Messages from the Pastor - Archive
November 1, 2009
Dear parishioners and friends of St. Joseph Cathedral,
In last week’s Parish Bulletin I highlighted the identity and importance of the two great liturgical observances of the Church which begin November: the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls. The former is our celebration of all who have achieved eternal life with God; the latter our prayerful remembrance of those who must yet be purified before this endless joy begins.
The fundamental truths underpinning these feasts customarily color the whole month of November. This is demonstrated in a number of ways. As I mentioned last week, visiting cemeteries and praying for the dead interred there is a timehonored tradition for Catholics in November. Many people and families also have a custom of lighting a candle “in remembrance” of their departed loved ones, especially during family meals or times of personal or family prayer.
During November our Parish Family, like most church parishes these days, places a “Book of Remembrance” in church. In it you are invited to inscribe the names of your beloved dead and other persons who have departed this life. These persons are known collectively as our “Purgatorial List,” and special prayers are offered for them daily throughout the month of November. Throughout the year a weekly Mass is offered for the specific intention of aiding them – often referred to in pious literature as the “poor souls in purgatory” – with the infinitely beneficial graces of Christ’s sacrifice.
Catholics also preserve the custom of asking for Mass offered for individual persons, both living and dead. Once upon a time this was more practical: the monetary stipend which accompanies such requests was the only source of income for the priest who celebrated the Mass! But nowadays this modest offering serves a more symbolic purpose for the donor: it is a small personal sacrifice that accompanies the much more important sacrifice of Christ on the cross which is represented in the Mass. You are always welcome and invited to contact the Parish Office to request Mass be offered for a specific intention in this way.
Lastly on this theme, the longer, greyer days of November also provide a good opportunity for each believer to spend some time in personal reflection on one’s own mortality. No one should overreact in a morbid way about this, of course. But the plain fact that human beings live in this world only for a time is something that each of us should consider from time to time. Almost certainly we don’t do it enough!
This k ind of ref lec tion has secular consequences, of course: each adult should give some thought to question of life insurance for their family, the drawing up of a will, making funeral wishes and plans known, etc. Yet the truth of human mortality has more important spiritual consequences for everybody: the fact that each person dies and has to account for his or her life before God is a sobering thought. Meditating on the mystery of death can be – and should be – a powerful motivating force in prompting us to a closer union with Christ already in this life, and more virtuous behavior as a result.
This doesn’t mean that every moment in November is a somber one. Our Parish’s “GRAND DAY” is almost here! All grandparents and the grandchildren are specially invited to the special 12:00 noon Mass next Sunday, Nov. 8, for special prayers, blessings and fellowship. I hope you are planning to join us for the Mass and fun which follows. As I said last week, the joy of the day will be a special reward. I hope you can join us!
Before the month is out we will also start taking photographs for our new Parish Pictorial Directory. This weekend will be the last convenient time to “sign up” for a good picture-taking time: just visit the table in the rear of the church to schedule a photo-shoot for you and your family. Remember, it’s not just for our own parishioners: many other wonderful members of other parishes throughout the diocese are faithful “friends of the Cathedral” too. Whether you worship here regularly or just occasionally, we want your smiling face in our directory because you are an important part of our Church family!
In Christ,
Father Paul
October 25, 2009
Dear parishioners and friends of St. Joseph Cathedral,
Our Parish’s upcoming “GRAND DAY” on Sunday, Nov. 8, is getting close! All grandparents and the grandchildren are invited to the special 12:00 noon Mass that day for special prayers and blessings.
The Greater Baton Rouge Children’s Chorus will be on hand to sing before and during the special Mass. We’ll focus on the special moments in children’s lives – after all, those are the moments that make grandparents smile the most! I’ll do my best to put together a homily that will appeal to both the young and not-so-young. We’ll beg God to share His grace on all of us, and on our grandparents whose influence is such an important one in life.
After Mass, lots of “family friendly fun” – including a spacewalk, music, games, face-painting, hamburgers and hot dogs, ice cream, and so forth – will follow. Our Parish’s development committee under the leadership of Bobbie Carey has been working hard at making this one of our “best ever” special celebrations. I know it will take special effort to get all grandchildren and their grandparents to join with us that day, but the joy of the day will be a reward in itself. I hope you can join us!
Before that, next Sunday, Nov. 1, the Church observes the Solemnity of All Saints. The next day, Nov. 2, is the annual Commemoration of All Souls. There is an intrinsic link between the two.
