Two new priests for the Diocese. Photo courtesy of John Christian.

St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Clearwater, which we have been using for some time while our Cathedral of St. Jude is being remodeled, was packed to the proverbial “gills” with priests, deacons, religious, families and friends of the new priests, and our seminarians and some who are thinking of the seminary. I would estimate that about 1300 people were present when Justin Peter Paskert and Gioan Nguyen Vu Viet answered the call to orders with their “present.”

The then transitional deacons, Deacon Justin Paskert and Deacon Viet Nguyen. Photo kindness of Dana Rozance with Vidaroza Photography.

The ceremony took 135 minutes, but I would be willing to bet the house that no one looked at their watch or wanted to leave at its conclusion. There is something overwhelming about ordinations.

Photo kindness of Dana Rozance of Vidaroza Photography.

I call it a veritable tsunami of emotion and feeling which builds throughout the ceremony and the release is often found in thunderous applause from the assembled.

Father Viet alone is quite a story, as is the faith witness of his family. Always wishing to be a priest and attempting on several occasions to enter the seminary in his native country of Vietnam, he was prevented from doing so by the Vietnamese government authorities who have the “right” to vet any and all candidates for the Catholic priesthood prior to their admission into any seminary in the country. In Father Viet’s case, it was probably guilty by association with his uncle who is a priest in the Diocese of Hue and who is at this very moment in prison for the “outrageous” crime of speaking publicly on behalf of democracy and freedom of religion throughout Vietnam. Now in his third decade of imprisonment, his uncle, Father Thadeus Ly, was released briefly when his jailers discovered that he had cancer but he was quickly put back into prison where he remains today. Needless to say, I asked everyone present to pray for Father Ly, for his health, for his freedom from prison, for his liberty to again be a priest to God’s people in his home diocese.

BUT, one member of the family in jail was not enough and when the young Gioan Nguyen Vu Viet protested his uncle’s imprisonment, he too was placed in prison, in solitary confinement and sometimes going days without being fed even subsistence food and water. He was a “political” prisoner of the government of Vietnam. They tried to break him but they could not. They tried to kill him even but they could not. It was all about his faith, his desire for the freedom of his uncle. A human rights group from the United States discovered his case and several members of Congress sought his release to come to the United States and end the punishment of an innocent man.

They succeeded, Viet came to the US and to the Tampa Bay area and soon sought us out to see if he might pursue his longtime goal of priesthood in the United States. We accepted him, put him in the seminary, and on Saturday ordained him a priest. His mother and a few other relatives were allowed to come for his ordination, but the government of the United States refused to approve a request for a visa for Father Viet’s brother and sister, fearing I suppose they might “overstay” their welcome.

The joy among the Vietnamese community over one of their own being ordained a priest  was clearly present, just about every Vietnamese priest in Florida was with us for the ordination, and Viet’s bishop from his home diocese of Phu Cuong, Bishop Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc, was present for the ordination of a man who his predecessor as bishop could not get the Vietnamese government to allow to enter the seminary. How sweet is that?

With Father Viet Nguyen and his mother. Photo kindness of John Christian.

Father Viet has been assigned as Assistant Pastor of St. Paul Parish in St. Petersburg where he served his pastoral year two years ago and where he became much loved by the parishioners. In time, of course, he will minister closely and directly to the Vietnamese community in our Diocese which currently gathers for Sunday Mass at Epiphany Church in Tampa and Holy Martyrs of Vietnam parish in Largo.

Father Justin Paskert, after graduating from high school joined his Dad and brothers in the family plumbing business in southwestern Hillsborough County. I remember meeting Justin when he was in grade school and high school and he would serve my confirmation Masses at his home parish of St. Anne in Ruskin. Nine  long years ago he came to Father Len Plazewski, then the Vocation Director, and asked him if he might enter the seminary. He completed four years at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and five years of theology at the Regional Seminary of St. Vincent de Paul in Boynton Beach. During his pastoral year, he was at Corpus Christi parish in Temple Terrace but any parish that had Justin during his formation years for any purpose felt blessed. Quietly effective in many ways, he was elected the President of the Student Body at St. Vincent de Paul seminary, thereby enjoying the respect and confidence of his peers.

With Father Justin Paskert and his parents. Photo kindness of John Christian.

Father Paskert will serve his first years of priestly ministry at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church in Tarpon Springs.

I have the greatest level of confidence that these two men, one once a plumber and the other once a prisoner (“for the Lord” in the language of the great St. Paul) will do well. They sure got off to an incredible start at their ordination to priesthood yesterday and for them both, the best is yet to come. If you wish to read my homily on this occasion, you may do so below or via a PDF version by clicking here.

HOMILY AT THE PRIESTHOOD ORDINATION MASS FOR

JUSTIN PETER FRANCIS PASKERT AND JOHN NGUYEN VU VIET

By

Most Reverend Robert N. Lynch, Bishop of St. Petersburg

St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Clearwater, FL

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Viet and Justin, may the applause of your family and friends and indeed this local church of St. Petersburg, ring in your ears and remain in your memory long after the doors of this church have once again been locked and all of us have withdrawn. The affirmation just heard and to be repeated several more times is but our only way of expressing our pride and joy in you and our gratitude to the Lord of the harvest who has skillfully planted the seeds of your vocation in your heart and carefully managed their cultivation to this moment.

Our applause is genuine. Our pride is real. Our hope is palpable. Our love for you is unconditional. Our desire to support you even more in the days and months ahead is freely offered. However, praise can be a fleeting thing. Christ Himself who used the same words from Isaiah as we proclaimed in the first reading in his great return to the synagogue of his youth would soon hear applause give birth to skepticism, truth give way to cynicism, and popularity quickly decline to opposition. Today you conform yourself more closely to Christ, the priest. He sacrificed himself, you will offer sacrifice. He forgave sinners in his name and by his power; you will forgive through the ministry of the Church thereby offering both pardon and peace. These and more are awesome responsibilities of which no man is truly worthy but as was Aaron, you too have been called by God. Priesthood is not about power, nor might I add is the episcopacy. We are called to serve, friend and foe alike, the learned and the ignorant, the faithful as well as the erring. In recent days Pope Francis has reminded us with his stark, simple, stunning and stirring words, there is no room in Christ’s church and especially in ordained and consecrated ministry for careerism and a self-reverential approach to priesthood stands in stark opposition to the ministry of Christ. How, often, as in this morning’s readings do we hear Christ deflect praise by reminding his listeners that he is busy not about His business but that of the one who sent Him. Genuine ministry is always at the service of someone higher than ourselves – we are merely instruments in the hands of the Almighty.

It has always been amazing to me in my thirty-five years of priestly ministry how the core or substance of who we are and what we were ordained to do remains unchanged but the accidentals change. Perhaps an analogy might help? Understanding priestly ministry today is something like eating an artichoke – truth and transparency require me to admit that is something I have never done and would not ever think of doing. However, watching others attack this weird looking vegetable, the satisfaction that is gained from peeling off and sipping the contents of the leaves eventually gives way to both gazing at and then eating the core. The leaves are teasers, if you wish, for the delight that remains hidden to both the eye and the palate until the end. The core of the priesthood is our role in the celebration of the sacraments, of transubstantiation and of reconciliation, of baptizing into new life and anointing those soon to pass into life eternal, of reminding those who are about to begin their life together as husband and wife that fidelity has its place in marriage and in ordination and consecration. That’s the core but each priest has an opportunity to sweeten the leaves – to smile when it seems the impossible has been asked of us, to invite to the table those who society and perhaps even our ecclesial community tends to exclude, to eat with prisoners incarcerated and to assist those incarcerated with their own addictions to find new freedom. Christ is the core of priestly ministry, but the leaves can be sometimes of our doing and sometimes under the influence of others.

Justin and Viet, you are the first of what will likely someday be called the “Francis priests.” Almost every priest in this church today can say that they are Paul VI priests, John Paul II and Benedict priests and now Francis priests. I very much consider myself a Paul VI priest but I will not belabor definitions. However, I think Paul VI’s vision of the Church post Council was what excited me enough to shut up and listen to the voice of God calling me to ministry in the Church. A lot of who I am, how I act as a priest and bishop, how I envision Church was shaped by his ministry, his vision, his commitment to the Council. The core of my ministry, the fruit if you will of God’s call is the same as everyone else’s and it has been very satisfying for thirty-five years, to me and I hope to God to others.

But if I were your age, I would be enchanted by Pope Francis. I too believe that the future of the Church depends not on how we serve the comfortable, but how we reach out to the fringes, the excluded, the vulnerable, and the forgotten. Doing that will make some uncomfortable in ministry and some uncomfortable of their ministers. But look at the ministry of the Lord – little time was spent with those whom he was most comfortable with and a lot of time was spent on those who had no other friends. Both of you have great gifts of experience to bring to your priesthood, leaves if you will which have special delight and will want others to continue on until they find the core.

Justin, you know that there is dignity in hard labor for with your father and in the family business you took pride in the product of your labor no matter how dirty your hands and clothes became. You know how hard it is to gain a dollar and how quickly and foolishly that which came as a result of hard work can disappear in a consumer moment. You will be a comfort to God’s holy people as they search for meaning and dignity in their work.

Viet, you have stared your prison guards in the face, conquered incarceration, proved that there is no restraint which can chain the human longing for freedom of religion and when faced with solitary confinement and starvation, you felt the presence of Jesus in a manner which none of us ever will, you cloned yourself to Paul and Silas and Peter for whom chains and ankle irons never confined their preaching and powerful witness and your hunger was for the bread of life.  Who better in this whole diocese to say, “I have come to bring freedom to prisoners?”

My brothers, the leaves, which surround the core of your priestly ministry, raise great expectations in all of us today. Both of you have born the heat of the day and may Francis, our Pope, who understands the challenges of life perhaps better than many of his saintly predecessors and perhaps even of ourselves inspire you to become “Franciscan” – and sorry sons of St. Francis, you know how I mean that!

The daily journey to the core substance of your priestly ministry will provide you with many moments of joy and happiness. Everyone here this morning joins me in welcoming you to priestly ministry at the service of others. AMEN.

+RNL

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Thirty-five years ago as I entered the Cathedral with four others to be ordained by the late Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, one of the kindest, gentlest, and fatherly people I have ever known, I had no real idea what turns my priesthood would take. My father had died, my mother was fragile in many ways, and my brothers were far away. I had only a small group of close friends who joined my family on that occasion and the ordination and first Mass were on the same day which, like this year, happened to be the Vigil of Pentecost. All that I had waited for, all that I had studied for, all that I had dreamed about, all I had worried about was over in nine hours. I was thirty-six years old that day. Monsignor Robert Gibbons, Father John Tapp, Father Thomas Morgan, Bishop John Noonan, Monsignor Michael Muhr all were in the seminary and some sang in the choir that morning, strangers to me and I to them.

