What's the Pallium?

As the Year of St. Paul comes to a close, we give thanks for the wonderful fruits that came from this special year of reflection. In celebrating the Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul, a tradition continues at the Vatican which one has come to anticipate each June.

All the newest Archbishops of the world gather at the Vatican to receive their pallium from the Holy Father. Archbishop Collins received his pallium as Archbishop of Toronto in 2007. For the occasion, our office put together what we call a "backgrounder" to help the media and general public understand the significance of the cermony.

So while school is technically out for summer, today we give you a little education on the pallium and its history. You can impress your friends the next time they ask you, "What the pallium?" Congratulations and prayers to the 34 archbishops receiving the lamb's wool this year!

Background on the Pallium

The Pallium is a circular white woolen garment worn around the neck and is a symbol of jurisdiction and fidelity to Christ in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pallium predates Christian era by at least 200 years.

Originally a simple garment worn for warmth in Greece, early Christians adopted it as a sign of their fidelity to Christ and over time the Christian symbol of fish was used to adorn the garment and in later centuries the cross. Once worn by all Christian followers, by the ninth century, the pallium evolved to a garment given exclusively by the Pope to metropolitan archbishops.

All new metropolitans are expected to be present in Rome for the investiture of the Pallium on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29) following their appointment. On the eve of the Feast, the pallia are carried in great ceremony to the Crypt of St. Peter beneath the High Altar in the Vatican Basilica. There they are blessed and placed in a silver gilt casket. The next morning they are carried in procession at Mass for the investiture ceremony.

The ceremony of investiture is simple. During Mass, following the Liturgy of the Word but before Pope Benedict XVI’s homily, the metropolitans, proceed to a place of special honour. Each metropolitan is called forward and kneels before the Holy Father. As the Archbishop is called forward, Pope Benedict will say:

"To the glory of almighty God and the praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of the Holy Roman Church, for the honour of the Church of Toronto, which has been placed in your care, and as a symbol of your authority as Metropolitan Archbishop: we confer on you the pallium taken from the tomb of Peter to wear within the limits of your ecclesiastical province.

May this pallium be a symbol of unity and a sign of your communion with the Apostolic See, a bond of love, and an incentive to courage. On the day of the coming and manifestation of our great God and chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, may you and the flock entrusted to you be clothed with immortality and glory. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Additional Information:

• Pallium – singular. Pallia – plural
• An Archbishop can have more than one pallium bestowed on them. To stress the jurisdictional nature of the pallium, a transferred archbishop who already holds a pallium from his previous see, can request a new pallium tied to his new jurisdiction.
• Burial – The pallium is the personal property of an Archbishop as the garment is bound to his person and cannot be transferred to another. An Archbishop can be buried with the pallium upon his death or as per his request put in another suitable location.
• An Archbishop must wear the pallium if vested in sacred vestments.
• Only one pallium can be worn during a liturgical celebration.
• If the Pope is present, he wears his pallium as his jurisdiction is universal.
• If multiple Archbishops are present, the Archbishop whose jurisdiction the celebration is being held at wears his pallium.

Photos: L'Osservatore Romano

Here Come the Scrolls...

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is gearing up for the arrival of the Dead Sea Scrolls in a six month exhibition that begins June 27 in Toronto. It will be most interesting to see how the exhibit is received by people of all faiths in this multi-cultural city of ours. A number of lectures associated with the exhibit have already taken place and a host of other reflections are scheduled in the weeks and months to come. A little more about the scrolls from the very extensive and informative ROM website - it's worth a look.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are widely considered among the greatest archaeological finds of the past century. They include the earliest written sources for the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament), as well as other less well known writings. Many of the ideas and beliefs contained in this collection of ancient parchments have resonated through the centuries and remain influential today. Indeed, they reflect the foundations of important religions such as Judaism and Christianity and have influenced Islam.

Dating from around 250 Before Common Era (BCE) to 68 Common Era (CE), the Scrolls include some 207 biblical manuscripts representing nearly all of the books in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament). Approximately 900 Scrolls were discovered; some almost entirely preserved and others in fragments.

Together, they comprise one of the most important collections of writings ever discovered. The Scrolls are a collection of biblical writings, apocryphal manuscripts, prayers, biblical commentary and religious laws. Prior to the discovery of the Scrolls, the oldest known copies of biblical texts were written 1,000 years later.

For those who might be interested in checking out the exhibit, the ROM has offered the Archdiocese of Toronto special discount rates that will save up to 30% off the regular admission price. Note you need to purchase your tickets online. Visit www.rom.on.ca/scrolls. Order tickets and use the promo code: CATHOLIC. Print your tickets and just walk right in.

This exhibit provides yet another opportunity for us to learn more about the story of our faith. May this exhibit lead to continued inter-faith dialogue, reflection and prayer.

Graphic: Royal Ontario Museum

Radio Teopoli - Another Evangelization Tool...

