50th Anniversary – Abbey of the Genesee.

Happy Anniversary to the monks at Genesee. A special shout out to Br. Paul and Fr. Jerome. We count on your prayers and remember you in ours as you celebrate the establishment of your monastery.

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Buying sperm and eggs

This morning’s Toronto Star has in interesting editorial on Canada’s ban on the selling and buying of human eggs and sperm.  This editorial comes at the end of a two part article in the same paper on the effects of egg and sperm donation. Read the key point here:

It seems a clear case of good intentions gone wrong. Parliament no doubt meant well five years ago when it passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which bans the buying of human eggs, sperm and embryos. The MPs were responding to a broad cross-section of voices, including ethicists, experts and newspaper editorialists, who had expressed concern about potential abuses stemming from commercialization of the elements of human life.

The resulting ban, however, has triggered a booming black market in human eggs, with increased potential of fraud and exploitation as well as medical risks for would-be parents. In short, a law meant to protect Canadians has had precisely the opposite effect.

….Rather than maintaining this counter-productive ban, Ottawa needs to review the law and replace it with a set of more reasonable rules regarding the buying and selling of eggs, including regulations that would provide proper protection to both buyers and sellers.

So what would happen if some wacko replaced eggs/sperm with “child porn”. The case could be made, if one followed the above logic, that since the ban on child porn is not working, it should be dropped in favour of more “reasonable rules” that keep pedophiles from having to engage in dangerous activities. It’s crazy! But why do people at the Star not see that selling and buying of eggs and sperm is crazy? They would be the first to claim that buying and selling of human organs is wrong!

Ah, but the cry would be that it’s not fair for a couple to be infertile! Well, I’m not sure what “fairness” has to do with it. Others would claim that it keeps gay and  lesbian couples from their equal right to have children.  What equal right? Two women or two men cannot have children. It’s not biologically possible. One can use someone else’s eggs or sperms and a surrogate womb but, it’s not really their biological baby. Again, for the sake of political correctness we will suspend reality in favour of what makes people feel good. The point was made in an article in yesterday’s Star about children looking for their sperm-donor fathers:

This is not a commercial deal. This is not a medical deal. It is the formation of a family. People who do this need to understand they are creating a child with three people, and all three should be willing, from the beginning, to be in contact with the child and with each other. And if they can’t agree to do that, then they shouldn’t do it.

To purposely create a child who will not know or be in relationship with his/her biological parent is cruel. This is not the same as adoption. In adoption, the child is already present and we make the best of a difficult situation. With egg and sperm donors people are inflicting this state on a child on purpose!

My argument is not whether the parents who want to “buy” eggs/sperm would make good parents. Of course, the majority would be wonderful. The same goes with gay and lesbian couples. Although our faith community has issues with the concept of same-sex marriage it cannot be said that such couples would necessarily bad parents. In fact I know of great couples who  are excellent parents.

The problem is that with the buying and selling of eggs we are reducing human life to a commercial commodity for the benefit, not of the child,  but of the adults.  One of the whole points of parenting is to be focused on the needs of the child first, and not on my own. Children are not an accessory to legitimize a relationship. (Does this not also happen with your run-of-the-mill couples? Absolutely. And it’s equally wrong then.)

Is this really about caring for children or parents? No. It’s about making money. As the Star’s article on egg donors states:

But almost everyone in the fertility community says the legislation, in which altruism is supposed to trump capitalism, is unrealistic.

The “fertility community”?  I think it would better be worded as the fertility “business” community. I don’t think  there should be any buying or selling of  sperms or eggs. But imagine if they government allowed it and regulated it, but it had to be non-profit! Now that would be interesting.  But it’s not going to happen. This is all about making money by exploiting human life. Kudos to the Toronto Star for excellent reporting. Shame on the editors for buying into a shameless distortion of capitalism. They should promote adoption instead. Check out this excellent link on adoption resources in Canada.

Tour the Lateran

Here’s a link to a virtual tour of St. John in the Lateran (Rome). St. John’s is the “cathedral” of Rome and really one of my favourite churches in the whole world. The quality of the images is very good.

A test drive

Msgr. Murray J. Kroetsch, a priest of the Dioceseo of Hamilton, and one of Canada’s leading liturgists led the Thursday morning session of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Priests’ Seminar with a “test drive” of the proposed new texts for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  A young Toronto priest, Fr. Damian presided at a “fake” mass using the new texts and rubrics while Msgr Kroetsch, with great pastoral sense and touch of humour added his commentary.

