THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR

As I write this article earlier in the week, the thoughts of many Chicagoans is on the NATO Summit which will take place this weekend, May 20-21, at McCormick Place. We have been hearing about this event for the past eight or nine months, and the preparations have been in progress almost from the time Chicago was chosen as the venue. Depending on who you talk to or from which perspective they are operating, it has been suggested that President Obama wanted to showcase his home town, and he knew his former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, would be the person to pull it off. We’ll soon see whether all goes as well as anticipated.

What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO? It is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on March 17, 1948, by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Defense Organization in September 1948. However, the participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the military power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. The NATO treaty was signed by the original Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO’s headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which—Albania and Croatia—joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world’s defense spending.

For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defense against a prospective Soviet invasion, doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO’s military structure in 1966.

During most of the Cold War, NATO’s watch against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact did not actually lead to direct military action. On July 1, 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was opened for signature: NATO argued that its nuclear sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty as U.S. forces controlled the weapons until a decision was made to go to war, at which point the treaty would no longer be controlling. Few states knew of the NATO nuclear sharing arrangements at that time, and they were not challenged. In May 1978, NATO countries officially defined two complementary aims of the Alliance: to maintain security and to pursue détente. This was supposed to mean matching defenses at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw Pact’s offensive capabilities without spurring a further arms race.

The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the main adversary of NATO. This caused a strategic re-evaluation of NATO’s purpose, nature, tasks, and even geographic focus. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe agreed between NATO members and the Soviet Union and signed in Paris in 1990, mandated specific military reductions on the continent. When the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, European countries accounted for 34% of NATO’s military spending; by 2012, that had fallen to 21%. NATO also began a gradual expansion with newly autonomous Eastern European nations and extended its activities into political and humanitarian situations that had not formerly been NATO concerns.

The first post-Cold War expansion of NATO came with German reunification on October 3, 1990, when the former East Germany became part of the Federal Republic of Germany and the alliance. To secure Soviet approval of a united Germany remaining in NATO, it was agreed that foreign troops and nuclear weapons would not be stationed in the East. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the Breakup of Yugoslavia and conducted their first military interventions in Bosnia from 1991 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the organization sought better relations with former Cold War rivals which culminated with several former Warsaw Pact states (Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland) joining the alliance in 1999 and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania in 2004. In April 2008 NATO agreed to the accession of Croatia and Albania, and they joined in 2009

The September 2001 attacks signaled the only occasion in NATO’s history that Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty has been invoked as an attack on all NATO members. After the attack, troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), and the organization continues to operate in a range of roles, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations, and most recently in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in accordance with UN Security Resolution 1973.

No doubt the NATO Alliance has done much good over these past sixty years. Perhaps one of the most important elements has been the necessary cooperation among the countries and the understanding that no one can go things totally alone. We speak of global solidarity, and we try to live that the good of one benefits the good of all, and the problems of one become a problem to some extent for all. Like the United Nations, NATO, when it works well, underscores the fact that we truly are a human family, not just a number of independent parts.

Why, then, have we had all these preparations for months with all kinds of security measures which are meant to assure the safety of the heads of state who will be present this weekend in Chicago but also to protect personal property and to “regulate” the many groups of protestors who are estimated to be present in great numbers? While I am far from an authority in this regard, allow me to offer at least a few observations. Many people are very upset with the amount of money a gathering such as this costs taxpayers. In addition, others are disturbed by the fact that NATO was set up as a military alliance, and they are against both the money and the emphasis on being prepared for war that NATO implies. They look at all the needs of people throughout the world (and Americans here at home), and they question the priorities for the expenditure of funds. They say, “Why cannot these funds be used for the poor, for education, for libraries, for research that will ultimately lead to a betterment of the human family on this earth?” Some say that it is time for NATO to be dismantled—its usefulness has passed.

Obviously these thoughts just expressed are not the convictions of everyone, and that is why we can expect protestors to be here along with the powerful. My hope is that all these groups can come together in peaceful coexistence so that the right to free speech will be honored but also the safety of the populace and property is maintained. There is no reason why confrontation and destruction should rule the day; passionate expression and the common good should prevail. I may be altogether too naïve and optimistic, but I am hopeful that clear heads, loving hearts and patient police officers will make the difference.

Now I have heard many individuals who regularly come to St. Peter’s tell me that their place of employment will not be open Friday through Monday as a precaution for their employees. Those who will still be downtown and near McCormick Place have been instructed to “dress down” so as not to be noticed. Some schools have closed to protect their students and to avoid transportation issues. The Metra line that passes under the site of the meeting will close 26 stations and allow only one bag to be carried by passengers. Some museums will be closed. A number of CTA busses will be rerouted, mail delivery will be somewhat delayed, some streets will be closed either entirely or at certain times of the day, and residents near the meeting will be greatly inconvenienced.

