Iraqi Archbishop: "We [Christians] wonder if we will survive in our own country"

Last week Aid to the Church in Need met in Dundalk, Ireland to discuss the persecution of Christians throughout the world. At the same time, a report was issued - "Persecuted and Forgotten?" - highlighting the scope of this serious issue.

His Excellency the Most Reverend Bashar Warda, Archbishop of Erbil (in Iraq) addressed the gathering in the following words, with my emphases:

Good afternoon Cardinal Brady, Bishop Clifford, ladies and gentlemen and fellow clergy. I thank you for the honor to mark the launch today of the 2011 edition of Aid to the Church in Need's report on Christians oppressed for their faith, entitled 'Persecuted and Forgotten?'

This report and the work of Aid to Church in Need is critical to us as members of the worldwide Christian community. This information will significantly contribute to building international support and solidarity for Christians around the world where our human rights to religious freedom has been stripped away.

As the report states, in many countries, like Iraq, the situation for Christians seems to be worsening, sometimes to the point where we wonder if we will survive as a people in our own country.

But this is not a time to hide our faith or our identity over such struggles. In Iraq, 40 years of war and oppression have strengthened our endurance and our resolve to stand strong and to claim our legal and historical right as a Church and as a people in Iraq. We have not come this far to give up.

Through the international support and solidarity that this report will create, I believe we can be stronger in our unity and more strategic in our search for sustainable solutions.

What we Iraqis are suffering is a crisis in cultural change. We are living in a region which cannot decide if it is for democracy or for Islamic law. It cannot decide if it is for the rights of human beings to live in freedom in all its exciting and challenging forms, or if it is for the control of the spirit and the minds of its people.

This is the kind of control that welcomes the terrorist methods of intimidation, kidnapping and killing of religious minorities.

The Middle East, now, is a crescent, fertile for terror and domination. A region founded upon a cultural and social environment that has depended on violence to keep its societies divided. History and a tribal mentality have been used to maintain that violence and those divisions. The Crusades, the aggressive West, Israel and American Christians are pointed to as the enemies. Yet, in reality, the enemy is within.

What Iraqis are left with is a weak constitution that tries to please two masters: on the one hand the premise of human rights supposedly for all its citizens, yet on the other hand, Islamic law for its majority of Muslims. Islamists are not the only ones at fault.

Secularists with an eye for profit are also responsible.

Neighboring governments in the region feeding the insurgents with money and weapons to destabilize the government are also responsible.

The rest of world's governments have turned their backs on us, as if the human rights abuses and near genocide conditions Iraqi Christians experience, are temporary.

Yet for nearly 50 years, Christians in Iraq have suffered displacement and negligence. Here is a picture of the 233 Christian villages in northern Iraq in 1961. Dozens of those villages were destroyed in the 1950s and 60's as Iraq evolved from a kingdom to a republic and this displacement continued into the years of Saddam Hussein.

Moreover, Christian history is noticeably absent from the Iraqi history books used in our public schools. Our place as one of the original inhabitants of the region, has been wiped from collective memory. We are merely one of the non-Muslim, minority inhabitants of Iraq, lacking all the rights and rewards that full citizenship in a real democracy should bring us.

During the Gulf War years, the Christian population in Iraq was estimated between 1.2 and 1.4 million. By 2003, it had dropped by over half a million. Iraq's Christian population now numbers less that 500,000 and this figure is highly optimistic.

Iraqi Christians live primarily in Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, Erbil and Mosul and in small towns in the Nineveh plains of the north. Close to two-thirds of Iraqi Christians belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, and roughly one-fifth belong to the Assyrian Church of the East. The rest belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, and various Protestant denominations.

As you can see in these two maps main Iraqi Christian population centers are located along disputed boundaries between Iraq and Kurdistan and in areas with strong extremist militia presence.

Christians tend to be persecuted by majority populations for two reasons:

1) Their Christian faith, which is not accepted in Iraq by Islamic fundamentalists and

2) For political purposes to control land and resource allocation in the disputed areas.

Since the occupation of Iraq in 2003 over 500 Christians have been killed in religious and politically motivated conflicts. Forty percent of the killings took place in northern Iraq, 58% in the Baghdad region and 2% in the south.

Killings of Christians began in earnest in 2003 when the first translator was killed in Baghdad. In 2006, targeted killings of Christian leaders escalated when an Orthodox Christian priest, Boulos Iskander, was kidnapped, beheaded and dismembered despite payment of a ransom.

Between 2006 and 2010, 17 Iraqi priests and 2 Iraqi Bishops were kidnapped in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk. Many were held for days; some for weeks. All were beaten or tortured by their kidnappers. Most were released, but one bishop, four priests and three sub-deacons were killed. In most cases, those responsible for the crimes stated they wanted Christians out of Iraq.

These kidnappings and murders have left their mark on the minds and bodies of the Iraqi churches. Not only have our religious leaders been murdered, but also simple families, shop keepers, children, teachers, the elderly, mothers and their babies, and members of all element of Christian society.

• Direct threats using intimidating letters with bullets placed inside

• Text messages direct sent to families named in the messages

• Direct threats, person-to-person on the streets

• Threatening language from police and army representatives

• Breaking into houses, stealing possessions or making extortion threats

• Threatening graffiti with Koranic text.

• Armed men standing in front of Christian homes or in cars and then leaving

• Text messages about kidnapping children from their schools

Also, our college students are severely intimidated. Thousands of college students have delayed their studies or transferred to Erbil for their course work.

Now I would like to talk to you about the systematic bombing campaign of Iraqi churches. The first Iraqi church was bombed in June, 2004 in Mosul. Following that event, successive campaigns have occurred and a total of 66 churches have been attacked or bombed; 41 in Baghdad, 19 in Mosul, 5 in Kirkuk and 1 in Ramadi. In addition, 2 convents, 1 monastery and a church orphanage was bombed.

The first Campaign of bombed churches took place on August 1 2004 at the Church of Saint Peter and Paul in Al Dora. That day, 6 churches were bombed across Iraq.

As I am sure most of you know from the news, on 31 October 2010, 58 people, including 51 hostages and 2 priests, were killed after an attack on Our Lady of Salvation Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad. A group affiliated to Al-Qaida, Islamic State for Iraq, stated that Christians were a "legitimate target."

There are thousands of examples of overwhelming suffering among Iraqi Christians. Two come to my mind here that I would like to tell you about.

One is the story of the father of a teacher in our kindergarten in Ankawa. Last year Mr. Dahan was the first of at least eight Iraqi Christians killed in Mosul prior to the elections. The abduction that ended in his death was the second time he had been kidnapped. Two years before, he had been abducted, beaten and stuffed in the trunk of a car until the family could collect the $5000 ransom.

The family says that after he returned the first time, they didn't leave Mosul because their father would not move. "Our father said, 'if all of us Christians leave, who is going to stay in the land of the prophets and pray in our churches?' " "He said, 'we were all born in Mosul and we will die in Mosul.' "

A second story is about my friend Father Mazen from Qaraqosh. Father Mazen was kidnapped 4 days after he had been ordained a priest. He was released but a year later armed men entered his home and killed his father and two brothers in front of his mother and sister in law.

Despite this tragedy, Father Mazen serves the displaced families in his congregation in Qaraqosh with unfaltering faith.

As I mentioned, there are thousands of examples of such senseless injury and killing. The grief and sorrow in our congregations is palpable, where not one person has been uneffected by tragedy since 2003.

Moreover, each family has suffered decades of losses from the Saddam regime, the sanctions prior to the occupation, the devastation of the Gulf War as well as the Iran/Iraq War. Iraqis are a people who have experienced immense suffering but who are also strong, resilient and prepared to claim their right to existence.

The Kurdistan region, overall, has been a relocation site for over 55,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from other cities in Iraq in the past 7 years. The population has grown significantly since the military events of 2003.

More recently, following the systematic intimidation and violence prior to the elections in 2010 and after the church bombing, about 4000 Christian families fled Iraq's cities to Erbil. Probably twice this have move from both Baghdad and Mosul City into the Nineveh Valley, an area to the north where life is relatively safer and more affordable.

Over the past 8 years our Erbil Diocese Immigration Committee has registered over 3000 families displace by conflict. Not all families register so we know this is an under estimate of the size of those who have moved. But as you can see the situation has worsened 2011 as we are only now in March.

Most of the families we have registered come from Baghdad and Mosul.

It is difficult to know exactly how many Iraqi Christians live outside Iraq, but estimates suggest that over half the population has fled the country with hundreds of thousands in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. At least a million more Iraqis live in the US, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and many other countries.

In Erbil, once our Church leaders are assured that our families are safely relocated, we have three main goals to assist them.

First of all we want to provide stability via employment and affordable housing,

Secondly we want to be sure that families have access to good education and medical care and thirdly,

And most importantly, we want a vibrant living Church to support the social and spiritual needs of our families.

We are working hard to make these things happen, but the resources of Erbil and its neighboring Dioceses have been stressed because of the high influx of people over this short period.

Erbil Diocese has grown by over 30% with churches, schools, health care facilities, housing and basic infrastructures feeling the burden.

Schools average 35-45 children per class, running in two shifts a day.

Moreover, housing costs have skyrocketed as local homeowners have raised rents 200-300% to take advantage of the housing demand.

At this time, diocese leaders are raising funds from inside the communities and donor organizations such Aid to Church in Need to build new churches and to restore old and damaged ones. Classrooms are being built and restored in all our churches to be used for Catechism classes and community education.

A new Catholic primary school building has recently been funded to ease the burden of public education in the area.

Church leaders are looking to construct low cost housing for displaced families as a long-term investment against rising land values.

Diocese leaders also continue to search for development investments to stimulate the job economy and to employ displaced family members.

With many problems facing Iraqi Christians, the greatest concern of Diocese leaders is that there are enough strong parishes prepared to assist families as they continue to readjust to their lives; displaced from their jobs, homes, and extended networks.

There is concern that if families are not assisted effectively and not embraced by the community, that we will lose them from the Church and to immigration outside of Iraq.

Lastly we want the presence of the Christians Church to be apparent by a vibrant and active parish life symbolized by physical church buildings and obvious public spaces. We do not want to hide our faith or identity out of fear for our lives. We want to be seen and remembered by all Iraqis; those who threaten us, but moreover those willing to stand in solidarity with us.

We thank Aid to the Church in Need for your solidarity with us.

We thank your generous and kind hearted donors and those who have prayed with us and for us these past years of our struggles. I would like to finish with a prayer:

"Renew your wonders in this our day as by a new Pentecost" -- Pope John XXIII. Father, pour out your Spirit upon your people, and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, a new faithfulness to your word, and a new consecration to your service, that your love may grow among us, and your kingdom come: through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Let us remember our persecuted brothers and sisters in prayer each day, offering our sacrifices and penances for them.

Almost like new

I returned last evening to Effingham to help hear grade school confessions this morning and took the opportunity to have the interior of my car detailed.

Some time ago one of my former students - who is currently taking a class on entrepreneurship - told me he had to start a business for class; his project would be detailing cars.

He's a handy and pragmatic young man and has been helpful to me several times in the past. Knowing some of his previous work, I told him I'd gladly bring my car to him.

Just a few minutes ago I collected the car and am very pleased with his work and think his fee is more than reasonable.

If you're in the Effingham area and need your car detailed I'll happily pass his contact information on to you; just shoot me an e-mail.

What I've been up to

Life as the Episcopal Master of Ceremonies brings with it some quiet days and some packed days; there seems to be little in between, which is perhaps just as well.

Over the last two weeks Bishop Paprocki has has several meetings outside the Diocese that have not required my attention. While he was away each time I returned to St. Anthony of Padua Parish to assist the Parochial Administer by hearing confessions for the schools and assisting at three different retreats. Consequently what I planned to be just a few days for rest turned out to be quite busy, and also very enjoyable.

This past weekend saw a flurry of activity within the See City and its surroundings.

Friday evening on our return from Confirmation at St. Michael Parish in Staunton I mentioned to the Bishop that we should leave the Cathedral at 6:00 the next morning for Mass at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Highland, which would be followed by a men's prayer breakfast at the Knights of Columbus' Hall; leaving so early would afford us time to vest and prepare for the Liturgy.

When I awoke Saturday morning I did not remember hearing the alarm, so I looked at my cell phone to learn the time: 6:01 a.m. Apparently, I set the weekday alarm that does not include Saturday; that won't happen again.

In a panic I jumped in the shower, dressed and was ready to go in a record seven minutes. When Bishop called me as I was putting on my shoes I told him I overslept just a bit and would be ready in two minutes. We left the Cathedral about 6:15 a.m. and thankfully arrived in Highland with enough time to prepare for the Mass.

Joe Lombardi, the grandson of Vince Lombardi and quarterback coach for the New Orleans Saints, was the guest speaker at the prayer breakfast.

Not being a football fan (I don't generally even know when the Super Bowl is happening) I did not know who he was from Adam. I was able to have breakfast with him and the Bishop and was very impressed with him. He is a man of faith, down to earth and committed, who carries himself simply.

Being also a wise man he spoke about what he knows: football. He shared some of the qualities he looks for when looking for quarterbacks and related them to the practice of the faith.

The one that I still remember is the willingness and desire to keep practicing the fundamentals of the game; if a player does not have the fundamentals down each time the gameplay will not be well.

Relating it to the faith, he said the fundamentals of the faith are: Eucharist, confession, daily prayer, the rosary and the Scriptures. If we don't practice each of these, our faith weakens.

He talk was quite excellent and if you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak you should really go. I think we should be bring him back to the Diocese for a youth event or adult education.

After the prayer breakfast the Bishop and I returned to Springfield, where I worked for a bit on final preparations for the two Rites of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion.

I celebrated Mass at St. Peter Parish in Petersburg at 5:00 p.m. and raced back to the Cathedral for the 7:00 p.m. RECCC, which went mostly well.

Afterwards I went out to visit the men on the priesthood discernment retreat (twelve were there) and had a good visit with them before retiring for the night.

Sunday morning I celebrated Mass at 8:00 a.m. in Petersburg and at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Family Parish in Athens, before again returning to the Cathedral for the RECCC at 2:30 p.m.

The second celebration flowed more smoothly than the one Saturday evening. I'm still learning the Bishop's style and adapting myself to it, which won't be too hard to do now that I have a better sense of it (it's not an easy topic to converse about; it has to be experienced).

Afterwards I joined some friends for supper and called it a weekend.

Homily - 20 March 2011

The Second Sunday of Lent (A)

The Lord Jesus Christ has “saved us and called us to a holy life,” yet so very often we do not walk upon the path that he has set before us (II Timothy 1:9).

It takes only a brief few moments of honest reflection to know that we have sinned and have strayed from the fold of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep (cf. John 10:11).

Having given in to temptation we are in need of reconciliation, which is achieved through the great Sacrament of mercy, the Sacrament of Penance.

Looking at the Gospel today we see, as it were, a sort of image of what happens in this Sacrament.

Examining our conscience - what we have done and what we have failed to do - we climb the interior mountain to that spot from which we look down on our lives. Ascending this mountain in prayer (cf. Matthew 17:1) we encounter the Lord, saying to him, “My heart has prompted me to seek your face; I seek it, Lord: do not hide from me” (Psalm 26:8-9).

We seek his face because there is within each of us a great longing, a yearning, for God. Saint Augustine put it this way: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Standing, then, before the Lord we look upon him and gaze upon the beauty of his radiant light and we become aware that we are not worthy to stand before him.

Moses and Elijah stand beside the Lord, conversing with him about “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). The Law and the Prophets help us to see our sin, our transgressions of God’s commands. Moses and Elijah help us to see the necessity of the Lord’s Passion and Death, together with the great depths of his love.

Seeing his holiness, we see our sin. Seeing his loveliness, we see that we are not all too lovely and we fall prostrate, very much afraid before him (cf. Matthew 17:6). With our sin before us and all worldly things left behind, we know the truth of Saint Francis of Assisi’s oft repeated phrase: “What a man is before God, that he is, and nothing more.”

Conscious of our sin, we, like that tax collector, can only stand off at a distance and we dare not lift our eyes, but beat our breast in sorrow (cf. Luke 18:13).

Like Saint Peter, we stand off at a distance – where it is comfortable – until the Lord looks upon us and we “remember the word of the Lord;” then we, too, begin “to weep bitterly” (Luke 22:61-62).

The only words on our lips are these: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

Gazing upon the transfigured Lord we see his holiness and we are aware of our sinfulness. Seeing his glory we remember the source of this glory: the Cross of our salvation of which he spoke with Moses and Elijah. We remember, too, that his Cross is the result of our sin.

Conscious of all of this the fear of the Lord begins to take root in our hearts.

Perhaps this is a phrase with which we are not very familiar or do not like very much. But 'fear of God' is not anguish; it is something quite different. As children, we are not anxious about the Father but we have fear of God, the concern not to destroy the love on which our life is based (Pope Benedict XVI).

Seeing his love and seeing our sin, we know that we have separated ourselves from his love; this is the cause of our fear, it is the fear of the loss of the love of God.

We fall prostrate before the Lord of heaven and earth because we know that our sin has distanced us from him but it has not distanced the Lord from us!

He does not abandon us, but hears our humble cry and comes to us. Remember the words of the Psalmist:

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
to deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine (Psalm 33:18-19).

We know that the Lord “loves justice and right” and because of his justice man is condemned on account of his sin, but we also know that “of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full” (Psalm 33:5).

The Lord’s “judgments are true and just” (Revelation 16:7) but for those who seek his mercy, “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). We encounter this mercy in the Sacrament of Penance through which our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with God.

We come then to the Church confessing our sins to the priest, who acts in the person of Christ and, in the name of Christ absolves our sin.

