St. Stephen, pray for us

Since today is Sunday and on the Sunday after Christmas we observe the feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the great day of my patron saint (being Scott Stephen from birth), who is also the patron of this weblog, St. Saint Stephen, is mostly passed over this year, which is okay because without Jesus, Mary, and Joseph there would be no St. Stephen. Of course, St. Stephen's day is also traditionally a special day for deacons. In fact, it was 34 years ago today that Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal, then the bishop of Salt Lake City, ordained this diocese's first permanent deacons. So, to my dear brothers, especially Deacon Silvio Mayo, our diocesan chancellor, with whom I am privileged to serve at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, happy anniversary. All of us who walk the trail you blazed in our local church owe you a debt of gratitude.

To mark this day, I will share a brief snippet from a massive part of an even larger work I am laboring on and, with St. Stephen's heavenly help, I will finish before Easter:

"Acts 6:1 reads: 'At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.' In Greek, the last word of this translated passage is διακονία, which transliterates as diakonia. In the following verse the twelve say to the gathered Jerusalem community, '[i]t is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table' (Acts 6:2). The words 'to serve' are the Greek verb διακονέω, transliterated diakonein. The word diakonia appears again in verse four when the apostles determine to set the seven men apart for service to the Greek-speaking widows of the nascent Christian community so that they might devote themselves more fully 'to prayer and to the ministry of the word.' The word 'ministry' in this verse is a translation of diakonia.

Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Lorenzo Lotto, AD 1516

"Examining this passage serves a dual purpose. First, it shows the difficulty in drawing straight lines from current ecclesial praxis back to the apostolic church. Secondly, it demonstrates the often ambiguous nature of the word 'deacon' in all its forms as it is used by New Testament authors, showing that most frequently it refers to an activity, not to a specific office, or order of ministry, in the church. Two of the three usages of various forms of the word 'deacon' in these verses of Acts indirectly refer to the seven. The first use of diakonia implies what service they are to be set apart for, namely insuring an equal distribution of food daily among the widows of the community, a community that held all things in common, thus they were set apart primarily as peace-makers and bridge-builders within the community. Closely bound up with the first appearance of diakonia is the word diakonein that the twelve use to describe the very service for which the seven are set apart by the laying on of hands. It also bears noting that despite distinguishing being in charge of the daily distribution, which apparently included something like waiting tables, from the diakonia of the word, which, along with having adequate time to pray, is why the twelve wanted to be free from being in charge of the daily distribution, especially in light of the dispute that arose, we shortly read that 'Stephen, filled with grace and power' began 'working great wonders and signs among the people' and launching into an extended sermon that constitutes part of the authentic Christian proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 6:9). So, while this and subsequent references to the seven men, only two of whom, Stephen and Philip, we read more about in Acts, do not refer to them as deacons, it is easy to understand why they represent the biblical basis for this order of ministry."

Veni adoramus

Now for some local news...

I am happy to draw attention to two wonderful on-line developments here in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The first is Bishop Wester's blog, Tuesday Tapestry. I welcome His Excellency to the Catholic blogosphere! I'm guessing he'll post stuff on Tuesdays.

Additionally, I am very pleased that Dr. Gary Topping's From the Archives feature is back on the main page of our diocesan website. Dr. Topping, our diocesan archivist and historian, a man whose services we are so very blessed have, is also a Cathedral parishioner. Additionally, Gary is a dear personal friend, a brilliant man with a sparkle in his eye and tremendous sense of humor, who wears his erudition lightly.

I don't mind letting the cat half way out of the bag, but Dr. Topping has written an article for our diocesan newspaper, The Intermountain Catholic, about our first bishop, Lawrence Scanlan. Bishop Scalan is interesting because for such a recent historical figure, he remains very enigmatic. For example, a few years ago Gary told me that nowhere in our extensive diocesan archive do we have anything that Bishop Scanlan preached. His article will appear in an upcoming issue. So, stayed tuned!




You will find links to both over on the right side of Καθολικός διάκονος under the Our Local Church heading.

The Story of the Cathedral of the Madeleine

Just in time for our centennial, Dr. Gary Topping and photographer Ann Torrence have published an updated book on our lovely lady: The Cathedral of the Madeleine. The book made its public debut on St. Mary Magdalene's feast yesterday. I think Gary and Ann sold all the copies they had on hand. It is a well done book all the way around.

The Story of the Cathedral of the Madeleine is published by Sagebrush Press of Salt Lake City and costs $16.95.

Bishop Wester, who wrote the forward to this great book, sums up our beautiful cathedral well:

"The Cathedral of the Madeleine has earned its place in the life of the people of Utah and is cherished by those of all faiths, cultures and traditions. It makes God mercifully immanent and at the same time awesomely transcendent as no other building can do. In this sense, the Cathedral is a revolving door through which heaven bound pilgrims can find rest, nourishment and peace along the way."

"The losers in this globalization game are the migrants themselves"

On the day he had surgery (i.e., yesterday), the Salt Lake Tribune published an editorial by our bishop, John Wester, on the issue of immigration. What Bishop Wester consistently shows is that what needs to be happening with regards to this highly-charged issue is at once clear-headed, compassionate, and practical. His editorial is entitled Migrants should be more than pawns in the game. The thing that really puts Catholic social teaching in contrast with so many other views on this issue is the insistence, on the part of Bishop Wester and other bishops, on not only recognizing, but putting the humanity of migrants at the center of the debate.

Bishop John Wester of the Diocese of Salt Lake City
"the United States receives the benefit of their toil and taxes without having to worry about protecting their rights, either in the courtroom or the workplace. When convenient, they are made political scapegoats and attacked -- both rhetorically and through work-site raids -- as if they were not human.

"Under this system, Mexico wins financially as well, as the country receives up to $20 billion in remittances per year without having to pay attention to the lower rungs of the economy."

Please keep Bishop Wester in your prayers, pray for his full recovery, for all afflicted with cancer, and pray that we can realize that justice and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Good Friday is a good time to pray for the alleviation of suffering and freedom for the oppressed.

An extraordinary evening

Last night at the dedication of Holy Family Parish, I had the opportunity to sit for supper with a group of distinguished gentlemen, all of whom are priests of the Diocese of Salt Lake City and one Jesuit priest who has long served here. It was my privilege to be in their company. It was a delightfully mixed group with three monsignors, including the pastor of the parish in which we reside, Msgr. Daz and two of our younger priests, including Fr. Sam Dinsdale, our youngest pastor. Our group also included Fr. Ken Villapondo, pastor of St. Joseph's in Ogden, which includes some 4,000 families. Msgr. Daz, Fr. Dinsdale, and I are all Ogden natives.

The food was good, the wine fine, and the company extraordinary. I thank God for all of them, for their service and their sacrifice, all of which have been instrumental in building our diocese, the church in Utah.