DCYC: Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference

Bishop Kevin Vann gives his homily to the 1440 young people and their

adult leaders at the DCYC Conference.    Photo by Juan Guajardo

I was at the DFW Airport Hyatt hotel on Saturday and Sunday for our annual diocesan youth conference, “DCYC.” Over 1440 young people and their adult leaders attended. The entire conference, keynotes, workshops, prayer services and interactive experiences were all focused on vocation. There were 45 different parishes present so I was able to talk with young people, chaperones, and parish leaders from all over the Diocese. One thing I can say for certain, the young people of our Diocese are filled with energy and enthusiasm for their Catholic faith and their leaders are wonderful advocates and mentors for them. Our vocation office was represented by Fr. Isaac Orozco and seminarians Gary Picou, Rijo Philip, and Fernando Peralta. The Vocation Office worked with the Office of Youth Ministry during the past year to develop the vocation theme: “Ignite My Heart...I Burn for You!” Gary Picou coordinated both Masses during DCYC and Rijo, Fernando and Fr. Isaac presented workshops on Saturday.

A high point for me on late Saturday afternoon was presenting the first ever diocesan youth ministry lifetime achievement award to John and Virginia Webb, long standing youth ministry leaders from Sacred Heart parish in Comanche. Both have had multiple medical challenges but through it all, they have remained committed to the young people of Comanche. This award will now be called The John and Virginia Webb Lifetime Achievement Award – as a legacy of their constant commitment to the youth of our Diocese. Thanks to John and Virginia. I will see them again when I do a parish visit later this summer at Sacred Heart.

Bishop Kevin Vann presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to John Webb

for his and his wife's (Virginia) work and dedication to youth ministry.

Photo by Juan Guajardo

John and Virginia Webb hold up there Lifetime Achievement Award

with Kevin Prevou, the Director of Youth Ministry.
Photo by Juan Guajardo

Sunday morning I celebrated Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral and then drove over to the Hyatt for the closing DCYC Mass. This vibrant youth liturgy included a procession of 45 parish banners, great music led by Ben Briones from Immaculate Conception in Denton, and the enthusiastic participation of a hotel ballroom packed with faith-filled teens and their adult leaders. The readings were proclaimed in English, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese – truly we are a multi-cultural family. Director of Youth Ministry Kevin Prevou invited the group from Korean Martyrs parish to stand and be recognized by the assembly as a reminder of our deep multi-cultural story.

After Mass, I left for Our Mother of Mercy to greet and give a blessing to those who would be attending the National Black Catholic Congress XI, in Indianapolis, Indiana. One of Our Mother of Mercy’s parishioners, Michael D. Barks, is to be honored there. The Congress XI is a celebration of Catholic African-American faith, identity, and culture.

Michael D. Barks

Homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Image from Discalced Carmelite Nuns website (www.carmelnuns.com)
in Arlington, Texas.

Homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity
July 16, 2012

Welcome all here this evening, as we gather once more to celebrate Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in this Holy Place, and with the Nuns who are such an important part of our lives.

Many of us have a devotion to a particular Saint within the Carmelite Family, history and tradition: whether it is St. John of the Cross, the Little Flower, Theresa of the Andes, Theresa of Avila, Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, or the Carmelite Martyrs, etc. The list is long, but so always is the list of intentions in our lives that we bring to the great heritage of the Carmelite Saints. However, every time we celebrate Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, we turn once more to where it "all began!"

An image I return to for this day is one that I have probably shared with some of you before. In my last year of graduate studies in Rome, I journeyed often to the area of the city of Terracina because I was helping in a parish near there on the weekends. Terracina is a beautiful port city on the Mediterranean, halfway between Rome and Naples. And, there are at least two distinct cultures among those who call this beautiful city home: Those who live above, in the dwellings near the temple of Jupiter and the ancient Appian Way [which runs right in front of the Cathedral], and those who live below, and are the mariners - the fishermen and their families. This day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is a big day for them. After a long day of work in the shops near the sea, they return to the Tyrrhenian sea at night, with their rigs and boats all illuminated with candles, and sing hymns to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. I cannot celebrate this day without thinking in gratitude of all of them: The prayers, hymns and light which shine forth through the darkness!

