Gold and Silver: Celebrating Faithfulness in the Year of Faith

In May each year there are many celebrations of Confirmation and First Communion, Graduations, and sometimes, Ordinations. In the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, we annually gather to honor couples marking their 50th Anniversaries of Marriage. This year that will happen a little later on June 23, 2013, at the Cathedral.

This week we celebrate Jubilees with two gatherings: Wednesday, May 1, we had a dinner with all our priests to thank God for the accomplishments of 25, 40, and 50 years of ordained service as priests. Friday Evening, May 3, we come together at the Cathedral to offer Holy Mass in thanksgiving for 25 years of service as a bishop of Bishop Raymond Boland. The Mass, to which you are all invited, is at 7:00 p.m. with a reception at the Catholic Center to follow.

This year we are noting these many examples of faithfulness within the Year of Faith, begun by Pope Benedict XVI last fall, and continued by Pope Francis with its completion on the Feast of Christ the King, November 24, 2013.

Faith, of course, is wonderfully expressed in the work of “being faithful,” what we call faithfulness, or faithful love. “God so loved the world …” St John’s Gospel (Jn 3;16) teaches, that He sent His Son to share our human experience: to suffer, die, and rise. Faithfulness often includes the gracious act of “being with” those whom we love. God is faithful in His love despite our unworthiness and sins. We, in turn, live our Catholic faith in many ways, but also by being faithful to our calling and commitments. When all is said and done, we know that it is God’s grace, His faithful and never-ending love, which makes it possible for us to be faithful; and we must make the decision to be faithful over and over again in our lives.

The Jubilee celebrations this week – and next month – draw attention to this dynamic power of God in the lives of those He calls. The names of the priests, whose anniversaries we know about, and that are currently living and working in the Diocese are these:

50 YEARS OF PRIESTHOOD

Reverend A. James Blumeyer, S.J.

Reverend Kenneth Criqui

Reverend Joel Derks, O.S.B.

Reverend Charles Jones

Reverend Quentin Kathol, O.S.B.

Reverend William Miller, CPPS

Reverend Xavier Nacke, O.S.B.

Right Reverend Abbot Marcel Rooney, O.S.B.

Reverend Reginald Sander, O.S.B.

Reverend Thomas Wiederholt

40 YEARS OF PRIESTHOOD

Reverend Martin DeMeulenaere, O.S.B.

25 YEARS OF PRIESTHOOD

Reverend Matthew Brumleve

Reverend Gregory Lockwood

Reverend Benedict Neenan, O.S.B.

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EPISCOPAL ORDINATION

Most Reverend Raymond J. Boland, DD

Twenty-five-year old Raymond James Boland was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. on June 16, 1957, and spent more than 30 years serving there.

On February 2, 1988, he received his call to become a bishop, and was ordained Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama on March 25 of that year. After serving for five years as the Second Bishop of Birmingham, Pope John Paul II named him Fifth Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph on June 22, 1993. He came to this place he now calls home and was installed on September 9, 1993. The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI accepted his letter of retirement on May 24, 2005.

God continues to bless Bishop Boland, and our Diocese through him. He has weathered some health challenges recently and remains joyful and active. On the occasion of this special anniversary I know you join me in a hymn of praise to God for Bishop Boland and all our Jubilarians. We thank God for their faithfulness which shows itself in generosity, wisdom and dedication. May God continue to watch over you all. Ad multos annos!

Martin Richard: Boston Bombing 8-Year-Old Victim Becomes Face of Marathon …

The 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombings has been identified as Martin Richard.

The young boy was at the event with his family to watch his father compete. According to reports he was waiting along with his mother and sister to congratulate and hug his dad, who was just finishing the race, according to CNN.

However, as they waited near the finish line they were hit full on by one of the explosions. Martin was tragically killed by the blast, and his mom and sister also suffered serious injuries.

Martin’s 6 year old sister is said to have survived the explosion but reportedly lost a leg due to her injuries. She is currently in hospital recovering from the ordeal and receiving medical treatment.

According to other reports, Martin’s mother was also seriously injured and may have suffered brain injuries. She has undergone surgery to treat her head injuries, and her present condition is uncertain. Both mother and daughter were still hospitalized by early Tuesday afternoon. The boy’s dad is thought to have been uninjured in the blasts, but is devastated and trying to come to terms with the tragic turn of events.

Father, Bill Richard, is reportedly very active in his local community in the Ashmont section of Dorchester. Locals are said to have been devastated at the family’s loss and many have been seen leaving flowers at their family home.

