The Dialog

By TheDialog

WORCESTER, Mass. — Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester pleaded not guilty May 7 at a Wakefield, R.I., courthouse to charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

According to the Boston Globe, the bishop was released on personal recognizance after his attorney, Bill Murphy, told 4th Division District Court Judge Walter Gorman that the bishop waived his right to an extradition hearing. Bishop McManus is due back in court May 28.

The bishop was arrested May 4 in Narragansett, R.I., after allegedly being involved in a collision and driving away from the scene.

Bishop McManus, a Rhode Island native, shares a family home with his siblings in Narragansett.

In a May 6 statement, the bishop said he made a “terrible error of judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner. There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

He also asked for forgiveness from the people he serves and family and friends in the dioceses of Worcester and Providence, R.I.

Bishop McManus, 61, has been bishop of the Worcester diocese since 2004. He previously served for five years as an auxiliary bishop in Providence.

Last year, he was in the news for objecting to an invitation to Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to speak at the commencement ceremonies at Anna Maria College in Paxton, which is part of the Worcester diocese.

The Catholic college retracted its invitation to Kennedy and asked the bishop not to attend the ceremony, saying his presence would be a “distraction.”

By TheDialog

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has appointed Jesuit Father Michael Barber, director of spiritual formation at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Mass., as bishop of Oakland, Calif.

The appointment was announced May 3 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Barber, 58, is a member of the Jesuit Province of California. He succeeds Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who was named head of the San Francisco Archdiocese July 27, 2012.

Pope Francis has appointed Jesuit Father Michael Barber, director of spiritual formation at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Mass., as bishop of Oakland, Calif. The appointment was announced May 3 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-designate Barber is pictured in a 2012 photo. (CNS photo/George Martell, courtesy St. John Seminary

He is the first Jesuit named to the U.S hierarchy by Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope.

“I’m keeping my eyes on Pope Francis and seeing what he did in his first days as pope,” Bishop-designate Barber said May 3 in Oakland at an introductory news conference.

Asked why he thought the pope had chosen him, Bishop-designate Barber replied, “I would think maybe he saw in my file or in the consultations done on me something he wants to do as pope. Picking bishops — it’s one of his biggest powers as a pope. Maybe he thought I could do in Oakland what he wants to do for the whole church. That’s why I’m watching him very carefully, and that’s why I’d like to imitate him. … He had to start somewhere, too, when he was a bishop.”

Born July 13, 1954, in Salt Lake City, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1973 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1985.

Apart from a two-year missionary stint in Apia, Western Samoa, immediately after ordination, Bishop-designate Barber’s ministry has focused on education.

His assignments have included assistant professor of theology at Gregorian University in Rome; researcher and tutor at Oxford University in England; director of the School of Pastoral Leadership in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, assistant professor of systematic and moral theology and spiritual director at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif.; and his current assignment since 2010 as director of spiritual formation at St. John’s.

Bishop-designate Barber said he could like “from time to time to get into the classroom” because education is a priority of the Jesuits. He added he also wants to “visit city jails and county jails as the pope has” and to visit Catholic Charities facilities, “getting my hands dirty in soup kitchen by washing dishes, pots and pans.”

He spoke of jail ministry: “It’s one of those ministries expressly commended by Christ for us to do. ‘When I was in prison you visited me.’ You can’t get more explicit than that.”

While in California, he served as a chaplain in the Naval Reserves, and visited sailors in the brig. “On an aircraft carrier of 5,000, there’s always a few in the brig,” he said.

Unlike the response he said he got from other sailors after inviting them to attend Mass, the answer was always “yeah, yeah, yeah,” if prisoners were asked if they wanted a visit from the chaplain.

“‘Father, can you call my wife for me?’ ‘Father, can you talk to the captain on my behalf?’ I try to use my resources as best I can,” Bishop-designate Barber said.

Asked what plans he had for the diocese, Bishop-designate Barber answered, “I don’t have ideas for programs and grand schemes. That can come later. People are important to me. … It’s listen first, speak later.”

Bishop-designate Barber said he was approached by Archbishop Vigano about the Oakland appointment following an ordination Mass in Washington for an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services.

“He asked for my response in person when I was there,” Bishop-designate Barber said. “The first thing I said to him was, ‘Don’t think of this as cheeky, but are you sure you have the right Michael Barber, SJ (the common abbreviation for Jesuits)? Because there are three Michael Barber SJs. Right now there are Michael Barber SJs in St. Louis and Baltimore being congratulated right now.”

Bishop-designate Barber said he, like every Jesuit, “took a promise that I would never seek promotion or ecclesiastical office,” accepting such only “under pain of him who has the power to command under mortal sin” — the pope.

He added he told Archbishop Vigano he had never met Pope Francis and “will probably never know why (he was appointed) unless I get a chance to meet with him one on one.”

By Catholic News Service

Francesco C. Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., will become the next chair of the National Review Board in June.

He succeeds Al Notzon III, whose term ends after the U.S. bishops’ spring assembly June 10-14 in San Diego.

The National Review Board advises the bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection and was established by the “Charter for Protection of Children and Young People,” which the bishops adopted in 2002.

Francesco C. Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., has been named the next chair of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board. He succeeds Al Notzon III, who concludes his term as chair after the bishops June 2013 meeting. (CNS/Assumption College)

Cesareo, a member of the board since 2012, was appointed chair by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The board and its chair provide valuable feedback to the U.S. bishops and we rely on their expertise and recommendations,” the cardinal said in a statement. “Mr. Notzon has continued the proud tradition of stellar leadership. I have no doubt that Dr. Cesareo will do the same.”

Cesareo holds a doctorate in late medieval/early modern European history from Fordham University. He also was a Fulbright Scholar and studied at the University of Rome and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Since July 2007, he has been president of Assumption College, which was founded by the Augustinians of the Assumption.

Prior to his current post, he was dean of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Before that he was a professor at John Carroll University in Cleveland. He has received numerous fellowships and served on several boards, including the board of Catholic Ministry of Health Care Professionals in Cleveland. Cesareo and his wife, Filomena, have three young children.

Cardinal Dolan also named several new members to the board:

• Michael de Arellano, an associate professor and a licensed clinical psychologist at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center of the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. His clinical work and research focus on treatment services for child victims of traumatic events from traditionally underserved population groups, including those from rural, economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds. De Arellano also is a trainer and consultant to mental health clinics across the country to assist with the implementation of therapeutic interventions in cases of child sexual abuse and other traumatic events.

• Fernando Ortiz, director of the Counseling Center at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. He did postdoctoral study at the Counseling Center of the University of California Santa Barbara, specializing in multicultural issues, especially with ethnic minorities and international students.

• Laura Rogers, a former prosecutor who served as the deputy director of the Criminal Division of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, and earlier as director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking — known as SMART. She helped implement the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act. She also is a board member of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Review Board on Sexual Abuse and Pastoral Conduct.

• Scott Wasserman, a Kansas City, Kan., attorney who focuses on legal issues involving children, especially abused children and children with special needs. Wasserman has been board chair of Kansas City’s Christian Foundation for Children and Aging since 2000 and is chair of the Independent Review Board for the Kansas City archdiocese.

By Christopher Pineo

Catholic News Service

DORCHESTER, Mass. — Hundreds of people converged on Garvey Park in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester for an evening candlelight vigil April 16 to remember Martin Richard, an 8-year-old killed in bombings at the Boston Marathon April 15, and to pray for the Richard family.

Martin’s mother, Denise, suffered a brain injury and his 6-year-old sister, Jane, lost a leg in the blast.

A young woman cries during a candlelight vigil April 16 in the Dorchester section of Boston, where Boston Marathon bombing victim Martin Richard lived. The 8-year-old boy, who attended St. Ann Parish Neponset in Dorchester with his family, was one of three people killed when two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the marathon April 15. More than 170 people were injured, including the boy’s mother and sister, who were seriously injured. (CNS photo/Brian Snyder, Reuters)

Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 170. The two others killed included Krystle Campbell, 29, from Medford and Lu Lingzi, 23, a graduate student at Boston University from China.

Richard received first Communion at St. Ann Parish in Dorchester last May. His father, Bill Richard, released a statement before the vigil thanking family, friends and people they don’t even know “for their thoughts and prayers.”

“I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin. We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover,” the statement said.

Father John J. Connolly, pastor of neighboring St. Brendan Parish who lives at St. Ann, led the prayer vigil, while Father Sean M. Connor, pastor of St. Ann, stayed with the Richard family.

Father Connolly told those gathered that Bill Richard was thankful for their prayers, support and kindness and he requested that his “family be granted the necessary space and time both to mourn and to recover.”

