Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 11, 2024 Column Father De Celles News
Well, my summer travel is over, and “I’m back in the saddle again.” Lots of stuff to catch up on. But first…
Alaska. As you know, I spent a week in Alaska last month, visiting former parishioners John and Geri Forbes and their family. In the summer Alaska is like one huge national park, with beautiful mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, glaciers and bays, and all that filled with wildlife.
The salmon aren’t running well this year, and I was there in between the red and silver salmon runs, so we spent a day out on boat fishing in the Gulf of Alaska, just off the coast, where we caught a bunch of good-sized rockfish, and I was blessed to catch a 10lb silver salmon. It was great.
While we were fishing, we were entertained by a free and rare natural show: a group of 5 or more humpback whales “bubble-net feeding.” This is when a group of whales coordinate with each other, and encircle a large school of fish (in this case, herring). Then they dive deep below the schools and use bubbles blown from their blowholes to stun and trap fish closer to the surface. One whale takes the lead, and is usually responsible for blowing the bubbles while the other members surround the fish, following them to the surface by swimming in spiral patterns to keep the fish trapped. Then the whales swim toward the surface with their mouths open and gulp fish from the school they have corralled. It was amazing to watch.
Now on to more important things….
New Adult Bible Study. Bob and Bev Ward’s move to North Carolina in May left a huge hole in our Adult Formation efforts. But as you know, this is very important to me, so I’ve been working to find someone who could continue the good work the Wards had been doing, and perhaps even bring some new depth to it.
After discussing different possibilities with several teachers and scholars, I’m delighted to announce that Dominic Casella will be teaching this year’s Bible Study. Dominic is a PhD-candidate at Catholic University of American, where he is specializing in Historical and Systematic Theology, which involves an extensive background in Scripture. He is a graduate of Thomas More College and holds a Master of Arts in Theology from Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Ss. Cyril & Methodius. Although he is a bit younger than Bob Ward, Dominic has a long list of academic and popular articles to his credit and has extensive speaking and teaching experience.
He is an actively practicing Byzantine Catholic, so he’s not technically a member of our parish. But he and his wife and 3 young children live very near our church and so attend Mass here frequently.
Dominic is a bright and enthusiastic scholar, and I believe he will be challenging and engaging. He understands we have folks from all sorts of backgrounds and knowledge-levels, and he’s excited about working with all comers. And I’m very excited, hoping that our standard of excellence in Bible Study will be continued and, if possible, even improved upon as we move forward.
Classes will begin on Tuesday, September 10, with a morning session from 9:30 to 10:30am and an evening session 7:00 to 8:00pm in the Parish Hall. The topic: the Gospel of John. You can find more details on the parish website.
I hope you can attend some of his classes, and that you will all join me in welcoming Dominic and praying for him.
The Wards. By the way, I’ve been in contact with Bob and Bev and they are adjusting well to their new home and parish in South Carolina. Keep them in your prayers.
Olympic Opening. By now you all must know about the infamous and blasphemous scene from the opening of the Olympics in Paris that staged a LGBTQ mockery of the Last Supper. Some argued that it wasn’t about the Last Supper, but rather about a bacchanalia of Greek gods (think Greek origins of the Olympics), but this was discredited by common sense and the facts on the ground.
What a horrible way to begin this sports festival meant to bring nationals and peoples together. They said it was in the name of “inclusion”, but as we know that is a code word for promoting LGBTQ perversity and attacking Christians and Christianity.
Thankfully, there was a huge and immediate negative backlash from Christians around the world, and even from non-Christians of goodwill. Interestingly, it took a week and half for the Vatican to official declare itself “saddened,” and the Pope has yet to personally address the issue. But he is not alone: neither Pres. Biden nor VP Harris has said anything about it. Pres. Trump condemned it as, “terrible…a disgrace.”
Biden out, Harris in. Well, the President finally admitted what we all have known for months (if not longer), and dropped out of the presidential race due to his declining cognitive abilities (well, okay, he didn’t actually admit this).
I am shocked, though, that he took it on himself to select his replacement on the ticket: there was no selection process, no primaries, no public discussion, just sort of an anointing. This basically unheard of in American history: for the last 70 years party candidates have been chosen by primaries and party conventions, and before that, going back to 1800 or so, they were chosen by party caucuses or conventions. So that, to many, me included, the selection of Harris by Biden, with the party falling in-line behind him, seems kind of un-American, or un-democratic. I mean, we really only get 2 choices for president, and while one was selected by the people, the other was selected by the “reigning” president.
In any case, Kamala Harris is the nominee of the party that is and is becoming more radically pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage, pro-transgender/child-mutilation, pro-socialist, anti-police, anti-Christian, anti-Catholic. Remember how Senator Harris called into question a judicial nominee because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus? “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?…[Were you] aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization…?”
And now she’s chosen an equally radical Democrat Governor, Tim Walz, to be her running mate. God help us!
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal. St. Raymond’s is 1 of only 9 parishes that did not meet their BLA goal this year, missing it by 2%, or only $5,455. I want to sincerely thank all of you have given, but, frankly, I was hoping we would meet our goal, particularly as a sign of our appreciation that the Bishop sent us a Parochial Vicar (Fr. Bergida) last year. So, if some of you can get us over the 100% mark, that would be a very good thing.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles