Raphael's jubilee

Father Raphael Kitz celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest this year. The jubilee celebrations began on June 2nd with a Mass with the Arkansas bishop for all jubilarians serving in the diocese. Raphael is shown here with the other jubilarians about to enter the cathedral in Little Rock for the jubilee Mass. The priest on the left, Gregory Hart, celebrated his 25th, and the priest on the other side of Father Raphael, Msgr. John Kordsmeier is celebrating his 60th.

Next Father was interviewed by the newspaper. He is shown here with Lladro’s bronze sculpture of Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus to the left and Edith Stein’s passport photo hanging on the wall behind him in the entrance room of the Monastery of Marylake. The headline of the article: “Priest spends 50 years… teaching spirituality.” In 1953 Father Raphael Kitz, OCD, came to Marylake Monastery and became a novice in the Order of Discalced Carmelites. As the novice master since 1993, Father Kitz has instructed at least 30 novices in the lifestyle and teachings of the Carmelite tradition.

Raphael celebrated his actual ordination day, September 19th at our Nuns in New Caney Texas. Then our big celebration was held in October when our entire province gathered at Marylake for our annual retreat. Raphael concelebrated this jubilee Mass with Father Stephen Sanchez, superior of Mt Carmel Center in Dallas who celebrates this year his 25th jubilee of Religious profession.

Fr. Gregory Ross, our provincial, preached extolling each for the service rendered our province as priests and as religious. Raphael entered our province after a brief stint with the Dominicans, in September 1953, four years before Stephen was born. Stephen was professed on July 16, 1984, in this very chapel where he was now celebrating his 25th jubilee.

After the Father Provincial’s sermon, Father Raphael had a few words of his own to share. He kept the subject matter lighthearted as you can see from Stephen’s reaction. “You would think a person his age would be thinking of retiring, but he’s going like the Energizer bunny,” noted Raphael’s local superior. He has put 200,000 miles on his car in the last seven years alone. He ministers to our Secular Order in Jackson Mississippi each month, and is extraordinary confessor to our Nuns in the Houston area. Each Sunday finds him at a parish in Arkansas.

After the jubilee Mass the province gathered to have their picture taken with Father Raphael. We then adjourned to the refectory for a feast with the biggest bottle of champagne ever seen in these parts. Raphael poses here with two of his community members at Marylake: Frs. John Michael and John Magdalene. A month later and we still haven’t finished off that bottle. Maybe for Thanksgiving! Also check out the Marylake blog at http://okfriarsnewslet.blogspot.com for the jubilee decorations there.

Gregory's birthday

On Wednesday 21-October Fr. Gregory Ross, our Father Provincial turned 45. The Province was gathered for the week at the Monastery of Marylake for retreat. We had decided to celebrate the 50th sacerdotal jubilee of Father Raphael and the 25th jubilee of Father Stephen’s profession on that day, so to give the Provincial his due, we surprised him with a birthday cake on the night before his birthday. The cake had four candles. When you get this old is easier to count the decades than the years.

In our second picture Father Sam appears to be discussing with Gregory the ramifications of middle age. The sad faced dog balloon is tied to a red bag of coffee, Chicory of course –no son of Nawlins would have any other kind.

Juan's ordination

As our province gathered in San Antonio for Juan Cabrera’s ordination, we found two of our Fathers in the hospital: Fr. Christopher and Fr. Joseph. We kidded Juan about what happened at Luis Joaquin’s ordination in 2003. Fr. Michael died during the ordination ceremony. “Which one of us is your ordination going to kill off?” we asked Juan. He answered, “Maybe one who is not even in the hospital!”
Fr. Stephen Sanchez, acting superior in Dallas, helps Juan get dressed in the sacristy for his ordination on Friday June 12th.

Juan’s family flew in from Puerto Rico for the occasion. That’s his brother and sister on the left, and his Mom Maria “Bory” and Dad Jorge Sr. (Juan is Jorge Jr.) on the right of our basilica’s front pew.

Our novice, Br. Juan Guillermo was one of the main servers for the ordination Mass. He stands here beside concelebrant Stephen Sanchez in the sacristy as we prepare to begin our procession into the church. We were privileged to have the Archbishop himself lead the ceremony. In the past, the archbishops have often sent their auxiliaries to perform our ordinations at the basilica.

