'We need bridges, not walls!' Pope says on Berlin Wall anniversary
By ELISE HARRIS
Vatican City, Nov 9, 2014 / 07:27 am (CNA/EWTN News) - On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Pope Francis said that it only happened through a long, painful struggle, and warned that there are still many walls that divide the world today.
“Wherever there is a wall, there is a closed heart. We need bridges, not walls!” the Pope voiced to those present in St. Peter’s Square for his Nov. 9 Angelus address.
He recalled how for many years the Berlin Wall had cut the city in two as a sign of the “ideological division” not only of Europe, but of the whole world.
When the Wall fell it happened suddenly, the pontiff observed, saying that although it happened fast, it was only made possible “by the long and arduous efforts of many people who fought, prayed and struggled for this, some even sacrificing their life.”
Come Advent, song books will open to a different tune
Gathering addresses music for new
English translation of the Roman Missal
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Why the changes to the Roman Missal? It turns out, the universal Church isn’t quite as universal as we thought it was.
But come the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, 2011, when Catholics across the country pick up their missals, they’ll experience a celebration more similar to each other, and far more similar to those held across the world.
While addressing “Music for the new English Translation of the Roman Missal” at gatherings held Feb. 12 and 13 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Louis Canter of the Archdiocese of Detroit sought first to answer the question of why the Church is making the changes to the missal in the first place.
You can't serve others if you're lazy or controlling, Pope says
By ELISE HARRIS
Vatican City, Nov 11, 2014 / 09:34 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In his homily on Tuesday Pope Francis said that Jesus’ service to others has no boundaries, and warned of those who put limits on how much they give because they are lazy, or want to control the situation.
“His path was this attitude of service; He is a servant. He presents himself as a servant, the one who came to serve and not to be served,” the Pope told mass-goers gathered in the chapel of the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse on Nov. 11.
But “Laziness distances us from work and leads us to this ease, this selfishness. Many Christians are like this – they are good, they go to Mass, but only serve to a certain point.”
The Roman Pontiff centered his reflections on the day’s Gospel reading from the 17th chapter of Luke, in which Jesus tells the parable of a servant who, after a long day of work, serves his master dinner and responds that he is unworthy, and merely did his duty.
While there are some who would tell this servant “to go to his trade union for some advice on how to deal with a boss like that,” what Jesus is telling us through the parable is that “service is total,” the Pope explained.
Small Faith Groups prove that formation doesn’t end at adulthood
Formation in our Catholic faith and Catholic Church teaching doesn’t end at adulthood.
In Dodge City, dozens of adult members of several small faith groups gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe for a potluck celebration. Father Wesley Schawe, cathedral pastor, spoke to the group, sharing his support of their ministry.
When gathered together, the several small faith groups got an idea of just how big the idea of a small faith group can be.
Sister Rose Mary Stein, OP, started the first small faith group back in 1998.
“I have a master’s in adult education,” Sister Rose Mary explained. “I was working on my thesis, which was on small faith groups.” She started her first two groups as a form of practicum to be used toward her degree.
“The purpose was to study the Sunday readings prior to Mass.”
Today there are 15 groups with more than 100 members. Individuals take turn facilitating the meetings, which last from 60 to 90 minutes. The specific time and day of the meeting is determined by the group.
The groups use “spiritual reading books,” or even a DVD series to “get to know Jesus and the Scriptures.”
Groups fall under the following imaginative titles (among others): “Men’s Study,” “Moms,” “Spirited Ladies Group,” “Faithful Followers,” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”
Facilitators include: Steve Hessman, Chris Perak, Marty Neidhart, Jan Harding, Maureen Jones, Pat Rebein, Barbara Lauters, Jaima Oliverez, Bob and Mary Hessman, Glenda Flax, Joan Brock, Doris Meng, Noelle McHugh, Omar Mejia, Kelsey Rebein, Sister Rose Mary Stein, Don Pendergast, and Don and Mary Stein.
