The Catholic Cafe Is Open for Business
By Fr. Dennis | September 5, 2008
Beginning this Sunday, a new locally-produced weekly radio program called “The Catholic Cafe” will begin broadcasting on 990AM KWAM at 10:00AM.
If you miss the show on the radio, maybe because you’re at church, or maybe because you’re outside KWAM’s broadcast area, you can catch the programs at The Catholic Cafe website.
Topics: Evangelization, Media, News | 1 Comment »
Urgency of the Gospel: Homily for 31 August, 22nd Sunday, Cycle A
By Fr. Dennis | August 31, 2008
In the sacristy at the convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s sisters downtown in North Memphis, there is a sign that reads, “Priest of God, celebrate mass today as if this were your FIRST MASS. Celebrate mass today as if it were your LAST MASS. Celebrate mass today as if it were your ONLY MASS.”
If today were your first time to come to mass, how would things be different? Would you pay more attention? Would you be able to avoid the temptation to look at your watch about 3 minutes from now when I’m halfway through the homily? Would you hear things new that you had never noticed before?
If this were your last mass, would you sing like you’ve never sung before? Would you fall to your knees during the consecration, not out of habit, but out of knowing that this was your last time in this life to worship Jesus in his Eucharistic form: body, blood, soul and divinity?
If this were your only mass, would you listen to the Scriptures with all your attention, hungry to get every drop of meaning out of the words of Jeremiah, or St. Paul, or Jesus Christ? Would you make sure you remembered who was sitting next to you, and who you met on your way in and your way out?
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Topics: Evangelization, Homilies | No Comments »
The Cross Remains: Homily for 24 August, 21st Sunday, Cycle A
By Fr. Dennis | August 23, 2008
This weekend, I am in Toledo, Ohio. I will celebrate the 11:00am Mass at the parish where my father and his brothers and sisters received their first Sacraments. It’s the parish where their parents grew up. It’s the parish that my grandmother’s grandfather helped build at the beginning of the 20th century. At Sacred Heart Catholic Church, on the East Side of Toledo, I will not only celebrate Holy Mass, but during the Mass I will also be baptizing my cousin’s son, who will be the 6th generation of my family to worship at Sacred Heart.
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On that day in 1900, in the largely German, largely immigrant neighborhood on the East Side of Toledo, when Sacred Heart Church burned to the ground, the only thing that remained standing was the cross of Christ, the giant, hand carved crucifix that stood above the altar. That cross, crafted by my grandmother’s grandfather Lohberger, was all that remained intact.
At least, that’s how the story goes in my family, members of which have worshipped in this parish for at least 5 generations now. Make that 6, after today, when we baptize my little cousin.
Though the loss to that first generation of parishioners was enormous, since many who had built the first church were still here, it was not the end of the parish. No, it most certainly was not. After the initial shock of the loss of that first church building, the people of the parish rebuilt an even grander structure. Since then, this parish has lived through liturgical reforms, renovations, another fire, and parish mergers, but the church still stands as a witness to the faith of the Catholic community of East Toledo, and to the power of the Cross of Christ.
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Topics: Family, History, Homilies | 3 Comments »
The Gates Are Open into the Land of Grace: Homily for 15 August, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
By Fr. Dennis | August 15, 2008
Well, someone recently left a comment wondering how I would tie the local memorial of Elvis Presley with the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here’s my homily for today, of which the first few paragraphs are indebted to the website RareElvisPresley.com.
Readings for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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As the sun shined, on a crisp and clear Memphis morning, on a Monday in February, 1957, Virginia Grant was coming out of the old Lowenstein’s Department Store in the Poplar Plaza Shopping Center, which is now divided between the Pet Star and the Spin Street CD and DVD store. And there she spotted “the most gorgeous pink Cadillac [she’d] ever seen.”
Inside the car was a woman named Gladys Presley, who happened to be the mother of Elvis Presley, whom we know today as the King of Rock and Roll. Her husband, Vernon, was inside Lowenstein’s doing some shopping. Well, Virginia Grant was a real estate agent, and she had heard Elvis and his family might be needing a new home due to all the fans tying up traffic in the neighborhood near Elvis’ then current home on Audubon, so she offered to show Gladys a few places the family might be interested in. Gladys was very nice about it and told her they would get back to her after they returned from visiting Elvis in Hollywood.
A couple of weeks later, Virginia was showing Gladys and Vernon a property outside the Memphis city limits on US Highway 51 in the suburb of Whitehaven. The large colonial mansion on 17 acres near the Whitehaven Plaza was called “Graceland.” After seeing the property, Gladys loved it because, once a proper fence was in place, she would be able to raise a few chickens, and there would be room to hang the laundry to dry outside without fear of star-struck fans sneaking into the yard and stealing the laundry.
When Elvis came home from shooting his latest movie in Hollywood called “Loving You,” he went and saw the property and bought it immediately. He could see why his momma liked the house, and he wanted nothing more than to please her.
And that’s more or less how Elvis came to own Graceland, more or less. He bought it because he liked it, but mostly he bought it because he wanted a special place for his momma.
Now Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll, and no one disputes his claim to that title. In spite of that, though, he would have been the first to admit that he was not the King of Heaven and Earth. That title belongs to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And like Elvis, he too has a mother whom he loves very much.
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Topics: History, Homilies, Mary | 3 Comments »
Free of Charge, No Cost: Homily for 3 August, 18th Sunday, Cycle A
By Fr. Dennis | August 3, 2008
Readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A.
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Honeysuckle. It was the sweet smell of honeysuckle drifting lazily on the wind every evening that she would miss most about that grand old garden, with its rambling rows of wildflowers, its mighty oak trees, colorful dogwoods and fragrant magnolias, as well as pear and fig and citron trees that bore fruit all year round. And the brook that ran through the middle of the garden, always cool and fresh, with a sweet taste, as if the water had just fallen from the sky as rain that very morning.
And at the end of the day, she would walk on the grassy hillside, hand in hand with her husband, and sit under the willow. There they would picnic, with fresh berries and bananas and melons and hundreds of other things besides which we don’t even know of. They ate well and delighted in rich fare. There was always plenty, and some to spare. And she’d catch just a hint of the honeysuckle that was growing by the river, and lean against her husband with a happy, satisfied smile on her face.
But she wasn’t thinking of any of those things that one afternoon when it occurred to her that she deserved more. When asked about it later, she wasn’t sure whether she had done it herself, or whether she had let herself be talked into it by a magical talking garden snake who whispered the subtle suggestion that God was holding out on her. That there was something God was not letting her in on. That there was more to see, more to taste, and more to know, and that God was keeping her from it.
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Topics: Homilies | 2 Comments »
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