Love Thy Neighbor on Staten Island

The following is a letter I wrote for this Sunday's parish bulletin.

Dear brothers and sisters, 

Last Sunday afternoon I was walking down Victory Boulevard toward Jersey Street. As I passed the mosque, a 5-passenger truck was leaving the parking lot and a man got out to close the gate after the truck. He smiled at me and asked, “Do you want a ride?” “I’m not going very far,” I said. “We’ll take you.” So I said thanks and climbed into the truck. I should mention at this point that I was wearing my habit at the time. 

I told him I was heading to the rally being held to protest against the Jersey Street sanitation truck garage in that mostly residential neighborhood. “Yes, that’s where we are going too,” he said, and introduced himself as Ferid Bedrolli, imam of the mosque. I introduced myself and told him that I was planning to stop by the mosque sometime to introduce myself more formally. He said to come any time.Offering me that ride was a small act of kindness, but it meant a lot to me. It was a small act of kindness from someone not originally from my country nor of my religion. 

Project Hospitality and the clergy group of Staten Island have picked this Sunday as “Love Thy Neighbor Sunday.” This is in response to the crimes of violence committed against members of minority communities here on Staten Island over the past few months. At this early stage of my time as pastor of OLGC, I am concentrating on getting to know the parish and you, the parishioners and limiting my activity outside the parish to only a few things. But preaching about love of neighbor is part of my job description, can be done right here, and most importantly of all, is Gospel teaching that we need to be aware of every day. No one in this congregation is guilty of violence against members of minority communities, I’m sure.   But it is important for us as followers of Jesus Christ to see all people as He sees them, and not to let stereotypes and preconceived notions dictate how we think and feel about them and interact with them. 

Let us ask Jesus for the grace to be able to do that.

Peace

Fr. Liam 

Jerusalem and the Altar in Our Church - part two

Here is an article I wrote today for next Sunday's Bulletin

Two weeks ago in part one in this series about our altar, I mentioned that the renowned the Belgian artist, Benoît Gilsoul, who designed the sacred art in our church, chose “Jerusalem” to be the theme of the design of the whole church, but especially that of the altar.   In the first article I wrote about Jacob’s ladder, the twelve gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and the dove representing the Holy Spirit who came down upon the apostles in the earthly Jerusalem, from where they spread the Gospel to the entire world.

On the front of the altar there is a very small cross, just left of center, close to the top of the altar.  It is set off from the rest of the concrete surface by gold- and black-colored tiles.  It is a very humble cross.  It actually serves two purposes:

Firstly, it is part of a set.  If you look at the two sides of the altar two other symbols, also set off from the concrete in tile: a heart on the left side and an anchor on the right.  Traditionally, these three symbols have represented the three theological virtues, Faith (the cross), Hope (the anchor) and Love (the heart).  St. Paul mentions the three of these virtues together a number of times, especially in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 where he writes: “As it is, these remain: faith, hope, and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.”

Secondly, this small, humble cross says something about the altar itself.   One thing I like about our church is that there are very few crosses in it.  That might seem to some a strange thing for a priest to say.  Aside from this small, humble cross, we have the main cross that hangs behind and above the main altar, and the processional cross.  The only other crosses for the most part are the ones that are part of the Stations of the Cross (I’ll probably write about them during Lent).  This is a good thing.  I once lived in a large friary where in some rooms there were six or eight crosses in the design of every lighting fixture in the ceiling, and there were lots of fixtures.  There were little crosses everywhere!  I’m sure the architects thought they were doing a good thing, but by multiplying the crosses and making them the relentlessly repeated theme of the décor, they were in effect watering down the meaning of the cross.

In a very real way, one can say that every altar IS the cross.  Even though it is the words of Jesus at the Last Supper that the priest repeats at every Mass, what happens is that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross becomes present on our altar.  Jesus does not die again.  Though we are standing around our altar in 2010, in a very real way we are also standing at the foot of the cross on that first Good Friday, outside the walls of Jerusalem, at the side of Mary and the Beloved Disciple.  

