Unity - The Only Road Leads to Rome

Be united in your love     Philippians 2:1-4

If our life in Christ means anything to you if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.

Let me begin by stating up-front that I am not trying to be the Catholic Gestapo, forcing people against their will to return to the Catholic Faith.  I respect our Protestant brothers and sisters and I know that many of them are much further along the spiritual trail than I am.  I know that they love the Lord Jesus and have given over their lives to Him and that they practice that commitment every day.  The mainline Protestants set good examples as to what a Christian should be in many respects.  The one charism that they cannot demonstrate, however, is that of unity.  In the sixteenth century, an unbalanced monk went off in a new direction and created a church built in his own likeness and trashing things that made the faith united.  From that day, the Church would never be the same.  For, if you could split once because you disagreed with some principle that your local preacher was committed to, well then you could split again so that your view, in your church, took precedence and your world was once again in synch with what you thought and taught.  The man in the third pew, however, has many problems with your interpretation and knows for a fact that he is right and you are wrong.  Since you won't come around to his way of thinking, he splits and creates for himself a church in his own image.  We could carry this on for quite a while if we wanted to, at least thirty-thousand times which is how many denominations of Christianity there are.

We pray for Christian unity but it is unlikely to come until Jesus does return and sets everything straight. There is only one direction that a return to Christian Unity can take and that is for the Protestants to come back home to Rome and accept the authority of the Church that Jesus founded and which bears the four charisms of the true church and that is that the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.  It is the Apostolic charism that most Protestants have trouble with.  First, they believe that the Bible is the sole source for all Christian doctrine. At first blush, this seems like a wonderful way to make sure that what you believe is what Christ intended.  But it falls apart rather quickly when you realize that it is the freedom to interpret that has caused the Church to splinter into so many groups.  If every man can interpret the Bible himself, well then every man is his own authority.   Personal interpretation of the Bible leads to division because one person's interpretation is just as good as another's interpretation because they only have to answer to themselves.  

The Church depends on Scripture, all Catholic teaching can be found in the Bible.  If you look to the right, there is a paper you can view that shows where the teachings can be found.  Now, the Church also has teachings that are not written in the Bible.  These are the what we call the Sacred Traditions.  Please note these are not traditions like having turkey on Thanksgiving or a tree at Christmas time or having a family reunion on the second week of August.  Those are all human traditions.  Sacred Tradition, on the other hand, is the passing of our beliefs from one generation to the next.  It is rather ironic that one of the Sacred Traditions is the Holy Bible.   From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

"In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority." Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time. This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes." "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer." -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 77-78

So, how does all this affect Christian Unity?  Well, the Catholic Church occupies the high ground.  It is she that bears the imprint of her founder, Jesus Christ.  While some would say that we could become one again if we just engaged in some give and take, in compromise.  Well, there is the rub.  The Catholic Church has maintained her doctrine unchanged and her interpretations of the Biblical truth is the same today as it was in the sixteenth century.  Protestants, on the other hand, have changed and changed and changed again and again so that with the exception of Christ, there are differences that the Protestant man or woman would not want to give up in the name of unity.  Even if one denomination gave up one of their differences, there are thousands of others that would tell the Church to go peddle fish. 

What would you have the Church give up in the name of Christian unity?  Should we strip our churches of the Crucifix in favor of the Cross?  Should we tone down our belief in what the Holy Eucharist is, namely, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ and make it nothing more than a simple memorial using saltines and grape juice?  Should we give up the Pope and institute a committee approach to church government where every man has a vote?  Should we soften our stance on abortion or homosexuality?  No, I do not see any of these things happening and these are the sorts of things that other denominations believe and allow and the Church could never compromise her teachings in the name of Christian unity.

So, it is unlikely that we will see a mass return to Rome by many of the Protestant denominations because in order for that to happen, the notion of private interpretation would have to go and they would have to submit to the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and that would be impossible for them to do.  

The one hope we do have in this impossible situation is that what is impossible for man is possible for God.  So, Catholics and Protestants alike should pray for unity and God may one day move His hand. 