There had been a great discussion on where to assign me for  my first assignment I was later to learn. The Clergy Personnel Board had suggested to the Archbishop that I be assigned to St. Rose of Lima parish in Miami Shores with Monsignor Noel Fogarty but when he was called, he objected apparently, telling them that “I need someone who will stay here a few years and from what I know, Lynch won’t.” The man was prophetic. At the last moment, there was a swap of newly ordained and I was assigned to St. James parish in North Miami, a great working class parish at the time with a thriving school staffed by the Adrian Dominican Sisters and a rectory which consisted of a pastor, three associates, and three resident priests. Father Jim Reynolds (still alive and now a Monsignor) was my first pastor and he loved being a cruise ship chaplain and therefore was often gone ministering to Catholics on the high seas. Meanwhile back at St. James, while the proverbial “cat” was away, did the equally proverbial “mice” ever play. It was a great year. I staged the first parish musical (GREASE) and managed to bring the warring Adult Choir and Contemporary Choir together for the event which ushered in a new era of cooperation and working together.

But Monsignor Fogarty was right. Only June 26th, one year plus a few weeks after my ordination, Archbishop McCarthy called me to say that Bishop Thomas Kelly, OP, the general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference had called and informed him super-confidentially that the newly inaugurated Pope John Paul II was going to accept an invitation from the United Nations and President Jimmy Carter to visit the United States in October and the bishop’s conference was asking for me to be released to manage the first papal visit to the United States (Pope Paul VI came to the United Nations but never was invited to formally visit the US). I asked the Archbishop for permission to turn it down and told him how happy I was at St. James. He responded by saying that the “deployment” would only last until the Pope returned to Rome after the visit and I could return to St. James. So off I went – never to return to St. James sadly.

I began my work on the papal visit on July 1, 1979, taking temporary housing at the priest’s staff house in Washington, DC. On July 5th, I received a second call from Archbishop McCarthy. After exchanging some pleasantries and asking when the announcement of the visit would be officially confirmed (it had already leaked to the media), he then asked me if I would be willing to return to the Archdiocese of Miami and become the fifth Rector-President of St. John Vianney College Seminary when the Pope left in October. I told him that I did not think I would be a good candidate as I “hated seminaries.” He responded that someone who hated seminaries was precisely the kind of person who could make them better. Check-mate, Archbishop McCarthy. That was the first year and God saw that it was good!

From 1979-1984, I served as Rector-President of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. They were good years. I did not have time to study a learning curve so I made many mistakes, I am sure. But during this time, with a superb faculty and great priest associates, we met, formed and said farewell to over one-hundred and fifty great men, some serving as terrific priests today and some as loving and terrific husbands and fathers.

In the Spring of 1984, Monsignor Daniel Hoye, then the General Secretary of the NCCB/USCC and absolutely the finest “boss” I ever worked for, asked if I would return to Washington as his Associate General Secretary for Public Affairs. My portfolio included “supervising” women and men whose sandal strap I was not worthy really to tie: Father Brian Hehir, Father William Lewers CSC and John Carr in International and Domestic Social Justice, Mark Chopko our General Counsel, Frank Monahan our chief lobbyist, and Fathers Ken Doyle and Monsignor Frank Maniscalco in Communications to name a few of the great people of that era. In 1987, Blessed Pope John Paul II returned to the United States for his second pastoral visit to our country beginning in Miami, with the only outdoor Mass in his long pontificate that was terminated due to a severe thunderstorm, then Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco and Detroit – ten days and nine cities. He was indefatigable but I sure was not – the future saint wore me out. There were many moments when I thought to myself, “if the kids on the block, or even my dad, could see me now!”

Monsignor Hoye relinquished the position of General Secretary in 1989  and I was elected by the bishops to serve them in that capacity for the next six years. With Sisters Sharon Euart, Monsignor Dennis Schnurr (now the Archbishop of Cincinnati) and Frank Doyle as my associates, we served the finest group of bishops one could hope for. I had Archbishop John L. May as my first president for a year, Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk for the next three years, and Cardinal William H. Keeler for my final two. In 1993, the pope came back, this time for World Youth Day in Denver, something I had helped promote in the midst of genuine skepticism on the part of some of my bosses that (a) young people in North America will not come and (b) we could never afford the cost. But finally it was time, I knew in my heart, to return home, to Miami, to a parish and resume the rest of my life. With tears in my eyes and those of almost everyone else who lined a path from the Chapel at the USCCB/NCCB headquarters to the parking lot, I found my way to my packed car on February 2, 1995 and headed to Lorton to catch the Auto-Train south to my archdiocese.

Named pastor of St. Mark’s parish in western Broward County effective June 1st of 1995, I marked the occasion by being in the hospital for ten days with spinal meningitis contracted, according to the Center for Disease Control on a flight from Boston to Miami. When I finally arrived at St. Mark’s it was love at first sight. A contract had been signed for a new elementary school accommodating 1000 students (it was full on the day it was dedicated and remains full today!) and the worship space doubled as a hall and a church. My associate pastor was Father Fernando Isern – the best associate I ever had (not just because he was the only one either) who is now the Bishop of Pueblo, Colorado. St. Mark’s had great music, a full Church for every Sunday Mass, a Hispanic community who came up from Miami after Hurricane Andrew devastated Dade county, lots of life and spiritual vitality. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My mother died ten days before Thanksgiving that year from chronic COPD and the national holiday was tinged with grief. The following Monday, I received a call from Archbishop Agostino Cacchiavillan, the papal nuncio, who informed me that the man for whom I had three times served as “travel agent” wanted me to come to St. Petersburg as its fourth bishop. I was ordained a bishop on January 26, 1996.

