This Wednesday, January 20th, is the feast day of Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  Holy Cross is the religious community to which Fr. Gil, Deacon Geoff and I belong, and Holy Cross religious have staffed Christ the King ever since we were founded in 1933.  His feast day is a good opportunity to share something about our Holy Cross family with our Christ the King family.

Fr. Moreau was born in France during the French Revolution, and he was ordained a priest in the revolution’s aftermath.  This was a tumultuous time for the nation, including the Catholic Church.  The Church had been seriously weakened by the revolution, and so as the Church rebuilt, she was faced with a generation who had received little to no catechism or instruction in the faith.  On top of that, the Church was heavily involved in the French educational system, so the secular education system needed to be rebuilt every bit as much as the religious education system, particularly in rural areas.

Fr. Moreau was ordained a diocesan priest for the Diocese of LeMans, and he served as an instructor in the seminary.  During this time, two things happened that led to the founding of Holy Cross.  First of all, he had gathered together a group of “auxiliary priests” who traveled around preaching parish missions in order to try and re-evangelize parishes.  Secondly, he was asked to assume leadership of a group of religious brothers who had been charged with founding parish schools.  In 1837, he brought these two groups together to form the Congregation of Holy Cross, and within a few short years, he was sending Holy Cross missionaries all over the world (including to […]

Pope Francis has dedicated this year to St. Joseph, and so that seems like a good focus for us all as we begin the new year.  The Pope made this declaration earlier this month in a letter entitled Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), on the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX declaring Joseph “Patron of the Catholic Church.”  Pope Francis said that his intention “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal”.  It’s a beautiful reflection on the foster father of Christ (and it’s not especially long), so I highly recommend reading the full text at http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html.

Even though Joseph doesn’t speak a word in Scriptures, Pope Francis acknowledges several virtues that he exhibits which are good models for us to follow.  He describes Joseph as

 a “beloved father”, who dedicated his life to serving Jesus and Mary
 a “tender and loving father”, who raised Jesus as his own and was an instrument of the tender love of God
 “an obedient father”, who obeys the voice of the angel who speaks to him in dreams, taking Mary into his home and taking the Holy Family to Egypt to keep them safe from King Herod
 an “accepting father”, who accepted Mary unconditionally into his home and who serves as a model for all, especially in a world where so many women are grossly mistreated
 a “creatively courageous father”, who dealt with difficulties in creative ways in order to care for Jesus and Mary
 a “working father”, who worked hard to make an honest living, and who therefore lifted up the dignity of human labor
 a “father in the shadows”, who dedicated his life to the […]

As we enter into these final few days before Christmas, I thought it would be appropriate to share this Christmas message from Pope Francis.  Although this was written last year – and who could have ever imagined the year we’ve had since? – it applies every bit as much today.  Merry Christmas to all of you and your loved ones!

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1)

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Merry Christmas!

From the womb of Mother Church, the incarnate Son of God is born anew this night. His name is Jesus, which means: “God saves”. The Father, eternal and infinite Love, has sent him into the world not to condemn the world but to save it (cf. Jn 3:17). The Father has given him to us with great mercy. He has given him to everyone. He has given him forever. The Son is born, like a small light flickering in the cold and darkness of the night.

That Child, born of the Virgin Mary, is the Word of God made flesh. The Word who guided Abraham’s heart and steps towards the promised land, and who continues to draw to himself all those who trust in God’s promises. The Word who led the Hebrews on the journey from slavery to freedom and who continues to call the enslaved in every age, including our own, to come forth from their prisons. He is the Word brighter than the sun, made incarnate in a tiny son of man: Jesus the light of the world.

This is why the prophet cries out: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). There is darkness in human hearts, yet the light of Christ […]

        Please join me in congratulating (and praying for) our parishioners who received the Sacrament of Confirmation this week.  In the Sacrament of Confirmation, these parishioners received the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Now that the are fully initiated to the Catholic Church, they receive the “special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross”, as it says in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1303).  Congratulations to all of our newly confirmed parishioners!

  As with everything else this year, Confirmation looked different this year than it has in the past.  First and foremost, we had to split Confirmation into two evenings. (Many thanks to Bishop Rhoades for coming out here twice to administer the sacrament on both Thursday and Friday.  I’m sure he’s saying a whole lot of extra Confirmation Masses this year!)  Also, our 8th graders were joined by adult parishioners.  Normally, adults who were baptized Catholic but haven’t been confirmed receive the sacrament at a special Adult Confirmation Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, but this year those kinds of gatherings aren’t possible, so we were happy to have these folks join us this week.  Even pictures with the Bishop looked different, as we made some adjustments to allow for socially distanced photos!

Preparing our candidates for Confirmation was obviously a much greater challenge this year, especially since our school has had to revert to eLearning for the month of December because of increased faculty, staff and students who have had to quarantine as COVID close contacts.  While we weren’t able to have our usual retreat and other preparatory activities, […]

A couple of years ago, as the Church was reeling from the latest round of revelations about the clergy sex abuse scandal, it was announced that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was being suspended from ministry after a credible allegation of abuse against a minor.  He was eventually laicized after that claim was investigated, and Pope Francis announced that there would be a thorough investigation of how someone facing those kinds of accusations could have possibly risen through the ranks to become a Cardinal Archbishop. 

As you have probably seen in the news, that report was released last week.  It is thorough, coming in at well over 400 pages, and the investigation included interviews with more than 90 witnesses, including abuse survivors.  (The full report is available at http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_rapporto-card-mccarrick_20201110_en.pdf., and the first 14 pages are an executive summary.  A good summary of the article can also be found in last week’s edition of Today’s Catholic at https://todayscatholic.org/mccarrick-report-cites-lack-of-investigations-of-rumors/). 

Although the details of McCarrick’s abuse came to light two years ago, this report is sure to reopen many wounds among the faithful.  In particular, this report is different because it goes into more specific detail on how our leadership failed to investigate or address these accusations adequately.  The report concludes that Pope St. John Paul II was reluctant to believe the accusations because of his own relationship with McCarrick, among other factors, and thus didn’t insist on a more thorough investigation.  It also concludes that although Pope Benedict XVI asked McCarrick to step down in 2006 after new accusations came to light, he didn’t impose formal sanctions on him.  Instead he asked him to keep a lower profile, a request McCarrick promptly disregarded. 

It is painful to see that leaders we love and admire should have […]