Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Choristers Return

Today was the final day of our performance tour to Southern Utah. On a warm, beautiful day in St. George, the Choir assisted with the 11:00 AM Mass at our Catholic parish in St. George. The Cathedral musicians were very well received by numerous parishioners in attendance worshipping in their Social Hall as the Church is being expanded and renovated. St. George's parish community has grown remarkably. Our visit was a wonderful opportunity to share the music of the Cathedral Church of our diocese with this southernmost diocesan community.

After the Mass, the choir returned for lunch, and loaded the busses for the five hour journey back to the Wasatch front. I will admit it was a little ominous to travel around the point of the mountain, leaving clear blue skies and descending under the dark gray blanket of our current inversion. Let's hope for a clearing storm to occur in the near future.

Special thanks are due to Choir School Director of Music Melanie Malinka for her incredible organizational skills and to Mrs. Yvette Tani for all of her labors scheduling the various venues, hotels and restaurants. Also, thanks are due to School Principal Mrs. Christina Vierra McGill and the faculty, staff and parents who served as chaperones.

The choristers will return to regular services in the Cathedral beginning on Tuesday, February 2nd.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Day Three on the road with the Choristers

Today the Choristers packed up early and headed to Zion National Park where they participated in a guided hike with a ranger from the Parks Service as guide. One of the great treasures of Utah, Zion National Park is not without its musical connections. The French composer Olivier Messiaen visited both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park and was so moved by the natural grandeur that he composed an orchestral work evocative of the Utah Canyons entitled From the Canyons to the Stars. Both children and adults enjoyed our brief visit.

After time in the Canyon we headed to St. George where everyone is enjoying the warmer temperatures and clear skies (maybe the location for a Winter Cathedral?) Going to the St. George Tabernacle to do a sound and logistics check for our concert, we then walked to a small cafe where we enjoyed a great meal, and closed the meal with the specialty cupcakes that were the feature of this particular business. For some reason, the children were baffled that Mr. Glenn even knew what a cupcake was - hence a photograph and crowd scene at the cupcake's consumption. Come on guys, I didn't crawl out of a cave...really...

We had a wonderful audience for our evening performance at the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle has an unusual connection with the Cathedral: The Cathedral's builder bishop, Lawrence Scanlan, celebrated Mass for Southern Utah Catholics in the later part of the nineteenth century, and the LDS people of St. George were so hospitable that they formed a choir, learned their Latin, and sang the parts of Mass for the Bishop!

There are several parents of faculty members who reside here in St. George and they greeted us after the concert. Mrs. Oliver's mother and sister, and Mrs. Poole's father-in-law were in attendance and welcomed us warmly.

After the concert, the children hiked to an Ice Cream Shop for an evening treat. Tomorrow, we sing for the 11:00 AM Mass at the St. George Parish Church where we will greet Fr. Gustavo Vidal the pastor, who earlier served as parochial vicar at the Cathedral.

More to come!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Day Two on the road in Southern Utah

Day Two on our brief performance tour of Southern Utah went very well. With a warm welcome by the people of Cedar City, we began the day with a concert performance for 1,000 Iron County School District children. The Choir did very well in presenting the music and unique choral practice of the Cathedral to these many young children who were subsequently full of questions.

After lunch, the Education Directors of the Utah Shakespeare Festival conducted a workshop for the choristers, in which they performed a quick rendering of "The Taming of the Shrew" and then proceeded to explore the incredible wonder of the British playwright. The most enjoyable aspect for the children this afternoon was an introduction to the curses and insults of Shakespeare: over the course of his plays he produced an unbelievable repertoire of insults. Choir School Principal Tina McGill is not all that enthused about this educational development. Overheard was "...you paunchy dred-bolted canker-blossom" and "you beslubbering boil-brained foot-licker!" Ah, the wonders of vocabulary enhancement!

The Choristers then had a rest and prepared for their formal concert as part of the arts series in Cedar City, where a good audience welcomed the choir as they performed many of the works regularly heard at the Cathedral. We were able to greet Fr. Michael Winterer, the pastor of Christ the King Catholic Church who attended the concert and was very kind speaking to the students following the performance.

Tomorrow morning we leave for a hike at Zion National Park, and then prepare for a concert tomorrow evening in the St. George Tabernacle. More to come!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

On the Road in Southern Utah with the Choristers

Well friends, we have all safely arrived in Cedar City, where we checked into our accommodations and proceeded to our concert venue to conduct a rehearsal for the two performances we will sing tomorrow. After a challenging (and the choristers indicated long!) rehearsal adjusting to a very different acoustical space than the Cathedral, we adjourned to dinner, and then...what else in the middle of winter...swimming!



Now admittedly, the school staff knew just what they were doing! Nothing wears a group of burgeoning adolescents out more than several hours in the pool. I suspect that the other guests in the Holiday Inn Express will be very grateful.

Tomorrow we rise early and travel to the Heritage Center Theater where we will present a first concert for school children at 10:00 AM. After lunch, our students will then be treated to a workshop presented by the staff of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Following a rest and dinner, we present our first formal concert at 7:30 PM. Stay tuned - there is more to come!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Choir School grad on way to Priesthood

Some weeks ago on the Blog we published a photograph of Cathedral parishioner and Choir School grad Christopher Gray, a seminarian at the North American College in Rome, greeting our Holy Father Pope Benedict. Today we follow a step in his formation and preparation for the priesthood as we report on his official installation as a Lector in Rome, one of the many steps to ordination. Over 50 young men were installed into this stage of preparation at the seminary serving the United States in Rome. Please keep Christopher in your prayers as he continues his studies, preparing for service to the Church in Utah.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

And the winner is...


Today at the Choir School Lauds was followed immediately this morning with the now re-instated annual Spelling Bee. Brushing off those dictionaries, the spelling champs went neck and neck today, with the final grand prize winner being... seventh-grade student Christopher Payne! Christopher advanced to the championship by deftly managing the word 'circuitous'. Eighth-grade student Jal Puoy was a close second, only to succumb in the end to 'aggrandizement'. Congratulations to Christopher and all of our champion spellers!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Choristers and Faculty traveling to Southern Utah


The Cathedral Choir will travel to Southern Utah this weekend to present a series of three concerts, and to assist with Mass in the Diocese's southernmost parish of St. George. Over 70 choristers, adult musicians, staff, faculty and parents will travel first to Cedar City on Thursday in preparation for an educational concert for school children on Friday morning and a formal concert in the Cedar City Concert Series on Friday evening January 29th at 7:30 PM in the Heritage Center Theater.

On Saturday the Choir will travel to St. George where they will perform a concert in the St. George Tabernacle on Saturday evening January 30th at 7:30 PM

Sunday morning the Choir will assist with the 11:00 AM Mass at St. George Parish.

While on their brief tour, the children of the Choir School will participate in an interactive workshop provided by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and on Saturday will have an opportunity to explore Zion National Park.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Choir School Sunday and Open House

Today was Choir School Sunday at the Cathedral. The 1100 AM Mass was celebrated by Bishop Wester and the choristers assisted with the Mass singing music of Heiller, Mendelssohn and Faure. One of the great institutions of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is our Catholic School System. It has enabled the passing on of the Catholic intellectual, moral, artistic and religious tradition to countless young people. It enabled an immigrant people who arrived from Germany, Ireland, Italy and other nations to maintain their faith and cultural traditions while finding their way from poverty in this new land. Men and women religious were incredibly generous with their very lives to be sure the work of forming young people remained vital within the church in the early part of the last century. Utah's own Catholic schools were created by the Holy Cross Sisters, the Daughters of Charity, and other religious orders.

The need for Catholic schools is just as great for us today. At a recent Sunday Spanish Mass at the Cathedral, Fr. Omar invited all of the young children to come forward and sit in the chancel for a special homily. Almost 250 children approached the cathedral's Altar - that is equivalent to the entire student body of the Cathedral's Choir School. What will be the legacy of our generation for our Catholic Schools? Are we willing to sacrifice to continue their important work? Are there new forms of generosity that will enable us to provide this important opportunity to these children who are the future of the Church in Utah?

Open House followed at the School. Special thanks to Admissions Director Jenne Payne for her work in organizing the event, and to Eric and Brigitte Klement, Eric's mother, and Debbie Morrison for their help with the food, hospitality and set up. A good number of prospective families were present.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Father of Two Faculty Members to be ordained Deacon

On Saturday morning in the Cathedral at 10:00 AM, Bishop Wester will ordain over twenty men into the Order of Deacons for service in the parishes and institutions of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Having completed a four-year period of formation, these men will receive assignments in various parishes and missions, including two who will join the pastoral staff of the Cathedral.

Of particular note for our parish is that one of the ordinands is a long-time member - Drew Petersen. Drew and his family have been active at the cathedral for many years. Drew has served us in a variety of capacities: as chairmen of the DDD drive, Altar Assistant, Lector and Extraordinary Minister, and much more. He currently oversees the Cathedral's ministry to those who are homebound, organizing the various volunteers who bring the Eucharist to those confined to their homes or places of care. It is without a doubt that Drew is a 'pillar' of our parish. We congratulate him as he moves into a new phase of his ministry at the Cathedral.

Two of Drew's daughters serve on the faculty of the Choir School. Megan Petersen is the Head Teacher for the Choir School's Third Grade, and Heidi Petersen coordinates the school's Extended Day program while also serving at the Guadalupe School.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Mass for the Grandfather of the Ramirez students

Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral tomorrow (Friday) at 7:00 PM for Roberto Ramirez, father of Cathedral parishioner Fernando Ramirez and grandfather of Choir School students Luis (6), Abbie (3) and Alan (K). As we noted earlier on the blog Roberto died in a Guadalajara hospital early Sunday morning. His funeral Mass was celebrated the following day in Estipac, Jalisco. He was 60 years old. The Spanish Choir will assist at the Mass tomorrow evening.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Choristers get great review for Utah Opera's Carmen

Twenty-four of our choristers continue in the performance run of Utah Opera's Carmen. Performances continue this evening, Wednesday evening, Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. The critic at the Salt Lake Tribune wrote a review which stated "the children's chorus, drawn from the Madeleine Choir School, was one of the best in memory. Not only was their musical preparation under Melanie Malinka beyond reproach, the youngsters sang and acted like real children." You can read the entire review here.

Congratulations to Mrs. Malinka and the choristers and parents for their excellent work!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Remember the Ramirez Family

Last week I asked you to remember the Ramirez family in your prayers at the death of their grandfather in Mexico. This morning we received the tragic news that Fernando's father has died in a Guadalajara Hospital. He was just 60 years old.

Fernando is one of the lead guitarists with the Cathedral Spanish Choir, and his children Luis (6th) Abbie (3rd) and Alan (K) are students in the Choir School.

A small consolation for the family has been that Fernando's parents were able to visit this fall and spend time seeing their grandchildren and two sons who reside here in Utah. It had been ten years since they had seen them last.

The Funeral Mass will be tomorrow morning at 900 AM in La Iglesia de Cristo Rey(pictured above), the parish church for the small village of Estipac, Jalisco, where the family resides.

During my sabbatical I had the privilege of visiting Estipac, a village about two hours outside of Guadalajara in the mountains, and I visited the home of Fernando's parents and was warmly welcomed by them.

Remember Roberto.
In baptism he died with Christ:
may he also share his resurrection,
when Christ will raise our mortal bodies
and make them like his own in glory.

Friday, January 15, 2010

This Sunday at Mass - A Wedding

Sunday's readings center upon the emotionally charged event that is a wedding and the strong love that is present with great intensity at such an occasion. Just ask Principal Cantor Jason McAdams, who also manages the many weddings at the Cathedral about the intensity of these events!

That intense love which serves as the dynamic and fundamental power behind a union that will face challenges in the future is the topic of our first reading Sunday from Isaiah. In this lesson from the prophet, written as Israel was being released from captivity in Babylonia and returning to a destroyed Jerusalem, we hear the love of God for his people compared to that most intense love experienced by two spouses. It is a powerful statement of God's delight in his people, as they return home and rebuild their lives and community.

In the Gospel, we hear about one of the first manifestations of Jesus as Son of God at a wedding party. Wedding banquets are notoriously incredible celebrations, filled with joy, and occasions to celebrate with family and friends. A member of my family was married several years ago into a very sober and severe Protestant family, prompting my Irish grandmother to say a little too loudly "Is this really the wedding party?"

In this Gospel we hear of a very human exchange between Mary and Jesus. Many scripture scholars note this exchange to be the typical young male adult's attempt to break free of the maternal apron strings. Even though Jesus challenges his mother's request to do something about the wine running out at a party, Jesus nevertheless submits to the wishes of his mother and produces a wine of higher quality than was served earlier.

Sunday's encounter with God's Word will invite us to again remember the intensity of God's love for us, a love which can seem distant in the chaos and clutter of our daily lives, but must be remembered as the source of everything we are as his beloved sons and daughters. Recalling this dynamic love at the center of our loves changes everything! It beckons us to look at others in light of this love, rather than seeing the other as a potential drain from our own selfish concerns.

And our Gospel reminds us that the activity of this love, this exchange between ourselves and our strong redeemer involves both parties. We bring the plain 'water' of our lives - our gifts, talents, resources and abilities - in obedience, and God transforms our ordinary into his extraordinary. Let us ask God to help us as we work to advance his reign at the Cathedral Parish and Choir School in the months ahead.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Parent Meetings Next Week

It is unusual when a confluence of events allows for a five-day weekend in the school year, but we rest assured the students will enjoy this break from the books at the end of the first semester.

Just a quick note to remind all parents of the meetings next week to review the school's strategic plan and to discuss several important relative matters, including the Capital Campaign for the restoration of Erbin Hall, School Finances and Tuition, and potential expansion of our services to the community.

There are six meeting times available:

Wednesday 20 January at 3:30 PM and 7:00 PM
Thursday 21 January at Noon and 5:30 PM
Friday 22 January at 8:30 AM and 3:30 PM

Childcare is available for the two evening sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, and Extended Day is available for the 3:30 PM sessions on Wednesday and Friday. Please feel free to bring young children to the Morning and Noon meeting on Thursday and Friday.

We appreciate your participation as we look to a very bright future of service for the Madeleine Choir School.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Please remember Haiti

The situation in Haiti is very difficult. Bishop Wester has asked us to do what we can to help with the relief and recovery efforts. Tens of thousands are feared dead, including the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince who was one of those who died in the quake yesterday afternoon. You can go to the website for Catholic Relief Services - www.crs.org - and make a contribution. Let's rally to the help of our brothers and sisters in this devastated land, and uphold them in our prayers.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Choir School Grad greets the Holy Father


Here is a photograph of Salt Lake City Seminarian Christopher Gray shaking hands with our Holy Father Pope Benedict. Christopher is currently a student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and Pope Benedict greeted the students yesterday on the occasion of the college's 150th anniversary. Christopher is a graduate of the Madeleine Choir School, was a member of the Cathedral Choir, and has been of great service to the Cathedral in a number of arenas. Please keep Christopher in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to prepare for service to the Church in Utah.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Go Crusaders!

Basketball Season is well underway, and over the weekend a number of our teams were active:

Our Eighth Grade Boys team had a bye, but the Eighth Grade girls defeated St. Olaf's. The Eighth Grade Boys have only one loss recorded so far this season.

The Seventh Grade Boys had a win over St. John the Baptist with a last minute overtime shot by Ryan Murphy. We are awaiting results on the Seventh Grade Girls game against St. Ambrose. The boys are coached by Choir School alumni Michael Glenn and Ryan Eldredge, both of whom played on our first championship team that took the league in 1997.

The Sixth Grade Boys had a big win over St. Ann's and our Fifth Grade Boys beat St. Francis Xavier.

We are awaiting reports on our two Fourth Grade Girls - please proivde results if you have them.

Overall, a great weekend of basketball for the Crusaders! Stay tuned for more results coming next weekend...

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A friend of the school gone

I am a very poor potential customer for the fast growing social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Given the prospect of a free minute or more, I do not think first to enter the communication stream of the internet, or telephones or even letters and notes. I do actually have a membership with Facebook, but have not ventured on the site for maybe two months. It is not a virtue of mine - friends and family tolerate me to a point. It got the best of me today.

This afternoon I checked the website of my home parish, St. James Cathedral in Seattle, where I was confirmed and received my first holy communion many years ago. It is a very vibrant parish with many activities and programs in education, social service, liturgy, music and the arts. I was stunned to see posted on the site "Funeral Homily for Perry Lorenzo." Perry was an old friend whom I have known for over twenty-five years. He died on December 19th, and his funeral Mass was celebrated on December 30th. Until this afternoon, I did not know he had been sick or that he had succumbed to this illness weeks ago.

