Fr. JC Maximilian

Today has been a long, but joyful day. I had the early morning Mass, and the I took off for my Mother’s house. We were planning a trip to NYC for the solemn profession of four friars in the Congregation of Franciscans of the Renewal, Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s community. One of the friars, Br. Luke Joseph of Red Bank, is a friend of both mine and mom. He had been a seminarian for the Diocese of Trenton (he was known as Ian then), and for a year we lived at the House of Formation in Trenton; he as a college seminarian and I was a deacon. Then for my first assignment as a priest I was assigned to St. James in Red Bank, where I got to know his family. Three years ago Mom and I traveled to the Bronx for his first profession so we wanted to be there today too.

We took NJ Transit to Penn Station, NYC, and then had the joy of figuring out the subway. Google had us taking the 5 to the S to the 1. Fortunately we asked a real New Yorker who told us to take the E to Lexington and 51st then the 6 to 86th Street. It did save us some walking, though we still had to walk six blocks, in the pouring rain, to Our Lady of Good Council.

The church was beautiful, and there was a wonderful turn out. Of course there were a lot of CFRs, both friars and sisters, as well as the Sisters of Life and the Missionaries of Charity. I spoke with Fr. Groeschel, and to my pleasant surprise ran into Fr. Brendan Kelly of Lincoln, NE. Fr. Kelly was a year behind me at the seminary and we are friends. His nephew, Br. Patrick, was one of the others making solemn profession. Two other priests from Trenton were also there; friends of Br. Luke Joseph. I also ran into a seminary classmate, Fr. Kevin McGolderick, a priest in Philadelphia. My mother also knows Fr. Kevin; the met on a pilgrimage to Medjegoria.

I am typing this on my iPhone as we are heading back to Hamilton, NJ. I hope the picture of Br. Luke Joseph also posts.

We have Confirmations tomorrow in the parish.  The bishop will be sending one of his Episcopal Vicars, Msgr. Gene Reebeck.  I am sure it is going to be a beautiful ceremony.  It will also end our Religious Education program for the current year.

One might think that with the summer things would begin to get slower, but I think we are going to have a very busy summer here at St. Theresa parish.  Fr. Mick, the pastor, met with the Diocese last week, and they told us to go to bid on our new building.  I am not sure if I have written about this on the blog, so here is a summary.  St. Theresa’s was established I think in the 1930s.  Originally the parishioners had Mass in a pool hall.  Eventually they bought some property and built a church, right on Main Street in Tuckerton.  That church was expanded once, but the Catholic population in the area continued to grow.  They had a mission on Mystic Island, but the parish continued to grow.  About three years ago, after much planning and saving, the parish built a new church on a new campus; about 2 miles away.  It is now in Little Egg Harbor, not the borough of Tuckerton, but it is a much bigger property and church.  The church is in the round and rather modern looking, but it has some beautiful features.

The old church property was sold, and the parish offices were moved into a former doctor’s office in a professional building; across from the old church so 2 miles from the new.  It is a very small space; the pastor and I do not even have our own office (we work out of our residence; a house in a neighborhood about half way between the offices and the new church).  We really do not have anyplace to hold religious education classes; so we use the gathering space, the sacristy, the church, etc.  Wherever we can make due.  We have little meeting space.  In other words we have a despite need for another building.  The new campus has plenty of land, so we are planning on building a Faith Formation Center and Parish Offices.  While a very efficient design, it will still cost about $2.7 million (we hope the bids, given the economy, will come in below that).  Our parishioners have been great; they have pledged about $1.5 million already.  The Diocese knows how much we need it, so they told us that we are going to build it.  The bids will be complete in about 3 weeks.  We will open them with the Diocesan  officials, and select one.  Then we will know how much of a loan from a bank we will need.  We cannot say for sure when we will break ground but we hope it will be soon.

In the summer we also have a parish carnival, which I am looking forward to.  I am sure it will be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

I really plan to start writing in this blog more regularly.  I do preach this weekend, so my homily will be here, as will be my homily for the Ascension.  I then leave for a very quick trip to North Carolina for my niece’s HS graduation.

