Meinrad Hoops

This past weekend marked the end of my six year career on the basketball team for the St. Meinrad Ravens. Yes, that is correct, we have a basketball team. Every year, the Knights of Columbus in Chicago put on a basketball tournament for all of the seminaries in the Midwest. It is really an amazingly great time. I still remember my first year thinking it would be a big joke, but then I saw someone dunk in a game, and I realized that there was some good competition out there.

My first two years, we were pretty much the doormats of the tournament. Then we picked up a few good players from Owensboro my third year, and we went on to win the whole thing in a Hoosiersesque run to the title.

This year, we finished second place. We beat some really good teams on the way to second place. We were winning the championship game at half time, but we couldn't pull out the W.

The best tradition of the whole weekend, though, has always been the spaghetti dinner at my parents' house on the way back to St. Meinrad. This year was no different. My mom fed an army for one last time, although the team is in negotiations to stop by again after next year's tourney, even though I won't be playing anymore.

Anyways, the tourney is probably another one of those things people wouldn't think goes on in the seminary, so I thought I'd share the story with all of you.

God bless,
Dcn. John H

March For Life

Last Thursday, almost all of our seminary traveled out to Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life. The March is an absolutely amazing event and if any of you ever get the chance to go you should definitely join a trip! It is the largest gathering of Catholics, and it really affirms people young and old in their faith. There are Masses all weekend long with Cardinals and Bishops all over town. The night before the March, the Vigil Mass for Life is held in the Basilica Church in Washington D.C. You can watch it on EWTN every year. It is an unbelievably awesome liturgy. There are usually about 5 cardinals present and there are always tons of priests and deacons as well. There is quite literally no room to move, as young people are in the basilica like sardines. The fire chief must take the night off every year!

The day of the March, the Archbishop usually celebrates a Mass in the Basilica's Crypt for all of the youth of the Archdiocese. There were about 700 attendees at this year's Mass. I was fortunate enough to be able to deacon the Mass this year, which was really special.

After Mass, marchers congregate on the National Mall for a few hours as special speakers, senators, congressman etc. speak out against the Roe vs. Wade decision. In the past, President Bush would phone in every year. Not surprisingly, the new administration was not as hospitable towards the pro-life movement. The most impressive part of the rally, though, is the presence of all the women who silently hold signs on the stage and throughout the audience that say "I regret my abortion." It really is an amazing witness.

The March itself is fairly short, lasting only about 1 mile. Mostly the youth pray and carry banners. The March ends on the steps of the Supreme Court. Although it is short, it lasts upwards of about 2 hours because there are so many people marching. The usual turnout is around 500,000 - 750,000 people.

On a related note, the following video is a message about life that aired all day on BET the day our current president was sworn in. The people who put it together are trying to raise enough money to put it on during the Super Bowl. Check out the thirty second spot at www.CatholicVote.org

God bless!
Dcn. John Hollowell

My Nativity Homily

It was a pleasure to come back to Nativity and preach on vocations. I also really enjoyed talking with the youth at school and also at the religious education classes on Sunday morning. I really wanted to commend the catechists who offer their time and talent to teach the youngsters every week. I also wanted to commend all the youth who show up to learn about their faith every week. It was really inspiring to see so many young people at the religious education classes. Anyway, here is my homily, as best as I can remember. I actually preached off of a fairly sparse outline, so I tried to type it up for Jeremy because he didn't want to repeat anything I said. Once I typed it up, I though I mine as well post it if anyone wants to read it. Thanks again for being such a loving congregation; it was very easy to preach to so many smiling and attentive faces. God bless!

Dcn. John H

The Baptism of the Lord - Vocations Awareness Week

I’m pretty pleased, this morning, I got my homily down to 42 minutes, so I think I’m getting the hang of this preaching thing.

It is a pleasure to be back here at Nativity. This weekend, we begin what is known as vocations awareness week. Probably not a date on most peoples’ calendars, but nonetheless a very important week for our Church universal, and our own parish.

Today’s readings give us a good focus for which to think about vocations awareness. The first reading is from Isaiah’s servant song, a section where Isaiah speaks of the anticipated Christ, and also, we can say then he longs for those who carry out Christ’s ministry today.

The Gospel is the baptism of Jesus, which is from the first chapter of Mark, so in Mark’s Gospel, the Baptism is in a very real way the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, which takes me back to an ordination or a marriage where a person begins to live publicly a life which they have been preparing for for many years.

