Bishop John McCarthy » 2011

Bible | afraid, fear, Jesus, transfiguration

Those Valentine Chocolates!

By Bishop John, March 18, 2011 4:42 am

Last month, on Valentine’s Day did you either give or receive a box of chocolates? If you did, there was a regrettable chance that the box of wonderful candy was tainted by the labor of enslaved children.

Few Americans knew anything about the problem of child labor on cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast until after 2001 when the media exposed the scandalous conditions under which most U.S. chocolate is made. Children, as young as 11 and 12 year’s old are forced into slave labor and must work 12 or 13 hours a day under truly brutal conditions. After the exposé, Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat of Iowa) introduced a bill to require U.S. chocolate companies by force of law to certify that their products are slave free. Fearing regulation, the chocolate industry quickly announced a four year plan to clean up its supply chain without legislation.

I am happy to report that many of the companies supplying the American market did clean their work up and now produce their chocolate clearly indicating that they are fair trade certified. One major company that continues to benefit from a very clear form of child labor is the Hershey company. They argue that they do not own the plantations. They simply buy the material from the growers. However, the fact is they, like the other companies that made the switch to fair trade, could easily pressure the growers to stop child slavery.

We all love chocolate but is it worth the agony and suffering of 12 year old kids?

Humanity | child labor, children, chocolate, Hershey, Slave labor

St. Patrick would be Proud!

By Bishop John, March 17, 2011 5:39 am

Can you visualize 5th Century Ireland? It was a land that was cold and almost constantly covered by fog. A large percentage of the territory was composed of bogs, which means the land was soft, sloppy, and difficult for walking. All in all, from 1400 years away, it seems to me to have been a very dreary place! Then…

Into the life and story of the Emerald Isle appears a man that while shrouded in mystery, nevertheless had an extraordinary impact on Ireland, future generations of Ireland, and all across the planet. St. Patrick had this influence not because of political or military leadership, but because he was a man of amazing faith, centering that faith on Jesus Christ in a manner that was so impressive that the people of Ireland were formed in that same faith and would remain steadfast in it until today.

The people of Ireland turned from the paganism that had marked their lives from time immemorial and committed themselves to the continued presence of Jesus, which vivifies the Catholic Church. Patrick may have been the most influential missionary since St. Paul. I believe that that is true, but yet we still know very little about him.

Onward through the bog!

Catholic Church, Humanity | Ireland, Irish, missionary, ST. Patrick, St. Paul

Sure Now, We’re a Grand Lot!

By Bishop John, March 16, 2011 5:25 am

Many people are willing to admit that they tend to be somewhat hypersensitive. Since that is such a common failing, it’s no great shame. I do, however, tend to get somewhat irritated in Mid-March, when so many people remark negatively about the joyful influence present in much of American society on the 17th- ST. PATRICK’S DAY.
There are more people of English decent in this country than Irish. The same can be said of Germans. However, we don’t make a big deal of the feast days of St. Augustan and St. Boniface. To me, that’s so natural, there is no reason to become concerned.
Whether it be exaggerated or not, the Irish have a reputation for being joyful and optimistic- while loving life, they are nevertheless, not fearful of death. The Celts of that northern outpost civilization have had 8 centuries of oppression and poverty. While things did improve for the last 40 years, sadly, Ireland is in deep recession again.
Nevertheless, that natural optimisim, that boundless hope, gives them the strength to move forward with confidence.
Will you be at a St. Patrick’s Day party tomorrrow?

Humanity | celebration, Ireland, Irish, St. Patrick's Day

Father Paul Dempsey…Again

By Bishop John, March 15, 2011 6:26 am

A few weeks ago, I began to introduce some very thoughtful remarks by a parish priest in Ireland who had been ordained fifteen years and was making many positive suggestions regarding the improvement of pastoral care in that country. This is especially important in view of the scandals that have shaken the Church so dramatically and caused many, many Catholics to cease to practice the faith.

Today, I will quote from Father Dempsey’s remarks regarding consultation in the Church, especially as it applies to priests. Dempsey points out that at the time of his writing his diocese has no bishop. When that appointment is made it will have a dramatic affect on Dempsey and all the other priests of the diocese. Dempsey and his cohorts are mature men, well educated, strongly committed and working hard for the Church but their opinion will not be sought about a decision that will profoundly affect their lives for years to come.

He admits that there are a few inquiries to select clergy to get their opinion but those inquiries are supposed to be super-secretive. In point of fact, they are quasi-public. Dempsey closes with this statement. “We are told of renewal in the Irish Church in the light of recent revelations, but there seems to be a distinct lack of renewal in this very significant area of Church life. The present system…has not served us well in the past.”

Next, Dempsey takes up issues regarding serious pastoral problems related to the sacraments.

Catholic Church | Bishop, Catholic, Church, clergy, input, Ireland

Here We Go Again. Jews and the Death of Jesus!

By Bishop John, March 14, 2011 4:48 am

I was both amazed and saddened a few weeks ago, when a new book by Pope Benedict XVI made headlines around the world for saying yet again that it was not true that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus’ death, not in the first century and not today! Will we ever get that behind us?

One of the dark clouds over the story of Catholicism was the structured anti-Semitism that has marked it relationship with the Jews since the second century. Now the Church has formally and definitively abandoned that unhappy relationship with the document Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council. It revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with the Jews, by saying clearly and definitively that Christ’s death could not be attributed to the Jews. The fact that the Pope’s recent statement on the same subject made headlines documents the fact that the message has certainly not gotten out yet. The Church must keep trying harder and harder to put this terrible cloud behind us.

I am proud of the fact that Catholic/Jewish relations has improved dramatically in the last 50 years. There is a great deal of dialogue in the area of theology and philosophy, and a determined effort to work together in dealing with some of the painful issues present in our societies. We need more of that. But let’s also confront honestly the presence of bitter and cruel anti-Semitism that marks the minds and emotions of many of our people. In my own personal life, I have been horrified at times when I got in conversations with well-educated friends and came to know the depth of their hostility and prejudice.

Let’s keep trying.

Catholic Church, Humanity | Anti-semetic, Catholic, Jews, nostra Aetate, Pope

The Problem with Evil

By Bishop John, March 12, 2011 5:02 am

First Sunday of Lent, March 13th
Today we begin that wonderful six weeks challenge that the Church places before us every year in early spring, six weeks in which we are to pray, read, meditate and possibly discipline ourselves with some efforts at better self-control as we prepare for the great feast of the Resurrection, as we prepare to celebrate our redemption.

Today’s Gospel fits us perfectly because it describes Jesus going into the desert for 40 days as a preparation for the beginning of his public life, but I would rather that we take a look at the first reading, which is from the second chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. It presents us with a story that we all know so well, the story of Adam and Eve, the story of the serpent, the story of temptation and failure. While this describes the early events in the human story, the book itself is really quite new, probably only written a few centuries before the birth of Jesus. Struggling as they were with their journey towards the promise land, God’s people saw sin and corruption everywhere – sin outside the borders of Judaism and sin within the family of the Israelites. It was a great question. Why is there so much evil? The Catholic position is that God inspired a sacred author to write the book of Genesis in which he presents not a historical documentation, but rather a poetic drama of clash between good and evil, between obedience and rebellion, between the gift of grace and the fall from grace.

This early rebellion, which we entitle Original Sin, occurred at the dawn of human history but each one of us is marked by it to this day and each one of us feels the reality of sinfulness, rebellion and a lack of discipline. Thus, we have Lent.

Let us begin this holy season by admitting to the frailty of our nature, admitting the inadequacy in our response to God’s love and endeavor to make use of these six weeks as though we were athletes in training for an all-important contest. And we are!

Bible, Catholic Church | discipline, Evil, Genesis, Lent, Serpent, sin

Be Calm, Be Calm. Help is Coming.

Comments (1)

By Bishop John, March 11, 2011 6:11 am

Anyone who reads the daily papers carefully and watches the news from around the world on evening TV is certainly aware that the world is, in many ways, being turned upside down. The old structures and systems are giving way either to new structures or to chaos. “The center is not holding.” This is true of the world economy, politics in the United States, of the Arab/Muslim world and medical research. It is true of the Roman Catholic Church as well.

For the last 2,000 years, the Church has always found itself being buffeted by unforeseen events by cosmic changes in social structures and the pain and problems that flow from the human weakness of its members. This has been especially true the last 20 years. The bishops have found themselves in conflict with many different structures within the Church. Vatican efforts to limit the effects of the Second Vatican Council are only now beginning to be understood in a forceful manner. Disappointments within Catholicism is a force within the Church and millions have simply walked away!

Now a new reality comes upon the scene. I am thrilled to see a small lay organization celebrating its 5th anniversary. I am referring to the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management. This entity is a network “made up of senior executive leaders from all sectors and industries. These thoughtful, generous men and women, ordained religious and lay, are chief executive officers, presidents, executive directors, generals and major religious superiors. They are people of profound faith and accomplishment. All Catholic, they come together to help the Church respond positively to complex, contemporary and temporal challenges facing Church leaders.”