I do want to restart my virtual School of Community on the book by Msgr. Giussani; Is It Possible to Live This Way? Vol. 1: Faith.  I left off at the assembly for chapter two; which is rather long and disjointed.  I might just pick up at Chapter 3.

I am always finding new things I like about my iPhone. I just found a free app that reportedly will allow me to post to this blog from my iPhone. This is a test of the app.

I arrived back from St. Louis, after attending my niece Deirdre’s First Communion, on Thursday afternoon. I arrived back with a cold. At first I thought it was just bad allergies (my car was cover in pollen), but yesterday I knew it was a cold or the flu. I did drive up to Yardville for my other niece’s First Communion. That niece is Moira. I did not stay for long as I was feeling lousy. It was hard driving home as I was so tired. Fr. Mick told me to take the weekend off so I slept most of the weekend. I am starting to feel better but am still tired.

It was 3 a.m. on May 15, 2005 when first the beeper, and then the telephone started going off.  Like most people, I was not thrilled about being awaken with such a start.  I quickly got to the phone, so it would not wake up the other priests.  It was the hospital, like I knew it would be, and I heard the person say, “Father, someone on the fourth floor needs a priest.”  I asked them for the person’s name and room number, and was a bit annoyed when the person I was speaking with said they did not know.  I told him that I would get dressed and call him back in 5 minutes, so please have the name or at least the room number because I could not go through the whole fourth floor at 3 in the morning trying to find the person needing a priest.  When I called him back 5 minutes later, he told me he did not know the patient’s name, but it was in maternity.  I had never been called to the maternity ward, but my heart started beating faster because I knew it meant either a dying new mother or a dying new baby.

When I got to the maternity ward there seemed to be a silence even more profound than what would be typical given the time.  The nurse lead me to a room where a tiny baby boy laid in one of those clear plastic cribs.  There were several doctors and nurses gathered around this tiny baby, who was not crying, but rather struggling to breath.  Someone whispered in my ear that the baby was not going to make it, and the parents wanted the baby baptized.  I opened my sick call kit and asked for some water.  Then as I drew close to the baby, all the doctors and nurses also gathered around.  In the quietness of that early morning, they joined me in the prayers as I baptized and anointed that small, little baby who died not long afterwards.  A little later, I was taken to the parents of that little boy, and I prayed with them in their grief.

I guess I was at the hospital for about an hour, and when I got back to the rectory, I could not get back to sleep.  The prayers of those doctors and nurses, joining me in the rites of the Church was such a powerful experience.  While sad, there was also an sense of awe, a powerful sense of the divine.  It was not how I thought I would have started my first anniversary as a priest, but I could not have asked for a better way of celebrating the grace of my priesthood.

Today, Holy Thursday, is truly a celebration of the priesthood.  The only two Masses that can be celebrated today is the Chrism Mass (which Bishop Smith celebrated on Monday) at which the priests of the diocese renewed their priestly promises, and this Mass of the Lord’s Supper, commemorating Christ’s institution of the ministerial priesthood through His institution of the Eucharist.  It is appropriate for us to take some time to reflect on the meaning of priesthood.

If we look at the various cultures around the world we would find a variety of concepts of what is priesthood.  Often the priest is little more than a technician, trained in how to lead various rituals.  Often priests have the role of mediating between the worshippers and the divine.

Jesus came to establish a new priesthood.  In addition to being a teacher about the Kingdom of Heaven, and the mediator between us and God His Father, Christ Jesus was also the victim, offered up in sacrifice to redeem us from our sins so that we can share in the Divine Life.  As such, Jesus is the eternal High Priest; we have no need for another.  The priesthood established by Jesus is characterized by two aspects.  First, His is a priesthood not through inheritance, like the priesthood of Aaron, but rather through a call to consecration.  This call to be set apart for God, marks not just a part of His life, but Jesus’ entire life; His whole human self and existence on earth was marked by His consecration to His Father.  Second, Jesus’ priesthood exhibits a mission that is specifically pastoral; that is having the qualities of a shepherd.

We are all called to participate in this priesthood of Jesus.  There are two ways in which we participate in Jesus’ priesthood; the universal priesthood of all the baptized, and the ministerial priesthood.  Both draw, in distinct ways, from the Redemptive Incarnation of Christ Jesus.