Sister Rose Mary strongly encourages other parishes to start their own small faith groups.
Webcast brings global congregation to ordination
By TIM WENZL
Southwest Kansas Register
The ordination and installation of Bishop John B. Brungardt was viewed by a congregation of more than 2,000. Folding chairs were transported from neighboring parishes and added to the 1,500-seat cathedral to enable more to attend. The use of available technology, however, allowed another 1,000 “viewers” to “attend” via the internet. And others are still watching.
The installation streamed live on the diocesan website. Anyone can still go on line and watch the installation rite and the vespers prayer service from Feb. 1 at www.dcdiocese.org.
Annual Scripture Day examines the ‘Mystery of human suffering’
By David Myers
Southwest Kansas Register
Was Hurricane Katrina God’s punishment for the nation’s sin of abortion?
Does God cause suffering, or does He merely permit it?
At the annual Scripture Day gathering at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Oct. 30, Father Robin Ryan, C.P., explained that the reasons for human suffering are just as much a mystery today as they were during the era of the Old Testament.
“The Book of Job and Beyond: The Mystery of Human Suffering” was presented in English by Father Ryan, and in Spanish by Father Rafael M. Ramirez, S.D.S. More than 300 people attended the event, which began with a haunting lament sung by Father Don Bedore, pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Great Bend.
Was Hurricane Katrina God’s punishment for the nation’s sin of abortion?
This provocative explanation for Katrina and the suffering it caused was made by “700 Club” host Pat Robertson soon after the devastation. He wasn’t the only one attributing the destruction to God’s wrath: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said on Jan. 16, 2006, “Surely God is mad at America.” Ovadia Yosef, a prominent Israeli rabbi, blamed God’s punishment on President Bush’s support of the 2005 withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip. Minister Louis Farrakhan blamed it on racism and warmongering.
It’s called the “Law of Retribution,” and it’s found throughout the Old Testament. Father Ryan explained, “It is the idea that the righteous people are rewarded with blessings, while evil people are cursed with misfortune.” It is one of several reasons for suffering noted in the Old Testament.
Much like today, people were struggling to come up with some way to grasp the notion of suffering.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me…?”
Does suffering occur due to the abandonment of God, as the writer laments in Psalm 22? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, far from my prayer, from the words of my prayer?”
“The psalms were the official prayer book of the Hebrew people and of Jesus,” Father Ryan said. “There are 150 psalms, throughout which you’ll find the whole gamut of human emotion.” He said the most numerous are psalms of lament.
“These were not people who suffered in silence,” Father Ryan said. “Nothing is out of bounds in our conversation with God.”
The words from Psalm 22, which we hear from Jesus in the Books of Mark and Matthew when he is hanging on the cross, needs to be read in its entirety, Father Ryan asserted. “You have to read the whole psalm, not just the first part. Taken as whole, Psalm 22 is a message of trust.” In doing so, one learns that Jesus did not experience abandonment on the cross. It was instead an image of union with his Father.
Psalms, in particular the laments, teach us that while contending with our own suffering, “nothing is out of bounds” when speaking with God. “Nothing is precluded or inappropriate; everything belongs to this conversation of the heart.”
Eli Wiesel and the Book of Job
At age 16, author Eli Wiesel was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He later published his memoirs under the title, “Night,” which became one of the bedrocks of Holocaust literature.
“After World War II, Job could be seen on every road of Europe,” Wiesel said. “In times of stress it is to his words that we turn to express our anger, revolt or resignation. [Job] belongs to our most intimate landscape, the most vulnerable part of our past.
“What I try to do is speak to God,” Weisel explained. “Even when I speak against God, I speak to God. And even if I am angry with God, I try to show God my anger. But even that is a profession, not a denial of God.”
As Wiesel asserts, to many Israelis, Job may have been representative of them, Father Ryan explained.
Job is a righteous man, a man of faith.
“He has a great business. He goes golfing at the club. He’s a Grand Knight [Father Ryan said to laughter]. His children are all smart and good-looking. God is proud of him.”