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One mourner had written the word “Peace” at the entrance to the driveway; a reference to a sign made by Martin last May when he helped organized a peace walk. During that event children made signs at home and walked together around the city to make a simple statement urging peace in Boston, and for violence to stop.

In a photo that is being shown of Martin he can also be seen at his first communion smiling and posing for the camera in a white suit. In that picture the young boy is seen holding a colorful communion banner with a dove on it symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

It is now believed that as many as 3 people were killed, and more than 170 were injured in the two explosions that hit on Monday afternoon near the finish line of the marathon. By Tuesday early afternoon no suspects were being named by authorities, however, President Obama had pledged that those responsible for the attacks would be hunted and be brought to justice.

Here is a video news report into the tragic death of Martin Richard:

Baffert blanked in Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)

Bob Baffert won’t be saddling a horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time since 2008.

UNDER WRAPS

Kentucky Derby horses are preparing quietly, but they’ll be ready for the roar come Saturday.

The Hall of Fame trainer said Monday that Govenor Charlie would not run Saturday in the Run for the Roses. His other possibility, Code West, also won’t compete in the Derby at Churchill Downs.

Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie was 11th on the points leaderboard that determines the 20-horse field for the 1-1/4-mile race. Code West was ranked 21st.

Baffert hasn’t been on the Derby sidelines since consecutive absences in 2007 and ’08. He has won the race three times but not since 2002.

Govenor Charlie galloped Monday for the first time since April 11, a layoff caused by a foot bruise and soreness in his hind end.

”You cannot have any kind of hiccup,” Baffert said. ”We want to be competitive. And if you’re not competitive, my clients don’t want to be in there. We’re just going to watch and good luck to everybody else.”

DERBY DOINGS

• Stevens, Lukas together again
• Rare contender for McGaughey
• Pitino’s names have meaning
• Baffert gets shut out
• McBride to sing anthem

Baffert said Govenor Charlie could be pointed toward the May 18 Preakness and that Code West is a possibility for the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Three weeks ago, Baffert took Santa Anita Derby runner-up Flashback out of consideration because of a knee injury that will sideline the colt at least two months.

”It wasn’t meant for me to be in the Derby this year,” he said.

Baffert will saddle Midnight Lucky in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, then fly home to California for his youngest son’s first Communion on Saturday, when the family is planning a Derby watch party.

A happy time – Estes Park Trail

Gabe Housewright, 8, flashes a shy smile after his First Communion on Sunday at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church. First Communion is a Catholic celebration of the first reception of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Trainer Bob Baffert won’t have horse in Kentucky Derby

Louisville, Ky. — Bob Baffert won’t be saddling a horse in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby for the first time since 2008.

The Hall of Fame trainer said Monday that Govenor Charlie would not run. His other possibility, Code West, also won’t compete in the Derby at Churchill Downs.

Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie was 11th on the points leaderboard that determines the 20-horse field for the 1-1/4-mile race. Code West was ranked 21st.

Baffert hasn’t been on the Derby sidelines since 2007 and 2008. He has won the race three times, but not since 2002.

Govenor Charlie galloped Monday for the first time since April 11, a layoff caused by a foot bruise and soreness in his hind end.

“You cannot have any kind of hiccup,” Baffert said. “We want to be competitive and if you’re not competitive, my clients don’t want to be in there. We’re just going to watch and good luck to everybody else.”

Baffert said Govenor Charlie could be pointed toward the May 18 Preakness, while Code West is a possibility for the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Three weeks ago, Baffert took Santa Anita Derby runner-up Flashback out of consideration because of a knee injury that will sideline the colt at least two months.

“It wasn’t meant for me to be in the Derby this year,” he said.

Baffert will saddle Midnight Lucky in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, then fly home to California for his youngest son’s first Communion on Saturday, when the family is planning a Derby watch party.

First Communion: Will the suit fit?

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My older sister, Megan, and I were born 13 months apart. I wore
her christening gown. Then it was her old coats and pajamas.
Finally, I glommed onto her prom dress. Growing up, I half expected
to re-wear my sister’s wedding gown. Despite these experiences, I
never felt deprived by a childhood of hand-me-downs. If my height
didn’t mandate tall sizes, I’d simply shop at Goodwill.

With three boys, I hoped to continue the tradition of cast-off
clothes. Yet things veered wildly off course when I put my oldest
child’s christening gown on my second son. Daniel was 11 pounds at
birth. Jack was considerably smaller. There was an emergency trip
to the department store, and then another one a few years later
when my youngest child arrived weighing a (comparatively) miniscule
7 pounds.

When Daniel made his First Communion last year, I
special-ordered a suit to ensure it had the length and shoulder
room required. I paid for alterations. Then I wondered if we should
convert. Those Protestant people seemed nice. First Communions were
getting expensive.

A year later, I was on the hunt for another Communion suit. My
middle son is extremely narrow, and I again paid for massive
alterations.

My mind traveled back to when I made my First Communion. For
whatever reason, I wound up being a full year older than my sister
had been when she had hers. The end result? Megan’s stupid dress
didn’t fit.

My mom made me try it on five times to be absolutely sure. I
looked like a deranged Shirley Temple trying to play 5 when I was
actually 10. Defeated, my mom and I headed to Gately’s Department
Store. As I dawdled near the 10-cent candy stick display, my mom
rifled through the racks.

At long last, she ushered me into a changing room. When I
emerged for inspection, my mom bowed her head in prayer, begging
God to delay any further growth spurts until after Mother’s
Day.

The dress did fit, just as I feel confident that Jack’s suit
will fit this month. My mom is a wreck, though. “How can you be so
certain he won’t grow?” she asks.

I tell her I hedged my bets. I used her same little prayer and I
bought Jack a chocolate-frosted doughnut for good measure. My mom
rolls her eyes and tells me she’s bringing her sewing box with her
the morning of the Communion.

Some people just have no faith.

Marianne is mother of three sons and the wife of a southside Irish fireman. She has learned that sometimes you’re just too dumb to know what makes you happy. She blogs regularly at We Band of Mothers (webandofmothers.com) and curses with even greater frequency. Her material is written for the imperfect, the imprudent, and the impatient mothers who know that all this stuff is really very funny if you just give it a minute.

See more of Marianne’s stories here.

Contact Marianne at
walsh200@comcast.net

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Hospitalized dad gets to see daughter’s first Communion

ROCHESTER — Confined to Strong Memorial Hospital as he waits for a heart transplant, Timothy Day of Kenmore wasn’t going to be able to attend his 8-year-old daughter Erin’s first Communion.

So Erin decided the celebration of the Eucharist should come to him.

“I gave her the choice if she wanted to go through with her class or have it here with me, and she said she wanted to do it with me, and that’s pretty special,” said Day, who has been living at the hospital for six-and-a-half weeks.

“The most special part was just being with my dad,” Erin said in a telephone interview after the Mass.

Several weeks ago, staff at the family’s parish, St. Paul in Kenmore in the Diocese of Buffalo, called to the Diocese of Rochester to see if a priest would be available to celebrate a first Communion Mass in the Interfaith Chapel at Strong Memorial Hospital.

They were told it would be possible if they were willing to have the first Communion on a Friday, and if they would be willing to have Bishop Emeritus Matthew H. Clark celebrate the Mass. Day also received the sacrament of the sick during the Mass, which took place April 26.

Both the Day family and Bishop Clark said the honor was all theirs.

“I am going to go home a happy man for having experienced your company,” Bishop Clark said during the Mass.

Day, a Tonawanda police officer, said the Mass was special not only to have taken place, but to have included the participation of Bishop Clark.

“I think somebody upstairs was pulling strings for us,” he remarked.

In a phone interview after the Mass, Sherry Brinser-Day, Day’s wife and Erin’s mother, said the Mass so far exceeded their expectations that the event almost felt surreal. But the family is honored that everyone felt so highly of them to attend, she said.

“We want to make the best memories we can in the midst of all the trials we are going through,” Brinser-Day said. “I am overjoyed at the outpouring of support. I am floored.”

The event also included a large contingent of family, including Erin’s younger siblings Clare, 6, and Henry, 4; representatives of St. Paul Parish; hospital chaplains and personnel; a flock of local journalists; and a choir of local college students from the University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music and Rochester Institute of Technology who skipped Spring Fling and end-of-semester activities to attend.

To all of them, Bishop Clark spoke about the importance of drawing the community through the Eucharist.

“I know (Erin) is honored by your presence and draws strength from your company,” Bishop Clark said. “We are companions along the journey, trying to draw strength from each other in our faith.”

In his homily, he noted that all are subject to the frailty of the human condition, and that we draw healing and nourishment from the Eucharist.

“None of us owns tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t own our health.”

That point is keenly noted by Day, who is one of 43 people hospitalized or at home waiting for a heart transplant through Strong Memorial Hospital. He was diagnosed in October with an autoimmune disorder, which damaged his internal organs, including his heart.

He said one thing that has made his long-term hospital stay easier is the accommodations made by the staff at the hospital.

“They are doing this for me this afternoon,” he said about the first Eucharist Mass. “They have gone above and beyond. I consider that a blessing that I have such great caregivers.”

As the youngest of 11 siblings, Day, 45, also is blessed with a large family and a lot of family support, he said. He noted that he has had at least one visitor a day during his entire hospital stay. Still, it’s not the same as being at home, he said.

“It hasn’t been hard to live here, but it’s just been hard to not live at home,” Day said. “I’m accustomed to seeing my wife and children.”

Brinser-Day, his wife of 11 years, said the hardship on their family has been balanced by the improvement in Day’s health since he has been at the hospital.

“If you had seen before in hospital and then saw him admitted and treated, he looks great,” she said. “He is really functionally doing very well.”

The family visits Day several times a week — at least once during the week and several times during the weekend.

“It’s the new normal, and we do have to get used to it,” Brinser-Day said. “It could be months and months before this (situation) changes again.”

They also are trying to mentally prepare for the major surgery he faces with a heart transplant and the long recovery he will face after that.

“When he gets home there are going to be a lot of new challenges to face,” Brinser-Day said.

Since Brinser-Day is Protestant, and Day had always taken the lead at raising the children Catholic, Erin’s godfather, Griffin Jones, has made sure the children attend Mass and church functions while their father is in the hospital. Jones, who also is Timothy’s nephew and godson, proclaimed a reading during the Mass.

“He’s been wonderful,” Brinser-Day said of Jones. “That’s one thing about Tim’s family, they are so devout. Their value is on God. They value God, along with the family, along with making sure that everything’s good with Tim.”

Erin’s catechist, Michelle Fisher, who attended the Mass, said it was important for Day to be there at his daughter’s first Communion.

“I remember when he would bring her to Mass when she was a baby,” Fisher said. “He’s been so involved in her faith.”

During the Mass, Erin read the prayers of the faithful, praying for her parents for leading her in the faith, for all those suffering from diseases, especially her dad, and for those who have died, including members of her family.

When Bishop Clark complimented Erin on reading the prayers, he asked if she was nervous.

She told him she had butterflies.

“Sometimes those are good, because they make you realize you are doing something that means something,” Bishop Clark said.

Denise Epstein

Denise France Catherine Epstein was born on November 9 1929 in Paris, where
her parents, both descended from wealthy Russian-Jewish financiers, had fled
after the 1917 Revolution. Her father, Michel Epstein, worked in a bank, and
in the year Denise was born her mother made her name on the literary scene
with her first novel, David Golder, about a dysfunctional, wealthy Jewish
family, largely based on her own upbringing. She went on to publish nine
more novels before war broke out.

Before then, when Denise was 10, during a period of rising anti-Semitism her
parents made the strategic decision to convert to Roman Catholicism. This
was not enough, of course, to prevent their being identified as Jewish after
the German invasion (Denise would take her First Communion wearing the
yellow star).

In 1940, as German tanks rolled into France, Irène sent her two daughters,
Denise and her younger sister Elizabeth, to the Burgundy village of
Issy-l’Eveque, the childhood home of Cécile Michaud, the nanny who had been
with them since Denise’s birth. (Cécile’s family are immortalised — uniquely
under their own surname — in Suite Française as the only truly good people
in the whole book.)

The girls’ parents stayed in Paris, working, and visited when they could. By
early 1942, with both of them registered Jewish, Michel had been banned from
working and Irène told she could no longer publish her books. They, too,
left for Issy-l’Eveque. Denise remembered the few short months that followed
as the happiest of her life.

But on July 13 1942, betrayed by her French neighbours to the Nazi soldiers
who were stationed in the village, Irène Némirovsky was arrested. “There was
a knock on the door. She knew why the police had come, but there were no
tears,” Denise recalled. “She just told me to look after my father. She said
farewell to us, but I had no idea it was the final farewell, the last time I
would see my mother.” Within 24 hours Irène Némirovsky was in a
concentration camp north of Orléans. Within four days she was bound for
Auschwitz. She died of typhus a month later, aged 39.

Knowing nothing of his wife’s fate, Denise’s father wrote to everybody he
could think of, pleading for her life; but three months after her
disappearance, he, too, was arrested and transported to Auschwitz, where he
died in the gas chambers.

At first the girls were also detained, but a Gestapo officer took pity on
them, saying they reminded him of his own daughters, and let Cécile Michaud
take them away. Before they parted for the last time, Michel Epstein handed
Denise a small leather suitcase and told her: “You must never part with this
because there is a notebook of your mother’s inside.”

