Sacraments and Shopping: Here's an interesting idea. . .

I came across the following item earlier today and thought I'd share it:

New Sunday Deal: Sacraments and Shopping

CATANZARO, Italy, SEPT. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Shoppers at the Le Fontane shopping center in Catanzaro are now finding it easier than ever to attend Mass on Sunday: a new church in the area gives both consumers and employees an effortless way to find a Sunday Mass.

Archbishop Antonio Ciliberti of Catanzaro-Squillace presided this month over the solemn dedication of the new parish complex, named after St. Maximillian Maria Kolbe.

"People for whom it has become a habit -- and, unfortunately, they are increasingly numerous in the context of our consumerist pseudo-civilization -- to spend Sunday afternoon in these shopping centers, now find the opportune possibility of being able to enjoy the wealth of spiritual values," Archbishop Ciliberti noted on Vatican Radio.

Every day some 10,000 people visit this 20-hectare (49-acre) shopping center.

However, the prelate pointed out that St. Maximillian Kolbe is not just for these consumers, but above all stands to benefit the near 1,800 residents of the region, who did not previously have a parish.

"Our task is to go beyond the boundaries of ordinary pastoral care," the 75-year-old archbishop said, adding that his intent is a ministry program that is "radically innovative."

Two Masses will be offered at the church on Sundays and one on weekdays.

Not only is the idea itself interesting.  I found the Archbishop's talk of going "beyond the boundaries of ordinary pastoral care" and that he intends a ministry that is "radically innovative" to be rather exciting.  In one of my first posts on this blog, I mentioned that deacons serve in a "servant Church": a Church that, as Pope Paul VI put it, was to be "servant to humanity."

What do you all think?  Is this a good example of the kind of outreach ministry that might be attempted elsewhere?

God bless,

Bill

 

Deacons and Politics

For people interested in the intricacies of church life, canon law is a most interesting study.  Since canon law, at its best, is to reflect and embody an ecclesiology (or ecclesiologies?), the law is a kind of "applied theology."  I am not a canon lawyer, nor -- as the old commercial had it -- do I play one on TV!  But here's an interesting canonical tidbit.

Many of us who write on the diaconate make the point that "deacons are not priests" while at the same time, "deacons are clerics"; in other words, being a "cleric" is not reduceable to the priesthood.  Canon Law also makes that point repeatedly.  One good example is "the deacon and politics."  Here's how it goes.

Canon 285, subsection 3, says that "clerics [which of course includes deacons] are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power."  Now, in its broadest sense, this would include political offices, but also other offices as well.  For example, as a career Navy officer, I exercised civil authority.  And I did so, even after I was ordained a deacon.

Here's why that can happen.  Canon 288 is a kind of "permanent deacons' canon."  It says, "Permanent deacons are not bound by the prescriptions of cc. 284, 285 (#3 and #4), 286, 287 (#2), unless particular law determines otherwise."  So, while canon 285 forbids all clerics from this function, canon 288 releases PERMANENT deacons (deacons who are seminarians studying for the presybterate would not be released by this canon) from its provisions.  Bottom line: permanent deacons may service in "public offices" unless another legitimate legislator (such as the USCCB or the diocesan bishop) issues his own law on the matter.

Interesting point: Many of our deacons do, in fact, serve in public offices.  Perhaps many, many more SHOULD!  Deacon-judges, deacon-mayors, deacon-governors, deacon-congressmen, maybe even deacon-Pres. . ., no that's going too far!  LOL!

What do you think?  Should deacons get even more involved in the political sphere?

Deacons Today: Dalmatics and Beyond: Questions, questions

Deacons Today: Dalmatics and Beyond: Questions, questions:   I posted this shortly after starting the blog, but thought that I would repeat it.   Questions, anyone?

"So, let's change things up a bit. I can keep posting things about the diaconate, but I'd like to try something: This is a great place t..."

Pope: "Have a care also for your deacons. . . ."

With a tip of the hat to my good friend Deacon Greg Kandra over at The Deacon's Bench, we have the following from the pope's homily in Scotland:

"Just as the Eucharist makes the Church, so the priesthood is central to the life of the Church.  Engage yourselves personally in forming your priests as a body of men who inspire others to dedicate themselves completely to the service of Almighty God.  Have a care also for your deacons, whose ministry of service is associated in a particular way with that of the order of bishops.  Be a father and a guide to holiness for them, encouraging them to grow in knowledge and wisdom in carrying out the mission of herald to which they have been called."

-- Pope Benedict XVI, September 16, 2010

You may read more about this at: http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/pope-have-a-care-also-for-your-deacons.html#ixzz0zkexlaj4

What difference does the Mass make?

Nick Wagner, over at "Today's Parish", has compiled a checklist on "The Roman Missal and Liturgical Renewal" which is quite good.  Check out the whole checklist here.  I was particularly struck by the sixth item on the list, which I'm copying here:

"Life in the parish, the neighborhood, and the city is better because we celebrate Mass every Sunday. The ultimate evaluation of the liturgy is how well the values of the gospel are promoted in the world after the liturgy ends. If your community still suffers from homelessness, unemployment, drug or sexual abuse, or other chronic social ills, more must be done to bring the heavenly banquet from the altar to the streets.

• Preach on the social teaching of the church.
• Create awareness campaigns on particularly difficult issues surrounding the parish.
• Practice seeing Jesus in everyone. Start with those who you worship with but do not know. Gradually move toward recognizing Christ in those most different, most frightening, most repulsive to us."

Many have written on this connection between our celebration of the Eucharist and our responsibilities for ministries of charity and justice in the wider community, and it is wonderful to see it included on the checklist.  St. Paul wrote that  is "unworthy" for a Christian community to partake of the Lord's Supper amid division and indifference to the poor (1 Cor 11:17-22, 27-32).  The Catechism summarizes that "to receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren" (#1397).

The Apostle Paul says that it is “unworthy” of a Christian community to partake of the Lord’s Supper amid division and indifference towards the poor (1 Cor 11:17-22, 27-34). Our Catechism (1397) tells us: “To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren”.  John Paul II wrote in 2004 that "the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged will be our mutual love and in particular our concern for those in need" (Mane Nobiscum, Domine).

So, thanks, Nick, for including this wonderful insight for us all to consider.  And for those of us who are deacons, this can be a particularly appropriate opportunity and challenge since deacons can -- and should -- take the lead in making this connection clear to all.

Servants in a Servant Church

One of my personal heroes has always been the great pope John XXIII.  He was the pope when I was in grade school and when I entered the seminary, and his humor and wisdom were legendary even then.  Always a curial outsider, it was rather ironic that one of his closest friends over the years was the ultimate Vatican insider, Giovanni Battista Montini, who would succeed John as pope Paul VI.

John is known for his famous opening speech at the Second Vatican Council where he encouraged the world's bishops to be true shepherds in finding ways to meet the needs of people in the modern world.  The speech that is less known, however, is the concluding speech to the Council delivered by Paul VI the day before the Council's solemn closing.  John had died after the first session of the Council (October through December 1962), and Paul had led the church during the last three sessions (September through December, 1963, 1964, and 1965).  On 7 December 1965, Paul VI addressed the bishops of the world with these words:

We stress that the teaching of the Council is channeled in one direction, the service of humankind, of every condition, in every weakness and need.  The Church has declared herself a servant of humanity at the very time when her teaching role and her pastoral government have, by reason of this Church solemnity, assumed greater splendor and vigor.  However, the idea of service has been central.

Following the Council, and after he implemented a renewed permanent diaconate in 1967, Paul VI continually spoke of deacons as the "animators" of the church's own servant-hood.  John Paul II echoed this famous quote and then observed that deacons were "the church's service sacramentalized."

 

So, what does a "servant-Church" look like?  How does a "servant-Church" act in the world?  Long before we consider deacons as an order of ministry in the church, we need first to examine the nature of the church itself.

 

 

Be Not Afraid. . . Still, being worried might be appropriate

Forgive me for not posting in a couple of days.  I've been "on the road" teaching in our graduate program.

As you can see in the brief autobiography on the right, I served for twenty-two years in the United States Navy, and I'm very proud of that service.  Today I received an e-mail from a man I knew in the Navy, although I haven't seen him in many years.  His e-mail was troubling, to say the least.

See, the subject of his e-mail was "Can Muslems Be Good Americans?"  I would normally consign such trash to the cyber-dumpster without reading it.  Still, I went ahead and waded through it.  What was going through my mind was the Kennedy-Nixon campaign when I was ten years old.  "Can a Catholic be President" was the question back then, although the only reason that it had traction at all was because some people still asked the even more fundamental question: "Can Catholics Be Good Americans?"  Those who would answer that question negatively proposed some of the same kind of nonsense that I read in today's e-mail.

The question is: How best to deal with this kind of ignorant, mis-informed and hateful attitude?  The teacher as well as the deacon in me wants to explain the errors in this e-mail (which I realize has been around ever since the LAST Presidential campaign), but that might give it more attention than it warrants, and only serve to perpetuate it further.

I realize that this is not a posting directly related to the diaconate, but in another sense it certainly is.  The perpetuation of this kind of religious intolerance needs to be addressed, and addressed with honesty and truth.

Thoughts?