That was my priesthood, prior to being ordained a bishop. Reflections on this later period of my life need to remain just that – reflections until I am finished with my work. But what I have shared with you is the “stuff” for which I am so grateful today. So many wonderful experiences of “church” on many levels, so many bright, talented and wonderful people at my side desirous always of helping me, I have been so fortunate. Today at noon, the women and men of the Pastoral Center joined me for Mass. They are the current fountains of grace and success if that measure applies to the present moment. And so are you who read these sometimes rambling (this one may be the longest ever) musings. For them and for all of you, I give thanks to a generous and loving God.

Peace be with you!

Bishop Robert N. Lynch

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Among the more egregious actions to my mind or in some cases inactions would be the following:

(1) The failure to come to any agreement about the expansion of Medicaid benefits for the poor under the Affordable Care Act which practically guarantees that over fifty million dollars and benefits which would have come to Floridians from the federal government will now find their way to another state. Shameless!

(2) Not only does the Florida legislature not wish to do away with the death penalty (as last week did the Maryland legislature and two years ago the New Mexico legislature) but they wish to speed up executions in the state. Establishing a strict timeline almost insures that the number of innocent people executed will increase (DNA results applied to Florida death-row inmates alone has resulted in a score of convictions of those planned to be executed in this state to be reversed but it took a lot of time). I hope Governor Scott vetoes this possibly prairie popular law.

In the interest of fairness, I do wish to acknowledge that additional protection for the pre-born has been provided this session and a long overdue increase in salary for public school teachers has been put in place as well.

Now, for the Washington scene, a major disappointment was the defeat of a very modest first effort at very limited gun control. It came close but not enough. Immigration reform now seems caught up in the party partisan debate and at times it seems like President Obama has decided he can not do anything about the Congress he has been dealt so doing nothing is a virtue. How many more Sandy Hooks (Newtown) or Auroras (Colorado) will it take, ladies and gentlemen of the House and Senate? Finally, there will be someday a national debate on drone missiles, but how much discussion on collateral damage and loss of innocent life will precede that?

Some may think that this bishop got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but I hope a few of you can see the strong stream of Catholic moral theology which courses throughout political debate and decisions. Thirty years ago last Saturday, the bishops of the United States issued their pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.” It had its critics but it also had its effects, all salutary. Today it would seem that corporately, we bishops, at times, solely tend to focus on abortion, contraception, euthanasia when once all “life and death issues” were a part of a “seamless garment.” No political party I know of is truly and fully pro-life. No legislative body either, at the state or federal level, is truly and fully pro-life. Hence, a pox on all their houses.

+RNL

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Father Thomas Stokes, S.M.

Word came to me late yesterday of the deaths of two wonderful people. The Marist Fathers province informed us of the death of our dear Father Thomas Stokes, for many years the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ybor City. Father Stokes retired last summer but remained around until the Fall when he returned to Ireland for the final time. I wrote lovingly about this man and his time among us last year and you can access that tribute by clicking here. For this moment, Father Tom did not have a long period of restful retirement, but now he rests in peace in that better place to which we all aspire and to which all of us who knew Father Stokes know that he is almost there, for sure.

When I arrived in the diocese in January of 1996, our communications officer was Joseph Mannion. He also died yesterday after a long struggle with cancer. Joe was one of the first people I heard about after my appointment as bishop became known as he had been a classmate and friend in Rome at the North American College of Cardinal William Keeler, a wonderful friend of mine and mentor to me. He told me that Joe and his wife remained close friends of his and that the diocese was blessed to have a communicator of his talent. Upon arriving, I found that Joe had been an on-air personality of Channel Eight here in the Tampa Bay area for a number of years and was a highly respected journalist in the newer medium of television. Joe was also the lobbyist in Tallahassee for Pasco County which necessitated his presence in the capital during legislative sessions and we were beginning to have the challenge of coming to know and handle the sexual misconduct claims of priests and other diocesan employees. It became almost impossible for Joe to represent both the county before the legislature and the Church before the media and he chose the county. A part of me always thought that because of his lifelong love of the Church and the priesthood, it was just awful for Joe to have to speak to these crimes of unspeakable pain and suffering perpetrated largely on minors. I would see Joe and his wife on occasion, always when his friend Cardinal Keeler was in town, and at the annual Red Mass in Tallahassee once each year when the bishops were in town. He was a great man in every way, a great servant of his Church and his faith, and a witness to both. May he rest in peace and may his wife Elizabeth and his sons be comforted by the memories of a life well lived and a service to the Lord and to humankind of the highest quality.

Finally, this brings me to the Lord’s most recent gifts. On Saturday last, I ordained eleven men to the transitional diaconate (this means simply that they are on their way to priesthood ordination next year and will serve as deacons only during a transitional period of thirteen months).

Photo kindness of Alexander Rivera, seminarian at the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

The ordination took place at our regional seminary of St. Vincent de Paul in Boynton Beach where Monsignor David Toups is Rector and Monsignor Michael Muhr, both priests of our diocese, is spiritual director. Three of the eleven men were ordained for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. They are Brian Fabiszewski from St. Catherine parish in Largo, Jonathan Emery from St. Clement parish in Plant City, and Kyle Smith from Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Land O’ Lakes.

Deacon Kyle Smith, myself, Deacon Brian Fabiszewski, and Deacon Jonathan Emery. Photo kindness of Alexander Rivera, a seminarian at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

The other new deacons were from the Archdiocese of Miami, and the dioceses of Palm Beach, Orlando, Jacksonville and Pensacola-Tallahassee. My opportunity to ordain at the seminary to the diaconate comes once every seven years as the owning bishops of the seminary rotate the privilege. It was a glorious day with a glorious liturgy and I departed confident that six of our dioceses would be getting eleven great priests a year from now. Pictures from the occasion can be found by clicking here, as is my homily (click here to read it) on this occasion.

