@@@@@@@@@@@@@
...and now the Necessaries
Did I hear there have been 50 days of 100 degree weather? Would it be bad form to ask God if he would knock off some time in purgatory because of this? (duck head from lightning!)
...and now the Necessaries
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is the only church celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est! is strictly a private layman's endeavor.
@@@@@@@@@@@@
The Bravest Man
Father Joseph O'Callahan
By Lawrence P. Grayson
America Needs Fatima
"Mrs. O'Callahan, your son is the bravest man I ever saw."
What went through this mother's mind as she listened to Capt. Leslie Gehres, commander of the USS Franklin? Her son did not fit the stereotypical image of a hero. He was more scholarly than athletic, more likely pictured in front of a classroom than in the midst of a combat zone. But, a hero he was.
Joseph Timothy O'Callahan was born on May 14, 1905, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from high school, he joined the Jesuits and was ordained in 1934. For the next six years, he taught mathematics, physics and philosophy at several of the Order's colleges.
In August 1940, with war raging in Europe, Father O'Callahan enlisted in the Naval Reserve Chaplains Corps. Several assignments followed before he reported on March 2, 1945 to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin to serve as chaplain to its 3,200 men. The ship was part of a task force whose mission was to track down the Japanese fleet and destroy it.
On March 18, with the U.S. ships about 100 miles from Japan, American planes took off in waves beginning at first light. Their role was to engage and destroy Japanese air power, and then locate the enemy vessels which were scattered throughout inland waters. Before each flight, Fr. Joseph O'Callahan visited the various pilot ready rooms, praying with the men and giving them general absolution. The U.S. pilots dominated the skies, but did not locate the enemy ships until just before dark. The strike against them would have to wait until the next morning.
March 19 began as the day before. The first wave of planes left the carrier at 5:30 AM. Shortly afterwards, as the second wave was being readied, with full tanks of fuel and loads of rockets and bombs, a Japanese plane evaded the American air cover. It flew over the Franklin releasing a bomb that penetrated the flight and gallery decks and exploded in the hangar. Within seconds, gasoline ignited and a wave of searing flame raced down the three football-field length of the hangar, gaining impetus as it proceeded from exploding planes. Some 8001 men were dead or would die within the next few days.
Father O'Callahan retrieved a vial of holy oil and his helmet marked with a large white cross as he made his way through passages filled with flames and smoke to the open area above. On the hangar deck, bombs and rockets, engulfed in a mass of flames, were exploding at a rate of about one per minute.
Father continued upward to the flight deck. Here nearly 90 percent of the 1,000-foot apron was aflame. The clear portion was full of burned, mangled, bleeding bodies. He spent a few moments with each of those who were alive, praying, absolving, anointing. Explosions tore apart the steam lines and the boilers shut down. By 9:30 AM, the ship was powerless and listing. Twenty minutes later, a rear service magazine of five-inch shells exploded, raining debris onto the deck.
The fury brought disorganization. Key officers were dead, and many chiefs, if alive, were dispersed or trapped. Flames, explosions and noxious smoke smeared faces and uniforms making it almost impossible to recognize anyone from a distance. One thing stood out, however, the white cross on the chaplain's helmet. It had the power to inspire.
Depleted hose crews needed help. Father rallied a group of men to join him on the hoses. When the fire marshal entered smoke-filled portions of the ship looking for breather masks, the priest was with him.
When a live, thousand-pound bomb was spotted on the deck, the chaplain stood by for moral support while a team defused it; then he mustered a group of men to drop it overboard. When the fires were pushed back from the forward gun turret and its ready-ammunition magazine, hundreds of five-inch shells stored there had to be jettisoned before they exploded. Father O'Callahan had men form a chain, taking his turn in the line, to pass the hot shells from the magazine to the edge of the ship where they were dumped. He then joined a crew to flood a lower-deck magazine whose ammunition could not be easily unloaded.
