Homily for Memorial of St. Jerome

Homily for the Memorial of St. Jerome

Sept. 30, 2021
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“O God … grant that your people may be ever more fruitfully nourished by your Word and find in it the fount of life” (Collect).

(Church of the Madeleine)

Jerome wasn’t always a fan of the Scriptures.  Instead, he was enamored of classical Latin and Greek literature.  It’s reported that as a young man he didn’t think much of the Greek style of the New Testament.

Then one nite he had a dream in which Christ appeared to him and chastised him:  “You’re not a Christian.  You’re a Ciceronian.”

He took that to heart, all the more when Pope Damasus charged him to translate the entire Bible into good, understandable Latin (the Latin of the vulgus, the common people).  He learned Hebrew for that purpose.  He came to love God’s Word; like the Jews who listened to Ezra the scribe (Neh 8:1-12), he found joy in the sacred Word (cf. Ps 19). He spent 30 years translating, studying, and teaching it.  He relocated to Bethlehem, partly to escape his enemies in Rome—his sharp tongue earned him more than a few—and partly to add knowledge of the land where Christ had lived to his understanding of the Bible.

Jerome wrote:  “The person who doesn’t know Scriptures doesn’t know the power and wisdom of God.  Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ” (LOH 4:1448).

So the Church wants all of us to “be ever more fruitfully nourished” by God’s Word—“Word” meaning both the sacred writings and the incarnate Word who speaks to us thru those writings.  That we might be better nourished, Vatican II ordered the expansion of our Scripture readings at Mass and the other sacraments.  You may remember that there was only 1 cycle of 2 Sunday readings, and we used to hear the same Sunday readings all thru the following week.  Further, we’ve been vigorously encouraged to read and reflect on the Bible regularly on our own, especially the Gospels and St. Paul.

For us as for St. Jerome, encountering Christ and absorbing his Word makes us Christians.  He is the fount of life.

Homily for Feast of the Archangels

Homily for the Feast of the Archangels

Sept. 29, 2021
Collect
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

According to today’s Collect, God marvelously arranges both angelic and human ministries.  Ps 8 may say that we’re created little less than the angels (v. 6), but we’re pretty nearly equal—thanks above all to God’s Son, who elevated our human nature.

The Collect petitions that “those who watch over us” may defend us while we’re on this earth, still on pilgrimage toward their eternal home, which God means to makes ours as well.  So the Book of Revelation portrays Michael as our defender against “the accuser,” Satan (12:10).  The pious fiction of Tobit describes Raphael as Tobias’s angelic guide and Tobit’s healer.

Besides that role, angels minister perpetually to God in heaven, the Collect says.  If you’ve ever seen movies with medieval royal pageantry, you can picture dozens of minions standing about a throne room, hoping for some opportunity to please their king or obtain some royal favor.  Daniel says that in his vision “myriads upon myriads attended” the Ancient One (7:9-10).

Jesus tells Nathanael that he’ll see “the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”—serving him, in other words (John 1:51).

God has marvelously disposed that the angels not only should minister to him in heaven but that they should be our protectors and helpers.  Why so?  So that we, little less than the angels, elevated by the Son of Man, might join them in the heavenly court:  “in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name” (Ps 138:1-2).

Photo: St. Michael (Collegiate Church of St. Waltrude, Mons, Belgium)

Nutritional Support for Refugees in Juba

Nutritional Support for Refugees in Juba

(Salesian Missions)

(ANS – Juba, South Sudan – September 29, 2021) – The Salesians at the Don Bosco camp in Gumbo (outside Juba) have distributed food rations, personal hygiene products, and other basic necessities to internally displaced persons in the Juba refugee camp. The donations were made possible thanks to the donors from Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, N.Y.

The refugee camp of Juba is run by the Salesians of St. Vincent de Paul Parish and currently hosts 9,742 people, most of whom are women without husbands, besides children, the elderly, and orphans. The camp was established in January 2014, after the outbreak of the civil war in December 2013.

Funding from Salesian Missions helped support 230 vulnerable people in the camp for two months. Those who received food assistance and other supplies were mostly orphans, widows and widowers, families with children, people with psychological disorders and depression, and other fragile groups. Each person received 20 kg of ground flour, 1 kg of salt, 3 liters of cooking oil, and 5 kg of beans each month. They also received soap and other supplies of personal hygiene.

Food support is important because the prices of cereals and legumes are at record high levels, up to 400% above the average costs. The drop in petroleum prices has paralyzed the government's social services sector and had a negative impact on the population. The humanitarian situation in the country is expected to worsen in the coming months due to the Covid pandemic, the invasion of desert locusts, continued inter-community violence, and cattle raids which, just in states like Jonglei, Unity, and Warrap, have caused the displacement of over 5,000 people.

“We are truly grateful to our donors, who help us ensure that the Salesian missionaries who care for the most vulnerable have the food and supplies they need,” said Fr. Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Because of the ongoing violence in South Sudan, the internally displaced persons are among the most vulnerable. They have lost everything, and they turn to the Salesians for security in this difficult time. The Salesians are there to provide shelter and all that is needed, to help them fulfill a plan for the future."