We started teaching in Catholic Schools together right out of college. When I left to pursue graduate work at Catholic University, Perry continued teaching at one of the Seattle Catholic High Schools, eventually to become the DIrector of Education for Seattle Opera. Perry was a master teacher, a Catholic intellectual, with a profound appreciation for the arts and humanities, and keenly aware that all of this beauty and goodness derived from its source in the God from whom we move and have our being. His lectures held captive and inspired students and adults alike. I was to call him this week to request a lecture for this year's Madeleine Festival.

Perry was the kind of friend whom you might not see for a year or two, but would pick things right up where they were left from before. A true Seattle native, he was an avid coffee drinker who drank me under the table more than once, forcing me to switch to decaffeinated while he looked on with disdain. I last saw him when the Cathedral Choir travelled to Seattle on tour in April of 2008. After our Cathedral Choir participated in the Sunday Mass at St. James, we had lunch and continued talking through the afternoon right up to the call time for our evening concert. Perry was an enthusiastic supporter of the Choir School, and was very interested to visit and help in any way. He was incredibly impressed by the choristers at both the Mass and Concert we presented in Seattle.

I learned today that Perry was diagnosed with bone cancer only seven months ago. The cancer had already spread to his lungs. From all accounts he fought valiantly, and resigned to either fight on to healing or die as God willed. He was 51, and was at the peak of his career with the Seattle Opera. We shared a great respect for the Catholic intellectual tradition, and a love for the church despite its many flaws and imperfections. I am sure that we at one time discussed what was to evolve into the Choir School's mission statement where students are prepared to "engage the culture with the Catholic intellectual, artistic, moral and religious tradition."

There remains an enormous and growing chasm between religion and intelligence, faith and science. Can one be rigorously and honestly intellectual and still be a person of faith? The Church has at times in its history demonstrated that absolute coexistence of faith with intelligence and reason, and at other times has failed miserably to proclaim the truth, beauty and goodness of God, leaving people with little choice but to abandon Catholicism as a pre-modern opiate of the masses. I have often worried that something I have taught or presented to my students may fail utterly in much the same way. Perry worked tirelessly as an 'evangelizer' of the Catholic intellectual and artistic tradition.

Many of us have faced or are facing difficult health situations. We also struggle with religion, the notion of a saving God, and with faith that might seem to be without any real meaning or substance. Fr. Michael Ryan, the pastor of St. James Cathedral gave this prayer to Perry in the last weeks of his life. It is a prayer by the Jesuit theologian and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

When the signs of age
begin to mark my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);
when the illness that is to diminish me
or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken to the fact
that I am growing ill or growing old;
and above all at that last moment
when I feel I am losing hold of myself
and am absolutely passive within the hands
of the great unknown forces
that have formed me;
in all these dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you
who are painfully parting the fibers of my being
in order to penetrate
to the very marrow of my substance
and bear me away within yourself.


Fr. Ryan used this prayer again in the homily at his Funeral Mass, but concluded with these words:

"Perry, dear friend, God has penetrated to the very marrow of your substance and borne you away within Himself. You have passed from the land of reflected beauty into the land of Beauty Itself, into the embrace of Beauty Itself. We would be selfish to want you back. And we will best honor your memory by continuing along our own search for meaning, and by doing as you did: letting all that is beautiful enchant, enthrall, and intoxicate us. And lead us to God."

Friday, January 8, 2010

Second Grade Students begin final journey to Confirmation and the Eucharist

This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We recall with joy the historic event witnessed by the Gospels of Jesus being baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan river. In the Gospel accounts a voice is heard declaring "This is my beloved Son: hear him," and with this event the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth is launched.

Students in the Cathedral parish and Choir School who are preparing for the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist will renew their baptismal promises at the 11:00 AM Sunday Mass. They will gather around the baptismal font, the womb of the Church, to renew the profession of faith made as they were washed and anointed as God's children, being grafted onto the Body of Christ by Baptism.

So the journey begins to the Solemnity of Pentecost, where they will approach the Bishop's hand to be sealed with the image of the Lord and dismissed to the Lord's Table for the first time. Please keep these young people in your prayers.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

In Your Kindness

Please remember the Ramirez family, members of the Cathedral parish and school, in your prayers. The grandfather of Fernando, a member of the Cathedral's Spanish Choir, passed away in Estipac, Jalisco this evening. He was the great grandfather to Choir School students Luis (Grade 6), Abbie (Grade 3) and Alan (Kindergarten).

