Category: Church

The Catholic Church in Cambodia.

Fratelli Tutti

Here is another teaching from the encyclical of Pope Francis, about respecting each other-all the others.

#191 At a time when various forms of fundamentalist intolerance are damaging relationships between individuals, groups and peoples, let us be committed to living and teaching the value of respect for others, a love capable of welcoming differences, and the priority of the dignity of every human being over his or her ideas, opinions, practices and even sins. Even as forms of fanaticism, closedmindedness and social and cultural fragmentation proliferate in present-day society, a good politician will take the first step and insist that different voices be heard. Disagreements may well give rise to conflicts, but uniformity proves stifling and leads to cultural decay. May we not be content with being enclosed in one fragment of reality.

Here and There, Then and Now

After 42 years in Asia, I returned home to Kentucky. But it isn’t the home I left. Things I saw THEN are different NOW. Life HERE is different from life THERE. Here is another sample of the differences.

THEN

177 years ago, the German Catholics who came to Louisville needed an orphanage and St. Joseph’s Orphans Home was born and this statue of its patron was set up along the street.

NOW

Now St. Joseph (left) has been joined by a Shriner from Kosair Charities as orphanages went out of favor—and supporters of the now St. Joseph Children’s Development Center looked for additional funding to continue assisting children.
The Shriner enjoys a prominent place along with St. Joseph but maybe in a nod to the center’s Catholic origins, St. Joseph is lit up at night but not the Shriner!

Kingfish Gathering

Periodically our STS alumni Chief Organizing Officer, Mo Byrne, gathers ex-seminarians from near and far for delightful gatherings. Last week we met at Kingfish and were blessed with the presence of some brothers who had not been to prior lunches.

Wayne Jenkins shares a phone call to Jim Graf (whom we thought was coming) with Donna and Jim Duffy. The Duffys got extra points–and extra thanks!—for making the trip from Owensboro.
We missed a few of the regulars who usually come but had a good group gathered around the table at Kingfish.
Back: Joe Graffis, Tom Mouser, Wayne Jenkins, Jim Duffy, Dennis West, Don Stosberg, Dave Dutschke. Front: Charlie Dittmeier, Mo Byrne

St. Joseph Picnic

Here are five of my family at the St. Joseph Picnic for Kids (previously known as the St. Joe Orphans Picnic) last Saturday. The picnic has been a Louisville tradition for about 100 years. Our grandmother told us about taking her ten children there, all of them in suits and dresses. And when I was a college seminarian, I ran the seminary cookie booth at the picnic for two years.

Today at St. Boniface

Once or twice each month I am asked to preside at masses at St. Boniface Church, the oldest Catholic Church (1836) in Louisville. Here are a couple photos from this morning.

One of the sacristans was taking home for repairs an old-style vestment called a chasuble that was in use in the 1950s. Some of the more conservative younger priests prefer this style even though it went out of use before they were born!

When it was time to go, I went over to reclaim my bicycle for the ride home. It’s not safe to leave it outside so the Sacred Heart watches it for me during mass.

Politics: a higher calling

From Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti

188. These considerations help us recognize the urgent need to combat all that threatens or violates fundamental human rights. Politicians are called to “tend to the needs of individuals and peoples. To tend those in need takes strength and tenderness, effort and generosity in the midst of a functionalistic and privatized mindset that inexorably leads to a ‘throwaway culture’… It involves taking responsibility for the present with its situations of utter marginalization and anguish, and being capable of bestowing dignity upon it”. It will likewise inspire intense efforts to ensure that “everything be done to protect the status and dignity of the human person”. Politicians are doers, builders with ambitious goals, possessed of a broad, realistic and pragmatic gaze that looks beyond their own borders. Their biggest concern should not be about a drop in the polls, but about finding effective solutions to “the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences: human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labour, including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime. Such is the magnitude of these situations, and their toll in innocent lives, that we must avoid every temptation to fall into a declarationist nominalism that would assuage our consciences. We need to ensure that our institutions are truly effective in the struggle against all these scourges”. This includes taking intelligent advantage of the immense resources offered by technological development.

Return to St. Augustine

This morning I presided at mass at St. Augustine parish, a predominantly black church in Louisville. 45+ years ago, we had our Catholic Deaf Office located in the school (closed) building there and on Sunday afternoons had our deaf mass in sign language when the masses for the hearing community were finished. It was great to be back at St. Augustine. It is a warm and welcoming community!