Category: Diocese of Scranton News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis opened the work of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops asking members to meditate on ancient theological texts about the Holy Spirit, have the courage to be honest about their disagreements and focus much more on listening than on sharing their opinions.

The synodal process “is not easy, but it’s beautiful, very beautiful,” Pope Francis told some 364 other synod members and 85 non-voting experts, ecumenical delegates and facilitators the afternoon of Oct. 4 as the synod work began in the Vatican audience hall.

“A certain asceticism” is needed for the synod, the pope said. He asked forgiveness from journalists trying to cover the monthlong meeting but insisted “a certain fasting from public words” would be needed to ensure the proper spiritual atmosphere for the synod members.

And, in fact, the synod rules distributed that evening said, “In order to guarantee the freedom of expression of each and all regarding their thoughts and to ensure the serenity of the discernment in common, which is the main task entrusted to the assembly, each of the participants is bound to confidentiality and discretion regarding both their own interventions and the interventions of other participants.”

Pope Francis also repeated what he has said many times: “the synod is not a parliament” where the ideas of opposing parties will be debated and voted up or down along party lines. Neither, he said, is it “a meeting of friends” getting together to exchange opinions and try to solve problems they see around them.

“The synod is a journey that the Holy Spirit makes,” he said, so constant prayer and listening are necessary to follow the path the Spirit indicates.

“The Holy Spirit triggers a deep and varied dynamism in the Christian community, the confusion of Pentecost,” when people from every nation heard the disciples speaking in their own languages, the pope said. From the experience, the Spirit creates not uniformity, but harmony.

Differences of opinion will surface, he said. “If you don’t agree with what that bishop or that nun or that lay person says, say it to their face. That’s what the synod is for. To tell the truth, not the chatter under the table.”

Pope Francis also acknowledged how people outside the synod members are offering “hypotheses about this synod — ‘But what will they do there?’ ‘The priesthood for women?’ — these are the things that are being said outside.”

But what is happening, he said, is that the universal church has gathered in Rome to pause and to listen.

“The church has stopped, as the apostles stopped after Good Friday, on that Holy Saturday,” closed in the Upper Room, he said. “But they were afraid; we are not. … It is a pause for the whole church to listen.”

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, told the members, “Today the church is at a crossroads, and the urgent challenge, strictly speaking, is not of a theological or ecclesiological nature, but how at this moment in history the church can become a sign and instrument of God’s love for every man and woman.”

“God’s love is the medicine that can heal today’s wounded humanity, and as the church our mission is to be a sign of this love,” he said.

In discerning the best ways to do that, Cardinal Grech said, participants should remember the assembly is not “an isolated act,” but part of a process that began two years ago with local, diocesan, national and continental listening sessions.

The presence of members who are not bishops — some 70 priests, religious, lay men and women — is not meant to represent “the totality of the People of God,” he said, but to “remind us with their presence” of the whole synod process and its invitation for all Catholics to participate, sharing their experiences of things that help or hinder their sense of communion, participation and mission.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the synod, noted how the members were gathered at round tables in the Vatican audience hall rather than in the rows of the synod hall to promote conversation but also to remind them of similar experiences they had at listening sessions in their parishes and dioceses.

“Bishops who were not very active in the process but have been elected by their (bishops’) conferences,” he said, “may face challenges at the beginning. On the other hand, there are the members who are not bishops. Many among them were particularly involved in the continental stage of this synod and are called to testify their experience.”

In the synod discussions, he urged members to remember that each person, with his or her differences, is a Christian trying to follow the Lord.

“The church is the people of God, walking through history, with Christ in her midst,” Cardinal Hollerich said. “It is only normal that there is a group walking at his right, another at his left, while some run ahead and others lag behind.”

From any of those positions, he said, when a person looks at the Lord, “they cannot help but see the group that is doing the opposite: those walking on the right will see those walking on the left, those running ahead will see those lagging behind.”

“In other words, the so-called progressives cannot look at Christ without seeing the so-called conservatives with him and vice-versa,” he said. “Nevertheless, the important thing is not the group to which we seem to belong, but walking with Christ within his church.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After warning the world against ignoring the cries of the earth and the poor with his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis intensified his critique with “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”), warning against the selfish obsession with human power and the “irresponsible derision” of the reality of climate change.

“When human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies,” he said, explaining the title of the document released at the Vatican Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology.

The new document, addressed “to all people of good will on the climate crisis,” is a follow-up to “clarify and complete” his 2015 encyclical because, he wrote, over the past eight years, “our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”

The bulk of the 15-page “apostolic exhortation” is dedicated to a severe rebuke of the “resistance and confusion” regarding the global climate crisis and its link to human activity as well as of the growing “technocratic paradigm underlying the current process of environmental decay.”

“I feel obliged to make these clarifications, which may appear obvious, because of certain dismissive and scarcely reasonable opinions that I encounter, even within the Catholic Church,” he wrote.

In fact, the Pew Research Center released survey results Sept. 28 reporting that U.S. Catholics’ views on climate change are similar to those of the general public. A majority of U.S. adults — 54% — described climate change as a major threat to the country’s well-being, but it remains a lower priority than other issues, the survey showed.

“Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident,” the pope wrote, detailing the serious and irreversible damage already done and “dangerous changes” underway according to evidence supported by most scientists specializing in climate science.

“Only a very small percentage of them seek to deny the evidence,” he added.

The pope blamed the resistance and confusion about the climate crisis on the lack of information on climate science, people choosing to “deride” facts and “ridicule those who speak of global warming,” and inertia or indifference by “the great economic powers, whose concern is with the greatest profit possible at minimal cost and in the shortest amount of time.”

Consequently, the pope wrote, “a broader perspective is urgently needed, one that can enable us to esteem the marvels of progress, but also to pay serious attention to other effects that were probably unimaginable a century ago.”

People need to assume “responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind” and let go of this “technocratic paradigm” that believes “goodness and truth automatically flow from technological and economic power” and pursues “infinite or unlimited growth.”

The great problem, he wrote, is an “ideology underlying an obsession: to increase human power beyond anything imaginable, before which nonhuman reality is a mere resource at its disposal.”

“Everything that exists ceases to be a gift for which we should be thankful, esteem and cherish, and instead becomes a slave, prey to any whim of the human mind and its capacities,” he wrote.

“Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used,” he wrote.

Pope Francis called for “rethinking our use of power,” which requires an increased sense of responsibility, values and conscience with “sound ethics, a culture and spirituality genuinely capable of setting limits and teaching clear-minded self-restraint.”

Also, unhealthy notions about hard work, talent and “meritocracy” without “a genuine equality of opportunity” can easily become “a screen that further consolidates the privileges of a few with great power,” he wrote. “In this perverse logic, why should they care about the damage done to our common home, if they feel securely shielded by the financial resources that they have earned by their abilities and effort?”

A healthy ecology requires a healthier relationship “between human beings and the environment, as occurs in the Indigenous cultures,” and a more humane economy, which is not ruled by “the mentality of maximum gain at minimal cost,” but shows “sincere concern for our common home” and assists “the poor and the needy discarded by our society,” he wrote.

The pope appealed for more effective international organizations that have the authority and power to provide for the global common good, eliminate hunger and poverty, and defend fundamental human rights.

He also called for a new kind of international, multilateral cooperation and action in which “groups and organizations within civil society help to compensate for the shortcomings of the international community.”

Pope Francis also encouraged activists from different countries put pressure “from below” on the varying elites and “sources of power.”

“It is no longer helpful for us to support institutions in order to preserve the rights of the more powerful without caring for those of all,” he added.

With world leaders set to meet at the 28th U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai Nov. 30-Dec. 12, Pope Francis said that “this conference can represent a change of direction, showing that everything done since 1992 was in fact serious and worth the effort, or else it will be a great disappointment and jeopardize whatever good has been achieved thus far.”

COP-28 will need to present “binding forms of energy transition” that are “efficient, obligatory and readily monitored,” he wrote, and this transition must be “drastic, intense and count on the commitment of all.”

He urged individuals and families to be active in exercising healthy pressure on leaders.

