Fr. Stephen Schenck (1952-2012)

Fr. Stephen Schenck, SDB (1952-2012)

Fr. Stephen Charles Schenck, SDB, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Port Chester, N.Y., died suddenly of a heart attack in the parish rectory on Saturday morning, Nov. 10. Medics tried in vain to revive him, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Greenwich Hospital.

Fr. Steve, 59, had been Holy Rosary’s pastor since mid-2009. Last year he celebrated his 40th anniversary of religious profession as a Salesian of Don Bosco.

Father Schenck was the son of the late Charles and Eileen Bolster Schenck. He was born in Brooklyn on November 25, 1952, and baptized at Holy Family Church on Flatlands Avenue on December 14. He was raised in Malverne on Long Island, however, where the family worshiped at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Steve attended parochial school and was confirmed in 1964. He maintained a warm relationship with the parish for the rest of his life.

Steve entered Salesian Junior Seminary in Goshen, N.Y., in 1966 and graduated in June 1970. He was admitted to the novitiate, located in Ipswich, Mass., on August 31, 1970. His master of novices was Father Theodore Ciampi. He and 19 classmates—13 from the New Rochelle Province and 6 from the San Francisco Province—professed first vows in Newton, N.J., on September 1, 1971.

Bro. Steve spent the next four years as a student of philosophy at Don Bosco College Seminary in Newton and graduated on May 31, 1975, with a B.A. summa cum laude. During these years he developed the musical and dramatic skills that would serve him and young people so well during the years of his pastoral ministry.

Fr. Steve was really happy when at a keyboard. Here he performs a hymn during the Rector Major's visit to the Marian Shrine in 2007.

While he was in college he was diagnosed with diabetes, which had already begun to show itself during his last year of high school and which was to afflict him for the rest of his life and perhaps contributed to his sudden and untimely death. But, his confrere Fr. Steve Shafran said, “He never let his health challenges get in the way of throwing himself into service for others.” 

At various summer camp assignments over the years, he “developed visual aid/skit catechetical programs,” according to one personnel inventory that he filled out.

Bro. Steve was assigned to Salesian Preparatory School in Cedar Lake, Ind., for practical training, where he taught Spanish, Latin, algebra, and a philosophy elective, and directed the band and choir. He also accumulated a store of memories, many of them hilarious, with which he regaled his confreres in future years.

In 1977 Bro. Steve began his theological studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio. Once again he excelled academically, graduating with an M.A. in theology summa cum laude. His master’s thesis was titled “The Pneumatic Ecclesiology of Heribert Mühlen.” Mühlen (1927-2006) was a German Catholic theologian whose “work is concentrated mostly on pneumatology [theology of the Holy Spirit], ecclesiology and pastoral theology,” according to Wikipedia.

He had three principal fields of apostolate during his years in Columbus: working with the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry (1978-1979), serving as a pastoral counselor for seventh and eighth graders at St. Cecilia School (1979-1980), and serving as deacon at St. Leo Church and pastoral counselor for seventh and eighth graders in its parochial school.

Fr. Steve and 7 other men of the New Rochelle Province were ordained by Bishop Edward Hermann of Columbus at Christ the King Church in Columbus on May 23, 1981. To the province leadership he identified as his preferred pastoral fields “DRA activities, counselling, positions where I would be able to be musically and dramatically involved.” Over the next 31 years his preferences were very much realized, to the benefit of students, parishioners, retreatants, and confreres.

Fr. Steve’s first priestly assignment was to Don Bosco Technical HS in Paterson, N.J. (1981-1986), where he was director of religious activities (DRA). His musical talent came out strongly in his work with the young men of Don Bosco as he composed a number of hymns in a style that appeals to young people. In this period he composed “Friend of the Young and the Poor” in honor of St. John Bosco, which proved so popular that it has remained a favorite at Salesian celebrations across the U.S., and in other countries too.

A three-year stint followed at the Salesian Center for Youth Ministry in Goshen (1986-1989) leading youth retreats and other programs. In 1988 he began studies in religious education and youth ministry at Fordham University, which resulted in an M.S. degree in 1990.

Fr. Steve’s first assignment to Holy Rosary Parish came in 1989, when he was posted there as assistant pastor for two years with responsibility particularly for youth ministry. In 1991 he moved to the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw-Stony Point, N.Y., and began two 3-year terms on the provincial council with oversight and guidance responsibilities for the province’s youth ministry programs.

Fr. Steve (2d from left) joins other priest jubilarians renewing their priestly commitment in 2006, when he celebrated 25 years as a priest

As the New Rochelle Province celebrated the centennial of its foundation in 1998, Fr. Steve served on the committee planning various festivities. Fr. Shafran served with him and remembers: “We had worked together closely when I was on the vocation team in Stony Point at the same time he was province coordinator for youth ministry, but it was when we were asked to collaborate on the celebrations at the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden in New York that I came to see his extraordinary talents come alive. [He showed] humble service, hard work, extreme and total dedication to the young and the poor, total dedication to the educational approach of St. John Bosco and consummate belief in the Salesian principles that are foundational to our views on youth ministry—that, together with his gift of music … as a means for prayer and reaching the young.”

A second assignment to Don Bosco Tech in Paterson came at the end of his 6 years on the provincial council in 1997. As director of the school, he labored mightily to provide a sound education for the poorest boys in Paterson and to keep the school afloat financially. He took a personal interest in each confrere, member of the staff, and student, encouraging and correcting as need be, deeply appreciative of each one’s contributions to the life of the school or the community, or to himself in his coping with diabetes. In the face of the school’s aging buildings, as well as the demographics of the area, raising sufficient funds proved to be a losing fight—not in Fr. Steve’s eyes but in those of the province leadership, who decided in December 2001 to close the school at the end of the school year in May 2002. It was a hard blow for Fr. Steve to absorb (as well as for many other people).

