Fr. Angel Fernandez Visits Chad, Cameroon, and South Sudan

Fr. Angel Fernandez Visits
Chad, Cameroon, and South Sudan

Condensed from ANS

On February 8 Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, St. John Bosco's 10th successor as Rector Major of the Salesian Society, and his secretary, Fr. Horacio Lopez, left Rome to visit Chad, Cameroon, and South Sudan. The two visitors made fraternal stops in Chad (Feb. 9-12), Cameroon (13-16), and South Sudan (17-21).

 

In Chad

Fr. Angel and Fr. Horacio arrived at N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, on Monday, February 9. Accompanied by the provincial and other confreres, they were brought to the house at Chagoua, where they received a warm welcome from the students, teachers, and the leaders of the youth center with traditional and symbolic gestures. They heard about the birth of the SDB presence in Chad and its future prospects. The RM addressed some words of greeting in French to the young people present and invited them to come back on Thursday, when he would return after a visit to the houses of southern Chad.

The RM shared a meal and celebrated the Eucharist with the SDB community in a spirit of great fraternity. He left at 4:00 a.m. Tuesday for the SDB house in Sarh, where a large crowd of the faithful and many curious onlookers were waiting for him at the soccer stadium. The RM greeted them and accepted traditional gifts.

He went to the SDB community, where a large number of religious, diocesan priests, and young people were waiting. He answered questions on family ministry, youth ministry, and education; witnessed a show of traditional and modern youth dances; and gave a Good Night to the young people.

On the 11th, the RM presided at Mass in the parish church, shared news about the Salesian Family with the local SDBs, then was driven to Guidolo, a village 13 miles away, to bless a new well.

After his visit to Sarh, Fr. Angel was driven to Doba, where the program included cultural activities and another session of questions and answers.

On his Facebook page the RM chronicled his tour of the SDB communities of southern Chad:

“We are in southern Chad. We have had a long day. We got up at 3:00 a.m. and by 4:00 we were already on the road, in the middle of the night. Dawn came at 5:30. Ahead of us lay 530 miles of road, with potholes that constituted a danger for tires. A young goat ran into our pick-up and damaged the bumper–a typical missionary day!

We witnessed the reality of thousands of people who survive every day by selling something from the fields: firewood, vegetables, and so on.

When we arrived at the Salesian house [of Sahr], hundreds of people from the local Christian community were waiting for us. There was music, song, and dance, and the typical joy of Africans when they welcome their guests. Once again there is a lesson we can learn from the poor, that there is joy in life and in meeting people, even where there is poverty.

On February 13 he wrote: ”Neither the heat nor the 1,050 miles we have travelled in three days (about 24 hours’ journey on roads that were more or less passable) managed to take away from the beauty of all these meetings.

In Doba yesterday, it was impossible to communicate due to lack of technology.

We concluded the visit to Chad in three villages; these people spend their lives on the road, especially on the main road where everything is bought and sold.

We saw that water is an invaluable asset, and so is the shade of a tree. People go into their mud houses only to sleep at night or for safety when confronted by some animal.

I assure you that no one could remain indifferent after meeting these people. What struck us was their dignity even in a situation of absolute poverty or survival, and their smiles!

There is need for a lot of work, education, and development, but they have great dignity and passion for life.

We are leaving highly impressed by the life of the Salesian community and the Christian community we met there.

I cannot find words to express what these experiences mean to me. We prayed with the communities, we heard what they had to say, we shared with our brother Salesians who, day after day, give their LIFE in this mission land. There are 12 Salesians in Chad. They are HAPPY–we have seen it and can confirm it.

Friends: I invite you, simply, as far as I can in the time at my disposal, to continue to accompany our journey of pilgrimage. Let us pray for each other and for this good people who love life even though they lack many things,

Early on February 12, the RM returned to N’Djamena, where he had a meeting with the young people and the faithful of the SDB parish as he had promised. In the evening he presided at Mass for the young people and met the diocesan administrator.

On Friday, after Mass and a Good Morning talk to the students of the SDB school, Fr. Angel left for Cameroon.

A weekend in Cameroon

Arriving at Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital, on Saturday morning, February 14, Fr. Angel remarked: “I am the servant, not the boss. I want to be available to everyone.”

At the SDB center of theological studies, the community welcomed him with song, traditional symbols, and a stage performance by the theology students on the theme of GC27. This was followed by a family meeting in which the young SDBs asked questions, and the RM highlighted the strengths of the Congregation and the areas for improvement.

The next morning the RM celebrated Mass and took part in the community meal, which also provided the occasion for a meeting with the apostolic nuncio. In the afternoon he visited the FMAs at Cité Marie-Dominique and had a fraternal meeting with members of the local Salesian Family, on the triple theme of communion, dynamism, and mission. The day ended with Evening Prayer and Good Night, in which the RM invited all to look to the future with hope.

On Sunday the 15th, many SDBs, FMAs, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Salesian Cooperators, and the general faithful participated in the Eucharist with the RM in the parish church. In his homily Fr. Angel invited all present to ask themselves what was their own leprosy from which they sought healing, and then to turn to Jesus with the courage of the leper who asked to be healed.

After Mass the RM blessed the site on which a new church is to be built, then held a press conference. He was asked about the significance of his trip to a continent in political, economic, and social crisis. Fr. Angel said he had come to support his brothers who live in a context of crisis, and also to promote communion and dialog in communities as a way to combat fundamentalism.

In the afternoon the young people performed various cultural and artistic activities. The RM advised the young people to develop a culture of vocations, seeing life as both gift and service. It is from this perspective that all forms of Christian vocation are born.

Welcome to South Sudan

On February 17, Juba International Airport was flooded with colorful banners, traditional dancers, children, and youths from the SDB mission at Juba to welcome the RM. Activities in the airport came to a standstill. As soon as Fr. Angel arrived, he was interviewed by the national television.

The Salesian Family was led by the SDB and FMA provincials of East Africa and the delegate for Sudan and South Sudan. A police escort led the Salesian convoy to the mission, where the RM surprised everyone by mingling with the traditional dancers and child dancers. People were astonished by the familiarity, warmth, and fatherliness of the RM as he moved along and greeted everyone on his way to the mission.

 
A short greeting, prayer, and blessing followed the rousing welcome. Fr. Angel’s first message was the joy that he felt among the happy faces of a nation that had suffered long years of war. He was struck by the poverty of the neighborhood, the simplicity of the people, and the smiling faces greeting Don Bosco’s successor. He was proud that the Salesian Family was very close to this vulnerable population and exclaimed more than once that Don Bosco is truly present and at home among the poor.

The curiosity was so high that one little girl asked the mission’s director: “Is it the Don Bosco that we were talking about these days, that he would be among us? Wow!” Two little girls begged the driver of the RM’s car: “Please allow us to enter Don Bosco’s car.” They managed it with great excitement!

The day ended with a simple prayer and dinner with the Salesian Family. In his Good Night Fr. Angel emphasized: “The poor will save us. The Lord reaches out to us through the poor. I am happy that the Salesian family is here—SDBs, FMAs, and Caritas Sisters of Jesus.”

You can follow the Rector Major and his messages on social networks here.

Tonj

On February 18, the Rector Major and nine others left Juba by chartered plane for Tonj, flying over the African savanna.

As the plane touched down at Tonj, beautiful melodies from the Don Bosco band greeted them. SDBs, FMAs, Missionary Sisters of MHC, and the Kakamega Sisters of Mary were on hand with youngsters from our schools, who gave Fr. Angel a rousing welcome with song and dance. He was also greeted by South Sudan’s minister of Information, Paul Dhel Gum, a Salesian past pupil from Wau.

The Rector Major blessed the John Lee Memorial Hospital, an initiative undertaken by the late Fr. John Lee (an SDB from Korea) and Fr. Omar Delasa. This was followed by the Ash Wednesday Mass and distribution of ashes, well organized by the parish and young people. In his homily the Rector Major expressed his joy and encouraged the children, teens, and other parishioners to continue to carry the flame of hope toward the creation of a more humane and just society.

Even after a long journey and in 100º heat, Fr. Angel and Fr. Horacio did not show any fatigue. They spent some fraternal moments with the FMAs and the MSMHCs. In the evening they visited Laicok, a leper village, where Fr. Angel came into direct contact with the real poor. He gave this community and their children loving attention and had the joy of blessing the construction of a primary school. His affection for the little ones was very touching.

In his Good Night to the Salesian Family, Fr. Angel expressed his appreciation and love for the Salesian mission and its special predilection for the poor. He encouraged all the members of the Family, marveling at their family spirit. He spent a brotherly evening with the SDBs, expressing his affection and acknowledging all the attention, sacrifices, and hard work done in the mission despite hardships.

Wau

On February 19 Fr. Angel and his party moved on to Wau. Again they received a warm welcome from the Salesian Family, youths, children, and parishioners of the Salesian mission.

Wau is a Catholic town, and as the Rector Major’s motorcade passed by the crowd joined in the celebration with blaring sirens, colorful banners, and songs. “Don Bosco is in the city,” was the talk of the town.

As Fr. Angel entered the FMA primary school, the children greeted him with traditional dances, songs, and creative choreography. The Rector Major, all smiles, moved around like an affectionate father, posing spontaneously for photos. Interviewed by the national TV, he stressed the conviction that the Congregation is committed to serving the poor and that the Salesians will always offer the hope that poor youngsters deserve.

At Mass the Rector Major highlighted his appreciation of the Christians’ great witness of faith and their determination to continue the journey of hope. The SDBs and FMAs had a quiet meeting with him. He listened to the SDBs as they discussed the dreams and challenges of the mission. Some youths at risk had a very personal meeting with him. He also had the privilege of blessing the cornerstones for the parish’s multipurpose hall, a new computer center, and a future Don Bosco Engineering College.

