Parish News

Dear Padre addresses many interesting and topical questions people have about Faith and the Church and how it should impact our life.

July 2, 2023

How do we serve everyone in a culturally diverse parish?

In the past it was common to have parishes dedicated to different ethnic groups where such populations were concentrated. In 2010, the US bishops found that 33 percent of all US parishes were culturally diverse, and that’s perhaps using a narrow understanding of diversity. Then in 2014, they published Best Practices for Shared Parishes: So That They May All Be One, in which they outline a nine-movement process for creating an inclusive parish. The term “shared parishes” describes parish communities in which two or more languages or cultural contexts are present in the ministerial life of a parish. The fact that there are nine movements is notable. It means that we slowly move toward inclusiveness; we don’t simply present a Mass in Spanish and think the job is done.

This brings to mind a parishioner in a parish I served in the Mississippi Delta. This was indeed a “shared parish,” with a large African-American population, a significant Spanish-speaking population, and an elderly population of white Americans who expected a more “traditional” Mass with familiar hymns. Rosemary was an Italian-American whose family had lived in the area since the beginning of the nineteenth century. She served as the parish’s director of education. Rosemary made it her practice to attend every Mass to welcome people and make them feel at home. She was the perfect example of the first movement toward serving everyone in a shared parish: hospitality.

—Fr. Patrick Keyes, CSsR / DearPadre.org

June 25, 2023

A friend of mine wants to be cremated. Does the Church permit it?

The Church permits cremation when extraordinary circumstances warrant it. There was never a direct canonical ban on cremation until 1886, simply because it was not widely practiced by the Christian Church; its members preferred inhumation — the traditional form of burial—in hopeful imitation of Christ, whose body was resurrected from the dead. The Church reacted to a proliferation of nineteenth-century cremation societies, primarily in Europe, with a decree that forbade Catholics from membership in these societies or from cremation (with obvious exceptions made in times of public crisis, plagues, wars, etc.). The Church restated the ban as late as 1926 out of concern that these groups were anti-religious in promoting cremation as an argument against belief in the resurrection.

The Vatican has allowed cremation as an acceptable alternative to burial since 1963, except in cases where irreligious motives are apparent (Canon 1176, No. 3). Nevertheless, “although cremation is now permitted by the Church, it does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body. The Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites, since the presence of the human body better expresses the values which the Church affirms in those rites” (No. 413, Order of Christian Funerals, “Appendix 2, Cremation,” 1997). Moreover, while the Church permits cremation, the scattering of ashes is forbidden. They are to be reserved with reverence in a sacred place.

—Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR / DearPadre.org

June 18, 2023

Is there a right to health care? As a Catholic, what kind of obligation do I have to use my resources to help with the purchase of medicine for my brother? His insurance won’t cover the costs, and he’s on a fixed income.

Saint John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem In Terris (Peace on Earth) said people have a right to live and a right to the “means necessary for the proper development of life” (11). This text serves as a foundation for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ speaking of a right to “basic” or “adequate health care” in their Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholics. What is not clear in Church teaching is who has the duty to ensure that right. In some cases, the state has taken this responsibility, but this need not be the case. The condition of millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, however, urges us to action on their behalf.

Regarding the case of one’s brother, the question is difficult because of the need for more information. What is the brother’s prognosis? Is he taking care of himself responsibly? What do you feel capable of doing morally without placing yourself and others in your care at risk?

Whatever one’s ability to respond in this case, one’s relationship with one’s brother should be marked by compassion and a sincere desire and will to help in whatever way is morally reasonable.

—Excerpted from Life, Death, and Catholic Medical Choices: 50 Questions from the Pews, © 2011 Liguori Publications/
DearPadre.org

June 11, 2023

I’m eighty-one. When I received first Communion, the nuns told me not to chew the holy Eucharist, but to let it melt in my mouth. Is it wrong to chew it?

It is permitted to chew the host or to let it dissolve in your mouth. The hosts today must be unleavened and made only of flour and water, making it easier for some communicants to dissolve it in their mouths. Unleavened bread doesn’t mold or spoil and is more suitable than leavened bread for exposition and adoration. However, for nearly 800 years, the Church used leavened wheat bread for the Eucharist before unleavened wheat bread was introduced into the Roman rite. Communicants would have had to chew the Eucharist before the modern waferlike host evolved.

Your first Communion instruction on the proper way to consume the Eucharist was an effort to instill in you a deep reverence for the Real Presence of Christ. This profound respect for our Lord in the form of consecrated bread and wine is still desired by the Church. For example, at Mass the priest “reverently consumes the Body of Christ” and “reverently partakes of the Blood of Christ” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 158). Similarly, “when receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister” (GIRM 160). Today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a special day for us to remember Jesus’ gift of his own body that we might be nourished and strengthened for this life’s journey.

—Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR/
DearPadre.org

June 4, 2023

Two relatives of mine died from a disease for which they never sought treatment. Both said, “God will heal me if that is his will.” Wouldn’t God have wanted them to see a doctor?

It is safe to say that God would have them see a doctor. Does doing so compromise our faith in God? No. Throughout all of salvation history, God has relied on human beings to be his instruments, his messengers. While we believe in God, who can and has acted miraculously throughout history, these moments are exceptions, not the rule. Ordinarily, God’s work is done by human hands. The spread of the gospel itself has come about through people who have responded to God in faith.