He headed south in 2002, to Miami, for a less stressful responsibility as assistant pastor of St. Kieran Church. The parochial experience was prelude to a more serious pastoral responsibility in 2003, when he was named pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Washington, D.C., and superior of the Salesian community staffing the parish and Don Bosco Cristo Rey HS in Takoma Park, Md.

Fr. Steve’s pastoral sensitivities and his musical talents both struck powerful chords in the Washington parish. He relished bringing the parish’s fine Gospel choir to province events, such as the visit of the Rector Major to the Marian Shrine in 2007. Bro. Tom Sweeney of the Washington Salesian community writes: “His love for the arts also spread to Nativity’s parishioners. Before Christmas, he would organize a bus to go to New York to see a play, have a nice dinner, and stay overnight at Stony Point or a hotel. He was the life of the party and enjoyed every moment of it.” Fr. Steve also put together a group of young musicians and singers, from Washington and elsewhere, to cut a CD of his music, called “The God Who Is True to Me,” released late in 2009.

Bro. Tom also remembers: “Steve loved to cook. It was total relaxation for him just to go into the kitchen and prepare a delicious meal for the community on some Sundays and feasts. He always made sure all the ingredients were fresh and were the best. He would play a favorite CD as he prepared the meal. While waiting for something to be cooked, he would be doing crossword puzzles. He would serve the meal and then sit down to enjoy the meal and all the accolades that would be lavished on him by the community. He wanted to make sure that the community had a great meal and would just relax and enjoy each other’s company during the meal. He was a community type of guy.”

Taking a half day or full day off each week, Bro. Tom continues, Fr. Steve would go for a bike ride or a movie and then speak of his day’s adventure at dinner with the community, discussions that both he and the confreres much enjoyed.

With his usual elan, Fr. Steve entertains his family at the reception after the province's jubilees celebration in 2011

Bro. Tom concludes: “I know I will truly miss him—living with him in the seminary, attending Fordham with him as we both were going for our Masters, and having him as my director here in Washington. But most important, he was truly a friend and a true Salesian. It is sad that the young and new confreres will never know him and also realize the impact that he had on the province and on individuals.”

When his term as director ended in 2009, Fr. Steve was sent back to Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester, this time as pastor. Succeeding the very popular and zealous Fr. Tim Ploch, he had big shoes to fill—which he did. He had already learned a good amount of Spanish, and he honed that skill in his daily interactions with the parish’s largely immigrant population.

As pastor of Holy Rosary, he was involved in the training of the Salesian novices of the United States in 2009-2011, while the novitiate was located at the parish, particularly their apostolic work like teaching CCD and working in the youth center. This year he was similarly involved with the New Rochelle Province’s prenovices, who moved into the parish at the end of August.

Fr. Steve, at right, joined Fr. Tom Dunne and Fr. Bill Keane, at the altar for the 1st profession in August 2011, in Holy Rosary Church

He also offered warm hospitality each August to the Salesian Lay Missioners and Salesian Domestic Volunteers during their orientation period, during which they spent a week working in the summer camp of the two Salesian parishes of Port Chester; this year they resided in the parishes for two weeks instead of one, as previously. Adam Rudin, director of the SLM program, laments Fr. Steve's loss: “Fr. Steve was such a blessing to the Salesian Lay Missioner program in the years that I have been affiliated, both as an SLM and as director. Fr. Steve was one of the biggest advocates of the program and really seemed to ‘get it.’ He was a master at integrating lay missioners into a community of vowed religious and was great at orienting newly commissioned lay missioners on what the realities are like in community life. I think that’s the word that keeps coming up when I reflect on Fr. Steve: community.”

One of the SLMs, Paula Rendon, writes from Ethiopia: “I am deeply saddened to hear that he is no longer with us—even though we only got to know him for a couple of weeks, he was an integral part of our formation and preparation for our year of mission.”

Typical of his personal approach to people is what he showed to Fr. Paul Grauls, who had been his vice director and assistant pastor in Washington: “On the day of my 50th [anniversary] at Stony Point [last September], Steve came up to me in the vesting room, gave me a warm kiss and very special wishes. I had not seen him since he left Nativity.”

Fr. Steve was chosen to speak for all the jubilarians in 2011, and he did so with his customary humor and eloquence

On the occasion of his fortieth anniversary of religious profession in 2011, Fr. Steve said: “I have enjoyed my years of priestly service, especially all those things that involved me with young people. I have found that my interactions with them, especially the poorest among them, have taught me at least as much as my formal studies have, if not more. Above all, it’s been in the active ministry that I have experienced the presence of God in my life, and I count myself blessed to have received and followed this vocation.”

Fr. Shafran sums up his reaction to Fr. Steve’s life and death thus: “I greatly appreciated his wisdom, sensitivity, writing, preaching and spirit of joy—what a great sense of humor! What a gift he has been to the province! What a void this leaves in us. I am greatly saddened and know that many, many others who had the benefit of Steve in their lives feel the same—a great feeling of emptiness in the gut ... but with great faith we must see that the Lord has welcomed this holy man of God and faithful Salesian to himself.”