When the words of absolution are spoken, Jesus comes and touches us, saying, “I have ‘destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light’” (II Timothy 1:10). “Rise, and do not be afraid” (Matthew 17:7).

Having been raised up by the Lord we are able to raise our eyes and look into his (cf. Matthew 17:8). The reconciliation – a word which itself means to “see eye to eye” is accomplished. We have no more reason to avert our gaze from the Lord; no longer does anything stand between the Lord and those who approach him in the Sacrament of Penance.

Is your heart at rest this day? Are you at peace? If not, know that it is because your heart is not resting in the Lord because your sin stands between you and Christ Jesus.

Why not approach the Lord’s mercy this Lenten season? There is nothing to fear in the Lord. He turns no one away who seeks his mercy, who asks his forgiveness, who longs for his love.

Christ waits for you. Indeed, he has gone in search of you even as you continue to wander away from him. As he looks for us he calls out with the same words that we first called out: “My heart has prompted me to seek your face. Do not hide from me.”

Do not stray any further. Turn and go to the Lord and you will know life, you will know love, and you will know peace. Amen.

Spanish Bishops: John Paul II gained the love of young people by calling them to be saints

With the following message, the Bishop of Spain have invited the youth of the world to the World Youth Day 2011, to be held in Madrid (with my emphases):

As World Youth Day approaches, which will take place in Madrid from August 16-21, the Spanish bishops, gathered in plenary assembly, address this brief message to you to encourage you to take part in it. We know that many of you are preparing yourselves with eagerness and encouraging your friends and companions. For our part, we invite you all, as Benedict XVI has in the message he addressed to you in connection with this day: "I would like all young people -- those who share our faith in Jesus Christ, but also those who are wavering or uncertain, or who do not believe in him -- to share this experience, which can prove decisive for their lives. It is an experience of the Lord Jesus, risen and alive, and of his love for each of us."

1. Live with joy and hope

From the beginning of the Church, its pastors have looked to you with hope and joy because you are the present and, above all, the future of society and of the Church. In his first letter, St. John addresses you with these words: "I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one" (1 John 2:14). Today, the Successor of Peter writes to you saying: "I await each of you with great joy. Jesus Christ wishes to make you firm in faith through the Church."[2] We also, as your bishops, have confidence in you and regard you not only as recipients of the Gospel of Christ, but as protagonists of the history of the Church and of her building. The motto of World Youth Day could not be more expressive: "Planted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith" (cf. Colossians 2:7). In this beautiful stage of life, which youth is, we encourage you strengthen and build your faith, to deepen your roots in Christ, who loves you and calls you to friendship and proposes your following him in the priesthood, in consecrated life or in marriage to make of you his witnesses. He will give you the light and strength to build your future, through study, a profession and work that, despite the economic difficulties and present-day unemployment, you struggle to obtain.

Pope John Paul II, the announcement of whose beatification has filled us with joy, put you at the center of his interest and mission. He has been called the "Pope of young people," because of the affection and dedication with which he distinguished you. He did not gain your affection through adulation or posing to you reduced exigencies in the following of Christ. On the contrary, he asked you for the best of yourselves, the capacity to give yourselves totally to the love of God and men and to lead a Christian life removed from all mediocrity, going against the current, if necessary, of our time. How many times he invited you to be saints! Thinking of you, he began the passionate adventure of World Youth Days so that, as young people, you would manifest to the world the joy of living in Christ, the youth and beauty of the Church, and the firmness of a faith that is for all a sign of the presence of the living God. Yes, friends, this is the meaning of the forthcoming World Day to which we invite you, convinced of your openness to truth and of your capacity to create bonds of friendship with young people from all over the world.

2. Celebrate a genuine feast of faith

Within a few months the Church that journeys in Spain will live the experience of receiving in the dioceses and finally in Madrid hundreds of thousands of young people convoked by Benedict XVI to celebrate the 26th World Youth Day. For almost one week, you will have the occasion to pray personally and in community, to participate in the catechesis of bishops from all over the world on the meaning of being Christian, you will celebrate the forgiveness of God and the Eucharist, and you will express in many ways -- concerts, exhibitions and different cultural events -- the joy of the faith, which changes your life and projects you onto the world as creators of works where charity, justice and truth shine. The Pope's presence will enable you to feel yourselves members of the universal People, which is the Catholic Church.

Hence, World Youth Day will be an authentic celebration of the faith, which will show how Christians are what today's world needs: "peacemakers, promoters of justice and workers for a more humane world, a world in accordance with God's plan," who commit themselves "in different sectors of the life of society, contributing effectively to the welfare of all."[3] It is a question, young friends, of making visible that "Christ is not a treasure meant for us alone; he is the most precious treasure we have, one that is meant to be shared with others. In our age of globalization, be witnesses of Christian hope all over the world."[4]

We invite you to take part in World Youth Day as expression of your adherence to Christ and membership in the Church. For this participation to be true and fruitful, we encourage you from now on to go on a spiritual pilgrimage toward Christ, conscious that "the quality of our meeting will depend above all on our spiritual preparation, our prayer, our common hearing of the word of God and our mutual support."[5] We ourselves, your priests, catechists and young people of your communities will support you in this task. You are not alone, because you are part of the one Church of Christ that journeys in the world. We only ask you to trust and to put into play all your capacities."

3. Put forth the young face of the Church

Your responsibility as young people of the host country is very great. In a certain sense you will be the face of the young Church that will receive pilgrims from the whole world. The days of hospitality in the dioceses will be an unforgettable experience to live the universality of the Church and the enormous richness and vitality of each diocese of Spain, which received the Gospel of Christ from the first hour of Christianity.

Encourage your friends and companions to take part in the different tasks of hospitality and in volunteer work, in the celebrations of faith and in the activities that each diocese prepares. Offer yourselves also as volunteers for the many organizational tasks in Madrid, venue of World Youth Day. Efforts will be made to serve everyone so that all will feel welcomed and loved for themselves. We also ask you for solidarity with young people from the neediest countries. Many of them, often isolated from experiences of this kind, wish to take part in the Day to live dimensions of the faith and of ecclesial life that enrich them. We also expect young people from countries where the Church is persecuted, who will strengthen us with their testimony. Be generous when you register, contributing your quota of solidarity. You will make many of your companions happy.

We do not wish to end without thanking you ahead of time for receiving this message and for your work in the Church. Receive our words as a sign of the affection and closeness we feel for you. The Church needs you to proclaim to all the love of God. We know that you also love us and need us to grow in your faith and in the Christian life. We journey in Christ, the way that leads us to the Father. We are all wayfarers and we all aspire to reach our goal together. Are these not sufficient reasons to live in the communion that the Spirit has given us? Will not our joy be greater if we all meet with the Successor of Peter when he comes to confirm us in the faith?

Let us pray therefore for one another so that this World Day, as the previous ones, will root and build us in Christ and convert our faith into the solid rock on which our life is founded. We will not be lacking the protection of Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, who from the goal of our pilgrimage watches over and protects our steps.

We bless you in the Lord Jesus Christ
Madrid, March 2, 2011

Is the Lord calling you?

Do you wonder if the Lord might be calling you to his service as a priest, a deacon or to the consecrated life? Does the thought of a religious vocation keep occurring to you but you just aren't sure what to make of it?

Why not try the Ministry Potential Discerner Vocational Self-Awareness Survey? It's a horrible name, but a useful tool.

There and back again

Over the course of the last week or so I have had the happy opportunity on two separate days to celebrate the Holy Mass for the classes of St. Anthony High School on retreat at St. Aloysius Parish in Bishop Creek, Illinois.

Today I was able to conduct the retreat for the eighth graders who will be receive the Sacrament of Confirmation tomorrow evening from Bishop Paprocki.

Not quite thinking very clearly and having fallen into a bit of a habit of driving out to Bishop Creek, I found the doors of the parish center locked when I arrived early to set up and the parking lot empty.

I quickly opened my tub of useful retreat materials that had been given to me and discovered that I was supposed to be in Green Creek, on the other side of Effingham. Somewhat frustrated, I went back to my car and arrived at St. Mary, Help of Christians Parish in Green Creek just in time for the retreat to begin.

I think things went well; at the very least, the students seem to have enjoyed themselves.

Will you please join me in praying for these candidates? Thank you.

Report: 75% of religious persecution directed against Christians

From The Herald, with my emphases:

A REPORT highlighting human rights abuses against Christians around the world is to be launched in Glasgow.

The Catholic Church agency, Aid to the Church in Need, estimates that 75% of all religious persecution around the world is directed against Christians.

That equates to around 100,000 people facing persecution.

The hard-hitting report will be launched in Scotland at St Rollox Church of Scotland by Cardinal Keith O’Brien and Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in Iraq.

Speaking ahead of the launch yesterday Nather Eisa told how he was forced to flee to Scotland from Iraq with his family.

Mr Eisa, 46, a trained teacher, told how he was called a “little Christian rag” and received a death threat. His life was spared when his brother agreed to pay a bribe.

