Portland Archbishop says enough is enough; ICE crackdowns leads to loss of human dignity

 

Portland archbishop on ICE: Human dignity comes from God, not government

written by Gina Christian 

(OSV News) — Human dignity comes “not from government, but from our loving God,” Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, declared in a Nov. 8 statement regarding recent immigration enforcement activity in that state.

“It does not matter whether some of our brothers and sisters have proper documentation or not,” said Archbishop Sample. “They are our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.”

The archbishop’s statement — posted in both English and Spanish on the archdiocesan website and the archbishop’s social media platforms, along with a video version of the message — follows months of immigration raids and arrests under President Donald Trump ‘s crackdown on immigrants lacking permanent legal status in the U.S., a group known to be majority Catholic Christians.

“My heart is heavy because of the continued fear and anxiety that runs through the community of our Hispanic brothers and sisters in this archdiocese,” said Archbishop Sample. “This is due to the increased ICE activity within our communities, even now in the vicinity of some of our parishes.”

Oregon has become one of several flashpoints for tensions over the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, with regular protests taking place outside the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement field office in Portland.

 “I want to assure our Hispanic brothers and sisters that the shepherds of the church in the United States are working diligently to advocate for their humane and respectful treatment. We are doing all that we can to alleviate this suffering,” said Archbishop Sample, who noted he is currently attending the annual U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops‘fall plenary meeting in Baltimore.

Both Portland, Oregon’s largest city, and the state government have codified their sanctuary status, prohibiting their respective law enforcement personnel from assisting any federal agency with immigration enforcement.

In September, Trump federalized 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect the building. The city of Portland and the state of Oregon sued, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — temporarily blocking the deployment of the troops in an October order made permanent Nov. 7.

More than 200 individuals residing in Oregon have been detained by ICE officers since Trump took office, said Reyna Lopez, executive director of the farmworker advocacy organization PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), during an Oct. 31 press conference in Portland.

Several North Portland public schools have implemented “secure the perimeter” protocols — locking all exterior doors while continuing learning activities — in response to reported ICE activity. On Nov. 6, some 100 community members surrounded César Chávez School an hour ahead of dismissal to watch out for ICE officers during student pickup.

Catholic teaching on immigration, deportation

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

The Catholic Church’s teaching also makes clear human laws regulating migration are also subject to divine justice, but it has not yet issued teaching exploring the morality of deportation beyond the magisterium of St. John Paul II. 

The late pontiff’s 1993 encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” (“Splendor of Truth”) and 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) — both quote the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in “Gaudium et Spes,” the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, naming “deportation” among various specific acts “offensive to human dignity” that “are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator.”

He underscored their moral severity in “Veritatis Splendor” by calling them examples of “intrinsic evil,” explaining that, no matter the motives, these acts are “not capable of being ordered to God and to the good of the person.”

Across the U.S., Christians account for approximately 80% of all of those at risk of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, with the single largest group of affected Christians being Catholics, according to a joint Catholic-Evangelical report published by World Relief. 

Nationwide: 1 in 6 Catholics potentially directly affected by ICE activity

The report found one in six Catholics (18%) are either vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is. 

According to a Pew Research Center data analysis from March 2025, more than four out of 10 Catholics in the U.S. are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%). But eight out of 10 Hispanic Catholics are either born outside the U.S. (58%) or are the children of an immigrant (22%), while 92% of Asian Catholics are either immigrants (78%) or are the children of an immigrant (14%). Far fewer white Catholics — just 15% — share this immigrant experience: only 6% were born outside the U.S., with another 9% born in the U.S. to at least one immigrant parent. 

“As your archbishop and spiritual father, I wish I could remove this cross from you,” Archbishop Sample told the Hispanic Catholic faithful in his message.

The archbishop assured them he was “deeply concerned over what you are experiencing right now, along with all of your local parish priests. I know this is a great burden for them as well, because they feel helpless to take this cross from you. … Please know that I and your pastors stand with you in solidarity during this difficult time.”

Archbishop Sample also addressed priests “who are caring for people during these difficult times,” promising his “support and prayers.”

“We are in this together to uphold the dignity of every human person, every child of God,” said Archbishop Sample, urging all to “lean on the love that Jesus has for each one of us.

“He alone is our hope, and in him alone do we trust. He is with you always and will never abandon you,” said the archbishop. “Place yourselves in his hands.”

