Month: August 2018

I’ll take “Quotable Quotes” for $100

I am a fan of the TV show Jeopardy, although I don’t see it as often as I used to. One of the categories that has stood the test of time is “Quotable Quotes.” It’s probably right up there with “Potent Potables.”

Whenever I come across a meaningful quote that speaks to me in my spiritual journey I write it down in my journal or put it in the Notes app on my phone. Allow me to share some of these quotes with you and I trust they will be an encouragement to you.

  • Holiness is not the privilege of the few: it is the simply duty of each of us. — St. Teresa of Calcutta
  • He who has himself as spiritual director has an idiot for a disciple. — St. John of the Cross
  • Commitment is doing what you said you would do, after the feeling you said it in has passed. — St. Camillus
  • Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them, every day begin the task anew. — St. Francis de Sales
  • Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength. — St. Philip Neri
  • For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. — St. Therese of Lisieux
  • Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious. — St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Eternal God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so precious through his sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. — St. Catherine of Siena
  • While the world changes, the cross stands firm. — St. Bruno
  • Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world. — St. Ignatius of Antioch
  • All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. — St. Francis of Assisi
  • Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the saints we must live like them. — St. Théodore Guérin
  • All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, ‘I am the way’. — St. Catherine of Siena

It’s hard to stop, but I must. Another reason why I love the Catholic Church and her saints!

“One—that the world may believe”

I postponed this post from last Monday due to more urgent topics. Over the next several Mondays I want to focus on some topics that were key in my journey into the Roman Catholic Church. Three weeks ago today Charlotte and I were interviewed by Marcus Grodi for the “Journey Home” program that will air on EWTN, Monday, September 10, at 8:00 p.m. “Desiring unity in the Body of Christ” was one of the things I talked about.

Unity in the Church, I now realize, was an underlying theme throughout much of my life. Two weeks ago I mentioned the book How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps by Christian Smith that I picked up and read at least three times. In February 2015 I continued to respond to his points: “Start to notice church fragmentation and disunity.” On February 16 I wrote the following in my journal:

I am a third-generation Pilgrim Holiness/Wesleyan. Most likely due to a song I sung as a child “The Happy Day Express” I had the idea that all Christians were a train that had Jesus as engineer and the closer the many churches were to the Bible, the closer they were to him in the engine. In my mind my denomination was right up there next to the engine. I felt sorry for people who were born into other denominations and were further back on the train.

As a young teen I wasn’t too worried about church fragmentation and disunity because my denomination was the product of a series of mergers, the most notably taking place in 1968 to form The Wesleyan Church. The theme of the merging conference which served as the logo of the church for years was “One: that the world may believe.” I took great pride that my denomination was playing an important role in answer to the prayer of Christ that we all be one.

At the age of 30 I found myself in Spanish language school with my family preparing for missionary service in South America. This experience brought me into contact with missionaries who were Christian and Missionary Alliance, Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Fundamentalist Baptists and even Oneness Pentecostals. We were able to have fellowship together, but we were always aware of our differences  and tried not to talk about them. This became more pronounced as we interacted with some on the mission field who held us at arm’s length because of the differences we held over eternal security. That my denomination believed that “there is no height of grace from which we cannot fall,” cast doubt on the validity of my Christianity.

Some of the best years of our lives are those we have been experiencing most recently, being part of a non-denominational network of churches that for the most part seems to have captured the spirit of first-century Christianity. Yet even in this idyllic setting we have the challenge to bring people together from various backgrounds, experiences and denominations. So often we are trying to go back to see how Scripture can hold us together as we deal with the realities of doing church 15 years into the 21st century.

I have great love and deep respect for all that I received from my roots in The Wesleyan Church and also the fresh breath of the Spirit that I experienced in the non-denominational church we served with for eight years. One of the strong impressions that Jesus laid on my heart from the age of 12 was a desire to see his prayer answered, that his followers would be one so that the world would believe that the Father sent him. I came to recognize that that would not happen through either one of the wonderful church experiences I had been privileged to experience. This could only happen through the Church that Jesus founded. It came down to me being obedient to Jesus. I had to obey in answer to his prayer.

Good News: The Lord is King!

It’s been a difficult week! Next week may not be much better. In fact, as the saying goes,  it always gets darker just before the dawn. But today I want to rejoice! Why? The Lord is King. The book of Hebrews tells us that this is a truth we can bank on, yesterday, today and tomorrow. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NABRE).

Yesterday I went to confession and I so appreciated that my priest heard my sincere confession, offered some counsel and in the Name of the Holy Trinity absolved me of my sin.

I was able to spend 90 minutes before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Chapel afterward, and then another two hours at the beginning of this day, subbing for my wife who is out of town. How precious to pray, to intercede, and to lift my intentions and burdens to Jesus in the intimacy of that chapel!

I am also encouraged with the letter that His Excellency Bishop Robert Morlino shared with the Madison, WI diocese. You can read it here. Tomorrow a letter from our bishop will be read at Mass by our priest.

The Lord is King! He is the Lord of His Church. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church. As my priest told me today, Jesus is purifying His Church and that will be painful, but oh so necessary!

Let us pray together on this day that we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection.

Is this enough?

I have been waiting for a statement from my bishop about the current crisis/scandal in our beloved Church. As I stated in my “Open Letter to My Bishop” in this blog on August 13, as a faithful son of the church I want to know that my leaders are giving spiritual leadership to the flock that they have been entrusted to their care. Cardinal Raymond Burke in a recent interview calls this the greatest crisis the American Catholic Church has ever faced!

So three days ago this joint statement was issued by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, and the four bishops of Trenton, Paterson, Camden and Metuchen. You can read it below. But in case you don’t get through it, allow me to say that this statement is well crafted and sound like it’s coming from corporate headquarters regarding a potential recall. What we don’t see here is a call to prayer and fasting. Was this just an unfortunate circumstance that took place in neighboring Pennsylvania, and we’re good in New Jersey?

Again to quote Cardinal Burke (and our Lord), this demon can only come out by “prayer and fasting.” The faithful of New Jersey love our Church. With all due respect to your offices that has been entrusted to you, we plead with your Eminence and your Excellencies to lead us into righteousness through confession and repentance.

Saint Joseph, patron of the Church, pray for us! Saint Peter Damian, reformer of the Church, pray for us! Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Newark  Trenton  Paterson  Camden  Metuchen 

August 15, 2018

New Jersey’s Roman Catholic Bishops acknowledge that media accounts of the details contained in Pennsylvania’s grand jury report show a heartbreaking departure from our fundamental belief in the dignity and value of every child.  As a Church, our calling remains unchanged – to help children in our care encounter leaders who exemplify God’s commandment to love and protect the most vulnerable.

As Bishops, we hold that every parent and every child deserve a safe environment to learn and explore their faith.  Every space where teaching, worship, and ministry take place must provide this safe environment. There must be no compromise on this principle.  The children entrusted to our care are treasures.

We cannot undo the actions of the past, but we shall remain vigilant to ensure that not one child will ever be abused on our watch.

New Jersey’s Catholic dioceses have conducted some 380,000 criminal background checks of all diocesan and parish personnel who have regular contact with minors.  In addition, all Catholic dioceses have integrated a comprehensive program of reporting abuse to civil authorities, compensating and counseling victims, and implementing rigorous protocols and training for more than 2.3 million clergy, employees, volunteers and children.

We thank law enforcement agencies, child protection advocates and victims themselves who have helped us move beyond compliance to creating the safest environments for learning and worship.  We are deeply thankful for those who have joined our efforts to extend both healing and hope to every victim and their family.  We renew our commitment to foster healing and seek forgiveness.

