Reflections, Sermons and more

October 16, 2007 

SUSSEX SURRY DISPATCH

            LETTER TO THE EDITOR

            “Deja’vous”, you know that feeling you have been there before ... we all know the feeling. Looking out my front door and seeing the Crockett's home, flames shooting out the front door and bedroom windows, gave me that feeling of ... I have been here before. 

            Trauma in our lives is just part of life, no one escapes all trauma and pain.  Traumas bring up many painful and bad memories, and it reappears most often without input or desire from us.  The mind and our senses have very long memories, sometimes repressing memories, sending them to the back-most memories we have. Decades can go by before they resurface, but the memory makes it present again.

            As I see the family I can see the confusion and numbness in their eyes, which people told me they saw in mine when my deadly house took place, four years ago this Christmas season.  The burnt smell, now ever present again, is something that you never forget, and those smells only bring back memories.  Anything that you were able to rescue after the flames were long gone, will hold the smell forever ... no amount of washing will ever get rid of the smell. 

            People who have never had this experience often say 'I know how you must feel. Let me assure you, you do not knowing the feeling of a destructive house fire unless you have been through one. You are forced to say goodbye to any lives lost. If no lives are lost people will say, "it's just material things."  We live in a material world, and have become accustomed to material things. We need material things to survive and be happy, even the smallest thing like a potato peeler will have to be replaced. Then there are those sentimental things that are gone forever ...

            Trauma however, also brings back good memories and feelings of hope, once we can see through the fog of despair and helplessness!  In my case, the community, even people I never met, helped by donating to a Fire Relief Fund; donating all sorts of the things (I can not tell you how many dead husband suits were donated!  I checked first for a seam in the back and then searched the pockets - but the widows already checked the pockets!).  People made themselves available to provide comfort - many times just listening.  Churches that I do not feel would welcome me into their doors for worship, along with most of the community's churches, donated funds, housing and many other items. Red Cross and Salvation Army gave food, clothing and shelter help, since it was Christmas, they helped as much as they could.  Strangers called the motel room to invite us to their family Christmas dinners so we would could enjoy what little joy of the Season we had left.  The community at large did what followers of the Judeo-Christian are called to do, putting aside difference, and open themselves to be their brother's keeper.

            In today's world most people do not even know the people that live next door to them and the only communication they share is a wave or a hello in the grocery.  I hear all the time that people just do not care anymore. If you believe that, you are so wrong. Our upbringing, our families, our preachers, our teachers all have instilled in us community. We know when we are truly needed and we give what we are blessed to give to help others in trauma and need. I am seeing this in this small community after the Crockett's fire, and the good memories of my fire trauma have put me into that place ... De ja’vous!

            We Pastors, congregations, businesses, other organizations and the community should consider developing a Bethesda to help our community needs, especially rapid assistance in times of trauma,  instead of letting them care for their own.  We are community!

 - Father David +

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12th Oct 2007

Fire Destroys Home  - Fr David reporting from scene

            Just before 11pm, Thursday the 11th of October, fire illuminated the Fall skies of Wakefield, as the family home of Ernest Sr. & Regina Crockett, along with their four children who all attend Sussex schools, was seen to be erupting in intense flames, shooting out the front door and bedrooms. Everyone was able to get out, the kids jumping out of the bedroom windows. The fire appears to have started accidentally, possibly by unattended food cooking on the stove. At this time, the cause has not yet been determined.

            Sussex 911 was called, the Wakefield VFD’s siren was sounding, calling the firefighters to duty, shortly followed by rescue and Waverly VFD, within minute. . The firefighters, assured that everyone had escaped the inferno, went about doing what they heroically do so well.

            The house, half of which is completely destroyed, is on Virginia Ave, only a block from Rt 460 and a couple blocks from the firehouse.  The home was the former offices of a dentist who had his offices at that location.

            Family and friends of the Crockett’s arrived as firefighters arrived to provide comfort and support to the traumatized family.  Minor cuts on one of the children were treated along with emotional support, so necessary in all disasters was provided for those in need by the rescue squad.

            Soon after fire was under control, the American Red Cross was on the scene to providing their traditional assistance to the displaced family. Various Pastors were also notified as the family is going to need assistance in many ways.  This reporter, Pastor of the Church of the Beatitudes across the street from the Crockett home, was on scene, called 911 after the dogs alerted me to the problem, and did my best to provide any thing he could to the family and firefighters. Father David would be glad to accept and forward any donations the community might like to make to the Crockett family, until other arrangements can be made. Father David suffered through the same experience only four years ago this December in Carrsville and knows how the community can be a true blessing.

            Quick action by Ernest Crockett Sr., ordering his children out of the house, even if they had to go thru the windows, might have saved his family, as the front door was fully engulfed in flames. This is the second home destroyed by fire on Virginia Ave in the past few years.

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            Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." (Gen 1: 26 NAB)

            Man is here presented as the climax of God's creative activity; he resembles God primarily because of the dominion God gives him over the rest of creation.

            Does dominion mean that it is God-like to injury or abuse creatures for our pleasure and profit?  It is one thing to raise creatures for food, another to torture them and call it sport.

            Anyone who knows we will tell you that I am a dog lover. As a Franciscan I acknowledge that all of God’s creation needs to be respected and cared for as we expect God to do to us. 

            Dog fighting as a sport sickens me as it does most people. It can not be allowed in our society as studies have shown that animal abuse leads to the production of a violent personality as is an early sign that a person will progress to other forms of violence including against other human beings.

            I am angered at the accusations that Michael Vick supported and promoted abuse, tortured and killing of innocent dogs for financial and pleasure purposes. If he is found guilty he, as should anyone found guilty, be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Virginia needs to enact strong laws and punishment for this type of illegal activity.

            I do however feel that the current punishment of Vick, the banning from training camp for example which affects his team and Falcon fans not just him is unfair. What ever happened to innocent till proven guilty?  He has been accused, not convicted and should be treated as such. Stopping the sale of his sponsored products is understandable, but to deny him employment and the ability to train is wrong. If guilty he can not been seen as a positive role model to our children. However, what happens if in a few months, after the football season is in full swing, it is found that he is innocent? How does he make up for the training he has been denied?  Hasn’t everyone been accused of something in their lives that they are innocent of? Hasn’t everyone been the victim of gossip and even slander at some point in their lives?

            Vick needs to be allowed to practice his trade until, if and when, he is convicted of the repulsive crimes he is accused of.

            Virginia needs to be on the forefront of enacting laws to severely punish those found guilty of these types of crimes. God gave us dominion over all the creatures of the earth, we must be stewards of His creation but we must also as Americans, protect the rights of those accused of crimes.

Innocent until proven guilty.

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Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." (Gen 1: 26 NAB)

            Man is here presented as the climax of God's creative activity; he resembles God primarily because of the dominion God gives him over the rest of creation.

            Does dominion mean that it is God-like to injury or abuse creatures for our pleasure and profit?  It is one thing to raise creatures for food, another to torture them and call it sport.

            Anyone who knows we will tell you that I am a dog lover. As a Franciscan I acknowledge that all of God’s creation needs to be respected and cared for as we expect God to do to us. 

            Dog fighting as a sport sickens me as it does most people. It can not be allowed in our society as studies have shown that animal abuse leads to the production of a violent personality as is an early sign that a person will progress to other forms of violence including against other human beings.

            Iam angered at the accusations that Michael Vick supported and promoted abuse, tortured and killing of innocent dogs for financial and pleasure purposes. If he is found guilty he, as should anyone found guilty, be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Virginia needs to enact strong laws and punishment for this type of illegal activity.

            I do however feel that the current punishment of Vick, the banning from training camp for example which affects his team and Falcon fans not just him is unfair. What ever happened to innocent till proven guilty?  He has been accused, not convicted and should be treated as such. Stopping the sale of his sponsored products is understandable, but to deny him employment and the ability to train is wrong. If guilty he can not been seen as a positive role model to our children. However, what happens if in a few months, after the football season is in full swing, it is found that he is innocent? How does he make up for the training he has been denied?  Hasn’t everyone been accused of something in their lives that they are innocent of? Hasn’t everyone been the victim of gossip and even slander at some point in their lives?

            Vick needs to be allowed to practice his trade until, if and when, he is convicted of the repulsive crimes he is accused of.

            Virginia needs to be on the forefront of enacting laws to severely punish those found guilty of these types of crimes. God gave us dominion over all the creatures of the earth, we must be stewards of His creation but we must also as Americans, protect the rights of those accused of crimes. Innocent until proven guilty.

Father David Fronek

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J.M.J

Sunday, 11th of February 2007

Be My Valentine

            The 14th of February, Valentine’s Day,  is upon us. St. Valentine, is an early Christian martyr who we know little or nothing about, or if he really existed. In the middle ages, the Church pronounced him the patron saint of lovers (married people).  As the day gets closer, people rush out to find the perfect gift or token of their love as a material way to tell those they love … well that they love them.  Heart-shaped boxes of delicious candy; roses, the flower that shows life the best; cards; expensive dinners and jewelry … all are purchased, wrapped and presented to our loved ones. Heaven help the husband who comes home empty handed this day!

