From the Bishop, November 2005
My dear People
One of the first tasks of our new Pope, Benedict XVI, was to preside at
the recently held Synod. Synods are meetings of representatives of
Bishops’ Conferences round the world on topics of importance to the
Universal Church. As you well know, at the end of the year of the
Eucharist, the theme of this recent Synod was The Eucharist, source and
Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church. We, in Menevia, have
embarked on a series of Catecheses, through Sunday Homilies, on the
place of the Eucharist in our lives. I would therefore like to draw out
just three of the salient points.
The first one is
that, as a Catholic People, we need to re-enkindle our fervour for, and
for some of us simply discover the importance of the Sunday Eucharist.
We live in a world in which the traditional notion and ethos of the
Sunday has somehow given way to “weekend activities”. Attendance at Mass
has therefore often become secondary to these other activities. In his
excellent homily, at Marienfeld, at the closing Mass of World Youth Day,
the Holy Father said, addressing the young of the world: “Dear friends!
Sometimes, our initial impression is that having to include time for
Mass on a Sunday is rather inconvenient. But if you make the effort, you
will realize that this is what gives a proper focus to your free time.
Do not be deterred from taking part in Sunday Mass, and help others to
discover it too. This is because the Eucharist releases the joy that we
need so much, and we must learn to grasp it ever more deeply, we must
learn to love it. Let us pledge ourselves to do this - it is worth the
effort! Let us discover the intimate riches of the Church’s liturgy and
its true greatness: it is not we who are celebrating for ourselves, but
it is the living God himself who is preparing a banquet for us.” The
Eucharist is vital for all the baptized. It is for them a meeting with
the Risen Christ who comes to us and offers us His Life: “I am the
living bread come down from heaven - Jesus tells us - he who eats of
this bread will live for ever”. The Eucharist is necessary also for
Christ who, through the celebration of the Eucharist, gathers us, His
people and makes us His Body in the world. Through our union in the
Eucharist we become members of His Body and His witnesses in our daily
lives. Also, the Eucharist is necessary for the Church; indeed, it is
the Eucharist which makes it the Church, the Body of Christ, receiving
always its life from God and called to witness to His love in the world.
The second is that we must introduce our young and the uninitiated into
the real meaning of the Eucharistic mystery. In his account of the two
disciples on the road to Emmaus, Saint Luke tells us: “While he was at
table with them, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it
to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him”. The
opening of their eyes is not a matter of personal experience or
observation, but of faith. Those two disciples realise the presence of
the Risen Christ, understand the meaning of His sacrifice, of this life
given, given in love for the salvation of all. This transforms them and,
full of joy, they hasten back to Jerusalem to share their experience
with the other disciples. We, the priests and those who take part in the
liturgy, must all help with this opening of the eyes of faith through
the actions, the words, the singing and the silences in the celebration
of the Risen One, and to marvel at His gift of love. This makes it all
the more important that the celebration of the Eucharist should be the
subject of very special care, not because of its aesthetic value but
because its beauty must transcend its orderliness and its content in
order to lead us towards God. Pope John Paul II said that “beauty is the
key of the mystery and it leads us to the transcendental part”. It is
indeed that real beauty of the liturgy which can and indeed should lead
us to the shining face of the Transfigured Christ.
Finally, none of us can be at one with Christ unless we can be at one
with His love of the crowds, His compassion for the suffering, His
healing of the sick or broken hearted, His actions to put them back on
their feet after healing or forgiving them. The social dimension of the
Eucharist is therefore a most important one. Our Eucharistic celebration
cannot just be an isolated event in our lives; it must be for us the
springboard for a life full of that very same love which is so freely
given to us in that sacrifice by the Son of God. In his Apostolic Letter
Mane nobiscum Domine, John Paul II says that such compassion and love
are the measure of the authenticity of our participation in the
Eucharist. He quoted that the love of Christ manifested in the Eucharist
was Mother Teresa’s inexhaustible source of strength for sharing with
the poor. Then, the Synod underlines that the Eucharistic dynamic of
giving and sharing must make us especially aware of issues of justice
and peace, the safeguarding of human rights, and of creation. As we meet
every Sunday to share the same Bread of Life and the same Cup of
Salvation, we take on the duty to fight all the forces of
marginalisation and injustice, whether they be political, social or
economic which exist in our world.
Yes, Mass, the
sacrifice of Christ for and with his Church has far greater implications
for us than many of us are conscious of when we attend. Advent, a season
of preparation is a very good time for us to pause and meditate how
genuine our own participation is in the Sacrifice. God bless you all,
and may you have a fruitful Season of Advent.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
From the Bishop, October 2005
A group of 77
Pilgrims from our Diocese attended the World Youth Day Celebrations in
Cologne. It proved to be an unforgettable experience in many, sometimes
unexpected, ways. My own view of the event must, of necessity, differ
somewhat from that of most of the pilgrims, since I was lodged with and,
most of the time, attended the events with other Bishops. Yet, in many
ways, our experience turned out to be singularly similar.
My expectation, as many others’ was that since we were going to Germany
we would find efficiency and the best of organisations; that was not
exactly what we encountered. There seemed everywhere to be almost
complete ignorance of what was going on, where and who was supposed to
attend and at what time. Not that the helpers were not being helpful;
just that they had not been very well briefed. Elaborate arrangements
for feeding everyone often went very wrong as food ran out at various
feeding points resulting in long queues and waiting for hours.
Accommodation for Pilgrims was sometimes situated far from where groups
were led to believe. The walk back to coaches, which were parked on the
Motorway, after the Papal Mass proved sometimes (as for our group) to be
a 15km walk (that’s nearly 10 miles!). All this might lead one to think
that it was an unmitigated disaster – not a bit of it. The one thing I
discovered on this trip was the resilience, the patience and the courage
of young people. They came to World Youth Day in answer to the Pope’s
call and nothing would get in the way of that call, that spiritual
experience – those who say the young today are indifferent or even bad
really don’t know what they are talking about. I am delighted Menevia
sent such a strong contingent, and the general verdict was entirely
favourable.
The general structure for the Pilgrims was
set out in advance, and it comprised three opening Masses, Cologne, Bonn
and Dusseldorf to accommodate all, either two or three catecheses for
each group, Youth Festivals, a pilgrimage to Cologne Cathedral and the
Relics, the Way of the Cross, a welcome celebration for the Pope on his
arrival, various activities with the Host Parishes, then, the two main
events of the week: a Solemn Vigil with the Holy Father and the closing
Mass, both held at Marienfeld outside Cologne.
The
opening Mass in Bonn, which I attended, was celebrated by the Bishop who
chairs the Youth Commission of the German Conference. It was a splendid
affair which lasted over two hours; there was a video links with the
Masses in Cologne and Dusseldorf. Before and after the Mass I had the
opportunity of meeting Priests and Bishops from many other countries, as
well as the Youth. It was this tremendous opportunity of meeting other
Catholics from the rest of the world which created a rich background to
the whole encounter; one of our pilgrims comments on that aspect of the
whole pilgrimage saying that through World Youth Day all could see that
“the Catholic Church is truly universal, reaching all ages, creeds and
colours. While there, we did not simply receive the Body of Christ – we
were the Body of Christ, visible to the whole world.” These sentiments
have been echoed by all the young I have met.
The catecheses were given by Bishops, Archbishops and
Cardinals; some of them were comparatively small affairs of one to one
and a half thousand young; but others, like for example the ones
attended by our Menevia Group – that was held in the Bayer Leverkusen
Stadium, given by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington,
and each was attended by some 15,000 from Wales, England, Ireland, the
United States, Canada and many others. The themes for these catecheses
were basically all the same; the state of our faith, what can be done to
increase it and where we go from here.
The welcome of
the Pope on the Friday was a most elaborate and splendid affair. He came
up the Rhine on a large River Boat, followed by five other boats each
holding Bishops from the five Continents. The river banks were lined by
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims lining the banks or scrambling up
trees or lampposts; the Pope spoke to all at the start and at the end of
that river trip; a short ride in the Pope-mobile then took him to the
Cathedral, outside the back of which he again addressed a huge crowd –
after that he went into the Cathedral to pray at the Relics. The rest of
that day and the following saw immense crowds in Cologne; this is very
well described by one of our pilgrims who says: “Cologne was one big
Catholic party, with every country imaginable represented – flags and
national costumes on show everywhere. Most of the day was spent talking
to young pilgrims from around the world `trading’ T-shirts and badges
and learning various chants, hymns and rhymes.”
