And so the semester draws to a close...

With the annual Bocci tournament....

And a group picture of the men of Saint John's Seminary...

Homily for the Closing Mass

Congratulations.  You made it through another year.  God formed you, shaped you, cajoled you and endured you.  And in his great love, he got us through. Congratulations.

________

Ut unum sint.  That they all might be one.

They are the last words on the lips of good Pope John before he died.  It is the title of an encyclical on ecumenism of blessed Pope John Paul II and the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper.

And your job description.

Ut unum sint.

Why does the bishop send you to that parish this summer?

Ut unum sint.

Why do you spend six years of your life in this seminary?

Ut unum sint.

Why did the Lord establish the sacrament of holy orders?

Ut unum sint.

You can hear it in the closing words of the Church’s prayer for the ordination of a priest:

“And so may the full number of the nations, gathered together in Christ, be transformed into your one people and made perfect in your Kingdom.”

Ut unum sint

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So, how do we bring about such unity?  

We get a hint in the Acts of the Apostles, where we hear that “a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees” over whether angels and demons exist. That dispute resulted in a division. Not unity, division.

Now let’s just say you were a Pharisee (the good guys in this case). What are you supposed to do? Pursue peace at all costs? Renounce the truth in order to be one with your brother?

It’s the same question posed to a major American Congregation as it has debated gay marriage, married clergy, and so many other hot button issues. Unity at all costs many have argued, like the Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, who once suggested:

"If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy.  For as a heretic, you are only guilty of a wrong opinion.  As a schismatic, you have torn and divided the body of Christ. Choose heresy every time." (Episcopal Bishop for Virginia, the Right Reverend Peter J. Lee as quoted in the Washington Times, Jan. 31, 2004.)

Such foolishness is the reason so many faithful people of this Communion are fleeing an institution which too often refuses to choose truth, defaulting for a unity built on sand. 

Ut unum sint.  For real unity can only come from a common apprehension of the truth, and the truth can never be established by a lie.  The way to unity is only through Christ, who is the truth, and through whom all is made one.

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But how do we bring people to such truth?  Do we do it by screaming at them, but standing tall in pulpit and speaking down through our noses?  Do we beat them over the head, insult them, or remind them how truly stupid they are?

If we do, we will never convert them.  Only one thing converts.  Only one person converts.  The truth spoken in love.

Real love.  The kind that dies to self and listens.  The kind that makes your heart ache for the other.  The kind that agonizes, that wakes up in the middle of the night, that would literally lay down its life to save the soul of the other.

It’s not self-righteous, it not condescending.  It’s truth in love.

Love of the person who disagrees with me, love of the person whose argument I see as ultimately nonsensical and without merit, love of every Sadducee who refuses to see the truth.

Love of the Pastor who tells me this summer to do it this way because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Love of the DRE who condescends on a good day and dismisses me on a bad one.

Love of the old lady in the nursing home who swears at me whenever I bring her communion.

Love of the Parish Council member who insists all the Church’s problems would be solved if we’d just ordain women.

Love of the associate who is convinced I am a conservative Neanderthal and that I am just too immature to understand what real life is really all about.

Love of the son who doesn’t want to bring his mother to Church for the funeral beacuse it costs too much.

Love of each and every one who reviles me, persecutes me and utters every kind of slander against me.

And not fake love.  Love that says I am going to keep beating him about the head until he finally admits that I am right.

Love that is patient, that is kind, that never puts on airs.  Love that is willing to die for the least and the poorest and the most obnoxious, not because I am so much better than they are...but because I seek to be daily more closely conformed to the one they nailed to a cross...the one who looked down at them and said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

So when you return in a few months and I read your summer pastoral assignment review, I will over and over see the same words: patient, kind, loving, respectful and incredibly humble.

And so I will know that you chose to cling to the truth, always in love.  Ut unum sint.

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A final word.

Before you were born, the first cop drama on TV appeared...maybe you saw the reruns.  It was NYPD Blue.  It always started the same way, with the Sargeant presenting the morning briefing to an assembly of police officers, and he always ended with the same admonition: “Be careful out there.”

And as you prepare to run to your cars, that’s my final adminition to you: “Be careful out there.”  Careful to pray, for a life without prayers is a life in the desert.  And it’s all too easy to get lost in the desert.  

Careful to be good.  For the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, and he finds seminarians, particularly in the summertime, to be a tasty morsel.

Careful to be faithful.  For many will ask you to tickle their ears with lies that will ease a corrupted conscience.  But always speak the truth in love.  Ut unum sint.

Be careful out there.  Because of the love which I add my brothers I bear for you.  Because we want nothing more than to be proud of you.  Because we know you can do it.

Be careful out there.  But rejoice and be glad.  For the Lord sends you forth as his disciples, and he is ever beside you and behind you and above and below you and deep deep within your heart.  

Be careful our there.  And come home soon.

God bless you.

