May 20, 2012- Feast of the Ascension
The 12 apostles spent more than two fairly quiet years walking after Jesus as he moved back and forth from Galilee to Judea, frequently passing through Samaria. They heard his preaching, they saw his miracles, they were committed. But then things began to get a little rough.

In that first Holy Week, which was ushered in by the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, we saw two trials, one religious and one civil, and then the crucifixion. Finally, and most astounding, the resurrection itself. Then came those forty days of strange and mysterious visits when, from time to time, Jesus would suddenly appear among the apostles conveying extremely important messages which would help the Church to understand itself and to develop according to the mission that they had received from Jesus.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension and once again, we are dealing with startled, stunned and frightened apostles. There was Jesus standing and speaking to them, and then suddenly he begins to ascend to heaven and then disappears. What are they to do? In the next scene, they are facing heaven and two men in white were standing beside them. They said, “Why are you Galileans standing here looking into the sky? Jesus has been taken up from you into heaven and will come back again in the same way.” Would that make for shock, for wonder, for confusion? You bet. Now begins ten more days of fear and anxiety. That unpleasantness will come to an end in ten days as we celebrate the third most important feast in the life of the Church, PENTECOST and the descent of the Holy Spirit.

That question from those angels was really a challenge to us as well. Why are you standing here? You have got a job to do. Let’s get with it. We also need to know that in our heart of hearts we are being asked: Why are you standing here staring into space? You share in the missionary responsibility.

Let’s get with it.

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Everyone who is interested in the life of the Church is talking about it! We learned more than two years ago that the Vatican was taking a serious look at the inner-life of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella organization unifying the activities of 400 communities of religious women (nuns!) in the United States. A few weeks ago, the results came in.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has criticized LCWR for what it says and for what it does not say and accused it of a climate of “corporate dissent” on matters such as homosexuality and women’s ordination, and expressed regrets about the inroads of radical feminism into the religious communities. The Holy See has also appointed Archbishop James Peter Sartain of Seattle as its delegate with directions to review documents and speakers who might be scheduled for LCWR meetings. Needless to say, this has created a real uproar across the country and leading Catholic magazines, such as the London Tablet, America, Commonweal, and the National Catholic Reporter, are claiming that this is unnecessary and a destructive exaggeration of the fault lines in the American Church between men and women, between family values and women’s issues, and the expression “War on Women” is being bandied about.

I think everyone is pleased that the leadership of LCWR is handling the situation very calmly and the newly appointed supervisor, Archbishop Sartain, has a reputation for gentleness and has expressed a willingness to go slowly as the two sides try to find common ground. That may not be too easy.

In addition to the dramatic Vatican moves to more tightly regulate religious women in the United States, it has also tightened its control over Caritas Internationalis bringing it under the direct control of Cor Unum, the official Vatican office to foster social programs around the world. Cor Unum is to appoint an ecclesiastical “assistant” to Caritas and Cor Unum must approve any cooperative agreements between Caritas Internationalis and non-governmental organizations.

Most of us remember that last year the Vatican would not allow Secretary General of Caritas, Lesley-Anne Knight, to stand for a second term. Key issues are involved in these two situations, among them is a tragic lack of trust on both sides.

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How many pastors find themselves disappointed and discouraged by the fact that the exciting blurb in the Sunday bulletin about the important meeting on Tuesday night in the parish hall met with virtually no response? There is something about folding chairs, formica topped tables, a vague agenda and competition with television that really erodes the effectiveness of many parish meetings. Not so in Ireland, at least not when an exciting agenda is proposed.

The Association of Catholic Priests recently sponsored a meeting in Dublin’s Regency Hotel to discuss the future of the Church. Two hundred participants were expected but more than 1,000 people showed up. Speaker after speaker pleaded for a more open Church centered around a spirit of dialogue and called for a redesigning of ministry to incorporate the gifts, wisdom and expertise of the entire faith community, male and female. There were certainly other concerns on the list many of which would create tension and nervousness on the side of the Vatican. It was an important meeting because it symbolized the mood that is present in the Church all over the developed world. People are dissatisfied with the status of today’s Church and want very much to express their deep concerns about needed changes and adaptations. Yet they feel that the leadership in the Church not only does not want to consider changes, but will not even consider discussing them.

Here is the present crisis. There is a massive sense of unrest, disappointment and frustration over a large percentage of the body of the faithful. These people have articulate leaders, they are backed up by the most effective journals of thoughts, such as the London Tablet, the Jesuit’s America and the lay published Commonweal, but the authorities choose not to listen. This has been a source of tension for more than two decades but I am not aware of a single structure that has been established by Church authorities that would encourage thoughtful listening and responsible decision making. One side says that we have all the knowledge necessary because we are divinely guided but doesn’t make for realistic communication. Was divine guidance present in the many scandals coming out of the Vatican in recent years? Not too likely!

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When Jesus began his public life, he chose 12 men as his followers and co-workers. It was to these men that he gave awesome responsibility in starting and building up the community of faith which would later be called the Church. Judas was one of the twelve. Very soon after our Lord’s return to his Heavenly Father, the apostles began to get to work and realized that an office had been vacated and that this office should be filled. The apostles gathered and prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide them and then chose Matthias to be the replacement for Judas. Today, May 14th, is his feast day.

In reading this introduction in Acts, you should not pass over it too quickly. It is a clear indication that the apostles clearly saw that they had to form some limited kind of organization. Remember, they would later choose and ordain seven deacons to handle social ministry, but the apostle had to be one of the key witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus and that was the condition for Matthias being elected to be an apostle.

So we are dealing with internal developments within the community in just a few days or maybe a few weeks. We also see that the Church is beginning to form itself into an entity that will most effectively carry forth the message of Jesus Christ, a message that is to be carried forth across the entire world until the end of time. Now that is a job description!

St. Matthias pray for us.

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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has just released its 9th audit on how the dioceses of the country are complying with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It is a very detailed report and documents the extraordinary progress that has been made in this area since that time. The audit happily reflects the fact that the number of reported instances is dramatically diminishing. For that we can thank God and let us pray that this painful chapter in our history recedes.

I think that we should all appreciate the hierarchy’s determination to deal with this realistically, but let us also remember that none of the steps taken to deal with the crisis occurred voluntarily on the part of the bishops. The Charter itself and the various entities set up to safeguard our children is beginning to make a difference, but the study portrays a disturbing picture of episcopal failure in the past. The national and diocesan review boards and other safeguards are important but none of these would have occurred except for public pressure brought by victims and their lawyers.

We can be proud of our progress but there is nothing to be proud on this issue in terms of the past.

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Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has been serving as the Archbishop of Vienna since 1995. It has been a difficult assignment and for most of his twenty years in office there has been conflict and dissension within the Diocese. He was appointed there after the Holy See had to remove his predecessor due to a scandal. There have been other difficulties as well.

Currently, the Archbishop is facing very real dissension among the priests. In 2006, the Cardinal’s Vicar General, a well known media personality in Austria, helped launch a 400 strong Austrian Priests’ Initiative which has called for dramatic changes in the area of those to be ordained to the priesthood and a reappraisal of much of the Catholic Church’s moral theology regarding sexuality.

Last year, 311 theologians from Austria, Germany and Switzerland signed a memorandum demanding the ordination of women and married men, as well as an open dialogue on the Church’s structures of power and communication.

The Cardinal has handled himself with extraordinary gentleness and understanding. He has called for the Priests’ Initiative to drop the word “disobedience” from their title. He has not condemned them as a group and urged them to deal with these problems in their parishes in a pastoral way as Jesus would. As Jesus would? This means that the two groups can go on improving communication and possibly resolving the issues that are at hand.

Is Austria led by Schönborn becoming a testing ground on how to cope with some of the agonizing dilemmas facing parish priests and their pastoral work today?

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During its very first chapter, the Church, the community of faith, was totally and completely Jewish. Jesus, the apostles, the disciples, all of the followers and all early members were of the Jewish blood and faith. However, very early on the total Jewishness of the Church begins to be altered, and men and women beyond the confines of Judaism begin to be received into the community of believers in Jesus.

Today’s first reading describes a dramatic scene where a Roman officer has a vision that he should send for Peter and find out more about the message that Peter has been preaching, that Jesus had risen from the death and ascended into heaven. It is a beautiful excerpt. Peter receives Cornelius and his entire household into the Church, but then, guided by the Holy Spirit, makes a decision of tremendous importance for how the Church will be developed on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 13th
He asks rhetorically, “What can stop these people who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have from being baptized with water?” The answer, of course, is NOTHING and so this whole Pagan household was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. From then on, the missionary Church was on its way.