So indeed with two deaths of friends, colleagues and witnesses to the faith, the Lord has taken from our midst great people, but in the ordination rite, the renewal of ranks continues and he gives us continued hope for the future.

+RNL

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I was speaking on the telephone with Monsignor Brendan Muldoon on my way home when he informed me that there had been a bombing with some of loss of life in conjunction with the Boston marathon. I know Boston well having studied there and on turning on my television I recognized the corner. The network was showing again and again the little footage they had of the precise moment of the two explosions and I was overcome with two thoughts: first, I feared for a young man from the Cathedral parish who is studying at Boston University and who has run marathons, and secondly, I was impressed by the courage and compassion of everyone who chose not to flee the scene but to rush to the aid of the injured and dead. A text message to my friend quickly confirmed that he was fine and nowhere near the scene and throughout the evening, the recurring pictures of Americans doing what we do best, helping others remained with me.

Upon arriving home from an event, I spent an hour in my chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying for my beloved Boston and its citizens and visitors and asking the Lord to lift this senseless and seeming endless cycle of violence from our world and our lives. I know this may not happen in my lifetime but it has to happen. This can not continue.

I am speaking of violence to the young women and men I am confirming this year. While I know that much violence can be rooted in mental illness, I also believe that we currently live in a culture of violence. Allow me to explain. The sacredness and value of human life is everywhere under attack. It starts with the taking of life of the unborn and sometimes ends with decisions about the end of life. It is to be found in video games where killing objects is thrilling, in movies which elevate graphic violence to an alleged “art form”, to capital punishment, to the use of drones to take out “enemies” but at times delivering collateral damage to innocents. It all can add up to thinking that human life is expendable and humans can make these decisions, not God. That’s the dark side of our current culture and society.

But, I do see occasional signs of hope as well. I thanked God last night for the courage of those who cast themselves in potentially harm’s way to assist those wounded. That is who we are as a nation and as a people. That is the way of Christ. FDR was spot on when in the face of the worst world war of human history he said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” to which in the intervening years, I would simply add, “and humankind’s rush to devaluate human life.” If you need proof that there is indeed a Satan in our world, just watch the Boston footage. What happened there and in Newtown and in Aurora, Colorado is pure unadulterated evil. We have only ourselves to blame if we allow this insensitivity to continue to lead us and the next generation behind us to continue this slide toward passive acceptance of the continued devaluation of human life.

May the Lord console those who mourn the death of the three who were murdered yesterday on the streets of Boston while taking the dead unto Himself, may the virtue of humanity also on display yesterday erase the pain of the violence for those wounded, and may those who did this be brought to justice. Amen.

+RNL

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Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle

April 10, 2013

Most Reverend Robert N. Lynch, Bishop of St. Petersburg

Giving the homily at the prayer vigil. Photo kindness of Sabrina Burton Schultz. To see a few more photos from the prayer vigil, please click here.

For the first time in my seventeen years as bishop of this diocese, the consequences of a heinous crime and the application of the death penalty has come to our area and in just a few minutes Larry Mann will himself experience death by lethal injection. My thoughts first go out to the family of Elisa Nelson, the young girl brutally murdered by Mann over three decades ago who are hoping that the death of this man will help bring closure to their long period of grief and suffering. No one, least of all myself, can speak of their experience of the loss of a daughter in an unspeakable way which this family has lived with. It would be tragic not to take this moment to pray for the Nelson’s and to commend again their darling daughter Elisa to eternal rest with God.

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

We gather this evening also to pray for the abolition of the death penalty in our state. We take as articles of faith that even one who has fully violated the fifth commandment, Thou shalt not kill, should not have their life taken by anyone other than the author of all life, the Lord God. All of the modern popes since the Second Vatican Council have spoken to the issue of capital punishment. While all have allowed it in the narrowest of circumstances, it was Blessed Pope John Paul II who said that it should be extremely rare. It is extremely hard to be pro-life when it comes to its beginning and postulate the arguments against abortion and still be for capital punishment. That same heart and mind which abhors the horror of abortion should logically abhor the state deciding who will live and who will die.

Proponents of the death penalty argue that justice can only be served when one violent act is responded to by another. As a child, my parents always taught us that two wrongs do not make a right. When “right dwells in the desert” and “justice abides in the orchard”, then the great prophet Isaiah promises that “justice will bring about peace; right will produce calm and security.” After over two hundred years of the exercise of the death penalty, there is no valid evidence that it reduces crime, that murders diminish, and that the people live in greater security. It is not and never has been a deterrent.

Florida’s use of the death penalty is one of the most egregious in the nation. It does not take the same unanimous jury which convicted the felon in the first place to initiate the death penalty. In fact, it only takes seven out of twelve members of a jury to recommend death, by lethal injection or the electric chair. Only one state in the union shares this sad statute with ours. Our elected judges can overrule a jury and assign the death penalty if they do not concur with the jury’s recommendation in capital cases. Death comes cheaply in Florida in our statutory law.

