Thursday, June 30, 2011

“You are no longer servants, but friends”

Lord, help me to come to know you more and more.

Help me to be ever more at one with your will.

Help me to live my life not for myself, but in union with you to live it for others.

Help me to become ever more your friend.

-- Benedict XVI, Homily on the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul, the occasion of his 60th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood

Lake Anna morning prayer: "It is you whom I invoke, O Lord"


... in the morning you hear me;
in the morning I offer you my prayer,
watching and waiting.

-- Psalm 5, Monday Morning prayer, Week 1

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Solemnity of Corpus Christi: God's Got Talent! In the Holy Eucharist the One who is greatest becomes the least and the most humble among us


People love theater and love to be entertained. They also like to be surprised by big talent that comes in unassuming or humble people.

One of the most popular shows on TV invites people from all walks of life to display their talent in front of three judges. If they prove to have a skill worthy of the stage they get an opportunity to advance in the competition for a chance at a career in show business. One appeal of the show seems to be the element of suspense as the audience experiences a role in the discovery of a new and exciting talent for singing, dancing or other means of entertainment. The show also affirms the nearly limitless ingenuity and resourcefulness of the human person, created by God with great dignity and potential.

The best and most captivating entrance is a humble one followed by the revelation of awe-inspiring greatness. Recently an unassuming young man on the show about which I have been speaking wowed the audience and had them on their feet cheering with his tremendous dancing after a very simple and self-effacing introduction. His talent far outweighed his sense of self-importance and endeared him all the more to the audience.

No one can outdo God. And when it comes to God's presence in our lives, no one is greater. In the gift of Himself in every Mass, truly present as He is in the Eucharist, no one outdoes God in humility for in this way the greatest becomes so small so as to be the least among us, inviting us to receive Him without fear.

For the full text of homily for Corpus Christi visit Meeting Christ in the Liturgy by clicking here.

Hawaii: "that you may refresh yourselves"


... and afterward you may go on your way.

The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him":
O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.
-- CCC 260
Photo thanks to PBC.

Friday, June 24, 2011

For a clean sweep

... it's BXVI.

I keep my church broom next to his picture.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Saint Francis de Sales, Benedict, MD: In Festo Corporis Christi

Today, for the first time in over 50 years, the town of Benedict, Maryland, celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi with a sung Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite and the customary Eucharistic procession.

The altar is prepared with white roses for the Mass of Corpus Christi.

Father Sanderfoot proclaims the Scriptures in English and preaches the homily.

Father Sanderfoot is assisted by George Walter in distribution of holy communion to the faithful.


Assisting with exposition of the blessed Sacrament (L to r) Caleb Shorts, Seminarian Matt Shoemaker, Father Sanderfoot, George Walter, and seminarian Jack Berard.


The procession route from the church to the parish hall. The faithful chanted the Litany of Saints and Pange Lingua.

The procession returns to the church. Benedict fire and emergency personnel, manning the vehicle visible in the distance, generously gave their time and effort to assist with rerouting traffic away from the procession route.

Members of the Benedict Fire and Rescue providing traffic control for the procession on Benedict Avenue.

Father Sanderfoot is assisted in honoring Our Lord by men of the parish carrying the canopy.

The procession returns to the church

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Former Prosecutor Details Six's History-Altering Interference in Abortion Prosecutions




June 22, 2011

Washington, DC - New details have emerged concerning Federal Appeals Court nominee Steve Six and his role in subverting two abortion prosecutions in Kansas during his appointed tenure as Attorney General.

A vote on Six's floundering nomination is expected in the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday. Six suffered a major set-back last week when both Kansas Senators issued statements opposing his nomination. The new, heavily documented column released Tuesday by a former Kansas prosecutor further exposes Six's unfitness for office. Votes on his nomination have already been delayed twice.

Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who also served as Johnson County District Attorney, has written a column explaining how Steve Six went out on a limb to protect abortionists, even when his own office was prosecuting one.

Kline tells how Six's office:

· Accepted a pre-trial stipulation agreement in the criminal prosecution of late-term abortionist George Tiller on 19 charges of illegal late-term abortions that insured that the prosecution would fail.
· Buried evidence that late-term abortions were being done for such frivolous reasons as to save the cost of paying for babysitters, a "condition" that Tiller diagnosed as a "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" of the mother in order to justify a late-term abortion on a viable baby.
· Filed motions interfering with the ongoing prosecutions of Tiller and Planned Parenthood (on 107 charges) that were so favorable to the abortionists that Planned Parenthood simply joined in his arguments.
· Sued to gag two judges who ruled there is probable cause to believe that Planned Parenthood violated the law.
· Failed to give heavily redacted abortion records to a Grand Jury investigating Planned Parenthood, insuring that they would lack the evidence for an indictment.

"This first-hand account from the prosecutor that Steve Six blocked at every turn is jarring evidence of Six's propensity to allow personal and political biases to influence his professional decisions in a way that has caused a miscarriage of justice," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It is clear that Obama is attempting to stack the court with justices that will ensure that abortion cases never see the light of day. We must oppose the nomination of Steve Six."

  • Read Kline's heavily documented column.
  • Please contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask members to oppose the nomination of Steve Six to the federal Appeals Court.