I was speaking with Sr. Theresa Clare and Sr. Marie Grace a few months ago about how a lot of the orders of sisters are decreasing. I asked them why they thought the numbers were decreasing. They said a lot of the women they speak with feel that now they don’t need to be sisters in order to accomplish work within the church. These women felt that there was no need to be a sister because they can now teach, work in hospitals, etc. I thought how sad that was, but also how that really captures the climate that we are in now today. The idea that what I took away from having the sisters in class was multiplication tables or state capitals is crazy. The things they taught me were definitely important, and I received a great education here at Nativity, but the value of being taught by the sisters was what they represented to us, their living out of their vow in front of our very eyes, that is what was important about having them in class.

There are 2 sacraments of vocation – marriage and holy orders, and I can say from personal experience that it is a great gift to have these two sacraments which hold each other in balance. I know for me, having friends who are getting married and having children now, getting to watch them live out their marriages through sacrifice and recommitment, each morning waking up and recommitting themselves to each other. Sometimes if I’ve had a long day of meetings or classes, and I think I’ve had it tough, I think about the difficulties that my friends are living out in their vocation, and that inspires me to recommit myself to my vows. The interesting thing too is that they don’t ever realize the significance of their marriages and the sign value and the witness that some attach to their marriage. Likewise, my friends tell me that I’m a sign of hope to them as well, and likewise, I don’t walk around during the day thinking about how I’m a witness to others in my vocation. And so, each side, those married and those living out a religious vocation, are really inspired by the other, and there is balance and beauty in that.

Throughout the Bible, individuals and also communities are compared to trees or vines. The good trees are nourished by the gardener, and the bad ones are cut down and burned. I think that is a good analogy for vocations. What kind of marriages and priests and sisters is a community sending out into the world? What fruit are we bearing as a tree?

I have three very short suggestions of things we can do. 1) Pray. I know people think “well, he is supposed to say that.” However, it is Jesus’ only advice about vocations when he says “pray that the master of the harvest will send workers into the harvest.” So at your meal prayers, during the day, or maybe at night before you go to bed, pray a quick prayer that God will send us many holy vocations. 2) If you see someone who would be a good priest, tell them that. That seems to be the one common thread among all of the vocation stories I’ve heard is that when guys start discerning the priesthood, they can always recall times when people told them they should have been a priest. A teenager might think you’re crazy if you say something like that, but, then again, they’re going to think you’re crazy anyways, so you mine as well get a vocations plug in there as well. I can still remember in 5th grade when Kelly Hannigan told me I should be a priest. I don’t remember much from 5th grade, as good a job as Rose Haltom did, so I thought it was strange that I could remember that incident with great detail. Also, when I was at Mass with my aunt, during what she deemed to be an especially bad homily, don’t worry, it wasn’t you Fr. Pat, she leaned over to me and said, “you need to be a priest.”

The third thing I leave you with is the need to be open as a family to the idea of our children becoming sisters and priests. I’ve met a lot of guys in the seminary who come from good Catholic families but nonetheless met a lot of resistance from their families in pursuing the priesthood. I can’t help but think about how truly sad that is. It doesn’t take much. People always ask me what my parents did to trick me into becoming a priest, and I tell them it was very simple. We always gather to plan the weeks travel arrangements for practices, and I recall very clearly, on just a few occasions, my dad saying, “ you know if any of you would ever consider becoming a priest or a religious sister, we’d support you in that.” I pray that we may all be open as families to our own children pursuing the priesthood and religious life.

Nativity is a special place. I try and tell people about it all the time. My best friends are people I went to grade school with here. I’m not sure what makes it so special, maybe it is that we’re still on well water. Whatever it is, I’ve always experienced Nativity as a fruitful and nurturing place. May the Eucharist we are about to receive, and the Eucharist that we receive every Sunday nourish us as individuals and as a parish community, so that Nativity can continue to be that fruitful vine.

We're Coming To Preach

Jeremy and I are both coming back the next two weekends to give the Sunday homilies at Nativity. This coming Sunday kicks off "Vocations Awareness Week" in the United States. Since Jeremy will be out of town, I am going to be giving the homilies this weekend. Jeremy will be in town next weekend, and will be preaching at all of the Masses that weekend to wrap up the week. Hopefully our time at Nativity will bear fruit in the future. Please pray for us as we prepare for our homilies.

Dcn. John H