From the latest issue of the Catholic Radical. PDF here.
Continue reading “House of Card(inal)s”
Category: Religion
Lent approaches
This year, it is back to basics. I am keeping things simple for Lent.
- Fasting: Facebook still seems like the perfect thing to “give up.” As a vegan, I’ll be skipping an extra meal on Fridays rather than fasting from meat.
- Prayer: Give Us This Day is still my go-to prayer book. Susan Stabile has a good roundup of other resources.
- Almsgiving: MINE OWN BEESWAX again this year.
I hope everyone reading this has a powerful Lenten season. If you’re curious about Lent but not religious, I’ll point you to Jacob’s essay on the topic.
Ron Wehrle, 1936-2014, RIP
Ron Wehrle, beloved member of Worcester’s Catholic Worker community, passed away on Monday. His funeral was this morning.
For some classic shots of Ron brandishing his cigar, re-watch this lovely video about Worcester’s Catholic Workers:
A Life Worth Living from Doug Rogers on Vimeo.
Transform Now Plowshares activists sentenced; and, the Worcester connection
Reuters, yesterday:
A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee military facility used to store enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.
Two others accused in the case, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were sentenced to 62 months in prison. The three were convicted of cutting fences and entering the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2012, embarrassing U.S. officials and prompting security changes.
A fourth “participant” in the breakin was Worcester’s own Tom Lewis, the late artist-activist. As the Washington Post reported in an amazing article about this act of protest last spring:
They spray painted the building’s north wall, which was designed to withstand the impact of aircraft but not the words of the Book of Proverbs. They poured and splashed blood that had once been in the veins of a painter-activist named Tom Lewis, one of the Catonsville Nine who, on Hiroshima Day 1987, hammered on the bomb racks of an anti-submarine plane at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station near Boston. In 2008, Lewis died in his sleep, and his blood was frozen so that he might one day participate in one last Plowshares action.
In bright red rivulets, the last of Tom Lewis streaked down the concrete.
There Is a Mid-Winter Festival Hidden in Plain Sight
Groundhog Day, Candlemas, St. Brigid’s Day, and the old pagan festival of Imbolc are all mid-winter holidays that basically happen on the same day every year. By that day, midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, you know for sure that the days are getting longer. It’s still winter, but you know you’re going to make it. So you do things like bless all the candles you’ll need for the coming year (if you’re a Christian), or study the behavior of giant hibernating ground squirrels to predict the onset of spring (if you’re a Pennsylvanian). You might welcome Brigid (the saint or goddess) into your home (if you’re Irish). It’s a time of purification and light.
The mid-winter festival is a great day to consider how your New Year’s Resolutions are going, and if necessary toss them out to prepare your life for spring. Candlemas is when I officially start planning for Lent. That means starting to think about what I might want to give up, and asking my non-Christian friends if they’re observing Lent this year (many of them do!). It’s also a good day to start fantasizing about your garden (if you haven’t) and to do a little something to get started on your taxes.
This year, Chinese New Year and the Superbowl are both taking place on mid-winter weekend, resulting in an embarrassment of feastday riches.
Candlemas–now my favorite neglected holiday.
Praying for Syria in the Diocese of Worcester
There will be a small prayer service downstairs at St. Peter’s Church (931 Main Street) in Worcester this Saturday at 3:30pm as part of the Church-wide day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria.
The Catholic Free Press reports on other Worcester-area events:
The bishop said he would ask those attending the Hispanic Marian celebration Saturday in Worcester to use the occasion to pray for peace. . . .
Father Tomasz J. Borkowski, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville, said he is planning an ecumenical service there from 7-8 p.m. Saturday. . . .
Father Robert A. Grattaroti, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, extended an invitation to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow. . . .
Father Adam Reid, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Webster, said he plans to involve local Catholics in the call for prayer and fasting in a number of ways.
Presumably every mass in the diocese will have prayers for peace in Syria.
Assumption College, Worcester: “A group of students is organizing a Rosary for peace at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 12 midnight. All members of the community are invited to join in this prayer vigil and to visit the Chapel throughout the day on Saturday. ”
Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to pray and fast for peace in Syria this Saturday:
May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.
To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.
On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.
Tony Homsy, SJ: A Prayer for Syria
Praying for Peace in Syria
This afternoon, 16 people demonstrated in Worcester’s Lincoln Square against a US military strike in Syria. Some of them were praying; some not.
Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to pray and fast for peace in Syria this Saturday:
May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.
To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.
On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.
Related: Catholic Bishops’ Policy Chair Urges Secretary Kerry To Work For Ceasefire, Serious Negotiations In Syria, Bob Waldrop’s Getting Us Into Wars
Memorial mass for Tom Lewis and the Catonsville Nine
Mike Boover:
A Mass of Holy Remembrance for Tom Lewis will be celebrated tomorrow (Friday the 17th) at 7:15 PM at the Mustard Seed CW (93 Piedmont Street, Worcester) followed by the film, “Investigation of a Flame”…. and good conversaton following that! Please join us if the Spirit moves you!
Today is the anniversary of the Catonsville Nine action, when in 1968 nine Americans (including the late Tom Lewis) napalmed draft records.
Tom left us years ago, but he’s still in the news, most recently for his “role” last July in the “Transform Now Plowshares” action:
They poured and splashed blood that had once been in the veins of a painter-activist named Tom Lewis, one of the Catonsville Nine who, on Hiroshima Day 1987, hammered on the bomb racks of an anti-submarine plane at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station near Boston. In 2008, Lewis died in his sleep, and his blood was frozen so that he might one day participate in one last Plowshares action.
(The Transform Now activists currently await sentencing.)
Crazy weekend in Worcester
Two items from the weekend.
The body of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney funeral home for the past few days. There have been small protests outside from time to time, and a visible police presence. I was shocked when I first heard about this, much less so when I heard that the saintly/cranky Peter Stefan was behind it. The Catholic Worker community is organizing a vigil Tuesday in support of burial of the dead (one of the Christian works of mercy.) More at the end of this post.
T&G:
For some 25 years, Mr. Stefan said, the Main South funeral home has dealt with burying the poor, the unwanted and even murderers. Because of that, Mr. Stefan said he’s even been involved in burials that took place well into the night.
Charles Pierce, Esquire: “Stop making jackasses of yourself in front of the entire nation.”
Dianne Williamson: Innocence, terror lay side-by-side at Worcester funeral home
Also, it’s being reported today that Worcester Bishop McManus “was arrested Saturday night in Narragansett, R.I., charged with drunken driving and refusing a chemical test”.
Bishop McManus released a statement this morning: “On Saturday evening, May 4, I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner. There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action. More importantly, I ask forgiveness from the good people whom I serve, as well as my family and friends, in the Diocese of Worcester and the Diocese of Providence.â€
Initial reaction in the diocese appeared supportive.
“Like any brother in our family that this could happen to, I would support him,†said the Rev. John Madden, pastor of St. John’s Church in downtown Worcester. “All of us have made mistakes in judgment. Like he’s said, we can only apologize and make amends.â€
Update: In RI court, Bishop McManus pleads not guilty to DUI
Palm Sunday, 2013
The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
–Isaiah 50:4
Palm Sunday mass is complicated for a lector. Not only is there an initial entrance into the church with blessed palms, but the Gospel is read like a play, with parts played by the priest, various deacons and lectors, sometimes people selected from the congregation, and even the congregation itself (roaring “Crucify him! Crucify him!”).
When I was first learning to be a lector as a teen, Palm Sunday was my trial by fire. Fr. Ed Bell gave constant feedback in the form of smiles and dirty looks. He always presided over a great mass, and I think his priority was never individual excellence or self-expression, but universal competence. If the details are attended to, the mass will be not only worshipful but nourishing to the heart.
I was a lector tonight at St. Peter’s, and it went great. I appreciated that Deacon Reisinger, in his homily, drew out one of the lessons of Easter, that “hope springs forth,” and connected it to the wonderful event of the election of Pope Francis.