South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 but soon plunged into a civil war that has led to a terrible humanitarian crisis, even before the pandemic. Responding to the civil war is nothing new for Salesians in South Sudan, who carry out support programs for the population throughout the country.

Homily for Tuesday, Week 26 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
26th Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 28, 2021
Luke 9: 51-56
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9: 51).

(James Tissot)

With this passage we begin a new phase in Jesus’ story.  He leaves Galilee to head toward his destiny in Jerusalem.

Luke’s telling us that God is in control of what’s happening.  “The days were fulfilled,” i.e., God’s plan is unfolding day by day and step by step, and Jesus is acting according to what his Father desires.

“For Jesus to be taken up” is a passive voice, again indicating that God is the actor, directing what will befall Jesus.  He’ll be “taken up” upon a cross, raised up to new life, and ascend on high—all God’s plan for the redemption of the world.

All this will happen in Jerusalem, not in Galilee, where Jesus has preached and healed and prayed till now.  Jerusalem is the center of Jewish life—which comes up in today’s 1st reading (Zech 8:20-23)—and the central events of our salvation must happen there.  From Jerusalem the followers of Jesus will go forth to proclaim the Gospel.  And the 1st place, ironically, will be in Samaria, which, again ironically, will welcome Deacon Philip (Acts 8:4-8).

Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.”  The text is literally “he set his face” for this journey.  Luke’s alluding to the Servant of the Lord, who “set his face like flint” (Is 50:7) to announce God’s ways to his people and who suffered for that.  Jesus deliberately chooses to go forward with what his Father wants.  He’s already predicted his passion, death, and resurrection; he’s not going blindly or haphazardly.

Going this way—to Jerusalem, as well as “the way of God”—means meeting opposition, as Jesus already has at Nazareth and from scribes and Pharisees, as he will in Jerusalem from Jewish leaders and the Romans, and as his disciples will meet when they go forth from Jerusalem following his “way”—a term used in Acts to refer to Christian discipleship.

There we have in a verse and a half Jesus’ story and our own story.  The way of salvation is to do what God has in mind for us, to let his plan for our redemption unfold or be fulfilled, and to be resolute in walking our journey toward our destination, our destiny.  It involves our being taken up, captured by God for death, resurrection, and a place alongside Jesus.

Pope Says Abortion and Euthanasia Treat People Like "Waste"

Pope Francis: Abortion & Euthanasia Treat People Like "Waste"

Vatican City, Sep 27, 2021 / (CNA).

Pope Francis decried abortion and euthanasia in a speech Monday in which he said that today's "throwaway culture" leads to the killing of children and discarding of the elderly.

"It is really murder."

Read the rest.

Homily for Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Vincent de Paul

Collect
Sept. 27, 2021
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

As you know, the Roman collects have a 2-fold structure:  acknowledgment of God’s deeds or attributes, followed by petition.

Stained glass, chapel of St. Vincent Hospital, Harrison, N.Y.

Today we acknowledge what God has done thru St. Vincent de Paul, great saint of the Catholic reform in France, preacher of parish missions, founder of the Congregation of the Mission and the Sisters of Charity, young friend and admirer of Francis de Sales.  Thru Vincent God brought relief to the poor and formed good priests.

The responsorial psalm told us, “The Lord will build up Zion again, and appear in all his glory.”  God used Francis de Sales, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, John Eudes, Pierre Berulle, Jean-Jacques Olier, and others to rebuild the Church in France after the devastation of the Protestant Reformation and the wars of religion.  The glory of the Lord appeared in the holiness of their lives, their zeal for souls, their charity for the poor.

Don Bosco was a devotee of Vincent.  He received some of his priestly formation, thru retreats, from the Vincentians, helped found the “conferences” of St. Vincent de Paul in Turin, encouraged the youths of the Oratory to participate in projects on behalf of the poor, and published a book in honor of St. Vincent as model of Christian virtue and courtesy in 1848, reprinted in 1876.  One edition of that book was published in England in 1933, and one by us in Paterson in 1956, The Christian Trained in Conduct and Courtesy According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Don Bosco’s imitation of St. Vincent went beyond relief of the poor to include education so that they might leave poverty behind and become solid contributors to society.  His imitation also included priestly formation, so important to Don Bosco that he identified it as one of the purposes of our Congregation.  From 1848, when Abp. Fransoni felt obliged to close Turin’s seminary because of the seminarians’ revolutionary inclinations, until roughly the arrival of Abp. Gastaldi in the 1880s, the Oratory was effectively Turin’s seminary, and Don Bosco formed young men for other dioceses as well.  A worthy successor of St. Vincent de Paul, indeed.  In fact, our founder was known, at least in France, as a new St. Vincent.

In the Collect, we prayed God to fire us with the same spirit, to make us love what Vincent loved, and to practice what he taught.  We pray for that every day—not in Vincent’s name, to be sure—in our prayer of recommitment to our Salesian vocation.  When Pascual Chavez finished the extraordinary visitation of our province when he was regional councilor, he urged us all to “be fire,” to burn for the renewal of our vocation and of the province, for the service of those young people whom Jesus placed in the midst of his apostles (Luke 9:47-48), those young people for whom Don Bosco sacrificed everything—even his life, we can say, for he’d burned himself out by the time he was 72 years, 5½ months old, younger than I am right now and not much older than many of you.

Age, of course, isn’t the measure of our zeal or our holiness.  The Book of Wisdom asserts, “Old age is not honored for length of time, nor measured by number of years; but understanding is gray hair for men, and a blameless life is ripe old age” (4:8-9).  Our Salesian understanding is expressed in our faithfulness to our vocation and our service to the young and the poor; our blamelessness is a grace from God who gives us this vocation and enables us to walk in the steps of Vincent de Paul and Don Bosco.

Salesian Missions Supports Refugees Education in Palabek

Salesian Missions Supports Refugees’ Education in Palabek

(ANS – Palabek, Uganda – September 27) – The Salesian missionaries who live and work in the refugee camp in Palabek, Uganda, provide adequate education to refugee children, also thanks to donors from Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, N.Y.

The Palabek refugee camp currently hosts more than 56,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from South Sudan’s civil war. It was officially established in April 2016 to address crowding problems in the largest refugee camps in the northwestern part of Uganda. Several institutions are involved in providing food and education within the camp. While some decided to leave due to the pandemic, the Salesians have remained and have continued to offer education to refugee children in the camp.

There are 100 children in primary school, 54 in secondary school, and 25 older young people in the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center, where they learn skills in sewing, solar energy management, mechanics, agriculture, construction, and hairdressing.

The Salesians also run a special sponsorship program to help young people attend school outside the camp. Many older children and youths have to walk 6 to 9 miles each day to get to school. The sponsorship program allows Salesians to take young people to shelters outside the camp, closer to schools. Kids can live and study there, as well as have access to healthy eating and recreational activities.

For older young people who want to learn technical skills not offered by the camp’s Don Bosco VTC, the Salesians also offer a support program. The children are taken to other centers, where they can learn to be plumbers, blacksmiths, drivers, farm hands, and many other skills.

Fr. Ubaldino “Uba” Andrade, director of the Salesian community of Palabek, said: ”On a technical and professional level, many young refugees want to go to work or want to learn a profession, which in most cases allows them to return to South Sudan, where they can contribute to the reconstruction of the country, destroyed by many years of violence and war.”

Fr. Andrade recalled the case of a girl who, after taking driving lessons and attending a course in mechanics, has now returned to South Sudan and found a job as a driver in an agency.

“We are very grateful to our donors who have helped many children and youths to fulfill the dream of a good education, allowing them and their families to live a more dignified life,” said Fr. Andrade.

Report on the FMAs in 2014-2020

Report on the FMAs in 2014-2020

(ANS – Rome – September 24, 2021) – There are 226 pages in the Report on the life of the Institute in the 2014-2020 – in addition to the statistics dossier – that the Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Yvonne Reungoat recently presented to the for the Salesian Sisters’ 24th General Chapter, meeting at their Generalate in Rome. The Report is a picture of their congregation over the past 7 years. Vital elements that indicate their reach in the Church, their charism, and their universality are clearly present in this report.

The report, in fact, presents the guidelines for animation of the Mother General and the general council toward the growth and development of members and the educational communities made concrete through the perspectives of formation, youth ministry, foreign missions, communications, and Salesian Family and through the service provided by the central administration and the secretariat. From every perspective, “the methodology of the atelier” emerges as a backdrop, for the clarification of the processes initiated and indications on those to be strengthened in view of the future.

The Superior General not only highlighted the most significant constructive elements of the journey, keeping in mind the signs of the times, the reality of the educational communities, the challenges faced by the young, the indications of the Church, and the needs of society, but she also proposes new paths for the future based on three key words: formation, mission, and integral ecology.

“The primary and imperative responsibility is to give priority to formation in all its dimensions -especiall  in human, spiritual, charismatic, cultural, and professional elements,” she says. In fact, “formation is ‘the best investment,’ and it is necessary ‘not to sacrifice it’ to the ‘urgencies of the mission, losing sight of the wholistic perspective’; but this is possible only if ‘one is capable and convinced that the quality of life of the Institute depends on formation,’” she added.

A specific aspect of formation is “education in interculturality as a prophetic witness,” as an aspect that “is part of the identity and educational vocation of the Institute.” Furthermore, in a world that tends to exclude and create barriers, “intergenerationality can become a prophecy of a different way of living.” Success is possible “only starting on a journey together: FMAs and laity; this requires the design and construction of accompanying structures for the formation and management of the works by the laity.”

In a process of re-defining the communities in the light of the charism, Mother Reungoat underlines the importance “of guaranteeing continuity and development to the works in favor of the poorest and marginalized” in a process of continuous dynamic and creative updating.

She indicates, among other things, that the journey, in the Global Educational Perspective Pact proposed by Pope Francis, is a solicitation “to interact in the Salesian Family, with the other entities, institutions, and groups with whom we network.”

Another essential dimension “is that of integral ecology,” Mother Reungoat declares. In the broader perspective, she affirms that it is essential to “recover the dimension of the sobriety of life,” to be attentive to the cry of the earth and the poor. Finally, in an era of new evangelization, she underlines the “charismatic importance of the catechetical formation” of the FMAs as “a characteristic field of the mission of the Congregation in the Church, but which requires innovation and adaptation to the times and languages.”