Portland archbishop’s message concludes with ‘Viva Cristo Rey’

Archbishop Sample concluded his message with “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Jesus Christ!”) — the battle cry of the Cristeros, who defied the anti-Catholic, secular government of Mexico during the Cristero War of 1926-1929. The Cristeros’ defiant cry was made famous in particular by Blessed Miguel Pro. The Mexican martyr and Jesuit priest extended his arms in the form of a cross and shouted those words before he was executed by firing squad in 1927. 

In 2000, St. John Paul II canonized 25 martyrs from the Cristero War. In 2016, Pope Francis canonized the most recent Cristero martyr, St. José Sánchez del Río, a teenager remembered for repeating “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” many times before his own public martyrdom in 1928. 

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.

Pastor urges prayers for the vandal that defaced their Catholic Church

 

Pastor urges faithful to pray for vandal who defaced church: ‘That’s being a Christian’

By Daniel Payne

CNA Staff, May 13, 2024 / 11:16 am

A pastor in Portland, Oregon, recently urged his parish to pray for a vandal who defaced the church building with vulgar graffiti, arguing that the controversy gets to the “core message” of the Gospel itself. 

A vandal tagged St. Patrick’s Church in Portland with several graffiti in April that read “[expletive] you, my body my choice,” a popular slogan for the pro-abortion movement. 

In his homily the morning the graffiti was discovered, the parish’s pastor, Father Timothy Furlow, told parishioners that he deliberately left the vulgar message visible for the faithful to see on their way to Mass. 

“I wanted you to see it,” he said. “Somebody said, ‘Oh, we got to cover this up.’ And then I’m like, nope. I want them to see that.” 

“And the reason is because it fits kind of perfectly with what the core message of the Gospel is,” he continued. “The core message here is pretty simple: We can’t do anything good apart from God. Not a thing. We can’t pull a good thing off. It’s just absolutely impossible.”

The pastor indicated the perpetrator is a known vandal around Portland. Furlow said he himself has felt a desire to see the criminal “get his comeuppance.”

“But the other part of me, the part of my heart that the Holy Spirit is working in — that I let him work in — thinks what I really want is for him to be an usher,” he said. 

“I want him to come to my door and say, ‘I have no idea what’s going on. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. But somehow in the core of my being, I know that God is real and Jesus is God.’”

The pastor said he hopes that the vandal would follow that impulse “all the way through OCIA and the sacraments of initiation, into the door that he once cursed and spray-painted.”

Furlow reminded the assembly of Jesus’ command to “pray for those who persecute you.”

“Christianity and Catholicism [is] utterly unlike anything else on the earth because it runs directly contrary to the logic of the world, the flesh, and the devil,” he said. 

The pastor then asked the parish to take a minute to “sincerely pray for that guy and every single person like him in Portland, Oregon, that’s hurting with a broken heart and is turning to the darkness to try to fix it rather than the Lord who is healing himself.” 

“Pray that he’d actually be able to receive that grace and that one day he would be welcoming you at the door to Mass,” he said. 

“That’s being a Christian. That’s truly living our supernatural Catholic faith.”

Another Catholic Sanctuary vandalized

 

Priest narrowly escapes attack damaging historic Oregon Catholic shrine

by Gina Christian, OSV News

(OSV News) — A historic place of prayer in Portland, Oregon, sustained significant damage to one of its buildings, while a priest narrowly escaped harm, in a Feb. 28 vandalism attack.

Security cameras, religious objects and windows were smashed in the monastery of The Grotto, the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, a 54-acre shrine operated by the Order of Friar Servants of Mary.

In an email to OSV News, shrine executive director Chris Blanchard said “an unidentified man broke into The Grotto Monastery, a private residence for the Servite Friars who minister at The Grotto,” at approximately 6 a.m. that day.

“The intruder vandalized several rooms, including the monastery chapel, and damaged or destroyed several sacred items,” said Blanchard in his email. “Police responded immediately to the incident and arrested the intruder shortly after. We are thankful that no one was injured, including the intruder.”

According to local media reports, the suspect — named by the Portland Police Bureau as 57-year-old Paul Joseph Yauger — entered the grounds of the property early that morning and shattered security cameras, triggering a police response.

Blanchard told local media that responding officers were initially unable to locate the intruder on the extensive and heavily wooded property and departed. Less than an hour later, the suspect forced his way into the monastery and, using a stick, pushed in the door to the room of Servite Father Leo Hambur as the priest was calling emergency services.

“I thought it was a gun,” Father Hambur told media. “I was so scared at the time.”

The suspect “looked at me, and he said, ‘Who are you?'” Father Hambur recalled. “Then he moved out through another door, and he picked up (a pair of) scissors.”

The priest then fled the monastery while the suspect locked himself inside. Police returned and arrested Yauger, who was being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center on five charges of burglary, trespassing, criminal mischief and unlawful use of a weapon. Three of the charges are felonies.

An adjacent convent in which four women religious live was not damaged.

Yauger was in court March 1 after refusing to appear for a scheduled hearing the prior day.

According to one local media outlet, a police spokesperson said Yauger was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the attack, and was “yelling and confrontational.”

Blanchard told media he could only guess the total amount of damage, adding, “The real damage is to the sanctity of this place.”

The Grotto was established in 1923 by Servite Father Ambrose Mayer, the order’s first pastor in Oregon. Father Mayer founded the shrine as a tribute to Mary, the mother of Jesus, following a childhood promise he had made when his own mother recovered after almost dying in childbirth. Pope Pius XI gave his apostolic blessing to the project, and Father Mayer used the entirety of his savings for the $3,000 deposit on the property, then owned by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The Grotto’s iconic cave features a stone altar and a replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta.

At the shrine’s dedication in May 1924, Archbishop Alexander Christie prayed the place would be “a sanctuary of peace for all peoples of the earth, and surely in this day a sanctuary is needed. Torn with differences, strife, and grief, the world needs sanctuary where the human spirit can seek peace and consolation.”

The shrine now features extensive gardens, a conference center, daily Mass and recitations of the rosary, self-guided pilgrimages and retreats, and a Christmas lights festival.

Attempted riot against a Catholic Church in Portland averted; post-Roe realities

 

Police deflect rioters from Portland Catholic church, avert vandalism

PORTLAND, ORE. — Police officers successfully drove dozens of anarchist rioters away from Holy Redeemer Church in Portland late July 1.

The Portland Activists online calendar had announced night rally at nearby Peninsula Park with the intent to "Abolish SCOTUS."

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and letting the states decide abortion laws, Catholic buildings across the nation have been a target of vandals who have cited the church's support for the unborn.

Holy Redeemer had been vandalized with graffiti in the spring and was being mentioned by name in anarchist chatter in late June. After the Peninsula Park rally, more than one fringe group bent on vandalism marched toward Holy Redeemer.

But police were ready, along with the media who had alerted the public earlier that day.

"When the anarchists approached our block, the police announced it was an illegal gathering and blocked them as they rushed the church building," said Holy Redeemer parish council member Tom Markgraf, whose family has been members of Holy Redeemer for more than a century.

"The police were superb. They blocked the anarchists. The lights shining on them and exposing them caused many to pull back. The church building was spared," he said.

After police determined the threat had diminished shortly after midnight and returned to patrol duty, private security guards hired by the parochial vicar averted three attempts in the early morning by small groups seemingly intent on doing mayhem at the church.

In the days leading up to July 1 and the planned protest, Holy Cross Fr. Michael Belinsky, parochial vicar of Holy Redeemer, worked with the Portland police, private security and the Archdiocese of Portland to manage the potential violence and threat to property and persons.

Parish staff and volunteers barricaded the church's front glass doors and removed everything from the church that could be used as a weapon or was flammable. Even the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament were removed for safety.

Two retired police officers stayed with Father Belinsky, Holy Cross Fr. Cameron Cortens and two seminarians in the rectory the night of July 1 for protection, even devising an evacuation plan in case the building were breached.

Markgraf hailed Belinsky's leadership.

"He was steadfast in a peaceful response, securing the building and his attitude with the press was amazing," Markgraf told the Catholic Sentinel, Portland’s archdiocesan newspaper.

Belinsky stayed in touch with Holy Cross Fr. Pat Neary, the pastor, who was in Rome for a General Chapter meeting of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample, who was out of town, and officials at the pastoral center as well as local police.

At Mass July 3, Belinsky thanked police and the many volunteers who worked to keep the church safe, including those who prayed. The priest also made a public appeal to common sense.

"We as a church are here to serve all people, the poor, the marginalized, the unborn and those who are discriminated against because of their race or if they are gay or transgender," Belinsky said, seeking to point out the senselessness of attacking a Catholic parish church. "We are here for everyone."

