A funeral Mass of Resurrection will be offered for Father Lawrence Edward Boadt, CSP, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, 60^th Street and Columbus Avenue in New York City. Visitation and wake will take place at the church from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday July 27. Immediately following the funeral, interment will take place in the Paulist Fathers section of St. Thomas the Apostle Church Cemetery in Oak Ridge, N.J. Father Boadt, a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle (Paulist Fathers) for 47 years, died July 24 after a long illness. He was 67.

Born the son of attorneys Loren A. and Eleanor (Power) Boadt in 1942, Father Boadt grew up in the St. Paul the Apostle parish located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Paulist archivist Father John Lynch was newly ordained when he first met Father Boadt, then a fifth-grader in the parish school. Father Lynch recalls seeing the makings of a priest in the young altar server and Cub Scout.

“He was dependable and enjoyed serving the church,” Father Lynch said. He noted that Father Boadt kept his close association with St. Paul’s as a student at Loyola High School in Los Angeles; he graduated from Loyola in 1960.  Father Lynch was not surprised to hear the young man entered the Paulist novitiate on Sept. 6, 1962. He was ordained a Paulist priest on February 22, 1969.

Father Boadt earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Paul’s College Washington, D.C., master’s and licentiate in sacred theology degrees from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and licentiate in sacred Scripture and doctoral degree in biblical studies and Near Eastern languages from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

“That was extraordinary,” observed Father Lynch. “Not many people can accomplish that, as the mastery of ancient languages is incredibly difficult. He was the type of priest who could do anything.”

Father Boadt’s first priestly assignment was as associate pastor at St. Andrew’s parish in Clemson, S.C., from February to October of 1969. Father Boadt then headed to Rome for advanced Scripture studies where he served on the parish staff at Santa Susanna, the Paulist parish in the city.

Father Boadt returned to the United States to teach at Fordham University in New York City from 1974-76 while becoming an editor at the Paulist Press in 1975. He taught at St. John’s University in Queens from 1975-76 while still working at Paulist Press.

He returned to Washington, D.C., as associate professor of Sacred Scripture at the Washington Theological Union, where he taught from 1976-1997.

“There was a program for working students where they took a 3-hour class once a week, and he could still keep the students engaged through that long class after they had worked all day,” said Father Lynch, who taught at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. for many years. “He was a superb teacher.”

Father Boadt continued as editor at the Paulist Press, becoming vice president in 1997. He had served as publisher and president of Paulist Press from 1998 until his illness in 2010.

According to Father Lynch, Father Boadt continued the Paulist work of evangelization through the printed word while expanding the Press’ extraordinary contribution to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, especially Christian-Jewish relations.

“Building on the work of his predecessor Father Kevin Lynch, there is no publisher in North America who has done more to advance Catholic-Jewish relations than Larry Boadt,” said Father Michael B. McGarry, president of the Paulist Fathers.

Father Boadt authored several books, including Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, Jeremiah 26-52, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Jeremiah 1-25. He also edited many titles, such as Why I Am A Priest: 30 Success Stories and The Life of St. Paul.

“His legacy will be his writings,” said Father Lynch, noting “Reading the Old Testament” is one of the most widely used texts in Scripture courses. “This is a big loss for the Paulists.”

I was very saddened to hear of the death of a great Paulist, Fr. Frank Diskin, C.S.P. who my wife and I would visit in the nursing home from time to time when we lived in New York. We had come to know Fr. Frank (or Padre Francisco, as I often called him) during his retirement years at St. Paul the Apostle. While Fr. Frank lived a long and healthy life finally dying at the old age of 92, there is always a certain sadness that comes with death and my own sadness today comes from not being able to attend his funeral.

Three quick great stories about Fr. Diskin:

The first is that we attended a parish function together and we sat at the same dinner table. Fr. Frank said to me, “Hey Mike, could you pass the salt?”

As i reached for it, a rotund middle aged woman said loudly, “You shouldn’t have salt, Father, it’s no good for you.”

I looked stunned. Frank was a slender and vibrant old man at 84. I don’t remember a day that he was sick until he was 90. I had to say something.

“HOLD ON!” I said in my own New York dulcet tone.

“Excuse me,” I said to the woman. “But if you don’t mind my asking, what is your blood pressure usually?”

“Oh it’s way too high. 200/90.”

“Uh-huh. And what is your cholesterol reading?”

Again she repeated, “Yeah it’s high…over 250.”

“OK…hey Fr. Frank. What’s your weight?”

“160?

“What’s your cholesterol reading?”

“150 or something like that.”

“Frank, what’s your blood pressure?”

“Perfect. 120/65.”

“Fr. Frank what, dare I ask is your pulse rate.”

“60?

I looked at the woman and smiled. And said,

“Fr. Frank…here is your salt and have some butter for that roll–not margarine, take the good stuff. And don’t get up! I’m going to fetch you a BEER.”

I looked at that woman and said tersely, “LEAVE HIM ALONE! When you’re in as good of shape as he is, then you can tell him what he can and can’t eat.”

The second story comes from one of Fr. Frank’s usual visits to my office. About once every other week, Padre Francisco would come visit me in my office, just to say hi. I have this poster in my office of old baseball cards. Fr. Frank was a huge Red Sox fan. His beloved Boston was always a place that he longed to be and he was so excited when the Red Sox finally won the series and disappointed that he fell asleep during the World Series clincher before being able to see them win it all.

So Frank looked at the poster and said, “Hey, that’s pretty good! Ted Williams, Willie Mays…those guys were great!”

I replied back, “Yeah, my mother was a crazy NY Giants fan and she always loved those guys too.”

Frank continued, “Let me see now..” as he looked over the cards to see who he could recall.

“Ya know, I saw Ruth play. And I saw Cobb play pretty late in his career. I was little then. I sold peanuts in Fenway Park as a kid.”

“Really!?” I said. “They let kids do that back then.”

“Sure. Mike, you probably won’t believe this but I saw Honus Wagner play a game.”

“Frank, he stopped playing in 1917! You weren’t even born! Unless you’re a lot older than you say you are! Hey Frank, were you here when Fr. Hecker (the Paulist founder) made his first promises too (1858!)?”

He laughed and punched me in the arm. And said “No! But I DID see Wagner play! It was some kind of charity event and a bunch of old stars were there. Ruth, Wagner, lots of those guys in your poster. And they were still pretty good too.”

Amazing.

OK, a final story. Fr. Frank, loved to talk to people. In fact, he’d make conversations with random strangers all the time. Fr. Brett Hoover, C.S,P. was walking up 9th Avenue and found Fr Frank talking with a young lady. As Fr. Brett approached they ended their conversation “OK, well, I’ll see you again!” the young woman responded. She nodded at Fr. Brett and departed.

Brett looked at Frank and said, “Hey, why didn’t you introduce me to your friend?”

Frank replied simply, “Who? Her? I don’t know who the hell she is! We were just talking.”

That was clearly a “Frank moment.”

Once cancer got hold of Fr. Diskin, he was nearly 90. Or at least that was when he told me about it. He began to take falls in the rectory and they moved him to a nursing facility. My wife, who had this huge crush on him (and he knew it too!) would come to visit him with me. And he’d always shoot me a glance whenever she’d kiss him on the cheek.

He was a great evangelizer, serving in the famed Paulist Mission Band. He was pastor in Portland, Oregon and later for years in Layton, Utah, where he’d often visit friends and then returned to New York where he had served previously. He was a great friend to a growing hispanic population on the West Side of Manhattan where he started one of the first outreaches to the Hispanic community.

He was greatly devoted to the Little Flower, St Therese of Lisieux, who I know comforted him in his latter years. I’m sure she met him at the gates.

And she probably wore a Red Sox hat too.

Thanks be to God for the life of this great man and thanks to Padre Francisco for being my friend.

Father Diskin, a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle (Paulist Fathers) for 69 years, died June 25. He was 92.

Born in Newtonville, Mass., in 1918, Father Diskin entered the novitiate of the Paulist Fathers in August 1940, and was ordained a Paulist priest on May 11, 1946.

Father Diskin served at St. Ann Church in Boston the summer after his ordination before serving at the Paulist Center in Boston from 1946-51. He went to Rome for a year, and briefly served at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Los Angeles in 1952 before ministering at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York from 1952-58.

Missionary ministry soon beckoned, and Father Diskin was part of the Paulist mission band based in Detroit from 1959-64 and the mission band based in San Francisco in 1964. In the fall of 1964, Father Diskin began serving as the assistant novice master at the Paulist novitiate, Mount Paul in Oak Ridge, NJ.

He served at St. Philip Neri Church in Portland, Ore., from 1965-74, and then headed to St. Rose of Lima parish in Layton, UT from 1974-81. Father Diskin then served as associate pastor of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York from 1981-86 before entering senior ministry status.

“For his life and ministry, we are ever so grateful,” said Father Michael B. McGarry, CSP, president of the Paulist Fathers.

The newly created Department of Evangelization Father Hurley will oversee is charged with coordinating essential pastoral ministries in carrying out the church’s mission of proclaiming the Word of God. The department will encompass the Divisions of Catechetical Formation (formerly Evangelization and Catechesis), Deaf Ministry, Disabilities Ministry, Ministry Formation and Development, Worship, and Youth and Young Adult Ministry.

“We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Father Hurley’s expertise and background leading this critical mission of our Archdiocese,” said Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien. “I am grateful to the Paulists for making Father Hurley available to us and to Father Hurley for accepting this challenge.”

Father Hurley has spent the past seven months serving as a consultant to the Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien as the prelate prepared the framework for the creation of the new department. Recognized nationally as an expert in the field of evangelization, Father Hurley has served as executive director of the National Pastoral Life Center from 2007-09 and Secretariat for Evangelization for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1997-2005. In the latter position, he oversaw ongoing implementation of Go and Make Disciples, A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States.

Ordained to the Paulist priesthood in 1977, Father Hurley graduated from Catholic University with a bachelor’s degree in religious education, a master of divinity degree from the Washington Theological Union and a doctor of ministry degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley.

Father Hurley served as founding director of the Paulist Center for Catholic Evangelization in Portland, Ore., from 1978-1984, director of development for the Paulists from 1984-1991 when he was appointed pastor of historic Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. After serving as pastor for six years, he was appointed to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“These challenging times in our church offer us a unique opportunity as disciples of Jesus Christ to seize the moment and be messengers of hope,” Father Hurley said. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues in building upon the rich Catholic legacy of faith in the Premier See by cherishing her religious, cultural, geographic and generational diversity.”

Ordained a Paulist Priest in 1979, Father Janus has served as a psychologist in private practice, teaching on the faculty of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, as well as Indiana University and Purdue University. His research and publication have focused on adolescent psychology and at-risk youth. Since 2003 he has been the director of the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in 2008 was appointed the Rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Grand Rapids and made the pastor of the Cathedral Parish.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead the Paulist Press and for the confidence placed in me by the Paulist leadership. These are challenging times for the publishing industry,” Father Janus said, “and I am looking forward to working with the dedicated staff at the Paulist Press. Since the mid-nineteenth century the Paulist Press has been a vital resource for the Church in North America, providing both popular and scholarly works that draw on the Catholic intellectual tradition, and feed our hunger for a meaningful spirituality. We are uniquely positioned, I believe, at the junction of Catholic tradition and American Culture. The emergence of new communications technologies provides us with the opportunity to ‘present old truths in new forms,’ as Paulist founder Servant of God Isaac Hecker once wrote.”

In announcing this new appointment, Paulist President Father John Duffy said, “Under the leadership of Father Larry Boadt, C.S.P., the Press has made significant inroads into the world of digital communications, and we Paulists are tremendously grateful for his tireless service in this most important apostolate. Father Mark-David Janus will be able to build upon this legacy while sustaining our core publishing business. ”

Paulist Founder and Servant of God Father Isaac T. Hecker, established the first Paulist publication operations in 1865, believing that the printed word has unique power to communicate the message of the Gospel and the best values and aspirations of American culture. Although founded primarily as a book publishing company, Paulist Press is committed to using all means of public communication, whether through print, visual, audio, or electronic format, or through production of related auxiliary materials, to accomplish its mission. It selects the medium which is most suitable to the content or best fits what the market demands.

For further information contact:

Ms. Stefani Manowski

Paulist Office of Communications and Media Relations

202-269-2521 or smanowski@paulist.org

Three parishioners of Immaculate Conception Church in downtown Knoxville, Tenn., are in the burn unit of Vanderbilt University Burn Center in Nashville, Tenn., after a flare from the Easter vigil fire outside the church caught the vestments of two altar servers and a deacon on fire the evening of April 3.

“Although many precautions had been taken for safety, this terrible thing still happened,” said Immaculate Conception pastor Father Joseph Ciccone, CSP, in a message to parishioners.

The latest report has Deacon Hieu Joseph Vinh in critical condition at Vanderbilt. His daughter, Trang, 20, is also still at Vanderbilt as is a 15-year old altar server.

“Many sprung into action to squelch the flames and tend to the victims,” Father Ciccone said. “Emergency personnel and firefighters arrived almost immediately.”

The wounded were first treated at the University of Tennessee Medical Center before being air-lifted to Vanderbilt.

“It is the very best institution to treat injuries of this nature,” said Father Ciccone. “It was traumatic for them and for all of us who were present.”

Approximately 50 people had gathered for the Easter Vigil at Immaculate Conception, preceded by the “Service of Light.”

“In a suitable place outside the Church, a ‘blazing fire’ is to be prepared so that the people may gather around it and experience the flames dispelling the darkness and lighting up the night,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rubrics for the Easter Vigil. “Thus do the beauty of the fire, its warmth and its light, draw the liturgical assembly together.”

The small paschal flame at Immaculate Conception was fueled by mixture alcohol and mineral salts.

“As with other churches, we had moved from a wood fire a year ago, so as to avoid shooting sparks and embers from burning wood,” Father Ciccone explained.

Father Jerry Tully, CSP, accompanied the injured to the hospital so Father Ciccone could remain present with those gathered at the church. The vigil continued, with other young people stepping in as altar servers. Two baptisms were celebrated, and new members were welcomed into communion with the church.

“After taking time to deal with the reality, we all called upon our faith and God’s grace,” said Father Ciccone. “I was well aware of the challenge to stay focused, but many found an inner place of prayer as we proclaimed the story of our salvation.”

Father Ciccone visited his three parishioners at Vanderbilt on Easter Sunday afternoon, and Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville visited on Easter Monday.

“We all need to pray them through the following months as they begin their long road of recovery and healing, both physical and emotional,” Father Ciccone said. “Many of us feel powerless in situations like this. We wish things could have been otherwise. … This accident interrupts their lives, business and schooling. Right now, they need time for themselves and the presence of family. They know they have our prayers and that of so many others.”

Oh, my gosh! How can Lent be upon us so soon? Where did the time go?

Time is zipping by in all of our lives. We need seasons like Lent to remind us of both the passage of time and of our ultimate destiny. There are two forms of the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. The more traditional form clearly reminds us of our mortality:  “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.” Time is hurrying by, and none of us has an unlimited supply of time. We must be reminded that we need to be serious about using our time to good advantage, to accomplish what we have been put here on earth to do. All to soon each of us will return to the dust from which we came. Do not delay! This sobering thought puts into perspective the trivial items that consume most of our days. Ash Wednesday is a shocking reminder to get real about the job of living, since our death is approaching. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

The other form for the imposition of ashes is: “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” This formula, based on Scripture (Mark 1:14), emphasizes more of what we should be doing. Lent is a time to renew ourselves spiritually. We are called to turn away from all that leads us away from God, that is, to turn away from sin. We are to turn away from all that is self-destructive and harmful, because sin always leads ultimately to death. We turn away from death in order to embrace life. We believe more deeply and fully in the Gospel, that is, the Good News of God’s love for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Lent is not about pain, or sacrifice, or “giving things up” or death, but ultimately about embracing life. That is our goal: “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.”

I encourage you to seize the opportunity that is Lent. Use Lent to make your life focused on what is really important. Turn away from sin. Embrace life. Believe the Gospel.

Father Kullmann is pastor of Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle
Homily by Monsignor Kevin W. Irwin

St. Paul’s College
Washington, D.C.
Jan. 23, 2010

In a homiletics class in First Theology at Dunwoodie seminary, the professor instructed us that that you have to grab your audience in the first 90 seconds of the homily or they will tune you out and you are dead. He then gave the example of a non-Jesuit who was asked to preach to the Jesuit community at an anniversary of one of their universities who began with “to hell with the Jesuits!” He got their attention!

My point this evening will be the opposite. My message is keep on doing even better what you are doing as the Missionary Society of St. Paul.

The American Church relies on you … desperately … your charism, your ministry, your lives.

During this “The Year of the Priest” all of us have, I am sure, reflected on the different kinds of priests in the church … our different charisms building up the body of Christ.

You are ahead of today’s readings with the logo “giving the Gospel a voice today” in your  everyday day in and day out faithful preaching of the Word.

I have also known of the variety of ministries in your community, “once upon a time” and “here and now.”

I say “once upon a time” because I am from the Archdiocese of New York and knew the importance you gave to preaching and music for the liturgy. I am a proud possessor of The Catholic Hymnal published in 1966, one of whose editors was Rev. Joseph Foley, CSP; that hymnal, a product of the transition from the pre-Vatican II liturgy to the post, moving toward the vernacular, sung by “The Paulist Choristers.”

I say “here and now” ministries from the established print media of the Paulist Press to the newest in satellite radio, The Busted Haloâ Show on Sirius-XM radio.

As a professor across the street for more years than is almost imaginable (I think I got my first contract just after Adam and Eve ate the apple!) I have had the honor and privilege of teaching many of those in the “here and now” Paulist ministries. When I listen to the Busted Haloâ in Sirius radio driving home from work and hear Dave Dwyer field questions from God knows where and comes up with insightful, thorough and theologically grounded answers, I have a “nunc dimittis” moment and say this church of busted halos is in very good hands … or when a Larry Rice inform us of “facts of faith” which reflect his insight gained from his theological education and research skills I say “thank you” and keep on going. Or when I learn that a Michael Kerrigan is at the [Paulist] press I say to myself there is indeed a next and ever new generation of leadership at your very important press. Just think Michael is editing an online  version of The Catholic World, first edited by Isaac Hecker and a periodical I devoured while in the seminary in the late 1960’s some of whose articles (from a print magazine, imagine!) are still in my files.

Or when I had dinner at St. Paul’s some months ago and sat next to James DiLuzio  (of course when I knew him he was “Jim!”) and learn of his work on the road as really a true mendicant of and for the 21^st century, I know that the Word is in very good hands indeed, especially with his performance of the Gospel of St. Luke emphasizing its inclusivity when there are so many forces that seem to make the church exclusive and insular.

But I dare not get lost in my former students alone – which really means I need to stop engaging in what can seem to be the narcissism  of our age and show how important I am because of their accomplishments! After all I always say that my patron saint as a priest professor is John the Baptist, he was and certainly none of us is “the Messiah!” And my role model is the sower who sews the seed … not knowing where and how it will flourish, if it will flourish at all. (And with that patron saint and that role  model I can sleep at night!)

Allow me tonight to pay homage to your brother Paulist, Jack Lynch, whose writings always served to help people like me to make sense not only of the church’s canon law but the law of God from the most precise and insightful of historical perspectives. In his extraordinarily thorough and precise writings (none of which are fast reading, but each of which is worthy all the effort and more)! Jack always reminds of the evolution and deeper meanings of the code which all too often in any of its incarnations was and is regrettably treated in a fundamentalistic way. Jack models for us what canonical wisdom means, not juridical nay-saying or canonical navel gazing.

As I speak to you Paulists tonight, I want to say “keep on doing what you are doing.” But I also want to express to you a concern and here I am very serious out of deep concern for you. And it is something  that I am sure you yourselves have  had to face into and which most priests in today’s U.S. church have – are you in danger of being spread too thin and how can you plan to keep your important missionary ministries going? The American church would be the far poorer and diminished beyond words if that were to happen.

The issue is not laryngitis that prevents you from speaking for a time, it is burn out that might put an end to important ministries for the life and mission of the church.

I am concerned for and with you that the brilliance of the Paulist charism – the light that shines in the darkness – might be diminished and the church will be much poorer because of that. Allow me, a friend and lifelong supporter of the Paulists, to suggest that this be on the agenda as your new leadership assumes their responsibilities come May.

Your light cannot diminish because it is encouragement, hope and, yes, life itself for so many others.

The proclamation of the Gospel is always an event of “good news.”

But your charism is at the heart of the Gospel preached to  the poor … the captives … the blind … the oppressed.

What are Paulists but that group in today’s American church that have targeted the same audience?

And where do we find them? In your campus ministries, again Larry Rice’s fulltime job, and Ed Novak among others. They deal directly with this generation of those who are self described as “spiritual but not religious,” “believers but not belongers.” Outreach is redundant in their and your ministries.

Or in your evangelization office staffed by the indefatigable Ken Boyack and the projects from the likes of Frank DiSiano for the American church’s evangelization efforts.

But as Paulists you remind us all that our ministries as priests is also to the marginalized and to the poor … to those whom we may not notice because of their  lack of commitment to “time, talent or treasure” but who we should notice because they are the primary audiences for Jesus’ words as be began and as he lived his public ministry.  Sometimes pastors in parishes cannot do that by dint of demands and circumstances.  And they have to pay the bills … part of their particular responsibility is pasturing and making the budgets work.

When you engage in the para-parish and extra-diocesan ministries, you remind all of us that we need to remember who Jesus’ audience was and is … and if we are honest we know that they are we and we are they – the blind, the poor, the oppressed, the weak.

Despite the instant communication world in which we live – with e-mails, IMs, tweets, Blackberrys, voicemails and the like – it may seem as though words have lost their meanings.  And some words indeed have lost their meanings and should be ignored.

But many words do matter.

Some words matter a great deal, especially when they say what they mean, and what they say is meant to last.

A man and woman say “I do” and their lives are shaped forever by an exchange of wedding vows, or love expressed in mutual and lasting fidelity.

You undergo what you think it a regular medical check up … you need a medical test taken … the doctor calls you in and says “you’ve got cancer” and you life changes forever … treatment, what kind, how often, whether successful … remission …

A month ago, 60 members of Senates said “yes” that a new system of health care for 30 million Americans might well become a reality. Each one saying “yes” mattered. But last Tuesday the majority of citizens from Massachusetts voted for a candidate who pledged to say “no.” Those citizens spoke a word that matters.

Preaching words matter because they are always words that are “fulfilled in your hearing.”

Paulist preaching words matter. Your preaching in season and out of season is a presumed gift you give to the church. Keep on doing even better what you are doing.

I can say that I have never been to a liturgy at which a Paulist preached that I was not deeply impressed by the care of the preparation for, phrasing of and delivery of the homily. They have always been topical, insightful, probing and reflective indeed of preaching as an event of salvation. Again allow me to name Marcos Zamora, Gil Martinez and Jim DiLuzio at your mother Church of St. Paul.

Sometimes your words make all the difference for those caught in the darkness of sin … and depression.  And what do they say who are depressed? “All I want is a light at the end of the tunnel.” Your words are that light … sometimes it is the lights of Broadway and Rockefeller Center enroute to the Sirius radio station … and sometimes it is the flicker of a candle that can be a beacon for those who see it as their only anchor in the storm tossed seas of life and in their personal turmoil in the darkness of sin.

Your ministry of reconciliation is needed now more than ever in the church’s life. Not surprisingly in this “Year of the Priest” the life and priestly work of St. John Vianney has been used as an example for priestly ministry today, especially his availability in the confessional for the forgiveness of sins. But it is obvious that in today’s American church people are no longer flocking to confessionals for forgiveness, much less for the underlying and dare I say more fundamental element – reconciliation – with God, each other, those whom we have harmed by our sin and the wider church community.

