My comment on NY Times editorial re: state abortion wars: new criteria to justify/legalize abortions

RE: Two Abortion Wars: State Battles Over Roe V. Wade, January 29, 2010

I disagree with the Times’ support of any “viability standard.” Whose, pray tell, viability are we talking about? Still, if we accept the premises of the “viability argument,” the Times must accept that we will continuously argue about ‘how many weeks.’

The Times now proposes horrific new justifications for abortion: “severe fetal anomalies” and “a tragic fetal diagnosis.” Using the Times’ “logic,” it is permissible to restrict, maybe ban, ‘abortion’ after “viability” of a human person. Except, the Times now wants to permit abortion, i.e., killing people (albeit 24 or 36 weeks old; or, logically, 24 months or 36 years old) with, generically speaking, undesirable disabilities.

The slippery slope of “abortion rights” is starkly before us.

Americans must respond with all our might to oppose outrageous legalization of terminating life because the person has a “tragic diagnosis.”

NY Times Editorial - Two Abortion Wars: State Battles Over Roe v. Wade 1-30-11

The Two Abortion Wars: State Battles Over Roe v. Wade
Published: January 29, 2011

Away from Washington, another ominous anti-abortion battle is accelerating in the states. Anti-abortion forces have been trying to take advantage of the 2007 ruling in which the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on a particular method of abortion.

In 2010, more than 600 measures were introduced in state legislatures to limit access to abortion and some 34 secured passage, according to tallies by Naral Pro-Choice America and the Center for Reproductive Rights. November’s elections made the outlook even bleaker.

Twenty-nine governors are considered solidly anti-abortion, up from 21 before the election. In 15 states, both the legislature and the governor are anti-abortion, compared with 10 last year. This math greatly increases the prospect of extreme efforts to undermine abortion access with Big Brother measures that require physicians to read scripts about fetal development and provide ultrasound images, and that impose mandatory waiting periods or create other unnecessary regulations.

Such restrictions, combined with a persistent atmosphere of intimidation and violence, have taken a grievous toll on the fundamental right protected by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to make her own child-bearing decisions. Eighty-seven percent of counties have no abortion provider, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

For the moment, most state legislatures are preoccupied with budget crises, so the next abortion battles are still taking shape. However, there are at least two areas where anti-abortion forces will be active in 2011.

The first is the fight over health insurance. The second is the expanding effort to ban later abortions.
Reigning Supreme Court precedent restricts the government’s ability to bar abortions prior to the point considered to be the earliest a fetus could survive outside the womb, around 22 to 26 weeks after conception.

Nebraska enacted a law last year directly challenging the viability standard. The statute, which went into effect in October, bans abortions 20 weeks after conception. It includes a very narrow exception for a woman’s life and physical health, and lacks any exception for the discovery of severe fetal anomalies. Copycat laws are now pending in other states.

About 90 percent of abortions take place in the first trimester, but that does not excuse some states’ efforts to require women to continue pregnancies after a tragic fetal diagnosis or pregnancies that result from rape or incest. The objective is to provide the Supreme Court’s conservative majority with a new vehicle for further tampering with Roe v. Wade’s insight that the decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy is best left to women and their doctors pre-viability.

Americans who support women’s reproductive rights and oppose this kind of outrageous government intrusion need to respond with rising force and clarity to this real and immediate danger.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on January 30, 2011, on page WK7 of the New York edition.

February 13 John Lantrua d. 1816 bl. 1900

Jack and Thom,
Good Morning, I love you
110127, 1357

In Google, second page for Bl John of Triora, is the 2008 entry on saintsandsons.

February 13

John Lantrua of Triora b. 1760 d. 1816 beat. 1900

John Lantrua, an Italian, joined the Franciscans when he was 17. Our recognition of our vocation comes when it comes. The call to do God’s will never stops. Be sure you are asking the right question – not, what do I want to do? Not, what does mommy want me to be? But, What is God’s will? Or, as Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, not my will but yours be done.

This is not a once in a lifetime question. The finding of Jesus in the Temple, he was 12, right? His parents were stunned. They also did not fully grasp his answer to them – don’t you know I’m suppose to be about my father’s business? Mary and Joseph told the boy to get His blessed ass in gear and come with them back home. Luke makes a point that not only did Jesus go with Joseph and Mary, he was obedient to them – that’d be the Fourth Commandment.

So. 12. 17. 21. 23. 61. Pick an age, any age. The question is constant. You are the one responsible for proper discernment. Who knows, you may be tapped to become a Franciscan. You may be called to go to China to convert those not introduced to Jesus. You may be called to stay in GSO and withstand antiCatholicism to convert yourselves and those in your personal circle.

John Lantrua volunteered for the Chinese missions when he was 38 (1798). See, you never know who will get your attention for the next responsibility you have qua Catholic, son of God.

Then, like John of Lantrua, you may find the vocation meant for you and wind up being arrested, imprisoned, and strangled to death in 1816. No doubt your faith and your piety and your proselytizing will result in psychological arrest, imprisonment, and strangulation. Day in and day out. how are you preparing yourself to be Catholic in the best of times and in the worst of times?

Ora pro nobis.

I love you,
Dad
1413

February 9 Cronan the Wise 8th c.

Thom and Jack,
Good Morning, I love you
110127, 1111

A week since last blogging? What have I been up to? Dithering in a much more unproductive way, I am sure. Besides, what do you care what I have been doing? How much do I matter to anyone in the communion of saints? To my family? To those who bump into my circle of impact? Barely a grain of sand on the beach; under the heel of those who saunter by.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Gee, thanks for that. It’s a coward’s way of saying ‘not only no, but hell no.’ It’s disingenuous. It’s a lie. It’s a cover-up for the decision to not do what is the right thing to do. I’ll try would be better. But “I’ll try” elicits Yoda’s infamous retort, “there is not try. There is either do or not do.” Don’t dishonor yourself with the blather. Man up! Even if it is to choose wrongly, be a man and stand by your choice. Let words be meaningful. Listen to yourself when you say such inanities. You are better than that! God didn’t create such a wimp. Your father certainly didn’t instill those words in your repertoire. Duh! It does matter with whom you align. It does matter whom you seek to please. It does matter whom you wish to emulate. Good luck with that.

And, as Cicero said in his Cataline orations – we will pass over what else you said.

I’m between jobs.

I’m thinking about getting certified.

I’m still in the same place.
Oh yeah, that one is true on every level. Except that the same place isn’t a static phenomenon. To not be progressing, to not be improving, to not be seeking, to not be pursuing, leaves things and you getting worse off each and every second. I know from which I speak.

Ora pro nobis.

And then, after being dissed by ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ I pondered the continued ignoring from the editor of NH. “I’m reviewing them…” “I’ll get back to you soon…” Alas, soon has come and gone, several times. C’est la vie. Certainly, it’s much of my life. When you are on the side of holding others in abeyance, remember that their soon is yesterday. It’s a bear responding in other people’s timeframe. It means that we take the responsibility for their feeloughts. Maybe, that’s too much to ask. Maybe, it’s too much to give.

If this is what waiting for an answer of ‘come join us’ is like in this world, how much torture is Purgatory? Ora pro nobis.


February 9
(Talk about dithering. It’s January 27th real time and I’m only on the 9th of Feb for saints of the day. The rationale can be that I won’t be a viewpoint in the NH. That also speaks to my lack of discipline on several dimensions. Pursuing publication is underdone. Taking the time each day to ponder and write on a saint or two is also not going as planned. At bedside and at chairside in my prayer space are a plethora of saint books. It really is a simple matter of opening the computer and typing away. Oh well. I’m much more of a binge and purge kind of guy than a steady, disciplined anything…. Ora pro me.)

Cronan the Wise 8th century

Saints and Angels give us two lines. Brigid-UndertheOak.blogspot.com gives us Canon O’Hanlon’s elaboration.

Cronan the wise was a bishop of Ireland. Today, the bishops of Ireland are under fire for the ‘priest-abuse’ atrocities. Probably not a saint among that bunch today. I bet that if Cronan the Wise heard of a priest in 8th c. Ireland abusing children, he’d have his penis cut off and hung on a stake near his house. Our bishops – yes, OUR, i.e., Catholic, yes, we share in the communion of saints – in Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the USA, and elsewhere I have no doubt, were complicit in the epidemic of atrocities because (a) they were more interested in defending Church than Children or (b) they were prisoners of their role as defenders of the Church canons and Church independence vis a vis secular government (c) they were dependent on expert opinion which years ago told them that child abuse is something that can be cured or, at least, under the right circumstances, manageable or (d) all of the above. Ora pro nobis.

Cronan the Wise systematized canon law in Ireland. No doubt we could use a Cronan the Wise in Ireland today. In the Vatican today. In our Church we live in a parallel universe with the secular “real” world.

We have the still percolating, maybe worsening, situation with our Bishop of the Phoenix Diocese. In today’s NY Times, one of their lead columnists did a story on the De-Catholicizing of St Joseph’s Hospital because, almost two years ago now, the hospital supported the mother’s and father’s decision to terminate their pregnancy in order to save the mother’s life. [I admit that I frame the situation to my bias. Bishop Olmstead et al. would state the situation very differently.] How much would the systematizer of canon law be also a pastoral bishop? A moral theologian [not a moralistic one].

And then we have a much longer story about Cronan the Wise from UndertheOak. Most of which tells us about how confusing is our ‘record’ of Irish saints named Cronan or Mochua.

O'Hanlon believes that our Saint Cronan/Mochua flourished within the County Waterford area, where he first embraced the monastic life under Saint Carthage at Rathan. Cronan the Wise is said to have been the first, who made his religious profession, under St. Carthage, in the famous monastic establishment of Rathen.

Deriving every advantage from the training of this great saint, Cronan made considerable progress in virtue. It does matter under whom you learn – regardless of the content of the learning. The substance of learning is the virtue gained: personal and professional. Choose more wisely, please.

