PARROQUIA SAN PATRICIO
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF THE FIVE PALLOTTINE CONFRERES
4TH JULY 2016
HOMILY
We are here, gathered together at the altar, to celebrate the sacrifice of Eucharistic love which Jesus left us, and with it to honour the memory of the five Pallottine confreres (Fr. Alfie Kelly, Fr. Peter Dufau, Fr. Alfredo Leaden and the students Salvador Barbeito and Emilio Barletti), who, forty years ago today, were the object of a ruthless and cruel assassination just a few metres from here and which took place on this carpet which today covers the altar, an event which continues to touch Argentinians and in particular the Church in Argentina. It would be difficult for us to find words to describe this event if it were not for the Word of God which comes to our aid. “All scripture is inspired by God – St. Paul teaches – and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work” (2 Tim 3,16).
Paul himself, who up to moment of his encounter with the Risen Christ boasted of his strict observance of the old law – and because of it did not doubt in persecuting innocent Christians with visceral hate, just as he approved the death of the deacon Stephen in the name of God and whom he believed he was pleasing with his zeal (cfr. Acts 7,58) – at this stage pacified and with years spent in missionary work, enlightens us by telling us that if he had anything to boast about it is “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6,14). Paul discovered in his process of conversion that in the cross, on the body of the crucified Master, the infinite multitude of sins and the hatred of the whole world came to nothing, and that surprisingly Christ transformed it into love. Paul boasts of his Christian freedom, and he has just confessed that it is the Cross alone with attracts him, because it is only the Cross which unites him to Jesus Christ. When the Apostle says that nobody is to trouble him from then on, because “the marks on my body are those of Jesus”, he is referring to the marks on his body caused by the chains in prison and the punishments he had to suffer because of preaching the Good News of God. These were his credentials denoting his belonging to the Risen Christ, of whom he had seen the stigmata of his passion. Likewise, the scars of Jesus for the cause of the Gospel were seen on the bodies of our religious confreres who were assassinated during the early morning of the 4th of July 1976. It was thus that they presented themselves before the Lord of Mercy. If “what matters is to become an altogether new creature”, Paul adds, the Christian faith which helps us to understand reality through the paschal mystery of Jesus, teaches us to read events in terms of Easter, and thus even the most humble (person) lives what happens to him in another manner in the knowledge that death is not the final word, but rather is the anteroom of life in Christ. The judgement of Paul is very clear: “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule” (Gal 6,16), and thus he invites us to live for Him who died and rose for all (cfr. 2 Cor 5,17).
With the Beatitudes of St. Matthew’s Gospel which we proclaim, Jesus begins to teach what the will of God is for those who wish to belong to the Kingdom. Thus begins the Magna Carta and its requirements for Christians who wish to follow him unconditionally. They are addressed to the multitude of his followers in order that in the face of trials on the journey they may feel themselves to be blessed and happy persons because they are observing faithfully the teachings of the prophets. They are felicitations to the poor and the small, to the just who crave justice, to the compassionate, the merciful, the pure of heart, the patient and those who suffer, those persecuted because of his Name. They are the ones who are called blessed by Jesus. In living like this they will be consoled by God, they will be the heirs of the Promised Land, they will receive the joy of being children of God and they will be able to share with Him in his Kingdom. This is the spirituality which guides the Christian life for all times until He comes again. This ideal of the following of Jesus is for all the baptised, however, consecrated persons make the beatitudes their style of living. So much so that the “particular duty of the consecrated life is to remind the baptized of the fundamental values of the Gospel, by bearing “splendid and striking testimony that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the Beatitudes”’ (VC 33).
The communities of consecrated life – such as that formed by the sons of St. Vincent Pallotti in this neighbourhood – are sent to announce with the witness of their own lives the value of Christian fraternity and the transforming strength of the Good News, which recognizes every person as a child of God and encourages self-giving love towards all, and especially towards those considered last. Such communities are places of hope and of the discovery of the Beatitudes; they are places where love, drawing strength from prayer, the wellspring of communion, is called to become a pattern of life and source of joy (VC 51). Why not think that they were thus committed to the fraternal life, those Pallottines who tried to live faithful to the charism which moved them. They passed their lives in fraternal coexistence, in pastoral service of so many of the faithful of this parish, in prayer, in the celebration of the sacraments, dispensing as good administrators the multiform grace of God, serving the poor and helping those who were weakest in the path of faith to walk; until, as we pray in the psalm: “An enemy who hounds me to crush me into the dust, forces me to dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago” (Psalm 143,3).
Those who believed themselves to be judges and so could dictate a sentence of death to our brothers did not know that ever since the first centuries of our Church “Christians do good yet they are punished as evil doers; being punished by death they rejoice as if they were thus given life. They, punished by death every day, increase the more in number. This is the position to which God has assigned them and which it would be unlawful for them to forsake” (Letter to Diognetus V, 16; VI. 10-11).
A fourth century Father of the Church taught that the blood shed by the martyrs became seeds of new Christians. The paradox of Christianity is surprising, that notwithstanding the weakness of its members, it is from this very weakness that it grows, is strengthened and increased by the courage of witnesses of the faith who announce the Gospel even in the midst of adversity and who suffer for Christ at the risk of their own lives.
We know that martyrdom is a gift: it cannot be sought. But their brothers of the Congregation, who knew well those who took their lives, wish to present to the Mother Church what can be called a baptism of blood. She will know – with her wisdom and the experience of centuries -, and tell us what the place of our brothers is in the Church of Heaven. Meanwhile we, pilgrims, gather their relics as grateful memory of the men who embraced consecrated life, who lived animated with an authentic evangelical style and who gave us examples of virtue and commitment. May the Lord Jesus, who knows what is in the heart of man (cfr. John 2,25), pour out on our friends the mercy of the Father who revealed his face among us.
***
Mario Aurelio Cardinal Poli