Part of this gospel story is the healing ministry of Jesus. Christianity has from the beginning taken up Jesus’ ministry of healing and attempted to restore health to the sick, not only through prayer and the sacraments but also through institutions that care for the sick and the dying. Even as we recognize that our primary relationship is with God, we must also see that caring for our lives and our health, gifts from that same God, is a responsible way to receive and be good stewards of these gifts.

Think of the training, knowledge, and experience that doctors, nurses, and all other health-care practitioners have spent years attaining. Is not their work a miracle of God’s love when it brings healing, restoration, and renewal?

—Excerpted from Life, Death, and Catholic Medical Choices: 50 Questions from the Pews;
© 2011 Liguori Publications/DearPadre.org

May 28, 2023

I am a practicing Catholic and I don’t remember being confirmed. Is it too late for me to be confirmed?

The sacrament of confirmation usually happens when a person is older, and therefore you would likely remember the occasion. It could be that you were not confirmed. You can check with the parish you lived in during your school years to be sure. They keep records of confirmations done in the parish.

Confirmation is the final sacrament of initiation. Baptism ushers us into our life with God by giving us new life. Confirmation seals us with the spirit so we can follow Jesus and live out our particular vocation. And the Eucharist gives us strength for the journey and keeps us in union with God.

If you discover you have not been confirmed or if you can’t find out for certain, talk with your pastor. You would not be the first adult seeking confirmation. Your pastor can tell you how your diocese handles confirmation for adults. There might be a program of adult instruction for confirmation to ensure you understand the sacrament and the teachings of the Church.

Today is Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of the apostles. The Spirit gave them strength for what they had to do. The Spirit can do the same for you.

—The Redemptorists
DearPadre.org

May 21, 2023

Why should I be confirmed?

In baptism, God calls you to be a priest, prophet and king. In confirmation, you receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit to live out those vocations. A priest offers prayer and sacrifice. In confirmation, you are moved to make your everyday life a sacrifice that you join to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Romans 12:1). Prophet is from prophētēs, a Greek word meaning “spokesperson.” In confirmation, you are compelled to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:16), just as the apostles were when they received the Holy Spirit on the original day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2–4). When you were baptized, you were made a member of the royal family of God (1 Peter 2:9). Just as Jesus showed what it means to be a Servant King, so are we called to serve others in love. In confirmation, we are inspired by the love that God pours into us in his Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

In his first public preaching, Jesus quoted from Isaiah the prophet: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me” (Luke 4:18). That was the beginning of his public ministry. When the bishop anoints you with chrism, you can say the same. Your confirmation is the beginning of your own public ministry.

— Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, CSsR
DearPadre.org

May 14, 2023

If the Catholic Church recognizes baptisms from other Christian denominations, why not confirmations?

Baptism signs us with an indelible mark. It defines our character and can never be repeated. A baptism is always held to be valid if a person is baptized with water using the Trinitarian formula (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1256). If a priest is unsure of the validity of a person’s baptism, he would baptize the person conditionally, recognizing the earlier baptism if it happened and was valid. The minister of baptism is usually an ordained minister, but in necessity anyone can baptize, including a non-Christian, if the person intends what the Church intends. Confirmation also leaves an indelible mark, as does holy orders, and they also cannot be repeated. What makes confirmation different from baptism is that the minister of confirmation is ordinarily the bishop because this expresses the apostolic unity of the Church (CCC 1312). If someone had been confirmed in a Church that has apostolic succession, their confirmation would be considered valid, and the person wouldn’t be reconfirmed.

Most Christian churches have a common understanding of what the sacrament of baptism is, but while other churches might have communion, confirmation, and ordination, their celebration of those sacraments may not include all the requirements necessary for the Catholic Church to consider them valid.

— Fr. Patrick Keyes, CSsR
DearPadre.org

May 7, 2023

I know a Catholic couple who wanted to celebrate their sacrament of matrimony at a Mass in a forest, but the bishop didn’t allow it. Why not marry in God’s creation?

A marriage between Catholics or between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic is usually celebrated in a parish church. It can be celebrated in another church or oratory with the bishop or pastor’s permission. A marriage between a Catholic and an unbaptized person can be celebrated in a church or another suitable place, although a Catholic church remains the preferred place for the celebration. Why is the parish church the preferred site for the celebration? For Catholics, matrimony is a sacrament—one of the seven sacred signs through which God communicates love to us. When Catholics ask God to bind their union as a sacrament, the couple’s love for each other is a sign of God’s love for both, and their union is also a continuous sign of Christ’s love for the Church. Thus, the church as a “house of God,” which contains the presence of Christ, is revered as the most sacred place to make this most sacred commitment. Marriage, according to Pope Francis in a 2015 General Audience, “is not merely a ceremony in a church, with flowers, a dress, photographs….Christian marriage is a sacrament that takes place in the Church, and which also makes the Church, by giving rise to a new family community….[Saint] Paul says that the love between spouses is an image of the love between Christ and his Church. An unimaginable dignity!”

— Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR
DearPadre.org

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