Resources for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord

The Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has put together an extensive set of resources for the celebration of the Year of the Eucharist, especially the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ that takes place in the United States on Sunday, May 25, 2008. (In England and Wales, the solemnity takes place on the Thursday after the Most Holy Trinity. The booklet referenced below includes several sections on how to make weekday holy days more significant in the life of the parish.)

You can find all their resources here (you will need Adobe Reader to access some of the materials). Below is an excerpt from their booklet on Celebrating the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

===

The Liturgies of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord
Each of the three elements described below requires, and will repay, careful preparation. The greatest attention should be paid to the preparation of the liturgy of the Mass. A planning sheet is provided at the end of this booklet

I. Liturgy of the Hours
The Offices of the Solemnity are found in the Volume III of the Divine Office. The Offices may be prayed in their own right, but may also be prayed during a time of Exposition. In addition they provide a resource for prayers and readings for other times of prayer.

II. Mass
a) Proper texts
The Proper of the Mass is found on pp 348-9 of the Roman Missal. One of the two Prefaces of the Holy Eucharist should be used (P 46 and P 47, Roman Missal, pp 467-9).

b) Penitential Rite
Themes related to the Solemnity are to the fore in a number of examples of Form C of the Penitential Rite, examples c ii, c vi, c viii (Roman Missal, pp 361-4).

c) Solemn Blessing
Any of the Solemn Blessings I – V for Ordinary Time may be used or of the Prayers over the People 1-24 (Roman Missal, pp 574-5 and 579-83 respectively).

d) Music
Some general notes are offered here. More detailed guidance on music and the Liturgy of the Eucharist may be found in the document Music and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Particular care should be taken on this day with regard to the music used at Mass, and especially during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Priority should be given to singing the key sung elements of the Common of the Mass – the Gospel and Eucharistic Acclamations, and the Gloria. In the Communion Rite best practice should be followed with regard to the Communion Song and the Period of Silence or Song after Communion.

Care should be taken to choose a Communion Song which can begin immediately after the communal recital of ‘Lord, I am not worthy to receive you...’ and continue until all the assembly have received Communion. So as not to encumber the assembly with books or service sheets during the procession the song may be led by a cantor or choir and include a repeated response or refrain from the assembly.

Suitable settings include:
Settings of Psalm 115 (116) (The Blessing Cup)
Settings of Psalm 33 (34) (Taste and See)
Amen, Amen So Shall It Be — Foster
Take and Eat — Joncas
How Blest — Schiavone
Eat This Bread — Taizé
Come Christ’s Beloved — Walsh

Although the Communion Song can be followed by another Song after Communion it may be preferable to allow a time of silence to allow for members of the assembly to offer their prayer of thanksgiving in silence, and to contemplate of the mystery celebrated. (This would be particularly appropriate if a time of extended exposition was to follow after Mass, or if a final hymn was to be sung.) If hymns are being sung then it is better for them to be sung as Entrance or Final Hymns rather than at other times.

III. Procession
A Eucharistic Procession ‘is a prolongation of the celebration of the Eucharist: immediately after Mass, the Sacred Host, consecrated during the Mass, is borne out of the Church for the Christian faithful to make public profession of faith and worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament’ (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 162)

Wherever it is possible in the judgement of the diocesan Bishop, a procession through the public streets should be held, especially on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ as a public witness of reverence for the Most Holy Sacrament, for the devout participation of the faithful in the eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which yearly fills with joy those who take part in it’. (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 143)

The Church’s guidance for such processions is given in the ritual book Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist outside Mass (part of the Roman Ritual).

It will normally begin immediately after the celebration of a Mass. It should normally go from one church to another, but may return to the same church where it began.

a) Music
No particular songs are required to be used during the procession, but suitable ones would include those listed above for use during Communion. Again it is helpful if the songs are sung by a choir with a chant for all participants (as many will be familiar with from the practice in Lourdes). Traditional hymns might most easily be sung at the beginning or end of the procession, when the congregation is stationary.

b) Good order of the procession
As already noted the decision as to whether a public procession may proceed belongs to the Bishop. Matters that he is likely to take into consideration are the likelihood of the procession provoking reactions of disrespect of the Church or blasphemy towards Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament.

When a public procession cannot be held, the tradition of holding eucharistic processions should not be allowed to be lost. Instead, new ways should be sought of holding them in today’s conditions: for example, at shrines, or in public gardens if the civil authority agrees.(Redemptionis Sacramentum, 144)

Well in advance of any planned procession, the appropriate permissions must also be obtained from any necessary civil authorities – for example the local council or police force for processions taking place on public roads. The civil authorities will indicate the necessary health and safety measures that should be observed for the well-being of worshippers and the general public.

Your summer RCIA reading list

Summer is the perfect time to build up your reading library and to update your own formation by reading--and re-reading--some of the essential resources for your ministry.

I am always shocked, but unfortunately not too surprised, to hear that a person preparing a liturgy, or some aspect of it, like the music or sacramental preparation for it, has not read the actual text of the rite they are planning. (Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!)

Reading the rites will actually make your job easier. Yet too many liturgical musicians, catechetical ministers, and even liturgists and clergy have not actually read the RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). If they are working in a typical parish, they will be planning and preparing at least six rites during the year that come directly out of the RCIA. But preparing for these rites without actually reading the Rite out of the actual Rite book is a bit like trying to learn about the Bible without actually opening a Bible.

