CROSSROADS: Part One

And so we approach the end of the Pauline year, which Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated to celebrate the 2000th birthday of the consummate Apostle.  With its conclusion, however, comes a new beginning - The Year of the Priest, beginning this Friday, June 19, on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As the Universal Church comes to a crossroads, so too does its little Pizza-Hutted microcosm in Kenai, Alaska - Our Lady of the Angels Parish.  Here, too, begins a Year of the Priest for the first time in over 20 years, as former parish administrator Sr. Joyce Ross and her attaché Sr. Joan Barina are currently en route to the eastern seaboard from whence they came over 30 years ago.  Their management of the parish - lauded by some, condemned by others - should neither be underestimated nor forgotten.  But it is done.

What now?

There are many issues to be addressed.  In no particular order, this blog will attempt to identify and comment on them.

1.  THE "PASTORAL TEAM" METHOD OF MINISTRY.

While Canon Law makes concessions for an in solidum ministry "when circumstances require it" (Can. 517), the circumstantial reason given for the 'Pastoral Team' was the OMI vocation to "live in community" with fellow OMI brethren.  This is not one of the four OMI charisms, and in any case was certainly not one of the conditions demanded of the very first Catholic priest in Alaska, Fr. Jean Séguin, OMI.

Also, given their beloved and somewhat solitary predecessor Fr. Tero, neither does it seem likely that Fr. Tony, Fr. Andy, and Fr. Joe were viewed by Peninsula Catholics as possible predators in need of constant self-surveillance . 

The most likely reason for the Pastoral Team method was the presence of Sr. Joyce at Our Lady of the Angels parish, Marlys Verba at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Soldotna, and Sr. Carol at St. John the Baptist in Homer.  Because these women had become entrenched in their authoritarian roles in the absence of a constant priestly presence (and at the expense of a beleaguered Fr. Tero, one might add), and because removing them from said roles would be a possibly painful transition, and could plausibly alienate some parishioners, it no doubt seemed prudent to Frs. Tony, Andy, and Joe to allow them to continue to dictate parish policy and serve as the de facto administrators of the Peninsula parishes.

However, with the departure of Sr. Joyce, the dynamic changes significantly.  Not only was Sr. Joyce the most audacious and knowledgeable at navigating the liminal area between bending and breaking the rules of liturgy, orthodoxy, and hierarchy, but she had the benefit of spending an entire generation at one parish.  Thirty years of attending and assisting at baptisms, first communions and confessions, marriages, and funerals will win hearts simply by virtue of consistency.  As evidenced by comments on this blog, even those who opposed Sr. Joyce's usurpation of priestly duties will miss seeing her friendly and familiar face.  And those same opponents would probably begrudgingly admit that, of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, Sr. Joyce had a particular capacity for understanding and counsel -- such things solidified her claim as "pastor" on more than one parishioner's heart.  It remains to be seen whether or not Sr. Joyce's influence will outlast her manifest presence among such hearts.

Our concern is mainly with the priests.  Now that Sr. Joyce is gone, so too is their greatest hindrance in assuming full pastoral responsibilities in each parish.  Let us remember that the Church's law defines a parish as a "certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor" (Can. 515).  And to become a pastor, "one must be in the sacred order of the presbyterate", i.e. priesthood.  (Can. 521).  Therefore, priests are the norm for each parish - not Pastoral Teams, not nuns, and certainly not laywomen in albs.

Over the past year and a half, the priests have expressed their desire to get to know their parishioners better; Fr. Tony said as much to a national audience at Catholic.org:

One of the more important tasks is to make sure parishioners get to know their priests, Father Dummer said.  Familiarity is important when a priest is called upon to anoint the sick, visit the homebound, and perform baptism and funeral services, he added.

"We decided that it is most important for them to get to know us, so they feel comfortable," Father Dummer said.  "It's hard on people when they don't know us."

Most parishioners at Our Lady of the Angels no doubt agree with Fr. Tony.  Most, however, would also say that these have become empty words in the wake of the Pastoral Team method.  This reader's comment from an April 9th post sums things up:  

Our three priests, although always attempting to be effective as priests, are not familiar to us. Fr. Tony is more familiar than Fr. Joe and Fr. Andy. But there is little more than chit chat that takes place between us. Numerous parishioners have commented that they wanted to get to know the priests better, spend time with them, but when asked to get together, there is never time. At Church after Mass, there is the usual greetings and smiles, then the running away to meetings. (No peaceful time to just be a pastor to us.)

It is the opinion of this blog that the Pastoral Team approach should be seen for what it is: a failure.  The People of God on the Peninsula need more than a part-time priest in their parishes; they need the full, sacramental, pastoral presence outlined by Church law.  It is also the opinion of this blog that Peninsula Catholics should make known both their desire and their need for a full pastoral presence, both to the OMIs on the Peninsula and the Archbishop.

Lastly, the Vatican has announced a plenary indulgence in conjunction with the Year of Priests.  Here are the necessary details:

The means to obtain the Plenary Indulgence are as follows:

(A) All truly penitent priests who, on any day, devotedly pray Lauds or Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament exposed to public adoration or in the tabernacle, and ... offer themselves with a ready and generous heart for the celebration of the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance, will be granted Plenary Indulgence, which they can also apply to their deceased confreres, if in accordance with current norms they take Sacramental Confession and the Eucharist and pray in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. Priests are furthermore granted Partial Indulgence, also applicable to deceased confreres, every time they devotedly recite the prayers duly approved to lead a saintly life and to carry out the duties entrusted to them.

(B) All truly penitent Christian faithful who, in church or oratory, devotedly attend Holy Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ, supreme and eternal Priest, for the priests of the Church, or perform any good work to sanctify and mould them to His Heart, are granted Plenary Indulgence, on the condition that they have expiated their sins through Sacramental Confession and prayed in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. This may be done on the opening and closing days of the Year of Priests, on the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean Marie Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month, or on any other day established by the ordinaries of particular places for the good of the faithful.

The elderly, the sick and all those who for any legitimate reason are unable to leave their homes, may still obtain Plenary Indulgence if, with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin and with the intention of observing, as soon as they can, the usual three conditions, "on the days concerned, they pray for the sanctification of priests and offer their sickness and suffering to God through Mary, Queen of the Apostles".

Partial Indulgence is offered to all faithful each time they pray five Our Father, Ave Maria and Gloria Patri, or any other duly approved prayer "in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to ask that priests maintain purity and sanctity of life". 

Please consider offering the graces attributed to the indulgence for our priests.

FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE: Bad Teaching Leads to Unfulfilled Obligations

KENAI, AK - For the second consecutive weekend, Sr. Joyce Ross, RSM conducted a paraliturgical communion service in place of a Mass at a Catholic Church on the Peninsula, this time at Our Lady of the Angels parish on Saturday, May 30th, and Sunday, May 31st.

According to the church bulletin, the previous weekend saw Sr. Joyce "preside at Eucharistic Service" at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in nearby Soldotna.  Fr. Tony Dummer, OMI and Fr. Andy Sensenig, OMI both made personal remarks that Sr. Joyce's presence was necessary because of the absence of Fr. Joe Dowling, OMI, a fact which the bulletin neglects to mention.

While neither conducting nor attending a paraliturgical communion service is proscribed by Canon Law, a communion service does not fulfill the Church's mandate that the faithful should  attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation as stated in canon 1247:

Cn. 1247 - On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Canon 1248 does suggests that, in the absence of a priest, the faithful may participate in a paraliturgical service, viz.

Cn. 1248 §2 - If participation in the eucharistic celebration becomes impossible because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause, it is strongly recommended that the faithful take part in a liturgy of the word if such a liturgy is celebrated in a parish church or other sacred place according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop...

However - and this is the crux of the argument - this "liturgy of the word" or "Eucharistic Service" are not "options" for fulfilling the Sunday obligation; rather, the obligation is void when it becomes impossible to fulfill.  So the first question one should ask himself when a priest is absent is not "Is it permissible for me to attend this Eucharistic Service at my church?", but "Is it possible for me to attend Mass elsewhere?"  This is, in fact, what the Congregation of Divine Worship stated in 1988:

¶18 - Whenever and wherever Mass cannot be celebrated on Sunday, the first thing to be ascertained is whether the faithful can go to a church in a place nearby to participate there in the eucharistic mystery.

