Catholic Life Ministries

I recently made an amazing wilderness retreat for men developed by Fr. Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest and director of the Center for Action and Contemplation.  The retreat is called Men’s Right of Passage (MROP).  It was truly one of the most unique and wonderful events in which I have participated.  I have been sending the following letter to male friends and family members to invite them to consider attending. (photo:  Copyright: www.123rf.com/profile_kamchatka)

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to tell you about a five-day wilderness retreat I attended in the North Cascades called “Men’s Right of Passage (MROP).” The retreat was developed by Franciscan Father Richard Rohr.  It is faith- oriented in that its reference point is from the monotheistic faith of Abraham whose God created all that is seen and unseen and who loves every human being as a beloved son or daughter. I have participated in outstanding events that have enriched my life and deepened my capacity to love God and neighbor.  MROP is unlike anything I have ever done before.  I won’t tell you much about it because I want you to attend it and don’t want to spoil any surprises.  You can read about the retreat at this link: https://illuman.org/mrop/

I will say this: MROP is held at different wilderness spots around the country.  I attended one, 5 days, in the  North Cascade Mountains backcountry, a place as beautiful and wild as any I’ve seen.  The retreat’s purpose is to help men become healthy men, even with all the hurts and pains that life brings, and all the unhealthy behaviors that the culture’s toxic masculinity imposes. It had a perfect mixture of  presentations, dramas, conversation in small groups, rituals, great food, campfires, rowdy singing, and lovely moments of quiet in nature.

When I left the retreat on Sunday afternoon, I felt giddy with joy.  I could hardly stop laughing and singing.  I have not felt this alive, free, and content in a long, long time.  This journey towards being a healthy man has been the trajectory that I have been on my entire adult life.  MROP expanded that journey exponentially. You will find a schedule of upcoming MROP events at the above link.  I urge you to find a date that works for you and set aside the time to attend.

Don’t walk to the next MROP; RUN TO IT!

If you have any questions or want to talk more about the retreat, let me know.  I’m planting a seed, inviting you to consider participating in this life-transforming event.  No matter how old you are, no matter your religious tradition or lack thereof, no matter your political persuasion – left, right, or in the middle – MROP can be the most healing, exhilarating, and meaningful event for men in which you will ever participate.  Blessings!  Robert

 

Dear Friends, the investigation into our whistleblower complaint by the archbishop of Seattle is over.  Here is a portion of a statement that I read to the investigator on October 8, 2020:

My experience has taught me a few things.  #1. Sexual predators are here to stay.  They are in our churches, families, schools, etc.  We cannot filter them out.  They will find a way to be with minors and vulnerable adults. 

#2.  The temptation to protect sexual predators is also here to stay.  They will be our mentors whom we love, and we simply cannot believe the allegations made against us.  Or, if we do, we will not want to ruin their careers over this one incident. Or, perhaps, they will be individuals like Cardinal McCarrick who have power to influence our careers; or, perhaps, they will know secrets on us that we do not want exposed.

# 3 Safe environment programs must equip Catholic employees, clergy and lay, and volunteers to address cover-up of sex abuse.  Cover-up is the real culprit that turned a problem of offending clerics into an international scandal.  Essential to equipping Catholic employees and volunteers in confronting cover-up in the church is the legal and emotional protection of whistle-blowers.  Without that public commitment why would anyone speak out?

Review:  8/1/19 – The CLM Board wrote Archbishops Sartain and Etienne to investigate Robert’s role as a whistleblower regarding the mishandling and cover-up of cases of clergy sex abuse by the Bishop of Yakima.   Archbishop Sartain wrote a letter in response, dismissing the board’s concern.

8/28/19 – Robert wrote Archbishop Etienne (who replaced Archbishop Sartain) outlining his history of trying to expose the mishandling and cover-up of sex abuse in the Dioceses of Yakima and Seattle, and included evidence of retaliation.

11/15/19 – Archbishop Etienne wrote a response to Robert’s letter, stating that he was taking my concerns seriously and seeking consultation on his response.

2020 – Unbeknownst to us, the Archbishop initiated an  investigation.  He hired an investigator from Alaska, someone not known in Seattle or Yakima and therefore more likely viewed as being independent, to review documents and interview witnesses.