This day, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, has given us all an occasion to once more have the light of our Faith shine through our daily lives, even if it is not necessarily dark. This day gives us once more a chance, like Mary, to sing the "Praises of God", as in the responsorial psalm for today. As we remember those hermits who gathered together centuries ago on the range of Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean sea and dedicated themselves to the Mother of God ,we give thanks to God that they have given us a place to gather together as well under her patronage: And, not only here, but every day of our lives. The Gospel today may sound rather strange to our "Western ears," but it means that we are always called to "do just what needs to be done, in order to perform the mission that God has entrusted to each of us", as His Son did. Pope Benedict XVI has said, speaking in a similar vein, that in the words of the Magnificat "she expresses her whole program of life: not seeing herself at the center, but leaving space for God, who is encountered both in prayer and in the service of neighbor-only then does goodness enter the world."

For me, the image of the fishing boats, and their candles and lights which shine through the darkness of the night call remind me again and again of the history and heritage of Carmel and its Saints: The Mother of God showing us the way again and again through our lives, and how to make a space for God. As St. John tells us, is she not given to us today? After all, does not the light of the candles over the sea create a space where darkness no longer can be?

"Oh most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, Blessed Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother. 0 Holy Mary Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to aid me in my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands."

Bishop Vann’s homily for the Mass of Resurrection for his mother, Theresa Vann

I would just like to share with everyone the homily I gave at the Mass of Resurrection for my Mother on June 29th. Also, here is a link to an article on The State Journal-Register titled Dave Bakke: Life goes full circle for longtime St. John's nurse, instructor, which is about her career at St. John's Hospital in Illinois.

+ Kevin W. Vann

Bishop of Fort Worth

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE RESURRECTION FOR THERESA J. VANN
BLESSED SACRAMENT CHURCH
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
June 29, 2012

          If I were to search for an image for all of us today, I could think of nothing more appropriate than all of Mom's photo books that she took and carefully worked on for so many years, which David used this week and diligently put together on all the boards, with the pictures of so many parts of our lives. David is to be thanked for all of this. He said to me that he was taking all of them out, and that it would be work to put them back in their albums, but that he could do it. I know that like many of us, my reaction was often "Mom, no more pictures" every time the camera came out, but I did know that one day we would all be glad that we had them, not only for this moment, but to capture and keep for our history, lives, and our Faith.

          Mom's photo albums, however, also point to another reality - our own personal albums of our lives and our remembrances. They would be very different, but very much the same. I can think of so many examples for me personally - some funny and some more serious. 1) All of the vacations to Maryville, Arizona, the Ozarks, and elsewhere, which really were about maintaining and strengthening family relationships; 2) Mom trying to learn to drive at the fairgrounds with all of us in the back seat [can you imagine trying to learn to drive under those conditions?]; 3) A recent reflection to me that said "Well, Kevin, you know that Dad and I are old when you kids are getting old!”; 4) Her continual advice to me to "take a nap," and my usual response of "Mom, I'm 60 years old!”; 5) The famous story that many of you have heard, probably several times, of the new addition on Glenwood where the toilet fell off the wall when Dennis was in the bathroom and I was playing the piano at the same time! Funny, my recollection was never quite that precise! All of these recollections are about family and relationships, as all of the pictures show. However, they are about Faith as well, because many of those also revolved around Mom's years as a nurse and teacher at St. John's Hospital here in Springfield [sponsored by the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis]; her friendships which formed here at Blessed Sacrament, where later she and Dad would be married - Ursuline and Sacred Heart Academies; St. Agnes parish and grade school; and finally the myriad of friendships with the parish priests and Viatorians at Griffin High School, and the Dominican, Franciscan, and Ursuline Sisters. I would suggest, then, that each of our own photo albums could today include the readings from this Mass as additional images, because indeed they are images of Faith, which even though in more recent years she may not have felt it as strongly, was the fabric and strength of her life.

          The book of Sirach, coming from what is called "Wisdom Literature,” describes the "valiant woman". Although perhaps from a time far different and removed from our own, it nonetheless offers us the Word of God with attributes that are timeless. This same first reading, by the way, was read for her mother's funeral in this very Church in 1979. In many ways, I do believe that this is a reflection of Mom's life, and all of her outreach to so many. Valiant, indeed, I would say, to raise a family and earn two Master's degrees by hours of commuting with other nurses. On more than one occasion, she told me, she did this so that she could continue to teach the importance of pro-life values to student nurses.