In the last two years, the governors and legislatures in two more states have abolished capital punishment: New Mexico and Maryland. Tonight we pray once again that what the rest of the world views as a barbaric response to admittedly heinous crimes becomes rarer and rarer to use our Holy Father’s words. “Forgiving one another as God has forgiven” us is part of our religious DNA. It is why we are here tonight. We use this occasion of yet another moment in Florida’s sad history to pray to God, the author of all life, to enlighten the hearts and minds of our people and elected officials and remove this last statutory remnant of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

+RNL

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The Cathedral of St. Jude was a challenge this year but it turned out wonderfully well for everyone. I suspect if you queried those who attended any of the Holy Week services at St. Jude’s from Palm Sunday through today, Easter Sunday, they would say that the temporary space (used during the rebuilding of the Cathedral church) works well. It is more intimate and therefore we had a sense of “full house” on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and everyone could witness the beautiful liturgies up close and personal. I always feel badly for the Cathedral priests because year after year the bishop who is the pastor of his Cathedral parish shows up and “bumps” the good priests who are there day after day but who do not get to be principal celebrant of the special liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. This year, however, I asked them to preach and they did, very well. I preached only the shorter homilies accompanying the Palm Sunday Mass and Easter Vigil ceremonies. We baptized three and accepted into the Church and confirmed about fifteen others at the Vigil and if only you could see the smiles on their faces and in one case, the tears of joy which accompanied the moment. So the Cathedral worked thanks to the efforts of staff, sacristans, musicians and choir, deacon and priests, altar servers and God’s grace.

It has been hard since the election of Pope Francis to ignore his presence in the life of the Church. Every day I find myself several times a day scanning various resources online or in blogs to find out what new and distinct thing he has done this day. So many people have said to me how refreshing he is and how proud they are of him. Of course, it has been the honeymoon and he has not had to do some of the hard things which inevitably accompany leadership anywhere, even in the Church. I still think I was right on target in the Chrism Mass homily about what we might expect when the “good times” cease to roll and reality sets in.

Each day, however, Pope Francis amazes me. He preaches like a parish priest does and as a Jesuit does (almost always three points) and his homilies so  far have not been written or delivered to wrest from St. John Chrysostom the title of “golden throat” or Aquinas or Theresa of Avila the title of “Doctor of the Church” but rather they are incredibly insightful in what it takes to be a true follower of Christ and how much joy awaits those who let Christ out of the places where they have locked him in. His glasses keep sliding down his nose like mine do and he looks at his watch like I do from time to time to see if something is going too long. But because of the Pope, we are so far witnessing to a Church which is rising again in the sights of many, our own adherents, people of other faiths, etc. Popes do make a difference and the papacy does mean something for everyone: just recall Blessed Pope John XXIII. From the top the process of renewal and reform might begin once again, only the Holy Spirit knows for certain. But when a renewal begins with the Holy Father, it is truly a reform underway. We shall wait and see and pray for him.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Graff

I also wish to mention that especially poignant for me this year was a last minute liturgy celebrated on Wednesday night of Holy Week at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in Lecanto for Father James Hoge, OSB. Father Hoge had started every parish in Citrus county and was involved in one way or another in the choice of sites for parishes and for building many of them. St. Scholastica was his final contribution as was Pope John Paul II elementary school. A funeral Mass was offered for him at St. Leo monastery, celebrated by his Abbot but I was able to be present to the priests of Citrus county and to about 350 people who knew Father Jim well and who loved him. After the Mass, I joined the priests for dinner and all came. There were wonderful stories exchanged and Monsignor George Cummings who is now our oldest priest (95 this year) and longest ordained (70 years this year) was in our midst to share his crystal clear memories of the birth of the Church in our northernmost county. He and Father Hoge went to the same minor seminary and were classmates so Father’s passing was particularly meaningful to Monsignor Cummings.

Finally, speaking of the Pope, the accompanying photo was taken at the end of the Easter Vigil last night by a friend of mine who is in Rome. I thought I would share it with you. Happy Easter all!

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Blessing the Oil of the Sick. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Blessing the Oil of Catechumens. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

The latter oil is called Sacred Chrism and has a very special place in the Church’s life.

Consecrating the Sacred Chrism. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Every parish in the diocese is represented annually and during the Mass the three oils used during the coming year are blessed by the bishop.

Parish representatives holding their parish’s Oil of the Sick as it is blessed. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Parish representatives holding their parish’s Oil of Catechumens as it is blessed. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

But it is also the Mass at which our priests renew their priestly promises and their commitment to the ordained ministry which Christ has called them to.

Renewal of Priestly Promises. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

To see more photos from the Chrism Mass, please click here.

Giving the homily to a packed St. Catherine of Siena. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

As I have mentioned before, it is always something of a homiletic challenge for the bishop of a diocese since the readings are always the same and the congregation is mostly the same. I offer you here my thoughts during this amazing Lent and beginning springtime in the Church. To read the homily in a PDF version, please click here. To listen to audio recorded by Spirit FM 90.5, our Catholic radio ministry, during their live broadcast of the Mass, please click here.

Dear brothers in the priesthood and brothers and sisters all.

            It’s Springtime in Rome, both climatologically and ecclesiologically. The stunning events of this Lenten season will not soon be forgotten and the election of Pope Francis has captured both the imagination and attention of the world – not just the Catholic world.  Why, one might ask? What can we as ordained and baptized expect from our new Holy Father?

            In reply I would offer three words: continuity, compassion, and simplicity. Each noun for me has a deeper meaning and each noun might possibly have special import today at our annual Mass of recommitment. The readings for this Mass are very familiar. In his first return to his own synagogue in Nazareth where he had for three decades attended, worshipped, listened and believed, and even though he was sent by the Father as the deliverer of a New Covenant, Jesus emphasized continuity with the past by choosing well-known words from the prophet Isaiah and applying them then to himself. Though a new day had dawned in his preaching and missionary work since leaving his hometown, yet he soon returned and immediately established compatibility with the past and continuity with its ages long teaching of right conduct towards God and our fellow women and men. Greatest of the prophets, greatest of the priests and the great High Priest at that, and a king in the sense that his generation would find difficult to accept and understand, Jesus offered a New Covenant consistent with all Israel had been preparing for. Jesus offered an outline for his ministry consistent with his tradition yet expanding its scope and mission.