Cronan the Wise was placed by St. Carthage, over an establishment, near Rathen. This place is called Cluain Dachran. When we grow in virtue and demonstrate what we are able to contribute, we will be called upon to give more, to lead others. First, it is a vocational choice whether or not to step from minion to leader. For some, this is not the right choice. Discern wisely. Ask – Is this God’s will for me? Second, when we are tapped to do the next step in our career, realize that it is a qualitatively new responsibility. New competencies and greater virtue.

Apparently, we have a consensus that Cronan the Wise was probably martyred by the Danes of the Swords, County Dublin. Martyred along with the slaughter of his entire family/clan. Love those Danes…. (consensus but not unanimity)

I love you,
Dad
1236

Nicholas Kristof's take on St Joseph Hospital in Phoenix

We are now a couple of years into this "story" and maybe it won't go away soon. Not before we find a reconciliation for the couple, the hospital, those of us Catholics in Healthcare, and the local Bishop. (is local bishop a reduncancy or an oxymoron?)


The Story has made it big time in the NY Times now. Catholic News Service, America Magazine, and many other Catholic publications have been on the many angles of this story from the beginning. But today, we get Nicholas Kristof's comment. [and mine among the comments on the comment.] Go see the vituperation in the comments there, especially from "former Catholics." Ora Pro Nobis.

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Tussling Over Jesus
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: January 26, 2011

The National Catholic Reporter newspaper put it best: “Just days before Christians celebrated Christmas, Jesus got evicted.”

Yet the person giving Jesus the heave-ho in this case was not a Bethlehem innkeeper. Nor was it an overzealous mayor angering conservatives by pulling down Christmas decorations. Rather, it was a prominent bishop, Thomas Olmsted, stripping St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix of its affiliation with the Roman Catholic diocese.

The hospital’s offense? It had terminated a pregnancy to save the life of the mother. The hospital says the 27-year-old woman, a mother of four children, would almost certainly have died otherwise.

Bishop Olmsted initially excommunicated a nun, Sister Margaret McBride, who had been on the hospital’s ethics committee and had approved of the decision. That seems to have been a failed attempt to bully the hospital into submission, but it refused to cave and continues to employ Sister Margaret. Now the bishop, in effect, is excommunicating the entire hospital — all because it saved a woman’s life.

Make no mistake: This clash of values is a bellwether of a profound disagreement that is playing out at many Catholic hospitals around the country. These hospitals are part of the backbone of American health care, amounting to 15 percent of hospital beds.

Already in Bend, Ore., last year, a bishop ended the church’s official relationship with St. Charles Medical Center for making tubal ligation sterilizations available to women who requested them. And two Catholic hospitals in Texas halted tubal ligations at the insistence of the local bishop in Tyler.

The National Women’s Law Center has just issued a report quoting doctors at Catholic-affiliated hospitals as saying that sometimes they are forced by church doctrine to provide substandard care to women with miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies in ways that can leave the women infertile or even endanger their lives. More clashes are likely as the church hierarchy grows more conservative, and as hospitals and laity grow more impatient with bishops who seem increasingly out of touch.

Catholic hospitals like St. Joseph’s that are evicted by the church continue to operate largely as before. The main consequence is that Mass can no longer be said in the hospital chapel. Thomas C. Fox, the editor of National Catholic Reporter, noted regretfully that a hospital with deep Catholic roots like St. Joseph’s now cannot celebrate Mass, while airport chapels can. Mr. Fox added: “Olmsted’s moral certitude is lifeless, leaving no place for compassionate Christianity.”

To me, this battle illuminates two rival religious approaches, within the Catholic church and any spiritual tradition. One approach focuses upon dogma, sanctity, rules and the punishment of sinners. The other exalts compassion for the needy and mercy for sinners — and, perhaps, above all, inclusiveness.

The thought that keeps nagging at me is this: If you look at Bishop Olmsted and Sister Margaret as the protagonists in this battle, one of them truly seems to me to have emulated the life of Jesus. And it’s not the bishop, who has spent much of his adult life as a Vatican bureaucrat climbing the career ladder. It’s Sister Margaret, who like so many nuns has toiled for decades on behalf of the neediest and sickest among us. Then along comes Bishop Olmsted to excommunicate the Christ-like figure in our story. If Jesus were around today, he might sue the bishop for defamation.

Yet in this battle, it’s fascinating how much support St. Joseph’s Hospital has had and how firmly it has pushed back — in effect, pounding 95 theses on the bishop’s door. The hospital backed up Sister Margaret, and it rejected the bishop’s demand that it never again terminate a pregnancy to save the life of a mother.

“St. Joseph’s will continue through our words and deeds to carry out the healing ministry of Jesus,” said Linda Hunt, the hospital president. “Our operations, policies, and procedures will not change.” The Catholic Health Association of the United States, a network of Catholic hospitals around the country, stood squarely behind St. Joseph’s.

Anne Rice, the author and a commentator on Catholicism, sees a potential turning point. “St. Joseph’s refusal to knuckle under to the bishop is huge,” she told me, adding: “Maybe rank-and-file Catholics are finally talking back to a hierarchy that long ago deserted them.”

With the Vatican seemingly as deaf and remote as it was in 1517, some Catholics at the grass roots are pushing to recover their faith. Jamie L. Manson, the same columnist for National Catholic Reporter who proclaimed that Jesus had been “evicted,” also argued powerfully that many ordinary Catholics have reached a breaking point and that St. Joseph’s heralds a new vision of Catholicism: “Though they will be denied the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist, the Eucharist will rise out of St. Joseph’s every time the sick are healed, the frightened are comforted, the lonely are visited, the weak are fed, and vigil is kept over the dying.”

Hallelujah.

NY Times comment - St Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. Response to N. Kristof's column in today's paper

NY Times on line
January 27th, 2011
11:18 am

Bishop Olmstead was right. The doctors and the hospital were right.

What is most important is that the mother and father decided to do the right thing. They are the ones who get our prayers and condolences. they are the ones upon whom we should focus. This was an excruciating, personal, moral, salvific choice they made - for themselves, for their child, for their family, and, in a real way, for the rest of us.

Unfortunately, the Catholic Bishop, the Catholic Doctors, The Catholic Hospital did not come to One right decision for the Catholic couple and the many couples who will come after them.

The Bishop's error was doing Monday morning quarterbacking without finding a moral and supportive answer for the couple. The Doctors and Hospital apparently erred by not finding the doctors who subsequently pontificated that, yes, both mother and child could be saved.

Now, we Catholics are still left without the unified pastoral guidance we deserve from our Catholic leaders. My conclusion is that the mother and father followed their properly formed conscience (no 's', the couple's conscience) (an assumption I grant them because they deliberately chose a Catholic Hospital and refused an abortion prior to admission). Since the mother did what was right, it is up to everyone in authority in our Church to articulate the Catholic Moral justification for the actions she and her husband took. And, we must respect that regardless of our personal preference for the right answer - whether we be bishop or layman, Catholic or not.

P.S.
The civil debate that Mr. Kristof articulates - what role and rights do Catholic Hospitals have in a secular society - is probably portentous in the era of Obamacare. Personally, I put the question this way. Do I, as a Catholic, have a protected right in our country, to refuse to do acts that for me are Mortal Sins? I believe that our freedom of religion protects me.

Many argue that it is their right to legislate or regulate to require me to commit the sin they call a right of their own: e.g., a pharmacist must dispense abortion pills; a nurse must assist at an abortion; a hospital must provide all the 'reproductive health' services that are legal.

Will our country permit the provision of Catholic Healthcare? I sure hope so.

(The original on line has all of my misspelllings!)

Catherine of Genoa and Benedict XVI on Purgatory

Jack and Thom,
Good Morning, I love you
110120, 1342

Yesterday I fell onto a blurb about a recent comment by Pope Benedict on Purgatory. On Sunday, I tried to explain purgatory to my class of third graders – very inadequately, I know. And, my version was one remembered from childhood, maintained to this day: more place than process.

In the midst of this transcript that follows, the Pope reminds us: “Dear friends, we must never forget that the more we love God and the more constantly we pray, the better we will succeed in truly loving those who surround us, who are close to us, so that we can see in every person the Face of the Lord whose love knows no bounds and makes no distinctions. The mystic does not create distance from others or an abstract life, but rather approaches other people so that they may begin to see and act with God’s eyes and heart.”

So, come with me through a transcript of 1/12/11 remarks by the Pope on Catherine of Genoa.

Saint Catherine of Genoa b. 1447 d. 1510
Catherine of Genoa, known above all for her vision of purgatory.

< What vision have you had that a) brought you closer to God and b) for which you will be known? A vision you will write about. A vision you will share with one another, your family and friends, your own, if you are so blessed, children. >

Catherine was born in Genoa in 1447. She was the youngest of five.

< I guess she comes by ‘Catherine of Genoa’ honestly. Since the ‘of place’ usually connotes the place where the person made the greatest contribution and usually the place where the person died, you would guess that Catherine was born, served, and died in Genoa. >

Her father, Giacomo Fieschi, died when she was very young. Her mother, Francesca di Negro provided such an effective Christian education that the elder of her two daughters became a religious.

< I cannot imagine the effect of losing a parent at a very young age. I do know the experience of ‘losing’ my young children before our time…. Fortunately for Catherine and her sisters, their mother gave them an effective Christian/Catholic education. Would that you had received the same from your mother. >
When Catherine was 16, she was given in marriage to Giuliano Adorno, a man who after various trading and military experiences in the Middle East had returned to Genoa in order to marry. Married life was far from easy for Catherine, partly because of the character of her husband who was given to gambling.

Catherine herself was at first induced to lead a worldly sort of life in which, however, she failed to find serenity. After 10 years, her heart was heavy with a deep sense of emptiness and bitterness.

< Catherine’s story of humanness evolving into mystic saintliness is not only one of inspiration but one of hope – that we, too, will find our own way to answer God’s continuous call and gift of Love. >

< Ten years before the cumulative burden of an unserene marriage weighed heavily on her increasingly empty and bitter heart? 1982 to 1994 – twelve years. Ora pro me. >

On 20 March 1473 went to the Church of San Benedetto in the monastery of Nostra Signora delle Grazie, to make her confession and, kneeling before the priest, “received”, as she herself wrote, “a wound in my heart from God’s immense love”.

