FReeper Canteen ~ Sunday Chapel ~ Cardinal John J O'Connor ~ 06 October 2013

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

 

 

CARDINAL JOHN J O'CONNOR

Cardinal John J. O’Connor passed away May 3, 2000 at the age of eighty. Much has been said and written about this remarkable man of faith. Most obituaries mentioned that he served as a Navy Chaplain, but failed to mention that at one time he headed all Chaplains in Vietnam, and then later served as Chief of Chaplains with the rank of Rear Admiral.

As Cardinal for New York he reached out to people of all faiths and to people who had no faith. He cared for the homeless, AIDS victims, the destitute, as well as influencing the halls of power as a moral voice. When learning of his appointment to New York City, instead of basking in the media attention that attends such an appointment, he disappeared for three weeks to learn Spanish in an immersion program so he could better reach out to New York's Hispanic community.

He possessed a keen, intellectual mind and was able to clearly articulate complicated ideas in a way everyone could understand. He was kind and understanding, but no pushover, and he did not suffer fools gladly. It was said to be no picnic being a staff officer for him when he was Chief. He demanded excellence and he got it. Yet, he was tougher on no one than he was on himself. He routinely slept only four hours, using the other night hours for prayer, study and writing.

His influence on the Chaplain Corps and the Navy reaches us to this very day. He forced the Navy to take a hard look at how it was doing on civil rights issues and brought about much-needed reform. We are all beneficiaries of many of the ideas he pushed through to become policy.

He was a remarkable man who deserves our deepest gratitude. This vignette from the life of Cardinal John J. O'Connor tells a lot about who he really was...

Four of the most liberating words that exist are "I’m sorry" and "I forgive."
Here is a poignant reminder of how true this really is. . .

JIMMY CAGNEY’S FAREWELL

Jimmy Cagney, the famed actor, left his faith as a young man. His father took ill in a flu epidemic in 1918. He was dying and the family sent for the Priest. He never showed up. This incident remained with young Jimmy, and it was a spiritual roadblock that the actor could not overcome. Mr. Cagney died in 1986. At the funeral Mass in New York City, Cardinal John J. O’Connor (former Chief of Naval Chaplains) stepped forward to give the closing prayer. He then broke with tradition and said these words to Willi Cagney, Jimmy’s 86 year-old wife: "I feel a real obligation to say this. I want to tell you how sorry I am for any incident with an unkind Priest, anything that hurt your husband." Cardinal O'Connor then leaned over and kissed Willi. There was audible sigh in the congregation and many people were weeping, including political dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities.

Chaplain Mitch Schranz

 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Jim is now at the rehab center!!

Onward and upward, Jim!! Prayers continue.

[ConorMacNessa]

Good Evening, Kathy!

***HUGS***



A Blessed Lord’s Day to you and yours! Thank you very much for tonight’s Sunday Chapel thread.

"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hello Veterans, wherever you are!!

Good Lord's Day and Shavua Tov to you!

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

A Dangerous Challenge
October 6, 2013

While millions watched on television, Nik Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls on a 1,800-foot wire that was only 5 inches in diameter. He took all the precautions he could. But adding to the drama and danger of both the height and the rushing water below, a thick mist obscured Nik’s sight, wind threatened his balance, and spray from the falls challenged his footing. Amid—and perhaps because of—these perils, he said that he “prayed a lot” and praised God.

The Israelites also praised God in the middle of a dangerous challenge. Theirs involved a large group of warriors who had gathered to fight them (2 Chron. 20:2). After humbly asking God for help, King Jehoshaphat appointed a choir to march out into battle in front of the Israelite army. The worshipers sang: “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever” (v.21). When they began to sing, the Lord caused the enemy forces to attack and destroy each other.

Praising God in the midst of a challenge may mean overriding our natural instincts. We tend toward self-protection, strategizing, and worry. However, worshiping can guard our hearts against troubling thoughts and self-reliance. It reminds us of the lesson the Israelites learned: “The battle is not [ours], but God’s” (v.15).

Lord, I praise You, for Your mercy is everlasting.
Help me to remember that every battle in
this life is Yours. The outcome belongs to
You because You are sovereign.

No matter what is in front of us, God is always behind us.

Read: 2 Chronicles 20:1, 15-22

The battle is not yours, but God’s. —2 Chronicles 20:15

Bible in a Year:
Isaiah 26-27; Philippians 2

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mac, and a Blessed Lord’s Day to the MacNessa family, including visiting Mary. *HUGS*

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

A Blessed Lord’s Day to The Mayor family.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Shavua Tov.
Wishing all our Jewish troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
a peaceful and prosperous week.

[mountainlion]

Bless you Kathy.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Prayers for our troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
for a safe and peaceful week ahead.

[Kathy in Alaska]

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our G-d from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May HASHEM cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your G-d, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

G-d bless and keep your children safe, Alouette.

[Kathy in Alaska]

God Bless our military men and women who have given their all.

Thanks, unique.

