Silver Jubilee of Christian Initiation

(An ongoing post, updated)

Today is my anniversary of baptism; I am twenty-five years old. It's my Silver Jubilee! When I think of the adventure that began that day at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in little Quaker Hill, Connecticut, I cannot but confess that one of the most abiding graces has been the 'cloud of witnesses' that has guided and supported me along the way. So today in my gratefulness I pray in special way for everyone the Lord has given me to accompany me in this journey.

Twenty-Four Years of Brothers and Sisters

[an old post, updated]

Today is my twenty-fourth anniversary of baptism. I don't think I had any idea what I was getting into that Saturday midday when I walked up out of the basement of Freeman Hall at Connecticut College, made my way out the Williams St. gate and went down to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Quaker Hill. Perhaps it's part of the mercy of God that I had little idea. In any case, the Holy Spirit knew what he was doing and that's what matters.

As always, this anniversary reminds me to thank God and pray for all the people he has given me along the way, those who have been bearers of the graces God has willed in his generosity towards a lukewarm disciple like myself.

Feast of St. Joseph

It's the feast of my confirmation saint and special patron.

The solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, a just man, coming from the stock of David, was in loco parentis for Jesus Christ the Son of God, who willed to be called the son of Joseph and was obedient to him as a son to a father. The Church honors him as a special patron, whom God established at the head of his family. (Roman Martyrology)

Pray for us!

Confirmation with Archbishop Dolan

Yesterday Archbishop Timothy Dolan offered Mass and confirmed almost thirty young men at The Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, New York. One of our friars works there and had prepared the boys for the sacrament. Two of them also received their first Holy Communion at the same Mass. My confrere was pleasantly surprised to have the Archbishop accept the invitation, and called on me to serve the Mass. (I'm known for my love of the ministry of acolyte and ability to stand on formality when necessary.)

The Archbishop's instruction to the boys was short and very well done. He acknowledged right away that they had already known hard struggles and violence in their lives. He invited them to engage the real battle of the spiritual struggle within, and assured them that God was ready for fight on their behalf.

The small chapel was packed. There was hardly enough room to do what needed to be done for the ritual, but we all managed. The Archbishop's secretary was exceedingly gracious to me; several times he anticipated troubles or missing equipment and saved us from crisis and embarrassment. I had one inspiration to play with him, but I suppressed it: when I was invited to assist with Holy Communion, "after His Excellency gives Communion to the confirmandi," I wanted to ask if they weren't confirmati at that point.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR concelebrated. (He began working at The Children's Village fifty years ago as his first assignment after ordination) Both he and the Archbishop gave me academic advice, warnings, and contacts when they heard I was on my way to Boston College.

May those who were confirmed yesterday continue to grow in the fullness of the Spirit. Amen.

Phreaking, Reminiscing, and Googling

I spent much of today in a state of under-productivity due to having to wait around for the phone guy, who never came. I have quite a few irons in the fire with Verizon right now; two old POTS lines that mysteriously ring busy when called, and another account which they have turned over to collection for a phone line I have never been able to find or determine has ever been in service. We should have got rid of all this old cruft when we put in the T-1, but I digress into phreaky rant.

Anyway, in my idleness, I was thinking about Confirmation last night and thought back to my own Confirmation. I was twenty years old and a junior in college. I was appended to the year's crop of ordinary confirmandi at the parish near school. At the time they seemed like kids; there's a big difference between twenty and fourteen. But time softens age gaps, and today I was thinking about how my Confirmation classmates must all be around thirty-two by now. I wondered what had happened to them; if any had become famous or infamous, or entered religious life or the priesthood. I took out the program from that night and googled them. Almost all had Facebook profiles. One was a professor of government somewhere. One had been arrested for some kind of tax problem with his restaurant.

So I prayed for all of us, for the continued grace of the Spirit in our journey, the Confirmation class of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Quaker Hill, Connecticut, December 11th, 1992

Overheard: Homiletic Arithmetic FTW

Last night was Confirmation. It's always a joyful night, and it's good to see so many of our young people completing their sacramental initiation. In the sacristy, while we were preparing for the procession, the bishop was playing with the altar servers, asking each of them in turn if they would like to preach the Mass. All but one shyly declined the opportunity.

