Two Salesians Ordained Priests

Two Salesians Ordained Priests

Fr. John Langan, Bp. John O'Hara, and Fr. Sasika Lokuhettige

Frs. John Langan and Sasika Lokuhettige were ordained priests for the New Rochelle Province on Saturday, June 27, at St. John Bosco Church in Port Chester, N.Y.  Auxiliary Bishop John J. O’Hara of New York was the ordaining prelate.

Bishop O’Hara made two admissions.  At the beginning of the liturgy, he confirmed his very great happiness at doing this service for the Salesians because he is a Salesian graduate—from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. (1963).  At the end he confessed that these were his first ordinations since he was ordained bishop in 2014. (He was very ably guided through the rite by Fr. Manny Gallo, acting as master of ceremonies—probably his first ordinations, as well.)

Bishop O’Hara also brought the good wishes and prayers of the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a great admirer of the Salesians.

After the bishop has consented to ordain the 2 men presented to him by Fr. Provincial,
the congregation signals its approval with applause.

Due to public health restrictions, admittance to the ordination Mass was limited, and the ample church was less than half full. About 40 priests concelebrated, mostly Salesians but also Franciscans from Fr. John’s home parish, St. Joseph in Winsted, Conn., and other priest friends of the two ordinands. Other members of the Salesian family attended: five or six brothers, two sisters, some local Cooperators, some pupils and past pupils from Don Bosco Prep, where Fr. Sasika teaches, and from Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y., and a good number of local parishioners, including the choir.

Both of the new priests studied theology at the Ratisbonne Monastery in Jerusalem, Fr. Sasika from 2005 to 2009 and Fr. John from 2016 to 2020.

Fr. Sasika, 38, grew up in a devout Catholic family in a Salesian parish in Sri Lanka and pursued Salesian priesthood from his early years. After his ordination as a deacon in 2009, however, he hesitated to go on, and left the Salesians for six years while continuing to discern. He returned in 2015 and was assigned to DBP as a candidate, renewed his vows in 2016, and was reinstated to the diaconate last year.

“I am really grateful for Don Bosco Prep and for the Salesian province who welcomed me,” Fr. Sasika said. “I felt so much at home the first day I stepped onto the Bosco campus. It was an environment of family, and of holiness and joy, and it really struck me.”

At DBP he teaches theology and is involved in extracurriculars such as volleyball, Savio Club, and the school’s mission trips.

His parents and sisters couldn’t travel from Sri Lanka, but an aunt, uncle, and cousins represented them at the ordination Mass.

Concelebrating priests join Bp. O'Hara in the prayer of priestly consecration
after the laying on of hands

Fr. John, 36, took a more roundabout vocational trip, eventually responding to God’s call after college at Northwestern Connecticut Community College and Eastern Connecticut State University, with the help of prayer, retreats, his parish youth group, and his pastor, Fr. Bruce Czapla, OFM. He became a Salesian candidate in 2009, teaching at Salesian HS, professed first vows in 2012 and perpetual vows in 2018, and did his practical training at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, La., as a theology and math teacher.

His parents and extended family took part in the Mass.

In the coming year, Fr. Sasika will continue to serve as campus minister at DBP, and Fr. John will have the same responsibility at Archbishop Shaw.

Bp. O'Hara reading the homiletic text in the ritual,
assisted by Deacon Steve DeMaio. Deacon Lenny Carlino is at the left.

Bishop O’Hara began his ordination homily by reading from the ordination ritual, which emphasizes the dignity and responsibilities of priests. But he added personal remarks, starting with an observation about a photo of St. John Bosco. In the photo the saint has a slight smile that, to the bishop’s mind, reveals his joy because he’s confident of Christ’s triumph over evil even in the turbulent era in which he lived.

The bishop continued by reminding the ordinands that Don Bosco’s joy was based on the Eucharist and on Mary Help of Christians. “Surrender all your worries to the Lord in the Eucharist and to Mary Help of Christians,” he advised the priests-to-be. He added that daily Mass is what defines us as priests. “Make the Eucharist your joy and Mary Help of Christians your strength,” he said.

At the end of Mass, Bishop O’Hara offered another thought, based on Don Bosco’s motto, Da mihi animas, caetera tolle:  Don Bosco always saw everyone as having been redeemed by Jesus Christ, and Salesians and priests are steppingstones for people toward Jesus; we are bridge-builders. Finally, he reminded the congregation that the ship captained by Jesus will bring us through the rough seas of our time to safe harbor.

Homily for 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 28, 2020

Rom 6: 3-4, 8-11

Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.

“We who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Rom 6: 3).

Last week we began reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which is probably his most important writing, a profound theological reflection on sin and redemption, on our relationship with Jesus Christ.  We’ll be reading from it for 13 weeks—1/4 of the year!

Last week, Paul reflected on how sin came into the world thru deliberate human choice, how sin has poisoned all of us, and how God’s grace has come to deliver us by the free gift of Jesus Christ.

Today Paul shows how we are joined to Jesus Christ, how his grace comes upon us, and how we, then, are to live in his grace.

We receive grace—the divine life—when we’re baptized.  As Paul teaches in many places, we are saved by the cross of Christ, by his death and resurrection.  Today he shows us that we share in Christ’s death by our own death and burial with him in Baptism.

Most of the power of this symbolism is lost in our current baptismal practice, in which a little water is poured 3 times over an infant’s head.  In the early Church, and sometimes today with adults, the catechumen entered a baptismal pool and was fully immersed 3 times in the water.  The rite was so special that many of the old cathedrals in Europe, e.g., St. John Lateran in Rome and St. Mary in Florence, have separate, richly decorated buildings called baptistries.  In these pools or baths the catechumen was symbolically buried in the water—“buried with Christ” (6:4), buried as Christ had been in his tomb.

Then the newly baptized Christian rose from the water, like Christ rising from his tomb, “so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” (6:4).

Our Baptism initiates us into the life of grace, the life of Jesus Christ.  It’s a promise that death will not lay a final hold on us because Christ has defeated death, as we heard from Paul last week.  Rather, as Jesus was raised from the tomb on Easter Day, so shall we who belong to him be raised from our graves on the Last Day, the day we speak of in the Creed, when Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,” and we “look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

In his letter, Paul goes on to speak of the consequences of our dying with Christ in Baptism.  Christ “died to sin once and for all” (6:10).  In his human nature, Christ identified himself with us, paying the penalty for sin tho he was innocent of any personal sin.  So in rising he conquered not only death but sin, as well; he has redeemed us from Satan’s wicked grasp, restored us to friendship with God, restored us to the filial relationship with our Father that God intends.  Christ has died to sin—sin has no chance against him—and he died for all of us, for every human being who has sinned and desires to be forgiven and to live with God.

Then Paul delivers a punch line:  “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus” (6:11).  Baptism into Christ’s life has consequences:  we must live like Jesus.  Sin is out!

Well, we all know that we haven’t tossed out sin completely.  We’re trying to do that; we must try to do that—to break every sinful habit of gossip and tearing down one another, of lying, of misusing our sexuality, of laziness, of prejudice, etc.  Sin can still separate us from Christ, can kill our eternal future.  So we must reach out to Christ every day for forgiveness, for the strength to make a fresh start on his way toward heaven.  We must pray.  We must celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation.  We must renew our commitment to Jesus every day, surrendering ourselves as best we can to him, so that we may be given eternal life (cf. Matt 10:39).

Homily for Friday, Week 12 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Friday

12th Week of Ordinary Time

June 26, 2020
2 Kings 25: 1-12

Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

For most of the week, we’ve been reading of the downfall of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah—with a reprieve granted to faithful King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 19).  Were we to read the entirety of 2 Kings, we’d find quite a depressing story of repeated infidelity in both kingdoms—the story compounded when paired with the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and other prophets.

The story culminates with the total destruction of Jerusalem, including Solomon’s splendid temple, the apparent end of David’s dynasty, and the exile of all but the poor of the land.  Those who went into exile in Babylon in the 1st wave of captives in 597 B.C., of whom we read yesterday (2 Kgs 24), and those led away in this 2d, larger group today, in 587 (ch. 25), together can lament: “By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.  May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not,” O Jerusalem! (Ps 137:1,6).

By the Waters of Babylon (Gebhard Fugel)

Why such a terrible downfall from the power and splendor of David and Solomon?  Why the abandonment by the God of the covenant who had, as recently as Hezekiah’s time, ca. 700 B.C., miraculously saved the kingdom.  The Chronicler has been giving his interpretation all along, and he gives us a grand summary in 2 Kgs 17, our reading on Monday:  because of the repeated, constant, contumacious infidelity of the kings, nobles, priests, and people, and in Jeremiah’s experience, of false and lying prophets.  They’ve worshiped the gods of the nations, Baal and Astarte, offered child sacrifice to Moloch, committed adultery, violated the Sabbath, oppressed widows and orphans, cheated one another in commerce; in short, they’ve abandoned God’s covenant with them.

So God abandoned Israel to the Assyrians, and now he abandons Judah to the Babylonians.

All of which gives us concern for our own country, which—as various commentators of a religious outlook have said—needs a moral regeneration.  It also gives us concern for the Church.  As we know, many have fallen away, with about only a quarter of American Catholics attending church regularly before the pandemic; fallen away, in part, because as Jesus says in the parable of the sower, “They are people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving of other things intrude and choke the word” (Mark 4:18-19).  And, alas, as we know, many have been driven away by bad shepherds.  To be good shepherds is our concern, to be shepherds who will stay close to God’s flock and do whatever we can to look for the lost, shepherds who will be faithful to the new covenant in the blood of Jesus and help others be faithful.  Not for nothing does our profession cross bear the image of the Good Shepherd.

Finally, we need to be concerned, as Don Bosco warns us, to be faithful Salesians, e.g., in the Dream of the 10 Diamonds (BM 15:147-152) and in his exhortations to work and temperance.  In one dream, he’s told his Congregation will flourish “only as long as its members love work and temperance.  Should either of these two pillars fall, your entire edifice will collapse and crush superiors, subjects, and followers beneath it.”[1]  He tells us that our Society’s day will be over if we begin to seek our own comfort and become lax about the commitment we’ve made to God and to the salvation of souls.

Don Bosco's dream of the 10 diamonds

In today’s gospel (Matt 8:1-4), Jesus shows his desire to cleanse a leper—to cure human afflictions; which is a sign of the deeper healing he wishes for us.  He tells the leper, “Go show yourself to the priest.”  We priests and religious are charged to verify the works of God, to bear witness to all the good things Jesus Christ does for humanity; in words we all know, “to be signs of bearers of God’s love.”

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     [1] Dream of St. Francis de Sales, 1879, BM 14:88-90.

Fr. Kenneth Germaine, SDB (1930-2020)

Fr. Kenneth Germaine, SDB (1930-2020)

Fr. Kenneth Edward Germaine of the Salesian community of Tampa passed away on the morning of June 19 at Suncoast Hospice in Palm Harbor, Fla. He was 89 years old, was professed as a Salesian for more than 63 years, and was a priest ten days shy of 53 years.

At SDB jubilees celebration in 2007.
The late Bp. Emilio Allue is behind him.

Ken was born to Daniel and Frances Newman Germaine on December 2, 1930, in Cliffside Park, N.J. He entered the Christian life through Baptism eight days later at Sacred Heart Church in Hudson Heights, N.J., and he was confirmed in 1942 at St. John the Baptist Church in Cliffside, N.J.

Ken enrolled at Don Bosco College Seminary in Newton, N.J., as a Son of Mary (“late vocation”—he was 23) on September 12, 1954. At that time he was living in Ridgefield Park, N.J. The following September, he and 31 other young men entered the novitiate in Newton. They included the future Brothers Patrick Barbariol (SUO), Kevin Connolly and Bernard Zdanowicz and Fathers Harold Danielson (SUO), Joseph Doran, Thomas Juarez (SUO), and Joseph La Forge.

They made their first profession of vows in Newton on September 8, 1956, which was followed by three years of philosophical studies at Don Bosco College. (In those years the novices were credited with freshman year studies—basic courses in English, Latin, education, and Gregorian chant.) At one point Bro. Ken served as one of the two young assistants to the Sons of Mary. A member of that class, Bob Breault, writes that in comparison with the other assistant, “Ken was more like the drill sergeant that we needed.”

Bro. Ken was an average student and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1959.

After graduating from DBC at age 28, Bro. Ken left the Garden State for Boston. He taught electronics at Don Bosco Technical High School there for three years. At the same time, between 1959 and 1962 he completed 48 hours of studies in electronics at the Wentworth Institute in Boston; he did a further 24 hours at the RCA Institute in New York.

Bro. Ken made his perpetual profession on September 1, 1962, and then did a fourth year of practical training at Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson, N.J., in 1962-1963.

From 1963 to 1967 he did theological studies at Benediktbeuern, Germany, where he was ordained on June 29, 1967. He brushed up on his German during the summer of 1964 with six hours of study at Marquette University.

Returning to the U.S., Fr. Germaine continued teaching electronics, as well as electricity, drafting, math, and sciences at the same two schools between 1967 and 1981: Boston, 1967-1970 and 1975-1981; Paterson, 1970-1975. He was certified in New Jersey in 1970 to teach science and Latin. In 1971 he earned Master’s degrees in divinity and guidance at Boston College.

From 1975 to 1981 he was director of Don Bosco Tech in Boston. In 1981 he became treasurer at the Paterson school, serving two years. He then brought his financial acumen to the Salesian Missions office in New Rochelle, N.Y. (1983-1987), and as treasurer to the Salesian schools in Ramsey, N.J. (1987-1992), East Boston (1992-1993), and Tampa (1993-2004).  Before leaving Tampa for his next assignment, he very patiently and as thoroughly as he could explained for a week or so the financial workings at Mary Help of Christians to his relatively inexperienced successor—moi!

In 2004 he moved into parish ministry as assistant pastor at Holy Rosary Church in Birmingham, Ala. On the occasion of his 40th anniversary of ordination in 2007, the provincial, Fr. James Heuser, observed, “He is appreciated by many as truly a good and gentle shepherd.” He remained in Birmingham for ten years, until the Salesians withdrew from Holy Rosary as well as from St. Theresa Parish in Leeds, Ala., in January 2014. The Knights of Columbus in Leeds presented him with a certificate of appreciation.

Fr. Ken was posted back to New Rochelle, to act as caretaker of the province archives for a couple of years. His two years at the provincial house earned him such accolades as these from the confreres: Fr. Mark Hyde: “Will miss you here. I appreciated your homilies and your good nights as well as your exhibits in the archives”; Fr. Dominic Tran: “I have quickly felt welcome by your gentleness”; Fr. Bill Keane: “You are an example of a good solid son of Don Bosco.”

A 2017 pic from Tampa.
I don't know who took it.

From late 2016 Fr. Ken resided at St. Philip the Apostle Residence in Tampa until he needed more attention and went to Bon Secours nursing home in St. Petersburg in January 2019. His last few days were spent in hospice care at Suncoast in Palm Harbor.

Information about immediate survivors is not yet available.

Fr. Ken was waked at Mary Help of Christians Church in Tampa on Monday, June 22. A funeral Mass was celebrated there on June 23, with Fr. Steve Dumais, pastor, presiding and preaching.

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw, N.Y., on Monday, June 29, at 10:00 a.m. Street address: 174 Filors Lane, Stony Point, NY 10980.

Following that Mass, Fr. Ken will be buried in the Salesian cemetery in Goshen, N.Y., located at 3 Craigville Road.

Homily for 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 21, 2020

Rom 5: 12-15

Matt 10: 26-33

Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.

“Thru one man sin entered the world, and thru sin, death….  Much more did … the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many” (Rom 5: 12, 15).

The Letter to the Romans is probably St. Paul’s most important writing, abounding in the theology of sin and grace.  We’ll be hearing selections from it for 13 weeks.

Today Paul speaks of the original sin of the human race, the sin that broke humanity’s relationship with our Creator, and by breaking that relationship made us subject to death.  To clarify one matter:  our lectionary text 3 times uses the word man, the 1st time referring to the fellow we call Adam (which itself is a generic Hebrew word meaning “human”), the 2d time to everyone, the 3d time to Jesus Christ.  The Greek word Paul uses is άνθρωπος, the generic word for a human being.  Paul’s not attributing sin to males, obviously not dooming to death only males, nor crediting salvation to a male, as such.  Sin and death identified with all of us, and Jesus Christ likewise is identified with all of us, sharing our human nature.

Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit (Michelangelo)

All spring we were aware daily of death—death ravaging the human race in our country and around the world.  And we know the pandemic is far from over.  We’ve also known since we reached the age of reason that death will come for all of us, with or without a plague.  So St. Paul is putting this curse that we all must face into perspective—which he does at considerable length in this letter.

Why death?  Because of sin.  When the 1st human being sinned, he brought death into the world:  “by the transgression of the one, the many died” (5:15).  We might note here that the word many is used in a common biblical fashion, as it is in the words of consecration at Mass, meaning a general application, not limited to just a few; a few lines earlier, Paul had said, “Thus death came to all humans, inasmuch as all sinned” (5:12).  Because of Adam’s sin, which implicates every human being—because of sin, of which every one of us is guilty by our own personal choices—everyone dies.

Happily, that’s not the end of the story, not our eternal fate.  By a wonderful divine gift, by “the grace of God and the gracious gift of one human being” named Jesus, we are delivered from that fate.  That’s the Gospel Paul preaches always wherever he travels, to whomever he writes.  Death doesn’t have the last word because sin doesn’t have the last word.  In Jesus Christ we’re all offered forgiveness and the chance to be reconciled with God, to have our relationship with our Creator restored, to receive the “gracious gift” of the same life that Jesus, risen from his tomb, now enjoys.

Icon of Christ Risen freeing the dead

That promise of everlasting life is why Jesus repeatedly tells us not to be afraid, 3 times in today’s gospel (Matt 10:26,28,31), besides other occasions in the gospels.  Most of you will remember that “be not afraid” was the mantra of St. John Paul II, starting with his 1st words from the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election.  If we give ourselves to Jesus Christ—to his teachings, to his sacraments, to his manner of life, to his person—then there’s nothing, finally, that can frighten us:  not a pandemic, not terrorism, not persecution, not any form of human cruelty, prejudice, or foolishness.

When Matthew composed his gospel late in the 1st century, the harassment and persecution of the disciples of Jesus was a fact of life in many parts of the Roman Empire.  Thus his citation today of Jesus’ words not to be afraid of anyone, even “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (10:28), to proclaim the Gospel on the housetops (10:27), courageously to “acknowledge Jesus before people” (10:32).  The only thing to fear, Jesus advises us, is “the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell (10:28); that is, we must fear the Devil, the enemy of our Creator, the enemy of our souls, the one who wishes us to sin, to remain in our sins, and to suffer eternal death, eternal pain and loss.  We must fear him in the sense of having a healthy respect for him, knowing what are his intentions, his malice, and where he can take us if we give him a chance.  But we are confident that Christ has conquered him by defeating death and redeeming us from sin.

In the 1st reading we heard of the persecution endured by Jeremiah (20:10-13); and was he persecuted!  It’s a sad fact that religious persecution is a continuing fact in the 21st century:  in China, in Nigeria, in India, in the Middle East, and in other places, where thousands are suffering the loss of their livelihoods, their homes, their freedom, even their lives because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ.  Religious freedom is a fundamental human right, like food, water, education, and other rights—but it’s a right with an eternal implication.

Regardless of what the Supreme Court rules or what state laws decree or politicians and the media pontificate about, the Catholic Church and other believers will continue to “proclaim on the housetops” that unborn human beings are entitled to live and abortion is a crime against their human dignity; that God’s plan for human sexuality is for marriage between a male and a female and the generation of offspring, and any other sexual activity is sinful if not also against the very nature of our bodies; that being male or female is how God creates us, it’s part of our DNA, and it’s not a construct of our minds, a figment of our imagination, something we can change on account of our feelings; and, as we’ve heard repeatedly and justly so much in recent weeks, every human being has a God-given dignity and is due respect, fairness, and justice, without regard to his or her race, color, national origin—or age, sex, social class, or immigration status.

So even in the U.S., Jesus addresses us:  “Fear no one.  What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light.  Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father” (10:26,27,32).  And our faithfulness to Jesus will keep us in his grace, will lead us to his “gracious gift” and eternal life.

Three Salesians Ordained Deacons

Three Salesians Ordained Deacons

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, Latin-rite apostolic administrator of Jerusalem, on June 14 ordained Bro. Leonard Carlino, Bro. Steven DeMaio, and Bro. Craig Spence as transitional deacons. The ordinations were celebrated at the Church of All Nations in Gethsemane, Jerusalem

Deacons Steve DeMaio, Craig Spence, and Lenny Carlino

The three new deacons are members of the New Rochelle Province and have been studying theology for three years at the Ratisbonne Monastery in Jerusalem, which is affiliated with the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome. Because of current travel restrictions, their families were not able to attend the ordinations.      

Four other Salesians were ordained with Bros. Steve, Lenny, and Craig. All seven look forward to priestly ordination next spring or summer.

Deacon Lenny Carlino, 29, is a native of Hauppauge, N.Y. His parents are Leonard Sr. and Linda Carlino, and he has one brother.

Lenny entered candidacy at Orange, N.J., in 2009 and made his novitiate in Rosemead, Calif., in 2012-2013, professing first vows on August 16, 2013. He made his perpetual vows on August 17, 2019.

Bro. Lenny continued his college studies at Seton Hall University, and in 2015-2017 did practical training at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, La., where he taught Scripture to freshmen.

He says that being in the Holy Land has been a great experience for him, opening up the stories of both Old and New Testaments.

This past school year he ministered at the Good Shepherd Filipino Catholic Community, a direct chaplaincy connected with the Vicariate for Migrants. He served as an acolyte at their Sunday Mass, led catechesis sessions, and sat on their executive board. During the recent Covid-19 lockdown, Brother Lenny and the Salesian community livestreamed a private Mass from the monastery for the Filipino community.

This summer Deacon Lenny will exercise his diaconal ministry at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y.

For the future, Deacon Lenny aspires “to witness, through service, to God’s love for all people, especially the young and poorest among them.”

Deacon Steve DeMaio, 35, is originally from Sherman, Conn. His parents, Steven and Theresa DeMaio, now live in Ave Maria, Fla. He has an older sister, Melanie Hecht, and a younger one, Erika DeMaio.

Deacon Steve first became acquainted with the Salesians when he was serving as a lay missioner with the Salesian Sisters in Zambia. The Salesians of Don Bosco had a work nearby, and the joyful witness to a life of faith by so many Salesian sisters, brothers, and priests demonstrated to him through word and deed that a life of faith is not something complicated but consists in doing the ordinary with great love alongside young people and their families.

After returning to the U.S., Steve decided to become a Salesian in order “to live a life of service” and to give his own witness to “a joyful life of faith” like what he’d experienced in Zambia.

He entered the formation program in Orange in 2010, was admitted to the novitiate at Rosemead in August 2011, and made his first profession on August 21, 2012. He made perpetual vows on September 7, 2018.

After postnovitiate formation in Orange and studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange, Bro. Steve did three years of practical training at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y. (2014-2017), teaching theology for two years and serving as campus minister for one year.

In Jerusalem, last year he did apostolic work at Our Lady of Valor Pastoral Center in Tel-Aviv, which ministers to thousands of migrant Catholics in the area, and he will continue that next year.

This summer he will minister as deacon in the Salesian parish and summer camp of St. Philip Benizi in Belle Glade, Fla.

Eventually he hopes to continue ministering as a Salesian priest in high schools. He has already used music to spread the Gospel and the Salesian message and aspires to “use social media as an evangelizing tool.”

Deacon Craig Spence, 43, is the son of Marcia Bickford and Chuck Spence and comes originally from Mobile, Ala., but later made his home in Pass Christian, Miss. He has a younger brother, Patrick, and a younger sister, Maggie.

Craig came to the Salesians as a lay missioner in 2001, serving first at Don Bosco Tech in Paterson, N.J. (where your humble blogger was the SDB community treasurer). After DBT’s closure in June 2002, Craig moved to Mary Help of Christians Parish in New York City for a second year as a lay missioner, after which he continued as a paid youth minister (the only one on the Lower East Side). He was a multi-faceted and much appreciated YM.

After the archdiocese closed Mary Help, and after a period of discernment, Craig entered Salesian formation at Orange in 2011, made his novitiate in Rosemead in 2012-2013, and professed first vows on August 16, 2013. He made his perpetual vows on August 17, 2019.

Bro. Craig completed his practical training at Salesian High School in New Rochelle in 2015-2017, teaching freshman religion and being heavily involved in youth ministry, including midnight run, weekly trips to the soup kitchen at Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester, and a variety of monthly oratory-types of experiences for the students.

Deacon Craig lists Scripture as his favorite study. He enjoys living in the Holy Land, where our Christian faith had its beginnings. His apostolic work has been with Filipino migrants.

This summer he’ll exercise his diaconal ministry in the Salesian parish and summer camp of Mary Help of Christians in Tampa.

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Homily for the Solemnity of

Corpus Christi

June 14, 2020

John 6: 51-58

1 Cor 10: 16-17

Ursulines, Willow Dr., New Rochelle, N.Y.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6: 51).

Our Lord’s dialog with a crowd of his disciples, and perhaps some other people, in the synagog at Capernaum comes to its climax as he promises eternal life to anyone who will eat his flesh and drink his blood.  It’s a shocking and preposterous promise—incomprehensible to those who are listening, and indeed still not believed by vast numbers of Christians.

At the end of this episode, when a great many leave Jesus, incredulous (6:66), Peter will speak for those who remain:  “You have the words of eternal life.  Where else can we go?” (cf. 6:68).  He believes Jesus, even if he surely doesn’t comprehend the promise, the full import of Jesus’ teaching.

We, however, know the import of Jesus’ teaching.  He is the living bread come down from heaven.  The manna in the desert wasn’t alive, and altho it nourished the Hebrews enuf to sustain their lives day by day, it offered nothing permanent (cf. 6:49,58).  But Jesus promises, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (6:51).

Until this point in his teaching in the synagog, Jesus seems to have been speaking of his words—his teaching—as life-giving bread.  In the prophets we read of their eating sacred scrolls, consuming God’s message as a kind of food.  But here Jesus takes us beyond that:  not his word, but himself is to be our life-giving food.  He is the eternal Son of the Father:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  This very Word became flesh (1:14), and in his flesh has conquered death.  By consuming that very flesh, we take to ourselves his life, his immortality.

St. Paul calls the Eucharist a participation in the blood and the body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16).  Christ lives!  We participate as one body with him.  We become the living, breathing body of Christ.  His blood flows from his sacred heart into and thru us.  What a gift!

Today’s preface proclaims:  “Nourishing your faithful by this sacred mystery, you make them holy, so that the human race, bounded by one world, may be enlightened by one faith and united in one bond of charity”; and thru the mystery of this sacred table we are bathed in grace and transported to heavenly realities.  The sacramental body of Christ carries us to paradise, to his kingdom—now, mystically; later, really.

As Christ, the living bread from heaven, bestows on his beloved sisters and brothers the gift of life, by the “bond of charity,” his bond of love, we are bound to love one another—which St. Paul implies when he teaches, “We, tho many, are one body” (1 Cor 10:17).  On Holy Thursday we sing, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est,” and “Congregavit nos in unum.”  May we live our Eucharistic faith in loving unity with Christ our brother and with our sisters and brothers in community.

Homily for Friday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time

Homily for Friday

10th Week in Ordinary Time

June 12, 2020

1 Kings 19: 9, 11-16

Ursulines, Willow Dr., New Rochelle, N.Y.

“Elijah, why are you here?” (1 Kings 19: 9, 13).

(source unknown; found at https://redeeminggod.com/what-elijah-missed/)

The prophet has fled for his life from the vengeance of Jezebel (19:1-3).  Strengthened by divinely provided food in the desert, he has tramped a great distance to Mt. Horeb, i.e., Sinai (19:4-8).  And there he’s challenged by God, twice, including a half verse omitted in our reading this morning:  “Why are you here?”

It seems that the Lord is challenging Elijah to examine his life, his activity, and his motives.  Why is he at Horeb instead of in Samaria or the wadi east of the Jordan or Sidon in Phoenicia?

He answers twice, including in a verse we skipped over, that he’s been zealous for the Lord, so much that the apostate Israelites led by pagan Queen Jezebel, are seeking his life (19:10,14).  Both before and after a profound encounter with the Lord (19:11-13), he’s sure he’s been faithful to the Lord and has been carrying out his prophetic mission.  Then the Lord gives him another mission, a threefold task, to anoint 2 kings and a successor prophet (19:15-16).

On 1st glance, it might seem that the Lord is challenging the way Elijah is “most zealous for the Lord.”  This is the prophet who has called down upon Israel drought and famine (17:1) and who has cut the throats of 450 prophets of Baal (18:16-40)—not exactly “a tiny whispering sound” (19:12).  The Lord is not in the ferocity and violence of earthquake, fire, and wind but in calm and serenity (19:11-12).  Maybe Elijah ought to be examining himself about this.

As we continue to read Elijah’s story, we’ll see that his zeal is hardly tempered, even if he doesn’t slay any more idolatrous prophets.

But the present story can suggest a message for us.  The prophet is asked to examine his behavior and his motives.  You and I need to do that regularly.  What we do, big or small, day in and day out—do we do it with zeal for the Lord and not out of unthinking routine or, worse, some self-seeking?  What form does our zeal take—the violence of an earthquake, of cutting someone apart in our thoughts or, worse, our words or our coldness?  Or does our zeal imitate the Lord’s soft whisper?

Fr. Mel Trinidad Named Next S.F. Provincial

Fr. Mel Trinidad Named Provincial of San Francisco Province

From InTouch, 6/8/20

(ANS – Rome – June 9, 2020) – During the Salesian general council’s summer working session, Fr. Melchor Trinidad was appointed the next provincial of the United States Western Province, based in San Francisco. Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime made the appointment with the consent of the general council.

Fr. Mel Trinidad was born on November 6, 1956, in Tarlac, Philippines. He made his first religious profession in Newton, N.J., on September 1, 1976, and perpetual profession on June 19, 1982, in Moraga, Calif. On May 25, 1985, he was ordained in Norwalk, Calif.

Fr. Mel served in various Salesian houses in the United States and Canada, holding the position of director in Rosemead (2007-2012), Richmond (2012-2018), and Bellflower (2018 to date). He was a provincial councilor between 2000 and 2010, and again since 2018; he was also provincial delegate for youth ministry between 2000 and 2007 and in 2018-2019.

Fr. Mel welcomes your prayers!

Homily for Trinity Sunday

Homily for Trinity Sunday

May 21, 1978

2 Cor 13: 13

St. Andrew’s, Upper Arlington, Ohio

My first homily as a priest.  I was ordained 2 days earlier.

Holy Trinity (Hendrick van Balen, 1620--St. James, Antwerp)

We began this Trinity Sunday Mass with a greeting taken from the end of St. Paul’s 2d Letter to the Corinthians.  We heard it again when the lector read the last 3 verses of that letter just a moment ago.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  Paul is summing up all the best things he can wish for the Christians at Corinth, a community of believers to whom he himself had given birth.

But 1st you heard Paul rebuke his listeners.  He told them, “Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.”  His whole letter is a father’s attempt to patch up the quarrels between them and himself.  The Corinthian Christians were no more an ideal bunch of believers than the folks of St. Andrew’s today, even though their church was founded by St. Paul.

What is it that Paul wished for that Christian community—which is the same thing that the whole Catholic Church wishes for this Christian community at McCoy and Reed today?  “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

You and I are being called to and blessed with God’s own life, the inner life of the Holy Trinity.  We praise the Trinity today because the Trinity has shared itself with us; it has called us to be part of itself.

Jesus Christ offers us God’s grace, that is, his favor.  You know what a favor is.  It’s something you have no claim to; you can only ask for it as a gift.  Our Father in heaven loves us so much he gives his favor to us in the life, death, and resurrection of his only Son.  He adopts us as his own children.  We live out this new, divine life in the Church.  In a little while, I will pour some water into the wine of the chalice on the altar and say as I do so, “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

Jesus adopts us into the divine family.  He acts because his Father tells him to.  You might say it’s real.  And it didn’t just happen in Galilee 2,000 years ago.  It happens now, here, in 1978.  How?  By the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Father and Son are united in a love and fellowship called the Spirit, and that Spirit hovers over the Church and within each Christian, linking all of us in an intimate fellowship with God our Father and Jesus our brother—a fellowship more intimate and more lasting, really, than even the union of a husband and wife.  When we eat the body and blood of Christ, we become that body.  And if you listen to the Eucharistic prayer very closely, you’ll hear me invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to make that union and that change in the bread and wine happen.

