Home - A Day in the Life

1/12/2012

December 2011 - Merry Christmas!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! It’s certainly been a busy time here these last several weeks, really since the beginning of Thanksgiving. I hope that all of our readers are doing well. The days of Advent went quickly by and before we all knew it, Christmastime was here. The college has been a busy place these days, getting ready for the holidays, but also for several other reasons.

For us from the diocese of Greensburg, December was an exciting month because Bishop Brandt came to visit Rome for his Ad Limina Apostolorum visit to the Holy Father and the tombs of the apostles, along with all the other bishops of Region III (Pennsylvania & New Jersey). There were a whole host of special events and Masses, and it was a great joy to be able to spend time with the bishop. I won’t spill all the details, though as Matthew will be making a post about the Ad Limina visit soon.

On December 8, the college celebrated it's patronal feast of the Immaculate Conception. In fact, our very own Bishop Brandt was asked by our rector to give the toast to our Holy Father Pope Benedict.

The Bishop’s toast received a standing ovation and everyone stood and raised their glasses to many more years for Pope Benedict, before we sang one of the college’s traditional Latin chants in honor of the Holy Father, Ad Multos Annos (“To many more years”). You can read about this year's banquest on NAC's website here. You can also read about my blog post from the event during our 150th anniversary, 2 years ago, here.

I also had the opportunity to go to a special Mass on December 12 which Pope Benedict celebrated for the occasion (officially) for the 200th annivesary of independence in Latin America, but practically the Mass was really celebrated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was during that Mass that the Holy Father announced his upcoming visit to Mexico and Cuba. The Mass was unique for several reasons, including the music (which was not all Gregorian chant, as is the norm in the Latin Church, but rather Traditional Latin American music) as well as for the fact that the Mass was entirely in Spanish (with a little bit in Portughese and the prayers in Latin). Interestingly and unusually there was not a word in Italian, English, French or German!

The whole event testifies to the significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the Church in the Americas. It's an incredible story if you're not familiar with it, and I'd encourage you to read up! Here's a quick information sheet, and an online encyclopedia entry!

I have a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I'd love to share it with you, because her message is so powerful and so beautiful. It led to the conversion from paganism of 10 million Native Americans in 10 years (that's equivalent to the 3,000 at Pentecost everyday for 10 years!) I'll leave you some of our Mother's consoling words to St. Juan Diego:

"Hear and let it penetrate your heart: let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you; let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Also do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?"

After the Ad Limina visit finished there was precious little time before classes ended and Christmas break began. This year, both Matthew and I had the wonderful gift and opportunity to go on pilgrimage with a group from the North American College and spend two weeks visiting, walking and praying where Our Lord himself walked and prayed – the Holy Land.

We were blessed with the opportunity to see where Jesus took on flesh, where he taught, healed, cast out demons, was baptized, see the city he wept over, and the places where he suffered, died, was buried, and rose from the dead, the places where our very salvation was wrought! It was an incredibly rich experience which I’m sure we will still be unpacking for months and years to come, and which will also be useful in future homilies. I hope to do a blog post or two on some of the holy places for you all, but that will have to wait until after our exams, which will be starting very soon!

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with two Christmas blog posts which I wrote for our diocesan Catholic Scouting Blog - one for Christmas, and one for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (which falls on New Year’s Day).

Last, we look forward this weekend to Tony Klimko’s installation as a lector in the Church. Be sure to pray for him and his 65 classmates who will be installed on Sunday by Archbishop Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Services.

Posted at 4:33 PM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Everyday Life | Permalink | Email this Post

12/1/2011

Thanksgiving 2011 at the NAC

This year’s Thanksgiving celebrations had all of the traditional NAC festivities, but also had a markedly unique tone, due to the death of one of our faculty members.

Each year, Americans living in Rome gather at the North American College to celebrate the uniquely American holiday, and give thanks to God for his many blessings (it is truly right and just!)

The day begins early at NAC, where many students participate in NAC’s version of the Turkey Trot – a 5K run around the Vatican! It’s the only 5K that I know of where you can run around a whole country! To fill those empty bellies after the big race, the men who live together on the same hallways all share an ‘American-style’ breakfast together.

