October 6, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Many, myself included, have been dismayed this week by the efforts of the
archdiocese to keep the pastor and people of St. Michael Parish in North Andover
from supporting their local chapter of Voice of the Faithful. To date, I have
received no similar communication from anyone in the archdiocese. Because
the archdiocese’s course of action will inevitably cause many to doubt
the wisdom or propriety of our hosting a “parish Voice” here at
OLHC, please bear with me as I offer, one more time, a review of the situation.
Those of you with access to the internet should go to www.votf.org to visit
the Voice of the Faithful Website. For quick reference here, and for those
who are not online, please take a moment to read the following from the VOTF
website:
Mission Statement
To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful
can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church.
Our Goals
1. To support those who have been abused
2. To support priests of integrity
3. To shape structural change within Church
Our Centrist Philosophy
Voice of the Faithful members represent the "great middle" of the
Catholic Church — "the people in the pews." Our philosophy
is "centrist," not extremist. We have joined together with the aim
of restoring trust between the Catholic laity and hierarchy — and rebuilding
the Church, not tearing it down.
We are also "inclusive," as Jesus was inclusive, and we seek to
present this model to the Church hierarchy as an alternative to a closed and
deeply flawed clerical culture. We are committed to providing an open and
safe forum for ALL Catholics to freely and respectfully discuss the challenges
of our Church, regardless of their views on specific issues. We take no position
on any sex or gender issues and have no interest in doing so. Our goal is
to bring the laity to the table of governance and guidance of the Church per
the moral imperatives of Vatican II.
What Is "Structural Change"?
On the national and local levels, Voice of the Faithful's Structural Change
Working Groups are developing meaningful, prayerful, and thoughtful articulations
of what VOTF actually means by "shaping structural change within the
Church." This is not an easy discussion, nor will answers come easily.
Please consult (this website) frequently as we continue to advance the dialogue
on this complex and critical issue.
To date, our dialogue has brought us this far: Voice of the Faithful is firmly
committed to meaningful reform from within the Catholic Church. We do not
intend or desire to found a new church. We have no interest in challenging
or revising Church dogma. We have no alliances with issue-oriented interest
groups. Our call for lay participation in the governance and guidance of the
Church is based on the clear teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which
provide a strong mandate for the laity's right and responsibility to actively
guide the Church as "the People of God."
We believe that working with the hierarchy to create structural mechanisms
("structural change") through which lay Catholics can influence
the temporal governance and guidance of the Church - including finances, personnel
and administration at all levels - will help restore the Church to spiritual
and moral health. We are convinced that the solutions to the current crisis
reside largely with the whole rich spectrum of men, women and youth who live
their daily lives as faithful Catholics in the real world.
I challenge anyone to find in the mission, goals, philosophy and work of VOTF
a threat to orthodoxy or the equanimity of church life.
For the record: the national leadership of VOTF has publicly acknowledged
some mistakes it made in screening several speakers invited to offer presentations
at its national meeting on July 20, 2002. Some critics of VOTF, however, are
on a campaign of what can only be called intentional false information with
the aim of painting VOTF as a militant band of dissidents bent on deconstructing
the church as we know it. Please refer to the information above for the simple
truth about these matters.
Would you like to know what VOTF is doing at OLHC? Go to our parish website
(www.olhc.org) and read through the minutes of the meetings dating back to
May 1, 2002. There is nothing secretive or subversive about Voice of the Faithful
- not on the local level and not on the national level. Did you know that
on this past Wednesday night, some 35 people at our parish Voice meeting broke
into a number of working groups responding to the mission and goals of VOTF?
Did you know that they have hosted, here in our parish, presentations by victim-survivors
of abuse by clergy? Do you know about the series of guest speakers our parish
Voice is presenting to help anyone interested be better informed on the issues
surrounding the crisis in the church? Do you know that the membership of our
parish Voice includes your neighbors? the folks who sit around you in church
on Sunday mornings? your lectors? your eucharistic ministers? your parish
council/commission/committee members? Did you know that this is one group
of people in our faith community who have found a number of ways to DO something
about the crisis in the church?