Earlier in the day, neighbors had done just that. At the family’s home in Dorchester, police officers carried flowers from community members who stopped by across the perimeter they set up to protect the privacy of the Richard family.

At the vigil, Father Connolly greeted the crowd and introduced Courtney Grey, director of trauma services at the Boston Public Health Commission.

“This audience is extremely beautiful. I wish you could see what we see from here, the candles and the beautiful faces that are coming together for this reason. What we want to say to you is that we are sorry, but also that there are things that we can do to take care of ourselves and our community members,” Grey said.

Grey invited anyone in need of counseling to speak with counselors present at the vigil or to contact the commission later.

Father Connolly began the prayer portion of the vigil by recognizing the emotions of those who held their candles high and waved flags at the park that night.

“Good and gracious God, we come before you this evening with hearts full of sorrow and sadness, anger and confusion. We come before you as residents of a neighborhood who have been touched all too directly by the reality of violence and evil in our midst,” he said.

“We come tonight as citizens of the United States and citizens of Boston, as residents of Dorchester, because what once seemed to be something we watched at a distance or on television has come all too close to home.”

At the end of the vigil, the crowd spontaneously began singing “God Bless America.”

“It is good to see the community come out to support the family,” said Zach Holland, a sophomore baseball player at Boston Latin Academy. “It is good, but I don’t think I like to see the community like this, even though a death like this helps to bring everybody together.”

Chris Gross, 44, a St Ann’s parishioner, said he saw Richard Martin frequently since he coached a team in the same CYO basketball league Martin played in.

“He was a great kid who loved life, loved the Bruins, loved basketball, soccer and baseball. I just can’t believe that he is gone,” he told The Pilot, newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese.

By Mike Lang

Dialog reporter

WILMINGTON – In its fourth year, the Catholic Youth Ministry Pilgrimage continued its steady growth, attracting some 1,200 teenagers from across the diocese. It also expanded in scope, as the pilgrims visited five churches and, for the first time, St. Francis Hospital.

The day began at St. Thomas the Apostle Church on Bancroft Parkway, with Boy Scouts carrying in the pilgrimage cross before the opening prayer was held. The brisk temperatures outside disappeared as the pilgrims packed the church to hear from Bishop Malooly with music provided by Catholic artist John Angotti. It was a scene repeated throughout the day, as people filled every available space in each venue.

The March 23 CYM Youth Pilgrimage processes down Linden Street with the cross. Bishop Malooly is in front of the crowd on the right. (The Dialog/www.DonBlakePhotography.com)

The bishop was inspired by the sheer number of people who came out to walk and by what they were there to do.

“This is great. It’s spreading more and more,” he said. We have a lot of confirmation classes that come here either before or after confirmation, so that’s a good sign.

“Just the witness. They walk the neighborhoods, people will say, ‘What is this all about?’ And our young people will say we’re expressing our faith. Faith lived, which is our theme this year. I’m very enthused.”

Different groups took turns carrying the cross, which is a replica of the World Youth Day cross and was constructed by members of the diocesan Youth Leadership Team. It was blessed by Bishop Malooly in 2009 at the One Spirit, One Church conference.

Confessions at St. Anthony’s

After the opening prayer, the group walked to St. Anthony of Padua Church, where they engaged in an examination of conscience before having the opportunity to go to confession. Some priests were among the pilgrims, while others gathered at St. Anthony to assist with the sacrament. The group migrated from the church to the school gymnasium for lunch and a concert by Angotti.

Angotti, who travels around the country to perform, said Wilmington is one of the few places where he has seen this kind of event.

“This does not happen hardly anywhere, maybe two or three places that I know of. To see this type of energy, this type of gathering, being able to show up for something like this is amazing. Most times you can’t get people to go out for nothing,” he said.

The amazement was not limited to the adults. Several of the young people, whether they had been on the pilgrimage in previous years or not, said they were glad to spend a Saturday with their peers. Jessica Charney, a junior at St. Elizabeth High School, was attending her second one.

“It’s really fun. At first you think it’s a pilgrimage and you’re going to be praying all day, but it’s really fun when you have friends with you,” she said.

Prayers for the sick

Along the route, she added, “You have people taking pictures of you and waving, and it’s really cool because they’re watching you live your faith by actually walking through the streets to each church. And this year we’re going to St. Francis Hospital.”

At the hospital, located a few blocks from St. Anthony’s, Bishop Malooly led a litany of the sick and a litany of the saints for the patients inside. Earlier in the day, the bishop had asked the pilgrims to remember two people fighting cancer: his sister Martha, who has pancreatic cancer, and his former neighbor on Bancroft Parkway, Melissa Nerlinger, who is battling leukemia.

“I told her I’d have at least 1,200 people praying for her today,” he said.

After the hospital, it was off to St. Paul’s Church for Eucharistic adoration.

First time pilgrims Hunter Sharp and Christina Plows enjoyed their experience. Both were attending with confirmation groups, Sharp from St. John Neumann Parish in Berlin, Md., and Plows from Holy Spirit Parish in New Castle. Sharp and 16 others from St. John Neumann got on a bus at 7:30 Saturday morning for the trip to Wilmington.

“I heard it’s a great experience. I was excited for it,” said Sharp, a junior at St. Thomas More Academy in Magnolia. “It’s an overwhelming show of faith. I think it’s great for the diocese and the religion overall.”

Plows, a student at St. Georges Tech, attended St. Peter the Apostle School in New Castle, didn’t know what to expect as she waited at St. Thomas for the day to begin, but she noted the size of the group.

“It shows you a different side (of teenagers). Normally people don’t come out to church if they’re my age,” she said.

Mass at St. Elizabeth’s

After St. Paul’s, the pilgrims made their way to St. Hedwig Church, where they had Stations of the Cross. From there, it was up the hill to St. Elizabeth Church for Palm Sunday vigil Mass.

The teens made an impression on Angotti. “It renews my faith. Faith isn’t something I can give somebody. It’s something you have to choose. The fact that these kids are choosing this over something else just renews our hope that we are on a good path, we are on a right path. Events like this, they transform the world into what God intended the world to be.”

Charney will be back again next year for her third pilgrimage. “It’s amazing, all these people in one place, all worshiping the same person. It’s really cool.”

By Francis X Rocca

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Hours before the start of the conclave that will choose the next pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals celebrated the papacy as a source of unity among Catholics and of evangelization and charitable service to the world.

Christ “has established his apostles and among them Peter, who takes the lead, as the visible foundation of the unity of the church,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in his homily at St. Peter’s Basilica March 12. “Each of us is therefore called to cooperate with the successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity.”

U.S. cardinals take a short bus ride from the Pontifical North American College in Rome to synod hall at the Vatican March 11 for the cardinals’ last general congregation meeting before the conclave. Pictured from left, in front, Cardinals Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, Francis E. George of Chicago and Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. Behind them, from left, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston. In back, from left, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, retired archbishop of Los Angeles; Cardinal Justin Rigali, retired archbishop of Philadelphia and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York. (CNS photo/George Martell, courtesy of The Pilot Media Group)

Cardinal Sodano, 85, concelebrated the Mass “Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice” (for the election of the Roman pontiff) with some 170 other cardinals, including 115 under 80 who would be entering the conclave in the Sistine Chapel that afternoon.

At the start of the Mass, as a choir and the congregation chanted verses from the psalms, the cardinals processed up the main aisle of the basilica, wearing vestments in the red of Pentecost, signifying their invocation of the Holy Spirit to guide the papal election.

Cardinal Sodano’s homily included words of thanks for the “brilliant pontificate” of Pope Benedict XVI, which prompted more than 30 seconds of applause.

The cardinal quoted the retired pope’s description of charity as a “constitutive element of the church’s mission and an indispensable expression of her being,” and his warning that charity must not be reduced to “solidarity or simply humanitarian aid,” since the “greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the ‘ministry of the word.’”

Christ’s “mission of mercy,” Cardinal Sodano said, “is especially entrusted to the bishop of Rome, shepherd of the universal church.”

“The last popes have been builders of so many good initiatives for people and for the international community, tirelessly promoting justice and peace,” the cardinal said. “Let us pray that the future pope may continue this unceasing work on the world level.”

Given its timing, the homily at the cardinals’ last Mass before a conclave is commonly interpreted as an exhortation to the cardinal-electors on the priorities they should follow in choosing the next pope.

On the same occasion in 2005, the cardinal dean gave a now-famous sermon that warned believers against trends in contemporary culture, particularly a “dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.” He emerged from the Sistine Chapel the next day as Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Sodano’s words could also prove influential, but he is too old to vote in this conclave, and while the cardinal electors are permitted to choose someone from outside their number, the last time they did so was in 1378.

By Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service

ROME — It took a “papabile” American cardinal as guest celebrant one Sunday to fill the pews of a small Roman church, which is normally trafficked only by hordes of backpack-slinging tourists.

Instead of dog-eared guidebooks in hand, people were actually looking for hymnals, extra copies of which had to be fetched by parish assistants from the sacristy.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston gives Communion as he celebrates Mass at at his titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome March 10. Cardinal O’Malley is among 11 U.S. prelates expected to enter the conclave March 12 to elect the new pope. (CNS photo/Chris Helgren, Reuters)

The narrow church, which holds about 100 people, was packed standing-room only on the fourth Sunday of Lent with Italians, Americans and dozens of journalists.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston visited his titular church of Santa Maria della Vittoria March 10 with the no-nonsense, businesslike air of a pastor who was there simply to preside over a liturgy.

Wearing his bright scarlet cardinal robes, he alighted from a dark sedan with Vatican City State license plates and strode straight up the steps: no waving or fanfare as he moved confidently through the crowd of cameramen.

Once inside, he put on his cornered-biretta hat and sprinkled holy water as he marched down the center aisle to the sacristy.

Little did he know that, while he was there to celebrate Mass for the local community, the people in the pews and the Discalced Carmelites who run the church were there to unabashedly cheer him on as the next pope.

“Eminence, we wish, and I say this with great hope, that this will be your last visit as titular cardinal,” Discalced Carmelite Father Stefano Guernelli, the church’s rector and former provincial superior, told the cardinal in his opening remarks.

He said they were praying for him to be the next pontiff, “however, without trying to push or overturn the Lord’s plans.”

“But you must promise is that if our prayers are answered, your first visit as pope” will be back to “our church and yours, Santa Maria della Vittoria,” he said to rousing applause.

The priest said he had been telling journalists that “Cardinal Sean” is a “kind and friendly pastor, humble yet decisive in his actions because he truly loves the church.”

The only thing going against him “perhaps is that you are a friar and a Capuchin at that,” he said tongue-in-cheek, as the bearded Capuchin cardinal smiled.

Speaking with his deep, measured voice, Cardinal O’Malley said Mass and his homily in near perfect Italian, stumbling just a few times on the language’s tricky polysyllabic terms.

He began his homily thanking everyone for coming to pray “for our church in these days that are so important for us.”

Known for a sharp wit delivered with a poker face, the cardinal continued off-the-cuff, talking about the time he took possession of the Roman church in 2006 and teased the Carmelites that he was thinking of taking the church’s famed statue of St. Teresa of Avila, sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, back to Boston.

But he said the friars told him Napoleon had tried and, like the emperor, he, too, would fail.

“So it seems to me that (the friars) have never forgiven me” because the church rector wants him to become pope, the cardinal said.

“I want to assure him that after the conclave I will come back as your cardinal and perhaps I will take St. Teresa back to Boston,” he insisted with a wry smile.

He imperceptibly then switched gears to his serious side and gave a homily based on the day’s Gospel reading of the Prodigal Son, noting how many children of God today leave their father’s house, the church, because of “ignorance, a lack of feeling welcome, negative experiences, scandals, spiritual mediocrity” and other reasons.

Just like the father in Jesus’ parable, the church, too, must demonstrate a welcoming evangelical joy toward its lost sheep “without creating a difficult life toward those who have drifted and who ask to return.”

Because often they have suffered a lot after being far from God and they, like all people, are looking for real joy, the kind only God can give, he said.

Lent is the perfect time to return to one’s family “and feel that joy of being at home,” he said.

He ended his 13-minute homily by praying the Holy Spirit would help him and the other cardinal electors choose a new pope “who will confirm us in the faith, do the utmost possible to make visible the love of the Good Shepherd who goes looking for his lost sheep, to heal the sick and to embrace the prodigal son.”

Giulia Varrasso of Rome, who belongs to a nearby parish, said she had come to Santa Maria della Vittoria because she greatly admired the cardinal and wanted “to know him better.”

Cardinal O’Malley was her pick for pope, she said “because he’s a Franciscan” and she loves his humility, witty and laid-back style, and the religious order’s attention to the “weak and vulnerable.”

“I also like that he’s an American,” who can lead the Vatican out of its old ways of doing things and leave behind “the old mechanisms of power,” she said.

He also can renew the church “because he really understands these scandals” and has fought for more transparency, she said.