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    About Operation Rescue®

    Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates. Click here to support Operation Rescue. Click here to make a secure donation online.
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    E-mail: info@operationrescue.org
    Operation Rescue | P.O. Box 782888 | Wichita | KS | 67278

    "Rejoice in God, all the earth"

    ... serve the Lord with gladness.

    -- Antiphon, Invitatory psalm, Wednesday, 12th Week Ordinary Time

    Tuesday, June 21, 2011

    Penne con pesche, zucca frescha e pomodori secchi

    Whole wheat penne pasta, Pacific pilchards in brine drained and chopped, medallions of steamed fresh squash, dried tomatoes chopped fine. Garnish with olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh grated parmesan. Toss and serve.

    Buon appetito!

    ((((..))))

    Sunday, June 19, 2011

    Sunday morning in the garden: "Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity"

    ... who created all things and governs all things, now and forever and through all the infinite ages."

    -- Antiphon, Benedictus, Morning prayer, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

    Saturday, June 18, 2011

    Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: The Father "gave his only Son" and the fellowship of the Spirit to satisfy all our needs


    Everyone has made a wrong decision at some point in their life, and everyone can speak about the suffering or pain caused by bad decisions. What, on the other hand, about the suffering or pain that is caused by doing the right thing? How often can we say that we suffered personally and willingly for doing right? Or that we chose to do what was right and good with foreknowledge of the cost to ourselves? I recently spoke with a father who is suffering for doing the right thing.

    Visit Meeting Christ in the Liturgy for the full text of the homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity by clicking here.

    Friday, June 17, 2011

    Pentecost in Kenosha, Wisconsin



    View of St Peter Church inerior and congregation at the beginning of the "Vidi aquam."






    The Oriana Singers. Mr. Bill Chin, the director, is at the far left.







    Last Gospel

    Thursday, June 16, 2011

    "Collateral damage": An innocent priest dies of a broken heart

    Brian McGrory

    Collateral damage

    By Brian McGrory Globe Columnist / June 15, 2011

    The first time the Rev. Charles Murphy was cleared of accusations that he improperly touched a minor, a girl 25 years earlier, everyone who ever met him said they had never doubted his innocence.

    It was 2006 and priests were all over the news for every awful reason, most of them deservedly so. But Father Murphy swore his innocence, the archdiocese ruled the allegations lacked substance, and the woman dropped her suit on the eve of trial.

    When Murphy triumphantly returned to the pulpit of his sun-splashed church in South Weymouth, the applause could be heard across the South Shore. Father Charlie, as he was known, was back — back cracking cornball jokes from the altar, back as a fanatical hockey fan, back as the mad plow driver clearing the parking lot at the hint of snow. He was also back ministering in prisons and helping the deaf, a man of the cloth to his core.

    “He was just the same guy as before the accusation, a bubbly guy, fun, a little bit of a jokester, but a diligent priest,’’ said Joe Corcoran, the developer who befriended Murphy decades earlier at St. Agatha in Milton.

    Amid so much joy, it would have been impossible to imagine the turn that Murphy’s life would eventually take.

    That turn came in April 2010, when lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who had lodged the first unfounded complaint, brought another. This one involved a man, not a woman. It went back 40 years rather than 25. It centered on accusations of fondling at the old Paragon Park in Hull and on a ski trip up north.

    When the charges hit, Murphy canceled a long-planned party celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest. He cleaned out his room in the church rectory and went to live with his brother. Two accusations in four years, he knew, did not look good.

    But it didn’t matter to the prominent friends and everyday parishioners who refused to give up their faith. They hired a lawyer, who in turn brought in a private investigator, who discovered that the alleged victim was mired in financial problems, had a long list of liens placed against him, and faced massive credibility issues even within his own family.

    It took nearly six months — about five months longer than it should have — before an archdiocesan review board cleared Murphy of the allegations in September and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley restored him as a senior priest. But this time, there was no triumphant return to the pulpit. In fact, when Murphy reappeared at St. Francis Xavier in South Weymouth to say Mass, he couldn’t summon the strength to deliver a sermon.

    “He would say to me, ‘I just can’t preach. I just don’t have it in me,’ ’’ said Jack Pender, his longtime confidant. “It was so frustrating for him.’’

    His spirit was evaporating. His antidepression medicine kept him up at night. He moved to Regina Cleri, a North End residence for retired priests, where he continued his tortured descent.

    Garabedian is a talented lawyer who has done vital work on behalf of hundreds of victims of abusive priests, but in terms of Murphy, what he did is a disgrace. Garabedian told me this week his Milton client was “credible.’’ He wasn’t. He lashed out at what he described as a “kangaroo court,’’ the respected, independent archdiocesan panel that cleared Murphy. He didn’t utter the only words worth hearing: I made a mistake.

    They brought Murphy to a hospice in Haverhill a couple of weeks ago after doctors determined there was nothing left to be done. There was no cancer, no apparent physical disease, just a broken 77-year-old heart that refused to mend.

    And that’s where he died Saturday evening, a wisp of the man he once was. Garabedian lost his compass on this case, and thousands of people all over Massachusetts lost a truly wonderful priest.

    Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.