Oct 2020 – Robert was interviewed for almost two hours and provided the investigator with documents that he did not have and with names of witnesses with whom he had not yet spoken.  Frank Murray of Yakima was also interviewed.

5/23/22 – I was asked to meet with the Archbishop and was told that I had to come alone, I could not take notes, and I could not see any documentation.  At the meeting the Archbishop informed me that Pope Francis had been presented with the case and had then instructed the head of a congregation to issue a reprimand to Bishop Sevilla in accordance with  Canon 1339 for causing “harm and  scandal.”  THAT’S THE GOOD NEWS!

The bad news is that this reprimand is private.  That means neither the Pope, the Archbishop of Seattle, nor the Bishop of Yakima is going to tell anyone.  I wrote the Archbishop a letter to thank him for taking our complaint seriously and initiating the investigation.  Then I wrote this: The private nature of the Vatican’s reprimand of Bishop Sevilla leaves me and Frank Murray in the position of being whistleblowers once again…the issues which prompted our writing you in the first place remain unaddressed: Frank Murray and I have not been vindicated by Church leaders.  Clergy and lay employees, and volunteers have yet to be assured that their jobs and reputations will be protected if they speak out and expose any behavior that suggests the possible abuse of minors or vulnerable adults and/or that such behavior is being covered-up.  These issues, unaddressed, can also cause “harm and scandal” to the Church and continue the risks to youth and vulnerable adults.

 

By Robert Fontana

Father’s Day is approaching, and my thoughts turn to women who make it possible for men to be fathers, but more than that, to wives and partners who keep men from becoming like billy goats. Mattie Ross of True Grit fame -—she’s the young 14-year-old that hires Rooster Cogburn to go after Tom Chaney, her father’s murderer—- states what is common knowledge in fiction and non-fiction alike:

“Men will live like billy goats if they are left alone.”

When I read this, I decided to study up on billy goats to be sure I understood Mattie’s meaning. And I must say, after thorough and exhausting research, I’ve concluded that Mattie insulted billy goats. They are very intelligent creatures and left to themselves –- and let’s be honest here, we are referring to male goats; female goats are referred to as does or nannies –- billie goats, for the most part, make intelligent choices. Men, okay, let’s not generalize, many men, “left alone,” live like Rooster Cogburn, in their own filth.

“He stirred as I came through the curtain. His weight was such that the bunk was bowed in the middle almost to the floor. It looked like he was in a hammock. He was fully clothed under the covers… Rooster coughed and spit on the floor and rolled a cigarette and lit it and coughed some more… little brown drops of coffee clung to his mustache like dew. Men will live like billy goats if left alone.”

I was raised with eight men, six brothers and my dad. I shudder to think what our home would have looked like without Mom. One of my brothers, I won’t mention any names, told me that when he went off to college, he loved getting his bed sheets so coated with body oils from lack of washing that he could slide into bed.

Certainly Dad would have enforced some sort of hygiene requirements on his sons, and I know one particular brother would have helped him out, but the others of us, even as grown men, would have been Rooster Cogburn disciples.

God most surely knew this about men when he created Adam out of mud. Very quickly afterwards, according to the Bible, the Lord God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a suitable partner.”

What the Bible does not say is that Rooster Cogburn is a direct descendent of Adam and, according to Catholic teaching of original sin, inherited his lower-than-billy goat predisposition from the first man.

Adam had basically trashed the garden with banana peels and discarded beer jugs spread about and had started to show signs of poor health from smoking the tobacco leaf. Eve was a godsend to Adam. He perked up, trimmed his beard, and began mulching all parts of the vegetarian diet he (and she) could not eat.

Okay, sure she tricked him with that apple, but women aren’t perfect either. As we approach Father’s Day, the point is that the mothers of their children play a vital role in helping men to be good fathers! In fact, although there are exceptions to this axiom that I’m about to pronounce, the truth is: what makes good and involved fathers is a strong marriage with the mother of their children.

My dad was a great dad. He taught me how to ride a bike, throw a baseball, cast a fishing line, love music, and pray. But the best and most amazing gift he gave to me was his love for my mother. Together they created a stable (but not perfect, by any means) family, filled with all the fun and craziness of family life. Dad loved Mom in good times and in bad, and passed that lesson on to me and my brothers.