Father Henry J. Eagan, OSA ends his article about the altar with these words:
“Lastly, the corners of the Altar, from the floor level to the top, are to suggest a certain feeling. The lower part is rough, involved; the upper part near the tabletop, smooth, and peaceful. The lower part suggests the conflict, the struggle of man in the world; but as he approaches the Eucharist, on the top of the Altar, he finds peace, control and order.”

I would love to know how Gilsoul and his people crafted this altar.  It seems as if they poured the concrete into a cast, probably on site, but we don’t know.  Father Jim and I have been speculating.  Does anyone in the parish remember?  As Father Eagan writes, the upper parts, especially the top surface, are remarkably smooth and do communicate a kind of peaceful, solid, stable and settled feeling.  Please feel free to approach the altar and with due reverence examine it more closely sometime.  And if you have young children, please bring them up and teach them about the symbols explained in these two articles.

Jerusalem and the Altar in Our Church - part one

Here is an article I wrote today for next Sunday's Bulletin

Until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, there was only one altar in all of Judaism.  That was in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Synagogues do not have altars.  Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), all new Catholic churches have only one altar.  Most churches built before that usually have one main altar and two or even more smaller altars.  Our church was one of the first to be built after the council, and it has a beautiful altar!  It is the focal point of our whole church.  The renowned Belgian artist, Benoît Gilsoul (1914-2000), designed most of the religious art inside our church including the altar. 

Many of you probably have seen the booklet written by Fr. Henry Eagan, OSA describing the art in our church.  He tells us that Gilsoul chose “Jerusalem” to be the theme of the altar.  This is extremely appropriate.  For us Catholics, the altar is both altar of sacrifice, inextricably bound to the cross of Jesus Christ, as well of banquet table.  On our altars the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (just outside of Jerusalem) becomes present in our midst.   Let’s look at some of the symbolism. 

First, left of center we have Jacob’s ladder.  Jacob dreamed of this ladder, with angels ascending and descending to and from Heaven, at a place called Bethel (Gen. 28:12).  St. Jerome places Bethel (“House of God”) about 12 miles north of Jerusalem, but some Jewish commentaries place it at Mount Moriah, the site where Jerusalem and the Temple were later to be built.   Jacob’s dream can be interpreted to mean that this is to be a place where God and humankind commune with each other.  In the Gospel of John 1:51 there is clear reference to Jacob's dream pointing to Jesus who is referred to with his title of Son of Man: "Amen amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."  Indeed the altar is the place where we commune with God in and through Jesus, our Lord. 

Then, right of center we see the dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit descended upon the disciples and Mary in the Upper Room, in Jerusalem, on Pentecost.  The seven round seeds seen close to the head of the dove express the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples went out from Jerusalem to witness to Jesus and to the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).   

Why are there holes in our altar?  Those are not holes.  They are gates!  The Book of Revelation chapter 21 describes the New Jerusalem that will come in the Messianic Age (when Jesus comes again) as being surrounded by walls made of precious stone.  The walls have 12 gates.  Our altar has 12 gates.  There are 6 on the front (the smallest is easy to miss – it’s at the base of the wing of the dove) and 3 on each side panel. 

Please take a closer look at the altar to see these symbols.  I’ll be writing more about the altar in a short while.   

The following is a letter I wrote last evening to be published in next Sunday's church bulletin.

Dear Parishioners,

As I write this letter on Tuesday evening I have spent only a little over 33 hours as your pastor.  But I am very grateful to have been able to spend many hours here spread over the past 6 weeks.  Early in July I visited for 5 days to meet with Father John, members of the staff and some of the parishioners.  I was here for a few days before and after Joe Murray’s first profession Mass, then went on retreat in Suffern, NY, and arrived back here last Friday.  I met many of you at Father John’s farewell Mass and reception.  All of you have received me very warmly.  Thank you! 