“I’m cheering for Cardinal Sean,” said Luigi Segoloni, who is originally from near Assisi, the home of St. Francis.

“We need fresh air, enough with these Italians and Europeans, for goodness sake,” said the Roman resident.

The U.S. cardinal is “very good, he made a very good impression with his homily; he has energy and he’s very fatherly,” said Segoloni.

Daughter of St. Paul Sister Germana Santos, who lived in Boston many years, praised the “very courageous measures” the cardinal took after he arrived at an archdiocese that was reeling from the spiritual and financial fallout of the sex abuse crisis.

“He sold all the prelates’ big residences and moved into the cathedral rectory,” a simple residence where he lived among his own priests “giving them an example of humility” and fraternity, she said.

An Italian woman, who asked her name not be used, said she wanted an American for pope.

Cardinal O’Malley “speaks from the heart.” While there are many good homilists out there, ‘you can feel his sincerity,” she said.

By Mark Pattison

Catholic News Service

Dave Brubeck, the influential and prolific pianist whose composition “Take Five” became a standard in the annals of jazz, died Dec. 5 at age 91, one day before his 92nd birthday.

He died of heart failure. He was reportedly on his way to visit a cardiologist in Norwalk, Conn., with his son Darius when he suffered a heart attack.

Brubeck played his “cool” brand of West Coast jazz before Blessed John Paul II and eight presidents.

Jazz musician and composer Dave Brubeck is pictured in a 1996 photo. The Catholic musician died of heart failure Dec. 5 in Norwalk, Conn., after being stricken while on his way to a cardiology appointment. He would have turned 92 the following day. ( CNS photo/Bob Roller)

He became a Catholic in 1980 after completing a commission from Our Sunday Visitor, a Mass titled “To Hope.” Brubeck said in a PBS biographical profile, “I didn’t convert to Catholicism, because I wasn’t anything to convert from. I just joined the Catholic Church.”

He received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame and the Christophers’ Life Achievement Award, both in 2006, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He got an honorary degree in sacred theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 2004. Brubeck also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 for his contributions to American culture and the arts.

Over a half-century, Brubeck and his band gave concerts in foreign lands during goodwill tours. He was honored by the State Department in 2008 for his efforts.

He formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 and kept the combo going, with different musicians, through 1967. It was during this period that he co-founded Fantasy Records, had his first huge hit with “Take Five” (credited to his saxophonist, Paul Desmond), and toured regularly despite recording up to four albums a year.

“When the quartet was on the road in the early days, we were being played so much that we just used to go on the car radio and turn the dial,” Brubeck told Catholic News Service in a 1996 interview. “One night we heard three of our songs being played on three different stations at the same time. That’s how much we were being played.”

Later versions of the group after it re-formed included his four sons and even his grandsons.

Brubeck originally turned down the commission for “To Hope” since he wasn’t a Catholic then, but Ed Murray, then the editor of Our Sunday Visitor, “just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Brubeck said.

“When I’d say I didn’t know anything about the Mass, he’d say, ‘Exactly what I want, it’s a fresh view. Somebody who will come in and just look at this with fresh eyes.’” Brubeck said. He eventually told Murray, “I’ll do it if you have some very knowledgeable Catholic people. I’ll write three parts of the Mass and if they like it, then I’ll continue.” After they listened to what he had written, the word came: “Tell Dave to continue and don’t change a note.”

As for “On This Rock,” which he composed for the 1987 visit of Blessed John Paul to San Francisco, he was also reluctant, Brubeck told CNS. “I wouldn’t accept that. They called me late in the evening and they needed an answer right away, the next day,” he recalled.

“So I said no, and then I asked for the text. And the text was ‘Upon this rock I will build my church and the jaws of hell cannot prevail against it.’ So I’m thinking, ‘Now they want nine minutes on this one sentence. How am I going to do that?’

“I went to bed and in the middle of the night I thought the only way to do this is how Bach would have done it, with a chorale and fugue. We can use the words over and over. I was dreaming the subject of the fugue,” Brubeck continued.

“When I woke up I said, ‘Jeez, I’ve got it. This is the way I can do it, is with a chorale and fugue.’ I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written.”

Among Brubeck’s favorite jazzmen were Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and a fellow pianist-bandleader, Art Tatum. Brubeck was chagrined when, in 1954, he became only the second jazz musician after Armstrong to grace the cover of Time magazine, believing such an honor more rightly belonged to someone like Ellington.

