This week Catholic Charities held its annual review meeting which gives the leadership and Board of Directors the opportunity to report to the Bishop on the many extraordinary projects that our Diocesan Catholic Charities carries on in behalf of the vulnerable and needy in our midst.  The largest social service network outside of the government in all of Long island, this is the face of the Catholic Church to pregnant teens, elderly couples, special needs children and their families and a host of other persons and groups who depend on the Church to help them cope with life and become self-reliant with dignity and meaning in their lives.

In the past three weeks, there were graduations from our three diocesan high schools, McGann Mercy in Riverhead, Holy Trinity in Hicksville and St, John the Baptist in West Islip.  Almost 1,000 seniors received diplomas and are going on to some of the best colleges in the area and in our country, thanks to the dedicated faculty and administration at these three Catholic schools.

In May it was my privilege to ordain ten men to the permanent diaconate and assign them to serve in parishes around our diocese.  On June 12, the cathedral was filled with family and loved ones and parishioners of the three men ordained to the priesthood after completing their years of formation at our seminary in Huntington.  A fourth, whom I ordained last year, has completed his studies in theology at the Gregorian University in Rome last week will join them in parish assignments to St James. Seaford, St Brigid, Westbury, St Joseph Ronkonkoma and St. Patrick, Smithtown.

A month ago, 65 men and women received graduate degrees in theology, divinity and pastoral studies after completing their work at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington.  With great joy many will gather in the Cathedral of St. Agnes this week for graduations from the Pastoral Formation Institute for all those who will receive their certificates from the PFI in various areas of religious studies.

In the meantime throughout the year, almost every weekend has seen a charismatic retreat which gathered Spanish speaking members of our parishes for prayer, and deepening of their spiritual lives.  On our campuses, adult and peer ministers attuned to the spiritual and special needs of Catholics in the colleges and universities that make Long Island so attractive to the young collegians of our parishes and those from other parts of the country.  I pray we may find vocations to priesthood and religious life among some of them which is why Fr. Brian Barr and his cohort of priests have made themselves available to offer Mass on these campuses and to conduct retreats for college age students throughout the school year.

In the meantime, my colleagues who oversee the needs of the clergy, the coordination of social outreach in our parishes, the efforts at communications in all the media from this newspaper to Telecare to our website, the various organs of diocesan life like the Presbyteral Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council, in short, all those who assist me in the many activities that help the fifth largest Catholic Church in the United States function, will gather with me next week to review the year’s efforts and to begin preparations for what we will undertake as a diocese when the summer holidays are over.

What do all these have in common?  Many things not the least of which is that they are all aspects of a healthy and vibrant expression of the Spirit who animates this Diocese of Rockville Centre.  They also are the many ways that the office of bishop is carried on in service to the People of God, a service offered in strict union and collaboration with my brother priests, your pastors and their staffs. But, what all these, including the parishes, all have in common is that they all are assisted by the annual Catholic Ministries Appeal.

None of these could continue to function without your support of the Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). The Diocese has only two real sources of income. One is the annual assessment, called the Cathedraticum, to which every parish contributes a small percentage of its income so that the Bishop and the Diocese can carry on essential work of the Church, only a portion of which I have mentioned above.  The second source is your generosity to the CMA.

Unfortunately the number giving has decreased and, while the average gift is somewhat greater every year, the overall donations through the CMA have grown little and seem to be flat or a little behind last year.  Our pastors are working hard to make their goals.  Many lay people continue to offer their efforts to encourage parishioners and others to give to the CMA which literally touches the lives of all the Catholics on Long Island and many thousands who are not Catholic.

So as we start to look ahead in anticipation of some summer days on this most beautiful part of God’s earth, I would like to ask each and everyone of you to help me.  This week or next or any day before you go on vacation, stop and ask yourself if you can give a little more to the CMA before you and your family go off on your holidays.  If you have stopped giving, for whatever reason, think about this fact: no money from the CMA enriches anyone or adds to anyone’s salaries or benefits who work in this Diocese beginning with your bishop on down to every other person who serves you.  The CMA contributions go exclusively to the five areas of the Diocese that are so much more in need because today’s needs are greater than yesterdays.  So, even if it is only a small amount, that doesn’t matter.  What matters is the generous heart that makes a sacrifice to help others.  And that sacrifice, however large or small, will multiply itself because of your goodness and your care.

