On Easter Sunday, after our parishes last Mass, I begin my sabbatical. My early plans involve visiting with family and friends. It is always good to visit Indy. Although it is harder to call it home since the death of my parents several years ago. Nonetheless, I will gather with my family for Easter and then spend some time travelling with three of my brothers. For those who don't know, I come from a family with ten children. I now have 21 nieces and nephews and 19 great-nieces and nephews. It is quite a clan when we gather together.

    I will spend some time with them before beginning my first "bucket list" item: visiting Presidential Libraries. The first one I will visit is Harry Truman's on April 19, followed by Lincoln's on the 21st or 22nd...That's as far as I've planned right now, but I know I will hit several others over the following three weeks.

   A 6-week trip to Haiti will follow beginning in mid-May. After that, a family weekend in Brown County, and I will close out with three weeks in the Northwest. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity. I thank Lilly Foundation for their generous grant and all of you for allowing me this opportunity to work on my bucket list!

   Updates will happen throughout the sabbatical. Stay tuned!

     Too often we fail to do that. At least I know that I do. It is so much easier to focus in on the negative...to look at the problems...to look at what is wrong with "them"--whoever "them" is. It is a challenge to see the positive. It is a challenge to see the good, to see what's right.

     Yet, I think that is exactly what the Feast of Pentecost invites us to do. It reminds us of the gifts of the Spirit that are given to the Church. It reminds us that each of us has received some gift from the Spirit as St. Paul says, "for the common good." 

     The feast of Pentecost invites us to search for our gifts...to discover  them...and then to use them for the good of others. Our gifts are not given for us. They are given for the benefit of others.

     Blessed Pope John XXIII once said, "When we die, I think God will ask us only one question, 'What did you do with the gifts that I gave you?'"

     This Pentecost may we use our gifts wisely as we find ways to celebrate what's right with the world. 

   Will you choose to walk with the Lord on Holy Thursday night? Will you walk with him while he washes the feet of his disciples? Will you choose to walk with him as he celebrates the Last Supper with his friends? Will you spend time in adoration after the liturgy as we begin to keep vigil for Good Friday? Holy Thursday is always a beautiful liturgy. I hope you choose to join us.

   I hope you choose to join us on Good Friday as we hear again of our Lord's passion. This Jesus who showed us how to live now shows us how to die. Will you walk with him the road to Calvary? Will you stand shoulder to shoulder with him as he offers forgiveness to the repentant thief? Will you reverence the cross as a reminder that we too must pick up our crosses and walk with the Lord? And as Good Friday ends I hope that you will choose to keep the fast of that day on into Saturday when I hope you will choose to attend the Easter Vigil.

   The Easter Vigil! Perhaps the greatest celebration of our Church year. Come join us as we light the Easter fire and bless it. Come hear us as we tell the story of our life as God's people. Hear the beautiful story of Creation, the story of Moses, the call to the water...the resurrection. Join us as we welcome some 10 new members into our faith family through the sacraments of initiation. See the joy on their faces as they receive our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.

   These three days highlight our Church year. I hope you choose to join us!

    I want to thank Ann Northam and Barbara Renners and the rest of the Confirmation Team for their hard work in preparing our candidates for this sacrament. I also want to thank all of our parents and sponsors for all that they did to make this day possible. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of our young people. Thanks also to Karen Shadle and all of the musicians for making the music as special as the day itself. Finally, thank you to our candidates for choosing to complete your intitiation in our Church community. Our candidates include: Brooke Abbott, Karoline Bandy, Olivia Bass, Zac Beach, Ashley Carroll, Katie Federspiel, Alex Grove, Robby Harris, Nick Hayes, Riley Hieb, Scott Hoyland, Josh Hughes, Justin Hughes, Brad Koerner, Mary Kate Meyer, Ian Schlosser, Elizabeth Short, Katie Thieman, Nick Thompson, Jordan Ward, Sara Whitten, Kelsey Wright, and Michelle Zelli.

   And if I may echo the bishop's advice about letting God's Spirit be active in your life. Being fully initiated in the Church is not a completion of your involvement in the Church, it is a beginning. Like those early disciples of Jesus you are now sent to help make Christ real in the world. The world needs your enthusiasm and energy. Our parish needs you too! Please don't be strangers now that you are fully initiated in the Church. But may this day be the beginning of a life of prayer and service to God through the Church. God bless you all!

Fr. Tom

  Bless me readers, for i  have sinned. Thisis my first blog confession. My sin is this: I have not been faithful to my blog. I ask for pardon and mercy.

  When I first told Ann Northam, our DRE, that I would do this blog once a month, I thought it would be easy. I like to write. I enjoy sharing my thoughts. However, I have discovered that I am not very disciplined. Hence the long layoff. But Lent can be a season of new beginnings and so with renewed commitment to my blog, here I go!

   The first is a woman named Elize (not her real name as I did not seek her permission to share a bit of her story). Elize is a widow since the earthquake in January that killed not only her husband, but also two of her four children. Elize lives in a tent city next to Matthew 25 House where she shares tent accomadations with roughly 500 other people in an area about half the size of a regulation soccer field. Elize begins every morning with praise and worship (with others in the tent city). Together they praise God singing songs and praying prayers. When asked how she can do this after all she has been through, she responds that she has to praise God that she and two of her children survived!

   The second person I would like you to meet is Wislet Mulatre. Wislet is an 18 year-old young man that I met on my first mission trip to Haiti one year ago. On that trip he told me (in pretty good English) about his dream to become a doctor. "But," he said, "I don't know if I will have the possibilities to do that." When he said that I was reminded that someone had told me that Haitian people use the word possibilies & money interchangeably. So when he said that he did not know if he would have the possibilities, he meant that he did not know if he would have the money. "But I know," he continued "that with God all things are possible."

   In our subsequent mission trips, Wislet has served as one of our translators. On this last trip I wanted to teach him a lesson about the value of saving money. So I said to him, "Wislet, if you have $3 that you do not need for food, or education, or clothing, you should save it for when you need something." He thought for a moment and then in a voice thoughtful and sincere, he said, "If I had $3 that I didn't need, I would give $1 to my friend whose mother does not have the possibilites to provide nutirtion for her family. Then I would give $1 to the widow lady who lives down the street because she has no children to care for her. Then I..." And I stopped him because I knew that there was nothing I could teach him. But he taught me that saving is okay until you meet someone who has nothing to eat.

   Finally, I met "Mano." Mano is a nickname for Emmanuel and Mano looked to be about 4 years old. We met him the first day at the nutrition program at the clinic. He followed us back to the parish from there and hung out with the other kids. It's not surprising that kids hang out there. What was surprising was when we found out that he was an orphan, his parents killed in the earthquake. He lived for while with relatives but they no longer had the possibilities to care for him. On Saturday,we accompanied Fr. Sem as he took Mano to the orphanage located in the next town over. Mano looked a little frightened but he also had a sense of trust. He knew that people would take care of him, whether at St. Raphael or at the orphanage. Plain and simply, he trusted. I think i understand Jesus' words, "Unless you become like little children..."

    And so when someone asks me what draws me to Haiti, I don't always know what to say. But I think about Elize, and Wislet, and Mano and I pray to God for just a little bit of the Spirit that keeps them going and keeps them faithful. Just a little of their spirit...God's Spirit, can go a long way!  

    The new translation that was finally approved and will begin its use in 2011 strives to meet the following goals:

• That they authentically transmit the faith of the Church
• That they retain the distinctive theological emphasis found in the original Latin
• That Biblical references are clear
• That allusions to Church fathers are clear
• That they respect the richness of images and vocabulary in the original Latin
• That they proceed with literal exactness and in a style befitting the liturgy

All of this has brought about the changes to the words of the Mass that we have been use to saying. To get a better appreciation of the changes and to view firsthand some of the new texts, you might want to go to the United States bishop's website: www.usccb.org.

What do I think of all this? Let's get back to Windows. I think the people who designed Vista thought it would be better. Ithink they thought people would adapt and get use to it. I think they thought everything would be great. They were wrong. I think the same thing will happen with this new translation. I think the Congregation for Divine Worship thinks this is an improved translation. I think they believe people will get use to it and learn to love it as many love the current liturgy. I think they believe the priest (very few of whom I have heard say a lot positive about the new translation) will obediently fall in line. And I think they are wrong.

   I invite you to another website, www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org. This website was started by a priest who thinks it would be wise to test the new translation in several parishes nationwide to see how it works, how people respond, He wants us to see if the new texts help the faithful pray better. He just asks the question, can we pilot this to see if it will be something good for our liturgies here in the United States. On this website, you can also look at samples of the new text to judge for yourself.

   For me, I will continue to pray for God's Spirit to guide the Church and to guide me as one of its ordained leaders.

   As some of my readers have undoubtedly heard, Pope Benedict XVI has promulgated a new translation of the Roman Missal that will begin it usage in Advent of 2011. I'd like to begin a little dialogue about the new translation and will start right here.

   I have three computers: one in my house, one in my office, and a laptop. The ones in my house and in my office is powered by Windows XP; the laptop is powered by Windows Vista. I rarely use the laptop precisely because it is powered by Vista. When Vista was introduced it was suppose to be "the greatest." It was going to have capabilities that went far beyond the experience of Window XP. However, in spite of all the hype, in spite of Microsoft telling the user how wonderful it was, in spite of any of the good that was in it, Microsoft quickly learned that the new wasn't better. In fact they learned very quickly that if they didn't do something, people would leave the Microsoft band all together. They heard the complaints and they addressed it quickly with Windows 7 which has been by most all indications, a great success.

    Why do I talk about all that as the starting point for an entry about the New Roman Missal? Because I think the same thing is happening again. No matter how often Rome tells us that this will elevate our liturgies; no matter how often our bishops tell us that this new translation will bring unity to the Church; no matter how often our diocesan liturgists tell us that these prayers will become so familiar in time that they will be as loved as the prayers we are using right now, I can't help but feel that the priests and the people in the pews will talk with their collective feet if this new translation comes to fruition.

   Let me share some thoughts about where we are today with the New Roman Missal and where we are going. When Vatican Ii gave permission for the Church to celebrate the Mass in the vernacular (the language of the people) the Mass had to be translated from Latin into English. The principal of "dynamic equivelance" was used to make the translations. Dynamic equivelance sought to find a translation of the words in such a way that the listener (or speaker) of the words would understand the meaning of the Latin. This was in place of a literal (word for word) translation of the Latin.

     Translating from one language to another is seldom an easy task. There are always phrases or words that do not easily translate from one language to another; hence the expression, "something was lost in the translation." realizing the need for the new translation the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) was born. They went to work on the first translation of the Roman Missal and sent it in 1973 for approval. It was approved and began being used completely in 1974.

     However, in the estimation of some, parts of the translations seemed to get to far away from the original Latin and its meanings, and so ICEL began revising the translation in 1983. Over the course of the next several years, ICEL began revising the translations of all of the prayers of the Church. This included the major work of the new translation of the prayers at Mass. This was approved by the United States Conference of Bishops in 1998 and this was sent to Rome for approval.  Rome rejected the translation and decided that a new guideline needed to be established for future translations. Thus, in 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship published a document called Liturgiam Authenticam (Authentic Liturgy) that would guide all future translations.

End of part 1  

This is an excerpt from a homily on 9.4.2010 on 10 ways to grow your faith here in Jeffersonville:

1.     Bible Studies on Monday’s during the days or Wednesdays at night.