< Go to Our Lady of Grace, or any of our handful of Catholic Churches, and immerse yourself in the sacrament of reconciliation. On Wednesday nights, 1730 – 1900, St. Paul’s has confessions and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. >

< The experience of Love, redundantly, true love, pierces our heart, wounds our heart, purifies our heart. I pray that you too will allow yourself to receive God’s immense love. >

Catherine of Genoa’s penitential experience came with such a clear vision of her own wretchedness and shortcomings and at the same time of God’s goodness that she almost fainted.

< We are who we are. Creatures. Imperfect. In the presence of one who loves us, we experience sharply, deeply our own failings, our shortcomings, our sins, all that makes us unworthy of the GIFT of Love. Pray that you too will experience Love, especially God’s Love. >

The experience of God’s Love and the knowledge of herself which it brought moved Catherine of Genoa’s heart. Catherine of Genoa saw starkly in the mirror of God’s Love the empty life she was leading and of the goodness of God.

< When we are loved, we cannot but help acknowledge the goodness of the GIFT and the Giver. Then, simultaneously, we see ourselves under the light of the Gift of Love. We see ourselves as Love sees us. >

This experience prompted the decision that gave direction to Catherine of Genoa’s whole rest of her life. She expressed it in the words: “no longer the world, no longer sin.”

< Start with ‘no longer sin.’ When we are loved, strike that, When we let ourselves experience the Gift of Love regardless of the source, we necessarily experience a will to conversion. We resolve that we never again will do anything to hurt the person who loves us so much, loves us so freely, loves us without condition. In the case of God, we resolve that we will no longer sin. (Read Dulles’ work on freedom and the choice of doing what we ought as the source of freedom and the via veritatis.) >

On arriving home Catherine of Genoa entered the remotest room. At that moment Catherine of Genoa received an inner instruction on prayer and became aware of God’s immense love for her, a sinner.

< We are sinners. Jesus came for us because that’s how much, infinitely, God Loves us. To acknowledge our sinnerness is to also be aware of God’s love. To be aware of God’s Love is also to be in communication with God, to be praying, to have our personal instruction on prayer. Start at any point on the circle. Experience God’s Love. Admit our sinfulness. Talk with and listen to God – pray. >

After her confession, Catherine of Genoa began the “life of purification” which for many years caused her to feel constant sorrow for the sins she had committed and which spurred her to impose forms of penance and sacrifice upon herself, in order to show her love to God.

< Once we acknowledge that we are loved, we have the natural and overwhelming desire to make up for – do penance for – our sins against the One Who Loves Us. We wish to reciprocate the purity of the Love received with our own, more worthy, purified love. To the degree that we tap into our responding love, we are driven to feel sorrow and express our love with our efforts to make up for the sins of our past. >

< The parable of the Good Father, aka Prodigal Son, shows us a different model. Come home to your father who is waiting patiently and prayerfully for you and we will kill the fatted calf and get on with celebrating the rest of our loving lives together. C’est moi. >

On this journey Catherine became ever closer to the Lord until she attained what is called “unitive life”, namely, a relationship of profound union with God.
Catherine of Genoa was nourished above all by constant prayer and by Holy Communion which she received every day, an unusual practice in her time.

< Prayer plus the greatest prayer the Church offers us, Mass. Fundamental building blocks for all of us. >

The place of Catherine of Genoa’s ascent to mystical peaks was Pammatone Hospital, the largest hospital complex in Genoa, of which she was director and animator. Hence Catherine lived a totally active existence despite the depth of her inner life.

< Life, service, in a hospital, regardless of role – volunteer for a while regardless of your sense of vocation elsewhere – inherently, in the service to the sick, brings us closer to God. Catherine of Genoa is one of many saints who show us that mysticism, constant contact with God, ‘prayer in action,’ is a doable proposition with the proper commitment. Even if you take a couple of steps in St Catherine’s footsteps in service at a hospital, you will find yourself with a deeper inner life, wherein you will find God’s grace. >

In Pammatone a group of followers, disciples and collaborators formed around her, fascinated by her life of faith and her charity. Indeed her husband, Giuliano Adorno, was so won over that he gave up his dissipated life, became a Third Order Franciscan and moved into the hospital to help his wife.

Catherine’s dedication to caring for the sick continued until the end of her earthly life on 15 September 1510.

Dear friends, we must never forget that the more we love God and the more constantly we pray, the better we will succeed in truly loving those who surround us, who are close to us, so that we can see in every person the Face of the Lord whose love knows no bounds and makes no distinctions. The mystic does not create distance from others or an abstract life, but rather approaches other people so that they may begin to see and act with God’s eyes and heart.


Catherine’s thought on purgatory

Catherine of Genoa’s first original passage concerns the “place” of the purification of souls. In her day it was depicted mainly using images linked to space: a certain space was conceived of in which purgatory was supposed to be located.

Catherine, however, did not see purgatory as a scene in the bowels of the earth: for her it is not an exterior but rather an interior fire. This is purgatory: an inner fire.

The Saint speaks of the Soul’s journey of purification on the way to full communion with God, starting from her own experience of profound sorrow for the sins committed, in comparison with God’s infinite love.

Here too is another original feature in comparison with the thought of her time. Catherine of Genoa does not start with the afterlife in order to recount the torments of purgatory — as was the custom in her time and perhaps still is today — and then to point out the way to purification or conversion. Rather Saint Catherine of Genoa begins with the inner experience of her own life on the way to Eternity.

“The soul”, Catherine says, “presents itself to God still bound to the desires and suffering that derive from sin and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the beatific vision of God”. Catherine asserts that God is so pure and holy that a soul stained by sin cannot be in the presence of the divine majesty.

We too feel how distant we are, how full we are of so many things that we cannot see God. The soul is aware of the immense love and perfect justice of God and consequently suffers for having failed to respond in a correct and perfect way to this love; and love for God itself becomes a flame, love itself cleanses it from the residue of sin.

With her life St Catherine teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimacy with him in prayer the more he makes himself known to us, setting our hearts on fire with his love.

In writing about purgatory, the Saint reminds us of a fundamental truth of faith that becomes for us an invitation to pray for the deceased so that they may attain the beatific vision of God in the Communion of Saints.

Moreover the humble, faithful and generous service in Pammatone Hospital that the Saint rendered throughout her life is a shining example of charity for all and an encouragement, especially for women who, with their precious work enriched by their sensitivity and attention to the poorest and neediest, make a fundamental contribution to society and to the Church. Many thanks.

< I read and reread and read again these last several paragraphs by Pope Benedict viz. St Catherine of Genoa. No comment I might add would add a dollop of usefulness or meaningfulness or any other –ness. I suggest you read Catherine of Genoa. I suggest you go to the Vatican site and read the full text of the Pope’s brief presentation to the audience. I suggest that you open yourself to the Love God is offering you – directly and via your father and grandfather and uncle and cousin etc. et al. It is, Catherine of Genoa and Pope Benedict seem to be telling us, it is in our experience of God’s Love that we will lovingly strive to purify our hearts, to live our Catholic lives, to become what God is calling us to do/be. >

I love you,
Dad
1445

0210 William of Maleval d. 1157

Thom (and Jack)
Good morning, I love you
110120, 1225

Thom, that was a surprise. Thank you.

I moved to GSO because your mother up and took y’all from Nashville to GSO to pursue her selfish nonparental interests. I moved because I believe that sons are given to two parents and it is necessary for both sons and father for us to be together in order to fulfill our created purpose. I moved for us to be together not separated. I moved and stayed and was involved – in spite of hurdles placed by your mother – because of my responsibility as father. A responsibility I have become more attuned to as I’ve become more attuned to my duties as a son.

Y’all were put in an anti-Catholic high school. I funded your college efforts in GSO. I put time and effort into being present on each of the multiple campuses y’all have attended. I have stayed in GSO because you are here.

Unfortunately, the shroud y’all have put over your lives, the veil between son and father has been perfectly effective until chance (?) stepped in today. We live within a mile-ish of one another. But I do not see y’all at Mass. I do not see y’all at the usual restaurants. I do not see y’all at the cinemas or theaters. In the same circles (?) but mostly travelling in circles that don’t intersect.

Until today. It was good and sad to see you today. I, like the father in the ‘prodigal son,’ like Monica to Augustine, I am always here for you and have many gifts God’s made available to you via me at your disposal. Like the boxes of stuff for you at my place – here/there any time for the asking. Not even asking, just be there.

I love you with the secret of a Father’s Love.

[p.s., your mother has done less well by you than her mother did for her son. Beware that you don’t find a woman for your life that matches that accomplishment and trend. In too many of the unconscious ways, I, like everyman, weddinged [not married in my case] my mother. My unconscious receptors connected the wrong sockets – matching up to wrong/deleterious aspects of the next generation’s persona. …. If I had done a simple due diligence, an adequate social history; if I had exercised will and freedom rather than inertia and hedonism we all would be much better off today. I’m sorry for you more than for me; I am very sorry for boffus.]

Yesterday, in preparation of our one parish one book discussion, I brought up several articles by Avery Dulles on Freedom. I recommend that saintly Jesuit to you. His writings are eloquent and clear and readily understandable. A tremendous talent. [I had one occasion during my novitiate to meet Fr. Dulles – holiness, wisdom, and brilliance emanated from him. In 1968, as we in the novitiate were on the cutting edge of the post-council [Vatican II] Holy Spirit breath of fresh air sweeping through the Church, I wound up in the presence of a man who [among many Jesuits] had an invisible hand on the workings of the Council.

I suggest that your read Dulles’ work on freedom – personal freedom. I also suggest you pick up JPII’s Veritas Splendor, a much denser piece, but foundational in the understanding of freedom. Freedom requires Truth. I’ll come back to my notes on that.



February 10

William of Maleval d. 1157 bl. 1202
(In Catholic encyclopedia online he’s referred to as “the Great.” Getting from death to beatification in forty five years tells us he had an impact on 12th c. Church.)

