Portland View of All Things Spiritual

2012-01-26T09:13:00.001-08:00

2012-01-23T10:15:00.001-08:00

50^th Rigatoni Luncheon: The St. Philip Neri Altar Society’s Stuffed Rigatoni Luncheon, a Valentine tradition, celebrates its 50th yearon Thursday, February 16^th. It began in 1962 when then-President Harriet Mariani and her sister-in-law, Denise, came up with the idea to use the Mariani family traditional stuffed rigatoni recipe for a fundraiser. The first year, 50 tickets were sold with the proceeds benefitting the parish. In 2011, 506 were served. This popular event is a labor of love and could not be accomplished without the industrious volunteers from the Altar Society and parishioners who help every year. Reservations for parties of 8 or more can be made in advance through the Parish office at 503-231-4955. Adults $10, children $3. St. Philip Neri is located at 2408 SE 16th Ave (SE 16th & SE Division). Take-out is available also.

2012-01-23T10:08:00.001-08:00

068 Jan22 Bulletin

2012-01-02T10:13:00.001-08:00

BULLETIN FOR DECEMBER 25

2011-12-19T09:04:00.001-08:00

068 Dec18 Bulletin

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES AT ST. PHILIP NERI

2011-12-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas Liturgies:
Saturday, Dec. 24
5:30pm Family Mass
9:00pm Vigil Mass (caroling starts at 8:30pm)
Sunday, Dec. 25
8:30/10:30 Masses

Advent Reconciliation Service

2011-12-12T16:22:00.001-08:00

Our Advent Reconciliation Service is this Wednesday, December 14 at 7:00pm. All are welcome

2011-10-10T07:41:00.001-07:00

One person's guide to reading on Vatican II

2011-08-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

One man's guide to reading on Vatican II

Monday, August 22, 2011

By Online Editor

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The Second Vatican Council remains an important milestone in the history of the church. Consider Ken Trainor's reading list a primer.

By guest blogger Ken Trainor

I had reason and occasion to educate myself about Vatican II during the past year and a half while working on a book, and I found it a tremendously affirming, stimulating, and inspiring exercise. With the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II looming next year (October 11, 2012), everyone has just enough time to rediscover this long-ignored and/or taken-for-granted council.

In fact, I urge all Catholics--conservative, moderate and progressive--to read up on this amazing convocation, called by many the most important religious event of the 20th century. I think you’ll find it has much to say to us still, not just in the documents themselves, but in the actions that produced those documents. There is much, much more to the story of Vatican II than the documents themselves, though more conservative Catholics will try to tell you otherwise.

What I learned was how far off track the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church was, how badly the Vatican II reforms were needed, and most importantly, how badly we need them still.

Many, many books have been written about Vatican II, but for a solid, basic understanding of what led up to the council, what went on there, and what happened after, I found the following books informative, accessible and quite readable:

What Happened at Vatican II by Rev. John O’Malley (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008) If you read only one book on Vatican II in the next year, this should be the one. It not only covers what happened during the Council, but sets the stage, providing context with background on “the long 19th century” leading up to Vatican II. And O’Malley takes an admirably centrist approach to this topic.

A Brief History of Vatican II by Giuseppe Alberigo (Orbis Books, 2005)Alberigo is best known for co-editing the definitive five-volume History of Vatican II with Joseph Komonchak. This is a more personal capsule summary from possibly the most authoritative non-clerical Vatican II eyewitness. Short and very readable.

Receiving the Council by Rev. Ladislas Orsy (Liturgical Press, 2009)Orsy is one of the foremost authorities on canon law. He combines a great mind with a great heart and great faith to humanize a topic that by all rights should bore us to tears. This is an amazing book, even if you have no familiarity with canon law. You’ll never look at Vatican II the same way again.

The American Catholic Revolution: How the ’60s Changed the Church Forever by Rev. Mark S. Massa (Oxford University Press, 2010) Massa goes in-depth on the aftermath of Vatican II in this country. This is absolutely essential reading if you want to understand the turmoil and turbulence that occurred in the American Church in the late 1960s.

