving soldiers, freezing in subzero weather, began to hoard or steal food from one another, Kapaun would give his own food away and bless it in front of the soldiers as "food we cannot only eat but share."

"By offering pieces of his clothing and giving portions of his own meager rations to his injured comrades, Chaplain Kapaun unwittingly weakened his resistance which, in turn, hastened his untimely death," Tiahrt wrote Rumsfeld in 2001.

Helen Kapaun said she and the family were "shocked" when former POWs came home after the war and told hundreds of stories of her brother-in-law's heroics.

"All we knew of him was that he was a good priest and a good man," she said. "My husband had said that Father Emil was a man who was always religious and always meant what he said."

Foundations of Religious Life

The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious has maintained the historical form of religious life, with sisters living in community and wearing the habit. While many religious orders are currently facing marked decline in novitiates and the aging of their members, the communities of the CMSWR are experiencing growth on a worldwide scale.In this collection of foundational articles, the CMSWR articulates how its perspective is in keeping with the vision set forth by Vatican II, suggesting that its commitment to a more visibly countercultural life and ministry is what sustains its orders and attracts young women to the CMSWR communities. The Foundations of Religious Life is ideal reading for sisters and those in formation, as well as their counterparts in men's communities.

THEME FOR 2010 WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

VATICAN CITY, 29 SEP 2009 (VIS) - "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word" is the theme of the Pope's Message for the next World Day of Social Communications which is celebrated every year on 24 January, Feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron saint of journalists.

A communique made public today explains that the aim of the Message is "to invite priests in particular, during this Year for Priests and in the wake of the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to consider the new communications media as a possible resource for their ministry at the service of the Word. Likewise, it aims to encourage them to face the challenges arising from the new digital culture".

The text continues: "The new communications media, if adequately understood and exploited, can offer priests and all pastoral care workers a wealth of data which was difficult to access before, and facilitate forms of collaboration and increased communion that were previously unthinkable".

The communique concludes by noting that "if wisely used, with the help of experts in technology and the communications culture, the new media can become - for priests and for all pastoral care workers - a valid and effective instrument for authentic and profound evangelisation and communion".

"Benedict XVI: The role of priests is irreplaceable"

PRIESTS ARE WITNESSES OF THE POWER OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, 29 SEP 2009 (VIS) - Made public today were the contents of a video Message from the Pope to participants in an international spiritual retreat for priests at the French shrine of Ars for the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney. The preacher of the retreat, which is taking place from 27 September to 3 October, is Cardinal Christoph Schonborn O.P., archbishop of Vienna, Austria, and the theme of the spiritual exercises is: "The joy of being a priest, consecrated for the salvation of the world".

"The priest", says the Holy Father in his Message, "is called to serve human beings and to give them life in God. ... He is a man of the divine Word and of all things holy and, today more than ever, he must be a man of joy and hope. To those who cannot conceive that God is pure Love, he will affirm that life is worthy to be lived and that Christ gives it its full meaning because He loves all humankind".

Benedict XVI then turns to address priests who have to serve a number of parishes and who "commit themselves unreservedly to preserving sacramental life in their various communities. The Church's recognition for you all is immense", he says. "Do not lose heart but continue to pray and to make others pray that many young people may accept the call of Christ, Who always wishes to see the number of His apostles increase".

The Holy Father also invites priests to consider "the extreme diversity of the ministries" they perform "in the service of the Church", and "the large number of Masses you celebrate or will celebrate, each time making Christ truly present at the altar. Think of the numerous absolutions you have given and will give, freeing sinners from their burdens. Thus you may perceive the infinite fruitfulness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Your hands and lips become, for a single instant, the hands and lips of God".

"This thought", the Pope added, "should bring you to ensure harmonious relations among the clergy so as to form the priestly community as St. Peter wanted, and so build the body of Christ and consolidate you in love".

"The priest is the man of the future. ... What he does in this world is part of the order of things directed towards the final Goal. Mass is the only point of union between the means and the Goal because it enables us to contemplate, under the humble appearance of the bread and the wine, the Body and Blood of Him Whom we adore in eternity".