It was great to try the new prayers in “actions” as it were rather than just as words on a page. The “solemn” musical setting for the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer is quite beautiful. I feel almost the urge to learn them! We could have had a whole day with Msgr. Kroetsch! My hope is that a dvd of his presentation will be prepared for the many clergy who were not at the seminar. So many priests who are not officially in parishes provide weekened help. It would be great if everyone got the same message.

All in all, except for the Wednesday presentation,  the seminar was a great success and quite useful. Thanks to all those who prepared it.

Lectio for Priests

This evening I attended the Lectio Divina offered by Archbishop Collins. Lectio is a time of reflective prayer over a passage of scripture. It’s an opportunity to savour the words and the allow them to penetrate into our lives and see what happens. To lead Lectio is to share an intimate part of your life.  It’s a very personal thing and makes one rather vulnerable. Tonight’s Lectio was no exception. The Bishop led is in this process and reflected aloud for himself and for us. I must admit that it’s quite the experience to be led in prayer at this depth by a bishop.

The Calling of Andrew & Peter by Caravaggio

The passage tonight was from the Gospel of John and the calling of the disciples… Andrew, Peter, Nathaniel. Through the reflection I was led to recall the “Andrews” in my own life who brought me closer to the Lord and to be thankful for them. It also was an occasion to reflect on some of the people who perhaps I have helped grow in relationship with God. As with John the Baptist and Andrew, once our task is done we begin to diminish so that they might grow.Food for thought and prayer!

Thank you Archbishop for the gift of scripture, prayer and reflection which you shared with us.

Time for nap

In charity I will not comment on the Wednesday afternoon session of the Archdiocese of Toronto Priest’s Seminar.

Priests pray in Remembrance

This morning’s session of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Priests’ Seminar was marked by a moment of silent prayer at 11:00 am led by His Grace Archbishop Thomas Collins.

Earlier, after Morning Prayer, we heard a presentation from the Sisters of Life. This community now in Toronto was originally founded by Cardinal O’Connor in New York City. They work to promote life, seemingly primarily around the issue of abortion.  A key initiative in Toronto is their Visitation Ministry where women who are considering an abortion can be welcomed by the sisters. The community is geared to really listen to the women and welcome their goodness. They also provide practical assistance through various co-workers in the community. It seems like an amazing ministry. I’m still not sure how it relates to or distinguishes itself from ministries like BirthRight or Rosalie Hall.

This was followed by an excellent presentation by Fr. Hansoo Park, the new vocation director for the Archdiocese. Hansoo spoke about the need to create opportunities for young people to encounter and deepen in their relationship with the Lord. It is this deep love relationship which leads many young people to naturally then ask… what do I do next?  This was a thoughtful presentation and really focused on the need for inner-transformation as the key to more vocations.

Finally, after the prayer for our fallen soldiers, the Archbishop continued the custom of taking some time to update the priests about a variety of matters and to entertain both written and oral questions. The nature of this very free, open and honest exchange kind of requires that I respect its privileged and private nature.  Let me just say that, once again, as is his custom since coming to Toronto, the Archbishop thanked the priests present for their generous service to the People of God.  It doesn’t cost a lot to say “thank you” but boy, does it make a difference to feel appreciated.

The Lord be with you!

This afternoon it was the turn of Msgr. Bruce Harbert to speak to us. This witty and humorous Englishman is the former Secretary General of ICEL. He spoke to us about the biblical sources that inspired much of the revision to the texts of the mass. One of the most contentious issues is the response to “The Lord be with you” which will become “And with your spirit.”

Msgr Harbert showed us the Pauline origins of this expression. It is not meant to create a dualistic view of the human person but rather to use the word “spirit” in the sense that Paul uses it and the word “flesh”.  When Paul condemns the flesh he is not being anti-material or against our bodies. Rather Paul is speaking of the part of us that gives in to sin. So it is with spirit. This is not meant to refer only to our spiritual reality, but rather to that aspect of us that call us (body and spirit) to transcendence.

He mentioned St. John Chrysostom who wrote that when people respond to the priest “And with your spirit” they recognize in the one who is about to begin the Eucharistic Prayer the presence of the Spirit who has called him to lead the Assembly. But St. John also adds that it is that same abiding Spirit in the Assembly that enables them to recognize that same Spirit present and active in the Presider.

 

Practical & Profound @ Priests’ Seminar

Yesterday in my first post from the Archdiocese of Toronto Priests’ Seminar in Alliston, Ontario I mentioned that there is some anxiety among priests that the revision of the texts of the Eucharistic liturgy are motivated by a a desire to return to a vision of church from the past. That’s an anxiety that I share less and less, well, until this morning.