Holy Redeemer School has long served a racially diverse student body. The St. Vincent de Paul food bank quietly has fed people in need for almost a century, also helping people pay rent and utility bills. There is a strong environmental justice group emerging at Holy Redeemer.

"We simply must work together within the reasonable boundaries of government to make this a more cooperative, compassionate society," Belinsky said.

In the Peninsula Park the night of July 1, where about 60 anarchists had gathered, one friend of Holy Redeemer was present and heard talk of attacking Holy Redeemer.

"I felt like I was in the movie 'High Noon' with Gary Cooper," said Markgraf, who stayed in the church during the night. "Would anyone come in to help us?"

On their way out of the park, anarchists smashed the windows of a closed coffee shop and headed toward the church. Then the police responded with what Belinsky called "appropriate presence and force."

Markgraf thinks the riots have less to do with Roe v. Wade than with young men seizing a chance to wreak havoc and get away with it. "It's time to stop letting them get away," he said.

The ending was good this time, Markgraf said, but he fears more attacks citywide in the future and urged city officials to get tougher.

"The city has to stop its yearlong passive tolerance of this terrorism," Markgraf said. "Our community is suffering, maybe dying. If Portland is to stem the bleeding, and regain its vitality, it needs to be fought for. And it is worth fighting for.

"I do not condone vigilantism. We don't want to go there. We need a strong, responsive police force."

[Langlois is managing editor of the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland.]

A U.S. Cardinal(emeritus) has died; rest in peace

Cardinal Levada in 2009 - Wikimedia Commons

US Cardinal Levada Dies in Rome at Age 83

Prefect Emeritus of Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, Served as Archbishop of Portland and San Francisco

September 26, 2019 18:12ZENIT StaffRome

U.S. Cardinal William Joseph Levada died September 26, 2019, in Rome. He was 83. Before moving to Rome he served as archbishop in both Portland and San Francisco.

Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President emeritus of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and International Theological Commission, President emeritus of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”, Archbishop emeritus of San Francisco (U.S.A.), was born on 15 June 1936 in Long Beach, California. He was ordained a priest on 20 December 1961 and holds a degree in sacred theology.

After five years of pastoral ministry in Los Angeles, he was appointed as an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1976.

On 25 March 1983, he was appointed titular Bishop of Capri and Auxiliary of Los Angeles. He received episcopal ordination on 12 May of the same year.

On 1 July 1986, he was appointed Archbishop of Portland, and from 1986-93 he belonged to the editorial committee of the Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

On 17 August 1995, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of San Francisco and was named as the Archbishop of San Francisco on 27 December of that year.

In 2000, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

On 13 May 2005, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Levada as his successor as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is also president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and International Theological Commission.

On 24 June 2008 he was appointed President Delegate of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” (5-26 October 2008).

On 8 July 2009, he was nominated President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President emeritus of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and International Theological Commission, President emeritus of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, 2 July 2012.

He participated in the conclave of March 2013, which elected Pope Francis.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 24 March 2006, of the Title of Santa Maria in Domnica (St. Mary in Domnica), Deaconry elevated pro hac vice to Presbyteral title.

From Portland's Bishop Sample

Portland archbishop calls for ‘a time for saints’ in response to abuse crisis

• Christopher White
  Aug 21, 2018
  NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Ore., stands outside Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. On May 28, in a heavily-guarded private ceremony, the archbishop confirmed four death-row inmates. He told the men that Christ died on the cross "because he loves you. (Credit: CNS.)

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon says the current crisis of sexual abuse within the Church is “a time for saints” in order to “rectify the institutional failures that allow such grave offenses to occur.”

In a four-page pastoral letter released on Monday, Sample responded to both the recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, which chronicled 70 years of abuse at the hands of 300 predator priests toward more than 1,000 victims, along with the news of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, whose resignation was accepted from the College of Cardinals after revelations of years of abuse of seminarians.

Sample said that it took him some time to formally respond to recent news because he had been “shaken to the core of my soul over them.”

“My first response was anger and disgust, which many of you have also experienced,” he added.

He went on to encourage Catholics within the archdiocese of Portland to read Pope Francis’s letter to the “People of God,” released on Monday.

“He rightly calls what has happened part of the ‘culture of death,’” Sample said.

“As Pope Francis has asked in his letter, all of the People of God should pray and do penance for healing in the Body of Christ. I realize that the lay faithful are not responsible for this scandal, but as members of the communion of the Church, our prayers and sacrifices are very powerful in helping ward off this evil in our midst,” Sample wrote.

