The Pope Blog: Blessed

Showing posts with label Blessed. Show all posts

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Remembering Blessed John Paul II

2013-04-02 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) To mark eight years since the death of Blessed John Paul II on April 2nd 2005, we bring you Vatican Radio archive recordings of his words in English focusing on prayer and priestly life, as well as the testimony of some of those who witnessed this first-hand.
Among them, the late Carmelite Father, Redemptus Valabek, former postulator of the causes of the saints of his Order, who explains why many used to describe John Paul II as being a Carmelite at heart. Also, Nigerian Cardinal, Francis Arinze, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious dialogue at the time of the remarkable prayer gathering in Assisi. He points to how this Polish Pontiff's call for all to pray was addressed not just to Christians but to non-Christians as well.
In this programme in which you can hear Blessed John Paul II reciting the 'Our Father', we also highlight how this Pope's 's prayer life was inseparable from his priestly vocation. How he often told his friends: "I am first and foremost a priest", reminding them how privileged he was to have this vocation because it allowed him to preside at the Church's most important prayer of all: the Celebration of the Eucharist .
Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:

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Saturday, 11 June 2011

Words From Blessed John Henry Newman

I keep on my desk a dog-eared copy of Cardinal Newman's Apologia pro vita sua, one that I have had since my undergraduate days, and which I can remember pouring over as a young man. Why I didn't, at the time, follow the path he set out in this account of his own spiritual journey, I cannot say. All I know is that this copy of the Apologia stayed close at hand all the way through my college years. It was packed and taken to England when we moved there, and it came back with us when we returned. It has brief notations on the flyleaf, outlining my own progress. "I, too am following the steps of Cardinal Newman — I left the Episcopal Church on 12th January 1982," I recorded. "I was made deacon in the Catholic Church on Aug. 7, 1983," was what I wrote next. "Ordained Priest — August 15, 1983," which is followed by "ad Jesum per Mariam."

I imagine my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will find my brief scratchings to be of interest when they're packing the old man's books away. I wish it could be possible to express to them the wonder I felt as the Cardinal's words became clearer to me, and that they could sense the marvel I had in my heart as I made the notations concerning my Catholic ordination. I hope one of them will decide to save it from the indignity of being stored away, and instead will keep it at hand to browse through from time to time. For me, it has been a life-changing book, and it gives me such pleasure to look across my desk and see it there — a reminder of what has been (and continues to be) a most astonishing spiritual journey.

Here's a brief passage from Blessed John Henry Newman's Apologia, chapter 5:

FROM the time that I became a Catholic, of course I have no further history of my religious opinions to narrate. In saying this, I do not mean to say that my mind has been idle, or that I have given up thinking on theological subjects; but that I have had no variations to record, and have had no anxiety of heart whatever. I have been in perfect peace and contentment; I never have had one doubt. I was not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any change, intellectual or moral, wrought in my mind. I was not conscious of firmer faith in the fundamental truths of Revelation, or of more self-command; I had not more fervour; but it was like coming into port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to this day without interruption.
Nor had I any trouble about receiving those additional articles, which are not found in the Anglican Creed. Some of them I believed already, but not any one of them was a trial to me. I made a profession of them upon my reception with the greatest ease, and I have the same ease in believing them now. I am far of course from denying that every article of the Christian Creed, whether as held by Catholics or by Protestants, is beset with intellectual difficulties; and it is simple fact, that, for myself, I cannot answer those difficulties. Many persons are very sensitive of the difficulties of Religion; I am as sensitive of them as any one; but I have never been able to see a connexion between apprehending those difficulties, however keenly, and multiplying them to any extent, and on the other hand doubting the doctrines to which they are attached. Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate. There of course may be difficulties in the evidence; but I am speaking of difficulties intrinsic to the doctrines themselves, or to their relations with each other. A man may be annoyed that he cannot work out a mathematical problem, of which the answer is or is not given to him, without doubting that it admits of an answer, or that a certain particular answer is the true one. Of all points of faith, the being of a God is, to my own apprehension, encompassed with most difficulty, and yet borne in upon our minds with most power.

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.

Bl. John Henry Newman on the Catholic FaithThe Blessed John Henry Newman SocietyPropers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry NewmanBlessed John Henry Newman ShrineBlessed John Paul II

Fr. Christopher G. Phillips is the pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he has served for the past twenty-seven years. He is the founding pastor of the first Anglican Use parish, erected in 1983 under the terms of the Pastoral Provision. Fr. Phillips was ordained as an Anglican for the Diocese of Bristol, England, in 1975. After serving as Curate for three years at St. Stephen Southmead, he returned to the United States and served in two Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of Rhode Island. In 1981 he left the Episcopal Church and moved with his family to Texas, where he was subsequently ordained as a Catholic priest in 1983. Fr. Phillips and his wife, JoAnn, have been married for forty years. They have five children, all grown and married, and two grandchildren.

