IMAGE: CNS photo/Michael Alexander, Georgia BulletinBy Andrew NelsonJACKSON,Ga. (CNS) -- As a kid, Richard McPhee played the clarinet. But when hisfirefighter father asked for "Amazing Grace" at his funeral with the skirl ofthe pipes, McPhee pledged to his father, he'd take care of it.Nowthe family does not take a trip without the bagpipes. From national parks andMount Vesuvius in Pompeii to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the pipeshave made an appearance.Duringa recent morning at their parish church, St. Mary, Mother of God in Jackson,the boom of the drum and the pipes could be heard from the parking lot. It wasMissy McPhee swinging the mallets with a flourish, keeping the beat to Rich's pipesfor "Scotland the Brave."Thiswas a rare unscheduled morning for the McPhees, especially in March. The couplehas plenty of performances on and before St. Patrick's Day -- in Atlanta andoutside the city.TheMcPhees are members of the Atholl Highlanders Pipes and Drums USA. The band perfo...
JACKSON,
Ga. (CNS) -- As a kid, Richard McPhee played the clarinet. But when his
firefighter father asked for "Amazing Grace" at his funeral with the skirl of
the pipes, McPhee pledged to his father, he'd take care of it.
Now
the family does not take a trip without the bagpipes. From national parks and
Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the pipes
have made an appearance.
During
a recent morning at their parish church, St. Mary, Mother of God in Jackson,
the boom of the drum and the pipes could be heard from the parking lot. It was
Missy McPhee swinging the mallets with a flourish, keeping the beat to Rich's pipes
for "Scotland the Brave."
This
was a rare unscheduled morning for the McPhees, especially in March. The couple
has plenty of performances on and before St. Patrick's Day -- in Atlanta and
outside the city.
The
McPhees are members of the Atholl Highlanders Pipes and Drums USA. The band performed
in Atlanta's St. Patrick's Day Parade, held March 11. The day before Richard played
at the annual tribute to Civil War pastor Father Thomas O'Reilly at Atlanta
City Hall.
The
McPhees are natives of Rochester, New York. They grew up in the same parish,
St. Jerome. Born to families with generations of firefighters and police
officers, they trace Celtic roots to Scottish and Irish immigrants.
They
knew each other as teens, but only because Richard was friends with Missy's
older brother. There weren't any romantic sparks. That is until Richard came
home from the U.S. Military Academy and called her. That began a courtship.
They exchanged vows at their parish on St. Patrick's Day in 1979.
That
was the start of an itinerant career in the military of more than 30 years.
"We
left, and we never really went home," he told The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
There
were deployments to conflict zones, from the deserts of the Middle East to the
Balkans and the Korean Peninsula. There were more than 20 moves over the years.
Through
it all, the two credit their faith for keeping their family together. The
Catholic chapel on a military installation became an instant source of friends
as the McPhee family packed up to a new state or country, with three children
in tow.
Shared
faith tied the family together through all those hardships, Missy said about
the constant moving. "That is the core of our family, our faith."
One
of the big tests was during the Gulf War in 1991. Missy was giving birth in a
hospital in Germany to their youngest child.
"I
was in the desert," Richard said. "You better have a strong faith."
They
finally settled in central Georgia after serving at military bases around the
South. He retired holding the rank of brigadier general after a tour at the
now-closed Fort McPherson in Atlanta.
Their
son, Rich, graduated in 2009 from Our Lady of Mercy High School in
Fayetteville, and from the U.S. Military Academy in
2013. He serves in the Army. Their two daughters work, one as a social worker
and the other as a physician assistant.
Missy
and Richard's kilts are green with red stripes of the Murray tartan. With a nod
to the family tree, the neckties are the color of the McPhee family clan. Pins
of the crests of the McPhee clan and her Connell clan decorate Missy's
Glengarry cap. Along with them is a service flag pin with two stars for their
active duty son and daughter-in-law.