            In his very first recorded sermon in that synagogue, he chose a passage from the great prophet, which emphasized both the source of his strength for his mission and compassion for others. He had come to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. There was no trace of human narcissism in this man as he placed the crosses of life of others before his own well being. He clothed himself in Isaiah’s words and then by his actions in his public ministry did everything and wrapped himself within the context of his two great loves: love of the Father who sent Him and love of his neighbor.  In three years, he not only restored physical sight to the blind man but spiritual sight to the woman at Jacob’s well, he challenged the rich young man who in the end could not leave all to follow him, and comforted countless others.  He told his twelve to travel light, accept what their hosts offered in terms of food and shelter, asking not for the first places or special treatment or deference. Knowing that there were many more people in his society who were caught under the unjust heel of economic oppression, he worked to give them their freedom. His only enemy was the status quo, not the Roman occupiers, not scribes and the Pharisees, but oppression, which cried out to heaven for vengeance. And his love was unconditional; it cared not for caste or class, male or female, pagan or believer, rich or poor. Every man or woman on the face of God’s earth on Friday if they choose to do so can gaze at that figure on the cross and see in his outstretched arms, I did this for you.

            And then there was his simplicity. The author of the words from the Book of Revelation, which was our second reading understood the need for simplicity as he writes, Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. . .the ruler of kings of the earth…who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father….and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him….all the peoples of the earth will lament him. The words are simple enough; the example is very hard to live out. I see in this passage not a Lord who comes in judgment and says, “I told you so” but one who comes and simply says, “I begged you so.” I did not pull rank, I did not strike you dead or deaf in your disobedience, rather I left the door of reconciliation open until we both breathed our last on earth. Take up your cross, understand that every day you will not always smell the roses, love the Father and I, care for your neighbors, eat my flesh, drink my blood.

            He chose Peter to lead his Church after his death. Not the smartest, not at all educated, impetuous and given to constantly sticking his foot in his proverbial mouth, a denier, a fair-weather friend on occasion, and on occasion also a coward. But due to his dedication to continuity with his Master’s teaching and example, he and now two hundred and sixty-five chosen who have followed have kept the bark of the Church afloat, as beloved Pope Benedict said in his final discourse, sometimes on smooth seas with gentle winds and sometimes in the turbulence of the times.

            So what can we expect of today’s Peter? Francis will maintain the continuity of the Church’s teachings, certainly on doctrinal matters and on most if not all-disciplinary matters. But he has already demonstrated that he has, like us, lived, preached, ministered, administered in the real world of this hemisphere. He will, I suspect, be more practical and pragmatic and perhaps less dogmatic.                                    

We know his heart is full of compassion for the poor and I see the Church’s magnificent social teachings rising once again rightly to their preeminent place in our beloved Church’s life. The unfinished work of Gaudium et Spes will begin to bloom again in this new Spring time. Quite frankly, the actions of our Church often speak louder than its words and to the extent that the Church in the modern world shows compassion and understanding through actions, not words, towards women, towards the poor, towards immigrants and other powerless, toward those trying to cope with their sexual orientation, deal with a mistake made in their youth in choosing a spouse and watching the dream evaporate and the relationship no longer sustainable. Compassionate words accompanied with compassionate action will give witness once again to Christ’s presence in and power over his Church. Paraphasing the great St. Francis, and recalling Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta’s use of the same idea, act always and then use words only if you absolutely need to.

I ask each and every one of you my brothers as well as myself, have you, have we done enough in taking on the challenges of poverty and injustice in our small part of the vineyard? Our new Pope has taken on the political leaders of his country time and time again for justice for that nation’s poor, Yesterday came assurances that he would support the cause for canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero. May  I ask you to think again about the ecumenical justice ministries of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, FAST and HOPE. If the cost of belonging is an obstacle for your parish belonging to either, then today I offer you the opportunity to deduct your membership fee in either from your APA goal and we at The Pastoral Center will make the sacrifices that will occasion. There is no easy, politically correct way to advocate for the poor but it did not stop our Lord and it has not stopped Jorge Bergolio, Pope Francis. There will be those who criticize and most of us are accustomed to that and accept it as the price of doing something good for the forgotten and neglected. Not to decide, however, is to decide to leave our brothers and sisters largely without a voice.

            Finally, Pope Francis leads us by his  simplicity. Every morning this week, he has invited to his morning Mass, the gardeners of the Vatican, the street-sweepers, and the chair placers/removers from the square, the switchboard operators. At the Eucharistic table of the Lord he has invited those who labor for him but never get a chance to meet him. It’s springtime in Vatican City as well as here. In renewing our commitment to priesthood this morning, join me in asking the Lord who gave his all for me, for us, to give us now or once again the gifts of accepting continuity, increasing our compassion for those we serve, and allowing us to set aside passions for status and standing for an exercise of a simpler priesthood so that with love, faith, and hope we might help Francis our Pope rebuild Christ’s Church. Can it not also be Springtime for the Church in Central West Florida? Let us pray so.

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Father Hoge. Photo courtesy St. Leo University.

Word has come to me through St. Leo University that God called Father James C. Hoge, O.S.B. to Himself last Saturday afternoon. Father Hoge was 96 years old and had been professed with the Benedictine community of St. Leo Abbey since 1938. Had he lived long enough to come to next Tuesday’s Chrism Mass I would have honored him on the occasion of his 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination. What makes Father Hoge so unique in our diocesan history was his service to this local Church in its northern counties (Pasco, Hernando and Citus). Instrumental in the establishment and founding of all six parishes in Citrus country, he became known and beloved by almost all Catholics living in our northernmost county. He also was instrumental in pushing for the establishment of Pope John Paul II elementary school which began its life as “Citrus County Catholic Elementary School.”

St. Benedict, in founding the religious community which bears his name, told his monks in their “way of life” that two things were absolutely essential: “ora et labora” or “Prayer and work.” Tireless in spreading the Gospel in the church, first as a teacher at St. Leo Prep School in Pasco County, and then for many years as a parish priest and pastor, this man was truly a builder. He was a model of Benedict’s view of the perfect monk, working hard and praying harder. It was painful for him when retirement finally came and he did not take to it well. Ever ready to help out in parishes on weekends, especially in those he founded and where he left such great friends, returning to the routine of monastery life was hard for him.

So many people were the beneficiaries of his priestly presence, diocesan priests, religious women, lay men and women, children. He was there for them all. To be cut off from his pastoral life-blood was very hard and he suffered physically and emotionally in his final years. I, too, dread the time when my medical-surrogate, a long time priest friend, comes and says to me , “Bob, I need the car keys.” I hope I will be more at peace in that moment than dear Father Hoge was for most of the time it is a moment of “tough love” of those who care for us in our old age. When he was a the “top of his game” the priesthood was very much in vogue for Father Hoge and he gave it his all, and wished to do so until his last breath.

In addition to being a great pastor of souls, Father Hoge was born in Charleston, West Virginia, as I was, and he loved railroads, as I do. He would bring me books about the railroads of west central Florida, where they went and what they carried. It was great fun for me when I first came to the diocese to learn the history of the “northern exposure” of the Church of St. Petersburg. What he did not share with me, Monsignor George Cummings did, and he would have been sitting right next to Father Jim next Tuesday at the Chrism Mass. See, Monsignor George will be ninety-five this year and will observe very quietly he has warned me, his seventieth anniversary of priestly ordination. These men were truly priestly pioneers, giants of their time, and devoted evangelizers of the Gospel. Father Jim, rest in peace, dear friend, with Benedict and his sister Scholastica, with your parents, the five abbots of St. Leo whom you knew and under whom you served and your many deceased Benedictine brothers. We send our prayers and sentiments of sympathy to the monks of St. Leo Abbey and the Sisters of Holy Name Monastery and members of your family on the occasion of this significant loss.

When Hoge was in vogue, the faith was alive and the love of Christ abounded.

NOTE ADDED 3/22: I will be celebrating a Memorial Mass for Father Hoge at 6:00PM on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, at St. Scholastica Parish in Lecanto. All are invited to attend.

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Tuesday night I attended the annual Nehemiah Conference held by FAST (Faith and Strength Together). They gave me the honor of saying the opening prayer. Held at the Tropicana Dome thanks to the extension of some kindness by the management of the Rays, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 citizens showed up for the final step in a year-long process of discernment by which the community reflects on the needs of its poorest and most vulnerable and proposes relief by actions to be taken by our elected officials. Members of FAST are members of Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Muslim congregations in Pinellas County. Of members of the country commission, FAST asked the five million dollars be made available in the remaining years of the “Penny for Pinellas” tax for low income housing. A majority of the commissioners said they would support this. From the Mayor of St. Petersburg and the City Council, FAST asked if an incentive might be built into the awarding of city construction contracts which would allow persons guilty of previous felonies but who had served their time, amended their ways, and were seeking readmission into useful and productive society to be hired. At the present moment, contractors stipulate that they are legally restrained from hiring said persons by city law. Both Mayor Foster and City Council Chair said they would support such an initiative. (People who do well at our Pinellas Hope, free of alcohol and drug abuse, and having previous been convicted of a crime often can not find jobs, even when they have turned their lives around). Access to free or significantly reduced price dental care for the homeless and very poor was also agreed to by county health officials.

Only the Pinellas County schools, and particularly the new Superintendent greatly disappointed the crowd and myself as well. Reading significatly below the third grade reading level in several failing schools, FAST asked the District and the Superintendent to allow a free and previously tried and tested reading program for challenged third graders to be introducded as a pilot in one of the failing schools to see if the children might improve, at least to grade level. The Superintendent didn’t attend and he sent a poor Assistant or Regional Superintendent who was not able to speak for herself or anyone else at the meeting. I could not believe my ears: nary one sign of support for a free trial program to help these children. Come to think of it, not one sign that the Superintendent even cared. Two School Board members were present and they support it, but the man they just hired to raise the level of education in this large district could not give an answer to a question which to this listener gives all the signs of being a “no-brainer.” There is nothing Marxist about the four things FAST chose to work on this year. It is an organization, poor in its financing, working for the poor. Sound familiar?

At a meeting with thousands of the media covering the papal election, Pope Francis on Saturday told the assembled media-types, “I long for a poor Church working for the poor.” I am proud of our parishes in Pinellas who belong and I am going to work harder to get more of them to join in the cause. Social action and social justice will be themes of this papacy now beginning. Hillsborough has a similar organization called HOPE which I trust I will learn more about and share with you in the future.

Everything about Pope Francis gives witness to hope. He got off the starting block faster than any Pope in my memory. He truly is pursuing the challenge of Blessed John Paul II by “putting out into the deep” and throwing previous papal caution to the wind. It is going to be an interesting “ride” in the coming years and I am excited about it and find myself renewed. Watch your Church change, not in truly doctrinal matters as that won’t happen, but in its focus on the future. It’s going to be fascinating. Please remember the three words I used in every television interview I gave last week when asked what the church can expect from the new Holy Father: continuity, simplicity, and compassion. Now we will see which elements in the Church will embrace this new concept the fastest. If you are ready, hang on as it is going to be some ride.

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