When the fires on the hangar deck began to subside, Father led a hose crew through a smoke-filled, dark passage to the area. On the flight deck, as the fires receded, six loose, but live, thousand-pound bombs were discovered. The chaplain was there encouraging the men as a hose crew worked to cool the bombs so others could defuse them.
That evening, the engineers were able to return to their stations, make emergency repairs and get the boilers started. By 9 AM on the 20th, the Franklin was moving under its own power. Burial parties were formed to take care of the hundreds of dead. All day and night, the priest and the Protestant chaplain held a brief prayer service for each man as he was assigned to the sea. On April 3, one month after it had left, the ship reentered Pearl Harbor.
For his courageous acts, Fr. Joseph Timothy O'Callahan was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first chaplain since the Civil War to be so honored. Released from active duty in November 1946, Father O'Callahan returned to Holy Cross College as a professor of philosophy. He died in Worcester on March 18, 1964, the eve of the nineteenth anniversary of his heroic acts.
About the Author: Lawrence P. Grayson is a Visiting Scholar in the School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America; he also serves as State Director for Pro-Life Activities, Knights of Columbus, Maryland.
Related Articles:
Catholic Military Chaplains: America's Forgotten Heroes
For Further Reading:
I Was Chaplain on the Franklin, Father Joseph T. O'Callahan, S.J., The Macmillan Company, New York, 1956.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@
A Rich Liturgical Life at Wyoming Catholic College
by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski
Professor of Theology and Philosophy
Wyoming Catholic College
New Liturgical Movement
Pope Benedict XVI is leading the Church out of a forty-year captivity marked by a “hermeneutic of rupture and discontinuity” into a new era in which Vatican II can be seen for what it truly is: one among many Councils, in continuity with them, and not opposed to all that had come before.
This is true in a special way of the Sacred Liturgy. Too often in recent decades the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been celebrated in a way that is quite different from, and even opposed to, the way it had been celebrated since time immemorial. The Pope is calling us back to a celebration in keeping with the dignity and mystery of the Eucharistic mystery. He is gently but firmly calling the Church back to continuity with her own Tradition. This is the deepest reason for his motu proprio liberating the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite: he wishes to see the two uses or forms exercising a mutual influence, such that lost continuity can be regained over time. It is a long term strategy with many immediate practical consequences. The “reform of the reform” has indeed begun, and the question that each knowledgeable Catholic must ask himself is this: Am I with the Pope and the real Vatican II, or am I de facto against the Pope because I wish to perpetuate a supposed “spirit of Vatican II”?
All over the world, parishes, chapels, and religious communities are adding the Extraordinary Form to their roster of Masses. The Pope’s example is beginning to have effects on the way Mass in the Ordinary Form is celebrated outside of the Vatican, especially in cities and in cathedrals. Plainchant and polyphony, ornate vessels and vestments, the Latin language, incense, and other such once familiar features of liturgy are returning in a way that could never have been foreseen even ten years ago. The seminaries and religious orders that are swelling most rapidly are those that have heartily embraced the Pope’s reforms.
Catholic institutions of higher learning cannot remain unaffected by the momentous shift taking place in the life of the Church. Rather than keeping students in thrall to the outmoded mentality of the past few decades, a truly Catholic college will set them confidently along the path of the hermeneutic of continuity, following in the footsteps of the Vicar of Christ.
For those who are hoping to hear good news in this regard, Wyoming Catholic College is truly a cause for rejoicing. This college is radical in its educational philosophy and curriculum, because we go back to the roots, the radices, of Western thought and culture. In the eyes of the world we are just about as “retro” as a college can be, but we are convinced that this is ultimately in the best interest of our students. Is it not the same with the liturgy and Catholic life? We want to be radical in the best sense—to connect with the deep roots that nourish our faith and identity as Catholics. Traditional liturgy, be it Western or Eastern, is an essential part of this nourishment; so is the language of the Latin-rite Church and her musical patrimony. Wyoming Catholic College is grateful to Almighty God that we are able to provide such nourishment—the robust and hopeful vision of Pope Benedict XVI—to the future leaders of the Church in this country.
