Fr. Peter Granzotto, SDB (1926-2018)

Fr. Peter Granzotto Remembered as a Salesian with a Passion and Zeal for the Lord

by Fr. Dennis Donovan, SDB

(Port Chester, N.Y. – June 19) – With a massive display of love and affection for the 91-year-old priest who served the parishioners of Port Chester well for over 30 years, more than 400 people turned out for the funeral of Fr. Peter Granzotto, held at Our Lady of Mercy Church of St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester.

Fr. Peter in 2009 (Fr. Mike Mendl)

The respect for Fr. Peter was made even more evident by those who led the funeral liturgy. Fr. William Ferruzzi, SDB, a novice under Fr. Peter’s direction (1964-1965), presided at the Mass. Cindy Moore, a dear friend of Fr. Peter since her childhood, led the music. The homily was given by Fr. Patrick Angelucci, pastor of St. John Bosco Parish, also one of Fr. Peter’s novices (1965-1966). A large contingent of Salesian priests, brothers, sisters, Cooperators, and members of ADMA were present.

In his homily, Fr. Pat repeated a theme for which Fr. Peter was known: “It is him that I myself will seek; there is no other.” Through vivid examples and by recalling touching moments in the life of Fr. Peter, he explained how Fr. Peter had three great loves.

The first was his love for his family. Even his siblings related that no matter how far away Fr. Peter might live from the rest of the family, he was the glue that held them together.

Fr. Peter blessing his parents shortly after his ordination in 1957.

(from Fr. Peter's photos)

His second great love was for the Salesian Family. “I want to be a priest that smiles like Don Bosco,” he told his friends. He was a Salesian “from the top of his head to the soles of his feet,” said Fr. Pat.

His third great love was for the people he served, seeing Christ in each one of them. Fr. Pat related how someone had come to Fr. Peter for counseling after being away from the Church for a long time, and found great peace and comfort in his words.

There were two things that Fr. Peter desired in life. According to Fr. Pat, these became obvious whenever Fr. Peter would approach him for his monthly chat with the director of the community. Fr. Peter desired to have a great holiness of life and a deep zeal for souls.

During his years as master of novices, Fr. Peter was known for giving very long conferences. Fr. Pat explained that through these one could recognize that he was working hard to form men of zeal who had a passion for the mission. “He wanted us to be men of passion and fire for the Lord.”

He ended the homily by repeating some advice Fr. Peter recently gave to a young priest in the parish. “Be joyful, zealous, and enthusiastic for God's people.”

Fr. Peter was born on October 3, 1926, and passed away on June 14, 2018. He made his first profession of vows in Newton, N.J., on September 8, 1947. His perpetual profession was made on September 8, 1953. He received a B.A. in philosophy at Don Bosco College in 1950 and a licentiate in theology at the Salesian Pontifical University in Turin in 1957. He was ordained at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin on July 7, 1957.

Homily for Vigil of Birth of St. John the Baptist

Homily for the Vigil of
the Birth of St. John the Baptist

June 23, 2018

Jer 1: 4-10
Luke 1: 5-17
Nativity, Washington, D.C.                           

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1: 16).

We’ve interrupted our regularly scheduled programming—the Sundays of Ordinary Time—to bring you a special broadcast, the solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist.  In some places, like the province of Quebec and Don Bosco’s city of Turin, it’s a major civic holiday, as well.  In many traditionally Catholic places, they may no longer actually be religious—Quebec, e.g.—but they still celebrate their patron saints.  Perhaps John the Baptist needs to work a little harder now “to turn the hearts [of] the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

Naming John the Baptist (Fra Angelico)

John was not a Baptist, nor is he the patron saint of the Baptists.  He’s called the last of the prophets of the O.T., and he could also be called the first prophet of the N.T., a Christian prophet.  Certainly he was a prophet, “and more than a prophet,” according to Jesus himself (Matt 11:9); and, also according to Jesus, a very great man:  “among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist” (Matt 11:11).

That helps us understand why John is one of only two saints whose earthly births we celebrate in the church calendar; the other is the Virgin Mary, whose birthday we recognize on Sept. 8, nine months after her immaculate conception.  For all other saints, the rule is to celebrate the day of their heavenly birth, the day they passed from this life into eternal life.  We have celebrations of those days, also, for John and our Blessed Mother.  John’s entrance into the earthly history of salvation, like Mary’s, tho in quite different manner, marks the transition from O.T. to New.

So important is John the Baptist that the feast of his birth is ranked a solemnity, like the feasts of St. Joseph and Sts. Peter and Paul, and the major feasts of our Lady. Like some of those feasts, it supplants the regular Sunday celebration.  Like Christmas and Pentecost, it even has separate Mass texts and readings for the vigil Mass.

Our readings for this feast emphasize the prophetic role of John the Baptist.  Jeremiah recalls his prophetic role and how God called him to this task from the womb.  The Church has applied this Scripture to the prophetic calling of John the Baptist, as we heard in our gospel reading.  For it was the mission of John the Baptist to prepare Israel for the approach of her Savior.  The preaching of the apostles in the 1st years after the Lord’s ascension highlighted John’s mission:  “John heralded [Jesus’] coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel…,” St. Paul said.  John “would say, ‘One is coming after me….’”

John’s role was to raise the people’s awareness of their sins, of their need for a renewed relationship with God, and to get them ready for the one who would establish that new relationship with God.  By all accounts John preached fire and brimstone—see Matthew 3 or Luke 3—but not without hope; for his symbolic baptism, while not washing away sins like Christian Baptism, represented that new relationship with God to which repentant sinners were committing themselves.  People came to John by the hundreds, maybe the thousands; unfortunately, there were no ushers there with their clickers making a parish sacramental report.  But people came from all over because John helped them see the truth about themselves and also because he helped them find God.  John did what all good preachers have done thru the ages:  Anthony of Padua, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, John Paul II.

We, too, want to find God.  We, too, want to be right with God:  to have our hearts turned from disobedience to the understanding of the righteous, to be made people fit for the Lord.  A right relationship with God has to begin in the same way that John the Baptist preached:  with the admission in our own hearts that we’ve sinned, that our relationships with God and with God’s children are in disrepair.  It’s like a 12-step program:  you start with your admission of disorder in your life and your need for help in re-ordering your life and your relationships.

One of the major reasons for the disorder and chaos in Western societies today, like the U.S., is that we don’t want to admit that some attitudes and actions are wrong, are disordered in terms of natural law, are sinful.  In too many cases, in fact, we celebrate evil and call it good.  Killing the innocent, e.g., thru abortion, euthanasia, or assisted suicide, can never be right or virtuous.  Same-sex relationships can never be right or virtuous.  Conceiving children like they’re manufactured products (IVF or, now, 3-parent babies) can never be right or virtuous.  Rejecting people from a different continent or of a different religion, or because they’re handicapped or not the same color or speak a different language is always an offense against the God who created those people in his image.

John the Baptist’s program, his call to repent and turn to the Lord, isn’t a program only for hardened sinners or people who’ve rather neglected God for years while enjoying the party scene, relentlessly pursuing business success, or messing up their family lives.  We all have to refocus our lives regularly—check our GPS and see whether we’re still on course toward the Lord our God.  Have we made lying, cheating our employer, pornography, tearing down someone’s reputation a regular part of our lives?  Are we responsible stewards of God’s created world?  Do we vote and take part in the life of our community?  We Catholics have the wonderful sacrament of Reconciliation to help us straighten out and get back on track; and, besides, to be freshly outfitted with the gear we need—God’s grace—to move on with our journey.

The Preaching of John the Baptist (Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

That call to repentance is one message for today from John the Baptist.  The other message we might take from the feast is John’s role:  constantly pointing to “one coming after me,” one greater than himself, viz., Jesus.  He “heralded Jesus’ coming” (Acts 13: 24).  John’s life and especially his preaching pointed to Jesus, the one who would baptize people with fire and the Holy Spirit.  His death pointed to the truth of God’s law, to the holiness of marriage and family.  So must we be heralds whose words and deeds point to Christ and announce his presence to the world.  We are the images of Christ that people see, the heralds they hear, day in and day out.  They won’t meet Jesus in person till they get to the pearly gates.  Till then, they have just us.  So, may we always let our words, and above all our actions, point others toward truth, goodness, holiness, toward our Lord Jesus, who lives and reigns forever and ever.

