The Catholic Church of

St. Mary the Virgin

   In last week’s bulletin, we have an article about dress and phone courtesy. (Let me reiterate a main point from that article and ask us all to PLEASE mute your cell phones or leave them in your car when you enter the church) For my  article this week I would like to touch on what I’d like to term: “Confessional Courtesies”.  SMV offers Confessions twice a week – on Wednesday from 11:00 am to 11:50 am, and on Saturday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. To be able to hear as many penitents as possible, it would be helpful if we all practiced these courtesies.
   Please have the list of which sins one wishes to confess ready before entering the confessional. Many of the waits experienced by those in line are due to penitents who wait until they are already in the confessional before thinking about which sins, they wish/need to confess. Making a list is fine and can often expedite the wait time.
   It is very helpful to give a general description of your station in life; “I’m a middle-aged father of four”, “I’m a widow”, “I’m a student in school (or college)”, “I’m unmarried”, etc.  These broad-brush strokes are very helpful for the priest to quickly assess an appropriate penance for each penitent’s milieu, and be able to impose one which shouldn’t be (in most cases) too onerous for the penitent to accomplish. 
   Please confess your sins, not those of others (family  members, coworkers, partners, spouses, etc.) Sympathetic as we may be, we can only absolve those sins of the actual
penitent – please leave lazy coworkers or ungrateful daughter in laws out of one’s own confession.
   Please try to keep the confession line moving. While there are plenty of seats along the south aisle leading to the confessional, it is very helpful if those in line move forward to the next nearest seat, as it becomes available, rather than staying four or five seats behind. This courtesy makes entering the confessional much smoother than walking three, four or five rows to the confessional.
   Parents, please prepare your children on how to make their confession. Our SMV supply priests, (Fathers Kennedy and Marziani), the guest Pastors who generously help us when we need them, Fathers Fogel and Wooten, and I, are all able to gently lead a child who doesn’t know how to make a confession by supplying the opening words “Bless me, Father…” and the Act of Contrition at the end of the
Confession just before the words of absolution, but it is most helpful if the child already knows what to say.
   By practicing these “Confessional Courtesies”, we hope to make the wait time much shorter, and the grace of the Sacrament available to more penitents.

Faithfully,
Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook

 

   Since my arrival here, I have been working on the Bishop’s mandate to me at my installation as Pastor; "Keep making things more and more beautiful.” During my first year here, we painted the exterior of the Church and Parish Hall. Last year we finished the painting of the interior of the church, (using the same color as our predecessor, Fr. Dean, had wisely chosen when he began that project), and polished the concrete floor of the Nave, coloring it with a warm Burgundy glow. This year, we are replacing our old pews in the church. 
   The pews that we currently have were purchased very inexpensively (relatively speaking) and were used when we bought them. The upholstery on the pews is wearing out - many pews have holes or stains that make them unsightly. At first, we had it in mind to simply reupholster the old pews in a red color complementing the newly painted walls and the newly polished floor. We contacted the most-used vendor that does pew upholstery. The bid for simply reupholstering all the pews was substantial, and certainly more than we had anticipated.
   There are also several pews which are themselves damaged (not just with torn upholstery) - some by water leaks, some by our restive younger parishioners, and some by the diligent cleaning that went on during Covid time. There are kneelers throughout the building that no longer work correctly. Some of this damage might be inexpensively repaired, but others would take some substantial work (and money) to fix. That cost of "fixing up”, added to the cost of the reupholstery, made us question whether it was worthwhile to just "fix up”, or whether we should consider replacement instead. Based on those questions, we reached out to several vendors of pews and woodworking, following helpful recommendations from our friends at the Cathedral, St. Philips in Lewisville, and F. C. Ziegler (our church supplies vendor).
   We discovered that many vendors featuring pews do not actually do "traditionally styled" pews any longer. Their main business is with more modern styles. We had several estimates for this project from those vendors who did offer traditional pews that varied widely.
   The craftsmen from Imperial Woodworks, a local firm based in Waco, showed significant interest in bidding for and working on our project and gave us a very competitive bid. In addition, they came in person to talk to us and bring us samples and hear our ideas. 
   The Parish Council was on board with the contract being given to Imperial Woodworks.  A significant guarantee from the company that swayed our decision was that the company has agreed to stain the pews with a stain that will match our beautiful side shrines. 
   We will have brand new pews with completely new padding in a gorgeous red upholstery that complements the chairs in the Chancel, as well as our side altars and aisle chairs. I therefore signed the contract on Wednesday.
   We are now 90-120 days away from our new pews. This time frame largely depends on delivery of fabric we chose. We have not chosen an unusual fabric, however, so the company is very hopeful that we will be closer to the 90-day mark than the 120-day mark. Of course, there are no guarantees on that. They will let us know their best estimate in a week or two after talking to the fabric supply house.
   Our old pews have served us well for over a generation, but it is time to upgrade the seating to match our beautiful woodwork elsewhere in our Church. It is time to carry the beauty that exists in the sanctuary out to our people. 
   And finally, the parish has the money on hand to pay for these pews. 
   Your generosity has made this possible. Thank you.


