Last Stop: St. Mary's Manhasset

This past Sunday, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, found Daniel Opoku-Mensah and myself speaking at St. Mary’s in Manhasset. This is the last weekend in this Spring semester that seminarians visited parishes.
St. Mary’s is an incredible place. First, it’s in Nassau which is a distant land for someone from the South Shore of Suffolk. Second, there are so many things happening in this parish. There is a high school, elementary school, incredible youth ministry program, faith formation, outreach and so much more – they have their own Gift Shop! Third, the priests and people here helped to make it a great weekend as well. They supported, affirmed, and encouraged both Daniel and myself in work and life at the Seminary.

There is a sadness and that our parish visitations are complete. Sadness because this has been a tremendous opportunity for me personally and I think the seminarians in general. I don’t often speak about my own vocation story so it has been a good “push” for me. Second, it has been wonderful to be present in parishes throughout the Diocese and to learn about the diversity and excitement present in so many of our parishes. It also has been a good opportunity to work on a project with a fellow seminarian in a way that we would not normally work. While we were not at the seminary, a sense of community continues to form. For example, this weekend it was great to spend time getting to know more about Daniel's journey to the Seminary from the Diocese of Konongo-Mampong in Ghana and to share a weekend of experiences together. Finally, and perhaps most important, we learned a tremendous amount about priestly ministry over these past weeks.

As we return to the Seminary and gain back some of the “rhythm” of seminary life again, the Spring semester is coming to an end. Bring on the papers and finals!

Have a great week.

St. Patrick’s, Bay Shore – “FORTUNATE US”

This past weekend, Fortunatus Mugisha and I visited and spoke at St. Patrick’s R.C. Church in Bay Shore. For me, it was a homecoming of sorts. I lived and worked in West Islip my entire life. Spending the weekend at St. Patrick’s allowed me to return to an area I am very familiar and comfortable with and to meet many wonderful individuals and families – some familiar and some brand new.

It was great travel to St. Patrick’s with Fortunatus (photo, right). He is actually a local celebrity at St. Patrick’s. Last Christmas break, Fortunatus lived in the parish during his Christmas break. The day before we arrived in St. Patrick’s, Fortunatus and the parish learned that he would be spending his pastoral year (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011) in the parish. As St. Patrick’s pastor, Fr. Thomas Coogan (photo, below left) said, it is “fortunate us” for having Fortunatus in the parish. If you met Fortunatus, who comes from the Diocese of Kabel in Uganda, you’d quickly agree.

Each parish I have visited offers so much to the people they are called to serve. Of course, they have many things in common. In addition, each parish has opened my mind and heart to new possibilities for ministry and service. In addition to Fortunatus’ celebrity status :), St. Patrick’s holds a monthly Mass for Children with Special Needs on the third Saturday evening of every month. I had the chance to meet some of the children and families who attended that Mass as the liturgy ended on Saturday evening.

What a tremendous outreach St. Patrick’s offers to these families! Once a month a special liturgy is help in the Coffey Center. It is a smaller space and allows families to come together to hear God’s Word and pray together. For some, the formal experience of Church can be tough and sometimes too structured. For others there may be fear of embarrassment or of being distraction. For sure – all are welcome at God’s table! This is just another way that St. Patrick’s puts that into action. Celebrated traditionally by Msgr. Emmett Fagan (who lives here at the Seminary), the Mass is a tremendous service to God’s people at St. Patrick’s!

The parish also provides respite for parents. Children can stay with trained volunteers on Saturday nights. This gives the kids time to play with one another and give their parents some time together too!

So the speaking tour continues…next week, St. Mary’s in Manhasset. In some small way I hope we are able to invite others to think about priesthood and religious life. In some large ways, we are gaining much more than we can ever hope to offer. Indeed, “FORTUNATE-US!”

Rector's Conferences

“The rector’s conferences are especially helpful in aiding students to interpret rightly their life in common, their discernment of vocation to the priesthood, and the human and spiritual virtues they strive to appropriate.”
-Program for Priestly Formation, 267

I’ve written before about the role of the Rector, in general, and the Rector here, Fr. Peter Vaccari. The Rector carries out numerous tasks and responsibilities. One of these is a monthly Rector’s Conference. This takes place in every seminary. (Archbishop Dolan has put together a book of his Rector’s Conferences from the time he was a Seminary Rector. It’s a great book!) Each month, the seminarians meet with Fr. Peter, usually in the Main Chapel, for a time of information and formation.

Tonight, on the first day back from the Easter break, we gathered in the Chapel for the April Rector’s Conference. In this semester, Fr. Peter has examined each of the theological virtues (faith, hope and love) and how they need to be cultivated and realized in the life of each seminarian and priest.