Then the bishop came to one girl who had herself been confirmed the year before.

"Would you like to give the homily?" he asked.

"Sure," she exclaimed, "1 + 1 = 3!"

She was referring to a part of the homily from the previous year, at her own Confirmation Mass, in which the bishop warned the confirmandi of the dangers of premarital sex and teen pregnancy. Get it? 1 + 1 = 3.

The bishop was startled and taken aback that his homily, at least in part, had been remembered. We parish staff were proud, of course. Not accepting the calling of his bluff, however, the bishop did preach the Mass himself, and even used the "1 + 1 = 3" bit once again.

My First Born

I didn't anticipate this, but this afternoon I have found myself somewhat emotional as I reflect on the baptism of my first catechumen tonight. I've done and witnessed plenty of baptisms, of course, but this is the first time that I myself have prepared and catechized someone according to the RCIA, praying and reflecting with her over the last two years.

I'm proud of her faithfulness to the program and desire for baptism. But I'm also anxious. Did I cover enough to make a foundation for a Catholic lifetime?

There's a kind of bittersweet letting-go in all of it. I have succeeded. In a few hours my ministry will have brought a newborn Christian into this world, a living, fresh sign of the power of Resurrection. At the thought of that I'm overcome with the humble tears of my unworthiness as I reflect on the searing mercy of God that has made shallow and distracted old me into a steward of the deepest of Mysteries. As I present her to her pastor to be baptized, there's a kind of wholesome grief about it too, of letting go of a child who is about to become an adult in the spiritual order, and whom I now set free into the confounding and delightful economies of Grace within which we stumble on our way through the pilgrimage of this life.

May God delight in his neophyte.

Protecting God's Grammarians

It's a beautiful day here in the City of Gracious Living, so I went out for a walk. I stopped into a local church to pray Sext, and I saw something curious on the vestibule bulletin board. On a large piece of paper a contract was presented: I agree to fully participate in the process of preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation.

Undersigned were the confirmandi, presumably. What a neat idea, I thought. This way the children are reminded each Sunday of their public commitment to the fullness of their sacramental initiation, and the rest of the faithful have the chance to know their fervor and pray for them by name.

However, some solicitous soul had tacked this note to the contract:


"Please don't split infinitives, especially in front of children." I laughed out loud.

My mother, who has some professional authority on such questions, says that the preference for integral infinitives in written English comes from the former prejudice for the normativity of Latin in academic and scientific writing. In Latin, of course, it is impossible to split an infinitive even if you want to. Since this normativity no longer obtains (except perhaps in Latin rite Catholicism) one no longer has to strictly apply the rule against splitting infinitives, if you know what I mean. In fact, my mother says that there is an age limit, which I have unfortunately forgotten. Those younger are allowed to willfully split infinitives, while those who are older may not.

Two Years of Priesthood: Stats

I know this is silly and a little irreverent, but I thought it would be interesting. After two years in the priesthood, here are my stats:

Baptisms: 42

Confirmations: 1

Marriages witnessed: 19

Priests on whom I have laid hands at their ordination: 3

Committals: 54


Δ for the Church Militant under my watch (baptisms less committals): -12 :(

Grace and gratitude: overwhelming and endless, respectively.

Worthiness: Less each day.

Seventeen Years of Brothers and Sisters

Tomorrow is my anniversary of baptism; I will be seventeen years old. By Providence I have a liturgical day free of obligation for public Mass, so I intend to get up early and offer a Mass for those whom the Lord has given me along the way:

First, for my first priest, Fr. Larry, and for the friars and parishioners of St. Mary's in New Haven, whose reverence and piety first attracted me to prayer.

Second, for Deacon Ron, who baptized me, and for his family; for Fr. Leo Sutula, requeiscat in pace, who gave me my first Holy Communion and who also heard my first confession; for Bishop Dan Reilly, who confirmed me; for Fr. Dan, OFM, who invested me in the Franciscan habit; for Fr. Michael, OFM Cap., who received my profession of both temporary and perpetual vows; for Bishop Francis X. Irwin, who ordained me deacon; and for Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. who ordained me priest.

Third, for my spiritual directors, from whom I have profited so much: Fr. Charles, Sr. Joyce, Fr. Confer, Mr. Zepf, Sr. Vivienne, Sr. Pat, priests of the Discalced Carmelites and Oblates of the Virgin Mary whose names I have forgotten, and Fr. Karl.

Fourth, for my formation directors: Vincent and Fr. Aubrey, Fr. Andrew and Br. Richard, Fr. Bill and Fr. Raphael, Br. John and Ken, Fr. Marty, Fr. Tom, and Fr. Jack.

Fifth, for my classmates in religious life: Phil, Hank, Brian, Mike, Ken, John, Steve, Robert, Sam, Tom, James, Arlen, Justin, Drew, Jim, Bart, Louis, and Marvin.

Sixth, for the teachers who have been so encouraging to me: Fr. Dominic and Br. Bill of the OFM, Carlos ('the real teacher'), Antonio, ('el Loco'), Khaled, Sr. Meg, Cathy, Fr. John of the Sulpicians, and Frs. John, Randy, Peter, Dan, and Stanley of the Society of Jesus.

This is going to be one long memento for the living!

Sacraments of Faith

One issue that often weighs on me heavily is the catechesis for and administration of the sacraments of initiation for those who don't seem committed to their faith. This is especially difficult in the case of children of parents who don't give much visible evidence of faith. Situations can be very hard. Sometimes a grandparent pushes for the baptism of a child, but the parents readily admit their indifference. Sometimes a kid admits that she doesn't care about being confirmed, and a conflict between the parents and the catechists and clergy erupts. Sometimes people bring babies here from far away because this is their ancestral parish. When I ask what their parish is where they actually live, sometimes they don't even know. When I suggest that this is their opportunity to join the parish where they now live, get involved, and baptize their child there, a big fight typically ensues. These are ones that keep me up at night.

So it really made my day today to see that Pope Benedict had spoken a little bit on the question, albeit informally. Check out his beautiful remarks here.

Confirmation

The other night we had Confirmations here in our parish. It had me thinking about the so-called "sacrament in search of a theology."

What is it, honestly? Is it the sealing with or giving of the Holy Spirit, as if someone had only been previously baptized into some of the Trinity, as if the Trinity of God had parts? Is it a rite of passage in the anthropological sense? What of those Churches that Confirm (or Chrismate) at infancy? Is it a graduation from religious education, as it sometimes looks like when everyone is wearing a gown in the academic style?

The discipline of the Roman Church puts Confirmation at the "age of discretion." In most places here in the States we have moved first Communion up to that milestone, and left Confirmation for an adolescent rite of passage. It has never made sense to me, but after the other night, I've thought of another approach.

I used to say that Confirmation should be given either at infancy, as is the practice of most of the Eastern Churches, or should be offered to genuine young adults, say college age, that it might really be the "adult decision" that it is so often advertised to be. After working as a parish priest, I'm not so sure. I never realized how important one's status as confirmed or not was to Catholic life; it is required for one to be a sponsor for baptism (i.e. godparent) and is preferred for the celebration of matrimony. These are times when a parish has a chance to hook a lapsed Christian back into his or her faith; if even fewer Catholics were confirmed perhaps there would be fewer of these opportunities. On the other hand, if full initiation was completed at infancy, there would be no sacramental means, in the external forum, of telling a catechized adult Catholic from an uncatechized one.

But maybe there's a different approach to the whole question. The other night, as I stood there holding the Sacred Chrism for the bishop, watching the kids get confirmed one after another, I was thinking about how difficult and dangerous it must be to grow up in this world. And I thought it was crazy when I was growing up. Maybe the critical time of middle adolescence is a time when young people need a sacrament to strengthen them in grace.