For The Bulletin Of garden of the resurrection morning, but by 17 January 2021 then the “What” has become “Whom” in the intimate encounter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

The two disciples ask Jesus, the Teacher (Rabbi), where he is staying, and he responds by inviting them to “Come, and you will see.” Their question is about a place; that experience is about abiding for the rest of the day in a relationship with a person, about the beginning of a new communion between the people and this Lamb of God. The “where” is not as important as the “with whom.” The pattern THE SECOND SUNDAY IN WINTER’S of discipleship is established: through ORDINARY TIME witness (of the Baptist), others follow and experience Jesus’ truth for themselves. From Father Robert They in turn bring others to Jesus. One of As we begin our journey through Winter’s the first two who followed Jesus remains Ordinary Time, the gospel begins with anonymous, perhaps as a Johannine looking and gazing and responding to the invitation to future readers to see a challenge call to discipleship. John the Baptist stands to themselves in the following, seeking with two of his disciples, ready to decrease pattern of discipleship. The other is later in personal significance so that Jesus may named as Andrew, who announces to his increase. After his testimony there will be brother, Simon Peter, that he has found the no hanging onto or hankering for his former Messiah. Like the first disciples, we all see disciples. John watches Jesus pass by the something different in this same Jesus, and eyes of John’s heart penetrate to the reality Jesus recognizes the truth in us, just as in of this man, and he points him out to his this first chapter of the fourth gospel, Jesus’ disciples as the Lamb of God. The Jewish insight into Simon’s role in the community religious experience of the lamb was as the of the disciples suggests his renaming as sacrificial offering that overcame the Cephas (in Aramaic, kepha; in Greek, petra; alienation of sin and created unity between in English, rock). the people and God. In whatever way the Baptist’s disciples understood his words, This gospel proclaims that all discipleship is they were spoken with an urgency that made an active and involving relationship with them leave John and follow Jesus. Jesus Jesus: a following, seeking, staying, himself turns and sees them. The word the finding, and dialoguing with him. We hear evangelist uses for “saw” (theasthai) has the how each decision to follow Jesus is a sense of gazing contemplatively and response to a statement about Jesus’ identity engagingly at these two followers. Jesus as Lamb of God, Rabbi Messiah, by people then asks them his first question in the whose ears and hearts are open to the Word fourth gospel: “What are you looking for?” of God, who hear his invitation through the It is a question that will persist throughout words of friend or stranger, through events this gospel, from this first chapter to the of joy or sorrow, or who discern a moment

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of religious significance in the every day. The psalm response for today echoes As the nineteenth-century English poet Samuel’s answer to the voice calling to him Matthew Arnold wrote in his haunting poem in the night, “Here I am.” How do you “The Buried Life”: practice being present to God and to those who share your life? But often, in the world’s most crowded streets, St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Do you But often in the din of strife, not know that your body is a temple of the There rises an unspeakable desire Holy Spirit within you?” How would you After the knowledge of our buried life; answer Paul’s question? A thirst to spend our fire and restless force In tracking out our true, original course, In the gospel Jesus is identified as the Lamb A longing to enquire of God, as Teacher, and as Messiah. What Into the mystery of this heart which beats do these titles tell you about Jesus’ identity? So wild, so deep in us – to know Whence our lives come and whence they go.

John’s proclamation about Jesus is filled with theological significance. In naming Jesus the “Lamb of God,” he emphasizes not only that Jesus is consecrated and set apart for a holy purpose, but also that Jesus’ life will end in sacrifice to save others, calling to mind the blood of the lambs spread above the doorways of the Hebrew people in the land of Egypt, so the angel of death might About Liturgy: Liturgical Evanglization pass over them. Hearing John’s words, two In today’s Old Testament and gospel of his own disciples are intrigued enough to readings, God’s calls reach the ears, and approach Jesus and then follow him to indeed the very souls, of people not where he is staying. These first steps are the expecting it. Further, we might not expect beginning of a path that will eventually lead God’s call to be given to ones such as these: them to the agony of the cross and then, an eleven-year-old, Samuel, apparently finally, to the joy of the empty tomb. working as a sort of sacristan in the temple, and two men who are already disciples of Do you remember this gospel from three another: John the Baptist. years ago? Have you allowed yourself to hear and respond to Jesus’ invitation to Our liturgical work includes elements of “Come and see?” Do you see yourself in the both evangelization and catechesis. That is, gospel? we are charged with bringing people to the liturgies themselves and sharing the Good In the first reading, Samuel hears God’s News, as well as forming and educating voice calling to him as he sleeps. How do them on matters of faith. More simply, we you experience the voice of God calling to are charged with calling and fashioning new you? disciples. Over these few weeks of Winter’s Ordinary Time, we will dig deeper into these facets of our ministries.

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First, evangelization. How do we preach the Good News to those who most need to hear it? Is that message of hope and salvation brought outside the church doors? Are those who have fallen away from the faith invited to return? Many parishes have Evangelization Committees whose ministry is just that: reaching out to those who, for instance, are registered in the parish but who have not been seen in the pews recently; spending time at public events, just being a faith-filled presence, ready for conversations about faith, community, and Jesus; welcoming those who, by these efforts or others, have found their way to the church The Annual Pastoral and Financial Report building, curious about becoming “church” Each year, on the last Sunday of January, the themselves. Pastor is required to give an Annual Pastoral and Financial Report. I have followed that Our Jewish sisters and brothers name this requirement since coming to St. Ignatius of welcoming the stranger “Hachnasat Antioch 16 years ago. The report is much Orchim.” Abraham is held as the prime more than facts and figures – it helps us to example of such hospitality, but his remember our journey in faith, in reception of wayfarers in Genesis 18. Some discipleship, in stewardship and the even note that his standing at the entrance of memorable moments that bound us together his tent is perhaps proactive, not waiting for as a family in faith. Our worship, our others to come to him, but eagerly seeking celebration of the Sacraments, our social out those who need welcome. It’s worth events, our ministries and outreaches, our noting that Scripture tells us that because of hopes and dreams as well as an accounting Abraham’s “Hachnasat Orchim,” he and of our Stewardship of Time, Talent, and Sarah were blessed with future generations Treasure form the heart of the report. The (beginning with Isaac; father of Jacob, the report also presents the Proposed Budget for patriarch of Israel), even though they were the new year. The Annual Pastoral and both advanced in age and had no reason to Financial Report for 2020 will be printed in expect any new family members. Might our hard copy as well as being available on line church also be blessed by eagerly seeking on our website. Copies will be available for out the lost and finding new ways to all those who come for the Walk-Up evangelize? Communion on Sunday, January 31st.

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"Thanks be to God that this has burst out Pope Francis and there was a chance to see it well, because now you can try and heal it," the 'astonished' by pope says, according to a clip of the interview posted to the channel's website Jan. 9. violent attack on US Francis had not previously commented Capitol publicly on the attack on the Capitol, in 9 January 2021 which armed protestors stormed both houses by Joshua J. McElwee of Congress on the day it was certifying the Electoral College votes and formally declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

The rioters attacked the Capitol after President Donald Trump encouraged a crowd near the White House earlier in the day to march toward the building and "show strength."

The pope joins a wide range of world leaders expressing concern about the event. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for Pope Francis leads the recitation of the Angelus example, said images of the event left her from the library of the Apostolic Palace at the feeling "angry and sad," and Australian Vatican Jan. 1, 2021. (CNS/Vatican Media) Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was "very disturbing." ROME — Pope Francis says he was left "astonished" by the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, expressing surprise in his first interview since the riot that such a scene could unfold in a country with a long history of practicing democracy.

"I was astonished because they are people so disciplined in democracy," the pontiff told Italian news channel TgCom24 as part of an interview that will air Jan. 10.

Francis suggests the riot, which led to the The U.S. Capitol in Washington is seen deaths of five people, shows "something behind heavy-duty security fencing Jan. 7, isn't working … [with] people taking a path 2021, one day after supporters of President against the community, against democracy, Donald Trump stormed Capitol Hill. against the common good." (CNS/Reuters/Erin Scott)

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In the clip, Francis tells his interviewer that together, and may it be done with all those all societies experience violence. who live in that land.

