On the evening of Dec. 24, Catholics in Alaska and around the world will gather in their local parishes to celebrate the traditional Christmas Midnight Mass. At Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz will celebrate the Midnight Mass beginning at midnight, and it will be broadcast live on KTUU Channel 2.
I travel a lot for my mission in Magadan, Russia, always wearing my religious habit or a clerical cassock to identify me as a priest. Exceptional encounters and conversations arise that would not otherwise happen if people didn’t know I was a priest. I jokingly say that I witness many conversions on plane trips as I walk down the aisle looking for my seat. I can see the fear in the eyes of many who are quietly praying, “Please God, don’t let that religious fanatic sit next to me.”
I had just returned from a meeting of Ignatian Associates, a faith-based group centered on prayer and apostolic activity. When I arrived at the meeting, I noticed the table was piled with loaves of bread, oatmeal bread, French bread, baguettes, none of them wrapped. They looked like someone had just dumped them.
Here is a sampling of upcoming events and news briefs from across the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.
Simbang Gabi is a series of special Masses leading up to Christmas. The celebration of the nine-day novena is one of the longest-running and most popular Catholic Filipino religious traditions, enduring more than 600 years. At the Masses, the faithful especially focus on the Blessed Virgin Mary and ready their hearts to worthily welcome and receive the Child Jesus at Christmas.
The fallout since the attacks is what has been most surprising to my brother bishops and me. Here in America, a land of immigrants, governors from across our nation announced that they would refuse to take in Syrian refugees. Here in Alaska, Governor Walker has not supported this, for which I am grateful.
The funeral Mass and memorial Masses for Father Thomas Weise have been finalized. Father Weise, 46, served as a priest for the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska. He died on Dec. 6 after suffering a Nov. 25 heart attack while visiting with family in California for Thanksgiving.
Kathleen is quick to point out that deteriorating marriages don’t all look the same. The reasons for marital breakdown are many. “Retrouvaille isn’t just for those who are contemplating divorce. It’s for couples who are experiencing disillusionment, or even misery, in their marriages. They may be living with it and not contemplating divorce.” Marriage, according to Retrouvaille, consists of four stages: romance, disillusionment, misery and awakening to joy, with most couples getting divorced in the misery stage.
An update on the Diocese of Juneau’s website noted: “With heartfelt prayers of condolence and our sincere regret, Bishop Edward J. Burns and the Diocese of Juneau shares that our beloved Fr. Thomas Joseph L. Weise entered into eternal life yesterday evening, Sunday, Dec. 6th, at approximately 10 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, California.”
On his Twitter account Bishop Burns called for the faithful to keep Father Weise in prayer.
The ranks of Alaskan men discerning, training and being ordained to the Catholic priesthood is growing into a steady stream. After nearly a decade without any ordinations to the priesthood, over the past three years two Alaskans have been ordained priests. Five more young men are in formal seminary training and several others have visited seminaries in recent months to consider the priesthood. This vocational uptick is not limited to Alaska. Last year, for the first time in 14 years, the Catholic Church ordained more than 500 men to the priesthood. That is expected to continue in 2015