Brad announced at Mass today our latest (AND GREATEST) fundraiser for ICM (Interfaith Compassion Ministries): 'Stache for Cash.
Now here's the plan:
1. All who are interested, start growing those 'staches. Beards, fu manchus, soul patches, whatever...all acceptable.
A Menu of Beards and 'Staches
2. From November 8th (Mon) to November 12 (Fri), wear your 'stache proudly with your official 'Stache For Cash sticker on your lapel, t-shirt, or Member's Only jacket. Wherever it can be seen.
Proposed lapel sticker
3. When someone asks about the sticker or makes a comment about the rockin' 'stache, you tell them that you are proudly bearing lip spinach because you want to help the poor in Lafayette County and Oxford. Then ask them to kindly donate. Maybe donate more if they touch your 'stache. Always say "Thanks" and with a wink and gun-finger if you want.
4. Collect your donations and bring them to Brad no later than SUNDAY November 14th. There will be a prize for 'staches and donations. There will also be one man named: KING 'STACHE.
As everyone knows, this upcoming Sunday is Halloween in the United States. Most of you know that the reason for this is due, at least in part, to semantics. For those who don't know, allow me to explain. Halloween is on October 31st. The next day, November 1st, is All Saints Day on the Church's calendar, so years past, this night before was called All Saints Eve or, in the older English, "All Hallows Even", which was shortened to "Hallow's E'en" and, eventually, "Hallowe'en". On the secular side, this night has long been infused with a large amount of popular associations with spirits and gouls, associations which may even predate the introduction of Christianity to the British Isles. We here in the U.S., derive our celebration of this secular holiday from our British heritage.
I should add here a very sincere "thank you" to all of the volunteers who helped to work at the haunted house at The Library on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. John Desler and his crew at The Library combined the two best possible themes of the week: fun for kids and raising money for charity. Thanks to the help of many good students, The Library was able to raise alot of badly-needed money for Interfaith Compassion Ministry. When I find out the final tally, I'll post it. Many of you put in many hours and I know that I won't have the opportunity to thank each of you personally, but I hope that you know that your help was truly appreciated.
So, the fact remains that Halloween is linked intimately with the Church calendar. If you, strong in your Catholic faith, choose to poke fun at superstition and fear of death and evil by dressing up and making merry on Halloween, more power to you. I trust you'll be smart, be safe and not forget your faith when you don your costume. Heck, I know my wife and I will be taking our little ones trick-or-treating in our neighborhood after the 5:00 Mass. And, after a happy Halloween, you might even make an extra effort to go to Mass on All Saints Day.
Vandalism sucks. This past week, someone(s)pulled up the light fixture in front of the Church and threw it at our St. John's sign.Some possibilities: There is a Hulk and he hates Catholics.
But he's one of my top 3 favorite superheroes so that can't be true.
"Agnus Dei SMASH!!!"
It's Halloween week and some goth-devil-worship kids were out on a demon raising spree!
Kneel before the DARKNESS!
But that can't be right because it would take some really strong arms and with all that blood-letting, non-activity and bacon, they couldn't possibly have done it.
Kneel before the TRUMPET SECTION!
Maybe, just maybe, an overzealous fraternity prank after the glow of bid day?
Doubt it.
Whoever did this probably had no real good reason. But it's costing us. It costs us money and time. It also is one more thing that makes people worry about the freedoms and liberties offered in this town.
Really? A church sign? A light fixture? Get a life, man.
As I stated in my homily this past Sunday, our Bishop and a few select advisors have devised a "Mission and Ministry" plan to prepare the Diocese for a shortage of priests. Although, I would like to think that things weren't so dire, the Pope has entrusted the keys to the Diocese to one who knows more about Church governance than me!
