The Italians have a phrase which once fit while I was in Rome during a  minor earthquake called “terremoto” or loosely translated, “the earth moved.” Yesterday was the first anniversary of the earth moving in a large portion of western Haiti in an earthquake in this hemisphere causing massive destruction, dislocation and loss of life. Haiti one year later is only marginally better and recovery is still something of a dream despite the generous response of people from all over the world seeking to help in the recovery effort. Heaven and earth has not moved significantly in that tormented nation so close to ours in aiding the people to resume their lives, find work, and occupy safe housing. Why not? What success can be shown? What can be expected?

In Haiti, success like beauty is in the “eye of the beholder.” Certainly until the onslaught of the cholera epidemic a few months ago, it can be said that early response and relief efforts kept disease to a negligible minimum, food and water found its way to the dispossessed quicker and more effectively than in past calamities in that nation, and medicine and medical assessment and treatment were provided to the thousands wounded and sickened by the earthquake and its aftermath. A lot of credit needs to go to the U.S. military and especially the U.S. Navy for coming quickly and organizing the first response. A lot of credit should also go to some relief agencies, especially Catholic Relief Services which was already on the ground and able to begin relief efforts immediately. A point of humble pride (I know, that is an oxymoron) is that our initial and immediate gift from the Diocese of St. Petersburg of $250,000 were the first monies sent to CRS for Haiti and our final total to them is around $1,750,000 from this diocese alone. Stabilization of water, food, medicine and temporary housing were successful. But then it seems the success ended.

Every relief organization, CRS included, is sitting on sizable amounts of contributed funds, goods and supplies awaiting the permission of the Haitian government to begin the process of reconstruction. Haiti just recently completed general elections which turned out to be mandatory prior to any action. Now the world continues to wait while millions of Haitians  sleep in tents, refrigerator boxes, very temporary and often shabby housing. The cholera epidemic set timetables back to be sure but it is the government of Haiti who must approve and signal the start of the real relief effort. When will they? They don’t know and I doubt if God knows.

The Church in those portions of Haiti where the earthquake was the worst lost lives, buildings and property. There is evidence that the bishops of the country are ready to work together for reconstruction of churches, schools, hospitals, clinics, orphanages, you name it,  lost one year ago yesterday. Most of you know that the Archbishop of the capital city of Port-au-Prince died in his own Cathedral when the walls came tumbling down upon him. Today in Rome Pope Benedict XVI named a new archbishop for Port-au-Prince who while he is 68 years old has a reputation for getting things done. This is a hopeful sign.

Many who gave to the Haitian earthquake relief collections and funds are frustrated by the lack of action and some suspect that CRS and other relief agencies are just sitting on the money, accumulating interest, etc. Both of these possibilities are likely true and necessary but I can tell you from personal experience that until nation and those who wish to help can agree, spending money in that country at this moment is throwing good money down a dubious hole. Painful as it is, it is far better to wait and spend it wisely for the relief of the people than waste it now in an environment of corruption. It will be spent and sometime soon, we hope, the lives of the Haitian people now displaced will improve. The Haitian people long ago learned all about patience and they have much to teach us.

Finally, not only the earth moved on January 11, 2010 but hearts were also moved as well. Your response like that to the tsunami and Katrina humbles and edifies me at the same time. What you gave will continue to be spent in a wise and prudent manner and as soon as we are allowed. Parishes in this diocese who twin with other parishes have already stepped up and the progress there is more measureable since the Haitian government need not have been involved. But settling title to land rights, assigning property for the erection of new permanent and storm/earthquake resistant homes - that requires working with the government which at times can seem so callous toward the obvious and painful needs of its citizenry. 366 days ago the earth shook, now might the government?