The SDBs in Wau exulted: “The Rector Major, daring the heat of the sun and the horrendous South Sudanese roads, showed his determination to be with the confreres and have his own experience of life in the mission.”

Juba

Fr. Angel began February 21 with a visit to the camp for displaced persons on the Salesian campus in Juba. It was a pastoral choice to start his official visit by meeting first the most vulnerable people in the camp. The children and babies felt at home in the company of the Rector Major and Fr. Horacio. His affection was unbounded as he took them in his arms and caressed them.

Fr. Angel moved over for the cultural program in the parish and tried some African dances. His well-coordinated movements together with the children brought joy to the folks, and he enjoyed them extremely.

Fr. Angel met the confreres of the Juba and Maridi communities and got to know the reality of the Salesian mission in those areas. He offered his recommendations for the growth of the South Sudan mission. Then he visited the FMAs.

The Eucharistic celebration in the parish brought all the Christians together, and the Rector Major guided the community with his reflections. While thanking them he also reiterated his conviction that the mission has a great future as it continues to enjoy the embrace of Christ’s love. His strength of conviction and hope led him to assure the Christian community of his continued remembrance in prayer for their country so afflicted by war.

His parting words to the Salesian Family were encouragement to remain committed to the poor and to find Christ in them.

“The Rector Major conquered the hearts of those in South Sudan, and he has left behind a beautiful memory of his visit with his gestures of affection, love, and hope-filled words. Thank you so much, Fr. Angel, and a warm hug from all your sons in South Sudan,” said the Salesians in Juba.

  

Two new Salesian cardinals

Two new Salesian cardinals

(ANS - Vatican City) -  On Saturday, February 14, Pope Francis reminded the 20 new cardinals he was creating of the Church’s mission: “Dear new cardinals, this is the way of the Church—not only to welcome and accommodate those who knock on our door, but to go out with evangelical courage, without prejudice, and without fear, and search for those who are far away.”

Among the new cardinals are two Salesians, Archbishop Daniel Sturla of Montevideo, Uruguay (right, above), and Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Rangoon, Burma (left).

During the ordinary public consistory for the creation of the new cardinals, Pope Francis said: “The cardinalate is certainly an honor, but it is not honorific. This we already know from its name–‘cardinal’–from the word cardo, a hinge. As such it is not a kind of accessory, a decoration, like an honorary title. Rather, it is a pivot, a point of support and movement essential for the life of the community.” 

Those were the opening words of his homily. He proceeded with an analysis of St. Paul’s well-known hymn to charity (1 Cor 13). This was followed by the rite of creating the new cardinals, their profession of faith, and their oath of loyalty and obedience to the Pope and his successors.

In an interview with the news agency Zenit, Cardinal Sturla said that he considers the cardinalate an award for “the good things done by the Uruguayan Church” and “for the Uruguayan people” rather than a title to his credit–remarks very much in tune with the Pope’s message.

In Uruguay, the Church is struggling with the highest proportion of atheists and agnostics in Latin America. In the same interview, Cardinal Sturla said: “The Catholic Church has launched a program for the proclamation of the faith. The results have been good in terms of commitment to the poor and social concerns. . . . Another major challenge is that of vocations to the religious life, the priesthood, and laity committed to the life of the Church. My desire is to bring the Church everywhere, calling for a strong missionary evangelization in a secular environment in a pluralistic society.”

In a report, also with Zenit, Cardinal Bo said, “With the good will of the government and of all the people of Burma, we can arrive at reconciliation among all ethnic groups, leading to peace and to full development.” Cardinal Bo is the first cardinal in the history of his country, which has a strong Buddhist tradition. He sees the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s birth as a good opportunity to revive the Church’s involvement in Burma, especially by laying emphasis on the education of young people. “The example of Don Bosco’s work for the young, with his Preventive System based on kindness and tenderness, is very relevant at the present time and should be revived and strengthened.”

(The 2 newest SDB cardinals bring SDB membership in the sacred college up to 9, of whom 5 are under age 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave: Cardinals Oscar Rodriguez, Angelo Amato, Ricardo Ezzati, Bo, and Sturla.  The 4 elders are Cardinals Miguel Obando, Joseph Zen, Tarcisio Bertone, and Raffaele Farina.)

Homily for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Feb. 15, 2015
Mark 1: 40-45
St. Ursula, Mt. Vernon

“A leper came to Jesus and, kneeling down, begged him and said, ‘If you wish, you can make me clean’” (Mark 1: 40).

This is the last Sunday of OT that we’re going to see until June 14, and the gospel we just read is the last of our sequential readings from St. Mark until then.  We’ll jump from the 6th Sunday of OT (today) to the 11th Sunday in June, and our gospels will leap forward from the end of Mark 1, where we are today, to Mark 4.  (Don’t be afraid to pull out your Bibles at home and see what we’ll be missing in public.)  In the meantime, as we go thru Lent and Easter over the next 13 weeks, and then the feasts of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, we’ll read thematic passages from St. Mark and St. John.

Over the last few Sundays we’ve read from Mark 1, which has been a summary of Jesus’ public ministry.  He announces the nearness of God’s kingdom and calls for repentance.  He preaches in the synagogs of Galilee, gathers disciples around him, cures illnesses, and drives out demons.

Today a leper approaches him and begs to be cleansed.  Note the difference between being cured and being cleansed. That difference has to do with the perception of leprosy—or any other skin disease, such as eczema or even a bad rash—in the ancient world:  seen not just as a disease that was feared, loathed, and not understood—like AIDS or Ebola in our time, especially in the undeveloped world—but as a disease that made its victims “unclean” in a moral and religious sense too.  The leper was effectively excommunicated—cast out of the Jewish community.  If you’ve seen Ben-Hur, you’ll remember the leper colony where Judah eventually finds his mother and sister.  That effective excommunication of the afflicted is a treatment too often inflicted in our time on those suffering from AIDS or Ebola, including even disease-free family members of Ebola victims.  E.g., a good number of the orphans whom the SDBs are caring for in Liberia and Sierra Leone have been rejected by their extended families and home villages.

So this leper comes to Jesus asking for more than healing; he desires:  to be cleansed.  Cleansed, he’ll be restored to the community of Israel; will be able again to take part in the life of his family and his people, in daily life and in ritual.  That’s why Jesus, having healed him, does something he hasn’t done with other people he’s healed, like Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31) or the possessed man in the synagog (1:21-27).  He sends him to show himself to the priest and offer the prescribed sacrifice so that he can be publicly certified as clean and be readmitted to the community of Israel (1:44).

When Jesus sees and hears the leper, Mark says, he’s moved with pity.  He has a feeling of compassion from deep inside himself for this suffering human being, and he acts on that compassion, stretching out his hand to touch the leper—which makes Jesus himself unclean in the eyes of the Law—and heals him (1:41).

There, brothers and sisters, you have an image of Jesus’ entire mission, the Son of God’s reason for becoming human and living among us.  We are all unclean with sin, unfit to belong to the community of God.  But Jesus announces that the kingdom of God has come to us, calling us to repent our sins and believe the good news:  “I do will it.  Be made clean” (1:41).  He has come to touch us, flesh of our flesh, and make us whole; to restore us to God’s family.  “Go and show yourself to the priest” now means “Turn to the Church, which touches us today with the priesthood of Jesus in the sacred liturgy.”  “Go and show yourself to the priest” in confession and be cleansed of your sins, be reconciled with God and with his people.  “Go and offer the sacrifice that Moses prescribed” is for us an invitation, rather, to offer the sacrifice of Jesus, this Holy Eucharist, which makes present right here his body and blood, his passion, death, and resurrection, by which we are saved.

There’s another aspect to this story, too.  Jesus is moved with pity for the suffering of a leper, and his compassion moves him to effective action.  Thus he sets for us, his followers, an example:  we must exercise a similar compassion for the suffering.  As he tells the lawyer who was questioning him, after narrating the parable of the Good Samaritan, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

That’s why we’ve seen—and been moved by—Pope Francis washing the feet of prisoners, embracing the sick and the disfigured, visiting refugees on Lampedusa and in Istanbul.  (Those refugee kids from Syria and Iraq at Istanbul, by the way, are in the care of the Salesians.)  That’s why the Church all over the world, thru Caritas International, Catholic Relief Services, and many religious congregations, is on the front lines to assist the victims of natural disasters, war, sickness, and discrimination, without regard for the religion, race, nationality, or politics of the people in need of the compassion of Jesus.  That’s why the Church operates hospitals and schools, is present in refugee camps, and advocates for the disadvantaged people of the world like migrants, immigrants, orphans, Ebola patients, child soldiers, and the victims of human trafficking.  That’s why priests and nuns marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of Christians march in our time in defense of unborn human beings.  That’s why Abp. Oscar Romero, who will soon be beatified as a martyr, and countless other priests, sisters, and lay people have spoken up, and in many instances given their lives, on behalf of the poor and the powerless against greedy and corrupt governments and social systems in places as diverse as Latin America and India.  So Jesus teaches us.

And our Holy Father has taken up this theme in a message addressed to us for Lent[1]:

Jesus “is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us.”  Oftentimes, when we live a healthy and comfortable lifestyle, “we forget about others.”

“We are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure. ... Our heart grows cold.” This “selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference.”

“God is not indifferent to our world; he so loves it that he gave his Son for our salvation.” One of the most “urgent challenges” of today’s world, “is precisely the globalization of indifference.” This “globalization of indifference” is a reality that Christians must confront by going outside of themselves.

