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     Right now at the Athenaeum of Ohio- Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, the idea of a summer Catholic Spirituality institute is being discussed. In order to pass on more fully the Catholic Spiritual tradition, the Athenaeum is considering offering courses on specific aspects of Catholic Spirituality. While this is still in the talking stage, it might be started this summer and therefore input from those on the outside would be greatly helpful.

     These courses could cover a variety of topics in five areas:   1. Fundamental Spirituality: (eg. Ignatian Discernment); 2. Biblical Spirituality (eg. Jesus’ prayer in the Gospels); 3. Liturgical Spirituality (eg. Theology of Holy Week); 4. Topical Spirituality (eg. Marian spirituality or Dominican Spirituality) and 5. Personal Spirituality (eg. Theology of St. Teresa of Avila)

     While these types of courses may not all be offered this summer, it is possible that maybe two or three will. They would probably be at 3 credit graduate course level that would be good for catechists, high school teachers or anyone interested in the Catholic Spiritual tradition. One of the things that needs to be gauged is interest level, which is why I am putting this on my website. Do you think this summer insitute plan might succeed? It is possible that in the future the Athenaeum may even offer an Master of arts in Theology with an emphasis on Catholic Spirituality.

     A point that I want to emphasize is that these courses would be free of the new-age, theosophical and, for lack of a better word, pagan “spiritualites” that some groups are proposing. If we are going to grow in our Catholic faith, then we need to look back at the “giants” and take our cue from them. I welcome all your comments. Spread the word.

       On this Feast of All souls, we remember all those who have died and gone before us marked wth the sign of faith. This month of November remids us just how broad the Church is, since we remember all the living, those on earth, in heaven and in purgatory. Those who have died have left something important for us to reflect on: At the end of our earthly life we will go through a particular judgment (Dies Irae), we pray that God will be merciful upon us (Dies misericordiae), and we trust that all who have served the Lord in this life will regn with him forever in heaven (Dies Spei).

     We recognize that while their journey on earth has ended, they still may need further purification to enter into heavenly glory, and they rely on us to pray and make sacrifices for them, that their time of waiting will come to a swift end so that they can see the beauty of the Lord face to face. Remember to visit the cemeteries this month, and while you are their, proay not only for your own relatives, but pray especially for those who have been forgotten, who have died alone and have no one to pray for them.

Please pray for Priests and Seminarians, and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     Happy Feast of all Saints! What does it take to be a Saint? Besides the affirmation of the Church, if you are shooting for your own feast day and all that, it takes holiness. Holiness is not something we earn, but rather something we are given by surrendering our lives to God in service, prayer and love of neighbor. The real saintmaker is the Holy Spirit, and one of the things I learned from my favorite theologian, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, is that God makes us saints by making us more human. When we look at the lives of the saints, which is something that we do not do enough of these days, we see that they can be serious, silly, cranky, and even absent minded. This is because they have their feet firmly planted on earth and their souls firmly planted in heaven.

     For human beings, spiritual perfection is not being flawless, but rather making use of all that God has given us to become the truest persons we can be. Sin is not part of that equation. Sin makes us less human. We cannot imitate Christ in his divinity, but by the examples of the Saints, we know that we can imitate him in his humanity.

      This is the month to really come to know the Saints of the Church. Their lives are an important part of our heritage. I would recommend the Four Volume Butler’s Lives of the Saints, the older edition. The new edition published by Liturgical Press press omits all the good stuff and is pretty lame.  I would also recommend the two Books of Modern Saints published by Tan Books. They are great editions to more contemporary saints. We need all the examples of holiness we can get our hands on.

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    Today is the anniversary of the birth of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, who was Prefect for the Holy Office and a much maligned figure of Vatican II. When Xavier Rynne aka Fr. Francis X. Murphy wrote his notes on Vatican II, he stupidly used terms from American politics to explain the subtleties of Catholic theology. In his limited worldview, there had to be a good guy and a bad guy. Since he was definitely a fan of the progressives, he automatically labelled anyone in the Curia who did not get swept in the aggiornamento of the Council a Bad guy.

     Cardinal Ottaivani had a balanced view of the Council and the need for the renewal of the Church. He was definitely a man of the Letter of Vatican II rather than the Spirit of Vatican II. He saw the Council not as a break with Tradition, but a continuation of it. Those in the bologna school of history saw the Council as a radical break with the past. It is tragic that in the name of politics, the name of a Holy man of the Church was besmirched. I think in the long run, he will be vindicated by the historians. His path of fidelity to the Tradition and not bending the knee to the world will be vindicated in the end, but we may not live to see it. Maybe I can get fr. Benedict to give a comment. He is a HUGE devotee of Cardinal Ottaviani

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     Bishop Sheen, quoting Don Bosco many years ago, said that the path to renewal of the faith would occur by rediscovery of devotion to the Mother of God and devotion to the Holy Eucharist. I am pleased to report that both here at the Seminary are coming back strong!

