Dominican Priesthood

Our Dominican brother Anthony Fisher, Bishop of Paramatta, gave a talk to the friars of the Irish Province on 'Priesthood in the Dominican Order' as they gathered to reflect on Dominican Priesthood at the end of the Year for Priests.

The text and more details are available here.

H/T to Dominican Interactive

The Mother of a Saint

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko was beatified in Warsaw last Sunday. An account of his great witness to the Gospel can be found here. One of the most striking images of last week's celebration was his 100-year-old mother, Marianna, praying at his tomb. Her witness reminds us that the saints are not some abstract collection of super-men and wonder-women but real people like us.

H/T to the always excellent Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacons Bench

The Year of the Priest - Father Jerzy Popiełuszko

It was announced recently that Fr Jerzy Popieluszko is to be beatified in Warsaw on 6th June. We re-publish here a post on him from our series for the year of the priest. It was first published in October 2009.

On the 19th of October 1984, three officers of the Polish Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Służba Bezpieczeństwa, pulled over the car of a thirty-seven year old priest. They bundled him into the boot of their unmarked car and drove to the dam near Wloclawek. They then savagely beat the priest until he was unconscious and drowned him in the river.

The murdered priest was Jerzy Popiełuszko. He had been born into a farming family in the harsh conditions of post-war Poland, under the jackboot of Communism and Stalin's USSR. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1972 and began to work with children and youths.

In 1978 Karol Wojtyła was elected Pope taking the name John Paul II. This had an electrifying effect on the Polish people. Even under communist rule Poland had been one of the most devout nations in Europe but the election of John Paul II and his call for his countrymen to create an "alternative Poland" galvanized the nation. Fr. Popiełuszko heeded the Holy Father's call. He started to support the strikers of the independent trade union Solidarity. He said Masses at the picket lines, heard confessions and organised 'workers schools' for the strikers. When martial law was declared in 1981, Popiełuszko helped those persecuted by the regime, providing food and sanctuary when he could.

During this period the Church was the only group that could openly challenge the state. Fr. Popiełuszko became one of its greatest weapons. From 1982 he began to preach homilies that interwove spiritual exhortations with political messages, criticizing the Communist system and motivating people to protest. Popieluszko’s preaching was a thorn in the government’s flesh,especially as they were broadcast on Radio Free Europe He pointed out social injustice and became the “conscience of the people”. For a Poland assailed by social unrest, he saw redemption in the words of St. Paul: “Conquer the bad through the good.”

The communists tried to intimidate this inconvenient priest: break-ins, shadowing, damage of private goods, bombs, a false trial, numerous arrests, and finally car accidents but he refused to be silenced because he believed that he had a duty as a Christian and as a priest to proclaim the truth. The only way they could silence him was to take his life.

His funeral attracted thousands of mourners who were convinced that they were “witnesses of the sacrifice of a priest who gave his life for the truth.” Communism would cling on in Poland for another five years but the witness and example of Jerzy Popiełuszko would inspire many to rise up against the regime.

Celebrating Priesthood - Fr Vincent McNabb OP

The first time I heard the name Vincent McNabb was at my initial meeting with the Dominican vocations director at the priory in London. On the wall was a painting of a Dominican friar, a frail old man in big black boots and a shabby habit, a picture of someone exuding holiness. This was Vincent McNabb. I was told various anecdotes about him – how he used to always sleep on the floor, how he had only one habit, home-spun from the wool of sheep reared in a nearby field. He had a great distrust of modern technology prefering to wash his habit in the bath with carbolic soap rather than resorting to a washing machine. Often he would put his habit on without waiting for it to dry, so that he would leave a trail of water behind him as he wandered around the priory.

For the last twenty years of his life, he was a well known figure on the streets of London – his brethren jokingly called him the Mahatma Gandhi of Kentish Town. Most Sundays he would walk 5 miles from the priory to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park where he would draw huge crowds. Often he would have to deal with persistent hecklers. E. A. Siderman, a non-Catholic, was a frequent thorn in the side of Father Vincent as he preached, yet after his death in 1943, Siderman wrote a very affectionate account, 'Father Vincent at Marble Arch.' He writes how Catholics in the crowd would often become incensed whenever their faith came under attack from a heckler, yet Father Vincent would always reprimand anyone interfering with the questioner. 'Leave him alone,' he would say. 'Questioners are our guests, and we welcome them and want their questions. Many of you Catholics learn more about your religion from these questions and answers than you have done at school or at church and some Catholics only remember their Faith when they hear it attacked. I have heard some Catholics declaiming that they would die for the Faith but it would please me better if they would live the Faith.' And then he would turn to the questioner: 'I am sorry. Please put your question again.'

Vincent McNabb was almost a legend in his own lifetime. There is a story, which may well be apocryphal, of a woman heckler who is supposed to have become impatient when he was answering a question regarding clerical celibacy. She shouted out 'If you were my husband, I'd give you poison.' And the retort is said to have come back: 'If you were my wife, I'd take it.'

Vincent McNabb had a brilliantly sharp mind and he knew it, but he was not without faults. With his great intellect he was sometimes in moral danger of commiting the sin of pride. Occasionally he would have outbursts of invincible obstinacy and then he would show extravagant gestures of remorse. At times he could be very difficult to live with. Such personality traits would have greatly puzzled anyone who took him to be a ready made saint. He had his fair quota of faults and failings, and like everyone else he was still in need of Christ's saving power. Yet Dominican life really did provide an environment in which he could grow in holiness. He knew that the Dominican vocation wasn't just to save other people's souls, but also his own soul. As he grew older he became more consciously aware of his failings, and this led to a much greater level of spiritual maturity. One of his superiors in London wrote of him:

No one gave me less trouble as superior than Father Vincent. He was always busy, but one never had to persuade him to do anything or not to do it. He had simply to be told, and one always felt confident that he would do as he was told whatever it cost him. There was no pettiness about him, and I always could and did tell him what I wanted him to do without giving the slightest offence. I used to feel sometimes it was like leading a lion on a string. But the string never broke.