Helping to build the Church was the responsibility of the apostles and their early followers, but that responsibility continues even to this day. There are so many ways that we can be missionaries in our day-to-day lives. The best, of course, is to give an example in all of our dealing with people to be Christ-like – gentle and kind, honest and generous. Throughout its history, the examples of its holiest members has always been the greatest single cause for receiving converts into the Church. The example of the Christian life has always been much more influential in helping the Church to grow than theological discussions, as important as those may be. Throughout its history, the Church has always needed saints, extraordinary men and women whose lives really mirrored the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We have always needed them and never more than we do today.

On a separate note, tomorrow is MOTHER’s DAY- may God BLESS all the MOTHERs, and those who take on a motherly role here on earth!

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She is very short and slight of build and speaks with an extraordinarily kind and sensitive voice. Her vision is now badly impaired. On seeing her you might not think that she radiated strength. I am referring to Sister Gretchen Kunz, OSF who has been the driving force of St. Joseph’s Medical Center for the last 39 years. At the end of May, Sister Gretchen will return to her motherhouse to be with her family, fellow religious in what will certainly be the last chapter in her life.

I visited St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan for the first time in 1986. It was a very small hospital with very limited facilities. Today, St. Joseph’s Medical Center stands as a tremendous tribute and witness to what can be done by people of faith who learn to cooperate and work together for the betterment of society and the cause of Jesus Christ. The hospital proper has increased in size time and time again with auxiliary facilities providing extended care, psychiatric care and other specializations developed under the leadership of Sister Gretchen. Today, there is a network of smaller rural hospitals that are affiliated with St. Joseph’s and so together they provide a magnificent network across that area of Texas.

May God bless you, Sister Gretchen. You will never be forgotten and thank you for what you and your sisters have done for the rest of us.

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I am continuing a series on Catholic Sisters, nuns with whom I have had the pleasure and honor of working with here in Central Texas. I have been taking selections from different religious communities and what they have in common is extraordinary faith, talent, competence and generosity. They are a blessing to Central Texas and to the Universal Church.

Today, I call your attention to the wonderful work of Sister Mary Gloria Mar, FMA. That means that she is a Salesian Sister of St. John Bosco.

Inmy opinion, Sister Gloria is a great sign of hope in today’s Church. One of the great causes of sadness in my own life is that as the Church has been restricted and slowed down by internal conflicts over the last 30 or 40 years, as Catholics have started to identify themselves as liberal or conservative, and we became too internalized and concerned about the problems in our own parishes and dioceses. And while the missionary thrust, which flows from the very nature of the Church itself, has not been eliminated, it has certainly slowed down. Sister Gloria is a sign that we are beginning to make a turn.

Sister Gloria and her Salesian Sisters are really building up a program of lay missioners to bring the message of Jesus Christ to different parts of the planet, especially poor places, such as Haiti, the Sudan and Ethiopia through a program called VIDES (Volunteers In Development, Education, Solidarity). It thrills me that the leadership is being generated right here in little ole Austin, Texas. Sister Gloria has over the last few years sent at least 200 young people into challenging situations in 40 countries. They are real missionaries and certainly very real Christian heroes. I thank God for the VIDES volunteers, for the Salesians and for Sister Gloria.

I feel a little awkward in only being able to post the stories of six or eight of these great nuns, but it is important that we realize that each of them symbolizes the hundreds and even the thousands who are behind them expanding and continuing their work.

If you know anybody who would like to volunteer or for more information, please contact Sister Gloria at director@vides.us, 2109 East Second Street, Austin, Texas 78702, (512) 320-1913.

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A powerful coalition is trying to undermine both the both the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Thanks be to God, there are thoughtful leaders who are fighting for our health and future. Last December, Representative Henry Waxman released a list of 191 anti-environmental votes taken by Congress in 2011. Seventy-seven targeted the Clean Air Act and 114 were aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency.

What is driving these destructive forces? Concern for profits, of course, is on the table and obvious to everyone but many of them are in error about the costs. Just look at the benefits from one environmental regulation, the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards. This Act is estimated to create 100,000 new jobs by 2015 including 80,500 from investments in pollution abatement and control. We should not be discouraged in this struggle. The opposition have extraordinary resources. They have the money and the lawyers but the laws and the facts are on the side of environment and good health.

All of creation is a gift from God and, of course, for us this most especially concerns this battered planet Earth. It is a free gift from God but we have the responsibility to use its resources as effectively and as generously as possible. Tragic damage has been done to the planet over the last century and a half. The tide turned about 25 years ago and things have been improving rather steadily. Let’s not let the profiteers take us backwards!

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