Faithfully,
Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 

   Hurrah! A new year of Christian Education begins TODAY here at SMV and we couldn’t be more excited to begin another wonderful year of CCD and youth activities.
   Safe Environment practices come to the fore at this time of year as we begin again to teach, to sing, to pray, and to learn with our children.  Our parish takes Safe Environment policies and procedures seriously. We are committed to making sure that God’s children are in a place where their safety is paramount. 
   To do this, every teacher and teacher’s aide in the classrooms have undergone Safe Environment training that is provided by the Catholic Mutual Group – the provider that the Ordinariate has chosen. That training is updated every three years. Those in the classroom have also undergone extensive background checks. Those background checks are updated every five years. The training focuses on becoming aware of boundary violations – things that can occur before abuse begins. By becoming aware of these violations, we hope to avoid abuse.  We also make available information on how to report suspected abuse to the police and to Child Protective Services. We are mandatory reporters – and glad to be so.
   Every employee at SMV also goes through Safe Environment training and background checks. And those employees do quarterly and annual updates of the training as a requirement of employment. No training, no job.
   We also want to put information into the hands and minds of the children themselves, so that they can be aware of what to do when something doesn’t seem or feel “right.” The Ordinariate believes that parents are the first and best teachers of their own children, so we have an annual meeting with parents to furnish them with information and resources to share with their children in an age-appropriate manner. The Ordinariate keeps track of attendance at these meetings, and statistics are compiled on how well we reach our parents.                                                                                          
   But Safe Environment is more than just the classroom teachers. We work to train adult Altar Servers, Ushers, Altar Guild members, Parish Council members, Guardian Ministry members, and all who want to lead or help with Youth activities. We are committed to having SE trained volunteers at EVERY event for children and youth.
   We have been able, so far, to do this on a voluntary basis. We’ve had volunteers step up to take the training. We hope to be able to continue to depend on your generosity and help. Other parishes require that at least one parent for each child in the Religious Education program be trained. We would LOVE to achieve those numbers, but we would like it to be because we asked nicely, not because we said you must do it.
   So this is, in the end, a request. If you would like to help SMV in a real and important way, please step up and ask to be trained. It costs you nothing – the parish pays for your background check. It takes an hour of your time and it’s all on the computer.  Do this and then be ready to help for an hour or two – in the classroom, at a dance, at a youth group party. The Parish needs and wants you.
   To start the process, email Terry Southard at the parish email address:  stmaryarl@sbcglobal.net. You’ll get a return email with instructions. And you will be helping us protect God’s little ones right here in our parish home. 
 

    Labor Day always makes me to be mindful of our “interconnectedness”. We need one another to survive.
   Consider how we are each called to contribute, as well as how we benefit from the labor of others. Even that simple can of corn, say, you pull from the grocery store shelf has thousands of people standing behind it: from those who stock the shelves, to the truckers who transport the product to the store; from the regional warehouse workers to the rail operators who supply the warehouse; from the farmers and harvesters to the granary workers. 
Then there are others such as those who supply fertilizers that aid in growth, and those who developed innumerable agricultural technologies over the years. People also labored to build the roads and rails over which the products travel. Others supply fuel for trucks, combines, and locomotives. Coal miners work hard to supply the electricity needed all along the way.  Still others in banking and business take risks and supply the funds to run agricultural, transportation, and food distribution businesses and networks. The list of people who have worked so that you and I can buy that can of corn at the store is almost endless. Thanks be to God for human labor; we help each other to survive! 
   Excerpts from the Catholic Catechism:
"Human work is a duty and prolongs the work of creation. 
Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another. Hence work is a duty: “If anyone will not work, let him not eat” [2 Thess 3:10]. Work honors the Creator’s gifts and the talents received from him (CCC #2427) [Work] can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ (CCC #2427)
The USCCB reminds us that in the Catholic tradition, "work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continued participation in God's creative action. Catholic teaching tells us that not only are workers due a “just wage” with which they can provide for their families’ needs; they also deserve opportunities for rest and dignity-affirming benefits such as quality health care and paid time off.  In addition, work should be something that enhances one’s human dignity In the workplace, if we are business owners, managers, or supervisors, we can help ensure that our businesses and organizations are offering family wages and the dignity-affirming benefits that our long Catholic tradition affirms should be available for all workers and their families.” (USCCB, Labor Day Resources)
   Pope Francis has composed a special Prayer for Workers:
"Lord, you were not without a job, you were a carpenter, you were happy. Lord God look down upon us! The idols want to rob us of our dignity. The unjust systems want to rob us of hope.
Lord do not leave us on our own. Help us to help each other; so that we forget our selfishness a little and feel in our heart the "we", of a people who want to keep on going. Lord Jesus, you were never out of work, give us work and teach us to fight for work and bless us all. In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Wishing you all a safe and happy Labor Day!

Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 

    In our Gospel reading today, Our Blessed Lord, says to Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah… I say to Thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church.”
    
Before continuing about Peter‘s role, and that of his current successor, it is important to underscore Jesus’s  own Primacy. Five centuries of controversy (ever since the Protestant Reformation), concerning the authority of the Pope, have perhaps caused us to neglect that Jesus Himself is the invisible Head of the Catholic Church. He says it clearly, “I will build My church. “

   If Christ is anything, He is a builder. He was at the side of the Father in creating the world, as we hear every week in the Last Gospel at the end of Mass (John 1:1) 

    From the beginning of His earthly ministry, He formed a core of Disciples, and chose 12 of them as a sign that He was establishing a “New Israel. “ 
The former Israel was Jehovah’s bride; the new Israel is Jesus’s bride, our Church. 

   Christ continues to form His bride through the power of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments. (Ephesians 5:25) Jesus is even now at work building His Church.

    For this new spiritual edifice, Jesus chose one man as the “rock.”
He even gave him that nickname, Cephas in Aramaic , or Petros in Greek.  Both words mean stone or rock. Not exactly a flattering nickname, and perhaps even a bit ironic when one considers Simon Peter’s outbursts and cowardice.

    Commenting on this verse, Archbishop Fulton Sheen speculated that Jesus chose Peter, precisely because of his weakness, (as we will see in next Sunday’s Gospel.) He wanted to make it clear the church does not finally depend on man’s strength. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and in a real sense, Peter, himself is the weakest link in the chain of the Popes.

    But every Pope, from Peter to Frances, has the same role that Jesus gave to Peter, to guide and strengthen the Church. Our loyalty to the Holy Father, is ultimately obedience to Jesus Himself.


Faithfully, Your friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 

   Last Tuesday we celebrated our Patronal Festival, the Assumption of Mary. Mary is a guide for us here on earth in many ways because even in the midst of so many sorrows, She shows how we can live a life of gratitude - and thus attain happiness.
   To illustrate this, allow me to use the "Hail, Holy Queen" prayer. Many of you know it. It starts on a somber note: "Hail Holy Queen...to thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve." On account of sin, we have been banished from paradise. As the prayer continues, we are "mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.”
   Originally, we were made for Paradise, and even though we have been banished we keep trying to create heaven on earth.  The Soviets tried to create a “Workers’ Paradise". It quickly became hell on earth. We dream about some perfect day in the future. When the day arrives, it usually disappoints. The book of Proverbs says, "Even in laughter the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief." (14:13) In the "Hail Holy Queen", we acknowledge that we live in a "valley of tears." The people we love die. The projects we work on often go awry. Mary shows us the way through these trials. She faced a difficult pregnancy which led to unjust accusations, yet she proclaimed: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." This gratitude led to profound happiness. To understand it, though, we must distinguish the levels of happiness:
   Level 1 is sensual pleasure - that steaming bowl of lasagne (or in these 110-degree days here in Arlington, that refreshing chicken salad sandwich!). This pleasure is great, but it lasts only a few moments. 
   Level 2 is some achievement that sets a person apart from others. Some of us might have been high school or college athletes, or debate captains, or leads in their school plays. That moment was exciting at the time, but as we grow older, how many people would care today? 
   Level 3 is better. Its happiness comes from service to others. Even that happiness disappoints. Dr. Charles Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic, treated hundreds of patients, saving the lives of many. Eventually, however, they all died. Service to others brings genuine happiness (and is part of one's eternal salvation). Still, in the end it disappoints. We humans are weak, fragile, and flawed. We were not made for this earth, but for Paradise. 
   Thanks be to God there is a fourth level of happiness. It is based on the things that transcend this world, namely, goodness, truth, and beauty. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." He enables us to have a relationship with God the Father who is perfect goodness, truth, and beauty. 
We can see this 4th level of happiness in the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is God's most perfect creature. She embodies goodness, truth, and beauty. In the "Hail Holy Queen" prayer we call her "Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope." This does not take away anything from God. In fact, it glorifies Him.
   Mary shows us that even though we constantly try to create paradise on earth, happiness eludes us. We mourn and weep in this valley of tears. Of all creatures we are most grateful for Mary. She points to her Son Jesus - the one way to happiness that lasts. And so, we pray, "After this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus." 


Faithfully, Your friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook

 

    This Tuesday, August 15th, the Catholic Church  celebrates the Feast of the Assumption, and we at the Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin, celebrate our Patronal Festival. The Feast of the Assumption is one of the most important feasts of Our Lady.  “Assumption” means that after her death, Mary was taken into Heaven, both body and soul, as a reward for her sacrificial cooperation in the Divine plan of Salvation.
Catholics believe in the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. We believe that when her earthly life was finished, Mary was taken up, body and soul, into Heavenly glory, where the Lord exalted her as Queen of Heaven. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 966).  
   The Assumption is the feast of Mary’s total liberation from death and decay, the consequences of original sin.  It is also the remembrance of the day when the Church gave official recognition to the centuries-old belief of Christians about the Assumption of their Heavenly Mother.  
   The first trace of belief in the Virgin’s Assumption can be found in the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae [Latin; translated,  “The Crossing Over of Mary”], whose origin dates to the second and third centuries. The fact of Mary’s death was generally accepted by the Church Fathers and theologians and is expressly affirmed in the liturgy of the Church.  Origen (died AD 253), St. Jerome (died AD 419) and St. Augustine (died AD 430), among others, argue that Mary’s death was not a punishment for sin, but only the result of her being a descendant of Adam and Eve. The observance gradually spread to the Latin West, where it became known as the Feast of the Assumption.  By the 13th century, the belief had been accepted by most Catholic theologians, and it was a popular subject with Renaissance and Baroque painters.   
   (A charming story is told of the nineteenth century Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes fame. Contemporary artists were anxious for her to describe the woman she had seen in the grotto. So, one after the other, they showed her the most famous pictures of Mary. The young Bernadette was shown the beautiful Madonnas done by Murillo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, El Greco, etc. To each she shook her head in disappointment. To their surprise, she said, “The lady looks like none of these paintings.” To herself she said, “My Mother, why do they minimize your beauty?”) 
    And it was on November 1, 1950, that, through the Apostolic Constitution Munificentimus Deus, Pope Pius XII officially declared the Assumption as a Dogma of Catholic Faith.  In his decree on the Dogma of the Assumption, Pope Pius XII gives four theological reasons to support this traditional belief:
 #1: The degeneration or decay of the body after death is the result of Original Sin.  However, since, through a special intervention of God, Mary was born without Original Sin, it is not proper that God would permit her body to degenerate in the tomb.
 #2: Since Mary was given the fullness of grace, Heaven is the proper place for this sinless mother of Jesus.
 #3: Mary was our co-redeemer, or fellow redeemer, with Christ in a unique sense.  Hence, her rightful place is with Christ our Redeemer in Heavenly glory. (The term co-Redeemer or co-Redemptrix means “cooperator with the Redeemer.” This is what St. Paul meant when he said “We are God’s co-workers” I Cor. 3:9.). Hence, it is “fitting” that she should be given the full effects of the Redemption, the glorification of the soul and the body.)
#4: In the Old Testament, we read that the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot.  Thus, it appears natural and possible that the mother of Jesus would also be taken into Heaven. 
   On this important feast day, I will try (in my homily)  to answer two questions:  1) What is meant by “Assumption?”  2) Why do we believe in Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, despite the fact that there is no reference to it in the Bible? 
Please plan to join us this Tuesday, August 15th either at the 12:00 Noon Mass (Low Mass with Hymns) or the 7:00pm High Mass with full choir and ceremonial.

   “On this feast day, let us thank the Lord for the gift of the Mother, and let us pray to Mary to help us find the right path every day” (Pope Benedict XVI).


Faithfully, Your Friend and Vicar
Christopher C. Stainbrook