Following a splendid liturgical celebration, which was led by his eminence Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, everyone headed to the refectory for the Thanksgiving feast.

Gathered with guests and friends, we all sat, as per tradition, with our home state, and decorated tables.

In an exciting turn of events, after the dinner, our very own Matthew Morelli was elected ‘Quaker Father’ of the Pennsylvania. (i.e. He is in charge of organizing state-events at NAC, such as the Thanksgiving table and the ‘Pennsylvania Day’ (Feb 2, groundhog day) celebrations. Congratulations, Matthew!

The meal is made up of some of the traditional Thanksgiving fixins’, but with the added twist of ravoli with a pumpkin sauce. And, like last year, His Excellency Miguel Diaz, the US Ambassador to the Holy See, was present with his family and read the presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation.

This year’s celebrations were enriched by the presence of the bishops of New York, who were in Rome on their Ad Limina visits (the five-yearly visit that each bishop in the world makes to the Holy Father). It was a happy return to the college of former rector, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who preached the Thanksgiving homily. He, along with about 25 other bishops (including auxiliary bishops and bishops emeriti from New York City and State represented 7 dioceses – Rochester, Syracuse, New York, Brooklyn, Rockville-Center, Ogdensburg and Buffalo.

More pictures from NAC’s Thanksgiving celebration can be found here.

‘New Man Weekend’ festivities

The festivities continued on Saturday evening with the traditional New Man-Old Man Show, a chance to laugh together as seminarians put on skits, dramas and videos to entertain the other members of the seminary community. This year, the shows were dedicated to the memory of Monsignor William Lyons, a spiritual director who had passed away earlier that week; the show kept the students laughing despite the long week.

Sunday’s big event, the Spaghetti bowl pitted the new arrivals at the college against the veteran seminarians. The new men came out swinging in the Spaghetti bowl, but couldn’t overcome the ‘Old Men’.

A great loss for the college community

This year’s celebrations also took on a more solemn tone as the college mourned one of her beloved spiritual directors. Monsignor William Lyons, a priest of St. Louis for 55 years passed away on Monday before Thanksgiving at 81. His funeral was celebrated on Friday.

Monsignor was a great friend and trusted counselor to the seminarians. As some of us were reflecting on his life and our experiences of him, we all agreed that he would be missed and remembered for his wise and holy advice and especially for his gift as a truly great confessor. Before giving the absolution he would always encourage the penitents to “fan into a flame the Love you have for God”. It was always a profound and beautiful experience of the Lord’s mercy.

Monsignor Lyons will be sorely missed by the college community. He was buried in the college mausoleum at Campo Verano. Truly, he had a beautiful death, passing away shortly after having witnessed the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving our Lord in his Most Precious Blood. Indeed, Rome is a great place to die – the place where so many saints have died throughout the history of the Church. From the princes of the apostles themselves – Saints Peter and Paul – to all of those countless early Roman Martyrs – to almost all of the popes – to great mystics such as St. Bridget of Sweden – and the great founders and reformers such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and Phillip Neri – they all have all lived and died here in the eternal city!

One of the most powerful moments for me, after the funeral was when the seminarians spontaneously ‘clapped out’ Monsignor Lyons as his body was driven away from the NAC. It is a tradition that when a student or faculty member leaves the College to return home after their studies, they are ‘clapped out’ by the whole community who bid them farewell on the steps of the chapel while the bells toll.

You can read Monsignor Lyons’ obituary here, and photos of his funeral can be found here. Please in your charity, remember him and all of the faithful departed in your prayers.

Many of the photos on this blog post are courtesy of PNAC Photo Service.

Posted at 2:21 PM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Everyday Life | Permalink | Email this Post

11/22/2011

The New Translation of the Roman Missal

As I’m sure everyone has heard about now, this weekend, with the start of the joyful season of Advent, we Catholics will at long last be implementing a new translation of the Roman Missal. For weeks, now we’ve all been using the new musical settings, and now this weekend we’ll begin using the new texts, full of a richer, more accurate, more dignified, and more poetic translation of the Latin prayers.