Cécile Michaud removed the Jewish stars from their clothes and fled the
village with the girls and the suitcase. “I remember I was distraught
because I had to abandon my doll Bleuette in order to carry the suitcase,”
Denise recalled. But she kept it with her as they went into hiding for the
next two years. Pursued by French police, they found refuge with nuns, then
were passed around safe houses in Bordeaux, hiding in cellars and attics.
Denise attended school under an assumed name.

Even when the war came to an end their troubles were not over. Not knowing
that their parents were dead, the sisters would make daily visits to the
Gare de l’Est in Paris to wait for trains carrying survivors from the
concentration camps. They made their way to Nice, where their maternal
grandmother, who had managed to convince the Gestapo that she was an
Orthodox Russian, refused to open the door to them. “If you’re orphans, go
to the orphanage!” she shouted.

Denise went on to work as an archivist, married, had two sons and a daughter,
divorced, and eventually settled in Toulouse. Her sister became a writer and
editor, publishing a novel, Le Mirador, based on their mother’s life, before
dying of cancer in 1996.

Though Denise treasured the suitcase as the last relic of her mother, for
years she could not bring herself to look at the dog-eared pages, covered in
a tiny and almost illegible scrawl, that she had assumed was her mother’s
personal diary of the war. “In 1975 I opened the manuscript,” she recalled,
“but I found it too painful to read and closed it again.”

A flood in her apartment some years later prompted her to think about
safeguarding the document and, using a magnifying glass, she began to
transcribe it, only to discover that it was a novel.

For several more years she held back from approaching a publisher, fearing
that she might be betraying her mother to publish a work which was clearly
unfinished (in her notes Irène Némirovsky had named the unwritten parts of
the book “captivity”, “battles” and, poignantly, “peace”). When she did, in
2002, the publisher, Denoël, immediately recognised its importance both as a
historical document and a literary masterpiece.

After its publication Denise found herself invited to participate in the
celebration of public events such as Bastille Day. But she never went: “How
long will it take them to understand that I will never go to anything
involving French flags flying and men in uniform?”

Denise Epstein is survived by her children, whom she raised as Catholics —
just to be on the safe side.

Denise Epstein, born November 9 1929, died April 1 2013

Report: Clergy banned from scene of Boston Marathon bombing

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  Medical workers aid injured people at the 2013 Boston Marathon following an … more 

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Clerics — whom some might call first responders — looking to provide spiritual healing were turned away from the scene of the Boston Marathon bombings because of security risks.

For authorities trying to secure a crime scene, the decision to admit clergy to the site of a bombing is risky. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Anyone can buy a clerical collar for just $10, and a modestly talented seventh-grader with a computer and printer can produce official-looking credentials.”

The Rev. Tom Carzon, rector of Our Lady of Grace Seminary, said he was disappointed he couldn’t get closer to the scene.

“Once it was clear we couldn’t get inside, we came back here to St. Clement’s, set up a table with water and oranges and bananas to serve people, and helped people however we could,” he told The Journal.

Father Carzon told The Journal that he was able to minister to a runner who wasn’t injured but had assisted a bystander with severe injuries. Two hours later, the runner, a Protestant, was still walking around the area in shock.

“He came over, and said, ‘You’re a priest, I need to talk to someone, I need to talk,’ and he was able to pour out some of the story of what had happened,” Father Carzon said. “Then there was an off-duty firefighter who was there as a spectator, and he, too, got pushed out of the perimeter, and he ended up here to pray. There was a feeling of helplessness we had when we couldn’t get close. But doing the little that we could — putting out a table with water and fruit, being there — I realize how much that ‘little’ was able to do.”

The Wall Street Journal notes that the 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard, one of the three who died that day, had received his first Communion just last year. Priests were only yards away when Martin died.

“When the world can seem very dark and confusing, the presence of a priest is a presence of hope,” the Rev. Richard Cannon, a priest in Hopkinton, Mass., where the marathon begins, said in a sermon after the bombings.

The Boston Police Department did not respond to a request for comment by The Journal on its policy regarding clergy at the scenes of emergencies.

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Letter: Shame on Ayotte

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Shame, shame, shame on Kelly Ayotte for voting against background checks for people who are not fit to have guns! I mean, people who are mentally incapable of knowing right from wrong.

I will not call her “Senator,” because she doesn’t deserve it, and I say shame, shame on the people who voted her in! She does not deserve to be in the Senate, and she does not have any concern for the feelings of anyone but the National Rifle Association. Ninety percent of us want background checks, but that doesn’t matter to her. I am angry and sad that our senators have so little regard for us who wanted this vote!

CECILE MARINI

Epsom