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My new book of homiletic reflections for Ash Wednesday through Good Friday just went live on Amazon. Links are at https://fathernikola.org/liturgy-day-by-day/

It’s been a busy year, and as I begin this blog post I am grateful for being home with my family for Thanksgiving for the first time in 26 years. I wished everyone a blessed 2022 in my last post, and it has been a year full of blessings. In January I did another virtual visit to DMU (Divine Mercy University) because of bad weather to sit in on a few sessions of their spiritual direction certificate course. I also gave a talk on communion to the NC members of Regnum Christi. In February the priests serving the diocese of Raleigh gathered at Wrightsville beach to discuss topics of pastoral planning for the diocese: allocation of clergy, where to build new parishes, how to best serve rural parishes, etc. The diocese is blessed with a great fraternity among its priests. It was the first priestly assembly I attended, but I was welcomed at every table and had already known many from my deanery.

I also helped with a Regnum Christi three-day renewal retreat at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, NC. Regnum Christi members do an annual retreat and renew their spiritual commitment to the Movement. In the main hallway of the rooms there are a series of striking portraits of the life of St. Francis.

Lent began on March 1st, and with it penance services across the diocese, so I helped out at various parishes with hearing Confessions. I spent Holy Week at Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Joseph’s in Raleigh.

After about thirteenth months and over twenty-five applications for teaching positions in the United States, I took the hint that the Lord had something else planned. The major superiors were about to start personnel meetings, so I told them my academic job hunt was concluded and they could put me back on the potential personnel list. This was a moment of closure for me. I’d never expected to stay in Raleigh for long. It was just where I resided while seeing where the Lord would take me. Now I was putting the ball back in his court.

Within a few weeks I was sounded out about becoming the new superior for my Legionary community in the summer, since the current superior was concluding a three-year term. I was also asked to start helping the Territorial Secretary as an assistant, working remotely from Raleigh. I said I would be open to both, and waited for the assignment letters to come closer to the summer.

After the liturgies of Holy Week, on Easter Sunday the community left for SC for a few days of vacation.  Around this time we also received some news: we would be taking over the pastoral care of the Duke University Catholic Center in Durham and Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. Our community of five priests would grow to seven by the end of the summer.

It also meant our community couldn’t all fit on the property of St. Joseph’s anymore. A house in Durham, near Duke, was made available for us to rent, managed by Duke Catholic Center. So we had to start planning a summer move for some of the priests of the community (including yours truly).

In May I helped with a Regnum Christi  discernment course via video conference, and took a weekend trip to Cleveland to represent the community at the funeral for the father of one of our priests. The following weekend, our superior travelled to New Zealand to be with his dying mother. It was planned that I be named acting superior in his absence, but to take the weight off his shoulders I made the transition to community superior on the eve of Ascension Sunday (May 28th) when his mother passed.

In June we’d arranged some coordination meetings for the coming year, but now I would be running them as superior. We’d now have seven priests with one parish, three chaplaincies, and two residences. So we talked about how we could support each other in ministry, when the community would gather for daily prayer, weekly activities, etc., and how we could work together with local members of Regnum Christi.

I concluded June with a trip to Philadelphia on the way to an academic seminar held at St. Vincent’s College, Latrobe, PA. I’d intended to visit Philadelphia and St. Vincent’s in 2020 and 2021, but COVID shut that idea down. The seminar had been postponed twice, so we were all looking forward to reuniting.

I only had a morning in Philadelphia, and I spent most of it in the National Constitution Center. It had a new wing on the Civil War and the years immediately following, and another on the woman’s suffrage movement. It ended up being a good preparation for the academic seminar at St. Vincent’s College (founded and still directed by the Benedictines), which was organized by the Fides et Ratio seminars.

It was the first of a four-year cycle of seminars on the American Regime and Catholic Social Thought. The first seminar spanned texts leading up to the Declaration of Independence and to just before Civil War. Reading the documents of the Founding Fathers and their thoughts, as well as the Catholics who witnessed the foundation of the United States was a great source of insight into what led to the Civil War and its repercussions even today.

 

Toward the end of my visit to the college we had our sessions in a building dedicated to Mr. Rogers, which included a museum in his honor. He was born in Latrobe. Seeing the puppets, sweaters, and trolley gave me a warm nostalgia for the days I barely remember when I would watch him on PBS and feel loved and cherished. I recently watched a documentary that included his philosophy and clips of his early shows (that I would have seen as as child), and it struck me how powerful his message was (that you are special and lovable just as you are), in contrast to so much media attention today that insists people pay to be perfect in a shallow and superficial way (glamor, popularity, etc,).