Over the last several months, you’ve probably discovered the many bulleting inserts which have been published weekly for the last several months. I found them very edifying and helpful – not only to help us come to a deeper appreciation of this new translation, but also of the theology of the Mass in general.

This whole implementation of the new translation, though it will be a bit rocky for a while, is really an opportunity to appreciate more profoundly the faith we share, and the liturgy which we pray, as one Church, throughout the entire world.

As a seminarian studying at the North American College here in Rome, we’ve had a specially opportunity and exposure to the New Translation of the Roman Missal. I say that because for the last several years, the committee that put the missal together (Vox Clara) has been meeting, in fact, within the walls of our seminary! It is truly an exciting time to be a seminarian in Rome!

If you still missed all of those bulletin inserts explaining the ‘why’ of the new translation, I’d like to share with you some thoughts from a presentation on the new translation of the Roman Missal by a Vatican official which I attended a while back.

Interestingly, the speaker first pointed out, that Catholics are the only major religion to make authentic/ legitimate/ give authority to translations (with the exception of some Protestant groups). This is really revolutionary, when you think about it. Muslims pray only in Arabic. Many Eastern Orthodox Christians pray in their traditional Slavonic languages. Devout Jews all learn to read Hebrew. How many of us have learned Hebrew, Greek, or even Latin, which was the language of the official inerrant biblical texts for more than a thousand years? On the contrary, what the Church has done, (and takes a big risk in doing so, because lots of important concepts could potentially be lost in translation), is given an official, authentic, and juridical weight to a text – in fact, to many texts – which are not in the original language, and which are not a universal language (like Latin). It’s quite extraordinary.

His next point was a bit of history. The prayers of the liturgy date back for centuries. They are beautiful, poetic, and full of rich imagery from the Scriptures and from the writings of the saints; in other words, there is rich context to these prayers. After Vatican II, the new Mass was composed drawing from the wealth of Tradition. Also after Vatican II, when the Mass was permitted to be prayed in the vernacular languages (though Latin was still encouraged), many of the translations we’ve been using for the last 40 years were done (understandably) quickly.

They were also translated using a principle of translation, called dynamic equivalence which didn’t necessarily include references to the context or literal meaning of the text, but rather sought to translate concepts rather than words. He explained it like this: you might know two languages, we’ll say Latin and English. If you have a working knowledge of those languages, you would be able to take a text, and render a translation. Your translation may suffice, it may get the idea across, but chances are that something might not be conveyed exactly. But the thing to understand with all of these prayers in the liturgy – is that we are dealing with formulae which have origins which have been handed down through the centuries. There are all kinds of references not only to Scripture, but also to the writings of the Fathers of the Church and the great saints, including prayers they have written, poetry, etc.

In order for this richness of references be passed onto a new translation, the translator must be familiar with the wider context (i.e. with all of those other texts), and translate them literally so that the references are maintained. Otheriwse, if he translates only the meaning, the reader will miss the ‘cue’ to the other text. What sometimes happened in the rush after the Council was that the translation was done by people who were not especially familiar with the context, and were operating on a different principle of translation, and so much of the richness of the tradition was literally, 'lost in translation'.

The new prayers that we’ll be praying, faithful to the prayers in Latin, will help us to do several things:

- We will more faithful to the prayers and the traditions that surround these prayers, which have been prayed for centuries.

- We will be more faithful to the texts of the prayers themselves

- We will be even more united in prayer with all of our brothers and sisters praying the same Mass, the same prayers throughout the world, as the words will be a more precise rendering.

- The faithful will be exposed to a richer theology, which will hopefully allow us to enter more contemplatively into the mysteries which we celebrate.

- We will restore some of the beautiful prayers to the liturgy which had been lost or rendered differently.

- Another is advantage, which is especially important for the English translation, is the translation to other languages. Some languages which are not widely spoken - tribal languages in Africa or Asia, for example, are translated from the English instead of the Latin, because there is no scholar who is familiar enough with both that local language and the fuller historical/ hagiographical context of the Latin prayers. Thus, English has become a base for many other translations and so it is very important that the English translation be as faithful to the Latin as possible.