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Stain Glass Window of the Holy Family at Holy Family Church, St. Petersburg

Some weeks ago, in fact during the November meeting of bishops in Baltimore, you may recall that I wrote of a luncheon I had with two seniors at Loyola Baltimore. One was from our diocese, Brendan Stack who wrote so well in this space of his experience with Catholic Relief Services in India during the summer of 2009 and his roommate whom I had never met until then, Patrick Sullivan who attended Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York. I asked both men what the Church could do generally and what I might do specifically as bishop to staunch the flow of young people from leaving the Church of their baptism for other faiths or no faith. Patrick must have spent some time reflecting on the question because shortly after I returned home he wrote me quite a letter which I think is very appropriate to share with you today. I have his permission and what follows in strictly Sullivan and not Lynch:

“As I was thinking more about our conversation, particularly about our ‘losing’ of  practicing Catholics, I thought about our families being the foundation of our faith. I can not tell you the amount of times I have heard from my friends, even those strong in faith, that prayer in the home is few and far between. I can speak from personal experience; my mother is extremely involved with the Church, spending the majority of her day working with those who form men for the priesthood. My father is a recent convert to Catholicism whose fervor for the Church is paralleled by few. Even with their strong convictions, though, familial prayer is something that is hard to find in my home. Perhaps, if we stress the noticeable presence of Jesus within the Catholic home, the foundation that Brendan alluded to might be formed on more solid ground and so would be less likely to fade away in the relativist storm that is the university. The effect that our families have on our faith formation is paralleled by few others. If prayer and familial worship become a normalcy in Catholic life, imagine the type of young men and women entering the world. Built on a strong familial prayer life, imagine the influx of young men and women entering the ordained and consecrated life.”

As I think of this traditional feast, I often think of things in my own life as a child which might have been formative. We were not all that great on family prayer except before every meal and occasionally when we were “monitored” at night before going to bed but there was one annual experience which still looms large in my memory and life sixty-five years later. On our annual June family vacation trip to see my paternal grandparents and large family in the Boston, Massachusetts area, the evening meal had to be finished by 6:40 pm so that all of us, three generations could move from the Dining Room to the Living Room and kneel down on the floor while the radio (there was no TV) was properly tuned. At exactly 6:40pm a male voice sounding something like what I thought an archangel would sound like announced, “Live, from the Cardinal’s Residence on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton, Richard Cardinal Cushing will now lead the faithful of the Archdiocese in reciting the Rosary.” If the announcer had an archangel’s voice, my brothers and I thought the Cardinal sounded like God – nasal, prolonged pronunciation of words, stentorian – it had to be God who spent twenty-minutes each night leading us in this prayer which we seemed only to say in Boston, where God lived. Beyond the sound of the radio, however, remains the image of my then eighty year old plus Grandfather, rosary in his hand, his wife of sixty years, my grandmother with a rosary in her hands, my grandmother’s spinster sister who kept an account of our sins and misbehavings with a rosary in her hands, my mom and dad with rosaries in their hands, and we three boys, skillfully provided the necessary beads by our Mom who feared reprisals if her kids did not have the proper equipment for prayer, all as one family joining God in Hail Marys and Our Fathers and Glory Be’s. As Patrick Sullivan said above, there is power in a family at prayer.

Perhaps on this great feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph those who still have a family about them could think about more time together in prayer. While I desperately want an increase in vocations, I want more young people to remain true to their baptism as Catholic Christians and enlighten the world.

The new shrine to the Holy Family at Holy Family Church in St. Petersburg using an original statue and placing in a spot for prayer and meditation.

Some words later in the week on the meaning of Epiphany and then more silence as I am on retreat. Back for the Baptism of the Lord.

+RNL

Last week’s Church news gave ample proof why Popes generally shy away from giving interviews to the media or anyone. In case you  missed it, Pope Benedict XVI last summer devoted a good length of time to being interviewed by a German journalist, Peter Seewald, who previously interviewed him prior to his election as Pope. The resulting book Light of the World was published in German, Italian and English [Ignatius Press] at exactly the same time as the Holy Father was creating new cardinals and excerpts from the long interview made the front pages of the world’s press. Headlines such as “Pope Approves Condoms” and “Church Allows Condom Use for Male Prostitutes” greeted us in one form or another last week. So what did the Holy Father actually say and what does it mean for the Church? First, some important points need to be made. Pope Benedict in granting this interview to a journalist he trusted made it abundantly clear that his personal opinions, much like his reflections on the life of Jesus which he is writing in book form while Pope, are not to be taken as definitive Church teaching. That is accomplished in other more formal ways. Rather, he is allowing Catholics and others who are interested to know a little more about his own thoughts on major issues of Christian living and behaving. So his comments on condoms do not change official Church teaching. But in expanding on this issue, if one takes the time to read the whole section, one sees a priest searching for a pastoral application of sound moral teaching to a difficult issue.