300+ Catholic Communicators Convene in Titletown

300+ Catholic Communicators Convene in Titletown

More than 300 Catholic journalists, editors, directors of communications, producers, business managers, advertisers, and publishers—plus 3 bishops—converged on Green Bay, Wisc., aka “Titletown,” June 12-15. (Did you know that the Packers have won 13 NFL titles? If not, go to Green Bay, and they’ll tell you!)

The Catholic Media Conference is held annually in different cities in the U.S. or Canada. This year the Green Bay Diocese was host, proudly showing off a beautiful little city on the Fox River, home to the only publicly-owned major league sports franchise (the Packers) and home of the site of the only Church-approved Marian apparition in the U.S.

In the Packers' Hall of Fame, attendees got to sample Wisconsin beer, brats, and cheese, and were welcomed by Green Bay's mayor and then by Fr. Jim Baraniak (photo), prior of the Norbertines and longtime chaplain of the Packers.

But the purpose of CMC is to share best practices, learn about new developments, network with old and new friends in the media world, recognize outstanding accomplishments, and deepen one’s faith. These 300+ men and women—95% of them lay—are firmly convinced of their mission in the Church as evangelizers. As one speaker said, “We work of J.C.” Another said, “This is a vocation.”

Attendees could follow any of several tracks at the conference: editorial, business, communications, design, digital/social media, parish, or general interest. Many went to whichever session at the given time most interested them, regardless of track.

Journalists praying in the apparition chapel, built on the site where the Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. 

This chapel is under the Shrine's main chapel, where we celebrated Mass.

Jakeline Magalhaes, province delegate for communications, and your humble blogger represented the New Rochelle Province. It was a first for Jackie, who enjoyed meeting so many peers with whom she can share Salesian news and professional ideas. “It was a great opportunity to get to know people and understand a little better the workings of Catholic media and the Catholic Church here in United States, besides learning more about relevant themes to our work with the province,” she commented.

She and I took care to go to different sessions. I attended “Handling Hot Topics and Sensitive Subjects,” “The Mystery of the Written Word,” “Sex Trafficking: A Worldwide Epidemic,” “Communicating the Joy of the Gospel,” and “Pitch Perfect: How to Sell Your Story, while she attended “Advanced Social Media,” “Three keys to social media success,” “The New Areopagus: Sharing stories of faith in a digital world,” and “Engaging the Hispanic population.”

Dr. Govekar listening to a question from the audience.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Natasa Govekar, director of the Department of Pastoral Theology at the Vatican Secretariat for Communication. She presented the ongoing communications plans of the Holy See, the key themes of which are discipleship and evangelization. 

Dr. Govekar's keynote was one of several times that we filled the ballroom.

Dr. Govekar also took part in the panel “Communicating the Joy of the Gospel” with Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay and two others.

The bishops in attendance besides Bishop Ricken were Bishop Robert Morneau, Green Bay’s retired auxiliary, and Bishop Gerald Kicanas, emeritus of Tucson, Ariz. Each bishop presided at one of the CMC Masses. Attending priests concelebrated and deacons assisted.

The first Mass, Wednesday evening, was celebrated by Bishop Morneau at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Hope, where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1859 to a Belgian immigrant farmgirl, Adele Brise, and charged her to go around all the neighboring farms to teach catechism to “the children in this wild country,” which Adele did until her death in 1896.

Bishop Kicanas presided at the second Mass, Thursday morning in the convention center, which, even at 8:30 a.m., drew more participants than the organizers expected, and some had to sit in the hall outside the prayer room where Mass was celebrated.

Mass at the cathedral.  Photo by Jackie Magalhaes.

The Friday evening Mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral was the CPA’s annual memorial Mass for members who died in the preceding 12 months. Bishop Ricken presided.

Bishop Morneau, an accomplished spiritual writer and poet, also led the session “The Mystery of the Written Word.”

Bp. Jerry Kicanas spoke eloquently and passionately 

in favor of Catholic journalism and of the disadvantaged people of our society.

One of the Catholic Press Association’s highest awards, the Bishop John England Award, was given to Bishop Kicanas. The award recognizes Catholic publishers for the defense of First Amendment rights, such as freedom of the press and freedom of religion. It is the CPA’s highest award for publishers. The bishop commended the Catholic media for their work not only in defending precious freedoms but also in speaking for the voiceless, such as immigrants and refugees.