The Mass finally begins at 7:00 pm sharp. The Little Flower choir did a beautiful job with music for the ceremony as our priests and brothers led the procession, when all had taken their place in the sanctuary, Juan was left quite alone at the altar rail. You can see the tomb chapel in the background.

The ordination of a priest is a most complex ritual, but the actual act of ordination is a simple gesture done in absolute silence, as the bishop lays his hands on the ordinand’s head. This happened at 7:57 pm, so you can see that almost a hour of preparatory prayers preceded the actual ordination.

The next thing is the investiture of the new priest in the priestly vestments. Juan was assisted by our vocation director, Luis Joaquin Castañeda, and our Father Provincial who is preparing the chasuble. Each vestment has a spiritual significance: the alb, the cincture, the stole and the chasuble.

The chasuble was the final priestly vestment to go on. As our Father Provincial and Fr. Luis Joaquin straighten Juan out, we can see in the background that Father Joseph got out of the hospital in time to attend the ordination ceremony. Father pulled his motorized chair (I heard he calls it his “electric chair”) up to the altar rail between Juan and the server.

At the offertory Juan’s mother brings up the paten which holds the Eucharistic bread, and his father brings up the chalice which will soon contain the blood of Christ. The two deacons of our Little Flower parish receive the offertory gifts from Juan’s family.

The first Mass of a priest is usually considered to be the Mass said on the day after his ordination, for that would be the first Mass at which the newly ordained priest would preside. But the actual first Mass of a priest is actually his ordination Mass which he concelebrates with the archbishop, José Gomez [left] and Luis Gerardo Belmonte [right] who is the pastor of the basilica.

At the end of Mass, Juan thanked all who helped him with their prayers and sacrifices to come to this day: his family, his Carmelite community, his friends and classmates at the seminary. It takes a whole church to produce a priest, and after Juan expressed his gratitude to them all, the archbishop led the congregation in an applause for he who is now our Father Juan.

At the end of Mass we sang the Salve Regina as the archbishop, Juan and Luis Gerardo prepare to process out of the sanctuary into the basilica to greet the many people who had come from far and near to be with Father Juan for this joyful day in his young life. The parish hosted a reception in the parish hall after the ceremony.

Ralph's 40th

Ralph Reyes, when he was a student in Washington D.C. back in the ‘60s, used to say he was going to die young. We kept telling him, “only the good die young.” It is true that so many of our Carmelite saints died in their twenties: St. Thérèse the Little Flower, Elizabeth of the Trinity, and Teresa of the Andes (only 19). Well, last Wednesday our province, gathered in San Antonio, celebrated with Ralph his fortieth jubilee as a priest. A few of the many priests who concelebrated that Mass (the few who vested early) gather around Ralph in the sacristy [left to right]: Frs. John Michael, James Curiel, Luis Joaquin (Ralph’s superior), Henry, Jenaro, Ralph, Gregory (our Provincial), Stephen, Bonaventure, Luis Gerardo (the pastor) & Sam A Morello.

At the offertory, The Knights of Columbus presented Ralph with a chalice which he gratefully accepted and brought into the sanctuary for that Jubilee Mass. Ralph was ordained in Uvalde Texas, his hometown, on the 15th of June 1969. His ministry has been a great blessing for our province, and though we refrain from wishing him 40 more, we certainly pray he makes it to his golden jubilee in ten years. Then maybe he can take a much deserved rest from his many labors. Presently he serves as pastor of Little Flower church in Oklahoma City.

Clothing a novice

It has been a long time since we have had the clothing of a novice in our province. The last novice we clothed left after a few years to study for the diocese of Nashville. So it was with great joy that we celebrated the clothing of a novice in Oklahoma City on December 30^th. It was the first clothing, to my knowledge we ever had in Oklahoma. We began receiving novices in San Antonio in 1933. Then we moved our provincial novitiate to Marylake in Arkansas in 1951.

Our present Director of Vocations is Luis Joaquin Castañeda. In the first photo of December 30, Father Luis presents to our Fr. Provincial the candidate to be clothed in our Carmelite habit. He tells the provincial that the postulant came to us on January 8, 2007, and after spending eight months in Oklahoma City, he spent three months at our House of Studies in New Orleans. The provincial council has approved him to be admitted into our province as a novice. The Provincial then asks the postulant if he is ready to be clothed.