"Nothing will ever replace the ministry of priests in the heart of the Church", the Pope concluded. "You are the living witnesses of God's power at work in the weakness of human beings, consecrated for the salvation of the world, chosen by Christ Himself to be, thanks to Him, salt of the earth and light of the world".

"Apostolic Nuncio Speaks on Vocations"

From The National Catholic Register
Posted by Tim Drake

This morning Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., gave a historic address to the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors gathered for their annual convention in East Rutherford, N.J. Archbishop Sambi had several stirring things to say to the nation’s vocation directors.

“The enemy of every vocation is selfishness,” Archbishop Sambi told the group. He quoted at length from Pope John Paul II’s book Gift and Mystery.

In an interesting comparison, Archbishop Sambi compared the post-sexual abuse-crisis priesthood to that of post-Nazi-occupied Poland. He spoke about how Karol Wojtyla’s witnessing so many priests being arrested and deported impacted the future Pope’s priestly vocation.

“As the Pope was encouraged by the many priests brought to concentration camps, you should be pushed by the fact that many priests have abandoned their mission,” said Archbishop Sambi. “We are in a poverty of priests, but are coming on a New Springtime in which there will be more priests, and of a better quality.”

Given that it’s the Year for Priests in honor of St. John Marie Vianney, Archbishop Sambi then posed a hypothetical question to all of the vocation directors.

“If St. John Vianney came to you today as a prospective seminarian, would you help him in his vocation?” Archbishop Sambi asked.

He then presented two scenarios for how a vocation director might respond.

In the first scenario, the vocation director describes an older, dedicated, devout individual with a rural upbringing who is behind in his studies, but knows the faith because of the example of his family. He doesn’t grasp Latin well, but has a real sense of sacrifice. Other priests support him and see his vocation as authentic.

In the second scenario, the vocation director describes an individual with long hair and a provincial faith, who is focused on the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament and is described as perhaps being too Eucharistic and too much into the cult of Mary. He describes the priest as speaking of being available for confession, but the vocation director questions, “Really, who goes any more?” Finally, the vocation director says that the candidate sounds a bit old Church, so the director says he’s probably suited to a more traditional order and says, “No, thank you.”

Those gathered shared a good laugh over the descriptions, but it was an effective exercise in getting vocation directors to think about what’s important. Archbishop Sambi urged caution in dealing with prospective candidates because “one of them could be a future saint.”

Pope Benedict's Address to Youth in the Czech Republic

STARA BOLESLAV, Czech Republic, SEPT. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Below is the text of the address Benedict XVI gave today when he met with youth on the final day of his visit to the Czech Republic.

Dear Young Friends,

At the conclusion of this celebration I turn to you directly and I greet you warmly. You have come here in great numbers from all over the country and from neighbouring countries; you camped here yesterday evening and you spent the night in tents, sharing an experience of faith and companionship. Thank you for your presence here, which gives me a sense of the enthusiasm and generosity so characteristic of youth. Being with you makes the Pope feel young! I extend a particular word of thanks to your representative for his words and for the wonderful gift.

Dear friends, it is not hard to see that in every young person there is an aspiration towards happiness, sometimes tinged with anxiety: an aspiration that is often exploited, however, by present-day consumerist society in false and alienating ways. Instead, that longing for happiness must be taken seriously, it demands a true and comprehensive response. At your age, the first major choices are made, choices that can set your lives on a particular course, for better or worse. Unfortunately, many of your contemporaries allow themselves to be led astray by illusory visions of spurious happiness, and then they find themselves sad and alone. Yet there are also many young men and women who seek to transform doctrine into action, as your representative said, so as to give the fullness of meaning to their lives. I invite you all to consider the experience of Saint Augustine, who said that the heart of every person is restless until it finds what it truly seeks. And he discovered that Jesus Christ alone is the answer that can satisfy his and every person's desire for a life of happiness, filled with meaning and value (cf. Confessions, I.1.1).