The CPA’s highest award, the St. Francis de Sales Award, went to Julie Asher, veteran national editor of Catholic News Service in Washington. The award recognizes journalistic excellence over a sustained period of time, which in Julie’s case includes not only writing, editing, and overseeing a pile of CNS’s national activity but also making presentations at journalism conferences and masterfully overseeing interns working at CNS.

Yours truly and Jackie flank our friend Julie Asher and her well-earned St. Francis de Sales Award.
Photo courtesy of Jackie Magalhaes.

At the end of the CMC, hundreds of awards are given out for the previous year’s (2017) outstanding work in dozens of areas such as stories, photography, design, books, best publications, etc. We are happy to say that E-Service, the predecessor of the current province newsletter, copped four awards: two second places—a photo montage by three Champaign, Ill., photographers and an article by yours truly; and two third places—an article by Bro. Rob Malusa and Fr. Tim Zak’s regular column “Message of the Provincial.”

Vice Province of Indonesia Erected

Vice Province of Indonesia Erected

(ANS – Rome – June 8) – On June 8 the Salesian general council approved the erection of the new vice province of Indonesia under the patronage of St. Louis Versiglia. It was assigned the abbreviation INA.

The long-awaited recognition brings to 12 the number of provinces (8) and vice provinces (4) in the East Asia-Oceania Region. With INA, the total number of the SDB circumscriptions is 88.

In June 2017 the Rector Major and his council approved the timeline for the erection of the INA vice province: report of the INA delegate about the state of the delegation (a semi-autonomous region within a province); canonical visit from the provincial of the mother (vice)province, Indonesia-East Timor Vice Province (ITM); opinion and vote by the councils of both ITM vice province and INA delegation; a consultation promoted by the Rector Major for all confreres of the ITM vice province (April-May 2018); and finally the approval for the erection of the new vice province by the Rector Major and his council (Const. 156), given on June 8.

The Salesian presence in Indonesia started in 1985 (under what was then the single Philippines Province), and the delegation of Indonesia was canonically established in 2010. eventually being erected into a vice province.

The need for the growth from the delegation toward the vice province was discussed and grew mature at various occasions. The first delegation assembly of Indonesia in 2012 produced a “road map” (2012-2018) with a clear goal of preparing the necessary animation environment and structures during those 6 years. Indeed, that dream has now been accomplished!

According the report of the 2018 extraordinary visitation (February-March 2018), there are in INA 7 Salesian communities with 61 SDBs (30 priests, 10 coadjutor brothers, and 20 seminarian brothers). This year there are 12 novices and 8 prenovices. Another 6 Indonesian Salesians are serving as foreign missionaries in Europe, Latin America, and East Asia. At present only 5 of the confreres working in Indonesia come from other countries – 2 from East Timor and 3 from the Philippines. Fr. Andrew Wong was recently assigned to INA by the Rector Major upon his request for a missionary assignment (from being superior of the Ratisbonne theological community in Jerusalem).

The recent consultation of the ITM confreres for the establishment of the INA vice province brought rich reflection for the leadership of Indonesia – not only about the strong and weak points of the Salesian charism in Indonesia, but also about many items that might be included in the mutual agreement between the Indonesia and East Timor vice provinces in the future.

There are still a few more steps before the Indonesia Vice Province becomes a reality. On June 20-21 the consultation for the first superior of the new vice province will be held. After his appointment during the summer session of the general council (which just opened), his installation will follow, scheduled for August 1 in Jakarta.

After the establishment of the Indonesia Vice Province, the East Timor Vice Province will figure under the abbreviation TLS. ITM will not be used anymore.

Source: AustraLasia

Homily for 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 8, 1997

Mark 3: 20-35
Christian Brothers, Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y.

One pulled from the "vault," since I don't have an outside Mass this weekend.

“Jesus said in reply, “who are my mother and brothers?” (Mark 3: 33).

Once upon a time it was, in some circles at least, highly desirable to be an F.O.B.—Friend of Bill.  A lot of people, maybe most of us, would like to be in the inner circle of power and influence.  Christians too.  We’re familiar with the stories of the apostles bickering among themselves about who was the most important, and of James and John coming right out and asking the places of power next to Jesus’ throne and of the resentment that caused among the other 10.