Homily for 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 26, 2021
Collect
St. Joseph Church, New Rochelle, N.Y.                           

“O God, you manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy…” (Collect).

When you were young, after some mishap befell you as a consequence of something you said or did, did your mother or a teacher ever exclaim to you, “See!  God punished you!”?

Many of us were brought up in the fear of God, God the all powerful, God the almighty.  We thought he was always watching to catch us in wrongdoing.  Many of us may have thought that every mistake, every fault, every shortcoming was a sin, even things over which we had no control.  I can’t tell you how many people confess, “Father, I missed Mass when I was sick”—which certainly isn’t a sin.  But if we believed God was watching to catch us, ready to punish us, if not here with some form of suffering, then hereafter with condemnation to eternal hellfire, “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48)—then we were always on edge, always afraid of God.

Fallen Angels in Hell (John Martin)

Pope Francis has been trying for his entire papacy, now in its 9th year, to convince us that, as he says, “The name of God is mercy.”  Actually, that’s not a new idea, a new teaching, at all.  Francis didn’t compose the Collect for today’s Mass; it’s been around for a long time.  Its focus is God’s mercy.

Yes, God is all powerful.  But his power is expressed in his mercy, his readiness to grant pardon to sinners—as royal power and presidential power can be expressed by a pardon.  God pardons real sins, not our honest mistakes, which aren’t sins; not our forgetfulness, which isn’t sinful; not even for our shortcomings in matters beyond our ability to control; these aren’t sins either.

But our real sins, our deliberate, willful choices to offend God or our neighbor—these God is ready to pardon if we’ll only say, “I’m sorry.  I want to do better.  I want to be filled with the Spirit of God, like the 70 Israelite elders in the desert (Num 11:25-29).  I want to be kinder, truthful, a better spouse, a better worker, a more generous and helpful neighbor, less judgmental,” and so on.  God is merciful.  He forgives readily,  happily.  That’s why Jesus came to us—not to condemn the world but to save it, as John’s Gospel says (3:17).

So we confidently ask God to bestow his grace upon us, to empower us to be more faithful friends of Jesus.  If we’re his friends—and he fervently desires that we will be (cf. John 15:13-15)—then we’ll inherit the kingdom of heaven with him (Collect).  God desires it, and in his mercy will make it happen as long as we consent, as long as we allow him to pardon our sins and promise to do our best to avoid them in the future—rather what Jesus was speaking of in the 2d part of today’s gospel, about casting aside anything that leads us to sin (Mark 9:43-48).

May the Spirit of God settle upon us and keep us close to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose greatest desire is to bring us to eternal life.

Fr. Anthony D'Angelo, SDB (1923-2021)

Fr. Anthony D’Angelo, SDB (1923-2021)

Fr. Anthony S. D’Angelo, SDB, died on September 22, at James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa. At 98 years of age, he was the 2d-oldest Salesian in the province.

Fr. Tony was a member of the Tampa Salesian community, residing at St. Philip the Apostle Residence since 2018. He was a professed Salesian for 64 years and a priest for 54 years.

Tony was born to Mariano and Catherine Cannistra D’Angelo on July 17, 1923, in New York City; on his birth certificate, he’s Antonino. But he was baptized Antonio Santo D’Angelo in October at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Coatesville, Pa. At age ten he was confirmed at our parish of Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan.

Tony attended a Manhattan trade school and learned to be a butcher. He got some jobs in grocery store meat departments before he was drafted into the Army in 1942.

Tony served in the U.S. Army during World War II, mostly in the European Theater, according to his brother Sal. He progressed with the Allied advance from England through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, doing supply services (hauling food, gas, and ammunition to the front) and, Sal thinks, also guarding German POWs (maybe on return trips). When Germany surrendered, he was transferred to the Philippines, apparently to prepare for the invasion of Japan that didn’t happen. He returned to the U.S. and was discharged in 1946.

In his senior years Fr. Tony was brought to Washington on “Honor Flights,” a veterans program in tribute to their WWII service—once from Birmingham and once from New Rochelle.  He enjoyed these greatly.

From Sal D’Angelo we learn that on returning home, Tony went back to the butcher’s trade in a store his mother had opened.  He enjoyed taking his kid brother (18 years his junior) to Yankee games and other sporting events.  After some years, he found a job at the Post Office. When he began to think about becoming a priest, he went to consult the Salesian pastor at Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street.  That would have been Fr. Anthony Bregolato.  According to Sal, the priest told Tony that since he worked well with kids, he should become a Salesian.  So Tony applied to the Sons of Mary program at Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J.

Tony entered the seminary in January 1955.  In September 1956 he began novitiate in Newton and made his first profession on September 8, 1957. The 1957 elenco lists 39 novices (the year probably began with more), including the future Bros. John Andres, Charles Bryson, Jerome Cincotta, George Marquis, Anthony Matse, William Regner, Joseph Reza, and Joseph Tortorici and Frs. Leo Baysinger, Paul Bedard, Gerard Bonjean, Bernard Dabbene, James Naughton, and Charles Ruloph. It was quite a class!