So please let’s make an end of the year, beginning of summer effort to give a little more, give a little extra, give something from your heart to the CMA before you go off on vacation.  And may the God who watches over us watch over, protect you and your family during these summer months wherever you may be relaxing and being refreshed by the beauty of God’s creation and the joyful fun of family and friends together.

If you can help, please do so.  Contributions can be made using this form and sending it to:

Catholic Ministries Appeal
Diocese of Rockville Centre
P.O. Box 4000
Rockville Centre, NY 11571-4000

Gifts to the Catholic Ministries Appeal may also be made via your credit card.  Make your donation online by visiting www.drvc.org/make-a-donation.html .

St. Patrick’s currently has received $85,339.09.00
in pledges from 388 families toward our goal of $130,000.00.

Bishop William Murphy  

“Love - the virtuous love St. Paul talks about - is not natural and instinctive.  You don’t usually feel it, it doesn’t happen to you.  You have to will it.  And far from feeling good, it is often inconvenient and costly.  It requires maturity, self-control, and toughness to overcome your natural instincts in order to love.  Love is often a mask we put on that hides our real selves.  Love is often putting on an act.”  This quote is from the book With Love and Prayers by F. Washington Jarvis, the headmaster of Roxbury Latin School in Boston.  As each semester begins he gives a talk to the students to open their minds and hearts to what is really important in life.  I find his talks very thought provoking and inspirational.  The above quote helps to illuminate what is happening in today’s gospel which is the account of the Good Samaritan.

We see that the first two people who encounter the man who was beaten and robbed avoid him and pass on by.  In them we can see the power of inconvenience.  They are on their way somewhere and do not want to get involved or to interrupt what they are going to do. Inconvenience is the least obstacle they give way to. The other obstacle of course is their refusal to love. Earlier in this talk Jarvis says that love is an act we put on at times when we really do not want to get involved. He calls this act “willed concern for others when you don’t feel like it.” But we know from experience that when we put on the act and start to love externally we are changed internally.  We become more fully alive and are grateful for the opportunity to do something for someone.  The Good Samaritan put aside inconvenience and cost.  He attended to the victim on the spot, put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn.  There he stayed with him for the night.  The next morning before he left he gave the innkeeper money to care for the man and said he would be back.  The Good Samaritan allowed his journey that day to encompass a stranger in need.

We struggle with getting involved in the troubles and difficulties of others.  Most of the time for those we love there is no question that we will do whatever is necessary when they are in need.  In our hearts we refuse just to stand by.  That is the beginning of the love we see in this parable.  Our love is expanded and challenged when we are presented with the needs of strangers or those we really don’t like or understand.

Jarvis continues in this talk and says, “When you put on the act of love, the first thing you do is to put yourself in the other person’s place.  Love first seeks to understand, to see where the other person is coming from.”  So often we attribute the troubles or situations of others to their own ignorance, ill will or stupidity.  In other words we make judgments without knowing the facts, without really knowing the hearts of those who are suffering.  Our self- informed judgments limit our desire and ability to do good for others.  They justify our non-involvement and harden our hearts.  Jarvis reminds us that we often see only what is wrong with others, not what is good.  “Love seeks to understand, love looks for good in others, love seeks to affirm.”  How often are we bombarded with the faults, failure and sins of others through the media and gossip.  The fact is there are far more acts of goodness and love everyday than there is evil.  Unfortunately we are conditioned by the spirit of our time to only see what is wrong and not good, not what is virtuous, loving and life- giving.

At the end of this talk on charity Jarvis says, “If you want to be happy, then, you must learn to love: to pay the price of caring for others, of putting them first, of inconveniencing yourself.  That is the pathway to happiness.  And the time to start is now.  John Wesley, the nineteenth-century founder of Methodism, put it best when he said, ‘I expect to pass through this world but once.  Any good I can do, therefore, or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it.  Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.’  You only get one life.  Let it be said of you, ‘He had the courage and strength to love, the courage and strength to conquer his own selfishness in order to care about others.’”  Our refusal to love makes the world just that much darker, deprives others of goodness and hope, and wastes the power we have to make creation and creatures better and richer for our passing through this world.  Our acts of love make us part of God’s desire and movement to make our world a place of peace and hope and the lives of others richer and fuller.  We have the opportunities to be a Good Samaritan everyday of our lives.  How peaceful, hopeful and joyful we are when we respond to others with love that seeks to do good, to understand, and to see the good in others.

Father Walden ; ;