          St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, which we hear so often at the celebration of the Sacrament of Marriage, was never written by St. Paul in reference to marriage [although it certainly applies], but was written to encourage and admonish a splintered local Church in Corinth to get their lives and act together, and live their faith in communion, bound together by the greatest gift of all - that of Love. Mom certainly did that, brought so many lives and people together of many faiths, professions, and walks of life by the living out of her Faith with great love: both, I would say "within and without" the life of the Church here in Springfield and beyond.

          Finally, the Gospel of St. Luke, with the beloved and beautiful story of the “Visitation;” I cannot imagine anything more appropriate than this account which features two expectant mothers, who were cousins. In their meeting the living presence of the Son of God was announced, as it were. What follows is the Magnificat that the Church in her liturgy, chants every evening in praise of God. Given Mom's devotion and love of the Blessed Mother, we need to praise God, in our way, for Mom's life and her Faith, and reflect for ourselves, how that can become a part of our daily lives. I believe that was the foundation for all of the relationships, work, ministry and callings that Mom lived.

          David rightly noted that it might be a challenge to put the pictures back in their albums. The albums will hold the pictures again, but they won't be the same, but then, again, neither will be the albums of our lives with Mom after today. But through Faith, we know that we are still united together in this family of God or "la familia de Dios" as the Hispanic people have taught me. Preaching on this very passage of the Gospel, Pope Benedict recently was reflecting on Faith when he said that: "By faith, Mary accepted the Angel's word and believed that she was to become the Mother of God in obedience to her devotion; Visiting Elizabeth, she raised her hymn of praise to the Most High for the marvels he worked in those who trust in him.”

          It is the same album, but a new page, a new story with Faith, holding together the pictures and stories of life that are sometimes puzzling, contradictory, but always, if we look long enough and far enough, can find the presence of God, like Mom always did, and make it the root and foundation of our lives.

Homily for the Fourth of July

Public Domain

Homily for the Fourth of July
St. Patrick Cathedral, Fort Worth
July 4, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to St. Patrick's on this July 4th, Independence Day. Although this day is not a "Liturgical Feast Day," the Church's Liturgy, nonetheless, has special prayers for this Mass, and even offers the possibility of a prayer by Archbishop John Carroll, the first Bishop of Baltimore in the United States, to be part of the general intercessions. The Mass which may be celebrated could be a Mass for “Public Needs" or a Mass for "Peace and Justice."

The second possibility fits especially well with the first reading for today, from the Prophet Amos, who was called to preach the Word of God to the society of his day, and especially to call for conversion, to seek always good, and not evil, and then justice will prevail. As we give thanks for the many blessings of our country today, we also need to be very mindful of two realities.

The first is how our nation came about, and later on what came to be enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution - how this drew so many immigrant families to this land seeking a better way of life, and the free practice of the Faith. We are all children of immigrant families at one point in time. All of our forebears came to this country for these reasons. This is still what draws so many people to our country. We can never lose sight of that. Yet, from time to time in our history, the specter of Nativism or prejudice rears its ugly head. Catholics have been subject to that in our history, and in a perhaps more sophisticated form, the prejudice of Nativism is visible again. That cannot be a part of our lives nor our faith.

This is also the last day of the Fortnight for Freedom. We, as a people of Faith, must be free to pursue and live what Amos spoke about. No one, no exterior force, can ever tell us who we are or what we can do. Over the past years in this country, the definitions in law have changed which say that freedom of religion only means freedom of worship, and that we can only serve and hire our own. This must continue to be challenged and cannot stand. And especially, we can never cooperate with, or supply anything such as pharmaceuticals and other items that are anti-life and intrinsically evil.

I would like to close with the words of Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the successor of

Archbishop Carroll, from the July 2012 Issue of the Columbia entitled True and False Freedom, for us to consider today:

TWO VISIONS OF FREEDOM 

For many cultural pundits, freedom is simply the ability to do what one wants, to enhance one's life as one sees fit. The only limitation is that one must not obstruct the rights of others to make the same choices. This very secular version of freedom is detached from the moral law – from what is true and good - and from God, the author and giver of freedom. It goes beyond saying that our fundamental freedoms are inscribed in our hearts by our Creator. Rather, the secular notion of freedom says that we create our own version of what is true and good and choose accordingly, so long as we do not violate another's right to choose similarly. In this view, freedom is not only highly individualistic but it is also relativistic, since it does not acknowledge a fundamental law protecting the good and the true by which all human beings are bound. When this notion of freedom prevails, it is the strong - those who have money, power and influence - who end up imposing their views on others. 

According to the perspective of the administration and editorialists, the Church's freedom extends only to worship, preaching and teaching. It does not extend to putting its teachings into practice through its own institutions when they hire or serve people of other faiths. But when freedom is reduced to individuals choosing whatever they want, so long as it's a choice condoned by the government, religious liberty is severely limited. Any notion of freedom that links an individual's choices with a moral law is seen as "bogus" or "phony" because it is not consistent with the secular notion of freedom. And the Church's assertion that it is free to run its own institutions according to its own values, even when these are countercultural, is roundly rejected by pundits and power brokers.

Dominican Father Servais Pinkaers (1925-2008) made the distinction between "freedom of indifference" and "freedom for excellence." The former is the exercise of free will without regard for moral truth. Freedom for excellence, on the other hand, is the use of free will in a way that looks toward what is true and good; it is the freedom to choose what one ought to choose. If we want to preserve the Church's freedom to fulfill its God-given mission and our own freedom to choose what is true and good, then we must hold and convey to others a true notion of freedom. 

St. Paul wrote: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4:8). We do well to take this advice as we celebrate the birthday of our nation.

The Constitution of the United States

From Wikipedia, Public Domain

A Joyful Celebration of Six Ordinations

Bishop Kevin Vann with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter,
Rev. Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, and Fathers Charles Hough III, Charles Hough IV,
Christopher Stainbrook, Joshua Whitfield, Mark Cannaday,
and Timothy Perkins

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Keller, Texas was the site for priestly Ordinations for the “Personal Ordinariate for the Chair of St. Peter.” Frs. Charles Hough III, Charles Hough IV, Timothy Perkins, Joshua Whitfield, Christopher Stainbrook and Mark Cannaday were ordained with a capacity crowd in the Church, accompanied by jubilant participation and glorious music. Thanks especially to Msgr. E. James Hart, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, for his welcome, steadfast support and witness of Faith over these past years.

As an introduction to these pictures and the Ordination Day, the following excerpt is from John Henry Newman's Rebuking Sin, an entry from July 1 of Lead Kindly Light [Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York 1993] which gives us some points of reflection:

"Aim at viewing all things in a plain and candid light, and at calling them by their right names. Be frank, do now keep your notions of right and wrong to yourselves. Do not allow friend or stranger to advance false opinions, nor shrink from stating your own, and do this in singleness of mind and love. We daily influence each other for good or evil; let us not be the occasion of misleading others by our silence, when we ought to speak."

Photo by Donna Ryckaert

Photo by Donna Ryckaert

Photo by Donna Ryckaert

Ordination Homily for Fathers Charles Hough III, Charles Hough IV,
Christopher Stainbrook, Joshua Whitfield, Mark Cannaday,
and Timothy Perkins

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church
Keller, Texas
June 30, 2012

Dear Charles, Charles, Christopher, Mark, Joshua, and Timothy,

          We gather today from near and far to celebrate your ordination as Roman Catholic Priests, and we all do this with great joy from wherever we have come. As the Jewish people, when they would approach the sacred space of Jerusalem and the Temple would joyfully pray the “Psalms of Ascent”, we also joyfully join our voices in a grand chorus of praise to God “Praising God to the Holiest in the Heights” as we approach this sacred space and sacred time. And, as you will shortly say “I do...I do...and I do, with the help of God” there is a chorus of voices that surround you this day that have led you here. They are: The Word of God that you have chosen for this day - this Feast day [The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome], the voices of your Anglo-Catholic formation, family and friends who have helped you to hear this call, and I might add, from the “Communion of Saints,” the voices of those from the past but still from Eternity, sing to us this great day! And St. Augustine would say “Let us now sing, but keep going!”