How To Become A Canonized Saint

Sainthood - is it for me?

What is it that God wants of us? What is closest to His heart? What dream does he dream for us?  

God's fondest wish for us is to be with Him in heaven forever. He wants to share the perfect happiness that we mortals cannot even begin to understand how very wonderful it is!  That is why we are on earth.  Okay, then the question becomes if God is so gungho for us to be with Him in heaven then why did He place us on earth?  Well, go back to the very beginning. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Paradise, which I've always thought of as kind of an earthly type of heaven where everything was perfect. He put us there because he wanted to see if we would want to be in relationship with Him by our own free will.  Well, we know how that turned out.  Using our free will we turned away from Him and he immediately planned and began to implement our return to relationship through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. 

The people who have died in God's friendship and live with Him in heaven are called saints. The media latches on to the Church's formal recognition of certain people as having lived heroic Christian lives through canonization. The last one you may have heard of was the canonization of Father Junipero Serra, the missionary that helped bring Christianity to California. There are literally thousands of canonized saints that have been enrolled by the Church.  But does that mean that only those that the Church recognizes and has canonized are in heaven? Certainly not!  Besides the thousands of canonized saints there are untold millions of people, men and women just like you and I that have lived holy lives and are with God in heaven. The point here is that there is nothing more glorious than a soul entering heaven to be with God forever and nothing so sad and forlorn as a soul that through a life wasted on rejecting the Father's friendship ending up in a place without God.   I believe that we will be welcomed with great joy into heaven by Jesus and the Saints, all of them!  

Okay, let's say you are the type of person that only wants the best/ None of this anonymous sainthood for you. You want the full treatment and full recognition of the Church that you lived a life worthy of being emulated by the faithful.  How do you go about it? Well, I could spend some time discussing canon law but I won't. Here in layman's terms is a rather whimsical view of how get your life recognized as being saintly.

The Canonization Process – Very Simplified

So, you want to be a canonized saint.  Make 

sure you put this document with your will so that your heirs will know what to do.  The most important thing is that you be dead, so take care of that first.  Then make sure your heirs do the following:

1.       WAIT FIVE YEARS.  Candidate has to have been dead for five years.  This is to allow time for “cooler heads to prevail. It allows more objectivity. 

.       GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER. The cause is started in the diocese where the candidate lived.  A promoter group, for example the parish, religious congregation, or pious association asks the bishop to open an investigation. The bishop asks Rome who sends a letter of “nulla osta” or “no impediment” and a tribunal is formed.

.      PRESENT THE FACTS and WRITE ‘EM UP and GET ‘EM TO ROME. The tribunal calls witnesses to recount the facts of the candidates life and how the candidate exercised Christian virtue especially; prudence, justice, temperance, faith, hope and charity. Documents are gathered and sent to Rome, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  If the Candidate has made it this far, he (she) is entitled to the title “Servant of God.”

       WIN THE ELECTION. The documents and evidence are examined in Rome by nine theologians. If the Servant of God gets at least five votes the congregation presents the results of the Pope who will give his approval (or not) and authorizes a public decree which is publicly read and distributed.

.       PERFORM A MIRACLE. For beatification a miracle, verified after his (her) death is necessary. This miracle is investigated and if it is shown to be a miracle, a decree is read. The candidate is now called “Blessed.”

   PERFORM AN ENCORE. For final canonization another miracle occurring AFTER his beatification.  It is investigated as was the virtues and first miracle were and the matter is sent to the Pope who can make the final decision if the Blessed candidate is to acquire the title of Saint.  

There you have it!  It is a simple and straight forward process and you will really get to  know who your friends are if they stick it out.  Oh, I almost forgot - you should make some provision to pay the expenses involved in the process.  Here is what you should allow for:  

For decoration of the Basilica, lights, architectural designs, labor, and superintendence — 

Lire 152,840.58 

Procession, Pontifical Mass, preparation of altars in Basilica —  Lire 8,114.58 

Cost of gifts presented to Holy Father —  

Lire 1,438.87 

Hangings, Sacred Vestments, etc.