Bro. Tony graduated from Don Bosco College with a B.A. in philosophy in 1960 and was dispatched to Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa for practical training (1960-1963), where all but one or two of the ca. 140 boys were boarders. Bro. Tony taught grades 5-8; there were also 9th graders, including your humble blogger (1962-1963), but he didn’t teach us. In addition, like the other “clerics,” he assisted in the dining room and the 120-bed dormitory and at recreation and daily chores. He also was on the summer camp staff.

Bro. Tony studied theology at Bollengo, near Ivrea, Italy, from 1963 to 1967 and was ordained in Ivrea on March 18, 1967.

As a priest, Fr. Tony served six years as guidance counselor at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y. (1973-1979), and in fact was licensed as a school psychologist in New York. He earned an M.A. in pastoral counseling at Iona College, New Rochelle, in 1971, followed by a doctorate from Fordham University in 1976.

But most of Fr. Tony’s priestly ministry was in parishes: as assistant pastor at Holy Rosary in Port Chester, N.Y. (1967-1971), Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan (1971-1973, 1983-1996), St. Ann in Manhattan (1981-1983), and Holy Rosary in Birmingham, Ala. (1997-2014). He was pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Harlem, N.Y., from 1979 to 1981. He was a hospital chaplain in Manhattan for 13 years (1983-1996); according to his brother Sal, that was mainly at Cabrini and Beth Israel hospitals. He served at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Ipswich, Mass., for one year (1996-1997).

Hospital chaplain: from the Salesian Communications archives

While he was assigned to Port Chester, he was appointed to the regional board of directors of the Port Chester Citizens Anti-Poverty Association, being cited as “well liked in our community and relating well to all people.”

In Birmingham Fr. Tony was noted as a “fiery priest from New York” who supported civil rights. He was, of course, only continuing what he’d been doing for years in New York City. He was active in the pro-life movement, as well. He wrote frequent guest columns for One Voice, Birmingham’s diocesan newspaper, usually on prayer or concern for the needy. On at least one occasion (August 26, 2007) he wrote a long opinion piece for the Birmingham News protesting the poverty in and official neglect of Mark’s Village, a “project” adjacent to Holy Rosary Church.

Before he moved South, he wrote occasional letters to the editor of Catholic New York, e.g., on June 8, 1995, protesting that boxing is immoral and the following week encouraging prayer.

Privately, he wrote letters of prayerful support for the rector major, Fr. Juan Vecchi, when he was suffering from cancer in 2000 and 2002, to which Fr. Pascual Chavez, still regional councilor, responded, also with appreciation for the pastoral work going on in Birmingham. In 2005 Fr. Chavez, by then rector major, thanked Fr. Tony for condolences after his father’s death.

Approaching his 50th anniversary of profession and 40th of ordination in 2007, once again he expressed his commitment to prayer. He also displayed some of his typical humor: when people suggested he consider retiring, he wrote, “I retire every night, and with the grace of the Lord come out of retirement every morning at 5:30….”

At age 91 Fr. Tony finally retired to the provincial house in New Rochelle in 2014. As his health weakened, he transferred to the assisted living home in Tampa in 2018.

During a Christmas party at the St. Philip Residence

(courtesy of Carolyn Espinosa)

Fr. Bill Keane, his director in New Rochelle, pays this tribute to Fr. Tony: “I certainly admired his perseverance and his friendliness with people. I also remember his coyly getting out his opinion on some matters. When I left the provincial house, he did not appreciate a couple of decisions [I had made], but when I visited Tampa a couple of years ago, he forgot about those and was friendly. His conversations and his experiences were very interesting when he spoke about them.”

Fr. Tony is survived by his younger brother Sal (wife Joyce) of New Jersey and 13 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sisters Mary and Josie.

Fr. Tony as a hospital chaplain, possibly in the 1980s, from the Communications Office files.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

Mary Help of Christians Church

6400 East Chelsea Street

Tampa, Florida 33610

Visitation: Wednesday, September 29, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Mass:     Thursday, September 30, 10:00 a.m.

Marian Shrine Chapel

174 Filors Lane

Stony Point, New York 10980

Visitation:  Friday, October 1, 2:00 p.m.

Mass:    Friday, October 1, 7:00 p.m.

Salesian Cemetery

3 Craigville Road 10924

Goshen, New York

Burial: Saturday, October 2, 10:30 a.m.

Hike to Turkey Hill Lake

Hike to Turkey Hill Lake

On Sept. 19-20 I hiked to and camped at Turkey Hill Lake in the northern part of Harriman State Park.  There are 3 trails that lead to the lake (south on the Popolopen Gorge Trail from the Long Path, which is the shortest way; north on the Anthony Wayne Trail from Anthony Wayne Rec Area, about the same length as the route I used; and west from the hikers lot off 7 Lakes Dr east of the Palisades Pkwy. (on the way to Bear Mt.).

I parked on Sunday afternoon at that hikers lot ca. 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.  There must have been 20 vehicles there (including a van for which I had to back out of the entrance so they could exit—but it freed a parking spot).  A Slavic family (my guess, from their accent) with 3 little kids was about to depart after completing a 5-mile loop hike up to West Mt. Shelter—breaking the little guys in early!  I parked next to a pick-up from Oregon; 

when I returned on Monday ca. 9:30 a.m., there were only 3 cars besides mine: from Virginia, N.J., and Massachusetts.

The hike from there to Turkey Hill Lake is 2 miles, uses parts of 4 trails, and passes behind a police pistol range (which was quite active on Sunday, deserted on Monday).  

Pistol range warning posted

at 3-trail junction

2 of the trails are “Revolutionary”: the 1777W (used by the British to attack Ft. Montgomery) and the 1779 (used by Anthony Wayne to attack Stony Point).  The others are the Timp Torne and the westbound Popolopen Gorge trails.  At every intersection I had to consult the map to be sure I went in the correct direction.  The route crosses over a lot of beech tree roots and several boggy areas where the trail maintenance folks (God bless ’em) have set up steppingstones.  The 1777-Timp combo passes by the pistol range, which has warning signs at both ends of side trail (which is effectively the main trail).  The 1779-PG combo passes by Queensboro Lake past the shooting range.  The PG goes to the west side of Turkey Hill Lake, and an old woods road goes along the east side (above which I camp).

I didn’t meet anyone on the trail in.  I reached the lake at 4:30, and the 1st sight was a pathetic pile of garbage (no photo)—cans, bottles, cooking stuff, a deflated rubber boat.  (On my way out, I filled by trash bag with 16 of the soda cans—a tiny environmental contribution; my own trash consisted of 5 pieces of paper.)  There was a family of 7 or 8 (mostly kids) fishing near the dam, and from the sounds, several groups of campers or day hikers on the far side of the lake.  All of these other lake visitors departed late in the afternoon, leaving my campsite above the lake delightfully quiet except for the constant noise of the traffic on Long Mountain Parkway/Rte 6.  The traffic abated only late into the nite and resumed before sunup.

I gathered firewood; there was so much I didn’t need to cut anything, and my saw stayed in my backpack.  When I set up my tent, I didn’t put on the rainfly; instead, I used that for a pillow.  When the temps dropped into the mid- or low-50s, the fly might have kept me a bit warmer, but I wasn’t cold (had enuf clothing).  Besides the fresh air, the full moon and the stars were the plus of leaving the fly off.  I picked the closest spot to one that was level for the tent, so during the nite I slid downhill only a wee bit.

Supper, cooked on a backpacking stove: half a package of freeze-dried risotto with chicken, Crystal Lite, an apple, and some trail mix.  And pills, of course—the diabetes meds with supper, and later the cholesterol meds and a Tylenol (3 different aching body parts, unrelated to hiking).  Then rigging the bear bag—only 2 flings needed to get it over a high tree limb.

Actually, the only wildlife I saw on the trip was some small birds, and waterfowl on the lakes—and lots of insects, especially mosquitoes.  Miraculously, none of them got into the tent.

I considered taking a refreshing dip in the lake but decided it was too chilly, and I didn’t really want to trek down the slope from camp in my slippers.

As usual, I prayed the Divine Office; I lit a small campfire in a natural rock setting around sunset (a little before moonrise), and sat by it reading a back issue of The Tablet (not Brooklyn’s but the U.K.’s).  There was time before and after bed (ca. 9 p.m.) for more personal prayer.  These woods excursions are mini-retreats.

I got up before the sun, just after 6 a.m. after a restless nite, dozing a little bit.  I answered nature’s call, then prayed the Office.  Since this was a 1-niter, I didn’t bring a Mass kit with me but celebrated the Eucharist after I got home.  Breakfast was oatmeal and coffee, as usual, and some nuts and trail mix.  By 8 a.m. I was packed and out (after double-checking the site).  The hike back to the car was a little faster than on the way in—no rest stops, only 1 photo stop, and no need to check the map.

9 photos:  https://link.shutterfly.com/EliTGG8iIjb

Memorial Mass for Bro. Eugenio De Lorenzo

Memorial Mass for
Bro. Eugenio De Lorenzo, CFC

Sept. 21, 2021
Wis 3: 1-6, 9
Ps 63: 1-5, 7-8
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God” (Wis 3: 1).

Bro. Gene’s life, like all our lives, was a testimony to our dependence on God—ideally, lives of total dependence on him.  Most of us fall a bit short of that totality at which our profession aims, and that’s why we pray for our deceased, even the best of our brothers.

But by God’s grace—“grace and mercy are with his elect” (3:9)—we do live as tho our souls—our lives—are in God’s hands.  That’s our public witness before the Church and before the world.  We testify as religious that God’s “faithful shall abide with him in love” (3:9)—in a loving community of brothers around our Lord Jesus, and in an eternal life with Jesus, a life which we imagine as a banquet, a great, big, unending party.  And the master of those servants “will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them” (Luke 12:37).

Here below, we thirst for God, our flesh faints for him (Ps 63:2).  That longing is our hope.  Today we pray that Gene’s longing has been fulfilled, that his flesh is incorporate with our risen Savior, that his soul and his entire self is fully satisfied as with a rich feast (63:6).

Homily for 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 19, 2021
Mark 9: 30-37
Wis 2: 12, 17-20
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx, N.Y.
 St. Joseph Church, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him…” (Mark 9: 31).