In response to Seewald’s question about the possible use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV-AIDS virus, the Holy Father suggested in the interview that condom use might be justified in some very limited circumstances, “as perhaps when the male prostitute uses a condom” as a “first step in the direction of moralisation, a first assumption of responsibility on the way toward recovering that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality. . . .She [the Catholic Church] of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.”

I was not at all surprised by this statement because in November of 1986 the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first statement on the pandemic and in that document said that applying the morally accepted principal of “the lesser of two evils”, death being the greater evil, under certain circumstances condom use could be morally permissable. A huge uproar greeted this document, even within the bishops’ conference, caused in part by a procedural issue that it had been issued by a committee of the Conference on the very eve of a plenary conference when all the bishops could have debated and decided the issue instead of fifty-two bishops. The guidance of that first document on combatting the spread of HIV-AIDS through a variety of possibilities was also a part of the ensuing uproar and debate. A year later the same conference issued a second statement on the HIV-AIDS pandemic which while it never acknowledged that there was theological error to be found in the first statement chose to drop the section on the use of condoms.

At that time I was working on the forthcoming second pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II to the United States which took place in 1987 and I accompanied the officers of the USCC-NCCB to Rome for their twice yearly visits to the Pope and Curia. They visited Cardinal Ratzinger and the officers of the conference brought up the matter of the first AIDS statement. The then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that in his opinion while the moral theology contained in the first statement was defensible, he had concerns about the pastoral prudence of the condom approach at that time. In a later letter to the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Pio Laghi, Cardinal Ratzinger expressed an opposite opinion on condom use. So it was obviously a matter even then which he was reflecting on and thinking about. Pope John Paul II in his private meeting acknowledged the uproar in the states but did not express great alarm nor was he critical of the application of moral theology in that statement.

So I for one was not surprised when Pope Benedict XVI spoke of a very limited application of the principal of the lesser of two evils in his interview with author Seewald. Does this mean that the Church is advocating condom use? No, abstinence has been and continues to be our message and the proper application and understanding of human sexuality is not threatened either. Rather, the Holy Father is speaking to a possible situation in which a precaution might be used to avoid the greater evil of death. In other words, I found the statement of Pope Benedict to be reflective of his thinking twenty-four years previous in private conversations. Struggling as many confessors might do, the Holy Father simply said there might be cases where the use of a condom can represent the first stirrings of a sense of moral responsibility, if the intent is to save the life of another person.  He does not advocate condom use and he does not generally condone condom use. There are enough nuances here to protect the long held Church teaching that condoms are not a “real or moral solution.”

For many years both Cardinal Josef Ratzinger and now Pope Benedict XVI and many bishops around the world have reflected and considered the application of the principle of the lesser of two evils and its application to the HIV-AIDS pandemic. This same Holy Father early in his pontificate asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to further study the issue and that work product is not yet finished. In the new book we merely are exposed to the Pope’s reflection on a very small part of the question. He did not intend nor should he be thought of as backing off the long-teaching of the Church on artificial contraception for either of the two purposes of marriage: mutual communion of life and love leading to eternity and bringing children into the world. I feel for Pope Benedict in the context of his remarks above because he is taking it on the chin from left and right at the moment. However, he is a strong teacher and a moral force for good in the world. I feel for him that in the current controversy, right as he predicted, little attention is being given to the role which the Catholic Church around the world plays in treating persons with HIV-AIDS. My beloved Catholic Relief Services is often belittled by US-AID (a branch of the U.S. Department of State) for not distributing condoms in its response to the pandemic yet the same agency often turns to us as first providers in the government program for wider use of anti-retroviral protocols in countries experiencing major incidences of the disease. More will be written on this subject in the years to come and it seems to me that what we have here is an example of the universal pastor confronting a major global killer with thoughtful reflection. That’s my take on the condom conundrum.

+RNL

Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the USCCB

At almost the same time that President Obama was signing the house passed Health Care bill yesterday (Tuesday), the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was meeting in Washington for their three times yearly meeting (March, September and the Saturday prior to the November meeting). The Administrative Committee consists of approximately thirty-five bishops who head standing committees, represent the fifteen regional groupings of bishops and the Eastern Rite bishops, the elected officers of the Conference and the Chairman of the Board of Catholic Relief Services. Their primary task is prepare the agenda for the plenary or general meetings that occur in June and November when all the bishops gather. But they also may address issues which come up between General Meetings and were either unforeseen at the time or discussed in general at the previous meeting.

Yesterday morning they met for their scheduled meeting and authorized Cardinal George, our elected President, to make the following statement on the passage of health care reform. I offer it below in its entirety and hope you will take time to read it. It will take some time for all that happened this week-end to be digested, finally analyzed, and its application made clearly known. Most of the health care reform bill does not take effect until the year 2014. But it should not take that long for constitutional scholars to unpack the issues and pro-life forces to monitor its implementation. This matter is far from concluded. It is not over. The coming days I hope will be more informative than the days just past with regard to the reach and impact of all this legislation and I hope and pray we move from an environment of a lot of heat and sometime insufficient light to a better understanding. The statement of our president (Cardinal George), unanimously supported by the members of the Administrative Committee, begins the Church’s contribution to the post-enactment analysis. My guess would be that most bishops felt that a lot of good was done last Sunday afternoon and evening but we also worry about how much harm might also have been done.

For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for reform of our health care system so that all may have access to the care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity. Christian discipleship means, “working to ensure that all people have access to what makes them fully human and fosters their human dignity” (United States Catechism for Adults, page 454). Included among those elements is the provision of necessary and appropriate health care.

For too long, this question has gone unaddressed in our country. Often, while many had access to excellent medical treatment, millions of others including expectant mothers, struggling families or those with serious medical or physical problems were left unable to afford the care they needed. As Catholic bishops, we have expressed our support for efforts to address this national and societal shortcoming. We have spoken for the poorest and most defenseless among us. Many elements of the health care reform measure signed into law by the President address these concerns and so help to fulfill the duty that we have to each other for the common good. We are bishops, and therefore pastors and teachers. In that role, we applaud the effort to expand health care to all.

Nevertheless, for whatever good this law achieves or intends, we as Catholic bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion. The statute appropriates billions of dollars in new funding without explicitly prohibiting the use of these funds for abortion, and it provides federal subsidies for health plans covering elective abortions. Its failure to preserve the legal status quo that has regulated the government’s relation to abortion, as did the original bill adopted by the House of Representatives last November, could undermine what has been the law of our land for decades and threatens the consensus of the majority of Americans: that federal funds not be used for abortions or plans that cover abortions. Stranger still, the statute forces all those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover abortion to pay for other peoples’ abortions with their own funds. If this new law is intended to prevent people from being complicit in the abortions of others, it is at war with itself.

We share fully the admirable intention of President Obama expressed in his pending Executive Order, where he states, “it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services.” However, the fact that an Executive Order is necessary to clarify the legislation points to deficiencies in the statute itself. We do not understand how an Executive Order, no matter how well intentioned, can substitute for statutory provisions.

The statute is also profoundly flawed because it has failed to include necessary language to provide essential conscience protections (both within and beyond the abortion context). As well, many immigrant workers and their families could be left worse off since they will not be allowed to purchase health coverage in the new exchanges to be created, even if they use their own money.

Many in Congress and the Administration, as well as individuals and groups in the Catholic community, have repeatedly insisted that there is no federal funding for abortion in this statute and that strong conscience protection has been assured. Analyses that are being published separately show this not to be the case, which is why we oppose it in its current form. We and many others will follow the government’s implementation of health care reform and will work to ensure that Congress and the Administration live up to the claims that have contributed to its passage. We believe, finally, that new legislation to address its deficiencies will almost certainly be required.

As bishops, we wish to recognize the principled actions of the pro-life Members of Congress from both parties, in the House and the Senate, who have worked courageously to create legislation that respects the principles outlined above. They have often been vilified and have worked against great odds.

As bishops of the Catholic Church, we speak in the name of the Church and for the Catholic faith itself. The Catholic faith is not a partisan agenda, and we take this opportunity to recommit ourselves to working for health care which truly and fully safeguards the life, dignity, conscience and health of all, from the child in the womb to those in their last days on earth.