Lire 12,990.60 

Recompense for services and money loaned — 

Lire  3,525.07 

To the Vatican Chapter as perquisites for decorations and candles Lire 18,000.00 

Propine and Competenza    (unforeseen expenses)                            Lire 16,936.00      

Other incidental and unforeseen expenses —  

Lire   4,468,40 

Total Lire 221,601.05

Total US 1913 Dollars        $42,816.87

Lawyers and Documents     $20,000.00

Total US$                            $62,816.87                                                                                               

Grand total in 1913 US$    $62,816.87   which is approximately 

$209,601.05 in 2010 dollars.

Let's remember, too, that prices may have gone up since 1913!

This whole process can and in some cases has literally taken hundreds of years.  The church is very careful who she canonizes as a saint.  There are a lot of rules that are not mentioned here, for example a "devil's advocate is appointed who brings out the less savory incidents of your life, if he can find any. 

This may be irreverent but I think of canonized saints as those that made the All Star team, and are people we should imitate and respect.  Remember too, that for every canonized saint there are thousands of millions of saints that for whatever reason did not go through this process.  The total number of saints in heaven is known to God alone.  I hope you will be the first human to count them all when you get to heaven.

Feeding Frenzy

The past week all over America there was a feeding frenzy of sorts. You know what I mean of course, we all got caught up in it, the Powerball Lottery. Now I never play the lottery, except this time I did, yes this straight laced Catholic Christian boy plunked down four hard earned US of A greenback dollars for the privilege of dreaming and dreaming big!  For a couple of days I was thinking how I would outfit my new Gulf Stream jet and who I would invite for the initial ride. I thought what my parish would do with the ten percent of the winnings that they would get right off of the top.  I envisioned a five story PADS shelter. I would have funded research into finding cures for cancer.  I would have funded a food bank that would wipe out hunger in my state.  There would have been scholarships galore for those whose grades like mine were average or slightly above. I was planning to do so much good.  That is what my four dollars bought me as I joined the feeding frenzy that captured the minds of my fellow citizens.  I have to tell you that it was kind of fun and all in all was worth the four George Washington's I plunked down to the man of mid-eastern extraction behind the counter at the Peacock Mobil Station who pushed a button that caused a machine to spit out two lines of random numbers.  

Well, I am back in the real world again.  The next lottery drawing will come and go without capturing my attention. My dollar bills will stay comfortably inside my wallet until they are called upon to purchase some pedestrian need. But I take solace in the fact that although I cannot fund my large dreams, I can fund smaller ones. I can look out for opportunities to be kind, to be generous, to let the light of Christ shine through me. If I do this without expecting any reward or payback, my example may be what brings a sinner home like the prodigal son, home to God the Father who loves him without end. My example, my love expressed can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone I do not know. 

So yes, I proved my humanity and jumped into the middle of the feeding frenzy.  It was fun and it allowed me the opportunity to think once the announcement of where the winning tickets were sold and my town was not mentioned, that I was luckier than the winners because I have Christ in my life.

Peace to you today and may the light of Christ flood your soul. Act on your good intentions today. Spread a random act of kindness wherever you go.  God bless you and yours. 

The Convert-a-Catholic Challenge is still waiting it's first daring Protestant to take up the cause. Convince this cradle Catholic that the Catholic Church has got it all wrong and that your denomination has got it all right.  Chick to start the debate rolling.  Click here/

Catholic Resources for your use: 

Catechism of the Catholic Church   (Click Here)  don't live in ignorance. If you are going to criticize or even condemn her, use her own words against her.  This free resource tells what we believe in an easy to read format.

Catholics Come Home  (Click Here)  If you are a Catholic and have been away from the Church for awhile, well, we have missed you and consider this an invitation to come home. 

Headquarters - The Vatican - (Click Here)  Nose around at the Vatican. Get to know Pope Francis a little bit better. Find out the inside story right from the horse's mouth. 