Father John has a true pastor’s heart for you, the people of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish.  It comes through in so many ways!  The most obvious is the warmth and affection that flows between you all and him, back and forth.   Back in June, from the beginning of our conversations about this transition, John said more than once that he wanted to do everything he could to make this a smooth handoff.  I know that this is partly because of his concern for me, a fellow Augustinian friar, but also largely because of his great love for his flock, and his desire to make this transition go as smoothly and painlessly as he can for all of you.  You all know that Father John has exceptional organizational skills and pays remarkable attention to detail.  He has organized packets of informative materials having to do with all facets of the pastoral and administrative activities of the parish. Besides reserving large blocks of time to sit and explain these things to me, he has written many pages of notes to convey the more important points.  Often in recent years when a new pastor replaces a previous one, this kind of overlap is not possible.  Sometimes the two pastors never get to meet in person.  In one case I heard about, the new pastor arrived at the rectory and the parish secretary handed him an envelope from the previous pastor containing some keys and a note saying “Good luck!” 

So I consider myself extremely fortunate to be following Father John in this work as your pastor.  Both you and I owe him an immense debt of gratitude.   

When first I was informed about my appointment as pastor here, I was apprehensive.  For many reasons.  It has been a long time since I last was a pastor.  It was a much smaller parish in a nation far away from America.  But God gives us the grace to do the job he calls us to do.  As Augustinian friars, our community life, centered on supporting each other in our relationship with the Lord, is the sustaining basis for our ministry.  I am extremely pleased to be teamed with Fr. Jorge Luis Cleto and Fr. Jim Cassidy as my brothers in the friary and as co-workers in the parish.  Please pray for us, that we might grow into a community that St. Augustine would be proud of, and that we might serve all of you in the wider parish community in a way worthy of Jesus Christ our High Priest. 

And we three Augustinians will of course pray for all of you, our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Sincerely,

Father Liam 

August 8 – August 13 (Sun to Fri) – Annual Retreat

a group of happy friars

This year I really wanted to make a retreat centered on the teachings of St. Augustine and the traditions of the Augustinian Order.  I was not able to find any in the usual venues, but I found out about one being offered at Tagaste Monastery in Suffern, NY during the second week in August.  Father John Melnick, of the Society of St. Augustine in Kansas City, mentioned it to me.  John is someone I got to know through some Augustinian friends on Facebook.  So here I am.  I’m writing this on Wednesday of the retreat and I am very glad that I have had this opportunity.  Father John Oldfield has given some wonderful talks, as has Father John Gruben.  Father Ramón Gaitán, prior of the monastery, has been our coordinator for this retreat and every evening he leads us in shared reflection on the two talks of each day.  Tagaste is a monastery of the Order of Augustinian Recollects.  The Recollects started as a reform movement within the Order of St. Augustine (my order) in 1588 and became an independent canonical entity in 1912.  The Society of St. Augustine is a younger congregation that has roots in both orders.  This has been a wonderful opportunity to pray with the friars in this community (the first time I have prayed the complete Liturgy of the Hours in choir since my novitiate), learn more about Augustine’s teachings, and to be exposed to Augustinian monastic tradition from a slightly different point of view.  It has been very enriching. 

The retreat has involved some tremendous moments of grace and healing.  It is wonderful to see God at work in the people around you. 

This time of prayer and reflection is a wonderful immediate spiritual preparation for my new job, which I’m sure will become very hectic on Monday the 16^th, my first day. 

August 4 – 8  Transition begins. 

August 4 (Wednesday) – Leo Falardeau’s moving crew came over from Lowell to load my stuff onto their truck.  This is the 3^rd time in as many summers that Falardeau and Sons have moved me to a new address.  They drove my stuff down to Our Lady of Good Council Friary on Staten Island and then loaded Father John DelloRusso’s stuff on the truck and drove it back up to Lawrence. 

August 5 (Thursday) – With Jeoffry aboard I drove down to Our Lady of Good Council Friary.  As after the last two moves, she will probably spend the first month or so under the bed.  In the evening she comes out and sniffs around my two rooms.  The first night she even put her head out into the corridor and the second night went over the landing in the stairwell and looked down the steps before skittering back under the bed.  I spent Friday and most of Saturday unpacking.

August 7 (Saturday) – Today at the 5:00 PM Mass Joe Murray professed his first vows in the Order of Saint Augustine.  This was the first time I had been to a First Profession ceremony in a very long time.  It did me a lot of good to see Joe do this in front of all of us, Augustinians and other members of the gathered congregation.  It brought back memories of my own first vows ceremony in September of 1968, over 40 years ago, and helped me to frame more precisely what that means in my own life. 