At the beginning of this letter I mentioned the dismay many are experiencing
because the honest efforts of good and faithful Catholic people are being
impugned. An e-mail correspondent of mine wrote this week: At this point,
I really want nothing to do with the institutional church. Its leaders are
so off base and I am so far from being spiritually fed by any association
with it... but then there is our little community in West Concord, full of
the light and essence of the spirit. Is it possible to stay a part of this
small community but not the larger organization? ... I am confused and frustrated
about where to be now... I have received a number of comments just like this
one. Here’s my response:
Our parish in West Concord is the church: this is a theological and ecclesiological
truth. But our parish is not the whole church. As Cardinal Law says so often,
“We are the church: together, we are the church.” The word together
in that statement is crucial and it is true in the worst of times as well
as in the best of times. Even if, in our own family relationships, a particular
household dissociates itself from its families of origin, or from its sibling
households or its children’s households, there is no denying the ties
that created and bind the members of a family together - in the worst of times
as well as in the best of times. The same is true of the church. The very
gospel and sacraments of which we are born as a faith family call us to lives
of deep and even heroic love for each other - and for all of us, together.
If we want to be a part of the church that reaches out in healing to those
who have been abused;
- if we want to be part of the church that supports priests in ministry;
- if we want to be part of a church open to new ways in which the Spirit may
choose to shape and
lead us;
- if we want to be a part of the church that worships in Fond des Blancs in
Haiti as well as in Concord;
- if we want to be part of the church which is served through Lazarus House
in Lawrence, the Family
Life Center in Roxbury, the St. Bonaventure School in New Mexico, and Spring
House in Berlin;
- if we want to be a part of the church that, after the Commonwealth, is the
largest provider
of social services in the state of Massachusetts;
- if we want to hand on to our children the faith that our parents and their
parents, and their parents’ parents handed on to us,
then we must also find ways to be sister and brother -to be church together-
with those whose words or actions may hurt, confuse, confound, frustrate or
anger us. If it’s true that we find some share of “light and essence
of the spirit” here in our West Concord parish, then we have a responsibility
for sharing what we have with the larger church - and for recognizing that
such light and spirit are our inheritance and responsibility, not our invention
or possession.
Be assured that even for someone like myself whose life is tied up with all
of this in particularly personal ways, these are not easy words to speak and
they are not easy words to live.
These are incredibly difficult days in the life of the church, made even more
difficult when the leadership of our church appears to mistrust even those
who have been among the most faithful for their whole lives. “Is it
possible to stay a part of this small community but not of the larger organization?”
A divided Christendom is evidence that such splintering off is not only possible
but has become a way of life for the many different “households”
in the Christian family. But I cannot counsel us to more divisions. My heart
and my faith tell me that the incredibly difficult work of resolution and
reconciliation is the Spirit’s healing path to what God is asking of
us who are, indeed, a wounded people.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
*****************************
October 10, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Archdiocese of Boston is preparing to implement the VIRTUS training program
for adults regarding the prevention of child sexual abuse. This program will
be the comprehensive vehicle for training all parish clergy, staffs, employees
and volunteers in parishes and other institutions in the archdiocese. The
VIRTUS program educates and trains adults in the faith community about the
dangers of abuse, the warning signs of abuse, ways to prevent abuse, and methods
for properly reporting suspicions of abuse. More information on the VIRTUS
program is available by going to the archdiocesan website at www.RCAB.org
where you can link to the Office of Child Advocacy and from there to VIRTUS.
Each parish in the archdiocese is being asked to send 5 volunteers who will
be “trained to train” others in the VIRTUS program. The training
of these volunteers is intensive: it includes two full days (arrive 7:45 a.m.,
with class from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) The training sessions will be offered
on these dates and at these sites around the archdiocese:
Oct 26/27 Mt. St. Joseph Academy, Brighton
Nov 16/17 Boston College H.S., Boston
Nov 23/24 Xaverian Brothers H.S., Westwood
Dec 7/8 Bishop Fenwick H.S., Peabody
Dec 14/15 St. Francis Parish, Medford
Jan 11/12 Marian H.S., Framingham
Jan 18/19 Marian H.S., Framingham
Feb 1/2 Central Catholic H.S., Lawrence
Feb 15/16 Central Catholic H.S., Lawrence
Feb 22/23 Xaverian Brothers H.S., Westwood
Once volunteers from a parish are trained, they will then go back into the
parish and train parish administrative staff, employees and volunteers on
a schedule to be determined by the parish, not later than June 2003. It is
estimated that the “in parish” portion of the trainers’
work would require 24-30 hours in the course of a year. (Each volunteer trainer,
like all parish employees and volunteers who work with children and the elderly,
will be required to fill out a form allowing the archdiocese to do a CORI
check, for the purpose of checking on past criminal offenses.)
If you are interested in being “trained as a trainer” and offering
this time and service as one way to respond constructively to the crisis in
the church, please call the parish office at your earliest convenience to
let us know which training session fits your schedule and so that we can register
you for this program.
/////////////////////////////////////Our annual parish trip to Haiti will
leave on Thursday, January 2, 2003 and return on Saturday, January 11. Is
this the year that YOU will go to Haiti? There’s more information in
the bulletin and I (and any of our “Haiti Alumni/ae” will be happy
to answer any questions you have.
Sincerely'
Fr. Fleming
******************************************
October 26, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
A number of people have asked what I think of the Vatican’s response
to the American bishops’ Dallas Charter and the commission of American
and Vatican bishops which will review the charter in preparation for the US
bishops’ November meeting. Here’s what I think. The Dallas Charter
and the particular implementation of its norms in the Archdiocese of Boston
appear to ignore some although certainly not all of a priests’ rights
as provided for in canon law. Let me be clear in pointing out here that such
rights provided in canon law are NOT contrary to the demands of civil law
in the United States. Those who believe that the Vatican (or local priests)
are trying to use canon law to escape the demands of civil law are simply
and deeply mistaken. I am not a canon lawyer. I usually only need to consult
canon law in reference to issues around marriage. Until this year I have never
needed to wonder what my rights as a priest might be in canonical terms. I
am learning slowly what those rights are and I know that some of those rights
have not been respected in the cases of a number of priests who have been
put on administrative leave. I am NOT arguing that they should not be put
on leave but I and many others have questions about the process that leads
to that decision and how that decision is carried out. I did not read last
week’s statement from the Vatican as an insult to survivors of clergy
sexual abuse, much less as an abrogation of the great ground that survivors
have claimed in their uphill battle over decades of abuse and coverup. I hope
that in spite of the hurtful history around these issues that all sides would
want the rights of all to be protected, particularly when the rights of the
innocent may be at stake.
A number of people have asked what I think about the archdiocese’s recent
response to Voice Of The Faithful. As you will recall, the archdiocese informed
the pastor of St. Michael Parish in Andover that VOTF should no longer be
welcomed to use parish property there for their meetings. This news appeared
in the newspapers but was never communicated through the usual channels (a
fax followed by a hard copy) to pastors anywhere in the archdiocese. A few
days later, the archdiocese announced that the Andover VOTF indeed COULD meet
at St. Michael’s and that already established chapters of VOTF could
meet on parish property, but that pastors should not allow new chapters to
form or use parish property. (Go figure!) Once again, this was news in the
media, based on archdiocesan communication with the pastor of St. Michael’s,
but again not communicated through the regular archdiocesan channels to pastors.
(At a meeting this week with priests [see next paragraph] the cardinal indicated
that he wanted more communication with VOTF and was beginning to believe that
he could accept the language of VOTF’s third goal concerning church
reform, which goal he has heretofore considered problematic.)
A number of people have asked what I think of the meetings Cardinal Law held
this past week (one in Medway, one in Arlington) with the priests of the archdiocese.
Sharing with you my comments to the cardinal at the Arlington meeting will
give you a sense of my thoughts. I told the cardinal (and the approximately
400 other priests there): “This meeting is giving me a disturbing sense
of deja vu. This meeting sounds like the Archdiocesan Convocation last March
when the members of parish pastoral and financial councils spoke openly and
critically to their archbishop. It sounds like the listening sessions in parishes
around the archdiocese last winter. It sounds like the regional meetings the
cardinal had with priests following last January’s breaking stories
on sexual abuse of minors by clergy. We have indeed reached a new level of
openness in criticizing our leadership - but to what end? What happens to
the notes you take during these meetings, Cardinal Law? For how much longer
will we work in this state of paralysis? We (pastors and priests) are supposed
to be your greatest collaborators, but you have not met with us in over eight
months. You said at the beginning of today’s meeting that you are ‘grateful
for this opportunity’ to meet with us. What have we been waiting for?