From Chile, Father Harry Peterson, SDB, one of Fr. Steve’s high school teachers, writes: “He has ALWAYS been an inspiration. Steve’s profound sense of what’s right, of what’s Salesian, his tremendous dedication to put to good use, with great simplicity, his keen intelligence and many gifts, have made him the son of God, in the charism of Don Bosco, that has enhanced and rejoiced our whole province.”

Fr. Pascual Chavez, Rector Major of the Salesians, wrote this to Fr. Tom Dunne today: "I had the opportunity to meet him several times, first as regional councilor for the Interamerica Region when he was the director of Paterson, and then as Rector Major, and I can tell you that he gave me a wonderful impression because of his great Salesian identity, of his love for the poor and those most in need, well expressed in his songs. At the same time, I was witness of his illness, but the news of his death has been for me a great surprise. The last time I met him was in Washington [in 2007], so my mind and my heart are full of beautiful memories of him."

Fr. Steve is survived by his sisters Eileen Gavigan and Patricia Schenck, brothers William and Mark, eight nephews and nieces, and three grandnephews.

Fr. Steve was waked in the parish church on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 12-13, including Rosary and Mass each evening. Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York, presided over the Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday morning, and our provincial, Fr. Tom Dunne, preached. Burial in the province cemetery followed.

A day or 2 later, Sr. Teresa Gutierrez, FMA, send me a couple of short video clips of Fr. Steve making a presentation to the teachers of the sisters' 2 South Florida schools as part of their orientation for the new school year last August. They're not a complete presentation by any means, but they do give a taste of Fr. Steve's style:

 

Archbishop Savio Hon Awarded Honorary Degree

Archbishop Savio Hon
Awarded Honorary Doctorate

The School of Theology of Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., conferred an honorary doctorate in theology upon Abp. Savio Hon Tai-fai, SDB, in an academic ceremony on November 8, 2012. The ceremony took place in the University’s Immaculate Conception Chapel and was attended by a couple of hundred seminarians and seminary faculty, including 11 Salesians.

The archbishop was honored for his dedication to the theological formation of priests, his translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church into Chinese, his service on the International Theological Commission, and his service to the Church as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Abp. John J. Myers of Newark presided over the ceremony, which was coordinated by Msgr. Joseph Reilly, rector of the School of Theology. The Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States was also involved in the planning and sponsored a reception for the archbishop following the ceremony. Abp. Myers joined Dr. Gabriel Esteban, president of the School of Theology, in presenting the degree.

After receiving his honorary doctorate, Abp. Hon gave an address entitled “Love and Wisdom: Cardinal Costantini’s Experience in China.” Abp. Celso Costantini was the first apostolic delegate to China (1922-1933), and in that office he displayed true missionary wisdom. 

Abp. Hon began his talk by referring to the Summer Palace in Beijing, also called the Garden of Perfect Splendor, which was reputed to compare favorably with any natural or man-made beauty in the West. Yet it was burned by the British and French in 1860, its ruins becoming for the Chinese people a symbol of colonial oppression.

Arriving in China, Costantini already understood this, and his devoted himself to separating Christianity and its missionary activity from anything related to Western imperialism. “The proclamation of Christ,” he said, “should go hand in hand with healing the people.”

In one of his writings, the apostolic delegate recounted how he had gone into a pagoda on one occasion and observed many dry, fallen leaves within its precincts. This led him to a reflection on those leaves (foglie in Italian), producing for him the four F’s of missionary wisdom.

               1. Formation of the people. The Chinese should be formed in authentic faith without any contamination of colonialism. They should be formed to appreciate their own country and culture.

               2. Fostering their religious arts. Costantini was himself an artist, and he observed at once that European architecture, e.g. in the churches, didn’t fit the Chinese character; it was insulting to the Chinese, and thus an obstacle to missionary activity. Their own styles could be adapted appropriately for Christian purposes.

               3. Friendship with all. A virtuous man’s character is strengthened by his friends. Friendship could be considered a means that God provides for the improvement of human beings. Friends help one learn self-discipline.

               4. Faith in God. The Christian faith enlarged Costantini’s heart. He found that the proclamation of Jesus Christ was more powerful when combined with Chinese wisdom. So he aimed at an intercultural synthesis between East and West. He called Christ the tao who recapitulates all wisdom; tao is literally “the way,” but it could be given also the sense of the Greek logos. Anticipating the developments of Vatican II, Costantini looked for manifestations of Christ in Chinese culture.

Respecting the culture and character of the Chinese is the only way to lead them to Christ, Costantini believed. The Garden of Perfect Splendor has long disappeared. But Costantini’s dry, fallen leaves have lasted, forming a carpet on which one may walk toward Christ.

Following Abp. Hon’s address, Abp. Myers offered a few words of appreciation, also noting that in his capacity as the ecclesiastical ordinary of the Turks and Caicos Islands he comes under the jurisdiction of Abp. Hon’s Roman dicastery.

After the ceremony Abp. Hon and the other dignitaries mingled for some time with the seminarians and faculty outside the chapel. Abp. Hon particularly enjoyed speaking with his fellow Salesians and happily posed for several photos with them. He regretted that he couldn’t stop by the Salesian house of formation in Orange because his hosts had him on a tight schedule.

From left: Msgr. Joseph Chiang (retired president of Chinese Apostolate in North America), Bro. Eddy Chincha, Fr. Jay Horan, Bro. Peter Le, Bro. Steve DeMaio, Bro. Mike Eguino, Abp. Hon, Fr. John Serio, Fr. Mike Mendl, Ron Chauca, Simon Song, Bro. John Rasor, and Bro. Miguel Suarez

Hurricane Sandy Comes to New Rochelle

Hurricane Sandy Comes to New Rochelle

We did our pre-storm prep on Saturday and Sunday and hunkered down on Sunday nite, expecting Sandy's arrival overnite.

She didn't show up, and except for the schools and our mission office being closed, it was a pretty normal morning here, and we went out for our usual Masses except the one at Villa Maria, which the sisters canceled.  But the clouds were evidently gathering and the wind picking up.  By 1:15 our 2 employees who'd come to work had headed home.

Rain came in mid-afternoon, but not as much as we'd expected.  The wind was all that was predicted, tho.  We watched what we could see from our windows--there were white caps in the inlet between our ball field and Five Islands Park, not to mention what was going on out in Echo Bay and Long Island Sound.

At 7:10 p.m. the power went out in about half the house:  most of the basement level, half the 1st floor, part of the 2d floor, all of the 3d floor.  I lit up 3 camping lanterns for 2 of the hallways and my room, and I went to bed earlier than usual.

On Tuesday a.m. the worst apparently was over.  We rigged up extension cords to get light in chapel and, later, to keep the refrigerators cold.  Power was out at the mission office but apparently not at the high school.  Around 11:00 p.m. we got our power back--far luckier than most people.  I wonder whether being across the street from the sewage treatment plant had anything to do with that?

Some of us went out to see the damage:  a large old maple down at the school's picnic-pool area (photo above), lying across the driveway; our grand old cherry tree along Lefevre Lane, down; large limbs scattered in many places.  But no major damage, thank God.

The cherry tree tell into the batting cage of the ball field, and an adjacent tree (not sure what variety--probably another cherry)--fell across Lefevre Lane

The tide had come perhaps 50 feet into center field and left a line of debris stretching across to right field.  Beyond the outfield fence there was another, deeper line of leaves, twigs, plastic, a dustpan and broom, and more.  The water came up nearly to the mission office parking lot at the other side of the property, again leaving a trail of debris, including bits of cord wood and a plastic tricycle.

A line of debris stretching across the outfield of Salesian HS's baseball field--no danger to any of our buildings from the surge

The surge had to rise really, really high to carry all this flotsam up to the verge of the mission office parking lot (out of sight to the right)

After lunch Bro. Andy went out with a chain saw and begun cutting up the fallen maple.  Then he fired up an ancient wood chipper, and Fr. John and I fed it steadily until it ran out of gas, while Bro. Andy kept fiddling with the machinery to keep it chugging along.

Meanwhile, numerous visitors came to our property, apparently walking thru to Five Islands Park (whose gate on Lefevre Lane was shut) to see what there was to see from that vantage point.  One family came by while we were setting up the wood chipper and asked whether they could have the main parts of the tree for firewood.  We said sure!  So they came back with a pick-up truck and their own chain saw, and by late afternoon most of the tree was gone, to their benefit as well as ours.  Too bad no one mentioned the cherry tree to them.  (Readers?  Need some good firewood?)

Bro. Andy with chain saw (left) and Fr. John take on the maple

School remained shut thru Wednesday.  Our house employees returned to work, and so did many of the mission office staff.  Transportation all over the area was a mess, with trees and wires down, some traffic lights out, etc.  Few gas stations were open (no power), causing long lines at those that were open, including our local station (a few blocks east on Main St).  Thus the traffic on Main St was non-stop in the eastbound right lane, making entry and exit from our property a challenge.  

Bro. Andy had to keep fiddling with the chpper to keep it running

On Saturday I got in line for gas at 5:40 a.m. with one of our cars that was down to 1/8 tank.  It took me an hour to reach the pumps--most of the time consisting of waiting for the station to open at 6:15.

As of midday today, about 6,000 households and businesses in N.R. were still without electric power, according to a recorded message from Mayor Bransom.  The emergency shelter in the city's north end was still open.

But around here it's nothing like what they're dealing with in Lower Manhattan, south shore of LI, and Jersey Shore.  God was very good to us, and we pray for those who lost so much and are going thru many days in the cold and dark.

We became a refugee camp for some SDBs:  Fr. Jerry Sesto was brought over from Elizabeth, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon because they didn't have heat or light at the rectory, and the prenovices and Bro. Tom Dion came come down from Port Chester to sleep Wednesday nite because of same.  But P.C. got their power back on Thursday, so that was a one-nite stand!  Fr. Jerry stayed with us till Saturday afternoon.

Conditions at the airports affected confreres who were away.  One was kept away with his family for an extra day, and Fr. Provincial was stranded in Rosemead, Calif. (poor guy!) till Friday instead of Tuesday.  We're sure the novices were glad to have his presence a couple of extra days.

One of the 2 gents who cut up the maple and hauled off the firewood

Jackie Kraft, treasurer of Troop 40, belongs to the New Rochelle Rowing Club.  She advised me to go to Hudson Park and see what Sandy did to the Club--wiped out the 1st floor, leaving the 2d floor and attic standing on posts and a couple of cement block walls at the back.  And a sailboat leaning up against one side of what's left of the first floor (and another sailboat perched against the rocks on the other side of the parking lot).

Harbor-facing front of the New Rochelle Rowing Club, with the side walls of its bottom story washed away and its fence destroyed

One sailboat leaning against the rear of the Rowing Club, and another stranded in Hudson Park's parking lot

 

Looking up Lefevre La. toward Main St. from our gate. The lower part of the street was awash during the storm surge, which seems to have carried a loose tire well up the street, where it still lay well into Tuesday (you should be able to spot it). The Honda dealer's lot at left is usually jammed full of new cars, but as you can see, a large portion of the lot was evacuated before the storm. Good thing!