My own liturgical assessment is that for the “sacraments of healing” (as the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls them) it is the anointing of the sick that has struck a resonant chord and is a post Vatican II success story. It is also my assessment that the sacrament of penance needs a lot of work to make it an experience of the in-breaking of God’s grace into patterns of behavior that oppress and from which people need to be released. The words of absolution need spoken to be in relation to the words of the scriptures, the praise and thanks which “confession” also means in our tradition, the dialogue that ensues after telling one’s sins is about healing and doing what ought to be done to counter the evil effects of our sins followed by the words of the priest spoken “through the ministry of the church …” I am increasingly concerned about the privatization of the sacrament of penance reflected in such phrases as “Father, can you hear a quick confession?” as opposed to an ecclesial experience of God’s mercy and love either enacted in a communal celebration or reflected in individual penance. Without an ecclesiological lens the sacrament of penance can paradoxically fall into the preoccupation of the self in our culture rather than being an experience of praying with the other members of the pilgrim, imperfect church on earth.

The church in all too many areas of our world stands in great need of reconciliation among its members and in the wider world. The horror of the sex abuse revelations in Ireland serve only to mirror back to us the lives of those in our country that still stand in need of healing from this oppression, caused by unjust aggressors to the most vulnerable among us.

I ask you Paulists redouble your efforts to that the church can be once again a sign and effective instrument of God’s reconciling love.

The church cannot afford to have the Paulists burn out or even diminish in any way who you are in and for the church. Keep on doing what you are doing. Keep on being who you are. You are a leaven for the church to rise to ever-greater heights in this year for priests and beyond. My message: keep on doing even better what you are doing. The American church presumes upon you. The American church desperately needs you.

************

Religion always has been and always will be an important part of American public life. The separation of church and state has never meant that Americans would not be informed by, inspired by or moved by their religious convictions. Faith and reason should be allies, not enemies. Religious Americans have an obligation to acknowledge that ours is a pluralistic society and that the arguments they offer during political campaigns and in the midst of public debates and struggles must be accessible to those who do not share their faith or their religious principles. But non-religious Americans need to acknowledge in turn that their religious brothers and sisters cannot help but have their political convictions informed by their faith traditions.

Religion in the public square can unite us or divine us. It can lead us to searching self-criticism or pompous self-satisfaction. There have been moments in our history when it has inspired us to courage and commitment, and other moments when it has been used as a tool of prejudice and exclusion.

For all of our difficulties as a nation, however, I believe that just as the arc of history bends toward justice, so has the engagement of faith in our public life been primarily a force calling us to higher standards, to greater justice and to a commitment to community and to fellowship.

We are moving, I think into a reengagement with faith’s prophetic role, into a time when believers and unbelievers come together, as they did in the civil rights years, on behalf of great projects of civic renewal and reform.

In the long run, faith should unite us, not divide us. It should lead us not to complacency but to action, not to arrogance bit to an acceptance of our responsibilities , not to a certainty that God is on our side, but to a humble quest to act in a godly way in an imperfect world whose betterment requires to act in hope.

Faith and hope should promote in us a glorious dissatisfaction with the world as it is so that we can envision the world as it might be. Self-satisfaction is not the calling of faith. Martin Luther King drew upon the prophet Amos in the speech offering his own dream: “We are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” That is the standard of faith. That is the obligation of those who declare their allegiance to a just and loving God. …

On so many issues in American politics, being a Catholic liberal or a Catholic conservative inevitably meant  having a bad conscience about some issue – often many. All this makes Catholic political and electoral behavior confounding.

Consider categorizing two prominent Catholics – the late Robert Casey (or, for that matter, his son, who carries on his name and advances his worldview as a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania) and Bill Bennett, the prominent Republican author and talk show host. As governor of Pennsylvania from 1987-95, Casey was as liberal as any Democrat on social welfare and union issues. But he was seen by many as “conservative” solely because of his staunch opposition to abortion. Bennett, a solid conservative, has nonetheless said that “unbridled capitalism is a problem … for the whole dimension of things we call the realm of values and human relationships.”