However, St. Peter’s will remain open throughout the NATO Summit with our regular hours and with all our ministries available. Therefore you can celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, come to daily and weekend Mass, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, consult one of the priests, do business at the front office, etc., just like any other weekend. We have made this decision since we want people to know that we welcome them here in the Loop as always.

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD

The Book of Acts, Saint Luke’s second volume, begins where his Gospel concluded: with the account of Jesus’ ascension. After the resurrection, Luke tells us, Jesus spent some time instructing the disciples. Certainly things looked different for them in light of their experience of the risen Lord. But before he left them, he promised to send them the Holy Spirit, a key figure in Acts, to strengthen and guide them in continuing the work of Jesus.

In Ephesians, thought by many to have been written after Paul’s death, we have an example of an early Christian prayer asking God the Father to enlighten the believer. God, who raised Christ from the dead, has given all Christians a reason to hope. The Church as the Body of Christ, a key theme in Ephesians, shares in his life.

In Mark's Gospel we have a short commissioning along with the narration of the ascension. Jesus sends his disciples out to “proclaim the gospel to every creature.” The oldest, most reliable manuscripts do not contain these verses, an indication that Mark’s text may have originally existed without them. But their presence in the canonical text serves to remind us that the story of Jesus continues with the work of the church on earth. As the text says, “They went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them.”

For Reflection: How do I see myself as fitting into God’s plan to preach the word to all the world? What difference does it make in my life that Jesus rose from the dead? St. Augustine said in an Easter homily, “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” Can I say this about myself?

THE MONTH OF MAY - MARY'S MONTH

The practice of dedicating the month of May to our Lady was popularized especially by the rosary encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII beginning in 1883 and concluding in 1889. Leo XIII wrote twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters on the rosary. The Catholic Encyclopedia puts it this way:

“The May devotion to our Lady in its present form originated at Rome where Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month of May to Mary. From Rome the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin rite. This practice is the oldest instance of a devotion extending over an entire month.”

Yet, although many Catholics know that May is dedicated to the Mother of God, it may be a bit of a puzzle as to why May was chosen for this special honor. What is it about May that makes it suited to be the Month of Mary?

Some have pointed to the fact that, in classic western culture (both Greek and Roman), May was recognized as the season of the beginning of new life. In the Greek world, May was dedicated to the goddess Artemis and associated with fecundity. Roman culture linked the month of May to Flora, the goddess of bloom and blossoms. This led to the custom of ludi florales (or floral games) which took place at the very end of April as a preparation for entering the month of May.

It seems that this ancient tradition of connecting May with new life and fecundity led to a realization that May is very much the month of motherhood. This may be at least one reason why Mother’s Day began to be celebrated during May not only in the United States but in many countries and cultures of both the East and the West. In the month of May the winter comes to an end, and the spring season begins (this was the official beginning of spring in Roman culture). This new beginning and new birth is a testimony to the motherhood of Mother Earth.

The connection between motherhood and May led Christians eventually to adopt May as Mary Month. May is the month of our Lady precisely as the Mother of God. Priest-poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., put all this together in his now famous Marian classic, May Magnificat:

MAY is Mary’s month and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
       Her feasts follow reason,
       Dated due to season -

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
       Why fasten that upon her,
       With a feasting in her honour?

Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
       Is it opportunest
       And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
       Question: What is Spring?—
       Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
       Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
       Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
       And bird and blossom swell
       In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathizing
       With that world of good,
       Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
       How she did in her stored
       Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this:
Spring’s universal bliss
       Much, had much to say
       To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
       And thicket and thorp are merry
       With silver-surfed cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
       And magic cuckoocall
       Caps, clears, and clinches all—

This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth
       To remember and exultation
       In God who was her salvation.

ST. PETER’S YOUNG ADULTS

Our St. Peter’s Young Adult Group (SPYA) is still going strong and open to new people and new ideas. We have a number of things planned for the upcoming weeks and even more for the summer months. Check us out!

Monday, May 21 (5:30-7:00 pm)—SPYA Gathering at St. Peter’s
Sunday, June 3 (6:00 pm)—Young Adult Mass: we will gather for the 6:00 pm Mass here at St. Peter’s and then go to the Park afterward.
Monday, June 4 (5:30-7:00 pm)—SPYA Gathering at St. Peter’s
Tuesday, June 5—SOX game—we will go together to the Sox game tonight—more details to follow.
Friday, June 15 (4:30-7:00 pm)—Volunteer opportunity to serve the poor at the Franciscan Center.
Monday, June 18 (5:30-7:00 pm)—SPYA Gathering at St. Peter’s

Any questions, please call Father Ed Shea at 773-892-4134.

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