Can you believe there was that much greenery still on our maple, oak, and other trees on October 30?

 

[With the original post:] You'd like to see photos, wouldn't you?  Well, that's another issue, unrelated to Sandy.  On Monday the mother board of my computer gave up the ghost.  Since Thursday evening I've been working with a temp CPU.  It won't work with my printer, and I'm afraid it won't work with the camera either.  Eventually I'll find out about that.

[Update:]  As it turned out, the USB from camera to temp computer worked fine.  It just took me till Nov. 21 to add the pix to the blog post.

Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Collect

Ursulines, Willow Drive, N.R.

Nov. 4, 2012                                                                

“Grant that we may hasten without stumbling to receive the things you have promised” (Collect).

Like many collects of the Roman liturgy, our opening prayer this morning begins by addressing God as “almighty and merciful.”  We pray to and we worship him who has made everything, including us, who thru his Son has vanquished all the powers of evil, chaos, and death.  We pray to and we worship him who has freely offered us forgiveness, redemption, and restoration to a healthy relationship with himself, not because we deserve it but because is all-merciful.

How has he displayed his power and his mercy toward us?  He redeemed and restored our Hebrew ancestors by leading them out of slavery into “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 6:3).  He redeems and restores us by eradicating our sins and incorporating us into Jesus Christ, so that we might arrive at a different kind of Promised Land.  Today’s collect 1st highlights what God has done mightily and then prays that he’ll continue to act mercifully for our benefit.

What he has done is make us a gift:  “God, by whose gift your faithful offer….”  We come together as his faithful to make the offering of our worship.  But what we have available to offer, the very fact of our gathering, the fact of our having been chosen to be among his faithful—all these are his gifts to us, not our own doing, not our own deserving.  St. Paul writes to the Romans:  “Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.  And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” (4:4-5). 

The gift that we have to offer as God’s faithful people is that “right and praiseworthy service 1st offered by Jesus, God’s holy One, God’s righteous One.  We offer Jesus in his whole self—body and blood, soul and divinity, as the old catechism said concerning the Eucharistic sacrament; but more:  we offer Jesus’ life, ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and heavenly glory; his total self-gift to the Father.  All this we offer to God as we unite our intentions and our lives with Jesus.  We can do so because we have been gifted—“elected” or chosen by the Father to be among his people, as our fathers Abraham and Jacob were chosen, not on their merits but by God’s sheer goodness, and were justified by their faith in God’s promises.

Our petition follows:  may we hasten without stumbling to receive what he has promised.  One commentary points to the connection between our “haste” and the running of Peter and John to the empty tomb on Easter Sunday (John 20:3-4); both the Collect and John’s gospel text use the Latin verb curro, “to run, to hasten.”*  We run, we hasten to the glory of the resurrection, which is what God has promised to his faithful people.

As we all know, haste can lead to a stumble—take it from a veteran hiker!  So can weariness, even when you’re trying to be careful.  So can walking, not to mention running, in poor light, as you may have found out in recent days.  So we need divine assistance, divine light, to be careful and sure where we set our feet in our pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful—all that God has promised us in Christ; and to keep our feet in a world where there’s much uneven ground, many snares and false paths.

And that’s our prayer this morning, and every day.

---

* Daniel J. Merz and Marcel Rooney, OSB, Essential Presidential Prayers and Texts: A Roman Missal Study Edition and Workbook (Chicago: LTP, 2011), p. 238.

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the
30th Sunday
in Ordinary Time

Oct. 28, 2012

Heb 5: 1-6

Ursulines, Willow Drive, New Rochelle

“Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb 5: 1).

Just for the record, the Greek word translated as “men” here is άνθρωπος, “human being,” in the genitive plural, used twice in the Greek text.  The stress, then, is on the humanity of the high priest.

The Letter to the Hebrews takes as a major theme the priesthood of Jesus Christ, and the 2d part of our reading today gets to that.

Except for a century of independence in the 2d and 1st centuries B.C., the period of the Maccabees, in the Jewish world after the return from the Babylonian Exile, ca. 540 B.C. (our responsorial psalm today reflects the joy of the Jews when they came home), until the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., the most important figure was the high priest.  He was both a religious and a political power, and that’s reflected in our Gospels as well as in more secular histories like those of Josephus.

 Hebrews is concerned with the religious figure of the priest.  The 1st 4 verses of our reading today make 4 points:

1. The priest is a human being chosen to represent his fellow human beings before God.  He’s a mediator.

2. He offers gifts and sacrifices for sins.  He offers atonement.

3. Being human, he is himself weak and thus he deals patiently with sinners.  His sin offering or atonement has to be offered for himself as well as for everyone.

4. Only God can choose someone for priesthood.

In our passage, the writer—who is anonymous—takes up that last point 1st, asserting that Christ didn’t “glorify himself” by “becoming high priest”; rather, God (the Father) appointed him to the office.  The writer cites 2 verses from the messianic Ps 110 in support of his assertion.  Elsewhere in the letter he deals with the other 3 points.

We, however, will deal with them now.