The Provincial and Director of Postulants then bless the habit (on the table in the photo) with holy water. Our habit was modified in the 16^th century by Saint Teresa of Avila. She cut off what she thought was excess material from the original Carmelite habit, and added sandals as a sign of the 16^th century reform.

Father Gregory, our Provincial then invests Juan Guillermo in the woolen tunic, and leather belt. You can see it’s a rather long belt. Saint Teresa, with a woman’s keen eye, even measured how long it would be, and this one looks just about the way she envisioned it. That's the pastor, Fr. Ralph Reyes, seated in back. The provincial is preparing to give Brother Juan the scapular which is the principal part of the Carmelite habit, signifying our devotion to Jesus’ Blessed mother.

I don’t know what’s going on in this picture. I think maybe the Provincial is straightening him out, now that he’s got the scapular and capuche or hood which serves as the friar’s hat. And now that I see that belt below the scapular, it does look a little long. Either that or the scapular may be a bit short. I’ll have to look up how many inches Teresa wanted it to drop below the scapular. We men, of course, could not care less, but women have a better fashion sense than most of us. It’s late. More pictures of this later.

last days

Wednesday June 4th was spent with the Nuns who are under our province’s jurisdiction. Fr. Gregory welcomed “our Sisters” [left to right]: Srs. Edith from Covington, Kateri from Sioux City, Donna from Piedmont, Angel Teresa from New Caney and Teresita from San Antonio. Sr. Therese from Little Rock was unable to come. We first shared what’s going on at the chapter and invited each to give a report on her community. Vocaton promotion was our first priority.

Covington: We were blessed during the time of Katrina with having our brothers from New Orleans here for a semester, and to help us clean up after the initial damage. Fr. Sam gave wonderful talks during his stay with us --very formative. Mary Catherine transferred to San Antonio, and Joan transferred from Little Rock. Fides made solemn profession 21-May-06 & Grace on 03-Jun-07. Anna Maria made 1st profession 08-Sep-06 & Gabrielle professed 05-May-07.

LittleRock: Greatest need is new life in our community. Blessed with close relationship with our Fathers.

New Caney: Our community celebrates 50 years of our foundation this year. With great emotion, voice choked, Sr. Angel Teresa acknowledged “an enormous debt of gratitude to San Antonio Carmel and our friars in helping us survive a crisis in our history.” LifeAwareness retreat was a help. MaryAnne was present at career day at St Thomas University and a day for high school seniors in vocation promotion. After a few visits, young women are invited to come inside the cloister for a live-in. Theresa Margaret came from Savannah Dec 28, 2007. We had difficulty finding a chaplain this triennium, but last March 28, Msgr Paul Procella retired to be our chaplain. Friars can help us as extraordinary confessor, with talks and retreats, homilies, and pooling efforts for vocational promotion. Dinosaurs moving into neighborhood: Dino Park planned.

Piedmont: The medium age of our community is 58. This triemmium we have celebrated one diamond (60) jubilee, one golden & one silver. Two became US citizens: Agatha and Maria. Villa Teresa invited over for Juan de Bono’s conferences on Elizabeth of Trinity which we hosted. We replaced our roof in Feb '08, and it was destroyed by a hail storm in March. Difficulty finding priests for Mass. We are developing a formation team to help the novice mistress. Elder Care concern to take care of Sisters at home with help. Our Fathers help by their visits. We want them available for special liturgies. Continue the Marylake formative program. Help foster vocations to friars and nuns, perhaps we could make a collaborative effort in this. We signed up for vocation day in Stubenville. We need to go where the vocations are.

San Antonio: We are grateful to our friars. We feel the relationship between the nuns and the friars here is as it should be. We have two Sisters in formation: Mary Catherine and Teresa Guadalupe a novice from Guadalajara. In July a woman from Puerto Rico will enter as postulant. All three are in their 30s. This is a big help as our membership is much older than that. Maria was received in 1970, so we have a big vocational gap. Hospice helps with Stella. Monthly day of recollection with Blessed Sacrament. Goals: vocation promotion, program for formators, deepen own community life and life of prayer. We want the friars to continue offering retreats for us in Spanish and in English. DVD’s of conferences could be made available. OCDS might help with this.

Sioux City: We’re a young community in a small city of 85,000. We have ten nuns. Our foundress Agnes 90, is still with us. We distribute altar breads and have a regular chaplain. We just received a postulant, the daughter of two OCDS members; she’s 21 years old. Medium age of community is 50. Vocation committee appointed, 4 nuns including novice. We made a vocational DVD, and have a procession to empty cells in our novitiate to pray for vocations. Happy to participate in Formators workshop. There’s something special about formation workshop in our province at Marylake. Goals: complete remodeling of choir and grill, plan something for St Paul year. We’re a diverse community; we work hard to have open expression of ideas. Provincial was there when we had to deal with a difficult situation.

Fr. Stephen asked if possible to have vocational requirements of each convent to help us direct prospects: age range, etc. to have perhaps in catalogue. Plan in such a way that dates when nuns will be out will not overlap with Association meetings, workshops, etc. Witchita nuns call themselves OCD. Our theological reflection is a ten year project initiated by the General Camillo with about 4 more to go.

The chapter finished up loose ends on Thursday the 5th, following the golden jubilee Mass for Fr. Jenaro on Wednesday evening in the Basilica. Cornish hens were prepared and tables decorated in the refectory afterwards. Father Ralph preached telling the story of Jenaro’s impatient encounter with some gypsies who showed up at Dallas’ cathedral on Ash Wednesday. They came up at Communion time. When Jenaro held up the host, after the “Cuerpo de Cristo,” they replied, “Not that! The other thing!” Jenaro told them he distributed ashes at the end of Mass. So they came up again after Mass, but stuck out their tongue as if they would be receiving Holy Communion. Jenaro, now exasperated with these unchurched gypsies, gave no furhter explanation. He simply put the ashes on their tongue.

After Mass, a banquet was held for all. The two Luises brought out the finest liquor.

The Chapter ended on Friday morning, the 9th. The chapter of 2008 came to a close at 10:00 am.

Day 6

Gregory convened at 9:05 am and welcomed the OCDS members present, introducinig the newly elected president of OCDS Provincial Council, Elizabeth Korves from Austin. Elizabeth Korves then introduced the members of the council: [left to right] Henrietta Albright from Baton Rouge, Dorothy Mansen from Dallas, Elizabeth, Gloria Guajardo from San Antonio, Nancy Thompson from Cedar Rapids Iowa, and secretary Karen Harris from Atlanta. Elizabeth then gave a report on the work of the PC over the last three years.

What can the friars do for the OCDS?

Ask each house how the friars collaborate with the OCDS group in their area in relation to helping share Carmelite spirituality. Each house reported after a coffee break. Marylake assists two communities in Little Rock and Jackson. They meet at our monastery twice a year. Seculars help with upkeep of our facilities in Dallas. Seculars in San Antonio are now meeting in the basilica undercroft. Oklahoma City invites more interaction of OCDS with friars, since they meet at our Nuns, and have a Villa Teresa Sister as their assistant. New Orleans assists two groups: one who meets at the seminary and the other at our nuns in Covington.

How are the students formed about OCDS? CA-AZ province requires their students to attend the Regional Congress and one OCDS meeting each year.

Eat with us! The new OCDS Provincial Council met before the chapter in Castroville. They are shown here having their last Mass with outgoing delegate, Fr. John Michael. Celebration of OCDS 50th jubilee in San Antonio organized a reception, no friars even came across the street to attend this. It was negatively received by the ocds. Similar thing when we visited the General in Dallas.

Do not water down the demands of our OCDS vocation.

What can the OCDS do for the friars? Please alert us to when a profession or ordination is going to take place. If it’s public, some might be able to attend. At the very least, if we know early enough, we can put an announcement into the Flos Carmeli, our newsletter, so OCDS can hold the friar in prayer and maybe send a card. The session adjourned at 12:25 pm and the OCDS joined the friars in the refectory for some delicious enchiladas made by Ralph’s sister Alicia. In the afternoon we continued working on the Acts and Policies.