Today on this, the last day of the year 2008, we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Lord, You are the Good Shepherd, grant your sheepfold many great priests and bishops. You are the True Vine, send new workers into Your Vineyard. Mother Mary, watch over and guide those who are called and lead them ever closer to your Son.
Today we pray for Rev. Eddy Bisson and Rev. Msgr. Raymond Blair.
Fr. Bisson was ordained in 1968 and now has an assignment as Senior Priest.
Msgr. Blair was ordained in 1960 and is now retired.
Lord, reward these men for their long years of service to You and Your Church. Grant them rest in their leisure and vigor in their actions and always the time to contemplate and communicate You. Mary, watch over them and guide them and lead them to your Son.
It is, to me, one of the greatest problems facing an RCIA program: how do you keep these neophyte Catholics close to the Church and involved in parish life once the “cycle” is complete? It’s so easy once those heady and intense days around the reception of the Sacraments for the first time are over to slide into a complacent lifestyle, detached from the people around you and what really is the whole of the life of grace.
Fortunately the Rite itself, or more properly, the Order, has a built-in mechanism to help with this to start – the period of mystagogy. In this period the interaction with the neophytes tends to take on a different complexion as they are engaging in a (hopefully fully) sacramental life for the first time. It becomes, in many ways, less a purely catechetical process and one which is more close to a discussion among equals. Yet there is still much catechesis left to be done, no matter how complete the preparation work has been. The discussion tends to change from one of “this is what the Catholic Church teaches about X” to “this is what it is like to live a fully Catholic life, a fully sacramental life”.
Unfortunately even that period must come to an end eventually. The Association for Catechumenal Ministry recommends “landing teams” who are tied into but separate from the RCIA team who are there to support the neophytes during their first months – their role is less catechetical and more in providing support and resources for these new Catholics. The importance of their being separate from the RCIA team cannot be understated. First, this helps to gently break any bond of dependence the neophyte may have on one or more members of the RCIA team. Second, it introduces them to people without any predisposition as to their “positions” or “styles”. Third, it encourages them to meet new people in the parish and share their faith as fully integrated members of the Body, thus making their eventual transition from evangelized to evangelizer more fluid and natural.
After they have truly established their roots in the parish some form of continuing education in the Faith is critical. Topics learned at a surface level during RCIA must be experienced again as Catholics experiencing the full sacramental life of the Church; rough spots that have developed can be smoothed, questions that they did not recognize or did not want to recognize during the process can be addressed and they learn anew what it means to, as St. Ignatius of Loyola said, sentire cum ecclesia — to “think with the Church”.
All along this path they should be encouraged to investigate different expressions of Catholic spirituality which are within the framework of the Church. They should be exposed broadly to the many doctors and saints of the Church and the major spiritual schools, including Franciscan, Dominican and Carmelite. Devotions such as the Rosary and personal Holy Hours before the exposed Blessed Sacrament should be encouraged and even assisted when possible. The great works of Spiritual and Corporal Mercy should be brought before them so that they can find ways to participate in the distribution of God’s grace. Living the fully sacramental Catholic life means more than assisting at Mass on Sunday and signing up for one or more “ministry” – it means imbuing the other 167 hours of the week outside of Mass with the spiritual gifts they have received in the Sacraments.
These thoughts are not meant as an action plan but as a broad-scoped view of what can and must be done. Too many times we hear people give one or another reason for falling away from the Church or returning to their previous faith tradition when in the end all it would have taken to draw them closer to the heart of the Church is a few people with some time, a plan and a minimum of resources. Being Catholic is not merely something you do, nor is it merely something you are — it is, in the end, only when both are fused into a single-minded state that someone becomes fully Catholic, indeed, becomes fully alive. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10b)
Today we pray for Rev. Deacon Robert Esposito and Rev. Deacon Marc Payeur.
I am sadly unable to find any information on Deacon Esposito – if you should have any, please leave a note in the combox.
Deacon Payeur was ordained in 2002 and currently serves St. Jude’s Parish in Londonderry.
May they find ever greater depths of service to render to Your Church O Lord and may all their service bring glory to Your Name. May Mary guide them and shelter them and lead them to You, her Son.
Today we pray for Bishop Odore Gendron, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Manchester.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1947 and ordained to the episcopate in 1975. He retired as Bishop of the Diocese in 1990.
Lord, guide and strengthen him in his role as a successor of Your Apostles, that he may continue to be a shepherd of souls and may each day become a greater image of Your love for man. May Mary watch over him in a special way, help him in his vocation and lead him to You, her Son.
Today we pray for Rev. Gerard Bertin and Rev. Albert Tremblay Jr.
Fr. Bertin was ordained in 1989 and is now pastor of St. Lawrence’s Parish in Goffstown.
Fr. Tremblay was ordained in 1997 and is now pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Belmont.
May they continue to draw souls to Christ and be His image in this world. May Mary shelter them in her mantle and draw them to her Son.
Today on this feast of Christmas we pray for all priests and religious.
Lord, may they lead us in our spiritual lives and be always examples of good and saintly lives. May they find themselves continually more and more conformed to our Lord and living the example of Mary, and may she always lead them on towards her Son.
Today we pray for Rev. Richard Smith and Rev. George Soberick.
Fr. Smith was ordained in 1956 and is now retired.
Fr. Soberick was ordained in 1962 and is now pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Lakeport.
May all they do and say be centered on and find its source in Him who saves us. May Mary guard and guide them and lead them to her Son.
Today we pray for Rev. Andrew Cryans and Rev. Thomas Savage.
Fr. Cryans was ordained in 1975 and is pastor of St. Thomas More’s Parish in Durham.
Fr. Savage was ordained in 1947 and is now retired.
Lord, may they be strengthened each and every day in their work and through Your grace become more and more conformed to You. May Mary watch over them and lead them to You, her Son.
Today we pray for Rev. Bede Camera OSB and Rev. Patrick Sullivan OSB.
Fr. Camera is a Lecturer in the Fine Arts Department at St. Anselm College and also the director of the College Choir.
I am unfortunately unable to find any information on Fr. Sullivan – should you be able to provide any, please drop me a note in the combox.
May they each day be granted the grace to reach new souls and continually increase the fervor with which they proclaim the Good News. May Mary watch over them and draw them to her Son.