This saint, among many, but since he’s a William, he’s particularly relevant to us, led a dissolute early life. The two bioblurbs I’ve consulted do not have the details of the dissoluteness. Imagine the magnitude of it, commensurate with, I assume, his high social standing, because he went to the Pope for reconciliation. The Pope included in the penance a pilgrimage to the Jerusalem.

Both SPX and St Paul’s parishioners recently made pilgrimages to the holy land. Each person who went obviously was blessed with a transformative experience. It is on their face. It is in their voice. No doubt it filled their hearts and souls. I am also confident it will reinforce their Catholicity, their holiness.

William of Maleval also was married in his early life. Again, neither bioblurb elaborates on that or what happened to his wife (and family?). No matter what happens in ‘later life,’ e.g., William of Maleval’s becoming a hermit, the impact of wedding and marriage – and all the life experiences included for those to occur – these event have a forever effect on your entire life – for good and for bad. [Although, last night I was listening to a few women tell about the ‘perfectness’ of their marriages, the total devotion they and their husbands share.] Maybe it’s just me and my refusal to ‘get over it.’

Eugene III ordered William of Maleval to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land as penance for his sins. Yesterday I also read a very short blurb about Pope Benedict’s recent comments about purgatory. In a recent audience and talk about Catherine of Genoa, Pope Benedict XVI elaborated on The Mystic’s and his own understanding of purgatory as a process not a place. An experience of unworthiness to see the Face of God and the pain of being separated from Him. Purgatory is a purification process – one we should begin here on earth, with our own pilgrimage. If not to Rome or Jerusalem, to the nearest Church and wade through the muck to find the pure grace filled center of our souls.

About 1153, after maybe two years in Jerusalem, William of Maleval returned to Italy, near Pisa. He lived as a hermit. After periods of penance it seems maybe the inclination toward hermit-ness would be strong; it is in me. And yet, like for the more saintly among us, from whom we should take the lead, William of Maleval soon after, about 1155, became head of a monastery.

It’s risky for people to call someone to lead them who’s recently had a deep, penitential experience. William of Maleval tried to reform the monks on Monte Bruno.

William of Maleval left the monastery and once more took up the life of a hermit near Sienna. I can dig that. I’d rather let those who would not follow to their own devices and go off by myself to commune with God.

But, unlike me, William of Maleval was a holy man. His holiness and way of life attracted a group of followers who later developed into the Hermits of St William, later absorbed into the Augustinian Canons.

In his later years, William was noted for his gifts of prophecy and miracles.

I love you,
Dad
1331

0207 Tressan d. 550

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110118, 1110

It’s a dreary day outside. Inside, in a familiar and friendly workspace I’m alone but not – posters elicit feeloughts of people and places and purpose; symbols [like the flag and crucifix] elicit more powerful and purposeful feeloughts. Then there are the symbols connected to the specific purpose of this room and my reasons for being here to get work done – later. St Expectus ora pro nobis.


February 7

Tressan d. 550

In Angels and Saints we get the cursory blurb.

Tressan was an Irish missionary. It seems almost redundant to say Irish Missionary when referring to one of our saints: to any of the Irish priests. Growing up we had the FBI – foreign born Irish. Maybe in 550’s as well as the 1950’s there were an abundance of priests, too few flocks to fleece in Ireland so they went abroad. I cherished the spirit and the accent of our own FBIs – Mass felt more at home and more catholic.

Tressan left his native country to assist the spread of the faith in Gaul (modern France). Where do you go to spread our faith? How do you daily spread the gift of faith indelibly imprinted on your soul? Pay it forward. Tressan went to Gaul. [All Gaul is divided into three parts. So Caesar began his treatise about his conquering of Gaul. My sophomore year in high school we translated the entire thing. Caesar wore a white scarf at the head of his legions to show his men and his foes where he was – upfront outfighting all takers.]

Why Tressan went to Gaul, before he was ordained a priest, to be a missionary is not explained in this brief bioblurb. Read on, from brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com, I expect we’ll get the scoop.

Tressan received ordination from the hands of St. Remigius, the Apostle of the Franks. How did Tressan hook up with the numero uno honcho of the Catholic Gauls? When you follow your vocation, remember to look for the best to follow and imitate – starting with Jesus and his Apostles. I wonder if there is an Apostle for Greensboro? Stop off at St Bernard’s. It wasn’t so long ago that Catholicism was brought to GSO. It does matter that you know your roots. It does matter with whom you associate. It matters more whom you follow and imitate. Discern properly and choose wisely.

A brief aside for St Remigius. b. 437 d. 533 [ninety six? In the sixth century? Wow.]

Remigius is the Apostle of the Franks, Archbishop of Reims. Remigius’ father was Emile, Count of Laon. Remigius was born with many advantages, which he apparently took full advantage of. How are you doing with the advantages, talents, gifts, and graces you’ve received?

Remigius studied literature at Reims and soon became so noted for learning and sanctity that he was elected Archbishop of Reims in 458, at 21. Extraordinary talent plus the charism of sanctity. How do you weave your sanctity with your talents? Your piety with your learning? Your holiness with your foray into our secular, anti-Catholic world?


Remigius’ chief aim was the propagation of Christianity in the realm of the Franks. Which, maybe, included recruiting FBIs like Tressan?


From brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com


Saint Tressan of Mareuil 7 February

Brigid has Tressan’s feast on February 7th [in 2009. Maybe it’s changed? It doesn’t matter. It matters when our Church celebrates Easter but not the feast of St Tressan.]

The earliest biographic material on Tressan testify to his humility, sanctity and miracles. I suppose that we should start with humility. Obedience. God’s law engraved on our hearts. Our purpose to know, love, and serve God. There is One greater than us [many many greater than I], who created us, who Loves us, to whom we owe the honor of respect and reciprocal love – both the first and fourth commandment, ya think?

Sanctity and miracles. It’s a miracle to be sanct, ya think? Sanctity is a gift to be embraced, osmosed, lived. Like the priest said, the first decision is whether to be – i.e., live – catholic. Whether or not to be holy. Whether or not to respond to the grace that the sacraments filled our hearts with. From there, life is one miracle after another.

St. Tressan had six holy brothers, viz. : Saints Gibrian, Helan, German, Veran, Aleran, Petran, and three sisters, Fracla, Promptia, and Posemna. All of these were very devout persons, who despised the things of earth, that they might aspire only to those of Heaven.

Maybe we don’t aspire ONLY to the things of Heaven. Let us aspire to the things of Heaven FIRST. Imagine growing up within a family of ten children, all devout. I wish we were able to give you two devout parents and the nurturing of y’all’s mutual devoutness. You have the responsibility to be devout first to God, to be Catholic. With this foundation, you have the opportunity to share devoutness with one another [being the world’s best brothers] then in concentric circles spread that devoutness to family across miles and generations as well as into the future.

Tressan apparently was inspired by the words of God first spoken to Abraham: "Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land, which I shall show thee."

Afterwards, Tressan sought a secret place for his dwelling, where he might more freely serve God in solitude. We do have the tradition, exemplified by John the Baptist and then by Jesus – to go off in solitude, mano a mano with God, in preparation for the next big step in our lives. Don’t rush ahead. Stop and pray. Re-affirm with God: not my will but Your will be done. And then seek His blessing and the strength of righteousness.

Wishing to lead the life of a pilgrim, Tressan went to France, taking along with him six brothers and three sisters. Talk about a family sticking together. You have two. Stick together. I promise you it is better for you and everything you do to be nearby one another.

But, Tressan, being simple-minded and ignorant to a degree, this pious man was regarded as an idiot; and, when resolved to earn his livelihood, by some kind of menial service, he retired to a village. A native of the place, finding him to be an Irishman born, and quite ignorant of the Frankish language, set him to the humble occupation of tending swine.

Perhaps Tressan came by Humility with honor. We all, being Irish born in our ancestry, should remember the kindness of those who recognized our humility (and sanctity?) rewarded us with our first job. Whose graciousness we honored with our labor.

Tressan was in France A.D. 509. Faithful to his charge, and mindful of his Apostolic mandate, "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear," the lowly swineherd carefully governed all the movements of his soul. Remember man that you are dust…. Even the swineherd rises above dust but not very far – be humble in your profession for it is the honor of your work that raises you above dust and sanctifies the labor. Jesus kept telling us ‘do not be afraid.’ Our English version of ‘fear’ is not the same meant by our biblical forebears. Fear God and Do Not Be Afraid.

At this same time, St. Remigius lived in that part of the country. Are our encounters by chance? I suggest you assume that all whom you meet not only are Jesus but were sent to you by God for some greater purpose for your salvation.

Tressan was an illiterate man . Tressan was also a very religious and a very good Christian. We are all illiterate to the degree that although we ‘know it all’ we have much to learn. It is what we do know and what we do with it that matters. We know that we are baptized and confirmed Catholics. What are you doing with that? Humbly? Holy?


A church, dedicated to St. Martin, happened to be in the village of Murigny. Not losing sight of his herd, Tressan would steal towards the doors of the church, while he endeavored to learn all he could regarding the sacred rites. How are you putting yourself in position to learn all you can about our faith, regarding our sacred rites?

Then, miracle of miracles - the Lord was pleased with Tressan’s efforts. God miraculously rewarded Tressan’s holy thirst for knowing, by filling his mind with a knowledge of letters. Do your best to be who you are created to be and God will reward you too. It’s a miracle!

Tressan had unwittingly excited the prejudice of neighbors in that place known as Ay. Just your existence can piss people off or turn them against you. On top of that humility and sanctity have a way of engendering opposition and efforts to suppress you – your faith, your holiness, your relationships with those aligned with the seal of the Holy Spirit on your soul.

When St. Remigius visited a village nearby, these peasants accused the poor swineherd, for having caused their vineyards to be injured, their fields and meadows to be grazed and trodden down, through his neglect. St. Remigius was not the bishop, to hear a one-sided accusation, without sifting its truth. He sent a messenger for Tressan to appear.

When Tressan appeared before the Bishop, the holy prelate, fully convinced of his innocence, consoled him with gentle words, while he drove the malignant accusers away from his presence.

