Addendum--Religious Orders

      A slight clarification is in order, given that even a lot of cradle Catholics these days have little knowledge of religious communities, especially here in the South:  Religious orders are communities of men or women who live in community in service to the Church and according to their rule.  These communities are each single-sex, but an order (The Franciscans, for example) may have separate religious houses (congregations) for men and women (though never together). 

      Some orders share an overall affiliation (they might, for example, all be Dominicans) but each house has a separate governance and charism.  The Hawthorne Dominicans (Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne),  founded by the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, are dedicated to the care of the sick poor, especially in hospice settings.  Our own local Nashville Dominicans (Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia) are focused on teaching.  But they are all Dominicans (O.P.)  Likewise, there are a number of Franciscan orders for both men and women including the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (C.F.R.) who tend to the poor and outcast often in city slums.

      Sometimes both orders share a common name (Dominicans, Franciscans) whether the individual community is for men or women; sometimes the names are slightly different (Trappists/Trappistines; Redemptorists/Redemptoristines). 

     Orders come and go.  Some have existed for hundreds of years, others are quite new.  Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950; the Benedictines were founded in the Sixth Century.  Two of the newest orders are Daughters of Mary, Our Lady of Nazareth, founded by Sister Olga, an Iraqi who came to the Roman Catholic Church from the Assyrian Church (where she was the first nun in 700 years)  and Daughters of Mary, Israel's Hope, an order in the process of being founded by Rosalind Moss, a convert from Judaism.  The Holy Spirit never stops calling men and women to vocations in religious life--and orders change as times and needs change.

Why do you call him Monsignor if he’s the Pope?

      A friend who came into the Church last year heard me talking about Monsignor (Charles) Pope, author of a blog I particularly like.  After hearing me say this several times, she asked in some confusion, “If he’s the Pope, why do you call him Monsignor?” 

     Catholic hierarchy and titles can be confusing.  Most folks know that Catholics call priests Father,  but even that can be confusing.  I have a friend, for example, who , inquiring after the health of our pastor, insists on asking me how “My father” is doing.  Given that my dad is dead, this always perplexes me, until I realize he means the good priest in current charge of my parish. 

      Here are a few tips on hierarchy and titles—at least in the Roman rite.  Things get even more complicated in the Eastern churches, so we will leave that for another time .

      There are three distinctions in Holy Orders: deacons, priests and bishops.   The individuals who are ordained to those states are addressed in person as follows:

• Deacon Jones
• Father Smith
• Bishop (or Archbishop) Brown. 

      Deacons come in two varieties: permanent and transitional.  Permanent deacons serve various sacramental and service needs in a parish.  They can marry, bury and baptize, assist at mass and take communion to the sick but cannot celebrate the Eucharist or hear confessions.  They may be married men, but if married when ordained, they may not remarry if their wife dies.  If unmarried at ordination, they must remain so.  Transitional deacons are men who are ordained as deacons about a year in advance of being ordained a priest.  They must be unmarried and are required to remain so.  Deacons are addressed by title and last name, though many may permit the more informal Deacon First Name

      When referring to the priest in charge of a particular parish, he can be referred to by title and name or as the pastor.  Some priests ask to be addressed as Father First Name.  This is appropriate if the priest indicates he is comfortable with such informal address but not otherwise.  So, really, my friend should ask me about Father Smith or my pastor.  I suppose he could ask about my father in faith, but that’s a little contrived even though it’s theologically correct and I am not above teasing my friend about it.

      In the past, Bishops were addressed, both in writing and in person as Your Excellency.  These days, most don’t insist on that,  but it’s a nice sign of respect to maintain the traditional practice--and a good idea to do so until being told that it is permissible to address him as Bishop Last Name.  Anglican Bishops have traditionally been called Your Lordship  or My Lord,  (Archbishops as Your Grace) which, I suppose, raises the question of how Bishops in the new Ordinariate for Anglicans received into the Church will be addressed—stay tuned!

      Archbishops are bishops in charge of a large, metropolitan archdiocese (like Chicago, Atlanta, New York).  They receive the title according to the archdiocese and hold it while they serve there.  Our own local diocese is an Archdiocese, and so our Bishop is Archbishop Gregory.  By contrast, Knoxville is a smaller diocese with Bishop Stika at its head.  Our archdiocese has an auxiliary bishop, Bishop Zarama.  Because he is an auxiliary bishop and not the head of the diocese, Bishop Zarama does not receive the title of Archbishop, even though he serves an archdiocese.  Most archbishops have at least one auxiliary to assist with the duties within a diocese that require a bishop.  Bishops are the pastors for their diocese and like the pastor of a parish have both  liturgical (confirmations outside the Easter Vigil, ordinations of priests and deacons) and administrative duties.

      In addition to the offices of deacon, priest and bishop, there are honorific titles given within the Church to recognize outstanding service or contribution to the Church.  A priest may be made Monsignor (there are three types of these, and they differ in dress and rank).   Monsignori are still priests and many are content to be addressed either as Father or Monsignor, but respect would suggest that the lay faithful recognize the honor in addressing the man.

      Similarly, Bishops may be made Cardinals.  These men are the clergy in bright red cassocks wearing red hats you’ll see at the enclave to elect a new pope.  That and advising the pope when he requests it are the sole jobs of a cardinal as a cardinal; most have duties in dioceses outside Rome.  Those who do not serve in the Curia (Church administration in Rome) or hold a diocese in Rome or its suburbs are Cardinal priests (this is true of Cardinals like the newly appointed Cardinal Dolan of New York).  Cardinals who govern a Roman diocese are Cardinal Bishops and those who serve full time in the Curia are Cardinal deacons.  Cardinals are entitled to be addressed as Your Eminence but most these days are addressed simply as Cardinal Last Name.  There’s another idiosyncrasy in addressing a cardinal: you will often—though not always—see him addressed by his first name, his title and his last name: John Cardinal Doe.

      Both monsignori  and cardinals are made so only by papal appointment. 

      Religious brothers and sisters are consecrated to religious life, having taken solemn vows to live celibate and dedicated lives but they have not received holy orders (although a brother can, in addition, become a priest in his order and then is addressed as a priest would be).  There are many, many religious orders, some large, some small, some thriving, some, not.  Their members are identified by the letters following their names:  Brother John Smith, O.P. (Dominicans) or Brother James Doe, OCSO (Order of Cistercians of Strict Observance—the Trappists).  Brothers are addressed as Brother; sisters as Sister.  The head of a monastery is generally called, and addressed as, Abbot, which comes from the word Abba—Father.  The head of an order of religious sisters is addressed as  Mother.

      Religious sisters are likewise identified by the initials following their names.  In many orders, especially the more traditional ones, the sisters some (brothers too)  are given new names at the time of their profession of vows and are no longer known by their baptismal names:  Sister Peter Chanel, O. Carm (Carmelites).  Some religious orders have both male and female members (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, Trappists) but others do not.  Go here for a list of abbreviations of orders and an idea of just how many religious orders there are.  

      Some religious orders customarily wear a distinctive dress (a “habit”) and some do not.  Some wear ordinary clothes most of the time and reserve the habit for special occasions. Go here To have a look at some of the habits worn by various orders.  Most of them have changed over time, and some orders gave them up entirely in the years following Vatican II.  Many did not and still others have found it beneficial to return to them.

      Habits are much debated and the discussions are passionate on both sides, but one thing is certain: wearing a habit (or clerical dress) makes a silent, very public statement that  an individual totally  committed to his faith is present.  Religious dress (and the clerical collar) reminds us of God’s presence among us, the need for our response, and those among us who have given up their entire lives in service to God and to us.  Unfortunately, these days, it also can make the wearer a target of abuse.  A good many priests stopped wearing their clerical dress in public after being harassed, even physically assaulted, in the wake of the sex abuse scandals.  On the other hand, many also report having people approach to offer thanks and support--or ask for confession!  One thing is certain, a priest or religious in identifiable clothing is never "off duty."

      One religious order of note is composed only of priests, who also take a vow never to be bishops: the Jesuits (Society of Jesus, S.J.)  Neither do they have a lay “third order” as many other religious orders do—an affiliated order in which laypeople who wish to be associated with the order may, after a time of discernment and education, be formally associated with the order after taking their own vows as laymen.

      Nuns  are religious sisters who remain cloistered—withdrawn from the world and confined, for the most part, to their religious house (monastery or convent) for life, engaging in contemplative prayer for the rest of us.  Monks are consecrated religious men who live in community apart from the world in a monastery and engage in a life of prayer and work.   Consecrated (and ordained) religious take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and live according to the rule of the order.  The Rule of St. Benedict  is one of the more well known-take a look at it here.  It provides some good advice for getting along in community—we in the world would do well to observe much of it!  It is followed not only by the Benedictines (O.S.B) but other orders as well.

      Each individual religious order is a community with its own individual gift or charism that it lives out as a community and for the greater good of the Church and the world.  The Dominicans are preachers and teachers, the Franciscans are known for their adherence to a strict form of evangelical poverty, the Carmelites for their devotion to contemplative prayer, The Missionaries of Charity for service to the poor.   

      Last and not least, there is the matter of how to address the Pope, should we be so lucky! Popes are drawn from the ranks of Cardinals and take a new name on assuming the papacy –continuing the tradition that a name change accompanies being selected by God for a particular purpose (Abram to Abraham,  Mary to Full of Grace, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul).  The Pope is referred to as the Holy Father, or His (Your) Holiness.  He has a number of other titles: Bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff and—the one most treasured by the last two Popes—Servant of the Servants of God.

Baltimore Catechism

I goofed in class today.  It was question #6, not Question #1:  Why did God make me?


It's been something that has bothered men for centuries: what is our purpose?  The answer according to the original Baltimore Catechism?  God made me so that I can know Him, love Him, and serve Him so that I can be happy with him for eternity in heaven.  There is great simplicity in that answer as well as great depth.  God did not create out of need, for God is perfect and needs nothing.  God brought us forth out of a sheer, gratuitous act of love--a reality that ought to make us both joyful and humble. God is Love in the most profound and deepest sense of that simple statement.  When we glorify God,  God then reflects that glory back on those He loves for all of creation to see.  And that is how the revised version answers that question: God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.  There is a lifetime of meditation in those two statements alone.

As I said in class, the Baltimore Catechism, originally written in 1891, is a local catechism (that is, one published by a local diocese or in a particular place, but still one taken from the official Catechism of the Universal Church) in a Q and A format.  It was meant for children, many of them the children of immigrants faced with the necessity of catechesis in a new land and a new language.  It was revised in 1941 and used up until the time of Vatican II (mid-sixties) in many locales--ask a cradle Catholic over 50 why God made him and odds are the answer you get will harken back to the Baltimore Catechism. Here's a link to the original, and one to the 1941 revision.


Take a look for yourself--bring questions on the questions to class.  This catechism is intended to get you started thinking about these mysteries--it's not a black and white, be-all, do-all substitute for thinking!  I hope you find it a useful supplement to the materials you already have, and a way to jump-start your own inquiries. You might want to look at what the Baltimore Catechism says about sacraments as we move deeper into our discussion of the sacramental life of the Church.  At any rate--enjoy!

Christmas Days

Just to keep you updated on the Catholic version of Christmas:

This year, the Christmas season looks like this:

December 26-:Feast of St. Stephen, martyr
December 27:Feast of St. John the Evangelist
December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents
December 29: Feast of Thomas Becket, martyr
December 30: Feast of the Holy Family
December 31: Feast of St. Sylvester I
January 1: Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God
January 2: Feast of Sts. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen
January 3: Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
January 4: Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
January 5: Feast of St. John Neumann
January 8 Epiphany of the Lord

As you can see, there are a good many particular feasts to remind us of one or another aspect of the meaning of the Incarnation.  Twelve days isn't nearly long enough to take it all in, let alone a single day...explore these feasts and you will soon find favorites that speak to you in a special way.

Then, January 9--the first day of Ordinary Time is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marking His entrance into public life.

We'll talk about this calendar (briefly) on Sunday before we begin our discussion of sacraments.  Please bring any questions/comments.

Shoring Up the Walls

As we begin a more intensive study of the Catholic faith, I would like for you to listen to Fr Barron's sermon on Nehemiah (# 315 Third Sunday in  Ordinary Time).  You can access it at wordonfire.org.  Part of being Catholic is understanding what practices set us apart, shore up our faith and enrich our lives.  When we lose sight of those practices, we tend to drift away from the faith.  Being Catholic is not just about how we think--it is about what we do, both publicly and privately.

We will begin studying the sacraments this Sunday and, in part, it is our sacramental theology that sets us apart as Catholics.  Over the next few months as we learn about the sacraments and the Catholic life, we will also be exploring Catholic devotions.

Friday is the First Friday of the month, and that is associated with both the Firth Friday Devotion as well as the practice of Adoration.  If you can, please join me in the chapel at 2:30 for some time of Adoration, and stay until Benediction---one of my favorite liturgies.

First Friday devotion is associated with the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Read about it here.
Eucharistic Adoration--the silent adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament--has a long history in the Church.  It lost popularity in the years immediately following Vatican II but has re-emerged.  St. Jude parish in Chattanooga has adoration daily; most parishes have it often, usually on First Fridays and there is a perpetual adoration chapel--where the Blessed Sacrament is always exposed for adoration--in Atlanta (as well as in many other cities and towns).  The Archdiocese has a Eucharistic Congress every year (on Corpus Christi weekend) where 30,000 or so Catholics converge on the Convention Center for Eucharistic Processions, masses, adoration, and talks on the Eucharist as it relates to Catholic life.  It's a great experience, and I strongly encourage you to go (this year--2012-- it will be on June 8-9).

The Holy Innocents

The shadow of the cross falls over the manger--Christ was, as the old hymn says, born for to die.  The shadow of the cross falls over us all.  We in the midst of the season of Christmas; in fact, we are in the Octave, where every day is celebrated as if it were Christmas Day.  So who do we celebrate, in the very center of that octave, the brutal death of innocent children? Surely it is a cause for sadness and not joy.


Even as a helpless baby, Christ threatened the powers of the world.  From the first moments of His life, there were those who rejected Him and plotted His death.  And nothing, least of all other innocent babies, would get in the way of Herod's--and the world's--efforts to get rid of Him.  John the Baptist lost his life because he proclaimed the coming of Christ.  St. Stephen lost his life for proclaiming the truth of Christ.  The Holy Innocents died simply because they resembled Him too closely.  They died not so much for Christ , as Stephen and John did, but in His place.  Thus the Church venerates them as martyrs.


Here is St. Augustine on the Holy Innocents ("birthday" refers to the day of death--the birth into heaven):

Today, dearest brethren, we celebrate the birthday of those children who were slaughtered, as the Gospel tells us, by that exceedingly cruel king, Herod. Let the earth, therefore, rejoice and the Church exult — she, the fruitful mother of so many heavenly champions and of such glorious virtues. Never, in fact, would that impious tyrant have been able to benefit these children by the sweetest kindness as much as he has done by his hatred. For as today's feast reveals, in the measure with which malice in all its fury was poured out upon the holy children, did heaven's blessing stream down upon them.

"Blessed are you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah! You suffered the inhumanity of King Herod in the murder of your babes and thereby have become worthy to offer to the Lord a pure host of infants. In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers' womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present. The precious death of any martyr deserves high praise because of his heroic confession; the death of these children is precious in the sight of God because of the beatitude they gained so quickly. For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod's cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers' bosom, are justly hailed as "infant martyr flowers"; they were the Church's first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.