PARROQUIA SAN PATRICIO
40 ° ANIVERSARIO DE LA MUERTE DE LOS CINCO HERMANOS PALOTINOS
4 DE JULIO DE 2016
HOMILÍA
Nos encontramos junto al altar para celebrar el sacrificio de amor eucarístico que nos dejó Jesús y así honrar la memoria de los cinco hermanos palotinos (P. Alfie Kelly, P. Pedro Dufau, P. Alfredo Leaden y los estudiantes Salvador Barbeito y Emilio Barletti), quienes hace hoy cuarenta años, a pocos metros de aquí y sobre esta alfombra que hoy cubre el altar, fueron objeto de un despiadado y cruel magnicidio, que todavía nos conmueve a los argentinos y, en especial, a la Iglesia en la Argentina. Nos costaría encontrar palabras para referirnos a este acontecimiento, si no fuese por la Palabra de Dios que viene en nuestra ayuda. «Toda la Escritura está inspirada por Dios –enseña San Pablo–, y es útil para enseñar y para argüir, para corregir y para educar en la justicia, a fin de que el hombre de Dios sea perfecto y esté preparado para hacer siempre el bien» (2° Tim 3,16).
El mismo Pablo, que hasta el momento de su encuentro con el Resucitado se gloriaba de su estricta observancia a la ley antigua –y por eso no dudó en perseguir con odio visceral a inocentes cristianos, como cuando aprobó la muerte del diácono Esteban, en nombre de Dios, al que creía agradar con su celo (cf. Hch 7,58)–, ahora, pacificado y con años de trabajo misionero, nos ilumina diciéndonos que si en algo tenía que gloriarse, es en «la cruz de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, por quien el mundo está crucificado para mí, como yo lo estoy para el mundo» (Ga 6,14). Pablo descubrió en su proceso de conversión que en la cruz, sobre el cuerpo del Maestro crucificado, se estrellaron la infinita multitud de pecados y el odio de todo el mundo, y lo sorprendente es que Cristo lo transformó en amor. Pablo hace alarde de su libertad cristiana, y acaba de confesar que solo la Cruz lo atrae, porque solo ella lo une a Jesucristo. Cuando el Apóstol dice que nadie lo moleste en adelante, porque «yo llevo en mi cuerpo las cicatrices de Jesús», se refiere a las marcas que dejaron en su cuerpo las cadenas en la cárcel y los castigos que debió padecer por causa de la predicación de la Buena Noticia de Dios. Esas eran sus credenciales de pertenecer a Cristo Resucitado, a quien vio los estigmas de su pasión. También las cicatrices de Jesús por causa del Evangelio se vieron en los cuerpos de nuestros hermanos religiosos, los que fueron asesinados en la madrugada del 4 de julio de 1976. Así se presentaron ante el Señor de la misericordia. Si «lo que importa es ser una nueva creatura», agrega Pablo, la fe cristiana, que nos ayuda a entender la realidad a través de la pascua de Jesús, sabe leer los acontecimientos en clave pascual y así, hasta el más humilde vive de otro modo lo que acontece, sabiendo que la muerte no es la última palabra, sino antesala de la vida en Cristo. La sentencia de Pablo es muy clara: «Todos los que practican esta norma tengan paz y misericordia», y así nos invita a vivir para Aquel que murió y resucitó por todos (cf. 2° Cor 5,17).
Con las Bienaventuranzas de San Mateo que proclamamos, Jesús comienza a enseñar cuál es la voluntad de Dios para quienes desean pertenecer al Reino. Así empieza la carta magna y sus exigencias para cristianos que quieren seguirlo incondicionalmente. Se dirigen a la multitud de sus seguidores para que, ante las pruebas del camino, se sientan personas dichosas y felices por guardar fielmente las enseñanzas de los profetas. Son felicitaciones a los pobres y pequeños, a los justos que se desviven por la justicia, los compasivos, los misericordiosos, los puros de corazón, los pacientes y afligidos, los