For the father-of-two it was one of many abuses that persuaded him to flee to London in 2002. Shortly afterwards he and his family were moved to Sighthill in Glasgow.

He believes he escaped the worst persecution in Iraq that followed the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, and has caused thousands more Christians to flee.

The last Iraqi census in 1987 showed the Christian population at 1.4 million. The Church in Iraq estimates that figure is now as low as 150,000.

“The problem started for Christian people in 1991 when sanctions were imposed by the United Nations,” said Mr Eisa. “Muslim people hated Christian people because America and Britain are Christian. They say to us Christians that we make the problems for them, but we say we are the same as them, we suffer the same.”

While the family was still able to attend church at that time, security was heavy with up to 30 armed guards surrounding the church during worship. As people began to suffer financially in the early 1990s, Christians began their exodus from the larger cities.

Mr Eisa’s wife Aseel explained: “If I was rich and a Christian, they would come to my house during the night and steal everything. If you say anything you get killed. That’s happened for a few families.

“Now they kill people simply because they are Christian, they say it to your face.”

She said today Christians are too afraid to go into the city of Mosul. Her sister who is a student there has to wear a headscarf to appear Muslim. In the past she said she was shot at when she entered the college with a party of Christian students.

In 2004, another sister was forced from her home in Baghdad. “They took the house from her putting her and her family out – she had to stay with other family members for five years,” said Mrs Eisa.

But while the Eisa family is relieved to have escaped with their lives, they have found themselves at the receiving end of prejudice in this country.

“People here look at us and presume that we are Muslim. Even when we say that we are Christian, they think it is some obscure strand of Christianity,” Mrs Eisa said.

Daughter Lisa, 18, has settled into life here and is studying medicine at a Scottish university. She has little memory of Iraq, and was sheltered from much of the persecution by her parents.

In Glasgow, she attended a Catholic primary school and was struck by the tolerance shown to other religions.

She said: “Coming here, the way they treat people from other religions just makes me feel so proud to be Christian. I feel like that is what my religion teaches me; to love people who are different. That’s why I feel so attached to here, like I belong here.”

“I think people here should be aware that there are Christians in the world that fight to keep their religion – it would make them value their religion more.”

Jakarta officials bar Christians from their church

From UCA News, with my emphases:

Christians in Bogor City in West Java say local authorities are flouting a court order by still trying to prevent them from worshiping in their church.

“Police have barred us from praying in our church and have even blocked the entrance,” Bona Sigalingging, an official of Taman Yasmin Church, said yesterday.

Sigalingging said a January supreme court ruling cleared the way for them to use their church after a lengthy legal battle.

However, on March 6, when they tried to use it, local authorities and police locked the church’s doors.

When they went to the church yesterday they were forced to break in so they could hold a Sunday morning Mass, according to a report on the Jakarta Post website.

“Barring us from the church is in defiance of the law and goes against the constitution,” Sigalingging said.

Reverend Jeiry Sumampauw, from the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) said his organization has tried to act on behalf of the Taman Yasmin Church, but no one seems to care.

“The PGI has urged the religious minister to deal with the case. But it seems the government doesn’t consider important enough.”

He said mediation efforts with Bogor authorities had reached a dead end.

They even refused to allow the church to be relocated.

It seems local authorities would rather bow to the demands of a radical Muslim group than comply with the Supreme Court’s decision, Reverend Sumampauw said.

Besides robbing citizens of their constitutional rights, the local government is abusing the constitution, he said.

Pope responds to tragedy in Japan

A little known aspect of papal life involves the Pontifical Council Cor Unam, the Holy Father's personal charitable organization. Your contributions to the annual Peter's Pence collection make his charitable acts possible.

Today this same council announced that in addition to his prayers, Pope Benedict XVI has sent $100,000 US dollars to the Japanese Conference of Catholic Bishops to assist in the relief of the people of Japan suffering so greatly from the recent earthquakes and tsunami.

The Holy Father also sent the following telegram to Archbishop Leo Ikenaga, S.J., President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan:

Deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic effects of the major earthquake and consequent tsunamis which have struck Japan 's north-eastern coastal regions, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI assures all who have been afflicted of his closeness at this difficult time. He prays for those who have died, and upon their grieving families and friends he invokes divine blessings of strength and consolation. The Holy Father also expresses his prayerful solidarity with all those providing rescue, relief and support to the victims of this disaster

Oremus

Capello tip to Cecilia.

Pope shaken at images of earthquake and tsunami

Following his address today after the recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI expressed his spiritual closeness to the Japanese and all those affected by the recent natural disasters:

The images of the tragic earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan have deeply shaken us. I would like to renew my spiritual nearness to the dear people of that country, who are dealing with the effects of these calamities with dignity and courage. I pray for the victims and for their families and for all those who are suffering because of these awful events. I encourage those who with praiseworthy readiness are preparing to bring help. We remain united in prayer. The Lord is near!

Let us join the Holy Father in prayer.

Pope: God intervenes to save humanity

The following is a text of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's address today at the recitation of the Angelus, with my emphases:

This is the first Sunday of Lent, the 40-day liturgical season in which the Church prepares spiritually for Easter. In substance it is a matter of following Jesus who turns decisively toward the cross, the culmination of this mission of salvation. If we ask: Why Lent? Why the cross? The answer, in radical terms, is this: because evil exists, or rather, sin, which according to Scripture is the deepest cause of every evil.

But this statement is not at all uncontroversial, and the word "sin" is not accepted by many, for it presupposes a religious vision of the world and of man. In effect this is correct: If we eliminate God from the horizon of the world, we cannot speak of sin. Just as when the sun is hidden the shadows disappear and the shadows appear only if the sun is there, so too the eclipse of God necessarily brings the eclipse of sin. Thus the meaning of sin -- which is a different thing from "guilt feelings" as these are understood in psychology -- is only grasped in discovering the meaning of God. The "Miserere" Psalm, attributed to David in the context of his twofold sin of adultery and homicide: "Against you," David says, turning to God, "against you alone I have sinned" (Psalm 51:6).

God's response to moral evil is to oppose sin and save the sinner. God does not tolerate evil because he is Love, Justice, Fidelity; and it is precisely because of this that he does not wish the death of the sinner, but desires that the sinner covert and live. God intervenes to save humanity: We see this in the whole history of the Jewish people, beginning with their liberation from Egypt. God is determined to deliver his children from slavery to lead them to freedom. And the worst and most profound slavery is that of sin. This is why God sent his Son into the world: to free men from the rule of Satan, "origin and cause of every sin."

He sent him in our mortal flesh so that he might become the sacrifice of expiation, dying for us upon the cross. The Devil sets himself with all of his forces against this plan of definitive and universal salvation, which is shown in particular by the Gospel of Jesus' temptations in the desert proclaimed every year on the first Sunday of Lent. In fact, entering into this liturgical season always means siding with Christ against sin, doing spiritual battle -- as an individual and as the Church -- against the evil spirit (collect prayer for Ash Wednesday).

We thus invoke the help of Mary Most Holy for the Lenten journey just begun so that it be rich with the fruit of conversion. I ask a special remembrance in prayer for me and my co-workers in the Roman Curia. This evening we will start a week-long retreat.

Translation via Zenit.

Walid Phares warns of persecution against Christians

From the Naperville Sun Times, with my emphases:

With the only Christian in Pakistan’s government murdered outside his mother’s home, Coptic Christian churches being burnt in Egypt, and Iraq’s Christian population reduced by about half of its 1.4 million total of 25 years ago, the future for many Christians in the Muslim world looks at best uncertain.

Dr. Walid Phares wants the Chicago area to be aware of the ongoing persecution and Saturday stressed the unknowns of the political situation in many countries in the region. He is particularly anxious about what type of government might replace any overturned regimes.

“Are they really going to be democratic?” Phares asked. “Will they give rights to minorities … will they be better or worse?”

Phares was the keynote speaker at “The Persecuted Church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle East.”

The daylong conference was sponsored by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, and held at the Double Tree Guest Suites in Downers Grove.

Phares, born in Beirut, is an attorney and Ph.D. holder who teaches at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., has authored several books on the Middle East, and serves as an adviser to both the Homeland Security Administration and the U.S. House Anti-Terrorism Caucus.

Phares called for a concerted effort to bring awareness to Americans of the plight of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, joking that he would call it, “The Chicago Initiative.”

Phares outlined the modern history of the region, asking why so many other regions had agitated for freedom in the last generation — he noted democracy movements in Europe, Latin America and South Africa — while so many Middle Eastern people still lacked basic freedoms. “It has to do with policy,” he said, stressing that decision makers were often subject to bad advice, advice informed by substandard education about the Middle East in American universities.

Phares noted that money donated to American universities from Middle Eastern sources, particularly from Iran and Saudi Arabia, misinformed education about the region, saying the money came “with strings attached.”

He also faulted the American media for failure to report on the plight of Christians and other minorities in the region, saying media tended to view any conflict in the area through the lens of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

While he listed several areas where Christians suffered persecution in the region, he singled out Iraq, noting that as a country that has direct U.S. influence, we had “an obligation to help provide protection for Iraqi Christians … they are in direct and clear danger of destruction.”