On the
Saturday many groups made their way to Marienfeld for the Vigil and the
Mass. In view of the distance of our Hotel, the fact that there would be
a long walk and that the journey back was starting immediately after the
Sunday Mass, after discussion and consultation, our group decided not to
go to Marienfeld until the Sunday and they watched the Vigil on
Television. The Bishops had all been invited to a Luncheon by Cardinal
Meisner, the Archbishop of Cologne on the Saturday and from there they
went to the Vigil. One of the most significant parts of that Vigil, for
me, was the arrival of the World Youth Day Cross – that very same Cross
and Icon of Our Lady we had welcomed in the Cathedral in February 2004,
on its way to Cologne, round the world; that very cross every-one of the
young people in our Cathedral had come up to touch. The symbolic
significance of it struck me very forcibly, as it must have done for
others.
The Mass on the Sunday, with a million
pilgrims, thousands of priests and around 800 bishops was, as expected,
a unique experience. In the words of two of our pilgrims: “The Papal
Mass was fantastic, with music from around the world and Pope Benedict
urging us to continue spreading God’s message. The sign of peace was
particularly special as many nations came together to rejoice”; and “The
words of the Holy Father were truly inspiring and reassuring – and it
was a privilege to have them heard first hand. I was particularly
touched by his welcoming speech, in which the Church of Christ, might I
even say Christ Himself, through the words of Benedict XVI embraced not
only those who were born into the faith but those who, for whatever
reason, have not yet come to know the Son – it was clear through these
words that the work of John Paul II, who sought so hard to reach out to
people of other faiths, lives on, evangelising through love” two
tributes from our pilgrims.
Any inefficiency, pain and
hardship seem to fade away when you hear feedback from these young
people. All the preparation, the organisation the difficulties on the
way and on the trip, all are worth it; it has given the opportunity to
over a million young men and women the opportunity of witnessing to
their faith and of being Church, the Church of Christ. I am therefore
deeply grateful to all those who organised the trip, very specially to
Sister Angela, without whose untiring work for one whole year there
would have been no Menevia Pilgrimage. I also want to thank all the
Parishes, Universities and Schools of the Diocese who sent a
representative. When you read these words, I hope you will agree that it
has been well worth your contribution.
The various
homilies of the Holy Father were easy to follow and understand, usually
given in 4 languages. The full English version of them all is well worth
reading, and can be picked up on the Internet.
May God
bless you all
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
From the Bishop, July 2005
Once again, we are
approaching the Summer Holidays, and many of you will be getting ready
to go on holiday with your families. This is the last opportunity I
shall have to write this column until the September issue; I would,
therefore like to mention some points which will be of interest to you.
Ordination to the Priesthood.
On Saturday 2nd July I shall be ordaining Deacon Neil Evans to the
Priesthood, in St Joseph’s Cathedral. Neil has been completing his
studies at the Beda College in Rome. He is an ex-Anglican Minister whose
roots are in Wales, and he is much looking forward to working in the
Diocese. You are all most welcome to the Ordination, which will be at
11.00 am in the Cathedral, followed by a Buffet Lunch in Cathedral Hall.
If you would like to attend, please ring Helen, my secretary, so that we
can get a good idea of the catering needs.
The Lourdes Pilgrimage
The Welsh National Pilgrimage to Lourdes is always a highlight of the
year. Our pilgrimage coincides with many other Dioceses of England and
Wales, and is as well organised as it is supported; Frank Kerr, with the
help of others has made this his life’s work, and I and the diocese are
deeply indebted to him for his devotion to this very worthy cause.
Archbishop Smith, Archbishop Ward, Bishop Mullins and I will all be
going. Again, a strong contingent of Youth to Lourdes (especially strong
in our diocese) will be helping; I want to say what an admiration I have
for them – I know that they enjoy the trip very much, but it does not in
any way diminish the dedication and devotion they have for the sick; and
they give generously and lovingly of their time.
World Youth Day with the Holy Father in Cologne
We have a strong contingent of over 70 going in two coaches to Cologne
for the World Youth Day 2005. Some delegations are going for two weeks,
the first one being the week of encounters, and the second the
pilgrimage proper. We, in Menevia, have decided to go just for the
second week. The Holy Father is due to arrive in Cologne on the
afternoon of Thursday 16th August; and he will be there until Sunday
21st when he will celebrate the Mass for the Youth of the World. I
believe that so far the organisers are expecting the main events to be
attended by approximately one million people. During the week we are
there, we shall be looked after by a host parish, and will be staying in
Koblenz, some forty miles from Cologne in a small hotel. Two catecheses,
various encounters, and a pilgrimage to the Cathedral in Cologne to the
shrine of the three kings, as well as various festivals, prayer
meetings, stations of the cross etc… will occupy our time. It will all
culminate with the all-night Vigil on the Saturday night, with the Holy
Father, followed by his Mass on the Sunday.
I cannot emphasise enough how important this event is in the life of our
diocese. These young people, your representatives, will assuredly be
having an enjoyable and a memorable time; but, they are the future of
Catholic life in our diocese – this is therefore an important milestone
in their lives. We need to pray for them as they live through these days
of renewal and grace. I count on you all to help them in this concrete
way.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
From the Bishop, May 2005
The month of April has
taken all of us through two of the most unforgettable experiences, the
death and funeral of John Paul II and the Election and installation of
Benedict XVI. The coverage by Television and the media in general was
outstanding, and we were all afforded the opportunity of being a part of
the whole of this momentous and historical moment of the twenty-first
Century.
It is easy, under these circumstances and
with such immense coverage, to forget that all Catholics over the world
went through an experience which will have marked them deeply. The
anxious wait, as John Paul’s life was ebbing away, the announcement of
his death and the astonishing aftermath which revealed an unsurpassed
outpouring of love culminated with his funeral, presided over by
Cardinal Ratzinger; these were pictures which we shall never forget. The
eyes of the world then turned to the Cardinals mourning the Holy Father
and preparing for the coming Conclave. We all prayed for them of course,
that the Holy Spirit be with them at such an important time; but also,
we prayed for ourselves, that the Holy Spirit inspire us to accept the
new Pope as God’s gift to his Church.
There was, of
course, great speculation as to who would be elected. Opinions were
given freely both with knowledge and with very little knowledge of the
candidates, the process through which all the Cardinals would be going
through, and the deep spiritual understanding of what a Papal Election
actually is. So, inevitably, we had some very informed comments and some
singularly startling ones. Let me here explain what I mean.
Jesus chose his own disciples; he was the one who appointed Peter, the
Rock on which he would build his Church, and gave him the Keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven. Thereafter, the process of finding a successor had to
devolve on the Church. In the earliest days of the Church we have an
excellent example of how much greater trust there was in how the Holy
Spirit worked in the Church. When Judas killed himself, and the Apostles
decided to replace him with someone else, they looked for men who had
been with Jesus throughout His ministry, from the Baptism of John to the
Ascension; “having nominated two candidates, Joseph, known as Barsabbas,
whose surname was Justus, and Matthias, they prayed: ‘Lord, you can read
everyone’s heart; show us therefore which of these you have chosen to
take over this ministry and apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to
his proper place’. They then drew lots for them, and the lot fell to
Matthias” (Acts 1: 21-26). What faith in the working of the Spirit! I
don’t suppose it would ever occur to us to accept that kind of process
for a Conclave. And yet, you know, that is exactly what has happened in
the election of the Sovereign Pontiff. Although the Cardinals discussed
the possible candidates before the election, they were discussing who,
in their hearts of hearts they believed would be suitable for this great
office. Then they were ready to go through the process of voting; and
here we must believe that the Holy Spirit was working in them and
through them in the whole of this process; otherwise, the solemn promise
of Our Lord, before His Ascension that He would be with us until the end
of time would have been a vain one, and the discussions of the Cardinals
before the Conclave been a purely human process which ended in the
choice of the Cardinals and not of the Holy Spirit – hardly a gift from
God. We Catholics, therefore, must see this Conclave and Papal Election
in a very different light to that given to us by various, maybe
well-intentioned but ill-informed, experts. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
now Benedict XVI, is therefore truly God’s Gift to us. We welcome him as
our Pope, and we place all our confidence and trust in him.
Before we start criticising, or listening to criticism of the new Pope,
perhaps we should look at some of the early signs of his Pontificate.
Let us, first of all, listen to what he said at his installation Mass:
“Dear friends! At this moment there is no need for me to present a
program of governance. I was able to give an indication of what I see as
my task in my Message of Wednesday, April 20, and there will be other
opportunities to do so. My real program of governance is not to do my
own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the
whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him,
so that He himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history.”
The deep realisation that his role of Theologian adviser to the Pope was
now over, and that he had taken on the Pastoral care of the whole Church
was therefore very clearly at the front of his mind. He was now a
changed man; he did not change himself – God’s choice of him changed
him. He was now taking on the full mantle of obedience, obedience in the
oldest accepted sense of the word, which comes from the Latin obedire
or obaudire, to listen. He would from now have to be the most
listening of all the servants of God; indeed, he could then truly call
himself the ‘servant of the servants of God’.
