Month: December 2023

MONTDALE – For years, faith leaders have talked about the importance of removing the stigma surrounding mental health challenges while emphasizing that those struggling with mental health are loved and valued by the church.

Two parishes in Lackawanna County are now taking action by starting a joint mental health ministry team which is providing free training and other resources.

Saint John Vianney Parish in Montdale and Saint Gregory Parish in Clarks Green recently launched an inter-parish Mental Health Ministry Team. The goal is to support each parish’s awareness of, accompaniment with, and advocacy for persons with mental health challenges and those who care for them.

“With this model, we are able to pool our resources in offering the ministry, and are able to serve a wider audience, including the community members outside the walls of our churches,” Jen Housel, Executive Director, Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, and parishioner of Saint John Vianney parish, said.

On Nov. 11, the two parishes held a Mental Health First Aid Training Program which taught 13 people how to recognize signs of mental health or substance use challenges in adults, offer and provide initial help, and knowledge on how to guide a person toward appropriate care if necessary.

“It was better than any of us thought it could be,” participant Ellen Aherne explained, describing the combination of small group activities and large group sessions. “I highly recommend it to any member of our diocese who has the opportunity to spend a Saturday learning how to better serve the mental health needs of their parishes.”

In addition to having people from both parishes launching the Mental Health Ministry Team, there were also attendees from Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Clarks Summit; Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Dickson City; and Divine Mercy Parish, Scranton.

“As a person who once taught psychiatric nursing, I gained some valuable information and practical skills,” Mary Ann Paulukonis, who serves as the Mental Health Ministry team leader at Saint Gregory Parish. “I was gratified that a couple participants decided to join our inter-parish team and a few others asked how to start a mental health ministry in their own parishes.”

Beginning the week of Jan. 8, the parishes will begin offering The Sanctuary Course for Catholics in tandem for eight weeks to explore the realities of mental health and illness, as well as the vital need for faith-based community conversations about these topics.

Statistics show one in four people will be affected by a mental health challenge at some point in their lives, yet the stigma surrounding mental illness silences many and prevents faith communities from responding compassionately and effectively.

The eight small group sessions will be held at Saint John Vianney Parish on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. and Saint Gregory Parish on Fridays at 9:00 a.m.

Interested individuals can attend one session or all eight, at either church or both locations or via Zoom. Online registration at catholicmhm.org/csdeaneryregistration is encouraged, but not required.

“Optimally, sessions are offered to and attended by those within the same general faith community. This allows those involved to deeply consider how their community currently responds to this issue/need and how they as a community may take action to do better,” Housel stated. “The sessions include the opportunity to learn, to pray, and to share together.”

There is no fee for the training. All costs are being covered by a Social Justice Grant from the 2023 Diocesan Annual Appeal.

“The Social Justice Grant funds allowed us to begin this mental health ministry programming on an ambitious scale and to offer multiple opportunities cost-free to those who could benefit from them,” Housel added.

“Receiving the grants had the effect of propelling us forward at a faster rate than we might otherwise have proceeded,” Paulukonis said.

INDIANAPOLIS – The 2023 National Catholic Youth Conference had a deep impact on dozens of local high school teens from parishes across the Diocese of Scranton.

For three days – this year Nov. 16-18 in Indianapolis – their faith was enriched through speakers, uplifting music, Eucharistic Adoration, group prayer, the opportunity for the Sacrament of Penance and Daily Mass.

Their faith also is emboldened in witnessing and worshipping with thousands of their Catholic peers, leaving the youths encouraged by the fact that they are not alone in following Christ in the one true church.

“NCYC was truly incredible. I came in, not expecting it to be half of what it was,” Hannah Rocco from Saint Eulalia Parish in Roaring Brook Township, said. “Adoration with 13,000 kids was truly incredible!”

The Diocese of Scranton sent a total of 92 pilgrims – young adults and chaperones – to this year’s conference.

“It was such an awesome experience,” Hayden Schwabe from Saint Jude Parish in Mountain Top, said. “You don’t have to worry about hiding your faith or being scared about putting your hands up in the air to take in the Holy Spirit because other people are doing it.”