The executive director of the Roundtable is Kerry Robinson, a dynamic leader with degrees from Georgetown and Yale Divinity School. A former director at the Catholic Chaplain Center of Yale University, she is providing spirited leadership at a time when it is sorely needed. Under Dr. Robinson’s leadership, when Church leaders ask for help, The Roundtable responds rapidly with advice, programs and personnel. This is a much needed and I hope much appreciated service. I am not too sure that every bishop is willing to go for outside help even when it is obviously needed.

Catholic Church | Catholic Church, change, Church Leaders, help, National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, Vatican

We Will All Die! (aka, The Value of LENT)

By Bishop John, March 10, 2011 5:04 am

Death is the great equalizer in the human condition. The wealthiest and the poorest, the most brilliant and the most simple, those who work hardest and those who never hit a lick – each and every one of us will experience death. For most of us, it is a little sooner than we anticipate.

Regretfully, our society, being heavily tilted towards materialism, dreads the thought of death. We don’t want to talk about it, we don’t want to think about it and we are not particularly eager to confront it. Thus, the importance of Ash Wednesday. Thus, the value of Lent.

While all people experience death, some cultures handle it a little differently. Mediterranean people, with a great zest for life, are maybe more reticent to confront the reality of death than others, such as the Irish. There are a lot of jokes about the Irish and death and I think those jokes flow from the fact that the Irish as a people had a refined sense of the miracle of death. In the Celts, the eternal world was so close to the natural world that death was not seen as a terribly destructive or threatening event. When we enter the eternal world, we are going home to where no shadow, pain or darkness can ever touch us again.

A wonderful Irish poet, John O’Donohue, writes that, “Death is a lonely visitor. When it visits your home nothing is ever the same again. There is an empty place at the table. There is an absence in the house. Something breaks within you that will never come together again.”

Sometimes people are afraid about dying. There is no need to be afraid. When the moment of your dying comes, you will be given everything that you need to make that journey in a graceful, elegant and trusting way. It is a wonderful privilege to be with a person passing on into eternity. When you are present at the sacrament of someone’s death, be very mindful of their situation. When someone we know and love is dying, we should not concentrate too much on our own fear and sense of loss but give all our attention to this person who is about to begin this awesome journey. The dying person requires our total presence and total oneness with that person. Everything should be done to make their passing as comfortable and secure as possible.

After the death comes the wake.

Catholic Church, Humanity | death, dying, Equalizer, Irish, Lent, passing

Clergy Dominance Retreats Ever So Slowly

By Bishop John, March 10, 2011 3:36 am

Many aspects of Church structure and Church organization need to change, but they change ever so slowly. The Church is a divine organization in terms of its cause, purpose and destiny but it is a very human organization in terms of its day-to-day structure and mode of operation. Many of these systems have been in place so long that many people, especially clergy, tend to think that they have divine origin. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When I was ordained in 1956, Church structure and operation was overwhelmingly clergy-dominated and controlled. Religious women, and laity in general, were given so little influence in the structure of the Church that the cliché gradually developed that their role was to “pray, pay and obey.” I am happy to see that there has been a gradual erosion of the Church’s overwhelmingly clerical dominance. We now see religious women and laity who are in position of real influence, such as chancellors, school superintendents, directors of finance, etc., etc. When you get into the real decision making areas, however, ordination to the priesthood still seems to be an absolute criteria.

An editorial in America magazine three weeks ago offered an unusual suggestion of how we might advance non-clerical influence yet farther. They suggest putting lay people into the College of Cardinals! Surprised? America gives reasons why this would be an advantage and I lack the space to develop their points here but I certainly agree. Diversity is a great strength and the Church needs diversity in its leadership at the top.

Knowing that this change is not exactly imminent, America goes on to suggest two other ways to reorganize diocesan offices. One is to have lay people constitute at least half of the bishop’s principal advisors. A second is to create a new body, an international council of lay persons to share functions with the College of Cardinals. The members of the council would come from a wide range of occupations and diversity in views and values that is so lacking within the College of Cardinals.

The article goes on to quote, “These laypeople would offer much-needed perspective on the impact of the teachings and practices of the church, including such divisive subjects as contraception, the role of women in the church, the treatment of homosexuals and the failure of authorities to respond quickly and forcefully to the scandal of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. They would understand other pastoral failings, like the denial of the Eucharist to public persons because of their political positions, a too modest peace and justice agenda, lackluster liturgies with unprepared sermons and insensitive celebrants.”

Such an international council of laypersons would be an excellent and much-needed addition to the Church’s operational structure.