As the Second Vatican Council teaches, the sacred liturgy—and above all, the Holy Eucharist—is “the source and summit” of the Christian life. For this reason, the sacred liturgy is celebrated at Wyoming Catholic College with fidelity to the directives of Holy Mother Church and with loving attention to her Tradition. Taking inspiration and guidance from the teaching and example of Pope Benedict XVI, the College chaplaincy offers a rich liturgical life to students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community. On most days of the week, the collegiate Mass is the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, celebrated in English, with common parts (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Pater Noster, etc.) sung in Gregorian chant, and with antiphons taken from the Graduale Simplex. The main collegiate Mass on Sundays is celebrated with special solemnity, the Schola singing the Introit, Offertory, and Communion antiphons and the College Choir providing hymns and polyphonic music.
In keeping with the generous intentions of Summorum Pontificum, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated every Wednesday (12 pm), Saturday (11 am), and Sunday (8 am) by the College’s full-time resident chaplain. On Wednesday it is the only collegiate Mass offered and the majority of students attend it; on Saturday it is the only daily Mass in the town of Lander. On Sunday it is always a Missa Cantata.
About twice a year, a biritual diocesan priest celebrates a fully sung Byzantine Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Ukrainian recension). This, together with the Roman rite, affords all of us, including several Eastern-rite Catholics in the student body, a welcome opportunity to “breathe with both lungs” of the Church.
Confessions, all-afternoon Eucharistic adoration, and evening Benediction are part of nearly every day’s schedule. Small groups of students gather daily to pray Lauds, Vespers, and Compline in Latin, and the Rosary in English.
The College has been blessed with visits from a number of prelates who have celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with us: The Most Rev. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo; Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.; Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay (one of the College’s founders); Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne; Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs; Bishop Paul S. Coakley of Salinas; and Bishop James D. Conley, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver. Fr. Vernon Clark, a priest of the Diocese of Cheyenne who also ministers to the Carmelite monastery in Wyoming, has twice celebrated a Missa Cantata in the traditional Carmelite Rite. Other priests have made extended stays in Lander, either for personal visits or to assist in The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, and during their stay have celebrated the Extraordinary Form, often as a series of sung Masses: Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB, formerly of the Institute of Sacred Music in St. Louis; Fr. Thomas Bolin, OSB, of the Monastero di San Benedetto in Norcia; Fr. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem., of St. Michael’s Abbey in California; and Fr. John Zuhlsdorf. The local pastor has been most welcoming and accommodating towards all these visitors and has made a point of including the College’s liturgical and devotional schedule in his parish bulletin.
The general attitude and approach of Wyoming Catholic College is this: whatever form or rite is being used, the sacred liturgy is to be offered in the most beautiful and dignified manner possible, characterized by obedience to current universal norms and by an immense respect for the Church’s ancient heritage. In recognition of the exalted place of the sacred liturgy in the life of the College, our academic schedule is devised to allow all students and faculty to attend every day. The College promotes a culture of daily attendance at Mass and we are pleased to see that a majority of the students do attend daily.
Lisbon , Portugal Coimbra Morocco Morocco 
him, and Anthony’s poor health forced him to abandon this plan.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@
St. Anthony of Padua
Saint Anthony of Padua
him, and Anthony’s poor health forced him to abandon this plan.The ship, on which he was a passenger, was driven off course and landed in Sicily Italy and became affiliated with the Franciscan province of Romagna Southern France .
In 1233, Francis of Assisi appointed Anthony the first professor of theology for the Friars. (This was a big step for Francis who had a distrust of the over intellectualization of religion.) Anthony is credited with introducing the theology of Saint Augustine Padua Italy
In popular devotion, Saint Anthony is venerated as the apostle of charity, the finder of lost objects, patron of lovers and marriage, of women in confinement, and of miners.
No comments:
Post a Comment