Early reports about Thursday night’s THE LIGHT IS ON FOR YOU are that despite the heavy rain and strong wind throughout the five counties, many people still made use of the opportunity to approach the sacrament of reconciliation, including many who were returning to the sacrament after a long period away. In the Church in which I heard confessions, we were not busy or “slammed” and I thought perhaps that last year’s success was wearing off. But, when outside the sacrament, I would inquire what was the impetus for seeking the sacrament this night , many told me that they had seen the thirty-second spots on TV (especially ESPN) and decided to come home. Today, we have heard from a number of pastors that confessions last night in their Church were steady and extremely worthwhile.

Sunday is Laetare Sunday which is Latin for “rejoice”. We are at the halfway point in Lent and Holy Week and the reenactment Lord’s passion and resurrection are drawing near. It is also the Sunday when we take up in all the parishes and missions around the country the annual collection for Catholic Relief Services. CRS’s work and importance shown once again in their response to the earthquake in Haiti and no Church has a disaster and development program to rival our own CRS. Some of the money also goes to Migration and Refugee Services, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the USCCB Committee for International Justice and Peace and to the Holy Father for his assistance to nation’s suffering from disasters, natural and manmade. Please be generous this week-end to one of the best causes for which special collections are taken in the United States.

This afternoon (Friday) I took the occasion to visit the Intensive Care Unit and the fifth floor of St. Anthony’s Hospital which took such great care of me in the days and weeks of my hospital confinement. The reason for my visit which was spontaneous on my part was to thank those wonderful, dedicated women and men (nurses, aids, cleaning people) who took care of me and take great care of all. I would say that they loved seeing me and a number commented that they seldom see people whom they have nursed back to good health after they leave the hospital upon discharge. Many could not believe how much weight I have lost. I had a great time telling of the lady who approached me at the Cathedral to ask if it was really Bishop Lynch standing before her and then commenting on my loss of weight asked me if it was “Weightwatchers” or “Jenny Craig.” Even the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES declared me healed. One could not ask for a better source on the subject!

The Diocesan Pastoral Council meets tomorrow (Saturday) at the Bethany Center and on Sunday I will be celebrating the 1030am Mass at St. Mary’s parish, Lutz, where the pastor has returned to the Philippines for kidney replacement surgery. I wish to assure the parishioners of my concern and prayers for their Father Jude Vera and my concern for them during this time without a shepherd.

Finally, it is not too late to get serious about Lent and preparing for Easter. Starting on Palm Sunday, this space will include a special reflection for each day of Holy Week. I will shut down for the week after Easter and return on “Low Sunday” – a term which I will attempt to explain when the day gets here.

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The bishops of the state have arrived in the state capital and gathered early this evening with our fine and extremely competent staff of the Florida Catholic Conference for a “renewing our acquaintance and getting to know you” opportunity. Later the bishops had dinner together and we were happy to celebrate Bishop Frank Dewane’s birthday today. There was a cake with four candles and best wishes to the bishop for many more happy years.

I spent the day driving the panhandle. You may recall that last week in this space I mentioned that I wished to arrive a day early so that I might visit my friend and fellow-bishop, John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee who was in therapy at a rehabilitation facility in Panama City. So at 1015am, my driver for this jaunt and I departed our hotel in Tallahassee for the two hour drive to Panama City. The bishop had initially suffered an incident of blood being unable to return to the heart from his brain on December 22, 2009 and was hospitalized in Pensacola in intensive care for several weeks. Since then he has suffered several more incidents and found himself in rehab at the facility in Panama City.

Well, about twenty miles out of Panama City I received word via cell-phone that the bishop had left the rehab facility and was at that very moment enroute to his house in Pensacola (another 120 miles west) via medical transport. What to do? It was fairly easy for me as I had determined that I would see my friend on this trip so back to I-10 we went and on to Pensacola. Finally reunited, Bishop Ricard and I had a visit of about an hour and he was both surprised and happy to see me.