 ‘What should I get to show I love you?’

            Spending all of my life in the medical field and Chaplain’s fields, I have witnessed all too often the guilt and the sorrow at the death of someone whom we have proclaimed our love.  Way too often I have found myself comforting someone weeping, ‘I wish I could have had the chance to tell him or her one more time how much I love them … ‘ or ‘ I should have told them or showed them more how much I love them … but now I will never have the chance now.’

            The funeral, the burial and sometimes for the rest of their lives, people never let go of the fact that they did not make sure the deceased knew they were loved. Guilt overwhelms so many and life becomes a perpetual mourning for the deceased who have gone from our earthly presence. ‘I wish I could tell them’ … or …’I wish they knew.’

            If it is any comfort, those who now sit at the feet of our Creator, enveloped in His Love, Light, Wisdom and Knowledge, do know what you are feeling. They can feel your pain and your guilt and desire so much to soothe you from their heavenly Home. They know of your love and know of your pain, and they will share their knowledge when reunited.

            But why do we wait to let those we love KNOW that we love them by our words and by our actions?  Why do so many wait until a holiday like Valentine’s Day or birthdays or Christmas to make our love known?  Why are material things used to tell someone we love them, instead of telling them and showing them daily our love?

            Marriages are nearly always a joyous occasion for the couple, their families and friends. We stand in front of God and witnesses to publicly profess our love for each other, until death do we part. Then the years roll by and we no longer have that giddy feeling of love anymore. Our lives together become more mundane. Disagreements and stress cause us to hold onto hurts and to go to bed at night with anger in our hearts. That anger turns to distance. There is still love, but we only express that love when society and its holidays tell us we should.

            Diamonds are forever …. Expensive furs allow us to brag about our love … material pleasure take over the emotional, the spiritual and even the physical expression of our love for each other. I pity the man who after years of marriage does not bring home a special gift to his loved one, especially if he forgot their last wedding anniversary.

            Society today teaches us, and teaches our children, that love can be purchased for the right price, for the right gift.  Wanton sexuality is now the norm, with no mention of love except as an exclamation of pleasure.  In our society more than ½ of all marriages end in divorce. When people of the same-sex desire to publically proclaim their love to each other as the rest of society, they are told ‘NO’ for it will ruin the Sacrament of Matrimony. It seems to me that marriage is not under attack by same-sex couples, but by marriages that are loveless or love that is hidden under piles of bills, kid’s tuitions, mortgages, fancy expensive autos or a perverted sense of manliness or feminism.  We have forgotten what we felt for each other when we first met or entered into a supposed loving relationship.

            I had a boss once who told me that marriage should be like a business deal. After say ten years, the couple go before an official, and decides if the marriage will continue for another ten years or to dissolve the relationship. I thought she was nuts! But, as I thought about it, the way marriages are breaking up in this country, it might be a good ideal, saving everyone time and money that divorce can cost. Children could just pick a last name and a parent they want to be with it. Simple.  Simple but is it right?

Is true love something that can just be shut off, erased from the memory and the heart? I agree that not everyone is meant to be with the one they are with. Many factors could have brought them together, factors that no longer have any bearing on them being together. Abuse, infidelity and other factors drive many to leave the one they claimed to have loved. But, no matter what, if there was ever true love, there will always be a love for that person, the type of love just has changed. To say, ‘We fell out of love,’ like falling down the stairs was never love in the first place. Love is eternal, as it comes from God, it has no beginning and it has no end.

There are different types and levels of love, the Scriptures and even modern day psychology tell us that.  You love your parents, but you do not love them like you love your children. You love a friend, but that love is not the same as the love of your partner, at least it should not be. I love liver and onions, but that is not a love that could compare to the love of another person.

There is a love only God can have for us; there is a love that we can only have for God; there is a love that we are required to have for our <ISTYLE="MSO-BIDI-FONT-STYLE: normal?>neighbor; and there is a love that we can have only for our life partner.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. – 1 Cor. 13 (NAB)

            The greatest love of course:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. – John 3:16-17

            This Valentine’s day, express to those you love, how much you love them … use words, use actions and then, and only then, use material expressions. Do not forget to express your love every morning upon awaking and as your last action of the night. Be it your partner, your parents, you kids …. If you love, make your love known, before you find that your earthly opportunity to express your love is gone.

            To all the men: express your love in ways always … but do not come home empty handed this Valentine’s Day and say, ‘Father David said …!’ You are one your own if you do!

                                                Father David +

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Hush Someone is Calling My Name   

   February is Black History Month, during this month, a growing number of catholic Christians of African decent in the United States strives to give special attention to the spiritual meaning and significance of history of African-American contribution to Catholicism and Christianity.  This is a special opportunity to share and examine past contributions and individual spiritual discernment. This is a perfect time to pause for a moment to consider how God’s Grace has and is working in us over the past and present, over time and place.

            Parents and grandparents often urge us to keep God in our lives and to listen to the direction in which He was guiding us. Distractions of today’s digital and fast paced society, can and often does, interferes with our need to make God the center of our lives and so noisy that hearing God can be a difficult task. How often did they us to be silent in church? We thought that they were telling us to be silent so not to distract others from what was being said from the pulpit, but they knew that we needed to be silent and reverent so we could hear the small whisper of the Holy Spirit.

            Did we not hear their voices of wisdom in their wake up calls, over breakfast and before rushing off to school and over supper and before bed?  Did they remind us over and over again to be good, to give God thanks and to be an example of person coming from a Christian home?

            Even when we hit adulthood and fitfully attempted to negotiate life on our own, their phone calls, emails and visits would never fail to include the reminder that God created us for a purpose and is constantly revealing His Will to us. Be still and listen they repeatedly admonish us, lovingly and encouragingly.

            The very lives they led were reminders to us that they were practicing what they were preaching to us. Clearly their practice of life told us and showed us that there were no human challenges greater than God. No human challenge could prevent us from hearing the Call to Christian vocation, to the clergy, ministries, and lay life, nor could these challenges prevent us from practicing the vocation to which He called us. They heard God’s Call in the welcoming voice of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ … ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Here I am, I said. Send me!’  Like the African Eunuch in Acts 8:37, w are told to choose, over the generations, to journey with Christ to the Father, to be reunited through Christ to God’s Divine Plan of Creation for them.

            When the slaves first we brought here, they held onto their former culture and practices. With time, most converted to following Christ, even if not willing at first. Once they found the love, compassion and promises of Christ, they combined their former culture with the Good News, and were able to survive in a land of hostility. Their former cultures demanded respect of family and elders, as did the Good News; the raising of children was of the most importance and was the responsibility of everyone, and so did the Good News; faith and thanksgiving in the Creator, regardless of their situation was comforting, and the Good News promises the same. Without the faith and beliefs of those who came before us, I can not image what the world would be like today.

            Let me share with you how one African-American man, born in slavery, followed the guidance he received from his elders and listened to the Holy Spirit, in spite of extreme challenges.

            On April 1, 1854, a young slave named Augustus Tolton was born in Missouri.  Augustus’ mother, Martha, a strong and courageous woman, fulfilled her husband’s long quest for freedom. She gathered her children and walked to freedom by crossing the Mississippi River. Reaching safety, she spoke to her children, “Now you are! Never forget the goodness of the Lord!”  Augustus was seven years old when he and his family reached Quincy, Illinois. He remembered his mother’s counsel, and never did forget the goodness of the Lord.

            Prior to their escape, the slave owners of the Tolton family (the Elliots) had all their slaves baptized; so upon reaching Illinois, the family became members of the Roman Catholic Church.  They continued to practice their faith after becoming free. Augustus was enrolled in Catholic School for a time, but had to withdraw because of the racial prejudice of the parishioners who protested the presence of a “Negro” in the school.  Some of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who staffed St. Boniface School tutored Augustus until he got enrolled in St. Peter’s School, where he was allowed to attend classes.

            Augustus listened and heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit and began to desire to serve the Lord more deeply by becoming a priest. However, at that time, the American Catholic Church did not allow black men to be admitted to studies in United States seminaries. Request to have Augustus admitted to an American seminary fell on deaf ears. His parish priests, disheartened by the prejudice of those in charge of seminaries, began to tutor Augustus themselves.

            In 1878, he was admitted to Franciscan College at Quincy, Illinois as a special student.  However the two parish priests continued their efforts to get him into a seminary. In 1880, they were successful, and Augustus leftfor the Propaganda College in Rome to prepare for priesthood.  For a time, Augustus thought that he would be sent to Africa to serve as a missionary after ordination; but Cardinal Giovanni Simeon thought it best that he return to his home country and diocese of Alton, Illinois. The Cardinal said “America needs Negro priests. America has been called the most enlightened nation, we will see now whether it deserves the honor. If the United States has never seen a Black priest, it must see one now. Can you drink from this cup?”  Despite knowing well the resistance he would surely face upon returning, Augustus answered the call, “I can drink of the cup of the Lord!”

