Fr. Joel's Homily for Nov. 30

Adv1 - The Savior is Coming, Watch for Him
Advent 1st Sunday. Only the Savior can satisfy our every longing. We can try to fill our needs and wants ourselves, or we can be faithful to God, watching with joyful expectation for the coming of the Savior. Which holiday will we have? 30 Nov. 2008
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GM & Jesus

Probably few of you are following the story of the fortunes of General Motors as closely as I am. An American success story, it produced millions of cars for the whole world and wielded enormous influence. Now, it is in danger of collapse as it deals with major cash flow problems. Why did GM fail? I am sure that a dozen thick books will be written on this question, but as one sitting in the driver's seat of a car, my analysis is relatively simple. For years and years GM produced cars which were almost as good as the competition. Some of them even managed to boast specs which were as good as the other cars, but the overall package fell short. They made up the gap the American way, by heavy advertising, and when this failed, by offering deep discounts and year-end incentives (basically cutting prices) to move their cars. With customers far less loyal than previous generations had been, they were far more vulnerable to market changes. Each new car release effectively eroded their credibility, as they advertised heavily that their latest car was really something, but which in the end never quite measured up to the sophistication of its rivals. Their trucks, I should add, were as good as the competition, and for a long time this kept the business solvent, but high gas prices undermined the market for trucks, and with it the bottom fell out of GM's business model.

You are probably wondering what all this has to do with the priesthood. Well, the Catholic church in a similar way is facing an American "market" in which customers are far less loyal than previous generations. People freely attend other churches if they feel like it, dabble in spirituality, sip concoctions of Buddhism and warmed-over paganism, or numb their religious sensibilities with consumerism. As a Church, we cannot make the GM mistake of offering a faith which is "good enough." We need to be better than good. We need to have a well built, high quality "product." We can't cover the gap with advertisement that talks about education "in the Catholic tradition" or schools "with values," or churches that offer self-help suggestions and a "positive message" for the Sunday homily. People can go anywhere for that, and they will. We need to offer what only we can offer, a direct connection to God, through the sacraments and the Catholic faith, a faith which does not simply prop up a sagging life but which is capable of transforming it. We need to offer a faith which is spiritually mature, emotionally grounded, and intellectually engaged in the world.

To return for a moment to the model, I don't think that the US government should save General Motors. The reliance on the car has been a huge mistake, because it is grossly inefficient, and leaves out the whole segment of the population who cannot drive. To effectively and efficiently move people around we need a good system of public transportation. Even the best cars, on electric power, are far less efficient than electric trains and streetcars. Yes, our cities are built for cars, but it didn't used to be that way, it doesn't have to be that way, and it is time to re-imagine the model that GM is based on. If we continue to insist that every man, woman and child need a car to get where they want to go, we are driving down a dead-end street that is ultimately unsustainable.

In the same way, too many people think that because Americans have the values that they do, the Church needs to adapt, especially on its view on marriage, divorce, and sexual activity in general. The problem is that the behavior Americans consider normal is a dead-end street and ultimately unsustainable. If we, the Catholic Church, are going to be part of a new America, we cannot give up our model because it is "old fashioned" or doesn't match today's experience. If anything, America needs a new inspiration to begin new building, and if the Catholic Church compromises now it will lose the moment for another generation.

Fr. Benjamin's homily for November 23rd

"Judge, Shepherd, King."

At the end of time Jesus will judge all people, but in the meantime he pleads for the Father with us, as our priest and as our king. In the Biblical sense, the true king is one who is a shepherd of his people, and Jesus is eager to lead us. So, taking advantage of the time given before the judgment, we should allow him to be our king and follow him.
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Fr. Joel's homily for Nov. 23

TPA34 - The King is Among Us
Solemnity of Christ the King. What kind of king is Christ? He is a shepherd king, one who identifies himself with the least of our brothers and sisters. He treats them with care; he will judge us on whether we imitate him or not. 23 Nov. 2008
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Fr Benjamin's homily for November 16th

"Faith investments offer better return."

Those people and companies who have good financial resources can weather a crisis and come out better on the other end, and so good investments are an important decision. Investments in faith offer us the resources we need to weather a life crisis, and so we should put our money and time to work for us producing spiritual dividends.
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Fr. Joel's homily for Nov. 16

TPA 33 - Give God Your Heart
Two servants serve their master faithfully while the third fails him. Why? Because the third one does not have a good relationship with his master -- he fears him. We cannot work to earn love. Instead, we have to work out of a joyful response to the love God has for us.
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I have not been happy with mypodcast.com and will soon be moving to a new system. Actually, I couldn't upload my last homily, so that new system may be much sooner than I expected. If you have subscribed in the past, it probably will stop working soon.

Fr Benjamin's homily for November 9th

"Make Empty Space for God."

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica is a reminder of the importance of a Church building. Churches are basically empty space dedicated to God, just like Sunday Mass is basically empty space where we don't get any task accomplished. This empty space is absolutely necessary to help us carry all the things which fill the rest of our lives.
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Quality of Life

Fr. Joel

I recently became aware of a medical condition known as Trisomy-18 or Edwards Syndrome. It is somewhat similar to Down Syndrome in that it is caused by an additional chromosome. A normal human being has a total of 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs. Each pair consists of one chromosome from the Father and one from the Mother. If a child has an extra copy of the 18th chromosome, this is called Trisomy-18. Incidentally, Down Syndrome is also called Trisomy-21 and is caused by an extra copy of the 21st chromosome.
The result of this disease is a child that does not develop correctly, including underdeveloped heart, kidney problems and motor skills problems. The majority of children with this disease die in utero or shortly after. Here is a beautiful video about a child with this disease. It makes me wonder which is more important:
How long a child lives?
How much a child is loved?

Holy Days of Obligation

I heard a few people confused about the fact that All Saint's Day was on a Saturday, and was not a day of obligation. The full rules on this are rather complicated, but it is the Conference of Bishops which establishes the days of obligation, and the US bishops established the following days of obligation:
January 1, solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, solemnity of the Ascension
August 15, solemnity of the Assumption of Mary
November 1, solemnity of All Saints
December 8, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
December 25, solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord
Also, all Sundays of the year are days of obligation.

However, if January 1st, August 15th, or November 1st falls on a Saturday or a Monday, there is no obligation to attend Mass (for full details see http://www.usccb.org/norms/1246.htm). Notice that December 8th is not abrogated, so that when it falls on Monday like it does this year, it is still a day of obligation. This is because Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is the patroness of our nation, so this feast is a feast of our American Catholicism.

Some church nerds will ask the question that, since the obligation to attend Mass may be fulfilled by attending the vigil the night before (e.g. a Saturday night Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation), you might ask if a Sunday night Mass would fulfill the obligation to attend on the Sunday and also on the Monday. It seems to me that the Mass would fulfill this obligation, although other canonists might have a different opinion.

Fr. Joel's homily for Nov. 9

Dedication of the Basilica of St. John in Lateran
Today the Church celebrates the dedication of the Pope's Cathedral in Rome, on Nov. 9, 312 AD. We celebrate two Temples - the temple of the Church and the temple of our bodies. The Church is the source of transformation; we are the ones called to be transformed.
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Post election / power shift

Fr. Benjamin

These elections have been historic in the United States. The election of the first African-American president in the history of the United States hopefully signals a new phase for America. To quote Martin Luther King, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
At least the first part of that quote is certainly true. I am saddened that Barak Obama was elected much less on the content of his character or his proven experience in office than by a well cultivated image, aided by the American media who were careful not to look too closely or ask hard questions of the candidate. I suppose these caveats mark most political adventures, but I would have preferred a campaign run on issues and concrete plans for America's future. Am I the only American to want that?

I am personally outraged that Barak Obama is so deliberately and intentionally pro-abortion. The sanctity of human life is a deeply held value for me, and a part of my faith with I cannot negotiate. His presidency will probably reach new lows in respect for unborn life. I notice how little a factor these issues played in the campaign, and how willingly even committed Christians overlook their importance to consider the economy. It is our duty as Christians to continue to keep the matter of abortion and other threats to human life in the public eye.

As for many of the other issues of the campaign, we can expect a huge fundamental shift in the balance of power in the United States. For a long time, the US has been built on great confidence in private industry and private business. Witness our health care system, which is made up of hospitals run as businesses and paid for by private insurance, with public insurance picking up some of the tab for Medicare and Medicaid. The private business model has not been particularly successful, because businesses are run for money and they tend to cater to those who have money and ignore those who do not. Many of our social problems are a trickle-down from out of control industry encouraging greater and greater spending.
Barak Obama's campaign promises signal a shift to a model were control is taken from the private sector and vested firmly in the state. This model is the dominant one in Europe, but whether it will work here is another question. It is hard to imagine how he could sustain the kind of spending he proposes without large tax increases, especially because he inherits a huge national debt.

On these matters, the Catholic Church is essentially neutral, but I must say that our faith proposes a certain kind of skepticism. We should always be suspicious of corporations because we know the human heart, and the ease with which greed can slip into our plans and projects. In a similar way, we ought to be suspicious of government projects because of the the ease that they become burdened with corruption. I see that the conservative American people tend to pin their hopes on private business and free market, and the liberals tend to place greater trust in government initiatives.

I propose a different shift in the balance of power, from trusting in our government or our industry, to trusting in God. For us Christians, the economy is never the fundamental issue, it is always our relationship with God. Everything else will ultimately disappoint us, but God will remain steadfast. Our American coins say on them "In God we trust," and I would suggest we make that our motto.

Fr Benjamin's Homily for All Soul's Day

"Remember the dead and believe in the Resurrection."

All Soul's Day calls us to remember the dead, and as Christian's we remember them with charity and forgiveness. There are many people walking the world who are dead inside, and so we remember them as well. Our God raises the dead, and he can raise those who live without hope.
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My brother celebrates a year of podcasting, while I celebrate my second podcast posted here. I am fortunate to have one church with a good sound system, it makes recording my homilies easier but doesn't make writing them any simpler.
This homily was my first at the new 6:30pm Sunday evening Mass. The dark sky gave the commemoration of the dead particular life, as the candles which had been lit for those who had died sparkled on one side of the sanctuary. This Mass is the one I will generally record, and it will be geared especially towards youth and young adults.