Deacon Dan Wright

New Rules on Criteria for Sainthood

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Vatican Monday issued a new set of rules tightening criteria for declaring someone a saint in a move seen as a return to more traditional practices.

The 100-page document released instructs Catholic bishops to be tougher when deciding which candidates for sainthood can begin the official procedures leading to canonization, Italy's ANSA news agency reports.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's saints department, writes the new rules ask bishops to show "greater sobriety and rigor" when accepting requests to begin the first phase of the proceedings.

ANSA says in a recent interview Cardinal Martins hinted that under Pope John Paul II certain prospective saints were fast-tracked because they came from countries the pope was set to visit or countries that didn't have a saint.

A new set of rules was needed, Cardinal Martins said, "to respond better to the new spirit introduced by Benedict XVI."

Critics of Pope John Paul II said his approach had devalued sainthood in the eyes of the world.

Source

From Zenit:

In his remarks, [Cardinal Martins] explained that the aim of the document "is to contribute to ensuring that current norms for the diocesan inquiry of a cause of beatification and canonization are applied with ever greater care."

The instruction is divided into six sections. Cardinal Saraiva Martins noted the theme of each of them: "The first draws attention to the need for a true reputation of holiness before beginning a process...

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For critics of the "fast track to sainthood," which has been witnessed in the recent past, this should come as a welcome return to greater consideration before moving ahead with the causes of sainthood, which also should avoid any possible mistakes of a too hasty approach.

The new rules seem to be a prudent move to a more traditional stance.   

Jesus Through Iranian Eyes

"In the award-winning movie, "The Messiah," Jesus is depicted as not being the son of God, and not crucified."

It was a little surprising to learn that an Iranian filmmaker had chosen to make a film about Jesus.  However, the fact of the view expressed in the movie as being far from orthodox came as no real surprise. 

Even before ever learning about the understanding of Jesus in Islam, it was evident to me for some time that Islam had acquired a heterodox version of Christianity.

The film was reported on by ABC news:

A new movie in Iran depicts the life of Jesus from an Islamic perspective. "The Messiah," which some consider as Iran's answer to Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ," won an award at Rome's Religion Today Film Festival for generating interfaith dialogue.

Filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh spoke to ABC's Lara Setrakian in Tehran:

"Many thought this film is a good step for serious inter-religious dialogue. Many of them liked it — seeing the Koran-based ending. And I was very happy that the practicing Christians were very happy with the film. I have never found one case among practicing Christians who are offended [by the movie].

American Christians, I respect them very much. I think these Christians, the born-again Christians, especially, are a very interesting group that Iran is not aware of, because a whole generation of Iranians haven't been able to travel to America. And those who do move to America, stay in America. So, how to create serious communication, not at the political, but at the religious level? I thought this would be a shortcut."

Source

So, is the movie a tool for dialogue, or is more an attempt to spread the message of Islam?  It appears to me that a Muslim movie about Jesus might be a bridge for Islam into the west, though perhaps more for Europe--where the rise of secularism has displaced Christianity--than America.

Friday

I arrive at another Friday with my prayer, bringing my heart's longing. The week with all its temptation, sin in varying degrees and miniscule trials has once again brought me here. Yet I arrive with a sense of joy. I arrive at a day to remember.

It is a day that I call favored among days; a day preordained to give us a moment to call good among the passing of moments. Perhaps it's more the end of a long week that some may celebrate, but I, like you, know of another significance infused in this good day.

I was born on a Friday afternoon in a desolate and arid wilderness. Perhaps it was this event that triggered my insatiable thirst for something that quenches eternally. I always come back to Friday, remembering Fridays that should have long been released from imprisonment in my memory.

It was on a Friday that mother drove past the church that had a statue of Mary and that bore her name as well. I know it was Friday because such things remain in the minds of schoolchildren for all of their days. There was fish on the school menu that day. I sensed a holy connection to St. Mary never to be dismissed. Mother said they prayed to him through her.

Friday brings me to the foot of the Cross where sorrow was seen and salvation was won once and for all—for me and for anyone else who might approach with longing, faith, and a heart of love. I stand here; rather kneel, on this day. It is I, he says, who give to you this Friday. It is a day, I say, for the one I love, at whose Cross I remain—faithfully waiting.

He's not trying to tell you how to vote, but...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Archbishop Jose Gomez complained Wednesday about plans for a rally by Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, an abortion rights supporter, at a Catholic university.

