Dear Friends,
This coming September 21 will be the 50th anniversary of my ordination and at Father Leo’s invitation I will mark it at the 10:30 Mass on September 22, the 50th anniversary of my First Mass with the ice cream truck after.
I have been reflecting on just what happened over those years that sped by so quickly, I have tried to identify persons and places that made a difference, I am thinking about what I did and what was done to me and what all of that might mean.
I am taking a few weeks off from Words for the Wind to write some of what I discover about these last 50 years, and I am developing an online presence, perhaps, a webpage or a blog like newsletter. In the back of my mind is the idea of, perhaps, a collection of essays on the theology and spirituality of the diocesan priest and parish ministry over the past 50 years.
The Gospel story this weekend seems to be about fear, but I am not so sure. Rather, I think Jesus, as always, is calling the disciples to health and maturity in order, to discover and acknowledge what it is they fear so they can discover and acknowledge who and what is worthy of their faith.
In my 50 years as a priest there was rarely a call to spiritual, emotional, and psychological health and maturity from within the structures of the diocesan priesthood but there was a lot of fear.
Peace,
Father Niblick
Remember the Summer Movies:
JULY 9 - 1:30
Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara, a 2023 film, is based on the true story of a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who had been secretly baptized Catholic by a zealous nanny in the late 19th century. The film was directed by the 84-year-old Italian, Marco Bellocchio. It was released in Italy before last October 7, and I saw it as a part of the New York Film Festival on October 8, at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. The audience was largely Jewish, and the tension was palpable as was the audience reaction. Recent events have led to questions about the origin of antisemitism. You will come to see that it came from the Roman Catholic Church.
JULY 23 - 1:30
Life is Beautiful is a 1997 film, again, produced and directed in Italy with the renowned Italian director/comedian, Roberto Benigni who even made Pope John Paul II laugh. The story told is not true but a story that many, many of us would have wanted to be true. The movie is set during the Nazi occupation of Italy, and it tells of the possibility of dignity, imagination, and love in the face of unbelievable hubris.
AUGUST 6 - 1:30
La La Land is a film that I have not seen but has been recommended to me by many of my young friends, some considering it the “best” film that they have ever seen. It takes a bit of humility and a mature and humble ego to identify something outside of oneself as “the best” at any age.
CWN