Father Vincent was an example of how the love of Christ can triumph over the unruly forces in the soul so that Christ's glory is able to shine through them, and for me, he was a priest who I found greatly inspiring when I was considering whether I should join the Dominicans.

Celebrating Priesthood: Fr Gerald Vann OP

When I was an undergraduate studying theology in London my chaplain, Fr Tim Calvert OP, gave me a copy of The Divine Pity as spiritual reading. I remember being surprised at how slim a volume it was and I immediately began to read it. What struck me most of all was the punchiness of the text: this was clearly a man who was not afraid to challenge his readers with the hard hitting truth. I found myself drawn to this book and had many questions for Fr Tim about its author. As I was hoping to join the Order at this time, it was a thrill to think that I might one day belong to the same province as this priest who had such insight into the human condition and wrote so beautifully.

I think the reason why The Divine Pity touches me and so many others so deeply is that it reflects the struggles of a man who felt compelled to speak the truth about how we as Christians should be, and how we all too often act. Fr Gerald seems to have had a particular hatred for selfishness and indifference, two things that he thinks are the most deadly for the life of charity within the soul. With great flair he managed to write a book of just under 200 pages within which so much practical Christian wisdom and teaching is contained that it could almost be seen as a course in the spiritual life. Again and again he points out the potential pitfalls of emphasising any particular aspect of the virtuous life out of proportion so that it becomes a distortion and is not in fact virtue at all. The book takes as its structure the beatitudes and indeed the subtitle of it is 'A Study in the Social Implications of the Beatitudes'.

Fr Gerald begins his exploration of the beatitudes with the importance of our teleological end, namely: God made us to know Him, love Him, serve Him and so to be happy. He follows his brother St. Thomas in this approach. Making clear that Christian virtue is related to but distinct from how it was understood by the Greeks, he points out that in the labour required to gain the habits of prudence, justice et al there is the same self-mastery that we find in the Greeks, but that this is only half the picture. For the Christian, the human being is to be a master but also a child. For virtue to be a part of religion it must genuinely be an act of worship, an act offered for God, to God, and with God and not have the human being himself as the focus.

In the first chapter, where his approach to the beatitudes is introduced, Fr Gerald first mentions one of the core concepts of the book: that to be a happy and holy Christian is not primarily a question of doing but of being. The virtues lived perfectly are not something that we do but something by which we are possessed. In an age where the fear of what doing nothing might bring pushes almost everyone to embrace a culture of activism, it is such a relief to read that all we really have to do is to let God take over. The anxieties and neuroses that are the product of a semi-Pelagian attitude must be left behind, says Fr Gerald. The feeling that we must make everything happen has no place here, it is not a Christian approach.

Fr Gerald sees poverty of spirit as a child-like dependence on God. It is the opposite of pride which attempts to be autonomous, which wills to be its own master. The book was published in 1945 at the end of the Second World War when the world had just seen the utter failure and horror of a system that put Man at the centre. He sees this failure as inevitable since we cannot just be human. Either we accept the gift that God wishes to give us and become more than human, or we reject it and therefore become less than human. For Christ is the key to understanding true humanity.

This true humanity requires purity of heart and it is this purity that enables us to see God. Fr Gerald quotes St. Thomas who says that the life of vision is not in the first half of the beatitudes, which are the conditions required for happiness, for the life of vision is not a means to happiness but happiness itself. He sees temperateness as a central aspect of this beatitude since it concerns how to enjoy people, animals and things for themselves and not as a means to an end. A metaphor for temperateness can be the reverence with which a connoisseur treats a rare and expensive wine. This is the reverence that the Christian should have for all things. Temperateness is not restricted to the use of food and alcohol and it is not a restrictive, negative quality but a positive creative trait which is essential if we wish to love. As we genuflect when we pass the Blessed Sacrament, are we to ignore the presence of God in those who have just received him at the altar? If we learn to see things rightly by seeing God within them, then we learn to make our whole lives a unity. Instead of an agglomerate of unconnected interests, we become a single and all-inclusive fire.

It is this holy fire of divine love, which as it consumes us makes us into itself, that I found in this book and which has been such an inspiration to me. Since I first read The Divine Pity I have retained a great love for this work and a great admiration for Fr Gerald Vann. I wish that I could have met him in this life, but please God I shall meet him in the next.

Celebrating Priesthood - Monsignor Georges Lemaître

One of greatest fallacies of the "new atheists" is that modern cosmology and physics prove the mendacity of religion and therefore people of faith ignore or even attack scientific inquiry. Last September I was lucky enough to be at the University of Edinburgh Student Union's freshers fair and came upon the secularist society's stall. Amongst their promotional paraphernalia were badges saying "I Believe in the Big Bang". I, of course, was very happy to take one of these badges and, to the horror of these 'rational' youths, put it on my habit. I think they would be further mortified if they realised that the 'hypothesis of the primeval atom' or the Big Bang Theory was proposed by a Belgian Catholic priest in 1933. Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was born in 1894 and was educated by Jesuits. At the age of 17 he entered the Catholic University of Leuven to study civil engineering. His studies were interrupted when the Kaiser invaded Belgium in 1914. The young Georges enlisted as an artillery officer in the Belgian army and served throughout the great war with distinction, being awarded the Croix de Guerre with palms.

After the War Georges focused his energies on his study of mathematics and physics. Whilst writing his doctorate, he realised that he was being called by God to be a priest. He began his studies for the priesthood and was ordained in 1923. His superiors encouraged his obvious scientific talents and sent him to study astronomy at the University of Cambridge, where he spent a year at St Edmund's House (now St Edmund's College, which happens to be next door to the Dominican Priory in Cambridge). He returned to Leuven to lecture in 1925 and two years later gained international fame through presenting the new idea of an expanding universe. This challenged the established finite-size static universe model proposed by Einstein. Einstein refuted Lemaître's theory, saying "your math is correct, but your physics is abominable"

Nevertheless the work of this cleric was attracting interest and in 1930 he was invited to the British Association in London, where he expanded his theory. He proposed that the Universe expanded from an initial point, which he called the "Primeval Atom". Lemaître described his theory as "the Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of the creation"; it became better known as the "Big Bang theory", a phrase originally used sarcastically.

This proposal met skepticism from his fellow scientists at the time. Eddington found Lemaître's notion unpleasant. Einstein found it suspect because he deemed it unjustifiable from a physical point of view. On the other hand, Einstein encouraged Lemaître to look into the possibility of models of non-isotropic expansion, so it's clear he was not altogether dismissive of the concept. He also appreciated Lemaître's argument that a static, Einsteinian model of the universe could not be sustained indefinitely into the past. Between 1930 and 1933 Lemaître developed and debated his findings. New investigations into cosmic rays and changes within the cosmological consensus resulted in the Belgian priest being vindicated, with Einstein declaring his theory to be "the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened."

Georges Lemaître died in 1966, highly regarded and honoured as a scientist. He is an example of how reason and revelation complement and enrich each other in the honest pursuit of truth. As a priest he demonstrated the importance of engaging with the world and secular society. Who knows how many scientists and students kept or found their faith through his example?

Celebrating Priesthood - Father Cormac Rigby

When I was at school many of the boys served Mass at Sacred Heart in Ruislip. They spoke unanimously with respect and affection about Father Cormac. It is only since his death in 2007 that I realised who this much-loved priest was.

Born in Watford in 1939, the young Cormac showed great academic ability and went on the read History at St. John's, Oxford. He felt called to the priesthood and after graduating he entered the English College in Rome. However he did not enjoy the regime there and left after the rector reproached him for taking out a subscription to the Times Educational Supplement.

He returned to Oxford to work on a doctorate on Edward Thring, the Victorian preacher and headmaster of Uppingham, for whom Rigby entertained a lifelong admiration. In 1965 his grant ran out and to fund his research he began to look for a job. Leafing through the New Musical Express, he spotted two advertisements side by side, one seeking a disc-jockey for Radio Caroline and the other recruiting new BBC radio announcers. He applied and got the BBC job. Tony Blackburn took the post at Radio Caroline. "We're broadcasting twins", Father Cormac later noted, with some pride.

Rigby's first night on the Third Programme, as it then was, was typical of the funereal pace still called for in the mid-1960s. "I had to leave a full minute of silence between one programme and the next," Rigby recalled. "The idea was to discourage people from casual listening. They were expected to look at their Radio Times, choose what they want, listen to it, and then go away and do all the other interesting things that their lives were full of."

He remained at the BBC for 20 years, becoming the presentation editor of the new Radio 3 in 1971. His extraordinarily mellifluous voice had been evident at his audition, being described as gentle, velvety-brown and strangely familiar, but only experience revealed his level-headedness in a crisis. When Pope John Paul II was shot in Rome in 1981, the duty Radio 3 announcer found himself stuck in the lift, and Rigby was obliged to start reading the news still breathless from the sprint from his office.

The call to the priesthood however never left him and he resigned from the BBC in 1985 to seek ordination at the age of 46. He left on September 14, St Cormac's Day. Rigby's early ministry included postings to Ruislip and Stanmore as curate and later parish priest.

As with his presenting duties Rigby took his priestly responsibilities extremely seriously, especially when dealing with bereaved families, whom he always made a point of visiting at home in order to prepare for a funeral. Intolerant of other people's laxity, he believed that modern seminaries were producing many priests inadequately prepared for the ministry, and was particularly critical of what he regarded as laziness in some of his fellow priests, a malaise he felt affected the Catholic Church in Britain. He especially believed that this was true in the homilies saying: "If what you hear from the pulpit is muddle, confusion and waffle, then the Church is failing in its professional duty. And that is uncharitable, because people have given up their time to listen."

Father Cormac was forced to retire to Oxford in 2003 when he was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer. This did not stop his ministry however: he published four volumes of his short sermons and began writing a weekly column for the Catholic Herald.

A priest has a public role in the community and Cormac Rigby realised this. He took the care and precision he had utilised so well at the BBC and applied to the most important and sacred of activities. As he said himself:

"So much liturgy is increasingly slipshod. People don't come to services to hear the sort of conversation you have in a doctor's waiting room or the music you put on in your car. And if you deliver the words of the Mass in a bleat or that awful ecclesiastical singsong, then we might as well go back to Latin."

Father Cormac Rigby

(1939-2007)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in Peace.

Amen.