As he did with Augustine, so the Lord comes to meet each one of you. He knocks at the door of your freedom and asks to be welcomed as a friend. He wants to make you happy, to fill you with humanity and dignity. The Christian faith is this: encounter with Christ, the living Person who gives life a new horizon and thereby a definitive direction. And when the heart of a young person opens up to his divine plans, it is not difficult to recognize and follow his voice. The Lord calls each of us by name, and entrusts to us a specific mission in the Church and in society. Dear young people, be aware that by Baptism you have become children of God and members of his Body, the Church. Jesus constantly renews his invitation to you to be his disciples and his witnesses. Many of you he calls to marriage, and the preparation for this Sacrament constitutes a real vocational journey. Consider seriously the divine call to raise a Christian family, and let your youth be the time in which to build your future with a sense of responsibility. Society needs Christian families, saintly families!

And if the Lord is calling you to follow him in the ministerial priesthood or in the consecrated life, do not hesitate to respond to his invitation. In particular, in this Year of Priests, I appeal to you, young men: be attentive and open to Jesus's call to offer your lives in the service of God and his people. The Church in every country, including this one, needs many holy priests and also persons fully consecrated to the service of Christ, Hope of the world.

Hope! This word, to which I often return, sits particularly well with youth. You, my dear young people, are the hope of the Church! She expects you to become messengers of hope, as happened last year in Australia, during World Youth Day, that great manifestation of youthful faith that I was able to experience personally, and in which some of you took part. Many more of you will be able to come to Madrid in August 2011. I invite you here and now to participate in this great gathering of young people with Christ in the Church.

Dear friends, thank you again for being here and thank you for your gift: the book of photographs recounting the lives of young people in your dioceses. Thank you also for the sign of your solidarity towards the young people of Africa, which you have presented to me. The Pope asks you to live your faith with joy and enthusiasm; to grow in unity among yourselves and with Christ; to pray and to be diligent in frequenting the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession; to take seriously your Christian formation, remaining ever obedient to the teachings of your Pastors. May Saint Wenceslaus guide you along this path through his example and his intercession, and may you always enjoy the protection of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother. I bless all of you with affection!

"Bless Me Father!"

Written by Fr. Jose Bautista-Rojas, LT, CHC, USN (photo at left)
Monday, 31 December 2007 00:21
Thank you Lord for my priesthood!

01Jan08: What am I, a priest, doing in Iraq? God brought me here to be with my Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers. I am here to bring God to them and to bring them to God. Every day is a different story.

The other day, a young Marine arrived to SSTP (Shock, Surgical and Trauma Platoon) hospital. He was so young and at the age where he was just starting to experience life. He had lost his legs from the waist down; he had a very low pulse. There was something special about his young man that made him different from every other one that arrived at the SSTP hospital up to that date. I knew him personally. He attended Mass twice a month while the other days he went on missions. It is different when you know someone personally. I still remember his face; he would ask for a blessing after each Mass. He would tell me: "Bless me, Father, I need your blessing." These are the last words that I heard from him a week ago. His words till resounded over and over in my head, "Bless me, Father." I will not give his real name out of respect for the family.

I could not control my right hand while holding Jose's, praying to God for him; my hand was shaking. In my mind, I was asking God to save Jose. I was thinking of his parents, of his brothers, of his friends, but especially of his mother. Lord, do not shatter Jose's mother's heart. Save him, Lord! Bring him back to his mother alive.

I was looking around the operating room. The doctors were speaking to Jose telling him, "Fight, do not give up, please fight!" Jose's commanding officer was at a corner of the room with tears in his eyes, looking at me as if he were asking, "Please tell God to save him!" He then would turn to the doctors as saying, "Fight for him please save him, save my Marine!" Another officer entered the room, looked carefully to the doctors and then turned to me asking me with the gesture of his hands to pray. Then, he turned to Jose's officer and greeted him as if giving his condolences.

Please Lord, save him! I prayed with all my strength while the doctors tried frantically to save his life. "He has no more pulse!" one doctor shouted, while a female doctor with her hands inside Jose's chest caressed his heart trying to revive him. After 45 minutes of massaging the heart and electrical shocks, the doctor declared him dead.