I returned from the seminar to NC on the Fourth of July weekend and spend a few days scrambling to get ready for the move to a new house on July 10th. In June we’d worked out who was moving, so now it was a matter of packing up and walking through the new house to see what was needed. The Franciscans who’d previously done the Duke chaplaincy left the house in great shape for us, and I’m grateful to everyone who contributed to our moving needs and expenses. I moved my belongings to the new Durham house the morning of 7/10, then headed to St. Gabriel’s in Charlotte to help cover the parish for a few weeks. While in Charlotte I finished most of the work for my new book (more on this below), and prepared for a retreat scheduled for the first weekend of August.

I returned to St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, NC to preach open spiritual exercises for men organized by the North Carolina members of Regnum Christi.  It ended midday Sunday and I returned to Durham and spent my first night in my new room of the new community house.Two days later I started my vacation by driving to Patriots Point in Charleston, SC, on my way to Cumming, GA to visit friends and confreres for a few days, then to Mandeville, LA as my final vacation destination. The Mandeville LC community always gives me a warm welcome, and with a summer full of travelling I just stayed home, read (C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy), tried improving my pencil drawing with a course on Udemy, watched some videos, and played some video games.

I interrupted my vacation at the end of August for some meetings, and then headed back to Cumming, GA for an overnight, followed by my eight-day annual retreat at a cottage at the St. Francis Springs prayer center. It had been a busy and beautiful year, so I took stock of all the blessings received, contemplated the new duties I’d been assigned (and my 55th birthday), and prepared myself for the new year.

I wasn’t directly involved in a school year anymore, but the year seemed to start in September. Labor Day weekend I finished my vacation at home, then helped the community’s new administrator finalize our LC community budget proposal for 2023 and headed to the Legionary of Christ College in Cheshire, CT to visit the novices and humanists and participate in the college board meeting in person for the first time and lunch with the other board members as the Legion’s Territorial Prefect of Studies.

In the first week of October I went to St. Gabriel’s in Charlotte to cover the parish again, then returned on 10/7 to give a presentation on the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium as part of a series of formation talks on Vatican II at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Cary, NC. That same afternoon (10/8) I flew to Rome for training for new superiors at our General Directorate. It was the first time I lodged there, since the LC International College (CILC, formerly called the CES) was where I resided while I studied and worked at Regina Apostolorum. I hadn’t expected to return to Italy for a while; I’d left on New Year’s Day, 2021 with no plan to return after four years if going back and forth annually, preceded by five years living there full time. In total I’d lived at the CILC about thirteen to fourteen years, so when the other fathers in town for the meeting invited them to go out in the city to shop and see the churches, I stayed home. I’d seen plenty of Italy. I took a few Rome fathers out to lunch, and also published the first volume of a series of homiletic reflections on Amazon (buy multiple copies, please), just in time for Advent. I’d worked on the book gradually since 2015, so I was excited to finally send it to print. I hope to have Volume II ready for Lent and Holy Week.

At the end of new superior training in Rome I was blessed to return to Croatia to visit with my family for a few days.

In 2021 I couldn’t visit them when departing Europe because if COVID restrictions, and I hadn’t seen any of them in person since 2015. It was wonderful to meet toddler cousins and one who was two weeks old. The weather was unseasonably warm and I did another walking tour of Diocletian’s palace, which contains the cathedral, in Split.

I then went by ferry to the island where my family was from (the island of Brač)  and arrived at the village of Pučišća. I visited the marble quarry and the the remains of a stone house my dad and family had hidden in in World War II, my cousin’s olive groves, and a museum on olive oil production with a marvelous tasting at the end.

He also showed me the best spot for a picture of Pučišća and a monastery closed in the eighties.

I went on a brief boat tour of the bay, and saw the completed marble model of St. Peter’s Basilica that I had helped by getting some photos in Rome.

I returned for one night to Rome and then back to the United States…for bi-annual superiors meetings at Our Lady Queen of Peace retreat center near Memphis, TN. With some strong coffee I was functional at the meetings, then returned to Durham and joined the community the next day in Kiawah Island, SC for a few days off. It was Providential, because I came down with a nasty cold and with the rest and extra sleep I had recuperated a lot before returning to NC.

