For The Bulletin Of Thomas needs a personal experience of 11 April 2021 Jesus before he will believe. Until then, he is locked in his own criterion for faith: he wants Jesus to be “touchable.”

So eight days later, on the next “first day of the week” according to the resurrection timeline, the risen Lord of the Sabbath stands again in the midst of His disciples, greets them with His peace, and then turns to the individual who is most in need of this. For eight days Thomas has wrestled with the dark stranger of doubt and is wounded by this struggle. The wounded, risen Jesus and the wounded disciple stand before one THE SECOND SUNDAY OF another. Jesus invites Thomas to stretch out EASTER his hand to the wounds of His hands and side. But there is no physical touching.

Jesus’ personal presence and self-offering to From Father Robert Thomas touch him and demolish all doubts. Thomas had not been in the room when the Here is “the way, and the truth, and the life” risen Jesus appeared to the disciples, and so that Thomas is seeking, and he responds has missed out on any personal encounter with the most profound and personal ascent with Him, the words of missioning, and the of faith in all the gospels: “My Lord and my bestowal of the gifts of peace and God!” For the future generations who will forgiveness in the Spirit. John makes listen to this gospel in the presence of the Thomas a foil for our own need of these physically absent Jesus, the last beatitude gifts and our struggles with doubt and faith. that Jesus then addresses to Thomas is our Often the comments about Thomas greatest hope: “Blessed are those who have concentrate too much on him as a doubter not seen and have believed.” It is to hand on (which he is never called anywhere in the such life-giving faith, says the evangelist, gospels) and so little on his desire to touch that he has written his gospel. the source of life. John’s gospel shows him

to be the kind of person who blurts out the In his Asian Journal, Thomas Merton wrote: questions or comments others are too timid “Faith means doubt. Faith is not the or too embarrassed to speak. He is ready to suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming go along with Jesus enroute to Lazarus’ of doubt, and you overcome doubt by going grave and die with Him and he is honest through it. The man of faith who has never enough at the Last Supper to say that none experienced doubt is not a person of faith. of the disciples have any idea where Jesus is Consequently, the monk is one who has to heading. The disciples to whom the risen struggle in the depths of his being with the Lord appeared on Easter eve announce the presence of doubt, and has to go through resurrection to Thomas in the same words as what some religions call the Great Doubt, to Mary Magdalene spoke to them: “We have break through doubt into a certitude which is seen the Lord.” And they are just as very, very deep because it is not his own unsuccessful in convincing Thomas as Mary had been with them. Like all disciples,

1 personal certitude; it is the certitude of God Where are you being sent to share Jesus’ Himself, in us.” peace? Christ took His wounds into the grave and did not disown them in His resurrection. Because of His wounds, Jesus is now credibly in touch with wounded humanity: with the wounded in body and spirit, those hurt by society, the victims of domestic and global violence, those suffering from their own addictions, those abused by our disregard and complacency. And we know only too well our own woundedness. Such wounds reveal our need for one another and, About Liturgy: Scars Are Signs Of God’s therefore the potential for the building of a Glory compassionate, healing community that Think for a moment about a scar you have, witnesses to the love of the Wounded and a word or two you might pick to Healer. describe the circumstances that led to it. Perhaps words like “accident” or “scary” come to mind, or “embarrassed,” “foolish,” or even “reckless.” But I doubt the word “glorious” comes to mind.

Yet it is on this Second Sunday of Easter each year when we hear about the apostle Thomas and his first encounter with the risen Lord. (I usually refuse to use the typical nickname for him: how would you like to have an everlasting nickname based As we celebrate the Second Sunday of on the weakest and lowest moment of your Easter, where is God calling you to witness life?) Thomas requires the same visual to faith and extend God’s love to others? proof the other apostles had of Christ’s resurrection and indeed just a little bit more; In the first reading we hear that the early we all are familiar with the narrative. community of believers were all of “one heart and mind.” Where in our parish is our Christ’s resurrected and glorified body community of one mind about issues or certainly could have been made completely values? Where is there division? whole again, yet the wounds of the nails and spear persist, and Thomas is able to touch The second reading from the first letter of and feel them. “My Lord and my God!” he St. John proclaims that “God’s cries. Christ is truly here a wounded healer commandments are not burdensome.” At – and beyond that, a teacher, a friend, and a this moment in your faith journey, where are brother. you encountering burden or hardship? Liturgically, this attention to the “scars” of In today’s gospel Jesus tells the disciples, As Christ should call us to His humanity with the Father has sent me, so I send you.” His divinity, and that we are invited to share that with Him, one day. Ritually, today

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provides an opportunity to call particular attention to the fraction rite, the Breaking of the Bread, the ritual moment which is so often lost in most liturgies.

…to our volunteer parishioners who came early Holy Saturday morning to clean and prepare the sanctuary and bathrooms for Easter: Tess Trinidad, Al Cosce, Jean Rogers, Reno and Thelma Benasfre, Rose Salamanca, Mency Osborne, and Steve Rojek. About The Fraction Rite: One Thing At A Time …to the members of the Art & Environment On M*A*S*H, Charles Emerson Winchester Committee who created such a beautiful once famously said, “I do one thing at a environment for Easter and its season: Leo time, I do it very well, and then I move on.” and Minnie Rivera, Pablo and Norma We make sure that, at every liturgy, the Villegas, Tom and Stevie Catchings, Tony fraction rite doesn’t become a side note to a and Claudia Gumina, Theresa Nelms, lingering sign of peace. We wait for that Rich Confetti, Father Robert, Don moment to conclude before beginning the Benson, and Tony Onate. next, so that the immense symbolism has a chance to express itself fully to a …to all those who made our experience of congregation fully aware of the rite. The Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter a Missal tells us, “the gesture of the fraction deeply moving and spiritual experience: or breaking of the bread was quite simply Lectors, Ushers, Greeters, Eucharistic the term by which the Eucharist was known Ministers, Adult Acolytes, Altar Servers, in apostolic times” (GIRM, #321), and this our Art & Environment Committee, our eucharistic table is what brings us in one Knights of Columbus, all those who moment to Christ broken on the cross and to contributed financially to make the a foretaste of the eternal and heavenly environment possible with its trees, azalea banquet. We believe, as we sing in the and Peace Lily plants, the cut flower Lamb of God accompanying the rite, that it arrangements, the new artwork, the Paschal is Christ broken on the cross that is the Candle and Candles surrounding the Altar, ultimate sign of God’s love for us and only and Bill Vaughan who gifted us with his with God in paradise will we know true and presence and playing our wonderful pipe divine peace. organ which transformed our worship experience, and all who came and

3 participated in each of our liturgies with love for all and a diverse and cohesive your energy, enthusiasm, and faith. society makes us better and is what our faith A heartfelt thank you to all! calls us to build.

Statement on Violence against “God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34).” Asian Americans and Pacific “After this I had a vision of a great Islanders multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ stood before the throne and before the Task Force for Racial Justice Lamb, wearing white robes and holding Diocese of Oakland palm branches* in their hands (Rev. 7:9).” March 29, 2021

As stated in Brothers and Sisters to Us, Catholic Bishops of issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 1979, “Racism is not merely one sin among many; California Ask for it is a radical evil that divides the human family and denies the new creation of a Prayers During redeemed world. To struggle against it demands an equally radical transformation, National Crime in our own minds and hearts as well as in the structure of our society.” Victims’ Rights Week,

The racially motivated violence against the April 18-24, 2021 Asian American and Pacific Islander community has reinforced the critical and moral imperative to stop the hate and end racism. Recent events in our Oakland community, throughout the Bay Area and across the country, and the caustic rhetoric that marks conversations around responsibility for the pandemic provide ample evidence there is still much work to do. As Christians, we are constantly called to examine our hearts and consciences and assist in removing racial divisions, In conjunction with the commemoration of intolerance, and discrimination. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Catholic bishops of California have released As we stand with our Asian American and a new pastoral resource to help guide pastors in ministering to victims of violent Pacific Islander brothers and sisters, we th denounce all forms of hate, racism, and crime. This year is the 40 anniversary of discrimination. Let us see them as they are, the first National Crime Victims’ Rights and as we are: Children of God, each created Week, established to draw attention to the intentionally by God in his own divine people and families whose lives have been image. Every person is sacred and equally affected by violent crime. In recognition of valuable. Every form of racism, by those impacted by crime, the Restorative definition, is to be rejected, knowing that Justice Committee of the California Catholic

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Conference has issued the following throughout our society in every year. They statement: grieve and we must do all we can to comfort them during their grief. “Let us care for the needs of every man and woman, young and old, with the “We ask all people of faith to lift our sisters same fraternal spirit of care and and brothers in prayer during National closeness that marked the Good Crime Victims’ week and to stay vigilant to Samaritan.” those who may need our help but remain – Pope Francis silent and alone.”

“Crime, especially violent crime, can leave people and families shattered, looking for Msgr. John Tracy Ellis answers and unsure of the future. As ministers, we are called to bring on selecting bishops in compassion, comfort and consolation to those whose futures are uncertain and who the US grapple with anger, uncertainty and fear. 5 April 2021

by Michael Sean Winters “National Crime Victims’ Week is a time to focus attention on the needs of our brothers and sisters who have been impacted by crime during the year. Often, unsure, embarrassed or angry, crime victims can be reluctant to let others know what has happened to them or to express their need for help. They can be lonely and unsure yet sitting in our congregations slowly losing hope.

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, 1905-1992, was a “A new guide designed for clergy, chaplains professor of church history and theology who and lay ministers who accompany crime taught at the Catholic University of America victims is designed to help in reaching out from 1938 to 1964 and from 1977 to 1989. From and accompanying victims. “Pastoral 1964 to 1977 he taught at the University of San Support for Grieving a Violent Death: A Francisco. Earlier he was at St. Viatour College guide for clergy, lay ministers, and in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and the College of St. community helpers,” includes basic tools Teresa in Winona, Minnesota. (Courtesy of and resources for ministers to help them Catholic University of America, University provide compassionate support to Libraries, Special Collections) individuals and families who find themselves the victims of an unthinkable Few things are as satisfying in the life of a loss. Catholic journalist as to be on the receiving end of the kindness of scholars and clergy “The experience of the pandemic has shown who help us in the media get to the bottom us how important community is. The of something. There is, if you will, a isolation forced upon the world mirrors the fraternity of people who work with words experience of those impacted by crime the way others work with their hands. This fraternity is especially strong when the

