Good News in Wichita: Four Newly Ordained Priests and Three Deacons!

Two years ago I attended the last Ordination Mass for priests in our diocese; last year we had four transitional Deacons ordained, but no priests. This year: four priests and three deacons; so next year, God willing, Bishop Kemme will ordain three more priests! I'm not sure if there will be ordinations to the diaconate next May.

I did not attend this year's Ordination Mass but it was an spiritually emotional event two years ago for me, particularly when Bishop Kemme thanked the parents of the priests. I watched this year's Mass on-line, live streamed from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The deacons were ordained on Thursday, May 23, the anniversary of Servant of God Emil J. Kapaun's death!

The Gospel for the Mass described Jesus sending the 72 disciples out like lambs among wolves to prepare different towns for His future visits, and Bishop Kemme did pick up on that line briefly in his homily.

When I heard that passage, I could not help but think of the recent news story about the priest who had to protect the Blessed Sacrament from desecration in Florida last Sunday:

Police in St. Cloud, Florida, have charged [Father Fidel] Rodriguez with one count of battery stemming from the incident, which occurred during the noon Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church. . . .

Fortunately, the Diocese of Orlando is backing Father Fidel (what an appropriate name for a priest so faithful to his vocation) completely:

“At that point, the woman forcefully placed her hand in the vessel and grabbed some sacred Communion hosts, crushing them. Having only one hand free, Father Rodriguez struggled to restrain the woman as she refused to let go of the hosts. When the woman pushed him and reacting to a perceived act of aggression, Father Rodriguez bit her hand so she would let go of the hosts she grabbed. The woman was immediately asked to leave,” the diocese said in a written statement.

“It should be noted Father Rodriguez had no prior knowledge of the woman’s background. Further, while the Diocese of Orlando does not condone physical altercations such as this, in good faith, Father Rodriguez was simply attempting to prevent an act of desecration of the holy Communion, which, as a priest, Father Rodriguez is bound by duty to protect,” the diocese said.

The statement continues:

“The full video and the police report show the woman initiated physical contact and acted inappropriately. The priest was trying to protect the holy Communion from this sacrilegious act.

“In the Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is considered ‘the source and summit’ of worship and faith. The act of participation in holy Communion therefore calls for a proper understanding, reverence, and devotion. It is not something a person can arbitrarily demand and is certainly not a mere ‘cookie’ as the complainant called it.”

Please pray for Father Fidel and for our four new priests, Reverend Fathers Jesus Banuelos, Matthew Cooke, Caleb Kuestersteffen and Miles Swigart and three transitional deacons, Grant Husling, Joseph Mick, and Nicholas Samsel, that the wolves may stay away from them!

From the USCCB, a prayer for priests.

From the Fatima prayers, reparation for the desecration of the Holy Eucharist:

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. 

I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. 

By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners. 

Amen.

I took the picture at the top of the Cathedral sanctuary during Advent, I think!

The Season of Novenas: Starting with the Holy Spirit

May and June seem to be prime Novena months. We start with the one Novena that the Catholic Church recommends to all for prayer: the Novena--nine days of prayer--between the Solemnity of the Ascension and Pentecost (Friday after Ascension Thursday to Saturday, the Vigil of Pentecost). EWTN's website describes the Novena to the Holy Spirit as:

 . . . the prototype of all novenas. It commemorates the nine days between the Ascension of Our Lord and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost Sunday. During this time Our Lady and the twelve Apostles prayed in the upper room for the coming of the Paraclete.

After Pentecost, there are two other great Solemnities to prepare for: Corpus Christi (celebrated on Sunday, June 2) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus (celebrated on Friday, June 7), which will overlap. Add to that a Novena for Life, sponsored by the USCCB, leading up to the Feast of the Visitation: this is the season of Novenas indeed. 

And in my diocese of Wichita, Kansas, we're encouraged to pray a Novena from June 1 to 9 "for Father Kapaun’s cause, that meetings this summer in Rome may see him named Venerable". On the website for the Novena, we're told the source for these days of prayer:

While stationed in Japan before the outbreak of the Korean War, Chaplain Emil Kapaun gave a series of radio broadcasts based on the Eight Beatitudes to his troops. Two months later he and his men were sent to the defense of South Korea. Over the last year of his life, both on the front lines and facing inhumane captivity, Chaplain Kapaun’s actions showed his own deep understanding and fidelity to the Beatitudes. Aside from day one and a few additions, each of the reflections in this novena comes from these radio broadcasts.

A portion of the final two days of the broadcast were recorded on audio- the only surviving sound we have of Father Kapaun’s voice.

You may listen to Servant of God, Father Emil J. Kapaun's voice here.

There's also an update on the status of his cause. Today, May 23, is the anniversary of his death in 1951.

The practice of prayers for Nine Days or Nine Weeks, or Nine Months, of course, begins with the nine months between the Annunciation and the Nativity of Our Lord: from March 25 to December 25. There are also connections to prayers for the recently departed souls of loved ones. More on novenas here at the old Catholic Encyclopedia.

Corpus Christi, have mercy on us.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

St. Elizabeth, pray for us.

St. John the Baptist, pray for us.

Servant of God, Emil J. Kapaun, pray for us.

Image source (Public Domain): Father Emil Kapaun celebrating Mass using the hood of a jeep as his altar, October 7, 1950