"I wish to clarify inaccuracies that have appeared in the media over the past several days." St. Michael's pastor offers clarifiction

Fr. Larry Van Damme with me the summer I was ordained.

This letter was recently published in area newspapers, but unlike the story told by Bobby Glenn Brown, it's not in their headlines, and is often behind the subscriber wall where it is conveniently difficult to access!  Please share the rest of the story! - Fr. Ben Hasse

St. Michael’s pastor offers clarification

I wish to clarify inaccuracies that have appeared in the media over the past several days. Among our members at St. Michael Catholic Church in Marquette we have valued parishioners with same sex attraction who serve in many capacities, including liturgical ministries. As their pastor, I love all of my parishioners whatever their circumstance. At no point have I instructed anyone to stand at the back of the church, the cry-room, or in the vestibule. Reports of this having occurred are a misunderstanding.

In the Catholic Christian Church there is a well-known, biblically-based teaching that those who are attracted to the same sex live a life of chastity, and that marriage is to be between one man and one woman. Jesus himself is our exemplar of chaste love. Chastity applies to everyone: the married and the unmarried, the divorced and widowed, those who have chosen a single life and those unable to get married. Within marriage, chastity means being faithful to one’s spouse, being open to life, and treating one’s spouse with dignity. For the unmarried, chastity means abstaining from sexual relations. This expectation is consistently made known to new members of the Catholic Church, and is freely chosen when they make the decision to become Catholic. With God’s grace and the prayerful support of others, living chastely can be a life of rich vitality, deep loving relationships and generosity.

All Christians struggle and sometimes fail to live up to the teachings of Christ, myself included. Distinct from this is the case in which someone makes a deliberately thought-out life-decision to live in a manner which runs contrary to the teachings of their faith and of Scripture. When it becomes a matter not of failing to live up to the teachings of Christ, but of actively opposing them and celebrating their contrary, the situation calls for a particular pastoral response. More specifically, if a parishioner has chosen to celebrate and promote views contradicting the words they would sing in the choir, or proclaim from Scripture as a lector, then they are asked not to lead in the singing or proclamation of those words. However, they are still welcome to worship in the church with fellow members of the Body of Christ.

As a Catholic Christian, I recognize my own unworthiness; I, too, fail to live up to the Word. All the same, I must not deliberately oppose It. As I strive to remain steadfast in faith, one of the most loving things I can do for my parishioners is ask them to be similarly faithful, and prayerfully help them strive for integrity when their personal choices and actions clearly contradict the faith we profess as Catholic Christians.

In all sincerity, my prayers are with anyone who is confused or feels hurt by the misunderstandings that have taken place in the past several days. With many concerned parishioners, I don’t want to see anyone separated from our parish family or the Church.

Rev. Larry Van Damme
Pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Marquette

Here also is Bishop Doerfler's public statement made a few days after the initial story hit the press.

Christ calls us to His Mission: Who is God calling you to love?

 +J. M. J. +

Draft Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension, Year A

This Sunday, in most to the United States, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Although this feast properly takes place 40 days after Easter on a Thursday, here it is transferred to Sunday. As we draw near the end of the 50 days of Easter, the momentous work of Jesus in rising from the dead is completed… first He ascends into heaven to the Father’s Right Hand, and then They breathe forth the Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Mother, and upon the Church. Without the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Easter would be incomplete.

What are we to make of the Ascension, what should we do with it? To the apostles witnessing it, it must have seemed like another disappointment… once again Jesus was leaving them, even if this time it was in victory. We know they do not yet fully understand, because their question to Jesus indicates they are still expecting an earthly kingdom, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus instead tells them about the mission with which they are being entrusted:

It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Once empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are to become Jesus’ witnesses… they are to give testimony by their lives and their word unto the ends of the earth.

If the Church has us celebrate Lent, and Holy Week, and the Easter Season, and if the Church has us celebrate the Ascension and Pentecost, it is really for the same reason that Jesus had His Apostles present at those events, for their mission is our mission.

We have walked day by day with Jesus is penance, in suffering, in His death, in His tomb, and in His glorious rising so as to be renewed, reminded, and empowered for this mission… to be His witnesses. As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, we are meant to proclaim Jesus by our lives and words. Do people see Jesus in you, or in me? Do they hear Jesus when you speak, or I speak? Do they encounter God’s love and mercy and truth in us? We all need to grow in ways large and small in living this mission, and all that we have shared together since Lent began way back in March (it’s hard to remember March right now, isn’t it!), all that we’ve shared together is meant to strengthen us in this mission.

St. Paul is speaking to the Ephesians of his heartfelt desire for them, and the Church desires this for us just as much:

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know
what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe…

God hasn’t stopped working in us since that time… this isn’t just old news! I want to share with you two expressions of this mission so that we may take heart and know the hope and riches and greatness for us who believe!

On Friday morning I picked up 2 of the 8 Totus Tuus missionaries (our Diocese of Marquette Totus Tuus FB page) and brought them down to Precious Blood Parish in Stephenson where we celebrated Mass and then had lunch together before they headed for Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, MN where they will be in training until next Friday. This

program began in the late 1980’s, started by a seminarian, now a priest, of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas.

2014 Diocese of Marquette Totus Tuus Team Selfie

Teams of four college-age missionary teachers, two men and two women, travel from parish to parish putting on a weeklong program of catechesis and faith formation for all the kids K-12. Last year I recruited and organized our diocese’s first team, and this year we have two teams serving 10 different locations, including the program at Resurrection Parish in Hancock and Sacred Heart Parish in L’Anse. This program operates in dozens of dioceses around the country, and brings the faith and joy to children, families, and parishes! These young missionaries are answering Jesus’ call in a beautiful and direct way!

On another front, I just received very joyful news this week, that in August we will be receiving a mission team from FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Back in the 1990’s, Curtis Martin, had come back to the Catholic Faith after drifting away during high school and college, and he longed to help other young people come into, or back into, the life of the Church. 1n 1998 the first team of FOCUS missionaries began working on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas… this past year they served over 80 campus nationwide and have fostered the deeper conversion of tens of thousands of young people, as well as nearly 400 religious vocations! This fall they’ll be coming to work at MTU, reaching out to the hundreds of non-practicing Catholics, and the thousands of other students that God is certainly calling into the Church! The missionaries not only dedicate themselves full time for several years of service, but they also fundraise the great majority of the cost of the program!

Now… most of us here aren’t in the position to go running off as missionaries somewhere far away… but notice that the call and mission is still vibrantly alive in our midst! This call comes also to us, in whatever walk of life we find ourselves, with just as much urgency, and with just as much promise and potential. It begins with hearing, recognizing, and acknowledging the call… this mission isn’t just for specialists, its’ for you and me. Here are some concrete suggestions:

• Do you have a parent, sibling, child, or grandchild you’ve been meaning to pray for or call? How about one with whom you need to be reconciled? 
•  Have you noticed a classmate or co-worker who needs support, encouragement, or help?
•  Who has God been nudging you to invite to a parish event or to Mass?

I believe that everyone here has faces before our minds’ eye right now! These people, these faces we love, or struggle to love, are our mission. Recognizing that is the first step! This is Jesus’ call to us as He ascends into heaven… next week we will examine how He empowers us to act on this knowledge through the Fire of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus Christ will be among us once again on this altar in just moments, offering us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we prepare our hearts to approach this altar, and receive this Gift, holding in our hearts the faces the Lord has placed before us!

 +A. M. D. G. +