The event began at 9 a.m. with individual testimonies from witnesses to the persecution of Christians in the region.

Particularly vivid were the accounts of attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, including the recent arson to St. George Church and the destruction of homes in the Christian community. “We are definitely disappointed and disheartened,” said Dr. Refaat Abdel-Malek, a prominent member of the Chicago Coptic Christian community. He stressed that the Egyptian police “sort of disappeared all of a sudden” when the attacks occurred. “That all happened with the army in front of the church watching,” Abdel-Malek said.

Kamal Ibrahim, also a Coptic activist, framed the problem as one of the governing philosophy of Egypt. “We need to think of their constitution,” he said, noting that there has been no mention of the section of the Egyptian constitution that mandates the primacy of Islam. “We need to look at a new constitution.”

Speaking of the young people of Egypt and the way they stood up to the Mubarak regime, Ibrahim did offer a glimmer of hope. “That was so powerful and I’m proud of them,” he said.

Juliana Taimoorazy is an Assyrian Christian who immigrated to the United States from Iraq. She noted that persecution of Assyrian Christians had been a regular feature of the region since the rise of Islam and had become worse since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

She pointed out that the United States government had “yet to establish a policy” to protect the Iraqi Christians.

Taimoorazy bristled at the notion that Assyrian Christians were minorities in Iraq, saying, “We are the indigenous people of that country.”

Kitty Weiner represented Congressman Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton, and pointed out the diversity of the audience of almost 400 people. “Look at all the different cultures that are in this room,” she said.

After lunch, a panel discussion included several Christian leaders. Some of them were more optimistic than others about the prospects for Christians to live peacefully in their ancestral homelands.

Dr. Carl Moeller of Open Doors USA noted that a recent PEW Research poll showed strong majorities of the Egyptian people favored death penalties for apostasy from Islam and stoning for adulterous women. “If we have democracy, what kind of government will be produced?” he asked.

But Todd Nettleton, media director for The Voice of Martyrs, detected a ray of hope. “Democracy can lead to more Islam but Islam may lead to Christianity,” he said.

As evidence he noted that, even with Islam seemingly on the rise in many of the regions undergoing unrest, interest about Christianity is also peaking among young people in the Middle East.

On the Gospel of the day

In his Message for Lent 2011, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI devoted a paragraph to each of the Gospel passages for the Sundays in Lent. Reflecting on the Gospel for today, he said:

The First Sunday of the Lenten journey reveals our condition as human beings here on earth. The victorious battle against temptation, the starting point of Jesus’ mission, is an invitation to become aware of our own fragility in order to accept the Grace that frees from sin and infuses new strength in Christ – the way, the truth and the life (cf. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, n. 25). It is a powerful reminder that Christian faith implies, following the example of Jesus and in union with him, a battle “against the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world” (Eph 6: 12), in which the devil is at work and never tires – even today – of tempting whoever wishes to draw close to the Lord: Christ emerges victorious to open also our hearts to hope and guide us in overcoming the seductions of evil (2).

Homily - 13 March 2011

The First Sunday of Lent (A)

Dear brothers and sisters,

The Effingham area has witnessed a sad tragedy when one of her young people took her own life on Thursday. Our hearts break for her family and friends and all those left behind and we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to them, and the assurance of our prayers for
the repose of Chloe’s soul.

There is often a great misunderstanding regarding the Church’s teaching on the sinfulness of suicide. Some will suggest it is too soon for me to speak of this from the pulpit, but if I do not speak of it now, when is the proper time? It is being spoken of in classrooms, at work and at the dinner table; it must also be spoken of by the Church.

I have asked the family who are parishioners here for their blessing to speak on this topic; I am grateful to have received it.

Because of the confusion I think it wise to provide an explanation today of what the Church teaches. Funerals were once denied those who committed suicide, but after considering the knowledge gained through modern psychology this is no longer the case. How and why has this changed?

Most people of good will recognize the great seriousness of suicide and see it as a mortally sinful act, which is true, to a certain extent. What, then, is a mortal sin?

We know that, first of all, committing a “mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1861). The Lord God has given us the tremendous gift of our free will so that we might freely choose to love him and to love our neighbor. We are free to choose what is good, but we know all too well that we do not always choose the good; we sometimes choose to do evil, either explicitly or implicitly by what we fail to do.

When we fail to choose the good we choose the evil - by word or deed, by action or inaction – which we call sin. Some sins we call venial. Venial sin weakens our love and “manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good” (CCC, 1863). Venial sins wound our friendship with God, but do not deprive us of his friendship, of his sanctifying grace, by which we grow in holiness and love. Of these sins we are all guilty; we are all sinners. A denial of sin is a denial of reality and is among the greatest works of the Evil One.

Other sins we call mortal, because they deprive us of God’s friendship. Mortal sin “destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him” (CCC, 1855).

The Lord Jesus has given us the Sacrament of Penance for the forgiveness of sins, both venial and mortal. He longs to forgive our sins and waits for us in this most sublime sacrament.

We also know that if a mortal sin “is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness,” that is, if it is not confessed and absolved, “it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back” (Ibid.).

There is no limit to God’s mercy, but we are free to refuse his mercy; he will not force someone who refuses his friendship to be with him in eternity.

At the moment of death, our life choice for God or against him is definitive. “To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell’" (CCC, 1033).

We must, then, consider what is necessary for a sin to be mortal. For an act to be mortally sinful, three conditions must be present: the act must involve grave matter; it must be known to be grave; and it must be freely chosen (see CCC, 1857). If one of these three conditions is not met, the act is gravely wrong, but not mortally sinful.

The first condition, then, is easily met in cases of suicide, because the act itself is the taking a human life.

We know that “everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him” (CCC, 2280). Because we have not given ourselves life, we cannot claim a right to this life we have; we did not choose to be born and so we cannot morally choose when to die. “We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not our to dispose of” (Ibid.).

The second condition is also easily met because “suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life” (CCC, 2281).

Though the first two conditions are easily met regarding suicide, the third condition of a free and deliberate choice is another matter.

We know that “grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide” (CCC, 2282). This we learn from modern psychology; only rarely does someone commit suicide with the full and deliberate consent of their will. Consequently, we cannot say definitively whether one who commits suicide does so freely and deliberately; without a free and deliberate choice, the sin is not mortal and a Christian burial can rightly be celebrated for the deceased.

We see, then, that “although we can judge that [the act of suicide] is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons [who commit suicide] to the justice and mercy of God” (CCC, 1861). While we can judge the objective sinfulness of an act, we cannot judge it subjectively; only God can read and judge the soul.

For this reason, the Church teaches that “we should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives” (CCC, 2283).

The greatest prayer of the Church is the Holy Mass, through which the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus is re-presented to the Father for the salvation of all mankind. Through her funeral rites, the Church “commends the dead to God’s merciful love and pleads for the forgiveness of their sins” (Order of Christian Funerals, 6). It is fitting, then, that a funeral Mass be offered for the repose of the souls of those who take their own lives.

It is in moments such as these, when we are confronted with the stark reality of the human condition and our sinfulness, that we recognize our great need for Savior.

It is the work of Satan to tempt us to disbelieve the reality of sin, to have no trust in God’s power and to despair of receiving the merciful love of God. Just as he tempted Jesus to determine the quality of his character – to see if he really is who he claims to be – so he tempts and tests us.

He tempted our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eve, telling them that God was their rival who did not want them to be as powerful as he. They believed this lie and rather than uniting their will with that of the Father, they chose their own way and brought into the world sin, suffering and death. Yet Christ has defeated these powers on the Cross, dealing them a mortal blow; the Devil simply refuses to admit his defeat.

We experience the effects of this original sin to do this day; though its stain is washed away in the waters of baptism, the consequences of sin remain, as well as our tendency to do as Adam and Eve have done.

Even today Satan tempts us to live as though God did not exist or that he had no power. Through his lies and half-truths he seeks to fill us with doubt of about the Father’s mercy and love.

In this temptation we are not alone, for Jesus, too, endured these temptations, as we hear in today’s Gospel. Indeed, the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

When we are tempted to despair and to lose all hope in the future, we must look to Jesus Christ, to him who was victorious over the assaults of the Enemy; not with the power of might and force, but with the power of prayer and of trust in our heavenly Father. He is the one over whom the grave holds no power; he is “the light of the world” who has illuminated the Prince of Darkness and he who is “the truth” has revealed the reality of the Father of Lies.

We must remember that our hope is in Jesus Christ, who will give us back the joy of our salvation and will sustain us with a willing spirit (cf. Psalm 51:17). He does this when we humbly open ourselves to the power of his love and receive the sacrament of his Body and Blood with devotion and when we confess our sins to him in the sacrament of confession; these are the best defenses against the temptations of the Evil One.

If we remain close to Jesus Christ our future is certain and our hope secure.