I have
met Pope Benedict three times, but only had a short conversation with
him once; so, I cannot say that I know him very well. But some of my
fellow-Bishops know him considerably better. The two things they have
told me about him are that he is a man of the utmost courtesy, humility
and kindness and that he always listens very carefully to everything
that is said to him. Perhaps it is significant that the Rule of St
Benedict actually begins in the following way: “Ausculta fili mei,
praecepta Magistri” Listen, my son, to the precepts of the Master.
One or two enlightening traits of the character of this previously
deeply private man have come out since his election, and they all show
how human he is. There is the account of his meeting with a German
Delegation after his Installation. I quote it here, because it reveals
so much of his character:
His first words were: “First
of all, I apologize for being late. Germans are known for their
punctuality, and this is a sign that I have become quite Italianized.
However, we were at an ecumenical meeting with representatives of
ecumenism from across the world, of all the Churches and Ecclesial
Communities and with the representatives of other religions. It was a
most cordial meeting, and so it was rather long. But now, finally, I
cordially welcome you!”
When, little by little,
the trend of the voting led me to understand that, to say it simply, the
axe was going to fall on me, my head began to spin. I was convinced that
I had already carried out my life's work and could look forward to
ending my days peacefully. With profound conviction I said to the Lord:
Do not do this to me! You have younger and better people at your
disposal, who can face this great responsibility with greater dynamism
and greater strength.
I was then very touched
by a brief note written to me by a brother Cardinal. He reminded me that
on the occasion of the Mass for John Paul II, I had based my homily,
starting from the Gospel, on the Lord’s words to Peter by the Lake of
Gennesaret: “Follow me!”. I spoke of how again and again, Karol Wojtyła
received this call from the Lord, and how each time he had to renounce
much and to simply say: Yes, I will follow you, even if you lead me
where I never wanted to go.
This brother
Cardinal wrote to me: Were the Lord to say to you now, “Follow me”, then
remember what you preached. Do not refuse! Be obedient in the same way
that you described the great Pope, who has returned to the house of the
Father. This deeply moved me. The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we
were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness.
Thus, in the end I had to say “yes”. I trust in the Lord and I trust
in you, dear friends. A Christian is never alone, as I said yesterday in
my Homily. In this way, I expressed the marvellous experience that we
all lived through in the past four extraordinary weeks. Following the
Pope’s death and all the sorrow that it brought, the living Church
emerged. It was clear that the Church is a unifying force, a sign for
humanity. This reveals to us a deeply human man, one fully conscious
of his inadequacy and of the enormity of the task; to me it does not
argue of arrogance and dogmatism. I am sure he will surprise us; and I
am sure that he will be a listening Pope who will confound all his
critics. He has already confounded the expectations of many in the first
days of his papacy by his gentle public persona. It is notable that he
has used an open popemobile, saying that he wants to be closer to the
people. Also, his coat of arms dropped the papal tiara which was
replaced by a simple mitre. During his inaugural Mass, the previous
custom of all the cardinals submitting was replaced by having 12 people,
representing cardinals, clergy, religious, a married couple and their
child, and newly confirmed people, kiss his ring as a token of
submission.
Also, I wondered why he had chosen the
name of Benedict. The choice of the name Benedict (Latin “the blessed”)
is significant. Benedict XVI used his first General Audience in St.
Peter’s Square, to explain to the world on why he chose the name: “Filled
with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose
the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous
prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war.
In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation
and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of
Norcia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of
Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of
Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our
thoughts and actions!”
I have written to Pope Benedict XVI, on behalf of us
all in the Diocese of Menevia, to congratulate him and to assure him of
our continued prayers in his Petrine Ministry. I am sure you will all
keep him in your daily prayers.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Homily at Requiem Mass for Pope John Paul II, April 2005
We had, of course, all been expecting this to happen at any time; it was
even spoken of as an imminent possibility two years ago; but, as it
happens, the events of the end of last weekend in many ways took us all
by surprise. Somehow the Pope had seemed to defy death so often that
many of us expected him to rally once more and continue his pontificate
with the determination and devotion to which we had all become
accustomed. But now, the third longest pontificate in the history of the
papacy has come to an end; Catholics throughout the world have lost a
great leader and the world has lost the presence of a man whose charisma
and guidance for the last 27 years have enlightened the human conscience
on matters of vital importance.
Karol Woytiwa was born
on the 18 May 1920, in Wadowice, Poland
He did his studies clandestinely in the Seminary at Krakow, and was
Ordained priest - 1 November 1946
He was Consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow - 28 September 1958 and
appointed Archbishop of Krakow on the 13 January 1964
He was created Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in June 1967
He was elected Pope - 16 October 1978 on the 8th ballot of a 2 day
conclave; we all remember that was just over a month after the election
of his predecessor, John Paul I, Luciano Albini, whose pontificate was
so short.
John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope
since Adrian VI the Dutch Pope; and at 58 on his election the youngest
since Pius IX who was elected at 54.
On hearing the
result of that final ballot John Paul must have had very clearly in mind
the remark made by his predecessor to his fellow-Cardinals when he was
elected: “May God forgive you for what you have just done to me”. To
inherit the pastoral care and guidance of over a billion people must be
a daunting prospect. But the newly elected pope will have realised that
this was the will of God; the words of our first reading may well have
occurred to him – he may have pondered them: `Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I have
appointed you as prophet to the nations’; and alongside the prophet he
must have wondered: `Ah Lord; look, I do not know how to speak: I am a
child’. At the thanksgiving Mass for his Silver Jubilee of election, on
16th October 2003, his homily centred on his acceptance, twenty-five
years before, of the ministry of Peter. He spoke of making this
acceptance with trepidation, but with complete trust in the Lord, in
Mary and in the Church. He underlined how he repeated, each day, this ‘I
accept’ and how he meditated on it in the context of the dialogue
between Jesus and Peter: “Do you love me? Lord you know that I love
you”. His willingness in spite of old age and infirmity to accept his
calling each day, in trust, goes a long way to explaining his outlook on
his calling and the reason why it never occurred to him to lay down the
burden. On that occasion he went on to thank most especially everyone
who had offered prayers and sufferings to God for him. “How much love
and care” he said, “how many signs of communion have surrounded and
supported me every day. The Lord will reward such generosity. But I beg
you do not give up on this great work of love for the successor of
Peter.”
From the very first, after his election, he
made it clear that he was going to be his own man – from that time the
papacy adopted an entirely new face. This was made quite obvious to his
fellow Cardinals when, the following day, apart from stressing to them
the continuing importance of the Vatican Council and asking them to
reflect on the implications of collegiality he told them that he was not
going to be crowned; then, only a couple of days later he left the
Vatican (a thing popes never did) to visit a friend in a Rome hospital.
We are told that one of his first innovations was to invite guests to
breakfast, after celebrating morning Mass in his private chapel – I
believe it was a hearty Polish meal. He also ordered a swimming pool to
be built at the papal castle of Castelgandolfo on the shore of lake
Albano. Complaints about its cost were dismissed by him; he said it
would be cheaper than another election.
From then on,
he set about his main task of preaching the Gospel to his flock and to
the rest of the world. St. Paul tells the Church of Corinth, in our
second reading, “I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a
duty which has been laid on me”; both in what he taught and in the way
in which he did it John Paul demonstrated that he this was to be his
task and that he would be true to the calling. This is not the time to
talk about the content of his teaching and on any of the controversies,
theological or moral which surrounded his pontificate. He was a
conservative, yes, but he also expressed very radical views; and, I
think that the last sentence of that second reading do sum him up very
well: “I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any
cost”. A great number of his actions which could be seen on television
in a more public way than ever before reinforced his teaching; he was an
actor of no mean ability, and he used that talent to great effect. I am
thinking of those actions of his which became so much part of his public
image. Kissing babies as he met the people, for example, was not what in
others might have been an electoral stunt; that simple action showed his
love for human life; and when he came to reaffirm his strong views on
contraception and abortion the world would realise that his convictions
were rooted in the sanctity of life. Another of the gestures which
became associated with his pontificate was his kissing of the ground
when he alighted from the plane on his pastoral visits. Not a stunt, but
a genuine mark of respect for the people of that country, and of his
deep sense of personal service for them. Nor was he afraid to admit past
mistakes of the Catholic Church, and indeed to apologise for failures.
But he was never afraid of outright and uncompromising condemnation of
war and violence, as he did with the Falklands, Northern Ireland and, of
course more recently, Iraq. Attracted, at first by the concept of
Liberation Theology, which advocates the option for the poor, he then
had to warn its proponents who adopted a Marxist militant attitude that
this was not acceptable, and forbade them to pursue their active aims.