If the actions of groups “negatively portrayed as ‘radicalized’ tend to attract attention” at these conferences, he added, “in reality they are filling a space left empty by society as a whole.”

“It is necessary to be honest and recognize that the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international level,” the pope wrote.

He encouraged people, especially those with an “irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model,” to reduce pollution and waste, and “consume with prudence.” Even though these everyday actions will not produce an immediate, notable effect on climate change, “we are helping to bring about large processes of transformation” and a new culture of care.

“Let us put an end to the irresponsible derision that would present this issue as something purely ecological, ‘green,’ romantic, frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests,” he wrote. “Let us finally admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Coming from different parts of the world and having different experiences and talents, members of the College of Cardinals are called to create a “symphony,” listening to one another and to the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said.

Creating 21 new cardinals from 16 nations Sept. 30, the pope used the biblical story of Pentecost to remind the prelates of the roots of their faith, and he invoked the image of a symphony to emphasize their call to be both faithful and creative.

On a warm autumn morning, with shrubs and flowers decorating the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis held his ninth consistory to create new cardinals. The Vatican said 12,000 people attended the ceremony.

Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the 68-year-old Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, was the only U.S. prelate to receive his red hat at the consistory. He was joined by French Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the 77-year-old nuncio to the United States.

Cardinal Luis Pascual Dri, a 96-year-old Capuchin friar from Argentina, was made a cardinal when the pope proclaimed his name at the consistory, but he did not travel to Rome to receive his red hat because of his health.

With the consistory, the College of Cardinals has 242 members from 91 nations, according to Vatican statistics; 137 of the cardinals are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. The so-called “cardinal electors” come from 71 countries.

Italy — with 49 cardinals, of whom 14 are electors — continues to dominate the cardinal counts. The United States is second; according to the Vatican, there are 17 U.S. cardinals, including 11 electors. The total would be 18 when counting Italian-born Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, a former Vatican official, who is a U.S. citizen.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Cardinal Prevost thanked Pope Francis on behalf of the new cardinals, noting how the consistory was taking place just before the opening of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

“The church is fully such only when it truly listens, when it walks as the new people of God in its wonderful diversity, rediscovering continually her own baptismal call to contribute to the spread of the Gospel and the kingdom of God,” he said. “The beauty of the universality of the church that will be manifested in the unfolding of the synod will be a very important sign, which will be able to speak of the mission that all of us baptized have received, in communion with the successor of Peter and in the profession of the same faith.”

Before receiving their red hats, their cardinal’s rings and the names of their titular churches in Rome — an assignment that makes them formally members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome — the new cardinals made a profession of faith, reciting the Creed in Latin, and made an oath of fidelity to Pope Francis and his successors.

Cardinal Prevost, a former superior general of the Augustinian religious order, was given the Church of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.

In his homily at the consistory, a prayer service that lasted just over an hour, Pope Francis drew the prelates’ attention to the Pentecost story in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and particularly to its listing of those who heard the apostles, each in their own language although they were “Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia.”

“Normally we pastors, when we read the account of Pentecost, identify ourselves with the apostles,” the pope said. But if the cardinals recognize themselves as members of the crowd, he added, they would “rediscover with amazement the gift of having received the Gospel” in their own languages and would give thanks for having been evangelized among their own people, often by their mothers or grandmothers.

“Indeed, we are evangelizers to the extent we cherish in our hearts the wonder and gratitude of having been evangelized, even of (still) being evangelized, because this is really a gift always present, that must be continually renewed in our memories and in faith,” the pope told them.

In humility, and with that diversity, he said, “the College of Cardinals is called to resemble a symphony orchestra, representing the harmony and synodality of the church.”

Pope Francis said he referred to “synodality” not only because the synod assembly was set to open Oct. 4, “but also because it seems to me that the metaphor of the orchestra can well illuminate the synodal character of the church,” which relies on each member making a contribution, occasionally as a soloist, but usually in harmony with others.

“Mutual listening is essential,” he said. “Each musician must listen to the others. If one listens only to himself, however sublime his sound may be, it will not benefit the symphony; and the same would be the case if one section of the orchestra did not listen to the others, but played as if it were alone, as if it were the whole.”

“In addition,” the pope said, “the conductor of the orchestra is at the service of this kind of miracle that is each performance of a symphony. He has to listen more than anyone else, and at the same time his job is to help each person and the whole orchestra develop the greatest creative fidelity: fidelity to the work being performed, but also creative, able to give a soul to the score, to make it resonate in the here and now in a unique way.”

“We have the Holy Spirit as our master: the interior master of each one of us and the master of walking together,” Pope Francis said. “He creates variety and unity; he is harmony itself.”

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton’s annual Red Mass will be celebrated on Friday, Oct. 6, at 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

Historically, the Red Mass is attended by judges, lawyers and legislators for the purpose of invoking God’s blessing and guidance in the administration of justice. Its traditional name is derived from the color of vestments worn by the celebrants of the Mass, symbolizing the tongues of fire, which indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the robes of the attending royal judges were, in ancient days, bright scarlet.

The public is invited to the Red Mass to pray for those in the legal profession. Members of the county bar associations from across the 11-county Diocese and the Diocesan Tribunal staff are also invited to participate.

Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will broadcast the Red Mass live and a livestream will be available on the Diocese of Scranton website and social media platforms. The Mass will also be rebroadcast at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Oct. 6.

HAZLETON – Hundreds of people are expected to participate in a large Eucharistic Procession throughout the streets of South Hazleton on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, as part of a three-day celebration at Annunciation Parish in honor of Saint Gabriel, patron of the parish church.

Following the 11 a.m. bilingual Mass at Saint Gabriel Church, 122 South Wyoming Street, members of both the English and Spanish-speaking communities will come together to begin the procession outside of the church at approximately 12:15-12:30 p.m.

Those participating in the procession will walk for approximately a half mile, ending with Solemn Benediction back on the steps of the historic Saint Gabriel Church, recently rejuvenated through the great generosity of many benefactors and parishioners.

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. We believe it is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ,” Father Kevin Miller, pastor, Annunciation Parish, said. “We are looking to bring awareness to the Eucharist, to the importance of it and how sacred it is in the church.”

The procession is being held as the Catholic Church in the United States has entered its second phase of the U.S. Bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative by the prelates to inspire belief in the Eucharist following a 2019 Pew Research study that suggested only about one-third of U.S. Catholics believe the Church’s teaching that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

The second phase of the revival, the Year of Parish Revival, is meant to foster Eucharistic devotion at the parish level.

“I want to invite everyone in the Hazleton community and beyond to bear witness to the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as we process through the streets of Mountain City this weekend,” Father Miller added. “We are looking to bring Christ into our everyday lives. There is nothing more powerful than having hundreds of people walking throughout the streets of Hazleton singing, praying, and pointing to Christ!”

The procession is being held on Oct. 1 in honor of the Feast Day of Saint Gabriel (which occurs annually on Sept. 29) and in celebration of El Señor de Los Milagros.

Saint Gabriel is most well known as the angel chosen by God to be the messenger of the Annunciation.

El Señor de Los Milagros (The Lord of the Miracles), is the Patron of Peruvian residents, which is celebrated during the entire month of October. El Señor de Los Milagros is traditionally one of the most popular religious celebrations in Latin America.

DIOCESE CELEBRATES HISPANIC HERITAGE WITH CATHEDRAL MASS

SCRANTON – The Cathedral of Saint Peter was filled with beautiful music and cultural pride as the Diocese of Scranton celebrated a Pontifical Mass for Hispanic Heritage Month on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.

Faithful parishioners of Hispanic heritage from Great Bend, East Stroudsburg, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Jermyn and beyond filled the Cathedral for the celebration. The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist for the Mass, which was celebrated entirely in Spanish.

Following the Mass, a Hispanic Heritage celebration was held at the Diocesan Pastoral Center. Hundreds of people enjoyed food, fellowship and cultural music and dance performances. The countries represented included, but were not limited to, Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

(OSV News) – Almost two-thirds of Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but only 17% of adult Catholics physically attend Mass at least once per week, according to a newly published survey from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The survey also revealed a high correlation between belief in the Eucharist and weekly or even monthly Mass attendance.