Now I've been guilty of this too in my younger years. Like many people, I simply pulled out the script that the previous liturgist put together. Or I did what I remembered seeing at a workshop, convention, or institute. Or I did what the pastor said was "the way we have always done it here in this parish." But, at worst, much of what I was doing was actually not what the Rite was calling for. At best, I wasn't understanding the intent of the Rite and therefore couldn't authentically adapt it for that particular assembly.

So your very first book at the top of your RCIA reading list must be the RCIA itself. If you're still not convinced, click here to get six more reasons you must read the RCIA.

And for more essential reading for anyone working with the RCIA and its rites, go here to check out TeamRCIA.com's essential resources for the RCIA. TeamRCIA.com breaks down the list by showing you what's essential for everyone to read, then listing resources for getting started, for teams, sponsors, preachers, ministers working with children, liturgists, and other sacramental preparation coordinators.

Speaking with authority--another take on it.

"Jesus then went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority" (Luke 4:31-32).



[tip to Concord Pastor who tipped The Deacon's Bench.]

Blogito ergo sum

The Vatican Web site has long been available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Well, dust off your Wheelock's textbook because now you can read the Vatican Web pages in Latin.

Scripts and the Pope's Ordo

One of the things I often do is prepare a ritual script for the Bishop or other presiders, especially for more complex liturgies like the Chrism Mass or Rite of Election. It really is an art to put together readable and clearly laid-out scripts for presiders.

I think those who designed the Pope's Ordo (order of rituals) for his recent U.S. visit did a great job. If you haven't seen it yet, click here to see the complete set of scripts (in pdf) that the Pope used throughout his visit here.

Liturgical Coordinators' Gathering - May 6, 2008

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently issued a document on music called "Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship" (pdf). A striking paragraph at the beginning of this comprehensive work says this:

The Paschal hymn...does not cease when a liturgical celebration ends. Christ, whose praises we have sung, remains with us and leads us through church doors to the whole world, with its joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties....Charity, justice, and evangelization are thus the normal consequences of liturgical celebration. Particularly inspired by sung participation, the body of the Word Incarnate goes forth to spread the Gospel with full force and compassion. (8-9)

How do you see charity, justice, and evangelization being the consequences of the liturgies your parish celebrates? How does the music that your assemblies sing help them go through your church doors to continue the Paschal hymn of Christ in the world?

Liturgical Coordinators’ Gathering
“Music and Liturgy that does

Charity, Justice, and Evangelization”
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
10:00a - 12:00p

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Parish Center

17400 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, 95037

Please RSVP with Bernard Nemis
408-983-0126, or online.

You will come away from this meeting with:

• Three ways to judge the appropriateness of music for your assembly;
• Four ways to improve the assembly's sense of ritual music;
• Five strategies for making liturgical singing more just;
• Eight things to do this summer to improve your liturgy by next September;

Bring your ideas, best practices, and questions. If you have any questions about these gatherings, please contact Diana or 408-983-0136.

Musical by Julie Wind and Joanne Culver - May 10, 2008

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Saturday, May 10th

7:30 p.m.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph

A free musical performance. This story brings to life the women of the Gospels, demonstrating the value of women to the ministry of Jesus and how they serve as role models for men and women today. The gifts of these women were not refused by the Lord.

Written by Joanna Culver and Julie Wind.

The Ageless Apostle Paul

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed a Pauline Year in preparation for the 2000th anniversary of the great apostle’s birth. Church historians reckon that St. Paul was born around 10 A.D. in Tarsus, now located in Turkey. Following his conversion to Christianity he became the Church’s foremost evangelizer in spreading the gospel among the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Pauline year will run from June 29, 2008 (feast of Saints Peter and Paul), to June 29, 2009. The purpose is to highlight Paul’s life and his contribution to the spread of Christianity in the first century, and to remind us of our baptismal obligation to spread the Good News.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to pray at the tomb of the great apostle and to honor his missionary legacy, the Holy Father reflected that “The Church is by nature missionary. Its primary task is evangelization. In the third millennium the Church feels with renewed strength that Christ’s missionary mandate is more pressing that ever.”
The Pauline Year invites us to recall the genius and sanctity and zeal of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The Pope encourages us to imitate what he taught, and to renew our missionary spirit.

The perennial power of Paul
How did Saint Paul do it? What did he speak, write, and do to attract so many to Christianity? He was a dynamic evangelizer, the premier Apostle of the Gentiles. Sitting in a pew, or participating in a Bible study circle in the third millennium, it can still be difficult to fathom the meaning he loaded into terms like “flesh,” “spirit,” and “the world.” But, promise biblical scholars like Father Joseph Fitzmyer, a Pauline authority, there is power to be found in Paul’s letters of faith, proclaimed years before the gospels were composed.