The mission of the universal priesthood of the baptized is to worship in spirit and truth, and to offer spiritual sacrifices.  These spiritual sacrifices are not only for the benefit of all Christians, but for the benefit of the whole world.  As Jesus witnesses in His entire life, particularly in His sacrificial death on the Cross, to the Divine Life and Love, all the baptized in their common priesthood are also called to witness to this Life and Love with the entirety of their lives.  Those doctors and nurses who joined with me in prayer for that tiny baby boy was living their priesthood to the full.  Not just by their prayers, but by the service of their particular vocations to those in needs.  We are all called to live our lives in holiness.  This does not mean necessarily doing special things, but rather doing ordinary things in a way that witnesses to God’s love for all of us.

The ministerial priesthood, which Fr. Mick, Msgr. Ron and I share, is entrusted with a pastoral mission.  To us are given an authority which empowers us to proclaim the Gospel, celebrate the Eucharist, forgive sins, and lead the community of the Faithful.  It is a pastoral mission of service, not privilege.  At each celebration of the Mass, the ministerial priest takes up the prayers “in spirit and truth”, and the spiritual sacrifices of the entire community of Faith, and offers them to our Heavenly Father.  In acting in the “person of Christ the Head” the ministerial priest makes present the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the spiritual food which gives us a share in the Divine Life so that we can continue to bare witness to Christ in the world.

In just a few moments we will re-enact the event of tonight’s gospel reading; the washing of the Apostles’ feet.  While the Apostles are consecrated to participate in the ministerial priesthood, it is important to note that in tonight’s gospel passage they are referred to as disciples.  Why?  Because they first participate in the universal priesthood of the baptized, of all those who have faith in Christ Jesus.  It is a reminder that we are all called to serve Christ and His Church.  We serve by our compassion for the poor, the homeless, the despairing.  We serve by witnessing to the love of Christ as the motivation for all of our actions.  We serve by making spiritual sacrifices, and worshipping in spirit and truth.  We serve by humbling clinging to Christ Jesus, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  In our participation in the Eucharist, we unite ourselves to  the One, Eternal priest, Jesus Christ, and we give thanksgiving to God, the source of all goodness.

In this new age that we are living in, the age of the Internet, we all have friends whom we have never met in person.  Over 15 years ago I “met” a group of Catholic friends in an AOL chat room discussing Pope John Paul II’s “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”.  I have kept in touch with these “Threshold” friends even though most of us are no longer on AOL.  We pray for and with each other.  I have gotten to meet 4 of them in person, but many others I have not.

Michael Dubruiel is another of my Internet friends, whom I have never met in person.  Michael stumbled across this blog about 18 months ago, and posted a comment.  I don’t even remember which posting he was commenting on.  We then exchanged some emails, and he sent me some of his books.  Our friendship was beginning.  Michael was a Catholic author and catechist; married to Amy Welborn, a much more famous Catholic Blogger than I.  He and Amy had a book on the Rosary, which for my private use I recorded my first “podcast” of me reciting the Rosary using the meditations from their book.  I sent Michael a copy of my recording (just 2 sets of mysteries, I have not finished the rest), so that like me, he could listen and pray with them while at the gym.

Last year at this time I drew a bit closer to Michael.  Months earlier he had sent me a copy of his book, The Power of the Cross, and I had decided to read it for my Lenten meditation.  Just before Lent began I received word from my sister that my then 16-year old niece had been taken by three men and sexually assaulted.  I was in shock and filled with anger.  I picked up Michael’s book, and in its pages I found a better way of dealing with my anger and hurt.  The way of uniting it to the Cross of Christ Jesus.  Of course the only way you are going to do that is if you have confidence in the power of Christ’s Cross to conquer evil.  I share my appreciation of his book with Michael and in a series of emails he told me that he began re-reading his own book because he was struggling with some emotions over a serious illness his father was facing.

I had not chatted with Michael, well emailed him, in several months.  The other day I was making my rounds of some of my favorite Catholic sites and blogs and came across some shocking and very sad news.  Michael had died suddenly.  Apparently he was at the gym when he collapsed and died.  He was only 51.  Of course Amy, his wife, and their children are grieving … pray for them.  Especially in this difficult economic times there is anxiety about their future.  If you can, support them by buying one (or more) of Michael’s books.  If you are looking for something to read this Lent, I cannot recommend highly enough his book The Power of the Cross (it is even organized for the weeks of Lent).  If you want to learn more about the Mass, his How to Book of the Mass is great.  You can get them from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or your favorite religious books shop.

And remember my friend … whom I never met face to face, but I will remember in my heart.

I ran across an article about this YouTube post by a 12-year old girl; no name is given. Apparently it was a speech she gave in class. She does a wonderful job of addressing the evil of abortion. Sadly, her family had to turn off the “comments” feature of YouTube because of some of the vile, hateful comments directed at this child. They were not opposed to a civil debate on the issue (in fact they kept some of the comments, both pro and con, on the site), but civility was lost in too many of the comments.

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.

Here is a link to watch what nice things Congressman Christopher Smith had to say about me in his 1-minute address welcoming me to the House of Representatives as the guest chaplain, [clip is from C-SPAN]

Yesterday I had a great honor.  I was invited, at the request of Rep. Christopher Smith, NJ-4, to be the guest chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives.  While I had “floor privileges” for the entire day, my only real duty was to say the opening prayer at the start of the session, which follows:

Opening Prayer
U.S. House of Representatives
July 16, 2008
Fr. John C. Garrett

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence)

God, Creator of Heaven and Earth,
The Founders of this Great Nation, recognized the basic principle that You are our Creator and we are Your noble, yet humble, creatures.  As such, all men and women are loved and treasured by You.  Send your blessings on the women and men of this honorable House, so that they will be guided by your Divine Law in their deliberations.  Grant them the wisdom to seek the common good for all people.  May all their actions demonstrate respect and reverence for all people; each made in Your Divine image and likeness.  Let all this be done for Your greater glory.  We ask this in Your Divine Name.
Amen.

How did I get selected for this honor?  Well, it is a long story.  I first met Chris Smith back in 1976.  He was the Executive Director for New Jersey Right to Life, and was the campaign manager for a Pro-Life Democrat, Steve Foley, who was running in the primary for the U.S. Senate.  My father was the Mercer County campaign manager for Mr. Foley.  I was 12 at the time, and spent many an evening stuffing envelops and other campaign type activities with Chris and his then girlfriend, Marie, whom he married.  The Smiths became friends of my family.  In 1978 Chris decided to switch parties and run for Congress, so my family was back into stuffing envelops.  He lost that election, but he ran again in 1980, and won.  By that time I was a junior in high school, with an interest in politics and law.  My father told me that when he went to Washington, D.C. on his HS Senior trip he met a Congressional Page.  When Congressman Smith was first elected, in 1980, during my junior year, I asked him about applying to become a Congressional Page.  Right at the end of my junior year I found out that I had been selected, so I spent my senior year of high school as a Congressional Page in the U.S. House of Representatives.  I was Congressman Smith’s first Page.  It was a wonderful year, and I learned so much about the legislative process, and had an unique vantage point on moments of history.

My family continued to be friends with the Congressman and his family.  My mother worked in his district office for nearly 20 years.  Now my sister Jennifer works in his district office.

Yesterday actually started on Tuesday.  After having a funeral here in the parish, I drove down to DC.  A friend of my sister, Ann, from medical school is now a Jesuit priest teaching at Georgetown, and he was good enough to allow me to stay there.  We had a great visit.

