CONGRATULATIONS LT COMMANDER KEITH LARSON

During the early weeks of Advent we hear the gospel stories of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus. Although he was a dynamic religious leader in his own right and had many followers he was most willing to hand over his ministry to Jesus. His memorable words, "He must increase, I must decrease," testify to a most generous attitude. It is not always easy to give up command and allow for a smooth transition of a new leader.

I was struck by this example of John the Baptist at another recent change of command ceremony. Parishioner Keith Larson is a retired Navy officer but for the last 6 years he headed the Twin City Naval Sea Cadet Corps. He led it to be the foremost squadron in the United States. This was all the more impressive as Minnesota, far from the oceans, is not usually seen as a Naval power. As he stepped down from command, the basic ceremony was the formal reading of the official orders by him as the commanding officer to be relieved of command. The relieving officer then simply said, "I relieve you, Sir." Lt Commander Larson answered, "I stand relieved." This formal ritual is unique to the Navy and has no counterpart in the Army or Air Force. It signifies the total transfer of responsibility, authority and accountability from one person to another.

No one does tradition as well as the Navy. Well, maybe the Catholic Church does too. I was honored to provide the role of Chaplain at Lt Commander Larson's change of command ceremony last Saturday. Congratulations to you, Keith, for your service to our nation and especially for the great support you gave to hundreds of young people who you served in the Sea Cadet program.

VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS

This Second Advent weekend we hear the beginning of the Gospel of Mark with the powerful image of a voice crying out in the wilderness. This refers to John the Baptist with his cry for renewal. There are still such voices and one belongs to Cardinal Carlo Martini, the 81 year-old retired archbishop of Milan who now is living in Jerusalem. He recently has stated that Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae has cut off the church from many of the people who most need its advice about human sexuality. The encyclical, which taught that artificial birth control was morally wrong, caused a large number of people to stop taking the church's views into serious consideration, Cardinal Martini said. "Many have distanced themselves from the church, and the church from the people. Serious damage was done," he said.

Cardinal Martini made the comments in a book-length interview titled “Nighttime Conversations in Jerusalem.” He noted that when Pope Paul VI wrote the 1968 encyclical he set aside the advice of a commission of experts and made a “highly personal” decision. “In the long term, the solitary nature of this decision has not proven to be a favorable premise for treating the theme of sexuality and the family,” he said. “The church should take a positive approach to human sexuality, with less emphasis on prohibitions,” he said. “The church should always treat questions of sexuality and the family in such a way that a leading and decisive role is up to the responsibility of the person who loves,” he said. “Whatever the church affirms, it should be supported by many people, by responsible Christians who want to be conscientious in love,” he concluded. (Profiled from the Catholic News Service web site, Nov. 13, 2008).

ADVENT COMINGS AND RECONNECTIONS

We begin the four weeks of Advent this weekend. Advent means coming or becoming present. We tend to think of this in terms of the first coming of Jesus at his birth. But there are other comings: the risen Lord at Easter, in the sacraments especially in the Eucharist, in our everyday lives ("whenever you do this to the least of my brothers or sisters,...when two or three gather in my name..."), at the moment of death, and as our scriptures this weekend proclaim, at the end of time. Two years ago we had another Advent of Jesus.

An artist from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Clara Maria Goldstein, visited our parish and spoke at the Advent masses about her paintings of the Jewish Jesus. She generously gave us 4 of her paintings, which now hang in the office conference room. We have reconnected as she will soon be publishing a book of her Jesus paintings and she gave me news of this. The book is titled, "The Missing Paintings of Jesus as a Jew. Jesus, Tell Us About Your Judaism," with the foreword written by the University of Notre Dame theology professor, Lawrence Cunningham.  It should be published at Easter time.

It was great to hear from her. Advent and the Christmas Holiday season is a wonderful time to reconnect. We send cards and gifts and have special dinners and gatherings to renew these special connections in our lives. I hope this Advent is a time of connecting for all of us, especially in our relationship with Rabbi Jesus!

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH TV?

The November 20 issue of the New York Times had a short article titled, What Happy People Don't Do, by Roni Rabin. She reported on a study on happiness by John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. The study finds that happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers - but they don't spend a lot of time watching television.

That's what unhappy people do.

So this Advent may I suggest that you cut down on TV, come to church more often and bring a newspaper with you for discussion at coffee and donuts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The parish staff and I wish you all a most Happy Thanksgiving. Every time we gather as a community for Mass we give thanks. Indeed, the original Greek word for the Mass, Eucharist, means to give thanks. I certainly give thanks to God for you.


JOVINA'S THANKSGIVING CAME EARLY

Parishioner Sue Kellett who is our extremely dedicated coordinator with our sister parish in Jinotega, Nicaragua, introduced us to a homeless woman, Jovina, whose arm was mangled by her former husband. Jovina and her four children were living at the town dump but with Sue's intervention and the generous help of many of you and some others, they have just moved into a small home of their own. Sue sent the following update on moving day along with emailed photos.

This was a landmark day.  After waiting 3 hours in the hospital and this was with connections.....we finally saw the orthopedic doctor and yes he can fix Jovina's arm!!!  He wasn't her doctor August 15, 2002 when she came in with her hand almost off but still he remembered her case because it was so horrible. He said he'd probably have to shorten the bone because now the tendons have shrunk but still she should have a lot more movement in the hand. And less pain.  Her surgery is scheduled for March 23rd when I come back.

That was really good news and then we received word that the house would be vacated this afternoon and we could move her in tonight! Victorino picked Walter and me up at 6:00 and we went to take the family home...

HISTORIC ELECTION

The journalist and historian of the American civil rights movement, Juan Williams, had a commentary in the Wall Street Journal after our historic presidential election. He put the election in the following context:

"It is not even 50 years since a group of civil-rights workers challenged racial segregation on interstate bus travel. In 1961, a scared group of young Freedom Riders got on a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C. to take a trip through Virginia and into the South. In Alabama the bus was bombed, its riders beaten so badly that some suffered brain damage. Attorney General Robert Kennedy worried that racial tensions could spark a second Civil War."

Whatever our individual choices for president, we can join President Bush and Senator McCain, in seeing the election of President elect Barrack Obama as historic.

It is also reported that along with carrying a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq, President elect Obama also carries a small Madonna and child.

What a contrast from what parishioner Sue Kellett reports from Nicaragua where she is visiting our sister parish:

Holy cow!!  After a really quite boring email last time things have changed. There are killings in the streets of Managua and many cities are up side down!!!  The conservative party won against the Sandinistas including in Managua and here and so the taunting and the fighting begins.  Here in Jinotega it's slightly better but there have been men throwing rocks, and waving sticks at each other, gangs with high tensions and who know what else.  I heard some men broke into the house of one of the higher ups in the winning party and were waiting for him when he got home.  He pulled a gun and began shooting but they ran off and thank God nothing bad happened.

There were caravans in the streets...and of course the winners taunt the losers and then the testosterone kicks in.  But they can only sustain that for so long before they become tired of it. But the tension is still high in Managua. They've cancelled classes there and I don't know what else.

So the saga continues. I'm careful so don't worry about me.  And nobody would directly hurt me. This is like what you read about in novels but it's real life here. The people are embarrassed about it when I talk to them in the streets. But it's a different world and I tell them that.


CATHOLIC CONNECTIONS

One fascinating part of President elect Obama's background is that soon after college in New York, he moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes on Chicago's far South Side. Working there three years, his accomplishments included helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization.