Honoring Jan Karski, the Messenger from Hell

Today in a ceremony in Manhattan, academics posthumously honored longtime Georgetown University professor Jan Karski, a man who tried to prevent the Holocaust by sharing the truth. Alas, politicians among the Allies were tardy to act of the news from Karski as the Messenger from Hell.

During the Second World War,I Karski was a Second Lieutenant in the Krakow Valvary Brigade who was captured after the battle of Tomaszow  (1939) by the Russians. But due to Karski's birthplace, the Russians handed him over to the Germans, thus he avoided being a victim of the Katyn massacre of 1940. 

Karski escaped his German POW train in 1939 and escaped to Warsaw where he joined the Polish Resistance movement. Larslo  organized courier missions to the Polish Government in exile headquartered in Paris andhe himself made several secret trips to France and Britain. Karski was eventually captured by the Gestapo and tortured in Slovakia but was later smuggled out and rejoined the Polish Resistance. 

In 1942, Karski was selected by Polish Prime Minister in exile  Władysław Sikorski to go on a secret mission to gather first hand information about the Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland.  Karski was smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto. Karski also sought to infiltrate the Belzec death camp as an Estonian guard.  Although Karski only managed to see a transit station, the horror that he witnessed first hand was appalling.  

After briefing the Polish Government in exile upon his return to London in 1942, Karski met with other exiled Polish politicians and British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden about his first hand testimony about the Holocaust.  In June of 1943, Karski traveled to the United States to personally brief President Franklin Roosevelt, as well as other American civic and government leaders, including Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Associate Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, without much effect. Karski published his recollections Courier from Poland: The Story of a Secret State (1944) which sold more than 400,000 copies. 

Eventually Jan Karski settled at Georgetown University, eventually earning a Ph.D in 1952 and taught there for over forty years. Georgetown remembers Jan Karski as many things — a beloved professor, writer, and colleague, to name a few — but to the world, he was known as one of the first to warn Western powers of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Jan Karski at Yad Vashem (circa 1982)

Although Karski was a Roman Catholic, he felt a profound connection with the people whose lives he attempted to save from the Holocaust.  In 1981, Karski said: “All murdered Jews became my family. I am a Christian Jew.” In 1982 Karski was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.  

In 1991, he received the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan for his outstanding humanitarian efforts.  In 2012, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Jan Karski the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his heroic witness to the ugly truth of the Holocaust.  Mr. Obama proclaimed: "Jan Karski -- a young Polish Catholic -- who witnessed Jews being put on cattle cars, who saw the killings, and who told the truth, all the way to President Roosevelt himself."   

"Whoever does not condemn, consents" mural in Warsaw

Karski's faithful witness has been remembered from murals in Warsaw to a series of five bronzes of Karski sitting on a bench playing chess created by Krakow sculptor Karol Badyna which are located in Georgetown, Manhattan, Lodz, Warsaw, Keilce and Tel Aviv University in Israel. 

Celebrating the Canonization of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Here is St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta reinforcing the point about the poverty of abortion at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC in 1994.

Jay Leno on Epiphany in the District of Calamity

Ecumenism Has Gone Awry at DC's National Cathedral

Despite Reverend Franklin Graham's disappointment which he shared on Twitter about the Muslim led prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, this is not the first time that the sixth largest Cathedral church in the world  has ecumenically opened its doors to non-Christian worship.

In January 2014, the Washington National Cathedral hosted "Seeing Deeper" which welcomed worshipers of different faith to bring  prayer mats, yoga mats, zafu meditation cushions and mandalas to touch the divine.  So having a Muslim led prayer service is not surprising.  

Regarding the recent Muslim Prayer Service, the Dean of National Cathedral Gary Hall was unaware or did not care that the Muslim prayer service at Washington National Cathedral was held on the centennial of the last Caliph declaring a holy war on all non-believers. When Breitbart News journalists informed the rector, Rev. Hall equivocated:  "[I]t actually seems to be more appropriate to have an event that is on an anniversary of a hard time… There have been atrocities on both sides. There have been extremists on both sides.”  After pointing out that Menachem Begin and many founders of the state of Israel were "terrorists",  the Episcopal minister mused: “Everyone’s hands are dirty at some point… There’s no one in the world who has absolutely clean hands."

Muslim led Friday Prayers at Washington National Cathedral Nov. 14, 2014 [photo source: AFP]

The prayer carpets for the around two hundred Muslim faithful gathered for the Jumu'ah (Muslim Prayer Service) were laid diagonally in the transept on the side of the sanctuary to face Mecca without seeing any Christian icons, as Islam forbids prayer in view of sacred symbols which are alien to their faith. 

Before the prayers started, a lone protester proclaimed: "Jesus died on that Cross for us.  Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior." before being whisked out of the supposedly Christian church.

It seems that forthrightly proclaiming the faith in the House of God which a Cathedral church represents is unwelcomed at Washington National Cathedral.  It runs counter to what Rev. Canon Gina Campbell, the Cathedral's liturgical director, espoused in publicizing the event:  “This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamaphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christianity and to embrace our humanity and to embrace faith.”

The Right Reverend Gary Hall has interesting ideas about ecumenism.  Hall does not believe in talking about God with members of different faith as that only leads to arguments.  Instead Hall believes that "Let's all pray together and experience the divine together in our own way."  It ignores the great commission of MT: 28:16-20 but why be pushy about divine matters for the National House of Prayer?   

Washington National Cathedral was founded on a charter from Congress but it is an Episcopal Cathedral.  While it is wonderful to reach out to people of faith to find commonalities, it seems pusillanimous to not represent the faith at the seat of the Archbishop, who should be shepherding the flock.  Moreover, treating Washington National Cathedral like an International House of Prayer seems like it is making it a big venue religious entertainment.  Then again the Very Reverend Gary Hall wished about to roller skate or throw paper airplanes down the temporarily empty nave of Washington National Cathedral

Ecumenism is illuminating and foster tolerance and perhaps peace in the proper context. This is often accomplished through interfaith prayer services, which may concentrate on the spiritual things which unite various confessions.  However, a renunciation of truth by not sharing the Good News when worshiping in a Cathedral church is indeed troubling. This leads to what Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI labeled a renunciation of truth that is lethal to faith.  When eternal symbols become inter-changible, we may find ourselves singing: "Have a RamahanuKwanzMas" soon. 

h/t: Breitbart News

Bye Bye to Brutalist Bunker Church Between the Beltways

One of the world’s ugliest church structures was the Third Church of Christ, Scientist in Washington, DC, just blocks away from the White House.  This octagonal shaped building was designed by Araldo Cossetta, an associate of I.M. Pei, in a brutalist architectural style and was completed in 1971.

Academics often voiced approval of Modernist Architecture like brutalism.  Randall Ott, the dean of architectural design at Catholic University, waxed philosophically:  "Modernism was a fairly austere, fairly confrontational style, and the Third Church is an obvious example of that style."  But outside of academia, there usually are not warm feelings about austere and confrontational buildings.

La Verne Hill, a woman who worked nearby the brutalist behemoth, opined:  "It's awful. It looks like they just dumped a bunch of concrete down here and shaped it into a box." Church members had long long disliked the design of the building.  Longtime church member Darrow Kirkpatrick articulated: We think it says, 'Stay away.' Something goes on in here that they don't want to get outside, which is exactly wrong for all Christianity. We don't think the architecture conveys taking the Word to the people...  Brutalism is not our religious expression.”

Darrow Kirkpatrick 

Membership in the Third Church of Christ, Scientist dropped to 50 members.  But the congregation was stuck with an ugly architectural white elephant.  The brutalist building was not well suited for re-purposing.  It was a 60 foot tall concrete bunker that was hard to heat and harder to cool. There were structural defects in many spots.  And in order to change lightbulbs, a scaffolding needed to be erected in the sanctuary which would cost betweeen $5,000 to $8,000.  These were costs which  the congregation neither had the funds nor the inclination to pay.

Yet in 2007, the DC Historical Preservation Board unanimously voted the Third Church of Christ, Scientist as a Historical Landmark, thereby protecting it from demolition or alteration.  This had the fascinating dynamic of having the government tell a religious group where to worship and how to spend their funds.

Due to the shepherding of former Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty’s Planning Director Harriet Tregoning,  the zealotry of the Historical Planners was overturned.  Tregoning ruled that Cosetta design was an experiment which failed badly.  The city approved of razing the building in May, 2009 citing hardship of maintaining the building and the risk of the demise of the church if the Historical Landmark status continued.

 Yet it took until February, 2014 for the District to issue a permit to raze the building.  Little time was lost by Celtic Demolition to start to take down the structure.  And there was much rejoicing among ordinary District denizens.

William Newton, who writes the Blog of the Courier, put it poetically:

The more you are able to study and look at exactly why such hideous things as the Third Church of Christ Scientist came to be, the more you will realize why your gut reaction to their readily apparent ugliness is correct, because these buildings often reflect a wider, even uglier philosophy about human nature and man’s place in the universe.  Without knowing exactly why, you can cheer the demolition of this terrible building.

But it will take up to eight weeks to totally demolish the edifice, as the lower walls are six foot think walls of concrete.  The demolished scraps will be sent for recycling.

For any fans of brutalist architecture in the District of Calamity, they can still admire the F.B.I. Building, the H.U.D. Building, the Department of Energy’s Forrestal Building and the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art.

The property where the brutalist building once stood is slated to become another glass and metal shoebox office building, but it will have an economical space where the congregation can worship.

Aside from aesthetic issues, the battle over the brutalist bunker also brings to a forefront salient issues on religious liberty.  Perhaps the eventual triumph of the Third Church of Christ, Scientist over a government dictating how religious institutions must act might serve as a framework for future judicial decision regarding the H.H.S. Qualified Health Plan (Contraception Mandate) issue.

h/t: NPR
     Real Clear Religion
    Washington Post
    William Newton

Rector's Reverence for Washington National Cathedral?

Last month, the Washington National Cathedral removed all of its pews for several days for what was billed as a special and unique event--"Seeing Deeper".  The event was promoted by as:

Seeing Deeper builds upon and visibly brings to life many facets of the Cathedral’s core mission. By juxtaposing the spiritual and the artistic, practice and hearing, silence and song, the Cathedral opens the doors of this landmark and national treasure to be experienced in new ways while fulfilling our calling to be a spiritual home for the nation. As a place known for its art and iconography and its setting for musical performance, this week of introspection, reflection, and transcendence transforms the Cathedral’s living stones for thousands of worshipers, concert-goers, pilgrims, and visitors.

Washington National Cathedral's long-time  Music Director Michael McCarthy explained emptying the nave to allow visitors to experience the worship space in solitude and silence as well as offering a couple of free classical concerts by the Cathedral Choir.

All of this religious rhetoric sounds very noble project for the world's sixth largest Cathedral, which also doubles as the Episcopal Church's Washington Cathedral.  But the execution of Seeing Deeper along with some comments that it engendered may shock some sensibilities of religiously centered Christians. 

To aid in Seeing Deeper, the Washington National Cathedral promised to have "prayer mats, yoga mats, zafu meditation cushions and mandalas to draw and color available as reflection tools.  So a nominally Christian Cathedral opens itself to zafu meditation for Hindus worshiping thousands of gods or Buddhist mandala meditation to no god.  While religious liberty should be prized in America as well as religious tolerance, it is questionable to open the Cathedral doors and facilitate worship of other deities in the Lord's house.

What was more shocking was the quip by the new Rector of Washington National Cathedral, Reverend Gary Hall.   Hall quipped: "I want to skateboard down it — or have a paper airplane contest," as he watched about 100 people practice tai chi in open nave."

Hall believes that not enough was being done with Washington National Cathedral, so Seeing Deeper would get the place back to its roots.  However, Rector Hall conscientiously would not proselytize.   "If I get people together and say, ‘Let's talk about God,' we'll get an argument. But if I say, ‘Let's all pray together and experience the divine together in our own way,' people can enter that in a much more creative and less-judgmental way."  That is pretty weak tea for proclaiming the Gospel .  However joking about playing with paper airplanes or skateboarding down the nave truly impeaches Hall's reverence and piety towards a sacred space of which he is rector.

Opening the doors of Washington National Cathedral to celebrate faith may be well intentioned but misguided for a Christian sanctuary, but when a rector's lack of reverence is revealed by wanting to play in the sanctuary of his own Cathedral Church underlines why Dr. Scott Hahn is so committed to the New Evangelization as society has become notably de-Christianized

Prayers for the Navy Yard Shooting Victims

Rev. Rob Schenck praying around Navy Yard  (pis this hoto WTOP)

Living in the District of Calamity (sic), I watched coverage of the Navy Yard shooting in which twelve NAVSEA workers were killed as well as the gunman with rapt attention, because this violence both terrorizes the Nation's Capitol and because I know people working in that building. 

While the low flying helicopters which circled the Navy Yard while the shooting situation was active was remarkable, the image that really struck me was of an evangelical minister praying on the sidewalk near the Navy Yard.  WTOP reported that Rev. Rob Schenck lived in the Navy Yard neighborhood and was preparing to fly out of town when he heard the news of the shooting when he turned around to minister to those who were wounded and frightened.  As Schenck told Bob Madigan "At times like this you ask yourself what can you do? As a minister what I do is pray."

Another memory occurred while the media was waiting for the initial press conference from law enforcement, a priest walked nearby.  When St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church Pastor Fr. Andrew Royal passed nearby the media scrum, he asked if he could help.  Royal also offered comfort and prayers for those in shock, but he thought it important to also conduct the noon liturgy.

As Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl noted in his statement about the Navy Yard shooting  reminded his flock:

I join people of all faiths, across our community in praying for the people killed and wounded in the attack on the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.. I also pray for the family members of the victims, as well as the first responders and emergency workers at the scene.  While many facts are now still unknown, our most powerful tool right now is prayer. The Church always calls us to prayer, particularly in moments of crisis.  It is what we do best because it is what the Lord asks us to do. 

Cardinal Wuerl's message, along with the on scene ministering by Rev. Schenck and Fr. Royal highlights the importance of allowing ministers access to mass casualty situations. 

h/t: WTOP

A God Forsaken Patriotic Beer Commercial

A new advertisement campaign by Samuel Adams Brewing from Boston, Massachusetts has an "Independent" take on our founding fathers' declaration:
  

 

The namesake of this brewery would certainly have qualms about this God-forsaken omission. Samuel Adams opined: 

But the brewery was not the first to lop off "endowed by their Creator".  President Obama was infamous for not reading those lines about our Creator  off the teleprompter when reciting patriotic phrases.

Capitol Visitors' Center,Washington, DC

This advertising omission is just another instance of secular humanists trying to re-write history and claim that our Founding Fathers were atheists and to deny  the importance of a God centered revolution to bestow liberty upon America. The $621 million Capitol Visitors Center initially tried to pass off "E Pluribus Unum" as the national motto instead of "In God We Trust".   This was corrected only after 108 lawmakers backed Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA 4th) protested to the Architect of the Capitol for this historical inaccuracy.  

Washington Monument Capstone Replica, Washington, DC 

There was considerable controversy in 2007 when the "Laus Deo"  inscription on the replica capstone of the Washington Monument was   obscured.  The National Park Service promised to correct what it characterized as a stupid mistake. Praise God that that they felt the heat and then saw the light. 

Perhaps the Samuel Adams Brewing  ad was just another isolated incident of forsaking the faith of our founding fathers.  But as Independence Day approaches, we ought to toast the unalienable rights granted by our Creator for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. 

St. Thomas More on Faith

What Will Make the Difference for Marquette?

As the victorious warriors of the basketball court advance to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, it has sparked some hermaneutical introspection.

A Converse perspective adopts the Athletic Department’s enthusiasm.

It is no wonder that the Marquette Men’s basketball program has a 24 game winning streak, considering the loyalty of its fans, as shown by sell outs of the Bradley Center and the energy exerted in the student section.  One small detail that belies Marquette’s Ignatian charism is the one word sentence “Pray”.

Another symbol of the University is the school seal with the strange Latinate motto “Numen flumeneque” It translates to “God and the [Mississippi] River.

Stained Glass of Marquette Seal, Sensenbrernner Hall, Milwauke, WI

The motto has more meaning when one understands Pere Jacques Marquette was a Jesuit missionary  who, along with Louis Jolliet, was one of the first Europeans to explore the northern portion of the Mississippi River in 1673.  Marquette’s alacrity with languages came in handy in his mission to spread the gospel to various indigenous tribes in the new world (a.k.a. “New France”) as he worked with the Hurons, then had good relations with the Illinois tribe as well as when he explored.

Aside from  Père Marquette, the school seal incorporates imagery which honors St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (a.k..a the Jesuits).  The diagonal red and gold bands honors heroes from Ignatius’ lineage who achieved valor in battle. In addition,  the wolves in the coat of arts symbolize the generosity of the Loyola family that even the wolves found something in the kettle to feast.

In 2002, Marquette University adopted the tag line “Be the difference” as it challenged the Marquette community to be leaders to make important contributions, which echoes the Ignatian attitude to be “contemplation in action”

Marquette athletic teams have gone by several monikers.  Originally, they were named “the Hill Toppers” due to their topography.  In the 1920s, they were nicknamed “the Golden Avalanche” for their football prowess by sports writers.  Other teams were informally tagged “the Blue and the Gold”.  The name that really stood out was the Warriors, which all Marquette teams sported from 1954 to 1994, including the infamous 1970 NIT Champions and the 1977 NCAA Champion basketball teams under Al McGuire.

Aside from a proud record for Marquette basketball, the University has the knack for choosing colorful and charismatic coaches.  The 2013 jerseys bear patches to Al McGuire as well as Rick Majerus, who played for the Warriors (or warmed the bench as he would put it), was an assistant coach and head coach before moving on.  This is Buzz William’s fifth season at Marquette.  Williams takes a humble but persistent approach with his team.  Williams recently observed:

That's just another Marquette game.  We're not good enough to blow anybody out. We're just good enough to get blown out. And if we can turn it into a fight and make it ugly, then it probably trends toward helping us the most. What you saw is a microcosm of our culture.

They also have been playing with teamwork and everyone contributing.  In a recent March Madness game, Buzz Williams made 67 substitution.  Many of the bench players get more minutes than the starters.  It may be synchronicity but this humble, determined and gritty approach approximates the Jesuit ideal.

Marquette basketball has produced some great pro players of late, including Dwayne Wade (Miami Heat) and Jae Crowder (Dallas Mavericks).  But aside from their atheletic excellence, Marquette student athletes have stellar graduation rates.  Marquette athletes have a 91% graduation rate, compared to 78% of the whole student body.

In 1994, Marquette University President hastened a change from the Warriors to the Golden Eagles, allegedly so that the Warriors could be unisex, but what is more likely is that the machinations were to be politically correct and to sell more licensed sportswear.  Even today, Marquette basketball games are punctuated with spontaneous cheers “Let’s go Warriors!” instead of chanting up the unremarkable  “Golden Eagles”.

While the Willie Wampum cartoon Warrior was obviously offensive to modern mores, Marquette University crafted a Warrior consulting with various Indian tribes that bespoke honor and valor in battle, much like Ignatius of Loyola’s black robed religious warriors.


This is Marquette University basketball’s third straight trip to the Sweet Sixteen, and first advance to the Elite Eight since 2003, where they were roundly beaten by Kansas.  There is the possibility that there might be a rematch between the Jayhawks and Marquette in this year’s final four.  Rather than be haunted by the past, it is better to be calm and ahoya on.

Win or lose, Warrior or Golden Eagle, may the imprint of Marquette to be the difference in the world.  But if it helps, the Elite Eight game is being played in the District of Calamity (sic).

Pere Marqutte Statue by  Gaetano Trentanove (1896)

The Wisconsin contribution to the Congressional collection is none other than Père Jacques Marquette.  It used to be in Statuary Hall but now is displayed in the Congressional Visitors Center at the U.S. Capitol. Perhaps that omen will bring some luck to keep the Blue on Gold on route to the Atlanta Highway for the Final Four.

Tenebrae Time with the Suspicious Cheese Lords

Mount St. Sepulchre in Washington, DC is a Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America. The Church itself neo-Byzantine design by Roman architect Aristide Leonari in 1899.  The church looks akin to  St. Sophia (Hagia  Sophia) in Constantinople (Istanbul).

The interior of the church resembles a five fold Crusader Cross of Jerusalem. The large bronze baldachin is is supported by columns which depicts the twelve Apostles. The interior is decorated with the Ave Maria and scenes from the life of Mary.

The Friary is the home of Franciscan Commissariat in the nation's capital, and they continue their 800 year tradition of supporting the Holy Land. Part of the charism of the Commissariat seems to be a special celebration of Passiontide.

The Tenebrae service which is celebrated on Spy Wednesday is is resplendent in faith and history, as is incorporates a cappella medieval pieces sung by the Suspicious Cheese Lords (Suscipe Domine Queso).

While they are a consummate choir, the Suspicious Cheese Lords need to practice their polyphonic songs in situ at the Franciscan Monastery.

The Suspicious Cheese Lords in rehearsal for the Tenebrae Service.

Even though the Suspicious Cheese Lords ordinarily sing early music works, one year they chose to perform Arvo Part's De Profundis (1980).









Lighting the Candelabra for the Tenebrae Service.





Extinguishing the candles during the Tenebrae Service.



 The closing of the Tenebrae service is marked by a retreat of the single candle into the crypt.  As the vault to the catacombs is slammed, it sets off an unnerving Strepitus, meant to symbolize the earth convulsing at the death of the the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

Some Are Still Gestating a Respect for Personhood

Sign from a March for Life demonstrator

 This week marked the 40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade which open the floodgates across America for abortion on demand. Associate Justice Harry Blackman mooted some state anti-abortion laws in his 1973 majority opinion under the guise of an unwritten “right to privacy” that was contained in penumbras and emanations of the bill of rights as applied to states via the Fourteenth Amendment. This vague and confusing “logic” was the legal modus operandi for the judicial branch to legislate from the bench by imposing progressive moral sensibilities as "choices".

Nellie Gray

 Pro-Life protesters have demonstrated in our Nation’s Capitol every year around that January 22nd anniversary to protest this perceived injustice to the unborn.  This is the first year that the March for Life has been held without Nellie Gray, who died last August at the age of 88.  Gray was an accomplished attorney for the Federal Government who was so appalled by the Roe v. Wade decision that she walked away from her career (and took a small pension) to dedicate her life to standing for life by organizing the Marches for Life.




Although scheduling conflicts precluded my participation in this year's March for Life, organizers estimated at least 500,000 people participated despite the bitter cold and the afternoon onset of snow which makes District of Calamity denizens deranged.

View of crowd from the 40th March for Life, Washington, DC January 25, 2013

Yet you would never know it by the elite liberal media reports (a.k.a. the Lamestream Media).  The sea of humanity marching for the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death, is minimized while the dozen of counter-protesters insisting that abortion is not murder are given equal time. And the media is quick to cite an outlier poll which "proves" their point that people do not think that abortion is murder.





  READ MORE reflections on the March for Life at at DCBarroco.com

Honoring the Gift of Life

As she strived to cope with the loss of her father, Gail Broeckel chose to celebrate the gift of life.  Herb Broeckel was blessed with an extra fourteen years of life due to the donation of a kidney by his niece Shelli Cannon Hill.

[L] Shelli Cannon Hill (Kidney Donor)  [R] Herb Broeckel

Ode to Shelli’s Kidney
You were such a little thing,
but you should receive wings
For your giant purpose
extended life brings.
You saved my Dad.
We all were so glad.
Your new life gave hope.
And that’s more than we had.
Extra birthdays we shared,
because Shelli cared.
Now the first one without dad
is rather hard to bare.
So to help remember the time,
we’ll use Dad’s talent of rhyme.
And we’ll treasure a kidney
That was just sublime.
Here’s a way to celebrate, have you heard?
Dad’s birthday is December third.
Practice a random act of kindness.
And feel free to spread the word.
Let a car ahead in line.
That stranger’s coffee?, say “the bill is mine.”
You can honor Shelli’s kidney.
Being kind makes you feel really fine.
So thanks little one…
We appreciate all you’ve done.
Even though we miss Dad.
We sure had a lot of fun

Herb paid the gift of life forward by donating organs after his death on January 5th, 2012.  At least three people benefitted from his gift of life.  The Washington Regional Transplant Community honored Herb Broeckel’s organ donation by hanging an ornament in his honor on the Tree of Life at the Washington Hospital Center.

Pastor Broeckel’s favorite scriptural passage was Galatians 2:20 which revolves around life giving gifts.

Celebrating the Red Mass

[L] Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl and [R] Chief Justice John Roberts at 2012 Red Mass

On the day before the start of new Supreme Court term, six justices attended the Red Mass at St. Matthews Cathedral in Washington, DC. The Red Mass harkens on a Roman Catholic tradition which began in the High Middle Ages, where the Church asks for guidance by the Holy Spirit to come upon all who seek justice. The Red Mass derives its name from the red vestments worn by the clergy during the liturgy, which recalls the Holy Spirit’s tongues of fire which came upon the Apostles at Pentecost.

 The Archdiocese of Washington and the John Carroll Society have sponsored a Red Mass in Washington since 1953. This year Chief Justice John Roberts along with Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan attended. It should be noted that Justices Breyer and Kagan are Jewish but they clearly attended to respect the concept and supporting religious plurality in America.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio at St. Peters Tomb

The Mass was celebrated by Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl. However the homily was given by Archdiocese for the Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the prelate charged with shepherding the spiritual welfare for the 1.5 million Americans serving overseas in the military or government service.

 Archbishop Broglio’s homily included some scriptural exegesis to the readings at Mass and delved into some Catholic culture as he recognized Saints’ Day. But Broglio embraced the mantle of the New Evangelization and dared to echo themes from the Fortnight for Freedom of religious liberties, the latter may touch upon issues that the High Court will soon tackle.


 Here is the written text of Archbishop Broglio’s Red Mass homily:

The author A.J. Cronin told the story of a district nurse he knew during the time he practiced medicine.  She covered a ten-mile district by herself, was extremely capable and generous with her time.  She was patient and cheerful.  Her salary was insignificant and late one night after a particularly strenuous day, Dr. Cronin suggested that she demand a higher salary.  “God knows you are worth it”, he added.  Her reply was classic, “if God knows I’m worth it, that is all that matters to me”.

Indeed if we live and work with the confidence that we are inserted into the Lord’s plan, then that is all that matters.  Is that not what the word of God tells us this morning at the 60th annual Red Mass as the readings invite us to be open to the Spirit of God, beg His blessing on a new judicial year, and strive to be instruments of a new evangelization.

The passage from the Book of Numbers is fascinating.  The Lord has guided the Chosen People out of Egypt and through the desert, but there is a structure and a system to govern them.  Seventy elders are chosen to help Moses with the task of judging, but Eldad and Medad miss the installation.  Still they receive the gift and the mission.

To Joshua’s concern about a possible challenge to Moses’ leadership, he explains that the divine gift is not limited by place, but attached to the person, wherever he or she might be found. The sovereign liberty of God determines how He will act and that obliges the believer of all times to question the temptation to close God within the narrow spaces of a justice which assigns itself the task of protecting the presumed rights of God while trampling upon those of his or her brothers and sisters.

Of course, you and I live in a world of forms, ID’s, procedures, and verification.  One commentator on this passage suggested that in the near future in order to die you will have to fill out the appropriate form, and perhaps a diligent clerk will tell you to save the receipt to present to St. Peter at the Gates of Paradise. Moses’ wish is the better course: “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” 

His invitation is to look for the evidence of the good, of truth, and of the beautiful in another.  There is not a monopoly of the Spirit, but rather an abundance of gifts to be used to build up the Body of Christ.  

How appropriate it is to speak about that abundance on September 30th when we would normally celebrate St. Jerome, a learned doctor of the Church who was first charged to translate the Bible from its original languages to the vernacular Latin.  His talents were used to make the Word of God accessible to the ordinary folk.

We remember him and remain inspired by his quest for learning as we gather as a community of faith to beg an abundance of blessings upon the women and men of our judiciary and the legal profession.  

 It is a moment to pause and pray for those who serve our Country and foster justice for all.  We know that a believing community engages in prayer for the needs of all, but especially for those who face arduous tasks. Indeed “Justice is radically intolerant of injustice; justice seeks out injustice to destroy it.  To emphasize security at the expense of eradicating injustice creates a fool’s paradise.”
 The Romans put it more succinctly: “Justitia non novit patrem nec matrem; solum veritatem spectat justitia.” Justice knows neither father nor mother; justice looks to the truth alone. For that reason we are here primarily to pray with you and for you as you execute the daunting task assigned to you at various levels.  

We beg a blessing for all of you and for all of those who assist you in this important ministry.  We invoke the only Just One so that He might inspire all that you do.  We recognize “that those who involve themselves with human law are doing God’s work.  You are called to be involved with the same matters with which the Lord God is involved in relationship with His creation.”

We have heard the question posed by the Apostles just before the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven.  Their vision was of a political reality alone: the end of Roman rule and the independence of the Chosen People.  It was a vision firmly anchored in this world alone.  They would need the gift of the Holy Spirit so as to purify their goals, understand their mission correctly and be able to accomplish it.

So we pray for all of those gathered here that they might welcome the strength of the Holy Spirit and the interior dynamism with which He fills our hearts. We do so just before the beginning of the Year of Faith given to us by the Holy Father, because there is a “need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.”

The mission is always audacious, but it is possible with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are instruments in the hands of the Lord and so we pray to be ever open to His presence. The message is filled with hope: not only for eternal life, but also for the graces necessary so that our lives are truly noble, worthy of God, and of the vocation He has given us.

We speak so often of the new evangelization, because we recognize that we must be its instruments in all that we do. The faith we hold in our hearts must motivate the decisions, the words, and the commitment of our everyday existence.  That existence is extraordinary, because it is infused with divine grace.  

St. Thomas More said that he died the good servant of the King, but the faithful servant of God first.  We, too, are faithful citizens only when we embrace the fullness of the principles of our faith and allow them to enliven and fortify our contributions to the life of the Nation. Or to draw on the eloquence of the Archbishop of Baltimore in a paraphrase: we must be loyal Americans by being a bold and courageous men and women of faith and conviction regarding the ethical norms that guide society and its choices.

There is so much that we bring to the discourse of our society.  Our faith expresses itself in worship, but also in witness.  From the beginning the Church has been active in society to make a contribution, especially to the care of the poor, but also to education.  The first universities grew out of the monasteries.  We cannot separate who we are from how we live.

 To quote Father Alfred Delp, a Jesuit condemned to death by the Nazis, “Futility or ineffectiveness do not dispense one from speaking the truth, declaring what is right and just…Woe if the prophets are mute out of fear that their word might not be heeded.”

I am reminded of my first year as a seminarian in Rome.  An important 19th Century Justice Department building was closed because it was unsafe.  It seemed to be sinking into the ground.  Yet the Colosseum, Pantheon, and the ruins of the Roman Forum were all still standing and could be visited.  It was a good reminder that not everything contemporary is good and that stable foundations are essential.  Our society must also rest on stable, clear foundations.  Otherwise, we run the risk of sinking into the mire of one popular sound byte after another!

Last January the Holy Father recalled for the Bishops of this region that consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good and the conditions for human flourishing are at the heart of every culture.  “In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God.”

Cronin’s nurse knew that, as well.  She recognized that the ultimate value was the eternal judgment rendered by Almighty God.  “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

h/t: Whispers In the Loggia

Requiem for Nellie Gray–Funeral for a Friend of the Pro-Life Movement

Nellie Gray, the founder of the March for Life, died at the age of 88 on August 13. Gray was  given a Requiem Mass at St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Washington, DC.  Her funeral was a beautifully sung Trinentine High Mass, celebrated by Pastor Alfred Harris, with Boston Archbishop Sean Cardinal O’Malley and Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl in attendance. Gray had been a parishioner at St. Mary’s for sixteen years.

Nellie Gray served in the Women’s Air Corps during World War II. Afterwards, Gray earned her undergraduate degree in business, a Masters degree in Economics and went to night school at Georgetown Law School while working as a career public servant for twenty years at the State Department and the Labor Department.  In fact, Gray argued cases before the Supreme Court.  But she was so outraged by the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade (1973), that she listened to God’s voice and dropped everything to oppose what she discerned was a travesty of justice.  In fact, she retired on a meager government pension and never took monies from March for Life to supplement her pension.

During her eulogy, her colleague from the March for Life attorney Terry Scanlon noted Nellie’s determination once her mind was made up.  Scanlon noted that Gray was the driving force in the anti-abortion movements “Respect for human life–no exceptions.”  Scanlon said that Gray was actively planning the 40th anniversary March for Life when she passed away.

Cardinal O’Malley recalled working with Gray during the early days of the March for Life, when they would exhaustingly paper Capitol Hill offices with materials protesting the virtual Abortion on Demand decision.  O’Malley, who is a Capuchin priest, quipped that today is the first time that he was around Nellie Gray not wearing sandals, which is the order’s customary vestment.

O’Malley opined that it always seemed like the coldest day of winter when the March for Life.  But memorializing January 22 as the day of infamy had great symbolic value and galvanized Pro-Life forces to spread the light for life in the dead of winter.  The first March for Life only had a couple of hundred participants.  Now, the March for Life is an annual event which the Lamestream Media either minimizes or ignores despite the fact of hundreds of thousands of participants, many young people, redress their government for this unjustice to the unborn.

Cardinal O’Malley philosophized that this world seems obsessed with celebrity, yet our real champion is a person like Nellie Gray, who discerned God’s will, abandoned all of her professional pursuits to do what she thought was right and helped build God’s kingdom.

Cardinal Wuerl offered a personal story about Nellie Gray’s outlook on life.  Wuerl was on the dais for the annunal March for Life, on what he too thought was the coldest day of the year.  Gray focused on Wuerl and asked “Where’s your hat?”  What Wuerl took from that interchange was despite the crowds and the circumstances, Gray looked at people as individuals and she was concerned about someone in trouble.  Wuerl extrapolated a probing question “Where’s your voice?” challenging people to recognize the barbarity of killing pre-born children.

When connecting scripture to the question “Where’s your voice?”, Cardinal Wuerl thought of Pentacost where the Spirit of God came down upon the Apostles, which made them bold and they began to speak.  Wuerl marveled at how Gray’s righteous indignation over the Supreme Court overturning abortion laws nationwide made one woman bold and the fruits over her work seem to reconnecting young people to the spirit speaking out for unborn babies.

Preparing the High Altar for Nellie Gray's Requiem, St. Mary Church Washington, DC [photo: BD Matt]

Casket of Nellie Gray lying in repose at St. Mary's Church Washington, DC [photo BD Matt]

St. Mary's Pastor Fr. Alfred Harris celebrating Nellie Gray Requiem Mass, Wash. DC [photo BD Matt]

March for Life V.P. Terry Scanlon offering Nellie Gray Eulogy   [photo: BD Matt]

Boston Archbishop Sean Cardinal O'Malley reminisces on Nellie Gray  [photo: BD Matt]

Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl's reflections on Nellie Gray's importance  [photo: BD Matt]

Celebrant Fr. Albert Harris incenses Nellie Gray's casket   [photo: BD Matt]

Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl offers a final benediction for Nellie Gray  [photo: BD Matt]

Pall bearers for Nellie Gray's casket as Knights of Columbus look on  [photo: BD Matt]

Boston Archbishop Sean Cardinal O'Malley comforting mourners for Nellie Gray   [photo: BD Matt]

Pope Blessed John Paul II, during a pilgrimage to Mexico in 1979, offered a prayer which captured the driving force behind Nellie Gray’s discernment of her mission from God:

Virgin of Gaudalupe, Mother of the Americas, grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings.  Loke upon us with compassion: teach us to go continually with Jeus through a great love for all the holy Sacraments.

Thus, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all the true joy and true peace, which comes to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen