Lessons in confession

Among the many important responsibilities of priests is hearing confessions. A new Vatican course that began Monday aims to help young priests learn how to correctly administer the Sacrament of Penance.

From a Zenit article:

The major penitentiary, Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, is leading the course, in which "moral and canonical subjects will be discussed related to the ministry of penance, above all that of confession," a communiqué announced.

Complex or difficult situations in the sacrament will be addressed by Bishop Gianfranco Girotti and Jesuit Father Ivan Fucek, regent and theologian of the penitentiary, respectively. Other experts will also address the priests, illustrating "the canonical discipline and its correct application in relation to offenses and punishments and several practical aspects."

Criteria will be given "to treat some cases of conjugal and family morality and confession will be proposed as an instrument for moral education," the communiqué added. The priests will also learn how to redirect appeals to the penitentiary and about the concession and use of indulgences.

The weeklong course will end with an address by Pope Benedict XVI.

Papal preacher: Priests are ministers of New Covenant

In his first Lenten reflection at the Vatican today, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, spoke of the role of priests, saying they are ministers of the new covenant between God and humanity, through Christ and through grace.

Today's reflection is the first of three, with the theme being "Dispensers of the Mystery of God. The priest, minister of the Word and the sacraments." The remaining two reflections will take place March 12 and 16.

Check out the video below to hear more of what Father Cantalamessa had to say:

USA Today profiles popular priest-author

Jesuit Father James Martin, the culture editor of America magazine and author of the best-seller "My Life with The Saints," is the subject of a lengthy profile in today's edition of the national newspaper. He has a new book out, "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: The Spirituality of Real Life."

In the profile, he talks about what drew him to the priesthood from a life as a business executive and what attracted him to Ignatian spirituality:

"Ignatian spirituality is intended for the widest possible audience of believers and seekers," Martin says.

He writes in The Jesuit Guide that "within the Christian tradition, all spiritualities, no matter what their origins, have the same focus — the desire for union with God, an emphasis on love and charity, and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God."

It's about making a God-centered life accessible to the doubtful as well as the devout, he says.

It's about realizing that when you are most vulnerable — sick, out of work, lonely, afraid, "God can move through your defenses, strengthen and accompany you."

And there's a radical simplicity to that, Martin says.

He says Ignatian spirituality "does not ask you to become a half-naked, twig-eating, cave-dwelling hermit. It simply invites you to live simply."

Click HERE to read the full profile.

Sainthood cause for first African-American priest

Earlier this week, the Chicago archdiocese announced it was opening the canonization cause of Father Augustus Tolton, a former slave who made headlines when he was ordained in Rome in 1886, becoming the first African-American priest.

As Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, noted in announcing the opening of the cause, Father Tolton had to study in Rome because, sadly, no American seminary would accept him. Father Tolton served in Quincy, Ill., before coming to Chicago to start a parish for black Catholics. (Click HERE to read Catholic News Agency's story on Father Tolton)

In announcing the opening of Father Tolton's cause, Cardinal George wrote, "...during this Year for Priests it would be good to pray to him and to ask the Lord to send us many more priests like him." Well said.

Amazing profile of priest in Haiti

Seven weeks after an earthquake devastated Haiti, news about the Caribbean country and its inhabitants has moved off the front page, but the suffering and painful recovery process continue.

The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash brings the devastation back to the forefront in a long profile of Father Rick Frechette in the magazine's March 1 issue. Father Frechette runs the country's only free pediatric hospital and an orphanage. He also goes to the Port-au-Prince morgue every Thursday — since long before the quake — to bury the unclaimed dead, living out one of the seven corporal works of mercy of the Catholic Church.

Labash's story is very lengthy, and is accompanied by a slide show with many stunning — and sometimes quite disturbing — photographs. But it's worth reading every words of this profile of an amazing man of God, doing good works in a nearly impossible situation:

As we near Frechette’s graveyard, the rumors prove true. There’s a stack of half-plowed earth, atop which lie 30 or so naked bodies, as if a bulldozer driver started to bury them, went on a smoke break, then forgot to come back. Arms and legs jut from the half-dug earth, like some sort of Goya-esque horror, while the bodies on top of the pile are so sun-baked, their skin looks like plum pits. The maggots are feasting.

For a while, we wordlessly survey the disgrace. Then Father Rick looks up to the burning hills. “Just like hell. Isn’t it?” he says. “It always amazes me how nature aligns.” The state has been doing mass burials here since the earthquake. But even before, Frechette explains, “This whole area was known as the place of the dead. For 40 years, since the time of Papa Doc, it’s the place where they dumped the dead. It’s notorious for executions, for emptying the prisons out by bringing them all here, digging a hole, having them stand at the edge, plugging them in the head, then letting them fall right into the grave. We use the same areas to bury the dead in the right way.”

A little ways down the road, sweat-drenched men with pick-axes and shovels stand in huge holes, readying them for tomorrow’s burial. Cows graze in a field of white wooden crosses. Frechette’s had to stop using them, however, since people would steal the crosses to cook with. He’s now switched to smaller crosses made of fish-tins, hiring crossmakers from Cité Soleil. Though even that is getting too expensive with all the newly dead.

Our motorcyclists nervously call for us to leave, before the flames jump the road, and we have to ride out through a tunnel of fire. On the way back up the hill, I step in a sinkhole on a grave, and nearly go down. Father Rick laughs. He says it’s seven years bad luck to step on the dead, seven years good luck to bury them. “I could have a square-dance here,” he says, “and mathematically, I’d still be ahead of the game.”

Click HERE to read the story. h/t to the Deacon's Bench.

Group pushes for Boys Town founder's canonization

Father Edward Flanagan, who founded Boys Town in Omaha, Neb., in 1917 and was immortalized on the big screen in the 1938 Spencer Tracy film about the home for children, was a saint in the eyes of many. And now a group of admirers want to make that designation official.

The Irish priest was born in 1886 and came to the United States in 1904. After completing bachelor's and master's degrees at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland, he entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, N.Y. He was ordained in 1912 and moved to Nebraska, first serving in O'Neill, then in Omaha.

The Father Flanagan League was profiled in a recent report on Omaha television station KETV. The group is dedicated to spreading devotion to Father Flanagan and providing information about his sanctity to the Church.

“Each boy that he met, he could see the possibilities in that child,” his biographer, Father Clifford Stevens, told the news station. “He was a pioneer in ecumenism before he even knew the word. He was the first priest to begin work with Jews and Protestants on social issues.”

Click HERE to read more about their efforts.

Musical tribute to priests

As part of its celebration of the Year For Priest, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will hold a concert featuring the Philadelphia Priest Singers at its Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul next month. The 40-priest-strong choir, along with two other choral groups, will perform sacred music at the March 25 event.

Click HERE for more information. h/t to Catholic News Agency.