At a time when we are all to ready to condemn the young and to censure
them for their non-conformism, John Paul consistently said that the way
to win them back to the faith was by trusting them; the attendances at
the Youth Rallies and World Youth Days are strong witness to the bond he
obviously developed with the young of the World. I was privileged to
concelebrate with him shortly before Christmas, in St Peter’s, when the
British University students handed over the Icon Sedes Sapientiae to the
Polish Delegation. The Basilica was packed with the young, and the
rapturous welcome they gave him was genuine and most moving.
We all have our personal memories of his pontificate and we all remember
him fondly for one thing or another; my own strong memory of him is how
strong his sense of duty, and how little he made of his personal comfort
or leisure. In October 2003, the Bishops of England and Wales had their
ad Limina Visit to Rome at what must have been one of the busiest and
most taxing times for the pope. Within a period of a week he had to
preside at the Solemn Pontifical Mass of Thanksgiving for the Silver
Jubilee of his election as pope, the Beatification of Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, the Consistory to name 30 New Cardinals, and the Consistory
Mass for the new Cardinals. It must have been an almost intolerable
burden on a man already severely weakened by illness. Nevertheless, he
insisted on giving each one of us bishops the customary private
interview with him, when he could easily have dispensed with it. He
remained lucid and interested right to the end – and this was one of the
things for which he remained thankful to God.
The last
thing I want to say about him this evening is that John Paul tried to
communicate his immense love and trust in Mary, the Mother of God to all
of us. He had her in pride of place in his Coat of Arms, invoked her
name in most of the documents he issued and instituted the five new
Mysteries of Light in the Rosary; for him, she was the Portal to
Almighty God, and our most powerful source of intercession. It is indeed
providential that the last visit he made out of the Vatican, was as a
pilgrim to her shrine at Lourdes, last August. I was there last week,
and I asked the Bishop of Lourdes how the visit went. He told me that
the pope went there truly as a pilgrim. He insisted on being quartered
in the Hospital for the sick, along with other sick pilgrims, and on
taking part in all the things that pilgrims do when they go there. But,
the bishop told me, the one thing which characterised the whole visit,
and on which the pope remarked was the atmosphere of calm and peace
which was tangible throughout the two days. It is, as I said,
providential that God gave him this final opportunity to witness to the
love which he had for Mary, and which he wanted us all to share with
him. May he now rest in peace.
Finally, I would just
like to add that we shall be having an Ecumenical Service, which will
take the form of Solemn Vespers of the Dead on Thursday evening at 4.30,
here in the Cathedral, to which you, and indeed anyone else whom you
feel might like to attend are most welcome, and thank you all for
joining us in prayer for our Pope, John Paul II.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Homily at Chrism Mass 2005
given on Wednesday 23 March
My
brother priests, my dear sisters and brothers in Christ
We are united once again round the Table of the Lord for our yearly
celebration of the Chrism Mass; that celebration which brings all the
priests of the Diocese round the bishop to celebrate their common gift
of the ministerial priesthood. Accompanying us and supporting us today
in our Cathedral Church, my dear brothers, we have the faithful people
of our Diocese to whom we minister, and who help in our daily ministry.
In a few moments the two ceremonies which distinguish this Mass will
take place. All of us will renew our priestly promises and the Oils
which will be used throughout our Diocese will be blessed.
Three different oils will be blessed: the Oil of Catechumens, the Oil of
the Sick, and the Oil of Chrism. The material used in each is the same —
it is olive oil, with different blessings in each case. The Chrism has
the additional ingredient of aromatic spices. During the course of the
year, those who have been elected to become Catholics will be anointed
for Baptism with the Oil of Catechumens; the vessel containing this oil
will be brought up to the Altar by Adèle Thomas, who is a Catechist,
teaching our Faith to Catechumens. The newly baptized will be anointed
with the Oil of Chrism, signifying that henceforth they will share in
Christ’s royal and prophetic priesthood. At Confirmation, that same
Chrism will again be used to strengthen them for the work of witnessing
to Jesus Christ. It will also anoint the hands of your new priest, Neil
Evans, who is to be ordained in this Cathedral on July 2nd this year.
The vessel containing oil of Chrism will be brought up by Luke Mogford,
who is due to be confirmed later this year. With the Oil of the Sick,
those who receive it will have a remedy for their illnesses of mind and
body. The vessel containing that oil will be brought up by Sister
Winefride Dwyer who is the Diocesan Representative for Chaplains to the
hospitals in our diocese. These Oils, my dear people are for you – for
your strengthening and comfort; they are the outward signs which will
confer inward graces to those who receive them throughout the coming
year. The priests who serve you daily will be using those very oils for
your service, the beloved people of God.
Traditionally
at this Mass, the bishop addresses the priests of the Diocese. On this
occasion, my dear fellow priests, the best exhortation I want to give
you is to urge you to read the Holy Father’s Message to you for Holy
Thursday. It is probably one of the most moving and encouraging ones he
has given us in his Pontificate, in spite of his present crippling
illness. In it he takes as his theme for meditation the words of the
Eucharistic Consecration and through them reflects on some aspects of
priestly spirituality.
As we go through our lives as
priests, being human, we can fall into a mood of familiarity which makes
us take for granted the sacred mystery of the Mass which we daily
celebrate. The Holy Father reminds us that at every Mass which we
celebrate we say those same words which make us remember and relive the
first sentiment expressed by Jesus as he broke the bread: that of
thanksgiving. The Holy Father tells us: “Gratitude is the disposition
which lies at the root of the very word "Eucharist". God loves us, he
goes before us in his Providence, he accompanies us with his continuous
saving acts. In the Eucharist Jesus thanks the Father with us and for
us. How could this thanksgiving of Jesus fail to shape the life of a
priest?”
For us all, as priests, this must entail
cultivating what the Pope calls a constant sense of gratitude for the
many gifts which we have received in the course of our life: and he
singles out especially the gift of faith, which it is our task to
proclaim as Heralds of the Gospel, and the gift of the priesthood, which
consecrates us to the service of the Kingdom of God. The constant
pressures of a secularised society, an indifference to the demands of
morality and religious practice, an all-pervading materialism are all
too real obstacles encountered by priests as well as the faithful. In
face of this and other daily pressures the clergy can at times feel
demoralised and isolated. To this the Holy Father replies: “We have our
crosses to bear — and we are certainly not the only ones! — but the
gifts we have received are so great that we cannot fail to sing from the
depths of our hearts our own Magnificat.” So, the Pope tells us
that instead of giving in to despair and turning to look for whom we can
blame for our misfortunes he encourages us to look to the positive side
and ponder the generosity and trust which Christ has put in those of us
elected to share in His ministerial priesthood. Daily we repeat Christ's
words in the liturgy, at the moment of the Consecration `This is my Body
which will be given up for you – This is my Blood which will be shed for
you and for all’ and it is those very words which we utter in persona
Christi which makes us priests in a special way privileged heralds of
the mystery of salvation. And he adds: “Yet unless we sense that we
ourselves are saved, how can we be convincing heralds? We are the first
to be touched inwardly by the grace which raises us from our frailty and
makes us cry "Abba, Father" with the confidence of God's children. This
in turn commits us to advance along the path of perfection. Holiness, in
fact, is the full expression of salvation. Only if our lives manifest
the fact that we are saved do we become credible heralds of salvation.
Moreover, a constant awareness of Christ's will to offer salvation to
all cannot fail to inspire us with fresh missionary fervour, spurring
each of us on to become "all things to all men, in order to save at
least some of them".
Far from being discouraged
therefore, my brother priests, today together we give thanks to Almighty
God for his countless gifts to us all; we resolve once more with the
enthusiasm of our early days in the priesthood to put our trust in him
daily and accept his will in our working life. And I, as your Bishop,
now take this opportunity to thank you all for everything you do with
such generosity and love for God’s people of Menevia. I thank especially
those of you whom I have had to ask to take on a new or a different
task; your invariable and generous acceptance is indeed powerful witness
to your devotion. Your generosity will not go un-rewarded; hilarem
datorem diligit Deus – God loves a cheerful giver. In return, God will
bless our Diocese; indeed, this very year, in the last twelve months He
has done so in many ways. In the last 12 months we have welcomed a
number of priests and religious into the diocese. We welcomed back
Father Michael Manning, from the Carmelite Province who is now in
Llanelli. From the Rosminian Province we welcomed Father Chris Fuse at
Neath; from the Marist Province we have recently welcomed Father Des
Hanrahan in Carmarthen; we also welcomed Father Dominic who came to Holy
Cross Gendros from the Benedictines in Makiyad. The most recent to be
welcomed into our Diocese is Father Morty O’Shea together with the three
sisters who have come to serve in the North-Eastern part of our diocese;
they are members of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity;
they live in Presteigne and look after the parishes of Presteigne,
Knighton and Rhayader.
My grateful thanks must now
also go to some priests who have left our diocese. During this last year
we bade farewell to Father Graham Venn, Father Bill Higham, Father Frank
Maher, Father Pete Weingard and Father Ron Josephs who have all worked
among us. I am grateful to them all and thank them for their hard work
and devotion. I would also like to record my very special gratitude to
Father Conleth O’Hara, and to the Passionist Province for the loan of
Father Conleth; he has been helping us out in various parishes
throughout the last year, and is at the moment in Ammanford. He has
always accepted to help us with the greatest cheerfulness and alacrity.
Thank you so much Con.
My dear people, who are here
from all parishes of our lovely diocese; continue to pray for your
priests. They have dedicated their lives to Almighty God and to you;
they need your constant prayers and encouragement – I rely on you to
give it to them. We also need your daily prayers that God may give us
more vocations; the diocese has a prayer which I am sure many of you say
regularly. There are copies of that prayer at the back of the Cathedral
if you don’t have one – please help yourselves.
Finally, I would like to pick out two sentences from the Holy Father’s
message to priests: the first one is “The priest is someone who, despite
the passing of years, continues to radiate youthfulness, spreading it
almost "contagiously" among those he meets along the way. His secret
lies in his ``passion'' for Christ. As Saint Paul said: `For me, to live
is Christ’”. My fellow-priests, let us all take that to heart.
And I end with a second quotation: “In the context of the new
evangelisation, the people have a right to turn to priests in the hope
of "seeing'' Christ in them. The young feel the need for this
especially; Christ continues to call them, to make them his friends and
to challenge some to give themselves completely for the sake of the
Kingdom. Vocations will certainly not be lacking if our manner of life
is truly priestly, if we become more holy, more joyful, more impassioned
in the exercise of our ministry. A priest "won'' by Christ more easily
"wins" others, so that they too decide to set out on the same
adventure.”
Please God this will continue to be so for
us in Menevia – and from us all may you have a very joyful Easter.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
March 2005
Deanery Penitential Services
During this Lenten period we, in Menevia, have been turning our minds to
the Sacrament of Penance. Instead of our usual Station Masses we are
holding Deanery Penance and Reconciliation Services. Through that
wonderful gift of Christ in which we have a part in the victory on the
Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sacrament of Penance overcomes the
division between man and God which is caused by Original Sin and which
even now continues through our own sin. In this most important of
sacraments the repentant sinner, through the ministry of the Church,
receives as a gift from the Father, and through the power of the Holy
Spirit, that reconciliation, which St Peter tells us in his first
Epistle paid our Ransom in the precious blood of a blameless and
spotless lamb, Christ. By this means Christ’s pain on the Cross and his
self-giving turns into an inexhaustible source of compassionate and
reconciling love, and we benefit from its fruits when we go to
Confession. The Hebrews had a marvellous sense of the corporate nature
of sin which, sadly these days, we seem to have lost. One of the things
that we can suffer from today is to become myopic and short-sighted; we
scale down the enormity of sin to our own individual moral and ethical
lapses: the way we have failed in our own lives; and we, so to speak,
privatise, individualise sin without recognising the connection and the
social consequences of it. In contrast, when we look to the Hebrew
people, the Israelite Nation, we discover that they had this profound
sense that through every fibre of their being each and every person was
attached to the historical community of which they were a part; they
were one with the civilisation which nourished and gave form to their
personal life. In other words the Jews considered that history was a
collective venture, a vast immensely meaningful undertaking; all in it
together. With this in mind, it is impossible to think of Original Sin
as not affecting me, or indeed of my sin not having an effect on the
society in which I live. Our sinfulness is shared, communal; and so, we
need to acknowledge this by coming together. This is where the communal
examination of conscience, and shared experience of Penitential Services
can give us a much richer idea of the malice and pervasiveness of sin,
and of the necessity for the People of God to repent and turn to the
Father together once more as a vital part in a Lenten preparation for
the celebration of the Triduum during Holy Week. What such services do
not do, however, is do away with the necessity for individual confession
and personal absolution for grave sins; that remains very much in place,
and was emphasised in the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio Misericordia Dei. I
therefore urge you all to make the most of the Deanery Penance Services,
and of any others arranged by your individual Parishes. So, our meeting
with Christ in this unique Sacrament will give us a richer understanding
of how our sin and selfishness can have an effect on others, as well as
give us an individual opportunity of a personal encounter with Our Lord,
and to receive the personal assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.
World Youth Day 2005
The arrangements for the
Menevia trip to the Word Youth Day in Cologne in August 2005 are
progressing very well. Most Parishes, Universities and Schools have by
now identified their representatives, sent their names in, as well as
settled the bill. In order to get the maximum benefit from this most
important Pilgrimage it will be necessary for all participants to do a
certain amount of preparation. All will therefore get the necessary
information sometime after Easter. However, we need to meet as a group
at least once, in very good time before we set off for Cologne. We have
therefore organised that we shall all meet on Pentecost Day, Sunday 15th
May. Mass for all going to Cologne, on that day, will be at 3.00 pm in
the Cathedral, followed by a meeting in the Parish Hall, next door. At
the time of writing this article, there are still a couple of places
available; I don’t know if this will still be the case by the time you
read this – but, anyone still hoping to join our group should get in
touch immediately with Sister Angela, at the Curial Offices.
Chrism Mass
The Chrism Mass is the one occasion
in the year when all the Priests of the Diocese concelebrate with the
Bishop. The date of it this year is Wednesday 23rd March. This is a
wonderful opportunity for members of the various parishes in the Diocese
both to support their Parish Priests, and to meet the Bishop. At this
Mass we are all given the immense privilege to share in a very beautiful
expression of the unity of the Church - this particular Church which is
our Diocese of Menevia. The priests come together around the Bishop,
showing forth the unity in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ. And,
gathered around us are all of you, the faithful, united with Christ in
the common priesthood of all the baptised. At this Mass, all the Priests
renew the promises they made at their Ordination, and the Holy Oils are
blessed – these same oils which will be used throughout the coming year
for all Baptisms, Confirmations, Ordinations, and every time the
Sacrament of the Sick is given. It is the one most important opportunity
you all have of being witnesses to the Church of Menevia. I invite you
all to the Mass and to the common meal of Soup and Roll which will
follow it.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Pastoral Letter to be read on the 2nd Sunday in Lent
20th February 2005
My dear people of Menevia,
There are few things I really hate doing; talking about money is
certainly one of them. However, today I find myself forced to write to
you about that very topic. In the last two issues of the Menevia News
you will have read detailed articles about the financial position of our
Diocese. My aim today is to reinforce the message conveyed to you in
these articles, and to ask for your help.
The tale is
told in this diocese of a particular parish that needed extensive
repairs on the church. A builder was employed, who sub contracted out
most of the work. On completion, the builder was paid but he failed to
pay the subcontractors. When they rounded on him, his cool reply was
"Well, you see boys, the money hasn't come from the Vatican yet". The
point of this true story is not only that the builder could say that,
but that the subcontractors actually believed him.
Is that the way church finances work? Of course, not ... You know that
is not the case. From what is the central source of the church's income,
the Sunday offertory collection, the money goes outwards into the parish
for the maintenance of the buildings, the support of a priest, and all
the other pastoral and liturgical activity in which the church is
necessarily involved. Some of the money goes upwards, as it were, by
means of the Levy to look after priests' training, the sick and retired
priests, the poorer parishes, and the maintenance of a small
administrative staff at the diocesan offices. Some of it, also, is sent
to the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales to help defray the
expenses of running the Church in the United Kingdom. The way this levy
is now made will be fairer in future for it will be based on a
reasonable percentage tax on parish income, with the poorer parishes
being excused much of this. The system will therefore be one akin to
Income Tax as opposed to Poll Tax.
From Old Testament times the practice of giving a portion of one's
income to support one's religion was well established. It was called
tithing, and continues in many areas and in some denominations as just
that giving one tenth of one's income; that is seen as a gift to God as
well as to his Church. In the United States of America, the whole system
of Catholic schooling, which is without State aid, would collapse
without such a generous rate of lay giving.
In our own country many will remember that in the old Penny Catechism
one of the Commandments of the Church was "to contribute to the support
of our pastors". Our present challenge is, however, much more than the
support of our hard working pastors, whose official salary is still only
£30.00 per week. The issue is the continued maintenance of the whole
Church structure and activity in parish and in diocese.
You may find it an astonishing statistic, but is a true one that of all
the Christian denominations in this country the contribution made per
head in the Catholic Church is the lowest. Can the reason be that people
think that the money comes from the Vatican? Surely not, and I can
assure you that it does not. So there is the urgent need for every
Catholic to consider again whether his or her weekly contribution is
realistic. The maintenance of a whole parish in its activities and
commitments cannot function on the cheap. It cannot be compared to the
average domestic unit yet the weekly offertory in many of our parishes
is well below that of the normal household income.