“If one member suffers, all suffer together,” from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, reminds us of the Church. The love of God breaks through the barriers of indifference we frequently put up.

“But we can only bear witness to what we ourselves have experienced.” The Pope encouraged the faithful to turn to the sacraments during Lent — particularly the Eucharist — in order to better imitate the Lord. During Mass, “we become what we receive: the body of Christ. In this body, there is no room for the indifference that so often seems to possess our hearts.”

Pope Francis concluded his message by praying that, during Lent, each person receive “a heart that is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart that is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.”

Therefore, sisters and brothers:  let the compassion of Jesus touch your heart and lead you to repentance and spiritual healing, and in turn be the compassion of Jesus for people who are suffering today.

---

       [1] Condensed from Elise Harris, “Wondering What to Give Up for Lent? Try Indifference, Pope Says,” National Catholic Register, Jan. 27, 2015, on-line.

Homily for Wednesday, 4th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
4th Week of Ordinary Time
Feb. 4, 2015
Heb 12: 4-7, 11-15
Dominican and Franciscan Nuns
Wartburg, Mt. Vernon

“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him” (Heb 12: 5).

The Letter to the Hebrews there quotes from the OT Book of Proverbs.  The advice, of course, can be addressed also to daughters.

The other day I was reading an on-line essay about Bl. Junipero Serra, who will be canonized in September during Pope Francis’s visit to Washington.  The essay told how the holy friar sometimes whipped himself in the pulpit to impress upon his congregation the importance of bodily penance and mortification.  That’s probably not the sort of discipline of which our sacred writers (Proverbs and Hebrews) are speaking.

I always remember with amusement something that good Abp. Gene Marino used to say when he lived with us in New Rochelle:  “In the Middle Ages they did penance by fasting and the discipline”—meaning self-scourging—“but now we have meetings.”

St. John Bosco urged young Dominic Savio and his other pupils to do the penance of daily life.  He forbade Dominic, for instance, to sleep with too light a blanket during Turin’s harsh winters or to put pebbles into his bedding to make it uncomfortable.  The proper discipline for a youth, rather, is to obey his parents and teachers, to do his schoolwork and chores, to put up with hot or cold or wet weather, and to be kind and helpful toward his peers.

Dear sisters, you’re excused from homework!  But the rest is still good discipline for us, isn’t it?—to obey our superiors and the nursing staff, to put up with the weather, to do such duties as we may have.  We are called to be patient with the faults of others and to be kind in our speech—that’s discipline!  “Strive for peace with everyone,” Hebrews says (12:14).  We may not like the food we’re served—it’s probably rather bland and doesn’t have a lot of variety?—but we don’t have to complain about it.  How about the discipline of paying a compliment to someone or of saying thank you to someone who assists us (which most of you already do)?

Yes, there are countless ways in which the Lord continues to discipline the daughters and sons whom he loves, and ways in which we can share in Christ’s sufferings, as Hebrews says elsewhere, so as to share also in his glory (cf. 10:32-38).

Homily for 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Feb. 10, 1991
Job 7: 1-4, 6-7
Mark 1: 29-39
Holy Cross, Fairfield, Conn.

This weekend I stayed home after hand surgery that leaves me in a splint and sling for at least a week.  So here's an oldie on the day's readings.

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope” (Job 7: 6).

The book of Job is a lengthy meditation on human suffering.  You and I have seen people in pain and grief.   We’ve heard of people being victimized by terrible natural disasters, and now we are TV witnesses to the death and destruction of war.  For these reasons and for others, all of us have at one time or another, like Job, had “troubled nights told off” for us, when sleep wouldn’t come and darkness dragged (7:3-4).

We might draw 2 lessons from today’s brief passages from Job and from Mark.  The 1st is that lasting happiness is not possible in this life.  “Is not man’s life on earth drudgery?  Are not his days those of a hireling?  He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who longs for his wages (Job 7:1-2).  While much of our race has progressed in easing the burden of labor, labor we still must, whether in the field or factory or laundry or classroom.  While we have progressed marvelously in medicine and health care, we must still contend with illness, accident, death, and grief.  Democracy is generally an advanced form of government, but it doesn’t root out corruption or self-seeking, and it brings its own problems of demagoguery and apathy.  With the best of intentions, we still manage to misunderstand other individuals and other cultures and cause hurt.  And, as we well know, not everyone has the best of intentions.  So if we were expecting eventually to create heaven on earth, we haven’t gotten very far since the sacred writer reflected 2,500 years ago on the plight of Job.

Many people would therefore agree with Job: “Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again” (7:7).  It was for such people that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  The 2d lesson of the readings is that Jesus is the cure for all the ills of mankind: “They brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons.  And he healed many…” (Mark 1:32, 34). 

