"Lily of the Mohawks" A Saint

I was very happy to hear that Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict on Sunday at the Vatican. He officially elevated Kateri to sainthood along with seven other extraordinary human beings. Saints are the super heroes of our faith and they have greatly inspired me on my spiritual journey. Pope Benedict spoke in both English and French, "May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are......St. Kateri, protectress of Canada and the first native American saint, we entrust you to the renewal of the faith in the first nations and in all of North America!"
I have a beautiful collector plate hanging in my living room of Kateri. It shows an attractive Indian woman holding a lamb, I assume a symbol of her love for Jesus, the Lamb of God. The image comes from the original oil painting by Gregory Perillo. I have many images of American Indians in my living room, since I've always had an affinity for Indians, though I'm not sure why. I think it has to do with their love and respect for nature. I love the beauty of nature and find peace being in the country or at the shore. Also, I am a longtime supporter of St. Joseph's Indian School which supports Lakota Sioux children in Chamberlain, South Dakota. I'm well aware of the challenges that Indian children face.
I hope Kateri will pray for them from her exalted place in Heaven.
Kateri suffered much in her life. She survived smallpox and was orphaned as a child. She was drawn to Catholicism and to Jesus. She found comfort in her faith and love of God. There were supernatural appearances of Kateri after her death. The supernatural in one form of another, is usually woven into the lives of saints as they are close friends of God. Apparently, according to eyewitness reports, immediately upon her death, her face changed and became more beautiful. A priest named Cholenec wrote, "This face, so marked and swarthy, suddenly changed about a quarter of an hour after her death, and became in a moment so beautiful and so white that I observed it immediately." Kateri is said to have "appeared before three individuals in the weeks after her death."
Father Chauchetiere "reported seeing Kateri at her grave; he said she appeared in 'baroque splendor' for two hours he gazed upon her......her face lifted toward heaven as if in ecstasy."
NJA

"Binders Full of Women"-Second Debate

I watched the presidential debate last night, as did about 56 million people.  I figured that President Obama would be on "his game," because I imagined he would better prepare for this debate, after his "too nice," professorial performance in the last debate.   I thought both President Obama and Mitt Romney did well. And I was pleased to see Candy Crowley from CNN, moderate the debate. She was the first woman in 20 years to do so.
Thanks to all the women who fought for women's rights and issues, before my time, I grew up in America, (in Brooklyn), believing that a woman could do just about anything. I've held leadership positions in the Church and spent many years as a teacher and a religious educator and never felt discriminated against  because of my gender. I was also raised in a household with strong Italian women, my aunt who lived upstairs from us, was a true matriarch and so that influenced me as well.
I'm well aware that I'm fortunate and that many women in the world do not share the freedoms, rights and opportunities that I've been blessed to have and I hope and pray someday there will be gender equality throughout the world. I think that if women in the world held more leadership positions in government and in the private sector, the world would be a better place.
I have to admit, like millions of others, I found Mitt Romney's phrase, "whole binders of women," which he used in the debate last night amusing. Mitt Romney used the phrase (which has gone viral) when describing his efforts as governor of Massachusetts to find the names of women who could possibly serve in his cabinet. He was answering a question about equality for women and fair pay in the  workplace.
He said, "And so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us 'whole binders full of women.'" Of course he meant binders filled with the names of capable women who he could appoint to his cabinet, but under the stress of the evening he simply said, "whole binders full of women." Well, social media exploded with the phrase and women all over the country were immediately trying to figure out how to make a Halloween costume to look like they were coming out of a giant binder. Twitter users caught on quickly too and "binders full of women," appeared at one point, in the evening, at 40,000 times in one minute.
Is this a crazy world we live in or what? That's why I stay grounded with prayer, otherwise it's so easy to get caught up in the craziness of the world, the internet and social media.  I'm very grateful to God, for my deep faith, my belief and prayer life. Though I find this world, at times sad, and at other times, amusing, I am in the world but not of the world and I can thank God for that.
NJA

The Synod Challenge-Secularization, Turning from God

Pride is a deadly sin. Many people living in the modern world think they don't need God, they can get along without God, prayer or formal worship. Some believe in God but don't feel the need to express it outwardly or communally.  They're doing just fine with their iPhones, iPads, laptops, lattes, kindles and internet shopping. There are a lot of interesting, functional gadgets to keep people occupied and engaged.  No time for God or worship. I live close to an Apple Store. The day the iPhone 5 went on sale there was a line around the corner of the store. This is a different world from the world I grew up in. Modern technology has changed the world forever. It will never be the same. The Church in the modern world will have to adjust accordingly. Our prayers, liturgies and beliefs are ancient and sacred but somehow they will have to have appeal in the modern world. I hope and pray people realize the importance of prayer, belief in God and worship and the benefits of it, but sometimes I worry that the world has spun out of control. There are consequences to pride, real consequences and they are not from the imagination.
I can't live without prayer or God but that's me. Faith in God has enriched my life as I've written many times. I could not have gone through the problems and losses I've encountered in my life without God and the support of a Catholic faith community.
During a recent major address given during the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in Rome, Cardinal Wuerl spoke to 262 top Church leaders about the seriousness of the situation that confronts the Church.
"Poor catechesis and a 'tsunami of secular influence' have led to a situation in which the need for the new evangelization of once-Christian societies is urgent.........Secularization has fashioned two generations of Catholics who do not know the Church's foundational prayers. Many do not sense a value in Mass attendance, fail to receive the sacrament of Penance and have often lost a sense of mystery or the transcendent as having any real and verifiable meaning. All of the above resulted in a large segment of the faithful being ill-prepared to deal with a culture that, as our Holy Father has pointed out on his many visits around the world, is characterized by secularism, materialism and individualism." This is all true, of course, but what's scary to me is that many young adults, who are missing in great numbers in the pews, really don't care. What they care about are their iPhones, cell phones,  laptops,  iPads and their lattes. They know how to place an order in Starbucks, place a bid on ebay,  keep up with their Facebook page and text.
The problems are complex and multi-faceted but not too complex for the Holy Spirit.
Veni, Sanctus, Spiritus. Prayer, wisdom, innovation, authenticity, community, fellowship and social justice work can help the Church renew itself in the modern world.
NJA

Presidential Debate Debacle-2012

What happened President Obama?
At one point, during the first Presidential debate on Wednesday night I looked at my husband and said, "It looks like President Obama is sleeping." He replied, "No, he's not sleeping, he's writing something down." But the way he was looking down and the look on his face, made me think to myself that something was not right. I'm not joking or being sarcastic, I feel sorry for President Obama.
Something went wrong on Wednesday night and I'm not sure what it was.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney did look good and he looked presidential.  Everyone is saying that, so I'm not taking sides, because I'm not a political person. The debate will not change who I am voting for. Regardless, President Obama needs to do a better job of preparing for the next debate, obviously.
Also, all debaters, whoever they are, should be truthful and have the correct facts. Someone should check facts and hold debaters accountable. The American people deserve the truth, always the truth.
In the Bible it says, "The truth shall set you free." God is a God of truth and those in public office should always strive for the highest possible good and truth, at all times.
President Obama was trying too hard to be nice. I also thought that to myself on Wednesday night. He seems to have given Mitt Romney a gift, but it escapes me as to why he did so.
Al Gore made the controversial comment that perhaps President Obama was suffering from altitude sickness, since the debate took place at the University of Denver.  After all, Denver is called the "Mile High City," because it is 5,280 feet above sea level. Most people didn't take Al Gore seriously but you never know. I was on a bus yesterday, traveling to a museum in Manhattan and the stop and go traffic was affecting the person I was with and making them feel sick.  But anyhow, for whatever the reason, President Obama will have to do a better job next time without being angry or too aggressive.
Who would want to be President anyway? It's such a hard job. You could do everything right and then have one "off" night (granted it was a bad night to be "off") and everyone turns against you.
The comedians had a "field day." Jay Leno joked, "The consensus is that Mitt Romney won the presidential debate last night. The only people who thought Obama won were the replacement refs." Stephen Colbert tweeted, "I'm concerned that next debate, Obama will finally show up for the first debate." They should try to be president. It's not a laughing matter.
NJA

Homeless Children in New York City

In a disturbing editorial on Wednesday in the New York Times, it stated that "Almost 20,000 children now go to bed every night in New York City's homeless shelters, up from 16,000 last year. If homelessness is hard on adults, for the young, it can be disastrous, starting a slide into a lifetime of poverty." There are many great fundraisers and generous people in the New York area, do they have a charity for homeless children of New York City?  If not, they should.  Mayor Bloomberg is very charitable, he should start a charity like that, if one doesn't exist.
The editorial claims that Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo could do more to help the homeless. Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg "promised that he would cut the city's homeless population of 33,000 by two-thirds but that didn't happen....." Politicians have to do more, there is no question about it. There are many problems associated with this critical social justice issue.  The economy has deteriorated and rents have gone sky high in New York City. I have a friend who is a Catholic nun.  She lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her friends, from her neighborhood and those she ministers to can't find affordable housing. It's a real problem and government as well as churches and religious organizations will have to step up and help find solutions to this growing crisis.
It's wonderful that New York City has become such a hip place and a safe city and young people from all over the world want to work and live here and that's good for New York.  But there are some negative consequences to that.   Young people are willing to pay high rents to live in NYC and many can afford to do so. Affordable housing is what's needed so that people from all walks of life can live and work in NYC, it is what always made New York interesting and diverse. New York City needs cultural diversity and a stable middle class as well as compassion towards the poor here.  The city should set the standard for all cities. The rich and those who are successful, should help the poor survive and make it, even in this lousy global economy. Real solutions that work are needed to get these children out of shelters and into a place they can call home.
NJA

Whatever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do for me!  (Matthew 25:40)

Jesus Married? Doubt It!

The Trinity is the Trinity is the Trinity. Though no one, this side of Heaven can fully comprehend the Trinity, the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is considered by Christians to be the Son of God and God. I doubt very much if God incarnate, Jesus, would have married. Just doesn't make sense. Besides Jesus was very busy during his active years- preaching, saving, healing, moving around a lot. Being the second Person of the Trinity and being fully human and fully divine, was enough, more than enough. No time for marriage, I'm sure.
As most everyone has heard, a small fragment of fourth-century papyrus was found that has the words "Jesus said to them, 'My wife..........'" In another part of the papyrus it appears to say, "She will be able to be my disciple..." Scholars believe the fragments written in Coptic are authentic. Karen King, a church historian at Harvard Divinity School  recently presented these findings, at a conference in Rome.  But who knows who wrote these phrases and for what reasons. There are more questions than answers, but that didn't keep comedians from having some fun with the incomplete phrases.
The intriguing question of whether Jesus was married or not keeps surfacing. Dan Brown, the novelist, became rich and famous by writing the mystery-detective novel, "The Da Vinci Code." The book suggests that Jesus might have been married to St. Mary Magdalene. But as Fr. James Martin (he's a  famous Jesuit and a prolific writer as well), in his recent New York Times article titled, "Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ?" wrote "The silence in the gospels about a wife and children in this context most likely indicates that Jesus did not have a wife and children during his public ministry or in his past life in Nazareth......What about the popular candidate for the role: Mary Magdalene? Could she have been Jesus' wife, as supposed by Dan Brown's novel........Mr. Brown's hypothesis fails by another criterion: Mary would have been referred to, like every other married woman in the Gospels, by her husband's name. She would have been identified not as Mary Magdalene but certainly as "Mary, the wife of Jesus." That makes a lot of sense. (Unless Mary Magdalene insisted on keeping her own name-Just kidding!)
I thought Fr. Martin's article in the Times was excellent. It's an article that priests, deacons and others should read, because there will be a lot of questions about this topic from Catholics in the pews and it's good to have intelligent answers when questioned on this topic.
NJA

UPDATE: Suspicions are arising among scholars that the papyrus is a fake.

Nakoula-Just Say You're Sorry

Filmmakers, artists, journalists and writers should be respectful of people's religious beliefs. Religious beliefs, prophets, saints, sacred texts, esteemed religious figures (and of course Jesus)  should be treated respectfully and never ridiculed or insulted for the sake of art or for any other reason. It's disgraceful that religious beliefs that are revered and held in high esteem for certain religions are treated disrespectfully. It's not right, it's not in good taste and it's dangerous, at times. It can incite violence and misunderstanding.
According to a Huffington Post online article, "The family of a filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie has left their California home in the middle of the night.....Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's relatives left their Cerritos home about 3:45 AM Monday. Deputies gave them a ride and they were reunited with Nakoula, then take to an undisclosed location." For what? Because of Nakoula's lack of good sense, poor judgment, a lack of wisdom and disrespect towards a religion. It's absurb that he made this movie in the firstplace. He should have known better. He's put his entire family in danger, as well as himself.
 In my humble opinion, the filmmaker in question, should go on national television and apologize to Muslims for insulting their beliefs. I guess he'll have to wear a disguise and wear one for years to come, but he should simply say he's sorry. He made a mistake and he regrets it. Perhaps then everything will calm down.
In related news, Cardinal Timothy Dolan reacted to the September 11th death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and members of the embassy staff by saying, "We need to be respectful of other religious traditions at the same time that we unequivocally proclaim that violence in the name of religion is wrong."
Yes, respect of all religions, at all times, by all people.  That's the only way we'll ever have world peace, greater  tolerance, understanding and a better world for future generations.
NJA