Why I Am a Catholic by Garry Wills (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) (particularly Part IV, “The Vatican II Church”) Wills, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, combines the skills of a scholar with probing and incisive personal commentary.

Practicing Catholic by James Carroll, (Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009) Carroll’s memoir unfolds with Vatican II and its aftermath as an ever-present backdrop. This former Paulist priest and longtime author and newspaper columnist brings impressive academic credentials and sincere devotion to his examination of the Council and its effect (or lack thereof). His story about Cardinal Cushing alone makes it a great read.

The Catholic Revolution--New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council by Andrew Greeley, (University of California Press, 2004) Greeley is a hoot. He’s not easily pegged as either a conservative or a progressive (at least when it comes to Vatican II and its consequences). He’s not at all shy about giving both sides a hard time. But he brings the added dimension of years of sociological research that lends substance and credibility to his comments and also lances many of the persistent myths held by those on both ends of the Catholic spectrum.

The Documents of Vatican II, Rev. Walter Abbott, general editor (Guild Press, America Press, Association Press, 1966) Start with the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), followed by the Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae) and the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). From there, go where you like. Keep in mind that, contrary to the conservative Catholic view, if all you know about Vatican II is what you read in the official documents, you really don’t know much about it at all.

Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII’s last encyclical was released on April 11, 1963, less than two months before he died of stomach cancer. Though he was theologically conservative, John was way ahead of his time socially. His encyclical is still visionary and reading it remains an illuminating experience.

More than anything else, educating yourself about Vatican II will give you a new appreciation for how the Holy Spirit is very much alive and working through this fallible, human institution.

Fr. Tom Dove, CSP 50th Anniversary Mass at St. Philip Neri

2011-05-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

The Vatican and Climate Change

2011-05-11T07:08:00.001-07:00

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican-appointed panel of scientists has reported what climate change experts have been warning for years: the Earth is getting warmer, glaciers are melting, and urgent measures are necessary to stem the damage.

The scientists called for urgent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and reductions in methane and other pollutants that warm the air, and for improved observation of mountain glaciers to better track their changes.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a Vatican advisory panel, hosted a conference last month on the causes and consequences of retreating mountain glaciers. Its final report, dated May 5 and signed by independent glaciologists, climate scientists, meteorologists and chemists, was posted on the Vatican website Tuesday.

"We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home," the report said.

"We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us."

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was "important" but is not a piece of the church's key teachings and merely reflects the conclusions of the independent scientists involved.

That said, he noted that it was a "significant scientific contribution" to the concerns that Pope Benedict XVI has voiced in both his encyclicals and public statements.

Benedict has been dubbed the "green pope" for his environmental concerns: In 2008, the Vatican installed photovoltaic cells on the roof of its main auditorium. A year later it installed a solar cooling unit for its main cafeteria. The Vatican has also joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions.

Thoughtful

2010-08-17T09:12:00.001-07:00

Popes of the 20th Century: John XXIII | National Catholic Reporter

2010-08-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

STAYING IN THE MOMENT....