If we’ve studied any church history, we know some of the sordid details of the pursuit of power, influence, and wealth by individuals and families, by bishops and cardinals and Popes and their relatives, male and female alike.

So why shouldn’t there be some interest in the family of Jesus and their status?

Mark’s picture of Mary and Jesus’ cousins is a double image.  On the one hand, and this could be rooted in historical fact, they doubt his sanity.  Disciples they are not!  Rather, “they came to take charge of him, saying, “He’s out of his mind’” (3:21).  He’s an embarrassment to the family with these scenes he’s causing, these teachings of his, these controversies with the leaders.  He can’t even get himself a decent meal (3:20).

On the other hand, it is historically certain that later Mary was among the faithful disciples at Calvary and in the upper room and soon became the most venerated of believers.  It is certain that Jesus’ cousin James became the leader of the Church at Jerusalem.  So the question of blood relationship to Jesus and one’s status in the Church must have come up among Christians almost immediately after Pentecost—which is probably why we catch glimpses of the issue in the gospels.

Not that this issue is particular to the Church.  We’ve witnessed too many recent instances of clan warfare in Rwanda, Liberia, and elsewhere.  We’ve seen the Mobutus of the world help themselves and their kin to the wealth of their peoples.  It’s the way of human nature to look after one’s own and to be suspicious of the outsider.

So it must have been a mild shock, at least, for Jesus’ audience—not to mention his family—when he answered his own question. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” by asserting that everyone who does God’s will is his mother, brother, sister.  No wonder his mother and cousins thought he was mad.

Yet it is a core part of the Good News of Jesus Christ that anybody is welcome.  Anybody can belong.  Anybody can seek and achieve intimacy with God.  “Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me.”  Blood and kinship have no special claim.  Social status neither.  Nor ordination or vows.  Nor age or education.  Jesus tells Martha, in a little family tiff, “Mary has chosen the better part” by sitting at his feet and listening to him (Luke 10: 38-42).  That “better part,” that spiritual closeness, is open to everyone who seeks the Father thru Jesus.

Let’s note, too, what Jesus says in the dispute with the scribes that’s sandwiched between the 2 slices of the family episode.  When the scribes accuse Jesus of expelling demons thru satanic powers, he answers that no household, no kingdom, can survive if it’s at war with itself.

That’s valid not only for the kingdom of darkness but also for the kingdom of God, even in our individual hearts.  Doing the will of God requires a wholehearted commitment.  As St. Paul says (twice in fact: 1 Cor 5:6; Gal. 5:9), “A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough”—yeast here symbolizing corruption.  Several languages also have the proverb about a rotten apple spoiling the whole bushel.  That “rot” can be an individual within the community, or the evil inclinations of our own hearts.

So if we want to be in Jesus’ inner circle, his family, all we have to do is God’s will.  We have to want that with an undivided heart.

Homily for Memorial of Immaculate Heart of Mary

Homily for the Memorial
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

June 9, 2018

Luke 2: 41-51
OL of Lourdes, Bethesda, Md.

“His mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2: 51).

St. Luke tells us that as a sort of summary of our Blessed Mother’s experience of raising her Son, not without some exasperation, but with much joy, too, we may assume.

The Collect of today’s Mass also refers to Mary’s heart, speaking of God’s work therein, preparing it for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in it.

When we speak of “heart” in these contexts, we’re not really talking about the physical organ that pumps blood thru our body, of course, but about our interior attitudes, longings, desires—the orientation of our soul.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matt 6:21).

French-language holy card (printed in Milan)

dating before 1929, when Don Bosco was beatified.

Here’s a story from the lives of the saints, specifically from St. John Bosco’s biography of his pupil St. Dominic Savio:[1]

Dominic had such a natural modesty in everything about him that one might think God had created him with it.  However, his teachers and personal friends knew that his modesty was the result of strenuous effort helped by divine grace.  He had to do himself no little violence to control his eyes, for he was naturally quick to observe things.  He told a friend, “When I first made up my mind to master my eyes, I found it tiring.  Sometimes I got a bad headache.”  And yet he achieved such complete mastery that those who knew him admitted that they had never seen a single glance of his which might in any way go beyond his rigid standards of modesty.

“The eyes are two windows through which we can let anything enter,” he would say.  “We can let an angel or a devil pass to take control of our hearts.”

One day, an outsider brought into our playground a magazine containing indecent and irreligious pictures.  A group of youngsters gathered about to gape at those cartoons which would have brought a blush to a pagan.  Dominic too, thinking there was something interesting, ran to look.  When he saw what they were gloating over, he stopped short, grabbed the magazine, and, with a smile of scorn on his lips, tore it into pieces.  A hush of surprise settled over the crowd.

“How stupid can we be?  God gives us eyes to look at his beauties, and you use them to stare at this filth made by corrupt men to harm your souls.  Have you forgotten all you learned?  Our Lord says we can soil our souls with a single evil glance, and you go ahead and gloat over these dirty things!”

“We were only laughing at the drawings,” one said in excuse.

“Sure, laugh!” answered Dominic.  “Laugh yourselves right into hell!  Do you think you will still be laughing when you land there?”

“But I don’t see what’s so terribly wrong with these pictures,” objected one.

“Worse for you,” was Dominic’s answer.  “If you can’t see anything wrong in this filth, it means your eyes are used to it.  But that doesn’t excuse you.  Poor, poor Job!  You were a holy man, stretched out on a bed of pain, and still you made a pact with your eyes never to look at anything shameful!”

That silenced them.  No one dared say more or contradict Dominic.

Pretty amazing for a boy 13 years old.  And a lesson for our times, which are suffering an epidemic of pornography that’s becoming ever more acceptable and “normal” even as it’s destroying marriages and other relationships and peace of heart, and contributing to the coarsening of the way men and women regard each other.  #Metoo wasn’t born in a vacuum!

Rather than let impurity or any other vice seize our hearts—our thoughts, desires, and attitudes—we can strive to imitate our Blessed Mother’s immaculate heart, completely oriented toward Jesus Christ, so that he may be our treasure, so that—as “worthy temples of God’s glory,” as the Collect prays—we may live for him and present to our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors an image of Christ in our words and deeds.

---

       [1] The Life of St. Dominic Savio, trans. Paul Aronica, SDB (New Rochelle: Don Bosco Publications, 1979), ch. 19.

150th Anniversary of Basilica of Mary Help of Christians

150th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians

(ANS – Turin – June 8) – After a long period of preparation, the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the consecration of the basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin reached their climax on June 9. On the anniversary, Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto presided over a solemn Eucharistic concelebration in the basilica.

Abp. Renato Boccardo

The presence of the archbishop of Spoleto was not accidental. Fr. Guido Errico, director of the Salesian community of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco, explains: “In two Good Nights to the boys of the Oratory (in 1862 and 1865), St. John Bosco declared his enthusiasm and joy over some prodigious contemporary events in Spoleto, linked to a Marian image. He felt a special harmony with the title with which Archbishop Arnaldi of that city in Umbria had baptized the Marian image (Auxilium Christianorum), and he declared to one of the first Salesians, John Cagliero: ‘So far we have celebrated with solemnity and pomp the feast of Mary Immaculate, on whose day the first works of the festive oratories began. But our Lady wants us to honor her under the title Mary Help of Christians. The times are so sad that we need the Blessed Virgin help us preserve the Christian faith.”

Fr. Errico continues: “So it seemed opportune to the Salesian community to invite the successor of that shepherd of the church of Spoleto who suggested to the saint of young people the title of the basilica that he built, in obedience to the Virgin Mary, after the well-known dream of 1845.”

The solemn Mass was celebrated at 10:00 a.m. and broadcast worldwide via satellite by TELEPACE HD (channel 515 Sky), in collaboration with Missioni Don Bosco. The live streaming is accessible on the website: www.missionidonbosco.org.

Concelebrating the Eucharist together with Abp. Boccardo and many other priests was Fr. Stefano Martoglio, general councilor for the Mediterranean Region, representing Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime.

Celebrating the feast of MHC in 2012. Photo by Sr. Denise Sickinger, FMA

Don Bosco Cristo Rey Graduates 98

Don Bosco Cristo Rey Graduates 98

For 8th Straight Year, Graduates Earn 100% College Acceptance

Don Bosco Cristo Rey sent 98 young men and women (more women than men) into the world as the graduation class of 2018.  The long, solemn, happy rite was celebrated at the National Shrine on Thursday afternoon, May 31.

Since the first class graduated in 2011, every class has boasted 100% college acceptance, and DBCR is quite proud of that.  Most of the students are the first in their families to go to college--altho by now some of them have older brothers or sisters who also are DBCR alumni.

From the pulpit of the National Shrine, DBCR principal Larry Savoy 

declares 98 members of the Class of 2018 high school graduates.

Besides the magnificent setting of the upper church, one of the great things about this venue is there are no limits on who can attend—plenty of room.  The young women made almost a clean sweep of honors:  valedictorian, salutatorian, 4 of 5 Don Bosco awards, and outstanding graduate.

Most of the Catholic high schools in the Washington Archdiocese and some from the Arlington Diocese hold their commencement exercises at the Shrine.

The May 31 issue of the archdiocesan newspapers, The Catholic Standard and El Pregonero, gave the high school graduations extensive coverage.  On DBCR:

http://cathstan.org/Content/News/Homepage-Rotating-Articles/Article/Don-Bosco-Cristo-Rey-seniors-celebrate-their-future-during-college-signing-day/2/409/8445

http://www.cathstan.org/Content/News/Schools/Article/From-childhood-puzzles-to-computer-science-Cristo-Rey-valedictorian-solves-problems/2/21/8479

http://www.cathstan.org/Content/News/Schools/Article/Cristo-Rey-student-says-his-Catholic-faith-motivates-him-to-be-a-servant-to-others-/2/21/8460

http://elpreg.org/Content/Noticias/Homepage-Rotating-Articles/Article/DBCR-estudiantes-cumplieron-el-sue-o-de-graduarse-con-honores/4/483/12931

The commencement speaker was Paola Bonilla, DBCR '14, recently graduated from Albright College in Reading, Pa.

Fr. Mike Conway, DBCR president, thanks and 

congratulates Miss Bonilla for a very fine address.

The previous evening Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, celebrated the baccalaureate Mass, in the Shrine's lower church.  The archdiocese co-sponsors DBCR with the SDBs, so His Eminence takes a good deal of interest in its success.  He quite seemed to enjoy the evening—just one part of a very busy day for him.

We considered ourselves blessed because a violent thunderstorm held off until after the ceremony and everyone's departure from the Shrine.

Your humble blogger had only his cell phone with which to shoot photos from his place amid the school's faculty and staff.  Maybe he'll be able to round up some of the "official" shots.

Tragic Gas Explosion at Don Bosco Sihanoukville

Tragic Gas Explosion at Don Bosco Sihanoukville

(ANS – Sihanoukville, Cambodia – June 7) – A powerful explosion happened on June 7 at the Mechanics Department of Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville at about 1:10 p.m. and took the life of teacher Sarat Seng, manager of the mechanics workshop. It seems have been a gas explosion, probably from the machines of the Mechanics Department.

Members of the Sihanoukville Police Department came to the school about one hour after the accident. As of this posting, they were still on campus conducting their investigation.

All students were summoned to the school hall and dismissed until new further notice. The Salesians closed the school for the time being and ask for prayers and solidarity, especially for Mr. Sarat Seng and his widow and two little children.

The very powerful explosion took place behind the Mechanics Department and affected most of the campus, breaking windows and roof tiles and affecting the hearing of the people nearby, some dazed from the loud explosion. The school solar panels were not affected, as they are located on another building. In the beginning, people first thought it was lighting, common in Sihanoukville. 

The manager of electricity in Sihanoukville said to teacher Seyha of Don Bosco Kep that it seems that Mr. Sarat Seng was operating a gas welding device. When the explosion took place, fortunately for others, the students were standing at a distance. Hans Kluecle, SES expert in construction – an expert in explosions – saw the photos and believed it seemed to be a bottle, like an extinguisher. 

Three other persons – 2 students and a teacher – were brought to the hospital according to the latest updates and seem to be recovering well. One student lost his right hand. 

The worry now is to support the family of Mr. Sarath, as well as the wounded persons.

For further information, please visit the Facebook page or website of Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia.

Homily for Memorial of St. Norbert

Homily for the Memorial

of St. Norbert

June 6, 2018

Collect
2 Tim 1: 1-3, 6-12
Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Md.

“O God, you made the bishop St. Norbert a servant of your Church outstanding in his prayer and pastoral zeal” (Collect).

When we hear the term reformation, if we have some historical knowledge we’re most likely to think of the Protestant Reformation, launched by Martin Luther in 1517—we just observed its 5th centennial—and maybe of the Catholic Counter-Reformation that followed under the leadership of Ignatius Loyola, Charles Borromeo, Teresa of Avila, and many others.

But there was a great reformation movement much earlier, in the 11th and 12th centuries.  St. Norbert, born around 1080, who died in 1134, was part of that reformation.

He didn’t begin well, however.  Altho he was a cleric in what used to be called minor orders, he was a very worldly courtier—until God literally knocked him off his high horse with a lightning bolt during a storm in 1113.  He got the message, changed his life, was ordained, began to preach, and attempted the reform of his fellow clergy—which didn’t go over very well.  He gathered some followers, however, and in the region of Premontré in France began a monastic order committed to Church reform.  Known as the Premonstratensians (that’s a mouthful)—or the Norbertines (that’s easier)—they number about 1,200 worldwide today, including in the U.S.

St. Norbert (right) receives the monastic Rule

from St. Augustine (12th-c. ms.)

What needed reform in the 12th century?  Clerical life—from worldliness, sloth, self-indulgence, disregard for celibacy; false teachings, especially regarding the Eucharist; the religious indifference of many of the laity; personal enmities in need of reconciliation; attempts of secular authorities to control the Church.

St. Norbert eventually was made a bishop, and he had some success in his reform work.  The Church, it has often been said, is semper reformanda, always in need of reform.  But reform of the Church, or any institution, society, or culture, must always begin where it did with Norbert:  with personal conversion.  Nothing has changed since Jesus began his preaching by announcing:  “The kingdom of God is at hand.  Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).  So reform in the 21st century, my brothers and sisters, has to begin not with the pastor or the cardinal, not with the President or the man or woman who lives next door but with you and with me—to remove from our lives and our attitudes anything that is not Christ-like, to make Jesus Christ the center of our lives:  our thoughts, our words, our actions.  For, as St. Paul says to Timothy today, God has “called us to a holy life” (2 Tim 1:9) and to give testimony to “the promise of life in Christ Jesus” (1:1).

By the Numbers

By the Numbers

About 2 weeks ago we received vol. 2 of the Salesian Annuario for 2018.  The appendix of vol. 2 always includes the Society's official stats as of Dec. 31 of the preceding year.

It appears that the numbers in this year's publication are garbled a bit.  The total number of confreres (including novices) is given as 14,786, but when you add up the subtotals of novices, temporary professed, perpetually professed, and bishops, you get 14,744--which is not the only way that the numbers don't add up.

In any case, we have a rough idea of the Society's personnel.  The total number is down a bit from last year--by 88 if you take the higher number of SDBs given, and by 42 more if you take the lower number.

In detail, worldwide we're reported to have 9,945 priests, 1,638 professed coadjutor brothers, 2,584 professed seminarians, 19 permanent deacons, 427 novices, and 131 bishops.

The geographical spread shows the greatest number still in Europe (5,461), but Asia is gaining (4,159).  South American has 2,176 Salesians; Africa 1,715; North America and the Caribbean 934; and Australia and Oceania 326.

India, with 2,744 confreres, continues to outstrip Italy (2,028).  They're followed by Spain (950), Poland (878), and Brazil (663).

I've been informed that the Catholic Almanac is no longer published.  I guess we're supposed to be able to find everything online these days.  I, however, haven't been able to find current stats for religious orders, and so I can't state with certainty that the SDBs remain no. 2 in numbers behind the Jesuits.  (If any readers can help with current stats, let me know!)

We Have Deacons

Two Deacons Ordained for Salesians East

Brothers Eduardo Alberto Chincha and Juan Pablo Rubio were ordained deacons for the New Rochelle Province on June 2 in the Salesian parish church of St. John Bosco in Chicago. They were ordained by Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago. They have been studying theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, N.J., and in the fall will continue their preparation for priestly ordination.

New deacons Bro. Eddy Chincha (left) and Bro. Juan Pablo Rubio

with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago after their ordination on June 2.