The first celebration of All Saints rejoices in all of those whose victory in Christ is complete. Many saints are known to us and have been formally recognized as such, but surely many other human beings have been rewarded for their faith with eternal union with God. The traditional name for this blessed, eternal state of life is “heaven,” in which we directly enjoy the completely satisfying “beatific vision” of God.
The second observance, of All Souls, is a more somber one. Catholic doctrine (and simple logic!) teaches that not every believer is worthy of heaven at death, even if he or she has led a generally good life. Sin happens. And the guilt and consequences of sin remain, even after forgiveness occurs in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
We must make up for our sins – it’s called “making satisfaction for sin” – by good deeds or even by penance even after being forgiven by God and others. The Church recognizes that the Lord in His mercy offers us a final chance to do this, to be purified or purged of our imperfections, even after death: this is the doctrine of purgatory. Traditionally we have recognized that most believers enter into heaven only after experiencing this opportunity for final perfection in holiness.
In most parts of the world, All Souls is observed as the more focused “day of the dead,” when we beg God to hasten with His grace the purification of those who have gone before us in faith. Graves are visited and blessed, and special prayers of remembrance of the faithful departed are offered. In south Louisiana, however, this focus over time gradually shifted to the All Saints feast. I’m not sure why – perhaps it’s our more optimistic nature to think that surely OUR relatives and friends did less wrong and more right during their lives on earth! In any case, this is the annual favorite week for visiting cemeteries and cleaning gravesites and tombs.
Bishop Muench has graciously accepted our invitation to bless our own St. Joseph Cemetery on Main Street after the 10:00 am Sunday Mass, which will remember in a special way those members of our Cathedral community who have died in the past year. I will offer the 12:00 noon Mass especially for the deceased members of the Knights of Columbus from our parish and diocese. Then, at 3:00 pm, I will go to bless the graves in our other parish cemetery, the historic Highland Cemetery off of Oxford Avenue south of L.S.U. I hope you can be part of these special prayer moments.
Finally, a number of people have asked about a parishioner, Harry Theriot, who is back at home after leaving for the seminary back in August. Father Matt Lorrain, our diocesan vocations director, explained it best in his monthly Vocations Newsletter in September: “Unfortunately, he did not experience the sense of peace that normally accompanies entrance into the seminary, and so asked to resign from the seminary in order to figure out the cause of his unease. Since we are dealing with mystery, this is to be expected from time to time despite one’s best effort to discern God’s will. So pray for Harry as well as for one another.” As Harry’s life of faith and Christian service resumes here at the Cathedral, please reassure him that we all are united with him in our ongoing quest to seek out and do God’s will.
In Christ,
Father Paul
October 18, 2009
Dear parishioners and friends of St. Joseph Cathedral,
In last week’s Bulletin I mentioned that October in the Catholic Church is traditionally dedicated to the prayer-form known as the Rosary. Over the past couple of weeks I have been impressed by a noticeable increase in the number of individuals who take time out of their busy schedules and make an occasional brief visit to church to pray in this way. A few small groups – friends, I suppose, or family members – often gather a few minutes before or after Mass to pray the rosary quietly together also. Although praying the rosary itself is merely a time-honored private devotion and not worship (which in the strict sense comprises the liturgy of the Church, such as the Mass and other sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours), no Christian life is complete without a balanced devotional life. The rosary has helped many over its long history: it just might be the right thing for you too!
Unfortunately, the rosary is not what our wider society focuses on in October. Commercial interests have found Halloween to be something lucrative, and so now virtually the whole month is awash in orange and black décor.
Actually, the origins of halloween are holy: In the Church October 31 is the Vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints. (Earlier English terminology styled it “All Hallows’ Eve,” and that reference was shortened again into hallowe’en.) On November 1 Christians pray in thanksgiving for all those whose faith has been rewarded by heavenly reward: many saints are known to us, but the identity of many more are known only to God.
I’ve read that the beginnings of modern halloween customs arose from the good-humored efforts of Christians to honor the saints (by dressing up in imitation of their patrons) and poke fun at those who were not holy (devils, pagan images and the like). And to be sure, it is very clear that such good-natured fun is a wholesome thing. As long as one has that kind of proper understanding about halloween activities, there’s really nothing wrong with them.
But I have to admit there’s good reason for skepticism about the excess which modern halloween activities exhibit. Personally I don’t find horror – and especially the gory kind – all that entertaining or interesting, although some people do. Scaring people is not amusing – especially for the person frightened, of course. To deliberately take pleasure in other people’s pain and fears is also wrong, and can be a little bit sick. I’d worry about someone who delighted in being cruel to others. Halloween really isn’t due to satanic influence – remember, businesses interested in making money are at the root of its popularity in recent years! – but it’s become popular among unbelievers and other folks who can’t resist peer-pressure. We shouldn’t encourage such a big waste of time and attention. And finally there are those unbalanced persons and fringe groups who have decided to dress their sinfulness and rejection of God in halloween-type images; to do or support this kind of thing is gravely evil.
Where am I going with all of this? I’m basically of the mind that halloween type activities and décor are childish, and as such most of them ought to be limited to children and for their benefit only. People who are more mature ought to find other recreational outlets and means. For example, football comes to mind as a more wholesome October pastime! In any event, I think it would be a good idea for most of us to reconsider whether that’s something we want to be involved with at all.
Another good thing to focus attention on is our Parish’s upcoming “GRAND DAY” on Sunday, Nov. 8! All grandparents and the grandchildren are invited to the special 12:00 noon Mass that day for special prayers and blessings. “Family friendly fun” – including a spacewalk, music, games, hamburgers and hot dogs, and so forth – will follow. I hope you can join us!
In Christ,
Father Paul
October 11, 2009
Dear parishioners and friends of St. Joseph Cathedral,
Thank you for taking part in our annual Stewardship of Ministry commitment last weekend. Your response showed such generous volunteerism! That and the overwhelmingly good attendance and attitudes at our “Ministry Focus” gathering last week shows how serious everyone is about their cooperative responsibility. I am so very proud to be part of this wonderful Parish family.
In fact, we had almost 80 people come to our Ministry Focus evening! The interest everyone showed in doing their jobs with greater attention and effectiveness was striking. We shared a light meal of soup and sandwiches, but don’t get the idea that they were there just for the food. The questions asked – and I hope answered! – all were intelligent and helpful as we concentrated on making the future of worship here at the Cathedral a more rich experience for everyone.
Something I shared with them is also worth repeating here. One reason to be particularly attentive to the quality of our worship is not too far off. In a little more than a year or so – maybe as early as December 2010 – a new English translation of the Roman Missal will be published. Remember, the original prayers and other texts of the Mass are in Latin: the English translation we use was composed in the mid-1960s. It’s no big secret that this 45-year-old translation was done hurriedly and poorly, but it’s become familiar to us in our prayer.
In any case, in the not-too-distant future we’re going to have a new English translation of the priest’s and people’s parts at Mass. It’s going to demand some serious attention by all of us to get used to them, because it’s hard to “un-memorize” familiar texts and learn new ones. I have to admit I have mixed emotions about the whole project. It’s a much, much better translation – more rich in its language, and especially faithful to the Latin and to the Biblical and historic images and phrases that are so fundamental to our prayer and doctrine – and that’s all very good. I think most people will identify it as “very Catholic,” and that’s good too. But again, “unlearning” anything is tough, and nobody looks forward to that! So we’ll have to do lots of preparation and explanation as the new texts – and the music which will accompany them – go into effect.
If you would like to know more about this whole project, the US bishops have a section of their official website devoted just to it. You can use your computer to see and download some examples of the new texts, and learn more about the whole project which has been “in the works” for years: http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal (Oh, and a bit of local trivia: a former Bishop of Baton Rouge, Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, has been part of the international team English-speaking bishops serving as advisors to the Pope on this project!)
Let’s see, what’s coming up on the calendar soon? The whole month of October is traditionally devoted to the Rosary. This is a wonderful and very timehonored way to pray: meditating on the significant mysteries of our faith while honoring Jesus and Mary in the words of the spoken prayers. You might give some thought to rediscovering this prayer-form; it’s especially good when “two or three gather” to share the spoken prayer.
On Sunday, Oct. 18, Bishop Muench will be here at 10:00 am to celebrate his annual Respect Life Mass. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. It is a hallmark of the Catholic religion that we honor the dignity of all human life “from conception to natural death.” Adding your voice and prayers to the bishop’s that day would be a real blessing, and so I especially invite you to join us on this occasion.
Finally, our plans for our Parish “GRAND DAY” on Sunday, Nov. 8, are looking, well, quite grand! Remember, the idea is to have grandparents and their grandchildren come to the special 12:00 noon Mass that day. A few hours of “family friendly fun” including a spacewalk, music, games, hamburgers and hot dogs, and so forth will follow.
In Christ,
Father Paul