Why were none of the pastors with chapters of VOTF consulted by you or the
regional bishops before getting the archdiocese into what can only be described
as an embarrassing situation in the press? Why did no one call us and ask,
‘’What’s VOTF? Who is it? What are they doing in your parish?
What’s happening? What do you think? What do you think we should do?’
We need to find a way to move beyond this point. It has been suggested that
we need a new pastoral plan for the archdiocese to rebuild trust between you
and the people and the priests. I don’t know if that’s the answer
or if that can work at this point. But I do know if these kinds of meetings
are all we can expect, I doubt that I would continue to attend. We must find
a way to move on from here.”
A number of people have asked what I think about the cardinal’s statement
at these two meetings with clergy in which he said that he has considered
resignation, has prayed about it and consulted with his closest advisors,
but has decided not to resign. I think he means just what he said.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
November 2, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Each year the archdiocese asks all parishes to take an actual head count of
people at Sunday Mass over three weekends in October. We have just finished
our “October count” and I want to share the results with you in
the table below. As you can see, our weekend numbers are down from last year,
even though our number of registered households increased by 35 from this
time a year ago. You will also see that 2001 was our best year for Mass attendance
over the past 9 years, with another “peak” year in 1997. It is
important to note that these numbers reflect only an annual sampling of three
weekends in October and are not based on actual numbers over 12 months. Something
as changeable as the weather on October weekends may also be a factor: those
who have second homes or who regularly travel north or south on the weekends
might be away further into the fall as the weather allows.
Registered
Oct count Oct count
Oct count
households
total Att.* average
average
as of Oct 1
wkend att. per Mass
att.
2002 942
2782
927
232
2001 907
3059
1020
255
2000 899
3007
1002
200
1999 858
2910
970
194
1998 828
2762
921
230
1997 778
3004
1001
250
1996 761
2759
920
230
1995 742
2606
868
217
1994 712
2312
771
193
*Annual October head count over three weekends, not including the October
12 holiday weekend
Another reality to be reckoned with is the growing phenomenon in the United
States of young Catholic families in the United States who register in the
the local parish, are faithful in getting their children to religious education
classes, but who seldom or only occasionally come to Mass on the weekend.
It is not uncommon to receive a registration from a family who responds to
the question on the form, “Attend Mass frequently?” with “no”
or “seldom.”
I recognize, certainly, that a significant portion of our drop in attendance
relates to the crisis we are facing in the Catholic community with regard
to the sexual abuse of minors by priests and bishops, and decades of coverup.
I am working with the parish staff, the Parish Pastoral Council and the Parish
Finance Council on reaching out to those who have drifted away from sharing
our Sunday prayer with us. The absence of so many is a great sadness for me,
and I’m sure it is for you, too. Pray with me for the hope and healing
we need to reconcile with those who have been abused and with those who have
drifted away from our prayer on the Lord’s day.
Sincerely,
Father Fleming
*********************************************************
November 10, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
While the
construction jobs on the OLHC/CCC/HW campus are wreaking havoc with parking
and traffic, there is no doubt that significant growth and development are
taking place. And the good news is that once all the construction is
completed, there will actually be a significant increase in the number of
parking spaces for the three entities sharing the common parking area!
Our own
project, the parish ministry center, is nearing completion and if all continues
to go well, we should be ready to move the parish offices from the rectory
at 1404 Main Street to the new building just after the beginning of the new
year. Let me take yet another opportunity to express my gratitude to
those who have provided the financial support for this important sign of growth
in our parish history.
For those
who may have more recently joined our parish, it might be helpful to restate
the case for our parish ministry center. The two front parlors at the
rectory simply no longer provide the kind or amount of space necessary to
house and coordinate the ministries of our parish. The new center will
provide office and meeting space for parish staff and for the various ministries,
councils, commissions and committees through which our parish carries out
its gospel mission. We are not alone in such an effort. Some years
ago St. Elizabeth Parish in Acton built a similar structure and St. Michael
Parish in Bedford is in the process of doing so even as our project nears
completion.
Once our
move to the new center is complete, we will be in a position to seriously
address the question of the disposition of our property at 1404 Main.
The original plan was to sell 1404 Main and purchase a smaller home in West
Concord as the pastor’s residence. (A clear benefit of this whole
project is that the pastor would no longer live over the store.) More
recently, I have been considering the value and benefits of living in the
company of other priests. I know that since the breaking story of the
church crisis last January, I have sought out the company of brother priests
as never before and have found it to be a rich source of support and stability.
