Monthly Archives: December 2011

News

O Canada!

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Seminary enrollment is up 50% at St. Joseph  Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta. Seminary rector Fr. Shayne Craig attributes the sharp increase to a greater emphasis on faith formation and vocations throughout the region.

With 42 seminarians registered in-house this fall and another five on internships, registration is at an all-time high, says Fr. Craig.

Last year, the seminary had 28 in-house seminarians and another six on internships. The maximum residency at the new seminary is 60 seminarians.

Eleven of this year’s seminarians are from the Edmonton Archdiocese; the others come from elsewhere across Western Canada.

For the rest of the story, check out this article from the B.C. Catholic.

Men's communities

Safe Haven

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portico at the rear of the enclosed forecourt at Camaldolese monastery

During World War II, the Camaldolese monastery of San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome hid Jews, anti-Fascist political figures, and “after Mussolini’s capitulation, even a few trembling, formerly influential, figures of the Fascist regime,” according to L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

The monastery’s chronicler wrote at the time:

“Jews–who were being sought to be locked up in those death camps known as concentration camps and who were divested of all their possessions–asked to be hidden, as did politicians who did not wish to collaborate with the reborn Republican Fascism; men who had escaped from the prisons and jails that had been opened for them as political offenders on 26 July; officers who were loath to belong to an army that was betraying national and popular principles; soldiers who sought refuge to avoid being deported to distant places; soldiers of the Anglo-American forces, prisoners of war who had managed to flee in the moment of confusion, and there were even a few Austrian and Polish soldiers who belonged to the German army.”

The Camaldolese are a joint order of hermits and cenobites, founded by St. Romuald at the beginning of the eleventh century.

Courtesy of Catholic Culture.

Men's communities

Discalced Carmelite Friars

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Today the universal Church celebrates the feast of the great Carmelite doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross.

In a particular way, we want to send feast day greetings to the Discalced Carmelite Friars, St. Joseph Province, one of our IRL affiliates.

The friars are disciples of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, and they live as brothers in community. With Mary as their patroness, they serve Christ and His Church through ministries of prayer, presence, evangelization, and pastoral care.

As with all Carmelites, their primary ministry is prayer.  All of their other ministries in the Church are but an outpouring of that relationship with God. They serve in parishes, retreat houses, spirituality centers, hospital pastoral care, spiritual direction and prison ministry with a special emphasis on their service to Carmelite nuns and seculars.

The St. Joseph Province encompasses most of the western United States, with most of their houses in California and Arizona.

For more information on discerning a possible vocation with this community, click here.

General interest

Religion and the Civil War

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The Catholic News Agency (CNA) recently published an interesting piece on the role of religion in the U.S. Civil War. CNA interviewed Dr. George G. Rable of the University of Alabama on this subject, since this year marks the 150th anniversary of the war.

Dr. Rable is the author of God’s Almost Chosen Peoples: A Religious History of the American Civil War. He provides some interesting commentary on the complex role of the Catholic Church in both the North and the South, especially as it related to discussion of the moral issue of slavery.

Of particular interest to our readers is the role played by consecrated religious in the war. Perhaps most noteworthy were the Sisters of Charity, who worked in the military hospitals and cared for everyone regardless of their political affiliation.

“They were there to serve as nurses. Soldiers on both sides were impressed with the Sisters of Charity,” added Rable, whose book recounts the story of one soldier so impressed by a sister that he converted to Catholicism.

For more on the role of Catholic religious in the Civil War, check out “Catholic Sisters and the American Civil War” by Dr. Pat McNamara.

General interest

Archbishop Dolan on “Culture of Vocations”

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As part of the celebration of National Vocation Awareness Week, January 9-14, 2012, The Catholic Answer magazine interviewed Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York on how to build a “culture of vocations.”

Before becoming the Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Dolan served as rector of the North American College, the seminary for Americans in Rome, from 1994 to 2001.

The entire interview is important reading, but I thought our readers would be especially interested in Archbishop Dolan’s insights as to what a “culture of vocations” looks like:

“What I mean by a culture of vocations is that when our young people grow up in a culture that encourages you to do God’s will and that affirms one in his desire to be a priest, you are going to get priests. I grew up in such a culture. I said to my teachers in grade school, ‘I think I want to be a priest,’ and they beamed and did everything possible to encourage me. My parish priest would. My folks would. My neighbors would. The parish would. I can remember as a kid–I must have been 9 or 10 years old–getting a haircut, and the barber said, ‘Hey shrimp, what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I said, ‘I want to be a priest.’ And he wasn’t even a Catholic, but he said, ‘Hey, isn’t that great?’

“Now that is the culture of vocations that we need in the Church.”

Readers are also invited to check out Archbishop Dolan’s blog, “The Gospel in the Digital Age.”

Resources

D Is for Deacon

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Last week the Kathryn Jean Lopez reviewed a new children’s book by author Elizabeth Ficocelli entitled Where Do Deacons Come From? This is the latest of a series by Ficocelli (other titles so far include Where Do Priests Come From?; Where Do Sisters Come From?) to introduce vocations to children.

Ficocelli comments on the reason for her book:

“Deacon Greg Kandra recently blogged that his friend, Deacon William Ditewig, had made the following statement: ‘The diaconate will only become fully accepted as a vocation when young people say, “When I grow up, I want to be a deacon.”‘

“Well, Deacon Ditewig, I hope my book Where Do Deacons Come From? will help make that a reality.

“For many kids today, the vocation of deacon is being brought home–literally–as fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other adult males they know are answering the call for this special role of service in the Church. This book sets out to clarify what a deacon is–and isn’t–through kid-friendly text and charming illustrations.”

Adults will also appreciate this book.

“As with all my books for children, Where Do Deacons Come From? is written keeping in mind the parents or teachers that may be sharing the book with young people. I, myself, learned new things about the diaconate, as I did with each book in this vocations series.”

General interest

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

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We wish all the friends and affiliates of the Institute on Religious Life a most blessed solemnity of the Immaculate Conception today.

In a particular way, we send our prayerful best wishes to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, based in Northridge, California.

These Franciscan sisters’ mission is to be in the Church and for the Church. The members live their vocation through a total surrender of themselves to the poor and humble Christ in prayer, sacrifice, and apostolic action, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are involved in catechesis, education, health care, and retreat ministry.

The congregation was founded in 1874 in Mexico City by a Franciscan Priest named Fray Refugio Morales and three young women. Guided by the Holy Spirit and, in the midst of religious persecution, they started to teach the Christian life to children and to take care of the elderly in their own homes, encouraging everyone not to be afraid of living their Catholic faith as sons and daughters of God.

For more information on this wonderful community, click here.

General interest

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts

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The Institute on Religious Life is pleased to announce that it will host a regional conference in Southern California on the topic “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: The Sacred Liturgy and Consecrated Life.”

The event will take place on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Wilmington, California. Speakers include Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P. and Rt. Rev. Eugene Hayes, O. Praem., abbot of St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, California.

As the Church embraces the revised edition of the Roman Missal, it is good to be reminded that “an indispensable means of effectively sustaining communion with Christ is assuredly the Sacred Liturgy” (Bl. John Paul II, Vita Consecrata, no. 95).

This year’s regional meeting will offer reflections on the vital importance of the Sacred Liturgy in the Church’s life and mission, with special emphasis on how Divine Worship relates to the consecrated life in the living out of the evangelical counsels and serving the needs of others.

Everyone—clergy, religious and laity—is welcome to attend this day of spiritual renewal, reflection and affirmation of the consecrated life.

For more information or to register, click here.

News

Welcome to America

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The Detroit Free Press published this article last week on the influx of foreign-born priests in the United States to help compensate for the relative shortage of American-born priests.

In 2011, about one-third of priests ordained in U.S. Catholic dioceses were foreign-born, up almost 50% from 1999, according to data Georgetown University compiled for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The number of foreign-born seminarians has varied between 20% to 30% over the past decade.

The article says that of the 293 priests serving at metro Detroit parishes, more than 50 are foreign-born, from countries such as India, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, Cameroon, Poland, and Ireland.

News

Increase in Vocations

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A recent Catholic News Service story reports on the continued increase in seminary enrollment in the United States. Some examples:

— At the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, 40 new seminarians arrived this year, bringing total enrollment to 186, the highest level since the 1970s.

— St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, welcomed 30 new graduate-level seminarians, making its class of 100 seminarians the largest since 1980. The influx forced 24 seminarians and two priests off campus into leased space at a former convent.

— In the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the St. Pius X diocesan seminary closed in 2004 because of declining enrollment, the number of seminarians has more than doubled–from eight to 17 in the past two years.

But the numbers alone don’t tell the full story.

“I’m tremendously impressed with the quality of the candidates, their zeal,” said Father Phillip Brown, who was appointed rector of Theological College in Washington last March. “We’re seeing a real renewal of the priesthood.”

Under Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, the Church worldwide has been blessed with a priestly vocation boom. The number of major seminarians surged from 63,882 in 1978 to 117,978 in 2009, an increase of nearly 85%, outstripping world population growth (58%) and Catholic population growth (56%) during the same time period.