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Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
After 30 years, Fr. Jerry Mahon leaves legacy of hope, faith and charity at St. John the Evangelist
May 26—ROCHESTER — Thirty years is a long time to be in the same job. For a Catholic priest in the Winona-Rochester diocese, it's practically unprecedented. So, when Fr. Jerry Mahon steps down as pastor at the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on July 1, 2025, he will be stepping down from a job he's held for more than 30 years, a job that has shaped his life but also a job where he has helped shape the Catholic community both at St. John's and in Rochester as a whole. "We have a policy of 12 years to move," Mahon said, speaking of his longevity at the church. "The bishop said next year is your term ... and then the relocation of Lourdes High School came up, and lay people submitted my name to lead the campaign, which was millions of dollars. So the bishop said, now you need to stay." Then a change of bishops came, and the new bishop told him to stay. Priests, he said, are supposed to retire at 68. "I'm going to be 80, so I stayed a little longer than they anticipated." Mahon was born at Saint Marys Hospital and raised on a farm north of Rochester. He graduated from Lourdes High School and attended church at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Rochester. After high school, he felt called to serve as a priest, eventually getting ordained at St. Francis in 1971. He spent 18 years at Immaculate Heart of Saint Mary Seminary in Winona. "So, I've had longevity of my assignments," he said. After stints in Winona at the seminary and also serving as vicar general for the Diocese of Winona, then-Bishop John Vlazny installed Mahon at St. John the Evangelist in 1994. Mahon said after he's helped with renovations at the seminary and other parts of the diocese, the bishop made St. John's seem like a respite from all the construction and remodeling work he'd been tasked with in the past. "(Vlazny said) you can just go and appreciate this church building and school," Mahon said he was told. "But that isn't the way it turned out." Part of the Second Vatican Council was a directive to make churches more welcoming to the community. "We recognized the need for hospitality," he said. That meant making changes. The interior of the church was turned around — the altar is now on the east side of the space — and the former gym for the school was turned into a welcoming space with plenty of room for events and gathering. The church purchased the former Heritage Hotel, then traded that property for a Mayo Clinic property immediately west of the church to build a new gym for the school, which then was doubled in size. St. John's also added its chapel on the east side along Fourth Avenue. This, he said, proved especially popular with both the parish community and visitors to Rochester, particularly visitors to Mayo Clinic. "A major factor in our community are guests from the Mayo medical community," Mahon said. "Every day consistently, people coming to pray. "Our demographic is employment at Mayo," Mahon said. "We don't have any houses around us here for the most part. So, people get connected to us through Mayo, and we've always had a very significant relationship with the leadership of Mayo." That relationship survives because the parish has worked to always be good neighbors with Mayo Clinic. While the parish isn't a typical neighborhood parish, Mahon said one of the missions he's long overseen is tending to those in need downtown. Homeless individuals often come looking for resources. "That's been a major part of our ministry here." Mahon pointed not just to the beauty of the building as it's been remodeled, but the artwork and the music as creating a place that is both inviting and uplifting for visitors and regular parishioners. Part of that is the music ministry at St. John's. This came about due to another aspect of Mahon's spiritual life. Since 1996, Mahon has belonged to the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, which was founded by an Italian priest, Fr. Luigi Giussani. When Giussani died in February 2005, Mahon went to the funeral in Milan. At a dinner after the funeral, he met Sebastian Modarelli, who was then a composition student at a music conservatory in Milan. Eventually, Mahon convinced Modarelli to visit for an interview later that year, hiring him in October that year as the church's director of music and liturgy. Another newcomer that same autumn was Fr. John Lasuba, who came from Sudan. Fr. John helped the St. John's community with its support of a school that began in South Sudan, but has since been moved to Uganda due to the civil war in South Sudan. "We're educating 400 students in six refugee camps," Mahon said. "Tremendous poverty, a need for food, a need for everything. But their parents are filled with such a passion that their children get an education." The church, each year, holds a benefit dinner to raise funds for the school in Uganda, and children from St. John's school downtown often hold drives to get necessary items — shoes and backpacks, for example — for their African counterparts. Mahon said it's the concept of "going to the peripheries" that Pope Francis spoke about. He's personally visited the school in Africa "three or four times." He also has spent 31 years as a member of the Rochester Catholic Schools board of trustees, serving on the board when the independent parish schools joined to form under one administrative umbrella. Mahon said all the renovation that brought physical change to the building of St. John's generated a strong community. "I'd say they go together," he said. "The purpose was to move us toward a greater sense of community and partnership with the city and hospitality." What will he miss when he's no longer at St. John's every day? "A hundred things," he said. But it comes down to relationships, administering the sacraments and watching as the community he's been a part of changes as new students, new Mayo Clinic employees and new visitors call St. John's home — or a home away from home. On a recent weekend, he said, a couple approached him to say they'd heard he was retiring. They explained that they came every year for a checkup, and when in Rochester made sure to visit St. John's. "I had an opportunity for different ministries," he said, citing his time a vicar general and with the seminary in Winona. "I love being a priest, and I have loved the gift of being here, and so my heart is filled with gratitude." As for his 54 years in the priesthood, he said, "I really was called to be a priest. It isn't as if it's been a kind of struggle. It's been a joy because it's what I was called to be. ... It's a gift. It's a grace, honestly."