Celebrating Priesthood in Fiction - Father Sean

The Simpsons has been one of the most witty, entertaining and culturally significant television programmes of the last twenty years. Despite still being relatively one of the most observant and well-written series, the strain of 452 episodes, a film and countless merchandising spin-offs has resulted in a dip in standards since the golden first decade of the show. Nevertheless gems such as The Father, The Son and the Holy Guest-star, from the sixteenth series really stand out.

In this episode Bart's shenanigans lead to him being sent to the Catholic School in Springfield, St. Jerome's. Inspired by Father Sean, the school's chaplain, both Bart and Homer decide to leave the Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism to which they belong, and begin instruction for reception into the Church. I will not spoil the rest of the episode but apart from being side-splittingly funny it is an interesting reflection on religious intolerance and schisms within the Church.

Father Sean, voiced by Liam Neeson, in many ways is a caricature of the American priest: Irish and dedicated to his flock and Church, with a kind word in the confessional and an excellent bingo-calling voice. The character however has much to offer as a model of priesthood. He is not just concerned with keeping his flock but enlarging it by preaching the Gospel. He does this because he has a devotion to the Truth (inspired by a vision of St. Peter), Truth that is most fully realised in the Catholic Church and he wants to share this because it sets people free from sin and death.

He also lives out his priestly vocation with great dedication. One of the most obvious examples of this is seen in his service in the confessional - even after hearing confessions all afternoon he is still happy to hear Homer's marathon confession (under the impression that he is a Catholic already). I think the most important example Father Sean can give priests is found in his presence. He is there for pupils and teachers in the school; he is there for his parishioners at bingo and pancake dinners; he is there in the confessional and at the altar; he is even there on a motorbike with a paintball gun, when Bart is kidnapped by Ned Flanders and Rev. Lovejoy to stop him making his first communion

Celebrating Priesthood - Monsignor Thomas Gavin

The Right Reverend Monsignor Canon 'Tom' Gavin died on Christmas day after a short illness. At the time of his death he was the third longest serving priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He is the only ordained Catholic priest to have played international rugby. He was born in Coventry on the 28th of March 1922. From an early age he desired to be a priest and so he embarked on his secondary education at Cotton College, situated in North Staffordshire, a Catholic boarding school in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Here his passion for classics and for sport, especially rugby and cricket, began to develop.

In 1940 he began his studies for the priesthood at Oscott. During his time in Birmingham he began to play for Moseley RFC as a solid inside centre. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Humphrey Bright on 21 July 1946. He was then sent to read Classics at Christ's College, Cambridge. During these years he played rugby for the University and the mighty London Irish. In 1949 he was called up to the Irish national side, a team that had won the Grand Slam in the previous season and was the greatest Irish Rugby team until the Brian O'Driscoll led team of the early 21st century. His selection resulted in a debate among many bishops in England and Ireland over whether or not a Catholic priest should play international rugby. Nevertheless Archbishop Joseph Masterson approved and Father Tom received his first cap against France in Paris. The Irish lost but went on to retain the Championship and the Triple Crown, with Gavin playing in the 14-5 victory over England. So ended the international career of this "Toby-jug" priest.

Father Tom was then appointed Prefect of Studies at his Alma Mater, Cotton College, in 1950. He became headmaster in 1967, a position he held with distinction until he retired from teaching in 1978. Monsignor Tom made great strides in developing the curriculum, the school building, and the provision for sport. He used his abilities as a former rugby international to inspire the boys to develop their skills on the rugby pitch, and he had a high quality running track installed to enhance their opportunities for athletics. Nevertheless his priority was to school them in the Faith. Three of his former pupils Terence Brain, Kieran Conry and David McGeough are bishops (in Salford, Arundel and Brighton, and Birmingham respectively).

In 1978 he was appointed parish priest of St Thomas More, Coventry where he served the parish and worked tirelessly for 26 years. He organised the Mass for the Pope's visit to Coventry in 1982 and retired in 2004. The same determination and dedication he showed on the rugby pitch was shown throughout his priestly ministry. As a priest, he was completely loyal and devoted to the service of God and the Church. He was also loyal to the Exiles, despite playing for Nuneaton and Coventry in his later years, and received a standing ovation at the Madejski Stadium when he made an appearance at the pivotal game against Sale last season.

When asked what his greatest memory was, Monsignor Tom did not say playing in the Varsity Match, winning the Triple Crown, meeting John Paul II, or being appointed headmaster of Cotton. He always said it was the day he was ordained. His priesthood was central to his life and defined him whether he was teaching, preaching or tackling. A fellow priest in Coventry, Father Jonathan Veasey, said:

"Mgr Tom Gavin was truly an outstanding priest. A man of prayer, devoted to his priestly duties and wanting the people in his care to be people of faith and good citizens. He had an amazing capacity to reach out to all sorts of people through the gifts of his humanity and faith. His dedicated service to the Church has been a source of inspiration for so many priests and lay people."

The Right Reverend Monsignor Canon Thomas Gavin (1922-2008)

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace,

Amen.

Saints This Month - 31 January: St John Bosco

In the year for priests it is appropriate to recall the life and work of one of the greatest priests of the 19th century, St John Bosco (1815-1888). He founded the Salesian Order to work especially with young people and his feast is celebrated on 31st January. An account of Don Bosco's life may be found here.

Celebrating Priesthood in Fiction - Don Camillo

In 1946 the journalist and humorist Giovanni Guareschi published a short story in the satirical magazine Candido. This tale (the first of many) of a small post-war Italian village and its hotheaded parish priest, Don Camillo Tarocci, is a charming and very human snapshot of the struggles between the Communist Party and the Church within Italy and it is no surprise that the works have resulted in numerous adaptations to TV, radio and film. Guareschi's writings however are much more than a clever piece of satire.