Fr. Peter spoke about hope tonight and there were three main points for the seminarians – and perhaps for each person who reads this. (These are not Fr. Peter’s exact words just the ideas I left the Chapel with tonight.)

1. A priest must be a person who emanates hope. As seminarians and priests, our presence must demonstrate that we are people of hope. In welcoming, reaching out and even challenging, our faces should reveal what is in our heart. Our speech - in every work we speak - should be spirit and hope-filled. This leads to the second point.
2. You cannot give what you do not have. We cannot preach, live, speak about or emanate hope if we do not believe it ourselves. We are called to pray, reflect and talk about our feelings of hopefulness and perhaps even more importantly, in times of hopelessness. We can never be authentic disciples if we are not honestly engaged in consistent self-examination and reflection, particularly when it comes to hope.
3. Be aware of false hope. Fr. Peter’s last point, at first, may appear relevant for seminarians and priests but I think has a message for each of us. It is easy to imagine ourselves in a certain role or career, i.e. I hope to be assigned to a certain parish, or be the “Director” of this, or have this particular job or something like that. It’s unrealistic. It is not who we are called to be as priests (or as people). It’s a false hope, one bound to leave us disappointed and discouraged.

Now this is only one Rector’s Conference so you can imagine what a year’s worth of them offers. It is another part of the formational process and one that has been a huge source of inspiration and support.

This particular conference, offered in the Easter season and on the first day of a new semester, gives much for me (and hopefully all of us) to think, pray and reflect upon!

Vulnerability

Part of the formational process at the Seminary involves Liturgical Formation, including preaching. Today, Good Friday, I preached at the Morning Prayer service. Below is a basic text of my first seminary preaching text, based on the text of Isaiah 52:13-15 and the spirit of the day...

In so many ways we seek to tie these three days together. What can be a thread for us as come to prayer this morning from last night’s liturgy and prepare for the Easter Vigil. I would like to propose that the “VULNERABILITY” might be a thread for each one of us here today to consider. The vulnerability evidenced in last night’s Liturgy – the one who washes feet as well as the vulnerability it takes to have one’s feet washed – to serve and be served. The vulnerability and emptiness required to accept and embrace God’s saving love for us throughout history and in Jesus we will celebrate tomorrow. And today, the vulnerability required to accept the cross, the model the suffering servant offers – that we might accept and even embrace our vulnerabilities and emptiness.

In my previous ministry as a high school campus minister and social worker, one of my responsibilities involved helping to coordinate a comprehensive support group program to address student needs and concerns. So groups were offered in everything from Eating Disorders to Divorce/Separation, Bereavement and many more. To “advertise” or inform the student body about it we’d visit every class in the building, explain each group, and invite kids to sign up. Hundreds did. Were some of the antics those of high school teenagers? Surely. Yet a tremendous majority were the writings of young people looking for help and unsure where to turn. Aware of their vulnerability, uncertain they could fully enter into them.

Our work after the sign up involved interviewing each student to determine their interest nad issue and then provide them a pass for the first meeting. The numbers surely dropped from sign up to the time of the first meeting. See, even at that age many could sign up but few could show up. Many could check off a box, but few could fully embrace their vulnerabilities in the hope that something greater might come about. Those who showed up, whether they realized it or not, entered into the cross. We, too, must do the same.

The challenge of these three days for all Christians, and perhaps in particular way for we who live in this house is to go beyond the signing up and in the deepest way possible, to show up.

It’s easy to say we signed up and each one of us here has. We have the uniform, the status, the place to live, the vocation, the community, the prayer, the process. All good things that, hopefully, in some way speak to a deeper reality.

We need to ask ourselves though – and I start with myself – have we worked to show up? Have we fully or are we willing to bring our real selves to the cross? Our pains and struggles? Our doubts and fears? Our history and past? Our fears and anxieties? Our insecurities and frailities? Or have we only made the simple gesture of signing up and remain hidden by the sign up form. Will we hide in the statuses? The externals? It’s easier there. Then, have we truly embraced the cross, have we truly embraced the Lord? For if we are unwilling to do the soul work required to show up, perhaps we need to ask ourselves what have we signed up for in the first place?

As our celebration of the Triduum continues, let us pray for and with one another that we might truly embrace our vulnerabilities this day and always, that we might show up at the Cross today. Like the suffering servant, may we startle and amaze those whom we serve both here and in the future. For if we do, the vulnerabilities, that emptiness, the pain in our lives will not only be healed but transformed in the new life that Christ brings. Our God will show up. Let’s pray that we can do the same.