Celebrate Your Celebrants

This is the story of how the laity of St. Martin's Church in Gaithersburg, Md., surprised their three faithful priests with a rally of support and appreciation.

The idea came about after Palm Sunday, when the priests of St. Martin's read a letter, co-signed by all three, at all the Masses. The letter touched the hearts of many. In the same manner as Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year, the priests asked forgiveness: “To the extent that we represent the whole priesthood, we ask forgiveness; for those times that we may have sinned against you in thought, word or deed, we also ask for your forgiveness.” They also passed on a word of encouragement: “The Church is going through her Good Friday, but it shall also have an Easter Sunday.”

All parishioners began to realize how deeply the current scandals have affected our priests: the pain they feel, the looks of suspicion and whispers they are enduring. It was time that we showed them we cared and that their sacrifices and faithfulness had not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. We would stand by them, offering encouragement and support to help them continue in their call to the priesthood.

But how? On Easter Sunday, word began to spread that a surprise for the priests was being planned. We had less than two weeks to try to get the message out to more than 2,700 registered families. One challenge was the fact that the parish is about equally split between English- and Spanish-speaking communities. With six Masses in English and five in Spanish, we would have to work fast and as quietly as possible. We had to sneak into the planning calendars of our priests, contact family members and close friends, check into stage and sound equipment, and take care of flyers, food, music and other details.

We had our work cut out for us! In fact, we needed an insider. So we recruited Father Dan Leary. We gave him as little information as possible so that it would still be a special event for him. Now, with access to “inside information,” we could see how busy Father Mike and Father Ryan were—and we could see if, perhaps, we could arrange to have a few of their appointments cancelled.

Flyers were made in English and Spanish. We had one Sunday to get the word out, so, secretly after the Masses, some of us secretly passed out flyers to as many people as possible. We notified the Catholic media and the archdiocese.

Imagine our surprise to get a call from the secretary of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He was writing our priests a letter and, of course, he knew better than to send it directly to the rectory. How many hands that letter was passed to before reaching its final destination!

During the procession, as our priests were smiling and celebrating their call to the priest-hood, Father Ryan said to Father Mike, “Relax and just let it happen.” Soon Mass was underway. Our priests expressed that they usually like to have a little more time to prepare for Mass, so it's a good thing our deacons came through.

After Mass, those gathered shared testimonies, followed by a small reception.

It was good to meet the family and friends of our priests, to thank them for the sacrifices, encouragement and support they have given throughout the years. Father Dan was very happy to see his family. The youngest of six, he said, “It was nice for my family to see the support I have as a new priest here at St. Martin's. It really is a good time to be a priest. People are looking for faithful shepherds. I hope to live up to that expectation, to live my life for Christ.”

One fruit that came from this was the “Banner of Fidelity,” which displays the phrase “Let His Glory Rise Among Us.” The host and chalice are in the center; grape vines were along the sides. This banner, with our signatures on it, would show our faithfulness. It would be a sign for others to see and find hope. God's glory will only rise if we are faithful.

LIZ CARREON Gaithersburg, Maryland

Lift Up Our Priests to the Lord

Each time I turn on the news and hear reports on child abuse, homosexuality, cover-ups, etc., in the Catholic priesthood, or when I read newspaper articles by a certain female journalist who appears to have a problem with Christ's choice of men for his priesthood, my heart breaks a little—not only for the damage being done to our already battered Catholic Church, the beloved Bride of Christ, but also for the unfair attack by the media on the thousands and thousands of God's truly faithful and loyal priests.

I truly believe that Boston Cardinal Bernard Law's attempt at covering up these horrendous scandals, although an absolutely tragic error with far-reaching and long-lasting effects, was an effort to protect the Church he loves from slander. The terrible crime in this case was his having little or no regard for the poor little innocent children involved, and this is something he shall have to live with for the rest of his life.

Because of the small percentage of priests in North America who are guilty of the terrible crimes—the unholy few—many of our priests are suffering rejection and persecution and we must keep them from becoming discouraged.

We must continually pray for all priests, including the ones who have taken advantage of and abused their positions. From all eternity God chose these men to be ministerial priests and, just as Judas, one of his chosen Twelve, betrayed him, so too will some of these. He has given them the free will to do as they please.

The majority, however, like the 11, remain loyal and faithful to him. They have sacrificed and given up their worldly possessions to take up the cross and to do his work on earth. We must pray for them. We must pray even more for the ones who have turned their love from Jesus to the pleasures of this world.

When a man becomes a priest, he is not only promising to serve God and God's people for the rest of his life, but he is also agreeing to sacrifice and to be sacrificed. The priesthood appears to be, at times, a very lonely life. It is a known fact that the most common malady in humanity is impurity, and priests are merely human beings who are bombarded with the same temptations of the world as we. Some of them are weak. They fall just as other people do.

