Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Bishop Thompson, rest in peace

Most Reverend David B. Thompson
1923 - 2013
Pastor of the Cathedral: 1975 - 1989
Most Reverend David B. Thompson, retired Bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, died on Sunday, November 24.
Bishop Thompson was 90 years old. He served as the eleventh bishop of Charleston from 1990-1999.
He was born May 29, 1923, in Philadelphia, one of three children of the late David B. and Catharine A. (McLaughlin) Thompson. He attended St. Alice and St. Carthage parochial schools and graduated from West Catholic High School in 1941. In September of that year, he began studies for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, in Wynnewood, PA, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in history. He was ordained a priest in the Philadelphia Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on May 27, 1950, by the late Bishop J. Carroll McCormick, who was then the Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia.
He was named the pastor of the Cathedral Church of St. Catharine of Siena on Feb. 20, 1975, serving in this capacity until May 24, 1989.
He moved to Charleston in 1989 when Pope John Paul II appointed the then Monsignor Thompson as Coadjutor Bishop of Charleston. He assumed his duties as Bishop of Charleston in February of 1990 when the former bishop retired.
When Bishop Thompson retired in 1999, he continued to serve the diocese. He also served in weekend ministry at Christ Our King Catholic Church in Mount Pleasant.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Pastor's Corner, November 24, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,
On Thursday this week we will celebrate Thanksgiving.
While we usually think of the first Thanksgiving as being a feast between Native Americans and the early Puritan settlers, thanksgiving celebrations took place much earlier. An “acción de gracias” was first celebrated on what is presently American soil on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. It was a day of thanksgiving between the Native Americans and Spanish settlers and it included the celebration of Mass. Another similar “Thanksgiving” celebration took place on April 30, 1598 in Texas when Don Juan de Oñate declared a day of Thanksgiving and it too included the celebration of Mass.
Believe it or not, Squanto, the Native American man who mediated between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, was a Catholic. He had been a slave of the English but was freed by Spanish Franciscans and received baptism as a Catholic.
There is so much for which we need to give thanks. Remember, the Mass is the great act of thanksgiving any human being can make. At Mass we offer up the fruit of the earth (bread), vine (wine) and the work of human hands as symbolic of our very lives. We give thanks to God by offering ourselves and He transforms our meager offering into His own Body and Blood as our spiritual nourishment.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Pastor's Corner, November 17, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,
At the General Wednesday Audience of November 6th Pope Francis affectionately embraced a man who suffered from a disease called neurofibromatosis. It is a disease that can cause intense pain and suffering, vision problems, learning impediments, cancerous lesions and severe disfigurement.
The care and embrace of the Pontiff call to mind the embrace of another Francis, the one from Assisi, who embraced and kissed a leper. The two of them, even though they lived centuries apart, teach us all a powerful lesson of selfless charity. As Christians we are called to live this charity convinced of what Our Lord says in the Gospel, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25: 40).
There are many people in our society and particularly within our own realm of influence (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) who are lonely, distraught, sick and in need of kindness, mercy and affection. Their needs come in all shapes and sizes. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Now is the time to show our thanks to God for all He has given us by sharing with those who are in need.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Health and Human Service Mandate

Some people have been asking about an update on the HHS mandate. You might remember that along with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (sometimes called "Obamacare") the federal government, by way of a ruling of the Department of Health and Human Services, required that all health insurance policies cover "preventive services" which include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations and contraceptives. It also very narrowly defined the meaning of "religious institution" making it impossible for Catholic hospitals, universities and even Mother Theresa's religious order to be considered by the government as a "religious institution." Here is what a unanimous statement from the US Bishops on November 13, 2013 said: 

"Yet with its coercive HHS mandate, the government is refusing to uphold its obligation to respect the rights of religious believers. Beginning in March 2012, in United for Religious Freedom, we identified three basic problems with the HHS mandate: it establishes a false architecture of religious liberty that excludes our ministries and so reduces freedom of religion to freedom of worship; it compels our ministries to participate in providing employees with abortifacient drugs and devices, sterilization, and contraception, which violates our deeply-held beliefs; and it compels our faithful people in business to act against our teachings, failing to provide them any exemption at all.
Despite our repeated efforts to work and dialogue toward a solution, those problems remain. Not only does the mandate undermine our ministries’ ability to witness to our faith, which is their core mission, but the penalties it imposes also lay a great burden on those ministries, threatening their very ability to survive and to serve the many who rely on their care...

As the government’s implementation of the mandate against us approaches, we bishops stand united in our resolve to resist this heavy burden and protect our religious freedom. Even as each bishop struggles to address the mandate, together we are striving to develop alternate avenues of response to this difficult situation. We seek to answer the Gospel call to serve our neighbors, meet our obligation to provide our people with just health insurance, protect our religious freedom, and not be coerced to violate our consciences."

I pray we all may stand with our Bishops for religious freedom and in support of those ministries which serve the poor and needy among us. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Archbishop Kurtz for President

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville and formerly a priest of the Diocese of Allentown, was elected President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a three year term. 
Archbishop Kurtz lived as a resident priest in our Cathedral parish for many years (1976 - 1988). He is remembered fondly by so many people for his outstanding kindness and pastoral charity. Bishop Barres said, "the election of Archbishop Kurtz to this important leadership post by his brother bishops across the country is a point of pride for all of the faithful in the Diocese of Allentown where he served so faithfully for so many years."
Let us pray that he may have abudant grace to fulfill this important office. 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Pastor's Corner, November 10, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This past week all the active diocesan priests met for our annual convocation in Hersey, PA. This was the first year that all the priests gathered at one time. The situation necessitated reducing daily Mass here at the Cathedral to one during those three days. I am grateful to Fr. Kosek, a Barnabite priest, for filling in for us.
You may have seen in the AD Times an article about the decreasing number of diocesan priests. Of the 127 active priests, 119 are assigned within the diocese and 100 of them are assigned to the 104 parishes throughout the diocese. Over the next five years, taking into consideration the number of scheduled ordinations, and possible retirements, deaths and those who might leave the priesthood, the number of diocesan priests in parish ministry could decrease to 80.
These are projected numbers. But what will the actual numbers be? I would suggest that much will depend on our prayers and active support for priests and for vocations to the priesthood. What are you and I doing to change the projected loss into an actual gain?
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pastor's Corner, November 3, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,
The fullness of divine faith is found in belief in Jesus Christ. St. Augustine, the Pope reminds us in Lumen Fidei, says that even Abraham and the patriarchs were saved by faith in Christ Jesus, not who had come but who was yet to come.
In Jesus we see the full face of God. In Him we see the ultimate manifestation of divine love. “Christian faith is thus faith in a perfect love, in its decisive power, in its ability to transform the world and to unfold its history” (LF, 15). The clearest proof of this love is in the death of Christ on the Cross.
The self-giving and salvific love of Jesus as seen on the Cross “is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely” (LF, 16).
In this way, faith is inextricably linked to love. Faith in Christ involves a personal relationship with Him, “clinging to him in love and following in his footsteps along the way” (LF, 18). Faith is a gaze at Jesus but also taking on His eyes, His way of seeing things. Faith involves seeing life through the eyes of our beloved.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker