USCCB: Turning to the Lord

September 19, 2018

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Administrative Committee has issued the following statement today in response to the recent sex abuse scandals.  In the statement, the bishops say they pledge to "heal and protect with every bit of the strength God provides us."

Turning to the Lord

"When each of us was ordained as a bishop, we were told:

'Keep watch over the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you to shepherd the Church of God.'

We, the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, assembled last week in Washington at this time of shame and sorrow.  Some bishops, by their actions or their failures to act, have caused great harm to both individuals and the Church as a whole.  They have used their authority and power to manipulate and sexually abuse others.  They have allowed the fear of scandal to replace genuine forgiveness from both the Lord and those who have been harmed.  Turning to the Lord for strength, we must and will do better.

The Administrative Committee took the following actions within its authority:
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Passion to Evangelize Drives New Ordinariate Catholic Communities

NATION | SEP. 17, 2018

Passion to Evangelize Drives New Ordinariate Catholic Communities
 

Young Catholics, invigorated by the ordinariate's English-Catholic expressions of faith, are actively 'church-planting' and inviting people into their fledgling Catholic communities.

Peter Jesserer Smith

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- At 22 years old, Sarah Rodeo, a Catholic graduate student at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, is engaged in work more associated with evangelical Protestants than Catholics in the Northeast: building a new church community from the ground up.

Rodeo belongs to the Ordinariate Fellowship of Connecticut, one of the nascent groups that aspire to become an official community-in-formation for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a diocesan structure established by Benedict XVI that reunited the Anglican patrimony to the Catholic Church.

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is one of three established dioceses under the Holy See that reintegrate the Anglican patrimony with the Catholic Church.  In North America, the ordinariate began with a wave of Anglican and Episcopal communities that entered into full communion with the bishop of Rome.  But the ordinariate is seeing its own communities grow, and new communities develop, through active evangelization built on common prayer, fellowship, hard work and perseverance.

...

[continue reading]

 

Letter from Fr. Allen - September 6, 2018

adoration-clipart-chalice.jpg

+JMJ+

Dear Friends,

I'm very much looking forward to the beginning of our Fall Christian formation program - "Wednesday School" - and hope you will consider participating if you have not in the past. We have a simple supper in the parish hall beginning at 5.30PM, our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program for children and class for adults start at 6(-ish)PM, and we make sure everyone is on their way home by 7PM. Read here for more about our offerings.

Parents of children in Catechesis must register their children and also attend the Safe Environment workshop this coming Wednesday (9/12) at 5.30PM in the church. Please read more about the Safe Environment meeting here.

If you would like help by volunteering to provide one of our Wednesday evening meals or a portion thereof (let us not neglect dessert as is the habit of some!), please contact Judi.

We are also hoping to provide a nursery for children below Catechesis age. If you or someone you know would be interested in staffing the nursery, please let me know.

God bless you,
Fr Allen

Required Safe Environment Workshop

Christ Child as the Good Shepherd by Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Christ Child as the Good Shepherd by Bartolome Esteban Murillo

UPDATE 16Sep2018: This workshop is rescheduled for Wednesday, 19 September, due to Hurricane Florence. Our regular schedule of 5.30PM family supper and 6.00PM classes for adults and children will resume on Wednesday, 26 September.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at Corpus Christi
Safe Environment Workshop

Wednesday, September 12, 5.30PM
at St. Mary's (Church)

Dear friends,

At Corpus Christi, we are excited to offer Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for the formation of our children, so that they may grow with their Good Shepherd "in stature and in wisdom and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2.52).

We are also completely committed to the safety of our children. To that end, we ask that at least one parent of each child participating in Catechesis attend our Safe Environment Workshop next Wednesday evening. The meeting will be brief, about 30 minutes. Scarlett Crawford, out Director of Religious Education, will present important information about our Safe Environment program, both for you and your child. As required by our certification process, you will be asked to sign a form stating that you have received the information. To participate in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, it is essential that you attend the workshop, receive the information, and sign the form.

There will be a short and fun Bible lesson for children during the workshop. We do not offer the "Teaching Touching Safely" program for children. Instead, we provide you the parents with age appropriate information for your children - you know your children best and how best to communicate that information to them.

Again, the workshop will be brief, and following the Safe Environment presentation, I will be available to respond to questions and discuss with you the current issues surrounding abuse in the Church.

Our first classes for children and adults will be on Wednesday, September 19, in the parish hall: Family supper at 5.30PM; class at 6.00PM.

Thank you for your interest in Catechesis! I look forward to seeing you next Wednesday - in the meantime, if you have any questions, please do let me know (email; 843.261.4188).

Faithfully in Christ,
Fr. Allen

P.S. If you haven't yet registered your child for Catechesis, please do so now!

Ordinariate Community in the News

image by Jeff Witherow for Catholic Courier

image by Jeff Witherow for Catholic Courier

Bishop Lopes recently visited the Fellowship of St Alban, an Ordinariate community in the Rochester, NY, area. The Catholic Courier covered the visit:

Among the distinct liturgical elements in the Aug. 26 Mass were Bishop Lopes facing ad orientem(liturgical east) rather than toward the congregation for most of the prayers; a large portion of the Mass being sung; worshipers kneeling in the first row of pews to receive Holy Communion; and prayers featuring the words “thee,” and “thy” in place of “you” and “your.” For instance, “The Lord be with you” was followed by the response “And with thy spirit.”

Father Simington said the Fellowship of St. Alban comprises approximately 10 families, and that an average of 30 people attend the fellowship’s weekly 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Cecilia. However, he said many lifelong Roman Catholics “who have sort of found an attraction to what we do” also have become connected with the fellowship. The Aug. 26 Mass attracted more than 100 people, and the Meet the Ordinariate event drew about 80.

Read the full article here.

 

Benedict, Viganò, Francis, and McCarrick: Where things stand on nuncio’s allegations

J.D. Flynn, Catholic News Agency
 

In a testimony released Aug. 25, Archbishop Carlo Viganò wrote that in 2006, he sent a memo to his Vatican superiors, which said that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had a history of sexual misconduct with seminarians and priests and that an example should be made of him for the good of the Church.

Viganò claimed that his memo was ignored, and so he sent a second one in 2008. That one, he said, had its desired effect. His testimony said he was told that Pope Benedict XVI imposed “canonical sanctions” on McCarrick in 2009 or 2010, forbidding him from living in a seminary, celebrating sacraments publicly, and from making other kinds of public appearances.

Finally, Viganò alleged that Pope Francis knowingly ignored Benedict’s sanctions on McCarrick, and made the cardinal one of his closest advisors. For that, Viganò said, Pope Francis should resign.

The story is simple, but the the fallout from the Viganò testimony has become quite complex... (keep reading)

 

Letter from Fr. Allen announcing Day of Penance, Wednesday School

adoration-clipart-chalice.jpg

+JMJ+

Dear Friends,

I had a wonderful weekend away with my son Henry at Alpine Camp, scene of many happy childhood memories for me. I missed being with you on Sunday, but you may appreciate knowing that I offered Mass at 4.45 in the morning because I forgot I was in the Central time zone!

Please give your attention to two items:



Wednesday School
The school year is back under way, and it is time for us to begin again with our Wednesday School programs. These will begin with our Safe Environment meeting for parents on Wednesday, September 12, at 5.30PM in the church. There will also be a program for children that night while parents have an opportunity to review the safe environment materials and talk briefly with me about the issues concerning the safety of our children in the Church. The children's program will not be a safe environment/"Teaching Touching Safety" program, but rather a quick and fun Catechesis of the Good Shepherd introduction with our director, Scarlett Crawford. Parents will be given the safe environment children's materials - when and how and in what terms to communicate this information to children is left to the discretion of parents who, after all, know their own children best. Having said that, the parents' meeting is mandatory in order to enroll children in our Catechesis program; if you are unable to attend on Wednesday, September 12, and would like your child(ren) to participate in Catechesis, please let me know so that we may arrange a make-up date. Our first classes, for children and adults, will be the following Wednesday, September 19th, with family supper at 5.30PM and class beginning at 6PM. Everyone goes home by 7PM. See more - including a link for registration - [here]!

A Day of Penance
Last week, we heard from Bishop Lopes regarding these latest terrible revelations of the scandal of abuse in the Church (scandal which has intensified even in the last week). Bishop Lopes invited us to offer the fall Ember Friday (September 21) as a day of penance for the renewal of the Church and healing of victims of abuse. To that end, I invite you to join me in a Holy Hour of prayer and penance in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament on that day, from 7 - 8PM.  (For understanding the Ember Days in general, see here.)

I have been asked why we ought to do penance for the sins of others - a good and fair question. Briefly:

  • Because the Church is, as St Paul teaches us, one Body, though it has many members. We are not all, of course, personally guilty of these crimes, but we all are, in a sense, implicated. St Francis began in just this way; he never intended to found a religious order, but rather to be a penitent, offering his own self-chosen poverty, with all of its hunger, want, and suffering, in reparation for the sins of all against God's love. So also we are doing penance for the sins of those deacons, priests, bishops, and others in the Church against children and the vulnerable.

  • Because penance intensifies our prayer. This is why fasting and prayer are so closely associated. By fasting we are, as it were, "putting our money where our mouth is" and demonstrating (and so also fostering) the urgency of our desire and the depth of our sorrow - going without, or voluntarily bearing some cross, in order to gain some good thing or end. As we hear from the prophet Joel at the beginning each Lent: "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry to the Lord."

  • Finally, because it is what Jesus did for us, and "we are," as again St. Paul teaches, "ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." By this penance, we seek to make reparation not only for our own sins, but for the sins of others in the Church.

This Ember Friday falls on the Feast of St. Matthew, and so is not a day of mandatory abstinence, but I invite you to join me in fasting and abstaining from meat that day, and then join me in prayer before our Lord, present in the Blessed Sacrament, that God may forgive our sins, heal his Church, and comfort and restore those who have been prayed upon.

God bless you,
Fr Allen

Register Children for Wednesday School 2018-2019

WEDNESDAY SCHOOL
Christian Formation for all ages.
+ + +
Wednesday Evenings beginning September 19th, 2018
Family Supper at 5.30PM; Class at 6.00PM

Wednesday, 12 September

5.30PM "Safe Environment" workshops for parents; Introduction to Catechesis for children.

Wednesday, 19 September

5.30PM Family supper

6.00PM  First day of children's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and class for adults

Children: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

For children ages 4 and up, Corpus Christi’s approach to religious formation is based upon the “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” model. What is that? Here is one description:

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd was founded in the 1950's by two Italian laywomen, one a scriptural scholar and one an expert in Montessori education. Together they conceived of a simple, attractive method for sharing the richness of the Faith with children, who are uniquely capable of accepting the beauty of God's love.  The program is presented in three levels, and includes time in the "Atrium," which is a quiet environment where children learn through tactile play.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd emphasizes quiet contemplation and -- imagine this -- "the enjoyment of God." The children hear Bible stories and watch them acted out with simple materials; they learn songs and prayers, and are encouraged to play quietly with simple and meaningful objects.  One mother explained that CGS "cracked the code" of the Mass for her son, as he learned to become alert to the details of the liturgy: the significance of color, the names and purposes of the various vessels and tools on the altar.

Adults' Class: The Church, That Wonderful and Sacred Mystery

Fr Allen (with a little help from from his friends) will lead a study and discussion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teaching on the Church, her nature and form. What does it mean to call the Church "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic?" How is the Church Christ's Body? Or his Bride? Can we affirm with St. Cyprian, extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation)?

O GOD of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favourably on thy whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; and by the tranquil operation of thy perpetual providence carry out the work of man's salvation, and let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and all things are returning to perfection through him from whom they took their origin, even Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 - Collect at the Easter Vigil, from Divine Worship: The Missal