5 people involved are grouped around a shared church through the role of secular love of someone or something. On top of all governments in the selection of bishops, and that, it allows me to say, with Blanche that the Vatican placed the volume on the DuBois, that I've always relied on the Index of Forbidden Books at the request of kindness of strangers! the Austrian government. Rosmini reminded his readers that for the first thousand years In March, the chairman of the board of of the church's history, both laity and clergy directors of NCR, Jim Purcell, sent me an had been involved in selecting their bishops. email asking if I would be interested in seeing a monograph he discovered. It was By the end of Ellis' first few paragraph, you written by my great mentor Msgr. John are reminded of his elegant writing style, Tracy Ellis. I said "Of course!" and Purcell straightforward but willing to take a slight put it in the mail. The essay ran to 20 pages, detour for literary reasons or to introduce an with an additional two pages of endnotes. It analogy. For example, after detailing was not dated, but it identified Ellis as a contemporary resistance to the idea of professor at the University of San Francisco, widening the consultation process in so it was written before 1976 when he selecting bishops, he writes: returned to Washington, D.C. but after the close of the Second Vatican Council in In that regard it should first be stated with 1965. absolute clarity that no right thinking Catholic, clerical or lay, entertains any The title "On the Selection of Bishops for disposition to wrest from the hands of the the United States" did not indicate if this sovereign pontiff his centuries-old right to was a lecture or the draft of a magazine name in the final reckoning the successors article. I asked Purcell if he knew to what of the apostles. It is rather that this purpose the monograph had been put, and he movement, if movement it can be called, is checked with a priest in San Francisco who only one more manifestation of the Zeitgeist instructed me to reach out to Fr. Tom of the 1960s in the Catholic community of Shelley, a priest of the New York the world and of the United States. Archdiocese, who is working on a biography of Ellis. I did so, and Shelley let me know No one writes like that anymore, and it is a that Ellis had published two articles on the shame. subject, one for Commonweal and the other for The Critic. I took a photograph of the Ellis then traced the history of how bishops first page and sent it to Shelley. He replied were selected over the years, starting with that the monograph was identical to the the patristic era and through the Middle opening of the article in the July, 1969 issue Ages with its nepotism and, later, the of The Critic. politically devised solution of granting the right to nominate bishops to particular The mystery of the mongraph's origin was sovereigns. He comes to the founding of the solved. What of the essay's content? American episcopate and records the well- known fact that, in a nod to local First, the monsignor begins with the tale of sensibilities, the Holy See allowed the Antonio Rosmini's 1847 book Concerning clergy of the young United States to gather the Five Wounds of the Holy Church, which and select one of their own to be the first strongly criticized the pressure placed on the bishop. On May 18, 1789, the clergy

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gathered in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart at point until the Third Plenary Council in White Marsh, which can still be visited in 1884. Finally, diocesan consultors and Bowie, Maryland. They selected John irremovable rectors were given the right to Carroll, and by year's end, Rome had draw up a terna for a vacancy in their confirmed the selection. Over the next 40- diocese, which was then supplemented by a odd years, until the Second Provincial terna from the bishops of the province. In Council in Baltimore in 1833, six methods the case of a vacant metropolitan see, the for choosing bishops emerged in different other metropolitan archbishops would add a situations. third terna of their own, drawn up at their now annual meetings.

Two other developments affected the selection of bishops in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most significant was that in January 1893, Pope Leo XIII named an apostolic delegate to the United States, mostly to resolve conflicts between clergy and their bishops, but the delegate's influence in relating the situation on the ground to Rome gave him enormous influence in the process. Secondly, in 1859, Sacred Heart Church at Whitemarsh in Bowie, the North American College opened in Maryland, built around 1741 (Library of Rome. Congress/Historic American Buildings Survey/Jack E. Boucher) Between 1884 and 1916, when the right of priests to draw up a terna was abrogated, From 1833 until the meeting of the First 22% of the new bishops had received some Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852, the or all of their training in Rome. From 1916 metropolitan and each of his suffragans until 1966 when the National Conference of drew up a list of three names, a terna, for Catholic Bishops was formally commenced, each vacant see, and the ternas were sent to 40% of new bishops had Roman training. both the metropolitan and the Propaganda Seventy percent of all cardinals had Roman Fide office in Rome, as the United States training. was still considered mission territory. The bishops included their reasons for the names Ellis documented some post-conciliar efforts given, but the ternas were only in other countries to increase the role of the recommendations, and the final terna to be clergy, religious and laity in the selection of brought to the pope was drawn up by the episcopal candidates. He notes that the cardinal members of Propaganda Fide. bishops in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially his beloved Cardinal Things remained in flux for several decades. James Gibbons, were more keen to better At the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, conform the church to the democratic tenor held in 1866, the apostolic delegate, of the country. He notes the words of Bishop Archbishop Martin Spalding, wanted Richard Gilmour of Cleveland and Bishop legislation that would give a role to the John Moore of St. Augustine, Florida, in a consultors of a diocese in the drawing up of ternas, but no legislation was adopted on this

7 memorandum to the Propaganda Fide NCR on the subject! (See "Washington cardinals in 1885: double-talk," National Catholic Reporter, Vol. 5, No. 22.) Owing to the democratic form of government in the United States, the people Ellis finishes his essay with some lovely must be taken into consideration, and their quotes from John Henry Newman. I good will cultivated. Without their hearty remember as if it was yesterday when he and constant cooperation, neither Church told our class that after the Lord Jesus and nor Schools nor Institutions can exist or be his mother, no person had had a greater created … influence on his life and ideas than Cardinal Newman. I remember sitting in that room Ellis writes of the efforts of Bishop Ernest thinking: How cultured must be the mind Primeau of Manchester, New Hampshire, to that can say such a thing, identifying with a introduce greater consultation with his person he had never met but whose writings clergy in the selection of names he, in turn, had made such a profound impression. shared with his brother bishops at their annual provincial meeting. But only a minority of the priests even bothered to respond to Primeau's request for names to be put forward for nomination as bishops. Ellis does not mince words in rendering his verdict, writing:

The Manchester experience should not, I think, be passed over without attention being drawn to the disappointment occasioned by the priests' failure to take their new The Pontifical North American College on the responsibility seriously, for mutatis Janiculum Hill overlooking St. Peter's Square in mutandi there is not a diocese in this country Rome (CNS/Cindy Wooden) that has not undergone similar frustrations by reason of the priests' refusing to open The two great churchmen were cut from the their minds to new ideas and to manifest the same cloth I came to realize. Brilliant, courage to face up to the need for change in erudite, liberal in the best sense of the word. this revolutionary age. In all too many cases I also recall the day when the monsignor they have displayed a paranoid reaction spoke to a rally called to protest the removal which, even where it was strenuously of Fr. Charles Curran from the theology opposed by some of their number, was faculty at Catholic University. Monsignor, strong enough to paralyze the general whose age required him to hold up his own clerical body and nullify the talent that is eyebrows, made his way to the microphone latent in so many priests. and, looking at Fr. Curran, said something like: "Father, I disagree with you on every Ellis records other examples of attempts to point of moral teaching on which you include priests in the consultation process, diverge from the teaching of the even noting the rudeness of the apostolic magisterium, but I strongly defend your delegate in failing to respond to a group of right to teach your ideas at a modern priests in Albany and a resulting editorial in Catholic university, free from ecclesiastical interference." Monsignor's sojourn in San

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Francisco had been occasioned by a similar interference. Indigenous elders are teaching me the lesson of I wonder if Ellis would still hold to the ideas he held then. So much has changed. abundant generosity Democracy has lost some of its luster in the age of Donald Trump and Matteo Salvini 5 April 2021 and Viktor Orbán. The polarization in the church was emerging when he wrote this by Claire Lucas article, but even when he died in 1992, the full extent of that polarization was not evident. It is a fool's errand to predict how someone who died almost 30 years ago would view the same issue today.

His knowledge of church history, however, would prevent him from becoming despondent about the situation of the church in 2021. The collapse of Christianity in revolutionary France was followed by the When everything is a reason to be grateful, flowering of spirituality and then theology in nothing ever truly belongs to us alone. This that country throughout the 19th and into the boundless and abundant generosity arises not out 20th centuries. The long suppression of from obligation, but out of the acknowledgment Catholicism in England was part of the that because everything is touched by the cultural inheritance that produced Ellis' hero Creator, nothing is ever truly owned for oneself. John Henry Newman as well as a host of (Claire Lucas) other great Catholic thinkers and writers. When I was an undergraduate student He would often quote the words of the studying theology and psychology, I became Master to Nicodemus at John 3:8, to us, his somewhat obsessed with the Catholic students: "The wind blows where it wishes, sacramental imagination. The sacramental and you hear its sound, but you do not know imagination holds that God is always where it comes from or where it goes. So it already present as we move about the world is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." and in each moment of our day-to-day lives.

This understanding is connected to the theology of the incarnation: God is here, with us, in the world and in our personal and public lives, which are broken and painful and always teeming with seemingly unending complexity. God never fails to meet us where we are.

Creation bursts forth with evidence of God's unending love in subtle and apparent ways. This is empowering and affirming, insisting that the more we pay attention to the Sacred

9 in our very midst, the closer we grow to One morning he surprised me when he God. The demand of the sacramental asked me how my mom, at home in Oregon, imagination is a grounded attentiveness that was doing. As he was praying that morning, became central to my own theological he said, he thought of my family. He always anthropology. encouraged me to pray in this way, as well — to pray as if I actually trusted that God After graduating from my undergraduate permeates and touches everything, that program, I moved away from my home in nothing is ever out of God's reach. the Pacific Northwest to rural Montana to begin working as a caregiver for Native This elder and the others have shown me American elders. These elders have become that everything is always worth giving friends and mentors, while I have had the thanks for. It is all always worth prayer. opportunity to care for them and get to know When everything is a reason to be grateful, them. nothing ever truly belongs to us alone. This boundless and abundant generosity arises I have always been interested in how they not out from obligation, but out of the describe God and how they interact with the acknowledgment that because everything is Sacred in their own ways, often influenced touched by the Creator, nothing is ever truly by both traditional and Christian practices. owned for oneself. Many of them, when describing their prayer, talk about praying for "the people" almost as This abundant generosity has challenged me. a litany. My own commitment to the sacramental imagination, and the influence it's had on Their prayer is abundant, and there is my own spirituality, is still influenced by the nothing that their prayer does not cover. place where I truly came to understand it: Nothing is beyond the reach of blessing and within an academic institution in an intention. Nothing is ever out of the reach of American and primarily white, educated and the Holy One. privileged context.

One elder spoke of praying early in the This context sends implicit messages telling morning, as the sun rose on his porch facing me that my personal success, and the new the hills that cup the river valley that holds knowledge or understanding or insights I our tiny community. He would describe how can gain for myself, are of utmost he would ask for blessing and healing for importance, rather than how a new those hurting and relief for their suffering, understanding can instead benefit or connect and still be praying in gratitude for all he has me to others. been given. When I prioritize my own personal He would tell me, even amid the stress of knowledge, insight or even comfort, I am quarantine and isolation because of COVID- blind to the abundance God offers in my life 19, that he had prayed for all of the staff at and in all of creation. our small assisted-living facility by name. He prayed for each of us and for our families and for all the other residents and for his countless relatives and their relatives and their relatives beyond that.

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rather than to pursue individual recognition, knowledge or success.

Environmental justice is deeply connected to context and to listening to the place where we're embodied. It is far past time to let the abundance spill over us and move us toward embodied environmental activism, rather than being motivated by our own individual goals and desires. One elder spoke of praying early in the morning, as the sun rose on his porch facing the hills that cup the river valley that holds our tiny Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation community. (Clarie Lucas) From the Center for Action and Contemplation

The elders show me that even amid constant complexity and suffering, the world, and especially the natural world, is good, just because it is, not because of what can be extracted from it for individual gain. Consumerism, environmental degradation and individualism are assaults on the abundant generosity that is so integral to how the elders have always understood the Week Fourteen: All Will Be Well world and who each of us is made to be.