Missy,
58, on the tenor drum, and Richard, 60, on the pipes, acknowledged playing in a
Celtic band may not be for everyone. But Atholl Highlanders works with anyone,
no prior musical experience necessary. They'll teach anyone to play the drums
and the bagpipes.
"There
are only nine notes. Simple," Richard said.
Founded 30 years ago, Atholl
Highlanders is a nonprofit organization that has earned
top awards at the Savannah Scottish Games and the Charleston Scottish Games in
South Carolina in recent years.
The
pipes are a part of the family. "We go nowhere without our pipes," acknowledged
Richard, who in 2014 fulfilled his father's wish that at his funeral he play
"Amazing Grace" on the pipes.
While
still on active duty as a general, Richard even played for the couple's son on
his first day as a West Point cadet. His father told him to open his window at
9 p.m. Richard stood on the parade grounds and proceeded to play.
National
parks, family vacations, no reason necessary; the McPhee children had to get
used to being embarrassed.
"They
have been a part of our life," Richard said.
-
- -
Nelson
is a staff writer at The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Archdiocese of
Atlanta.
By Rhina GuidosWASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande has been credited withinspiring Blessed Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, toward a journey of defendingthe poor that led to his martyrdom in 1980. But now, Father Grande's life seemsto have inspired the current archbishop of San Salvador, who issued a pastoral letter remembering,praising and apologizing for the long-overdue recognition of Catholics,including U.S. church members, who suffered persecution and death during CentralAmerica's armed conflicts."In my capacity as pastor of this church, I have to acknowledge withhumility that we have committed many mistakes," Archbishop Jose LuisEscobar Alas said in the letter issued March12, the 40th anniversary of Father Grande's killing. "We have crossed the threshold of the thirdmillennium in the Salvadoran archdiocese without having pronounced a word ofrecognition for all the men and women who were victims of persecution, torture,repression" and who ult...
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande has been credited with
inspiring Blessed Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, toward a journey of defending
the poor that led to his martyrdom in 1980.
But now, Father Grande's life seems
to have inspired the current archbishop of San Salvador, who issued a pastoral letter remembering,
praising and apologizing for the long-overdue recognition of Catholics,
including U.S. church members, who suffered persecution and death during Central
America's armed conflicts.
"In my capacity as pastor of this church, I have to acknowledge with
humility that we have committed many mistakes," Archbishop Jose Luis
Escobar Alas said in the letter issued March
12, the 40th anniversary of Father Grande's killing. "We have crossed the threshold of the third
millennium in the Salvadoran archdiocese without having pronounced a word of
recognition for all the men and women who were victims of persecution, torture,
repression" and who ultimately died as martyrs, he said.
The archbishop unveiled the letter in the hamlet of El Paisnal, the
hometown of Father Grande, a vocal priest who worked with poor rural communities
in El Salvador and advocated for better social conditions for them. He died in
1977 after being shot more than a dozen times in an ambush that also resulted
in the death of two of his rural parishioners, Manuel Solorzano, a man in his
70s, and Nelson Rutilio Lemus, a teenager of 15 or 16, who were accompanying him
to a novena honoring St. Joseph, the patron saint of their hometown. Some say his death led Archbishop Romero, who was a close friend, to
take up Father Grande's devotion to the poor.
The document of more than 200 pages urges Catholics and "people of goodwill" to learn about and follow the example of Father Grande and other slain
members of the church, including U.S. Father Stanley Rother, and
four U.S. churchwomen who lost their lives while serving the poor of Central
America in the 1980s. The Vatican announced March 13 that Father Rother, brutally
murdered in 1981 while serving a poor indigenous community in Guatemala during a mission
for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, will be beatified in
September.
Archbishop Escobar praised Father Rother, who was born on a farm, for his
contributions to agriculture in Guatemala and identifying "as one more peasant"
with the local community of Santiago Atitlan, where he served. He also praised four
U.S. churchwomen -- Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and laywoman
Jean Donovan -- who were beaten, raped and murdered by government soldiers in El
Salvador in 1980. Though their work was precarious, they decided to stay with
those who were suffering in the country, Archbishop Escobar said.