The Acts of Tressan give us a look into the heart of the Irish, even the saintly Irish. This is who we are. After Remigius cleared Tressan of the false accusations, Tressan stood on an elevated spot, known thenceforward as St. Tressan's Mount. Looking towards Ay, in the spirit of prophecy, he exclaimed : "You, who have falsely accused me to the high priest of our Lord, shall pass out of this life, when you have lived to the age of thirty years, nor will your worldly substance increase; thus, it shall be better, that you receive punishment here, rather than suffering without end, in the other world." The Almighty was pleased to make good these words of his faithful servant; and, to the time when his ancient Acts were written, the people remarked, how the descendants of St. Tressan's accusers never lived beyond the thirtieth year, that they were obliged to subsist by manual labor, to be in want, and even to beg for the necessaries of life. [We hope, of course, that the second half of Tressan’s prophecy holds true – that the people of Ay, having served their punishment in this world, get a free pass through purgatory to heaven.]

Tressan returned the swine to their owners. Tressan thenceforth devoted himself entirely to God's service.



After some years, having acquired sufficient learning, Tressan went to the town of Laon, in the province of Picardy. The Bishop of Laon, who admired the humility, good dispositions, and progress Tressan had made in learning, got Tressan ordained priest by St. Remigius.

In Tressan, St Remigius found a truly good subject. Tressan fasted and prayed almost continuously, while he crucified the flesh, with its vices and concupiscences. He avoided all snares of the enemy; he despised the things of this world. Tressan gave alms to the poor, and spent much time in vigil. So closely did Tressan adhere to God's law and to the works ordered by Christ, that he might be regarded as being with him, both in soul and body.

I suggest that you reread the previous paragraph frequently. You’re not going to find a more succinct admonition for being a good and faithful servant.

After his ordination, Tressan chose for a place of residence Marville, where a church had been dedicated to St. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers. Tressan preached with great zeal. I wish our priests would get some of this zeal in their preaching.

Tressan’s manner of life was extremely simple. KISS!

One day, having celebrated the Matins, Office and Mass, in the church of St. Martin at Murigny, and while returning to Mareville, he felt wearied, and he sat down on the side of a dry hill, from which water had never flowed. Fixing his staff in the ground, the wearied saint fell asleep ; but, on awaking, he found the staff had grown into a tree, which was covered with a bark and green leaves. At the same time, a fountain of most delicious water ran from the root of this tree, to the very foot of the mount.

When the holy priest, Tressan, witnessed this, he drank from the well, and he asked of the Almighty, that no injustice or turpitude should there occur. It was regarded as a "holy well," while several persons, troubled with tertian and quartan agues, came thither, drank of its waters, and were cured.

After the Lord had manifested these and other wonders of His glory, through this humble servant, Tressan was seized with a fever. He then called various priests and clerics around him, confessing that he was a sinner and an unworthy priest, having offended God, and having injured his fellow-men. Lying on the bed, in his last agony, he was consoled by his visitors, while with great humility and contrition; he received the sacraments of reconciliation.



Then Tressab cried out : according to that saying of the Prophet David, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Then he added : "Meditation on death is the beginning of wisdom."

< A substantial portion of Ignatian Spirituality is a meditation on death. If we make our strategic plans by beginning with our endpoint, why not our spiritual strategy. The endpoint is our death – our judgment day, our standing before Peter and Jesus and the pearly gates. And remember, our death will come in God’s time, not ours. At any moment. Just like you had ‘no control’ over your creation, your birth, your parents, you have none whatsoever over when you will face God in the end/at the beginning. Meditation on death IS the beginning of wisdom.>

I love you,
Dad
1229

0212 Thomas Hemerford, John Nutter, John Munden d. 1584

Thom and Jack,
Good morning, I love you
110117, 2227

February 12

Thomas Hemerford, John Nutter, John Munden all three d. 1584

A year ago on this blog I wrote ....

Imagine these men’s vocation. Called to be a priest – in their home such a vocation without kneeling to the queen of the house would be traitorous. Regardless of the monarch’s whim, will, power, perfidy, these men followed their vocation – a road that they knew would circle around again, back home, with the hope that their efforts of caring for their own and their people’s Catholicism would also find a time, place, change of the monarch’s heart – or else, exile or martyrdom….

Thomas Hemerford didn’t last long as a priest in England. Was it worth it? It? His vocation – his pursuit of his vocation, his giving himself to God’s will, not his monarch’s not his own – he made God’s will his own will. Sure beats making the homeland monarch’s will his will….

Thomas Hemerford was arrested soon after his return, condemned for being a priest, a Catholic with the will to profess his faith regardless of the monarch’s condemnation. He was hung drawn and quartered at Tyburn…..



Thomas Hemerford was a native of Dorsetshire. Thomas Hemerford was educated at Oxford. However, Thomas Hemerford had to then study for the priesthood at the English College, Rome. He was ordained in Rome in 1583.

Thomas Hemerford returned to England, where he was swiftly arrested. Condemned for being a priest, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with four companions. He was beatified in 1929.


John Nutter was from Lancaster and was ordained at Reims in 1581.

John Munden, a native of Dorset, was ordained at Reims in 1582.

John Nutter and John Munden were martyred at Tyburn with three priest companions. Both were beatified in 1929.

Simple enough. Memorable I hope.

I love you,
Dad
2238

0207 William Richardson d. 1603

Thom and Jack,
Good morning, I love you
110117, 2153

A rainy night – I love listening to the rain on the skylight [words aren’t coming to me as quickly or as creatively as they once did]. I turn off the heat pump to stop the rushing white noise – my ND sweat shirt and pants keep me plenty enough warm.

When you get a Mass card for Grandpa’s brother, send it to him asap; he’s soon on his way to Florida until March. After his two stays in the hospital, he’s weakened by the atrophy of bedrest – man, do I know that feeling. But, he’s walking around the house, doing the treadmill, getting out for errands so he’ll be in shape for six weeks on the beach. The clock is winding down…

Still spinning around my head and prayers – Mark, purgatory, communion of saints, vocation. Mostly vocation. If the call is a continuing and developmental experience with God, not only does that apply to you – thus my Monica like hope and persistence – does it not also apply to me? If Grandpa and Uncle Frank are a reasonable threshold, there’s at least another 20+ years in these bones. That’s longer than some careers. What is God calling on me to do now? For this stretch of the journey? Plenty of time to pay it forward….

Tonight was two in a row for exercise. It’s a bummer remembering what I could do only a short while ago. And if it’s one week per one day of atrophy, man, I’ll need all those twenty years to undo what I’ve done to myself. But, two days in a row is good. Eat right, exercise, and live like an ant, never like a grasshopper.


February 7

Bl William Richardson 1603

William Richardson, not the governor of New Mexico, former ambassador to the UN, and general trouble shooter for democratic presidents. Until he took up with Obama’s agenda and win no matter what pursuit of their elitist and purist [and failed but victorious-so-far] agenda, I’d say I was a fan of the Mexican American [thus Catholic, I bet] leader of New Mexico.

Blessed William Richardson, as you should have guessed already, is a Martyr of England.

William Richardson was born in Sheffield. William Richardson studied for the priesthood at Valladolid and Seville, Spain, receiving ordination in 1594. In order to follow his vocation, not unlike many people, starting with the first disciples, William Richardson had to leave home. It is not unlikely that you’ll have to do the same to truly discern your vocation. I read an article in the recent News Herald by a bishop who, as a young man struggling with the potential of being called to the priesthood was given this advice - - first, you have to decide if you’re going to be a Catholic, the rest is easy.

William Richardson – I’m not sure if he were born Catholic, though if he weren’t I’m betting the bioblurb would have said so – throughout his life in persecutorial England had to renew his choice to answer the call to be Catholic. Public tortures and hangings and Catholics being drawn and quartered for being good Catholics I suspect made him think twice – like twice a day – whether he was going to respond yes to the call to be Catholic, to the indelible mark of the Holy Spirit on his soul.

And you think being Catholic is a tough choice? A choice made by you? A done deal unraveled? The secret of a father’s love is that a father’s love is forever, no matter what; because it is a Gift of The Father’s Love.

William Richardson was sent back to England, where he used the name Anderson. He was called and then he was sent. The question is not ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ THE question is, ‘what do you believe God is calling you to be, to do?’ Will you be faithful to who you are, to your creator, to the gift of your creation?

William Richardson was soon arrested and executed at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. And what were the English afraid of? Their lashing out against priests and lay Catholics was ferocious not because they were strong, confident, and right. Your rejection of your baptismal call and your confirmation is not because you are smarter now or because you are holier or because you have properly discerned a new way.

Oro pro vobis.

I love you,
Dad
2218

0206 St Mel d. 487

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110117, 1143

I recommend brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com for your inquiry into the lives of Irish Saints. And her original source, John O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints.

February 6

St Mun 5th century
Saint Mel of Ardagh is how brigid-undertheoak brings the saint to us.

So, Mel is a real name with an extraordinary history. Another something new I’m learning today. But Mel Brooks? I bet the saint had a good sense of humor. He must have to hang with Patrick – someone in Patrick’s contingent must have made people laugh.

From brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com and catholicireland.net

Today the Irish calendars commemorate a saint very much linked to Saint Brigid, Bishop Mel of Ardagh.



Mel is also linked to Saint Patrick, with a number of sources claiming that he is the nephew of the apostle to the Irish, being the son of his sister Dareca. This woman was reputedly a mother to no less than seventeen early Irish bishops and saints, which has led some scholars to speculate that she may have been a mother in the spiritual rather than the biological sense.



St Patrick came to Ardagh, now a picturesque village in Co Longford, where he established a church. Mel, however, seems to have worked as a travelling missionary and evangelist.

Saint Mel figures most prominently in the life of Saint Brigid by being the bishop who conferred not merely the veil of the religious life upon her but, 'intoxicated by the spirit of God' bestowed the rite of episcopal ordination.



O'Hanlon's Lives of the Irish Saints for an account of Saint Mel's life:

This renowned saint is classed among the primitive fathers of our Irish Church. He was a contemporary, and, it has been asserted, a near relative to the great Apostle, St. Patrick.



At the very dawn of Christianity in our island, an illustrious champion and preacher of the Gospel had been already prepared, for a strenuous encounter, with the spirit of darkness. He is named Mel. A special Life of this holy man is not known to exist.



The recorded actions of the holy Bishop Mel, the special patron of Ardagh diocese…. He seems to have been born, in the earlier part of the fifth century. It is said, Saint Mel was a nephew to the great Irish Apostle Patrick, and whose sister Darerca is named as Mel's mother.

St. Mel built a famous monastery at Ardagh. He exercised the jurisdiction both of abbot and of bishop. Among other celestial endowments, our saint received the gift of prophecy, whereby he was enabled to predict future events.

Mel’s prophetic gift was exemplified in St. Brigid's case soon after he had arrived in Ireland from Britain.



Mel foretold the greatness and sanctity of that holy virgin, Brigid, while yet carried in her mother's womb. Some time subsequent to St. Brigid's birth, St. Mel administered to her the Sacrament of Confirmation. In conjunction, probably, with his disciple St. Machaille, Mel likewise bestowed the religious veil on that youthful spouse of Christ. Afterwards, the greatest friendship existed between our saint and the future abbess, as recorded in St. Brigid's Life. St. Brigid seems often to have visited St. Mel, when she resided not far from Ardagh.

At one time, the king of that district entertained both Mel and Brigid; and, a remarkable miracle was wrought by the illustrious abbess, at a banquet, given in their honour. The kindness of St. Mel, interceding with the king for a supposed transgressor, on this occasion, pleasingly illustrates the holy bishop's character. St. Mel and St. Moelch are stated to have accompanied the abbess, to a synod, which was held at Tailten, in Meath.

It is said, that St. Mel wrote the Acts, virtues and miracles of his uncle, St. Patrick, while this latter holy man had been living for, the great Apostle of Ireland is supposed to have survived our saint five years. For his death, a.d. 466 has been assigned. Mel departed this life, at Ardagh, however, about the year 487 or 488.

Mel is regarded, as the first bishop over the see of Ardagh, and, he has been constantly venerated as the special patron saint of that diocese.

The Catholic cathedral in Longford is dedicated to St Mel, as is the nearby diocesan college. A crozier believed to have belonged to St Mel was found in the 19th century at Ardagh, near the old cathedral there. It is now kept in St Mel's College.


From CatholicEncyclopedia Online --

St. Darerca, of Ireland, a sister of St. Patrick.

Much obscurity attaches to her history, and it is not easy to disentangle the actual facts of her history from the network of legend which medieval writers interwove with her acts. However, her fame, apart from her relationship to Ireland's national apostle, stands secure as not only a great saint but as the mother of many saints.

When St. Patrick visited Bredach, as we read in the "Tripartite Life," he ordained Aengus mac Ailill, the local chieftain of Moville. Whilst there he found "the three deacons," his sister's sons, namely, St. Reat, St. Nenn, and St. Aedh.

St. Darerca was twice married, her second husband, Chonas, founded the church of Both-chonais, now Binnion, Parish of Clonmany, in the barony of Inishowen, County Donegal. She had families by both husbands, some say seventeen sons, all of whom, according to Colgan, became bishops.

From the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick" it is evident that there were four sons of Darerca by Chonas, namely four bishops, St. Mel of Ardagh, St. Rioc of Inisboffin, St. Muinis of Forgney, County Longford, and St. Maelchu.

St. Darerca had two daughters, St. Eiche of Kilglass and St. Lalloc of Senlis.

Her first husband was Restitutus the Lombard, after whose death she married Chonas the Briton.

By Restitutus she was mother of St. Sechnall of Dunshaughlin; St. Nectan of Killunche, and of Fennor (near Slane); of St. Auxilius of Killossey (near Naas, County Kildare); of St. Diarmaid of Druim-corcortri (near Navan); of Dabonna, Mogornon, Drioc, Luguat, and Coemed Maccu Baird (the Lombard) of Cloonshaneville, near Frenchpark, County Roscommon. Four other sons are assigned her by old Irish writers, namely St. Crummin of Lecua, St. Miduu, St. Carantoc, and St. Maceaith.

St. Darerca is honoured on 22 March, and is patroness of Valencia Island.

I’ll come back to this later for more stream of consciousness.

I love you,
Dad
1239

The Gospel of Mark and St Expectus?

Thom and Jack,
Good morning, I love you
110117, 1045

MLK day. I have my experiences connected to Rev. King. TV news and newsreel. I have personal memories of the Montgomery bus strike plus many friends who were in the city at the time. I have personal memories of the Selma Bridge march plus my own walk across it many years later and the ‘nigger’ sign over the restroom at the train station there. I have personal memories of the ‘Dream Speech’ and multiple repeat memories because of people who are much closer to the King story. I have personal, formative memories of the assassination, April 4, 1968: memories that I play over and over for my own edification. 1968 is, I know, twenty years before your time, ancient history. But that year – from the novitiate: King gets killed, Robert Kennedy gets killed, and the Chicago Convention runs wild – if that year is formative for me, there has to be some genetichormonal dump into your DNA as well as the few effects I’ve had on you qua parenting. Think of the conversations we’re missing, the opportunity costs…. Ora pro nobis.

Yesterday, Sunday, our celebrant was Msgr. Shreck. No joke. A professor from the seminary in Columbus filling in for his colleague and our pastor who’s in the holy land. I went to his discussion of Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark. Being the shortest Gospel it’s one I’ve read from cover to cover more than a few times. After listening to Msgr., I wondered if I’d really read Mark. I also wondered if I’d simply forgotten everything I’d been taught, every homily I’d heard, everything I’d read, every insight I might have had along the way.

Or, is it just a matter that we learn something new every day? Except, what Msgr. said was Mark 101 – as I discovered when I perused the commentaries I have on the Gospel. Or, maybe, in this week the Church dedicates to prayer for vocations, it was a renewed insight meant for me to use – for myself? For y’all? For my students? For someones else?

In the era of Mark’s writing, it was the responsibility for an individual who wanted to pursue ‘a career’ to seek and find his Master and hope that the Master agreed to take him on as an apprentice. But, Mark makes it clear that Jesus turned that practice on its head, 180 degrees. Jesus called the disciples He wanted. He called – and they followed! He picked His own disciples. He chose the Apostles.

Jesus making the choice, God making the call, continues to be, was forever it seems, the case today. You were Baptized. You were called by God, Father-Son-Spirit. You have been chosen. Not forced into Catholicism by your parents but You have been called by Jesus to follow Him. The Holy Spirit is indelibly marked on your soul. Confirmed by you and the Bishop. Renewed and reinforced by Reconciliation and Eucharist. You are called now and forever. Vocation is a formative process, evolving process – what you are called to do to fulfill who you are, how you may best serve God, may change as you become a better Catholic.

Msgr. asked us to ponder why did Mark make the disciples/Apostles out to be so slow on the uptake? Why did he make the point that they all abandoned Jesus in the Garden? Not to mention the Peter story. Late first century the persecution of Christians reached a pinnacle of ferocity. We had many martyrs and saintly heroes of the faith. We also had more than a few people who folded under the pressures of persecution. Mark made it clear for them – for you – that even those who rejected Jesus, there is always the opportunity for reconciliation. Think Apostles, think Peter. You are constantly being called to follow Jesus. Your ‘no’ today can become a ‘Yes!’ anytime.

Last night, after the Jets’ win, I reread Mark with a different eye, a renewed hope in my heart.

Then I discovered that there is a St Expectus! Or, like St. Christopher, Expectus is totally a creation of our own needs.


St Epeditus


At one time there was much talk of a Saint Expeditus, and some good people were led to believe that, when there was need of haste, petitioning Saint Expeditus was likely to meet with prompt settlement.



It is more than doubtful whether the saint ever existed.

There is a story which pretends to explain the origin of this "devotion" by an incident of modern date. A packing case, we are told, containing a body of a saint from the catacombs, was sent to a community of nuns in Paris. The date of its dispatch was indicated by the use of the word "spedito", but the recipients mistook this for the name of the martyr and set to work with great energy to propagate his cult. From these simple beginnings, it is asserted, a devotion to St. Expeditus spread rapidly through many Catholic countries.



As far back as 1781 this supposed martyr, St. Expeditus, was chosen patron of the town of Acireale in Sicily, and pictures of him were in existence in Germany in the eighteenth century which plainly depicted him as a saint to be invoked against procrastination.



I love you,
Dad
1135

Feb 6 Martyrs of Japan 1597

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110112, 1413


February 6
More Martyrs of Japan.


John Soan de Goto 1597

Japanese martyr of Japan. He was only nineteen at the time of his crucifixion at Nagasaki with many companions.

You are past nineteen. Are you living your faith, bringing our faith, our relationship with Jesus and Church, to the people in our community who, not so much unlike sixteenth century Japan, are anti Catholic? Well, maybe not a monarchical inspired persecution but a social and political anti-Catholicism and anti-religion.



Thomas Danki 1597


Thomas Danki is a Japanese martyr. No doubt Thomas Danki wasn’t born with the name Thomas. Like Thom (and me), he took on the name – to be known as – Thomas at baptism.

Thomas Danki was a native layman. You are native laymen. How have you decided to serve your fellow countrymen? How have you decided to serve our God? How have you responded to your vocation? With whom have you surrounded yourself?

Thomas Danki entered the Franciscans as a tertiary and served as an interpreter for the Franciscan missionaries in Japan. Thomas Danki became Catholic and to fulfill his vocation he joined the Franciscans. You should at least know Francis very well; let yourself be inspired by St Francis; let yourself be inspired by Thomas Danki.

Thomas Danki was arrested by authorities and crucified at Nagasaki with twenty-five other companions. He was canonized in 1886 and is counted as one of the companions of St. Paul Miki.


Michael Kozaki 1597

Michael Kozaki was a Martyr of Japan.

Michael Kozaki was a native Japanese catechist who served as a hospital nurse and was arrested for being a Christian. The fact that he was native Japanese is important. We are often called to catechize our confreres, our neighbors and friends who do not believe the One True Faith as we do.

Michael Kozaki not only reached out to his fellow Japanese, he brought his son with him into the fray, into the joy of giving what we believe to others. His son, in obedient response as well as his response to his own vocation which he found by not only being open to his own heart but to his father’s guidance.

Michael Kozaki was crucified at Nagasaki with his son and other companions.




Thomas Kozaki 1597

Thomas Kozaki was a Japanese martyr.

The son of St. Michael Kozaki, Thomas Kozaki was a boy of fifteen who aided the Franciscan missionaries. Along side his father, Thomas Kozaki probably went along to help his father, to be with his father, to be cool with his father in service to the Franciscans who came to them with the message of our Catholic faith.

Thomas Kozaki was crucified at Nagasaki with twenty-five other companions, including his father. Age has no meaning in the importance of our faith. If a country – or community or a school – will be anti-Catholic when faced with the Catholicism of a fifteen year old, then know that your faith not only affects you but everyone around you. Unfortunately, some will be threatened by the Truth – to the degree that they will seek to have you crucified: literally or metaphorically. How prepared is your faith for this challenge?



Matthias of Meako 1597

Matthias of Meako is a Martyr of Japan.

Matthias of Meako is a native Japanese. Matthias of Meako became a Franciscan tertiary. We have a Franciscan group here in GSO. Check them out. They may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Matthias of Meako was not listed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as one of the twenty-six Catholics to be slain as examples. However, he took the place of one of the designated martyrs and was crucified with St. Peter Baptist and companions in Nagasaki. Are you prepared to sacrifice yourself for someone else? Give of yourself for another person? Enough to give them a phone call? How much have you developed your faith, hope, and love of God and Family and Church and Community?

Matthias was canonized in 1862.



Peter Shukeshito 1597

Peter Shukeshito is a Japanese martyr.

Peter Shukeshito is a native Japanese Catholic. You are a native Nashvillian Catholic; a GSO resident Catholic. Right?

Peter Shukeshito was a devoted Catholic who remained a layman but served as a Franciscan tertiary, catechist, and an assistant to the Franciscan missionaries. How do you serve? How do you live out your live out your faith? How do you teach your faith to yourself and others.

Peter Shukeshito was arrested with the group of martyrs surrounding St. Peter Baptist, he was crucified near Nagasaki.

I love you,
Dad
1444

Feb 6 Paul Miki, S.J. 1597

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110112, 1338

Brother Paul Miki is a saint I have a personal connection to. In the novitiate, one of my classmates came to us from Watertown MA via Japan. Tom was a sergeant in the army [our secundi also had an army sergeant], stationed in Japan. He came back to the New England Province, with his desire to serve as a missionary in Japan because he was from New England and the Province promised that if his vocation was affirmed in the formation process, they would support his return to the Jesuit missions in Japan. At the time, our Father General had spent substantial periods of his Jesuit life as a missionary in Japan. Support for the Japan mission was worldwide.


February 6

Paul Miki, S.J. d. 1597 b. 1627 c. 1862

Paul Miki was the son of a Japanese military leader. In the sixteenth century, not unlike being the son of an Irish Chieftain? The son of a Japanese military leader becomes a Catholic?! Becomes a Catholic Priest? A Jesuit? A missionary in his home country where the monarchy, the military, and the religious of every ilk were anti-Catholic. Who was this man?

Paul Miki was born at Tounucumada, Japan.

Paul Miki was educated at the Jesuit college of Anziquiama. How did he get to a Catholic College? Certainly the Jesuit college in a mission country would target the elite of the country. The bioblurb in the Jesuit Saints book doesn’t give us much more about Paul Miki’s journey from the son of a Japanese military leader to a Jesuit university? To Catholicism.

Paul Miki joined the Jesuits in 1580. Formation would have been another eight to ten years. That’d give him about ten years as a point person – where else would the son of a military leader be? Who else would the persecutors target?

Paul Miki became known for his eloquent preaching.

Paul Miki was crucified on Februay 5, 1597 with twenty-five other Catholics during the persecution of Christians under the Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ruler of Japan in the name of the emperor. Let us not forget! Let us not let anyone ever forget.

While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: “The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

Among the Japanese laymen who suffered the same fate were: Francis, a carpenter who was arrested while watching the executions and then crucified; Gabriel, the nineteen year old son of the Franciscan's porter; Leo Kinuya, a twenty-eight year old carpenter from Miyako; Diego Kisai (or Kizayemon), temporal coadjutor of the Jesuits; Joachim Sakakibara, cook for the Franciscans at Osaka; Peter Sukejiro, sent by a Jesuit priest to help the prisoners, who was then arrested; Cosmas Takeya from Owari, who had preached in Osaka; and Ventura from Miyako, who had been baptized by the Jesuits, gave up his Catholicism on the death of his father, became a bonze, and was brought back to the Church by the Franciscans.

They were all beatified in 1627. Then, soon after the return of Catholic missionaries from two hundred years of banishment, they were canonized as the Martyrs of Japan in 1862. Their feast day is February 6th.

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were canonized in 1862.

I commend to you both Paul Miki and Pedro Arrupe, the Father General when I was a novice.

I love you,
Dad
1405

P.S.

One of the online blurbs about the Martyrs of Japan started this way:

“Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki.”

I do not get the connection. The atomic bomb saved hundreds of thousands of lives to end a most vicious continuation of vengeful fighting by the Japanese. Maybe we should agree that Nagasaki is a place to put the label “Never Again.” - Never again let anyone mount a surprise attack on our innocent and at peace civilians and military in Hawaii or anywhere on American Soil – including Manhattan! Let us bravely bring our faith to anyone and everyone and be prepared to be crucified – literally and figuratively – for bringing Jesus and The One True Faith.

Feb 4 Modan 6th c

Thom and Jack,
Good morning, I love you
110112, 1325

February 4

Modan 6th century

Modan was the son of an Irish chieftain. A Ri or a High Ri. I’d say that Grandpa as pater familias in abstentia is a modern version of our clans chieftain. I’m sorry that we have our own clan diaspora. (and windows wants to capitalize diaspora but not God?)

Modan labored in Scotland, preaching at Stirling and Falkirk, until elected against his will as abbot of a monastery. We think we know our own vocation. Our own prayer, our own piety, our own efforts to fulfill our baptismal vows and vocation. And then God not only knocks on our door, calls us from a voice in our sleep, but whops us across the side of the head with an election to a leadership position within our Church or community. Serve God and let the chips fall where they may.

Eventually, Modan resigned and became a hermit, dying near Dumbarton. My last resignation felt the same way. Let me just be a hermit then die. And then, here I am, obviously with more expected of me. Ora pro me.

I love you,
Dad
1332

Feb 3 Blaise 316

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110112, 1225

Ice still on the side streets. Schools closed. And the parish is “closed.” No Mass, no adoration tonight, no activities. Let’s all just cool it, be safe, wait for the ice to melt and the temps to stay above freezing for a couple of days in a row. … And, not only are the Hospitals talking care of the people needing care, Starbucks, Panera, and Jake’s diner are all opened. What’s the difference between a diner and a restaurant? At the diner the waitress calls you ‘sweetie’ and not sir.

What’s with putting the “rectory” off campus, separate from the Church, the school, and the ‘activity center?’ Rectory is, traditionally, the residence of the Pastor AND, on the ground floor, the parish office. Now, we’ve separated the priest from the Church and where all the parish ‘activities’ are happening. What’s that all about? It does create a disconnect, it does facilitate to making “priest” a job versus a vocation, it does make us more protestant.

Anyway, the first chance I had to go by the parish office to get a Mass card for my Godfather, the parish offices were locked up tight. BUT, there were about a half dozen cars lined up in front of the ‘staff entrance.’

Question. To whom do I mail the Mass card? Frank has four children, my cousins. I’m ‘close’ to two of them. Frank is also my father’s older brother. Do I send five cards? Ask for five Masses? [The first of which won’t be until several months. If the Mass is ameliorative for purgatory, does Frank have to wait until the parish can get his name on the calendar or does he get credit in advance?] Do my prayers for Frank help his swift ascent into the bosom of Abraham? I hope so. I believe so.

So I ask y’all, again, to pray for Frank, his brothers and sisters, his children and grandchildren and his greatgrand children. I found a postcard last night that I also hope will prompt your not only praying for Frank but also do the duty of good grandchildren – call Grandpa, up your frequency of contact in renewed awareness of his age and health: not to mention you duties as sons in the light of the death of your GrandGodfather. Ora pro nobis.


February 3
St Blaise d. 316ish
Patron of Throat Illnesses
Patron Saint of Wild Animals

We don’t know much about St Blaise. I do know that the rite of the blessing of our throats is one of my most memorable, ingrained in my psyche, rites of my Catholic piety. The blessing of the throat and our prayer to St. Blaise once a year for protection from the illnesses and injuries of the throat is as much a ‘necessity’ of my piety as holy days of obligation, whether or especially?, they are obligations any more. I feel like I would miss something in my piety if I did not go to Mass on Feb 3 and get my throat blessed; like I feel I’ve missed something, done a disservice of omission when I do not go to a first Friday or first Saturday Mass….

St Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia. St Blaise didn’t make it into Jerome’s martyrology but showed up soon after in other ‘records.’ Most of the accounts have his martyrdom in the reign of Licinius and were assimilated into veneration of the saint in the Church liturgy.

Both the encyclopedia and Angels and Saints remark that what we know about St Blaise’s life is more legend [tradition?] than verifiable fact. The legend of his life that sprang up in the eighth century tell us that he was born in to a rich and noble family who raised him as a Christian. I wish they’d share more of the Acta with us.

According to the legend Blaise was a physician at Sebaste before he was raised to the episcopal see. There are many routes to the priestly vocation. Or one to a religious order, even as a tertiary. Do not ever stop answering God’s call, “Here I am, Lord. What do you want of me?”

At the time of the persecution under Licinius he was taken prisoner at the command of the governor, Agricolaus. After becoming a bishop, a new persecution of Christians began. He received a message from God to go into the hills to escape persecution. Men hunting in the mountains discovered a cave surrounded by wild animals that were sick. Among them Blaise walked unafraid, curing them of their illnesses. Recognizing Blaise as a bishop, they captured him to take him back for trial.

So we gain a patron of wild animals. Go figure!
While in prison he performed a wonderful cure of a boy who had a fishbone in his throat and who was in danger of choking to death.

We have our English martyrs of recenter memory. But do not ever forget about the persecutions by the Romans of the early Christians. The Jews are not the only ones with claim on the “let us never forget.”

Recent statements by Benedict XIV remind us of the threats to Catholicism in our world today. The recent CNS online: Once again he denounced recent attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria and expressed concern about the recent renewal of Chinese government restrictions on Catholics there. Condemning the murder Jan. 4 of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, the pope said the country must overturn its blasphemy law, which makes insulting the Prophet Mohammed or the Quran punishable by death.

And: Discussing threats to full religious freedom in Western democracies, the pope expressed concern about efforts to push religion to the margins of public life and about situations in which citizens are denied the right to act in accordance with their religious convictions, "for example where laws are enforced limiting the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care or legal professionals." Not unlike Jack’s biology teacher prohibiting religion from an ethics paper?

After suffering various forms of torture St. Blaise was beheaded. Blaise became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages. The actual reason for the unusual veneration has not yet been made clear. Wouldn’t it be great to understand what was it that made this saint popular then? Care to speculate? What was it about the Middle Ages – you remember them from history?
One ground was that according to the legend he was a physician and wonderful cures were ascribed to him; for this reason the faithful sought his help and intercession when ill. Numberless churches and altars were dedicated to him and many localities (Taranto, Ragusa, the Abbey of St. Blaise in the Black Forest, etc.) claimed to possess some of his relics. He was also one of the Fourteen Holy Martyrs.

Our collective piety turns us to the Saints we need for the intercessions that will help us with what we need most. In the Middle Ages, the medical profession was not as effective as they are today. Still, having a physician on our spiritual side in times of illness seems to be a worthwhile piety. Question: is a physician saint more able to intercede for our physical needs as any other saint?

May God at the intercession of St. Blaise preserve you from throat troubles and every other evil.

Saint Blaise, pray for us that we may not suffer from illnesses of the throat and pray that all who are suffering be healed by God's love. Amen

I love you,
Dad
1317

Feb 3 Caellainn 6th c

Thom and Jack
Good morning, I love you.
110111, 1728

February 3

Caellainn 6th century
(pronounced Kay-lin)

Brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com will likely have much more information about this saint – and every Irish saint – on the saint’s feast day. Also, pick up her reference, John O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints.

Caelliann is listed in the Martyrlogy of Donegal , and a church in Roscommon is named in her honor.

That’s all I know, too. Neither the name nor the places elicit any comments from me.

I love you,
Dad
1735

Feb 1 John of the Grating d. 1168

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
110111

We had 110101, really 1111? Now it’s 110111, really 11111? We don’t have to wait on November eleventh this year to have that special day, all elevens.

Over a week ago was my last entry. Been a busy week on the edge of everything. On the edge of zero cash – which is an improvement over the negative zone I was in during my trip to long island. Counting each dollar, down to the precise eight needed to cover a check that was kiting until I scrounged up some coins. That’s not counting the debt over my head like a scimitar or a guillotine. Lesson? Learn from your father better than he did from his father.

Your challenge is that you are your father’s sons. And to know yourselves, you need to know your father too. Not your mother’s version of your father – that was a mistake I made too. I grew out of that before your age but it’s still a lingering engravement in my mind. Not your memories shaped by her and the vagaries of pre-inductive reasoning cognitive development phases. You were given two parents for many reasons – one includes so that you can become whom you were created to be and do what you were created to do.

I’m reading Pathfinder. Thanks to Jack, I’m an avid Orson Scott Card fan. Thanks to the Rhinotimes, too but that’s irrelevant to this story. I was in the library last week and there it was on display in the Youth section – as if a thirteen year old is going to glom onto Rigg. It’s very different reading a book that is not mine and which I have to give back to the community. I’ll get my own version when it comes around as a almost 700 page paperback or limps onto the discount list. Until then – however you get your hands on it, I recommend it to you. I also recommended it to Grandpa today – oh by the way, he’s not heard from y’all in too long. Wait much longer and you might regret missing him.

It’s been a curious week of opportunity. Advocacy work for the department of mental health. QI guru for the department of public health. Both experiences are worth novels never mind their own short stories. The “advocate” role has been institutionalized into the mental health hospitals and the leaders, with a straight face cannot fathom why they are still at step one, investigations of complaints, rather than already in the process of eliminating the role altogether. I’m going to see if they let this gadfly near the data and help them go the road not traveled. The public health arena is just now beginning to propose that quality improvement should be an essential management culture. Go figure! It’s been the modus operandi, the modus vivandi in hospital industry for the entire time I’ve worked in hospitals. That’s a scary thought! And now it’s got the backing of the governor and the division director as a cost cutting or service enhancement without added costs strategy. Not a pursuit of excellence!

Then there’s the conversation with the developmental disabilities campus. In the state city of Butner – that’s a phenomenon worth exploring. A city created by public works, sustained by public institutions. How do the residents make it into ‘normal society’ when everyone on the campus is invested in the status quo ante? Empowerment for the public sector worker not the residents! Oh well, Videbimus. I’m just a grump not even a gadfly. Not only, as my cousin said during the viewing, am I beginning to look more and more like my father [beware for yourself], I am sounding like him! Uncle Arch was truly the archetypical spokesperson for the Nolan Clan! The rest of us pretend to be more educated and civilized.

Then there was four visiting teams winning on wild card weekend.

Last night Auburn won the national championship for the first time in 53 years. As an SEC fan, I cheered for them. As a BAMA alum, the cheers provoked a visceral heartburn. If UNCG is 191st in the universe of universities, where is Auburn? Top of the world in football. For one year in a row. Congrats. Roll Tide Roll!

I’m about ten days behind on my February Saints. I have more material on Brigid: one helluva gal! but, I’ve not heard word one from the News Herald. Being ignored seems to be my plight in life. So, I have this forum and the thousand or so people who’ve read, or pinged, my giggerish. Let the ignoring be shouted down! The ole nose versus face thing. Like I told Grandpa, it’s the bishop’s paper for which he has a purpose. But one would think that the editor has a responsibility to be direct rather than ignore my response to HER request. C’est la vie.

If I’m not going to be published in the News Herald, I have greater reason to start submitting to the other dioceses in the country. Let the chips fall where they may. If I target the News Herald and submit to more and more dioceses, maybe I’ll get published. The nice thing about the internet is that it’s a free voice – until the Democrats’ FCC puts its grip around the throat of free speech. Videbimus.

Also, if the News Herald isn’t interested in my writing, there’s less reason for me to be a month ahead on the saints. Except, the submissions to the other papers would argue for similar timing.?



February 1

John of the Grating d. 1168

I looked for more info than Angels and Saints of the Day gave me. The OSV encyclopedia had exactly the same info. A dictionary of saints gave a couple more tidbits. John of the Grating is not a biggie so we get a paragraph or two. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not delving into Butler’s anymore. The modern era of google has made me lazier than I was before – of course laziness is some one else’s fault, not mine! Grandpa says that Dr Kinn told him, for each day in the hospital, it takes a week of exercise to get the body’s stamina and muscle strength back to status quo ante. If that’s true, and I have no reason to doubt him, it’ll take a year+ of weeks for me to catch up again to where I was two years ago. Except that it must be for such long periods the relationships are very different. I’m full of digressions after a week.

John of the Grating was born of poor parents and received a good education. Think about that for a minute or three. Your parents were not poor and you got what kind of education? It was expensive – the most expensive elementary school in Nashville and the most expensive high school in GSO. But did you receive a good education? An education that fostered goodness? After you left the good Dominican Sisters, I would argue that the education you got was less than good.

The endpoint of sainthood does not depend on the relative wealth of your parents. Some would argue that poverty of parents is a plus in the pursuit of sanctity. I’d argue it is irrelevant. It is the ‘goodness’ of the education that fosters a saintly pursuit. For example, how is it a fostering of our ultimate purpose to be told that your faith is not only irrelevant by anathema in a high school assignment to write about ethics in science?

John of the Grating was accepted into the Cistercians at Clairvaux by St. Bernard. Cistercians are probably better known in USA as Trappists – that’d be Thomas Merton as saintly man better known to more, I’d suppose than Bernard. I got introduced to St Bernard, not as a dog, but by my freshman latin teacher – latin, English, and homeroom freshman year and latin teacher my sophomore year at Cheverus, Bernard Murphy, S.J. He made a point of telling us that the pronunciation of his name was the same as the saint’s. Of course, in the Jesuit way of things, knowing about the saint to whom he was given at baptism was a way to get to know the curmudgeon.

Clairvaux and Bernard were a second wave beginning for the Cistercians. (St Robert started his move to begin the Cistercians in 1098; Bernard came along in 1112.) And at the beginning substantial renewal of a renewal order, the selection process is much more crucial. John of the Grating must have shown early on the characteristics St Bernard was looking for. We do ‘know’ about people by where they choose to go to pursue their vocation and with whom they study. How are you doing on that scale?

John of the Grating helped establish monasteries and became an abbot before he was elected to be bishop of Aleth. The encyclopedia made a point of John of the Grating ousting the Moamoutier Augustinian monks from the cathedral and replacing them with canons regular. In other words, he got the Augustinians out of the income stream that he wanted for himself, his purposes, his monasteries, and his Order. Go figure. Besides, it’s much easier to pursue your own agenda when you have your own team in all the key positions and you can lavish rewards on them. Our friends the monks and their abbots have a lot to teach us about management and leadership. Read Bernard’s rules. Learn more than you could possibly be looking for.

I love you
Dad
1718