The First of the Ordinations....Father Piedrahita

The first of our ordinations to the Priesthood took place earlier today as Archbishop Henry Mansell ordained now Father Carlos Piedrahita to the Priesthood at Saint Joseph Cathedral in Hartford.  The real purpose of everything we do at Saint John's Seminary is to lead men to this moment in their lives and the life of the Church.

Tomorrow morning I will preach the homily at Father Piedrahita's "first Mass."  Here's a peek at what I will say.  The first part is in Spanish in light of the presence of Father Piedrahita's family from Columbia.

Mis queridos hermanos sacerdotes,

diáconos santas,

mis hermanos y hermanas,

y mi querido Padre Piedrahita:

Empiezo, en nombre de la Iglesia en los Estados Unidos de América, dando las gracias a su madre y su familia y amigos. Nos sentimos honrados por su presencia y le debemos una gran deuda de gratitud por la fe que ha implantado en este corazon de Carlos.

Ustedes son los que primero le enseñó a hacer la señal de la cruz. Ahora él bendice a todos en el nombre de Cristo y de su Iglesia.

Ustedes son los que primero le enseñó a arrodillarse y rezar. Ahora reza por todos nosotros.

Ustedes son los que lo llevaron a la Primera Santa Comunión. Ahora se celebra la Misa por nosotros y nos alimenta con el pan de vida.

Gracias. Para cada uno de los que se beneficiarán del Sacerdocio de este hombre santo, estamos muy agradecidos a te.*

To Carlos:

Dear Carlos,

As an older brother whom you have called Father, I am particularly touched by the wondrous ways in which Christ has conformed you to his own image.  The words spoken by the Bishop as he placed the chalice and paten into your hands, a mere twenty four hours ago, have been lived by you since your mother first carried you in her arms.  Through all the years, on all the many roads, you have sought to know what you were doing, to imitate the mysteries you have celebrated and to conform yourself to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.

In Jesus’ prayer to his Heavenly Father at the Last supper we hear him say that he has made the holy name of God known to his Apostles so that they, in turn, might proclaim it to all the world.  He is talking about you: the good shepherd who knows his sheep and is known by them, who will not abandon the flock to the wolf, and who seeks out the lost and carries them home.

To the congregation:

This man, your brother and freind, who sits in the Chair of Moses for the first time today, has become such a shepherd.  He did it, or rather God has accomplished this shepherd-making, by inviting him into an intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, the High Priest and Shepherd, since Carlos was just a little boy, and all through school, and all through seminary.  By two continents of faithful Catholics, Carlos has been formed and shaped into the image of Christ, whose sacraments he will celebrate, whose Gospel he will preach and in whose footsteps he will seek to lead a holy people for the rest of his life.

To Carlos:

Soon you will be introduced to the sheep you will shepherd, Carlos.  You do not yet know them.  But they are waiting for you, many of them not yet born.  You will console and challenge them, you will teach them, young and old, to cry Abba in their need. You will baptize their children and bury their dead.  You will encourage them to carry their crosses and dry their tears.  Through you, Christ will love them, forgive them, and strengthen them for their journey through this life.

And when, in the years to come, things get tiresome or tough, just keep thinking of them...the thousands who are waiting for you in the years to come.  For they are now your daughters and sons, your brothers and sisters.  And they need you to bring them the real presence of Christ by the Sacrament you have received.

So now you will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the Lord for us, you will offer his perfect sacrifice for us, joining us to him and making sense of our lives.  You will baptize us into his death and resurrection, feed us with his Body and Blood, seal our covenants, heal our sick, forgive our sins and bury our dead.  You will be Christ for us.

Not because we chose you, but because he chose you, and sent you to be our shepherd and our Priest.

Saint Francis of Assisi used to say that if he met a saint and a priest on the road he would be nice to the saint, but he would kiss the hands of the Priest.  We venerate those hands which you have placed into the hands of Christ and which will touch us with the mysteries of his love for many many years to come.

Monsignor James P. Moroney

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^{<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->*<!--[endif]-->} I begin, on behalf of the Church in the United States of America, by thanking your mother and family and friends.  We are honored by your presence and we owe you a great debt of gratitude for the faith which you have implanted in this Carlos’ heart. 

You are the ones who first taught him to make the sign of the cross.  Now he blesses us all in the name of Christ and his Church.  You are the ones who first taught him to kneel down and pray.  Now he prays for all of us.  You are the ones who brought him to his First Holy Communion.  Now he celebrates the Mass for us and feeds us with the bread of life.

Thank you.  For each one of us who will benefit from the Priesthood of this holy man, are very grateful to you.

Ascension Thursday

It's a rainy Ascension Thursday and we are observing a Sunday schedule, which means that Morning Prayer is a little later and solemnly observed, and more time is provided for a solemn celebration of the Mass.  The chant was particularly beautiful this morning, as Dr. Hunt added a couple professional soloists to our superb schola.   The entrance antiphon for this morning, sung beautifully in Latin, still echoes in my mind:

Ant. ad introitum                  Act 1, 11
Viri Galilæi, quid admirámini aspiciéntes in cælum? Quemádmodum vidístis eum ascendéntem in cælum, ita véniet, alléluia.

Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia.

Appropriately, I suppose, on this day in which we recall the Lord's return to heaven, our minds and hearts are also dwelling on the departure of two of our most beloved faculty members.  Father Merdinger celebrated the Mass this morning, and by this time next week he will begin a well deserved retirement from the role of full time Spiritual Director. Likewise, Bishop-elect Barber departs tomorrow for Oakland where he will begin preparations for his ordination on May 25th.  

Our hearts are saddened as they leave, but are grateful for the time God gave us to spend with them, during which we have all been drawn closer to Christ by their example.  God bless them for their faithfulness to Christ and to his Church!

Father Merdinger, Monsignor Moroney and Bishop=Elect Barber share a lighter moment before Mass begins.

Father Merdinger preaches the homily for Ascension Thursday

Appreciation Evening for our Faculty, Staff and Pastoral Supervisors

Faculty, staff, and pastoral supervisors from the Seminary and Theological Institute came together for Holy Hour and a dinner in their honor this evening.  In addition to thanking these good men and women who serve Saint John’s Seminary so well, we bid farewell to Father Merdinger and Bishop-elect Barber, who is pictured below.  At the end of the evening, Monsignor Moroney offered these remarks.

When I first met with the faculties and staff of the Seminary and Theological Institute, almost nine months ago, I asked you to join me in praying that God would make us worthy of the holy work to which he has called us, “worthy of the faith he has planted in the hearts of the men and women who drive to the theological institute bleary-eyed from work, and the young man who sits in front of you and with tears in their eyes just say, “Father, all I want to do is give my life to Jesus and to his Church.”

God has made you worthy, Faculty, Staff, and pastoral supervisors....for God has done great things through you.

Thanks to you, the men who sit among you have grown in their conformity to Christ.  They have come to love him, understand him, and follow him more closely.  They are better prepared to bring him to those who wait for his cleansing word, his healing presence, and the holy communion which is the source of the entire Christian life.

Thanks to you, the men and women of the Theological Institute are better prepared for the lay ecclesial ministry needed so desperately by the Church in  New England and throughout the world.

Shortly after his election as Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis wrote to the Jesuit Provincial in Argentina about being thankful.  I now address his words to you.  “Thank the Lord,” he told him, “for so many graces he has given you – your family, your vocation...your piety, your virtues...And finally, offer many prayers of thanksgiving, that the Lord will help you to always be good.”

On behalf of all our seminarians and students of the Theological Institute, thank you all!

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In particular, I wish to briefly thank two members of our Seminary community as they take their leave.

First, Father Phillip Merdinger, who is retiring as a Spiritual Director to innumerable seminarians.  For your strength, for your model of a Priesthood which has reached full maturity in Christ, we thank you, we will miss you, and we pray that the Brotherhood of Hope will continue to benefit from your wisdom and love of the Lord for many years to come.

And finally, we bid farewell from Bishop-elect Barber, who after these past whirlwind days, needs no introduction, save to say we love you, we respect you, and our hearts our heavy as you leave us.  But it is God’s will and we bid you farewell with the assurance that He always provides the graces for whatever He asks us to do.  And as a small token of our friendship and affection, I am pleased to present this pectoral cross along with our prayers. 

Coming Events: SJS on Catholic TV!

In preparation for their new documentary on Saint John's Seminary, the folks from Catholic TV interview Jim Boland of the Diocese of Worcester in the Seminary Courtyard.  As the last few days of this semester's classes disappear it seems there are TV cameras everywhere, recording for posterity the wonderful work God does in this holy house!

A Seminary for Saint Timothy

Paul met Timothy in Lystra, the young son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father.  As such, Timothy embodied one of the earliest divisions in the Church.

But Paul saw something more.  He saw a vocation in this young disciple, who was recommended by some of the adelphoi, the brothers, the Church.  So Paul had him circumcised (I wonder how that went over) and brought him along in a kind of pilgrim seminary as he traveled from Phrygia to Galatia to Mysia to Troas to Macedonia.

Just like someone once saw you, despite and because of your background, and invited you on this journey in order to discern whether God is calling you to develop those skills you will need to proclaim the Gospel from Phrygia to Providence, from Galatia to Glouchester, from Mysia to Manchester.

Elsewhere, especially in Paul’s last letters, those written to Timothy, we get an idea of the advice which the aged Paul, already persecuted, beaten, arrested, deported and imprisoned had to share with this young disciple.

In the fourth chapter of his second letter, Paul gives a final piece of advice to the young, now Bishop, Timothy, the reflection of an old man looking back on his life and trying to find a few words to help a younger disciple to live by.  

It’s good advice, the kind thing I wish I’d thought of for a Rector’s Conference.

Always, Paul tells Timothy “be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

 And then, Paul, thinking back on the trials of his own life writes some of the most beautiful words ever set to paper:

“I am,” the old man says, “already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

Paul to Timothy.  Paul to us.