Summer time often makes us think of travel, vacations, and time off, being someplace else other than where we normally are. The problem is that we are often someplace other than where we are. One of, if not the, most difficult spiritual disciplines is to be where we are, to be here now, to be reading these words and not wandering off someplace else physically or mentally.
It is so often so difficult to just be in the present moment. Stuck in traffic? No one likes this, we would rather be someplace else, we get tense – worried about getting to our destination on time, and we fuss and fume. Waiting is not something we find easy to do: traffic, airports, checkout lines, paint to dry, flowers to bud, healing from an injury, living, dying; in all these and so many other ways we find something displeasing us in the present moment. We want to be somewhere else. We find some person, place or thing not to our liking.
In AA we say, “Acceptance is the key to happiness.” I would add that it is also the key to freedom and a deeper spiritual life. Accepting life as it is does not mean that we have to like it as it is, or that we shouldn’t work to change what is unacceptable. It doesn’t mean that we just resign ourselves to the present moment. What acceptance does is free us from the battle, the inner war that goes on within us, the inner war that is usually causing us more pain that whatever it is we are fighting. Acceptance calms us down, and then a host of new possibilities begin to emerge. Acceptance opens us up to the possibility of seeing God’s action in the most unpleasant of experiences.
A few weeks ago I drove down to LA to be on vacation with my dad. As many of you know, he’s been having shortness of breath, mostly from a valve that isn’t working quite right. I arrived on a Friday and the following Monday morning when we got up, he said he was having severe chest pains. [It turned out not to be a heart attack] At any rate, in rapid fire, I had these thoughts; “why is this happening? Don’t you know I’m on vacation? Looks like I am going to be doing a funeral.” Tentatively I asked, “Do you want me to call 911?” “No” came the reply. We stared at each other for what seemed minutes, I was sorting stuff out in my head and finally said, “Why do I drive you over to St. John’s emergency.” “That’d be a good idea” came the answer. In those few moments I had come to accept what was right in front of me. From that moment on, a host of possibilities opened up for us over the course of the next forty-eight hours. The details of what happened are interesting, even amazing, but far too long to state here. The end result is that my dad is back home, going up and down stairs and doing, albeit a tad slower, all the things he enjoys doing.
There was prayer in all of this too. I didn’t pray that God change the situation but rather that I have the patience, insight, assistance I needed to do the next right thing. When we pray for wisdom, unexpected and wonderful things begin to present themselves to us. A prayer of acceptance opens us up to the Presence of God in each and every moment.
For more on this subject I would recommend Fr. Richard Rohr’s, OFM book The Naked Now that outlines the need for and ways to develop the discipline of staying in the moment and celebrating The Presence.

What Inactive (Dormant) Catholics have to Offer

2010-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Right up front I will say that I do not like the terms: inactive, lapsed or fallen away Catholic. I find those terms far too judgmental and certainly connote a negative judgment. They represent a judgment, on the part of the Church about people who, according to the Church, are not living the way it expects them to live. Most non church-going Catholics I have met understand themselves to be Catholic; they just don’t find themselves in the pews on Sundays for a variety of reasons, from having no time for church, or the Church is simply irrelevant to their lives and needs.

Over the past few months I have been using a term at missions, retreats and workshops that seems to have some traction with people. I have been using the term “dormant” Catholics. My belief is that they have faith, want more faith, and want a living spirituality that speaks to their daily lives. What needs to be done is to have someone, or a lot of some ones, fan their faith into a living flame once again. I believe that dormant Catholics are calling for prophetic leadership in the Church. They are calling us from maintenance to mission. They are challenging us to be about justice and peace making, engaging in environmental activism, truly making a fundamental option for the poor and oppressed, the migrant and immigrant, the homeless, hungry and powerless.

People seek to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others whether they are religious or not. We can be selfish or altruistic in our strivings. The Gospel calls for altruism, meeting the needs of our neighbors without counting the cost. The Gospel is a radical prophetic approach to all aspects of our lives. Jesus initiated a radical hope for personal and communal transformation working from the inside -- outward to all creation.

Being Catholic ought to mean a whole lot more than sitting in a pew on Sundays, or rattling off the same five sins in confession for the past thirty-five years. I am not saying going to mass or confession aren’t good things to do, but that they ought to lead us to a fuller and more abundant life for others and ourselves. We ought to be able to discern growth in our lives, progress in living and a discernable difference in our secular and religious communities in which we live. There should be more caring, healing, forgiveness and peace; and less homelessness, hunger, poverty and prejudice.

If we are going to touch and invite dormant Catholics back to being living flames of faith and hope, we need to be that for others and ourselves. We need to be communities of faith with doors wide open in welcome, a place of sanctuary, where all can feel safe and be nourished for mission.