"No people can boast about never having a Francis, Bishop of Rome day with a case of violence," says the pontiff. "It happens throughout history. But we have to understand it well so that it does Francis changes not repeat, learning from history." Catholic Church law: women explicitly allowed as lectors, altar servers 11 January 2021 by Joshua J. McElwee

Joshua J. McElwee Vatican Joshua J. McElwee is NCR's Vatican correspondent and international news editor. VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has His email address changed Catholic Church law to make is [email protected]. Follow him on explicit that lay women can act as readers Twitter: @joshjmac. and altar servers in liturgical celebrations, effectively removing a previous option for From The Angelus On Sunday, 10 January individual bishops to restrict those ministries 2021: only to men. I send an affectionate greeting to the people of the United States of America, In an unexpected apostolic letter published shaken by the recent assault on the Jan. 11, the pontiff says he is making the Congress. I pray for all those who’ve lost change to recognize a "doctrinal their lives – five – lost in those dramatic development" that has occurred in recent moments. Let me reiterate that violence is years. always self-destructive. Nothing is healed by violence and so much is lost. I exhort the civil authorities and the entire population to keep a high sense of responsibility, to the end of calming spirits, promoting national reconciliation, and promoting the democratic values rooted in American society. May the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of the United States of America, help keep alive the culture of encounter, the culture of care, as the Corinne Griske uses American Sign Language guiding path to building the common good while serving as a lector during a Mass for members of the Catholic Deaf Community of

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Long Island, N.Y., at St. Frances de Chantal reaffirmed Pope John Paul II's ban on Church in Wantagh, N.Y., Dec. 20, 2020. (CNS women's ordination to the priesthood. photo/Gregory A. Shemitz) Last year, the pope disappointed those That change, the pope says, "shines a light campaigning for the church to return to the on how some ministries instituted by the practice in early centuries of the faith of church have as their foundation that ordaining women as deacons, declining to common condition of baptism and the royal answer a request from the Synod of Bishops priesthood received in the Sacrament of for the Pan-Amazon region on the issue. Baptism." The pope has however created two Francis' new letter, titled Spiritus commissions to study women deacons, with Domini and issued 'motu proprio,' changes the latest being announced in April 2020. the Code of Canon Law to explicitly allow women to be installed in the Catholic Phyllis Zagano, a recognized expert on Church as lectors and acolytes. women deacons and a member of the pope's first commission, told NCR that Francis' Lectors are ministers who proclaim readings change to canon law represented "the first at Mass and other liturgical celebrations. official recognition" that women could serve Acolytes are ministers who typically assist in a role near the altar during liturgical priests in preparing the altar during the Mass celebrations. or in distributing communion. Acolytes are often known as altar servers or Eucharistic "Here we have the Holy Father putting into ministers in common parlance. law that women can be inside the sanctuary, women can be near the sacred," said Lay people who serve in those ministries are Zagano, who is senior research associate-in- not ordained but can be formally instituted residence at Hofstra University and also an into the roles during a church ceremony. NCR columnist. "That women are equally human." Although women in many U.S. Catholic dioceses already serve as readers and altar The Jan. 11 letter making the canon law servers, the church's canon law had change was published alongside a letter technically only allowed for their service on from the pope to Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the a temporary basis and according to the whim prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the of the local bishop. Doctrine of the Faith.

The pope's change, which replaces "lay In that letter, Francis again mentions John men" as the category of those who can Paul II's ban against ordaining women to the formally serve in the ministries with "lay priesthood but adds that "for non-ordained persons," would appear to require all global ministries it is possible, and today appears Catholic bishops to accept women into those opportune, to go beyond that reservation." roles. Francis tells Ladaria that offering both men Francis has struggled throughout his nearly and women the opportunity to serve as eight-year papacy to better include women lectors and acolytes "will increase the in the Catholic Church's leadership structure recognition … of the precious contribution and ministries, and has repeatedly

6 that many lay people, including women, offer to the life and mission of the church." Nature in our lives,

"The choice to confer these offices to in the cathedral, in women … will make more real in the church everyone's participation in the work of evangelization," the pope continues. the house of

Francis tells Ladaria that it will be the role human rights of national bishops' conferences to consider 7 January 2021 possible criteria for who in their by Maria Magdalena communities could serve as lectors and acolytes, and says he is also directing the Bennasar Vatican's worship congregation to update its norms about the two ministries to reflect the Spirituality change to canon law. Environment

This breaking story is being updated.

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, created Joshua J. McElwee by artist Miquel Barceló, in the Cathedral of Joshua J. McElwee is NCR's Vatican Santa Maria de Palma in Palma de Mallorca, correspondent and international news editor. Spain (Wikimedia Commons/ Friedrich Haag) His email address is [email protected]. Yes, we can approach Mother Nature. Yes, we can hug the trees. Yes, we can embrace the waves and let the air we breathe permeate us slowly and firmly like God's Spirit: hugging, embracing and permeating our whole microcosm, our whole being. And, yes, we can kiss the earth and the running river, and smile at the tickling on our lips.

Fear what? Oh, no, no room for fear, for there she is, Mother Nature, elegant, cleansed by a long retreat, majestic and accessible, as always.

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How much we missed her these past months, everything becomes sacred, and different when most of us couldn't go out of our flats each day. except for emergencies. I find myself taking pictures of the same Mother Nature's cry, during these past places, because "today the color is different months, has been like the illness of a gentle or this angle offers a better perspective," and mother who has been taken for granted I smile, like a mother taking yet another always, except on her birthday, a mother picture of her most beautiful child. who has been used and exploited to satisfy our needs and desires and wishes. There is a spot nearby, where I can see the moon coming out almost simultaneously Perhaps — now that we have missed her so with the sun setting. Awesome! much — we'll treat her in a loving and gentle way. It is not too late. Sometimes And before going to bed I love to say good when a person who is close to us dies, we night to the stars — just on top of my head if regret not having said how much we loved I can just remember to look out and up, her; now, there is still some time left to instead of only looking in and down. rethink our relationship with the planet. Those most precious times of the day and But nature doesn't need words, rather she the night: We all know they coincide with needs respect and, yes, respect. Like any the Liturgy of the Hours, in a splendid and living being she unfolds and becomes her life-giving way. How can we forget? Nature best self when she is acknowledged and is a living psalm, always in inclusive loved. Now is the time! There is still some language, always speaking to our heart. time left. Can you imagine having it all together in a Many lovers of nature think that we need to cathedral? ritualize almost every change, movement, season ... as a way to hold it sacred. You may know of many places where nature comes in the church. My story is from my I bow to the sun, every morning, when I go city's cathedral in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. out early for a morning contemplative walk — and there he is, rapidly bringing light out Like many other cathedrals in Europe, first it of darkness! There he is, covering was a mosque and it was deconstructed everything with color and warmth. (13th century) to become a cathedral. Like we do today, we cut down full forests I can either walk fast, paying attention to (nature's cathedrals) to make things we myself and my breathing… or instead want. Religion can become a commodity offering my heart's attention to what is too, if it's not in touch with reality, with before me, given to us freely. And slowly I people's spirituality. Today we wouldn't may allow myself to become part of it all: deconstruct that cathedral, would we? I like ... the smell of the trees freshly awakened; to believe that today we'd unite in one the color of the sea, just painted; the people magnificent building holding the sacredness driving fast for work; the people out here of the different religions in its walls, in its wishing good morning to each other ... liturgies.

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Palma's cathedral has had different renewals Perhaps we would all grow in awareness and to adapt to today's world, without losing the in creativity to enjoy the gifts given to us for taste and sense of a cathedral leaning out at a period of time. the Mediterranean Bay of Palma. In The Dream of the Earth, Thomas Berry The most recent renewal was done by a said it so well: painter from my hometown, Miquel Barceló. Barceló is a painter and ceramist; like most In our present context, failure in creativity of us in Mallorca, he is in love with the would be an absolute failure. A present Mediterranean and its colors and its fruits. failure at this order of magnitude cannot be He is able to convey the world outside, into remedied later by a larger success. In this a room, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament context a completely new type of creativity in the cathedral. is needed. This creativity must have as its primary concern the survival of the Earth He brings the forests of the seabed as well as and/IN its functional creativity. Concern for the fruits of the earth in a breathtaking the well-being of the planet is the one combination of spirituality and reality, of concern that, it is hoped, will bring the beauty and justice. nations of the world into an international community. He also painted the dome in the Hall of Human Rights for the United Nations in Whether we are at home, in the cathedral or Geneva. in the house of the nations, the planet permeates our lives reminding us of our When nature becomes part of our sacred most sacred creativity and that of the planet. spaces, it seems we interiorize it in yet Let's keep our hearts alert and awaken! another mystical way. Perhaps we could say that there are other ways of talking and [Maria Magdalena Bennásar (Magda) of the teaching about our faith and about equality Sisters for Christian Community is from and justice beyond the classical stories. Spain. She has worked in teaching, conducting retreats and workshops, creating Imagine you take your nephew or your class community and training lay leaders in to visit the cathedral, and you let them tell Australia, the U.S. and Spain. Currently, she you what they see in this amazing room ... I is working on eco-spirituality and searching think it would touch them profoundly. for a space to create a center or collaborate Perhaps it would be easier to say that with others.] someone is ready to give his life because people destroyed all the beauty you can feel, see, touch in a place like this, than say that people killed Jesus because he was too good.

Perhaps a child's creativity would be awakened and nourished by images in our churches that are also in our landscapes, and in our news, and in our U.N. human rights meeting room.

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harsh criticism about someone who so often Our divided approaches our same altar to receive and walk away with the same Jesus and who church has to professes to belong to the same body of Christ.

grapple with being My congregation's charism is healing and reconciliation, so the past years have truly pro-life hurt my heart. I felt most dismayed at how 11 January 2021 our church has become so divided with pre- by Donna Gunn election rhetoric that filled emails and tweets proclaiming those who work to oppose abortion are much more pro-life than those who work for justice.

