Abbey-Roads2

Facade of St. Agnes Church, St. Paul, MN

I went to 8:30AM Mass again…can you just hear the lift in my voice like there is something negative to come? But it was very nice as usual. Monsignor has a cold and so came off even older than he did the last time I was there. He had a legion of altar servers again. Fr. Welzbacher had the homily.

As good as Fr. Altier is, Fr. Welzbacher is one I shall truly miss. His homilies and the Pastor’s page in the bulletin are always wonderful. He is a very intelligent and knowledgeable man. I always say if one was not fortunate to take any of his classes, or able to be involved in a conversation with him, then his homilies and writings are the next best thing. I also think he is quite holy. His homily this morning was scriptural, and most spiritual of course, while impressing me as rather poignant.

He took from the Gospel of today the image of how the Father trims every fruit-bearing branch. He spoke of Paul being in “retreat” for three years at the begining of his conversion, and how painful it must have been for him to have been “shelved” as it were, for those three years. I wish I had the text of his homily, I can never do it justice with this attempt. However, I felt it was a beautiful homage to Fr. Altier and a lovely explanation of God’s will for his life in the next few years. (In three years won’t the Archbishop be retired? Now don’t focus on the three year time line. Remember how Catholics focused on 1960 and the revelation of the third secret of Fatima? We were all disapointed. God’s time, as are His plans, not as ours.) Welzbacher’s homily was rather subdued yet illuminated with a certain hope. It helped that he explained how God’s will, His “prunning” can be painful at times, things we’ve all thought about, I’m sure.

Fr. Altier came out for Communion, recollected with his hands in his sleeves as usual. Deacon Peterson was there to assist. I got the impression nothing much will change. The new pastor and his assistant are comfortable with St. Agnes. I doubt that there will be women lectors any time soon. I doubt that Mass will begin and end with a processional and recessional from the back of the Church. Sadly those thoughts rushed through my mind as I approached for Communion - I realized I had been distracted by the sight of Fr. Altier.

It is inevitable that things change - there has been too much controversy over the past few years. We have to re-focus upon the Lord - keep our “eyes fixed upon Jesus”. I think everyone must realize by now that things got out of hand at the parish once too often. I don’t blame Fr. Welzbacher for seeking the peace of a smaller parish; everyone must be a little battle-fatigued by now, don’t you agree?

If I remember correctly the collect for the “old” Mass of St. Benedict Joseph Labre is from Hebrews. It says something like, “Jesus died outside the city walls. Let us go to him therefore, outside the camp, bearing the insult he bore. For here we have no lasting city - we are seeking one which is to come.” So lets keep united in prayer and charity, with hope, all the while keeping our eyes “fixed upon Jesus” alone.

Image of Peter from “Office Space”.

Don’t you love it when people are speaking their mind and get all hot under the collar and say, “And another thing…” Yeah well this isn’t like that, it’s just a humorous little anecdote to read while you have your Sunday morning latte.

Now imagine this scenario. We are having a management meeting and everyone is there, family owners - everyone. The subject comes around to “journalism” - sort of. I had to talk about the ‘company blog’. Well I do it for our webpage, but it’s just a blog with a link to it (the webpage). Some people evidently do not know or realize the power of the internet. I was talking and talking, all excited. I told everyone about some young friends who said they wouldn’t be interested in a blog about business, especially religious goods business, etc. They ddn’t understand this. So I compared it to a local publication called the “Catholic Servant” - telling my audience that no one reads that either - at least younger folk. Again my young friend had told me he and his friends think it’s a joke. Supposedly, according to my source, he, along with students at St. Thomas and the Seminary think it’s incredibly boring, etc. He said they laughed about it every time it came out, why I’m not sure. Nevertheless I’m laughing and explaining how young people really get most of their information on line. Finally one of the youngest family members jumps in to help me out and agreed with me as she tried to explain this to the senior family members. After my foot was half way down my throat I realized this conversation was upsetting people. I looked at my boss thinking, “Why do you even want me to talk? Why do we have these meetimgs? Why do I work here?” - those kind of thoughts you get when you are backed into a corner.

Later I find out that the someone in the group is also the senior editor of the “Servant” (though unacknowledged) - I was told he is also the chief financial backer, as well as the founder. I was never told this. I knew he was probably the main financial support, but I had no idea he was the one in charge. I thought it was John Sondag. I was only trying to be honest - after all, there are no “letters to the editor” ever published, so how would they know what people think of their publication? I was not attacking anyone, but I got people upset. (Not just by that exposition either, I had to speak about other things as well and pretty much upset everyone else by the end of the meeting.)

So, “And another thing…” I have never read an entire article in the “Servant” - not even those written by my friends. I’ve tried, but it’s too dry and boring and “ecclesiastically correct” - that would be as in “politically correct”. I’ll bet you anything that even the contributors do not read it - in fact I know a priest who writes for it…I think I’m going too far again.

In the meeting, just to soothe souls I said - “It’s just like the “Catholic Spirit”, nobody reads that either, except maybe the announcements of the new assignments for priests.” I went on, “Well maybe people our age read these things, but not young people.” It didn’t help.

(Note: I checked and “The Catholic Servant” does not have a website either.)