Last week Jesus drove an evil spirit out of one particular man.  This week he drives a fever out of a particular woman, and he proceeds to cure many of their ailments.  Eventually he will explicitly forgive sin, the root of every evil known to man, from stubbed toes to nuclear war.

Getting religion, meeting Jesus, doesn’t relive us of worry, pain, persecution, or death.  Read the life of any saint, beginning with the sinless Mother of God.  When Job asks, “When shall I arise?” and adds, “The night drags on,” he means only a literal nite of tossing and turning in affliction, or figuratively all the dark problems of life.  But Christ turns Job’s question into a search for everlasting life:  “When shall I arise?” on the last day, when Christ returns in his glory.  “The night drags on”—the night of the grave and of the devil’s work—but only for non-believers, for those who reject Christ, his good news, his way of life.  Our days are full of hope even when we know pain and grief.  We shall see happiness—eternally.  The Lord “heals the broken-hearted and binds their wounds” (Ps 147:3).  Jesus’ ministry prefigures our healing and our happiness; his resurrection and ascension assure it.  So instead of moaning with Job, in the rest of our Eucharist we shall “sing praise to our God, for he is gracious” (Ps 147:1).

Fr. Philip Pascucci, SDB (1919-2015)

Fr. Philip Pascucci, SDB (1919-2015)

Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1, Fr. Philip Pascucci was called home to the Lord. He had been hospitalized at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., the previous Thursday with internal bleeding, congestive heart failure, and kidney failure. A member of the Salesian community at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., since June 2010, he was 95 years old and was the senior member of the New Rochelle Province.

Fr. Phil in 2006

Fr. Phil was born, the last of eight children, to Joseph and Nicolina Nuzzi Pascucci in the Bronx on May 19, 1919, and was baptized on June 15, 1919, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in the Bronx.

Joseph Pascucci had immigrated from Casalbore, near Benevento, Italy, in 1893 when he was 13, settled in New York City’s Little Italy, and worked as a shoemaker. Nicolina came to New York with her parents at age three, and they also lived in Little Italy. Some years after he married Nicolina, they moved their young family to the Bronx. When Nicolina came down with tuberculosis, Joseph sent her to an upstate sanatorium. But then he was killed in an accident while crossing Fordham Road in January 1924.

With Nicolina unable to care for all the children, she sent the four youngest to the orphanage of the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt (N.Y.). Phil was four. Nicolina died in August 1925.

Fr. Phil recalls that the sisters cared for about 250 boys and 200 girls. Growing up in an orphanage during the Depression was difficult, and the children “were always hungry, especially on Saturday, when we had no class and were out playing all day.” He attended their grammar school, graduating in 1933, and commercial high school, wherein he excelled. He was an avid reader of the juvenile literature of the day, such as the Tom Swift and Horatio Alger stories. He was confirmed in May 1928 at Holy Rosary Church in Blauvelt.

One of the sisters, knowing that he was interested in the priesthood, suggested in 1936 that he go to the Salesians. So he entered the high school seminary at Newton on June 29, 1936. He notes that he had to undertake “classical studies as a freshman” even though he was 17 years old. With his typically understated humor, he writes, “I didn’t give a thought at all about my age. I looked a much younger boy. I guess I was what they call a late bloomer.”

Phil’s high school class began with 28 boys. Four began the novitiate year at St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Newton on Sept. 7, 1940. He made his first profession of vows on Sept. 8, 1941, and graduated from Don Bosco College in June 1944.

Bro. Phil began his practical training at Salesian HS in New Rochelle (1944-1946). Like all the Salesian schools in those days, it was a boarding school, “and it was hard,” he writes. “We had to teach, supervise the dormitories, the playground, and the dining room. The boys were city youths and didn’t like being there. Moreover, the Salesians didn’t have vacations in those days. At the end of the school year we went at once to work with the campers in the various camps which the Salesians operated. At the end of the camp season, we cleaned up the place, and then we began a 10-day retreat beginning on the evening of August 28 and ending around noon of September 8.”

In 1946-1947 Bro. Phil was sent to Hope Haven in Marrero, an orphanage for about 80 boys in Grades 5-9.

Bro. Phil did his theological studies at the Salesians’ Theologate of St. Thomas Aquinas in Aptos, Calif., from 1947 to 1951. He was ordained with four others in Aptos on June 17, 1951, by Coadjutor Bishop Aloysius J. Willinger, CSsR, of Monterey-Fresno.

Undated photo,
obviously early in Fr. Phil's priestly life 

Fr. Phil carried out a teaching apostolate for eight years at Salesian HS (1951-1953), Don Bosco Tech in Boston (1954-1959), and Don Bosco Juniorate in Haverstraw (1959-1960). He also assisted Fr. Peter Lappin with the Salesian Bulletin at the provincial house in 1953-1954 and served as chaplain for the Ursuline sisters at their school on North Avenue.

Several years of parish ministry followed his school work, always as an assistant: Corpus Christi in Port Chester (1960-1961), Sacred Heart in Vancouver (1961-1964), St. Anthony in Paterson (1964-1966, 1982-1983)—where he had perhaps the most exciting moment of his life when the rectory experienced an armed robbery on Dec. 21, 1964. Fr. Anthony Mastroenni of the Paterson Diocese recalls that at St. Anthony “Father [Phil] always offered Mass devoutly and with a certain gravitas and was always well prepared for his preaching.”

Fr. Phil had two long assignments in his Salesian life. The first was as librarian at Don Bosco College in Newton (1966-1982) and the second as province archivist in New Rochelle (1983-1989, 1991-2001). He was also archivist at Don Bosco College (1989-1991). He had an unhappy “very brief stay of 2 months in the library of the Università Pontificia Salesiana” in 1982.

Fr. Phil qualified for his library position by earning an MLS from St. John’s University in Queens in 1967. He’d been very reluctant to go into library work or to go back to school but acceded to the urgent request of the provincial.

Subsequently Fr. Phil also earned a master’s in education from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1974 and a doctorate in education from New York University in 1980. In 1984 he took a workshop sponsored by the Marianists for training in managing religious archives.

In Newton, according to Fr. Mastroenni, “Fr. Phil was always quite knowledgeable about current events and ecclesiastical news. He was always a delight to sit with and his conversation was always most interesting. I shall always remember him as a faithful Salesian, a priest who loved the Sacrifice of the Mass, and a scholar.”

As archivist of the province, Fr. Phil carried out a major organizing task for documents of many varieties going back to the province’s founding in 1898. “When I arrived for the job,” he writes, “I found the room and its entire contents one awful mess” which it took him about three years to put into good order, to the benefit of all future users of the archives.

He took advantage of his access to early records to write sketches of some of the first foundations in the province, two of which were published in the Journal of Salesian Studies: “Once upon a Time in Old New York” (Spring 1992) and “Out of Our Past: An American Venture into Seminary Training” (Spring 1996); the latter covered Salesian endeavors from Troy, N.Y. (1903) through Don Bosco College’s demise. Some six other writings remain in manuscript on such works as the parishes in Paterson, Tampa, and Toronto. For the province’s centennial, he collected the obituary letters of almost every Salesian who served in the province and published the collection as Short Sketches of the Lives of Confreres Who Worked in the Province of St. Philip the Apostle During the 100 Years from 1898 to 1998 (New Rochelle, 1998) and he did most of the preparatory work for a second volume, similarly titled Short Sketches of the Lives of Confreres Who Died in the Province of Saint Philip the Apostle Especially during the Years from 1999 to 2009 (New Rochelle, 2011). Over the space of a dozen years he composed 15 parts in a large series of short biographies of Salesian saints, blesseds, and notables for distribution by Salesian Missions.

Fr. Mastroenni reports that he has “used many of his pamphlets about Salesian saints, and the young have always found them inspiring.” Fr. John Puntino pays this tribute to Fr. Phil: “Little as he was, I consider him a giant in the province for his tenacity and for the contribution of the short biographies of significant Salesians that Salesian Missions published in booklet form.”

In 1998 Fr. Phil had a stroke at the provincial house; after hospitalization and then rehabilitation at Burke Hospital in White Plains, he bounced back quite well. But a few years later, he remarks, he “was consigned to Blue Gate in Stony Point” (2001-2004). Evidently wasn’t ready for retirement; he contributed what he could to the work at the Marian Shrine and consequently was moved to Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester as an assistant (2004-2010). Frailty finally caught up with him, and after a five-month stay at the provincial house, he settled into Don Bosco Prep in June 2010, assisting with sacramental ministry as his health allowed. He was present at almost every school and province celebration until last year. He was fondly loved by the Don Bosco Prep Ironmen as the elder of the school community. Before breathing his last, he remarked, “I am an old man, I did the best I could, and I think my work is done.”

Fr. Tom Dunne wrote to the confreres of the province, “We remember Fr. Phil fondly for his fidelity to Don Bosco over 74 years as a Salesian and over 63 years of ordination.”

Fr. Phil’s wake will be celebrated at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey on Feb. 3 and the funeral on Feb. 4 at 9:30 a.m. with burial in the Salesian cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.

He is survived by several nephews and nieces.

Homily for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Feb. 1, 2015
1 Cor 7: 32-35
Holy Cross, Fairfield, Conn.

“Brothers and sisters:  I should like you to be free of anxieties” (1 Cor 7: 32).

Wouldn’t we all like to be free of anxiety!  Lord knows, we have more than enuf to be anxious about, probably a lot more than 1st-century Christians did—altho at present in our country we don’t have to worry about being thrown into jail, as happened to Christians all over the Roman Empire, including St. Paul, for more than 2 centuries; or being tortured, as St. Paul was; even being executed, as St. Paul was, for no other reason than being a disciple of Jesus.  Those concerns or anxieties do affect millions of Christians in our time, however, as we hear or read in the news—in China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Colombia, Mexico, and other countries.

It is true, tho, that some disciples of Jesus in our country face the loss of their livelihoods as photographers, bakers, florists, and pharmacists because they choose to be faithful to the Sacred Scriptures and the dignity of every human being rather than to the mores of society in matters of sexuality and human life.

St. Catharine's Church, Spring Lake, N.J.
One of a series illustrating sacraments

In ch. 7 of 1 Corinthians, from which today’s 2d reading comes, St. Paul isn’t talking about persecution or public antipathy toward Christians, however.  The whole chapter is devoted to answering some questions about sexuality that his disciples in Corinth had put to him in some message that has been lost to us.  In the 4 verses that we read, Paul speaks of the relative value of marriage and of virginity.  They ought to be read within the context of the whole chapter, which is quite practical.  It includes an exhortation that everyone should follow his or her own vocation in the Lord, and it includes a presumption that Christ’s Second Coming is not far distant:  in the passage immediately before our reading today, Paul writes, “The time is running out”—he’s not talking about the 2-minute drill—and “the world in its present form is passing away” (7:29,31).  In fact, that passage was our 2d reading last Sunday.

So, in a context expecting Jesus to return soon in glory to judge the living and the dead, as we profess in the Creed—tho without regard to the timing—Paul exhorts Christians to be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how [they] may please the Lord” (7:33-34).  That, brothers and sisters, is always timely advice!  Indeed, it’s quite similar to what Jesus said to Martha, in Luke 10:38-42, when she was “burdened with much serving” from the kitchen while her sister “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to him speak,” and Martha complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t helping with the serving.  Wouldn’t most of us complain about that?  But “the Lord said to her in reply, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  [There’s that word anxious!]  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”  That is, Mary was giving all her attention to Jesus and none to “the things of the world” (1 Cor 7:33-34) that tend to distract us from God’s concerns.

Not that either Jesus or St. Paul is telling us to take no concern about our daily lives, perfectly valid concerns like hospitality, livelihood, safety, etc.  “I am telling you this … not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of … adherence to the Lord without distraction” (7:35).  The point is faithfulness to our fundamental vocation, that of following Jesus; of keeping ever before our minds and hearts the teachings and example of Jesus and always walking in his ways.

Obviously husbands and wives must be concerned—“anxious” is a rather strong word—about how to please their spouses.  Marriage is a sacrament, after all, a sacred sign of the Lord Jesus’ love for his bride, the Church.  The Church strives to please Christ in all she does, and he gave up his own life for her salvation, to redeem her from the power of evil, as we see foreshadowed in today’s gospel story wherein Jesus by his divine authority casts out an evil spirit (Mark 1:21-28).  So husbands and wives care for each other, look out for each other, assist each other, love each other (and their children too, of course) as Christ loves the Church.  That care’s not the kind of anxiety that Paul’s speaking of today.

Rather, he’s speaking of anything that might induce a spouse to put God in 2d place.  In the Bible, King Solomon sought to please his pagan wives by worshiping their idols, and so displeased the Lord; we read in 1 Kings, “When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of his father David had been” (1 Kings 11:4), and so he brings on God’s wrath:  “Since you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant” (11:11).  In Shakespeare’s magnificent dramatic fiction, Lady Macbeth goads her husband to murder for the sake of her ambition.  In the true story of St. Thomas More, his wife urges him to put conscience aside and swear the oath demanded by Henry VIII so as to save his life and be restored to his family and his worldly honors.  In our time, we might find a husband or a wife so career-driven for the sake of advancement, prestige, and wealth—thinking so to please a spouse or provide for children—that the person neglects duties to God such as Sunday worship (obviously not you—you’re here!) or regular prayer, or even neglects the family, not giving them the time and attention they need and deserve—many a marriage has been ruined because of that.  In our time, if all the polls and studies are correct we find most American spouses practicing artificial contraception, anxious to please the spouse but divided (cf. 7:33-34) from the way that God calls married people to live.

Paul advises us (earlier in ch. 7) to be faithful to the vocation that we’re in:  to be faithful spouses or faithful single people:  “Everyone should live as the Lord has assigned, just as God called each one” (1 Cor 7:17).  Married folks, live your marriage as a sacrament, a sacred sign of God’s love for humanity.  Keep Christ ever before your eyes, “be anxious about the things of the Lord,” and strive together to please him in your choices, your decisions, your lifestyle, your faithfulness to each other and to God’s will for you.  Single folks, keep Christ ever before your eyes and seek to know and follow his will in your regard, especially the vocation in which he wants you to live out your discipleship:  married perhaps, or perhaps as a priest, perhaps as a person consecrated to God in religious life, perhaps as a lifelong single giving your heart and soul to the Lord as you work, worship, and relax—which indeed we’re all supposed to do, to “adhere to the Lord without distraction.”