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Great News at the Choir School!

As many of you know, the Choir School is in the midst of a $5.9 million Capital Campaign to restore historic Erbin Hall, the spiritual and academic hub of the two acre campus. Today the school received word that a $100,000 gift was being made to the campaign by the I. J. Wagner Foundation of Salt Lake City. This gift comes on the heel of a $300,000 gift in November from the Smartgo Foundation, and a $500,000 from the ALSAM foundation earlier in the year. All together, the last several months have yielded $1,000,025.00 in gifts and pledges, bringing the campaign total to just over $2.1 Million. There is much work to be done, but we are moving forward! Special thanks to Joanna Wheelton and her staff for their fine work!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I was a stranger and you welcomed me...

We continue our celebration of National Migration Week at the Cathedral Parish and School. This morning at the Choir School, Mr. Aden Batar, the Director of Immigration and Refugee Resettlement for Catholic Community Services of Utah, spoke to the students about the important work he administrates on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. Himself a refugee from Somalia, Mr. Batar oversees a program that resettles refugees from some of the most desperate situations in the world. With over 14 million refugees worldwide, he spoke to the students about the current work reaching out to refugees from Burma, the Congo, Sudan and other nations. He described the conditions of the refugee camps based on his own experience of two years in a camp in Kenya. Many of the young people from these camps have never known life outside the very difficult living conditions within.

Mr. Batar continued by stating the urgent need for volunteers assisting families with resettlement. He identified a number of manageable projects that adults can engage in to assist with the difficult transition these families encounter. Several of the Choir School classes are considering a project that Mr. Batar will propose.

Consider if you might be able to offer assistance or become involved in this important work of the Church. You can contact Mr. Batar and Catholic Community Services at 801 428 1254.

Monday, January 4, 2010

"This is the day that David prophesied in the psalms, when he said: All the nations that you have brought into being will come and fall down in adoration in your presence, Lord, and glorify your name. Again, the Lord has made known his salvation; in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

"This came to be fulfilled, as we know, from the time when the star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognize and adore the King of heaven and earth. The obedience of the star calls us to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we can, of the grace that invites all men to find Christ.

"Dear friends, you must have the same zeal to be of help to one another; then, in the kingdom of God, to which faith and good works are the way, you will shine as children of light: through out Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen."

St. Leo the Great
Sermon on the Epiphany

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Blog Alive for the New Year


A Blessed and Happy New Year to All! We continue our celebration of the Lord’s Nativity on this ninth day of Christmas. Tomorrow we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany, and we commence our celebration of National Migration Week 2010 in both the Cathedral Parish and the School. The focus of this year’s week is Migrant and Refugee Children.

In his message for this year’s focus on migrants and refugees, Our Holy Father Pope Benedict penned the following:

This year's theme – “Minor migrants and refugees” – touches an aspect that Christians view with great attention, remembering the warning of Christ who at the Last Judgment will consider as directed to himself everything that has been done or denied “to one of the least of these” (cf. Mt 25:40, 45). And how can one fail to consider migrant and refugee minors as also being among the “least”? As a child, Jesus himself experienced migration for, as the Gospel recounts, in order to flee the threats of Herod, he had to seek refuge in Egypt together with Joseph and Mary (cf. Mt 2:14).

At the Choir School, we will be looking at four regions and/or nations with desperate refugee situations that are in the news today: the Hmong people living in Thailand, the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, Sri Lanka, and the Darfur region of Sudan. Additionally, the students will respond to Bishop Wester’s request that we contact our legislators in the weeks ahead asking for definitive action on immigration reform in the coming legislative session.

Specifically addressing parishes and other Catholic institutions, Pope Benedict wrote the following:

I now turn in particular to parishes and to the many Catholic associations which, imbued with a spirit of faith and charity, take pains to meet the needs of these brothers and sisters of ours. While I express gratitude for all that is being done with great generosity, I would like to invite all Christians to become aware of the social and pastoral challenges posed by migrant and refugee minors. Jesus' words resound in our hearts: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35), as, likewise, the central commandment he left us: to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, but together with love of neighbor (cf. Mt 22:37-39).

More to come in the days ahead.