                        Father Augustus Tolton was ordained on April 24, 1886, as the first known and recognized Black priest in the United States of America. Returning to the United States, he ministered for two years as pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Quincy, Illinois. He quickly gained a reputation as a fine preacher, so much so that many of the German and Irish Catholics began to attend Mass with the Black Catholics! He was most attentive to the spiritual and human needs of his people. Soon his Masses and Biblical classes gained prominence, and he was asked to attend and speak at many public gatherings.  His increasing popularity unleashed both hidden racism and the jealousy of both Catholic and non-Catholic ministers in the area. His enemies referred to his church as “that nigger church”, and to him as ‘the nigger priest”.

            Augustus Tolton continued to be well known in Chicago and the United States. He spoke at numerous gatherings and lectures, including the 1st Catholic Colored Congress in Washington DC in 1889. Catholics in Boston and New York heard him speak, and he preached at places like the Cathedral in Galveston, Texas and many others. Papers throughout the country played up Fr. Tolton’s unique role as the only full blooded Black priest in the American Catholic Church. Augustus was proud of his Blackness, and extremely devoted to his people.

            Perhaps it was because he was so devoted and hard-working that his life was cut short far too early. In July 1897, he journeyed with other Diocesan priests to make a retreat, returning on an excessively hot day on Friday, July 9, 1897. As he stepped from the train at 35th Street and Lake Park, and began walking home, he was stricken by a heat stroke and rushed to Mercy hospital. He died that night at the age of 43.

            Later, the first Black Catholic Bishop, Harold Perry, SVD, wrote this of Father Augustus Tolton: “Fr. Tolton found his opposition within the Church and among church people, where compassion should have offset established prejudice and ignorance. It was his lot to disprove the myth that young Black men could not assume the responsibility of the Catholic priesthood.”

            From the beginnings of our faith in Jesus and the Good News He gave us, many have suffered and martyred for their beliefs. History of African-Americans has not been a priority in our nation’s schools. A month, the shortest one of the year, is now dedicated to Black history, but most often, Christian leaders are never mentioned.          

            When God calls and we take the time to listen, all men and women, can hear His voice within our hearts and our souls. But if we do not take the time to hear … to listen … we lose out. The saints of the ages should be studied, their examples and wisdom followed, for they heard and replied, ‘Send me!’  Are you hearing the whisper? Are you willing to be set apart because you have heard and choose to respond affirmatively to God’s calling and plan for you? Are you sharing the history of those who have gone before, paving a way to walk with Jesus on His road to Calvary, the tomb and Resurrection?

            Stop! Listen! Hear!

‘Hush, hush, someone is calling your name! Oh Lord, what shall I do? I am so glad, troubles do not last always. Oh Lord, what shall I do?’

Pax et bonum

Father David +

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J.M.J. NEW YEARS RESOLUTION             At this time of the year everyone asks, ‘What is your New Year’s Resolution?’ Answers have a wide range, yet most times they repeats from other years, unsuccessful attempts to make changes in one’s life. ‘Lose weight … give up smoking … eat healthier … be a better Christian … be better parents … listen to my parents ….’ And the list goes on and on.               Studies have shown that most New Year resolutions fail for one reason or another. Many times the resolutions are too ambitious or too difficult to maintain for any length of time. Often the resolutions do not have the real intent needed to make a sustainable change. But whatever the reason, most New Year’s resolutions go the way of the needle shedding Christmas tree, into the trash and out of mind.               Each December 31st many dress up and spend a lot of money to attend some grand party with booze flowing, dancing and other festivities … nothing wrong with that. Many attend church celebrations with all the same fun just without the booze. Many more spend the time at home with loved ones or sadly by themselves.  We somehow think that the whole world will changed when the ball in Times Square hits the ground, and the new year begins. But, it is the same world, we the same people. A page on the calendar changes, that is really all it means. Regardless of how much we celebrate, or not celebrate, the new day, the New Year arrives.               I have been asked, ‘Father David, what is your New Year’s Resolution?’              My New Year Resolution:               I will begin the New Year the way I begin every morning ….     Our Father, Who art in heaven: I will first and always call out to the Father who created me and all that ever was and ever will be.     Hallowed be Thy Name:  I resolve to praise, worship and keep to the name of God upon my lips, in my heart, in my mind and with my whole being, and give the honor that God alone deserves … His Holy Name never to be used in vain.     Thy Kingdom come: I accept that my actions determine my fate and I resolve to live a life