[ConorMacNessa]

R.Adm. O'Connor is a most fitting choice for Sunday Chapel in this time when our Military Chaplains are subject to court-martial for counseling their flock or conducting liturgies. They are, of course, bearing witness, counseling their flock and conducting liturgies in the face of that outrageous ukase. I am reminded of the adversity faced by the early Church in Rome - liturgies in the Catacombs and other secret places. We're not far from that now.



"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Military Families, for your service to our country.

John Conlee ~ They Also Serve

[MeekMom]

Evenin’ Ma!
JimRob is on a roll! Yahoo!
Great news!
He’s lookin’ so good for everything he just went thru.

Prayers continue for him, his family and his friends.

Love you Ma!

xoxoxoxo,
Meeky

[Kathy in Alaska]

I just cannot wrap my sane mind around ANYONE who would threaten court-marshal for caring for our military men and women. It is beyond comprehension until you realize who is doing the threatening....the hater-in-chief of our military.

[ConorMacNessa]

BAND OF BROTHERS

WORLD WAR II

Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles"
June 7, 1944 at Ste.Marie du Mont, France

"THIS DAY IS CALL'D the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."

KOREA

Marines of the "Chosin Few", 1st Marine Division
Chosin Reservoir, Korea, December 1950

"OLD MEN FORGET; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered."

VIETNAM

FMF Corpsman D. R. Howe treats the wounds of Pfc. D. A. Crum, USMC
"H" Company, 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, during Operation Hue City.


"WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

AFGHANISTAN

Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in action, Afghanistan, 2011

OUR NATIONAL MEMORIALS - 2013


"ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as does a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean."

(Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii)


THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TYRANNY GOES ON,
AS IT HAS FROM TIMES IMMEMORIAL.
THE BAND OF BROTHERS STILL STANDS FAST IN THE BREACH!

THEY HAVE OUR SIX!

Honor Them For Their Service And Sacrifice!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Publius]

Hey, they booed God at their convention.

[Publius]

John O’Connor was a Philly boy, coming from a mixed Irish-Italian neighborhood at 47th & Chester. My late godmother, who was five years older than O’Connor, remembered him as the paperboy during the Depression.

O’Connor was a seminarian at St. Charles Boromeo when he saw “Going My Way”, and it was seminal moment for him. He imagined himself as a hip young priest like Bing Crosby learning the ropes from an old Irish priest like Barry Fitzgerald. The one thing he wanted in life was to be pastor of a parish.

But when he left the seminary, his first assignment was working at a school for retarded children in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby. He was not on the path to being the pastor of a parish, and he was disappointed.

When the Korean War broke out, he sought an audience with Cardinal Dennis Dougherty and asked permission to join the Navy. Upon leaving chaplain’s school, he was assigned to a naval vessel, and it was a marriage made in heaven. As a Navy chaplain, he had his own parish – except that it floated and moved around a lot. These were to be the happiest years of his life.

A FReeper once knew O’Connor in 1959, and when their ship docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Lieutenant Commander John O’Connor made a beeline for the TV to watch the NFL. He was a lifelong football fanatic, and his favorite team was the New York Giants.

He ended up as the chief Navy chaplain at the Pentagon and then the top chaplain in the military, making his way to the rank of rear admiral.

In 1980 when it was time for him to retire, he sent resumes out to every bishop in America, believing that somewhere there was a parish that could use an old salt for a pastor. That was all he wanted, a dream fulfilled, to be the pastor of a parish somewhere.

But he got a call from Rome, and they wanted him in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre – as a bishop. That diocese is one of several “training” diocese where a fledgling bishop can be tested and evaluated. He passed with flying colors because the next job he got was the Big Apple.

O’Connor found that being an archbishop in charge of a large diocese was a lot like working at the Pentagon. It wasn’t all that big a change for him.

In New York, he developed a close friendship with Mayor Ed Koch. Every two weeks, they would dine together, either at Gracie Mansion or at the archbishop’s residence in back of St. Paddy’s. Following dinner they would sit down in the library for brandy and cigars and discuss the state of the world. Even though they were from different faiths, their common backgrounds permitted them to agree more than they disagreed.

When O’Connor died in 2000, Koch was shattered. His best friend in the world was gone. For the remainder of his life, on the anniversary of O’Connor’s death, Koch would be admitted to the crypt under St. Paddy’s, where all of New York’s bishops are interred, and he would observe the Jewish custom of putting a pebble on O’Connor’s grave. Now they are united in death.

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!



Cdr. John J. O'Connor, CHC USN, Distributing Communion to Marines of the 1st Marine Division
Danang, RVN - 24Mar1965

The Lord’s Prayer
Andrea Bocelli
(Click)

DEAR LORD, who suffered torment, agony, and death upon the Cross to free our souls from the chains of iniquity, protect and defend our troops. Guide them in the performance of their duties. Strengthen them to endure hardship, danger and deprivation in Your service. Let their efforts free the people of Iraq and Afghanistan from the chains of terror and slavery, foster a lasting peace in the region, and bring all to a greater share in Your Mercy.

Amen.

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[MeekMom]

re: post #15 Amen Kathy! Only a demon would do what he’s doing.