Even were the Church so rich that no further financial contribution was
necessary for its own needs, it seems to me that from our belief in the
Mass as Christ's self offering, we would still need on occasion to
express our involvement in that offering in a fully human way. In other
words with a collection for what Christ wants to be done. Such an
offering should never be so great that it harms or puts a family in
financial straits, but it should be calculated with the conscious
knowledge that the money is needed to help the running of the Parish and
the upkeep of the priest who gives his services to God and his people.
Since the Church is certainly not rich, it has become all the more
imperative for us to look again at the measure of our giving for what
Christ wants to be done through his Church. Cardinal Hume used to
suggest we give "one hours' pay". What we can't get away from is the
fact that many Catholics are just not giving enough to keep the Church
running healthily and in a way that can adequately prepare us for the
future. We are at something of a crisis point in this diocese.
This appeal to your generosity as well as to your faith will not be
repeated during my time as your bishop; that I promise you: it therefore
makes it all the more imperative that you realise the seriousness with
which I address you now, and that, please God, you will reassess your
Sunday Offering and, if you judge appropriate, give more realistically
to the cause which, apart from family demands, takes precedence over all
the other good causes in which you may be involved.
I am sure you know the saying: 'Where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also'. The very fact that you are in church today, attending
Mass, means that you already know where you heart is. The Code of Canon
Law says, in much more concise words, what I have been trying to convey
to you: "Christ's faithful have the obligation to provide for the needs
of the Church, so that the Church has available to it those things which
are necessary for divine worship, for works of the apostolate and of
charity and for the worthy support of its ministers."
May God bless you all and reward your generosity.
(Given at Swansea on the 31st January 2005 and appointed to be read
in all Churches and Chapels at all Masses for the Second Sunday in
Lent.)
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Christmas 2004
My dear People,
The main part of my message to you was also read to you at all Masses on
the last Sunday of Advent in a Pastoral Letter. It is a message which I
feel is important enough to emphasise strongly by repeating it here.
Many of you, I know, are distressed at recent trends which have meant
that attendance at Mass has declined. Although our numbers of priests as
a percentage of Catholic population is better than in most other
countries, vocations are down and the average age of priests is getting
higher. I have said in the past that God sends us the vocations we
deserve; so, perhaps it is now time for us to examine our consciences
and ask ourselves if the quality of our religion, our attitude to the
Liturgy and the witness we give to them are of a high enough standard
for us to justify demanding God for vocations.
The
Gospel of the Fourth Sunday in Advent gives us St Joseph as an example
to be followed. I think that one of the most striking things about him
is the way in which he opened himself so whole heartedly to God. Even
though no words of his are recorded in the Gospels, everything that we
read about him points to someone who was entirely obedient to the word
of God. This repeated obedience to God was not without its difficulties;
but, at every turn God's will for him seemed to afford an opportunity
for increasing in holiness. The message for us then this Christmas is to
open ourselves wholeheartedly to God, so that we can receive His Son as
freely and fully into our hearts as he did, and make sure the major
decisions of our life are always based on the faith given to us by God.
We are now in the last few days of our preparation for Christmas, and
all our thoughts are turning to the preparation for those important few
days when, as families, we shall be celebrating together. Your minds
will be full of all sorts of thought about what is still needed, which
presents are still unbought, what food must be in store, when you will
be doing the hundred and one things that need to be done so that you and
your family can really enjoy this precious time. I wonder, in all this
preparation, what thought you have given as to what you and your family
will do to celebrate this Feast in the Liturgy? This year, when
Christmas Day occurs on a Saturday, it means that the obligation to go
to Mass applies two days running; how should you respond to this?
This year, as you know, has been declared the Year of the Eucharist. In
his Encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia to the whole Church on
Maundy Thursday 2003, the Holy Father tells us that "The Eucharist, as
Christ's saving presence in the community of the faithful and its
spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can
have in her journey through history." At the end of that same
Encyclical, John Paul II adds: "By giving the Eucharist the prominence
it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions
or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this
gift". I cannot emphasise enough, then, the importance which the
celebration of the Eucharist should have in your lives this Christmas
and that applies to Christmas Day, and to the Feast of the Holy Family,
which this year occurs the day after, Sunday. Your going to Mass should
be the very centre of your celebration on these two days of great
Festival.
Pondering the Holy Father's words, I then
remembered a sentence in the Instruction which came out last March
Redemptionis Sacramentum, a document asked for by him following his
Encyclical; it tells us, in matters of Liturgy, that the faithful should
cling to the Bishop as the Church does to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus
Christ does to the Father, so that all may be in harmonious unity, and
that they may abound to the glory of God". It occurred to me that it was
my duty to tell you the way that I feel you should keep these Feasts.
Necessity and to a great extent, its popularity has meant that the Vigil
Mass for Sundays has attracted great numbers. Its added appeal on
Christmas Eve means that young children do not have to stay up for the
Midnight Mass; and I understand the argument for it; but it means that
they do not attend the Mass on Christmas Day the Liturgy and readings
are of the Vigil and I cannot help feeling that it really does not give
the Eucharist of Christmas Day the "prominence it deserves". You see,
the Liturgical celebration of Christ's Birth is not just an obligation
you have to fulfil, it should represent the "Source and Summit" of your
day; it should be done in the best way possible for you to reaffirm to
both yourself and to others that Christmas actually means something very
important in your life, and the reason why you actually make the time to
attend either the Midnight Mass or Christmas Day Mass in your own parish
even if it involves a small sacrifice. This is a statement which each
and every one of you can make; it is witness, and it is a powerful
witness. Don't forget, the witness which each and every one of you gives
is a very important one.
I am not stopping Vigil
Masses from being celebrated, but I do ask you to make a very special
effort not to give in to convenience religion, and to a consumerist
outlook. Please try to make Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Family
an opportunity for your family to be united together and united with
Christ and His Family.
That was what I said in my Pastoral. I would like to emphasise it with a
further passage from the Holy Father's Encyclical Ecclesia de
Eucharistia: "the centrality of the Eucharist in the life and ministry
of priests is the basis of its centrality in the pastoral promotion of
priestly vocations. It is in the Eucharist that prayer for vocation is
most closely united to the prayer of Christ the Eternal High Priest...
the conscious, active and fruitful participation of the faithful in the
Eucharist provides young men with a powerful example and incentive for
responding generously to God's call. Often it is the example of a
priest's fervent pastoral charity which the Lord uses to sow and to
bring to fruition in a young man's heart the seed of a priestly
calling."
Unless we ourselves show our children how
important we feel the Eucharist is in our lives, how can we expect that
any of them will be attracted to a life which means giving up this
world's goods to serve Our Lord in the ministry? My dear people we will
only get vocations from our own diocese when we, as families, impress
upon our children the greatness of the gift which we have in the
Eucharist, from which the Church draws her very life.
I wish you all a very blessed and joyful Christmas and a very Happy New
Year 2005; I shall think of you all this Christmas Season, celebrate
Mass for each and every one of you on Christmas Day and for your
families on the Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
December 2004
A number of changes in the parishes
of our diocese have taken place in the last few weeks. I want to take
this opportunity to thank all those who were affected by these changes
for their willingness and cooperation. It is never easy, either for the
priests concerned, or indeed for the faithful, when moves are made. The
temptation for any Bishop is to leave things as they are – but that is
just not practical or possible.
Inevitably, I have had
reactions from various people to the moves which have taken place; that
is quite understandable; we all get used to, and fond of a person or a
place, and it is hard to accept change. Also, some people have asked me
why there is not more consultation; a very fair question. The problem is
that in a set of moves it would be virtually impossible to come to any
satisfactory conclusion, let alone a consensus if every parish concerned
were to be consulted. It is obviously very difficult for any given group
of individuals to have an overall picture of the needs of the diocese;
and that is exactly what must be kept in mind by the Bishop and Chapter
when any moves are discussed. At the moment, as I have said in the past,
our first priority is to continue to provide Sunday Mass in as many of
our Churches as feasible; and this is made possible thanks to having
three priests, who are resident in Swansea, ready and willing to supply
in the rest of the diocese. To try and work on a five or a ten year plan
would inevitably mean the closing down of one or more churches; as I am
hoping that the situation with regard to vocations will continue to
improve I am, just at the moment, very reluctant to go down that road.
This does mean some sacrifices on the part of us all; and I count on
your support and your prayers at this challenging time for us all.
The Sacrament of Penance
A great number of you
will be aware that in April 2002 the Holy Father issued a Motu Proprio
called Misericordia Dei on the Sacrament of penance. In it he tells us
that "Salvation is therefore and above all redemption from sin, which
hinders friendship with God, a liberation from the state of slavery in
which man finds himself ever since he succumbed to the temptation of the
Evil One and lost the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21)." He
goes on "Christ entrusts to the Apostles the mission of proclaiming the
Kingdom of God and preaching the Gospel of conversion (cf. Mk 16:15; Mt
28:18-20). On the evening of the day of his Resurrection, as the
apostolic mission is about to begin, Jesus grants the Apostles, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, the authority to reconcile repentant
sinners with God and the Church: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of
any, they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23)."
Confession has
not had a good press in the last twenty years; and that is a great pity,
as it is not a negative discipline of getting rid of mortal sins, but a
very precious Sacrament which reaffirms to us all the love of Almighty
God for us all his erring children. Mindful of the Holy Father’s wish
for Episcopal Conferences to publish Norms on the Sacrament of Penance,
our own Conference did so and had approval for them from the Holy See.
The Department for Christian Life and worship has now issued guidelines
on Reconciliation, with particular emphasis on the Second form of the
Rite: the Reconciliation of Several Penitents with Individual Confession
and Absolution. I know that this form of the Rite has been in use
throughout our diocese for some years and that many of you have found it
extremely helpful, particularly in preparation for the Major Solemnities
of the Liturgical Year, such as Christmas and Easter. It gives public
expression to the reality of sin in our lives, the wound sin inflicts on
the Church, the harm it causes to our brothers and sisters, and it
brings home to us the nature of the Church as a reconciling community.
In order to re-kindle the desire and enthusiasm for this wonderful
Sacrament, I have decided that we shall explore together its wonderful
potential in our lives this coming Lent, within the framework of
Deaneries. Penitential Services for the six Deaneries will therefore be
held instead of Deanery Station Masses. It will be the task of
individual deaneries to prepare their Penitential Service, and I look
forward to seeing as many of you as possible, as I shall attend all of
them.
The Eucharist: Heart of the mystery of the Church
In April 2003 the Holy Father issued an Encyclical on the Eucharist:
Ecclesia de Eucharistia, and earlier this year, the Congregation for
Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on the Holy
Father’s request, published, in conjunction with the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, the Instruction called "Redemptionis
Sacramentum", which deals with certain matters to be observed or to be
avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist. High among the priorities for
catechesis for the faithful is the recommendation that the General
Instruction for the Roman Missal (Third Edition) should be made
available. The English translation of that text has now received "recognitio"
or approval from Rome and is being printed; it should be on sale shortly
after Easter. At the same time, the Department for Christian Life and
Worship will be publishing a document called "Celebrating the Mass"
which will enlarge, explain and assist the putting into practice of the
Holy Father’s wish in his Encyclical and the Congregation’s exhortation
in the Instruction.
As the Sacrifice on Calvary which was, is and always will be present to
God, so too for us the Mass, in the thanksgiving, in the remembering,
draws us once more into the saving events of salvation history – in
other words, and in a very real way, what was is now present for us
again. The events of Calvary and the resurrection which followed are not
over and done with - Christ is risen, and in our worship, especially in
the Mass, we engage with the truth of that.
So, in the
Liturgy, we are united with Christ, God with us; Christ fully human and
fully divine - who was, who is and who is to come; not just the priest.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church asks that very important question:
who celebrates the liturgy? And gives its answer as totus Christus, the
whole Christ, Body and Head. I am sure I don’t have to explain this much
more fully to you; we are the Mystical Body of Christ on earth, we the
baptised, and so we take part, as does Christ-Jesus himself risen and
glorified. His life is in us, and our lives are united with him. Liturgy
is our joining in his worship of the Father; our offering thanksgiving
for all. I wonder if many of you really think of the Mass in those
terms; or perhaps you just considered Mass as the re-enactment of the
Sacrifice of Calvary, done by the priest, and presented as an obligation
for you on Sundays and Holy Days? Something that is performed outside of
you and apart from you. No, you are all very much a part of that
Sacrifice, priest and faithful. So to fully get the benefits of it there
is one vital requirement, and it is the key to Liturgy: Participation,
full participation in the Sacrifice.
After we have
reaped the benefits of a better understanding of the Sacrament of
reconciliation, therefore, it is quite natural that our thoughts will
turn to the Eucharist and to how fully we can enter into an active and
personal participation.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Pentecost 2004
With the Feast
of Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the church because it was on
that first Pentecost that the early church was launched and took on its
missionary role. In the Acts we read that while the Apostles were
at prayer with Mary in the upper room, there was a mighty wind and the
Holy Spirit descended on them in the form of tongues of fire. The
effect of this was that these frightened men immediately had the courage
to go out and fearlessly preach the word of God to all. That same
Spirit which renewed the courage and missionary zeal of the apostles is
not something which happened only once, at the beginning of the church.
It is, even now, an ever-present tower of strength which guides and
directs the course of the Church.
At baptism we all
received the Spirit of God; this brought us into a loving relationship
with Him, when He invited us to become his adopted sons and daughters.
So, the Feast of Pentecost is for us all a reminder of Jesus announcing
that God our Father has breathed his life and love into our bones and
that He gives us an opportunity to share in His eternal life.
Now, more than ever, we need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to inspire
the hearts of many young men and women to give their lives in the loving
service of the Lord. Unless we pray, we will not get vocations.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of our young people
and give them the generosity to offer themselves in His service.
We need to realise God’s call is always there; we, in our deep
involvement with all the demands and distractions of our world, have
drowned out His gentle voice. Is it perhaps because we are afraid
that the Holy Spirit will actually answer our prayer, and give a
vocation to our son or daughter? Would we have the courage and
generosity, as parents, to respond and be ready to accept the sacrifice?
Going back some fifty years, I remember my parents were very reluctant,
at first, to acknowledge that I had a vocation; they thought they would
be losing their son to a monastery. What they discovered was that,
of the three of us, their sons, I was the one whom they were most able
to see and who kept in closest contact with them. They did not
lose me to another family; they just shared me with God. They came
to be grateful for that; especially since, I was given the tremendous
privilege to bring them all back to the faith before each one of them
died. Whatever God asks of us, He gives back with interest.
The Diocese has a prayer for vocations, which I urge you all to use as
frequently as possible; this is available on the
Welcome page of this website. Please say this prayer together,
as a family; Jesus said `where two or three of you are gathered
together, in my name, I am there with them`. But then, I also ask
you to be ready to accept the call and the sacrifice, if it comes to
your family.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
April 2004
Our journey through
Lent is almost completed. The Lenten Prefaces at Mass remind us
that Lent is a joyful season because our efforts to have more concern
for others and more self control of ourselves will bring us closer to
Christ, the source of all Peace and joy.
I have almost
completed all the Lenten Station Masses in the Deaneries. It is
always a real joy for me to celebrate Mass with you on these occasions.
I know many of you have to travel some distance to participate in the
Lenten Station Mass. These Masses, when people of many different
parishes are united together with the Bishop, are a very important
reminder of the “Oneness” of our Catholic Church. It is so easy
for us human beings to form communities that are a little inward-looking
and perhaps even a shade ‘exclusive’! The Station Masses are a
sign that the parishes of the Deanery are truly Catholic - fully in
communion with each other because they are fully in communion with the
Bishop. This essential ‘oneness’ was also expressed recently in Rome
when, with the other Bishops of England and Wales, I concelebrated Mass
with the Holy Father. This real ‘Oneness’ we must cherish and strengthen
whenever we can. It is natural for us to be proud of our own
particular church building and comfortable with our own regular Mass
going community, but as Catholics we must constantly strive to look
beyond the boundaries of our own parishes and be willing to develop
bonds of unity with our neighbouring Catholic parishes and with the
whole diocese. Isolation from neighbouring parishes and the
diocese, leads to a form of fragmented congregationalism rather than
Catholicism.
On a practical level, the shortage and
mature age of many of our priests, does mean that some of our
communities, which at present have a Sunday Mass, may one day be
challenged to travel a little further to another church. Those who
read the catholic press will know that this is already happening in many
dioceses in Wales and England and must be expected in our own.
On the Wednesday of Holy Week the Mass of the Chrism will be solemnly
celebrated in the Cathedral. This is another expression of our
Catholic ‘Oneness’ the priests gather around their Bishop to express the
Unity of the priesthood and Christ’s one Sacrifice. At this Mass
we recognise the saving effects of the Pascal Mystery through the
effective sign of anointing with blessed oil.
The oil
of Catechumens prepares us at Baptism for the journey of Faith; we are
permanently sealed by the Holy Spirit with the fragrant Chrism of the
prophets, priests and kings; we are strengthened in this life and sent
forth into eternity with the healing pardon of the oil of the Sick.