There is a segment of the male population that is behaving like Rooster Cogburn. We could ignore them but they are fathering children and acting worse than billy goats in taking care of them. The real crisis, however, is not that they are absent fathers, but that they are absent spouses. Do you want to be a great dad? Be a great spouse. Yes, be involved with your children, but most importantly, LOVE THEIR MOTHER! Happy Father’s Day.

Above photo: Copyright: <a href=’https://www.123rf.com/profile_gstockstudio’>gstockstudio</a>

By Lori Fontana

Back in our college days, our parish pastor told us a parable. Chicken Little lay on her back in the road, her spindly little legs sticking straight up towards the sky. Noble Knight, clothed in shining armor, with his lance and shield gleaming in the sunlight, came riding by on his huge steed. He stopped next to Chicken Little, bending over to speak to her.

“Why lie-est thus in the dust, little chick?” questioned the Knight.

Chicken Little responded, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling!”

“And thou think-est thou can help thusly – by holding thy measly little chicken legs in the air?!?” scoffed the Knight.

“One does what one can,” the chick replied confidently.

In these crazy days of horrific gun violence, deep discord and mistrust, runaway inflation with gas at $6 a gallon and sky-high grocery and housing prices; a war in Ukraine; strife in our neighborhoods; hunger, danger, the pandemic – YIKES! How are we supposed to manage, to cope? How do we as Christians not just survive but thrive? How do we claim the JOY of God’s love, which we know is at the very core of our existence and is also present in every human being and in all of creation?

Day-to-day routines will look different in the life of each person of faith; but I offer two suggestions to buoy and sustain our Christian walk: prayer and service.

Prayer is, of course, a no-brainer. Prayer is “communication with our God,” the Trinity of divine persons who love us completely and unconditionally. We can hardly claim to be a Christian without having a practice of daily prayer wherein we communicate heart to heart with God, in whatever manner nourishes and encourages us. It could be silent reflection, the community prayer of Mass, spiritual reading, prayer walking, prayer groups, meditative song or rosary / chant, prayer of the imagination, music, art…the ways we pray are as numerous as there are Christians. Without prayer, we cannot connect to God; and our souls will wither and die within. Prayer is the most basic of self-care routines. It builds the foundation upon which the rest of our life is built.

This leads to my second suggestion: service to others. Prayer, both personal and communal (such as the Mass) nourishes and guides us for a purpose – to be a power for good in the world, to be the hands and feet, heart and voice of God in a world which, as we daily see and hear, is in desperate need of God’s love and care. What does this service look like? Well, first and foremost is our “service” to our family and our job, as we fulfill the daily duties of our primary vocation, be it as a married person, a single person, or a vowed religious person. Beyond these primary responsibilities, I’d say the sky’s the limit on what individuals might do to serve others.

We don’t have to look far to notice “needs.” They are in our neighborhood, our section of the city, our country, all around our world. A practical starting point is, what’s needed right now, within our own families and the circumstances of our own daily lives? Ask yourself, what needs do I see? What gifts can I offer?

Here’s an example from my life. Some folks in our neighborhood have joined together to provide food every Sunday afternoon, under the nearby freeway, for anyone who comes. About four years ago, some of the neighbors noticed folks living outside, including under the freeway, and decided to cook a hot meal which they served on folding tables they set up near where folks were camping. They call it the Ravenna Pop-Up Kitchen. During the pandemic, this has become a cold meal, wrapped for take-away. Other small items are offered: socks and underwear, towels, masks, hand sanitizer. In the winter cold, some organizers made hot chocolate and coffee to help warm the folks who came. About 200 people in our neighborhood are part of the email info thread. Between providing the food and distributing it on site, a dozen people directly participate each week. Folks help when they can and donate food and other items.

It involves planning and coordination. It’s a commitment, particularly for the group leaders, who will pick up the slack when other volunteers are lacking. But the group has provided a Sunday meal faithfully for more than 4 years and counting.

The group serves about 25 – 35 meals each week and is so appreciated by the folks that come. Several people come every week and even hang around for a visit while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. Robert and I, plus our daughter Mary, volunteer 1 – 2 times a month to prepare some food, set up tables, or distribute the meals on-site.

Our efforts seem very much like Chicken Little’s effort to prop up the sky with her tiny legs. Homelessness and hunger are such HUGE problems in Seattle. What can a few people possibly do that will make any difference? We can’t do everything! But, on the other hand, if each of us does what we CAN do, things can get better. We spread the Good News.

One more parable: A little boy walked along the seashore picking up starfish stranded on the sand and tossing them gently back into the water. An old man watching him said, “You can’t possibly return all the starfish to the sea. Why do you even try? What difference can you make?”

As the boy carefully put another starfish into the ocean, he responded, “Well, I make a difference to this one!”

One does what one can!  You and I can be the hands and heart of Jesus in the world. Even if in a small way, we can bring the grace and blessing of the Holy Spirit to each person we meet.

 

By Lori Fontana

Back in our college days, our parish pastor told us a parable. Chicken Little lay on her back in the road, her spindly little legs sticking straight up towards the sky. Noble Knight, clothed in shining armor, with his lance and shield gleaming in the sunlight, came riding by on his huge steed. He stopped next to Chicken Little, bending over to speak to her.

“Why lie-est thus in the dust, little chick?” questioned the Knight.

Chicken Little responded, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling!”

“And thou think-est thou can help thusly – by holding thy measly little chicken legs in the air?!?” scoffed the Knight.

“One does what one can,” the chick replied confidently.

In these crazy days of horrific gun violence, deep discord and mistrust, runaway inflation with gas at $6 a gallon and sky-high grocery and housing prices; a war in Ukraine; strife in our neighborhoods; hunger, danger, the pandemic – YIKES! How are we supposed to manage, to cope? How do we as Christians not just survive but thrive? How do we claim the JOY of God’s love, which we know is at the very core of our existence and is also present in every human being and in all of creation?

Day-to-day routines will look different in the life of each person of faith; but I offer two suggestions to buoy and sustain our Christian walk: prayer and service.

Prayer is, of course, a no-brainer. Prayer is “communication with our God,” the Trinity of divine persons who love us completely and unconditionally. We can hardly claim to be a Christian without having a practice of daily prayer wherein we communicate heart to heart with God, in whatever manner nourishes and encourages us. It could be silent reflection, the community prayer of Mass, spiritual reading, prayer walking, prayer groups, meditative song or rosary / chant, prayer of the imagination, music, art…the ways we pray are as numerous as there are Christians. Without prayer, we cannot connect to God; and our souls will wither and die within. Prayer is the most basic of self-care routines. It builds the foundation upon which the rest of our life is built.

This leads to my second suggestion: service to others. Prayer, both personal and communal (such as the Mass) nourishes and guides us for a purpose – to be a power for good in the world, to be the hands and feet, heart and voice of God in a world which, as we daily see and hear, is in desperate need of God’s love and care. What does this service look like? Well, first and foremost is our “service” to our family and our job, as we fulfill the daily duties of our primary vocation, be it as a married person, a single person, or a vowed religious person. Beyond these primary responsibilities, I’d say the sky’s the limit on what individuals might do to serve others.

We don’t have to look far to notice “needs.” They are in our neighborhood, our section of the city, our country, all around our world. A practical starting point is, what’s needed right now, within our own families and the circumstances of our own daily lives? Ask yourself, what needs do I see? What gifts can I offer?

Here’s an example from my life. Some folks in our neighborhood have joined together to provide food every Sunday afternoon, under the nearby freeway, for anyone who comes. About four years ago, some of the neighbors noticed folks living outside, including under the freeway, and decided to cook a hot meal which they served on folding tables they set up near where folks were camping. They call it the Ravenna Pop-Up Kitchen. During the pandemic, this has become a cold meal, wrapped for take-away. Other small items are offered: socks and underwear, towels, masks, hand sanitizer. In the winter cold, some organizers made hot chocolate and coffee to help warm the folks who came. About 200 people in our neighborhood are part of the email info thread. Between providing the food and distributing it on site, a dozen people directly participate each week. Folks help when they can and donate food and other items.

It involves planning and coordination. It’s a commitment, particularly for the group leaders, who will pick up the slack when other volunteers are lacking. But the group has provided a Sunday meal faithfully for more than 4 years and counting.

The group serves about 25 – 35 meals each week and is so appreciated by the folks that come. Several people come every week and even hang around for a visit while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. Robert and I, plus our daughter Mary, volunteer 1 – 2 times a month to prepare some food, set up tables, or distribute the meals on-site.

Our efforts seem very much like Chicken Little’s effort to prop up the sky with her tiny legs. Homelessness and hunger are such HUGE problems in Seattle. What can a few people possibly do that will make any difference? We can’t do everything! But, on the other hand, if each of us does what we CAN do, things can get better. We spread the Good News.

One more parable:

A little boy walked along the seashore picking up starfish stranded on the sand and tossing them gently back into the water. An old man watching him said, “You can’t possibly return all the starfish to the sea. Why do you even try? What difference can you make?”

As the boy carefully put another starfish into the ocean, he responded, “Well, I make a difference to this one!”

One does what one can!  You and I can be the hands and heart of Jesus in the world. Even if in a small way, we can bring the grace and blessing of the Holy Spirit to each person we meet.

 

By Robert Fontana

What a year of sorrow!  The pandemic continues, war in the Ukraine, mass shootings at supermarkets and grade schools, divisions in the country, and the daily pains and sorrows of life.  And still Paul writes:

“What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?…No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,^* nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:35-38

We can find joy, hope, and purpose in this world filled with so much sin, corruption, and sorrow through an intimate relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit!  Lori and I pray to the Holy Spirit every day to help us be alert to how we can be a power for good within the circumstances of our lives.  Here is our Holy Spirit prayer:

Holy Spirit, be in my head and in my heart.  Be in my eyes and in my looking.  Be in my mouth and in my speaking.  Be in my ears and in my hearing.  Be in my hands and in my working this day and always!

Here’s a link to a wonderful article on the Holy Spirit: https://thevalueofsparrows.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/holy-spirit-how-to-envision-the-spirit-by-elizabeth-a-johnson/

If you are suffering through any of these horrors or others that are painful and frightening, you might think that Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and Easter are not meant for you. You are living your Garden of Gethsemane, your Good Friday…and resurrected life and spirit-filled existence are a distant dream. But you would be mistaken! Because Easter and Pentecost happened over 2,000 years ago at a time quite similar to ours. Ordinary Jews, women and men of faith and their children, encountered the risen Jesus amid the terrors of Roman rule, the corruption of the religious elite and the wealthy, the ravages of disease and sickness, and the daily grind of work and struggle to make ends meet.

The Risen Jesus did not transform their circumstances, but he did change their hearts, helping them to live with hope in the midst of evil, corruption, sickness, and the demands of daily life. The Risen Jesus empowered them to make a  difference within the circumstances of their lives, to be a power for good! The risen Jesus can do the same for you and me. This month we share with you the Stations of the Resurrection, a spiritual exercise designed to help you meet the risen Jesus as the did disciples. May Jesus reveal to you how deeply you are loved by God, and how you, too, can be a power for good within the circumstances of your life, however difficult those circumstances might be.

Easter JOY!       

Robert & Lori

Stations of the Resurrection

Introduction:  We walk the “Stations of the Resurrection” to remind us that Jesus, the Risen One, who revealed Himself to the disciples over two thousand years ago, is seeking to encounter us now within the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of our lives.  Jesus will show Himself to any heart that will welcome Him, even a heart filled with doubt.

Station 1: Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

Joseph of Arimathea…went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus…he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid. Mk 15:43-47

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

St. Therese, the Little Flower

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind, and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils. Then they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.  But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord   Jesus.       Luke 23:55-24:3

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  O living flame of love that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest center… How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart, where in secret you dwell alone; and in your sweet breathing, filled with good and glory, how tenderly you swell my heart with love. St. John of the Cross

Station 3: Peter and the Empty Tomb

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.  But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.  Luke 23:10-12

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be…May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.  May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.  Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of you.             St Teresa of Avila

Station 4: Mary Magdalen and the Gardener

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping… she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was   Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”  She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary!”  She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” …Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord…”  John 20:11-16

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints: For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them.  It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to perservere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurable love which our Lord in his goodness has for us.   

St. Julian of Norwich

Station 5: The Road to Emmaus

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 …two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus…Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you          discussing as you walk along?” …One of them, named Cleopas, said to him…, “Are you the only visitor to  Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?…The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene… how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him…Some women from our group…were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.”  Luke 24:13-24

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  God commands us to love Him, not as much as He deserves, because He knows our capabilities and therefore He does not ask us to do what we cannot do.  But He asks us to love Him according to our strength, with all our soul, all our mind, and all our heart.    St. Padre Pio

Station 6:  Breaking of the Bread

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 [Jesus] said to them, “…Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his   glory?” …As they approached the village to which they were going…they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.  And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.  With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.   Luke 24:25-32

 Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

 From the Saints:  Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, thou Light of men [and women], from the best bliss that earth imparts we turn unfilled to Thee again. We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread, and long to feast upon Thee still: We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, and thirst our souls from Thee to fill. O Jesus, ever with us stay, make all our moments calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away, shed o’er the world Thy holy light.  

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 Station 7: Hearts Burning Within

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts  burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”  So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”

Luke 24:32-34

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  Jesus is my God.  Jesus is my Spouse.  Jesus is my Life.  Jesus is my only Love.  Jesus is my All in All.  Jesus is my Everything.  Jesus, I love with my whole heart, with my whole being.  I have given Him all, even my sins and He has espoused me to Himself in tenderness and love.  Now and for life I am the Spouse of my Crucified Spouse.       Mother Teresa

Station 8: The Locked Room

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.”       John 20:19-22

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.  So that you too may feel what His friends feel as they taste the hidden sweetness which God Himself has reserved from the beginning for those who love Him.      St. Clare of Assisi

 Station 9: Doubting Thomas

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

Thomas, called Didymus,…was not with them when Jesus came…he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  Now a week later his disciples were again  inside and Thomas was with them.  Jesus came,  although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”  John 20:24-28

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Station 10: The Beloved Disciple

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.”  So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”    John 21:1-7

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  Love transforms one into what one loves…To join two things   together there must be nothing between them or there cannot be a perfect fusion. Now realize that this is how God wants our soul to be, without any selfish love of ourselves or of  others in between, just as God loves us without anything in between.

St. Catherine of Siena

Station 11: Paul Meets Jesus

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 …For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it… when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles…

Gal 1: 11-16

 Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the Saints:  My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.   Thomas Merton

 

Station 12:  Peter, do you love me?

 L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” …He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” …He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Station 13:  500 Disciples See Jesus

L – We adore you, O Christ, and we love you.

All – Because by your death and resurrection you have set us free.

 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ…was raised on the third day in   accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.      1 Cor 15:3-9

Response:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

/a>From the Saints:  Our Lord very humbly revealed words to me…you will not be overcome…and these words:  “you will not be overcome” were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come.  He did not say: you will not be troubled, you will not be labored, you will not be disquieted; but he said, you will not be overcome.  God wants us to pay attention to these words, and always to be strong in faithful trust, in well-being and in woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and all will be well… God, of your goodness give me   yourself, for you are enough for me.         St. Julian of Norwich

 Closing Prayer

 Antiphon:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Oh, good and loving God, Father of Jesus, give us the gift of faith that we might welcome the risen Jesus into our hearts.

Antiphon:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jesus, beloved Son, crucified and risen, draw us into the Father’s love.

Antiphon:  Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Holy Spirit, living flame of love, empower us to bring the love of God to all we meet especially those who are poor and spiritually abandoned in any way.

All:  We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.        Dorothy Day

Glory be to the Father…

_________________

photo of Ukraine child ©palinchak/123RF.COM

 

By Robert Fontana

As Passover approaches, Jesus knows that the triumph and success of his entry into Jerusalem and the prophetic cleansing of the temple are fragile gains.  He is teaching in the temple every day, but all is not well.  The people are listening to him, but the religious leaders are not. He correctly surmises that they are looking for an opportunity to kill him (Mark 11:18) just like prophets in the past had been hunted down, imprisoned, and killed.

In fact, from the moment he decided to go to Jerusalem, Jesus knew his probable fate:

“He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” (Mark 8:31)

But it is not only the response of the religious leaders which worries Jesus; there is dissension among the Twelve. Judas is disenchanted. A few days earlier, while all were having dinner at the home of Lazarus, Lazarus’ sister Mary had anointed Jesus with a costly perfume. Judas outwardly rebuked Mary for this waste, but the real target of the attack was Jesus. How could he have allowed Mary to do such a thing? (John 12:1-8)

Judas is growing disillusioned, and Jesus knows it. It may be that Judas was greatly disappointed that Jesus did not claim his kingship after the heady days of his entry into Jerusalem and establishing himself in the temple. We know that the mother of James and John wanted her sons to sit at Jesus’ left and right in the coming kingdom. We also know that after the “Last Supper,” an argument broke out among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. (Luke 22:24-28) And even after Jesus died and had risen from the dead, some of his disciples asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) Was Judas sorely disappointed that Jesus did not turn out to be the Messiah that he was hoping for?

Jesus does not want to die. That is clear from Mark’s account of the passion. In fact, judging from Jesus’ plea to God in Gethsemane, he is clearly asking for the proverbial miracle at the last moment to save him from his fate:

“Abba, Father,^* all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” Mark 14:36

John 12:27 seems to echo this sentiment: “I am troubled^* now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.”

But it was not to be. Judas is bitter. He agrees to lead the temple guards to the garden, away from the crowds, where Jesus is gathering with the Twelve. When Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, Jesus is arrested, and the apostles are stunned and flee for their lives.

Though Jesus had often warned them that suffering and death would be his lot in Jerusalem, the Scriptures show clearly that the disciples were totally unprepared for Jesus’ Passion. We must assume that Mary, too, is caught unaware. She and the others had thought that all the ingredients were in place for a peaceful revolution by Jesus and his followers. They must have told one another, “If the high priests and scribes would just join in, the people are ready to make Jesus their king.” (John 6:15) No one anticipates Judas’ actions.

So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now [none] of those reclining at table realized why he had said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or, “Give something to the poor.” (John 13:27-29)

Events move quickly. The next day Jesus is beaten, judged a blasphemer, and handed over to the Romans to be crucified. Not all of his disciples flee. Mary, his mother, the unnamed male “disciple that Jesus loved,” Mary’s sister, Mary Magdalene, and some of the other women follow the events closely. They are aghast at what is unfolding. Jesus is accused of being a revolutionary plotting to overthrow the Romans. He is sentenced to death, tortured, and executed in the normal way for enemies of the state: crucifixion.

What anguish and torment Mary suffers as she follows the events from Jerusalem to Calvary! She is not present in any of the gospels along the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrow that Jesus walked carrying his cross. Popular devotion has placed her there in the Stations of the Cross, and rightly so, for she does follow her Messiah-Son, horrified about what the religious leaders and the crowds are saying about him; horrified at his condemnation; horrified at his tortured body; and utterly devastated as she gazes at his dying body hanging from the cross.

By Lori and Robert Fontana

Many of you may recall that about three years ago we asked you to sign a petition to the Archbishop of Seattle supporting our request that he vindicate the work that I did in the Diocese of Yakima in exposing the cover up of clergy sexual abuse by diocesan leaders.  Since I first became aware of diocesan cover-up and opposed it in September, 2004, up to the present, I have been vilified and retaliated against by church leaders from the Diocese of Yakima.  Not only was I banned from teaching at any Catholic institution in the diocese, but diocesan leaders also interfered with my working in other dioceses.

Pope Francis published a document in 2019 stating that whistle-blowers must be protected, and that Archbishops were responsible for investigating local bishops.  On the strength of that new policy, and the continued interference in our work from Yakima officials, we decided to write the Archbishop of Seattle, Paul Etienne, to intervene.  He initiated an investigation led by an attorney/investigator from out-of-state who would be an independent investigator.  The investigator completed his work in the Fall of 2020.  His report is sitting on the desk of an unnamed Vatican official.  The “wheels of justice” turn slowly in Rome.  Remember, after the Lutheran Reformation, it took 500 years for the Vatican to allow the Mass to be celebrated in the local vernacular instead of in Latin.

Recently, Lori and I made a short retreat.  In our reflection, the Holy Spirit placed it on our hearts to be more intentional about surrendering this issue to God in prayer.  To that end we wrote the following prayer, and we are inviting friends and CLM benefactors and sponsors to pray it with us.  Our hope is to pray the prayer as a Novena in the nine days leading up to the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19, March 11 – 19.

Good and gracious God, Father of Jesus, and our Father,

We need your help.  Over three years ago we petitioned the Archbishop of Seattle to vindicate the work that Robert did in the Diocese of Yakima to expose the cover-up of clergy sex abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by diocesan leaders.  The case has been investigated and the information gathered has been sent to a Vatican office where it now sits awaiting review and a decision.