perseguidos a causa de su Nombre. Son los llamados bienaventurados por Jesús. Viviendo como tales llegarán a ser consolados por Dios, serán los herederos de la tierra prometida, recibirán la alegría de ser hijos de Dios y podrán compartir con Él en su Reino. Esta es la espiritualidad que guía la vida cristiana de todos los tiempos hasta que Él vuelva. Este ideal del seguimiento de Jesús es para todo bautizado, pero los consagrados hacen de las bienaventuranzas su estilo de vida. De tal forma que «la misión peculiar de la vida consagrada es mantener viva en los bautizados la conciencia de los valores fundamentales del Evangelio, dando «un testimonio magnífico y extraordinario de que sin el espíritu de las Bienaventuranzas no se puede transformar este mundo y ofrecerlo a Dios» (VC 33).
Las comunidades de vida consagrada –como la que formaban los hijos de san Vicente Palotti en este barrio–, son enviadas a anunciar con el testimonio de la propia vida el valor de la fraternidad cristiana y la fuerza transformadora de la Buena Nueva, que hace reconocer a todos como hijos de Dios e incita al amor oblativo hacia todos, y especialmente hacia los últimos. Estas comunidades son lugares de esperanza y de descubrimiento de las Bienaventuranzas, lugares en los que el amor nutrido de la oración y principio de comunión, está llamado a convertirse en lógica de vida y fuente de alegría (VC 51). Por qué no pensar que así se entregaban a la vida fraterna, aquellos palotinos que trataban de vivir fieles al carisma que los animaba. Transcurrían sus vidas en la convivencia fraterna, en el servicio pastoral a tantos fieles de esta parroquia, la oración, la celebración de los sacramentos, dispensando como buenos administradores la multiforme gracia de Dios, sirviendo a los pobres y ayudando a caminar a los más débiles en el camino de la fe; hasta que, como rezamos en el salmo: «El enemigo me persiguió a muerte, aplastó mi vida contra el suelo; me introdujo en las tinieblas, como a los muertos de hace muchos años» (Salmo 144, 3).
Los que se creyeron jueces para dictar sentencia de muerte a nuestros hermanos, no sabían que desde los primeros siglos de nuestra Iglesia, «los cristianos hacen bien y se los castiga como malhechores; castigados de muerte, se alegran como si les dieran la vida. Ellos, castigados de muerte cada día, se multiplican más y más. Tal el puesto que Dios les enseñó y no les es lícito desertar de él (Carta a Diogneto V, 16; VI. 10-11).
Un Padre de la Iglesia del siglo IV enseñó que la sangre derramada por los mártires se convertía en semillas de nuevos cristianos. Sorprendente la paradoja del cristianismo, que a partir de la debilidad de sus miembros, no obstante, crece, se fortalece y multiplica por la valentía de los testigos de la fe que anuncian el Evangelio aun en medio de la adversidad y padecen por Cristo a riesgo de sus propias vidas.
Sabemos que el martirio es un don: no se lo puede buscar. Pero sus hermanos de congregación, que conocían bien a quiénes les quitaron la vida, desean presentar a la Madre Iglesia lo que puede llamarse como un bautismo de sangre. Ella sabrá ¬–con su sabiduría y experiencia de siglos–, decirnos cuál es el lugar de nuestros hermanos en la Iglesia del Cielo. Mientras tanto nosotros, peregrinos, recogemos sus reliquias como memoria agradecida por los hombres que abrazando la vida consagrada, vivieron animados por un auténtico estilo evangélico y nos dieron ejemplos de virtud y entrega. El Señor Jesús, que conoce lo que hay en el corazón del hombre (cf. Jn 2, 25), derrame sobre nuestros amigos la misericordia del Padre que reveló su rostro entre nosotros.
***
Mario Aurelio Cardenal Poli