In light of that, I have had conversations with the parish staff, the Parish
Finance Council, the Parish Pastoral Council, and the representatives to the
Concord Cluster about the possibility of my eventually moving into a rectory
in one of the Concord Cluster parishes. Such a move is a real possibility
and would be supported by the archdiocese.
It is no
secret that the dwindling number of clergy in the United States will have
significant impact on parish life. Each cluster in the archdiocese is
being asked to prepare a plan for the future when there will not be enough
priests to provide a resident pastor for each parish. While we don’t
know exactly when that reality will touch the Concord Cluster of parishes,
it is forecast that by about the year 2007, virtually all parishes in the
archdiocese will be one priest parishes. The time will come, the archdiocese
tells us, when only three priests will be available to serve the 5 parishes
of the Concord Cluster. My term as pastor at OLHC (12 years) will end
in 2006. I want to be clear here that I am NOT predicting any time line
for such changes and NOT even hinting that all this will come to pass in the
next 4 years. I fully expect that a new pastor will be named to OLHC
upon my departure. Still, if we take all this seriously, there is certainly
some practical and fiscal sense to anticipating the future rather than waiting
to react to such changes once they occur.
I bring
all of this before you to solicit your comment on the possibility of the pastor
of Our Lady Parish living with brother priests in another parish in the Concord
Cluster - no further away, then, than Carlisle, Bedford or Lincoln.
The real question here is where your pastor would go at the end of the day
to put his feet up and relax. Wherever he lays his head down at night,
his work and office will be here in West Concord and in the new parish ministry
center. Please give this some thought and let me or the members of our
Parish Pastoral Council or Parish Finance Council know what you’re thinking.
If you have questions about all of this, let me know and, as always, I will
be happy to respond to them in this space.
Our Parish
Pastoral Council members are: Jane Audrey-Neuhauser, Diane Krause, Bob
Swanson, Kevin Smith, Connie Davidson, Ed Sasena, Jim Brozek, Nancy Lorch
and Linda Norton. Our Parish Finance Council members are: Tom Conway,
Gary Lorenz, Nancy Crowley, Mary Ann Haas, Claire Lawton and Chris Webber.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
**********************************************************
November 14, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Recently,
Cardinal Law met with a group of victim/survivors of sexual abuse by a priest.
Two days later the cardinal delivered a statement acknowledging his responsibility
for transferring abusive priests and yet another apology for his part in this
tragic saga. I’ve been asked by a number of people about my response
to these two events. My observation is that although the meeting with
survivors was long overdue it was nonetheless an important step and, I hope,
only the first of many such encounters. The cardinal himself has said
that he must keep on reiterating his apology: I hope that in future
statements he will acknowledge his critical role in the crisis as much if
not more than in his remarks at the cathedral. Unlike some who no longer
trust the archbishop’s sincerity on any level, I believe the cardinal’s
recent visit and statement were, indeed, genuine.
Just after
these two events a parishioner wrote to me, wondering if this was enough to
allow me to move on emotionally and ministerially, from the crisis.
My answer was no. It is tempting to want to believe that it’s
time to go back to business as usual but that would be a mistake. There
are two related realities with which we are dealing here: the reality
of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and the reality of the systemic dysfunction
which allowed that abuse to occur and continue and which covered up its existence
at the expense of the welfare of children. Addressing the immorality
and crime of abusing children and working towards healing and reconciliation
comprise the crucial work facing the church. Just as critical, however, is
strategizing to identify and rehabilitate the dysfunction with which we live
and our recovery from it.
We cannot
honestly move on from the crisis because there is so much work yet to be done.
To pretend otherwise would be folly, would enable the dysfunction and would
constitute a denial of much of what we have learned in the past year.
This past week’s meeting of the bishops in Washington, for example,
was disappointing in several ways:
In his
opening presidential address, Bishop Wilton Gregory’s reference to false
prophets taking advantage of the church’s vulnerability was recklessly
vague, particularly in a time when a number of Catholic groups are regarded
as suspect simply for wanting to live out their baptismal commitment as Christians.