A puzzling choice was made this morning to create the seminar’s worship space in a style that is a throw-back to the past; rows and rows of seats facing forward, theatre style, all the “holy” elements stacked away from the assembly, the altar crowded by multiple candles and the tabernacle right behind the altar. One of the priests immediately thought of the song: Let’s do the time-warp again. Or is it back to the future? In the past our chapel was constructed in the round with antiphonal seating and the ambo, altar and chair on the central axis and the tabernacle on one side and an image of Mary on the other. It reflected more my preferred ecclesiology. I guess there is more than one way to see church, but with all the anxiety about the “new mass” going backwards, this choice of chapel set up was inopportune.

Thank God we moved from that to an amazing presentation by Rev. Paul Turner, who is a gifted liturgist (doctorate from the San Anselmo in Rome). Fr. Paul spoke about how we present these changes to the people in our parishes. He situated these changes squarely in the vision of Vatican II.  The reforms of the Second Vatican Council were a restoration of the mass that is in fact being continued with the 3rd edition of the Roman Missal. Fr. Paul pointed to the 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as key:

In the restoration and development of the sacred liturgy the full and active participation by all the people is the paramount concern, for it is the primary, indeed indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit.

For the most part I see the revisions of our text as a move to even better translations of the mass with clearer references to scripture and richer imagery. It’s also a revision that brings us closer to all the other language groups… making us truly “universal” while still in the vernacular.

Overall the presentation by Paul turner was incredibly practical. Paul also was quite profound in calling us to use this moment in the church’s history to grow in our faith and appreciation of the gift of the mass.

Here are a couple of resources that Fr. Paul recommended that I think are excellent:
The U.S. bishops’ presentation of the texts that have received approval from Rome and Fr. Paul’s own website with many great resources.

Certe, toto, sentio nos in kansate non iam adesse

Yes, indeed we’re not in Kansas anymore, but rather in the wonderful Nottawasaga Inn of Alliston, Ontario attending the second installment of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s 2009 Priests’ Seminar.  This year’s topic is in some sorts the second part of last year’s introduction to the New Roman Missal.

Some of you may know that towards the end of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, a new Latin translation of the mass was approved with some adjustments to norms and procedures. This revision has led to the need for an official English translation. This time, the translations are being carefully monitored to reflect more closely the meaning of the original. This care includes a close following (some would say slavish) to the Latin sentence structure, which may or may not work in English.  There has been a lot of controversy about this process of translation and what some may perceive as a “hidden agenda” to turn things back in the church’s liturgy.

I must admit that I was of that opinion, thus the Toto and Kansas reference. This is a wildly different age for the church where the more conservative minority voices in the church seem to have a greater say in what the majority will pray.

And then I began to work on last year’s seminar and met Bishop Doug Crosby from Newfoundland. He’s a delightful man who took the time to explain well what was going on and helped us get the right speakers. I’m not going to go into details (you can search for my last year posts, above!), but by the end I was pretty much sold on the translation. It is more faithful to the scripture, more faithful to the church’s ancient prayers, and has more inclusive language. Yes, it’s different than the more contemporary style of our usage of English, but it still works.

Tonight’s opening of the seminar was held with a keynote speech by Archbishop Terry Prendergast, SJ.  I guess it’s really Terrance, but I just can’t see myself calling him that. Terry was a professor at Regis College and lived on my street in Toronto when I was a formation director. He was also a coordinator for the Vatican visitation of all our houses of formation back in the 90’s (which feels like ages ago!). Anyway, Archbishop Prendergast (a wonderful man, since he’s a native of Montreal — Ahuntsic to be more precise, St. Rita’s parish) is a member of Vox Clara which is the Holy See’s think tank on the translations of the mass. It assists the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and the bishops of the world and the Vatican in figuring out how to proceed.

Vox Clara - Bishop Terry is under the cross to the left.

Archbishop Prendergast showed us some examples of the new texts and encouraged us to be open and to enter into these texts in prayer. He also encouraged us to be united so that we can present to the People of God these worthy translations with a minimum of trauma or drama!

Again, as I wrote earlier, I was at first a bit suspicious about these changes, but for the most part I like them and am looking forward to the new texts. Some really fine people have worked on them and brought a balanced theological perspective. My only disappointment comes from seeing the photo of the Vox Clara group and noticing that there are no women experts. Including capable women is always important when we are dealing with church issues.

On another note: Archbishop Collins greeting us tonight and there is talk that the two new Bishops-elect for Toronto will join the Archbishop and Bishops Boissoneau and Hundt for a visit with us tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.