The archbishop released a statement noting that Clinton and some other presidential candidates' support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research were not in line with Catholic values. The Rev. Pat Rodgers, an archdiocese spokesman, said Gomez was responding to telephone calls and e-mails from concerned Catholics.

Clinton held a rally at St. Mary's University, the oldest Catholic college in the city, on Wednesday evening.

"I was neither advised nor consulted by the university before the decision was made to have Senator Clinton speak at the university," Gomez said in the statement released by the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Gomez said he was not trying to tell people how to vote, but he noted that U.S. Catholic bishops have affirmed a statement calling on Catholics not to honor or give platforms to political candidates and officeholders "who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

The school issued a statement saying it does not endorse political candidates and acknowledges fundamental differences between the teachings of the church and the positions of political candidates.

The school is an independent liberal arts college with its own president and board of directors but is under the spiritual leadership of the archdiocese.

Clinton spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod said in a statement that the campaign respects the archbishop's point of view and appreciates the invitation to speak at the school.

Source

The USCCB statement says, in regard to those who act in defiance of our moral principles, that "...they should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." (Italics mine)

I'm not sure that having a candidate speak at a university during an election year actually suggests support.  Rather it appears to me more of an opportunity to hear first hand information--an important part of making an informed choice.  Certainly an "independent liberal arts" institution has an obligation to its student body to present an unbiased and objective range of information.  If they are able to get candidates to appear in person, all the better.  I would think also that having Clinton speak would give students the opportunity to challenge her on what they deem as immoral.

Blackballing a candidate, regardless of what he or she stands for, is not the best way in my opinion to make a statement about what we value.

For information on how to make an informed and responsible voting choice click here (.pdf)

Catholic Mass Disturbs Jewish Group

I was going to post something on the story below when I saw one similar several days ago.  It is relevant to the two posts I did on the recent CDF document Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization, which I blogged about last on February 10.

In so many ways this brings back memories of my own work within an interreligious ministry.  However, in light of the Note it will be interesting to follow this story if it develops further:

Reuters

February 14, 2008

WASHINGTON -- An assembly representing Conservative rabbis worldwide expressed dismay this week over a revised Roman Catholic prayer calling for the conversion of Jews, and it voted to ask the Vatican to clarify the text's meaning.

The 1,600-member Rabbinical Assembly said it was "dismayed and deeply disturbed to learn of reports that Pope Benedict XVI has revised the 1962 text of the Latin Mass, retaining the rubric 'For the conversion of the Jews.' "

In a resolution approved Tuesday after an hour of debate over two days, the rabbinical group agreed to "seek clarification from the Vatican of the meaning and status of the new text." The Conservative movement is one of the three main branches of Judaism, along with Orthodox and Reform.

The Good Friday prayer in Latin would be heard by few Roman Catholic congregations, but Jewish groups have expressed disappointment with its language, viewing it as a step backward after decades of work to improve Jewish-Catholic ties.

Pope Benedict touched off controversy last year when he agreed to make the old-style Latin Mass more available for traditionalists along with a missal that had been phased out in the 1960s.

The pope had agreed not to use the traditional Latin prayer because of such references as Jewish "blindness" toward Christ. But the prayer released last week asks God to help Jews "acknowledge Jesus Christ as the savior."

Source

In my opinion the move from "blindness" to "acknowledge Jesus Christ as the savior" seems more to be a step forward than backwards.

Spiritual Budget Making

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Our faith in God is such that we look to him as the provider of all we need. One of the lessons that I frequently have the opportunity to teach in my classroom has to do with being able to make a simple budget. To start off I will typically get my students to understand the difference between the things we want and the things we need.

We must trust in our Lord's goodness to provide for our needs abundantly. On many occasions I have sat beside students as they painstakingly made their list of the material things need to survive. In such an exercise my students will also make a list of the things that they want—luxuries. It's always easier to populate the want side of the list.

I too, in doing my monthly budget, have sat with my wife and together we made—or at least discussed—our list of needs for the coming month. Like my students, I have found it much easier sometimes to come up with a list of what I'd like to have just for the fun of it.

How many of us have sat down and made a list of our spiritual needs? Such is the stuff of which prayer is made! Could it be that our typical prayer life tends to emphasize spiritual wants more than needs? At least this is what comes to my mind when I hear talk—or perhaps complaining—about not being fed. Especially when I know the spiritual environment is rich by comparison to most.

However, trusting in God to provide for our needs doesn't mean that we shouldn't bring the things we want to him. Truthfully, and speaking spiritually, I desire the riches of God's love. My desire is for the good things that God alone can provide: beyond the basics I want those things that uniquely have the power to satisfy the hungry soul.

Lent provides us with a time to reflect upon need in our life versus want. However, more than simply withholding certain luxuries from ourselves, Lent gives us the opportunity to reflect upon and seek those things of things of the spirit that may have been neglected for some time.

Part of seeking in order to find, and knocking on the door to have it opened, is discovering what exactly it is that we need most. I believe that sometimes—perhaps often—Christians suffer from blindness in regard to real spiritual need. It is as though we haven't made our budget list completely. We have the want side filled out, and somehow we stand convinced that list is complete.

The last—and most important—thing I would like to say is that apart from spiritual needs and wants we live in a world in which many people lack bread to eat. In considering wants and needs it would be scandalous to exclude the material situation of our world.

We cannot ignore the real issues of poverty and we must all work to eradicate them. God provides us with the means to face the challenges of material need—yet here I must emphasize that the world in which we live cries out for justice. Thus, the challenge is one that requires tremendous faith. Each of us has a mandate to build a world in which poverty, disease, war, and hunger are no longer. We share a communal duty to build a future free of those things which, for us and in our times, are a black mark upon our world. Still, the solutions for such difficult issues are far from being unobtainable.

Deacons in the News

It's not every day that we find news articles on the diaconate, so I was surprised to find two recently.  Here's an excerpt from the first, in which the Pope discusses the Permanent Diaconate:

I would like to...express my joy and my gratitude for the Council, because it revived this important ministry in the universal Church. I should say that when I was archbishop of Munich, I didn't find perhaps more than three or four deacons, and I very much favored this ministry because it seemed to me to belong to the richness of the sacramental ministry in the Church. At the same time, it can equally be the link between the lay world, the professional world, and the world of the priestly ministry -- given that many deacons continue carrying out their professions and maintain their positions -- important or those of a simple life -- while on Saturday and Sunday they work in the Church. In this way, you give witness in the world of today, as well as in the working world, of the presence of faith, of the sacramental ministry and the diaconal dimension of the sacrament of Orders. This seems very important to me: the visibility of the diaconal dimension.

Naturally as well, every priest continues being a deacon, and should always think of this dimension, because the Lord himself made himself our minister, our deacon. We can think of the gesture of the washing of the feet, with which he explicitly shows that the master, the Lord, acts as a deacon and wants those who follow him to be deacons, that they fulfill this role for humanity, to the point that they also help to wash the dirtied feet of the men entrusted to us. This dimension seems very important to me.

On this occasion, I bring to mind -- though it is perhaps not immediately inherent to the theme -- a simple experience that Paul VI noted. Each day of the Council, the Gospel was enthroned. And the Pontiff told those in charge of the ceremony that he would like one time to be the one who enthrones the Gospel. They told him no, this is the job of the deacons, not of the Pope. He wrote in his diary: But I am also a deacon, I continue being a deacon, and I would like to also exercise this ministry of the diaconate placing the word of God on its throne. Thus, this concerns all of us. Priests continue being deacons, and the deacons make explicit in the Church and in the world this diaconal dimension of our ministry. This liturgical enthroning of the word of God each day during the Council was always for us a gesture of great importance: It told us who was the true Lord of that assembly; it told us that the word of God was on the throne and that we exercise our ministry to listen and to interpret, to offer to the others this word. It is broadly significant for all that we do: enthroning in the world the word of God, the living word, Christ. May it really be him who governs our personal life and our life in the parishes.

Read the full article here.

I also found a discussion by Deacon Keith Fournier on the role of the deacon.  May the Lord bless us with sufficient humility to be of service to all!

Here's something to wake up to...

Nothing like a hot cup of joe to wake you up first thing in the morning.  There's been a time or two when I've wondered whether it's irreverent to have my cup during the private recitation of Morning Prayer.  Well, now you know what I didn't give up for Lent.

A new Catholic Coffee is sweeping the nation in popularity.  Mystic Monk Coffee is the exciting new coffee roasted by Carmelite Monks who are aiming to enhance Catholic Culture.