          Let us turn first to the Book of Lamentations, the first reading for this day. At first glance one may wonder why this would be used on a day of priestly ordination, given its history and origin, dating from the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. Yet, it is the reading for the Mass of the day, and you have chosen it. It also echoes, it seems, a pilgrimage of Faith that each of you all made, from times of an uncertain destination (the “where, when, and how” of it all) to a destination and journey far beyond in which all at once the light of God illuminated the path and opened the door; the light of Christ which St. Paul speaks about in the second reading for this day!

          Toward the end of the Book of Lamentations for today, we find the words “pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him.” As we all lift up our hands to the Lord this day, in thanksgiving and praise, let us imagine this praise being joined by two voices from Eternity, from the Communion of the Saints, in a manner of the antiphonal chanting of the Psalms with one voice answering the other: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Blessed John Henry Newman! These witnesses of the Faith share the Anglo-Catholic heritage which your Ordination as priests, along with your communities, bring now into much sharper focus for the whole Body of Christ! This will be clearly evident in a few minutes when we pray the prayer of Basil Cardinal Hume, in gratitude for your history and formation as Anglo-Catholics!

          I have had the chance over the years to visit St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street in New York, where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was received into the Church. One day, upon approaching St. Peter’s, she said: “A day of days for me, Amabilia. I have been—where? To the Church of St. Peter with the cross on the top instead of a weather-cock (that is mischievous)—but I mean I have been to what is called here among so many churches the Catholic Church. When I turned to the corner of the street it is in, ‘Here, my God, I go,’ said I ‘my heart all to you.’ Entering it, how the heart died away, as it were, in silence before the little tabernacle and the great Crucifixion over it. ‘Ah, my God, let me rest,’ said I—and down the head on the bosom and the knees on the bench.” [From Mrs. Seton, by Fr. Joseph I Dirvin, CM, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. 1975]

          From this personal experience, a personal echo of Lamentations, another voice now answers in return from eternity, that of Blessed John Henry Newman. His own experience of Lamentations, when he was still at St. Mary’s in Oxford in May of 1843 speaks to us: “At present I fear, as far as I can analyze my own convictions, I consider the Roman Catholic Communion to be the Church of the Apostles, and that what grace is among us (which, through God’s mercy, is not little) is extraordinary, and from the overflowing of His dispensation…My office or charge at St. Mary’s is not a mere state, but a continual energy. People assume and assert certain things of me in consequence. With what sort of sincerity can I obey the Bishop? How am I to act in the frequent cases, in which one way or another the Church of Rome comes into consideration?” AND FINALLY, “By retaining St. Mary’s, I am an offense and a stumbling block.”

          Dear brothers, your lives, your prayer, and your discernment over these past years, not only find a resonance in the sacred history in the Book of Lamentations, but also in the words and lives of these two great figures enrolled among the Saints and Blesseds, whose history reflects in many ways your own. You, like they, having “Poured out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord,” and have been led by the providential care of the Lord to this great day of rejoicing!

          There is also, however, turning to the Gospel for this day, another echo for your lives. Like the centurion, who asked for his daughter to be healed, you will hear the Lord’s words not only for the centurion, but for yourselves, now and into your future ministry: “It shall be done to you because you have trusted.” And because you have trusted, the next words you speak will be your “I DOs” to the Lord in your Ordination as Roman Catholic Priests.

          You are being called to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church in which your role as a witness is very much needed. The first Martyrs of the Church of Rome, whose feast day we celebrate today, stand with you to call you forward in this mission: a task of being a credible witness to the essential nature of ecclesial communion in Christ, and a witness to the words of the same Christ who says in another place “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.” Indeed, you are being called to the priesthood in an era in which the freedom to proclaim and live the truth is being threatened. Your voices and ministry are essential to the freedom of the Church in the proclamation of this mission.

          There is one more voice, one more place that sings to us this day: Canterbury! St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) said “That I may seek you desiring you, that I may desire you seeking you, that I may find you loving you, and that loving you I may find you again (cf. Proslogion, 1).”

          That would be another voice, then, that joins our chorus of praise today for you and for the whole Church, who together with the great St. Augustine says one more time “Sing then, but keep going.”

AMEN.