In service to God's people

On Saturday, my diocesan brother, Brandon, was ordained a transitional deacon for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS. A transitional deacon is the term used to describe a person ordained to the diaconate as a step to the priesthood. It is a transitional diaconate because the person will be a deacon only until his priesthood ordination six months to a year down the road.

Brandon's ordination was celebrated at our Cathedral, St. Peter's, by Archbishop Joseph Naumann. It was a beautiful ordination with a good turnout by the faithful of the diocese. Brandon, who is a 4th year theologian at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, IL, will serve as a deacon until June 24th when he and my cousin, Anthony, will be oradined as priests of the Archdiocese.

I chose the title, In service to God's people, because this is the core tenet of the deacon. His service to the people comes in many forms: assist the bishop and his priests, proclaiming the Gospel and instructing God's people regarding His Word, praying and celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours with and for the Church and assisting at the altar as a minister of the people. These are some of the promises a deacon makes within the Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate. Early next year, in preparation for my own diaconate, I am going to expound upon each of the six promises a deacon makes on the day of his ordination.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 06:43 | link | comments |
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Turkey break is upon us

Tomorrow begins Thanksgiving break for the seminarians at Kenrick. We have classes tomorrow morning, but can leave after our last class. I am taking my friend, Dan, to the airport and then heading back to Kansas.

While the break is supposed to be a time to rest and spend time with family, my break will be quite busy. Wednesday, I plan on doing some research at the Chancery office for my Master's thesis. Thanksgiving day will be my true day of rest, watching football with my dad and enjoying a big meal. Friday I need to prepare a children's homily I have to give when I return to Kenrick next Monday.

Saturday is going to be the busy day. My diocesan brother, Brandon, will be ordained a transitional deacon on Saturday morning. His ordaination means alot to me for a number of reasons. First, it will good to be with the seminarians and priests of the diocese again. The last time we were together was, unfortunately, for the funerals of my diocesan seminarian brothers Matty and Jared. Secondly, his ordination is important because it is the last ordination before my own diaconate ordination next May. In fact, his ordination will be exactly six months before my own (see my countdown clock on the blog for the EXACT time left).

What makes his ordination even more meaningful is that he will be the deacon at my ordination in May. Quite poetically, I think, is the fact that I will be the deacon for his and my cousin Anthony's priesthood ordination next June. What a wonderful way to share in each other's call from God.

Since I am going home tomorrow, I will probably not have a blog entry until Nov. 26th or Nov. 27th. I do promise that the next blog will detail the ordination and all that it entailed. Until then...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 20:30 | link | comments (1) |
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Christ the King and the end of the year

Tomorrow is Christ the King Sunday. This marks the end of the liturgical year as we will enter into the Advent season a week from tomorrow.

I have always found it appropriate that the end of the liturgical year falls near Thanksgiving. As the Church year begins its new cycle, it seems poetic that we should celebrate Thanksgiving. We are thankful for the graces and blessings we have received in the past year. More importantly, we can be thankful for the gift of God's Son for our salvation. So, in a way Thanksgiving is a pre-Advent feast day as we thank God for all He has given us, especially Jesus Christ. It is in this thanksgiving that we can begin our celebration of the Advent season when we prepare again to welcome Christ into the world and into our lives.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 22:03 | link | comments |
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Does the Church have to shrink to become more Catholic?

Recently, a group of us were discussing the status of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and its future. The discussion originated while we were discussing the 'cafeteria' understanding of being a Catholic in the world today. Basically, a cafeteria Catholic picks and chooses which Truths of the faith they adhere to. If one is pro-abortion, then that person simply chooses not to heed the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life. If one uses birth control, then one simply ignores that teaching. This type of 'Catholicism' results in a Church who, in the eyes of these persons, has a Truth that is malleable to whatever is the fad of the world.

    

It was this foundation that sparked our conversation about the future of the Church. We were discussing the very real possibility that the Catholic Church will have to shrink in order to grow closer to the Gospel Truth. It is very possible that, like the wheat and the chaff, the Catholic people will have to be sifted into the faithful and the 'cafeteria' Catholics. The former are the People of God, while the latter are not faithful to anything but themselves and maybe the ways of the world.

Our discussion didn't center so much on having contempt for those who choose 'cafeteria' Catholicism as it did in the realization that we cannot be priests who can promote or accept that style of living of the Catholic faith. We are ALWAYS called to minister to everyone, devout Catholics, cafeteria Catholics, non-Catholics and non-Christians. This never changes and is in fact our central mandate from Christ himself (see Mt. 28:19-20). Rather, we also have to realize that when we, as priests, present the Truth of the Catholic Church, some and maybe even many 'Catholics' may not accept it and may eventually reject the Catholic Church altogether. In essence, the Church may lose many of its fringe Catholics and in a matter of years or decades and find itself with a core remnant of faithful who are the true Catholic people of God. While this is sad and we always pray for those people who fall away, we ultimately have to realize that it is our calling to preach the Truth of Jesus Christ and to do otherwise is to destroy the Catholic Church from within.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 22:53 | link | comments |
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MY BLOG HAS A NEW HOME

We have a new home!!! For those who have been following my blog since March, I would like to thank you for joining me in the move. For those who are new to my blog, I welcome you. To all, I ask you to be patient while I get this new area set up and while I attempt to transfer my archived blog entries from my old blog site.

That being said, I want to wish a happy birthday to two of my readers. One, who's initials are MT and lives in Okla. has a birthday today. The other, a good friend and seminarian studying at Mundelein, has a birthday tomorrow. I think its important, on our birthdays, to reflect on the past year, on what we accomplished, on what we maybe didn't do that we should have and to look forward to the coming year and what we hope to accomplish.
Anyway, just my two cents. To both of my friends...have a piece of cake for me.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:56 | link | comments |
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