Archbishop's Blog

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson

"Catching fire" and "connecting students to Christ" are frequent expressions of Father Bill Kempf. Working with students, forming and shaping them as people and as committed Catholics, is what Father Bill enjoys most about his ministry to students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He believes that campus ministry has the potential to help students come to know, love and serve Christ. He says watching that happen and sharing in a student's experience of spiritual awakening and conversion is a source of hope and real joy.

Father Bill wears two very large hats. His time is divided between his duties as pastor of a parish with a school, St. Ann in Normandy, and overseeing the Newman Center at UMSL.

I'm fortunate to have two full-time jobs that I love," Father Bill said. "But some days it feels like no one is being well-served."

As he struggles to balance all the responsibilities that come with being a full-time pastor and a full-time campus minister, Father Bill recalls an admonition of St. Vincent de Paul to his co-workers: Do the doable, not the impossible.

What is doable for those who minister to the young Church on college and university campuses today? "Awakenings" which come from students' intellectual curiosity about the Church and about its often countercultural messages are doable, Father Bill says. Even if students don't understand, or agree with, the Church's teaching on a particular issue, students who are awake intellectually want to know more.

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Jesus died praying. His whole being was handed over to the Father in a profound act of love and worship. As the evangelists Matthew and Mark describe it, the Lord cried out in a loud voice as He hung on the cross uttering the opening words of Psalm 21: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).

The bystanders who heard the Lord's words misunderstood Him. They thought he was calling on Elijah or one of the prophets to come and save Him. They didn't realize that His words of abandonment were also words of profound hope.

Standing before the cross on this Good Friday, we understandably ask ourselves, what did Jesus mean when He prayed these words? Did He really think that His Father had abandoned Him? What did this final act of worship mean — for Him and for us who seek to take up our own crosses and follow Him?

Jesus died as He lived — in constant dialogue with the Father, in communion with the One whose love sustained His every word and action as the Son of the Living God and as our brother. Jesus lived, and died, praying. That means He lived and died in intimate communion with God. Every word He spoke, every action He performed, was indivisibly linked to the will of His Father.

Continue reading about Jesus' Prayer on Good Friday »

The Church gives us the season of Lent to help us diagnose the soul sickness that affects every one of us to some degree or another. During Lent, the readings at Mass, our prayer, the penitential practices we are called to observe (fasting and abstinence) and the good works we are invited to perform (almsgiving) all help us to admit our sinfulness and to change from a self-centered way of life to lives of generous service.

A year ago, when I wrote about the season of Lent, I used some analogies. Here is how I described our need for healing and the special opportunities we are given during the season of Lent.

Every 3,000 miles or so, we change the oil in our car. There may not be any major problem with our engine. But slowly, over time, minor impurities have been building up. If we leave those impurities unattended, they will eventually result in major (and costly) problems.

Every once in a while, we move the furniture and vacuum behind our couch. If we don't get to it one week, it's no big deal. If we don't get to it the next week, it's no big deal. If we fail to move the couch and vacuum behind it for six months, it will be filthy.

We go to the doctor because we are troubled by symptoms. Based on the symptoms, and perhaps with some further observations and tests, the doctor diagnoses the underlying cause of our illness. Based on the underlying cause, the doctor prescribes a course of treatment--not just to eliminate the symptoms but to eliminate the root cause of the illness. If someone has a case of pneumonia and they only treat the symptoms (fever and a cough), the underlying cause of illness (an infection in the lungs) could kill him or her.

The same is true of our spiritual health. If we really want to get back to good health, we have to get at what's underneath the symptoms. Therefore, in order to be spiritually healthy we have to examine: 1) the symptoms of sin -- our overt sinful actions, 2) the underlying causes of sin -- the attitudes and habits of our heart, from which our actions spring, 3) the healing offered by Jesus, and 4) how the healing mission of Jesus is made available to us in the Church through the sacraments.

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For the past six weeks, I have been reflecting on the Precepts of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church and its compendium list five precepts as follows:

1. Attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and remain free from work or activity that could impede the sanctification of such days.
2. Confess your sins at least once a year.
3. Receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
4. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
5. Help provide for the needs of the Church.

In the United States, at least since the time of the Third Plenary Council in Baltimore (1884), when the American bishops mandated a uniform teaching manual known for generations afterward as the Baltimore Catechism, it is customary to add a sixth precept that requires Catholics to observe the Church's marriage laws.

The Sixth Precept of the Church prohibits marriage within a certain degree of kindred. It also forbids marriage at certain times of the year. As with all the precepts, these prohibitions set minimum standards designed to ensure that we Catholics remain faithful to our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ and members of His Body, the Church. Marriage laws exist to protect something that is considered to be of inestimable value -- the sacred bond between a man and a woman who are united in holy matrimony.

In the late 19th century, as in earlier times, the Sacrament of Marriage was threatened by intermarriage among families who lived near one another in rural villages or cultural enclaves. There are strong physical, psychological and spiritual reasons why close relatives (by blood and by affinity) should not marry. The Sixth Precept of the Church upholds this minimum standard.

Continue Reading Archbishop Carlson's column on marriage »

At the heart of our identity as Catholics is the holy Eucharist, the sacrament of Christ's body and blood. Our reception of this great sacrament can be said to define who we are as individuals and as a community of faith.

We are the women and men who have been intimately connected to the person of Jesus Christ through our Baptism. We also have been blessed with the gifts of Confirmation and holy Communion, which complete our initiation into the Christian life. As Catholic Christians, we are called to be fully united with the Son of God, who is truly present in the sacrament of His body and blood, and with the Church, which makes this sacred unity possible by the power of God's grace.

As Pope Benedict XVI has observed, "If it is true — as we believe it is — that Christ is really present in the Eucharist, then this is the event that is at the center of absolutely everything." As Catholic Christians, we consider the Sacrament of the Eucharist to be the source and summit of everything we do as God's faithful people. Our prayer, our preaching, our educational activities, our works of charity and our love and support for one another all flow from the Holy Eucharist. And if we accomplish anything worthwhile in our daily lives as Christians, we are called to give thanks and to return all God's gifts with increase as we gather around the altar during the Eucharistic sacrifice.

Given the great blessing that this sacrament is — and the fact that it is readily available to us here in the Archdiocese of St. Louis — it may seem strange that the Third Precept of the Church only mandates our reception of Communion once a year during the Easter season. After all, Catholics who attend Mass faithfully have the opportunity to be united with Christ in the holy Eucharist at least weekly. Why does the Church set the minimum standard so low?

Continue reading about the Eucharist as the Center of Everything »