Then an argument ensues with God – not from the fallen angel Satan, but from someone that Father Ryan explained was more of a member of a Heavenly parish council. A grumpy one, to be sure.
This heavenly parish council member argues with God: “Of course Job is a man of faith. Look at all that you’ve given him!” Is Job a man of faith because he loves God, or because he has been granted such a fine life?
God allows everything to be taken away from Job: his family, his belongings, his health.
“Job thinks God is doing a bad job,” Father Ryan explained. Job becomes so steeped in misery that he curses the day he was born, and yet, his deepest anger and resentment are all “part of a conversation with God.” He becomes so angry that he wants to take God to court.
“The only problem is that the plaintiff is also the judge,” Father Ryan said, chuckling. “You don’t want that when you’re going to court.”
Yet, even in anger, Job clings to God with faith that allows him to serve when he has nothing.
“He desperately clings to the hope that God will be his redeemer.” In the end, he “repents of his sorrowful attitude.”
“Lament,” Father Ryan said, “has an important place in the life of faith. Job is granted an experience in communion with God. It was terrible, but transformative.”
Pathos of God
What was God doing when six million Jews and countless others were being slaughtered during World War II? What was God doing during Katrina?
“He was grieving,” said Father Ryan in explaining the image of a passionate God versus a god as “wrathful judge” or “cold lawgiver.”
Quoting from author Terence Fretheim, Father Ryan said, “God suffers because of the people’s rejection; God suffers with the people who are suffering; God suffers for the people.” God suffers, Fretheim said, because God is affected by what happens to people. “He is closer to us than we are to ourselves.”
But does any of this explain why God allows suffering?
No, said Father Ryan.
But, we can draw comfort in knowing that whether suffering is due to moral evil (such as war, crime, the Islamic State, etc...), or natural sources (such as Ebola, earthquakes, cancer, etc…), through the gift of Christ’s death on the cross, “God is in solidarity not only with suffering humanity, but with all of creation.”
“God became human so that he could suffer with us,” Father Ryan said.
St. Anthony is back ‘home’ in hospital setting
Saint is the patron of expectant mothers and elderly
By TIM WENZL
Southwest Kansas Register
DODGE CITY - After an absence of 40 years, the statue of St. Anthony that once stood in the lobby of the hospital by the same name, has found a new home in the hospital chapel at Western Plains Medical Complex.
'Tending the Talents’
Chancery staff, parish leaders, take part in
first sessions of two-year program
Staff of the Catholic Chancery in Dodge City, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and parish leaders from across the diocese took part in the first workshop in a two-year process called “Tending the Talents,” Feb. 24-25 at the cathedral.
The program is presented through the Catholic Leadership Institute, which recently concluded the two-year “Good Leaders, Good Shepherds” program for priests.
Bishop Emeritus Gilmore, Jacqueline Loh to lead ‘Thanksgiving Retreat’ Nov. 21-22
Jacqueline Loh and the Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore, Bishop Emeritus of Dodge City, will be leading “Grace and Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Retreat,” at St. Patrick Church in Great Bend (Prince of Peace Parish), on Friday Nov. 21 from 7-9 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 22, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The retreat, which is free and opened to the public, will conclude with a Healing Service and the regular Saturday evening Mass. The event includes lunch. Participants are asked to bring a pen and paper. No registration is necessary.
The theme for the retreat is, “Recovering Your Sense of Wonder.”
A journey through the heartland
Catholic Extension reps find a hard-working, faith-filled people
(VISIT Catholic Extension and see what they are doing, and what you can help do, to affect positive change across the globe.)
In its more than a century of service in the southwest region of Kansas, Catholic Extension has provided funding of nearly $4 million for chapel construction and repair, religious education and salary subsidies.
Representatives of Catholic Extension recently paid a visit to the Diocese of Dodge City where they met with Bishop John B. Brungardt and members of the chancery staff and took a tour through the heart of the heartland.