For Max Mohutsky of Saint Jude Parish, this year’s NCYC was his first.

“Obviously I didn’t really know what to expect so I was leaning on what people told me from the past, but it was great once I was there,” he said. “I learned a lot more about God and I met new people and had a great time.”

This was the second NCYC for Shaylee Kimmick of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville.

“I came two years ago, and it was a lot more overwhelming this time because there were so many more people,” Kimmick said. “During the opening ceremony, the archbishop said, ‘You’re not a problem to be solved, you’re a mystery to be revealed,’ and that really stuck with me!”

In a prayer service at the opening session of NCYC, Archbishop Charles C. Thompson spoke to the teens about this year’s NCYC theme “Fully Alive.” He quoted his favorite line from Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si,” saying, “Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.”

“We heard that beautiful reading about creation from the Book of Genesis,” Archbishop Thompson said. “But the ultimate part of that creation is when God created humanity, when God created us. We are part of that creation that’s been given life by the Spirit breathing into us, by the Word taking root in us, claiming us as his own.”

Kimmick is looking forward to bringing that message home and sharing her experiences with other teens in her Monroe County parish.

“I’m going to talk to people about my experience and try to help them feel more connected in their faith and help them grow,” she said.

Betty Clark of Saint Eulalia Parish described her experience as “simply amazing.”
“The spirit, the energy that everyone had and that we all could feel during the sessions, and when we were talking to other people, we really were ‘fully alive.’ It was crazy. I loved it,” the North Pocono teenager said.

In describing what she was taking away from NCYC, Clark referenced the importance of the National Eucharistic Revival that is underway – and the National Eucharistic Congress which will be held in the same city and stadium July 17-21 next year.

“I think that a lot of time we forget how present Jesus is in the Eucharist and I think that is what the priests and bishops are trying to do with the Eucharistic Revival. I think that I was really impacted by that, and I think it’s going to really help me worship Jesus in the Mass and when I see Him in the Eucharist in the future,” she explained.

During the two-hour closing Mass for NCYC, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat of New York encouraged the teens to put “joy over fear.”

In explaining this, Bishop Espaillat distinguished between a “worldly fear that creates panic and anxiety” and “a holy fear, or fear of the Lord, (that) is a source of peace and happiness.”

“If we love God and know that we are loved by God, then why do we need to fear?” he asked those in attendance.

Bishop Espaillat then laid out three simple points he wanted the young people at NCYC to take home with them.

“You’ve got to have faith,” he said. “You’ve got to have fun while you do it. And you need family and friends and community along the way.”

Before boarding a bus to make the trip back to northeastern Pennsylvania, George Sabatini of Saint Jude Parish said was proud that so many of his Catholic peers from across the country came together to celebrate their faith.

“It’s just a great experience to strengthen your faith and to meet like-minded people,” Sabatini said.

(OSV News) – When Ukraine’s embattled citizens gather this Christmas, their rich festivities will feel symbolically different – as the festival is celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25, in line with the Western calendar.

“People here have long insisted we should be united around a common festival, expressing our faith together and enjoying the same work-free days,” explained Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo of Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia Diocese.

“As we withstand Russia’s attacks, however, this change will also have a political dimension in bringing us closer to Western civilization. Many of those who no longer attend church, believing Christians are always feuding, may well be led back to God by this new united spirit of prayer and celebration,” he said.

The bishop spoke to OSV News amid preparations for the long-awaited switch to the Western Christmas, agreed earlier in 2023 by church and government leaders.

Meanwhile, a prominent Greek Catholic priest told OSV News he expected little need for liturgical modifications and also was hopeful the reform would assist common worship with other denominations.

“The traditions will remain the same, and we’re planning to do everything as in the past – just in late December rather than January,” said Father Mykola Matwijiwskyj, apostolic administrator of Britain’s London-based Greek Catholic eparchy.

“The Western calendar has already been used for years in much of the Ukrainian Catholic diaspora, and this formal change has been accepted by Ukrainians at home and abroad,” he said.

A resolution confirming the calendar reform was passed July 14 by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada parliament and signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — both justifying it as a step toward “abandoning the Russian heritage.”

But the move had been long sought by Ukraine’s Greek Catholic and independent Orthodox churches in cooperation with Roman Catholics and Protestants, as key to Christian unity in the war-ravaged country.

While Ukraine’s rival Moscow-linked Orthodox Church, the UOC, hasn’t endorsed the change, opinion polls have shown general support nationwide.

“Those who are pro-Russian will no doubt stay that way — but we’ve always invited everyone to our Christmas celebrations, and this won’t change,” Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk of Odesa-Simferopol told OSV News Nov. 13.

“We’re proclaiming and formalizing something that’s already widely practiced anyway, which will assist our relations with Orthodox Christians. Although we can’t know how opponents might react, I’m confident most Ukrainians will accept it positively.”

Whereas Catholics and Protestants traditionally celebrate Christmas Dec. 25, according to the Western Gregorian Calendar established in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, 11 of the world’s 15 main Orthodox churches mark it on Jan. 7, in line with the ancient Julian Calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.E.

Orthodox hierarchies in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Romania switched during the 20th century to the Western date, along with the based Ecumenical Patriarchate which traditionally holds the Orthodox primacy.

But Russia’s powerful Orthodox Church, which seeks to continue dominating Ukraine, still clings to the Eastern system, along with other smaller churches.

Both Dec. 25 and Jan. 7 have been official state holidays in Ukraine since 2017, in recognition of the large numbers celebrating Christmas on both dates. But calls for a general move to Dec. 25 grew after Russia’s bloody February 2022 invasion.

Greek Catholics confirmed the switch to Dec. 25 at a synod meeting in February, adopting the new dating system for all fixed religious feast-days, while Metropolitan Epiphany’s OCU followed suit in May, a year after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced its full independence and autonomy from the Moscow Patriarchate.

And while some parishes will be allowed to opt out and retain the old Julian Calendar initially, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych insists support for the change has gathered momentum during the war

“We want the calendar to unite, rather than divide us, giving a new perspective for our church, state and liturgical and social life,” the archbishop told church members in a February open letter.

With the change applying to Ukrainian communities worldwide, Father Matwijiwskyj, the London-based Greek Catholic administrator, is confident the change is for the better, both in spiritual and economic terms for the war-torn country.

In the past, the Gregorian Calendar was resisted by some Ukrainian diaspora Catholics, who feared it would compel their assimilation into Western Christianity.

Two years of war have changed perspectives, and Westernization is now the desired option – although rejecting Russian domination tells only part of the story, Father Matwijiwskyj said.

“While the reform has been pushed through with this in mind, the change will have wider advantages,” the priest told OSV News.

“The whole world closes down on Dec. 23 and reopens in early January, while Ukraine then closes down on Jan. 5 and stays that way for much of the month. Correcting this anomaly will have obvious benefits, quite apart from shaking off Russian influences,” he explained.

Bishop Sobilo agreed and told OSV News that “although there are constant dangers of escalation, as brutal new attempts are made to break our country this winter, we can be confident about our future as we draw closer to Europe and raise our heads again.”

Even in such harsh conditions, Ukrainians have shown determination in maintaining their Christmas customs.

The great festival of Vigilia, or Christmas Eve, is marked with family gatherings around a sviata vechera, or “holy supper,” incorporating a dozen dishes representing the Twelve Apostles, and ends with midnight Mass.

Homes are decorated with the customary didukh, a sheaf of wheat stalks symbolizing ancestors’ spirits, for whom dishes such as the traditional kutia are left on the table.

Despite Russian missile strikes, Ukraine’s tradition of door-to-door caroling has continued as well, often featuring the internationally known “Carol of the Bells,” dating from 1914, and originally written by Ukrainian Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych.

“People are doing all they can to keep these traditions alive, while the idea of a common Christmas has been warmly accepted as a clear sign of Ukraine’s reunion with the Western world,” Iryna Biskub, a Catholic linguistics professor at Volyn National University, told OSV News.