Don Camillo is a dedicated and faithful priest. He has a fiery temper and at times equally fiery fists! He is is constantly at odds with the communist mayor, Peppone, and their clashes are the driving force of the stories. Both were partisan fighters during the war and both want the best for the people of Ponteratto, though for different reasons. Nevertheless neither man is a clear-cut caricature: although he publicly opposes the Church as a Party duty, Peppone takes his gang to the church and baptizes his children there, which makes him part of Don Camillo's flock. If Peppone can be a Communist and a Catholic at the same time, Don Camillo, on the other side, gets labeled by local rich landowners and traditionalists as a "Bolshevik priest" because he is not afraid to decry the avarice of rich people.

The most interesting relationship Don Camillo has is with the Crucifix in the village church. Through the figure on the crucifix, Don Camillo often hears the voice of Our Lord and unsurprisingly this is the voice of reason! The figure of Christ often has far greater understanding than Don Camillo for the troubles of the people, and has to constantly but gently reprimand the priest for his impatience.

The character of Don Camillo has much to offer Christians, particularly priests. All Christians have to live in the real world. We have to deal with people who will not agree with us or who even oppose us. We have to work with people not just for a quiet life but so that they might hear the Gospel too. Whilst we should never give up our principles or beliefs, we should take care not to demonise and not to be aggressive in our zeal.

Don Camillo himself reminds us that priests are human and will have flaws but they have been entrusted with the care of souls and the only way this possible is by having a deep relationship with the crucified Christ. Not everyone will have a talking crucifix but Our Lord does speak to us in many ways: we just have to be prepared to listen.

Celebrating Priesthood- Father Edward J. Flanagan

With young offender institutions overflowing, and "gangs of Hoodies" roaming the streets, youth crime is a hot button issue in Britain today. Despite the Daily Mail's protests this is not a new problem: there never was a golden age of juvenile civility. This was certainly the case in Omaha, Nebraska, in the early twentieth-century, where large gangs of homeless boys formed a significant part of the criminal community. In 1917 a young Irish priest saw this problem on the streets of this mid-western city and decided that something needed to be done.

Edward J. Flanagan was born in 1886 in Roscommon. From an early age he decided he was being called to the priesthood. When he turned 18 he, like so many of his fellow country-men, crossed the Atlantic to the United States of America. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's university in 1908 and then entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. He continued his studies in Italy, and at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where he was ordained a priest in 1912. He was then sent as a curate to a parish in O'Neil, Nebraska and in 1915 to St. Patrick's, Omaha.

Father Flanagan became a familiar figure to many of the young homeless men and boys in the city, offering them food, shelter and support when they ran into trouble with the law. Father Flanagan developed an understanding for the boys and young men who were orphaned by society. He realized that children who were neglected often turned to crime. He realised that they had had so little love in their lives that they could not show love themselves. In 1917 he opened his first Boys’ Home in a run-down Victorian mansion in Omaha. He firmly believed that every child could be a productive member of society if given love, a home, an education, and a trade.He believed that this was true of everyone and he accepted boys of every race, colour, and creed. The home was soon full and the downtown facilities were inadequate. In 1921 he established Boys Town, ten miles west of Omaha. Under Father Flanagan's direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community with its own boy-mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities where boys between the ages of 10 and 16 could receive an education and learn a trade. The community was underpinned by Father Flanagan's belief that "there are no bad boys, there is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking.”

The success of Boys Town gained it fame and in 1938 MGM made a film version about its founding, starring Spencer Tracy in an Oscar winning performance, as Father Flanagan. The film gave Father Flanagan and his Boys Town model an international reputation and he was called upon by the US government to help children both nationally and internationally. In 1948, President Truman asked him to travel to Europe to attend discussions about children left orphaned and displaced by World War II. During this tour, he fell ill and died of a heart attack in Berlin, Germany, on May 15, 1948. Funeral services for Father Flanagan were held in the Dowd Memorial Catholic Chapel, located at the heart of his beloved Boys Town, which is also the site of his final resting place.

Boys Town has grown into an organisation across the United States helping 404,679 children and families across America. Father Flanagan himself had predicted this: "The work will continue, you see, whether I am there or not, because it is God’s work, not mine.”

Celebrating Priesthood - Father Patrick Peyton CSC

One of the priests whose life has inspired me from a young age is Fr Patrick Peyton CSC (1909-1992). He came from the parish of Attymass in my home diocese of Achonry in County Mayo, Ireland. My grandmother’s family also lived there so they knew him and his family well. He was always spoken of with great affection and respect for his many qualities but especially his gentleness and kindness.

Fr Peyton was born into a large and deeply Catholic farming family. The praying of the family rosary was a daily feature of their lives. He wanted to become a priest from his early teens and thought about entering Maynooth seminary to train for his diocese but his family could not afford the costs. It was a difficult time economically so, like many other Irish people, he emigrated to America to find work. Sadly, he was never again to see either of his parents alive. But he was to remember always the last words he heard his mother say: “promise to be faithful to Our Lady. Be faithful”.

Once he arrived, Patrick took many odd jobs including coal mining and working as a janitor. While working as the sexton in the local cathedral thoughts of a vocation to the priesthood came back to him. Determined to follow the call, and since he needed more education, he went back to school. After a time the call to be a missionary priest led him to enter the Congregation of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame, Indiana in 1932.

However during his time in training he fell seriously ill with tuberculosis. Death was feared. However Patrick prayed his rosary intensely and left everything in the hands of the Blessed Virgin, to be used as she saw fit for the glory of God. Eventually his prayers were answered miraculously when the doctors found that the patches on his lungs had just disappeared. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1941. He wondered how he could pay back the debt he owed to the Lord, His Mother and his family. After much prayer he saw the answer - the family rosary crusade. He coined the phrases “the family that prays together stays together” and “a world at prayer is a world at peace”. He began with a radio programme on Mother’s Day 1945 and was so popular that he soon had both a radio and television show in which many famous personalities appeared to promote the rosary and family prayer. Prominent among them were Grace Kelly, James Cagney, and Bing Crosby. He soon earned the title ‘the rosary priest’ and through his famous rosary rallies held all over the world, preached to millions the importance of prayer, faith and the love of Jesus. Through it all he remained as gentle and humble as ever.

Fr Peyton died peacefully in 1992 holding his rosary. His cause for canonisation is before the Vatican. Fr Peyton is for me a wonderful example of deep faith in God and a humble trust in the love of Mary and her intercession before her Son which he experienced so powerfully in his life. He was a man deeply in love with Christ and constantly faithful to his life as a priest and to preaching the love and mercy of God. Through his life the Lord touched the hearts of millions with faith, hope and love. It reminds us all how much the Lord can do through us if we just have the faith to trust in Him.

- David Barrins OP

Celebrating Priesthood - Fr Stephen

A priest of the Province, who wishes to remain anonymous, offers this reflection of a priest (whose name below has been changed) who has inspired him:

"I read somewhere that a priest is someone who unites heaven and earth. Wonderful but surely unrealistic. A priest is only human! All the same, St. Paul says that Christ unites “things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1.10), so perhaps this is what a minister of Christ the Head does for a community. And I believe it’s possible because I’ve seen it happen. I direct a dance project with a strong spiritual focus, and we put on a performance at a church in London. When I proposed it to Fr. Stephen as something to contribute to his church’s mission, he was open-minded, encouraging, and also set wise boundaries. The night before, the big paper screen was still not ready. The only way was for the artist, Daniel, to work in the church through the night. Would Fr. Stephen go this bit further with us? He stood contemplating Daniel’s work for a moment. Then he said, “This isn’t just a work of art. It’s an act of devotion. Of course you can stay. I’ll have to lock the church but will leave keys for you. And would you like music to keep you going?” Daniel, who’s not a Catholic, pointed to the tabernacle and said, “He’s there. That’s enough for me.” One happy artist, who finished a beautiful work, and the performance really grabbed the audience. Fr. Stephen had dared see a bit of heaven and earth, and passed that connection on to us."

Celebrating Priesthood in Fiction - Fr Brown

fr Richard Ounsworth OP, who teaches Scripture and Greek in Blackfriars, Oxford, and who is concurrently pursuing a doctorate in the typology of the Letter to the Hebrews, shares his reflection on a priestly figure whom he considers to be "a human hero":

"Glancing through a list of fictional priests on Wikipedia, I am struck by how many of them are either wicked or foolish. This is especially true of the more recent examples, and it confirms my impression that today’s popular culture casts the priest either as the villain, sinister instrument of a secretive and manipulative Vatican, or as the drunken idiot, out of touch with the real world and doltish in his refusal to recognise the reality of modern man.

On the other hand, who are our heroes? Wizards, time-travelling aliens and superheroes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter, and am almost breathless with excitement waiting for the next instalment of Doctor Who … but these heroes are difficult to emulate. I will never have a Tardis, never have superhuman strength, and don’t have an owl to deliver my letters.

But there is one hero, and a priest, who has always inspired me, and who in my more optimistic moments at least I might hope one day to be like in some way, and that is G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown: a man of transparent and instinctive goodness and immense compassion, a seeker after truth, and utterly unassuming. In the stories, Father Brown finds himself drawn into investigating crimes, not entirely unlike Sherlock Holmes (another great love of mine). Unlike Holmes, however, Father Brown’s brilliant solutions are not found through cold logical deduction but through a profound insight into humanity.

And it is because he is a priest that he has this insight. As he says to Flambeau – the villain that Father Brown converts and turns into his sidekick – in The Blue Cross, he spends a great deal of his time listening to people’s sins. So, of course, he knows what people are like. He has a great gift of empathy, and one imagines he must have been a wonderful confessor. He’s also a good Catholic theologian, who knows that true faith is reasonable, and his solutions come from this combination of reasonableness and compassion.

I suppose, though he never says so, that these are also the things that led him to become a priest. He seems an absolutely selfless man, not fascinated by himself like so many modern heroes with their endless navel-gazing and pampered vanity, not needy for praise or understanding. Instead, he is fascinated by other people, and by the wonders of the created order – fascinated by their mystery and yet their comprehensibility. This fascination leads him to love the truth, and to minister to every human being that comes his way, without distinction.

Father Brown is a true hero, the more so for being so truly human. This hero is a priest, and it is as a priest that he is a hero. I like to think he would have made a good Dominican.

Most of Chesterton’s Father Brown stories are available free on the internet, for example at this site. I urge you to read them."

Celebrating Priesthood - Father Augustine Tolton

On 20th January 2009 Barack Obama was sworn into office as the 44th President of the United States of America (although the Chief Justice flubbed the wording and it had to be repeated). The election of an African-American to the highest political position in the land, if not the world, is the pinnacle of the story of a people that had been in slavery less than one-hundred and fifty years before and could be treated as second-class citizens only 41 years before. The barriers broken by the former Senator for Illinois are immense but he is not the first ground breaking African-American to rise to prominence from the Prairie State. In 1886, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, a young man who had been born a slave was ordained a priest. His name was Augustine Tolton and he was the first black Roman Catholic priest in the United States.

Augustine, named after the great African Bishop and Doctor of the Church, was born in Missouri in 1856. His parents were slaves, therefore Augustine was also the 'property' of their master. The Toltons' master, Stephen Elliot, was a Catholic and his wife stood as Godmother for Augustine at his baptism. When the southern states seceded from the Union, Missouri declared itself neutral in the civil war which followed. Nevertheless, Augustine's father escaped to join the Union army and his mother escaped later, with the Tolton children, across the Mississippi into the city of Quincy in the free state of Illinois, where they found work in the cigar factory.

Whilst in Quincy an Irish Priest, Father Peter McGirr, befriended the Toltons and arranged or the children to attend. St. Peter’s parochial school. Racial biases still ran strong during the Civil War era, and his going to this school caused controversy among those in the parish. This prejudice was further stoked up when Augustine began to serve mass in the Parish. Despite the backlash Fr McGirr, sensing Augustine's vocational call, encouraged him to finish his education and arranged for him to attend the Franciscan-run local college. In spite of adversity and racism, Augustine finished school and graduated from Quincy College.

As he prepared to enter the priesthood, it became clear that the racial barriers still existed. Every single American seminary rejected him as a student, even the one that trained priests to minister to the black community! Fr McGirr continued to help him and arranged for him to study in Rome. He attended the prestigious Pontifical Urbaniana University and became fluent in Italian, as well as studying Latin and Greek. Augustine had expected to serve in an African mission but was informed shortly after his ordination that his mission would be to “negroes in the United States.”

He returned to Quincy and was appointed to serve at St. Joseph's Negro Church. He was such an articulate and intelligent preacher that many people, both white and black, were soon flocking to the parish and this caused great controversy. He met hostility from both white Catholics, of mainly German stock, and Protestant blacks, who did not want him trying to convert parishioners to another denomination. The new dean of the parish, who wanted him to turn away white worshippers, complained, and Augustine, not wanting to be a source of disunity within the Church in the city, asked to be moved.

After reassignment to Chicago, Fr Tolton first led a mission society, St. Augustine's, that met in the basement of St. Mary's Church. He led the development and administration of the Negro "national parish" of St. Monica's Catholic Church. Fr Tolton's success at ministering to black Catholics quickly earned him national attention. "Good Father Gus", as he was called by many, was known for his "eloquent sermons, his beautiful singing voice and his talent for playing the accordion".

Augustine began to be plagued by bouts of ill-health in 1893. He collapsed and died as a result of a heat wave in Chicago in 1897, at the age of 43. He was buried in Quincy, in the priests' cemetery at St. Peter's Catholic Church, where the seeds of his vocation had been sown. Alas the racist attitudes of people followed him to the grave and his burial in a "white" graveyard raised eyebrows. It has been suggested that Augustine is inaccurately credited with being the first Catholic priest of African-American descent, due to the ordinations of the mixed-race Healy brothers. Much of the debate centres on the cultural and racial identification issues, which I feel unqualified to comment on but one thing is certain: Augustine Tolton was the first Catholic Priest in the United States to identify and be identified openly as an African-American. He demonstrates that God calls who He calls to the priesthood, regardless of race, background or the dominant social sensibilities of the time. His witness, ministry and preaching was a milestone in race relations both in the United States and the Church.

Year of the Priest - Polish Friar Honoured

Armistice Day is also the day that the Polish nation commemorates the anniversary of Poland's assumption of independent statehood in 1918, after 123 years of partition by Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia. This year the square in front of St. Giles Church in Krakow was dedicated in honor of fr. Adam Studzinski, O.P., a late friar of the Polish Province.

Born in 1911, fr. Adam was ordained in 1937 and served as a chaplain to the Polish Army during the Second World War, first in Palestine and then in the Italian campaign, including the infamous Battle of Monte Cassino. His courage and service led to him being awarded several Polish and British state and military honours, including the Cross of Valour, the Virtuti Militari, Cross of Merit with Swords, and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Reborn Poland.

After the War he returned to Krakow and coordinated the renovations of the Dominican monastery and St. Giles Catholic Church. During the years he remained active in veterans' organizations and in Polish scouting. In 2006, he was promoted to the rank of general in the Polish Army. Fr. Adam died in 2008 at the age of 97. H/T to our brothers in the Province of St. Joseph

Adam Studzinski O.P. (1911-2008)

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace,

Amen.

Celebrating Priesthood in Fiction - The Priests of Craggy Island

When my sister found out that I had applied to join the Order; she took me aside and very seriously looked me in the eye and said, "It is not going to be like Father Ted ... you do realise that don't you?" I don't know if this says more about me or about her.

Father Ted, although consisting of only 25 episodes, is without doubt one of the greatest sitcoms ever performed. The show depicts the surreal, strange, madcap and just plain silly exploits of three Catholic priests, Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal Maguire and the retired Father Jack Hackett, who serve a parish on a fictional remote island off the west coast of Ireland. This troublesome trio have been exiled by the tyrannical Bishop Len Brennan, because of embarrassing incidents in their past: Ted for alleged financial impropriety (but to be fair the Lourdes money was only resting in his account), Dougal for something only referred to as the "Blackrock Incident", and Jack for his alcoholism. It is fair to say that none of the occupants of the Craggy Island parochial house are models for priesthood. Nevertheless they carry out their duties to the best of their limited ability.

Father Ted could be classified as a parody of Irish clerical culture but it never takes itself too seriously. It is not a tool for bashing the church. It is very much in the vein of its co-creator Graham Linehan's other works. One of the central themes of Black Books, The I.T. Crowd, Big Train and Father Ted is creating a surreal and zany world around what would normally be a serious or dry scenario. Whilst at times Father Ted may be irreverent to a bishop or poke fun at nuns, it does so in a friendly and affectionate way, rather than the nasty mocking humour of something like Popetown. If anything, Father Ted only points out how people in general, not only within the Church, can be so foolish in their desires for money, fame and sex. One of the most positive aspects of Father Ted is how it humanises the clergy, although at times in a greatly exaggerated way.

One of the funniest elements of Father Ted is the array of eccentric priests we encounter, such as the monkey priest, the mobile phone carrying Larry Duff, the dancing priest, and Graham Norton as youth worker Father Noel Furlong. This dysfunctional family of priests reflects a great reality: the common brotherhood of all priests.Whilst they are very different as individuals, all priests share the common character and duty bestowed by the sacrament of Holy Orders. As in Father Ted, they form a community and can support and encourage each other in their vocation. The clerical subculture portrayed in Father Ted is shown in a good light but it does remind priests and religious not to be inward looking and to remember that we are here to serve the Church, not just to take part in the Eurovision song contest!

In the UK you can view full episodes free and legally here. Go on watch a few ... ah go on ... just a little episode ... go on... ah go on ... go on ... go on ... GO ON!

Celebrating Priesthood - fr Leo P. Craig OP

On April 5, 1951 near Chunchon, South Korea, a Dominican Priest had just finished vesting for Mass. In the last moments, before he would offer the Holy Sacrifice for the Members of the 99th Field Artillery Battalion of the First Cavalry Division, he went over his homily in his mind. His mental preparation was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion. A soldier had stepped on an unmarked landmine. Without a moment's hesitation, the priest removed his vestments and put on his helmet adorned with a white cross and went to the scene of the incident. The priest was Fr Leo P. Craig of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in the United States, who since 1949 had been serving in the U.S. Army as a Chaplain to the First Cavalry Division.

He was born in Everett, Massachusetts in 1918. His mother died when he was five years old and his father was left with five children to raise. His aunt, a Dominican Sister, obtained dispensation to help raise the young Craig children and after the youngest had left home she returned to her convent. Leo received his BA in 1935 from Providence College and entered the Dominican novitiate at Saint Rose’s in Springfield, Kentucky. He completed his philosophy courses at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, and his theological training at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1942. He then went on to teach at the Aquinas High School in Columbus, Ohio and was appointed curate at Saint Andrew’s Parish in Cincinnati.

With U.S. forces stretched throughout the post-war world, chaplains were needed. Leo answered the call and was sent to Japan. Here he had a joyful reunion with his elder brother, who was a priest in the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. His time in Japan was short, as North Korea invaded the South in 1950. The First Calvary Division, with Leo, was sent to take part in the UN counter-offensive to retake Seoul from the alliance of the the DPRK and China. They had achieved this objective in March 1951 and began to try and drive the communist armies out of South Korea. The retreating forces left behind unmarked minefields hoping to slow down the advancing UN coalition. It was one of these mines that had exploded before Fr. Leo said Mass.

Fr. Leo arrived at the scene and was confronted with a dying soldier. The soldiers, who were already on the scene, warned Leo that the area was unsafe due to the high possibility of more mines. Nevertheless he went to the dying soldier and administered the last rites. The picture below was taken thirty-seconds before a second mine exploded and killed Fr. Leo and seven other men. Fr. Leo Craig demonstrated a great sense of duty and courage. He risked his own life to carry out his priestly duty and his pastoral obligation. He imitated the Good Shepherd and risked his life for one sheep, such was his zeal for the salvation of souls.

Leo Peter Craig O.P. (1918-1951)

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord
And let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.

Amen.

Celebrating Priesthood - fr Ismael Gonzalez OP

As part of our Godzdogz celebration of the Year for Priests, we asked some of the Dominican priests living and working in our Province what inspired them in the exercise of their priesthood. Below is a response from fr Ismael Gonzalez OP, a friar of the Province of Spain, who is currently studying in Oxford. fr Ismael was ordained in Eastertide 2009 in Salamanca.

"A few months before my ordination to the priesthood, I discovered one of the most beautiful texts that inspired me concerning how I should live my life as a priest: “Deje que la gente le coma”; be consumed by the people, let the people be fed through you. These words belong to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and their deep meaning is really important to my vocation.

Let us consider the mystery: I am not Christ, yet I say over the bread, "This is my body". It is the priest who says "my body", he says "my blood". But it is the Lord who gives us his Body and his Blood. So, people recognize Christ in the priest, for through his ministry, it is the Body and Blood of Christ that the people adore, it is the sacrifice of Christ that is offered, it is Jesus Christ whom I and the people receive.

At the consecration, it is not only Christ who shares his life with the people, the priest also must share his own life with humanity, not only when he celebrates Mass but in all times and in all ways. So, I give my whole life, like bread that people take in their hands, and they can, so to speak, break and give and share that with everybody. Consequently, I have to be willing to share myself: to share all my life, my time, my work, my hands, my eyes, my smile … even my nothingness. What I mean is, it is not necessary for the priest to know everything. Humility is important. Sometimes when I find it difficult to help somebody or to find the right words for them, I must remember that my own limitations can also help people, because the priest too is a human being searching for God."