The Gay Priest

Okay, the picture has nothing to do with the post but I don't have any pictures of gay priests to share with you. In Rome a priest that admitted to having a relationship with another man "came out" in a loud and clumsy manner that was designed to embarrass the Church at the start of the synod on the family.  This priest was a member of the very powerful congregation charged with keeping the faith pure.  Much has been made of the fact that this man is homosexual.  Let's examine a few things about this case.

The man is a priest. He has taken a vow of chastity and by his own lips he has broken that vow.  It matters not if he broke it with a man, woman, or animal. He broke his vow.  Here in the Chicago area we have a very respected priest, pillar of the Latino community accused of the same sort of offense - he too was dismissed from his job because of his very inappropriate conduct.  In both cases the offenders were partnered with a man.  But their offenses would be no less grievous if  they had sinned with a woman.  A vow broken is a vow broken.   

A priest needs to be an example to others.  Neither of them could or would live up to what they had promised.  The priest in Rome is more guilty than the priest in Des Plaines Illinois.  Not because of what they did.  They both are equal in that respect, but rather the circumstances that they were in made a difference. 

The Church can be accused of being "homophobic" and you know what maybe it is!  I do not see anything wrong with that.  Gay people are welcome in the Church and there are probably many of them including priests, deacons, and maybe even bishops and cardinals who through no fault of their own are attracted to members of their own sex. The difference between them and the two priests we are speaking about here is that they do not engage in homosexual acts with other men, they honor their commitment to God and are a shining example of chaste behavior.  It is not easy for a man to remain chaste in this world today.  Only with much prayer and devotion to God can these men fulfill their commitment to the Lord. 

What about "forgiveness?"  Does the dismissal of these two priests from their jobs fly in the face of our duty to forgive?  No, not at all. In the case of the priest in Rome, he is not interested in forgiveness. His actions were calculated to explode on the scene at a time when it would do the most harm to the Church, the devil was busy at work in this man's soul.  The priest here in Des Plaines, I don't know if he is seeking forgiveness.  He wants his job back and his congregation wants him but the diocese has a zero tolerance policy where it comes to inappropriate sexual behavior by its employees so we will have to see what happens in this case. 

We will stop our discussion here and take it up again once we learn the fate of the miscreants.  

I will answer questions about the Catholic faith and Christianity in general. Hate mail will go unanswered.  Be safe and walk in the light of Christ this day, go with God.        

Why Do We Need A Pope Anyway?

His Holiness Pope Francis I

Welcome Holy Father to the United States of America.  We Catholics are glad you are here!  But some of my Protestant friends see no need for a Pope.  As a matter of fact they say that the word Pope never appears in scripture!  Heavens to Betsy say it isn't true! 

Actually I have to concede the point that the word "pope" does not appear in scripture.  But a lot of words that we associate with God, Jesus and His Church do not appear either.  For example, the word Trinity never appears in the Bible at all yet mainstream Christians believe that God a single being in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We use the term trinity to describe the unique character of God even though we do not understand how this can be.  

When Jesus began to build his Church He was well aware that He would not be on earth to guide it over the long years so he delegated a man to be in charge, to make the hard decisions, a man of rock, a man called Peter. How do we know absolutely that Peter was the man Jesus put in charge?  Well first we have the words of Jesus.  He tells Simon: "Thou art rock and upon this rock I shall build my Church."   Further on He gives Peter, and only Peter, they keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter was therefore the first in a long line of men who would head the Church founded by Christ.  We know he was the one that the others accepted as head because when issues were debated, the debate ended when Peter spoke.  Also he is always listed first in any listing of the apostles while Judas is always listed last. 

But why do we need a pope at all?  Well every organization has to have a leader.  The Church too needed a leader once Jesus ascended to heaven. Peter was chosen. He made the hard decisions and his descendants through the years continued to make them.  

In the 1500's an evil arose and a man named Martin Luther attempted to pull apart what God had joined together.  As a result today we have over 30,000 Protestant denominations, each with a slightly different interpretation of the Bible, each claiming to be the carrier of the truth. 

The Catholic Church is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit that the gates of hell will never prevail against her.  The Pope is there to make the hard decisions.  When it concerns faith and morals it is he like Peter who relying on the Spirit proclaims what we should believe. 