He said he hoped all of El Salvador's Catholic martyrs would one day be
recognized but focused for now on 24 lives who were "consecrated to God" and
who died because of their faith: two bishops, 17 priests, a
seminarian about to be ordained, three religious sisters and a lay woman. He
also acknowledged that an untold number of Salvadoran "lay martyrs" whose lives
are now being documented also perished. More than 70,000 are estimated to have died
in the Salvadoran conflict that lasted roughly from the late 1970s until peace
accords were signed in 1992.
"I'm sorry that this act of justice and charity for our
martyrs wasn't carried out," long ago, he said in the letter. Some of it could
have been due to practices and spirituality "contrary to the renewal of the
Second Vatican Council" and other church teachings from Latin America that
focused on the poor and that were not always welcomed by some in the church of El
Salvador.
The oligarchy, and "sons and daughters of darkness," who owned
much of the country's mass media, helped in those days drive a false
message, one that promoted slanderous views and defamation of people who were faithful Christians, Archbishop Escobar wrote. Many Salvadorans believed that
Catholic men and women who were helping the poor were communists, politically
minded enemies of the system, wolves in sheep's clothing, "guerrilleros," members
dangerous organizations, the archbishop said.
"They were none of this. They were and are martyrs," Archbishop
Escobar wrote.
The letter came from an archbishop who, much like his
predecessor, Archbishop Romero, made a quiet entrance to the post, but has
become more active on social matters, particularly those disproportionately affecting
the country's poor. His first pastoral letter issued in 2016 focused on the El
Salvador's rampant violence, which has called attention to the country as one
of the most dangerous places in the world not at war. Archbishop Escobar recently
joined efforts asking El Salvador's legislature to ban metal mining in the
country and even joined a demonstration against it.
The letter, titled, "You will also testify, because you have been with me
since the beginning," is a reference to the Gospel of St. John and features a cover
depicting Father Grande's funeral at San Salvador's Metropolitan Cathedral of
the Holy Savior, where Jesus greets a long of line of people dressed in white
entering the church. In the illustration, Jesus holds a palm frond in one hand,
a symbol of martyrdom, and the crown of thorns in the other.
While the letter was issued March 12, it was publicly presented March 14, steps away from Father Grande's tomb. Father Estefan Turcios, national
director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in El Salvador, who was in El
Paisnal for the presentation, said the letter was an homage of which Father
Grande was the focus. However, he said, the archbishop also deemed it important
to mention the lives of others so that they, too, can serve as models to follow
in a time when El Salvador is experiencing serious violence, one that is almost
"worse than the war."
The country still has difficulty discussing the conflict, Father Turcios said, but the letter serves as way to
make others aware of what happened so it is not erased from the country's
historic memory and to acknowledge those who died for the Gospel.
In late 2016, the Archdiocese of El Salvador announced the
completion of part of the process that it hopes soon will lead to the
beatification of Father Grande and ultimately to his canonization. They also
recently submitted to the Vatican documents for a case of a medical healing, a
possible miracle attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Romero, who
was beatified in 2015.
"What better place than here (close to) Father Rutilio
Grande to make the presentation of this letter," Archbishop Escobar said during
the event. "We have to honor those who deserve it. ... Let's come to know
them, love them, have a devotion to them, invoke them, imitate them because
they have marked an imprint in our country that we must follow. It is a
beautiful imprint of fidelity to Christ, of fidelity to the Gospel. From heaven,
they see us with love, they intercede for us and bless us."
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Matthew Muller was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for a kidnapping so elaborate and outlandish that investigators first thought his victims were carrying out a bizarre hoax....
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Matthew Muller was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for a kidnapping so elaborate and outlandish that investigators first thought his victims were carrying out a bizarre hoax....