At the summit of the Church year, the three great days of the Easter
Triduum draws us into the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus
Christ our Saviour. With his disciples we enter the Upper Room to
celebrate His Last Supper and accompany Him to sorrowful Garden of
Gethsemane. On Good Friday we follow Via Dolorosa, the way of
Sorrow, which leads to His death on the Cross. On Holy Saturday we
wait in solemn vigil and then rejoice on Easter Day at His triumph over
death and the promise of eternal life which this offers to us all.
I do urge you all to make every effort to take part in the various Holy
Week services. They are concerned with very real and Sacred events
that are totally relevant to each one of us who look to Christ to give
our often difficult lives a meaning and an eternal purpose. For us
Easter is not just a celebration but a promise.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Lent 2004
We are once more on the threshold of
Lent, a time when the Church gives us an invitation to renew our lives,
to change direction away from sinfulness and selfishness.
Everywhere in traditional Catholic Family circles there will be talk of
what people are going to give up for this season. A kind of grim
determination that we are going to suffer, that it will do us some good,
and that perhaps there will be good side-effects like losing weight, or
becoming less attached to cigarettes or drink. Then Easter will
come and find us either successful or having failed in our resolutions –
it will be followed by an almost inevitable relaxation because Lent is
over, and we can go back happily to our old ways. Is that what
Lent is all about for you? I hope not; I do hope that our approach
to Lent can be a little more positive. You see, in this Holy
Season we are challenged to create a new heart within ourselves.
Lent is a call and an invitation from God which is both a grace and a
challenge. It is given to us that we may hear him anew and that
the seed of renewal and transformation may begin to grow in us. The call
is not intended to end on Easter Sunday; rather it should culminate on
that day with our celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord when we
are strengthened to set off again, renewed and full of the joy of the
Lord, as the Disciples were.
My invitation to you,
therefore, is to think how you can best be positive. The first
question in all our minds should be: what am I taking up for Lent?
By that I mean, what prayer, what extra reading, what works of charity
am I going to take on – how am I going to think a little less of myself,
a little more of serving God and my neighbour? Ash Wednesday’s
first Reading from the Prophet Joel tells us that out of his constant
love and mercy God urgently calls the whole of humanity to renewal.
Men, women and children are called to holiness. God’s call is not for
external signs of repentance. It is a call for the more radical
change, for inner change. A cts of self-denial are but a help to us in
this process of renewal; it is with this in mind that they should be
undertaken; not as acts which will increase our pride and
self-satisfaction. In the second Reading of that same Mass of Ash
Wednesday Paul tells the Corinthians that God’s call in the Old
Testament reading for reconciliation through renewal is truly fulfilled
in Jesus Christ; and he begs us to be reconciled with God through Jesus
in this period of preparation. A truly good preparation for the
Sacrament of Reconciliation leading up to a rich encounter with Christ
in Confession is an excellent thing to be considered.
In Ash Wednesday’s Gospel Jesus preaches almsgiving, fasting and
praying. He is telling us that an inner transformation born of
self-sacrifice, done with joy, is what makes repentance pleasing to God.
External signs of repentance without a transformed heart cannot bring
the gift of God's saving grace, they are little more than selfish
gymnastic exercises.
So, God calls us at this
privileged time to strip away our pretensions to holiness, to strip away
false prayer, and almsgiving done for personal glory; then we, in our
turn, can ask him to put a new heart within us, a pure heart, so that we
may redirect our lives during this period of preparation for Easter.
Through this renewal of ours the Church will then truly be a sign of
God's powerful love and mercy, transforming humanity’s brokenness,
making it whole in Christ Jesus.
Finally, may I ask
you all to pray for all the priests and religious of our diocese very
especially this Lent; that Almighty God may give us all the strength to
serve you lovingly and faithfully.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Christmas 2003 & New Year 2004
Once again this Christmas we will hear in church the Gospel in which
the Angel says to the Shepherds `Behold, I bring you news of great
joy'. We will also hear Isaiah the prophet saying: `From this time
onwards and forever, the jealous love of the Lord of Hosts will do
this'. For us, this means that even some 750 years before Christ was
born God's love was preparing the way for our salvation; we can
therefore truly say that at no time has God not cared for our welfare. He has always had our salvation in mind, He has always wanted us to
share in his perfect happiness. This happiness is what I wish for your
all at this joyful time of Christmas.
Even the hardest of hearts cannot help being moved by the story of
Christmas; Joseph and Mary have, because of the bureaucracy of a
decree, to travel many miles in order to comply with the law. When
they get to their destination, there is no room for them at the Inn,
and they have to shelter in a stable. Very romantic, if you look at
our crib; but just think of how it really was for them: cold, most
likely, at this time of the year - it may have been warm in the day,
but the Holy Land is certainly very cold at night. In the cribs that
we see in churches, the whole scene looks so very cosy and pleasant
and romantic. Not a bit of it, the stable at Bethlehem must have been
uncomfortable, smelly and most probably very noisy. Yes, noisy,
because although the Nativity scene is usually pictured with just
Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus and a few shepherds, it is quite likely
that, since the Inn was full, there would have been other people who
had been unable to find a bed, animals belonging to people who were
staying in the Inn, and keepers - there might also well have been
drunken revellers, and a constant to and fro. Hardly the sort of
setting fit for the birth of the Saviour of the world, the Son of God. And yet, that is the very setting which God did choose for his Son. This Jesus, this Son of God, far from becoming the leader of an
all-conquering army from the Jewish Nation, far from becoming a
Pharisee or a great teacher, far from being important, just turns out
to be a very humble and poor carpenter for the best part of his life. He then goes round the Holy Land preaching a new Gospel, a gospel of
love to a people who live under oppression. Finally, he demonstrates
the depth of that love by accepting death, death on a cross.
Jesus’ birth and the first years of his life focus our minds on the
fact that he, like us, had a family here on earth; Mary and Joseph
were of primary importance in the formative years of the child Jesus;
and together the three of them give us a model for our families. The
coming few days of Christmas and the New Year will see us all in a
rush of preparation followed by an exuberant family celebration and
then a grateful collapse when the whole thing is over and we can rest
and return to normal. You know, it would be a great pity for us to go
through this period without savouring its meaning in our daily lives;
its importance and its value as a guide in a life so very full of
distractions and material concerns could go by and be unnoticed. Let
Christmas for you be a special time as families, and for the
strengthening of the bonds of love which unite you. Christmas is also
a very special time for children and the young; in my private
interview with the Holy Father he asked me about the youth of the
diocese; his love and his faith in the young is always obvious,
wherever he goes – even in this time of illness and suffering for him,
one always sees a smile on his face when young people come near him.
Our diocese also is a family, and I am very pleased to tell you that
early in the New Year we have two very important events which will
focus our minds on the family and on youth.
The first of these is the visit which this diocese will have on the
15th January of the World Youth Day Cross. This Cross will be on
Pilgrimage around England and Wales from 9th to the 27th of January,
before being handed over to Scotland. Before it reaches us, the Cross
will have been on Pilgrimage through 18 countries; it began its
journey through Europe on Palm Sunday 2003 when it was handed over to
the German Youth by a Canadian delegation. For 12 of the countries it
is visiting, including our own, this is the first visit. At its
departure from Rome, the Holy Father also entrusted a huge Icon of the
Blessed Virgin to the youth, that it might accompany the Cross. Menevia will receive the Cross in St Joseph’s Cathedral at 11.00 am on
the 15th January. All Head Teachers have kindly agreed to send
important delegations for the Mass which will be celebrated to honour
its passage through our diocese. In the Summer of 2005, World Youth
Day will be held in Cologne, and we three, Bishops of the Welsh
Province, have decided that we would like to take a large number of
pilgrims for this important occasion. The celebration of the passage
of the World Youth Day Cross will mark for us the launching of the
project for us to identify and prepare those who will be representing
us in Cologne in 2005. Although the schools and all the young of the
diocese are the main people involved in this passage of the Cross,
anyone who wants to come and take part will be most welcome.
The second event happens only two days later, but is no less important
in my eyes. On Saturday 17th January, after a lapse of some years, we
will be re-launching the Diocesan Family Mass. I shall preside at this
Mass, where I hope many priests of the diocese will be present. This
is a most important event, as this Mass coincides with the
International Year of the Family 2004, and it also celebrates 10 years
of Menevia Family Life Ministry. After the Mass, all those attending
are invited to the Cathedral Hall for a party for all ages – and this
includes a free buffet. All families are most cordially invited. Let
us make this a truly happy reunion for the Menevia Family. I really
look forward to seeing you.
God bless you all and your families this Christmas. May it be time of
love and happy reunion; and may the New Year bring you every blessing
and happiness.
Mark OSB
Bishop of Menevia
Pastoral Letters
2006
