Fr. JC Maximilian

I know that it has been a while since I posted anything on this blog, but I have been away.  Over a year and a half ago I planned a vacation, from October 31, 2008 until November 10, 2008.

One thing about me, which I have not mentioned much on this blog, is that I belong to the Apostleship of the Sea, USA.  This is an organization, run by the US Bishops, for meeting the spiritual needs of “the people of the sea,” those people who large work on ships.  The Apostleship of the Sea, USA (AOSUSA) has several programs and responsibilities for these people, including port chaplains and the program I belong to, the Cruise Ship Priest program.  Basically, a number of years ago, several cruise lines were having concerns that when they asked for a Catholic priest to serve onboard to say Mass for the passengers and crew, they were getting “rent-a-priests,” men who had left the active priesthood (some suspended others even laitaized) for various reasons.  These men no longer had the faculties to celebrate any of the sacraments, and they would upset passengers by introducing them to their wives.  The AOSUSA developed the Cruise Ship Chaplain program in order to defend against this.  Each year I need to send them a letter from my bishop verifying that I am still a priest in good standing.  In return, several cruise lines have agreed only to use priest from AOSUSA.

I will be honest, it is a nice way for a priest to get an inexpensive vacation.  Our cruise is usually free, so we just have to pay for our transportation to and from the ship, and any excursions we go on.  In return we say Mass each day, sometime during the cruise say Mass for the crew, and on Sunday lead a non-denominational prayer service.  Yet, there are times when our pastoral duty is more.

This past cruise was a 10-day cruise that left Barcelona, Spain and made stops in Marseille and Villefranche (both in France), Livorno, Citiavecchia and Naples (Italy), Malta, and Tunis.  It rained a lot for the first few days, but we (I took my mother) got to see Pisa and Pompeii, and when we got to Malta the weather was beautiful.  However, this cruise was a bit more work.  Early in the cruise, one of the members of the crew died unexpectedly.  So I made myself available to the crew who were in shock.  I also lead the memorial service.  The doctor onboard, a devout Catholic, was struggling with a medical ethics issues so I spent time in prayer and discussion with her.  There were passengers who wanted to speak to a priest.  All of it just underscored why this ministry really is important.

The day after I got back was my 44th birthday.  I slept in and then went through the mail that had piled up while away.  Since then the pastor and I have been busy.  There are so many good things happening here at the parish.  It is exciting, but it does cut into blogging time.

I am hoping to do some good things on this blog.  First, you may have noticed that I have been posting more homilies.  That’s because here at St. Theresa’s the deacons preach once a month and not twice like at my previous assignment, so I have more homilies to post.  I think I will be having more of my own reflections.  I don’t want it to be like a diary online, but some bloggers have encouraged me to share more of my own opinions.  After all, it is MY blog, and not a homily to the parish.  In homilies the priest should be more restrained about his opinions because people can think that he is speaking for the Church (as he is in some ways).  However, in a blog I am speaking for myself.  Now I hope that I am always speaking WITH the Church, I can have my own opinions (whether it is about who I think should win the SuperBowl or what I think about the recent elections or other political events) that would not necessarily be things that the Church would speak directly about.

Finally, I hope to use this blog for School of Community.  I am a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, one of the new ecclesial movements, and our most basic “gesture” is our weekly School of Community meeting where we share a reading and then our own experiences of encountering Christ Jesus in our everyday life.  It has really helped me keep from becoming abstract, and being more connected with reality of every day life.  The School of Community becomes your friends and your mutual witnesses to the Goodness of God, as we together continue to journey with Jesus.  I started a School of Community at my previous assignment, but that is over an hour away from where I am now.  It would be too soon to start one here (first people need to get to know and trust me.  Then they might say, “Father, can we learn more about CL?”).  A few people have asked me about CL here, so we might be able to start a School of Community in the near future here, but in the mean time I still want to make the time for prayerful reflection on the works of the Movement.  So I thought I might just read a bit of the current book the Movement is reading, and share my reflections (brief summary of the reading) and experiences as related to the reading on this blog.  If others want to start a conversation about it GREAT, that’s what the comments are for.  We will see how it all works out.