Daily Maverick
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Will Pope Leo XIV embrace synodality to navigate modern challenges for the Catholic Church?
Leo could choose, to an extent, to make changes his predecessor had cued already. Cardinal Robert Prevost of the US has been picked to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church; he will be known as Pope Leo XIV. Attention now turns to what vision the first US pope will bring. Change is hard to bring about in the Catholic Church. During his pontificate, Francis often gestured towards change without actually changing church doctrines. He permitted discussion of ordaining married men in remote regions where populations were greatly underserved due to a lack of priests, but he did not actually allow it. On his own initiative, he set up a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, but he did not follow it through. However, he did allow priests to offer the Eucharist, the most important Catholic sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, to Catholics who had divorced and remarried without being granted an annulment. Likewise, Francis did not change the official teaching that a sacramental marriage is between a man and a woman, but he did allow for the blessing of gay couples, in a manner that did appear to be a sanctioning of gay marriage. To what degree will the new pope stand or not stand in continuity with Francis? As a scholar who has studied the writings and actions of the popes since the time of the Second Vatican Council, a series of meetings held to modernise the church from 1962 to 1965, I am aware that every pope comes with his own vision and his own agenda for leading the church. Still, the popes who immediately preceded them set practical limits on what changes could be made. There were limitations on Francis too, but the new pope, I argue, will have more leeway because of the signals Francis sent. The process of synodality Francis initiated a process called ' synodality ', a term that combines the Greek words for 'journey' and 'together'. Synodality involves gathering Catholics of various ranks and points of view to share their faith and pray with each other as they address challenges faced by the church today. One of Francis's favourite themes was inclusion. He carried forward the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that the Holy Spirit – that is, the Spirit of God who inspired the prophets and is believed to be sent by Christ among Christians in a special way – is at work throughout the whole church; it includes not only the hierarchy but all the church members. This belief constituted the core principle underlying synodality. Francis launched a two-year global consultation process in October 2022, culminating in a synod in Rome in October 2024. Catholics all over the world offered their insights and opinions during this process. The synod discussed many issues, some of which were controversial, such as clerical sexual abuse, the need for oversight of bishops, the role of women in general and the ordination of women as deacons. The final synod document did not offer conclusions concerning these topics, but rather aimed more at promoting the transformation of the entire Catholic Church into a synodal church in which Catholics tackle the many challenges of the modern world together. Francis refrained from issuing his own document in response, in order that the synod's statement could stand on its own. The process of synodality in one sense places limits on bishops and the pope by emphasising their need to listen to all church members before making decisions. In another sense, though, in the long run the process opens up the possibility for needed developments to take place when and if lay Catholics overwhelmingly testify that they believe the church should move in a certain direction. Change is hard in the church But a pope cannot simply reverse official positions that his immediate predecessors had been emphasising. Practically speaking, there needs to be a papacy, or two, during which a pope will either remain silent on matters that call for change or at least limit himself to hints and signals on such issues. In 1864, Pius IX condemned the proposition that 'the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church'. It wasn't until 1965 – about 100 years later – that the Second Vatican Council, in the Declaration on Religious Freedom, would affirm that 'a wrong is done when government imposes upon its people, by force or fear or other means, the profession or repudiation of any religion'. A second major reason popes may refrain from making top-down changes is that they may not want to operate like a dictator issuing executive orders in an authoritarian manner. Francis was accused by his critics of acting in this way with his positions on Eucharist for those remarried without a prior annulment and on blessings for gay couples. The major thrust of his papacy, however, with his emphasis on synodality, was actually in the opposite direction. Notably, when the Amazon Synod – held in Rome in October 2019 – voted 128-41 to allow for married priests in the Brazilian Amazon region, Francis rejected it as not being the appropriate time for such a significant change. The belief that the pope should express the faith of the people and not simply his own personal opinions is not