Representatives working for hope and change in the future
The thing that concerns me is that it seems that the document doesn't include a lot of input or insight from those who are 40 years old and younger. The bishop is interested in "shaping the future of the church" and I would imagine those of you, with God's help, who are going to be participants in the Church of the future may be interested in what our bishop offers as a possible destiny. There are some hints of the traditional Catholicism ( "Eucharist as the center of worship") with some view to a new incarnation ("Praise dancers" as a ministry).
Bishop Latino is assisted by Mary Woodward in dedicating a Glenmary Mission in Ripley last month. The Glenmarys will leave the church to the Diocese in a few years.
The document is included in it's entirety here. Read it! Study it! And, like our diocese encourages often, question it and use your imagination on it!
And in hope (fear) of our future, here's an "above 40" priest getting down with some praise dance...
The Community of Sant'Egidio is a Christian community that is officially recognized by Catholic Church as a "Church public lay association". It claims 50,000 members in more than 70 countries. Its main activities are:
Prayer that is based on Scripture
Spreading the Gospel and encouraging a vocation to the Gospel in people's lives. their life.
Friendship to the poor
Commitment to ecumenism or developing relationships with other Christian believers on the lines of faith and justice
Communication and dialogue with peoples of other religions and non-believers.
Sant'Egidio members visit the elderly regularly
The Community of Sant'Egidio was founded in Rome in1968 by a group of Roman high school students. It is named after the Roman Church of St. Egidio in Trastevere, its first permanent meeting place. Since 1968, the community has gathered each night to pray and read from the Bible, reflecting on the Gospel, eventually spreading throughout the world with a mission of helping those in need. Their activities include setting up refuges for the old, hospices for AIDS patients, and printing a handbook titled "Where to Eat, Sleep, and Wash in Rome" as gifts to the homeless.
The Sant'Egidio community in Oxford was brought here by way of Boston by Will Schenk and his wife, Sarah Moses. The community prays together, affirms the Christian life in their members and is committed to visiting the elderly at Graceland nursing center. The evening prayer is held at St. John's (in the Church "cry room") at 7pm on the last Tuesday of each month and everyone is welcome.
For more information, click here.
The Library (off the Square) will host a HAUNTED HOUSE on Tuesday, Oct. 26th and Wednesday, Oct. 27th for families and children. The proceeds will go to the Interfaith Compassion Ministries (ICM) which directly supports the poor and needy in our city and county. The Haunted House will operate from 6pm until 10pm on Tuesday and Wednesday next week St. John's Campus Ministry will be the sponsors of this effort.
WE NEED HELPERS! If you can help, there will be some last-minute monster training and a walk-through of the Haunted House at 6pm on Monday night at The Library.
This is a good cause and those who are in need of service hours for school will find this to be a fun way to earn them. Contact Brad for more information.
What a perfect subject to mull over while sipping a beer and munching nachos! The "New Atheism" is pretty strong on campuses and you may have been challenged by it yourself. Dr Melvin Arrington of the Barksdale College will be our speaker tonight. Dr. Arrington is quite proficient in world religions and philosophy and a member of St. John's.
Come out to the Library (off the Square) at 7:00pm and bring a friend (even a godless one!).
Thanks to the great group who helped us out at The Pantry last night. We loaded food bags in record time! And tonight, we follow with Good Cheer which, as always, is at 7pm at The Library. Come and join us as we talk about the New Atheism movement with special guest speaker Dr. Melvin Arrington.
In this morning's news, we see the rumors confirmed that Pope Benedict has named 24 new cardinals. "So... what does that mean?", you might ask. Well, the Sacred College ("collection") of Cardinals is the body composed of the pope's most trusted and important advisers and, more importantly, their main job is to elect the pope. Out of the 24 newly-named cardinals who will be officially installed in what's called a "consistory" or a meeting of the College at the Vatican on November 20th, two are Americans: Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Raymond Burke, archbishop emeritus of St. Louis, Missouri who is currently serving as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which basically means that he is the chief justice of the Church's court system and the most important interpreter of canon (i.e. Church) law.
Here's some interesting facts about the College of Cardinals that come right out of the "you're more Catholic than you realize" file. The word "cardinal" comes from a Latin word cardo which means "hinge" and it refers to the cardinals as being the "chief" or "most important" among the Roman clergy. The color "cardinal red" is named after the color that these men are allowed to wear (i.e. they wear red cassocks and birettas instead of the purple that bishops and archbishops wear). According to tradition, the color symbolizes that the cardinal is willing to die for the Faith. And yes, the bird of the same name is actually named after the College of Cardinals because they share a similar shade of red.
Today is the memorial of the North American Martyrs, eight Catholic missionaries who were killed for the Faith in the 1640s. All eight men were Jesuits; five were killed in present-day Canada and three in present-day New York State. If you'd like to read more about these heroic missionaries, there's some great info here. Although we celebrate these eight particular martyrs today, we shouldn't forget that there have been other Catholic martyrs in the modern South who have not been officially added to the role of saints or blesseds, but who, nevertheless, planted important seeds of faith throughout the years. One such man was Father Jean Francois Buisson de St. Cosme (Fr. St. Cosme for short), who was the first native-born North American missionary to be killed while carrying out his work in the mission fields. Fr. St. Cosme was born in 1667 modern-day Quebec, Canada and entered into the minor seminary in Quebec at the age of eight (a common occurrence at the time). He was ordained a priest in 1690, at the age of 23, and was first assigned to administrate a parish in Acadia but in 1698, he was chosen to enter the mission fields of the lower Mississippi River Valley. Fr. St. Cosme's diary records the canoe trip down the Mississippi River during which he and his companions planted crosses at many points along the river and eventually established the mission of Sainte-Famille (Holy Family) among the Tamaroas tribe at Cahokia in present-day Illinois. This parish, established in 1699, is still in Cahokia, Illinois today and is the oldest continuous Catholic parish in the U.S.
Map of Fort Rosalie, circa 1728; detail of the Terre Blanche concession
Archives Nationales de France, Cartes et Plans, N III Louisiane 1/2
In July of 1700, Fr. St. Cosme left the Sainte-Famille mission and traveled to present-day Natchez where he became the first permanent French-speaking resident in the area. He worked hard and long among the Natchez Indians but his efforts met with little success. In 1706 he decided to move on toward the French garrison at Mobile, Alabama. Along the way, however, he was killed when his party was attacked by Chitimacha Indians near present-day Donaldsonville, Louisiana. In 1715, the French established Fort Rosalie, founding the present-day city of Natchez. Natchez would go on to be established by the Church as the first Catholic diocese in Mississippi in 1837. Father St. Cosme is but one of many Catholic missionaries who were martyred in or near the missions in Mississippi. Fr. Nicholas Foucault was killed in an attack on Fort Rosalie in 1729. Later that same year, Jesuit Father Paul Du Poisson was killed by a Natchez Indian while carrying communion to the sick. Two other Jesuit priest-missionaries were also killed: Father John Souel, who was killed by the Yazoo in 1729; and Father Antoine Lenat, who was burned at the stake by the Chickasaw tribe in present-day Lee County in 1736. Today, the Catholic faith is widespread throughout North America and even in the South. These early martyrs might be surprised to learn that their sacrifices planted fertile seeds whose growth would not be realized for centuries. In 2010, the Catholic Church remains the largest religious body in the U.S., with an estimated 68.1 million adherents (a 1.49 percent growth since last year). To put this in perspective, the second-largest religious body is the Southern Baptist Convention and they report an estimated membership of 16.2 million. As Tertullian proclaimed in the third century, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." May God continue to provide the living water so that our Faith can continue to grow in the South and beyond.
Ok, maybe not "doctor and saint" but the Vatican's daily paper L'Osservatore Romano in the October 16th edition calls Homer Simpson a "true Catholic".
L'Osservatore Romano is the Vatican's Official paper
The article cites The Simpsons family as a family who prays and attends church. The paper also applauds the themes of the show that are religious in nature such as forgiveness and eternal life.