In my mind, I was praying Lord, do not allow Jose's mother to receive him without life. Looking at Jose on the stretcher, I only saw half of his body. How would his life be if he would have survived without legs and only part of his hands? I wonder if God instead of answering my prayer answered Jose's prayer. Maybe Jose was telling God, please take me with you, do not leave me here this way. I don not know; the only thing I know is that Jose will not suffer anymore.

I still hear Jose's voice when he would tell me, "Bless me, Father... Please, Father, bless me... I always tell my mom that you bless me, and she gets very happy..... My mother told me to thank you for your blessing." What will go through Jose's mother's mind? Will she be angry at God? Will she hate the Marine Corps that her son loved so much?

I wish I could tell her: "Senora, I was with your son on his last moments." My hope is that she will find some comfort in the knowledge that her son had a priest by his side in his last moments.

Jose's officer asked for my name to tell his mother that I prayer for Jose, and that he received the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. I would love to look at her eyes, and let her know that I was with her son on her behalf. I would like to embrace her, and tell her that her son asked for my blessing every time he could come to Mass.

I thank God for the gift of my priesthood and to my Cardinal who allowed me to come and serve as a chaplain. I am a priest not only to celebrate Holy Mass, but also to live it. The gift of my priesthood allows me to bless and bring peace to my muchachos and muchachas, that's the way I see them as my young kids, in the midst of this war.

Please, ask God that I may never get tired of blessing those who ask and wherever they ask me. Jose would ask me to bless him in the Chapel, or while I was walking to my "Humvee" (my transportation), which would bring me to my base or where ever he would see me.

"Father would you bless me?" Who will be the next priest to hear these words? Will our young men and women in the military services have priests to come to and ask for a blessing, or to come for confession, or will they have the opportunity to attend Mass? I pray that young men and women in the military will get the spiritual guidance they need. The only way this will be possible is if more men respond to God's call to the priesthood. When the Lord asks, "Whom shall I send?" many will say "Here I am, Lord!"

Fr. Jose Bautista-Rojas, LT, CHC, USN is currently serving as a US military chaplain in Iraq. A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, he was ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1999, and has previously served at various parishes including St. Elizabeth Church in Van Nuys, CA.

"Leprosy patients to see 1800s priest canonized"

From AP

By AUDREY McAVOY

HONOLULU — Most need wheelchairs. Their average age is 80.

Neither fact is stopping 11 elderly Hawaii leprosy patients from traveling 12,000 miles to the Vatican next month to watch as the Catholic Church canonizes Father Damien — a priest who cared for leprosy patients throughout the islands more than a century ago before dying of the disease himself.

Damien, who was born in Belgium as Joseph de Veuster, remains a beloved figure among many in Hawaii. In the 1870s, the leprosy patients Damien cared for were shunned by most people, even doctors, because of an intense stigma that was associated with the disease.

Today's patients from Kalaupapa, the isolated peninsula where Hawaii's leprosy patients were banished for more than 100 years, feel particularly close to Damien.

Dr. Kalani Brady, their physician, said Thursday the trip to Rome will be an "energy-laden" voyage for many of his patients.

"They're going to see their personal saint canonized," said Brady, 53, who will accompany the group to Rome. It's "incredibly important, incredibly personal for them," he said.

The reverence for Damien transcends religious sects, Brady said, noting that one 84-year-old making the trip is Mormon.

"He's bound to a wheelchair, he's completely blind. So it's important enough for him to go, despite the hurdles which he has to overcome," Brady said.

The Catholic Church announced earlier this year that it would make Damien a saint after determining a Hawaii woman was cured of terminal cancer after she prayed to Damien and he interceded on her behalf. The church found there was no medical explanation for the woman's recovery.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to preside over Damien's canonization on Oct. 11. Damien was beatified — a step toward sainthood — in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

The pope is expected to meet privately with the patients during their stay in Rome.

The 11 are among about 20 patients who still live at Kalaupapa. The Kingdom of Hawaii began banishing leprosy patients to the remote section of Molokai island in the 1860s to control an outbreak of the disease that was killing Native Hawaiians in large numbers.

Many Hawaiians had no natural immunity to leprosy, as well as other diseases that led the Hawaiian population to shrink 70 percent in the seven decades after Captain James Cook, the first European to visit the islands, arrived in 1778.

Some 90 percent of the 8,000 people exiled to Kalaupapa were Native Hawaiians.

Successive governments continued to exile patients to Kalaupapa for over a century through 1969, when the state of Hawaii finally stopped the practice more than two decades after the discovery of drugs that could treat the disease.

Many patients chose to stay at Kalaupapa even after the medical isolation order was lifted because the community had become their home.

Today, many patients still have to fight the indignity of stereotypes and misperceptions about the illness.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is spread by direct person-to-person contact, although it's not easily transmitted. It can cause skin lesions and lead to blindness.

But it's been curable since the development of sulfone drugs in the 1940s, and people treated with drugs aren't contagious.

Damien built homes for the sick, changed their bandages and ate poi, a Hawaiian staple, from the same bowl as the patients. He put up no barriers between himself and those he ministered to.

He was diagnosed with leprosy 12 years after he arrived and died five years later in 1889.

Overall, some 650 people from Hawaii are traveling to Rome for the canonization. Most, between 520 and 550, are expected to be part of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu's delegation.

Those going also include a Boy Scout troop and Lt. Gov. James R. "Duke" Aiona.

Some will visit Belgium, including the town of Tremelo, where Damien was born, and Leuven, where his body was buried in 1936.

Damien still has a grave at Kalaupapa, but it now only contains a relic of his right hand.

"Pray for a Harvest of Holy Priests"

From The National Catholic Register
By Father Salvatore DeStefano

No priest ever forgets his first day in the seminary. After all the discernment, he has left the job behind, the girlfriend behind, his own family and friends behind — all to journey down an unknown path, hoping and praying that he is doing God’s will. My first day was just like this.

We had an excellent president, or rector as we call him, who summoned all the new recruits together for his annual opening conference of the academic year. You might think that he called us together to give us a bit of a pep talk, to tell us that we were bold for making this difficult decision to follow the Lord’s call in a world that was distancing itself more and more from God. You might think that he complimented us and told us to pray hard for the strength to find God’s purpose for our lives (ordination was never a given).

He did none of these things. Instead he said to us: “Gentlemen, if you’re not prepared to make every sacrifice necessary to become holy priests, then get out.”

The message was clear. The Church and world don’t need greater numbers of priests necessarily. What’s needed are holy priests. If we weren’t willing to accept this, we needn’t bother wasting our teachers’ time or our own — or God’s.

Some of the guys assembled that day were put off by this approach, but I wasn’t. Actually, I was very impressed. Here was a man who wasn’t concerned with playing the numbers game. He wasn’t interested in merely producing more vocations or impressing his superiors with his flourishing seminary program. What he cared about was producing holy priests, even at this beginning stage of priestly formation.

He did this because he felt with all of his heart, as he told us so many times, that “the people of God deserve the best.”

That was many years ago, but that phrase has always stuck with me. A good, holy, prayerful Catholic priest can do great and mighty things for God because the Holy Spirit will work through him. The people will truly be able to see God through him, which is what the Lord intended when he established the priesthood.

On the other side of that equation, an unholy, evil priest can make people lose their faith through his words and actions.

Scripture is very clear on this point. In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord says, “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of the pasture … but I will take care to punish your evil deeds” (Jeremiah 23:1-6).

This is a direct warning to all priests. If you mislead my people, says the Lord, you’re going to pay. Jesus was moved to pity in the Gospel of Mark because the vast crowd was “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:30-34).

This is a crucial point to remember, because Pope Benedict XVI has declared this the Year for Priests. I suspect he is doing this not so much to celebrate the gift of the priesthood or the great priests we all know in our lives. There is plenty of time for that. Rather, it is the Year for Priests to pray for priests.

Benedict is imploring the people of God to pray for holy priests, men who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to configure themselves to Christ the Good Shepherd. In his homily to open the Year for Priests, the Holy Father said that the faithful should “pray that the Lord inflame the heart of each and every priest … because the greatest suffering in the Church is the sin of its priests.”

Benedict rarely minces words, and he’s not going to start when it comes to something as important as the sanctity of the clergy.

I personally would like to forget the scandals that broke not so long ago. I’d like to forget them because I know in my heart, and in my experience, that the great majority of priests are good, devout, dedicated men — men who want nothing more than to serve God by serving the flock entrusted to them.

I’d like to forget the scandals because I know that the majority of the hideous acts we read about in the papers and heard about on television were committed by a relatively small group of sick, perverted, twisted men who should never have been ordained in the first place.

I’d like to forget the scandals — but I can’t. I can’t forget because I am reminded of them every time a little child rushes up to give me a hug after Mass, or whenever I visit a parish school. An uneasy feeling comes upon me at such times. In the back of my mind, always, is the question: Is someone looking at this scene and thinking something terrible? Are they seeing something that isn’t there?

This is tragic. Most priests love children, present company included. In fact, for me, the biggest stumbling block on the way to ordination was the lingering question as to whether I would be happier with a wife and children.

But there is hope. There is hope because Christ rose from the dead — and promised the same for you and me, if we try to follow his will. Christ rose from the dead, and he is still married to his Catholic Church, 2,000 years and many sins later. We are not always faithful to his teaching, but he is always faithful to us.

There are two sides to the Church, of course: the human side and the divine side. The human side gets us into trouble. But no matter how unfaithful we can be, he is still married to his bride, the Church.

This is the Year for Priests, and the Pope wants us to pray for holy priests — not just for more priests. Like the rector of that seminary so many years ago, God doesn’t play the numbers game. He wants his priests to be holy. Why? Because his people deserve the best.

Father Salvatore DeStefano is a priest of

the Archdiocese of New York.

BENEDICT XVI ENTRUSTS FAMILIES TO INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE

VATICAN CITY, 26 SEP 2009 (VIS) - At 12.30 p.m. today the Pope arrived at the church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague, which was built by German Lutherans between 1611 and 1613 on a site once occupied by a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Trinity. Following the victory of the Counter Reformation in Bohemia, emperor Ferdinand II gave the building to the Order of Discalced Carmelites and it was consecrated to Our Lady Victorious.

The church houses the famous image of the Infant Jesus of Prague. The statuette, made of wax over a wooden frame, comes from a convent in southern Spain and was given to the Carmelites by princess Polyxena von Lobkowitz in 1628. The cult of the Infant Jesus spread during the Baroque period and is associated with the visions of St. Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelite Order.

Benedict XVI was greeted by the rector as he arrived at the church, which was crowded with families and children. He adored the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel of the Infant Jesus then placed a golden crown on the statuette before moving on to the main altar to greet those present.

"The image of the Child Jesus calls to mind the mystery of the Incarnation, of the all-powerful God Who became man and Who lived for thirty years in the lowly family of Nazareth", he said. "My thoughts turn to your own families and to all families ... as we call upon the Child Jesus for the gift of unity and harmony. ... We think especially of young families who have to work so hard to offer their children security and a decent future. We pray for families in difficulty, struggling with illness and suffering, for those in crisis, divided or torn apart by strife or infidelity. We entrust them all to the Holy Infant of Prague, knowing how important their stability and harmony is for the true progress of society and for the future of humanity".

"In the Holy Infant of Prague we contemplate the beauty of childhood and the fondness that Jesus Christ has always shown for little ones. ... Yet how many children are neither loved, nor welcomed nor respected! How many of them suffer violence and every kind of exploitation by the unscrupulous! May children always be accorded the respect and attention that are due to them: they are the future and the hope of humanity!"

The Holy Father concluded by thanking all the children who had come to greet him and he asked them to pray for their parents, teachers, friends, and for him.