a new insight from Francis. The doctrine of papal infallibility, declared at the First Vatican Council in 1870, held that the pope, under certain conditions, could express the faith of the church without error. The limitations and qualifications of this power include that the pope be speaking not personally, but in his official capacity as the head of the church; he must not be in heresy; he must be free of coercion and of sound mind; he must be addressing a matter of faith and morals; and he must consult relevant documents and other Catholics so that what he teaches represents not simply his own opinions, but the faith of the church. The Marian doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption offer examples of the importance of consultation. The Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854, is the teaching that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was herself preserved from original sin, a stain inherited from Adam that Catholics believe all other human beings are born with, from the moment of her conception. The Assumption, proclaimed by Pius XII in 1950, is the doctrine that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life. The documents in which these doctrines were proclaimed stressed that the bishops of the church had been consulted and that the faith of the lay people was being affirmed. Unity, above all One of the main duties of the pope is to protect the unity of the Catholic Church. On the one hand, making many changes quickly can lead to schism, an actual split in the religious community. In 2022, for example, the Global Methodist Church split from the United Methodist Church over same-sex marriage and the ordination of noncelibate gay bishops. There have also been various schisms in the Anglican communion in recent years. The Catholic Church faces similar challenges, but so far it has been able to avoid schisms by limiting the actual changes being made. On the other hand, not making reasonable changes that acknowledge positive developments in the culture regarding issues such as the full inclusion of women or the dignity of gays and lesbians can result in the large-scale exit of members. Pope Leo XIV, I argue, needs to be a spiritual leader, a person of vision, who can build upon the legacy of his immediate predecessors in such a way as to meet the challenges of the present moment. He already stated that he wants a synodal church that is ' close to the people who suffer ', signalling a great deal about the direction he will take. If the new pope is able to update church teachings on some hot-button issues, it will be precisely because Francis set the stage for him. DM First published by The Conversation. Dennis Doyle is professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio. This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Hamilton Spectator
16-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
The pope's doctoral thesis drew on St. Augustine's idea of religious authority as service, not power
By The Associated Press (AP) — The Rev. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, wrote his doctoral thesis on the way local Augustinian superiors exercise authority, the university rector said Friday. It's an issue that is perhaps newly relevant now that Prevost is the leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. The way religious superiors exercise authority has long been a topic of study for scholars. In recent years it has come under renewed scrutiny in light of cases where such authority has been abused: When a superior takes advantage of his or her authority, and the obedience that is owed to him or her by underlings, for sexual or other ends. It's an issue that Prevost would have dealt with as a superior of the Augustinian religious order from 2001-2012, bishop of Chiclayo, Peru from 2014-2023, and as prefect of the Vatican's dicastery for bishops, from 2023 until his election last week as pope. The Vatican office not only vets nominations of bishops around the world but also reviews cases of bishops who are accused of abusing their authority. The Rev. Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Dominican-run Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University where Prevost studied from 1981 to 1985, said Prevost's canon law thesis demonstrated a 'very mature and nuanced' understanding of religious life and authority, especially for someone his age. Prevost would have been at the university, known as the Angelicum, from around 26 to 30 years old. White said that Prevost was specifically interested in the issue of religious authority in light of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the new legal code that the Catholic Church adopted in 1983, while Prevost was at the university. In an email, he said Prevost underscored that all exercise of authority is meant to be a selfless act of service for the common good. White highlighted a line from the thesis drawing from St. Augustine's concept of authority and service: 'There is no room in Augustine's concept of authority for one who is self-seeking and in search of power over others,' Prevost wrote. 'The exercise of authority in any Christian community requires the setting aside of all self-interest and a total dedication to the good of the community,' he wrote. 'This is the attitude which must be adopted as the starting point for an authentic understanding of the role of the local superior.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
San Francisco Chronicle
16-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
The pope's doctoral thesis drew on St. Augustine's idea of religious authority as service, not power
By The Associated Press (AP) — The Rev. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, wrote his doctoral thesis on the way local Augustinian superiors exercise authority, the university rector said Friday. It's an issue that is perhaps newly relevant now that Prevost is the leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. The way religious superiors exercise authority has long been a topic of study for scholars. In recent years it has come under renewed scrutiny in light of cases where such authority has been abused: When a superior takes advantage of his or her authority, and the obedience that is owed to him or her by underlings, for sexual or other ends. It's an issue that Prevost would have dealt with as a superior of the Augustinian religious order from 2001-2012, bishop of Chiclayo, Peru from 2014-2023, and as prefect of the Vatican's dicastery for bishops, from 2023 until his election last week as pope. The Vatican office not only vets nominations of bishops around the world but also reviews cases of bishops who are accused of abusing their authority. The Rev. Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Dominican-run Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University where Prevost studied from 1981 to 1985, said Prevost's canon law thesis demonstrated a 'very mature and nuanced' understanding of religious life and authority, especially for someone his age. Prevost would have been at the university, known as the Angelicum, from around 26 to 30 years old. White said that Prevost was specifically interested in the issue of religious authority in light of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the new legal code that the Catholic Church adopted in 1983, while Prevost was at the university. In an email, he said Prevost underscored that all exercise of authority is meant to be a selfless act of service for the common good. White highlighted a line from the thesis drawing from St. Augustine's concept of authority and service: 'There is no room in Augustine's concept of authority for one who is self-seeking and in search of power over others," Prevost wrote. 'The exercise of authority in any Christian community requires the setting aside of all self-interest and a total dedication to the good of the community,' he wrote. "This is the attitude which must be adopted as the starting point for an authentic understanding of the role of the local superior.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
The pope's doctoral thesis drew on St. Augustine's idea of religious authority as service, not power
By The Associated Press (AP) — The Rev. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, wrote his doctoral thesis on the way local Augustinian superiors exercise authority, the university rector said Friday. It's an issue that is perhaps newly relevant now that Prevost is the leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. The way religious superiors exercise authority has long been a topic of study for scholars. In recent years it has come under renewed scrutiny in light of cases where such authority has been abused: When a superior takes advantage of his or her authority, and the obedience that is owed to him or her by underlings, for sexual or other ends. It's an issue that Prevost would have dealt with as a superior of the Augustinian religious order from 2001-2012, bishop of Chiclayo, Peru from 2014-2023, and as prefect of the Vatican's dicastery for bishops, from 2023 until his election last week as pope. The Vatican office not only vets nominations of bishops around the world but also reviews cases of bishops who are accused of abusing their authority. The Rev. Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Dominican-run Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University where Prevost studied from 1981 to 1985, said Prevost's canon law thesis demonstrated a 'very mature and nuanced' understanding of religious life and authority, especially for someone his age. Prevost would have been at the university, known as the Angelicum, from around 26 to 30 years old. White said that Prevost was specifically interested in the issue of religious authority in light of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the new legal code that the Catholic Church adopted in 1983, while Prevost was at the university. In an email, he said Prevost underscored that all exercise of authority is meant to be a selfless act of service for the common good. White highlighted a line from the thesis drawing from St. Augustine's concept of authority and service: 'There is no room in Augustine's concept of authority for one who is self-seeking and in search of power over others," Prevost wrote. 'The exercise of authority in any Christian community requires the setting aside of all self-interest and a total dedication to the good of the community,' he wrote. "This is the attitude which must be adopted as the starting point for an authentic understanding of the role of the local superior.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