What he said yesteryear fits this year
The meaning of Saint Paul’s letters is the same today as they were for his contemporaries. They cannot be different. The 1993 Pontifical Biblical Commission instruction, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, explains the “actualization” of the word of God. It wants to help us understand what the Bible is saying to us today in the third millennium. God did not speak through the inspired writers only for the people for 2000 years ago.
Beginning with what the scripture text meant for its own time, actualization invites us to do three things: hear the text from within one’s own situation, identify the aspects of the present situation underscored by the text, and draw from the text the meaning that guides us to the will of God. Although the biblical texts have been composed in the languages and circumstances of the past, they reveal their message for us today as we apply their message to present-day circumstances and express it in today’s language.

What was Paul telling us?
Paul describes for us the effects of Christ’s redemptive act, what he did for humanity. He comments on the various effects of the redemption as looking at the event from ten different angles. From one angle he explains that Christ justified us – justification; from other angles, he depicts salvation, reconciliation, expiation, redemption, freedom, sanctification, transformation, new creation, and glorification.
Each angle of vision derives from Paul’s Jewish or Hellenistic background and education. He tells us that Jesus Christ justified us, that he made it possible for us to stand before God the judge and hear a verdict of acquittal as one would in a court of law today following a trial. Is there a difference among all these images or facets of the saving act of Jesus? Not really. Christ Jesus did this, and Paul simply uses different images to convey the results.
In examining Paul’s theology, the experts tell us to recast what Paul preached into a form that Paul himself did not use. In this way we attempt to synthesize his teaching.
What Paul proclaimed to his contemporaries, he proclaims to us today.

Paul’s conversion
The Acts of the Apostles gives us three different stories of Paul’s conversion. We find the episode on the road to Damascus in chapter 9, and the others in chapters 22 and 26 recall the incident. But these are Luke’s accounts of Paul.
Only once does Paul write about what happened to him, and this is recorded in Galatians 1. Paul speaks of his call from God. He does not use the word “conversion,” but speaks of his “call.”
Paul is unaware of Luke’s description, and Paul makes no mention of an incident on the road to Damascus. Mainly, Paul recounts his call because he is insisting that he is an apostle, “not from human beings nor through a human being, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead” (Gal 1:1). Some people were denying that Paul is an apostle. Paul insists that he is, and struggled to be recognized on the same level as the twelve apostles.

Paul’s letters preceded the gospels
Paul’s letters have special significance because they were written before the gospels. He gave us an interpretation of Christ before the early Church had recorded the story of Christ. The letters that most scholars agree were written by Paul himself (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Philemon) were written between 51 and 58 A.D. The earliest gospel, Mark, was written about 65 A.D. Our earliest portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth, then, is given us by Paul. For this reason, Paul is the first theologian of the Christian faith.

Paul’s theological vocabulary
In Romans 9:5 Paul talks about the Messiah according to the flesh. Naturally he means his human descent from David as David’s progeny.
Paul also talks about the flesh in opposition to the spirit. He does not mean the Holy Spirit, but the characteristics of the human being that at times he calls the flesh and at other times the spirit. Paul does not work with the Greek or Roman idea of body and soul. He regards the human being as a unit. In referring to the human being as flesh or spirit or mind, he is mentioning different aspects of a composite that he does not separate into parts.
When Paul refers to the human being as flesh, he means humanity’s earth-oriented tendencies. When he talks about the human spirit, he means that aspect of the human being’s openness to God and God’s influence. When he refers to the human being as heart, he means the emotive and affectionate aspect of the person. When he talks about the mind, he means the intellectual capacity.

The core of Paul’s theology
What is the heart of Paul’s theology? He himself responds, “We preach Christ crucified.” His proclamation is that God has not done this before in human history, that God has entered human history in a new form. God sent his Son and that Son died for us on the cross. The consequence is the Resurrection.
The key to Paul’s theology is expressed in terms of what he himself frequently stated in various ways. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:21-24, Paul says, “For, since in the wisdom of God, the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
The cross puts Christ Jesus himself at the center of God’s way of salvation. God works the salvation of humanity through Christ Jesus. Everything in Paul’s teaching is oriented to his Christ-centered understanding of salvation.

What would Saint Paul tell us today?
This is not an easy question to answer. But really he has already told us. We would like to locate answers to the problems of our current times in a facile manner by looking into the Bible. But this requires study, reflection, and prayer.
When we read Paul today, we are reading him through the lens of patristic teaching, theological reflection, and the dogmatic tradition of the Church – the Christian wisdom of centuries. Paul gives indication of what is pertinent to our condition, but he does not give the full answer.
The purpose of discussing Paul’s theology is to offer a descriptive presentation of Paul’s Christian faith and to determine especially what Paul meant when he addressed the Christians of this day. This also challenges us to ascertain what his theology means for us here and now.
Paul’s theology is an exposition of the inspired biblical heritage of early Christians that has an existential meaning for our faith today. Paul’s theology is part of biblical theology. In biblical theology we find two poles or aspects: one is descriptive – it describes; the other normative – it prescribes. Paul’s meaning for the faith of people today cannot be anything other than the meaning he intended for his contemporaries.