A Mystic for Our Times

These leaders and activists defending the land that was stolen from their ancestors My friend Matthew Fox published a book proclaim loudly that the land and all that is during the COVID-19 pandemic about in it is good because it is, not because of Julian of Norwich. I love Julian’s teachings what can be taken from it or because of what because she focuses on God’s infinite love, it can produce. goodness, and mercy. Even during the Black Death (bubonic plague) in which perhaps a At its best, the sacramental imagination third of the world’s population died, even allows each of us to see the constant during her own near-death experience when abundance God offers in the world, allowing she received visions of Jesus’ brutal us to acknowledge God's unending love for crucifixion, Julian trusts that “all will be us and to trust that our encounters, both well.” Matthew Fox shows how Julian is a mundane and profound, can point to a mystic for our own time. He writes: greater love that connects us to one another. A time of crisis and chaos, the kind that a The elders I work with remind me that an pandemic brings, is, among other things, a awareness of God in my life and in all time to call on our ancestors for their deep Creation is never for myself alone. Instead, I wisdom. Not just knowledge but can let this awareness and attentiveness to true wisdom is needed in a time of death and the Holy One animate me to be in awe, profound change, for at such times we are beckoned not simply to return to the

11 immediate past, that which we remember sexism, nationalisms, anthropocentrism, fondly as “the normal,” but to reimagine a sectarianism—anything that interferes with new future, a renewed humanity, a more just our greatness as human beings. And to and therefore sustainable culture, and one connect anew to the sacredness of life. even filled with joy.

Julian of Norwich [1343–c. 1416] is one of Poll: Church those ancestors calling to us today. After all, she lived her entire life during a raging membership pandemic. Julian is a stunning thinker, a profound theologian and mystic, a fully continues to decline awake woman, and a remarkable guide with a mighty vision to share for twenty-first- in 21st century century seekers. She is a special chaperone 1 April 2021 for those navigating a time of pandemic. by Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Julian knew a thing or two about “sheltering Service in place,” because she was an anchoress— that is, someone who, by definition, is Spirituality literally walled up inside a small space for life. Julian also knew something about fostering a spirituality that can survive the trauma of a pandemic. While others all about her were freaking out about nature gone awry, Julian kept her spiritual and intellectual composure, staying grounded and true to her belief in the goodness of life, creation, and humanity and, in no uncertain terms, inviting others to do the same. . . . A woman reads the Bible before Mass at the Julian’s response to the pandemic, as we Basilica of the National Shrine of the know it from her two books, [is] amazingly Immaculate Conception in Washington grounded in a love of life and gratitude. March 11, 2021, amid the coronavirus Instead of running from death, she actually pandemic. Results of a Gallup poll released prayed to enter into it and it is from that March 29 show that just 47% of U.S. adults experience of death all around her and belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque in 2020. This is the first time the percentage has meditating on the cruel crucifixion of Christ dropped below 50% in Gallup's eight decades of that she interpreted as a communal, not just doing this particular poll. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn) a personal event, that her visions arrived. . . . CLEVELAND — While fewer than half of Our sister and ancestor Julian is eager not American adults responding to a recent poll only to speak to us today but to shout at said they are members of a church, us—albeit in a gentle way—to wake up and synagogue or mosque, the findings do not to go deep, to face the darkness and to dig necessarily mean that people have lost faith down and find goodness, joy and awe. And in God, a pair of church observers said. to go to work to defend Mother Earth and all her creatures, stripping ourselves of racism,

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Church membership in 2020 dropped to clubs, organizations and professional 47% of the more than 6,100 respondents to a associations in much of American society. Gallup Poll. It is the first time since the Sociologists attribute the trend to a loss of polling firm started measuring church trust in institutions, politics and even in membership in 1937 that a minority of business. adults said they belonged to a formal religious institution.

Back then, in the midst of the Great Depression, 73% of adults said they belonged to a church. Over the next six decades, membership levels remained steady at about 70% before a measured decline began.

The number of nonchurch members continues a downward trend that began at A liturgical vestment is seen in this illustration the turn of the 21st century. photo. Results of a Gallup poll released March 29 show that just 47% of U.S. adults "The poll doesn't note that fewer than 50% belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque in of American's don't believe in God. It's 2020. This is the first time this percentage has important to note that across society dropped below 50% in Gallup's eight decades of institutional belonging is not high right doing this particular poll. (CNS/Reuters/Eric now," said Timothy O'Malley, director of Gaillard) education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre The poll highlights the trend in declining Dame. church membership across the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations. "It's becoming quite clear that at least church However, Catholic membership is falling membership is not the way most Americans faster, according to poll results. are practicing religiosity," he said. The poll's findings show that the number of Matthew Manion, faculty director of the Catholics belonging to a parish dropped Center for Church Management at Villanova from 76% in 2000 to 58% in 2020. Among University, agreed, saying the polling results Protestants, the membership decline in the confirm what many church leaders already same period was smaller — from 73% to knew. 64%.

"Membership in a church is not seen as Gallup said it did not have enough data on relevant or worth people's time in a growing other religious denominations to adequately portion of the country," Manion said. "It [the analyze membership trends. poll] does not say that a belief in God does not exist among these people." Manion noted that the poll showed the Catholic falloff in membership has The trend of declining church membership accelerated since 2010, when 73% of parallels similar drop-offs in membership in Catholics said they still belonged to a parish.

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The numbers point to the necessity for a 1946, the number increased from 4% to 7%; deep look by faith leaders everywhere at among baby boomers from 7% to 13% and how they are meeting the spiritual and among those born from 1965 to 1980 from communal needs of people. 11% to 20%.

"The challenge for any religious institution," The poll results were obtained in telephone Manion said, "is to answer the question: 'If calls to 6,117 adults from 2018 to 2020 with we want people to be members, what is it a margin of error of plus or minus 2 that we're providing for them that will want percentage points. to make them a member?'" In response to the findings, Villanova's O'Malley found the rapid decline in Manion and Notre Dame's O'Malley membership among younger adults, suggested the Catholic Church in particular particularly those born from 1981 to 1996 begin to look for creative ways to bring alive significant. The poll found that 36% of Pope Francis' invitation to people of faith to people in that age group, commonly known reach out to others one by one in an effort to as Generation Y, belong to a church. It is the build community and trust. smallest percentage by far of any age group. "Pope Francis is talking about a missionary However, he said, it does not mean that option for the church. That means going into people in that age group have no sense of spaces that we have not traditionally hung faith. out in," O'Malley said. He called for a "public Catholicism" that finds laypeople "It doesn't mean it's a permanent reality. It transforming their neighborhoods through doesn't mean they're never going to belong kindness and by creating a culture of to churches. It doesn't mean they're against belonging. belonging to churches. It's that they don't belong to church now," O'Malley said of the Manion expressed similar ideas, saying it poll results. will be the work of individuals, rather than the institutional church, that will create Gallup attributed the decline in church goodwill and new friendships. membership largely to two factors. The first relates to the growing number of Americans "It's a radical shift in that the layperson is who expressed no religious preference. In embracing their responsibility, and it's a 2000, 8% of respondents said they did not radical shift for our church or any identify with any religion; in 2020 it was institutional church to both empower and 21%. give up control of individuals," Manion said. He also suggested that Catholic officials The second is the falloff in church focus on building community and a sense of membership even among those respondents belonging as a way to attract people, restore who have a religious preference went from trust and renew church life coming out of 73% in 2000 to 60% last year. the coronavirus pandemic.

The poll also revealed a near doubling of "The one-to-one individual credibility is people with no religious affiliation across all where relationships can be repaired," he age groups. Among people born before

14 said. "It's a trickle that leads to a bigger St. Peter's Basilica with an estimated 200 conversation." people present and returned the next morning with a similarly small congregation for Easter Mass and to give his blessing Christ's victory over "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world).

death proclaims a The vigil was simpler than usual, but there still was the blessing of the fire, which second chance for all, blazed at the foot of the basilica's main altar, and the lighting of the Easter candle. Then, pope says the darkened basilica slowly began to glow with the light of candles being shared by the 4 April 2021 concelebrants and the faithful present. by Junno Arocho Esteves, Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service In his homily at the vigil, the pope said the Gospel proclamation of the resurrection and Vatican the angel's invitation to the women at Jesus' tomb to "go to Galilee" was a call to return to "the place where the Lord first sought them out and called them to follow him."

Although his followers often misunderstood Jesus and even abandoned him "in the face of the cross," he still urges them to "being anew," the pope said.

Pope Francis holds the Book of the Gospels as "In this Galilee," the pope said, "we learn to he celebrates Easter Mass in St. Peter's Basilica be amazed by the Lord's infinite love, which at the Vatican April 4, 2021. (CNS opens new trails along the path of our photo/Vatican Media) defeats."

VATICAN CITY — The Easter liturgies -- The pope said the call to return to Galilee with the fire, sharing of light from the also means to set out on a new path, away paschal candle, the renewal of baptismal from the tomb and from indulging in grief. promises and the proclamation that Jesus has risen -- assure people that it is never too late Like those at the tomb, he said, "many to start again, Pope Francis said. people experience such a 'faith of memories,' as if Jesus were someone from the past, an "It is always possible to begin anew, old friend from their youth who is now far because there is a new life that God can distant, an event that took place long ago, awaken in us in spite of all our failures," the when they attended catechism as a child." pope said April 3 during his celebration of the Easter Vigil. "Let us go to Galilee, then, to discover that God cannot be filed away among our With Italy in lockdown due to the COVID- childhood memories, but is alive and filled 19 pandemic, Pope Francis celebrated a pared-down vigil at the Altar of the Chair in

15 with surprises," he said. "Risen from the said before giving the blessing. "It does not dead, Jesus never ceases to amaze us." point to an escape from the difficult situation we are experiencing. The pandemic The call to go to Galilee -- a region is still spreading, while the social and inhabited by "those farthest from the ritual economic crisis remains severe, especially purity of Jerusalem" -- is a reminder for for the poor." Christians to go out to the peripheries and imitate Jesus who brought the presence of The pope offered prayers for the sick and God to those who were excluded. those who have died of COVID-19 and for the doctors and nurses who have made "The Risen Lord is asking his disciples to go "valiant efforts" to care for the pandemic's there even now, to the settings of daily life, victims. the streets we travel every day, the corners of our cities," the pope said. "There the Lord And he had special words of Easter hope for goes ahead of us and makes himself present young people struggling in isolation from in the lives of those around us, those who their friends. "Experiencing real human share in our day, our home, our work, our relationships, not just virtual relationships, is difficulties and hopes." something that everyone needs, especially at an age when a person's character and Pope Francis said Jesus calls on all personality is being formed," he said. Christians today to "overcome barriers, banish prejudices" and to recognize the Lord "I express my closeness to young people "here in our Galilees, in everyday life." throughout the world and, in these days, especially to the young people of Myanmar "If on this night, you are experiencing an committed to supporting democracy and hour of darkness, a day that has not yet making their voices heard peacefully, in the dawned, a light dimmed or a dream knowledge that hatred can be dispelled only shattered," he said, "open your heart with by love," he said. amazement to the message of Easter: 'Do not be afraid, he has risen! He awaits you in Pope Francis prayed for many places in the Galilee.'" world where the need to fight the pandemic has not silenced the weapons of war and As is customary, Pope Francis did not violence. preach at the Easter morning Mass, which featured the chanting of the Gospel in both "This is scandalous," he said. "Armed Latin and Greek. conflicts have not ended and military arsenals are being strengthened." With Italy on another lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pope gave his The Gospel witnesses to the Resurrection, Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and he said, "report an important detail: the risen the world) standing inside St. Peter's Jesus bears the marks of the wounds in his Basilica rather than from the balcony hands, feet and side. These wounds are the overlooking a full St. Peter's Square. everlasting seal of his love for us. All those who experience a painful trial in body or "The Easter message does not offer us a spirit can find refuge in these wounds and, mirage or reveal a magic formula," the pope

16 through them, receive the grace of the hope Even though the food truck had to park in that does not disappoint." the rear section of the parking lot because the Good Friday Liturgy was taking place, "May the light of the risen Jesus be a source we still had quite a lot of needy families that of rebirth for migrants fleeing from war and showed up. A total of 32 families came for extreme poverty," he prayed. "Let us apples, pears, cabbage, oranges, carrots, recognize in their faces the marred and onions and new potatoes. Clients had a hard suffering face of the Lord as he walked the time carrying all the food items in their 2 path to Calvary. May they never lack bags they brought. concrete signs of solidarity and human fraternity, a pledge of the victory of life over Thank you, Father Robert, for asking the death that we celebrate on this day." congregation for more volunteers. As a result, we added a new couple to our list of And, while the pandemic restrictions meant volunteers: Leo and Minnie Rivera. It is simpler and smaller Vatican celebrations of great to have so many volunteers that assist Easter, Pope Francis noted that in many every few weeks to help distribute fruits and places the limitations are stricter and even vegetables that the Food Bank of Contra prevent people from going to church. Costa-Solano Counties deliver to our facility every other Friday. Thank you everyone! "We pray that those restrictions, as well as all restrictions on freedom of worship and Gratefully, Werner Hoch💒💒 religion worldwide, may be lifted and everyone be allowed to pray and praise God freely," he said.

Calling again for a fair and speedy distribution of COVID vaccines, the pope said that "in embracing the cross, Jesus bestowed meaning on our sufferings and now we pray that the benefits of that healing will spread throughout the world."

A Good Friday is when you get a chance to help others but when a good Friday falls on the Good Friday before Easter, it becomes an even more special day.

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Let's begin with Scripture. According to US Celebrate St. Mary Catholic, Mary of Magdala is mentioned 12 times in the canonical Gospels, more than Magdalene and her any other woman after Jesus' mother Mary, according to US Catholic. She is brave witness to the specifically named "of Magdala" or Mary Magdalene, after the town of her birth. The Resurrection accounts of the resurrection are at the heart 6 April 2021 of Mary's relationship to Jesus and his by Sister Sue Paweski mission, and are the reasons St. Thomas Aquinas named her "apostle to the apostles."

Spirituality

"The Penitent Magdalen," a circa 1640 painting by Georges de La Tour (The Metropolitan "Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after Museum of Art) the Resurrection" by the Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov. Each of the four canonical Gospels has a (CNS/Wikimedia Commons) different version of what occurred after Jesus was entombed. In St. Mark's Gospel, What image comes to your mind when you we are given two accounts. In the first, Mary hear the name Mary Magdalene? A woman of Magdala and Jesus' mother Mary are with loose, long hair holding a skull? A present and watch as Jesus is laid to rest in woman scantily dressed, prone on a rocky the tomb. That is the end of the first version. entrance to a cave? Chapter 16 was added later and in that Or do you see, in your mind's eye, a woman account, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother startled by the risen Jesus near his empty of James, and Salome arrive at the tomb to tomb? A woman standing with authority in anoint Jesus. They are met by an angel who front of the disciples of Jesus telling them tells them that Jesus was raised from the what she witnessed at the tomb? So much of dead and they are to tell Peter and the what we think about Mary of Magdala has to apostles. In Matthew, Mary and another do with how her story woman identified as "the other Mary" has devolved and evolved throughout the witness Jesus' entombment. They return millennia. after the Sabbath to anoint Jesus and are met by an angel who tells them Jesus will

18 encounter them on their way to Galilee. Magdala, from whom Jesus exorcised seven They do see Jesus and embrace his feet. He demons. instructs them to tell the apostles that he will visit them in Galilee. Biblical scholars give us an insight into the interpretation of those suffering from severe Luke's account mentions the women who ailments. They were understood to be come to the tomb for the burial preparation: demonic in nature. from biblical scholars Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the has explained that in the ancient world, mother of James. They are told by two severe ailments, especially those that were angels that Jesus has risen. They leave and not readily obvious, were deemed to be tell the apostles. demonic. Whatever ailment Mary suffered from must have been serious. When Jesus John's account is very different from the healed her, she became his devoted follower. synoptic Gospels. Jesus reveals himself to Mary after Peter and the apostles see the What were Pope Gregory's (c. 590-604) empty tomb and leave believing that Jesus motives for this confusing action? There are was raised from the dead. Mary stays and theories that have to do with the tensions weeps. She enters the tomb and sees two between the Western and Eastern Churches. angels. After a brief exchange, she meets a The Eastern Church did and does to this day man she assumes is a gardener, then realizes recognize Mary of Magdala's important it is the risen Jesus; she cries, "Rabbouni!" influence as a leader in the early church. In She is told to go to the apostles and tell them the Eastern Church, Mary's story remains what she has seen. At first, they are intact. She is portrayed in works of art incredulous, and then believe what Mary has instructing the apostles. told them. During his papacy, Gregory was Though the accounts vary, Mary of Magdala consolidating the governing system in the is the constant in all the renditions. She is Western Church and might have considered the one who tells the apostles that Jesus has the prominence of women as an obstacle to risen. And yet, the popular image of Mary his vision. Whatever the motive, the model Magdalene is of a repentant sinner, a of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute and prostitute. How did that happen? reformed sinner took hold and became a favorite subject for artists for millennia. The metamorphosis happened when Pope Gregory the Great conflated different In 1969, Pope Paul VI untangled the "Mary women in the Gospels into a new and web" making a distinction between Mary of different Mary of Magdala. Here is the mix: Magdala, Mary of Bethany and the unnamed First there is Mary of Bethany, sister of "sinful woman." That began Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus' feet an unremarkable acknowledgement that and dried them with her hair; then the Mary of Magdala was a prominent follower unnamed adulterous woman whom Jesus of Jesus and was again referred to as the saves from stoning. There is another "apostle of the apostles" recognizing her unnamed woman identified only as "a distinctive role as the bearer of the news of sinner" who anoints Jesus and also dries his Jesus' resurrection to the other apostles. feet with her hair; and finally, Mary of However, not until Pope Francis elevated her status in the liturgy (from a memorial to

19 an official feast day on July 22) did the dedication and compassion. She is a model entire Roman Church acknowledge the for women leaders and those young women canonical recognition of St. Mary of who look for female models of faith leaders. Magdala. Nothing deterred her from her commitment The more I learn, the more I ponder. First to the Way that Jesus and his followers century Jews were not inclined to regard forged for all. We all continue that legacy of women's presence as important, and faith. In this Easter season, let us celebrate certainly not gentile women. However, Jesus Mary of Magdala, saint of God. engages with women, Jewish and gentile, in a deeply spiritual manner. He has some of his most significant conversations and encounters with women in the Gospels: the woman at the well; the woman healed from hemorrhaging; the gentile woman who chides Jesus that even dogs are fed crumbs from the table; his conversations with Mary and Martha; and the woman caught in Sue Paweski adultery. Sue Paweski has been a Sister of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods for 22 years. For Could Mary's presence as a prominent 10 years, she has ministered in the follower have given Jesus an insight lost on advancement office of her congregation. the men of his time? Mary's presence surely Currently, she is co-director of her encouraged other women to follow Jesus community's associate program. and the Way. She is described in Luke 8 as a woman of means, which implies that she could have provided for some of the needs of the group. Was she widowed? Did she come from a wealthy family? We don't know. What we do know is that she is mentioned by name 12 times in the canonical Gospels. What is she to us today?

Her single dedication was to Jesus and his message. Her belief led her to Jesus who healed her. Her suffering must have been great, because from that moment on, she joined the apostles and others who follow Jesus from town to town to bring the good HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS news. POPE FRANCIS Vatican Basilica So great was her love and devotion, even Holy Thursday, 1 April 2021 after witnessing the gruesome torture and crucifixion, that she went bravely to Jesus' The Gospel shows us a change of heart tomb to anoint him. Faithful in all among the people who were listening to the circumstances, she is a model of resolve, Lord. The change was dramatic, and it reveals the extent to which persecution and

20 the cross are linked to the proclamation of the cross: “He saved others, let him save the Gospel. The admiration aroused by the himself” (Lk 23:35). “And save us”, one of grace-filled words spoken by Jesus did not the thieves will add (cf. v. 39). last long in the minds of the people of Nazareth. A comment that someone As always, the Lord refuses to dialogue with murmured went insidiously viral: “Is not this the evil spirit; he only replies in the words of Joseph’s son?” (Lk 4:22). Scripture. The prophets Elijah and Elisha, for their part, were accepted not by their It was one of those ambiguous expressions own countrymen but by a Phoenician widow that are blurted out in passing. One person and a Syrian who had contracted leprosy: can use it approvingly to say: “How two foreigners, two people of another wonderful that someone of such humble religion. This is itself striking and it shows origin speaks with this authority!” Someone how true was the inspired prophecy of the else can use it to say in scorn: “And this one, aged Simeon that Jesus would be a “sign of where did he come from? Who does he think contradiction (semeion antilegomenon)” he is?” If we think about it, we can hear the (Lk 2:34)[2]. same words spoken on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles, filled with the Holy Jesus’ words have the power to bring to light Spirit, began to preach the Gospel. Some whatever each of us holds in the depths of said: “Are not all these who are speaking our heart, often mixed like the wheat and the Galileans?” (Acts 2:7). While some received tares. And this gives rise to spiritual conflict. the word, others merely thought that the Seeing the signs of the Lord’s apostles were drunk. superabundant mercy and hearing the “beatitudes” but also the “woes” found in Strictly speaking, those words spoken in the Gospel, we find ourselves forced to Nazareth might go either way, but if we look discern and decide. In this case, Jesus’ at what followed, it is clear that they words were not accepted and this made the contained a seed of violence that would then enraged crowd attempt to kill him. But it be unleashed against Jesus. was not yet his “hour”, and the Lord, so the Gospel tells us, “passing through the midst They were “words of justification”,[1] as, of them, went away”. for example, when someone says: “That is altogether too much!” and then either attacks It was not his hour, yet the swiftness with the other person or walks away. which the crowd’s fury was unleashed, and the ferocity of a rage prepared to kill the This time, the Lord, who at times said Lord on the spot, shows us that it is always nothing or simply walked away, did not let his hour. That is what I would like to share the comment pass. Instead, he laid bare the with you today, dear priests: that the hour of malevolence concealed in the guise of joyful proclamation, the hour of persecution simple village gossip. “You will quote me and the hour of the cross go together. the proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’. What we have heard that you did in The preaching of the Gospel is always Capernaum, do here also in your own linked to the embrace of some particular country!” (Lk 4:23). “Heal yourself…” cross. The gentle light of God’s word shines “Let him save himself”. There is the poison! brightly in well-disposed hearts, but Those same words will follow the Lord to awakens confusion and rejection in those

21 that are not. We see this over and over again that the Lord could be born in extreme in the Gospels. poverty and after many labours – experiencing hunger, thirst, heat and cold, The good seed sown in the field bears fruit – injuries and indignities – die on the Cross, a hundred, sixty and thirty-fold – but it also and all this for me”. He then invites us, “in arouses the envy of the enemy, who is reflecting on this, to draw some spiritual driven to sow weeds during the night profit” (Spiritual Exercises, 116). The joy of (cf. Mt 13:24-30.36-43). the Lord’s birth; the pain of the Cross; persecution. The tender love of the merciful father irresistibly draws the prodigal son home, but What reflection can we make to “draw some also leads to anger and resentment on the profit” for our priestly life by contemplating part of the elder son (cf. Lk 15:11-32). this early appearance of the cross – of misunderstanding, rejection and persecution The generosity of the owner of the vineyard – at the beginning and at the very heart of is a reason for gratitude among the workers the preaching of the Gospel? called at the last hour, but it also provokes a bitter reaction by one of those called first, Two thoughts occur to me. who is offended by the generosity of his employer (cf. Mt 20:1-16). First: we are taken aback to see the cross present in the Lord’s life at the very The closeness of Jesus, who dines with beginning of his ministry, even before his sinners, wins hearts like those of Zacchaeus, birth. It is already there in Mary’s initial Matthew and the Samaritan woman, but it bewilderment at the message of the angel; it also awakens scorn in the self-righteous. is there in Joseph's sleeplessness, when he felt obliged to send Mary away quietly. It is The magnanimity of the king who sends his there in the persecution of Herod and in the son, thinking that he will be respected by the hardships endured by the Holy Family, like tenant farmers, unleashes in them a ferocity those of so many other families obliged to beyond all measure. Here we find ourselves live in exile from their homeland. before the mystery of iniquity, which leads to the killing of the Just One (cf. Mt 21:33- All this makes us realize that the mystery of 46). the cross is present “from the beginning”. It makes us understand that the cross is not an All this, dear brother priests, enables us to afterthought, something that happened by see that the preaching of the Good News is chance in the Lord’s life. It is true that all mysteriously linked to persecution and the who crucify others throughout history would cross. have the cross appear as collateral damage, but that is not the case: the cross does not Saint Ignatius of Loyola – excuse the appear by chance. The great and small “family advertising” – expresses this crosses of humanity, the crosses of each of evangelical truth in his contemplation on the us, do not appear by chance. Nativity of the Lord. There he invites us “to see and consider what Saint Joseph and Our Why did the Lord embrace the cross fully Lady did in setting out on their journey so and to the end? Why did Jesus embrace his entire Passion: his betrayal and

22 abandonment by his friends after the Last cross of our salvation. Thanks to the Supper, his illegal arrest, his summary trial reconciling blood of Jesus, it is a cross that and disproportionate sentence, the gratuitous contains the power of Christ’s victory, and unjustifiable violence with which he which conquers evil and delivers us from the was beaten and spat upon...? If mere evil one. To embrace it with Jesus and, as he circumstances conditioned the saving power did before us, to go out and preach it, will of the cross, the Lord would not have allow us to discern and reject the venom of embraced everything. But when his hour scandal, with which the devil wants to came, he embraced the cross fully. For on poison us whenever a cross unexpectedly the cross there can be no ambiguity! The appears in our lives. cross is non-negotiable. “But we are not among those who shrink A second thought: true, there is an aspect of back (hypostoles)” (Heb 10:39), says the the cross that is an integral part of our author of the Letter to the Hebrews. “We are human condition, our limits and our frailty. not among those who shrink back”. This is Yet it is also true that something happens on the advice that the author gives us. We are the Cross that does not have to do with our not scandalized, because Jesus himself was human weakness but is the bite of the not scandalized by seeing that his joyful serpent, who, seeing the crucified Lord preaching of salvation to the poor was not defenceless, bites him in an attempt to received wholeheartedly, but amid the poison and undo all his work. A bite that shouts and threats of those who refused to tries to scandalize – and this is an era of hear his word or wanted to reduce it to scandals – a bite that seeks to disable and legalisms such as moralism or clericalism. render futile and meaningless all service and We are not scandalized because Jesus was loving sacrifice for others. It is the venom of not scandalized by having to heal the sick the evil one who keeps insisting: save and to set prisoners free amid the moralistic, yourself. legalistic and clerical squabbles that arose every time he did some good. It is in this harsh and painful “bite” that seeks to bring death, that God’s triumph is We are not scandalized because Jesus was ultimately seen. Saint Maximus the not scandalized by having to give sight to Confessor tells us that in the crucified Jesus the blind amid people who closed their eyes a reversal took place. In biting the flesh of in order not to see, or looked the other way. the Lord, the devil did not poison him, for in him he encountered only infinite meekness We are not scandalized because Jesus was and obedience to the will of the Father. not scandalised that his proclamation of a Instead, caught by the hook of the cross, he year of grace of the Lord – a year that devoured the flesh of the Lord, which embraces all of history - provoked a public proved poisonous to him, whereas for us it scandal in matters that today would barely was to be the antidote that neutralizes the make the third page of a local newspaper. power of the evil one.[3] We are not scandalized because the These are my reflections. Let us ask the preaching of the Gospel is effective not Lord for the grace to profit from this because of our eloquent words but because teaching. It is true that the cross is present in of the power of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:17). our preaching of the Gospel, but it is the

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The way we embrace the cross in our preaching of the Gospel – with deeds and, when necessary, with words – makes two things clear. That the sufferings that come from the Gospel are not ours, but rather “the sufferings of Christ in us” (2 Cor 1:5), and that “we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants of all for the love of Jesus” (2 Cor 4:5).

I would like to end by sharing one of my memories. “Once, at a dark moment in my Dear Father Robert and Members of life, I asked the Lord for the grace to free me St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish, from a difficult and complex situation. A dark moment. I had to preach the Spiritual Thank you for your fantastic donations Exercises to some women religious, and on totaling $2,681.50 to our joint St. Vincent de the last day, as was customary in those days, Paul Society of Antioch which you share they all went to confession. One elderly with us at Holy Rosary Parish. We are Sister came; she had a clear gaze, eyes full receiving many, many calls in this serious of light. A woman of God. At the end of the time of need and your financial blessings confession, I felt the urge to ask her a will be passed on for rent, utilities, food, favour, so I said to her, ‘Sister, as your clothing, furniture, and more to our penance pray for me, because I need a neighbors in need. particular grace. Ask the Lord for it. If you ask the Lord, surely he will give it to me’. Thank you and God bless you for your She paused in silence for a moment and support and amazing generosity. seemed to be praying, then she looked at me and said, ‘The Lord will certainly give you Linda, Secretary for SVDP, Antioch that grace, but make no mistake about it: he will give it to you in his own divine way’.

This did me much good, hearing that the

Lord always gives us what we ask for, but that he does so in his divine way. That way involves the cross. Not for masochism. But for love, love to the very end”.[4]

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Indonesian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Hmong, Catholic groups, Burmese, Indian and other Asian Catholics.

bishops pray for end The statement was released by the Asian and Pacific Island Affairs section of the to anti-Asian hate Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church at the U.S. Conference of Catholic crimes, violence Bishops. 1 April 2021 by Catholic News Service "The rise in violence against Asian people across the country is alarming and horrific to all people of right reason," San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said in a March 30 statement.

He announced the archdiocese will hold an afternoon "Easter Peace Prayer Service" at St. Mary's Cathedral on Easter Saturday, April 10.

"We will pray for an end to violence and People in New York City are seen during a Rally racism particularly against Asians, for Against Hate March 21, 2021, to end healing for our nation, and for the discrimination against Asian Americans and flourishing of peace and justice in our land," Pacific Islanders. President Joe Biden March 30 he said. announced plans to crack down on attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, The evening of March 31 Los Angeles including a review of how the Department of Archbishop José H. Gomez planned to Justice can bolster its efforts to track and prosecute hate crimes. (CNS/Reuters/Eric Lee) celebrate an outdoor "Prayer Vigil for Racial Acceptance" at Incarnation Church in WASHINGTON — Asian and Pacific Glendale, California, in solidarity with the Islander Catholic groups and a number of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. Catholic bishops have joined their voices Auxiliary Bishop Alejandro "Alex" D. with others in calling for an end to violence Aclan was to be the homilist. and hate crimes against Americans of Asian and Pacific Island heritage. "We stand in solidarity with the victims of racial violence across the United States as "We call on communities to engage in we uphold our commitment to the core peaceful dialogue at the local and national values of Catholicism," Aclan said in a levels to address prejudice and anti-Asian statement. "As we mobilize the faithful to bias. We stand for the peaceful co-existence take action against racism, we take Christian of all peoples, we pray for compassion and love, and not political interests, as our love, and work toward healing and unity," guide." said a March 31 statement from the leaders of 16 groups representing Korean, Chinese,

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urged Congress to enact strong legislation against hate crimes.

The organization Stop AAPI Hate released figures in mid-March saying it had collected reports of 3,800 hate crimes throughout the U.S. in the past year against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

People are seen in New York City's Chinatown Some of the more known reports include March 25, 2021. President Joe Biden March 30 general harassment in public, such as being announced plans to crack down on attacks told to "go home" or to get out of the against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, country, at restaurants and in grocery stores. including a review of how the Department of Justice can bolster its efforts to track and Among the most recent attacks was a March prosecute hate crimes. (CNS/Reuters/Eduardo Munoz) 16 shooting spree at three spas in the metro Atlanta area left eight people dead, In a March 29 statement, Bishop Oscar including six women of Asian descent. Law Cantú of San Jose, California, said the Asian enforcement is looking into the mass community "has been on my mind and in shooting as a hate crime. my prayers recently, given the disturbing rise of anti-Asian animus, prejudice, "We must support all victims of violence aggression and violence." and stand in solidarity with those who are vulnerable in our communities," said Atlanta "It is disgraceful to see this in our American Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer in a society in our modern times," the bishop March 17 statement after the shooting. said. He urged Catholics to embrace Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, "celebrate Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich echoed them, and love them as brothers and sisters!" these comments in his March 18 statement about what occurred in Atlanta. Protests and vigils have taken place around the country to demand an end to a growing Bishop Oscar A. Solis of Salt Lake City, wave of anti-Asian racism and violence and chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee to remember victims of these attacks. on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, also echoed the Atlanta archbishop's call to stand Two Jesuit universities, St. Louis University in solidarity with the vulnerable in these and Georgetown University, have held vigils communities. online that also included discussion on challenges faced by the Asian American and In a March 22 statement, he said the Atlanta Pacific Islander communities and ways to shootings have "prompted national dialogue better advocate for them. on addressing anti-Asian bias that has taken the form of numerous other acts of physical The general council of the Dominican sisters violence, verbal attacks and destruction of of Adrian, Michigan, also has called for an property against those of Asian descent over end to the violence against these groups and the last year that have left communities across the country traumatized."