With
regard to the final disposition of the norms for dealing with sexual abuse
by clerics, I find neither the original nor the Rome-amended versions adequate
to the task. The former was wanting in respecting the rights of the
accused while the latter retreats from the Dallas promise of better balancing
the participation of ordained and lay persons in the processing of abuse cases.
Recalling
how refreshing and compelling was the inclusion of knowledgeable lay men and
women as speakers at the Dallas bishops’ meeting, their total absence
in Washington only served to highlight the hotel ballroom filled with men
in Roman collars. I had no naive expectation that the bishops
would, of a sudden, restructure their administrative processes but the taste
of inclusiveness in Dallas gave me a hunger that went unsatisfied in Washington.
¥ Regrettably,
the bishops voted down an opportunity to censure those among their membership
whose actions, or failures to act, have been most serious.
One of
Voice of the Faithful’s (VOTF) three goals is to shape structural change
within the church. While VOTF is, itself, in the process of delineating
this goal, this past week is certainly evidence for the need for such change.
Expecting that the same administrators, structures and systems that contributed
to the crisis can also extricate us from it is a sign of the dysfunction so
much in need of attention.
Another
parishioner spoke to me recently of her concern that the sexual abuse crisis
not take on a life of its own and become an evil paralyzing the church and
its mission. I agree. As serious as these issues are, they must
not be allowed to keep the church from its proclamation of the gospel and
its work for justice, peace and charity. The greatest threat to the church,
however, is not attention to the sexual abuse crisis but rather inattention
to those systemic issues which gave rise to it.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
*********************************************************
November 22, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As you
can see, attendance at Mass on the weekends has been dropping off. Within
the past year we had standing-room-only crowds at the 9:30 and 11:30 Sunday
Masses but that is no longer the case. I am sure that this reality is
due in large measure to the impact of the scandal of sexual abuse of minors
and its subsequent cover-up in the Catholic church. The drop in
attendance here is taking place in a parish which has, I believe, made a strong
response to the scandal and has made every effort to be open in discussing
it. (In fact, I have received some criticism from parishioners who believe
I have paid the crisis too much attention.)
It is my
plan to mail a letter to all the registered households in our parish, sometime
around Christmas. In that letter I will particularly address myself
to those who have drifted away from worshiping with us on the Lord’s
Day. As I think about writing this letter, it seems to me that those
whose worship with the community has not been interrupted might be of valuable
assistance. Would you be willing to take the time to respond to this
question:
At a time
when many Catholics have decided not to worship with the church on Sunday
morning (or Sat. evening), what continues to draw you to Mass at Our
Lady Parish?
(Mail to the rectory, or e-mail me at FrAustinFleming@aol.com,
or drop a note in the collection basket at Mass.)
I am trying
to do everything I can to help our parish navigate its way through these stormy
times. You can help me by taking a few moments to respond in the
space above (and on the reverse side of this bulletin) to this question.
I believe it would be helpful if those who have drifted away could hear from
you why you have chosen to stay the course.
There are,
of course, moments of hope and encouragement. We have several people
meeting with us on Tuesday evenings in our inquiry group for those interested
in becoming Catholic. (The Holy Spirit works in season and out of season!)
Two young mothers in our parish have spoken with me about new ways to involve
young families in parish life. (Join us at 6:00 p.m. on December 8 for
our first lighting of our outdoor creche, followed by refreshments in the
hall!) A group of parishioners has taken the initiative to pray the
Rosary before daily Mass on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. There has
been a wonderful response from some of our young people to insure the continuance
of youth ministry activities while we make long range plans for filling John
Fitzsimmons position. And our Voice of the Faithful chapter continues
provide a channel for those looking to actively contribute to the healing
and resolution of issues facing the church. Praise God from whom all
blessings flow!
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
***************************
December 1
Advent 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
This weekend
we begin to celebrate Advent in preparation for Christmas. Every year,
the secular trappings of the commercialization of Christmas threaten to overwhelm
the religious heart of this important feast on the church’s calendar.
Advent may be our last stand against the tide that seems intent on sweeping
Christmas from our sanctuaries and out to the seas of sales and Santa's.
Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year in the course of which we
celebrate the saving mysteries of Jesus, beginning with his birth. Advent
is draped in a rather somber purple, inviting us to wait in prayer and reflective
silence for the coming of the Lord. The quiet winter waiting of Advent
provides a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
Advent invites us to be quiet, to listen, to wait and to look for the coming
of the Lord in our lives every day, and again at the end of time.
