Put Out into the Deep

“A Saint from New Jersey” by Bishop DiMarzio

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October 1, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into The Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

“A Saint in New Jersey?” is the title of one article written on Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, S.C., who will be beatified on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J. Sister Miriam was a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J. Born as a Byzantine Ruthenian in Bayonne, N.J., she joined the Sisters of Charity in 1925 after a brief career in business. The brilliant young sister became the Mistress of Novices for her community, which was practically unheard of in those days. Sister Miriam died at only 26 years of age from untreated appendicitis.

I feel particularly close to Sister Miriam Teresa because as a young student through my eight years of grammar school taught by the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, we prayed almost daily for her canonization. The step of beatification is the last step before canonization. Little did I know that in my own lifetime, I would see this come to fruition.

The progress of Sister Miriam from venerable to blessed is taking place because of a miracle attributed through her intercession. A young boy who was declared legally blind due to juvenile bi-lateral macular degeneration regained his sight through prayer to and the intercession of Sister Miriam Teresa.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Radio Evangelization on the Air” by Bishop DiMarzio

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September 24, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into The Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

The message of Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to evangelize has been strong and consistent: “Go forth.” In a time when so many Catholics have drifted away from the Church, we have to live by Pope Francis’ word to spread the Joy of the Gospel. I am pleased to announce our efforts as a Diocese to help in this task.

Through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Joseph and St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of the DeSales Media Group, we have been able to help one of the largest Catholic radio stations in the U.S. to reach our community. Relevant Radio succeeded in acquiring WNSW 1430 AM. Because of this acquisition, Catholic programming is now available to the whole greater New York City metropolitan area.

The 14-year-old network follows the mission to assist the Church in the New Evangelization, helping people bridge the gap between faith and everyday life. With its live interactive programs – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – and with 70 hours of original programming by award-winning hosts each week, Relevant Radio seeks to inspire and transmit a message of hope while promoting the teachings of our Church. Previously aired shows are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on www.relevantradio.com. We can listen to the radio in the car, while we are at work or at home.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Renewed Calls For Peace” by Bishop DiMarzio

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September 17, 2014 – Excerpted from Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

Last week, we commemorated the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September, now in its 13th year. With each passing year, our memory of this event seems not to fade, as it is indelibly imprinted on our souls. Truly, this was a traumatic event for the world and our Nation but most especially for the people of New York.

During the celebration of the Eucharist on Sept. 11, which I celebrated in the Chapel at the Chancery Office, I spoke to our employees about the theology of memory in our Catholic faith. There are things that we cannot forget, that we must remember. With regard to Sept. 11, we remember the circumstances of that horrible day. We also remember the victims of that day at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa. – those known to us and those unknown. Why we remember is because in some way we make them present to us; we bring it to our memory so that we can reflect on the events of the past and pray for those whom we keep in our memories.

I also mentioned the moving passage in the “Confessions of St. Augustine” when he described the death of his mother, St. Monica. Augustine begins by saying, “Today, the day is now approaching when my mother, Monica, would leave this life … one day, during the course of her illness, she became unconscious and for awhile she was unaware of her surroundings … my brother and I rushed to her side, but she regained consciousness quickly and looked at us and, as we stood there, she asked in a troubled voice, ‘Where was I?’ We were overwhelmed with grief. She then said to both of us, ‘Bury my body wherever you will, let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing I ask of you is that you remember me at the Altar of the Lord, wherever you may be.’”

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Catholic School’s Remain Strong” by Bishop DiMarzio

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September 10, 2014 – Excerpted from Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

Recently in an address at the Vatican to students and teachers, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, shared that “schools are a precious means for making a contribution to the progress of the Church and of society as a whole.”

Within the Diocese of Brooklyn, we are blessed with 84 Catholic elementary schools/academies, three religious congregational or private Catholic institutions and 18 Catholic high schools. This week, I welcome all of you to a new academic year and wish to share, in particular, an update on elementary education here in Brooklyn and Queens.

Christ is at the heart of Catholic education, and the Holy Spirit always gives life to the heart. And, the heart of Catholic education within Brooklyn and Queens can be seen as the Preserving the Vision strategic planning process for Catholic education within the Diocese. Preserving the Vision sets forth priorities for Catholic education including strengthened Catholic identity and academic excellence, increased enrollment, enhanced instruction, stabilized infrastructure of school buildings and strengthened leadership and collaboration.

Additionally, Preserving the Vision highlights the commitment of academies and schools to the New Evangelization “in order to meet the challenges which today’s society and changing cultures are posing to the faith.”

Read the full text of the bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Solidarity in the Workplace” by Bishop DiMarzio

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September 3, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep”, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

Each year, prior to Labor Day, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, of which Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is the Chair and I am a member, issues a statement that comments on the present situation of labor in our Nation. Catholic social teaching is rich in a tradition of understanding the proper place of work in the human family.

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has added to this long tradition by stating that work “Is fundamental to the dignity of a person…. [it] ‘anoints’ us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God … gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one’s family, (and) to contribute to the growth of one’s own nation.”

Although the worst of the recession seems to be behind us here in the U.S., there are many countries where the work situation seems only to get worse. In our own society, unemployment is too high, especially among African-American males, Hispanics and other minority groups. Catholic social teaching tells us that work is the key to the social question, the social question being, “How can the common good can be achieved in any society?”

Without every member of a society contributing to the common good by their own labor, societies find themselves in terrible circumstances where wage inequality and opportunity inequality discourage human growth and development.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Healing for the Human Race” by Bishop DiMarzio

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August 27, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep,” Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

The events of the last several weeks in Staten Island and Missouri give evidence to the deep racial divide that still exists in our country. In too many circumstances, it is the police, who are on the front lines of our society, who encounter difficulties and become surrogates for our own unrequited racism.

I, myself, cannot help but remember the days of the race riots in my native city of Newark, N.J., during the 1960s. The explosion of violence following the death of Martin Luther King Jr., who was the greatest proponent of nonviolent revolution, remains deep in my memory. As we look back to the 1960s, have we learned any lessons from that time when the racial divide seemed to be so great?

Like you, I had hoped our Nation had moved beyond race. Clearly, our Nation has matured. In many areas, race seems to have ceased being a deterrent to advancement. We have elected our first African-American President. Also, here in our own city, we have elected a mayor who has a biracial family. We have eliminated much of the discrimination based on race that still plagues our society. More opportunities have been given to racial minorities to achieve scholastically and economically. Most would agree, however, that our society is not yet color-blind. What is the path that will allow us to recognize all people as God’s children and treat each with equality?

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Openness to Life and Responsibility” by Bishop DiMarzio

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August 20, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep,” Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

In the final article of my three-part series on the preparatory document on the Synod of the Family, Part III is entitled: “An Openness to Life and Parental Responsibility in Upbringing.” It can be seen that the difficulty and thorny issues facing the family, and in fact individuals today, for the Synod are directly brought into the process of evaluation and consideration.

The pastoral challenges concerning the openness to life are truly at the heart of the issues for families today. The publication of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical “Humanae Vitae” in many ways was prophetic. Even in its promulgation, the Holy Father knew that it would cause intense negative outcry because, as he said, “But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a sign of contradiction.” The difficulties in the document “Humanae Vitae” reveals “the agonizing situations of people today when faced with the subjects of love, the generation of life, the reciprocity between man and woman, and fatherhood and motherhood.”

One of the questions asked in the initial interrogatory was, “Do couples know and accept the Magisterium of the Church regarding the openness of life?” In two senses, the positive aspects are unknown, while the negative aspects seem to be known and characterized as an “intrusion in the intimate life of the couple and an encroachment on the autonomy of conscience.”

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“The Challenges to Marriage” by Bishop DiMarzio

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August 13, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep,” Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

As I begin the second of my three-part series of articles on the upcoming Synod on of the Family, we move to the issues for consideration in Part II of the document entitled: “The Pastoral Program for the Family in Light of New Challenges.”

Truly, much is happening in the Church around the world to assist families. All of this will be considered by the Synod attendees, allowing them to understand the current situation and make suggestions for the future. There are various pastoral programs already underway – namely marriage preparation, which has a long history in our own country.

Unfortunately, there are fewer people coming today to sacramentalize their marriages. For those who do come, however, they express satisfaction with the Pre-Cana programs run by the Diocese, given evidence in the evaluations which they make following their participation.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Reimagining the Natural Law” by Bishop DiMarzio

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August 6, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep”, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

Today, I am beginning a three-part series of articles based on the working document for the World Synod of Bishops entitled, “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization,” to be held in Vatican City in October. In January of this year, we submitted responses from the Diocese of Brooklyn to the various preliminary questions proposed by the Office of the Synod. I will try in my explanation of the document to include the responses given by the Diocese, which include individual responses from over 600 individuals from Brooklyn and Queens.

Truly, the Synod on the Family has important consequences for the life of the Church, for the Church is a communion of families. The document begins by describing the Gospel of the Family, or the Good News of the Family, since the family is the means of evangelization when all is said and done. Remember the words of St. John Paul II when he said, “The Church goes by the way of the family.”

As the document enfolds, we hear about how we must communicate the Gospel of the Family in today’s world, because it is certainly God’s plan for marriage and the family that the Church proclaim to the world God’s plan in the family. It begins by remembering that in Genesis the human race is to cooperate with God’s work in transmitting life to its descendants. This is only possible when God’s love is at the center of the family. We cannot help but note that the document refers us to the marriage feast of Cana where Jesus sanctified human love and laid the basis for its sacramentality. The Second Vatican Council’s document, Gaudium et Spes, told us that, “Jesus, in assuming human love, also perfected it, giving man and woman a new manner of loving, which has its foundation in the irrevocable faithfulness of God.”

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

“Eyewitnesses to Mideast Persecution – Christians Face ‘Mass Cleansing’ in Mideast” by Bishop DiMarzio

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July 30, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep”, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

Last week, I received visits from several bishops from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria. During these visits, it became more clear that the presence of Christians in the Middle East and Africa is threatened now in a way that has never happened. The success of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is one that truly foretells the fate of Christians in the Middle East.

Recently, it was reported, and was confirmed by the bishops who visited me, that the Islamist extremists give three options to Christians whom they encounter in the lands that they have conquered: one, convert to Islam; two, pay a tax which seems impossible to pay; or three, leave. There is a fourth option, however, which is to stay and face the sword. Truly, it is disappointing that the civilized world has abandoned these Christian minorities in the places where Christianity flourished before Islam even was a thought. That is the situation in the world today, however.

The first bishop to visit was Bishop Elias Sleman, a Maronite Bishop of the Eparchy of Latakia, which covers the middle portion of Syria, and who also serves as pastor for the Marionites in that particular area. This area has many Christians. In fact, there is a place called the Valley of Christians, where the presence of Christians has been constant for many centuries. Unfortunately, according to Bishop Sleman, it may soon be empty. He outlined three major challenges and concerns.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.