Life and ministry of Bishop Freeman

Bishop Séamus Freeman was born on 23 February 1944, the eldest of eight children, in the parish of Mullinahone, Co Tipperary, in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. His family later moved to Callan, Co Kilkenny, where he attended school.
He entered the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallotines) in Thurles, Co Tipperary, and made his first Pallotine consecration in 1965. He studied philosophy at University College Dublin, and theology at Saint Patrick’s College, Thurles. He was ordained a priest on 12 June 1971.
Subsequent to his ordination, Father Freeman was sent to the Catholic University of Washington to pursue studies in psychology but was called to Rome not long afterwards to act as personal secretary to the Rector General of his society. Two years later he returned to Washington to complete his studies and was awarded a degree in psychology.
In 1975 he was appointed Director of Formation and Rector of the Church of Saint Sylvester in Rome. During his rectorship, in May 1975, he was also elected a member of the Provincial Council of the Irish Province of the Society. In 1981 he returned to Ireland to take up the post of Rector and Director of Formation at the Pallotine College in Thurles, Co Tipperary.
While participating as delegate in the General Assembly of his Society in 1983, Father Freeman was elected to the General Council of the Pallottines in Rome for a term of six years. In 1989 he was appointed Vicar General of the Society. Barely three years later, in 1992, Father Martin Juritsch, the then Rector General of the Society fell gravely ill and Father Freeman was elected to succeed him at an Extraordinary General Assembly. He was re-elected for a second-six year term in 1998.
In 1994 Father Freeman took part as an ‘auditor’ in the 1994 Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the theme of the religious life. During his term as Rector General, on 28 October 2003, the Pallottine Family, known as “Union of the Catholic Apostolate”, was declared a ‘Public and International Association of the Faithful’ by the Pontifical Council for the Laity. At an international Assembly of the Union held in Rome in December 2005, Father Freeman was unanimously re-elected President of their General Co-ordination Council for a term of three years.

At the conclusion of his second term as Rector General of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, Father Freeman spent a year with the Irish Pallottine community at Saint Sylvester’s in Rome after which, on 7 October 2004, he was appointed Parish Priest of the Church of Saint Vincent Pallotti at Pietralata in Rome.
Bishop Freeman was appointed Bishop of Ossory by Pope Benedict XVI on 14 September 2007. He was ordained Bishop of Ossory on 2 December 2007 in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny.
Bishop Freeman’s episcopal ministry saw him serve as a Member of the Standing Committee of the Irish Episcopal Conference, Member of the Episcopal Commission for Worship, Chair of the Pastoral Renewal and Faith Development, Member of the Council for Religious, Joint Council for Religious of the IEC and CORI.

Bishop Freeman facilitated the realisation of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, as the People’s Plan for Ossory, and recently employed the first lay pastoral worker in Ossory to ensure its continued implementation. As Bishop of Ossory he worked tirelessly for the restoration of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, its Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Chapter House and surrounding campus.