The church
also speaks of Advent as a season of joyful expectation because the Lord whose
second coming we await has already made his home among us and in our hearts.
We do not pretend that Jesus will be born on December 25 of this year!
We are preparing not for his birth, but for his birthday. That the joy
of Christmas already fills our hearts is a blessing and a grace!
How do we wait and make our preparations for Christmas?
We wait in prayer...
First of
all, we need to find time in Advent to renew our prayer lives. The very
effort to find time for prayer in this hectic month is a true Advent pursuit
in itself. Just as Mary and Joseph had a difficult time trying to find
a place to stay in Bethlehem, so it is often difficult for us to find a place
and time and to make room in our hearts, minds and imaginations to pray, to
ponder. How will we pray in our parish? We will
celebrate Evening Prayer on December 1, 8, 15, 22, (the Sundays of Advent).
Evening Prayer is a half-hour service of candlelight, music, scripture and
prayer. Those who have participated have found it to be a truly peaceful
oasis in their lives. Will you join us for Evening Prayer this year?
On Wednesday nights, year round, a group of people meet in our church
to pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance (a
consecrated host is displayed in a large, beautiful stand placed on the altar).
Will you join them? We celebrate weekday Mass at Our Lady Parish on
Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 9:15 a.m. Before Mass on those mornings,
a group gathers to pray to the Rosary. Will you join us?
We wait by the Advent Wreath and Calendar...
The Advent
Wreath is a prayerful way to mark the days of our waiting for the Christmas
celebration. The wreath’s candles may be lighted at the main meal of
the day, or at any time of prayer. The Advent Wreath in our church will
be lighted at the beginning of each Mass by parishioners. If you and
your friends or family would like to participate, please sign up for a particular
Mass on the lists posted at the front doors of the church. We are distributing
in this bulletin a kind of Advent Calendar, with suggestions for Advent deeds
for 37 days (Advent plus the 12 days of Christmas. Check or enter the
date on which each deed is done!
We wait while serving the poor...
Advent
calls us to look for the coming of Christ in our lives. One sure way
to find him is to serve the poor. The poor were especially beloved by
Christ in his earthly ministry. (St. Nicholas, a bishop and the origin
of Santa Claus, was known for his generous response to the poor in his diocese.)
How will we serve the poor in our parish? You are invited
to take a tag from the Giving Tree located in the narthex (front entrance)
of the church. The tag you take will indicate the name, age and sizes
of a particular child who will receive the gift you purchase, wrap, and return
to the Giving Tree. These gifts go to particular children in the inner
city as well as in the greater Concord area. (Be sure to place the Giving
Tree tag on the wrapped gift when you return it to the Tree. And please
remember that when you take a tag, you take on the responsibility for a particular
child who is waiting for the gift you return. For this reason, please
be sure that your younger children do not remove tags from the tree to play
with!)
All year round there are large baskets at the front doors of the church, waiting
for donations of food to be distributed to the poor. Thanksgiving and
Christmas are special times for serving the hunger of the poor. I would
like to suggest that every week we remember the hungry by bringing a food
item or two with us to church. We come each week to be nourished ourselves
by the food of the Lord’s word and the sacrament of his table.
Just as we might think to bring a bottle of wine, a box of candy or a special
dessert to a friend’s home when invited for dinner, so might we remember
to bring a non-perishable food item to the Lord’s table when invited
to share in the supper he serves for us. And of course, our monthly
Lunch at Rosie’s Place is a year round (as well as December) opportunity
to reach out to the tables of those who are hungry.
Two organizations
in our parish serve the poor throughout the year: the Saint Vincent
de Paul Society and the Social Action Commission. Any special monetary
donations for the poor that I receive during the Advent-Christmas time will
be shared between these two groups that serve our parish by serving the poor.
What will celebrating Christmas cost each of us this year? (gifts? December
decorations? lights? wrapping paper? cards? postage? ribbons? candy? parties?
special food? wine and liquor?) Could we consider estimating the
cost of our Christmas celebration and then tithing: giving 10% (or more
or less) of that amount for the needs of the poor? Jesus came in poverty
to the poor and for the poor, for those who are poor in spirit, and to fill
the poverty of our hearts with God’s love and mercy. What better
way to celebrate his birth than to serve him by serving the poor...