- Perhaps most of all, the new prayers, with their elevated, precise, and beautiful language will help each of us to enter more deeply into the mysteries that we celebrate each time we pray them.

The new translation of the Roman Missal which we begin this weekend is truly an opportunity for us to come to reflect on the realities that we celebrate each time we gather for worship, and come to a deeper appreciation of them.

Much has been written to prepare Catholics for the new translation. I’ll leave you a few links if you’re still looking for more:

The United States Catholic Bishops have put together a very useful website for the new Roman Missal which contains examples, samples, explanations and resources for implementing the change. You can find that information here.

I have found that Fr. Robert Barron has a helpful commentary on the new translation on his apostolate website, www.wordonfire.org.

Last, something that I received an email is a link to a program used by the diocese of Lansing in Michigan to help educate young people (and perhaps some older folks as well) about the new translation.

A blessed Advent to everyone!

Posted at 11:02 AM by Ulishney, Daniel | Permalink | Email this Post

11/9/2011

Back at Home with 'Mother Greg'

It is hard to believe that it has been nearly a month since we started classes. I think it is safe to say that for all of us, we have settled back into life at the Gregorian University. After Morning Prayer and Mass with the community and a short breakfast, we walk the half-hour path to the university. For many of us, it is a nice opportunity to chat with classmates or to pray a morning Rosary as we pass by all of the locals who are preparing their restaurants and stores for the upcoming day.

It is here that we encounter the true multicultural experience of studying here in Rome - the students come from all of the other national colleges in the city (French, English, Irish, Scots, Polish, and German to name some), as well as from various religious orders, and also from the Urbanianum, the college for students from mission territories run by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The professors come from equally diverse backgrounds.

Each year of coursework takes a different focus -- The first year focuses heavily on the basic principles of theology, as well as basic Scriptural study, Christology, and Trinitarian theology. The second year focuses primarily on the study of the Church in topics such as ecclesiology, Canon Law, and the letters of St. Paul. The third year uses all of these topics as a framework for learning about man from a theological perspective in pastoral theology, anthropology, morality, eschatology (study of the 'end times'), and virtues. This year, in order to finish our degree in Theology, we will need to write a lengthy paper that will draw together and synthesize all of the topics that we have learned.

What I have noticed, however, is that this 'synthesizing' process is already taking place. It is not uncommon for something that I have learned in a class to bleed over into my prayer, into practice homilies that I have written as part of formation at NAC, or into the pastoral work that I am doing with students from Christendom College. This is encouraging -- because this is what the study of theology is supposed to do! It is not just a matter of learning and knowing. Instead, everything that we learn here is meant to point us toward Jesus Christ, and ultimately toward eternal life; even more so, it is meant to form us so that God can use us to serve all of you and point YOU toward eternal life in Christ.

Posted at 5:19 AM by Morelli, Matthew | Category: Everyday Life | Permalink | Email this Post

11/2/2011

November 2, 2011 – Anthony Klimko

It is hard for me to believe that I have been in Italy for over 3 months now. These months have been both challenging and rewarding. It is challenging in the sense that I need to learn a new language and a new Culture as my Theological studies begin. It is rewarding because I am living in a city that is so rich in our Catholic History and Faith through the example of the Martyrs.

Before departing on July 17, I got to spend my last few days in the States with my family at my sister’s house in Brooklyn, NY. The entire family drove me to Newark International Airport to see me off. I arrived at Fiumicino Airport in Rome on July 18 at 7am. The rest of the day was a blur. The early orientation team had many activities and excursion prepared for all of us new men for the entire week. It was difficult to find time to unpack and get situated in my new room and my new home. As soon as I got situated, it was time to pack and head off to Italian studies in Northern Italy in Verbania.

The studies consisted of 3 hours of one on one instruction that was followed by 4 hours of homework. This was a full emersion into the culture; even daily mass was in Italian. During this time, I was able to go on a few excursions on the weekends. One of these was a panoramic train ride into Switzerland and a ferryboat ride back into Italy. Before long, it was time to head back to Rome and begin regular Orientation. Once orientation was full of activates and excursion. I took full advantage of these excursions with the thought that once classes begin in October I would not be as free to explore Rome.

When orientation was over, it was four more weeks of Italian studies. During one of these weekends in September during the Italian studies in Rome, the new men class had the opportunity to go to Pope Benedict’s Angelus at Castle Gandolfo. This was the first time in my life that I heard and saw the Pope in person. It was a very rich and rewarding experience. During the Labor Day weekend, the new men spend the weekend in Assisi. This too was a very rich and prayerful experience for me.

Before long, the second rounds of Italian studies ended and it was time for a weeklong silent retreat in Grecio. This was much needed time for personal prayer and reflection as well as a time for rest. After the retreat, Diaconate week was upon us. At the end of this week I was bless with the opportunity to spend the weekend in London with my sister and nephew, Frank. It was so rewarding to being able to see and spend time with family.

Now three weeks into my theological studies I can look back on these past three months and see God’s grace at work in my life. The time I have spent in Italy has only strengthened me in my discernment toward the priesthood. I thank everyone for their continuing prayers and support. God Bless Anthony

Posted at 12:41 PM by Klimko, Anthony | Category: Studying in Rome | Permalink | Email this Post

10/23/2011

Diaconate Ordinations

The first week of October is very exciting for everyone here at the College, since it is then that our new deacons are ordained.

This year, 35 men laid down their lives in service of Christ and his church, promising prayer, chaste celibacy, and obedience in a beautiful liturgy held over the bones of St. Peter, in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The ordination Mass, celebrated October 7^th, was presided over by Cardinal William Levada, an American and the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (One of the most important Vatican congregations which deals with issues relating to the Church’s teaching; it was the congregation which Pope Benedict XVI was head of for 20+ years before he was elected as the Roman Pontiff).

Matthew and I sang in the ordination choir for the third year in a row, and Tony helped to usher the more than 1200 guests from around the world who attended the celebration.

What was especially moving about the ceremony for the third year class is the fact that next year they will be the ones laying prostrate on the floor of the basilica as the litany of saints is chanted. We will be the ones making the promises to the bishop, the ones on whom his hands will be lain, and who will be ordained to serve.

Other meaningful parts of the ceremony include the calling of the candidates (who simply respond ‘present’) - instead of saying that I’m ready), the testimony of the rector that the candidates have been found worthy of holy orders, and the ordination homily by the presiding prefect during which Cardinal Levada spoke about the Deacon's role as servant.

Afterward, the men promised lifelong chaste celibacy, filial obedience to their bishops, and faithful recitation of the liturgy of the hours.

After the litany of the saints, the sacrament of Holy Orders was conferred by the laying on of hands in a reverent silence, symbolic of the mysterious and awe-some work of the Holy Spirit which was transpiring at that moment.

Next, the deacons were vested in the traditional habit of the deacon, the dalmatic, and received a congratulatory exchange from the other deacons.

Another very beautiful part of the rite, I think, is the conferring of the Book of the Gospels on the new deacons. Here, the ordaining prelate entrusts the book of the Gospels to each deacon, and offers these instructions, “Receive the book of the Gospel, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.” It is a beautiful moment reflecting the reality that has taken place.

Another thing that struck me personally this year was the realization that so many of the saints being invoked had been to this spot, had prayed in this basilica, or were even buried in this very Church. These deacons were being ordained almost directly above the bones of St. Peter. Three other apostles - Simon, Jude, and Thomas, are buried in the next chapter over, dedicated to St. Joseph, who was also in the litany. Many of the early martyrs named in the litany died in Rome - or are buried in the city today - Ignatius of Antioch, Lawrence, Agnes Cecilia, Felicity and Perpetua. Surely, these would have visited the tomb of Peter, prayed in this same spot. Likewise St. Gregory, who himself hailed from Rome. Several of the great Eastern Fathers of the Church are also buried in St. Peter's - St. Gregory Nanzianen, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom. Others, from other ages made pilgrimages here, and would have venerated the Petrine Basilica, whether this one or the Constantinian basilica that stood for 1000 years - Benedict of Norcia, Catherine of Siena, Dominic, Francis, Ignatius Loyola, Therese of Lisieux, even Mother Seton and St. John Neumann. Thus we were united to them in a way which was somehow more than spiritual. What a spiritual insight it was to realize this!

Please pray for all of those ordained to the diaconate this year, and for all seminarians as we move forward on the journey which leads to that joyous day!

The NAC deacon class of 2011, with Cardinal Levada, ordaining prelate, and the several bishops who were in attendance for the ordination.

You can read the official NAC newstory here.

Pictures of the Ordination can be found here.

All the photos on this page are courtesy of PNAC Photo Service.

Posted at 2:01 PM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Formation | Permalink | Email this Post

10/5/2011

September at NAC

The month of September certainly has gone by quickly! This year, the NAC welcomed 77 “New Men” – these are those seminarians who are new to the college. Most of them are 1^st year, but there are a few from other years. One of our own seminarians, Tony Klimko, is among them and should be posting on the blog soon!

The month of September for us is full of workshops and retreats, and preparations for the diaconate ordination. This year, Matthew and I are in III Theology. Our first weeklong workshop focused on pastoral counseling, helping us all to develop skills to be good active listeners when people come to us, and learning how to respond to different situations, how to recognize and address problems, counsel people and the like. It certainly was a valuable week for our future priesthood.

The following week, the third year men went on retreat at Santa Marinella, a little town on the Tyrrhenian coast. It was a great time to get away and spend time with the Lord in quiet reflection, drawing deeper into relationship with him, and also through his creation. Having the sea so near provided many metaphors in prayer, as well as an opportunity to do some salt-water swimming (we were never really a beach-going family). We returned to the college refreshed, revitalized, and renewed in our vocational commitments.

Our last week of workshops consisted of a series of sessions on preaching by Fr. Bill Byrne, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and pastor of St. Peter’s parish on Capitol Hill. (As a side-note, it was great to hear some of the things that parish does for our Catholic congressmen and women and senators in Washington!) Fr. Byrne coached us on being dynamic preachers for today’s society.

Lastly, we had a few days on something that is very important in our country, and probably will be in our diocese as well – ministry to Hispanics/ Latinos by Bishop Cisneros, an auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn, NY. It was also a very helpful and practical situation which encouraged us in how to minister to both first-generation immigrants (like many of our ancestors were when they came from Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, or a host of other places) but also second and third-generation immigrants, who are often forgotten about. A good point was made that often we can get so engrossed in relief-type work that we forget about the bigger picture, and the real reason we’re here – to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ.

Indeed, we are very blessed to take part in these various workshops and seminars which will help us to be better ministers in the future.

Posted at 10:40 AM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Formation | Permalink | Email this Post

9/25/2011

Returning to the College

As we return to the college, Matthew and I mark our 3^rd year in Italy. As I reflect back on my time here so far, it has been two years of many blessings, despite being so far from home. I’ve had the opportunity to see many places with long histories and which are significant to our faith. We’ve prayed with some of the greatest saints where they prayed, in their hometowns, or with their relics. I’ve learned, taken classes, and become able to communicate well in a foreign language, and studied others (Latin & Greek), plus picking up a few words of Polish, Dutch, German, French, Portugese and Spanish. Not to mention adapting to a whole new culture so that now we can get around quite easily!

We’ve witnessed the universal church – every day when we go to class, and cultivated a closeness with the Holy Father, including many blessed encounters. We’ve experienced firsthand many important moments in the life of the Church – perhaps most notably the Beatification of Bl. Pope John Paul II, and the beatifications and canonizations of other new saints, and the closing of the year for priests.

This summer we were able to return to our beloved United States and spend time serving the people of the Diocese of Greensburg, where we will, God willing, spend the rest of our lives serving those same people. What a great experience and joy it was!

As we celebrate these last two years, and begin our third, there is a lot to think about, reflect upon, and give thanks for. For all of these rich blessings, we give thanks. They spur us on as we begin our year of III Theology. Praised be Jesus Christ!

We’re glad to have you with us (our blog readers) as we celebrate move into III Theology and towards ordination.

Posted at 7:03 AM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Studying in Rome | Permalink | Email this Post

9/7/2011

Summer's end... already?

As I write this post, it’s hard to believe that I’m headed back to Rome in about 36 hours! Surely, the summer has gone by way too quickly!

These last few days have been filled with the busy tasks of packing, saying last farewells, visiting folks, and a thousand last minute details. Once I get back to the NAC, things will pick right up – we’ll be heading right into our fall workshops on Monday morning. The week will also be full of reconnecting with classmates and friends and meeting and welcoming the new guys. This year the college will be rather full, with enrollment somewhere around 250 seminarians from all over the country! Praise God!

The last few weeks have been fruitful as well. I finished my time at Mother of Sorrows parish in Murrysville, which was a good experience of learning what it is like to be a priest in our diocese. MOS is a big parish with lots going on, and I am grateful to Fr. Ted Kaczmarek and Deacon Dan Frescura for all they did to help me adjust and learn from the experience – as well as the parish staff. With everyone’s help, we were able to cover a lot of bases. It was great to get to know some of the people who are involved in the many things going on there and mixing with the people at things like the parish festival (where I ended up in the dunking booth!)

One of the highlights of my last week there was visiting the Mother of Sorrows School. It was special because usually seminarians on summer assignment aren’t around when school begins. However, since the NAC begins a bit later, I was able to be around for the first week of school. On Monday Deacon Dan and I went around and introduced ourselves to all of the classes. Then on Wednesday, Principal Joe Rice arranged for me to speak to each of the classes for a brief time about vocations, being a seminarian, studying in Rome, and any other questions the kids could come up with. It was a great day; I certainly enjoyed it and I think the kids did as well. Thursday was the opening school Mass.

In between the things going on at the parish, I was able to sneak away for a little time away with my family. I actually went on a zipline for the first time, with two of my siblings. It was really a lot of fun!

I want to thank so many people who pray for me and all of our seminarians. Over the summer, it has been wonderful to be back in the diocese, with ‘real people’, and to experience their love for the seminarians and see just how many people are praying for us. There is certainly a tremendous prayer cushion that surrounds me, and for that I am grateful and I thank God. I look forward to returning to serve them by God’s grace.

For now, I am preparing to return to Rome – to pasta and to class in Italian, after getting my fill of hamburgers, barbeque, and all things American.

Arrivederci America, I can’t wait to see you next June; I’m sure it will be here before I know it!

Posted at 7:15 PM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Everyday Life | Permalink | Email this Post

8/11/2011

The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

I recently prepared a post on the Assumption for the blog of the diocesan Catholic Committe on Scouting for boys and girls, and I thought I'd share that with all of you. That website/ blog can be found here.

The Assumption of Mary

The feast we celebrate on Monday is one of the more important days of the Church year, and that is why it a solemnity. Usually (though not this year because it falls on a Monday) it is also a holy day of obligation. We have extra reason to celebrate because Our Lady of the Assumption is the patroness of the Diocese of Greensburg!

In this famous image by Cola dell’Amatrice, we see the Mary being assumed into heaven, body and soul, surrounded by angels as the disciples and apostles look on and marvel at her being assumed and her empty sarcophagus. The painting is kept in the Vatican Museums Pinacoteca.

Though the Assumption of Mary was believed from the earliest days, historically, the Assumption was solemnly defined as a dogma by Servant of God Pope Pius XII in 1950 who declared that:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. (Munificentissimus Deus)

The Church has defined this teaching as a dogma (a teaching which, based on the authority of Christ handed down in the Church is infallibly true and which requires full faith and assent from believers).

There are 4 such dogmas about the Blessed Mother: her role as mother of God, her perpetual virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption. The Assumption follows logically from the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, defined in 1854. There, Bl. Pope Pius XI taught that Mary was conceived without original sin. That means she didn’t suffer the effects of original sin, one of which is the corruption of the body (the others being darkened intellect and weakened will – concupiscence, a tendency to sin). If Mary was conceived without original sin, and never sinned in her life, her body didn’t need to corrupt, like the rest of ours. Although theologians debate whether or not Mary died (though she didn’t need to, she may have chosen to die so as to be more closely united to Christ), there had always been a long tradition of Mary’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul.