The 2022 survey of self-identified Catholics published Sept. 26 and titled “Eucharist Beliefs: A National Survey of Adult Catholics” found 64% of respondents provided responses that indicate they believe in the Real Presence, that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist.

That conclusion was drawn from both open-ended and closed-ended questions respondents were asked about their understanding of church teaching about the Eucharist and additional questions to clarify their beliefs.

According to the CARA study, 49% of respondents correctly identified that the church teaches that “Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine.” The other 51% incorrectly identified the church’s teaching as “Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper, meaning that Jesus is only symbolically present in the consecrated bread and wine.”

“Results of this question indicate that there is substantial confusion about what the church teaches about the Eucharist with slightly more adult Catholics not knowing this correctly than those correctly identifying the teachings,” the report stated.

The survey report noted the data from the responses to the questions indicated “most who do not believe in the Real Presence are not rejecting the teaching, as they do not know this is what the church teaches.”

The survey aimed to test or clarify the findings of a 2019 Pew Research Center survey that found one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with the church that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ. According to Pew’s analysis published in August 2019, “nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.’ Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'”

The 2019 Pew survey was part of the impetus for the National Eucharistic Revival that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched last year, and which will include a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July. The initiative aims “to inspire a movement of Catholics across the United States who are healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist — and who are then sent out on mission ‘for the life of the world,'” its website states.

In a review of previous surveys asking Catholics about their belief in the Real Presence beginning with a 2008 American National Election Study, CARA indicated that the Pew Research Center’s phrasing for its question on the topic may have been confusing to respondents. CARA aimed to be as clear as possible with its survey’s approach, which is why it opened with an “unaided and open-ended question”: “In your own words, what do you believe happens to the gifts of bread and wine after Consecration during Mass?”

The new CARA study, while showing more Catholics believe in the Real Presence than in the Pew study, still underscores the need for the Eucharistic Revival, said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, which is supporting the revival.

“It’s still not good news,” Bishop Cozzens, who also serves as board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress nonprofit formed in 2022 to plan the national event, told OSV News. “What it reveals is that there’s … people who say they believe in the Eucharist, but they don’t go to Mass. In that sense, they obviously haven’t had a real encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist.”

“This is what we’re about with the Eucharistic Revival, this encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist that lets me realize he’s a living person and that changes the way I live,” he continued. “That’s what we really need.”

The survey, however, “might actually show us we have more low-hanging fruit than we thought we did,” he said. “In other words, there are people who say they believe in the Eucharist, but they don’t go to Mass every week. … How do we invite them into an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist so that their lives can be changed?”

The survey found that knowledge of the church’s teaching on the Eucharist and belief that teaching is true is highest among Catholics who attend Mass at least once per week, at 95%. Among Catholics who attend less than weekly but at least once per month, it was 80%.

It also found that weekly Mass attendance has dropped seven percentage points during the COVID-19 pandemic from 24% in 2019 to 17% in 2022 — around 5% watch Mass on television or online due to the pandemic. An additional 18% attend less than weekly but at least once per month. Twenty-six percent attend Mass a few times per year and 35% rarely or never attend Mass.

“What we need is not just good catechesis — we do need that — but we also need to invite people to a relationship,” Bishop Cozzens said. “Helping people understand that it (lack of belief in the Real Presence) is not just an intellectual problem, it’s a problem of the heart in that sense of relationship with Jesus. What we’re really seeking is inviting people to an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, because that’s what will have the biggest impact.”

The national study was commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, “to better understand what the current Catholic population (self-identified) believes about the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Eucharist,” the report stated. The survey included 1,031 respondents ages 18 or older with a margin of error of 4.45 percentage points. It was offered in both English and Spanish, and administered through an online form or via telephone with a live interviewer from July 11 to Aug. 2, 2022.

The McGrath Institute commissioned the CARA study because of its collaboration with the National Eucharistic Revival and the importance of having clearer data on Catholics’ beliefs regarding the Real Presence, Bishop Cozzens said.

Affiliated with Georgetown University in Washington, CARA is a national, nonprofit, research center that conducts social scientific studies about the Catholic Church.