HOMILY OF BISHOP BRENDAN KELLY

Samuel, Samuel’, the Lord called. And Samuel answered, ‘Here I am’!”
‘Brendan, Brendan’, the Lord called.
‘Let Brendan McCarrick who is to be ordained priest come forward’, we just heard.
And you answered ‘Present’ – Here I am!
Samuel heard the call. So did Brendan
But it took Samuel three attempts before he knew how to answer.
As you yourself know, Brendan, it’s one thing to hear the call, but how exactly to answer can take time (and a number of attempts!)
Discernment takes time and persistence…and the help of the wisdom of an Eli.
So now you know how you must answer.
And it hasn’t changed over the centuries and two testaments, for those called to priesthood:
Its fundamentally a matter of attitude, an attitude lived obediently:
The attitude in the response given by the old priest Eli:
‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’.
This first reading is the one you wanted yourself today, Brendan. It’s a wonderful, challenging and appropriate reading, for today and surely for the rest of your life.
‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’…surely the motto to guide any man who would wish to serve as a priest of God, and to bind himself forever as a servant of God and of God’s people, and specifically within the society of the Catholic Apostolate of St Vincent Pallotti.
In the Collect of this Ordination Mass, we prayed: ‘Lord our God, grant a persevering obedience to your will to this deacon, (Brendan,) so that by his ministry and life, he may gain glory for you in Christ’.
But no glory for yourself. That’s the call. Fundamentally to humility, which is acquired only in the furnace of humiliation, and in the obedience which you solemnly promise today, not just to God and his Word, but also, in a few moments, to your human superiors.
We live in a world that doesn’t always understand the value that is obedience, but we follow Jesus, whose path was one of ‘humbling himself and becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross’. That path was prefigured in the life of Samuel, whose call, like yours, Brendan was primarily one of listening to God and his word ‘Speak Lord…’
I would like to think therefore that it is providential for you that you come to ordination on this Sunday when the Church gives us all the Gospel we have just heard. This moment when, touched by the example he was witnessing, one of Jesus’ disciples asked him ‘Lord teach us to pray…’ The disciple of Jesus is a person who longs to pray, a person who sees that somewhere somehow prayer is the foundation of all that Jesus was, all he did, all he spoke. Prayer is the wellspring of all Christian life, this was the example Jesus showed, and those who wish to exercise the apostolate of Jesus Christ, particularly as priests, cannot do so unless their every day, their whole being and every word they utter is founded on prayer. The people of God expect this of us and deserve it, and prayer is the first service we render to them and for them. It’s why you will live in community as a Pallotine, so that you will be encouraged and called into prayer, the only foundation on which Christian communion can be built, by your brothers.
The word priest means ‘mediator’…one who speaks on behalf of others, who in our case as ministerial priests speak to God for our people, our world, ourselves. So that all may be one as Jesus pleaded before his death. Our example is crucial, as was Jesus’ example for his disciples, so that they in their turn might embrace that common priestly baptismal call to be men and women of prayer.
But prayer is also, and primarily what Eli the old priest knew, about listening to God, time with the one who loves us first, pondering his word with Mary. ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’
So, Brendan, from now on your life will not be your own. It will be given… as indeed others give themselves in marriage, for example. And in so far as it is fully given, your example will be the most powerful and effective way that you will inspire, support and serve others…as with Jesus in today’s Gospel.
In this context of the given life, I’d like to recall the Testament of Christian de Chergé, the extraordinary abbot of the Monastery of Tibherine in Algeria who was kidnapped and assassinated along with six of his Cistercian brothers in March 1996. The Testament, written in a letter to be opened after his death, begins as follows:
‘If it should happen one day—and it could be today—that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to encompass all the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this country.’ [Christian de Chergé]
As priests, all our lives are given. To God and to the people we are sent to serve. It is a way of great personal fulfilment…not without struggle and pain…and it is a call from Jesus, worthwhile and entirely necessary in the world of today.
We are told that from the moment he gave the answer ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’, Samuel ‘let no word of the Lord’s fall to the ground’.
May that be so for you, Brendan, and you will be a happy priest, given to God and to his people, as Samuel was, – and Jesus – and Vincent Pallotti.

http://achonrydiocese.org/brendan-mccarrick-s-c/

FR. BRENDAN INTERVIEW ON OCEAN FM RADIO

PHOTOS OF FR. BRENDAN’S ORDINATION

PHOTOS OF FR. BRENDAN’S FIRST MASS OF THANKSGIVING

Ordination to the Priesthood, Jamie Twohig, SAC.
Church of St. Joseph, Little Island, Cork, July 16th 2016.

Good afternoon to you all. To repeat the words of Peter, James and John, disciples of Our Lord Jesus, on Mount Tabor, “it is good for us to be here”, it is truly good to participate in the ordination of Jaimie Twohig to the Priesthood. Thank you Bishop John Buckley for agreeing to ordain Jaimie in his home parish in Little Island, it means a great deal to him to be ordained here among his own; thanks to Fr. Ted Sheehan and Fr. John Heinhold, the priests of the parish for organizing the ordination, and to Fr. Tom Deenihan, the Master of Ceremonies.

Priesthood as established in the early Church came from the close relationship Jesus formed with the 12 Apostles during the course of his ministry. Following on from the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost, the 12 apostles assumed a role and a mission among those who believed in Jesus; they became responsible for keeping his memory alive, they taught what he had taught them, they animated gatherings of believers and they preached and thus ensured that the Message of Jesus Christ spread. There were others who shared these functions, the larger group of disciples Jesus gathered around himself.

