Homily: Easter Vigil, 2011

Little Philip, born with Down’s syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls.  The children did not readily accept Philip with his differences; but because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought Leggs pantyhose containers to class, the kind that look like large eggs.  The children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like...

Homily: Good Friday, 2011

Today, as much as any day in the Christian year, highlights the mystery and the paradox of our faith.  At the center of our worship this evening is that most basic of Christian symbols, the cross – the cross which we sing about, the cross which we sign ourselves with, the cross which we wear around our necks.  And my fear on this day is always that familiarity may have bred contempt, or at least, ignorance and indifference.  Over the course of nearly two millennia, we seem to have forgotten much of the shame, scandal, and pain which prevented our early Christian...

Homily: Holy Thursday, 2011

The Church refers to this evening’s celebration as the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper; thus, the reading from Exodus recalls the Passover meal, and the selection from Pauls’ first letter to the Corinthians recounts the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.  So what was the Church thinking when it chose for this evening’s Gospel to read from the one evangelist who fails to mention the eating of a Passover lamb at the Last Supper, and the one evangelist who also omits the story of Jesus instituting the Eucharist?  Why choose to read instead this...

Young Adults Cookout: 6.5.11

The next Courtyard Cookout will take place after the 6:30pm Mass on Sunday, June 5, 2011. As always, we need help with setup and cleanup. Please consider coming to Mass a few minutes early to move tables and chairs outside, and/or stay a few minutes after eating to return the furniture to the Hall and to assist with trash and the few non-disposable dish items. Please contact Jackie at jacquelinewebb@live.com to offer your services. Thank you.

From the Pastor: 4.24.11

In his classic little book “Telling the Truth,” Christian preacher and author Frederick Buechner argues that “The tragic is the inevitable.  The comic is the unforeseeable.”  In other words, the betrayal of Jesus and his agony in the garden on Holy Thursday, along with his torture, death, and burial on Good Friday, should really not shock or surprise us.  Once God decided to become human in Jesus Christ, “tragedy” necessarily would come with the territory.  In fact, we express this as “common knowledge” through our popular sayings: “Only the good die...

Homily: 4.17.11

The proclamation of Christ’s Passion, in a sense, can speak for itself.  Instead, as we stand on the threshold of this holiest of all weeks, I would like to say a word about the Paschal Mystery as a whole – particularly as it is expressed in Paul’s Christic hymn from the second chapter of the letter to the Philippians. Why “Paschal,” and why “mystery”?  “Paschal” comes from the Greek word “Pascha,” which means “Easter,” and originally, “Passover.”  For our ancestors in faith, the Jewish people, Passover is their most solemn annual...

From the Pastor: 4.17.11

I suspect that we all can agree that it has been an interesting couple of months to be a Roman Catholic in Philadelphia.  In the wake of the grand jury report, we have done our best to respond here at OSJ to the anger, grief, and confusion of our parishioners.  As you know, we have hosted two “in-house” listening sessions, as well as a follow-up listening session with Bishop Timothy Senior.  I shared my own thoughts and feelings via a couple of “From the Pastor” columns; and we also provided some resources and contact information via our Bulletin.  Finally (at...

Day of Service at St. Ignatius Nursing H...

Old St. Joseph’s kicked off its first ever Day of Service on April 16, 2011. As part of the Day of Service some parishioners travelled to the Bevilacqua Community Center and constructed planting beds for the community garden. Other parishioners joined together with students from ACES, an after school program, and with members from Mill Creek Community Partnership, to assist seniors at the St. Ignatius Nursing Home create “living masks.” The volunteers were the “artists” and helped sculpt masks of the senior’s faces and hands. The...

From the Pastor: 4.10.11

By now you should have received la letter from our Finance Council updating you on our financial health as a parish going into the last quarter of fiscal year 2011.  (If you haven’t gotten the letter yet, it should be arriving soon.)  As luck (grace?) would have it, this letter coincides with my discussion here of the last of my five “super-priorities” for OSJ:  namely, we need to address comprehensive stewardship in a sensitive and effective way, inviting all of our parishioners to commit their prayer, time, talent, and treasure to OSJ on a regular basis. I...

Homily: 4.3.11

When I first began teaching at St. Mary’s Seminary in 1993, I met an extraordinary young blind man named Michael Joly.  A seminarian for the diocese of Paterson, Michael was the 8th morof 10 children raised by a single dad.  Born with normal vision, Michael was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 5.  Surgery removed the tumor successfully, but left Michael completely blind.  Perhaps because he had lived his first five years as a “normal” kid, or perhaps because he wanted to keep up with his older siblings, Michael refused to think of himself as...