This is the 2d time that Jesus tries to teach his disciples that he’s going to suffer and die.  We heard the 1st time last Sunday.  Like that 1st time, the disciples don’t even begin to grasp what he’s saying.  There will be one more such warning.

Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ

(William-Adolphe Bouguereau)

The lectionary pairs this passage from Mark’s Gospel with one from the Book of Wisdom about the wicked assailing a just man because his life is a reproach to them.  They scoff at his trust in God.

THE just man, of course, is Jesus.  His life was marked by complete trust in God, and by self-denial, service of others, and love for everyone, even for the least significant people like children (9:37):  “If anyone wishes to be 1st, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (9:35).

Self-denial and consideration for others aren’t ordinarily how the world works.  Ordinary wisdom advises us to look out for #1, i.e., for yourself.  Those who advocate for others—for the poor, the hungry, refugees, the elderly, unborn human beings—carry little weight in society.  Our TV and newspapers, instead, are filled with the doings of social media giants, entertainment stars, big-name athletes, corporate CEOs, and politicians—people who are rich and famous and important and glamorous.

On the other hand, the world will harass, persecute, and prosecute those whose words and lifestyle it finds offensive—like Jesus.  Last week the U.S. bishops reported that there have been at least 95 physical attacks on churches and church property so far this year—various kinds of vandalism and desecration; there are many people who don’t like what the Church teaches about human life in the womb, about homosexuality, and about other issues.  The state of California is embarked on a campaign of slander against St. Junipero Serra, the Franciscan missionary who founded the state.  Numerous supposed scholars and media have been slandering Pope Pius XII for decades, ignoring his actual record of protecting Jewish people from the Nazis.  Public authorities spent years trying to prove false—obviously false—criminal accusations against Card. George Pell of Australia, whose only “crime” is that he has strongly and publicly defended the Church’s moral teachings.  Our former governor once stated that there is no room for pro-life people in New York—perhaps hiding his own moral failures by blaming people who really do defend the most vulnerable human beings.  Even Mother Teresa has been faulted for not doing enuf to help the poor and the hungry of Calcutta—if you can imagine that!

The words of the Book of Wisdom and the life of Jesus show us what we can expect when we put our lives completely at the service of God and of our neighbors.  The Collect of Mass today reminded us that God has “founded all the commands of [his] sacred Law upon love of [God] and of our neighbor.”  When we try to base our lives on God and neighbor, at the very least we’ll be inconvenienced—by setting aside time for prayer and worship instead of seeking entertainment or sleep; and by giving time, money, or our abilities to assist the poor and the weak.  If we defend Christian morality in regard to sexual behavior, human dignity, the right to life, the right to food, the right to housing, parental rights in education, we may be called names, picketed, assaulted, maybe taken to court like numerous Christian bakers, florists, photographers, and anti-abortion protesters.  We may risk arguments with relatives with racist or anti-immigrant attitudes or whose philosophy is “if it feels good, do it,” or on the “flip side” those whose approach to morality is all fire and brimstone without mercy.

In all things, however, as “servants of all,” as Jesus says, even as we speak Gospel truth we have to speak with humility and respect.  In the words of Wisdom, even as we uphold what is right and true, we must give proof of our gentleness and patience (2:19).

Jesus was persecuted for his faithfulness to God; but God vindicated him by raising him from the dead.  Quoting Wisdom again, “According to his own words, God will take care of him” (2:20).  God did take care of his Son Jesus, and we believe that he’ll take care of us, too, if we follow Jesus faithfully in “purity, peaceableness, gentleness, mercy, and good deeds,” as the Letter of James urges (3:17).

Homily for Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Robert Bellarmine

Sept. 17, 2021
1 Tim 6: 2-12 (1st reading, Year I)
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“Beloved:  Teach and urge these things.  Whoever teaches something different and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the religious teachings … understands nothing…” (1 Tim 6: 2-4).

St. Robert Bellarmine is a very rare bird—a cardinal of the Roman Curia who’s been canonized.  The Collect noted that God “adorned him with wonderful learning and virtue.”  It wasn’t for his learning that he was canonized—309 years after his death—but for his virtue:  zeal in the pastoral care of souls, prayer, simplicity, trust in God.  He was virtuous in a setting not especially noted for it, 16th- and 17-century Rome.

St. Paul urges his disciple Timothy to be firm in teaching sound Christian truth.  Bellarmine was very much a teacher.  Physically he wasn’t imposing; he was so short that when he mounted the Baroque pulpits of his age, he had to stand on a stool.  But his teaching was clear and eloquent.  His presentations of Catholic truth against the teachings of the Reformers in the decades after Trent were polite but so masterful and so widely read that they aroused hundreds of responses.

Before he was a writer and curial cardinal, Bellarmine was a professor, covering dogmatics, Scripture, and the spiritual life; a sample of his spiritual teaching was in today’s Office of Readings.  He wrote 2 very popular catechisms.  As a spiritual director he had Aloysius Gonzaga as one of his directees.

In a Wednesday audience, Benedict XVI said of Bellarmine, “[He] teaches with great clarity and with the example of his own life that there can be no true reform of the Church unless there is first our own personal reform and the conversion of our own heart.”[1]

That personal reform goes to the heart of what we do as teachers—in classroom, church, extracurriculars, and youth ministry programs.  We heard in Luke (8:1-3) that the 12 and some women accompanied Jesus.  Were they accompanying Jesus, or vice versa?  Our magisterium tells us accompaniment is a 2-way street, that we find our holiness in being present to the young, who are also guides to us, who are always challenging us to be better teachers of sound Christian life.

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    [1] Holy Men & Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), p. 210.

Advisory Board for Salesian Volunteer Service

Advisory Board for Salesian Mission Volunteer Service Is Created

(ANS – Rome – September 16, 2021) – Thanks to the joint work between the Missions and Youth Ministry Departments, and the initiative of several lay collaborators in the Salesian apostolic mission, the Salesian Mission Volunteer Service Advisory board has come to life (SMVS). It’s a structure dedicated to supporting the collaboration and enrichment of Salesian volunteer mission service throughout the Salesian Congregation.

There are different types of volunteer service, but SMVS has been defined in a very specific way by the Salesian Congregation: a free volunteer service of solidarity offered by a young person, for a community. He/she integrates self in the educational and pastoral project of a Salesian presence, motivated by the faith, adopting the missionary style in accordance, with Don Bosco's pedagogy and spirituality ensuring also sufficient continuity.

Given the increase in volunteering and the emphasis of this very formative life choice for a young person, the advisory board was created to support this very valuable service.

Although the advisory board is still in the process of defining its specific powers, the objective of providing support and connectedness to Salesian volunteer programs and to Salesian provinces, both those that have volunteer programs and those that would like to network, or replicate them, is already clear. The final goal will be to improve the quality of the service provided by the Salesian volunteer organizations and to accompany and animate the Salesian Volunteer Movement, which in turn will support the Congregation with quality volunteers and a clear Salesian identity.

The SMVS advisory board comes from a long way back. The director of the Cagliero Project, the long-term international volunteer program of the Salesian province of Australia-Pacific, Lauren Hichaaba, contacted Adam Rudin of the Salesian volunteer project Salesian Lay Missioners of the USA East Province, to start a relationship of collaboration and consultancy, back in 2007. Over 14 years Lauren and Adam have shared their successes and challenges, while enriching their professional development and their respective volunteer programs.

In March 2020, Lauren and Adam began communicating more frequently to try to cope with the challenges imposed by the pandemic. Juan Carlos Montenegro, delegate for mission animation of the USA West Province, quickly joined the conversation, and the three supported each other and shared ideas on how to deal with this new reality. The meetings turned into a regular monthly “check-in” and, in addition to the challenges due to Covid-19, they extended to many other topics, most notably the importance of SMVS for the Salesian Congregation and how to contribute to the conversation at a congregational level.

They contacted the Salesian Missions and Youth Ministry Departments to share some of their ideas, and slowly the conversation broadened. Fr. Rafael Bejarano from the Youth Ministry Department, and Fr. Pavel Zenisek and Marco Fulgaro from the Missions Department welcomed the initiative with enthusiasm and supported one of the key ideas, namely establishing ​​the SMVS advisory board, which has now seen the light of day.

Further information is available in the flyer available at the bottom of the ANS story. To get in touch with the SMVS advisory committee, please e-mail: salesianvol@sdb.org 

Homily for Memorial of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian

Homily for the Memorial of
Sts. Cornelius & Cyprian

Sept. 16, 2021
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“May we be strengthened in faith and constancy and spend ourselves without reserve for the unity of the Church” (Collect).

St. Cyprian (Russian icon via Wikipedia)

In mid-3d century, today’s saints proved their faith and constancy by suffering in separate places in separate persecutions:  Cornelius at Rome in 253, Cyprian at Carthage in 258.  They labored, separately, for the unity of Christ’s flock against heresy in Rome and the danger of apostasy in Carthage.  Cyprian lent his support to the Roman Church thru his letters and fed his African flock with eloquent treatises still treasured today, like one on the Our Father.  He’s ranked as one of the pre-eminent Fathers of the Church.

In our time the Church still faces persecution:  from Islamist extremists in Nigeria and Pakistan, for instance; from Hindu extremists in India; from a dictator in Nicaragua; from a hostile, decadent culture in the West.  A news item earlier this week noted at least 95 physical attacks on Catholic churches and property so far this year in our country, besides all the slanders and legal harassment we must deal with—in the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc.  Something I saw online recently labeled what happened to Card. Pell as a “vendetta.”[1]

You know the threats against unity:  from the “right” like the Lefevrists and their sort; from the left-pushing who seem to want to create a new Church with new doctrine, discipline, and morals.

If we follow Cornelius and Cyprian, we’ll pray for our brothers and sisters in physical or moral danger, wherever they are.  We’ll maintain our loyalty to the successor of Pope Cornelius on Peter’s chair; he’s the one charged by Jesus to “strengthen his brothers” (Luke 22:32)—that’s “faith and constancy”--to keep us united with Christ and one another.

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                [1] CathNews - Cardinal Pell was victim of ‘political vendetta’, posted 9/3/21. CathNews is “a service of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.”