Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

This week I’m at the Catholic Leaders Convocation sponsored by the USCCB in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been tweeting, believe it or not (@frdonrooney)—you can find a lot about what is current in Catholic news by following just a couple of the Catholic media outlets from the Vatican or USCCB.

On the cover of the bulletin is a photo I took at the beginning of our Sunday Mass last weekend with Archibishop Gregory presiding. You can see our bishop, Michael Burbidge, on the screen in the upper right corner of the photo, processing into the ballroom.

Archbishop Wenski of Miami introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Hosffman Ospino of Boston College, explaining that this Convocation began with a planning process a half dozen years ago. There was a tension, he said, between the action of pro-life and social justice movements within the Church which needed resolution. Further surveys indicated that the tension didn’t exist so much on local levels as in hierarchical circles of leadership, and demanded that points of real concern be addressed on a much more fundamental level. The distance and angst that has divided the Church exists on a much deeper level: there is a need to share the joy of the Gospel, a theme that is often overlooked by those more likely to despair. Still, he said, “We don’t want to drown in sorrow about what we are about to hear.”

Dr. Ospino defined the context of today’s Church. We are well acquainted with recent surveys of the Church’s life; I have written much about this in past bulletins. He explained: about 1% of the Church is Native American; 4% of the Church is of African-American origin and Black; 6% has the Pacific rim and islands as cultural origin; 40% are Spanish-speaking; and 50% are described as European-American and White. 100 years ago this group counted as 85-90% of the American Church. Today 60% of the youth of the Church come from families who have Spanish as their primary language. Ministry needs to meet this profile.

Perhaps you have noticed that we have been more intentional about our language lately in expressing the reality of Saint Bernadette. We won’t call the 1pm Mass the “Spanish” Mass, nor will we call the 5pm Mass the “Youth” Mass. Such expressions segregate: There are People of God who speak Spanish, and others who speak Tagalog or English. All are equally People of God. People of God are involved in ALL ministry. People of all languages and all ages are encouraged to be involved, to permeate, all ministries and not stand separate.

Dr. Ospino identified four cultural shifts that characterize the modern Church. Before passing judgment, he says, we must acknowledge the reality of our culture today that touches all of our families in the pews. These should be starting points of conversation and vital dialogue in our community.

1) Family life, as we knew it, is reconfigured with regard to roles, expectations and practices. The family is generally no longer the place where faith and morals are introduced. We have a great need to foster a vibrant family life.

2) There has been an erosion of communal life due to individualism. Caring for the vulnerable among us has become someone else’s problem. Worship together as a community is no longer important to a majority of Catholics, only about one-third.

3) Culture wars have removed the Catholic voice from the dialogue. The nature of truth is no longer understood. Ideological stances automatically demonize the other. But the Gospel is not an ideology: it is the message of life and community.

4) Secularization has confused the world in recognizing what is holy. Today 25% of the country have no religious affiliation whatsoever, including some nearly 20 million ex-Catholics. This doesn’t even include some 14 million Hispanics whose leaving was not even documented.

Dr. Ospino offered a contrast for this moment. We can approach it, he said, as crisis, the liminal moment between what is passing and what is to come, or a sacred moment of kairos, an emerging moment of grace. This is where the joy of the Gospel touches lives. God’s faithfulness is here and now. We must declare ourselves in a permanent state of mission, en salida, going out to touch those on the peripheries, to the vulnerable and the poor.

In this way the value of religious freedom is not a selfish desire, or a political theory. God has placed us here and now to be communities of witness to show people a new way: “behold, I am doing something new” with you.

May God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

With our emphasis on registration of parish families in school and religious education, I don’t want to overlook an opportunity to sincerely invite all adults in the parish who need to receive sacraments, for whatever reason, to begin planning to make that a part of the coming year.

Adults’ sacramental formation includes two basic tracks to meet the needs of most:

• There is the RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) for adults (age 18 years and older) who desire Baptism and full membership in the Church with the additional sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion, as well as those who are baptized already in another ecclesial communion (church), seeking to embrace the Catholic Faith. (For those aged 12-18 we have a similar program for young people, RCIC.) This is also an opportunity of those who are baptized but uncatechized, or baptized Catholic but raised in a church other than Catholic. These classes begin in September and continue until Easter, in 2018 celebrated on April 1. We meet throughout this time, generally, on Tuesday nights.
• There is also sacramental preparation for adults who desire Confirmation, for those who were raised in Catholic school or Religious Education but, for whatever reason, never were confirmed. This is a program that will begin probably around January, maybe six classes to be announced later in the year. Those completing these classes will be able to choose a Confirmation date with the parish (April 26) or with Bishop at the Cathedral around the time of Pentecost.

There is still considerable confusion about the need of sacraments today. Without all three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion—and, if you are married, sacramental marriage in the Catholic Church)— you may not stand as a Godparent or Sponsor to someone who is seeking Baptism or Confirmation. This is not a parish rule, it is the Canon Law of the Church.

If you know someone who might be interested in joining the Church, now is a good time to start the conversation, express your support and commit to their program of formation. Let them know that these opportunities of grace are available to them! Once the RCIA program starts in September, it is difficult to catch up—especially since Easter is so early this year (Ash Wednesday is on Valentine’s Day!). If you are considering it, God might be calling you to a deeper life with him; if you aren’t, pray for those among us who are seeking.

We have a similar two-track series of courses in Spanish if there is a need. Please consider making it happen this coming year. We will begin registration for RCIA (RICA en español) in August. The course of preparation for First Communion and Confirmation will begin in January and go until Easter.

• This might be a good time to consider the sacrament of marriage, too. Again, there seems always to be a lot of confusion. The law of the Church is very simple: Catholics are only validly married if married in the Church with the sacrament of marriage. Civil marriages or marriages in other churches aren’t valid, unless you have received special permission in advance from the Bishop.

If you are married civilly, you may not receive sacraments until we “supply” the sacrament, or “convalidate” the marriage. It is important to stay alive in the sacraments. Convalidations are simple: we still do the necessary preparation, and a simple ceremony is held at a date chosen. Convalidations are simpler celebrations because the bride and groom have already been living together, and maybe even have children already.

If you have been validly married before (this means Catholic marriage for Catholics, or any marriage—civil or religious—for non-Catholics) we may not celebrate marriage until we have undergone the canonical process of declaring the first marriage “null,” or an “annulment.” This does not mean that the children from a first marriage are illegitimate (this is a common misunderstanding), because legitimacy has to do only with civil marriage. For whatever reason, the attempted Sacrament did not happen, whether due to lack of proper intention, full knowledge of the other, maturity, lack of freedom or psychological limits which may have led to a mistake. If you find yourself in this situation, let us help you. As of July 1, there will be no fees for annulments anymore.

Consider this summer as a time of planning for the future. If you have any questions, please know that your call is welcome. I look forward to hearing from you.

May God bless you,