We prepare our hearts for Christ who will come again...
Advent
is one of the times that the church especially encourages us to receive the
Sacrament of Penance. The sacrament of Penance is intended for anyone
who lives an imperfect life. (If you don’t fall into this category,
please write a book so that the rest of us can learn from you!) In addition
to our regular parish time for confessions (Saturday afternoons from 4:00-4:30
p.m.), our parish will celebrate a Penance Service on Monday, December 16,
at 7:30 p.m. The Lord is waiting for us with peace, mercy and forgiveness.
What are we waiting for?
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming
P.S. It has been some time since I’ve given you an update on my
health. You will recall that in late May I had a treatment of radioactive
iodine for my hyperactive thyroid. The iodine has done its work and several
months ago I began to take Synthroid. My doctor is monitoring how I
adjust to that medication. Some have noticed that on occasion I seem
to lack some pep. I do experience a lower level of energy, although
that is slowly improving. I’m grateful for your concern
and want you to know that things are under control. The bottom line
here is that I’m getting better! I have made
some adjustments to my schedule and plan to take a few extra days off this
week in preparation for the busy time ahead between now and New Year’s.
It has been a long year (in many ways!) and, as the saying goes, I’m
not getting any younger. I’ve made a decision not to join our
annual trip to Haiti in January. At that time, I will be making an 8
day retreat at Campion Center in Weston. One of my new year’s
resolutions will be to take better care of myself: your prayer for my
health and my faithfulness to that resolution will be much appreciated.
*****************************
December 6, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I know
that some of you are weary of my writing on these issues. Well, the
truth be told, I’m weary of writing of these things, too. But
given the news of the past week, I cannot let the most recent events pass
without comment.
I join
you in your deepening dismay, anger and hurt. I, too, stand amazed at
the most recent revelations. Like many pastors I feel paralyzed and
demoralized by this sad saga. At a time when our greatest need
is to rebuild trust and confidence in the church, our trust and confidence
continue to be eroded from within and from without.
I wish
I could tell you that this is the end of the unending stories, but I don’t
know if it is or it isn’t. I wish I could tell you that beginning
now we will only hear the unvarnished transparent truth, but I don’t
know what else is buried, what else is hidden. I wish I could tell you
that 2003 will be as much a year of healing as 2002 was a year of discovering
wounds, but as much as that is my hope it is not something I can promise.
What I
can tell you is that this sad story was indeed a story that needed to be told,
precisely so that we could face the truth. I can tell you that our church
is better off today than it was a year ago today - because, as Jesus told
us, the truth will set us free. I can tell you that the healing of those
who were abused is the only place to begin if we hope to find healing for
the church at whose hands the innocent were abused.
And I can
tell you, as I tell myself everyday, that part of telling the truth and doing
the healing means living the gospel as the church is called to do, in season
and out of season. Like those who grieve, we must learn that moving
on with life is not a betrayal of those for whom we grieve. So I invite
you to join me in praying that the Lord show us a way out of this sadness:
a path that is faithful to the truth; a path along which we can heal one another
and be healed; a path that calls for justice; a path that shows us what
must be changed, how change can be achieved, and the courage to make the changes.
Nearly
four dozen parishioners have responded to my invitation of several weeks ago
to write to tell me What continues to draw you to Mass at Our
Lady Parish at a time when many Catholics have decided not to worship with
the church on the Lord’s Day? Forty-eight responses breaks all
parish records! I plan to use your responses in a letter I am preparing
to send all our registered households before Christmas. It’s not
too late to write. You can e-mail me at FrAustinFleming@aol.com or write
me at 1404 Main Street, Concord, MA 01742.
At 6:00
p.m. this Sunday night (December 8) we will have our First Lighting of our
outdoor Nativity scene. At this lighting, you are invited to bring the
baby Jesus from your home nativity scene to be blessed. Following the
lighting we will serve cookies and cocoa in the church hall. Then at
7:00 p.m., we will sing Advent Evening Prayer, a half hour of candlelight,
incense and song. After Evening Prayer, KAIROS, a women’s a capella
quartet will offer a concert of beautiful sound and song.
If the
times have got you down, then let the season lift you up! Come, join
us! The church needs you - and you need the church!
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming **********************************************************************
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