July 11 – 15  Pastors for a New Millennium: A Toolbox for Parochial Management

This workshop was held at the Redemptorist Retreat House in Long Branch, NJ., right on the beach.  I am so glad that I went!  The workshop is held in collaboration with Seton Hall University and the National Leadership Roundtable for Church Management.  The latter group trains pastors and church leaders in parish management and leadership “best practice” skills adapted from non-profits and other businesses.  Each speaker spoke on such topics as administration, finances, personnel management, relationship with the diocese, spirituality, personal well-being, etc.  Speakers were both lay and clergy.  Each one presented useful information and also provided resources that I am sure I will need to access in the future.  Father Paul Holmes of SHU did a wonderful job hosting the program.  An extremely kind man.  I somehow managed to catch a cold during the week and he went out of his way to make sure I was taken care of.  

July 6 – 11  Visit to Our Lady of Good Council Parish

Sanctuary of OLGC Church, SI, NY

Father John DelloRusso set aside most of Wednesday and Thursday (July 7 & 8) from his busy schedule to show me around the parish and introduce me to people.  John is extremely well organized.  He has all the information I need about the parish, school, parish council, archdiocese, facilities, pastoral matters and so many other topics organized into drawers and binders.  He introduced me to all the staff who were available and drove me around the parish, showing me the hospital, nursing homes and other major educational institutions within the parish.  He introduced me to the two priests in charge of the local vicariate, the sister in charge of the local convent school, and of course to many of the parishioners.  Importantly, he arranged a chance for me to meet with a few of the leaders of the parish council.  We had a very worthwhile conversation.  I am looking forward to working with them and with the other members of the council. 

Although it was not part of the original plan, I stayed until the following Sunday (July 11) and celebrated a few of the Masses on Sunday morning.  The people received me very warmly after Mass.  So many people; so many names!

"Pastor...what does that mean for you?"

Paul Z., a man whom I have never met, lives in Ohio.  His brother-in-law is a musician I used to sing with (one of my favorite choral directors).  Paul and I are brother-Christians though of different branches of the Faith.  Our paths cross in cyberspace every once in a while.  We greet each other with a nod or a few words.  


A couple of days ago, reading that I was to become pastor again, this time in the US, he asked me about it: "what does that mean for you?"  This is a question I have been thinking about a lot over the past couple of weeks.  My simple answer at the time was: "I'm approaching it with a mixture of trepidation, anticipation and confidence in the Lord's wisdom, love and power."  Paul's very kind response was, "...we'll pray for his wisdom, love and power...it doesn't get any better than that!"  A very welcome reply!  


All of St. Augustine's wonderful theological works grew out of his life as a bishop (a pastor-in-chief of a regional church [diocese]).  All the things he wrote about being a bishop apply equally to being a pastor.  Augustine talked a lot about the Second Coming of Christ.  Mostly he preached in joyful anticipation of the Lord coming to establish his Kingdom on earth, but sometimes he spoke of the holy fear appropriate to the final judgement.   He said to the people one time (and I'm paraphrasing): "When you stand before Christ, the just judge, you will have to answer only for yourself.  You have responsibility for your own soul, but so do I as your bishop.  Therefore, when I stand before the judgement seat, I will have to answer for myself and for you."  Already I feel that responsibility; I know that I have to prepare myself well, work hard, and rely on God's grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  I know that like Augustine, it will be my responsibility to lead wisely, to try to keep the parish community centered on Jesus through liturgy and all kinds of other activities, and to pray for them, to intercede for them as Augustine did for his own congregation.  I have in fact already begun to pray for them.  


In another place, Augustine says (again, my paraphrasing): "What I am with you consoles me; what I am for you terrifies me.  With you I am a Christian.  For you I am a bishop."  