Our lot in life is to pray for the “fallen priests” just as they and the faithful priests pray for us constantly. We must keep in mind always that it is the sin we are to hate, not the sinner. Remember, we, through our baptism, are also part of God's royal priesthood, though not chosen by him to be ordained priests. We are the temples of God and yet we are not worthy.

Therefore, knowing our own failures and shortcomings, how can we not have mercy on, and pray for, the priests who have fallen?

We need our priests! “There is an unholy attack on the Eucharist and the priesthood,” says Father John Corapi. “You get rid of the priest-hood, say goodbye to the Eucharist.” Think about it. No priesthood, no Eucharist. Without the Eucharist, our Catholic Churches are nothing more than mere meeting rooms.

We need our priests! We must encourage them. We must show our support for them, but mostly, we must pray for them and ask God's protection for them, that they may be able to withstand this unholy attack on them. They are constantly surrounded by spiritual warfare and, unless they are also surrounded by and protected by God's armor, then, as in any war, there will be casualties.

Priests are our teachers. They bring us sacramental life. We must go before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament at every possible opportunity and ask his help for our priests. We must offer up rosaries as well as chaplets of Divine Mercy for their purity of heart and mind, and for an increase in their love and total devotion to our Lord, his teachings, and his Church. We must offer up Masses and Holy Hours for them.

We must pray for an increase in vocations so that our churches will be filled with an abundance of holy and zealous priests to help the overworked good and faithful priests that we have. It is so easy to get caught up in all the media hype. We must be careful not to sit in judgment of them, but rather to lift them up to the Lord God, and let him deal with them.

NANCY KIRK New Brunswick, Canada

‘Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourselves!’

Elizabeth Reynolds, a 17-year-old from Hudson, N.H., published this column in the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader newspaper.

I am a Roman Catholic, and I think it is about time for someone to stand up and defend the Catholic Church.

I want to extol my wonderful priests at St. Patrick parish in Nashua; I want to thank them for their efforts, for their devotion, for their willingness to assist and to be there when needed. They are true and perfect examples of what Catholic priests should be.

I want to thank the Catholic Church for all that she does for the world, not just for the country. Without her numerous services for the poor, the homeless, the afflicted and the confused, the world would be a much more sorrowful place in which to live. Take away Catholic Charities and other Catholic organizations designed to assist the needy and the less fortunate, and America and the rest of the world would be in bad shape. Take away the separate collections taken up every year for less fortunate countries (that money coming straight from the pockets of faithful Catholics) and you will have some very miserable refugees living in less than perfect conditions elsewhere on the earth.

Take away the missionaries of Africa, made up of priests and nuns, and the poor, starved, dehydrated, uneducated and spiritually hungry population of the poorest parts of Africa would be gone in little time. Take away World Youth Day, and some two billion young people would be deprived of one of the most beautiful spiritual retreats in existence.

Take away EWTN (Eternal World Television Network), run by Mother Angelica, and so many, many Catholics and those seeking answers to questions about the Catholic faith would be at a terrible loss. Take away the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, and we would lose the most precious, invaluable leader on the face of the planet.

Take away the millions of good, chaste, devoted priests, bishops and cardinals, and Catholics would be without their sacraments: they would lose the chance to receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. They would no longer be able to confess, they would no longer be able to marry, to be ordained, to receive last rites, to be confirmed or to be baptized.

Take away Catholicism itself, and you will find a huge gap on the face of the earth, a gap that could never be filled by anything else. Take away Catholicism, and you can watch the erosion of what is left of decency on this earth, you can watch nations fall apart, you can watch communism take control, you can watch the world fall into irreparable chaos.

Everyone says that Osama bin Laden and his followers do not represent Islam. Well, the few sexually abusive priests involved in scandals do not represent Christ as they are supposed to, and they do not represent the purity and beauty of the Catholic Church.

Shame on those people who profess to be Catholics and who at the same time turn on the Catholic Church. Shame on those who have lost all trust in the faith that has lasted for some 2,000 years despite much, much worse than this. Shame on those of you who have turned on your bishop and on your cardinal. Shame on all of you, because you are only weakening the Catholic Church, not strengthening her.

If you are unwilling to stand up for your faith now, when you most need to; if these scandals are enough to so shake your faith; if the devil is so much more powerful than your trust in God and in his ability to make things right on earth; if you are so unwilling to forgive in your hearts those priests who have acted in a terrible way, then you do not even deserve to be called Christians.

Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get up and try to help the Catholic Church out; give her a push, help her get back up again. The Catholic Church is not and never will be irreparably damaged by these events. Christ promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against her, and it is time for Catholics to embrace the bride of Christ and to mend her wounds.

Support your priests, support your bishop, support your cardinal, support your Pope, support those Catholics who still cherish and admire the Catholic Church and her clergy for all of the good that they do as a whole. Good always overcomes evil.