In our Christian faith, there is only 1 priest, namely, Jesus Christ.  There is only 1 sacrifice offered for the sins of human beings, namely, Jesus’ sacrifice.  The man who stands before you now, like all other presbyters as well as all bishops, exercises the priesthood of Jesus, offers the sacrifice of Jesus, deals sacramentally with sinners in the name and in the person of Jesus; that’s why he’s called alter Christus, “another Christ.”  “Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers,” St. Thomas teaches, as quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.[1]

Hebrews doesn’t stress the humanity of Jesus the way the First Letter of John does, for instance, because of 1st-century controversies.  Gnostic heresies denied that Jesus was truly human.  Hebrews, tho, stresses Jesus’ identification with us, one who can represent us at God’s throne because he’s one of us, like an ambassador dealing with a foreign government; and one who can sympathize with us and be compassionate with us because he’s one of us.  He knows our weaknesses.  Hebrews says 2 verses before this passage—it was in our reading last week—that he’s been tested in every way that we’re tested, the only difference being that he didn’t fail any tests, didn’t yield to any temptations (4:15), which the Synoptic Gospels also teach us.  And the Gospels show very clearly how patiently and compassionately Christ deals with sinners, with ordinary human beings who have a little bit of good will, who are humbly open to God’s grace.

Christ’s sacrifice for sin, the gift of his own will and his own body, was offered only once, which Hebrews emphasizes in ch. 10.  Today’s passage, citing Ps 110, attributes to him an eternal priesthood:  “You are a priest forever,” immortal after his resurrection and his consecration by God (5:5-6).  Christ’s sacrifice of his body and blood, of his will, of his entire life, culminated on Calvary, and it continues thru his personal, living presence before the Father.  Our Eucharist makes that sacrifice present here—the one, same sacrifice of Calvary; the one, same sacrifice Christ offers continuously to his Father as our representative, in atonement for our sins.

“No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God” (5:4).  Every Christian is called by God to a share in Christ’s priesthood (as well as in his kingship and prophetic office).  Every Catholic Christian takes part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, offering Christ’s body and blood thru the hands of the ministerial priest, and by right, as a Christian priest, partakes of the sacrifice, i.e., eats what has been offered to God as sacred food.

Every Christian is called to offer her body and blood, her will and entire person, to the Father, day in and day out.  St. Paul urges the Church of Rome “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.  Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind [that would mean “conversion”], that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (12:1-2).  This self-offering may be a free will offering of praise and humility to God; it may be an atonement offering for our sins.

Shortly after Paul wrote, the Christians of Rome were called upon to offer their bodies as living sacrifices indeed—victims of Nero’s persecution:  living torches lighting up the imperial gardens at nite, food for wild beasts at public entertainments.  Sadly, some Christians are still compelled to offer themselves thus—victims of Communist or Islamist persecutions or defenders of human rights against other oppressive regimes.  Our self-offering might involve nothing more challenging than dragging our bodies out of bed in the morning to rise for God’s service.  It might involve serving another person who needs assistance, no matter how long and tiring our day has been.  It might involve stifling some cutting remark we’re on the verge of making to or about someone.  It might involve saying no when we’ve really had enuf to eat or drink.

So we all have lots of possibilities, beside celebrations of the sacred liturgy, to exercise our share in the priesthood of Jesus, offering gifts and sacrifices for sins, because we have been honored by a divine call.

---

               [1] CCC n. 1545.

Michael A. Boccardi Memorial Trek-o-ree 2012

The Michael A. Boccardi
Memorial Trek-o-ree
2012 Edition

The annual trek-o-ree of the Algonquin District of the Westchester-Putnam Council of the Boy Scouts of America is dedicated to the memory of Scoutmaster Michael A. Boccardi of Troop Forty, Mount Vernon.  For Algonquin, it's a carry-over from the late Four Rivers District, dissolved in 2010 by the Council with the troops, including T40, folded into neighboring districts.

Mike was a stockbroker with Fred Alger Management, and he worked on the 92d floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  He probably was killed immediately when the 1st plane hit the tower on 9/11.

For a good number of years Mike had organized the Four Rivers trek-o-ree, and done it with the passion that he did everything that involved Scouting.  See http://sdbnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/remembering-most-of-us-kept-somber.html  Memorializing him in this fashion is appropriate.

This year's trek took place at Durland Scout Reservation in Putnam Valley on Oct. 20, with most of the troops that took part camping out on Friday and Saturday nites, the 19th-20th.  Nine troops from Mt. Vernon, Bronxville, Yonkers, Pelham, Rye, and Scarsdale took part; perhaps others that I didn't catch sight of.

Some of the troops at morning assembly

As usual, T40 was late getting away from St. Ursula's Church in Mt. Vernon (a "tradition" dating back at least to the Boccardi era, which is as far back as my regular involvement with the troop goes).  We left at 7:40 p.m. on a wet Friday and arrived at our campsite, no. 35, around 9:00 p.m.  We had 11 boys, 2 of them on their very 1st camping trip, and 4 adult Scouters, including yours truly.  We've had lots of practice pitching camp in the dark, and we got that done without any unusual experiences.  Everything was soggy, but at least it wasn't raining.  We got a nice little fire going once camp was set up.  Our campsite wasn't a good one, with very little level ground for pitching tents, and 1 of the 2 picnic tables was damaged.

On Saturday we got up at 7:00.  It was still dreary, so the light was late coming, and I slept (or at least tried to) later than usual; I wound up saying a hasty Mass on the picnic table even as the Scouts were setting up the stoves for breakfast, going "shhhh, shhhh" on the Lord's behalf.

Fortunately, I'd brought along 2 stoves and 2 griddles to supplement what the troop had brought (2 stoves, 2 large frying pans).  So we were able to do our pancakes and sausages pretty quickly.  But the stuff then had to be cleaned, and we had to make our sandwiches for lunch.

Making lunch

We aimed to get to the assembly at the Sperling Center at 9:00 a.m.  I gather that not many troops made it on time; we certainly didn't.  I think the rites must have started at 9:30, a few moments before we did get there.  The 9 troops were divided into 15 patrols of 5-8 Scouts each for the trek, and 1 or 2 adults went with just about all of the patrols.

Asst. Scoutmasters Louie Antunez and Jariel Felton opted to go shopping for more vittles for supper, leaving me and Asst. Scoutmaster Mike Berman to accompany our 2 patrols.  I asked Mike which one he wanted to go with, and he chosed Tyler Gaines's patrol of 5 Scouts.  I went with David Ford's 6-Scout patrol.  They went one way to start on the Red Trail, and we went the other way--actually starting with the 2 skills stations right at the Sperling Center.

On our way to the Sperling Center, we passed Sperling Pond, where autumn's foliage was fabulous

By starting time, the sun was out gloriously, and we had comfortably warm day, ideal for taking pictures.  The foliage was at its colorful peak.  I took 72 photos, some of which I'll get up here.

The idea of a trek-o-ree is to hike, and along the trail to demonstrate the troop's Scouting skills at various stations set up along the trail.  Each patrol is rated 1-10 points at each station on such merits as the skill itself and Scout spirit.  I think the time taken to complete the hike is also factored when the patrols are ranked and awards presented at day's end.

David's patrol at Kim's game

Last year the trek followed the same course, and several patrols, including the one I was with, had great difficulty finding trail blazes.  We went seriously astray and didn't even complete the hike because it got too late and everyone was totally bushed.  This year, I'm happy to say, the trail was freshly blazed, and very well blazed, and I don't think anyone going in either direction had any trouble following it.

Raising our flag

David's patrol did well or very well at 7 of the 8 stations (archery was a little too challenging; they scored only 4 hits in 10 shots).  We don't know how well they did overall, as they weren't in the top 3 announced in the evening.  (Neither was Tyler's patrol.)  But we all had fun, and of course it was also a learning experience.  Thanks to all the Scouters manning the 8 stations!

At the morning assembly, Mass was announced for 5:00 p.m. at the campfire ring.  Our troop showed up, and 2 other Scouters.  That was it!  Disappointment here.  Apparently all the other troops were busy with supper.  We managed to get in supper after Mass, even with the 10-minute walk back to our site.

Lesson for next occasion (e.g. the spring camp-o-ree):  keep Mass in our own campsite or a neighboring one.  Let whoever comes, come.  Alternative:  have Mass after the evening campfire, when everyone's already eaten and is at a central site (with the downsides of celebrating in the dark, and yours truly possibly being completely wiped out by the day's events).

Our boys play Robin Hood

Stew Walsh questions the patrol about first aid

Below the first aid station was a brook that was a challenge to cross without getting wet or losing one's footing. The patrol ahead of us scouted out possible crossings took 5 minutes to cross.

The knots station became a choke point (a knotty situation?), with 4 patrols there at one point--1 acting and 3 waiting their turns.  David's patrol has a go here.

From knots, down to the road and everyone's favorite part of the hike--lunch!

Back into the woods and up a long, steep hill--and we met Tyler's patrol with Mr. Berman coming the other way.  Rest stop for both patrols.

Our original supper plan was to do tin-foil chicken (with potatoes and carrots).  But we decided that would take too long, so we used our 4 stoves again.  Louie and Jariel had added burgers to the menu.  And we totally forgot to bring out the salad from the cooler.  Even so, we were a few minutes late for the campfire, which began just before 7:30 p.m. (a moment before I got there at 7:30; and thus the opening prayer came about 2 skits into the ritual).

Most of the patrols offered one skit or song, some of them quite entertaining.  Mike Boccardi was remembered twice, in my prayer and in Bill Hopkins's Scoutmaster minute.  Troop 5 Yonkers retired a huge American flag, which was solemnly burned, each patrol taking a section of it and casting it upon the flames.  Then we had Taps and Scout Vespers.

Identifying different trees by their leaves is a head-scratching business

After trying steel on magnesium (extra point if successful), David finally had to resort to a match to get the fire going

David shows the Scouters and his own patrol how to lash a small pole to a larger one

A very successful trek-o-ree.

And may our friend Mike Boccardi enjoy eternal peace with our Lord!

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the
29th Sunday
in Ordinary Time

This weekend I was out in the Putnam Valley woods with Troop Forty, taking part in the annual Michael A. Boccardi Memorial Trek-o-ree.  I celebrated Mass there, and again this morning at St. Vincent's Hospital, but without a written text for either Mass.  Here's an oldie, then.

 

Mark 10: 35-45

St. Joseph, Passaic, N.J.

Oct. 22, 2000                 

“The cup that I drink, you will drink” (Mark 10: 39).

You can go into some large bookstores and find a section of books for dummies:  Windows 95 for Dummies, Macintosh for Dummies, even subjects with nothing to do with computers, like Bicycling for Dummies and travel guides for dummies.  At our Sunday liturgies we’ve been reading what we might call “Gospel for Dummies.”  Week after week, Jesus explains some truth about the way to salvation, and the apostles, like dummies, don’t get it.

Five weeks ago, Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus made his 1st prediction of his coming passion, death, and resurrection.  Peter said that couldn’t happen to Jesus, and Jesus chewed him out, even calling him “Satan.”

Four weeks ago Jesus made the 2d prediction of his passion, death, and resurrection.  The disciples proceeded to get into an argument among themselves about who was the greatest.  Jesus had to remind them that the greatest among them was the one who served everyone else.

Three weeks ago John was jealous of the apostles’ position as Jesus’ closest followers when he saw someone else driving out demons in Jesus’ name, and Jesus had to admonish him.

Two weeks ago, people were bringing children to Jesus to be blessed, and the apostles were trying to chase them away.  Jesus welcomed the children, blessed them, and reminded the Twelve that we must be like children if we want to enter the kingdom of God.

Last week, when the rich man did not accept Jesus’ invitation to become a disciple, Jesus pointed out that it was close to impossible for people with earthly attachments to be saved; but with God all things were possible.  Peter immediately wanted to know—at least he implied it—what was in it for them who had followed Jesus.  Jesus promises his followers a multitude of new family, and persecution and eternal life.

Between last Sunday’s gospel and today’s we skip a small passage in which Jesus once more predicts his coming passion, death, and resurrection.  Then we come to James and John’s ambition:  “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left” (10:37).  Jesus is talking about serving others, being like a child, suffering and death as the way to eternal life.  They’re asking for power and authority.  And when the other 10 apostles find out that James and John have tried to jump ahead of them, “they became indignant at James and John” (10:41).  They just don’t get it.  So Jesus, infinitely patient with them, as he is with us, has to explain it to them again:  Gospel for dummies.

St. James the Greater, Basilica of Immaculate Conception, Washington

Yes, James and John, like every disciple of Jesus, must drink his cup:  must undergo self-denial, persecution, and suffering, and must finally pass thru death.  Whoever wishes to be great in the Christian community—wishes to be a great Christian—must be “the slave of all” (10:44) in imitation of Jesus himself, who came “to serve and to give his life as a ransom” (10:45).

Talk of suffering and death and service to others is not exactly attractive.  But Jesus has pointed out to us that he has drunk this same cup first:  “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? …The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized” (10:38-39).  And in the other 2 readings today we heard about Christ’s suffering.  1st, the prophet Isaiah foretold that the Lord’s Servant would suffer:  “The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.  If he gives his life as an offering for sin….  through his suffering, my servant shall justify many” (Is 53:10-11).  Then, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, our high priest, entered heaven to be our intercessor only after having himself experienced our human weakness, after having been tested in every way that we are:  being tempted by sin, knowing intense suffering, and dying a cruel and shameful death.

St. John the Apostle, Basilica of Immaculate Conception

The Lord’s cup of suffering, our personal baptism into his passion and death, comes to us in many ways.

You don’t like the weather.  You don’t like the traffic.  Your neighbors’ dog barks at 3:00 a.m., or their teenage offspring party beyond your bedtime.  We all suffer from this sort of affliction, and for most of it there’s not much we can do about it.  Except in our attitude.  Without liking it, we can accept it as part of our human condition and offer our discomfort or aggravation to the Lord, in union with Jesus.  Our cup becomes part of his cup.

Then there’s stuff we do have control over, to some extent.  Your body hurts because of illness, weariness, or old age.  You try to do something about it:  medicine, rest, surgery, make-up, hair dye.  OK.  But sometimes what you try takes time to kick in, or it just isn’t successful.  You have a hard time getting up in the morning.  But you have to.  Sometimes your job or other responsibilities make unpleasant demands upon you.  You have a relative, a co-worker, a neighbor who just loves to bend your ear, but you find her or him rather tiresome after a while.  You try to be polite, even long-suffering, but part of you after a while wants to say, “All right, already.  Who cares about your Chihuahua’s lumbago or the 38th picture of your grandchild?”  All of these are part of the human condition, which we can whine about, inwardly rebel against, even get angry at God about.  Or we can accept what is our duty or what we finally can’t avoid as part of Christ’s cup of suffering.

Then there’s serious stuff.  Jesus talks about being the servant of all.  Most of us love to help other people and find a lot of satisfaction in it, up to a point.  But it doesn’t take long for raising a child or caring for a sick relative or teaching a classroom full of energetic youngsters to become stressful.  Our families and the parish make demands upon us that amount to serving other people with constant generosity, and often with little recognition.  We may do service in the wider community, either thru our jobs—work that directly benefits others, like nursing, teaching, policing, social work, government—or as volunteers in some organization.  This is important for society.  We can take that a step higher by uniting ourselves interiorly with Jesus Christ, who came to serve and to save us.  We thus enter more deeply into his baptism, with the hope of sharing in his resurrection.  And when we do that, we’re passing beyond the stage of “Gospel for Dummies” to “Gospel for Disciples.”

Finally, we may, like Peter and James and John and most of the apostles, have to suffer because we are disciples of Jesus.  Those of you who lived in Poland before 1989 know about that.  The rest of us have heard about the sufferings of the martyrs from the age of the apostles right up to the present, when bishops, priests, and nuns are being put into Chinese labor camps and Christians in the Sudan are being sold into slavery.

But we too suffer from persecution.  Every other week there’s a story somewhere in the newspaper or on TV about some form of anti-Catholicism or some put-down of religious people in government, in schools and universities, on the editorial pages, in our entertainment media.  That can only happen when Catholics and other religious people have convictions about what they believe and attempt to live out their convictions, whether that means living Sunday as a day of rest, or teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful, or speaking up against the crime of abortion, or refusing to take advantage of clients in business.  Kids who try to do what’s right in school—to study and not to cheat, not to use foul language, not to smoke or drink or mess with drugs—risk being labeled “goody-goodies” and picked on by some of their peers.  It’s a kind of persecution for doing what’s right.  But when we know what’s right and try to live by it, as disciples of our Lord Jesus, then indeed we’re in Gospel graduate school.  We’re drinking fully of his cup, with firm hope of sharing in his heavenly glory.