We urge anyone who was abused by clergy to come forward to civil authorities.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Archbishop, Archdiocese of Newark

Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop, Diocese of Trenton

Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan
Bishop, Diocese of Camden

Most Reverend Arthur J. Serratelli
Bishop, Diocese of Paterson

Most Reverend James F. Checchio
Bishop, Diocese of Metuchen

Why I’m Staying Put

Unless you have been stranded on a deserted island, you know that the news coming out of Chile, Honduras and now the United States, reveals that another chapter of scandal and cover up has emerged in the Roman Catholic Church. Is this a repeat of 2002 when the epicenter of abuse was the archdiocese of Boston? And wasn’t that supposed to be behind us once the United States Catholic Council of Bishops (USCCB) introduced the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People?

Well, it’s back! And if you have read this blog over the past two weeks you know that I have written a good deal about how I am processing this. So my purpose here is not to rehash the details or to try to give a reason why it happened and what we need to do. Rather I want to answer the question that I have been asked, “What do you stay put?”

I entered the Church with my wife Charlotte at Easter 2016. I am no more than a toddler when it comes to being Catholic, even though I have a long history as a Christian. In these two plus years I have been blessed with wonderful priests, with the Sacraments, and with the two-millennia history of the Church that Jesus founded upon the Apostles.

I am frustrated. I am angry. I find myself with knots in my stomach. I pray. I cry. I have written my bishop. I go to daily Mass. And I receive Jesus–Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity every day in the Eucharist. Every day the priest raises the host, the bread, now the Body of Christ, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” And together with the priest and the people I say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

And then I receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I can’t ever give this up! That’s why I’m staying put.

 

Our Stomachs Tied in Knots

After the announcement of serious allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at the end of July, many Catholics, myself included, wondered when the other shoe would drop. Well, you might say a boatload of shoes were dropped on Tuesday at the press conference of the Pennsylvania attorney general and his report on the abuse perpetrated by 300 priests on 1000 victims over the past 70 years in six dioceses of that state, that had been covered up by superiors, some of them, now in higher levels of church leadership.

As much as all of this creates knots in our stomachs, none of this can be swept under the rug–not now, not ever! We are seeing that while actual incidents of abuse/predation are down since 2002, there has been, in a sense, only a bandage applied to the gaping wound. For the Church to be healthy and holy, the wounds have to be sterilized and cauterized and there will most likely need to be some debriding and even amputation!

That will start with each one of us. Let’s confess where we’re complicit: not praying like we should, not living like we should, not having any noticeable difference between our lives as Christians and the pagan world around us. When we have taken care of our own household, we can call our leaders to account and we must.

Last evening I attended Mass at the Basilica in Philadelphia to celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As I prayed with knots in my stomach I remembered that our Lady is the “undoer of knots.” Back in the second century St. Irenaeus in his classic work “Against Heresies” presents a parallel between Eve and
Mary, describing how “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.”

We need the prayers and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in this time of great knots. Blessed Virgin Mary, take into thy hands today this knot. I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all! In thy Immaculate Heart I place my hope! O Blessed Virgin Mary, undoer of knots, pray for us! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Missing the Mark

Sin—there I said it—is a difficult topic to address and deal with today. I don’t think it has ever been on the “Top Ten” topics to talk about. Yet it seems that we really try to suppress the subject in our current world. Even in the places where you would imagine that the topic should come up—in church—it gets glossed over.

I was a pastor for 30 plus years and sin was not one of my favorite topics, in a sermon or otherwise. And even when there was a blatant issue of sin that was obvious to the whole community, it took all that I had to confront it, even in love.

As I prepared to come into the Roman Catholic Church in 2016, one of the things I had to do was make my first confession. I remember doing my examination of conscience covering 42 years since my baptism at the age of 17! The idea of making a list of my sins and declaring them in the confessional was daunting. “Father, forgive me for I have sinned…this is my first confession ever.”

I slogged through it. The priest didn’t throw me out of the confessional. And most importantly I heard the words of absolution: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, † and of the Holy Spirit.”