In the Archdiocese of Toronto, we're blessed to have so many individuals using their gifts and talents to evangelize in their own unique way. Many are likely familiar with some of the Catholic media in our Archdiocese including the Catholic Register and Salt & Light Television.

However, there are a number of other hard working groups working with modern social communications to reach our family of faith.

One such group is Radio Teopoli. Founded by Fr. Claudio Piccinini, a Passionist Missionary Priest, Radio Teopoli provides programming each week on multilingual broadcaster AM530 in Toronto, broadcasting every day of the week in both English and Italian.

For more information on Radio Teopoli's weekly broadcast schedule and to learn more about the extensive work of the "Teopoli" community you can visit their website here. The site also contains all sorts of information about the TSE (Teopoli Summer Experience) for children aged 6-16, a 12 day retreat that has run for more than 30 years.

One program on the Radio Teopoli schedule is "Building A Civilization of Love", (Fridays 1- 2 p.m.) hosted by Frank Ruffolo and produced by Laura Cirami. This is no doubt a vocation for both journalists who put a tremendous amount of work and energy into every show and do their best to tell the story of all that the Catholic community is engaged in throughout the Archdiocese and beyond. I've done a number of interviews with Frank and regularly get Laura's weekly promo on shows both past and present. Using extremely limited resources, they manage to produce an informative and interesting show for Radio Teopoli listeners each week.

If you're interested in checking out past episodes or learning more about the program, you can view archived highlights on the Building of Civilization of Love blog. On their June 26th 1-2 p.m. show, they will have a special interview with Bishop Vergara of the Phillipines, who was in town last month to speak at the annual Office of Catholic Youth Leadership Banquet.

Depending on your location and "transmission signal" you can pick up AM530 throughout the GTA but can always listen anytime via their website.

It's always impressive to see those working quietly but passionately to strengthen our family of faith. We'll share more information in the coming weeks on the many other Catholic media striving to evangelize through a variety of social media. May God bless them as they continue this important work!

Photos: Radio Teopoli, freefoto.com

Thank You Father...

June 19th kicks off the Year of the Priest worldwide for the Catholic Church. It will be exciting to see how dioceses around the world support this initiative. You can expect to hear special prayers of the faithful for the rest of the month of June and throughout the next year for our priests here in the Archdiocese of Toronto.

In addition, planning is well underway to look at numerous opportunities to support and affirm our clergy over the course of the Year of the Priest. Archbishop Collins has asked Fr. John Bertao (Pastor at St. Gregory's Parish in Etobicoke) and Fr. Marian Gil (Pastor at St. Casimir's Parish) to take the lead on diocesan activities in this regard. This week's Catholic Register has a profile of three priests that show how they continue to strengthen our family of faith!

For a while now, I've wanted to make the connection between the secular Father's Day celebrations and the priesthood. This year seems as good as any. So below you'll find a short piece that I penned below an opinion piece I penned for this week's Catholic Register. To all the dads and "fathers" out there, we say simply, "Thank you."

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Father’s Day. Bring out the greeting cards, new ties and socks. My Dad is an inspiring guy, a role model, someone who’s shown me the kind of person I’d like to be in life. So Dad, never forget you’re #1 (along with Mom) in my books. But this Father’s Day, I’d like to thank some other “fathers” out there. They probably won’t be taken out for brunch this weekend and won’t receive any great art from the kids at school, but I’d like to say thanks just the same.

The secular Father’s Day “shout out” to dads was never intended to thank priests but as the Vatican and global catholic church kick-off the “Year of the Priest” on June 19, it’s as good a time as any to appreciate the men who devote themselves to being our spiritual fathers.

Priests are called on to be spiritual guides, financial managers, grief counsellors and role models for the community – on most days all of this takes place before noon. They’re the ones off to the hospital visiting the sick and dying, baptizing children, burying a loved one, stopping by to bless a home, greeting the homeless who are looking for a meal or a few bucks. In simple terms, they pull a lot of all-nighters and the motivation isn’t financial, it’s spiritual.

At the best of times, many of us find it difficult to visit our own relatives or take a moment to connect with siblings or parents. Priests spend much of their time caring for those they’ve never met, reaching out to people of all faiths, praying, teaching, changing lives forever.

And contrary to what many believe, these “fathers” weren’t born priests. They come from a variety of backgrounds – from athletes to economists, labourers to artists. Yet they all responded to a call, a tug, a vocation, something telling them that they were being asked to serve the community and to serve God. Just like our own dads, they put others before themselves. In a world that says we’re successful based on the amount of wealth and possessions we accumulate, they walked away from that and took a different path. For that, we should all be thankful.

Yes, these “fathers” like to see movies, talk politics, travel, laugh, debate doctrine and cheer (or pray) for the Leafs. Are they perfect? Not at all. In fact, most would readily admit their own shortcomings – there may even be a few people driving home from Sunday mass ready to do that for them. Yet how many of us carry healing oils in our car in case we come across an accident or cut short a rare day off to rush to the hospital to visit a stranger we’ve never met?