In addition to dozens of albums of jazz compositions, he wrote several oratorios, including “Bending Towards the Light … A Jazz Nativity,” a live recording of the annual Christmas jazz pageant performed at Lincoln Center in New York.”

Brubeck, a native of Concord, Calif., and a veteran of World War II, was active at his craft until his death. His last album release was a live recording, “The Last Time Out,” in 2011.

Besides his four sons, he is survived by his wife, Iola, herself a lyricist; a daughter, Catherine; and 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Another son died a few years ago.

By TheDialog

The following events are being held at parishes in the Diocese of Wilmington in celebration of the Dec. 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.

The feast commemorates the 1531 appearance of the Blessed Mother in Mexico City to an Indian, St. Juan Diego, to proclaim Christ the savior of the indigenous people there. In addition to Masses for the feast day, Las Mañanitas are often part of the celebration. Mañanitas are “little morning” birthday songs and prayers by members of the Hispanic community in honor of Mary.

Dec. 8

Ÿ 7 p.m.:  St. Agnes, Rising Sun:  Mass with mariachi, Mañanitas, fiesta

Ÿ 11:30 p.m.:  Ss. Peter & Paul, Easton:  Mañanitas

Dec. 9

Ÿ 9 a.m.:  Procession from Walmart on Rt. 141 to St. Catherine of Siena, Wilmington, with Mass and lunch at 11 a.m.

Ÿ 2 p.m. Ss. Peter & Paul, Easton:  procession, 3 p.m. Mass, dinner

Ÿ 4 p.m.:  St. Dennis, Galena: Juan Diego Mass, drama, and dinner

Ÿ 5 p.m.: St. Francis de Sales, Salisbury:  Bi-lingual Mass, fiesta

Dec. 10

Ÿ 6:30 p.m.:  St. John the Apostle, Milford:  rosary and 7 p.m. Mass

 Dec. 11

Ÿ 6 p.m.:  St. Paul: rosary, Aztec dance, 7 p.m. Mass with a Mexican band, fiesta, 10:45 p.m.:  Mañanitas

Ÿ 7 p.m. – midnight: St. Michael the Archangel, Georgetown:  Mañanitas

Ÿ 7:30 p.m.:  St. Elizabeth, Westover

Ÿ 8  p.m.: Holy Spirit, New Castle:  Mass and Mañanitas

Ÿ 9 p.m.:  Holy Angels, Newark: Procession from Wendy’s, Mañanitas, Juan Diego play

Ÿ 9 p.m.-midnight:  Holy Cross, Dover:  rosary, Mass, Mañanitas

Ÿ 9 p.m.:  Our Lady of Guadalupe, Roxana: vigil, 11 p.m. Mañanitas, Mass

Ÿ 9 PM: St. Dennis, Galena:  rosary, Mañanitas, 11 p.m.:  Mass.

Ÿ 9 p.m.:  St. John the Apostle, Milford:  prayers, songs, rosary, 11 p.m. Mass, Mañanitas

 Dec. 12:

Ÿ 4 a.m.:  St. Mary, Refuge of Sinners, Cambridge: Mañanitas and 5 a.m. Mass

Ÿ 5:30 a.m.: St. Catherine of Siena, Wilmington: Mañanitas

Ÿ 6 p.m.:  Holy Cross, Dover:  Mass, fiesta

Ÿ 6 p.m.:  St. John the Apostle, Milford:  Mass, fiesta

Ÿ 6 p.m.:  St. Paul: rosary, Aztec dance, 7 p.m. Mass, fiesta, Juan Diego play

Ÿ 6:30 p.m.:  Our Lady of Fatima, New Castle: Procession from Lafayette/Hampton Apartments, 7 p.m. Mass, Mañanitas, fiesta

Ÿ 7 p.m.:  Holy Angels, Newark: Mass, fiesta

Ÿ 7 p.m. Holy Rosary, Claymont:  Mass

Ÿ 7 p.m. St. Joseph, Middletown:  Mass, Mañanitas

Ÿ 7 p.m.:  St. Michael the Archangel, Georgetown: Mass

 For more information, contact Franciscan Father Chris Posch at 302-655-0518 or chrisposch@gmail.com.

By The Dialog

Bishop Malooly celebrated a Mass Oct. 25 at St. Joseph on the Brandywine for the following 16 diocesan priests celebrating significant ordination jubilees this year. Read more »