     First, the Blessed Virgin Mary. When I came to the Seminary 20 years ago, there were three class periods on Mary, and of course, her perpetual virginity was so confused that some wondered if it was still a doctrine of the Church. Anyone who was bold enough to pray the Rosary in the Chapel was taken aside and told it was Pre-Vatican II and if he did it again, it would become a formation issue because of his “rigidity.” The only nod to the Blessed Mother was the annual Lessons and Carols concert, which was held the day before our Patronal Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

     Now, some twenty years later, we have a four credit hour course on Mariology tied in with Eschatology, every Monday in October we gather and publically recite the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament. We sing the Salve Regina after Evening prayer on Tuesdays. In May, we honor Mary with a May crowning of one of her statues on the grounds. We still have the Lessons and Carols on the evening of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

   More good signs! In the month of August, I was privileged to be asked to give a morning of reflection to 44 members of the Lay Pastoral Ministry Program and some visitors on Marian spiritual discernment based on the title of Mary as our Lady of Good Counsel. It was well received by all. Yesterday I gave a morning of reflection to 50 members of the Bishop Fenwick Society, a group of benefactors. My first talk was on Why we need the Mother of God. In this talk I discussed the role of the Virgin Mary as Mother and Guardian of Christian culture. I connected the decrease of devotion to the Mother of God from the late 60′s to the early 80′s with the rise of the contraceptive mentality, the denigration of Motherhood, the exploitation of women through pornography and the culture of death. For a moment, I was afraid the roof might cave in, but it didn’t. The second talk was on “Marian devotion and the Rosary.” At Mass we celebrated the Vtovie Mass in honor of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love. Those in attendance seemed to be geniunely appreciative and were glad those in formation were getting strong Marian education.

     I am glad that Marian devotion and all devotions are making a strong resurgence. I recently ran into a priest who discarded these rosary rallies that were popping up as mere nostalgia, so I know there is still a long way to go to integrating Mary back into parish life and the lives of individual believers. May the Holy Spirit renew in us the true gift of piety, which gives us the grace to live our heritage with pride, flourish in it and then pass it on to those around us. We need to especially pray that young girls and young mothers come to a deeper love for the Mother of God as a way to preserve their true Christian strength and femininity.

With any luck, I will soon have these talks on the website once I learn how to do it.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians, and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     A few years ago, Sacred Heart Radio published a set of Rosary meditations I wrote for the year of the Rosary. We gave away almost 2000 copies of the booklet. Since SHR has not published a new edition, I am putting it online with some artwork. You can down load it from the presentations and lectures page. It is about 11 pages long.

     There are many dangers that the Church faces every day. One is the anti-religious sentiment among some people. For others, Isalm may seem a bigger danger to Catholicism. While many Catholics are speaking about dialogue with Islam, the loudest voices in Islam are speaking of jihad and death to Christians. So much for mutual respect. As we Catholics offer respect, Islamic fundamentalists are offering to blow us up.   

       Jesus announces in the Gospel today that he has come to set the world on fire. I think that he is telling us that the most dangerous enemy that Catholics in particular and Christians in general are facing is APATHY. We are allowed to have strong feelings about sports teams, politics and TV shows, but let someone show zeal for their faith and they are immediately labeled a fanatic. It seems to me that we as Catholics have only so many cheeks to turn before we have to stand up and defend what we believe and how we live. The fire that the Lord wants to ignite in us is the Holy Spirit, who gives us courage to proclaim and defend our faith. the Lord did not call Christians to be doormats to walk all over, but door ways to lead people to the love and knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ. May we muster up the courage to ask the Lord to help us do just that.

Please pray for Priests and Seminarians, and support Sacred Heart Radio.

      In his Wednesday audience on St. Ambrose, Pope Benedict quotes Ambrose on Catechesis: Whoever educates people in the faith cannot risk the role of playing the clown, trying to entertain his listeners. Who says that the Fathers of the Church are out of date? Ambrose hit this on the mark. There are many times that people leave Church remembering the joke the priest told in his homily, but not the message. If the key to good business is location, location, location, then the key to good catechesis is content, content, content. Too much wasted energy has been spent on catechetical “process” over the years, since some believe we have to make the faith “relevant.” It seems to me that if we present the faith as it is, and not some cheap watered down version, we don’t have to make it relevant. Jesus Christ, faith, Redemption, are always relevant.

     Forty five years ago today marked the beginning of the Cuban missle crisis in which the US and USSR almost blew each other up. Thank God the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to give the politicians a little bit of sense. By this time, the Second Vatican Council was two weeks old, so you know the Holy Spirit was already working overtime.

    Tomorrow is the Covocation of Archdiocesan priests at Incarnation in Centerville. TPTB (The powers that be) have only said generally what it is to be about. I guess they hope more will show up that way. We’ll see.

Please pray for the priests and seminarians, and support Sacred Heart Radio.

I would like to wish my favorite and only niece Kaelyn Olivia McAdams a very happy and Blessed 13th Birthday. She sure is getting old! I am very proud of her.