Our God, we surrender this entire process to you.  We are confident that our appeal is just.  If clergy and lay employees of the Catholic Church are too fearful of retaliation to speak out about suspected abuse of a child, youth, or vulnerable adult, or about abuse cover-up by church leaders, then no child, youth, or vulnerable adult is safe.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon the Vatican officials who are reviewing the documents of this case.  Help them to look at the material through the eyes of the thousands of victims who have prayed that someone would stand up for them, protect them, and advocate for them, but no one did.  Give our church leadership the wisdom and courage to do what is right to make our church a safe place.

We entrust this prayer to you, Holy Abba, through your Beloved Son, Jesus who told his disciples to ““Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Mt 19:14

By Robert Fontana

Catholicism does not have a long history of supporting democracy as a national government.  The Catholic preference for centuries was a Catholic king who would support Catholic life throughout the country.  If a Catholic king was not possible, popes and bishops worked with whatever dictator or monarch would allow the Catholic Church to function with as little government interference as possible.  This practice came crashing down on the Church and the world with the agreements (concordats) popes signed with Italy’s Benito Mussolini in 1922, and with Germany’s Adolf Hitler in 1933.

Initially, the Catholic Church benefited from these agreements.  In Italy, Mussolini recognized the Vatican as a sovereign state, Catholicism was re-instated as the national religion, and clergy salaries were subsidized by the government.  In Germany, Hitler recognized the Pope’s authority to appoint bishops.  He also agreed to have the state financially support Catholic schools and provide for religious education of students in state schools.

What did the Fascists and Nazis receive in return?  They got exactly what they wanted: international legitimacy.  Also, in Germany, bishops made a loyalty oath to the Reich, and Catholic social organizations agreed to refrain from political activism and do only charitable work.  In time, because of the increasingly oppressive policies of the Italian and German governments, this arrangement diminished Catholicism’s impact in civil society.  Catholic leaders exacerbated the situation by being too narrowly focused on their own institutional functions: Catholic sacramental and liturgical life, seminary education, support of the clergy, and support of religious education of children.  They paid little attention to broader social issues, especially the growing state-sponsored violence against Jews and other minorities, aggressive preparations for war, and the barrage of propaganda produced to legitimize both.  During this time, human rights, social justice, and the dignity and rights of all groups of people were not the focus of Catholic thinking.

The bishops of the Second Vatican Council recognized this failure and, in a dramatic and revolutionary move, redirected the course of Catholic theology and pastoral behavior.  For the first time in its history, the bishops of the Church recognized religious freedom as a fundamental right.  They also committed the followers of Christ to full and active participation in the problems of the human family:  The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men.” (Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Art 1)

At the end of the 19^th-and beginning of the 20^th-centuries, the Vatican considered the United States an enemy of religion (see Americanism and Syllabus of Errors in Wikipedia).  Today, however, the Vatican views the United States as a model of how religious communities, such as Christians, Muslims, and Jews, can co-exist in a pluralistic society without government interference.  Each religious community can rise or fall on its own merits within a democratic government that protects the religious freedom of all.  Therefore, what is essential to protecting religious freedom is protecting the democratic government that makes religious freedom possible.

Religious freedom is under threat in the United States today because democracy itself is under assault.  Recently, some Catholic leaders have contradicted Catholic teaching by declaring it a mortal sin to vote for a specific candidate or anyone in that candidate’s political party.  Many of these same Catholic leaders have remained silent during the maelstrom of controversy around the validity of the election itself and the attack on the United States Capitol building.

Since the attack on the US capital, many leaders of the Republican party have continued to undermine the democratic process by repeating what has been described as “the big lie:” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.  This continues even though 60 lower court decisions, three supreme court decisions, and the-then US Attorney General, Bill Barr, a Catholic, concluded that the election of 2020 was free and fair.

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”  (Inspiringquotes.us)

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, lying is defined as a sin, and the gravity of a lie is measured by the “truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims.”  It follows that a lie that “does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity” is a mortal sin (Art 2484).  The “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen does such “grave injury” because it greatly undermines “justice and charity,” thereby eroding trust in democracy.  Catholic bishops, clergy, and lay leaders must condemn this lie and definitively speak out the truth.

Saving democracy is a Catholic imperative.  Our democratic society is the best hope for religious practice and freedoms.  Safeguarding our democracy requires condemnation of the “big lie” and a clear statement of the truth.  Only thus can we preserve what Winston Churchill called “the worst form of government except for all those other forms”: democracy.[i] 

[i] Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’ https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government/