One email I received said that Catholics who voted for Biden would be condemned to hell. Really? Is that honestly how we think God sees it? My God believes there is life after birth, life that Catholics are also responsible to protect. My God believes life is a gift at every stage, and we are called to protect the dignity of that life across the board. To think we are a one-issue church is simplistic and a denial of all we profess by our baptism. To think we are a one-issue church is simplistic and a denial of all we profess by Finally, the election is behind us; but so our baptism. At baptism, we proclaim we much work lies ahead. From my personal are each made in the image and likeness of perspective, one of the biggest issues the God; therefore, it is our primary church has to grapple with now is our pro- responsibility to be the face of God in the life stand. It has been the cause of so much world and to reach beyond ourselves to care division among us. for all God's children. Rather than taunting, "God loves those I defend more that God Let's be honest. Allowing pro-life to be loves those you defend," perhaps a way back defined as a one-issue concern has torn us to unity is for each of us to reflect on all the apart. I believe being pro-life can be one of hopes God has for our world and the delight our most beautiful unifying beliefs, so I have God has when any one of us tries to make to ask myself how in the world have we those hopes real. allowed this teaching to be so watered down that it has become the source of our Is abortion a life issue? Of course it is. But division? so is being indifferent to the number of deaths from COVID-19, putting children in I was disheartened to hear Joe Biden being cages, giving the impression that those from called a "Catholic in name only," when he "shit hole" countries who happen to be appears to be a man who truly relies on his brown or black can be ignored, finding faith to mold his actions. That seemed a

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anything good in the white supremacy some of our bishops — have bought more movement, bullying, making fun of the into that political divide than the unifying disabled, showing disrespect for women and concept of being pro-life. The question isn't using them to further pleasures, being so "What are we doing about one issue, but in concerned about our own wealth that we today's broken world, how are we stretching dismiss the more vulnerable among us, beyond a political definition to truly making enemies of persons simply because proclaim the full pro-life message? they disagree with us, feeding and nurturing division. To be pro-life is to find our own gifts and for each of us to use those gifts to further I often reflect that I can be forgiven many that portion of life we feel best equipped to wrong doings, but changing the message of serve. Where do you think the church would the Gospel to match my political agenda is be now if our bishops had challenged all of not one of them. Clearly, the Gospel shows us to be pro-life — not by forcing one legal Christ reached out to all. His life preached issue down our throats, but instead by healing of every kind. He wants us to work helping us shape attitudes and hearts that together — not in competition. Jesus came encouraged each of us to name those life so that "all may be one." So if we're issues where our gifts could make the most Catholic, let's stop with the name calling and difference? taking the righteous position: "I'm more Catholic than you are." The election may be Many name and use their gifts to find ways over, but our work toward unity has only to protect the unborn — and that is surely a just begun. wonderful, beautiful gift; others like Joe Biden have found their gift in serving in Several years ago, I represented my bishop government, passing laws for the most at a national Catholic pro-life conference in vulnerable among us. That too is a Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. marvelous gift. Working together for Conference of Catholic Bishops. At that the whole of life — not ignoring any life — meeting, a Republican strategist was invited is precisely what makes us the body of by the organizers to speak to the group. He Christ in our world. clearly bragged about the Republican Party's strategy to divide the Catholic Church by Naming how my gifts can promote and reducing the pro-life movement to solely an defend life in no way gives me permission to anti-abortion movement. He told us that the ignore the other stages of life or to think that Republican goal was to deliberately cast my issue fully and completely defines what anti-abortionists as the true Catholics and it means to be pro-life. None of us can those who support social justice and protect all of life; but think of the lives we Catholic social teaching as "the enemy" — could protect if we acted together. Think of as the "Catholics in name only." Notice this the missed opportunities because we bought narrowing came from politicians — not into a political definition of being pro-life church teaching. To say the audience was when we could have been encouraging and outraged and stunned would be an welcoming that spark of hope each of us was understatement. providing to show respect for life in its broadest sense. We are not enemies; our But isn't this exactly what's happened? So gifts complement one another. There are many — and heaven help us, this includes many parts, but we are all one Body.

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Only when we say life matters across the On behalf of all of us, I congratulate them board — every stage counts — that a life is a and wish them many more years of life is a life is a life, do we truly witness happiness, the deepening of their love, and what it means to be the body of Christ in our the best of health. world. This challenges all of us to a broader more beautiful stand for life — not just for one stage and certainly not for one that A tragic end to the would discount all the others. US bishops' long It seems to me that if we believe only one stage of life is worth fighting for but fail to see how every stage is connected, we risk descent into partisan being more evangelical than Catholic. politics [Donna Gunn is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province. In church and state, She has had a varied career in education at it's become a time of all levels and as a gerontologist. She served eight years in Community Leadership and frightening normalcy spent 18 years in the Diocese of Jackson, 12 January 2021 Mississippi — with one of her tasks being by Tom Roberts the bishop's liaison to Congress and to the Mississippi Legislature.]

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen through a smashed glass door at the U.S. Capitol in This past Monday morning, I had the Washington Jan. 7, one day after supporters of privilege of celebrating the 50th Anniversary President Donald Trump stormed Capitol Hill. of Marriage of our parishioners, Rudy and (CNS/Reuters/Erin Scott)

Diana Acosta. Because of the pandemic, I found it frighteningly normal, sitting on a their families, children, grandchildren, and sun-drenched Thursday morning in January loved ones were not able to be with us, sipping coffee. Just a few miles away, the however, they were with us in prayer and day before, a violent mob, incited by a Spirit. Last Sunday, they were able to have delusional if not entirely deranged sitting a virtual Zoom celebration with all their president, had stormed the U.S. Capitol, loved ones and it was a wonderful event, occupied the Senate and House chambers, filled with great love and the expression of looted offices, all the while screaming their gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessing wish to do violence to, even lynch, elected of their 50 years of married life together.

12 officials. Their intent was clear — to disrupt lives threatened, offices and chambers a constitutionally mandated act in the invaded. President Donald Trump, totally nonviolent transfer of power. unmoored, had finally, perhaps, gone too far and kicked the tripwire that would blow up Frighteningly normal it was because the fear his latest fraudulent enterprise. surfaced quickly that this would be but another in the stream of outrages that have become as unremarkable a part of our politics as once were sane and reality-based press conferences. Is this the way it happens? Is it — searching for some image that might explain it all — a gradual erosion until the cave-in occurs? But would people of sound mind actually stand around a sinkhole for four years waiting to be swallowed up? Supporters of President Donald Trump climb on The frog in the gradually warming pot walls at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Jan. 6. (CNS/Reuters/Stephanie Keith) doesn't work as analog either because science (for those of us who have not yet What consequences will emerge from the totally dismissed the discipline) tells us that, carnage that Trump once imagined and no, the frog actually wouldn't just hang finally created is yet to be determined. But it around stupidly until boiled. The frog would was consoling, for a moment, to think that in jump the hell out of the pot. less than two weeks the unhinged, incompetent and absurdly self-indulgent I sip my coffee, watching the sun slants, would be replaced by competence and sliced by the blinds, move, as they daily do, intelligence, even compassion, and, above across the living room. In so many ways, all, regard for democratic norms that had just another day. become tattered.

The question persists: What now? There was further consolation for me, given the landscape that I've spent most of my The anxiety that accompanied that nagging professional decades covering and trying to thought began to recede as the media outlets understand, in knowing that President-elect that had not engaged in the presidential Joe Biden would be the closest we'd ever get delusion for the past four years began to use to a Catholic president who was a the terms that applied: sedition, insurrection, traditional member of the community. violent overthrow. This time, the outrage Hokey at times? Yes. Deficient in some was sufficient enough that the words, respects? Certainly. But in mannerism, lore correctly applied to a reality that the world and faith formed amid suffering as had seen and could verify, had some thoroughly one of us as anyone holding purchase. The divisive president had public office. ultimately succeeded in bringing the Congress together. Republicans and Yet it is the man who had just incited an Democrats, members of the House and attempt at violent overthrow of government Senate, were equally placed in jeopardy, who has the benefit of episcopal approval.