Yesterday morning I was to report to Congressman Smith’s office at 9:15 a.m.  Not sure of Washington traffic, I left a little after 8 a.m.  Parking was arranged for me at the Capitol.  Of course there was a lot of security to go through.  There was a pleasant surprise for me at Congressman Smith’s office — my sister Jennifer came down to work that day in the DC office.  We were escorted to the Speaker’s Lobby (a room just off the House Floor), and I was told where I would stand and the procedure that would be followed.  Mr. Oliver, the man in charge of the Pages on the Republican side when I was a Page, was there as were two of my other supervisors.  Mr. Oliver retired a few months ago, and we had dinner later last evening with one of my Page School classmates.  My sister was escorted to the gallery, and I waited on the dais for the Speaker to call the House to order.  She then introduced me, and I said the prayer.  After the Pledge of Allegiance, Speaker Pelosi invited me back to her office for pictures.  My sister joined us.  While I do not agree with the Speaker’s position on Life Issues (e.g., abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc.), she was very pleasant to speak with.  She asked me about what it was like to be back after 26 years, the parish I am assigne to, my friendship with Congressman Smith.  After pictures Congressman Smith took me back to the House Floor where he gave a 1-minute speech about, well, me.  Then it was back to his office for a nice visit.  Eventually he, and my sister, need to get to work.

I spent the afternoon at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, said Mass there for Deacon Joseph Malloy, and visited with a friend from the seminary.  I met my Page School classmate and Mr. Oliver at “Chef Geoff’s Downtown” for a most delightful dinner.  Then it was the long drive back to NJ.

It was a very nice day.

I meant to blog about this two weeks ago; however, I am still not the master blogger.  I have had two rather interesting interactions between Church and State this month.

The first was when I went to vote in the New Jersey Primary, Part II.  In case you are not from NJ, we now have a new and somewhat weird primary set up.  For as long as I can remember, the NJ primary was the first Tuesday of June, following the first Monday.  Thus, this year it fell on June 3.  However, I guess some politicos decided that by having our primary so late in the primary season, NJ was having a lesser impact on the choice of national candidates.  For example, in this year’s Republican presidential race, it was all wrapped up months before the June primary, so the candidates would not have had any reason to really campaign much in NJ.  I believe that this was the first year that NJ moved its presidential primary to February; on Super-Duper Tuesday.  However, it was only the presidential primary that was moved, to give us more of a voice in the selection of presidential candidates, and not the primary for State and local offices.

Now, some people (I am one), do not understand this reasoning.  First, I have to believe that it is more expensive to have two primary elections than one.  In a State that is already too expensive to live in, why waste more money on having two primaries.  Either just have it in February or in June.  Now, which month to have it is another debate.  This year it could be argued that we had less influence on the Democratic Presidential Primary, because, being on Super-Duper Tuesday, the candidates had to divide their time among a lot of States.  I think NJ would have played more influence with its June primary, at least among the Democrats, because of the tight race between Obama and Hillary (please NOTE VERY WELL, I AM NOT endorsing any political party or candidate.  I am just commenting on the effect of the timing of the primary).  Of course, the June primary did not effect the outcome for the Republicans.  Therefore, I do not have a strong opinion for either February or June, just not two.

Now, all of that was basically just rambling.  This June 3, as a dutiful citizen, I went to vote in the largely meaningless primary (I think in both parties there was only one race contested).  But God wanted me to be there to be an instrument of His Grace.  As I was signing in, one of the poll workers said to the worker signing me in, “Ask Father.  He’ll know.”  I said, “Ask me what?” and the woman said, “Father, how would I go about getting baptized.”  We then had a nice discussion about baptism.  Neither she, nor her two children are baptized, and they would all like to enter into the Catholic Church.  I spent time talking to her about it, what it entails (RCIA, etc.), and then left her my card.  It is pretty amazing to think I went into the polling place largely thinking “what a waste of time,” and I left maybe bringing three souls closer to Christ.  God truly works in mysterious yet wonderful ways.  Blessed be His Name!

The next day I received some exciting news.  I have been invited by the Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives to be a guest chaplain, leading the opening prayer for the House on July 16 (about 10 a.m. EST).  Over 26 years ago I worked as a Congressional Page in the U.S. House of Representatives.  It was an incredible learning experience.  My family has been friends with our congressman, Rep. Christopher Smith, since before he was in Congress (mom worked as his office manager here in the district after he was elected, and now my sister works for him as a case worker).  For over a year, his aide has been working at getting me the invitation.  I am pretty excited.  I need to start working on my prayer.  It has to be short (no more than 150 words), and not directly address political matters.  I have an idea or two floating about my head.  Of course I will post the prayer on my blog.