Saints John Fisher and Thomas More

Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Why Pope Benedict Mattered to Me

In all the drama of today’s farewell to Pope Benedict XVI, and amidst all the high level comment, intellectual analysis and historical accounting of his legacy, here are the very personal reasons why Benedict mattered to me.

1. He granted the dispensation from the vow of celibacy that opened the door for my ordination as a Catholic priest.

2. He established the Anglican Ordinariate. While I am not a priest in the Ordinariate, I have great interest in the ordinariate and its progress. I believe history will show Benedict XVI to have been a revolutionary pope when it comes to ecumenism–showing new ways for Christians to come into full communion with the Holy See.

3. He showed the way of truly Christian Biblical scholarship. He did not reject the findings of modern Biblical critics as fundamentalists do, nor did he adopt modernism and promote it. Instead was truly Catholic in his approach. He gleaned from all Biblical scholars what was true and good, and he also rejected that which was inconsistent, heretical, merely theoretical and unsubstantiated. His Biblical scholarship was thorough and erudite, yet fully within the magisterium of the church.

4. He turned upside down the media’s stupid portrayal of him as “God’s Rotweiller.” Almost immediately after his election that slur vanished as he revealed himself to be just what he said he was, “a humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.” He showed the world that he was a gentle, scholarly, quiet man who did not avoid the onerous duties laid upon him by the Lord.

5. Benedict XVI took the name Benedict. I have loved St Benedict for a long time and seek to follow him in what humble way I can as a Benedictine oblate. When he took the name “Benedict” I immediately felt a connection with him. He was not only they holy father, but a kind of universal abbot. Now that he has retired to the monastic life it all seems a perfect ending.

6. He visited England and the United States. My heart is in both lands, and to witness his visit to both countries drew me closer to him and his courageous ministry.

7. He beatified Bl. John Henry Newman. Nuff said.

8. He taught the “hermeneutic of continuity” reminding us that the second Vatican Council did not overturn centuries of tradition, but renewed them and brought them forward with new meaning and insight and relevance. He was not ashamed, in his dress and liturgical style to renew the liturgy by drawing on its deep roots in the past.

9. He managed to combine a contemplative, inward gazing personality with an active and dynamic papacy. He showed the world that quiet men can be leaders too, and that “in quietness and confidence is much strength.”

10. He wore those red shoes.

Don Bosco Relics in the UK

The relics of Don Bosco are on tour these days in the UK!  Check out their site!

Trooping the Colour

England sees highest number of new seminarians in over a decade

The following comes from the CNA:

Seminaries in England have seen a rise in the number applicants this fall – the highest number in over a decade, according to the local bishops' conference.

This September, 56 men began their journey towards the priesthood in the country, the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales announced on Nov. 15, adding that Pope Benedict's recent visit to the U.K. may boost numbers in the near future.

“The number of people responding to the call of Christ to be priests and religious has been rising slowly but surely,” said Fr. Stephen Langridge, Chairman of the Vocations Directors of England and Wales.

At their annual seminar in Birmingham earlier this month, local vocation directors discussed what has contributed to the increased interest in vocations within the U.K. One example, the recently held “Invocation” festival held in Birmingham this July 2010 for Catholic young adults, drew close to 300 men and women seeking further vocational discernment. The event was so popular that it is slated to be held again in June of 2011.

In addition to this initiative, several dioceses and religious orders are running discernment groups for young men and women, the bishops' conference reported. Vocation seminar participants also noted World Youth Day Madrid in 2011 as an opportunity for young people to enrich their knowledge of Catholicism and increase their individual vocation discernment.

Fr. Christopher Jamison, director of the National Office of Vocation, who attended the Birmingham seminar, noted the life of St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, whom the Pope canonized during his recent papal trip.

“When everybody in the Church takes seriously Newman’s insight that ‘God has created me to do him some definite service,’ then a greater number discover their call to the priesthood and religious life,” Fr. Jamison said.