I have previously asked for prayers for Bishop John and I renew my request now. His recovery is far more challenging in a number of ways than my own was. The bishop, as you may know, is an African-American from Louisiana originally. He entered the Josephite Fathers and was ordained for priestly service with that wonderful and predominantly African-American religious community. I first saw him when he was pastor of a parish on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. and then from there he was chosen by Pope John Paul II to be an auxiliary bishop in Baltimore and Vicar for the city of Baltimore. Priests and people loved and respected him. In 1997 he was sent to Pensacola-Tallahassee as its fourth bishop and his acceptance and affection quickly visited his service here. It was a bold move by the Pope to assign an African-American to an area of Florida which others call “The red-neck Riviera.” The bishop has shared with me some anguishing stories of what it was like to be black, to be a black Catholic, to be a black Catholic priest in the Church in the United States. The cruel hand of racism was as strong an image for this good man as the hands of the bishop on his head when he was ordained priest and ordained bishop.

With a doctorate in psychology and a deep personal commitment to Africa, he served as chairman and president of Catholic Relief Services (he preceded my term in the same capacities) and has also chaired the USCCB Committees on Domestic and International Social Justice. In the man’s blood there has always been a passion for the poor and a yearning for justice. He is a genuine article, a pastor par excellance, and for me a confidant, mentor and wonderful friend.  On the three hour drive back to the capital city, I thought how tough it was to say good-by to him this afternoon though I know we shall see more of one another in the months and time ahead. The Church of Pensacola-Tallahassee is praying for their good shepherd and I hope you will join me in doing the same.

Bishop Ricard and I before saying good-bye this afternoon in Pensacola. Picture kindness of Walter Pruchnik.

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The title of this blog entry which will arise from time to time means “and other things” and signals that you should look for an entry that most likely lacks “unity, coherence and emphasis.” In other words, I will use occasions like this to raise a number of issues which are clearly unrelated to each other. So fasten your seat belt, here goes:

One thoughtful reader upon reading the entry on the level of charitable giving in the US to Haiti in the five weeks since the earthquake asked what the likelihood is that it is getting to the people who need it the most. It is a good question and all I can do is share my experience, now several years old of chairing the Board of Catholic Relief Services. Haiti is a challenging place for non-profits to work. There is a dreadful combination of corruption and violence present in that country which every private voluntary organization working there must be prepared to deal with. It is nothing to have a band of armed men break into a warehouse with food and steal it only for the purpose of selling it on the black market. The strongest of locks and the presence of armed guards secures nothing in that country for sure. Yet, most of what is donated for the needs of the general population does get to those in need. Giving it to the government to distribute is not a great idea because of the corruption factor and one thing which helps CRS is that they can use a vast network of parishes and churches as distribution points and that works more often than not. To the writer of the comment, the pictures of the army using force to drive away those storming the food distribution points was likely necessary to keep the method of distribution to those most in need going. I would have bet that had those storming the food center been successful, everything being shared, donated, sent for the poor and needy would have ended up on the black market. Haiti can be chaotic at times but I think that CRS and other PVO’s are succeeding in seeing that what they have to give gets to the right people. Will it be perfect? Not likely. Can it still be effective and fair distribution? Yes.

Health care is back on the burner and I am suspicious that the anti-abortion protection of the House language will not be present in what is parleyed through the legislature in the coming weeks. We need health care but we do not need a new “open sesame” which for all intents and purposes directs yours and my taxes to support abortion services. It looks like the action is slated for the Senate and I encourage all to “swamp” Senator Nelson with pleas that he change his position. The rest of this diocese’s elected representatives in the House remain pro-life but they need some pressure to work harder for an acceptable health care proposal in general. Remember, the official position of the Church is that access to safe, affordable health care is a right in itself.

On a much, much smaller scale of human interest, most of my doctors have declared me “cured” and my surgeon has politely and appropriately begged “never to see me again” – professionally. I am back to work, taking the major public liturgies which I used to celebrate without fail but will continue through Spring not “to overdo it.” My recovery is an answer to many prayers – my own and many of yours as well. It is wonderful to feel useful once again.

The Florida bishops meet in Tallahassee next week for what we call “Catholic Days at the Capitol.” Joined by several hundred volunteers we annually descend on the legislature as it opens its annual session, usually but likely not this time see the Governor for a discussion of issues of mutual concern, celebrate the annual Red Mass for the executive, legislative and judicial branches (usually only a sparse representation of the legislature shows up), and meet as a state conference of bishops. It can be one and a half long days so we will see what my staying power is this year.