— St. Augustine

The Holy Innocents also bring to mind the holocaust of abortion, the killing of innocents in our day and time.  Mother Teresa once said,  "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."  The Holy Innocents died so that Herod could live as he wished--or so Herod thought.  The Holy Innocents, patron saints of  babies,  have been also proposed at patron saints of the aborted and those recovering from abortion.


We take some time from our joyful celebration of the birth of Christ to remember that a holy life also involves suffering, much of it undeserved.

Three French Hens....

This is about Boxing Day (yesterday, the second day of Christmas) from Sister Mary Martha:

Today is the day the Good King Wenceslaus looked out at the snow that was deep and crisp and even. Actually, it's not today, it's tonight, because the moon was bright (although the frost was cruel). The Good King spotted a poor man gathering wood for his fire. He asked his page if the page knew where the poor man lived, and the page knew exactly where the poor man lived. So Wenceslaus told the page to make up a box of groceries and stuff with a plan to bring it to the poor man so they could sit and watch him eat it all.
Nothing would have happened without the page, really. The king wouldn't have known where to find the man and even if he could have figured it out, he would have had to get the groceries together himself. I'll bet the page carried all the stuff once they went out, too, because otherwise, if you think about it, why did he have to go out there with the King? It wasn't the page's idea and he had already told Wenceslaus where to head.

We never hear anything about what happened once they reached the poor man's house. We are more interested in what happened on the way, when the poor page nearly froze to death but was saved by Wenceslaus' hot foot tracks.

Today is the second day of Christmastime, a time of hope and love. May your footsteps also leave a warm path in the world.

I am struck by several things:

(1) As modern Americans, we have lost what kingship means. Kings weren't crowned by acclimation---they held office by right. Some were good, some bad--but no matter which, you owed your king obedience--and he had great control over your daily life. And you didn't get to decide, one day, that you just wouldn't be subject to the king any more--he was yours for life. We have a good King indeed in Christ, who should, in fact, have sway over EVERYTHING in our life.

(2) Boxing Day, the day when in British Countries boxes of food are taken to the poor, are in a way a nod to Good King Wenceslas. He restored Christianity to his kingdom, bolstered the Church, took a vow of virginity in the service of the Church and was--as the song says--considered a good king. He was murdered by his brother for political reasons. In a slightly happier ending to the story than one might expect, the brother later repented, and returned Wenceslas' body to a royal resting place.

(3) Kings use their pages to get the job done. Christ usess us to be His hands in the world.

(4) The page is saved by the warmth of the King's footsteps as he followed according to the king's order. We are ordered to take up our cross and follow Christ, but in His footsteps is the way of life, even if there's trouble and hardship on the way. But by following in His footsteps we are saved. Christ did first what we are to do so that we would know the way.

The Church teaches we have several reliable ways to encounter Christ in our daily lives:

• In the Eucharist
• In the Church, her teaching and her works
• In the Scriptures
• In the priest in his priestly functions which he exercises through Christ
• In the poor

Advent prepares us to meet Christ--the Christmas season can help us prepare to carry Him into the world, serving, especially, the poor.

Turning to today's feast, we honor one of God's great pages: St. John the Evangelist, who. like Wenceslas' page, followed in the footsteps of his King. John is the Apostle of the Incarnation, the only of the faithful Apostles who was not martyred. His gospel is the most theological, the richest in the underlying truths of the faith. It has been described as the passion gospel, and John delves deep into the mysteries of the Incarnation. By modern standards it's not a long book--why not begin to read it today on John's feast day--and finish it before the end of the Christmas season?

It is said that at the end of his life, John simply preached, over and over, "Little children, love one another..." Love is not just an emotion, it is willing the good of the other as other, with no mind to ourselves. That's a good thought for meditation on the third day of Christmas. Perhaps deliver three French hens to the poor in John's admonition of love? Perhaps this might be a way to come face to face with Christ?