Then I had a few blessed weeks at home in Durham, at the new house, working on projects. Our major superior came for a canonical visit for five days. In our congregation he or a delegate comes annually to meet with the community together and individually, and then has meetings with the community administrator and the superior. From my concluding conversations with him the community is doing well. As religious we support each other as brothers, so having different assignments can silo us if we don’t work on it.

About a week later I came home to Watsonville for Thanksgiving with my family. It’s a great grace to be home for Thanksgiving for the first time in twenty-six years, by my reckoning, as I finish this blog post. Just one of many things for which I am grateful. Have a blessed Advent and Christmas.

My intention was to just write about my visit to Sacred Heart Apostolic school, our minor seminary in Indiana, sometime in mid-November. Two months happened. It was the first Fall since 2012 that I didn’t head to Italy to teach at Regina Apostolorum. The book project I completed in October was the last major commitment to the university, and I started applying for positions teaching theology in the United States (as of this writing, no offers yet). Over the summer I received the community responsibility for the finances (the community administrator), and with RC Spirituality and my work for the Legion as Territorial Prefect of Studies, I’ve been happily busy.

In late October and early November I covered a little more than usual at Our Lady of Lourdes in Raleigh while the pastor was on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. All Saints on 11/1 was a beautiful liturgy, and I celebrated All Souls at the parish and we processed to a columbarium at the parish and loved ones prayed for their dead buried there.

On 11/3 I visited, as Territorial Prefect of Studies, Sacred Heart Apostolic School, in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. I had not been at the school since 2008. I’d been making the rounds of our formation centers, presenting the new plan of studies, and at Sacred Heart I met with the formation team, the professors, and the students.

After catching up with a family I’d know in Florence (Italy) I visited the Legionary fathers studying at the University of Notre Dame and had my first tour of the university. When I was flying into South Bend one of the attendants at the gate kept talking about the “touch down Jesus.” I had no idea what it meant until I saw the huge image of Our Lord on the side of their huge library. Seeing two floors of the library dedicated to theology alone made we want to move in (I did apply for a position at UND in October; I didn’t get an interview). The basilica on campus was also breathtaking.

On campus there is also a beautiful Marian grotto inspired by the grotto at Lourdes.

I celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in nine years in the U.S. In Rome they always made a turkey lunch for us, but the fixings were never exactly the same. It was a long forgotten experience for me to have to wind down around a Thanksgiving break, since it wasn’t celebrated in Italy. A parish family arranged a wonderful turkey lunch with all the trimmings, and I and the fathers of my community in town had a quiet day at home after morning Masses.

With the arrival of Advent I and the other fathers helped out with penance services at the local parishes, which had been on hold since COVID started. A meal with the other priests was offered at each penance service, so it was the first time I spent time with the clergy of my deanery. For my fifteenth anniversary of ordination (12/8) I took a cultural tour of a Cabela’s (I did get a couple of things, nothing too outdoor or lethal) and then was treated to a steak dinner.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was on a Sunday of Advent this year, which took priority, but that didn’t keep the parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes from constructing a beautiful shrine to Our Lady, right in front of the presider’s chair during Mass. At the start of Mass I quipped, since many of the faithful couldn’t see me as usual, due to the shrine, “for the record, I stand behind the Blessed Mother.” A large image of her is kept in the vesting sacristy of the parish, and I often speak to Our Lady in the few minutes before I process out for Mass.

On 12/16 the diocese had its first clergy Christmas gathering since 2019. I was not at the September convocation of priests, so it was my first opportunity to meet clergy from all over the diocese of Raleigh. Earlier the same day I visited Bishop Luis Rafael and gave him a copy of my new book. I also gave a talk on liturgical life to the young professionals group at St. Joseph’s parish.

On 12/21 I travelled to California to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in 25 years. When I knew my annual Rome teaching commitment would be concluded by 2021 I pitched the idea to my Mom, and we were both excited. It was also the first time reconnecting with some friends and family since COVID broke out in 2020. The afternoon of Christmas Eve I helped my Mom wrap presents for nine people: it was probably more presents than I’d wrapped in the previous 24 years combined.

Fr. Jason, the pastor of St. Patrick’s, invited me to celebrate the Midnight Christmas Mass at the parish where I was baptized. The day of Christmas was the best. My Mom had all my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my nieces over for dinner. I had not been around children excited about opening Christmas presents in years; my youngest two nieces, Petra and Rose, were excited, but patient. After dinner (which the girls ate in record time) we gathered in the living room and took turns opening presents. My niece Rose hugged her grandmother after opening each present from her.

For me the greatest gift was to be home with them for Christmas. A few days later I travelled up for a day in Chico to visit and say Mass for my aunts Lucy and Marie. My family gave me a chalice and I used it for the first time for Mass with my aunts. I returned to Raleigh on 12/30 for our customary end of year retreat on 12/31. I wish everyone a blessed 2022.

The theology book I have been editing/translating for the last few years on the theology of the Kingdom of Christ is now for sale in print and Kindle formats. It includes my study on the relationship between the Church and the Kingdom.

Just before Memorial Day Weekend I travelled to Cheshire, CT to the Legion’s Novitiate and College of Humanities. It was my first visit in about seven years. I had originally travelled to Cheshire to start my Legionary adventure on May 30th, 1997, and after a summer candidacy program I entered the Legion of Christ Novitiate on September 14,1997, a two year program where I learned what it meant to be a religious (to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience) as a Legionary in preparation for making my first vows (which I did on September 4th, 1999).

Since June of 2020 I have served the Legionaries of the North American Territory (consisting of the United States, Canada, and some Legionary communities in Asia) as the Territorial Prefect of Studies, overseeing the intellectual formation of all the Legionaries in the territory. Last year the Legion’s General Chapter approved the first revision of our plan of studies since 2001, so at the invitation of the Dean of Studies I came to present the new plan of studies to the brothers and their formation teams in Cheshire.

A Legionary before priestly ordination will get an Associate of Arts degree Humanities, a Bachelor’s in Philosophy, and a Bachelor’s in Theology. A Legionary spends a lot of time studying in preparation for evangelizing our culture and navigating a complex world with complex problems. Every stage of this intellectual and academic formation addresses past, present, and future culture in the light of Humanities, human reason, and the light of faith to bring the Gospel to the world more effectively.

The brothers were finishing their final exams for the school year and preparing to transition into summer, so in addition to presenting the new plan of studies the rector invited me to preach the monthly retreat to the Humanists (the Legionaries doing studies in the Humanities and sciences–their first 1 or 2 years as a professed religious). In a talk to the Novices I also told them a little about my years of priestly formation. With the Humanists, some about to move to Rome at the end of the summer to start studying Philosophy, I told them about my experiences in Rome and fielded their questions about life in Rome.

I was surprised how little nostalgia I had when I walked the halls of Cheshire once again. I walked through the halls and grounds, remembering and being reminded, but also seeing how many things had changed in 24 years. The generations of Legionary brothers after me had put their mark on the grounds. The inner garden, a place where I often prayed my rosary and re-discovered my devotion to Mary many years ago, had been re-landscaped and remodeled. It was beautiful, but changed just enough (even the statue of Mary) to not re-evoke those Novitiate years in me.

What I did re-experience fondly at Cheshire was the quiet and the joy of brothers taking their first fledgling steps as Legionaries. I returned to the airport with two Humanists who were about to help out with a camp in LA, and after finishing final exams they were excited about heading out to a new apostolic adventure.

Almost a month to the day I drove to VA on July 1st to visit Divine Mercy University at its new campus. The last time I had briefly visited DMU was in 2008, when it was just the Institute for Psychological Sciences. Now the university offers graduate programs in Psychology and Counseling, as well as a certificate in Spiritual Direction. The rector had invited me to come and sit on a residency for the Spiritual Direction certificate, since for many Legionaries it was a tool for their ongoing intellectual formation and pastoral training, although the program is open to anyone who satisfies certain admission requirements.

The certificate program consists largely of distance courses, but twice a year the students gather for residencies of 3-4 days on site. I attended the residency where they focused on relational skills. Under the supervision of a faculty member the students organized into the roles of spiritual director, directee, and observer. The directee, based on a vignette, “presented” his or her spiritual life so the director could help them explore it and get to know the directee better. The faculty member and observer would then give feedback, and the roles were rotated.

Since the majority of my experience counseling souls has been in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it was interesting to see the difference in approach when you had more time to direct a soul. Many times I know I have a few minutes in Confession with a soul and may never see them again. Therapists and counselors have developed many skills, especially relational skills, that a spiritual director can also use to help their directees. The students in the role of spiritual director listened and helped their directees explore what was going on inside.

With a drive back this Fourth of July weekend I made it back to Raleigh without too much of a delay due to holiday weekend traffic. Have a blessed Independence Day weekend.