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Louisiana, chairman of the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

"Together with our shepherds, let us be mindful of and turn to the fundamental truth that, 'because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and — all People in Newcastle, Wash., wave signs during too often — hatred,'" the pastoral leaders a March 17, 2021, rally against anti-Asian hate said, quoting the bishops' 2018 pastoral on crimes. President Joe Biden March 30 announced plans to crack down on attacks combating racism, "Open Wide Our Hearts." against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including a review of how the Department of "As Holy Mother Church celebrates the Justice can bolster its efforts to track and paschal solemnity of Jesus Christ — his prosecute hate crimes. (CNS/Reuters/Lindsey suffering, death and resurrection — we Wasson) place our hope and trust in a loving and merciful God who gave his only son, our The March 31 statement from the pastoral Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem all of us from leaders of Asian and Pacific Islander sin and death," they added. Catholic groups said the March 16 mass shooting "deeply saddened" them and they In San Francisco, Cordileone noted that offered their prayers "for the deceased and "brutal assaults that have been perpetrated comfort for their families and friends." against Asian-Americans here in San Francisco in recent days." "We strongly stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters during this time of "This is not San Francisco! On the contrary, hostility and violence targeting the Asian our city has always been an epicenter of community in many parts of the country," Asian-American culture, with recurring they said. waves of Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, South Asian, and They pointed to Solis's March 22 statement other immigrants overcoming discrimination and noted that in May 2020, two months and hardship to contribute to the rich into the pandemic, three bishops' conference tapestry of this city's life," he said. chairmen spoke out amid the rise of incidents of racism and xenophobia against "In our own Catholic community we are Americans of Asian and Pacific Island blessed to be enriched by many vibrant heritage as a result of "fear and anxiety Asian communities, which bring much being fueled by the COVID-19 virus" vitality to our people's faith lives," having originated in China. Cordileone said.

Solis was joined in that 2020 statement by "As Catholics, we also belong to a global Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, faith community that is the most diverse and chairman of the bishops' Committee for multicultural institution in the world; and as Cultural Diversity in the Church, and Bishop Americans, we have a responsibility on the Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux,

27 global stage to show respect for all people, affirming their human dignity," he added.

"We must, then, lead by example in working toward the much spoken-of but ever elusive unity that is so needed and desired in our society right now," he added.

Fr. Peter Zhai, director of Chinese ministry for the archdiocese, who is organizing the April 10 prayer service, said San Francisco's Chinese Catholic community welcomed A worshipper wears a face mask to prevent the "this call to pray together for unity and spread of COVID-19 on Holy Thursday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old peace and end to violence and racism. City April 1. This year, Joan Chittister celebrated Palm Sunday in a monastery still "Our faith is strong and gives us hope we under a form of COVID-19 lockdown. She can stand together with all San Franciscans called it "the most beautiful, impacting Palm of good will for a better future," he said. Sunday I had ever seen." (CNS/Ammar Awad, Reuters) Added Fr. Moisés Agudo, archdiocesan vicar for Hispanics: "A rising tide of hatred Sunday, March 28, was Passion Sunday — must be met with a stronger swelling of love Palm Sunday we call it now, in this era. and prayer. The Latinos of the community of Whatever generation you are, however you the Archdiocese of San Francisco look name it, this Sunday marks the opening of forward to joining with San Francisco Holy Week. It is a liturgical narrative of the Catholics to support our archbishop in acme of the life of Jesus and his journey prayer for peace and unity in this city that from the Galilee to the cross. we love." It reminded us of that life of mystery and mystique. How Jesus got from a place of COVID-19 and Holy total adulation to total rejection — to the passion — was very hard to explain. But Week stretch us again, that was all right. We simply listened to the readings and went from one event to another for the better till the long week ended in alleluias and 8 April 2021 jubilation. by Sr. Joan Chittister COVID-19 changed that now. And the Spirituality question is: "to what effect?"

Well, here at the monastery, at least, this introduction to Easter was the most beautiful, impacting Palm Sunday I had ever seen. Somehow or other, I had been made a part of it rather than a mere observer, listener, passerby.

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Our monastery, of course, is still in a again. It was right and eternal and wrapped reduced form of COVID-19 lockdown — up and finished. But not now. And definitely meaning no one other than the sisters not this year. Not in our own monastery themselves are in chapel now for the Hours chapel. of Liturgical Prayer. Under normal conditions, oblates, friends, even guests Then, it was a system repeated over and from across the country, would be with us over again. Now it is a moment to compare for it. The week would be a picture of the myself and my life in my time to the life of Christian community — priest, religious, Jesus in his own time. laity — on pilgrimage to the bedrock of the church and the core of the Christian faith. It This year, we were not simply repeating the would be something we watch and hear and rubrics of the church. We were embedding remember from years past. ourselves, our lives now in this country at this time in a story that was itself eternal, But even alone in the monastery chapel here yes, but not simply replicated. Lived. and now, the concentration on one small segment of the Gospel took on special The Jewish narrative of Passover reminds meaning. It was not a reiteration of a set of the Jewish community that YHWH has rubrics we had witnessed over and over saved them and will go on saving them. So, from one year to another. Suddenly, this too, the Christian narrative that is the basis story became our story. It was the story of of Palm Sunday's liturgy remembers that our own lives as Christians in the world Jesus paid the ultimate price for choosing rather than simply Christians in the church. the needs of the people over the dictums of It is, I realized in a different way this year, the authorities. Jesus lived on in the hearts an important distinction. and minds of the people who knew that the higher value is love for one another rather Even more significant, if your spiritual life than institutional laws. was formed before the Second Vatican Council in 1962, before the shrinking of the It was that narrative that turned Palm culture of Catholic schools, daily Mass, Sunday at the monastery into the parallel Friday Stations of the Cross during Lent and between the life and suffering of Jesus then CCD classes — which were all thriving and the lives and sufferings of people today parts of the spiritual psyche — it could seem who are also being forgotten and ignored by like another world now. And in a sense, it is. today's authorities.

The impact of all those differences is not Remembering that Jesus was a threat to the only life-changing as far as the way the faith systems of first century Israel, it is obvious is lived. It is, in fact, a new way to see what that Christianity today, thanks to Pope Leo it means to live the faith at all. If you are a XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum and the pre-Vatican II Catholic, you were hardly social teachings of the church that follow it, more than 14 years old by the time you had also threatens the social system as we know been schooled to see Holy Week as a kind of it. We know that the needs of too many are memorial service embedded in the Mass. All also being overlooked now. And here. We of the readings, all of the hymns, all of the want the obvious problems to be recognized prayers are in your DNA. It's what we did. as a Christian imperative. All the time. Every year. Over and over

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And so, Palm Sunday liturgy at the But what is also being demonstrated here is monastery became a whole new awareness the difference between religion and faith. beyond the rubrics and outside of the Mass. Between the role of the church as an It was embedded in the Gospel we use as a institution and the place of the faith in the guide to determine the way we live our own life of the seeker. The institution clearly can lives now. only carry us so far into faith. The rest of our souls we must attend to ourselves. Now it's about us and the needy and Jesus — not about the Catholic organization and At the end of the day, it is not the presence the system and Jesus. We have to make it of clergy that determines the impact of the real. Gospel. It is not the canonicity of the rituals that define their spiritual value. It is not the So, the community liturgy called out the present translation or the traditional format situation of immigrants who walk thousands of ancient prayers that govern our lives as of miles for safety but are then being left Christians in the world. unattended at the gates of our country. We noted that poor families in the United States And it is definitely not a return to medieval of America can no longer afford to eat three vestments, European birettas and cassocks times a day — and cited that in the liturgy. or collars to declare the ontological We followed Jesus and the disciples as they predominance of priests — favored by some ate their last supper together — and younger priests, these days, we're told — ourselves tasted the pain of it and the story that will make the church, church. Going under the story that it made us see. back to a period where priests were better educated than the laity and so the last word We remembered that the apostles slept on everything did not before and will clearly unconscious of what was happening to the not now certify the quality and character of world around them, as we ourselves so often our Catholicity. do. We know that people have become homeless, been evicted even, for failing to In fact, a by-product of COVID-19 — the pay rent or meet mortgages in the United lockdowns — make some astounding States, the wealthiest country in the world. spiritual truths clear: No priest has celebrated a Mass in our monastery or led We mourned the fact that this country any rubric of the church there for over a prefers a minimum wage to a living year. Yet, the power of the prayer, the wage for people who must then work two beauty of its pace and depth, the personal jobs to maintain families hanging by a impact of the six scenes of Palm Sunday and financial thread. the profound engrossment of every person there felt sharper, clearer, more personal These — and more — are also being than ever before. Or to put it another way, crucified in this day and age as the wealth what the "tradition" imparted to us, came gap widens and moving from the lower class alive in our own age, our own way. to the working class and the middle class becomes more and more difficult. Let alone It seems that the church — clerical, lay, to any degree of genuine financial elderly and young — who for far too long independence and security at all. considered themselves spiritual children in need of parental direction, are all growing

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up. Faith, we are learning the hard way, is not assured by a repetition of old forms. Visitation of Vatican The reality, I repeat, is this: The institution can only carry us so far. The rest of the liturgy office could journey is up to us to make out of its everlasting truths, not the mere repetition of lead to liturgical old patterns done in old ways. We need to understand that now it's about us and the reform needy and Jesus — not about the Catholic 8 April 2021 organization and the system and Jesus. We by Thomas Reese, Religion News have to make it real. Service

Amma Syncletica, the fourth century Desert Mother said: "In the beginning there is struggle. ... But after that there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result."

From where I stand, the lockdowns of COVID-19 didn't deprive us of anything in the realm of faith. Instead, they are simply requiring us to dig deeper for spirituality Bishop Emilio Alvarez, center right, celebrates ourselves — which is what we have always the Eucharist at The Cathedral at the Gathering been meant to do but have allowed the Place in Rochester, New York. (Courtesy photo) institution to do for us. If the pope asked you what you thought about Catholic liturgy, what would you say to him? What is going well? What needs to change?

Bishop Claudio Maniago of Castellaneta, president of the Italian bishops' conference's liturgical commission, must answer these Joan Chittister questions for the pope, who asked him to do A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Pennsylvania, a “visitation” of the Congregation for Divine Joan Chittister is a best-selling author and Worship and the Discipline of the well-known international lecturer on topics Sacraments. Although charged with of justice, peace, human rights, women's overseeing liturgy for the church, the office issues and contemporary spirituality in the has done little to support badly needed church and in society. liturgical reform.

The nature of the visitation has not been officially described, but with the recent retirement of Cardinal Robert Sarah, the office's prefect, it might be comparable to a

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consultant being called in to look at a The appointment was a disaster, a prime floundering business before a new CEO is example of how Francis’ kindness to his appointed. Vatican subordinates can damage the church. Sarah even recommended a return to Immediately after the Second Vatican saying Mass with the priest's back to the Council, Pope Paul VI successfully pews. Francis may rail against clericalism, implemented the most radical liturgical but he still treats his curial cardinals like reform in the history of the Catholic Church princes. — a reform that embodied a renewed ecclesiology and enhanced the Mass and And while the staff of the congregation, for other sacraments' relationship to the most part, is well trained, many of the contemporary cultures. To execute the advisers to the congregation were appointed reform agenda, he bypassed the for ideological reasons (support for the congregation and created the International Tridentine Rite, or Traditional Latin Mass) Consilium. and have no degrees in liturgy.

A small but vocal minority of Catholics If I were advising Maniago, I would suggest objected to the changes, some of whom even that his report cover both process and policy. went into schism. They wanted to keep Latin I will give my recommendation on process and opposed Communion in the hand, the here; my suggestions on policy will await kiss of peace, lay ministers of Communion, another column. Some of these altar girls and contemporary songs, not to recommendations could be applied to other mention the theology behind the reforms. curial offices as well.

After Paul, the Vatican bureaucats put the First, the pope should appoint a search brakes on liturgical reform, disappointing committee to find a new prefect, made up reformers who hoped his changes were just primarily of bishops who chair the liturgical the beginning. Although John Paul II wrote committees of their bishops’ conferences. eloquently about the need to adapt These bishops deal with the congregation on Christianity to local cultures and even did a regular basis and would know what kind of experimental things in his own liturgies, he leader is needed. (Maniago could head the never pushed for further adaptation of the search committee, except he might be a liturgy. Benedict XVI focused on strict good candidate for prefect.) translations of liturgical texts and allowed more extensive use of the pre-Vatican II Second, over the congregation's prefect and Mass. Liturgical reform has not been a the staff is the congregation itself — a priority for Francis. committee of cardinals and bishops. This committee should be made up primarily of The prefects who headed the congregation true liturgical experts, such as those heading have rarely been liturgical experts and have episcopal conference liturgical commissions. exhibited little interest in reform. Many got The prefect and staff should confer with this their jobs simply because they were committee at least quarterly, by Zoom if cardinals. Sarah only moved to the necessary. During Sarah’s six-plus years as congregation in 2014 because his earlier prefect, the congregation met only once. position as head of Cor Unum was eliminated by Francis' curial restructuring.

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Likewise, the congregation should confer at change. One of the aims of the process least annually with all the chairs of bishops’ should be to build support for the change. If conferences liturgy committees. During support is not forthcoming, then they will these meetings, the prefect and staff should need to rethink the whole idea. spend more time listening than talking. Third, the congregation should establish a Ultimately, the process must lead to process for encouraging and authorizing liturgical practices that help the people of liturgical adaptation. It is important that this God to celebrate their Christian faith and whole process be transparent and collegial, identity. Liturgy is about giving praise and or as Francis would say, “synodal.” The day thanks to God through Jesus Christ. It is also is past when the Vatican can consult its about being transformed by the Spirit so favorite experts and then impose its views that, as a Christian community, we can on the whole church without adequate continue the work of Jesus in our world. consultation. My suggestions for specific liturgical For this purpose, the congregation could reforms will be made in a future column. If encourage liturgical scholars to develop you have suggestions, give them in the recommendations based on conferences held comment section below. around the world. It could encourage bishops or bishops’ conferences to establish, perhaps at universities, centers for liturgical experimentation where ideas could be tested on willing communities.

Ideally, before the congregation did anything definitive, it would go through a public process. Thomas Reese First, the congregation should issue a Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese's column for document describing possible changes and Religion News Service, "Signs of the call for input. Second, it should consult with Times," appears regularly at National experts and chairs of conference liturgical Catholic Reporter. committees and then publish a draft proposal. Third, based on responses to the first draft, it should revise and beta test the proposal. New liturgical practices should never be imposed on the universal church without beta testing. Fourth, it could publicize a final proposal and submit it to the pope.

The danger of making the process transparent is that opponents of change will be louder than proponents, but transparency can also contribute to improving the final product and helping people understand the

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Inside - Only cantors, small ensemble APRIL 8: BISHOP choirs, and other appointed ministers for Mass or events can sing, while maintaining BARBER SHARES physical distance from both each other and the congregation. COVID-19 Outside - Cantors, small ensemble choirs, RESTRICTION ministers - as well as congregants - can sing, but only with congregants wearing masks UPDATES FOR and maintaining a strictly enforced six feet of separation. As our community continues CONTRA COSTA & to be vaccinated, and cases drop, we look forward to seeing the rules revised and ALAMEDA hearing song return to the pews once again. For now, we urge all parishes to observe this COUNTIES safety protocol, and help keep us safe. Things are looking up in the Bay Area, but, A message from Bishop Michael C. Barber, as we’ve seen before, progress can vanish SJ: Alameda County (April 1, 2021) Orange quickly, not only from potentially more Tier COVID-19 Restriction Updates now in contagious vaccine-resistant variants, but effect in Contra Costa County, as of April 7, also by letting down our guard vis-à-vis 2021. well-established safety protocols. I am heartened by the hunger of our people to Parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa return to the celebration of the Eucharist, as Counties may now admit up to 50% of the witnessed on Ash Wednesday, during Holy church building’s official seating capacity; Week and most recently on Easter Sunday. however, that must take into account the Let us welcome them with open arms, while ability to maintain the existing six feet also ensuring their safety. distancing rule. (The bishops of California are negotiating with the State to see if this With the assurance of my continued prayers can be adjusted to three feet, as for schools). and blessing, I am Yours sincerely in Christ, Individuals must still follow current health The Most Reverend Michael C. Barber, S.J. orders and mandates. The 50% capacity Bishop of Oakland includes clergy, altar servers, musicians, sound/video tech persons — anyone in the building. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties have further updated their guidelines regarding singing, chanting, and playing wind instruments in houses of

worship. To reflect updated rules, we are issuing further guidelines to inform and Expansion News clarify. Both Counties orange tier As you know with the approval of the restrictions regarding music and singing are construction contract with Oliver and as follows: Company, selective demolition is proceeding at a rapid pace. In recognition of the commencement of our long-awaited Expansion Project, the parish has scheduled

34 a groundbreaking ceremony and Do we turn away from suffering or do we thanksgiving Mass to mark this important embrace it? Do we let it sink in? Do we milestone in the history of St. Ignatius of spend time in prayer holding those who are Antioch parish. The groundbreaking suffering close between God's Heart and our celebration will take place on Sunday, own? April 18, 2021 at 9:30 am. A few days ago, there was a report of a If you are planning to attend the 8:00 am smuggler dropping two little sisters, three liturgy, you are invited to stay afterwards and five years old, over the wall at the and attend the groundbreaking ceremony border so they could be with their mother. beginning at 9:30 am. Likewise, if you are You could see the bodies plunge down into planning to attend the 10:00 am liturgy, you the soil. They were taken to the hospital by are invited to arrive a few minutes early and Border Patrol and then united with their join us at the ceremony at 9:30 am. mother. How horrible to begin one's life by being plunged into the desert soil, to let go We have invited representatives from out of the life you know to be with strangers. architects and contractors to attend the What an image for us. We have been 10:00 am liturgy where we will recognize dropped into unknown territory through a our professional partners in this effort, pray year of COVID's strangeness and continued for the safety of all the workers, and thank gun violence. Bruised and battered we now God for the journey that has brought us to take up our lives, hopefully with some new- this point in time. found wisdom, but the lives of migrants at Please see the flyer at the end of the insert the border are still unsettled. for more details. There are three ways to be close to migrants Justice Corner by Carolyn Krantz, and refugees: prayer, donations and sweat. Pastoral Associate How much time do we spend praying for The Gospel today, called the “Doubting them? How much do we donate monthly? Thomas Gospel,” portrays the pain that was Can we give time and energy to work with in Thomas' heart. The brutality of the organizations that support the eight million crucifixion had been too much for him. migrants and refugees wandering the world “Unless I put my finger into the nail marks today in hopes of a better life? “Bring your and put my hand into His side,” he says with hand to feel the place of the nails and do not passion. Now that is just what we are called be unbelieving, but believe!” Believe that to do: put our finger into the suffering of God is strong enough and loving enough to others and our hand into their misery. Not give hope to these weary travelers, to those an easy task! who have lost loved ones, and to us who have traveled this strange year. The news these days is full of stories of misery-refugees trekking through jungles, Violence causes fear and terror in the human migrants in overcrowded boats, children in heart. It begets the kind of trauma that crowded cages. “Unless you put your finger Thomas felt. It is not easily subdued. That into my hands and touch the wound in my is why Jesus begins this visit to His side, you cannot be my disciple.” We have traumatized disciples with “Peace be with life in His Name because He taught us how you.” What causes peace? The Spirit who to hold the pain close and let it transform us. enables us to forgive. “Receive the Holy

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Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are differences if there was spiritual life after forgiven.” But if we hold on to the sins of death, but both sides had to agree there was violence, then, “they are retained.” We can no evidence of corporeal life after death. never get rid of the fear and terror in our Then Jesus changed everything. hearts unless we are willing to forgive those who caused it. Look at the example of the Jesus didn’t fear death. He knew he had the mothers whose sons have been killed by power to lay down his life and the power to police violence. Their message is clear. take it up again. We have the power to open “Peace be with you,” and then they get out a car door, get inside, close the door and and work for justice. We conquer the world open it again and get out. We have no through this faith, through “water and mortal fear of getting stuck inside a car for blood.” Jesus on the cross says, “Father, eternity. So, also, we should not fear death forgive them for they know not what they because we are forevermore alive in and do.” Through that forgiveness is the with Christ Jesus. Death no longer exists for “victory that conquers the world.” When we us just as death does not exist for Jesus. truly forgive, we know that the Spirit of God is within us. Real peace comes not by We hear and read of many events of accusing, but by forgiving. supernatural origin. The many Saints of the Church who intercede for those who call So, try holding the pain of migrants in your upon their help to ask God for favors in heart. It is a pain caused by fear of drug times of distress. There are many Marion cartels, fear of violence and loss of all that is apparitions that ask humanity to change its familiar. Hold it in prayer before the Lord ways to peace, love, and holiness. Many this week and let it transform you. Fall over people report seeing deceased relatives at or the wall of indifference and judgment into near the time of their deaths to comfort and the soil of the risen Christ. Then get out and assure them of the love of family, the saints, work for a just immigration system.* and God that await them when their time on earth is fulfilled. There is a lot of evidence *Some organizations doing this work are: and personal accounts to show that this life Catholic Charities of the East Bay, Interfaith we see with earthly eyes is not the only life Movement for Human Integrity, Kino that exists. Border Initiative, American Immigration Council and others. It has been a good two thousand plus years since so many people saw, spoke to, and ate Parish Perspective by with the resurrected Christ. It is easy to fall Peter Degl’Innocenti, Pastoral Associate into the trap that once you die that’s it. Resurrection Changes Everything More and more we depend on our faith to Happy Easter! He is risen indeed! What a keep us strong and unafraid of death. Easter great change the world saw that first Sunday is the season of life. Jesus will keep his morning. Jesus, true to his word, was alive promises to us. One, that he will be with us again. Think about it just briefly. Ever since through this earthly life; and two, that he Adam and Eve were kicked out of the will come again on the last day with eternal Garden of Eden everyone who died life for all who believe. Let us all resurrect remained dead. Go back 2,000 years BC to our faith in eternal life, in the risen eternal the Egyptian empire and all those people Lord. who died; still dead. No one alive again. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had their

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Second Sunday of Easter

That Our Joy Might Be Complete O God, Help us to honor that gift, from the beginning you prepared us, that we might use the life we have been making us in your image, given to serve sharing with us every good gift, and be willing to lay it down with the hope revealing yourself to us over the ages, that we might rise like Jesus, until in the incarnation, you broke and that our joy might be complete. into history We ask this through Christ Our Lord. in a new way, doing a new thing. Amen. You give us your life.

April 11, 2021 Our Joy Overflows

Today’s readings: Acts 4:32–35; Psalm 118:2–4, 13–15, Our Easter joy should bubble up within us and be 22–24; 1 John 5:1–6; John 20:19–31. When Jesus appears poured out. The joy should inspire us toward service and in a locked room and says, “Peace be with you,” the apostles self-sacrifice in imitation of Jesus. Whose needs in your rejoice that their Lord is present. Jesus then breathes on community are going unmet? Bring an Easter basket to a them, giving them the Spirit, and commissions them. Their homebound member of your parish, and sit and visit for an joy in the Resurrection is not theirs alone. hour. Pick up a package of diapers on your next trip to the The new life that comes from God, the new life where store, and drop them at a center that serves families or there was only death, changes the Twelve. Acts tells us that, women in crisis pregnancies. Volunteer to serve at a soup in the early Church, the needs of all were met. The Christian kitchen, and be present as you smile and greet the guests. community was part of the inauguration of the kingdom of Call a person who seems lonely, and set up a time to talk. justice and peace, and a sign of the kingdom. Therefore in When you find a need and meet it, others peer through a their community, the demands of justice were recognized. window into the coming kingdom. This Week at Home Thursday, April 15 Continue the Celebration Monday, April 12 One of the beautiful things about Easter is that for fifty days we celebrate our joy. Do something that reflects an Easter Reading Acts custom today. When my children were little, we hid plastic The first reading each day has been making its way through eggs all over the house throughout the Easter season. It was the Acts of the Apostles, as it does each Easter season. We a fun way to keep the joy of the season present for us. hear about the early Christians’ preaching, teaching, and You might continue to add flowers to a prayer area in your healing, and what occurred as a result. Acts is filled with home, or adorn it with white and gold, to help you to be pres- drama and adventure. During this Easter season, try to read ent in the season and remind those you love that we are still the entire book. Be inspired by those who “were filled with in the season of celebration. Consider also making a lamb the holy Spirit and continued to speak of God with boldness.” cake or getting special Easter treats at the store. Today’s Today’s readings: Acts 4:23–31; Psalm 2:1–3, 4–7a, 7b–9; readings: Acts 5:27–33; Psalm 34:2 and 9, 17–18, 19–20; John 3:1– 8. John 3:31–36. Tuesday, April 13 Friday, April 16 No Needy Person among Us In the early Christian Church, the community cared for Loaves and Fishes In the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, we see the one another. Most homeless shelters have a constant need Eucharist. Go to Mass or adoration today. Take this opportu- for basics, such as socks and underwear. Imagine how pro- nity to thank Jesus for the great gift of himself in the found a need this is for those who lack them. Buy a few pairs Eucharist. Receive this gift and go out into the world and of socks or underwear, and take them to a place in your love as he does. Today’s readings: Acts 5:34–42; Psalm 27:1, community that serves those who are without a home. 4, 13–14; John 6:1–15. Today’s readings: Acts 4:32–37; Psalm 93:1ab, 1cd–2, 5; John 3:7b–15. Saturday, April 17 Wednesday, April 14 Called to Serve We hear about the apostles choosing assistants and laying We Cannot Help But Proclaim It their hands on these men, including Stephen, who would “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that be the first Christian martyr. They were called by God to everyone who believes in him might not perish but might serve the needs of the community so that no one would be have eternal life.” The early Christians could not help left at the margins. God is calling you to use your gifts to but proclaim the Good News in word and deed, and we serve as well. How is God calling you today? Do you think are called to continue to do so. How can you bring those the path of following that call is always going to be easy? around you into the light of God’s love? Today’s readings: Today’s readings: Acts 6:1–7; Psalm 33:1–2, 4–5, 18–19; Acts 5:17–26; Psalm 34:2–3, 4–5, 6–7, 8–9; John 3:16–21. John 6:16–21.

© 2021 Liturgy Training Publications. 800-933-1800. Written by Kathryn Ball-Boruff. Illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, revised edition. Permission to publish granted by the Archdiocese of Chicago, on July 6, 2020. Expansion Update April 7, 2021

A couple of heavy lifters now onsite.

Demolition of the old Patio Cover

More Demolition Photos Patio, Kitchen Wall and Some Roof Tiles Fr. Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P., executive director of the Interfaith Peace Project. Tom was ordained in 1972 for the Passionist Religious Order of the Roman Catholic Church, and is recognized for his scriptural scholarship. “A man of vision, Tom’s programs are less about learning of differences and similarities in religions, and more about understanding, respecting and connecting to all humankind.” — George D’Angelo, Ph.D., Founder, UN International Day of Peace Vigil. RACISM Until Black Women Are Free, None of Us Will Be Free

Join Us Online! Exploring the intersection of April 20, 2021 racism, sexism, gender bias, class, and economic disparity, Black 7:00-8:00 pm Women’s American experience or illustrates the systemic nature of April 21, 2021 racism and the ill effects of such 10:30-11:30 am oppression on society. We will $15 explore this painful history from a RSVP by April 19 Womanist perspective. This session Racism: Until Black reviews and continues our reflection Women are free, None of Us will be free – CES on the article: My Body is a Event (myshopify.com) Confederate Monument*.

Link for the series will be sent the * Article will be sent to those who register. day before the first session.

Call us for more information at (510) 933-6360 SPONSORED BY: During these uncertain times, we are offering a sliding scale. When you are registering, please choose the cost that best suits your needs. Donations gratefully accepted. This will help support the ongoing www.msjdominicans.org work of the Center for Education facebook.com/dominicansistersofmsj and Spirituality.

43326 MISSION CIRCLE (ENTRANCE OFF MISSION TIERRA) • FREMONT, CALIFORNIA 94539 • 510-933.6360 7Rev20210331 Knights of St. Ignatius Columbus of Antioch Spring 2021 Raffle Tickets Wine Raffle $10 each 1st Place Winner 2nd Place Winner 20 bottles of wine 15 bottles of wine

Only 100 tickets will be sold, total value of wines is over $1000! Tickets on sale beginning April 5th thru 28th. Drawing will be held in the gathering plaza following the 8am Mass on May 2nd. Browse a list of some wines which will be available to our winners:

B.V. Red Wine-Maestro-Beauzeaux-Napa Valley 2016 82 pts B.V. Red Wine-Maestro-Rutherford-Napa Valley 2014 90 pts Beringer Cabernet, Reserve-Knights Valley 2014 80 pts Buena Vista Chardonnay, Chateau-Carneros 2018 90 pts Brutocao Zinfandel, Bliss Vineyard-Mendocino 2014 72 pts Grgich Hills Cabernet, Miljinker-Rutherford 2013 92 pts Grgich Hills Zinfandel, Estate-Napa Valley 2013 95 pts Kendall Jackson Cabernet Grand Reserve-Sonoma Valley 2013 82 pts Ledson Cabernet, Howell Mt-Napa Valley 2015 92 pts Narrow Gate Water Tower Estate-El Dorado Red Blend 2017 90 pts Peju Propriety Red-Napa Valley 2018 80 pts Provenance Cabernet-Rutherford 2016 84 pts Silverado Cabernet, Estate-Napa Valley 2016 80 pts St. Supery Cabernet, Estate-Napa Valley 2017 84 pts Wente Cabernet Sauvignon-Wetmore Vineyard 2018 94 pts

To purchase tickets or donate wine: Contact Ron Yarolimek (925) 550-1182, Steve Rojek or email [email protected]. Tickets will be on sale in the gathering plaza after most Saturday & Sunday Masses.

We are still accepting donations. Many thanks to our donors as of April 7th who have made this raffle possible: Bill Barbanica, Dave Costanza, Adolfo DeLeon, Gerry Galvan, Tony Gumina, Phil Hadsell, Brian McCarthy, Brian McCoy, Fr. Robert Rien, Steve Rojek, Steven Rojek, Walter Schlueter, Chip Sharpe, Bill Stuhlreyer, Howard Tank, Lucky Thammalangsy & Ron Yarolimek. It’s a Go and You’re InvIted! St. Ignatius of Antioch Expansion Project Groundbreaking Ceremony & Mass of Thanksgiving When: Sunday April 18, 2021 Where: St. Ignatius of Antioch Groundbreaking: 9:30 AM Mass: 10:00 AM

Our Mission Founded in 1935 to serve people Catholic Charities East Bay works with youth, children, and families to who reside within the Diocese of promote resilience, strengthen families, and pursue safety and justice Oakland. for all. An affiliate of Catholic Charities, What we do USA, one of the largest social We provide housing, legal immigration, and mental health services services networks in the country to people of all cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, and faiths. Our Locations Our Programs Oakland- 433 Jefferson St Housing: we provide low-income families and seniors facing eviction Richmond- 217 Harbour Way and homelessness with back rent, security deposits, and utility Concord- 2120 Diamond Blvd #220 assistance in Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties. Contact Us (510)579-3100 Immigration Legal Services: We help clients earn lawful working status and follow a path to citizenship through Legal Consultations, Family-Based Visa Petitions, Permanent Residency Application and Our Impact in 2020 Renewal, U.S. Citizenship, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Unaccompanied Minors, and more. • 36,000 people received essential services. Mental Health: Experience Hope in Schools and Communities – We work with • 914 households received students, schools, and community groups serving young people, to housing assistance. provide culturally responsive approaches to overcome the challenges presented by pervasive violence at schools in Oakland Unified and West • 23,570 people were provided Contra Costa Unified School Districts. food during our food distributions. Day Star – We provide education and mentoring to connect youth who are surviving or are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation (CSEC) to • 463 people were helped enter adult mentors, to increase awareness, and to decrease demand. the path to citizenship.

Crisis Response Services –We provide grief counseling and family • 10,000 people helped with $500 support services to surviving family/friends of loved ones lost to gift cards totaling $5 million in homicide in Oakland. assistance (DRAI, funded by the State of California). Family Support Services – We work with parents and children referred to us by Contra Costa County Children & Family Service to • 54 families received support strengthen families, improve child well-being, and help children stay services who had lost loved ones safely with their families in their home. due to homicide.

TRUE Academy – We help young people (ages 14 to 18) within the • 84 families received in-depth Alameda County juvenile justice system learn strategies to safely and services who were referred to us productively think and respond in situations of stress, fear, and conflict. by Contra Costa County Family and Children Services.