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Wednesday, 1 June 2011

The Blessed John Henry Newman Society

Fr. Andrew Bartus of our sister site, Anglican Patrimony, writes to share the news of the new Anglican Use Society in Orange County, California.

* * *

Of your charity, please pray for our new Anglican Use Society in Orange County, California, now so named, Blessed John Henry Newman Society. This is a community of about thirty people so far — seventeen of which will be entering the Ordinariate when it is erected here in the United States, and others who will be coming in at a later time or regularly worshipping with us. This is a new congregation in formation, which will, Lord willing (and the world doesn't end on October 21), form into a parish of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Catholic Church.

We will have our first meeting this Sunday evening at 6:00 PM, with Evensong, a Marian procession and intercessions commemorating Mary's Month (squeezing it in just in time!), and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Afterward, we will have refreshments — if not a proper bun fight à la Fr Barnes! — and I'll give a brief outline of where we are headed as a group in the next couple of months, and our organist/choir master will do the same for her vision of the music.

This project started off rather accidentally; a request from someone to get a support group going for former Anglicans in Orange County has now turned into a full-on movement to build a parish from scratch! This is very much a trial-by-fire thing, where I am learning as I go, but have found it very rewarding. There is a good group of very devoted and passionate people there who are dependable, committed, and excited about this. Many of them have prayed for something like this for years, it turns out! Everyone is giving it their all, which is why it's working. God's grace and providence over this whole endeavor clarifies that this is indeed what he is directing. What this will look like in a year's time no one knows, but considering the folks involved, I imagine the best possible outcome will occur. Hopefully, sometime in the not too distant future, we will be a growing parish of the Anglican Ordinariate called, Blessed (or Saint!) John Henry Newman Catholic Church!

Please pray for us as our first meeting is this Sunday, and we will begin to meet weekly on the Sunday evenings following, until the erection of the Ordinariate and the reception of everyone into the Church occurs. When the time comes when we can be self-sustaining — and who knows when that will be! — we will petition to become a proper parish of the Ordinariate. I don't doubt God's hand in this, because it's one of those projects where amazingly all of the right doors have opened at just the right time, and often completely unexpectedly, or if prayed about, the answer given greatly exceeded our requests! I'm really at a loss for words about how to properly describe it all so far, but alas, I must, as I have a homily to prepare for our first Evensong this Sunday!

Blessed John Henry Newman, ora pro nobis!

Propers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry NewmanBlessed John Henry Newman ShrineAnglican Use Society of Orange County: Evensong and Benediction of the Blessed SacramentAnglican Use Society of Orange CountyBl. John Henry Newman on the Catholic Faith

Christian Clay Columba Campbell is a Roman Catholic of the Anglican Use. As Senior Warden of the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Orlando, FL), he organized the process by which the parish accepted the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, petitioning to join the Catholic Church. He is also the CEO of Three Fish Consulting, LLC, an Information Technology consultancy based in Orlando, FL. He can be reached via email at ccampbell at threefishgroup dot com.

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Sunday, 15 May 2011

Blessed John Paul The Great

I thought it was going to be easy to put into words the celebration of the beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II. It wasn’t going to be many because I found two videos — and moving pictures, as in rolling video as well as emotional scenes — speak much louder than 10,000 words. But the general sketch in my mind wasn’t translating. After all, a weekend of powerful and intense prayer, celebration and Mass defies mere human expression. Frustrated, I was about to step away for a few hours to let my mind regenerate the idea. Then, it hit me. Why is it that I am overwhelmed when I talk about him, when I see documentaries about him, when I see millions assembled in his honor? Could it be six years since he went to the Father?

It may be selfish, but it’s because I miss him. Still. I miss John Paul II as if I knew him or as if he was a relative. The power of his faith, his passionate exhortations — it’s easy to forget the earlier years of his pontificate, when he animated his homilies by waving his script or puncturing the air, accented by a warm smile, humility and a gentle sense of humor — transcended the ocean and miles. He was as present as our own pastors. He moves millions of us today: Be not afraid. Open up your hearts to Christ. That challenge to lift up your life amid earthly pursuits for the cause of Christ, his pontificate, his ministry all still resonate — not to mention the force of his will which in large part ended the enslavement of communism — make him the greatest man of the 20th century, a historic figure with whom we were privileged to share earthly time.

If anyone doubts the Holy Spirit, one need only undertake a cursory examination of John Paul’s life. If one doubts the power a Christ-like life, one need only witness the immense affect he had on the world and love for him, unlike that showered upon anyone else in human history. We loved him then. We love him now. How appropriate that his beatification Mass took place on the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, which he instituted, and the feast on the eve of which he died six years ago. Six years? I miss him. Still. But now we know he remains with us. Blessed is he, John Paul The Great.

No news report needed. Only the awe of Pope Benedict’s pronouncement and the unveiling of the Blessed John Paul’s portrait.

For more detail, here’s a narrated report courtesy of RomeReports.com.

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