“It may be too soon to talk of some major new Catholic-Orthodox ecumenical closeness. But many Orthodox Christians were already marking Christmas with the rest of Europe on Dec. 25, even before this was officially approved,” she said. “It’s certainly a symbolic move, with strong anti-Russian implications.”

In Odesa, Bishop Szyrokoradiuk is confident Ukraine’s “beautiful Christmas traditions” are too strongly rooted to be deterred by war and occupation.

The new common Christmas, he thinks, will mark an important step toward reconciliation between people once divided by the East-West Iron Curtain.

A year ago, Moscow rejected calls from European churches for a Christmas truce in its brutal invasion, and even stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s population centers.

Against such a background, Ukraine’s church leaders will be preparing vibrant Christmas messages of encouragement and endurance.

“Despite the many dead and wounded, people remain strong in spirit and certain of victory — even if more modestly, they’ll still be praying and celebrating at Christmas,” Bishop Sobilo told OSV News.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians must be open to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, Pope Francis said.

“‘Be open,’ Jesus says to every believer and to his church: be open because the Gospel message needs you to witness to it and proclaim it,” he said during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall Dec. 13.

The pope also appealed for an immediate cease-fire and a resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

“I continue to follow the conflict in Israel and Palestine with much concern and sorrow,” he said. “I renew my call for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire: there is so much suffering there.”

Pope Francis encouraged all parties to resume negotiations, “and I ask everyone to make an urgent commitment to get humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza who are on their last legs and really need it.”

The pope also called for the immediate liberation of all the hostages, “who had seen hope in the truce a few days ago, so that this great suffering for Israelis and Palestinians might come to an end.”

“Please,” he said, “no to weapons, yes to peace.”

In his main audience talk, the pope concluded his yearlong series of talks about zeal for evangelization.

Since late November, Pope Francis has had respiratory difficulties related to a bronchial infection and has been cutting back on how much of his prepared texts he reads aloud.

Reading only excerpts but adding off-the-cuff comments, the pope talked about how every Christian is called to allow “the Word of God to inspire us, to help cultivate the passion to proclaim the Gospel.”

Often the Bible uses examples of people afflicted with deafness and muteness as metaphors for being “deaf” or closed off to God’s word and, consequently, being unable to speak to others about faith.

When Jesus heals a deaf man who had a speech impediment, according to the reflection read at the audience, Jesus — in the Gospel of Mark (7:31-35) — uses an Aramaic word that means “be open,” which is an invitation not just to the man who was deaf, but to all his disciples, then and today, the pope said.

“We, who have received the ‘ephphatha’ of the Spirit in baptism, also are called to be open” to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, he said.

“Christians who are closed always turn out badly because they are not Christians,” the pope said, “they are ideologues” with an ideology of being closed in on themselves.

Pope Francis suggested people ask themselves: “Do I truly love the Lord to the point of wanting to proclaim him? Do I want to become his witness or am I content to be his disciple? Do I take to heart the people I meet, bringing them to Jesus in prayer? Do I want to do something so that the joy of the Gospel, which has transformed my life, might make their lives more beautiful?”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said he has decided to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and that he has simplified the rites for a papal funeral.

In a Dec. 12 interview with Mexican news outlet N+, the pope, in good humor, discussed plans for his own funeral as well as the trips he still hopes to complete during his pontificate.

Still recovering from what he described as bronchitis that has affected him since late November – prompting him to cancel a planned trip to the United Arab Emirates – the pope said he feels “quite well” physically and continues to improve. Yet asked if people should be concerned about his health, he responded, “Yes, a little bit, yes. I need them to pray for my health.”

The pope said he had already discussed preparations for a papal funeral with his master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli. “We simplified them quite a bit,” he said, and jokingly added that “I will premiere the new ritual.”

Pope Francis celebrated the funeral Mass for Pope Benedict XVI in January 2023 following a rite based on, but not identical to, a papal funeral, since Pope Benedict was not a reigning pope at the time of his death.

Breaking with recent tradition, Pope Francis said he has chosen to be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major because of his “very strong connection” with the church. Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903, was the last pope not buried at St. Peter’s Basilica; Pope Leo’s tomb is in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Six popes are buried at St. Mary Major; the last to be interred there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.