"Imagine waking up in the morning and the first thing you smell, the first thing that wakes you up is a bag of coffee roasted by real monks," says Br. Michael Mary, the master coffee blender for Mystic Monk Coffee.   "Our hope is to bring to Catholic culture what monks have always brought to society, the richness of Catholic heritage right in your house as a daily appointment.  This is what drives our monks."

Not only is their hope to enhance Catholic culture but also to give people a way to use their daily expenses to help the Catholic Church.  Br. Michael Mary explains, "So much of the money from famous coffee brands goes to very anti-life propaganda.  Our interest is just the opposite."

The monastery of the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming, who do all the roasting, is booming with vocations and this is their primary way of supporting themselves.  "We have nine monks who live in a four bedroom house and six entering in the next six months.  We simply have no place to put them."

The monks drive to help their monastery gave way for them to excel in a secondary passion of theirs.  "We love coffee with a passion."  Br. Michael says.  "Coffee also has always been an intricate part of our American society.  What better way to spread support among Catholics than by selling coffee."

And Catholics love it.  The Monks have received hundreds of responses from Catholics across the country that Mystic Monk Coffee is the best coffee they ever drank.  The sales and popularity have far exceeded the monks' expectations.

"Each one of us has his role in the Church," Br. Michael says.  "We monks pray and intercede for the faithful.  Now the faithful have an easy way support us without going too much out of their way."

The monks say that over three thousand Catholics have now tried their coffee within six months of their roasting.  Monks and Coffee; It is a perfect match.

Source

Also visit the monks' website here.

The Encounter in Turning

When you turn back to him with all your heart to do what is right before him, then he will turn back to you, and no longer hide his face from you…

Turning back, a simple move of the heart, an act of the will—in it is accomplished a great deed. Turning to the arms of the one who loves you is more eloquent a testimony to the power of reconciliation than the greatest of sacrifices. It is the offering that saves, for it turns and faces the Savior.

Turning, then, is about encounter. The turn of repentance—complete with heartfelt contrition—is the nearest encounter with the Holy as we can experience. It is such that it leaves us full of awe and we tremble, touched and changed by that which we have felt and known.

It is the change of conversion that brings us into contact once more with God. Many times I have contemplated season of Lent but always seemed to miss somewhere the true beauty and effectiveness inherent in it. Conversion takes practice to get it right, and thus it often takes several seasons of our lives before we begin seeing the power that it holds.

Living is ultimately about getting to know God. We will either be successful or we will fail at it, but our failures themselves do not necessarily signal defeat. As long as we have the will to turn back, to turn again to God, we still have hope. Defeat exists only where there is the loss of hope, yet does our faith not teach us to hope always even where little abounds in which we may find reason for hope? For us—for anyone—it takes only a turn, a change, of the heart. Is it too much of a truism to say that hope engenders hope?

There is a sense in which every encounter in life, every getting to know the other, takes a turning from oneself and a turning toward the other. Thus our lesson is one about relationship, both with one another and with God. Knowing the Holy is about turning to the other, to that which is completely other than self.

I have experienced the power of the other in my working with people who have mental disabilities. Not to claim that anything in particular has made me holier than anyone else—it hasn't. However, disability in itself has the power to place us outside of where we like to be with others, it forces us to gaze upon otherness when we are accustomed to seeing the world as an extension of our self-identity. God is that which is outside of what I call me.

The giving over and giving up of oneself leads to the pathway of penance; it leads to relationship unhindered by expectations. It leads to a direct encounter, but inevitably it leads us outside ourselves—first into the wilderness of the unknown, and then finally home.

The Lord's Voice...

...the Lord's voice rending the oak tree and stripping the forest bare.

I recently took took this photo very early in the morning on an overcast day before sunrise.  It's says something to me of the essence of Lent.  Not long from now I expect to see the tree budding and by Easter, at least here in Texas, new life will have once again sprung forth.

I tried to capture it in black and white, and while I did get some impressive shots I prefer the contrast in this particular photo, though it is dark.

There's something about trees that has always spoken to me of the spiritual... perhaps it's the branches reaching out searching for light or perhaps something in the tree itself that wants to be said, and that has waited for a long time to be spoken, but still remains silent.  Instead what we hear--if we listen well--is the voice of the Lord; it is the voice that strips the oak bare, that which speaks to us in the sacred night, in the quiet moments before daybreak, and in all the seasons of life.