Let us then commend all the dead into the just and merciful love of God who desires to raise us out of the mire of our sin. Let us look with confident and eager hope to our Lord Jesus Christ, to him who has conquered the grave and who will come to raise the dead to life! Amen.

Quinn abolishes Illinois death penalty

On Wednesday, Governor Pat Quinn abolished the death penalty in the State of Illinois. From the Catholic News Agency, with my emphases:

Springfield, Ill., Mar 9, 2011 / 04:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After weeks of indecision, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a landmark bill on March 9, abolishing the death penalty in the state. Catholic officials praised the move as helping advance a culture of life in Illinois.

By signing Senate Bill 3539, Gov. Quinn makes Illinois the 16th state in the U.S. to repeal capital punishment. The new legislation will take effect in the state on July 1.

Gov. Quinn also commuted the death sentences of all 15 prisoners on the state's Death Row.

Catholics campaigning for Gov. Quinn's approval of the legislation lauded the move on Wednesday.

“The end of the use of the death penalty advances the development of a culture of life in our state,” read a March 9 statement from the Illinois Catholic Conference.

The conference – which had actively promoted the legislation – commended Gov. Quinn, and said that capital punishment was no longer needed to protect Illinois citizens.

Although the senate bill passed through the Illinois legislature in January, Gov. Quinn had taken no action on the measure until today, citing the need to get feedback from local citizens.

On March 3, the U.S. Catholic bishops urged Gov. Quinn to approve the bill, saying that signing the legislation would help build a “culture of life in our country.”

“Respect for life applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts,” Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif. wrote to Gov. Quinn. Bishop Blaire serves as chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development for the U.S. Bishops' Conference.

He added that the legislation would not only end the use of the death penalty in Illinois but also provide funds for training law enforcement personnel and providing services to families of murder victims.

Bishop Blaire also noted in his letter to the governor that Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, “called for the end to the use of the death penalty as a sign of greater respect for all human life.”

Thank you, Governor Quinn.

A working vacation of sorts

Wednesday evening I returned to Effingham to assist the Parochial Administrator of St. Anthony of Padua Parish with the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday. I will remain in Effingham until Wednesday.

It is good to be back in town for an extended time; what was to be just a weekend return has grown into a week, by the Lord's grace.

Thursday I attended a retreat for the junior class and celebrated Mass with them and attended an open house for the high school, which was attended by fifty potential students for the coming year.

Today I celebrated Mass for the high school students and had lunch with a former student who is home on spring break. In a short while I will play soccer with my former team before heading out to buy Pope Benedict XVI's recently released second volume of Jesus of Nazareth.

Tomorrow I will play another game of soccer and help with confessions and the evening Mass; Sunday will be much the same, but in the reverse order.

Monday I will help with a retreat with the eighth graders who will be confirmed in the faith by Bishop Paprocki Tuesday evening.

Wednesday morning I will help hear confessions for the high school students before returning to Springfield to assist with Confirmation at Blessed Sacrament Parish.

In the meantime, I will work on a few preparations for the Mass of Confirmation, prepare for the coming weekends Rites of Election and Calls to Continuing Conversion at the Cathedral, respond to a bit of correspondence and work on some research on the Servant of God Augustus Tolton.

Ten men to attend retreat on priesthood

"Come away by yourselves and rest a while" (Mark 6:31).

The Office for Vocations of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois will sponsor a retreat for men who are high school seniors through 40 years of age who are discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood of Jesus Christ the weekend of March 18-20 at the Villa Maria on Lake Springfield.

To date, ten men have signed up to attend the retreat; there is still room for others.

If you believe that God may be calling you to share in the ordained Priesthood of Jesus Christ or if you are open to the possibility of that calling, please consider attending this retreat. The weekend, which begins Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. and ends Sunday with lunch, will be a time of prayer, discernment, discussion, leisure and quiet time with the Lord.

A reservation is requested, but there is no other obligation or cost except an open heart.

If you know someone whom you believe the Lord may be calling to the priesthood, please share this invitation with them.

For questions, information or reservations, please contact Father Christopher House, Director of the Office for Vocations, at vocations@dio.org or (217) 698-8500 ext. 182.

"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19).

Homily - 9 March 2011

Ash Wednesday

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today the Lord pleads with us, his people, to “return to me with your whole heart” (Joel 2:12). In this cry from the Lord’s own heart we hear the truth of the Wisdom of Solomon: “Lord, you are merciful to all, and hate nothing that you have created. You overlook the sins of men to bring them to repentance” (Wisdom 11:24-25).

The Lord continuously calls out to us, “Return to me with your whole heart!” and we often deafen ourselves to his cry of love or simply walk away, preferring our own self-love to his love for us.

These days of purification, which we enter into today, are “a most valuable and important liturgical time” for they call us “to recognize our weakness and to accept, through a sincere inventory of our life, the renewing Grace of the Sacrament of Penance, and [to] walk resolutely towards Christ,” that we might truly return to him with our whole hearts (Pope Benedict XVI, Message for Lent 2011).

The ashes that will soon be placed on our heads are a sign of our desire to return to the Lord as we humbly beg him, “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned” (cf. Psalm 51:3).

The ashes call to mind our mortality and remind us that we have only so much time to return to him. They also remind us that every Christian must “live their Baptism as an act that shapes their entire existence” (Ibid.) Through the Lenten disciplines of self denial we ask the Lord to rekindle this great gift within us so that we might not “receive the grace of God in vain” (II Corinthians 6:1).

Through the season of Lent, Holy Mother Church longs to teach us to “how to live the love of Christ in an ever more radical way” by call us to a deepening of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through prayer – especially through the reading of the Word of God – “we nourish the itinerary of faith initiated on the day of our Baptism;” fasting teaches us “to overcome selfishness in order to live in the logic of gift and love;” and almsgiving “is a reminder of God’s primacy and turns our attention toward others, so that we may rediscover how good our Father is, and receive his mercy” (Ibid.).

Let us, then, ask our heavenly Father to give us, through these sacred days, a genuine awareness of our sins, an authentic sorrow for them and the grace of an ever deepening conversion. May he be merciful toward us, forgive our sins and keep us faithful to the Baptism we have received. Amen.

Paprocki: If we are not generous, our selfishness will lead to bitterness and resentment

The Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki reflected in his weekly column in the Catholic Times on the importance and value of Lenten disciplines of increased prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

His text follows, with my emphases:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ash Wednesday falls on March 9 this year, marking the beginning of the season of Lent. In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, Jesus reminds us that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are three key ways for us to make the most of this sacred season.

Prayer, of course, is something that people of faith should do every day, not just during Lent. Prayer is our conversation with God, and such conversation is not relegated or limited to certain times of year. For example, the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or Breviary, is a form of prayer used by priests, deacons, nuns and some lay people to mark the rhythms of each day. Morning prayer, daytime prayer, evening prayer and night prayer keep us and our activities connected to God during the different times of day.

Just as each day has different times, there are different seasons during the course of the year. The church also observes these seasons in her liturgical calendar, with special prayers for Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. The rest of the year we call Ordinary Time, not because it is ordinary in the sense of being plain or routine, but because it marks the orderly progression of time from one week to the next.

Many parishes offer not only increased opportunities for prayer during Lent, but also different forms of prayer such as a Lenten mission and the Stations of the Cross.

Regarding fasting during Lent, many people fast with the hope that they will lose weight, especially the extra pounds accumulated during the Christmas season. There is nothing wrong with such a goal, as God wants us not only to avoid the sin of gluttony, but also to look out for our health. I believe that the old maxim, “a sound mind in a sound body” is a worthwhile objective, and I try to live by it.

But ultimately our Lenten fasts are not merely weight reduction programs designed to reduce corpulent figures, but a means for helping us stay connected to God. When we are hungry and thirsty, we are reminded that the deepest hungers and thirsts of our hearts are satisfied only by God. When we become aware of our longings and desires, we are reminded that the deepest longing and desire we can have is to be connected in a close and loving relationship with God. When we are tempted to become attached to a life of conspicuous consumption of rich foods, exotic drinks, expensive cars, luxurious homes, fashionable clothes, gaudy jewelry and sexual pleasure, we are reminded that the only attachment of our hearts that matters when all is said and done is for our hearts to be attached to God.

Fasting during Lent can also be an opportunity not just to limit our own consumption, but also become more mindful of those who lack the basic necessities of life. Operation Rice Bowl is one such way of helping the hungry.

St. Paul wrote that athletes deny themselves all kinds of things in order to win a perishable crown, but Christians deny themselves in order to win a crown that will never wither or fade, namely, life eternal in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Regarding almsgiving, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 2462), says, “Giving alms to the poor is a witness to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.” A person usually does not have to look very far to find opportunities to help the poor. Often our daily mail delivers scores of solicitations from charitable organizations, many of them quite worthy, who perform a variety of benevolent works. Sometimes we encounter beggars or homeless people on the street. There are various approaches that we can take in response. Some people are willing to give a small amount of cash to strangers they meet. Others will give them coupons for food that they can use at local restaurants or grocery stores. Another approach is to refer these people to responsible social service agencies, such as Catholic Charities.

Perhaps the most commonplace for our charitable giving is the collection basket at Mass. In this case our donations are more than just charity, they are obligations required by the fifth precept of the church, “You shall help to provide for the needs of the church.” This means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the church, each according to his own ability (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2043). This “ability” will vary from person to person, of course, so I would like to offer a suggestion that I had made when I was pastor of a parish: each person’s first hour of work should be dedicated to God, meaning that you should give your first hour’s pay each week as a donation to the church. In this way, the dollar amount will depend on how much you are paid, but the time dedicated to earning that pay (one hour) will be the same for each person.

Remember the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible? Abel brought an offering to God from the firstlings of his flock, while Cain’s offering was not so generous. The Bible tells us that the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but did not look favorably on Cain or his offering. Cain resented this, and the bitterness of his resentment led Cain to kill his brother Abel. (See Genesis 4: 3-8.) If we are generous with God, he will reward us. If we are not generous, our selfishness will lead to bitterness and resentment.

Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving during this upcoming Lenten season, with God’s grace we can overcome our self-centeredness and become more focused on God, leading us further on the path to holiness.
May God give us this grace. Amen.

Homily - 25 February 2011

Friday of the Seventh Week of the Year

Dear brothers and sisters,

In the first reading today we hear some of the wisdom gained through the experience of the long life lived by Sirach, as recorded by his grandson, Joseph. He counsels us today about friendship, reminding us that “his friend will be like himself” (Sirach 6:17).

We know friendship to be “one of the noblest and loftiest human sentiments which divine Grace purifies and transfigures” (Pope Benedict XVI, Audience Address, 15 September 2010).

Each of us has a variety of friends and the depth of our friendship is not the same with all of our friends. We know Sirach to be right when he speaks of faith-weather friends and of true friends.

Cicero once said, “Life is nothing without friendship,” and Saint Thomas Aquinas said, “Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.” What, then, is the purpose of friendship?

Friendship – as a gift from the Lord – has as its true good and purpose one task: growth in virtue. It is no secret that the closest of friends become more and more like each other, as Sirach reminds us. For this reason, we must be cautious when forming friendships.

It has been said that you can judge the quality of man by the friends he keeps, and one of the ancient philosophers said, “If you want to be a thief, hang around thieves; if you want to be good, hang around good people.”

Do your friends drag you down into a life of sin, or do they lift you up to the heights of perfection? Do you drag your friends down into a life of sin, or do you lift them up to the heights of perfection? Our aim as friends must be to help our friends stay in friendship with the one friend common to us all: Jesus Christ.

Jesus says to us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). His command is simple: it is the love of God and the love of neighbor. What is more, he laid down his life for us on the altar of the Cross; he gave his all for us, his friends, and he urges us to do the same.

Let us return for a moment to the wisdom of Sirach. “A faithful friend,” he says, “is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth” (Sirach 6:14-15).

There is none more faithful than Jesus Christ, and from his Cross he invites us to find shelter within his sacred heart. By contemplating his wounds willingly received for love of us, we find the doorway to his heart and live in him, the greatest of friends.

His friendship truly is a treasure, for he is that “treasure hidden in a field” (Matthew 13:44). His friendship is also beyond price because he is also that “pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46).

My dear young friends, I urge you to enter in a deep friendship with the Lord by spending time with him each day in prayer; by pondering his word in the Bible; and be receiving the sacraments worthily, with devotion and humble love.

Friendship with Jesus is like any other friendship; if we do not spend time with him we cannot be his friend.

There are few certainties in life, but of this we can be most sure:

God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God,
everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you
find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life.
You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and
selfishness and all other sins for what they really are, destructive and
dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want
to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for
people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want
to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the
sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to
matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints (Pope Benedict XVI,
Address, 17 September 2010).

Becoming saints is, of course, the task before each of us, for we are called to be more like Jesus Christ, the only true and faithful shelter we have.

Homily - 27 February 2011- On Father Tolton

The Eighth Sunday of the Year (A)
On the Life of the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton

Dear brothers and sisters,

Saint Paul says to us today, “Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Corinthians 4:1). Many of you are aware that the name of my web site and blog – Servant and Steward – comes from this verse, but what does it mean?

To speak of himself as a “servant of Christ” is somewhat obvious; it means that Paul’s life is no longer his own, but is now directed to the will of Jesus Christ. To understand Saint Paul as a servant is easy enough, but what of a steward?

Many of us are perhaps best familiar with the role of a steward through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. A steward governs in the absence of a king. The kingdom he governs is not his own; he is but a caretaker until the king returns. His authority is not own, but comes from the express will of the king. So it is with Paul; he is a “steward of the mysteries of God.”

These are no simple mysteries with which he is entrusted. He is no Poirot, Sherlock or Matlock seeking to answer a difficult question. These mysteries he holds are far more profound and important. When he called them “mysteries” he used a Greek word coming from the root muo, meaning “to close the mouth.” These mysteries, when understood for what they are, leave one filled with love, wonder and awe and leave one all but speechless before such tremendous love given so freely to us.

When writing in Latin, Tertullian used the word sacramentum to refer to these mysteries. It was a word borrowed from the legions of Rome which referred to the oath taken by the legionaries and the tattoo they received. In taking the oath, a man gave his life to the Empire and to the emperor and was marked by his oath. So it with us and the sacraments – the mysteries – of God.

In the sacraments we stand in awe of the divine life we receive through them and belong to Christ. Through the sacraments we share in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ; through them we are bound to God.

Saint Paul, then, is a steward of the sacraments of Christ, which he entrusted to the Church to give us his divine life. Paul was “found trustworthy” in his office and is thus a model for every priest because every priest is a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:2).

Not too far from here, a young man of the nineteenth century sought to be just such a servant and steward as a missionary to the peoples of Africa; instead, he was sent back to these United States of America. Recently, his cause was formally introduced for beatification and canonization; his name is Father Augustus John Tolton.

His was a life seemingly marked by opposition wherever he turned, save for a few moments of calm. Even so, in Father Tolton we find a clear sign of hope and of universal brotherhood; indeed, we see in him one who knew the truth of the Psalmist’s words: “With God is my safety and glory, he is the rock of my strength; my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before him” (Psalm 62:8-9).

This servant of God was born April 1, 1854 in Ralls County, Missouri to faithful Catholic parents, Peter Paul and Martha Jane Tolton. Peter was a slave on the Hager farm and Martha was a slave on the Elliot farm near Brush Creek, Missouri.

His father fled the farm to St. Louis, which at the time was a divided city, to join the Union Army. Just a short time later he died of dysentery; Martha would not learn of his death until after the Civil War ended. His “life was sad, except that he and his wife passed a love of God and religion on to the next generation” (Father Roy Bauer, The Life of Augustine Tolton, Part Six). What greater gift can a parent leave behind?

In 1862, Martha heard talk of slave traders in the area looking for children. Her own children all were young: Charley was eight; Augustus was seven; and Anne was twenty months. Having herself been separated from her parents when she was sixteen, she feared for her children and fled to Quincy, Illinois forty-one miles away.

When they finally arrived in Hannibal, Missouri, they encountered a group of Confederate soldiers who were about to take them into custody when they were saved by a group of Union soldiers; as Providence would have it, they were at that moment in a part of Hannibal under Union control.

The Union soldiers helped them into an old boat and sent them across the Mississippi River, while a Confederate soldier fired shots after them. When at last they reached the shore of Quincy, they found refuge with Mrs. Mary Ann Davis, who arranged for Martha, Charles and Augustus to work in the Harris tobacco factory.

In 1865, Augustus enrolled in St. Boniface school with the permission of the Pastor. His enrollment led many parents to threaten to remove their children from the school, to leave the parish, and even to call for the removal of their pastor.

Adults can sometimes understand ignorance, but a ten year old child cannot. Augustine’s school life was intolerable. The children tormented him, taunted him because he could not read, mimicked his accent, called him insulting names until he broke out in uncontrollable sobs (Ibid., Part Six).

Just one month after he enrolled, young Augustus withdrew from school.

Hearing of his troubles, Father Peter McGirr, Pastor of St. Lawrence Parish (it would later become St. Peter Parish, where Msgr. Enlow is now Pastor) insisted that Augustus study in a Catholic school. He would personally see that young Gus would have no trouble in his school. Years later, Augustus recalled, “As long as I was in that school, I was safe. Everyone was kind to me” (Ibid, Part Eight).

Gus served Mass each morning before going to work and became close with two priests who both thought he might have a priestly vocation. They wrote letter after letter to seminaries and religious Orders throughout the country seeking one that would accept him; time and time again, they were told, “We are not ready for a Negro student.”

So great was his desire to serve the Lord and to bring the Gospel to others, that in 1878 Gus, with the help of a priest and a nun, opened St. Joseph School of Black Children in Quincy, the first of its kind in the city. Even here he was met with opposition, when non-Catholic blacks publicly refused to send their children to his school.