Pope Francis said he wants to be buried in the Marian basilica because “it is my great devotion,” adding that he would visit St. Mary Major on Sunday mornings when he traveled to Rome before becoming pope. Pope Francis often prays before the icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) displayed in the basilica before and after his international trips to entrust his safety to Mary.

“The place is already prepared,” he said.

Asked about his future travels, the pope said that a trip to Belgium is “certain” and that two other trips, to Polynesia and Argentina, are pending.

In a statement published Dec. 13, the Belgian bishops’ conference said Pope Francis will visit in 2024 to mark the 600th anniversary of the country’s two prominent Catholic universities.

He added that despite being publicly critical of Pope Francis, Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, did invite the pope to visit Argentina. “It is important to distinguish between what a politician says on the campaign trail and what he or she will actually do afterward,” the pope said.

But he added that any long-distance trips will have to be “rethought” due to his age and limited mobility. Just days before his 87th birthday Dec. 17, Pope Francis said that “old age doesn’t come alone, old age doesn’t put on makeup, it comes as it is.”

“The limit that one is given at the end of the day, when everything here ends and something else begins, matures you a lot in old age,” he said. “It’s nice.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. Supreme Court said Dec. 13 it would take up a case concerning the abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since the high court overturned its previous abortion precedent last year.

Back in June 2022, the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and its related precedents that made abortion access a constitutional right. The Dobbs decision returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion back to the legislature.

The timing of the abortion pill case could result in the court issuing its decision next summer amid the 2024 presidential campaign.

A coalition of pro-life opponents of mifepristone, which is the first of two drugs used in a medication or chemical abortion, previously filed suit in an effort to revoke the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, arguing the government violated its own safety standards when it first approved the drug in 2000. The FDA has argued the drug poses little risk to the mother in the early weeks of pregnancy.

A federal judge in Texas ruled April 7 to suspend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, but that ruling was later blocked by the Supreme Court, which left the abortion pill on the market while litigation proceeds. That decision froze the lower court’s ruling to stay the FDA’s approval of the drug.

Following the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling limiting access to mifepristone — rolling back the FDA’s regulations expanding access to the drug while not voiding its initial approval from 2000 — the Justice Department and the abortion pill manufacturer Danco asked the high court in September to overturn the decision.

Proponents of the drug have argued mifepristone poses statistically little risk to women using it for abortion in the early weeks of pregnancy and claim the drug is being singled out for political reasons.

However, the justices indicated their review would be of the lower court’s ruling, not the FDA’s initial approval of the drug in 2000, as they did not take up the challengers’ petition for review on that decision.

Erin Hawley, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and vice president of its Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, said in a statement, “Every court so far has agreed that the FDA acted unlawfully in removing common-sense safeguards for women and authorizing dangerous mail-order abortions. We urge the Supreme Court to do the same.”

“The FDA has harmed the health of women and undermined the rule of law by illegally removing every meaningful safeguard from the chemical abortion drug regimen,” added Hawley, who also is the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “Like any federal agency, the FDA must rationally explain its decisions. Yet its removal of common-sense safeguards — like a doctor’s visit before women are prescribed chemical abortion drugs — does not reflect scientific judgment but rather a politically driven decision to push a dangerous drug regimen.”

Some reports describe the drug as “commonly used” because most abortions in the U.S. are carried out with the drug. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s abortion data from 2021, the last such report from a time with Roe still in place, showed 53% of abortions were carried out via medication. That report only surveyed legal abortions.

White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said in a Dec. 13 statement the ruling on mifepristone under judicial review “threatens to undermine the FDA’s scientific, independent judgment and would reimpose outdated restrictions on access to safe and effective medication abortion.”

“This Administration will continue to stand by FDA’s independent approval and regulation of mifepristone as safe and effective,” she said. “As the Department of Justice continues defending the FDA’s actions before the Supreme Court, President Biden and Vice President Harris remain firmly committed to defending women’s ability to access reproductive care. We continue to urge Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade — the only way to ensure the right to choose for women in every state.”

The Catholic Church opposes abortion, teaching that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death and that society must extend support to mothers and children.

Earlier this year, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, denounced the Biden administration’s attempts to loosen regulations around the abortion pill, saying the U.S. bishops “decry the continuing push for the destruction of innocent human lives and the loosening of vital safety standards for vulnerable women.”

“The Catholic Church has been and remains consistent in its teaching on upholding the dignity of all life,” said Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokeswoman, Dec. 13 in a statement to OSV News. “We need to put women and families first, serve women in need, and pray for the day when ending the lives of preborn children will become unthinkable.”

(OSV News) – “Pick 1,” directs a guide printed in the parish bulletin of St. Joseph Church in York, Pennsylvania. The command in the graphic is listed twice, over two columns: The first lists Mass times for the fourth Sunday of Advent, the second lists Christmas Mass times.

The takeaway: No single Mass fulfills both a Catholic’s Sunday obligation and the Christmas obligation. Because they are different liturgical days – even if they overlap on the calendar – they require attendance at different Masses.

Typically, Mass celebrated at any time on Sunday — including Sunday evening — fulfills Catholics’ obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Same goes for Saturday evening Masses that anticipate Sunday Mass. Likewise, an evening Mass before a holy day of obligation (such as Christmas) also typically satisfies a Catholic’s requirement to attend the holy day Mass.

This year, Christmas Eve is Sunday. So, many Catholics are asking if attending Sunday evening Mass this year can “count” for both.

Canon lawyer Jenna Marie Cooper recently tackled the query in her regular “Question Corner” column for OSV News.

“Because there are two days of obligation — Sunday and Christmas — this means that there are two distinct obligations to speak of. Each separate obligation needs to be fulfilled by attending a separate Mass,” she wrote in her column, published Dec. 4. “That is, you cannot ‘double dip’ by attending a Christmas Eve Mass that happens to be on Sunday and have this one Mass fulfill two obligations.”

That may seem straightforward, but there’s some nuance, Cooper explained.

“Now for the part that can get confusing: Even though you must attend two Masses to fulfill the two obligations, all this means is that you must go to Mass on that calendar day or attend a vigil Mass the evening before. The readings and prayers do not necessarily need to match the day whose obligation you are fulfilling,” she wrote. “So, you could go to a Christmas Vigil Mass on Sunday, Dec. 24, and have it count as your Sunday obligation this year; but if you intend for this to fulfill your Sunday obligation, then you must also attend another Mass on Christmas Day to fulfill your obligation for the holy day.”

“Of course, if you were to attend a vigil Mass on Saturday for Sunday, and then the Christmas Vigil Mass on Sunday (Christmas Eve) for Christmas Day, then you’ve got it all covered,” she said.

A Catholic also could technically attend Mass twice on Sunday, Dec. 24 — once for the Sunday obligation, and again in the evening for the Christmas obligation.

Cooper notes that when Christmas falls on a Sunday — as it did last year, and will again in 2033 — that “Christmas essentially replaces the Sunday liturgically, which means there is only one obligation.”

Regarding the meaning and necessity of a Catholic’s “Sunday obligation,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.”

It goes on to say, “The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.”

St. John Paul II expounded on the meaning of Sunday (and, by extension, holy days of obligation) and Catholics’ obligation to attend Mass — which is rooted in the Third Commandment to keep holy the Sabbath — in the 1988 apostolic letter “Dies Domini” (“The Lord’s Day”).

He wrote, “When its significance and implications are understood in their entirety, Sunday in a way becomes a synthesis of the Christian life and a condition for living it well. It is clear therefore why the observance of the Lord’s Day is so close to the church’s heart, and why in the church’s discipline it remains a real obligation. Yet more than as a precept, the observance should be seen as a need rising from the depths of Christian life. … The Eucharist is the full realization of the worship which humanity owes to God, and it cannot be compared to any other religious experience.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians must rely more on the Holy Spirit than on their own plans and strategies if they hope to fulfill their mission to share the good news of God’s love and of salvation in Christ, Pope Francis said.

The pope began his weekly general audience Dec. 6 explaining to the crowd that he once again asked an aide to read his catechesis “because I’m still struggling — I’m much better, but I struggle if I speak too much.”

Since late November, Pope Francis has had respiratory difficulties related to a bronchial infection.

Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, read the pope’s text, which was part of a yearlong series of talks about zeal for evangelization. But Pope Francis took the microphone back at the end of the audience to ask people to continue praying for peace in Ukraine and in Israel and Palestine.

The pope’s main text focused on the need to pray for and rely on the Holy Spirit’s assistance in evangelization. Without the Holy Spirit, the pope wrote, “all zeal is vain and falsely apostolic: it would only be our own and would not bear fruit.”

“The Spirit is the protagonist; he always precedes the missionaries and makes the fruit grow,” the pope said, and that is a comforting thought because then Christians know that while they have an obligation to share the Gospel, the results are always the work of the Holy Spirit.

“The Lord has not left us theological dispensations or a pastoral manual to apply, but the Holy Spirit who inspires the mission,” he said.

Mission outreach inspired by the Spirit “always has two characteristics: creativity and simplicity,” the pope’s text said, and those traits are especially necessary “in this age of ours, which does not help us have a religious outlook on life.”

At “the center of all evangelizing activity and all efforts at church renewal,” he said, is the simple Gospel truth: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.”

When sharing that Gospel message seems “difficult, arduous (and) apparently fruitless,” he said, people may be tempted to stop trying.

“Perhaps one takes refuge in safety zones, like the habitual repetition of things one always does, or in the alluring calls of an intimist spirituality or even in a misunderstood sense of the centrality of the liturgy,” he said. “They are temptations that disguise themselves as fidelity to tradition, but often, rather than responses to the Spirit, they are reactions to personal dissatisfactions.”

But Christians can be certain that relying on the Holy Spirit and focusing on the key truths of the Gospel, they will find “new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world.”

Pope Francis urged Christians to pray for the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance each day and not be afraid “because he, who is harmony, always keeps creativity and simplicity together, inspires communion and sends out on mission, opens to diversity and leads back to unity.”

(OSV News) – The Christmas season can be challenging for those in addiction recovery, but sacramental grace and practical strategies can keep those seeking sobriety on track, pastoral experts told OSV News.

“It’s a very, very stressful (time) for many people who struggle with addictions, because there are parties for work, there’s a lot of peer pressure and there’s a lot of family pressure — especially if the family is in denial that the person is struggling or that someone else in the family is in active addiction,” said Edmundite Father Thomas F. X. Hoar, president of St. Edmund’s Retreat, a Catholic retreat community with several recovery ministries located on Enders Island, Connecticut.

Alcohol consumption typically rises during the Christmas holidays, with some surveys indicating that U.S. adults may even double their drinking during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive alcohol use — defined as binge drinking (four to five drinks or more per occasion), heavy drinking (eight to 15 or more drinks per week) and alcohol use by pregnant women and those under age 21 — is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., claiming some 140,000 individuals annually and slashing an average 26 years of life expectancy per person.

With U.S. adults consuming a total of 35 billion drinks per year, the CDC estimates that one in six U.S. adults binge drink, 25% doing so at least weekly. Chronic health effects of alcohol abuse range from high blood pressure, heart and liver disease, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and cancer to increased risk of injuries, violence and opioid overdoses, as users frequently mix alcohol and drugs.

In addition, the CDC notes that the nation remains in the grip of an opioid epidemic, with close to 107,000 overdose deaths counted as of June.

For Catholics in addiction recovery, following the principles of 12-step recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous is vital during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season, experts told OSV News.

Equally important — and in fact part of the 12-step approach — is turning directly to God for help amid the threat holiday indulgence poses to sobriety.

“Double up on your prayer life,” said Father Hoar. “The second step (of the 12 steps) says that ‘we came to believe a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.’ I think a lot of times people in recovery skip over that.”

Sacramental grace is essential to lasting sobriety, said Father Douglas McKay, founder of the Philadelphia-based Our House Ministries, a Catholic recovery ministry, a papal “missionary of mercy” and rector of the Malvern Retreat House in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

“I’m always trying to get people to go to adoration, to confession, to Communion — even to become a daily communicant, especially during these trying times, these tempting times,” he said.

The Eucharist is the greatest source of strength for sobriety, he said.

“The Blessed Sacrament — that’s where all the blessings are flowing,” said Father McKay. “We can’t do anything without the Lord. He’s the vine and I’m the branch. And apart from him, I can do absolutely nothing. But in him, I can conquer all my temptations.”

Advent is “also a wonderful time to make a retreat” asking for the grace to pursue recovery, he said.

Our House Ministries executive director Ken Johnston listed several practical strategies those in recovery can take to ensure sobriety amid the holidays.

“Make sure you know where 12-step meetings are every day in case you need one,” he said, with both Father McKay and Father Hoar stressing the need to rely on 12-step sponsors, who support individuals in their recovery, when tempted.

Have a specific plan as well for navigating family and business holiday gatherings, which can trigger relapses into addiction, all three experts said.

“It’s pretty hard to stay away from the parties, but I would suggest that they make an appearance and not stay through those long hours of partying,” said Father McKay.

Johnston recommended that those in recovery “always have an escape plan,” so that they “have a way to leave” if needed.

“Bring your own car or, if with a friend or spouse, make sure they know you may need to leave unexpectedly,” he said.

In addition, “make sure you know what is contained in the food you eat, whether it is liquor in candies or marijuana in brownies,” he cautioned, adding that edible forms of marijuana and other intoxicants “are a big thing these days.”

Watch over your drink, he said, and “be very careful if you set it down. Not only could someone slip something in it, but alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks can have the same appearance and you don’t want to accidentally ingest a mixed drink.”

Family members, though well-meaning, should avoid bringing up scenes from past Christmases, reminding loved ones in recovery of addiction behaviors that occurred at previous gatherings, said Father McKay.

“Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Now, remember what happened when you were using drugs or alcohol and what you did to your family and your kids,'” said Father McKay. “Well, that’s the last thing (those in recovery) need to hear. … Right away the guilt and shame come back, and they want to numb themselves again.”

In some cases, simply avoiding parties with alcohol — or hosting non-alcoholic gatherings directly — may be the best option, said Father Hoar.

Above all, focusing on the reason for the season is key, said experts.

“It’s also a time for us to really come to that deeper intimacy with Christ,” said Father Hoar. “The King of Kings comes in humility. For someone in addiction, you know, there’s a struggle with shame and guilt, but Christ came to bring light to the message of His coming, and to bring a new sense of hope.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Advent call for “vigilance” does not mean staying awake and watchful out of fear, but rather out of a longing for the coming of the Lord, Pope Francis wrote.

Sometimes people think of vigilance “as an attitude motivated by fear of impending doom, as if a meteorite were about to plunge from the sky,” he said in the text of his commentary on the Gospel reading for Dec. 3, the first Sunday of Advent.

Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer from his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, but explained that his bronchitis, while improving, was still making it difficult to speak so the text of his commentary and of his appeals for peace were read by Msgr. Paolo Braida, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

In the Gospel reading, Mk 13:33-37, Jesus tells the parable of the servants awaiting their master’s return.

“The servants’ vigilance is not one of fear, but of longing, of waiting to go forth to meet their Lord who is coming,” the pope’s text said. “They remain in readiness for his return because they care for him, because they have in mind that when he returns, they will make sure he finds a welcoming and orderly home.”

That kind of vigilance and expectation should mark the watchfulness of Christians as they prepare to welcome Jesus at Christmas, to welcome him at the end of time and, he said, to welcome him “as he comes to meet us in the Eucharist, in his word (and) in our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.”

Pope Francis encouraged people to carefully prepare their hearts with prayer and with charity.

“A good program for Advent,” he suggested, would be “to encounter Jesus coming in every brother and sister who needs us and to share with them what we can: listening, time, concrete assistance.”

Advent, he said, also is a good time to “approach his forgiveness” through the sacrament of reconciliation and make more time for prayer and Bible reading.

Remaining vigilant may take practice, he said, and starts by not letting oneself be distracted by “pointless things” and by trying not to complain so much.