The online edition of L'Osservatore Romano has not been updated but you may read about it here.
Seems he's got the Catholic Mass dress code down!
In true Catholic fashion, the episode that got the attention of the Church was aired in 2005 when Homer and Bart convert to Catholicism. The paper reportedly lauds the program for showing "postmodern man's" struggle with faith.
I am Catholic Homer?
L'Osservatore Romano does not reflect official Catholic teaching and, like most diocesan papers, does not reflect the opinion of the Vatican officially nor the ordinary (bishop) of the diocese. So, don't go thinking Pope Benedict is scripting his homilies from episodes of "The Simpsons". He is probably like everyone else...he quit watching the show 15 years ago.
Apparently, the world's most polite computer thief backed up his victim's data and mailed it to him. So, maybe there is hope for the guy. Just put a smile on my face this Monday morning, so I thought I'd share.
Bishops of Eastern Catholic Churches pray together at St. Peter's in Rome.
Here's some Catholicism 101 for your Friday. Did you know that the the Catholic Church is actually comprised of 23 separate churches, unified in their Faith and in their recognition of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome (i.e. the Pope)? It's true. The largest of these churches is the one with which you are most familiar: the Latin or "Western" Church. But there are others that are known collectively as "Eastern" Churches. Most of these other churches originated and are still found in the Middle East. They each have a fascinating history and preserve their own unique traditions, but they are still united to the greater, visible Church.
On Monday, Pope Benedict opened a synod (or official meeting) of the bishops of the churches in the Middle East. In the past century, the indigenous Christian population in the Middle East has been drastically reduced through voluntary migration and, lets face it, involuntary migration due to discrimination and persecution. It is an alarming reality that, within a few short years, there will be large pockets of the Middle East where there are no living communities of Christians. In other words, places which have been home to a continual Christian presence since the first century, could very well become places with no indigenous Christians. It is sobering to think that there are ancient Christian communities in places like Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt which survived under Muslim rule for centuries but, only in the past few decades, have come under intense and renewed pressure to either convert or leave.
In response to this growing crisis which has been ignored for decades by the larger international community, Pope Benedict asked for all of the Eastern Christian bishops from throughout the Middle East to meet together in Rome for mutual encouragement and to put forth concrete ideas for protecting and re-vitalizing the ancient Christian communities that are found throughout the Middle East, from Egypt to Israel to Turkey and Iran.
On this Friday, a day that we're supposed to dedicate to abstinence and penance (not just during Lent!), please pray for the Christians of the Middle East, the land of our Lord and his Apostles. And pray, too, for the brave bishops which lead these communities of faith in the face of extraordinary challenges and repression. I will leave you with the following images which are from the funeral of Father Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, who was gunned down, along with three deacons, close to his church after celebrating the Divine Liturgy one Sunday just three years ago in Mosul, Iraq. Fiat justitia.
Teresa d'Avila (1515-1582) is the saint of the day. She was the directoress of her Carmelite monastery and sought to reform the Order during a time of Church opulence and sluggishness. She is known for her writings, many of them mystical in nature and is credited with the words to this piece "Nada Te Turbe" (Do not be troubled).
Today, perhaps one of the most interesting public figures of the last 100 years appeared in Oxford. President Bill Clinton was here to campaign for Democratic congressional incumbent, Travis Childers or promote voting among University students. Your mileage may vary.
Clinton has a universal appeal!
President Clinton had two terms as United States president (1993-2001). A native of Arkansas, the president was labeled as a "New Democrat" and was among many of the young guns in politics such as Mississippi governor Ray Mabus who came from the baby boom generation.
The saxophone was an instrument used in love songs back in the '90's.
Clinton made his mark early in his presidential campaign by playing saxophone on a national television talk show, "The Arsenio Hall Show" (man, whatever happened to that guy?).
Until then, no person running for such a high office had appeared in conventional media. Clinton also made an appearance along with other candidates on a special MTV program helping young people engage the electoral process. Among the salient questions, a young person asked Clinton "Briefs or Boxers?" And the soon-to-be-POTUS answered.