The origin of priesthood in the New Testament era came from the priesthood of Jesus Christ, he distanced himself from priesthood as lived in Old Testament times, and while he did not use the word ‘priest’ in referring to himself nor did he call the apostles ‘priests’, he clearly communicated the reality of what it entailed: an awareness of self as being sent by the Father; one who was holy and had an awareness of being holy in regular communication with God the Father; one who consecrated himself to God with a level of self-consecration that increased throughout his life. Jesus in his ministry was essentially Shepherd, in caring for people; he sacrificed himself for others; he committed himself to service which is nothing other than love for humankind. Jesus, the one priest, exercised his priesthood through the Word; through giving himself in the Institution of the Eucharist for all time, and through a life of service in love. These elements all remain part of what a priest is today and what he is expected to be and to do in the Church of Jesus Christ. On presenting for ordination today Jaimie is in effect stating that this is his understanding of priesthood and is committing himself to growing throughout his life in this calling and life choice.

Jaimie chose the readings for the Mass today, and they communicate something of his person and his vision for his life. The first reading from the book of Zechariah presents us with the promise of God to “Come and dwell in the midst of you”; an affirmation that this world, this universe is ‘shot-through’ with the presence of God. Zechariah is convinced that not alone does God live among his people but that he also acts among them. This is, I believe, your vision of the world and of humanity Jaimie, the dwelling place of God where he is present, alive and active.

The second reading is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians and is a further development of what is contained in the first reading, it is St. Paul’s conviction that the very nature of God is somehow shared with the person, that God not alone dwells among his people but that he dwells within each one and each one has the Spirit of his Son, i.e. of Jesus Christ, in his or her heart, enabling us to perceive and sense God in us. The priest himself grows into fuller awareness of this and if he is in tune with the spirit of Jesus in him then he will surely hear what Jesus himself knows the ministry of the priest to be.

The Gospel reading is the beautiful reading from St. John, Jesus on the Cross entrusting his beloved Mother to John, and in turn, John to his Mother Mary. From this entrustment we see that Mary is the Mother of the Church. In reading the passage, my attention was drawn to the line “the disciple made a place for her in his home”; it was a choice John made, he could have refused, he could have ignored the instruction/request, but he chose to accept and honour it. It was an option, to make a place for Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, in his home, in his life. It remains an option for us, since Mary is not God and so does not dwell within us, but we can opt to make a place, a space, and a role for her in our lives. Jaimie is following in a strong Pallottine tradition, which started with St. Vincent Pallotti himself, of inviting Mary to be a central part of his life and ministry. Remember, Jaimie, that for Vincent, Mary was a ‘teacher of the spiritual life’, she shared with him her intimate knowledge and understanding of Jesus; she cooperated with God in the work of salvation and did so to a heroic degree; and so she was recognized as, and acclaimed as, Queen of Apostles. You have made a place for Mary in your life, may she protect you and through her example of apostolic spirit be your model.

Vincent Pallotti was ordained a priest on 16 May 1818, he wrote a letter to his good friend, Gaspar del Bufalo, a few days later, and we are fortunate to have it; in this letter he expressed his belief that ordination was a gesture of God’s infinite mercy, raising him to a dignity he neither deserved nor was prepared for. He asked del Bufalo to “recite the Magnificat in thanksgiving for the benefit received”. Vincent’s response to ordination was to give thanks to God, something which never stopped throughout the remainder of his life; and in reciting and having others recite the Magnificat, he was identifying himself with Mary, the humble servant of God who responded with humility and joy to what God asked of her in bringing Jesus into the world. Jaimie, we join with you in thanksgiving for the gift received today, and we will pray the Magnificat knowing that it is a hymn of praise and acknowledgement.

Down through the years I have been an admirer of Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, and in particular I have followed his homilies at the Chrism Masses in Buenos Aires. In them he speaks directly to priests, he appeals to their minds, hearts and souls, to live fully their vocation. I will share some of the points from these homilies which stand out for me, and of course Jaimie, they are for you!

1. Jesus Christ is the one Priest, the Great Priest, and each priest after him is but a “poor priest” in him; the priesthood is that of Jesus, each one shares in it.
2. Anointing: Jaimie will be anointed with the oil of chrism during this ceremony. Oil symbolizes strength, goodness, healing and growth. Anointing signifies consecration and dedication and, as Cardinal Bergoglio, Pope Francis returned to this concept year after year. The priest is anointed with God’s goodness, in order that the Spirit of God working in him prepares him to anoint others. In other words priests become anointers, we are anointed, not to set us apart, not to make us feel chosen or different, but we are anointed in order to anoint in ministry, so that all persons whom we anoint may experience the goodness and tenderness of God.
3. Anointing in the ordination ceremony seals the man with an identity, that of a priest of Jesus Christ, and in the ceremony the one anointed receives from the Word a mission, that of preaching and teaching the Word, unlocking the treasures of the Word, for others.
4. Grace, understood as the very life of God, passes through the words of the anointed priest, passes through the hands of the priest. A sobering realization and awareness that keeps us always alert and aware that we are but earthenware jars, in which, and through which, God can and does communicate life (grace).
5. “Keep your eyes focused on Jesus Christ” was his appeal in 2006. Jesus Christ was a Faithful Witness to what he had received; so too the priest should remain focused on Jesus Christ in order to be in turn a faithful witness.
6. “Allow the wise eyes of the People of God to engage your eyes” was his request in 2007. In meeting the eyes of the people of God there is communication and a response is sought. Eyes that are asking for something, seeking something; eyes that express gratitude; eyes that communicate suffering and help us to work and make ourselves available; eyes that look patiently and that implore us to be agents of union, communion, peace; eyes that shine with holiness and invite us to be men of prayer and worshipers of the Blessed Sacrament.

These are but a few of the points he makes, but what is central is his conviction that the priest is anointed and therefore anointing is to be his trademark, and Pope Francis is not merely referring to physical anointing as in a blessing with oil by hand, but is referring to all the priest does so that the other may experience interiorly a presence and blessing of divine goodness.
Jaimie, your life as a priest starts today and I think I should let Cardinal Bergoglio express what is expected of you, by the people of God and he does it in very plain words:

“Our people need priests who are anointers, priests who know how to move out from their self-complacency and efficiency and give themselves with simple gestures of goodness.
Outgoing priests, who know how to approach the other, welcome him cordially, give time so that people feel that God has time for them, wants to attend to them, to bless them, to forgive them and to heal them.

Priests who anoint without messianic expressions nor with mere functionality.
Outgoing priests who are close to the Tabernacle and who return to the Tabernacle to replenish their lamps with oil before going out again.”

Jaimie, welcome to life and ministry as a Pallottine priest; our community will support and accompany you as you occupy your place in it; our common life will be a shared joy; our vision of the Church and the active participation in the apostolate of all the faithful comes from our founder St. Vincent Pallotti and forms our heritage. And, may the daily celebration of the Eucharist be an unending source of awe, reverence, nourishment and faith.

Derry Murphy, SAC.

Click on the image below to read Sr. Mary’s story on the Misean Cara Website

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR JULY 4TH

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KILLING OF FIVE PALLOTTINES JULY 4TH 1976

Dear brother:

I received your petition to unite myself with a few brief words for the Mass that will be celebrated in memory of the Servants of God Alfredo Leaden, Pedro Duffau, Alfredo Kelly, Salvador Barbeito Doval and Emilio Barletti, on the 40th anniversary of their death. I knew Fr. Alfie Kelly personally, a priest who thought only of God and, as you know, I followed his tragedy with a sense of faith, as this is the key to his life, and also to his death.

Remembering these witnesses can be a stimulus for all of us. They present us with a surrendered life, without thought for themselves, that as the servant of the Gospel seeks to be where the Lord is, among the last.

May the Lord Jesus, who called them to this vocation, bless them and the Holy Virgin care for them.
Vatican, 4th July 2016.
Francis

Rev. Alfred Leaden 1919-1976, Rev. Alfred Kelly 1933-1976, Rev. Peter Dufau 1908-1976 

Salvador Barbeito (professed student) 1949-1976, Jose Emilio Barletti (student) 1952-1976

Website: www.palotinos4dejulio.com.ar/

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS

HOMILY OF CARDINAL POLI (English & Spanish)

REFLECTION OF PROVINCIAL FR. DERRY MURPHY

PRESS CONFERENCE JUNE 30, 2016 (Spanish)
PRESS CONFERENCE ON YOUTUBEVatican Radio did a telephone interview with Juan Sebastian Velasco on Friday 30th and the report will be broadcast on Monday July 4 at 18.30, Rome time. It is in Spanish.

PHOTOS