So we come together this morning to celebrate our Christian calling to grace.  That is what our Eucharistic liturgy means—we say thanks to the Father for inviting us into the family and we renew our fellowship with his Son and one another.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Zatti, Our Brother

Zatti, Our Brother 

Worldwide Salesian Family awaits preview of short film

(ANS – Buenos Aires – June 5, 2020) – Zatti, our brother is a short film on the Salesian infirmarian Bro. Artemides Zatti (1880-1951), who for 40 years dedicated himself to the care of the poor and sick of Viedma, Argentina. There he directed one of the first hospitals in Patagonia, which in fact bears his name.

Today more than ever we are witnesses to the importance of health professionals. Bro. Zatti’s life teaches that healthcare is an act of great love, and that in the face of adversity we must do all that is humanly possible, knowing that God never abandons us.

The work being distributed represents the first Salesian cinematographic narrative work produced in Argentina, produced by the national Salesian Bulletin with the support of the two Salesian provinces in Argentina, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid, and the Salesians of Don Bosco worldwide.

The 30-minute film will be officially released on Thursday, June 11 at 8:00 p.m., Argentine time, free of charge on the YouTube channel of the Salesian Bulletin of Argentina. The original language is Spanish, with subtitles available in English, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and French.

“This historical moment we are going through invites us to be creative and not to give up. The figure of the Salesian coadjutor Artemides Zatti takes on a particular dimension due to his charisma and attention to the poorest of the sick. And its history inspires us to face difficulties with faith and hope,” write the producers of the film, Zatti, our brother.

The original idea belongs to Salesians Fr. Ricardo Campoli and Fr. Pedro Narambuena. During 2018, Fr. Campoli, a graduate in production and audiovisual direction, wrote the screenplay, while the team of the Salesian Bulletin of Argentina, the national communication body of Don Bosco’s work, carried out the tasks of pre-production. Filming began on March 25, 2019. A group of 50 people worked on the project, including the Salesian Bulletin team, audiovisual technicians, actors, and actresses.

From the outset, the film has had the support of the Rector Major and represents a milestone for Salesian communications in Argentina.

This production motivates us to learn about the holiness and spirituality of Blessed Artemides Zatti. His experience as a nurse and religious allows viewers to achieve a renewed gaze in response to the demanding task of being attentive to the lives of others.

“May Bro. Zatti, the nurse of the poorest, accompany all those who suffer today from the Covid-19 crisis we are experiencing, and give us all a stronger hope in our good God,” conclude the producers.

Racism Inflicts More Wounds on the Body of Christ

Racism Inflicts More Wounds on the Body of Christ

Today Deacon Greg Kandra posted the homily he delivered in 2017 after the violence committed at Charlottesville, Va.  Deacon Greg serves a parish in Queens, N.Y., in the diocese of Brooklyn.

If you’ve never heard this from a pulpit before, you’re going to hear it now.

Let this be engraved on our hearts: racism of all kinds—white against black, black against white, any one expressing hatred for another because of the color of their skin— is evil.

In Catholic teaching, racism is considered an intrinsic evil—on a par with abortion, assisted suicide and torture.

In moral theology, this means it can never be justified. It is always, under every circumstance, evil.

Read the entire homily: https://thedeaconsbench.com/racism-inflicts-more-wounds-on-the-body-of-christ/

Photo credit: Tyler Orsburn, CNS

Two Days on the Trail in Harriman SP

Two Days on the Trail in Harriman State Park

I was able to go hiking and camping in Harriman State Park from Sunday afternoon thru Tuesday morning, May 31-June 2.

There were thousands of people out enjoying the park on a very fine Sunday afternoon, which caused a considerable change in my hiking plan.  The police had closed the road to my intended starting point, the Elk Pen parking lot, which presumably was full.  I backtracked south on Rte 17 to another road into the park, and that also was closed.  I continued back south all the way to Sloatsburg and started northeastward on 7 Lakes Drive.  As I expected, the Reeves Meadow parking lot (which is small) was full, and hundreds of cars lined the highway with Tuxedo Town police monitoring all the parking.  I had to traverse the entire park; lots (and adjacent roads) were closed at Sebago Lake, Lake Tiorati, and Lake Skannatati; finally, I found a parking lot with space at Silvermine Lake (about 2 miles from 7 Lakes Drive’s intersection with the Palisades Pkwy).

There were hundreds of people there, sunning, picnicking, fishing, and hiking.  I estimate that about 30% of the hikers were using required face masks!).  I informed Fr. Bill (my local superior) of the compulsory change in my plans and updated him periodically during the whole hike.  Since I don’t think he’s terribly familiar with Harriman SP, I copied Fr. Jim Mulloy, my erstwhile hiking companion.

With about 35 pounds on my back, I hiked south up the Menomine Trail 1.35 miles to its intersection with the Appalachian and Ramapo-Dunderberg Trails, at 4:00 p.m.  The Brien Memorial Shelter is located there,

A couple of day hikers in front of the Brien Shelter

and there’s also a spring that supplies fresh water (water always to be filtered or treated, however!). 

What weighs 35 pounds?  The backpack itself of course, plus tent, sleeping bag, my 2 sleeping pads (my old body has its demands), food, stove, fuel, canteen with water, first aid kit, rope, hatchet, poncho, some extra clothes, fire-starting tinder, flashlights.

I continued as the Menomine descended from the shelter .85 mile to its end at the Red Cross Trail, following Stillwater Creek with nicely flowing water.  I looked unsuccessfully for a likely camping place.  At the Red Cross I crossed a bridge over the creek, going east, and soon found a usable camping place off the trail; there was even an old fire ring there (and no litter, which unfortunately isn’t always the case).  By then it was getting close to 6:00 p.m.  After pitching my tent 

and fetching (filtered) water,

I made supper by grilling 2 burgers over a small fire (+ Crystal Lite, some trail mix, and an orange).  It took me almost half an hour to get my bear bag up—it’s surprisingly hard to chuck a rock with a rope tied to it over a sufficiently high tree limb. 

Fr. Jim M.’s weekend experience demonstrates why you have to bear-bag.  He emailed me on Sunday a.m. in response to my invitation to join me that he’d just gotten home from a hike of his own:  “I went to the area around Bowling Rocks and found a nice spot with a fire ring. I forgot my ground pad for the hammock and had a 55-degree bag. (cold night) What I did I cleaned out my backpack and used it as insulation, it worked well so it may be my new system.  Now for the big news, I was in my hammock watching the hills to the East meet the sun when I saw these two bear cubs climbing a tree near me. I look down and there are three of them and mom! they come over to me and tear down my food bag [which he’d hung on his hammock strap] and start eating! I say a few Hail Marys and hope they eat and leave. Momma bear looks me right in the face, nose to nose and walks off with the cubs, what a way to start your day!”

So it was 8:30 p.m. before I could pull out the Divine Office (photocopied); then I was too tired to sit up and read by flashlight, so to bed.

This was my 1st used of a 2-man tent that I purchased last summer for backpacking.  (I did practice setting it up after it arrived.)  It weighs about twice as much as my old 1-man tent in which I could just about turn over, and is so much more comfortable.  I could stretch out, sit up, touch my toes (handy for getting your socks on), and bring my pack into the tent too.  The temps probably went into the mid-40s, but I was snug—and even slept decently with 2 pads under me (I’m not a really rugged camper like Fr. Jim). There were critters in the vicinity, one of them padding around the camp around midnite, and some dogs (or coyotes) howling off in the distance later than that.  I, too, said a couple of Hail Marys.

Thus Sunday.  I slept late on Monday; got up at 6:15.  Celebrated Mass (no decent rock to set up on, so just used the ground), fetched my food, made breakfast (oatmeal, nuts, apricots, and of course coffee), prayed the Office, and packed everything up (see another pic).  I was on the trail westward at 9:00 a.m.  I met 1 backpacker coming east; he wasn’t masked and I didn’t want to engage in conversation at close quarters.

An obstacle on the Red Cross Trail

that hasn't been removed

The NY/NJ Trail Conference had cleared and widened a long section of the trail recently.  After about 1.4 miles (a little more than an hour), I came to the place where an unmarked trail called Bockey Swamp Trail starts north.  Evidently it was once a vehicular woods road, but now it’s pretty overgrown.  There’s still a frail-looking wooden bridge (photo) crossing a brook at one point maybe ½ mile up.

The dotted red lines on the trail map show the trail running unimpeded for 1¼ miles up to the AT/RD, but somewhere on the way, after an hour, the trail just petered out.  I backtracked a bit, but that didn’t help.  So I bushwhacked northward, eventually stopping for lunch in a shady spot (PB on crackers, trail mix, orange, water).  I checked my compass to make sure I was really going north (yes)—and in about 15 minutes after lunch, or around 12:50, had the welcome sight of a Ramapo-Dunderberg trail blaze.

On the tree to the left of the trail is a blaze (red dot on white hash mark)

for the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail

The AT runs with the RD from there more than 3 miles to the base of West Mountain (behind Anthony Wayne Rec Area).

From there, it was almost an hour’s hike (.8 mile) to the Brien Shelter.  I’d gone only a hundred yards eastward when I came to a small cairn (pile of stones--here, where the AT/RD makes a left turn)

marking a trail going south off the AT/RD, apparently marking the Bockey Swamp Trail!  I reached the shelter at 1:45 and settled in.  It was a real surprise that in that stretch of the AT and the whole time I stayed at the shelter, not a single AT thru hiker came by.  That’s the corona effect!  Numerous day hikers came by, tho.  I chatted a bit with some of them, from a distance (except for showing my map to one party of 4 ladies who weren’t sure where they wanted to go).  Mostly I enjoyed a cup of coffee, read, prayed, fetched some water, napped a little bit.  Supper:  freeze-dried 3-cheese pasta,

Crystal Lite, and later a luscious pre-bed dessert (chocolate mousse—hey, I burned a lot of calories!), then more reading, Rosary, till a 9:00 p.m. retirement.  It was easier getting the bear bag up this time—only a dozen casts of the rock.

I stayed at the Brien Shelter once with Jim M., and it leaked.  I stayed once by myself (during a very heavy, nite-long rain), and it still leaked.  About that hike, see the latter part of https://sdbnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/hiking-vacation-in-new-rochelle.html.  This time it appeared that the NY-NJ Trail Conference has done some good repairs.  A hearty 3 cheers for the Conference!

In any case, it didn’t rain, and there were no leaks.  This shelter is unique among the approx. 10 shelters in Harriman-Bear Mt. in that it has 2 bunk beds built in, 1 on each side.  Regardless, you’re still sleeping on boards covered by your sleeping pad(s) and sleeping bag.  But I slept decently—without any wildlife interruptions except for some birds that kept flitting around inside because they had a nest in the rafters.

On Tuesday, up at 5:50 for Mass (on a large, flat rock this time), breakfast (oatmeal, coffee, orange, trail mix), Divine Office, packing up, and out at 8:00, back to the car at 9:00.  So that’s the story, which will help you interpret some of the photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/MWd0dxqU16