The New Fr. Mark Mossa, SJ

Congrats, Fr. Mark!

Anointing of Hands

Bishop anoints Mark's symbolizing the strengthing power of the Holy Spirit.

Laying of Hands

Bishop Fiorenza lays his hands on Mark.

prostration

Mark and Jose prostrate themselves in submission before God.

Mark Mossa Ordination-The Questions

Mark and his co-ordinand Jose Fetzer, SJ answer the questions of Bishop Joseph Fiorenza who will ordain them priests.

Mark Mossa, SJ

Mark Mossa, SJ is being Ordained to thee priesthood today. Mark is the author of the "You Duped Me, Lord" blog

More on Fr. Paul Keenan

Fr Paul's radio work spanned over a long period of time and he purchased much of the time himself and then selling advertising to everyone from funeral homes to pet stores. He worked like a dog to keep the show on the air including one evening when a check from an anonymous donor came in about 5 minutes before he was scheduled to go on.
On WOR his show was called "As You Think" and it was often billed as "positive radio". Keenan acted partly as priest, espousing different pieces of tradition and partly pastoral counselor fielding listener calls from many a lonely customer looking for direction, many in their old age who were often ignored.
His WABC show which had a bigger following was called Religion on the Line and dealt with ecumenical issues. He co-hosted the show with a rabbi (who's name escapes me).
Fr. Keenan wrote several books his best seller was Good News For Bad Days which included personal reflections of his own and others to serve as a "pick me up". Fr Paul had a hearty laugh and often would shoot back a zinger to those of us in the control room who'd whisper a funny in his headsets through the talk back. My favorite was:

Me: "OK Keenan, let's see what you can do. Try not to make radios click off all over the city."

PK: Why? Are you the first guest?

I howled.

Ric Sansone, his longtime producer, often credited Keenan for making the most out of any situation. When times were tough Fr. Keenan didn't fold, he often expanded his ministry into something new. Besides the terrestrial radio shows, most recently, Fr.Keenan moved onto satellite radio on Sirius and penned a column for Catholic New York.
A longtime confidant of many in the radio business, Fr Paul's life blessed so many of us. He was so excited about the Sirius gig and the Archdiocese's committment to it...it seems somewhat cruel that he only saw it succeed for a short time.

Rest in Peace, Fr. Paul. God says your show is at 9pm Heaven Standard Time.

Fr. Paul Keenan - Rest in Peace

I was stunned at the news that the longtime director of radio ministry in the Archdiocese of NY, Fr. Paul Keenan has died. Fr. Paul was a wonderful guy and was a great colleague when I was at WOR Radio in NYC and then at Sirius.
His deep baritone will be missed. I will try to call the Joey Reynolds show on WOR tonight since he was a frequent contributor there.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Huge Success in Boston

Bolting back from Boston today after a wonderful retreat on the Cape. Fr. Ruben Patino, CSP and Rich Andre, CSP--a Paulist seminarian--joined me in providing the young adults from the Paulist Center with a retreat experience..or I should say they provided us with the experience as the retreat we design is run by young adults for young adults.

The group was a wonderful and interesting one and from several different backgrounds--a lot of people working in the public sector as teachers for low income students, healthcare, and social work; a few grad students and employees of Harvard and other Massachusetts schools.

I was privileged to be there and did a good deal of spiritual direction and led the reconciliation service. I think this retreat has legs here in Boston. The group itself was very impressive--smart, friendly and interested in their faith. The Paulist Center has a great tradition of social justice so that was indeed a focus for many.

The question box session we run was indeed fun and spilled over into our social hour in the late evening on Saturday. We also played a game until the wee hours called Apples to Apples--which is hysterical.

Blessings to the team who made it all happen.

Bolt to Boston

So I'm blogging from the Bolt Bus on my way to the first Boston-Based BustedHalo Retreat! Should be a good time.

Boltbus is a new company that is a subsidiary of Greyhound and you can get a fare for as cheap as a dollar if you book in advance long enough. I booked yesterday and got a one-way fare from NYC to Boston for $15...that beats Amtrak by a long shot. What's more is there is free wi-fi access on the bus--how awesome is that. I've gotten so much work done! I even watched Fr Rodrick's show for a little while and did a bit of blogging on my dog's blog. At times it's a bit slow but for the most part it's awesome. There's supposedly more legroom on this but I wouldn't say it's significantly more as compared with Amtrak--but for $15 it's roomy.

The one downside thus far--the bus was late and we're about an hour behind schedule. The company is only 3 months old--but so far it might be the place to go if you're taking a quick trip to Boston, Philly or Washington DC.

As for the BustedHalo retreat--this should be fun. I'll be preaching the reconciliation service on Saturday night on the prodigal son--some of which I sampled on here this past week.

The Greatest Commandments

In today's Gospel Jesus speaks his famous lines (which are right out of the old testament) on which of the Commandments are the greatest. A lot of people get confused because these are not two of the "heavy ten" that Moses carried down from the mountain. In Jewish law there are hundreds of commandments to follow not merely the 10 we always point to. So Jesus picks two out. The first one is well known from Leviticus but the second one is a rather obscure reference and he thus turns those listening on their heads when he reports it.
Interestingly, we often forget about the response of the person who asked him the question to begin with. He says that Jesus is right and it seems that he is following these directives. Jesus tells him that he is not far from the Kingdom of God.
Loving God with all of our being and then loving others as we love ourselves is tough stuff. I find it hard to love others well...especially those who make it hard to love them. Loving co-workers after you've had an argument or disrespected you is essentially our call. Loving my wife when I don't feel like it because I'm grumpy in the morning calls me to examine how I'm too self-involved in those wee hours.
How can we more appropriately love God better..with our whole being though? This strikes me of being the stuff that's more difficult. Don't I ignore God until it's convenient for me to ask for His intercession or until He hits me with a two by four and wakes me up to realize I need him and I'm not all powerful? We all like to make ourselves into Gods. We have all the answers, we know what's best for us and we control our own destinies. Hogwash. Jesus reminds us that we need God and that we are called to serve.
Today's prayer: Lord, Help me realize that I am vulnerable and need you in my life and help me begin to notice your presence more within those who make it hard for me to love them. Amen.

The Older Brother

The one thing that is awesome about the parable of the Prodigal Son is the fact that many people resonate with nearly all the characters. We've all been there when we think we've wasted something. We've all felt the disappointment when someone lets us down or wastes an opportunity we've given them. But perhaps the character of the older brother that Jesus has named is the one we should all pay the most attention to and he is often the most overlooked.

The older brother stayed home, some scholars say that he had little ambition and just kind of went along with the crowd while the younger brother might have screwed things up and was way too headstrong, but still took a risk and found out who he really was.

Regardless of the speculation, the resentment shown by the older brother is personified by the Pharisees who were grumbling about Jesus' teachings. Jesus is reminding them that they have forgotten about the destitute in their midst. They have been "looking down" on people because of their own righteousness and that when people repent of their own sinfulness they were apt to let "sleeping dogs lie."

So the message is really one of a call to put aside resentments and judgments on the part of those of us who tend to be the "older brother" not those of us who are the "Fathers." The Father is all too ready to forgive and he forgives in the same manner that God does--he can not help BUT forgive. The older brother is the one who needs to shore up his forgiving.

How does the story end? We don't know. We never hear if the older brother goes inside or not to join is brother or if he stands in resentment for the rest of his life.

And that is where the challenge is presented to the Pharisees and to us. Where do we need to get past our resentments and welcome those who we have a hard time forgiving? Who are the people in our lives who we think have squandered their gifts and have lived like pigs but who now need that warm embrace not merely from God but also from those who felt the brunt of their lack of committment to their obligations? For those who are unemployed, who have not cherished life in all forms, who have ignored the needs of their families and who now turn toward someone for forgiveness...let us make our prayer for them and let us call ourselves to action--to stop looking down at them and instead look into their hearts and let that turn our own into a welcome embrace.

What time is the party?

Prodigal Son

"He Came to His Senses"

I think that one line of scripture encapsulates much of the younger brother's repentence. He had squandered all of his father's wealth and even his asking for his inheritance was the equivalent of wishing for his father's death. Think of what that must've done to his poor father, the man who had given him everything.
His obsession with his own freedom led him into the pigsty, a somewhat appropriate place for someone who lived so lavishly. The symbolism should not be lost on us though, a jewish man amongst pigs...possibly the lowest place he could be. How could he possibly go home now?
And yet...he came to his senses and realized that his father might need another slave and swallowing his pride might just be the thing he needed to do.
He rehearses his apology...and when he gets near his home he finds his Father who has been obsessively waiting for him to return home...a son who has sold the property around his own home piece by piece and the new owners have been moving in all around him, each another sign of his son's malevolence and now that all the land is gone it means everyone has taken advantage of him and have probably left him for dead.
But now....NOW...the son returns home! Imagine the father's joy..the tears down his face as his muddy, smelly, squandering son comes home. Despite how filthy he is he goes running and embraces and kisses him.
This is exactly how God loves us too. Today may we realize the God who knows no resentment...who runs to greet us even when we are so filthy and ashamed and feel like we have wasted it all. When we feel like a pig.
Tomorrow: The Older Brother.

The Woz

I e-mail interviewed the founder of Apple Computers Steve Wozniak. He's not particularly religious but, does lots of good work with kids. A subject that I would have liked to delve into more with him, but over email I was only entitled to some cryptic responses. Regardless, he's a cool albeit eccentric guy. With the almost religious dedication that Mac fans have to their product (and I may soon head that way myself) I thought it wise for us to try to get inside the mind of a guy who started it all and find out a bit of what makes him tick.

The interview is here

The Infant Jesus

During this period of what we Catholics call ordinary time I thought I'd do a few reflections on some of the classic Gospel stories starting with The Nativity.

We often see God as we see ourselves. Some years ago I was struck by a religious sister's response to the question: Who do you pray to?

Her response: The baby Jesus.

Now honestly, up until this point I didn't think this woman was particularly bright and often she tended towards dominating conversation. So her remark about the baby Jesus was met by a friend by his whispering in my ear:

"Of course! The baby Jesus can't talk--so he just has to listen to her blather on all day."

But yet...

Do we ever place ourselves in that manger at Christmas? Do we ever look upon ourselves as the vulnerable one? Do we dare ever become the Jesus that we gaze upon adoringly each Christmas?

The baby Jesus has dared to become one of us. The God we profess to believe in enters this world as a little baby--who needs constant care by his parents. They will spend every waking hour wondering if he is OK. Checking in those early days on his breathing. Making sure he gets enough to eat (and in early Mideastern culture this was no easy feat).

Do we ever dare to allow someone to have THAT much control over our lives as adults?

The answer not only at Christmas is to see ourselves as the vulnerable little child and God as the God who dares to break into our world to care for us for all eternity. But to do so--God must become like us, be born into our world, and die our human death.

And so, the same is true for us. We will face horrors and one day succumb to our own mortality. And the truth of the matter is that we are very easily forgotten after we are long gone (how many of us remember our great-great-grandparents?). But the truth that we profess is that God never forgets us. God loves us enough to become one of us--to experience the fear of being vulnerable and the very fear that we all have of being a forgotten soul.

God's response is the fact that he was lying in that manger, in a lowly place, filled with the fear of all of this newness--completely vulnerable to the world around him--and yet still being God.

Yes, the infant Jesus is the vulnerable one to whom we must aspire to become. We place the gift of our very selves at his manger--filled with all of our rawness, our mistakes, our hungers, our fears.

We know not what awaits us--but our faith tells us that whatever may lie ahead that we are able to bring our whole selves to God--even when we don't think much of who we are. Remember the manger and know that God is with us in all our vulnerablity.

Before You Die...

I started a great book today: The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die by John Izzo, PhD.

Izzo interviewed over 500 people that other people pointed him to as having a sense of profound peace about themselves: from town barbers to Holocaust survivors they all have something to teach us. A full review comes when I finish.

Saints and Sinners

Dr. Maureen Tilly of my famed Alma Mater, Fordham spoke at Apostolst--the young adult group at St Paul the Apostle on Saints and Sinners and was remarkable.

One of the quotes I'll keep with me is:

"Be patient: God isn't finshed with me yet."

How often I forget that I am a Saint in the making and that the saints are such interesting people. We (no pun here) sanitize the saints and forget that St. Francis rejected the status quo of his father's riches and stood naked in the street. We are apt to think of him as a quiet man in a garden talking with the animals. (In truth he wanted the birds to shut up during mass).

But I think that provides me with enough reflection this week. How am I becoming more of the person that God wants me to be? How am I sharing the Gospel? How am I living a Saintly life--that's often filled with adventure and hard choices?

This week's BustedHalo Cast features Paul Cammarata from The SaintCast who gives us a tour of Saintly Sights.

Thanks to all for an inspiring week.

Back to Home

Flying on Air Canada back home. ESPN picked up my Bob Sheppard piece which made me feel a lot better about not winning any awards at Catholic Press.

I was thinking more deeply about what the award would mean to me anyway. I won a CPA award in 2004 for an article that I had even forgotten I wrote. It's a good article but the book is something I'm much more proud of. So I'm feeling weird about the concept of awards.

I also didn't write the book to win awards but rather to serve others...I believe the book is doing that and the next one will do that as well.

Right now I'm mobile blogging an annoyed at the guy next to me who has an empty seat next to him on this plane that's open so we can both have more leg room. Ugh.

But back to being self reflective... I need to have more self-confidence about my work and know that it's all good stuff. Whether that gets recognized or not. God is the only one that I try to serve with what I do...and that is more than enough.

Today's prayer: "Give me only your love and your grace...that's enough for me."

ESPN's Rob Neyer Picks up my Interview with Bob Sheppard

Yankee Stadium's The Voice of God - Bob Sheppard

ESPN Insider

See the whole interview here on BustedHalo

Pastoral Ministry Award--good news and bad news

The bad news first: Googling God did not win EITHER award (First time author of a book or Best Book on Pastoral Ministry) it applied for at the Catholic Press Association Awards. We applied under our imprint BustedHalo Books--which is an imprint of Paulist Press.

The good news: Paulist Press won 2nd place in the Pastoral Ministry Category for Mexican American Catholics and then also took Honorable Mention in the same Category for The Practical Prophet and I Don't Want to Go To Church (which has a cool cover).

Other winners included:

Fr. Jim Martin, SJ who is a good friend won for his great book A Jesuit Off Broadway--which if you haven't read, is a wonderful book about his experience as a theological expert on the play "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" which was directed by Phillp Seymour Hoffmann who is clearly a genius of an actor.

Ellie Hidalgo of Los Angeles' The Tidings Newspaper won two awards for her fine reporting. Bryan Cones, who used to blog for BustedHalo and is the managing editor of U.S. Catholic won for two of his pieces and Eileen Markey who is one of our BustedHalo Writers also won for a piece she did for the National Catholic Reporter.

So congrats to all! As for me, I will feel better once I curl up with my dog and wife tomorrow--for now I'm drowning my sorrows with bad Canadian pizza.