This idea is illustrated in the below painting by Giulio Romano, which depicts the scenes before and after the Assumption. In Heaven, Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth by her son. Below, the apostles and disciples marvel at the empty resting place where Mary’s body had been placed. The painting is entitled the Coronation of the Virgin, and is housed in the Vatican Museums Pinacoteca. A mosaic copy of the painting can be found in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome.

Theologically, today’s feast celebrates Mary’s being taken up into heaven. It also bears significant importance for us, because it is the first example of what our new life in Christ will be like after we die. We have this feast day to celebrate and remember this fact about Mary, who is our mother as well. Celebrating Mary’s assumption does several things for us:

Ø First of all, it allows us to remember her unique role in salvation and bring her honor. In doing so, we also honor her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ø We are reminded about the effects of sin on our world, our persons, and our bodies.

Ø We are also reminded about the dignity of the human person who is a composite of body and soul.

Ø We recall the glorious destiny we share in Jesus Christ – the hope of eternal life in heaven, and with the resurrection on the last day, glorified bodies!

What does this teaching have to do with scouts? Well, in the (Boy) Scout Oath we pledge to “keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” In a sense, this part of the Scout Oath is expressing the reverence and respect which is due to our human bodies. Through living out the promises of the Scout Oath, we give to ourselves the dignity that we deserve as persons who are both corporal and spiritual.

So today, we look to Mary as little foresight of what God has in store for us in the ultimate future, a model of virtue in which the body and soul are perfectly balanced through virtue, and an intercessor to help us to achieve both of those ends!

O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us!

This image is a stained glass window in the church of Notre Dame du Sablon in Brussels, Belgium. It depicts the Blessed Mother in heaven, surrounded by angels.

Bonus: The Assumption and Respect for Human Life

Both scouting and Church teaching encourage Catholics to be good citizens. Part of being a good citizen and a good Christian means to look out for others. One way to do that is by respecting the dignity of human life, a lesson we learn from the feast of the Assumption, because on that feast we contemplate the goodness of God’s creation of man – body and soul.

Cultivating a respect for life, for the human person (a composite of body and soul) is important in today’s society, because it is under attack in so many ways. Our culture often de-emphasizes the unity of body and spirit, which is materialistic (reducing man to simply matter). The results are abuses of the body – we live in a culture which doesn’t see embryos as human bodies with souls, but blobs of tissue to be experimented with, created and destroyed, bought and sold or aborted. We live in a culture which exploits women and children in sex trade and in pornography, reducing people to a physical part on a page in a magazine or on the internet. The message of the dignity of the person is an important message for a society which more and more is seeking to euthanize the elderly or the handicapped, because they are not as productive economically or physically.

It is no accident that Servant of God Pius XII made the solemn declaration of the Assumption only 5 years after war had ravaged most of Europe and much of the world, a war far more brutal than all previous ones, and with far more casualties. It was a war during which people were herded like cattle into concentration camps and systematically exterminated, without care for their body or soul. This was in a century where state Atheism would claim more lives than the combined and multiplied total of all religious war throughout all of human history – whether it be through a civil war like in Spain, Nazi racist death camps, or atheistic communist gulags. The 20^th century was a sampling of a world without God.

Competing with atheist communism is a secular capitalism, which in itself can easily accommodate another danger - materialist and materialistic attitudes towards man and towards property. That is, it devalues the dignity of the human person, the dignity of work to make the most profit, or makes him a slave to an economic system. We become obsessed with the having the pleasures for the body, and forget about our souls!

In response to all of this, Pius XII, and the Church wishes to speak to the world a message of truth – there is hope not only for our bodies here but eternally. That hope is founded on the person of Jesus Christ because of his resurrection from the dead, and his mother Mary is the first fruit of that resurrection.

In teaching about the Assumption, the Church affirms the goodness of our creation, in the image and likeness of God. It affirms that the body is good, and that it is united with the soul here on earth and will be united with the body again on the last day, when we receive our glorified bodies. Furthermore, it affirms the redemption of our bodies for which we wait!

Posted at 11:38 AM by Ulishney, Daniel | Category: Prayers | Permalink | Email this Post

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A Day in the Life