This man, for the pope is only a man, is not worshiped or considered on a level with God by Catholics.  As a matter of fact Pope John Paul II went to confession weekly.  So the Pope can sin.  The only thing he cannot do is to proclaim a heresy as being true. We are guaranteed that what the Pope proclaims from the Chair of Peter, is the truth and nothing but the truth. 

So that is why we need a pope. As always I welcome questions about the Catholic Church or Christianity in general.  Hate mail will not be responded to. 

May the light of Christ bring you home. Amen. 

Scandal and the Catholic Church

During the last few years there has been much talk about Roman Catholic clergy abusing their trust as religious and commiting sins against children under their care.  The scandal became world news as more people claimed to have been abused by Catholic clergy.  The situation as bad as it was was made worse when some of the higher clergy decided to try and cover it up or to transfer the offender to another place.  Both of these actions were wrong and the people that did them should have known this.

The Catholic Church is what they used to call in World War II an LST - Large Stationary Target.  It also percieved as having deep pockets filled with gold.  It is my belief that many of the stories told by victoms are the result of greed and the American passtime of suing one another.  One concrete example was the accusations against the late Cardinal Bernadine of Chicago.  His accusser said all manner of evil things about this saintly man only to recant them later.

HOWEVER

If even one child was hurt, molested, or abused in some way or if one incident was covered up by clergy that was one too many.  A child deserves our love, our guidance and should be able to trust their clergy or for that matter any of the authority figures in their life.  This goes without saying.  The Church has dismissed priests found guilty of this tragic dereliction of duty and conduct unbecomming a man of the cloth.  These people have been turned over to the authorities so that justice can be done for the victims. This is as it should be and the Church is only doing what is right in this case.  I also admit that the Church has been slightly less agressive against the clergy that made it possible for these faux priests to practice their shenanigans longer than need be.

The Church has taken it on the chin, and somewhat rightly so for these embarassments.  They also have taken steps that tilt the scale of justice one hundred and eighty degrees to the west in that it is now the accussed priest that is considered guilty until proven innocent.  This is harsh treatment indeed for some of these men who may be in fact innocent.  Father John Corapi, a very devout former Catholic priest was forced to resign from the priesthood due to the unproved accusations that he had an affair with a parisoner, not a child but with an adult woman.

The Church also has been deeply hurt by the example these men have shown the world.  While it is a very small percentage of Catholic clergy that was involved with scandal, the whole Church comes away with a black eye.  The scandal has provided much ammunition to those that are biggoted against the Catholic Church. If you read any news article say on Yahoo where the Pope or the Church is mentioned and then look at the comments people post about the story you will that these bigots, very often taught to hate the Church from early age, keep the scandal alive and well by constantly condemning the WHOLE Church for the actions of a few.  Painting with such broad strokes paints the good and the bad alike and this is a miscarriage of justice.  These comments contain a certain "holier than thou" attitude that is not very Christlike.

If these smug Protestants were to troll the internet using as the search term "Protestant Sexual Abuse" their eyes would be be opened when they see all of the abuse committed on children by Protestant clergy.  The difference between the scandals is that the Catholic Church is centralized and easier to pick apart than say a First Baptist Church or Church of the Nazarene.  Besides, in America the bias against the Church is the last "respectable" bias.

The point I am making here is simply that the scandal of the moment is not only the problem of Catholics.  It is the problem of Protestans, Jews, Hindu's, Muslims, and Atheists.  Our stand should be a united one, we should stamp out abuse of our children wherever we find it.  Also, we should take the time to display Christlike love for one another, Catholics for Protestants and Protestants for Catholics.  The differences between our faiths our real and in some cases profound.  But we should practice what Jesus taught us when He said "Love one another as I have loved you."  Before He died for us on the Cross of Ultimate Love on Calvary that first Good Friday, the night before at the Last Supper he washed the feet of ALL the disciples, even the feet of Judas who betrayed Him.  If our master could do that,can we do any less than Him?