On Tuesday I am going to drive right through Tallahassee and keep going to spend an hour with my dear friend and fellow bishop, John Ricard, of Tallahassee-Pensacola. He is in rehab at the moment and remains in need of many prayers. He is a great man and a good bishop and the priests, deacons, religious and people of his diocese are worried about and for him. I will report in this space how he seems to be doing after I see him on Tuesday.

Don’t forget, we are once again lighting our Churches next Thursday night, March 11th and hearing confessions from 5-8 pm. The Light is ON for You.

So now you know what the Latin phrase et alia means – assorted and unsorted thoughts while shaving. God bless.

+RNL

Thought you might be interested in the following figures for Haiti relief efforts in thefive weeks since the earthquake:

Americans are, indeed, generous people even in a moment of local economic distress. Thanks to all who gave.

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One month after the devastating earth quake in neighboring Haiti, the people of this diocese have beautifully responded to my urgent plea for donations and help for this tragic nation. As of this morning, we have collected and forwarded more than $1,356,700 to CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES for their use in alleviating the suffering of the Haitian people with water, food and clothing. Additionally, and I am here guessing, many of our parishes “twin” with parishes in Haiti and have sent what they collected right to those same parishes so my guess is that at least another “$250,000″ has been collected and forwarded to parishes. Such generosity in a time of need must be pleasing to God. I know that I am proud of your generosity.

Also, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg has been asked by the U.S. government to handle all of the sick and wounded from that country who have been airlifted to Florida. The government chooses the hospitals for the care of the sick, but each patient is allowed to bring two people with them and it is now our duty to find them places to stay and to support them while their loved ones are in the hospitals of the area.

It is beginning to seem like my dream of being the first responder to urgent needs in our area and world is coming true thanks to the vision of Catholic Charities Director Frank Murphy and his colleagues. Another reason to be proud of your Church as we begin this Lenten season of prayer and sacrifice.

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I do not have a final total of the generosity of the Catholic people to Haiti from the special week-end collections of the last few week-ends, but I am willing to bet it will be somewhere in the vicinity of one million dollars and rising. Keep your eye here for the latest totals. As you know I asked that all donations be sent to CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES through the diocesan Finance Office but parishes with twinning relationships with parishes in Haiti could and should be guided by the needs of those parishes. In either case, the amounts forwarded would be included in our total diocesan effort. We advanced $250,000 to CRS on the second day to get them started and they set aside an immediate five million for the beginning Haiti effort.

Now to the question raised in the title of this post. The media are infatuated in every disaster with the “big” names among the non-profits who have huge “PR” departments which spring into action with the first news of trouble and make the reporters’ jobs easier by feeding them with stories, pictures, etc. So one will always see the RED CROSS, SAVE THE CHILDREN, WORLD FOOD PROGRAM, SALVATION ARMY and the like saturating the coverage of the relief efforts, especially in their early going. These agencies serve a purpose and do a good job but they often spend a sizable amount of money in fund-raising, public-relations, and they throw a lot of money and material into what appear to the viewer to be the basic necessities. They serve a purpose, but sometimes are among the first to leave when the media moves on to cover something else somewhere else in the world. That was my expedience in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia after the tsunami and the deaths there.  There and in Haiti, seldom mentioned, but primary and effective care deliverers are organizations such as the US Navy, the Australian Army (in Indonesia) and neighboring nations. They deserve a lot of credit.

But within a week, smaller, very effective aid agencies begin to get their “sea legs” and start making a difference which will last a long time: CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES, MEDICINES SAN FRONTIERES or “Doctors Without Borders” (which is one of my favorites) and CHURCH WORLD SERVICES. Flashy, no. Effective, extremely-choosing geographical areas in which to concentrate they cooperate and do not compete. In Haiti, there is room for everyone and hopefully everyone will stay until the end and the job is completed. So don’t be lulled into thinking that only the big names get things done. Most of the long-term relief and redevelopment efforts will be best accomplished by those who spend the lease to blow their own horns and the most on the suffering.

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