One day a long-awaited letter arrived for Gus: he had been accepted to the seminary for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome. Those who were ordained from this seminary knew they would be sent to mission territories throughout the world, and they would have no choice as to where they would be sent. Nevertheless, Gus was filled with great joy that day. He arrived in the Eternal City on March 10, 1880, where he was nicknamed, “Gus from the U.S.”

He was ordained a deacon on November 8, 1885; he later said of his diaconal ordination: “The day I was ordained deacon, I felt so strong that I thought no hardship would ever be too great for me to accept. I was ready for anything; in fact, I was very sure I could move mountains – in Africa” (Ibid., Part Fifteen).

When he learned of the date of his ordination – April 24, 1886 (Holy Saturday) in the Lateran Basilica - he wrote to a priest in Quincy, saying, “My seminary studies are about over now, and I will go on to Africa right after my ordination in April” (Ibid., Part Sisteen). Or so he thought.

The day before he was ordained a priest, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni told Deacon Tolton that it was decided the night before that he would be sent Africa, as was the plan all along; however, Cardinal Simeoni had over-ruled the committee. He said to him, “America has been called the most enlightened nation in the world. We shall see whether it deserves that honor. If the United States has never before seen a Black priest, it must see one now” (Ibid., Part Seventeen). But there was yet more: he was to be sent back to his home Diocese and to the city of Quincy.

It was shocking news to the ordinand, but he had already promised his obedience. The difficulties of his childhood and early adulthood in the United States must surely have come to him, but he trusted in the Lord and remembered his promise, “I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).

He arrived in Quincy in July of 1886 and was appointed Pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish, which had been established as a parish for Blacks. He received an enthusiastic welcome in the Gem City and was admired by all. They found in him a “rich and full voice which falls pleasantly on the ears” and saw the “whole-hearted earnestness” with which he went about his ministry (The Quincy Journal, July 26, 1886).

His ministry met with some success, but affairs turned for the worse when Father Michael Weiss was appointed Pastor of St. Boniface Parish, just one block from St. Joseph’s. St. Boniface Parish was in debt and had given much to St. Joseph’s Parish. Many of Fr. Weiss’ parishioners attended Fr. Tolton’s Masses and contributed to his parish. Fr. Weiss, the local Dean, insisted Fr. Tolton no longer minister to whites and repeatedly made it clear that contributions from whites belonged to white parishes. This was the first time Fr. Tolton experienced prejudice from a priest, and it devastated him.

When he could take no more, Father Tolton wrote to the Congregation for the Propagation of the faith on July 12, 1889 in these words:

There is a certain German priest here who is jealous and contemptuous. He
abuses me in many ways and he has told the bishop to send me out of this place.
I will gladly leave here just to be away from this priest. I appealed to Bishop
[James] Ryan and he also advises me to go elsewhere (In Ibid., Part
Twenty-Four).

Archbishop Patrick Feehan told him he would be welcome in Chicago, so he wrote again to the Congregation on September 4, 1889: “I beg you to give me permission to go to the diocese of Chicago. It is not possible for me to remain here any longer with this German priest.” The reply came on December 7, 1889: “If the two bishops concur in giving their approval, go at once” (Bauer, Part Twenty-four)!

He left for Chicago on December 19, 1889, with nineteen of his converts and took up the pastorate of St. Monica’s chapel, where he was entrusted with the pastoral care of all of Chicago’s black Catholics. After he left Quincy, St. Joseph Parish closed for good.

From the beginning, his “ardent charity and self-denying zeal” were evident to all. Within two years he began construction on a new church – that was never completed – and ministered to some six hundred black Catholics (Mary Elmore in Ibid., Part Twenty-seven).

Having spent himself in the service of the Church, he died of heat stroke on July 9, 1897; he was forty-three years of age. St. Monica’s became a mission and it took another two years for a full-time pastor to be assigned to it. St. Monica’s closed for good in 1924.

His is a life of deep faith and of perseverance. In the midst of his troubles with Fr. Weiss, Fr. Tolton began speaking across the country to raise money for his parish. In one of his speeches, he spoke these words:

I was a poor slave boy but the priests of the Church did not disdain me. It
was through the influence of one of them that I became what I am tonight… It was
the priests of the Church who taught me to pray and to forgive my persecutors.
It was through the direction of a Sister … that I learned to interpret the Ten
Commandments; and then I also beheld for the first time the glimmering light of
truth and the majesty of the Church. In this Church we do not have to fight for
our rights because we are Black. She had colored saints – Augustine, Benedict
the Moor, Monica. The Church is broad and liberal. She is the Church for our
people (Ibid., Part Twenty-three).

Despite the opposition he faced, he never lost his love of the Church or of the priesthood.

In this he is a model for each of us; never did he cease his proclamation of the Gospel. “Some people could easily judge that his life was not a success, but God calls His servants to be faithful, not successful" (Ibid., Part Twenty-nine)! The fidelity of Father Tolton cannot be doubted, and for this reason he is a model for us all.

He allowed the love of the Lord to motivate his life and to this love he dedicated himself. His fidelity to the Church is a clear proclamation of the Gospel, and an invitation for all people to enter in and know the love of the Lord. Father Tolton remained faithful in his duties as a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.

May his example and intercession raise up many more such priests in our Diocese, that each of the Lord’s altars may have a priest to administer the mysteries of God. Amen!

On the importance of being oneself

This morning I received an e-mail from a priest of the Diocese who is rather older than me; he is a learned priest and I always enjoy visiting with him. At the end of the e-mail, he wrote:

Thank you, Daren, for being Daren! It gives us old men encouragement to see your enthusiasm.

I'm not quite sure what he means by the encouragement I give the old timers, but I am grateful for the compliment and for the encouragement he gives me simply by being who he is.

I've been reading my way through Susan Boyle's autobiography, The Woman I Was Born to Be: My Story (when I shared this bit of information the other day with the Diocesan archivist, she reminded me that I am, indeed, a nerd).

In it she has many worthwhile observations, including this one:

One of the great pleasures of my new life is the fact that I seem to make people happy. I haven't worked out quite why this is, but it's a very nice and surprising feeling, so I've decided that it's probably best not to over-analyse, but just enjoy (271).

I know what she means, and I think she's right.

In his wisdom, the Lord has created each of us with our different personalities, talents, energies and interests. Let each of us strive to be who the Lord has made us to be, so that, cooperating with his grace, we can bring to joy and happiness to the lives of others.

A morning irritation

The folks on Fox and Friends this morning seem somewhat obsessed with the fact that the word "booty" is not used in the Revised Edition of the New American Bible.

They keep saying the word has been in the Bible "for thousands of years." By no means has it been. The English language hasn't been around that long.

I realize the work of translation is not easy, but this simple reality is not difficult to understand. Let's get it right, already.

A castle in Indiana: Bishop Brute College Seminary

On Tuesday I visited with Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis with Bishop Paprocki and Father House, the Director of the Office for Vocations, to visit the four seminarians we have there from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

Bishop Paprocki celebrated the Holy Mass for the seminarians and afterwards we went out to eat with the seminarians before returning to Springfield. It was a brief visit, but a good one.

The complex in which houses the seminary was formerly a Carmelite monastery and was, I'm told, modeled on the castle at Avila, Spain.

Despite not having a knocker on the front door, a moat, or a trebuchet, I was impressed with what I saw and felt at home. You can view a few pictures I took here.

I'll be returning to the seminary today with a prospective seminary who is interested in it.

A friar writes of Tolton

Among the collection of books at Quincy University's Brenner Library is a three volume collection of letters written by Father Francis Solano Hilchenbach, O.F.M. He was one of the friars who came to the United States of America and he kept copies of the letters he sent, regardless of their importance.

When I was researching my senior seminary paper I spent some time reading through these letters and found them quite fascinating.

A couple of days ago the Diocesan Archivist and I were comparing our different collections of papers referring to the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton. She was unaware of this collection of Father Hilchenbach's letters and of the two references he makes to Father Tolton.

He wrote to Father Godfrey Hoelters, O.F.M. in Teutopolis, Illinois on 25 July 1886 (just after the Servant of God returned to Quincy) with a passing reference to Father Tolton:

The negroes here in Quincy are now on top; yesterday the Reverend Tolton (August Tolton) pontificated at the solemn High-mass in our church. At the first glance he appears somewhat funny at the Altar on account of his color; but he sings with a full voice and quite correctly.

On 27 February 1887 Father Hilchenbach wrote to Father Joseph Lappe in Muehlheim, Germany, saying:

We still have no new Bishop for Alton; for over a year we have been left orphans. Here in Quincy we now have -- since last summer -- a Negro priest, the first one in the United States. He was born as a slave in Missouri, grew up at Quincy, was taught by our Fathers as far as Philosophy, then fnished his studies and was ordained at the Propaganda in Rome. In order to learn Italian, I converse with him in Italian; he can speak also German, although imperfectly, in addition to his native tongue English.

I don't remember finding any other references to Father Tolton in these letters, but I may just have to look through them again to be safe.