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A man found dead inside a burned home in southern Illinois had been shot in the head, and a gun was found in his ex-wife's SUV after she drove into a nearby lake and died shortly after the fire was reported, authorities said Friday....
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A man found dead inside a burned home in southern Illinois had been shot in the head, and a gun was found in his ex-wife's SUV after she drove into a nearby lake and died shortly after the fire was reported, authorities said Friday....
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida prosecutor who thrust herself into the forefront of the anti-death penalty movement is a political novice who was elected just seven months ago....
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida prosecutor who thrust herself into the forefront of the anti-death penalty movement is a political novice who was elected just seven months ago....
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A veteran social worker accused of coaching congregants and their children on what to say during a 2015 child abuse investigation of her secretive religious sect has resigned, an attorney for a child welfare agency said Friday....
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A veteran social worker accused of coaching congregants and their children on what to say during a 2015 child abuse investigation of her secretive religious sect has resigned, an attorney for a child welfare agency said Friday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump defiantly refused to back down Friday from his explosive claim that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones, and sidestepped any blame for the White House decision to highlight an unverified report that Britain helped carry out the alleged surveillance....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump defiantly refused to back down Friday from his explosive claim that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones, and sidestepped any blame for the White House decision to highlight an unverified report that Britain helped carry out the alleged surveillance....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Friday with participants at an annual course on the internal forum, organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary.In his words to the group, the Pope spoke about the formation of good confessors, focusing on three characteristics which should guide their work.Listen to our report: Firstly, Pope Francis said, a good confessor is a true friend of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and a person dedicated to prayer. A Ministry of Reconciliation "bound up in prayer", he said, is a credible reflection of God's mercy and will “avoid the harshness and misunderstandings” that are sometimes associated with the Sacrament. Prayer is the first guarantee for avoiding harsh attitudes, pointlessly judging the sinner and not the sin, he said.Pope Francis told participants that they cannot forgive through the Sacrament without the awareness of first having been forgiven themselves. He urged them to pray for humility and “the gift of a wounded hea...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Friday with participants at an annual course on the internal forum, organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary.In his words to the group, the Pope spoke about the formation of good confessors, focusing on three characteristics which should guide their work.
Listen to our report:
Firstly, Pope Francis said, a good confessor is a true friend of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and a person dedicated to prayer. A Ministry of Reconciliation "bound up in prayer", he said, is a credible reflection of God's mercy and will “avoid the harshness and misunderstandings” that are sometimes associated with the Sacrament. Prayer is the first guarantee for avoiding harsh attitudes, pointlessly judging the sinner and not the sin, he said.
Pope Francis told participants that they cannot forgive through the Sacrament without the awareness of first having been forgiven themselves. He urged them to pray for humility and “the gift of a wounded heart” so that they are able to understand other people's wounds and heal them with the oil of mercy.
Secondly, the Pope said the good confessor is a man of the Spirit, a man of discernment. How much harm is done to the Church through a lack of discernment, he added. Discernment, he insisted, enables a confessor to distinguish and not "tar all with the same brush" despite the many different and delicate situations people bring to the confessional.
Pope Francis said that if a confessor becomes aware of the presence of genuine spiritual disturbances, confirmed through a ”healthy collaboration” with specialists in human sciences, he must not hesitate to refer the issue to an exorcist, chosen with “great care and great prudence”.
Finally, Pope Francis concluded, the confessional is also a true place of evangelization and thus of formation. In the brief dialogue that is woven with the penitent, he said the confessor is called to discern what may be most useful or even necessary to the spiritual journey of that brother or sister. He stressed that confession is a real pastoral priority and he urged them never to limit the availability of the Sacrament to anyone who comes asking for it.
Please find below the English translation of Pope Francis’ address
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to meet you in this first audience with you after the Jubilee of Mercy, on the occasion of the annual Course on the Internal Forum. I address warm greetings to the Cardinal Major Penitentiary, and thank him for his kind remarks. I greet the Regent, the Prelates, the Officials and the staff of the Penitentiary, the Colleges of the ordinary and extraordinary penitentiaries of the Papal Basilicas in Rome, and all of you, participants in this course.
In reality, I admit, this Penitentiary is the type of Tribunal I truly like! It is a “tribunal of mercy”, to which we turn to obtain that indispensable medicine that is divine mercy.
Your course on the internal forum, which contributes to the formation of good confessors, is more useful than ever, and I would say even necessary in our times. Certainly, one does not become a good confessor thanks to a course, no: that of the confessional is a long education, that lasts a lifetime. But who is a “good confessor”? How does one become a good confessor?
I would like to indicate, in this respect, three aspects.
1. The “good confessor” is, first of all, a true friend of Jesus the Good Shepherd. Without this friendship, it will be difficult to develop that fatherliness so necessary in the ministry of Reconciliation. Being friends of Jesus means first of all cultivating prayer: both personal prayer with the Lord, incessantly asking for the gift of pastoral charity, and the specific prayer for the exercise of the task of the confessor and for the faithful, brothers and sisters who come to us in search of God’s mercy.
A ministry of Reconciliation “bound in prayer” will be a credible response to God’s mercy, and will avoid the harshness and misunderstandings that at times can be generated even in the Sacramental encounter. A confessor who prays is well aware of being the first sinner and the first to be forgiven. One cannot forgive in the Sacrament without the awareness of having been forgiven first. Therefore, prayer is the first guarantee for avoiding harsh attitudes, pointlessly judging the sinner and not the sin.
In prayer it is necessary to implore the gift of a wounded heart, able to comprehend the wounds of others and to heal them with the oil of mercy, that which the good Samaritan poured on the wounds of the poor victim on whom no-one took pity (cf. Luke, 10:34).
In prayer we must ask for the precious gift of humility, so that it may appear increasingly clear that forgiveness is a free and supernatural gift of God, of which we are simple, if necessary, administrators, by the very will of Jesus; and He will certainly be glad if we make extensive use of His mercy.
In prayer, then, let us always invoke the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of discernment and compassion. The Spirit enables us to empathise with the sufferings of our sisters and brothers who enter the confessional, and to accompany them with prudent and mature discernment and with true compassion in their sufferings, caused by the poverty of sin.
2. The good confessor is, in second place, a man of the Spirit, a man of discernment. How much harm is done to the Church by a lack of discernment! How much harm is done to souls by a way of acting that is not rooted in humbly listening to Holy Spirit and to God’s will. The confessor does not act according to his own will and does not teach his own doctrine. He is called always to do the will of God alone, in full communion with the Church, of whom he is the minister, that is, a servant.
Discernment allows us always to distinguish, rather than confuse, and to never “tar all with the same brush”. Discernment educates our outlook and our heart, enabling that delicacy of spirit that is so necessary before those who open up the shrine of their own conscience, to receive light, peace and mercy.
Discernment is necessary also because those who approach the confessional may come from the most desperate situations; they could also have spiritual disturbances, whose nature should be submitted to careful discernment, taking into account all the existential, ecclesial, natural and supernatural circumstances. When the confessor becomes aware of the presence of genuine spiritual disturbances – that may be in large part psychic, and therefore must be confirmed by means of healthy collaboration with the human sciences – he must not hesitate to refer the issue to those who, in the diocese, are charged with this delicate and necessary ministry, namely, exorcists. But these must be chosen with great care and great prudence.
3. Finally, the confessional is also a true place of evangelisation. Indeed, there is no evangelisation more authentic than the encounter with the God of mercy, with the God Who is Mercy. Encountering mercy means encountering the true face of God, just as the Lord Jesus revealed Him to us.
The confessional is therefore a place of evangelisation and thus of formation. In the dialogue that is woven with the penitent – although brief – the confessor is called to discern what may be most useful or even necessary to the spiritual journey of that brother or sister; at times it becomes necessary to re-proclaim the most elementary truths of faith, the incandescent nucleus, the kerygma, without which the same experience of God’s love and His mercy would remain as if mute; at times it means indicating the foundations of moral life, always in relation to the truth, good and the will of God. It is a work of prompt and intelligent discernment, that can be of great benefit to the faithful.
The confessor, indeed, is called every day to venture to the “peripheries of evil and sin” – this is an ugly periphery! - and his work is a real pastoral priority. Confessing is a pastoral priority. Please, do not let there be those signs that say, “Confessions only on Monday and Wednesday at such-and-such a time”. One confesses whenever one is asked. And if you are there [in the confessional] praying, stay with the confessional open, which is the open heart of God.
Dear brothers, I bless you and I hope that you will be good confessors, immersed in the relationship with Christ, capable of discernment in the Holy Spirit and ready to seize the opportunity to evangelise.
Always pray for your brothers and sisters who seek the Sacrament of forgiveness. And please, pray for me too.
And I would not like to finish without something that came to mind when the Cardinal Prefect spoke. He spoke about keys, and about Our Lady, and I liked this, so I will tell you something … two things. It was very good for me when I was young to read the book of Saint Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori on Our Lady: “The Glories of Mary”. Always, at the end of each chapter, there was a miracle of the Madonna, who entered into life and sorted things out. And the second thing. On Our Lady there is a legend, a tradition that they told me exists in the South of Italy: Our Lady of the Mandarins. It is a land where there are many mandarins, isn’t it? And they say that she is the patroness of thieves [laughter]. They say that thieves go to pray there. And the legend – they say – is that the thieves who pray to Our Lady of the Mandarins, when they die, they form a line in front of Saint Peter who has the keys, and opens and lets one pass, then he lets another one pass; and the Madonna, when she sees one of these, makes a sign for them to hide. Then, once everyone has passed by, Peter closes up and comes during the night, and the Madonna calls him from the window, and lets him enter through the window. It is a folk tale but it is beautiful: forgiving with the Mother next to you, forgiving with the Mother. Because this woman, this man who comes to the confessional, has a Mother in Heaven who opens the door and will help them at that moment to enter Heaven. Always the Madonna, because the Madonna helps us too in showing mercy. I thank the Cardinal for these two signs: the keys, and Our Lady. Many thanks.
I invite you – it is time – to pray the Angelus together. “Angelus Domini…”
Blessing
Don’t say that thieves go to Heaven! Don’t say this! [laughter]
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday evening presided over a penitential service in St. Peter's Basilica in anticipation of the ’24 Hours for the Lord’ initiative.During the service, the Holy Father celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation for seven penitents with confession and individual absolution.These included three men and four women, all of whom were lay people. A communique from the Holy See Press Office said the confessions lasted a total of around 50 minutes.The service took place one week before all churches around the world are asked to offer the sacrament of Confession, a request made by the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of the New Evangelization.The theme of the initiative this year comes from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: ‘I desire Mercy’ (Mt 9:13).On Friday 24th March, the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere and Le Stimmate di San Francesco will remain open from 8pm for Confession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacram...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday evening presided over a penitential service in St. Peter's Basilica in anticipation of the ’24 Hours for the Lord’ initiative.
During the service, the Holy Father celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation for seven penitents with confession and individual absolution.
These included three men and four women, all of whom were lay people. A communique from the Holy See Press Office said the confessions lasted a total of around 50 minutes.
The service took place one week before all churches around the world are asked to offer the sacrament of Confession, a request made by the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of the New Evangelization.
The theme of the initiative this year comes from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: ‘I desire Mercy’ (Mt 9:13).
On Friday 24th March, the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere and Le Stimmate di San Francesco will remain open from 8pm for Confession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Saturday 25th March, a service of thanksgiving will take place at 5pm in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia. Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of the New Evangelization, will preside over First Vespers of the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
People around the world can show their support for the initiative by using the #24hoursfortheLord hashtag.