Reading the letters of Paul today
It is not a simple matter to grasp Paul’s meaning immediately. His letters are not a quick and easy read. When we examine the proclamation of prodigious Paul in his letters, we need to realize that we need an accurate translation and some professional guidance. We cannot grasp his message in a simple glance.
There are some passages of the New Testament to keep in mind when approaching St. Paul. In 2 Corinthians 1:13 Paul says, “For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope you will understand completely, as you have come to understand us partially….” Then look at 2 Peter 3:15: “And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction just as they do the other scriptures.” So we can see that even as Paul’s letters were being collected by the early Church the faithful did not find them easy to understand.
The Acts 8:30-31 when Philip is evangelizing the Ethiopian eunuch, who is reading Isaiah 53, we are told, “Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone instructs me.’”
We cannot simply open the Bible and expect to understand everything right off the bat. The Greek text of Acts says literally, “Unless someone guides me.”
Saint Paul helps us to recall the wonder of our creation and the greater wonder of our redemption. He inspires us to ponder the Paschal Mystery and to ask God to bring to perfection the saving work he has begun in us.

Passionate, prodigious, perennial Paul, pray for us!

$25 Lectionaries

You can't beat the price. Liturgical Press is having an inventory reduction sale through June 30, 2008.

You can get the ceremonial edition of the Lectionary for Mass at about half off (from $49.00 to $24.50). And the chapel editions are just $17.49 (down from their original price at $69.95!).

Go check out what else they have on sale. There's lots of great foundational liturgical studies texts too.

Here's the link to the Lectionaries sale page.

Do you have your Pentecost Sequence ready?

Click here to read about the tradition of singing sequences in the liturgy, and learn which two are required to be sung.

Ascension Sunday - May 4, 2008

In the western dioceses of the United States, the celebration of the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred from the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter to the Seventh Sunday of Easter which falls this year on May 4. The readings and prayers for the Ascension should be used on May 4 in place of those for the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

Fun fact:
Only in the ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha is the Ascension celebrated on the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter.

What is an ecclesiastical province?
An ecclesiastical province is a way of grouping dioceses under the jurisdiction of an archdiocese. San José is in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Click here to see what other dioceses are in our province.

The Liturgy Files: Why are some holy days moved to Sunday and others remain on their proper date?

Part of my job is to answer email. Some of these emails are simple Q&A. In these Liturgy Files, I'll share some of the most helpful Q&As.


Q: Why do we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption on the actual weekday (August 15), instead of transferring the celebration to the following Saturday/Sunday celebration like we do for the Ascension? What are the parameters for other times when we do transfer a feast day celebration from weekday to Saturday/Sunday celebration?

A: The pertinent current legislation in the United States is as follows (warning: this is more information than you will ever want to know about this):


From the Code of Canon Law, Canon 1246

§1: Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church. Also to be observed are the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary Mother of God and her Immaculate Conception and Assumption, Saint Joseph, the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and finally, All Saints.

§2: However, the conference of bishops can abolish certain holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday with prior approval of the Apostolic See.

The United States Bishops’ Conference has taken three actions regarding this canon:

Action 1

In accord with canon 1246, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops decrees that the holy days of obligation to be observed in the United States are:

• the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;


• the Solemnity of the Ascension;


• the Solemnity of the Assumption;


• the Solemnity of All Saints;


• the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;


• the Solemnity of Christmas.


• The Solemnity of the Epiphany shall be transferred to the first Sunday following January 1;


• the Solemnity of Corpus Christi shall be observed on the second Sunday following Pentecost.

Approved: November 1983
Promulgated: March 1984


Action 2

On December 13, 1991 the members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of American made the following general decree concerning holy days of obligation for Latin rite Catholics:

In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:

• January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God


• Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension


• August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary


• November 1, the solemnity of All Saints


• December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception


• December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ


• Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.

Approved: July 1992
Promulgated: January 1993

Action 3

In accord with the provisions of canon 1246 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States decrees that the Ecclesiastical Provinces of the United States may transfer the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter to the Seventh Sunday of Easter according to the following procedure.

The decision of each Ecclesiastical Province to transfer the Solemnity of the Ascension is to be made by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the bishops of the respective Ecclesiastical Province. The decision of the Ecclesiastical Province should be communicated to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and to the President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Approved: July 1999
Promulgated: September 1999

The Pope's video message to the US

Before his trip to the East Coast next week, the Pope sends the US Church a video message. The video is five and a half minutes. Click here for a transcript courtesy of Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia.

And if you are a Catholic with a sense of humor, click here (also courtesy of Rocco) to see the Washington, DC, Metro ad for the upcoming papal visit that the local archdiocese asked be pulled from circulation. I've heard opinions on both sides. You can decide for yourself.

Classified: Pipe Organ

Looking for a pipe organ?

We have one for you to buy (cheap). It’s in fair working order, but is too small for our church. Contact Rose Barry, rose@stmarygilroy.org, 408.847.5151, for more information.

Confirmation of Adults - May 11, 2008

On Pentecost Sunday, May 11, 2008, Bishop Patrick J. McGrath will welcome adult candidates for Confirmation to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph.

Confirmation of Adults

Sunday, May 11, 2008, 3:00p

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph

80 South Market Street, San José

Registration form below.