One thing that consoles me a lot is knowing who I have been teamed with.  Jorge Luis has already been ministering in the parish for two years.  He knows and loves the people there.  Jim has a huge treasure-load of experience and knowledge and not only worked in the parish some years ago, but was actually ordained there.  I am very thankful.  And I am acutely aware that having three priests on staff at one parish in the USA in the year 2010 may strike many as being a huge luxury - the vast majority of parishes in the country are by now one-priest parishes, I am nearly certain.  But we are Augustinian friars as well as Catholic priests.  Living together "in harmony in one mind and one heart intent upon God" is the basis for the Rule handed down to us from Augustine - his short set of instructions for those who have come together to live the Gospel of Jesus.  And it is our hope that from this Christ-centered, prayerful fraternity, will grow the spiritual energy we need to serve the wider Christian community of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish.  [The sketch above is an artist's rendering of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church.  I was there once for a First Mass about 35 years ago.]


That's another thing that consoles me.  The parish itself!  I have been told that it is a very vibrant, multi-cultural parish.  I look forward to getting to know them well:  the staff and volunteers who work so hard to make a parish a vibrant community, the children in the school, the man and woman in the pew who come to Mass with hearts wanting to worship, yearning to belong, desiring to be healed, and as much as possible those who because of poor health or old age cannot leave their homes.  
The Augustinians have been walking with this community since 1898.  I'm looking forward to being part of that community and serving them as best I/we can.  I know that they will be teaching me and my fellow friars about walking with Jesus through the way they live the Gospels.  


Another consolation is knowing that I have the opportunity to attend a 5-day workshop for new pastors in North Jersey in two weeks.  A lot of it will be centered on the nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day matters that a Catholic pastor has to deal with in coordinating the smooth running of the parish community in cooperation with the regular staff, the generous volunteers, the parishioners, and the other priests on the team.  I'm sure the workshop will help me to access many useful resources.  As I noted elsewhere on this blog, the last time I was pastor it was another country, another century.  So much is different here and now!
I'm also looking forward to meeting with Fr. John DelloRusso, the present pastor, along with many of the staff members next week to learn from them about the parish.  John loves this community and all its members very deeply.  He told me he wants to do all he can to make this a smooth transition.  I value his help so much.  What I learn from him next week will be extremely important for me.  


Add to that the fact that I will be on a retreat based on the teachings of St. Augustine the week before I begin my new assignment.  I signed up for the retreat weeks before I found out about the assignment; the timing could not be better!  


So all of the above is what I mean when I say, "I'm approaching it with a mixture of trepidation, anticipation and confidence in the Lord's wisdom, love and power."


This picture of the Infant Jesus and Mary is dear to all Augustinians.  It is painted on a small panel of plaster and resides in an Augustinian-staffed church in Genazzano, Italy.  How the painting arrived there is a story for another time.  This is a painting of Mary under the title of Our Mother of Good Counsel, patroness of the parish.  Our Mother of Good Counsel is a very popular Marian devotion for many people in many countries.  Especially popular among a number of recent popes!  Popes often pay a prayerful visit to the church where the painting is before making a big decision.  I'm pretty sure that my own devotion to her will only increase in the coming years. 


Please pray for me, the other friars, and for the people of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish.  Pray to Jesus.  Ask Mary and any other saint you may feel close to to intercede with the Lord on our behalf.   




   

Moving on to Staten Island

Last Sunday Padre Jorge made the announcement at all the Masses, so I can tell you now. I will be moving on to Staten Island in August. I am thankful for being assigned here to the Merrimack Valley again after 14 months in western North Carolina. I have enjoyed working with the people of the parish. My Spanish has gotten better but still not anywhere close to perfect. (Jorge accurately made reference to this in his announcement. Something like: He reads his sermons well but still can't really speak the language.) It has afforded me the opportunity to sing with the Andover Choral Society for one more year, bringing the total up to 14 years. The opportunity to celebrate Mass and preach in Japanese again (only every two months for the Boston-area Japanese Catholic Community - I was just getting to know them).

Our new Prior Provincial, Fr. Mickey Genovese, has asked me to be pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Staten Island, NY. I was pastor of a parish before in Nagoya, Japan before. But it was another century, another country. This will be full of new challenges. I report for work on August 16. I am grateful that I will have the opportunity to attend a week-long workshop for new pastors in NJ in mid-July. Last week at Villanova I met informally with two of the other friars I will be living with. I am was pleased to discover that all three of us seem to be on the same page regarding our expectations concerning Augustinian common life.  In two weeks I will go to Staten Island to meet with Fr. John DelloRusso, the outgoing pastor.