Further on, this same letter warns of the abuse currently taught ex operatio in Kenai and Soldotna:

¶21 - It is imperative that the faithful be taught to see the substitutional character of these celebrations, which should not be regarded as the optimal solution to new difficulties nor as a surrender to mere convenience.

¶22 - Any confusion between this kind of assembly and a eucharistic celebration must be carefully avoided.

Now, in the past some have claimed that when Mass is celebrated in Kenai and not Soldotna, or vice versa, that the extra miles make fulfillment of the Sunday Mass obligation impossible.  However,  the distance between Our Lady of the Angels parish in Kenai and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Soldotna is just over 12 miles one way - a long distance to walk, but a relatively short distance to drive by Alaskan standards.  Below are examples of longer and shorter commutes made by Catholics in the Archdiocese of Anchorage:

South Anchorage to Downtown Anchorage = 9 miles

Sterling to Soldotna = 11 miles

Sutton to Palmer = 13 miles

Eagle River to Downtown Anchorage = 15 miles

Anchor Point to Homer = 15 miles

Moose Pass to Seward = 28 miles

Wasilla/Palmer to Downtown Anchorage = 42 miles

As the table makes explicitly clear, many members of the Archdiocese travel about or more than 12 miles one way on a daily basis.  Thus, to ask these same members to travel an extra 12 miles once a week in order to fulfill their Sunday obligation by participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not only possible, but entirely reasonable.

VERDICT: The People of God on the Kenai Peninsula continue to be malformed regarding the fulfillment of the Sunday obligation to attend Mass as proclaimed by Holy Mother Church in her Canon Law and Congregation for Divine Worship.  In accord with the Second Vatican Council, which exhorted all bishops to promote and safeguard "the unity of the faith and the discipline common to the whole Church", it is the opinion of this blog that Archbishop Schwietz must correct and teach that unity and discipline which Our Lady of the Angels and Our Lady of Perpetual Help currently lack.

Please pray for Archbishop Schwietz, Sr. Joyce, and Frs. Tony, Andy, and Joe.

BREAKING: More Liturgical Abuse in Kenai

KENAI, AK - Rev. Joe Dowling, O.M.I. neglected to give a homily today, instead permitting Sr. Joyce Ross, R.S.M. to preach during the 10:00 AM First Communion Mass at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Kenai.

This is directly disobedient to Canon 767, which states that only ordained ministers - priests and deacons - should deliver the homily.  Here are the pertinent sections of the aforementioned Canon:

can. 767, §1: Among the forms of preaching, THE HOMILY, WHICH IS PART OF THE LITURGY ITSELF AND IS RESERVED TO THE PRIEST OR DEACON, IS PREEMINENT; in the homily the mysteries of the faith and the norms of Christian life are to be explained from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year.

can. 767, §4: It is for the pastor or rector of a church to take care that THESE PRESCRIPTS ARE OBSERVED CONSCIENTIOUSLY. (caps my emphases)

This is yet another instance of  liturgical abuse by Sr. Joyce reported by this blog; you can find earlier abuses here.

With the retirement announcement of Sr. Joyce, more abuses have been planned: this parish bulletin states that she will preside at communion services May 23rd and 24th at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Soldotna.  This is a grave abuse that would deprive OLPH parishioners of the right to fulfill the mandate of Canon 1247, which states that the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass on all Sundays and holy days.

Please pray for Our Lady of the Angels and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishes, and especially for Sr. Joyce.

CATECHISM BREAKTHROUGH: Purgatory is a Doctrine

SOLDOTNA, AK - The Catechism of the Catholic Church, recently published in 1992, has asserted that purgatory is a doctrine.

This contradicts the teaching of Rev. Tony Dummer, O.M.I., the current leader of the Pastoral Team at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Soldotna.  In the November 2, 2008 issue of the OLPH bulletin, Fr. Tony stated:

Purgatory is not a doctrine ---it is a reasonable explanation of the problems of restitution, rehabilitation, punishment and maybe even "cosmic-congruence".

In contrast, Canon 1031 of the Catechism reads:

 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.  The Church formulated her DOCTRINE OF FAITH ON PURGATORY especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. (caps my emphasis)

In his Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, the late Pope John Paul II described the Catechism as "...a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic tradition, and the Church's Magisterium."

Allaying doubts of post-conciliar Catholics, John Paul also reassured that the Catechism is "...a very important contribution to that work of renewing the whole life of the Church, as desired and begun by the Second Vatican Council."

More to follow.

Reader Response to Good Friday Liturgy, "Pastoral Team"

The following is an anonymous comment from a previous post regarding the in solidum/"Pastoral Team" method on the Kenai Peninsula.  Please pray for the priests, nuns, and administrators mentioned below, and offer what sacrifices you can for their conversion of heart.  Tenebrae facta sunt.

I would like to comment on the issue of the rotating priests. This system has been ineffective from the very first. The priests traveled to the three parishes on the Peninsula in succession, staying one Sunday, and in Homer's case, Friday through Wed morning. The effect was a situation very similar to what was in place when there was no permanent priests. The exclusive case was Fr. Tero, who being alone and covering the entire Peninsula, still managed to visit, come to our homes for dinner, become friends with us, more like a Pastor of old. Our three priests, although always attempting to be effective as priests, are not familiar to us. Fr. Tony is more familiar than Fr. Joe and Fr. Andy. But there is little more than chit chat that takes place between us. Numerous parishioners have commented that they wanted to get to know the priests better, spend time with them, but when asked to get together, there is never time. At Church after Mass, there is the usual greetings and smiles, then the running away to meetings. (No peaceful time to just be a pastor to us.)

One event that shocked many soon after our three new priests arrived was the announcement by Fr.Tony at Mass one Sunday that parishioners were not to come to the priests and ask questions. They were to go to the Parish Directors who would then tell the priests what parishioners needed. The impact was painful and reverberating. The abandonment felt by many of the parishioners was profound and yet there was to be no redress, until apparently, the Bishop stepped in and suggested there should be more contact between the priests and the parishioners. This situation seemed to be part and parcel with the desire to make sure the current structure, i.e. the parishes run by the parish councils and Directors, be reassured that their positions and authority would not be changed. Confusion remained as to what the new priests were here to accomplish.

Another situation that occured and that was equally shocking was the power struggle that took place at Our Lady of the Angels soon after the arrival of our new priests. Fr. Tony offered to say Mass Monday through Friday at 9:00 am. This occured for several weeks until one Sunday at Soldotna, the Parish Director announced after Sunday Mass that the new schedule for daily mass at Kenai would be Tuesday through Friday. Fr. Tony, was in the pews with the congregation, corrected her and said he would be saying it M-F. The Parish Administrator looked suprised yet did not refute this. However, that next week there was no Mass at Kenai on Monday and the schedule was and continues to be T-F.

The stories of how much control is parlayed between the current parish administrators goes on and on. One parishioner has taken communion to a home bound women who has asked on numerous occasions to have a priest visit her. But the administrators tell her she will be put on a waiting list and so another caring parishioners brings her communion. Again, when Fr. Tero was here, this women had regular visits from him and in the past year and a half this same women has had only two visits from the current priests.

There was a young man who died in the past year. When the grandmother attempted to talk to the priests about the funeral, she was told she would need to talk to the Parish Administrator of her parish. Another family in Homer sought the help of the priests to deal with a very sad family situation and the father wanted help bringing hope to the family. Yet the father was told there was no time for that. This person was very sad and felt abandoned once more.

In the ensuing time since our new priests have come, there does not seem to be any improvement in communication between priests and parishioners. I do not believe it is the non-desire of the priests, but the power struggles that are ever present here on the Peninsula. The priests are muted, kept in their place by the (dare I say it) feminists who fear they have no valid place unless they are in charge and telling the men what they can and cannot do. Control is the issue of the day. I must continually remind myself that we are living through the breakdown of the church that took place with what Pope Benedict calls the rupture of continuity. It will take time for the Holy Spirit to reclaim the hearts of the people. So we offer our sacrafices for the Church and our healing.