Some things to know:

• The liturgy will begin at 3:00p and will be a Liturgy of the Word with the Rite of Confirmation.
• Candidates and their sponsors need to arrive by 2:30p to check-in and be ready for a brief rehearsal.
• Please supply each candidate with a nametag on which is written the name they want the Bishop to use when they are confirmed. It should be written or typed clearly in a large font (at least 18 point in a simple non-calligraphy font).
• Each candidate must be accompanied by at least one sponsor; they may bring two sponsors.
• Several rows of each section of the Cathedral will be reserved by parish for candidates, their sponsors, and two members of the parish Confirmation team. Families, friends, and parishioners are welcomed and can sit in the unreserved sections.
• At least one member of your confirmation team should be present to assist your candidates. Pastors and parish priests are encouraged to attend.
• Please review with your confirmandi and sponsors the responses for the Confirmation Rite (see Rite of Confirmation, #21-#30).
• Dress is Sunday best. (Wear something you would wear if you were visiting the Pope)
• The chancery does not give Confirmation certificates. If your candidates want a record of their Confirmation, you are welcomed to provide them with your own parish certificate.
• Each parish is responsible for recording the Confirmation date along with necessary information in your parish register. The place would be the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph. Bishop Patrick J. McGrath would be the person who confirmed.
• There is free parking on the street or in the city parking lots on San Fernando Street between First and Third Streets. Click here for more information on parking in downtown San José.

Registrations are required for candidates and sponsors. To register your candidates and their sponsors, please do one of the following:

• fill out and submit the online form below no later than May 1, 2008;
• or, download this Word document by clicking this graphic
  
  
  
  and sending the completed document to the Office of Pastoral Ministry, attn. Bernard Nemis, 900 Lafayette Street, Suite 301, Santa Clara, CA 95050-4966, no later than May 1, 2008.

Questions? Contact Diana Macalintal, 408-983-0136.

Confirmation of Adults 2008
Registration Form for Candidates
Registration deadline: May 1, 2008

Parish:


Confirmation Coordinator:


Email Address of coordinator:


Phone Number of coordinator with area code:


Total number of candidates:

Total number of sponsors (2 maximum per candidate):

Please type in alphabetical order (by last name) the names of your candidates as you would like them to appear in the worship aid. Please include only the names of the Confirmation candidates. DO NOT include the names of the sponsors.

Names of Candidates (place each name on a separate line)


Bernard Nemis from the Office of Pastoral Ministry will contact you via the phone number or email address you gave above to confirm your registration. Please make sure all your information is correct before submitting this form.

Beatitude Mass - April 19, 2008

Henry Mollicone's
Beatitude Mass

A choral work illuminating the plight of the homeless...

This soulful choral and orchestral work imparts stories and emotions gleaned through a series of interviews with homeless individuals, poignantly synthesized into its two leads: Adam and Evelyn. Symbolically named, these characters underline a major theme of the piece, which Mollicone describes as "the similarities - the universality - between all people."

Conducted by Leroy Kromm, the performance features Nancy Wait-Kromm, soprano, and Paul Murray, baritone, as well as members of the SCU choral ensembles, San Jose Symphonic Choir, Monterey Symphony Chorus, and full orchestra accompaniment by an array of professional community musicians.

The evening opens with a performance by the SCU Chamber Singers, under the direction of Thomas Colohan, and the dance piece Light, Seeking Light... choreographed by Kristin Kusanovich, and features a photo exhibit by Renee Billingslea's Exploring Society through Photography class.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
Mission Church, 8pm
Suggested donation, $25
All proceeds donated to homelss advocacy organizations.
www.scu.edu/cpa/beatitude.cfm

Tabat Scholarship for Students of Liturgy - 2008

Below is an announcement for a $1000 scholarship for those participating in graduate studies in liturgy. In 2003, I was awarded the Tabat scholarship which helped me in my studies at St. John's University, School of Theology, in Collegeville, Minnesota. The scholarship has been awarded every year since 2002 by the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, a national organization made up of the diocesan commissions of the United States that collaborate with the US Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy--that is, it was awarded each year except for the one year that NO ONE applied!

This is FREE money, and if I know graduate students, especially graduate liturgy students, you can use all the free money you can get! So apply. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

I encourage those of you who have a vocation to serve the Church as parish liturgy directors to explore pursuing an advanced degree in liturgy, theology, or liturgical studies. We are blessed to have Santa Clara University, the Graduate Theological Union, and the University of San Francisco in our own backyard. All of these offer advanced degrees in the field of liturgy or theology.

Some other schools to consider that offer graduate degrees in liturgy are St. John's University in Minnesota, Chicago Theological Union, University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the Catholic University of America, and Washington Theological Union, both in Washington, DC. Some of these and many other schools throughout the country also offer summer-only programs or online courses to help you complete a graduate degree on your own schedule. Some even offer full or partial scholarships for laypersons pursuing graduate studies in liturgy or ministry.

Contact me if you want to talk about what it's like to do graduate studies in liturgy.

The Tabat Scholarship

Sister Joan Tabat, a School Sister of St. Francis, was a pioneer and a tireless worker for liturgical renewal. She held numerous musical and liturgical credentials and was a well-respected and honored member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM). Most of all, Sister Joan excelled in the day-to-day pursuit of excellence as a pastoral musician. She had an amazing ability to bring out the music in people. Oblivious to conservative or progressive titles, Sr. Joan was driven by a deep wisdom and love for the church and commitment to the principles of Vatican II. Sr. Joan died in an automobile accident on September 25, 2000.

A grant of $1,000 in honor of Sr. Joan Tabat, SSSF, will be awarded at the national meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions in Milwaukee in October, 2008. The purpose of the grant is to provide assistance with the purchase of books, the continuation of research, or the payment of tuition.

The Tabat scholarship is awarded to a student pursuing a graduate degree in a program of liturgical studies to prepare for service in the Church of the United States in an academic, diocesan, or parish setting.

Applicants should send the following to the FDLC National Office, 415 Michigan Avenue, NE, Suite 70, Washington DC 20017 (nationaloffice@fdlc.org) no later than June 30, 2008:

1. A curriculum vitae;
2. A short description of how the grant will be used;
3. Two letters of recommendation, in a sealed envelope, from professors or from someone knowledgeable about the person's work.

Download a pdf flyer of the scholarship information by clicking the link below.

Catechumenate Support Group - April 3, 2008

Did you survive it?! I saw seven baptisms last Saturday, and it was glorious!

But as you know, we're not done yet. We still have the period of post-baptismal catechesis and mystagogy to help keep our neophytes well-tended to and strong.

At our next Catechumenate Support Group, let's look back on the year and evaluate our parish catechumenate processes. What do we need to be planning for now to improve for next year? What worked well this year that we want to replicate next year? What would you have changed in your process and rites if you had known what you know now?

Everyone who attends the meeting will receive a FREE article on how to upgrade your RCIA. Get some practical answers to these and your other questions at the next Catechumenate Support Group Meeting.

Catechumenate Support Group Meeting
"What I Would Have Done Differently"
Thursday, April 3, 2008
7:00p – 8:30p

Saint Christopher Parish, Msgr. Allen Center
2278 Booksin Avenue, San José 95125

RSVP with Bernard Nemis at 408-983-0126
or online here

Other Catechumenate Support Group dates for the year:

• Thursday, June 5, 2008, 7:00p – 8:30p, potluck dinner, Saint Albert the Great, Palo Alto

Faithful Citizenship Workshop – April 3, 2008

You are most cordially invited…

To all parish staff, parish social justice liaisons, community leaders and friends, lay ministers, ILM students, and ALL justice advocates – everyone:

I would like to call your attention to a workshop that is timely and important.

During this election year, the Council of Priests, the office for Evangelization, Justice and Peace of the Office for Pastoral Ministry and the Vicar for Clergy office are co-sponsoring workshops for clergy and laity on the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States”, issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is a timely document that calls every Catholic to prepare for the upcoming presidential election by reflecting on forming consciences for faithful citizenship. It poses challenging questions and offers a framework for responding to the political questions of our day.

This day will be presented by Dr. Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the USCCB, where he coordinates USCCB policy on international issues. Dr. Colecchi holds a doctorate in ministry from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. A prolific author in the area of Catholic social teachings, social justice and political responsibility and the infusion of Catholic social teaching into Christian education programs, he is the author of A Leader’s Guide to Sharing Catholic Social Teaching and In the Footsteps of Jesus, a Parish Resource Manual.

The workshop will be held on Thursday, April 3, 2008, at Our Lady of Peace Family Learning Center, Santa Clara.

Dr. Colecchi has made himself available to us for the following sessions:

• 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. – Presentation on the Middle East situation and the War in Iraq
• 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Faithful Citizenship Workshop

He will also be doing a morning presentation for the priests, deacons, and seminarians of the diocese. The bishop has urged their attendance.

Click here for a printable flyer.

For more information, see http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/.

Thank you.

Linda Batton

Sunday Reflections and Social Ministry - Catholic Charities

Many of you in San José will know Elizabeth Lilly from liturgical, catechumenate, justice, and pastoral circles. She is now more actively working with parishes to help them foster and support their justice activities through her role with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County. Because she is a liturgist at the core, she has been working on helping parishes make the connection between liturgy and justice clearer. Part of her motivation comes from the United States Bishops’ 1993 document, Communities of Salt and Light: Reflections on the Social Mission of the Parish.

The most important setting for the Church’s social teaching is not in a food pantry or in a legislative committee room, but in prayer and worship, especially gathered around the altar for the Eucharist. It is in the liturgy that we find the fundamental direction, motivation, and strength for social ministry. Social ministry not genuinely rooted in prayer can easily burn itself out. On the other hand, worship that does not reflect the Lord’s call to conversion, service, and justice can become pious ritual and empty of the Gospel.

Below is a sample bulletin reflection she offers that you can use each week that connects God’s story found in the Sunday readings with our story found in the real-life events of a person affected by the work of Catholic Charities and gives information on how you can become part of this story by proclaiming the Gospel in concrete ways in Santa Clara County.

Get the entire collection of reflections for Easter 2008 as a Word doc by clicking the graphic below.



Permission is given to download and reprint for your parishes and communities.

Sunday Reflections and Social Ministry
Easter – 2008

For weekly bulletins, faith sharing groups, prayer at meetings, bible study, lectors, outreach actions…anywhere the word of God calls us to act with charity and justice. Community and Parish Partnerships Elizabeth Lilly, 408-325-5262, elilly [at] ccsj [dot] org.

March 31, 2008
“Peace be with you.” John 20

Catholic Charities story: Grace was grieving the cancer death of her 40 year old daughter, and while depressed and overwhelmed by her loss, she was suddenly raising two teenage grandchildren. The girls, too, were grieving and could not manage their school work. The Kinship Resource Center case manager referred Grace to the Center for Living with Dying and the teens to a mental health agency. She then helped Grace obtain legal guardianship for the girls. After 5 months of intensive case management, both young women are doing well in school, and Grace reports that her stress levels have decreased significantly.

Catholic Charities opportunity: For information about “kinship families” (grandparents, aunts, uncles, or siblings raising family member children) and the available resources, contact Marina Hurtado, (408) 325-5164, mhurtado [at] ccsj [dot] org. In May visit the KRC new location at Paseo Senter, 1900 Senter Road in San Jose near Saint Maria Goretti church.

A Good Friday Reflection

The following is a reflection presented by Diana Macalintal at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph, in San Jose on Good Friday, 2007.


Is there anything beautiful about suffering?

Year after year, for two thousand years, millions of people around the world gather on this day to commemorate the suffering and torture of one man. Why is his pain and agony so attractive to us?

O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn
O bleeding head so wounded, reviled and put to scorn.
No comeliness or beauty your wounded face betrays.
Yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze.

A 12th century mystic named Bernard of Clairvaux wrote those words as he meditated upon the image of the dying face of Christ. What is it about this human, fragile, bloody face that makes even the angels tremble?

On a fall day in October, 2006, I think the angels trembled.

On that day, in a small town named Paradise, Charles Roberts entered an Amish schoolhouse at around 10:00 AM carrying a shotgun, a handgun, wires, chains, nails, and flexible plastic ties which he would use to bind the arms and legs of his hostages. He ordered the hostages to line up against the chalkboard and sent away from the classroom a pregnant woman, three parents with infants, and all 15 male students. The gunman, a father of three children, remained inside the school house with the remaining ten female students. The youngest was six; the oldest was 13.

The first police officers arrived about ten minutes later and attempted to communicate with Charles through the PA system in their cars. Charles ordered the police to pull back, and if they didn’t within two seconds, he would begin firing. They did not comply, and he began shooting.

Charles killed three girls, and then he shot himself. Two more girls died the next morning. The youngest victim was six. The other five girls were in critical condition.

News reports stated that most of the girls were shot “execution-style” in the back of the head. But according to Janice Ballenger, the deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she counted at least two dozen bullet wounds in one child alone before asking a colleague to continue for her. Inside the school, she said, “there was not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere, everywhere.”

There is nothing beautiful about this. Suffering, pain, and death are not God’s will for us, nor was it the Father’s will for his Son, Jesus. Just as on that day on Golgotha, heaven surely must have wept on that morning in Pennsylvania.

The angels wept. But the next part of the story is what made them tremble. What happened next could only have been the will of God, for no human could have done this alone.

Barbie Fisher was one of the girls who survived the massacre. She told the story of how her sister, Marian, the oldest hostage in that school room, had begged Charles to shoot her first so that he might spare the younger girls. So he did. After seeing her sister shot, Barbie asked Charles to shoot her next. She received bullet wounds in her hand, leg, and shoulder.

Two days later, the grandfather of Marian stood in their home with her lifeless body laid on her bed being prepared for her burial. He called over the youngest of his family to come and stand next to Marian. Speaking to all those in the room, he looked intently at the children and told them, “We must not think evil of this man.”

Later that day, a reporter asked this weary, grey-bearded grandfather, “Have you forgiven this man who killed your granddaughter?” He turned his face away from the camera not wanting the attention. “Yes,” he replied. “How can you do that?” the reporter asked. “With God’s help,” he answered.

Yet angel hosts adore you and tremble as they gaze.

What made the angels tremble was love—absolute, complete, love.

Here at the cross, we encounter the ultimate revelation of God’s love. It is where God proves that God will do anything for us, even die, no matter what we do, just so he could love us. God takes this instrument of torture and death and turns it into a throne of mercy and grace. God takes defeat and despair and turns it into triumph. God takes the death of one and turns it into life for all.

At the cross, God takes our pain, our desperation, our horror, our hate, our confusion, our fear, places it all onto a cross and transforms it into beauty, truth, and goodness. God takes death and turns it into forgiveness, mercy, and peace.

That grandfather and the Amish community attended the funeral of Charles Roberts who killed five of their own. They took in his widow and their three children into their own families. They helped them pay for Charles’ funeral expenses and have even begun a fund to support the killer’s family now that they are left with no father.

The cross given to that community and their response to it doesn’t make sense, does it? How can something so heinous, something so ugly turn into something so beautiful? Because God is God…and God is Love…and the act of the cross is no longer a matter of reason and logic, but a matter of love.

We who follow Christ do not shy away from the pain and suffering of the world. As Jesus did, we embrace it with open arms. On this day, most especially, when we gather to tell the story of Jesus’ passion and death, we stare it in the face together, we do not look away, and we respond—as best we can, trembling not with human fear and hatred but with the incomprehensible, immense love of God.

***

Sometimes, try as hard as we might, we can look into the pain and suffering of this world, of our own lives, and not see the beauty. The ugliness can be so unbearable that we can’t see or feel God’s love.

At these moments, it’s so easy to lose hope and despair. But there is another choice.

Maria Thompson is a spiritual director in Seattle who counsels people who are grieving because of death or loss. She describes her work like this: “Standing at death’s door is the most intimate and sacred space to stand. It is an act of being, not an act of doing.” She continues, “I am a person who stands at death’s door; that is my job. I am a person who helps people in the darkness of death find the movement of eternal life. So, I sit on the ash heaps. Patiently. As long as they need me to, that is where I sit.” (from Presence manuscript)

When we face the cross and promise to remain there “in the ash heaps,” no matter how absent God seems, we also enter into a promise with each other—a promise to bear the cross together. For the cross requires relationship.

For Christians, relationship is always the cross—the intersection, the interaction, the giving and taking, the forgiving and sacrifice—between people and between God and God’s people. The cross is a struggle of opposites and differences—but a struggle that gives birth to new life, to new and renewed relationship.

In Jewish tradition, the very act of creation was born out of the relationship between God and Chaos. Listen tomorrow night to the first reading. In the beginning was God, and there with God was nothingness. The union between God—the fullness of all there is—and nothingness gave birth to life, night and day, earth and water, plants and humans. And our whole life through, we are constantly placing before God all of our nothingness and asking God to again make something new out of it.

When Christ was nailed to the cross, what was born out of that union between God and all that was not God was the Church—us—people who look upon death and see life; people who experience pain together and offer in return love.

As offspring then of Christ, our first task is to acknowledge the radical love of God by having the confidence to approach this throne of grace and pray for each other, even if our prayer is only, “My God.”

The Church makes its most intense prayers on this day. Later this afternoon, after hearing again the story of God’s love nailed to the cross, our Bishop will lead us in the Great Intercessions which are prayed only today. These are ten solemn prayers for the world in which we ask God, through supplication and silence, kneeling and raised arms, to take the world’s chaos and re-create it anew. It is the Church’s way of being there, in hope where there’s only despair, in faith when it feels as if death has won.

***

Now you might want to stand back, because I’m not sure if what I’m about to say will cause me to be struck down by lightning.

I don’t like the song, Were You there? I think it’s a lovely song and nice to sing. But every time I hear that opening line—“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”—all I can say is, “Nope!”

No, I wasn’t there at Golgotha thousands of years ago. No, I didn’t see him nailed to the tree. No, I didn’t see him laid in the tomb.

But I do tremble.

Because I am here in 2007 in San Jose, and God knows there are enough people today being crucified right before our eyes. You only have to turn on your TV, or log onto the Internet, or go to work, or step out your door, or even just wake up in the morning.

There are people right now out there, in here, who are being nailed to trees of depression and abuse, to debt and divorce. We know real people, maybe it’s even you, who are being sealed up in tombs of unemployment, cancer, loneliness, who suffer a slow death because of the inability to forgive or to ask for forgiveness. Our world is still, after four years, being crucified to the cross of war, our Church is still being nailed to a tree of scandal and secrecy, our cities and homes are still being buried by violence, poverty, broken families, and broken hearts.

No, I don’t need to go back to Calvary to be where Jesus is crucified. Calvary is right here, right now.

But so is the resurrection. When any of us take up the cross of Christ, we proclaim our faith in his resurrection.

But what is the cross? What is your cross?

Bishop Kenneth Untener once said that the cross is that to which we say, “Anything, Lord. I’ll do anything…but that.”

That that is the cross. It’s the thing that you can’t imagine doing because you’ve been hurt too much, because you’ve been betrayed, because you’re too angry, because it feels just too good to hang on to bitterness, because you’re too busy, because you’re too scared. “Anything, Lord. I’ll do anything…but that.”

The reason we remember the day Jesus died at the Place of the Skull is because on that cross—on Jesus’ “anything-by-that”—we learn the way to resurrection, because when we embrace Christ and his cross, we never embrace it alone. We embrace the cross together, with this community. It is through individual people that we see up close the body of Christ for ourselves. But it’s through the community—when we gather to tremble at the love of God and offer our meager, imperfect prayers—that we receive strength and faith enough to live as the body of Christ for the world.

It’s hard to follow Christ; it’s hard to embrace the cross. Tomorrow night thousands of people around the world who have decided to follow Christ will stand at the edge of a dark black pool of water, a deep chasm of nothingness, and just before they are submerged into that abyss, they will be asked, “Do you believe in God, in Jesus, in the Spirit?”

I guess it would be pretty easy for them and for us to say “I do.” But if we heard those words for what they really mean, we all might hesitate in our response. Those seemingly-simple questions mean this: “Will you proclaim God’s justice even in the midst of persecution?” “Will you welcome the stranger?” “Will you follow the example of the saints and martyrs who gave their lives for the faith?” “Will you allow yourself to be nailed upon your anything-but-that?”

If we and those preparing to be baptized tomorrow night dare to say, “Yes, I believe,” we really have no choice but to love, but to serve, but to give our all. We have no choice but to give our lives to the poor, the weak, the sinner, the criminal, the adulteress, the tax collector, the unwed mother, the AIDS victim, the drug addict, the homeless man, the coworker who annoys us, the father who abused us, the friend who betrayed us, the stranger who scares us, the person who terrorizes us, the person who is most unlike us.

For on Good Friday, we