Every day when I go to Mass I look forward to the opening words spoken by the priest in  what is known as the Penitential Act:

Brethren, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, (And, striking their breast, they say:) through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; (Then they continue:) therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

(The absolution by the Priest follows:) May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

(The people reply:) Amen.

There is a shorter form, but I always look forward to the Confiteor in bold above. If I attend a Mass where it seems that the celebrant is “free-styling” I feel uncomfortable and wonder if once again we are trying to make ourselves feel better by “white washing” or minimizing the impact of our sin. One of those occasions is when “we” ask forgiveness for “missing the mark.” Now, I know the Greek word hamartia can be translated “missing the mark,” and that is a serious offense, but not in the way I’ve heard it presented. It seems more like the goal was 100% and I got 90% so for that 10% I’m sorry. The Confiteor says I have “greatly sinned” and I have, you have, all God’s children have!

That same Greek word is also translated, “to be without share in,” “to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong,” “to wander from the law of God, violate God’s divine law in thought or in act.”

I am so thankful when my confessor acknowledges that I have sinned. He doesn’t give me the excuse that I am human or that I only missed by a little bit. I didn’t say it makes me feel good, but it’s necessary for my soul to be honest! But then what incredible joy when I hear those words: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, † and of the Holy Spirit.”

I’m going to confession this Saturday. Won’t you join me?

Following In Jesus’s Steps

It’s a very heroic thing when a person gives up his or her life for another. It usually makes the news, books are written and movies are made.

The greatest example we have of this is described by St. Paul in Romans 5 when he refers to Jesus Christ:

Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life (5:7-10 NABRE).

St. Peter tells us in his first letter “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps” (2:21 NABRE). So just as Christ suffered and gave up his life, it will come to us to suffer, and maybe even fully follow in his steps to surrender our life.

Today is the feast day of the Polish Franciscan martyr, St. Maximilian Kolbe. In 1941 at the German concentration camp of Auschwitz, one prisoner disappeared which prompted the deputy camp commander to pick ten men to be starved to death to discourage further escapes. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, had a wife and children and cried out for mercy. Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take his place. In their underground bunker Kolbe led the men in constant prayers and after two weeks he was the only left alive. He was given a lethal injection of carbolic acid and died on August 14, 1941.

At his canonization in 1982 the verse from John 15:13 was read: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (NABRE). Ellyn von Huben writes about that special day.

There was one extraordinary man in attendance at St. Maximilian’s canonization: Franciszek Gajowniczek. Though spared the torture of the starvation bunker, Gajowniczek had still suffered greatly. He was in Auschwitz for over five years and his sons did not live to see the day of his release. Those prisoners who had grown so fond of Fr. Kolbe were particularly cruel to Gajowniczek, as they blamed him for the loss of their beloved friend and priest. But he received consolation in 1982, in St. Peter’s Square, when the man who offered his life for Franciszek’s was declared a saint.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story!” St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us!

An Open Letter to My Bishop

Your excellency,

Yesterday I witnessed the baptism of my newest godson in a parish in our diocese. What joy to stand with my wife and our godson’s parents and respond on his behalf the desire to be baptized and affirm the Creed. I lit his baptismal candle from the Christ Candle situated next to the baptismal font and I thought about the future our Lord has for this precious boy who bears the name of two of our stellar saints.

I know his parents would be thrilled if this little boy would discern a call to the religious life, especially to the priesthood. They will do everything possible to train up him up accordingly. As godparents, we are committed to pray, encourage, and model fidelity to Christ and his Church.

I have one son, eight grandsons, two godsons, and four other boys who have adopted me as “papa”. If any of them discerned a call to the priesthood I would be ecstatic! I don’t say this lightly—it is not an easy vocation to undertake, and all the more so when a priest is committed to follow in the steps of Christ himself, and adhere to the example of some of the amazing priests in our tradition and history—men like St. John Vianney, St. Padre Pio, St. Damien of Molokai, and Father Thomas Byles who died hearing confessions as the Titanic was sinking.

I have been blessed to have wonderful priests in my life to celebrate the Mass, to hear my confession, to confirm me, to convalidate my marriage, to bless my home and to offer spiritual direction. It is evident through their lives that they are committed to Jesus Christ and his Church, and to my growth in sanctification and final salvation. I would be honored to have any of these young boys follow in their steps and minister in the same way to their own generation.

Thank you, Your Excellency for your part in making possible the parish that I am part of and the priests who minister the Liturgy of the Word and Sacrament to us on a weekly, even daily basis.

But, Your Excellency, I do have a request to make of you—something that I hold in the very depths of my heart, that causes me to cry out before God when I am alone before him. You know the burden that these children would take up if they discern a call to the priesthood. And so I ask you for them, and for all the sons of Catholic mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers, godfathers and godmothers, that you be completely committed by the authority entrusted to you in the sacred office you hold, as successor to the apostles, to be vigilant for the spiritual well being and protection of these sons of the Church.

Leave no stone unturned  to protect our sons from predators who would try to derail them in their spiritual devotion to Jesus through attacks on their chastity. Predators have no place in our seminaries, and we hold you and the office of vocations directly responsible to weed out these destructive influences. (Also it would be helpful if you would make a statement to that effect to our diocese!)

Also, our sons love the Church in all of her liturgical and historic glories. Please make sure that these sons of the Church are not viewed with suspicion because they long to learn the beauty of the historical liturgies and practices, or because they are faithful to the doctrine and teachings of the one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Your Excellency, I leave you with deep respect and high regard for your holy office and close with the words of St. Jude at end of his epistle:

But you, beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, for they told you, “In the last time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires.” These are the ones who cause divisions; they live on the natural plane, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. On those who waver, have mercy; save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.

To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory, to the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen (1:17–25 NABRE).

You are in my prayers daily.

Respectfully yours in Christ,

Gary Wiley

Welcome Damian More!

Our second godson was born on July 7, 2018. His parents gave him the name Damian More. That’s a lot to live up to when you consider the saints whose names he bears. Today we have the privilege of standing with his parents and older brother as he is baptized and by virtue of the sacrament is born into the God’s family, the Church.

Paragraph 1213 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: ‘Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word'”.

Little Damian More won’t have any real understanding of all that will take place in his life by grace through the faith of his parents today, but knowing his parents very well, they are committed to lead him day by day into a knowledge of his Savior Jesus Christ and how he will become a sharer in the mission of Christ’s Church.

That brings me to his two onomastic saints: Peter Damian and Thomas More.

Peter Damian lived in the 11th century. He was a Benedictine monk and a cardinal of the Church in the time of Pope Leo IX. In 1828 he was named a Doctor of the Church. In his time he was mostly known as a reformer of the Church. In 1050 he wrote a very direct treatise on the vices of the clergy, which included fornication, homosexuality and abuse of minors, as well as the attempts by church officials to cover up these abuses. This was nearly 1,000 years ago!

Thomas More lived in the 16th century and is no doubt better known due to his close relationship with King Henry VIII of England. Sir Thomas More was a close friend of the king, served as his secretary and personal advisor and in 1529 was named Lord Chancellor. More served the king well, but his first allegiance was to Christ, his Church, and the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, Pope Clement VII. When the pope would not grant the king an annulment from his wife Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, Henry broke from the Church and declared himself head of the Church of England and was granted a divorce. Thomas More could not support the king and resigned his position. He could not justify the king’s action against the Church and the dissolution of his marriage. More paid for his conviction regarding the Sacrament of Marriage with his life. His last words before being beheaded were: “I die the good King’s servant, but God’s first.”

My dear godson Damian More, only God knows what you will be called upon to give witness to, to proclaim and to defend. May the power of the Holy Spirit flood you and empower you, and may the intercession of Peter Damian and Thomas More enable you to stand true in this your century of service to God. You have my prayers always!