President Clinton is given Communion by a Catholic South African priest.
President Clinton had an interesting relationship with Catholics (since this is a Catholic blog, may as well go on topic). While he was met with opposition concerning his moderate stance on abortion ("legal, safe and rare"), he was also lauded by many Catholics of the day with his stand to aid families and the poor ( particularly the "Family and Medical Leave Act"). He was also celebrated for his international relations, not the least of which involved his brokering some peace in Ireland. His strong* convictions against the death penalty also brought support from American bishops. He later raised some eyebrows in the yet to be settled question of his receiving the Eucharist in a Catholic Mass in South Africa (above). His infamous sexual scandal would move support from Catholic officials even farther away.
Monica Lewinsky...gone the way of Arsenio.
Today, Clinton is involved in his "William J. Clinton Foundation" headquartered in Harlem, NY. One of the goals of the foundation is to broaden the world and create "interglobal relationships". He also, obviously, is sought after as a speaker and promoter of his party, The Democrats.
Many of the students that saw him today told me that, even though he was tardy, they just wanted to see him. Maybe because he's an ex-prez, or just they have seen him on FAMILY GUY.
Love him or despise him, his down home charm and uncanny ability to remember almost everyone he's come into contact with makes him a Southern son to be reckoned with. And oddly, concerning our political climate today, he seems to be almost welcome...
* Note: His convictions were ambivalent toward the death penalty but he did make statements concerning the injustice toward minorities in the penal system. Such statements appealed to the social justice proponents of the Church.
The month of October offers a couple of opportunities each week for students to come together in faith, fellowship and service. Tuesday nights from 5-6pm we help out at The Pantry, stocking shelves and filling bags for the hungry and needy in our community. And of course, on Wednesdays we meet at 7pm for Good Cheer at The Library. At tonight's Good Cheer, we'll talk about a couple of new service opportunities that are coming up that you won't want to miss out on (just a hint: one of them involves a haunted house.... oh yeah!). If you haven't yet been able to make it to Good Cheer yet, tonight's your night! I hope to see you joining the masses gathering at The Library at 7. Bring your friends, too!
Tonight's speaker at GOOD CHEER is Amanda Hoppert, head coach of the Ole Miss Cheerleaders and director of the Rebelettes. She is also a Reader and Eucharistic Minister for St. John the Evangelist Church.
Come out tonight and have some fun and...if indeed there be any favor from above...there will be cheerleaders present!
Good Cheer is held at 7pm at The Library off the Square in Oxford.
Salvador Dali's "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus"
Today, we Americans observe "Columbus Day". As Catholics, we remember this important discoverer whose name is given to the Catholic men's organization, "The Knights of Columbus". However, the day is also reviled by some as a paean to human bondage and racial destruction. Sadly, both voices are strong in the Catholic Church.
While it seems to be the mode of the day to put a face on our grievances, Christopher Columbus himself was a pious and religious man with an incredible genius. He was one of the first to question the "flat earth" theory and to pursue his findings. He also faithfully served the missionary spirit of his day in bringing Christ to the pagans. He is credited with writing about the "Indians" of the New World:
"As I saw that they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, I presented them with some red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted and became wonderfully attached to us... I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion."
In today's religious climate which has become rather secularized, Columbus' piety in some degree may appear to be simplistic. Columbus can be cartooned as some sort of puppet by an evil Spanish regime. And protests against him and his discovery can be viewed as revolt against the oppressor. Anything American or English can be suspect in some quarters (oddly enough, the language of the "oppressor", if the argument is carried out, would be Spanish but I digress).
This intriguing article published a while back, puts an interesting "middle path" to the divisive debate:
Columbus Day: Celebrating a Truly New WorldBy Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo
Columbus Day is now "contested" - as current terminology would have it. Some view with joy the anniversary of the navigator's historic landing in part of the Bahamas. Others see October 12 as a day to mark the beginning of oppression, enslavement and genocide. Both sides claim Catholic America as their home.
As a Latino Catholic, I prefer a third option -- a Latin American version of Columbus Day as Día de la Raza, a day we celebrate the beginning of a "new breed" within the human family. José Vasconcelos, the Mexican philosopher, called it the Cosmic Breed.
The conflicting approaches to Columbus Day is not a trivial matter to be dismissed with a footnote that Columbus did not actually DISCOVER America, inasmuch as people had been there for centuries. This is a fight over control of the symbols of what constitutes America. Did the Western Hemisphere's continents become a "New World" because of Christopher Columbus or in spite of him? And is there another perspective?
Some hold up this Genovese sailor as the far-sighted free thinker who brought science to a benighted age that didn't even realize the world is round. He carried Western civilization to the red-skinned savages scattered about in un-Christian and unproductive societies. In a Protestant 19th-Century United States, Columbus was extolled for having transcended Catholic Spain and Europe when he had placed enterprise and science at the centerpiece of his vision. Thus, it was argued, he constituted the noble "first" American, because the United States alone has followed in his legacy. Towns were named after him in celebration of such achievements. Not to be outdone in this generally Protestant enthusiasm, the Catholic answer to Masonic Lodges named themselves "the Knights of Columbus," emphasizing his Catholicity.
Admittedly, the contrasting view of Columbus has emerged more recently. The Americas already were populated by peoples happily living in harmony with nature, it is said. Columbus brought genocidal epidemics, disastrous wars of conquest and continuing oppression by creating colonial societies that based superiority on racial whiteness. The deaths of tens of millions of Native Americans and the senseless attacks of their cultures and religions were the fault of Christopher Columbus. Rather than a day of rejoicing and parades, October 12th should be observed with mourning and funeral marches.
If you have an Italian Catholic as a friend, you can get a fuller explanation of the first vision of Columbus first hand; if you know a Latino or Latina, turn to them for chapter and verse on the second interpretation of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea. If you have a half-Italian-half-Puerto Rican in your family, as I do, prepare for bewilderment.
History does not provide much solution to this confusion. Columbus was an enigmatic character, both skilled at the helm of his ships and inept as a governor of his discoveries. Moreover, suffering what appears to have been a nervous breakdown when his hair turned completely white almost overnight, his last writings add to the mystery. Was he a nut case with wildly distorted understandings or a saintly mystic of deep piety? At any rate, the debate is about Columbus as a symbol, not as a historical figure.
I rest with the Latin American version of Columbus Day: Día de la Raza. We celebrate not so much the event as its result:-- a "new breed" within the human family. ("Raza" doesn't mean "race" in quite the same way as in English.) Whatever Columbus' intentions or mistakes, Latin America under Spain began to tolerate, legalize and eventually encourage racial intermarriage. Centuries later, the Mexican philosopher, José Vasconcelos, described us as "La Raza Cósmica" (The Cosmic Breed), because we have virtually all of the world's skin colors in our demographic rainbow: white, black, red and yellow.
Racial mixture is what we Latinos and Latinas celebrate on October 12th. As the Puerto Rican patriot Pedro Albizu Campos proclaimed, there is a distinctive Catholic pride in this holiday. Unlike so much of Protestant North America where racial mixing was looked down upon, Catholic Latin America officially recognized the equality of races at the dawn of modern history. I am happy to celebrate Columbus Day by thanking God for my Puerto Rican-Italian nephews and nieces. Let's make October 12 a day for the living, not for the dead.
The Official Mississippi Catholic photo of Fr. Thomas
Fr. Scott Thomas will be our guest on Sunday, October 10th during the 5:00pm Mass. He will be on hand for Confessions at 4:15pm and then preside at Mass with us that evening. Fr. Joe will be available during Mass at 5:00pm for Confession.
This is a great opportunity for the Sacrament! Take advantage of it!!