Bennett was getting at something a senior White House adviser during the Clinton Administration, Sidney Blumenthal, noticed in 1997: why had so many Democrats who had been more or less in favor of free trade in the past declined to give the president “fast track” authority to negotiate new trade agreements? They were insisting that the agreements include social and labor protections, and that the government do more to assist those who lost jobs or income because of free trade. Blumenthal stared at the list of House members who had turned against the president’s position and suddenly noticed that most of the defectors were Catholic.

“This was simple protectionism,” Blumenthal says. “It involved a deeply rooted tradition of Catholic social reform and solidarity.” Even after a long period of upward mobility, the tradition of John Ryan and the 1919 bishops’ program never fully left the Catholic soul. …

The relation shop between the moral and the economic crises in our society can  be seen most powerfully in families where the need to earn enough income forces both parents to spend increasing amounts of time outside the home. One of the great achievements of the last century was the “family wage,” which allowed the vast majority of workers to provide their families with both a decent living and the parental time to give their children a decent upbringing.

The family wage was not simply a product of the marketplace. It was secured through a combination of economic growth, social legislation, agitation and unionization. If the marketplace becomes not simply the main arbiter of income, as it will inevitably be, but the only factor determining living standards, then all social factors, including the need t strengthen families and improve the care of children, become entirely irrelevant in the world of work.

The moral crisis so many conservatives talk about thus grows not primarily from the “countercultural” or “permissive” ides that developed in the 1960s. Its roots lie deeper, in a society that threatens to allow market values to crowd out all other values. The result is a steady erosion of the bonds of solidarity, morality and trust. This affects the values put forward by the popular culture, the organization of family life and the aspirations of the next generation – all questions of vital concern to religious conservatives.

My friend the late Father Philip Murnion regularly offered his friends in the Catholic social justice community a powerful insight from the time he spent as a child on welfare after his father died. In his day, Murnion said, poor children could count on three basic forms of support: some money from the government; love and nurturing within the family; and moral guidance form churches and neighbors who lived in relatively safe and orderly communities.

In recent years, he argued, poor children have come under threat in all three spheres: government help is in danger; many of the poorest children live in difficult (and at times dangerous) family situations; and the moral order and physical safety of many neighborhoods has collapsed.

Social justice requires economic support from government, a concern for family life and serious efforts to strengthen community institutions and to protect public order. Religious progressives may find their vocation in insisting that our society needs to grapple with each of these issues. At the heart of their arguments should be two principles: compassion is good, but justice is better; and while government certainly cannot solve all problems, what government does – and fails to do – matters enormously. …

John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus has to rank as one of the most successful papal documents in history. The highest compliment to the pope’s 1991 social encyclical lay not in the fact that so many were eager to say they agreed with the pope, but that partisans of so many different viewpoints in the church insisted that he agreed with them.

Such consensus is often reached with fuzzy language, artful compromises and a high level of generality. But that was not true with Centesimus Annus. The pope was highly specific about the principles Catholics should embrace in judging economic systems. He was also clear in stating where various systems – socialist, capitalist, welfare state liberal – failed to live up to Christian criteria.

But John Paul wisely chose not to build a political and economic system form top to bottom and declare his creation the one and only Catholic or Christian way. The pope’s principles rule out certain approaches (including dictatorships, highly-centralized command economies and capitalism without social safety nets and safeguards) while leaving open a broad area for debate and experimentation. The pope’s approach was principled but not ideological; broadly egalitarian without being a demand for absolute equality; open to the advantages of markets and the positive uses of government. …

The basic orientation of the American bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter on the economy was reformist, quite in line with John Paul’s overall economic view. Consider this rather balanced view of the American economy:

“The U.S. value system emphasizes economic freedom. It also recognizes that the market is limited by fundamental human rights. Some things are never to be bought or sold. This conviction has prompted positive steps to modify the operation of the market when it harms vulnerable members of society. Labor unions help workers resist exploitation. Through the government the people of the United States have provided support for education, access to food, unemployment compensation, security in old age and protection of the environment. The market system contributes to the success of the U.S. economy, but so do many efforts to forge economic institutions and public policies that enable all to share in the riches of the nation. The country’s economy has been built though a creative struggle: entrepreneurs, business people, workers, unions, consumers and government have all played essential roles.”