In addressing next steps, Sample said that the U.S. bishops must reform its own policies in order that bishops, like priests, can be held accountable. He also echoed Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, in calling for a Vatican investigation into the McCarrick situation.

Sample also called for an outside investigation process, “with the substantial involvement of lay people who are independent experts in their respective fields,” to be conducted.

“A body investigating itself does not inspire confidence in the objectivity of the outcome,” the archbishop sad.

Sample said any investigation should also cover “those who knew of reprehensible behavior and yet said little, did nothing, or aided and abetted a perpetrator’s activities. All those responsible must be held accountable.”

“All reports of misbehavior or abuse must be properly investigated. They must never be summarily dismissed, ignored, or hidden. They must be dealt with, expeditiously and transparently,” he said.

“I will carry all of this with me in my heart when the U.S. Bishops gather in November at our annual meeting, where I will be a strong advocate for the reforms and concrete actions which must take place,” Sample wrote.

The archdiocese of Portland has also announced that Sample will celebrate a mass this Sunday, August 26, for Healing for Victims of Sexual Abuse.

A Bishop who takes great care for the Liturgy and the Eucharist

Archbishop Alexander Sample, shown celebrating Mass, says the aim of the ‘Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook’ (shown below) is to emphasize the need to ‘celebrate the liturgy according to the mind and heart of the Church.’ Archbishop Sample adds, ‘We are called to celebrate the sacred liturgy not according to our own preferences, but to the way the Church asks us to celebrate the liturgy in continuity with the long Tradition of the Church.’ (Courtesy of Portland Archdiocese)

Nation |  Aug. 9, 2018

Archbishop Sample Emphasizes ‘Liturgy According to the Mind, Heart of the Church’

The Portland Archdiocese issues a liturgical handbook to ensure greater reverence for the Eucharist and the Mass.

Joseph Pronechen

PORTLAND, Ore. — The feast of Corpus Christi June 3 marked a special event in the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, with the release of the new “Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook.”

The 375-page handbook, which was disseminated in print to all 120 parishes and chapels of the archdiocese, deals with all things liturgical, outlining the proper celebration of the Eucharist, from what the priest does to how the congregation is to participate.

In his introduction, Archbishop Alexander Sample explained the handbook is intended as a guide to many aspects of life in the archdiocese and parishes “that concern the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy and the understanding of the faith it expresses.”

“My desire and motivation is to call this community in the Archdiocese of Portland to a more reverent, beautiful celebration of the liturgy, according to the Church’s norms,” the archbishop, who has shepherded the Portland flock since 2013, told the Register. “That is my emphasis — we celebrate the liturgy according to the mind and heart of the Church.

To develop the handbook, Msgr. Gerard O’Connor came on board 10 months ago as the director of the Office of Divine Worship. He holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute (San Anselmo) in Rome.

“Basically, Archbishop Sample is very interested in liturgy,” Msgr. O’Connor said. “He sees the Eucharist as the source and summit. He realizes if you have Eucharistic environment and a Eucharistic diocese, things will obviously change. We want a more reverent, more beautiful, more sacred liturgy for the people in the archdiocese.” The handbook will now be a major guide to that end.

Essential Foundation

The foundation for the handbook is the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1324), which quotes Lumen Gentium, Blessed Paul VI’s 1964 dogmatic constitution on the Church, that identifies the Eucharist as “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

Msgr. O’Connor pointed out that beyond the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), the handbook’s preamble is based on Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (The Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission). This document makes clear the Eucharist is “the center and goal of all sacramental life” and that all the Church’s sacraments, ministries and works of apostolate “are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it.”

“That sets the picture,” Msgr. O’Connor said. “Our Church is based around the celebration of the Eucharist. All the works, ministries and apostolates of the Church flow from the Eucharist.”

Drawing from that teaching, Archbishop Sample outlined his desire to have a celebration of the Mass that is prayerful, reverent and beautiful.

He noted that in the years since the reform of the sacred liturgy after Vatican II, “There has been a lot of experimentation, a lot of aberrations in the celebration of liturgy, and in some more severe cases, liturgical abuses.”

He regretted that too frequently the way the new order of the Mass is celebrated obscures the reality of the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, and there is a loss of a sense of transcendence and the mystery of the holy Mass — “mystery” in the sense we’re encountering and touching the divine in the Blessed Sacrament.

The handbook is meant to restore that sacred sense.

“I think we need to re-establish the Church has a liturgy that comes to us across the centuries and has been developed and reformed numerous times, the most recent during Vatican II,” he said. “We don’t invent our own way to celebrate the liturgy, but are to be faithful to what the Church asks us in the celebration of Mass.”

“We are called to celebrate the sacred liturgy not according to our own preferences, but to the way the Church asks us to celebrate the liturgy in continuity with the long Tradition of the Church,” he added. “The Church in regard to the sacred liturgy did not hit a ‘reset button’ at Vatican II.”

Friendly Format

Msgr. O’Connor clarified the handbook was meant to be a theological explanation of the Mass, not only saying how the liturgy should be executed, but giving source documentation and the reasons behind the practices.

Included in more than 100 major sources used throughout the document are the GIRM, documents of the Second Vatican Council, papal documents and those from the Holy See’s sacred congregations.

“It’s extremely comprehensive,” he said. “People can find what they are looking for.” People can learn everything from what a deacon does to the rite for anniversary blessings and other blessings — such as Quinceañera blessings — and practically all other possibilities.

The handbook, which was published in a searchable, digital format for ease in searching for topics, can be purchased on Amazon Kindle or accessed free on the archdiocesan website (ArchDPDX.org/divine-worship) for all the faithful to access and read.

The five chapters of Part One, which account for more than 30% of the book, clearly spell out the details of what the Church asks for in the celebration of Mass and all areas pertaining to the Eucharist, including reception of Holy Communion, adoration and reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, treatment of sacred vessels, music and singing, and the proper responses of the faithful.

Additional chapters treat other liturgical celebrations, the sacraments, including procedures for first Communions, sacramentals, the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, blessings, the liturgical year, feasts, popular piety and various devotions.

Portland’s liturgical handbook appears to be a first of its kind in the United States. A full list of dioceses that might have such an extensive liturgical handbook was unavailable, but several dioceses that do have liturgical material on their websites mainly offer explanations for different liturgical celebrations or duties, such as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and lectors, or links to the GIRM and various documents on liturgy. None seem to be as comprehensive as what Archbishop Sample has published.

For Archbishop Sample, “It is not just a to-do handbook. There is so much theology and spiritualty infused into the handbook that give the foundation — why we do the things in the way we do.”

Msgr. O’Connor said, “It’s meant to be a living document.” In the PDF format, the handbook can be instantly updated for liturgical additions that come along.

“We’re happy for other people to use it,” he added. “While some things are specific to our diocese, you can take the word ‘Portland’ out and put in any other diocese.”

Father Mark Bentz, the pastor of St. Alice parish in Springfield, Oregon, welcomed the new handbook, recognizing it as an invaluable resource that “really is a great service to priests, sacristans and those in ministry.”

He pointed out when there are different practices from parish to parish “people begin to wonder if [the Mass] is about the individual priest.”

He clarified, “No, it’s not about the priest; it’s about the Church, what the Church approves for us in the instruction of the Roman Missal. When we experience that, we experience the oneness of the faith.”

Positive Reception

In his experience, parishioners are receptive to better understanding the meaning behind the Mass and Eucharistic practices.

He highlighted the sign of peace as an example. The explanations of the handbook clarify that the sign of peace at Mass is not about extending your own peace, but the peace of Christ you’re offering, he said. “It’s a symbolic gesture. Remember, Jesus is on the altar.” The handbook “spells out pretty thoroughly” what we do “and also tells the reason why — that is the most helpful about it. It makes sense.”

“What we believe determines what we do,” added Father Bentz. “If we have a deeper understanding of what the Mass is and sacraments are, it changes our behavior around them.”

Although the handbook is still very new, Father Bentz has already been putting excerpts from it in each bulletin.

The people’s reaction? They tell him, “Oh, I get that!”

The same responses have made their way to Msgr. O’Connor: “From what I heard, people welcome this handbook.”

After the summer, various courses will be offered on the handbook in the archdiocese, and priests will be introducing it in their parishes on various levels.

High Hopes

Archbishop Sample hopes the new handbook will help priests and others in liturgy ministry “to bring about beauty and to celebrate the Holy Mass, to make it spectacular. When we step into the sacred space, we’re stepping out of the secular, mundane life we live in the world today, and we step into another realm, into the divine.”

Msgr. O’Connor concurs that “our aim is to increase sacredness — greater reverence.”

For Archbishop Sample, the purpose is clear: “We need to recapture a sense of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and for the most Holy Eucharist.”