Fr. Michael E. Evernden, CSP

2010-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT CAFETERIA CATHOLICS?

I describe myself as a cafeteria priest for cafeteria Catholics. Every Catholic is a cafeteria Catholic – but only some of us admit to it. It is the choices on other people’s trays that some take exception to, never looking at the choices on their own trays.

Historically the institutional Church has been the largest cafeteria in the world. It has to be because no one person or group could possibly choose all the things that are available for Catholics to feed their spiritual hunger. Novenas, rosaries, all the prayers said to all the different saints, thirty-day Ignatian retreats, weekend retreats, days of recollection, forty hour devotions, benediction, exposition, liturgy of the hours, pilgrimages, fasting, abstinence, becoming a sister, brother, priest, deacon, becoming a religious priest or belonging to a religious community of which there are hundreds, lay associate, altar society, Holy Name society, Knights of Columbus, Paulist Associate, Third Order Franciscan, a Daughter of Mary and Joseph, charismatic Catholic, taking vows of silence, working for peace and justice or with the homeless, concern for the environment, Catholic Worker Movement, English speaking or Spanish, Russian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Korean, French or Portuguese speaking, Knights of Malta, this list could go on and on. The point is that no one person, no one parish, no one group within the Church could possibly entertain or observe all the possibilities the Church has to offer; so we make choices to develop a prayer life that suits each of our diets.

Even within the official liturgical parameters (how mass is celebrated) we make all kinds of choices; Eucharistic prayer 2 rather than 3, or 4 rather than 1, alternatives to the opening and closing prayers, forms of blessing at the end of mass, styles of music, how communion is received, languages used, bells or no bells, incense or no incense, enough devotional candles electric or real, to light up Times Square or no devotional candles at all, times of mass, places of worship from gymnasium to cathedral to sports arenas, obviously there are norms but much diversity within the norms. Historically the Church has always recognized that one size does not fit all and it is our diversity that makes us truly Catholic, universal. Diversity is a strength not a weakness. This is as true in nature as it is in and among communities of faith – those who are able to adapt are the ones most fully alive and most likely have a future.

When I look out at our Sunday Eucharistic gathering it is very evident that one size does not fit all: happily married, unhappily married, divorced, separated, gay and lesbian, single dads, single moms, large families and small ones, families financially ruined and prosperous families, death and birth, mentally, physically or spiritually challenged people, light-hearted and depressed people, happy, sad, hopeful and dower ones, cancer, fears and phobias, young and very old, citizens and aliens, housed and homeless, sated and hungry – no one homily, no one prayer style will fit the variety and diversity present in even a small community of faith.

The Church will become a community of faith rooted in Jesus only in so far as we can recognize our diversity, our strengths and weaknesses, our common brokenness; when, ultimately we recognize that we are all in this together – not bemoaning the choices on someone else’s tray, or bemoaning what is on our own.

Fr. Michael E. Evernden, CSP

2009-12-30T16:48:00.001-08:00

The Wisdom of Tenderness from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

Undergoing God

2009-12-09T09:25:00.001-08:00

Lately I have had this urge to buy something, nothing I need, nothing I have been planning to buy, nothing in particular, I just buy something so I can feel in control. Anyone who has acted on this urge knows that the feeling of control is only that, just a feeling and a very fleeting one at that. The Advent season is one of waiting and expectation, or I ought to say waiting WITH expectation. Waiting with expectation is a key element in the spiritual life and in the life of anyone interested in Evangelization.

Waiting with, or without, expectation is not a popular discipline in our society and is quickly overrun by our well-honed discipline of impatience. However to sink into the spirit of Advent, into a spirituality of Evangelization one needs to develop a keen discipline of expectant waiting – hope-filled waiting.

The central characters in the Advent stories are people in waiting; generations of prophets who longed for the holy moment, shepherds tending their flocks, Joseph and Mary searching and waiting for a place to stay the night, a most Holy Night. Joseph and Mary were steeped in the stories, life and traditions of their faith. They were people who not only understood but were willing to stand-under, to stand-in the mystery of what was happening in their lives. They were not pushovers but people who questioned and pondered – took on God’s messengers, the angels, they kept their sense of wonder and awe; and were willing, as the author James Allison says, “to undergo God.”

I can imagine Mary sitting in her mother’s lap, listening to the same stories in the Hebrew Scriptures that we read and listen to, taking them to heart, pondering them. Joseph is described as a “good and upright man” steeped in the traditions of his ancestors, open to the promptings that came to him in visions and dreams. After all the questioning and pondering Mary finally says, “be it done unto me according to Your Word.” Mary allows the living Word of God to be done unto her; she is willing to “undergo God.” Mary was so open, so willing to undergo the Word that she literally gives birth to The Word made Flesh.

Even George Frideric Handel understood that we are done unto when he wrote The Messiah; “…for unto us a child is born…unto us a child is given…” God is constantly doing unto us; in the people, places, events in our joys and sorrows, in our abilities and disabilities, in our strengths and weaknesses God is continually doing unto us.

A spirituality of Evangelization is all about waiting, pondering going to places of quiet and solitude where we can hear God’s Word, how the Word is inviting us to be open and be willing to undergo God. Then this spirituality leads us out with a sense of wonder and awe, calling us to be awake and alert to all that is placed in our path. This is our individual path and it is the path of a community of faith devoted to the evangelizing mission of Jesus Christ. As such a community of faith we look at even the smallest things we do as opportunities to welcome and attract others into the circle of our life and mission.

In this Advent season of quiet and holy nights we need to reflect on how we, individually and collectively, as a community of faith can ponder the Word and find the strength to allow ourselves to be done unto, to stand under and in the Mystery and allow the Word to be done unto us – giving birth to the Word Made Flesh.

Peace, Fr. Michael Evernden, CSP

2009-11-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

A must read for anyone interested in the spiritual life...

2008-11-13T12:00:00.001-08:00

Help us create a Charter for Compassion

People of all nations, all faiths, all backgrounds, are invited to contribute.

By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you'd like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion.

2008-06-23T12:39:00.001-07:00

SILENCE...
If there is no silence beyond and within the words of doctrine, there is no religion, only religious ideology. For religion goes beyond words and actions, and attains to the ultimate truth in silence. When this silence is lacking, where there are only the "many words" and not the One Word, then there is much bustle and activity, but no peace, no deep thought, no understanding, no inner quiet. Where there is no peace, there is no light. The mind that is hyper-active seems to itself to be awake and productive, but it is dreaming. Only in silence and solitude, in the quiet of worship, the reverent peace of prayer, the adoration in which the entire ego-self silences and abases itself in the presence of the Invisible God, only in these "activities" which are "non-actions" does the spirit truly awake from the dream of a multifarious and confused existence.

Thomas Merton. Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work. Edited by Robert E. Daggy (New York: Crossroad, 1989): 115.]
Thought for the Day

If you want a spiritual life, you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1958): 56.

Called to be Mystics

2008-05-22T21:14:00.001-07:00

In last week’s Catholic Sentinel Fr. Ron Rolheiser wrote an article on the need for every Catholic to develop a mystical spirituality. We often relegate mysticism to the isolation of a mountain monastery or to a very few saint-like people who have the time and energy to climb, let alone read, Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain. Quoting Karl Rahner he made the point that “there would soon come a time when each of us will either be a mystic or a non-believer.”

Those of us who grew up in the 1950’s, and maybe early 1960’s make up the last generation who’s faith was supported by family, neighborhood and the local parish church and school. We can all hearken back, remembering our favorite aspect of that era of our faith lives. There are a few diehards who muse that we can somehow turn back the clock to the ‘good old days,” or at least pretend by resuscitating old rites, sodalities and other once flourishing parish groups. The reality is that our society, as we know it today, will not and cannot support such wishful -- whimsical thinking.

There is a game going on whose goal is to try and fit our faith into our society, to fit our faith values into the values of our society; to demand that our culture exhibit our faith values. The truth is that our society, as complex and complicated as it is, is far too small to contain the Wisdom of the Scriptures, and the traditions of our faith communities. Truth is we cannot legislate morality, justice, equality, peace, justice or care for the environment. Society at large, and especially society at the local and individual level, must be converted toward and into these qualities that will insure a future for us all.

This does not mean that we should not work, labor and pray for legislative justice for all or work to reform and renew institutions, governmental and Church policies that simply don’t work or are unjust and injurious to our life on this planet; it means that something much more transformative is needed. Each and everyone one of us must be converted from the inside out, we must anchor our lives in God’s divine and unbounded love for us so that we can love others, even those who wish us harm. In other words we each need to have a mystical conversion, steeped in prayer, the ingestion of the Holy Wisdom of Scripture, and grounded in communities of faith whose aim in nothing less than the renewal of the face of the earth and the implementation of the living Realm of God in our midst.

We can no long afford to simply go through the motions, say our prayers or satisfy ourselves with perfectly executed liturgies and feel good about ourselves. Our prayer must come from a deep inner groaning that results in a new birth of active involvement in what needs to be done to transform the face of the earth. It means that we need to take inventory; to cease participating in unjust institutions, cease doing harm to planet earth or any person or creature under Heaven in thought word or deed. We need to cease reading the Scriptures and begin living them, to cease just going to Mass and become what we celebrate – bread for the world in thought, word and deed. Nothing less than the Gospel is required of us.

For this task we need each other more than ever before we need to become mystics, we need to pray and be transfigured -- converted together into the very Realm of God alive in our midst.
Peace, Michael E. Evernden, CSP

2008-04-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

PAULIST PRODUCTIONS BEGINS

NEW WEB SERIES

For more information go to http://www.tylersride.com

2008-04-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Welcoming Others

Who are being neglected? This is the primary question for the Paulist ministry of evangelization and reconciliation, locally and nationally. This is the primary question for any parish concerned with bearing and sharing the Gospel and message of Jesus the Christ. When we think of a parish community we need to think of it as a circle, it needs to be in a formation facing outward not inward. We need to be a circle facing outward in welcome to the needs beyond walls and official parish boundaries. In old western movies there was always to call to “circle the wagons” a formation of defense against those “others” whatever form of unwanted “others” they may be. We can name those others in our lives, in our families, workplace, nation and world; they come in all sizes, shapes, sexual orientation, nationalities and religious or non-religious groups and individuals. Who ever they may be for us our call is to welcome, evangelize and reconcile; we are called not to “circle the wagons” but to reach out in welcome.

The formation of an outward facing circle is uncomfortable, probably the reason why it is so rarely formed. It means that we need to trust what is in the middle, the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our midst, the nourishment of the Eucharist, the support of a forgiving community; believe that all of that is behind our efforts to reach out in welcome. This does not come easily.

The history of the early Christian community, which we hear so much about in our Easter readings, portrays how difficult facing outward was for them and is for us. Yet our early history is a series of breaking outs, a series of discoveries that there are always more to be welcomed in. Jesus broke out of the confines of the tomb. The disciples broke out from the safety of their Upper Room, Peter and Paul constantly call the early communities of faith to breakout from their familiar friends and community members to reach out and welcome those “others,” be they Gentiles, Hellenists, widows, lepers and orphans – all the neglected.

We Paulists celebrate 150 years of Gospel care for the neglected; we can celebrate as a Paulist community only in so far as we have met the Gospel requirement of reaching out beyond our walls and official offices and parish boundaries. Evangelization and Reconciliation must be the milieu, the backdrop, and the ambiance of all that we do.

Peace, Fr. Michael