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Trump was the one who told his seditious mob as it was mid-melee — as its members dragged a Confederate flag across Statuary Hall and displayed T-shirts emblazoned with unspeakably vile racist and anti-Semitic slogans — that he loved them. Trump was the one for whom 50% of Catholics who went to the polls spent their vote. He was their pro-life guy, a "great gentleman" and "a great friend of mine," said New York's President Donald J. Trump speaks Jan. 24, 2020, archbishop, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. during the annual March for Life rally in Washington. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn) The president in waiting? The bishops in November decided to form a special On NCR's pages, the primary concern has committee to decide how to deal with him. never been with church teaching. The ringing and consistent objection this Randall Balmer, one of the most astute publication has voiced is with how the observers of religion in America, at that episcopacy has used abortion as a cudgel, moment weeks ago fashioned the allowing it to suppress all other political question so many of us were asking considerations and turn all of our public ourselves: "In what moral universe does Joe discussion into strategy sessions about a Biden, devout Roman Catholic, public culture war waged over a single issue. servant and family man, present the bishops with difficulties and complexities while I've watched this distortion metastasize for Trump gets a pass?" nearly half a century. By dint of occupation and former station at NCR, I had the It occurs in the crimped and distorted moral privilege of private conversations with universe, created by the U.S. hierarchy over bishops who would willingly divulge that decades, that is more a peculiar American they knew the national bishops' conference construct of Catholic Christianity than it is a was painting the church into a tight corner, reflection of the Gospel or anything coming often with unsavory actors whose only claim from Rome. on the Catholic vote was the promise of "pro-life" voting. Over decades, most of The bishops' zero-sum approach those politicians rarely, if ever, had to back Abortion. It is the issue that has terminally up the promise. deformed the approach of U.S. Catholics to politics and was a large reason for the warm The bishops, like those in the Trump White embrace of Trump in some Catholic quarters House who know something is seriously and the reason Biden draws special amiss but fear to name it in public, would episcopal scrutiny. never go on the record. But it was their insights and privately held views that allowed us in these pages to write with confidence about the distortions in play.

Among those distortions emerged an American Catholicism that was able to

14 suppress all other matters beneath the among the loudest who have demanded a primacy of the fight over abortion, the lone zero-sum approach. "nonnegotiable" in politics, where the coin of the realm is compromise. It was an What they've managed to do, instead, is expression of rigorist Catholicity that wants provide job security for those on the to apply moral absolutes rarely observed in extremes in a culture war without end. Scan the Catholic community to elected officials. the tax forms required of nonprofit It was not the example of popes, who organizations, of the principal agencies of publicly distributed the Eucharist to high the culture war, as I have recently, and you'll profile pro-choice politicians, who never understand the stakes on both sides. made mention of it in their visits to the United States. Tens of millions of dollars, in some cases hundreds of millions, annually pour into War and preparations for war? Death organizations, extreme left and extreme penalty applied in a manner unique in the right, intent on maintaining their pro- developed world? A gun culture abortion and pro-life positions without unrestrained even after kids are slaughtered? compromise. What exists is the equivalent Racism? Xenophobia? The gospel of a far-flung and deeply funded industry — of extreme libertarianism and unrestrained the lobbying organizations themselves and capitalism invading our Catholic the attendant universe of lobbyists for hire, universities? Yes, yes, all legitimate consultants, advertising specialists, pollsters concerns but all subjected to "prudential and digital specialists that make up the judgment," the ecclesial version of a "get out infrastructure for the endless war. of jail free" card. It's OK, bishop, cardinal, you may have some objection to the content If Roe were to be overturned next week, the of our conference, but remember, we're war would splinter into a 50-front battle at "pro-life" all the way. the state level with the need for even more funds, more consultants, more advertising The payoff? What we've come to accept as firms, more pollsters and more lobbyists. frighteningly normal. The abortion war industries would be the only ones celebrating. Our politics would As documented repeatedly on these pages, become only more contorted and deformed. the bishops' approach has had little success in persuading any of the unconvinced to Laws laid flat their cause since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Trump was the bishops' big wager in a Court decision in 1973. In 2019, support for history of gambles that cost a great deal in legalized abortion was as high as it was at political capital and yielded little in results. any time during two decades of polling. Like a gambling addict incapable of turning away from the blackjack table, the bishops Polls have consistently shown that a couldn't resist one more enormous bet, the majority of Americans, who lie somewhere chance to win it all, to place all they had on between the extremes, would tolerate this unstable gadfly whose propensity to moderation to the Roe decision. There's no smash democratic norms just might yield the space, however, for such a consideration, no Supreme Court they desired. space for compromise. The bishops are

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The bishops remind me collectively (and, yes, there are exceptions, but they are a tiny minority) of the character of Thomas More's son-in-law Roper in the play "A Man for All Seasons." Roper is single-mindedly determined to find his way to what he knows is right, the laws of the land be damned. He would, he says, "cut down every law in England" to get at the devil he targets. Tom Roberts "Oh?" responds More. "And when the last Tom Roberts is former editor of NCR. He law was down, and the Devil turned round lives in Maryland. on you where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast — Man's New administration laws, not God's — and if you cut them down — and you're just the man to do it — d'you must address really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give inequality — the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake." especially during

We've come close to seeing a lot of laws laid flat and democratic norms smashed. The pandemic winds blowing threaten to become fiercely 12 January 2021 destructive. by Rosa DeLauro

It is long past time that our religious leaders do something boldly out of the normal and deliver a difficult truth to those who may still think that Trump was a bet worth taking. They need to do all they can to convince Catholics that the bet was a mistake, that Trump is no savior of the unborn but rather a real and present danger to the country. The only path back to some moral standing in the wider culture is to recognize that the hierarchy's long descent into vicious partisan politics has come to a tragic end. Volunteers from Forgotten Harvest food bank in Warren, Michigan, unload goods before a mobile food pantry distribution Dec. 21, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (CNS/Reuters/Emily Elconin)

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tended to their faith and community with humility and commitment to service.

I witnessed my father trudge through rain and snow to every house and apartment in our ward. He talked some but mainly listened. He wanted to know what our community needed and kept notecards — red for Republicans, blue for Democrats. It was too important not to miss anyone. Similarly, my mother served as an (NCR graphic/Toni-Ann Ortiz) "alderwoman" for 35 years, one of the

longest to date. Much of her work Editor's note: In the weeks preceding the overlapped with St. Michael's Church in inauguration of the country's second New Haven, Connecticut, advocating for the Catholic president, the National Catholic countless social justice missions she Reporter asked other Catholic politicians, embraced. activists and scholars to offer advice to

President-elect Joe Biden in a series that Their memory and example inform my work takes its title from Pope Francis' in the Congress and inspire the fights I take encyclical Fratelli Tutti: "Building a on for the people. Common Future."

The pandemic has further revealed the need The widening wealth gap in the United to honor their legacy by working harder than States is inextricably linked to economic, ever to close existing gaps and address social and racial injustice. We are a nation inequality. To this end, I believe we must of people from all corners of the globe with provide comprehensive and affordable varied backgrounds, identities and values — health care, expand opportunities for our but also comprising the unfortunate children, and work to alleviate hunger. spectrums of inequality in every enclave of These are the cornerstones of taking on this nation. The challenges President-elect economic, social and racial justice as Joe Biden will face are no exception. demanded by Catholic social teaching. Now Like myself, a Catholic committed to more than ever. fighting injustice, and well-versed in the church's preferential option for the poor and The world is facing the biggest public health vulnerable, our president-elect is governed crisis in a century. COVID-19 has taken by a deep responsibility to help those who well over 300,000 lives in the United States are suffering and create a government that and almost 2 million worldwide. The most works for the common good. As a daughter recent of Italian Catholic immigrants, I am data from the Centers for Disease delighted to have a president-elect informed Control and Prevention reports that minority by these values. and marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by the disease. Both my parents cherished the connection between public service and faith when they were elected to local government. They

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It is particularly critical that we ensure vulnerable individuals and communities are given additional support and attention to defeat the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and health inequality.

Containing the health crisis is only the first step in bridging the divide and eliminating social inequities. All Americans must have access to Medicare, and we must prioritize investments in women's health and biomedical research.

People in Los Angeles line up in their vehicles at As a 30-year survivor of ovarian cancer, I Dodger Stadium for the COVID-19 test Jan. 4. know that early detection will save families (CNS/Reuters/Lucy Nicholson) from increased pain and financial burden.

My ovarian cancer was detected in its Amid social upheaval, we can hear the earliest stages, purely by chance. I received chants for justice and the cries for equality. excellent care and know that I am here today Going back to our pre-pandemic days is not because of the grace of God, my access to good enough. Together, we must make the quality health care and the power of changes necessary to close the wealth gap biomedical research. No man, woman, or that existed long before this pandemic. child should ever have to rely on luck when

it comes to their health or well-being. I was chair of the U.S. House of We have a responsibility to end child Representatives' Labor, Health and Human poverty in the United States of America, and Services Subcommittee last year, and we we know how to do this. Experts at were at the center of responding to COVID- the National Academies of Sciences 19, appropriating $280 billion for education, found that of all policies it recommended to health and working people. That included cut child poverty, the most effective option providing crucial funds for public health was the implementation of a Child Tax infrastructure, personal protective Credit. Since 2003, I have fought to expand equipment, increased testing and vaccine and improve the Child Tax Credit. While development; and helping K-12 schools, most children get the full credit, one-third of colleges and universities deal with the all children are left behind, because their shutdown, by providing funding in the families earn too little to get the full credit, CARES Act and ensuring the equitable disproportionately affecting families with distribution of the relief funds by the young children, rural families, families Education Department. Despite these efforts, headed by women, and one-half of all Black the lack of a coordinated national response and Hispanic children. proved to be a logistical and legal nightmare. By making the Child Tax Credit fully

refundable, my American Family Going forward, a few things must be done. Act essentially creates a child allowance that We must ensure the entire population has would cut child poverty by two-fifths and access to consistent testing, personal end $2-a-day poverty for families with protective equipment and cost-free vaccines.

18 children. And this data predates the At the beginning of the pandemic, I pandemic, which has accelerated the rates of introduced the Ensuring Emergency Food poverty around the country. This poverty Security Act to increase the monthly food reduction achieved by the American Family assistance benefit that families receive Act is associated with better health, through the Supplemental Nutrition increased learning and higher lifetime Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the earnings. We all want to do right by our Food Stamp Program. SNAP is our nation's children, and I am committed to making a most effective anti-hunger program, but on child allowance a reality. average only amounts to about $1.40 per person per meal. That is simply not enough I also introduced the Child Care Is Essential in normal times, let alone a global Act, an emergency appropriations bill to pandemic. provide $50 billion to immediately address the child care crisis and stabilize the sector I am grateful that in the most recent by supporting providers, so they can safely COVID-19 relief package bipartisan reopen and run. In good times, these are agreement was reached on this issue, small businesses that operate on razor-thin allowing for a 15% increase in the monthly margins. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has food stamp benefit. them facing financial ruin. Nearly half of child care programs could close. Without To continue making progress, Congress and this significant public investment, child care the incoming administration must change closures will be concentrated in low-income the conversation around personal and middle-income neighborhoods. The responsibility and the common good and Biden-Harris administration must work with address the chasms that are being Congress to ensure our kids have quality and exacerbated by the pandemic. I have no affordable child care. doubt we can rise to this challenge.

Health care and child care are only part of Sixty years ago, during the election of the the equation. The other two cornerstones first Catholic president, the country was include fighting food insecurity and ending filled with optimism and energized to the scourge of childhood hunger. address the social ills of the time. Now with President-elect Biden, we have the same The Household Pulse Survey, launched by opportunity to advance a more just society, the Census Bureau in April, has provided address inequality and ameliorate poverty. real-time weekly data on how the pandemic is affecting our nation's families. According to this survey, hunger has skyrocketed during the pandemic: Nearly 26 million adults, nearly 12% of all adults in the country, reported that their households did not have enough food in the last week. And, even more concerning, households with children were almost twice as likely to experience food insecurity. Rosa DeLauro

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U.S. Rep. Rosa Luisa DeLauro has represented Connecticut's 3rd Congressional Virtual Mass as the District since 1991. real presence of Christ amid pandemic 13 January 2021 by Jennibeth Sabay

Spirituality

The Environment For Winter’s Ordinary Time The Christmas Season concluded this past Sunday with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. On Monday morning, the members of our Environment and Art Committee removed the Christmas Environment and created a very beautiful environment for this brief four week season of Winter’s Ordinary Time. Panels of Forest Green adorn each of the Icons with matching accent lighting in the Organ Gallery and the Niches. We have As of mid-July, religious gatherings were continued to use the Poinsettia Plants still being discouraged in our area of the throughout the sanctuary as they are still Philippines, as cases of the coronavirus were beautiful. We have also added lighted Ficus escalating. But in other parts of the country, Trees in the four corners of the nave as well Masses in the churches have resumed, as as in the middle of the Sanctuary Wall. Our long as a 50% limit on the venue capacity is thanks to Tom and Stevie Catchings, Tony observed. Persons above 60 and children and Claudia Gumina, Leo and Minnie below 21 years old are still required to stay Rivera, Pablo Villegas, Rich Confetti, and home. Certain businesses have been allowed Don Benson. to resume operations.

Recently our parish, Holy Family Parish-

Kamias, resumed daily public Masses inside

the church, limited to 40-50 participants,

with strict health and safety measures

implemented, such as social distancing and

regular disinfection between Masses to

ensure the safety of everyone.

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However, daily online Masses are still household works while joining online Mass streamed on Facebook for people who are and receiving spiritual Communion. required to stay home. Starting this week, every Wednesday, area Masses will be held I was ready for the blessing of the palms — in different parts of the community. People, which was done online for the first time in especially senior citizens, can stay outside my life. With my eyes fixed on the screen of their houses to hear Mass and receive my Android phone, I focused myself on the Communion. The celebrant will use a celebration and imagined myself connected loudspeaker to reach many houses. with the thousands of people viewing the online Mass. It could be possible, this virtual During the lockdown, we had procession of or digital liturgy — especially with the the Blessed Sacrament twice a week. The situation we are in. parish priest, with a few of the parish staff, walked through every street of the parish. I do not want to make any comparison about Now the procession is still done, but only whether digital/virtual Mass is of lesser every Sunday afternoon. Our parishioners value than being physically present at Mass. really appreciated this, as it allowed people Although it is a much different experience to see the Blessed Sacrament not only on the when we can see, feel, hear, smell, touch, screen, but also to bring it closer to the and taste — personally experience — the people. It is a symbol of Jesus visiting and celebration of the Eucharist with our senses! passing through people's homes. Furthermore, I appreciate more how the One of the earliest virtual Masses I Catholic Church has moved to open its participated in was for Palm Sunday. It was doors to the digital world, reaching out to a quiet and peaceful day. I cut two young the faithful and keeping their faith alive in palm leaves from our garden and waited for times like these, through the use of social the 8 a.m. Mass to start. I was sitting near media and technology. our garden, breathing in the fresh air, and savoring the quietness of the place, since Crisis has not hindered the church from vehicles have been banned from our road finding ways to nourish our faith life, even due to quarantine rules. given this challenging situation that the world is facing today. These virtual Before the online Mass, some guidelines gatherings for worship and prayer have been were suggested as to how we could have a real experiences of connection and faith for meaningful virtual liturgy. These included people who cannot leave their homes. fixing a schedule — a time when you will In our community, we had a daily prayer, participate the Mass and not be doing other the celebration of the Word, and a things; preparing a specific place for prayer Communion service together. We — making sure it is quiet and nothing can participated in virtual Masses individually. disturb your attention; preparing a small altar with candles; preparing physically by Nevertheless, as I asked some people what dressing appropriately; participating and not their thoughts were with regards to virtual doing any other work, turning off or closing Mass, they raised different comments and any other applications on a cellphone or challenges: computer (especially instant messaging!) that can disturb you; and not doing any

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• For one mother, it is a struggle to stay but our mind and heart may be in a different focused on the Mass; the kids feel place. comfortable running around the house and cannot stay put in one place. She has to Whatever means we have to worship and watch over them and this distracts her focus celebrate the Mass, we must recognize that at the Mass. Christ is always making himself present to • Some find it possible to be united in us, his real presence. celebrating virtual Mass, since it depends on one's disposition. • For others, the sense of community is lost since the gathering in their house is limited to family members only. For them, it is better when the church gathers together with a bigger community. • For some, the time and effort spent for God are reduced, since people just turn on the

cellphone or television and can access the Jennibeth Sabay Mass they want to participate in anytime. Jennibeth Sabay is a junior sister of • There is also the sad reality that those who the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate do not have available technology — like Conception of Castres, a missionary television, cellphones, laptops, or internet congregation committed to the poorest of the connection — cannot participate at all in any poor. virtual Mass.

I believe that Jesus cannot be confined in a structure or any place. God is present everywhere, especially in the heart of a believer. We can experience God anywhere, including the place we least expect God to be — like the virtual space! And we can experience God any time, if we focus our hearts and minds and listen to God's words, and receive Jesus — conscious of His loving presence wherever we are. It is how we From Our Parish Council value our relationship with God through the Dear Parishioners: sacrament that matters most, whether we Never could we have imagined at our last participate virtually or are physically present “regular” Pastoral Council meeting back on at Mass. March 10, 2020, that nearly a year later, we would still be submitting to the public health When we love, we give time, we make an restrictions that were to be put in place just a effort, and we focus on the one we love. We few days later! It was a shock to our can be in our own homes but still feel the collective systems to see a locked gate as we connection with God and our fellow approached our church on Contra Loma, believers through virtual worship. Likewise, finding ourselves unable to park or walk in, we can be physically present at the Mass — to banter with staff and each other in the narthex and at the window, to pray in the

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quiet sanctuary, to inventory the kitchen in medical concerns, dialed in on Zoom for anticipation of gatherings, to celebrate the discussion, and so we were complete! It was sacraments and so many other occasions a happy time for us, as Pastoral Council is a with our friends, and to just “hang around” group who truly are friends enjoying each in comfort, in our home outside of home. other. The meeting helped to quell the For me, personally, a great sadness was not sadness at losing our team shelter dinner, being allowed to care for the tender young our New Parishioners’ Brunch, and of vegetables I had already settled in the course, the weekly liturgies that enable our planting beds there, nor to maintain the relationships with all of you. greenhouse. It was tortuous driving past, knowing the garden was languishing and There was no communal sense of denial dying for lack of care, and knowing that our back at that March meeting, however. commitments to share our hand-grown Members shared concerns, apprehensions, produce with St. Vincent de Paul, an and enumerated issues that would be upon essential effort, was placed on hiatus. Hope SIOA within days. We knew the loss of arrives in February, when the daffodils bulbs liturgies would be the first jolt felt; we were that Carole Miller and I scattered by the dismayed, as our liturgies are a tremendous entry and in the grotto, will be in their draw to Catholics and other Christians in our second blooming! community. Luckily, Bill Barbanica had for some time been hard at work on the There is scarcely one of us who has not attractive New Parishioner Handbook lost some precious and unique offering of prepared for distributing to registering our own giving, yet we have maintained visitors on Hospitality Sundays, which many otherwise essential functions, and for copied and bound, was ready for Office this, we are grateful. We even gained some Staff to give at the window when they came new and unimagined aspects, and continue in to inquire, instead. The handbook gave to do so. There are many blessings in our them contacts for available ministries, many future. of which were still gladly welcoming new members. Pastoral Council was one of the A positive from that meeting was a winners, as we were soon to gain Susannah reassurance from one council person who Nelson, and later, her husband, Dave. Other had mastered Zoom meetings, that we too, resultant losses in participation were could learn and use it effectively. It was a thankfully short-lived, as whole- slow start, however, as April and May were congregation liturgies quickly morphed into emotional, reluctant months for the council, YouTube/Facebook recordings which and emails by Will inviting contact by Zoom offered all of us the comforting, uplifting were not immediately answered. Realizing and often humorous company not only of of course, that we were prohibited from Fr. Robert and Fr. Mangini, but also the face-to-face meetings at the church proper, familiar faces of our favorite readers. In this we could easily meet at Will and way, we maintained two-way presence in Catherine’s, following protocols, and so our liturgies. While it is true that we lost would not need to sacrifice our celebratory Pastoral Care home visits and hospital session-end dinner. We gathered safely and Communion distribution by our volunteers, masked outside in the back yard for a picnic Father was able to shoulder the meeting over sandwiches and fruit. Wisely, responsibility of hospital visits and two of our members absent because of

23 anointings, and was able to have the entire It is good that we have kept so much Care team available by phone. intact, yet been willing to sacrifice so many things that we can easily recognize now, as Though we were realistic at that meeting, wants, instead of needs, in the year ahead. and resigned to the fact that cancelled Except for construction, the building and Masses (and cancelled jobs) would initially grounds will be quiet; the garden will lie cost Finance Council much in the way of fallow, but in the meantime Pastoral Council anticipated tithes, we were blessed to have will be discussing a Moving Forward Model set aside our “savings account” to help to include the Alpha Program for parish sustain us during those first weeks, along revitalization. The US Bishops project a with a later PPP loan. As the roller coaster 33% decline in general parish participation settled into a smoother ride, we can by the end of Covid, and we certainly may truthfully claim solvency, as Father and already be seeing that as reality. Though our Finance assure us all bills are paid. Most council has welcomed two new members remarkably under these circumstances, we recently, we lost Dave Rodrigues over the have seen the parking lot paid off, and as a summer. There are at least still four seats parish, been thanked for our faithful available, needful of prayerful and outside- financial stewardship. We miss our parties, the-box-discerning people. Covid has hard- dinners and everyday encounters with each pruned our physical growth this season; we other, but we have gained Flocknotes, which must tend the tree well, to see fruit increase. everyone seems to love, and which is here to stay. In fact, as of our November agenda, it Ever faithfully, was noted that 395 Flocknotes accounts Catherine E. Vidaurri have been established, keeping us informed of parish welfare, and which provide lovely reflections and calls to prayer. While registered households were single entities, Flocknotes allows multiple accounts per household, so yes, we have lost parishioners but have maintained a decent critical mass. Flocknotes will likely be our means of communication for the better part of this new year. On this past Wednesday, January 13th, we

received a notification from The Vatican Lastly, we have maintained our health that the experience of Ash Wednesday will and safety standards without a single slip, be different this year due to the pandemic. I thanks to Fr. Robert’s non-negotiable share with you the article from Catholic adherence to CCC Health Dept. guidelines. News Service as well as Bishop Barber: We have all seen other churches in the media encouraging unsafe practices, but The Vatican Congregation for Divine St. Ignatius of Antioch has also been held Worship and the Sacraments asked priests to steady by the efforts of Vince Augusta and take special anti-COVID-19 precautions this team’s engineering compliant Mass (and year when distributing ashes on Ash funeral and wedding) attendance, and Brian Wednesday, Feb. 17, including sprinkling McCoy for similarly overseeing daily ashes on the top of people's heads rather operations.

24 than using them to make a cross on people's Here at St. Ignatius of Antioch, Father foreheads. Moses and I will administer the “Sprinkling of Ashes” on Wednesday, February 17th, as The congregation's note on the "distribution directed by The Vatican and Bishop Barber, of ashes in time of pandemic" at 8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 12:00 Noon, was published on the congregation's website 4:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. You are invited to Jan. 12 and directs priests to say "the prayer Walk Up to the doors of the church where for blessing the ashes" and then sprinkle you will be greeted, sanitize your hands with "the ashes with holy water, without saying disinfectant, have your temperature taken, anything." and then step forward to receiving the sprinkling of ashes on your head. No words "Then he addresses all those present and will be spoken. Once the ashes have been only once says the formula as it appears in sprinkled on your head, you may turn and the Roman Missal, applying it to all in leave by the right main entrance door. general: 'Repent and believe in the Gospel' Masks must be worn and social distancing or 'Remember that you are dust and to dust observed at all times. you shall return.'" For the past 16 years, our Lenten Alms have "The priest then cleanses his hands, puts on been directed to our adopted parochial a face mask and distributes the ashes to school of St. Peter Martyr, Pittsburg. We those who come to him or, if appropriate, he will once again do this in 2021. Envelopes goes to those who are standing in their will be available for your contribution or places," it said. "The priest takes the ashes you may use the envelope provided in your and sprinkles them on the head of each one envelope pack. Thank you for your Lenten without saying anything." sacrifices that will be expressed through your financial generosity to St. Peter Martyr The usual practice would be to repeat the and our support for Catholic Education. formula — "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" — to each person as the ashes are sprinkled on the top of their head or rubbed onto their forehead.

Sprinkling ashes on the top of people's heads, rather than marking foreheads with ashes, is the customary practice at the Vatican and in Italy. Given the spread of the coronavirus, the practice has the advantage of not requiring the priest to touch multiple Letters To The Pastor people. During this ongoing pandemic, I truly miss the personal interaction with our community The Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish at the weekend liturgies. Sometimes that's and Portuguese versions of the note also the only opportunity that I get to connect specify that the mask should cover the with you - you share good news, you share priests' "nose and mouth." concerns and sometimes you share difficult news. For much of the year, even when we

25 were able to worship in the garden area or, including your name and address That way for a short period of time, in the church, we can open a dialogue. many members of our community were unable to attend due to health concerns Thank you. and/or because of limited space. Trying to nourish a vibrant community via live- streamed liturgies and Flocknote has certainly been a challenge.

I always appreciate it when you take the time to write. Sometimes your letters are complementary and express gratitude. Sometimes your letters contain some well thought constructive criticism for which I'm am also grateful. We are never too old to learn from others. I read every letter and, when appropriate, try to personally respond to any concerns expressed. Of course, some Belated Thank You to Bill Vaughan matters raised cannot be specifically I want to publicly thank my good friend, Bill responded to because of confidentiality. Vaughan, for his generous gift to St. Ignatius of Antioch parish. Bill kindly The homily preached by Fr. Mangini last offered, and I gratefully accepted his offer, Sunday generated a number of letters and to provide the wonderful music at our emails, some positive and others critical. I Christmas liturgies at no charge to our will, of course, share your letters with community. His gift of time and talent Fr. Mangini but it's important to note that his added immensely to the beauty of our preaching is always steeped in Catholic liturgies. Social Justice teaching. He works diligently to ensure that his homilies are relevant and stem from sound biblical scholarship. Many Popes Francis and times, when a homily generates critiques, it is a compliment, even when the letter writer Benedict both is critical. A sincere critique means the homilist caused the writer to reflect on the substance of what was said. receive coronavirus

Finally, a note about unsigned letters. It's not vaccine possible to pastorally respond to an unsigned 14 January 2021 letter. Some issues and concerns can only be by Joshua J. McElwee responded to in person, in dialogue, and a spirit of openness which is impossible with Coronavirus an unsigned note. I share this with you so Vatican that if you wish to express an opinion or have a question about some facet of parish VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis and life, worship, and ministry, that you do so by retired Pope Benedict XVI have both received first doses of a coronavirus vaccine

26 as part of the Vatican's inoculation The Vatican has set up a small clinic to campaign, the city-state announced Jan. 14. administer the vaccine inside the atrium of Paul VI Hall, a large auditorium space Official outlet Vatican News said Benedict, usually used for papal audiences. The city- aged 93, had received his vaccine that state has promised to offer the vaccine to all morning at the Vatican's Mater Ecclesiae of its residents, staff members and their monastery, where the ex-pontiff lives. families. Argentinian newspaper La Nacion reported that Francis had received his vaccine a day Italy began its own vaccination campaign earlier. Dec. 31. As of Jan. 14, the country had administered first doses to nearly 886,000 people, or about 1.5% of its population.

Seeing rightly: my moral education on racism 14 January 2021 Pope Francis, right, greets retired Pope Benedict XVI at the retired pope's residence during a visit by Beverly Anne LoGrasso with new cardinals after a consistory at the Vatican Nov. 28, 2020. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Francis has urged people across the world to receive a vaccine, even suggesting there is a moral obligation to do so as a way to protect yourself and others from contracting COVID-19.

"I believe that morally everyone must take the vaccine," the pontiff said in a Jan. 10 interview for Italy's TG5 news program. "It is the moral choice because it is about your The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in West life but also the lives of others." Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., was dedicated Aug. 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of The Vatican, which is a sovereign the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, international entity separate from Italy, though the ceremony was postponed until Oct. began its inoculation campaign Jan. 13. The 16 due to Hurricane Irene. (Unsplash/Forest director of the city-state's health service has Simon)"It is only with the heart that one can see said it will first offer the Pfizer/BioNTech rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." vaccine, but may also use other products as The Little Prince, Antoine de St. Exupery they become available. My Catholic moral education began in 1952

at an "Irish" parish, Christ the King in East Cleveland, Ohio. Fortunately, the school

27 was staffed by Ursuline Sisters who taught like music!" Now, I felt the difference me by word and example what living the between exclusion and belonging. Gospel of respect for all lives meant. Living a moral, Catholic life was very clear: In 1960, during the excitement of John F. a review of the list of sins in my First Kennedy's campaign to become the first Communion prayer book followed by Catholic president, my mind and heart were weekly confession that kept me "in the state opening to a wider world, as the evening of grace." news reported on the civil rights struggle: boycotts, sit-ins, dogs and violence. Sister At the time, I was unaware that my moral Claudia told us about Ruby Bridges, who, at education was woefully incomplete. the age of 6, was escorted by federal However, interventions by Ursuline Sisters marshals in New Orleans to attend her all- awakened my moral ability to "see rightly" white elementary school. I was beginning to on a much deeper heart level of personal sense that something was wrong, morally connection and feeling that transcended wrong, even though it did not appear on my external differences. "sin list" in my prayer book.

In 1956, I was a third grader, living in a Dr. King's message seemed to have been white neighborhood and parish and totally given an imprimatur by President Kennedy oblivious to the Montgomery bus boycott and his brother Robert, the attorney general led by Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin who supported the August 1963 March on Luther King Jr. The closest I came to an Washington and sent federal troops to appreciation of the struggles of "difference" protect Black students attempting to enroll was our family's annual Aug. 15 trip to in white schools. Cleveland's Little Italy to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, "Italian style." On June 11, 1963, our first Catholic president addressed the nation and Even as a third grader, I knew instinctively specifically stated that civil rights was "a that if I told any of my Christ the King moral issue … as old as the Scriptures and classmates that I watched a procession with as clear as the Constitution." a Madonna covered in money, followed by elderly women singing hymns in a "foreign" In 1964, I sat mesmerized in front of our language — dressed in black and walking in television as King delivered his "I Have a stocking feet on hot pavement as a penance Dream" speech, and I not only understood — I would be viewed skeptically, as an his moral arguments, I felt them in my heart "outsider" who was considered "strange." and gut. Surely, I would feel hurt and excluded: "different" and not to be trusted. Now, most certainly, if President Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Sr. Mary Robert taught me my first moral Martin Luther King thought it was OK to be lesson in the acceptance of difference. She "different in color," I would have to add instructed us to print our names on name discrimination against racial difference to cards; I was in a quiet panic; I was afraid my that list in my prayer book. long, Italian name would not fit on the name card. Sister sensed my distress; she smiled On to high school, where Sr. Frances and said: "Your name is beautiful; it sounds Therese assigned an essay on identifying a

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contemporary person who most closely [Beverly Anne LoGrasso, a member of the resembled Jesus if he walked the Earth in Cleveland Ursuline Sisters since 1965, has 1964. It was clear to me as a teenager that served in education, administration and Robert Kennedy's ability to communicate prison ministry to women.] with disenfranchised, "outcast" Americans, especially children, in the poorest counties of our country, his dogged opposition to the How should Christ- Vietnam war, his commitment to civil rights, made him the person who, for me, lived the believers counter Gospel values of Jesus, felt them and inspired many others to feel them in their hearts and to live them. insurrectionist cults? 15 January 2021

by Christine Schenk In 1968, I attended Ursuline College and worked with Sister Miriam to sponsor "Black Week" on campus to examine issues of race in America. The more I learned, the more the moral fog lifted: redlining in housing, unequal pay for equal work, inferior education — all were obstacles at every turn based on racial discrimination.

Now, I am 73 years old and Pope Francis, on June 3, 2020, clearly names racism a sin; a sin that joins the ranks of all other sin lists in a Catholic examination of conscience. We, the Catholic community, are challenged

to acknowledge racism, as a sin that People carry flags with words "Jesus" and demands admission, conversion, sorrow, "Trump" on them as a President Donald Trump repentance and change of heart. supporter breaks a window at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Jan. 6, 2021. (CNS photo/Leah I myself am being called to examine my Millis, Reuters) isolation, my blindness, my inadequate understanding of what it means to be Black Of all the shocking images that flooded our in America today and to understand with screens on Jan. 6, I am most outraged by a deeper insight, the story of the Good flag bearing the name of Jesus carried by Samaritan as the story of an outcast in insurrectionists as they mounted their assault society who most truly mirrored the heart of on the U.S. Capitol. God. As if Jesus would ever condone this out-of- As a graduate of 16 years of Catholic control mob — fueled by lies and bearing education, I was very clearly schooled in the deadly weapons — intent on overturning the Catholic moral code of right and wrong. But legitimate election of Joe Biden and Kamala I keep finding that I still have a lot to learn! Harris.

I could barely take in that this was happening at the citadel of my country's

29 democracy — let alone that the perpetrators reading from Isaiah (42: 1-3) describes the would justify their violent behavior by prophetic servant of God that prefigured invoking the name of the Prince of Peace. Jesus:

In succeeding days, like most of the country, He shall bring forth justice to the nations, I was glued to cable news and smartphone not crying out, not shouting, not making his alerts trying desperately to understand how voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he this could have happened. shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey on the earth. Goldberg shed some light: This Jesus is a far cry from the one evoked This gathering was not merely an attempted on the insurrectionist's flag. coup but also a mass-delusion event, not something that can be explained adequately In the Gospel, the heavens are "torn open" through the prism of politics. Its chaos was and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, "the rooted in psychological and theological Beloved," to anoint him for the mission phenomena, intensified by eschatological described in the first reading, Isaiah 42:6-7: anxiety. … The conflation of Trump and Jesus was a common theme at the rally. I called you for the victory of justice … . I "Give it up if you believe in Jesus!" a man formed you and set you as a covenant of the yelled near me. People cheered. "Give it up people, a light for the nations, to open the if you believe in Donald Trump!" Louder eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from cheers. confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness. In other words, what we have here is a cult. It is a cult fueled by fear, falsehood and a Like Jesus, we too are God's beloved. Like fascist hatred of any who would challenge Jesus, we too have been baptized for the its demagoguery. Even worse, the cult's victory of justice. followers invoke a toxic Christianity laced with white supremacist, antisemitic ideology So we must ask, to what is the Holy Spirit to justify itself. calling us in this moment? What are we in the Christian community being asked to do? I think it oddly providential — or perhaps synchronistic — that these horrific events Here are some things to consider: occurred on the Feast of the Epiphany. An epiphany is a manifestation or an We must pray. Pray for our country, our awakening. The deep-seated dysfunction — elected officials (including our unwell I would call it evil — plaguing our outgoing president), our law enforcement, democracy is now plainly manifest. There is our fellow citizens, and all those members of blessing in such an awakening. A painful cult-like militias and hate groups who clarity will inform our choices in the days blindly follow a false god. Ask God to bring ahead. them out of their dungeons of darkness.

As I write this column, the church is We must ask civic communities, celebrating the Baptism of Christ. The first communities of faith and religious leaders to

30 join Cardinal Blase Cupich and my own A world where different races, Congregation of St. Joseph in issuing cultures and creeds statements that condemn the use of violence live in peace and harmony, with and "work to end the rampant rage and equal regard. division that have overpowered our nation." A world where peace is built We must contact our elected officials and with justice demand accountability by prosecuting and justice is guided by love. insurrectionists and rioters to the full extent of the law and censuring lawmakers and Give us the inspiration and public servants who support the false courage to go forth with willing narrative that the presidential election was hearts, minds, and bodies to fraudulent. build such a world, through Christ Jesus.

We must examine our own Catholic And may the God of hope fill us complicity in creating conditions for the with every comfort and joy in failed coup attempt. And then we must work believing. May the peace of to change those conditions. Christ abound in our hearts and

minds. and may the Holy Spirit We must organize interfaith and gift and guide us (making Sign interreligious networks to educate and of the Cross) now and forever. provide a counter narrative to toxic cults, AMEN. including Christianity's (and God's) prime directive to "love one another" and the biblical-historical Jesus and the nature of apocalyptic literature. We must also work to build relationships of trust and understanding across faith communities, and to engage with fellow citizens who are vulnerable to cultic expressions of an idolatrous heresy that bears no resemblance to Jesus the Christ. Christine Schenk

St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk, an NCR I close with a special prayer the board member, served urban families for 18 FutureChurch community prays every years as a nurse midwife before co-founding Sunday and Wednesday at FutureChurch, where she served for 23 our online Liturgy of the Word faith sharing: years. Her book Crispina and Her Sisters: Grant us, O God, Women and Authority in Early A vision of your world as your Christianity (Fortress, 2017) was awarded love would have it: first place in History by the Catholic Press A world where the weak are Association. She holds master's degrees in protected, nursing and theology. and none go hungry or poor. A world where the riches of creation are honored and shared so everyone might enjoy them.

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Justice Corner by Carolyn Krantz, at this time? There are many needs in the Pastoral Associate world, but if we are attentive in prayer, and The Old Testament and the Gospel readings open to God's urgings, we will know what today ask us to meditate on what it means to our calling is and be able to move in that be called and to be named. We refer to a direction. “calling” as something a person has within themselves like a profession or a movement These readings also invite us to reflect on from the inside that causes us to take certain how we are named. Jesus renames Simon as actions. When a person plays an instrument “Cephas” which means rock, because Jesus well, we say they have a calling. Doctors recognizes Simon's leadership in times of and nurses have a calling to heal the sick. crisis. He knows Simon will be rock-like, Veterinarians have a calling to work with that is strong, in times of persecution. How animals. Has anyone ever said you have a were you named? Does your name come calling? from relatives long ago like a grandmother or grandfather? Does your name come from Samuel is a neophyte in the temple. He a quality of life that your parents saw in you hears someone calling him and he thinks it is or wished for you? Was your name changed his mentor, Eli. But Eli recognizes that the later, or did people give you a nickname? call is an internal call from God and teaches Have you looked up the meaning of your Samuel how to respond: “Speak Lord for name on Wikipedia? Names often carry a your servant is listening.” In spiritual terms, sense of mission within them. Often the we all have a call from God, some direction research will list others in history who had a that we hear or feel from the inside that similar name. Learning about the lives of moves us to make a better world. Many of those named like you often provides a sense us are called to be mothers or fathers, to lead of direction as well. a family toward wholeness and truth, but we are also called to serve others in a particular These exercises help one to know that we way. In the time of the pandemic, many of are especially chosen in Baptism to be a part us have been called to volunteer at the food of this world. They help us to discern our bank or to be attentive to an elderly particular calling, our place in life and in the neighbor. It is a good spiritual exercise to sit Christian community. They help us to in silence and listen to the urgings of God at provide guidance to others so that they can this time and to respond, “Speak Lord, for find out what God is calling them to do. your servant is listening.” Being in a time of global crises with such uncertainty causes us to face our Christian In the Gospel the disciples of John are heritage in a new and deeper way and to asking about the call of Jesus, His mission. understand the relationship of the spiritual He invites them to “Come and see,” come life and charitable works. “Speak, Lord, for and observe and reflect on how Jesus faces your servant is listening!” life, come and see how he respects and heals suffering humanity. He invites us to listen to the needs of our brothers and sisters and to act for their benefit. It is part of our job to be Matthew 25 Christians, to reach out to others who are suffering and in pain. What particular calling are we paying attention to

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Parish Perspective by receive his countless blessings. We have to Peter Degl’Innocenti, Pastoral Associate put in the last hour of work at the end of the Being Fully Connected day to receive full payment. We add our fish Most of us at one time or another have had to his grill of fish on the shore of Galilee. to hook something up, be it a home We fill the earthen jars with water to receive computer, new flat screen TV, or even a the choicest wine. The list goes on. doorbell. Everything seems to be connected correctly but it doesn’t work. I ran into a We should take the time to visit these sites similar situation while installing a radio in and learn what is happening in the Church. my airplane. Two wired information systems We need to call the people whom we feed the main computer, a CAN system and haven’t seen in months or weeks. “Full, an RS232 system (you can call them Frank active, and conscious participation” is the and Bill if you like). The radio on the Frank term we use to describe what it is to be truly system was working like a Swiss watch but present at Liturgy, which is the “work of the the Bill system wasn’t even talking to the people.” radio. Two little essential wires had been erroneously wrapped-up in the “I don’t need Be fully connected, Frank and Bill said so. these wires” bundle, like those for autopilot. A little soldering and I had full use of both systems.

Sometimes we think we are fully connected to the Church and we may even review the connections that we have to prove to ourselves that everything is A-OK. But are we fully connected on as many systems as we need or have? As mentioned before, we should all be tuned-in to Flocknotes, FORMED, the Diocese of Oakland website, and of course the St. Ignatius of Antioch website. There are sites from all around the world where priests and bishops post transcripts of homilies and reflections they have given. If you need a little more visual action to feel connected, YouTube has Catholic services and spiritual growth messages in overflowing abundance. The prime factor to staying connected is you.

There has to be action on your part to stay in the loop of the faith community. It’s great to have so many resources but if they are not used, what good are they? Jesus stressed in many of his parables, preaching, and examples that it takes at least the slightest bit of active contribution on our part to

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January 2021 Opportunities for Involvement

Ruby Slippers Virtual Gala: This year, Hope Solutions will present our annual fundraising gala, Ruby Slippers- There’s No Place Like Home in the comfort of your own home on Saturday, February 27th, 2021. Ruby Slippers will be virtual and live-streamed from the Ruby Slippers Gala event page. FREE event registration at: https://hopesolutions.ejoinme.org/RubySlippers2021. There will be a live and silent auction with some fabulous items to bid on, and we hope to add even more! Support the silent auction by donating an item, package, or gift card; visit our sign-up list at https://tinyurl.com/yynbd9uy. If you have vacation homes, unused airline miles, luxury items or unique experiences that you are willing to donate to our auction, please contact Carrie Veurink, Manager of Development Outreach at [email protected] or call at (925) 542-5068.

Homework Club Support: We are looking for compassionate individuals to help in our (now virtual) afterschool Homework Club that runs from August through June. You will provide academic and mentoring support to children from extremely low-income homes in grades K-12. Commitment is one day a week, either AM or PM, Monday through Thursday for the remaining of the school year. Adults and high school sophomores through seniors are encouraged to apply at www.hopesolutions.org/volunteer.

Volunteers to Pick Up and Deliver Furniture: Transporting furniture to new residents throughout Contra Costa County is a great challenge during these times. A volunteer that can pick-up donated furniture and deliver them various households throughout Contra Costa County is needed. Deliveries will be PORCH DELIVERIES ONLY, no need to set up. If you are able to help, please contact Sandibel Arnold at [email protected].

Furnishings: Every month we have families and individuals moving into homes. We try our best to provide furnishings and household items for incoming residents. This month we are looking for furnishings as well as cleaning supplies, kitchen kits, bath towels, dishes, pots and pans, and silverware. We are in need of beds and bedding. This month we are in need of several full- and twin-size beds. Please note that mattresses and bedding must be new. If you are able to donate any of these items or would like more information, please contact Sandibel Arnold at [email protected]. For a complete list of furnishings and items needed this month, please take a look at the attached Furnishing Request sheet here.

Seeking In-Kind Donations:

▪ New Twin and Full size mattresses and bedding as well as frames and platforms ▪ $25 gift cards to Grocery Outlet, FoodMaxx, or Walmart ▪ Menstrual products of all kinds ▪ Diapers size 1 through 6 and baby wipes for families in our program ▪ $5 Starbucks and Jamba Juice gift cards for report card check-ins ▪ Welcome Kits for new families moving into permanent housing (laundry basket filled with cleaning supplies, small household items, and $25 gift card to FoodMaxx or Grocery Outlet) ▪ Cleaning supplies for our multi-site clients (Comet, Windex, Simple Green, buckets, mops, etc.)

Stay informed! Like us on Facebook @hopesolutionsnonprofit Get all the latest news about Hope Solutions and the housing landscape in Contra Costa County. Read stories about our impact, and the many residents we serve together. Sign up for our mailing list here: https://tinyurl.com/lgdp3gs.

For more information, please go to our website: https://www.hopesolutions.org/ or contact Sandibel Arnold, Volunteer and Donations Coordinator at [email protected] or call 925-788-3676. Hope Solutions formerly known as Contra Costa Interfaith Housing is a 501(C)3 organization.