From Pope John Paul II who took a bullet for his beliefs to Father John, the neighbourhood priest who faithfully celebrates mass each day; Father Mychal Judge, the firefighter’s chaplain and first recorded victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks to Father Rick who presided at a wedding this weekend; Toronto’s first Bishop, Michael Power, who ultimately died at 43 of typhus after ministering to Irish immigrants with the same disease to Fr. Steve, a faithful visitor to the homeless on the block around the corner from home.

These men help make up the great fathers of our community. You can bet I’ll see my own Dad this Father’s Day weekend and give thanks for all that he’s done in my life but this year I’ll also reflect on the more than 400,000 priests worldwide and all that they’ve done to change our world. Now that’s a whole lot of good fatherly advice along with plenty of dark dress socks.

Photos: Archdiocese of Toronto, Catholic Register, World Net Daily, USA Today, freefoto.com

Happy Birthday! Around the Arch Turns 1!

How times flies...It was a year ago today the first blog entry appeared here on "Around the Arch". At the time, we were in Quebec City preparing for the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), an historic moment for the church of Canada and, in many ways, historical for our global church.

To revisit some of the wonderful moments of the IEC or to take a trip down memory lane ("Marinated Pilgrims", "A Very Public Display of Faith") feel free to check out the June 2008 archive.

So a year after we launched this online space to provide some snacks to digest on our spiritual picnic, how are we doing? This past year, we've thrown up 172 postings on all sorts of topics that connect us to our faith journey. We've tried to highlight the work of the church that isn't always on the front page of your local newspaper, to go behind the scenes and give you a glimpse of the thought process in decision making or strategizing, to profile those that don't have a public relations staff because they're just too busy trying to change lives in their everyday work.

We hope that that Around the Arch is relevant to you. We've invested significant time and effort to try and evangelize through this space. To date, more than 23,000 visitors have stopped by for a look. That includes you and we're grateful that you've made time for us considering all that's out there to distract us in the course of the usual day to day...

We'll continue to forge ahead and look at innovative ways to reach our family of faith and those of no faith at all in the coming days. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at a broader social media strategy and see how we can use other tools like Facebook, Twitter and other new media to reach beyond our traditional audiences. Of course, through it all, there are still a limited number of hours in the work day. We'll do our best to make good use of our time and more importantly, good use of yours when you pop by for a visit.

Suggestions, feedback and insights are always welcome. The comments section awaits. Most importantly, we ask for your continued prayers as we work to spread the Good News far and wide. It's the job of every Catholic - feel free to let us know what would be most relevant for you. Thanks to all who have contributed to the discussion this past year.

So from World Youth Day to Lenten Reflections, stories about parishes making a difference to mobilizing the Catholic community on a variety of issues, Happy Birthday Around the Arch - you may not be walking yet but you've certainly done a lot of talking in your first year of life!!

Photo: freefoto.com

Clear Skies Over the Vatican...

Every so often you come across an interesting story about something that the church is involved in. It doesn't get a lot of play, may not appeal to a mass audience but still strikes you as one of those "the church does that?" moments.

One such example - the Vatican Weather Station. For all the weather buffs out there, you may enjoy this Vatican site, with all sorts of updated information about the conditions at "head office" including real time updates on barometric pressure, windspeed, precipitation levels and much more.

The weather station was installed on the roof of the Governor's palace in the heart of Vatican City.

The Vatican State government has also installed six webcams where you can find real time images from six locations at the Vatican: St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Dome, Governor's Palace, Castel Gandolfo and the Tomb of Pope John Paul II.

So any day from your desktop, you can take a virtual trip to Vatican City. Some might say, another evangelization tool to help bring the "light" of Christ to our family of faith!

Photos: Italy Tourism Bureau

It all starts with a good breakfast...

Our office continues to do what we can to develop solid relationships with the media and help them learn more about the extensive good works of the Catholic Church.

As mentioned in a previous post, we held our annual Breakfast with the Media on May 25 as part of celebrations for World Communications Day. The 3rd year for this gathering, we came together at St. Paul's Basilica, a great setting for many journalists who had never set foot inside this historic and recently restored church.

To talk about the restoration, we invited Carlos Nunes to give a short talk about his work. Carlos has a unique job, spending his days revitalizing the interior of churches, with a particular emphasis on artwork and iconography. He has worked on more than 40 churches, many in the Archdiocese of Toronto, including St. Michael's Cathedral, St. Clare's Parish and St. Mary of the Angels Church (see photo).

This week, in the National Post, there was a full page story about Carlos' work, including 3 large photos (unfortunately you won't see the photos in the online version). In the public relations sense, you might call something like this a "home run". A positive story about a unique artisan in the Catholic community, a profile of one of our local churches and the work being done there (St. John's Parish) along with several pictures to help tell the story.

Again, many people think these stories just happen. But without a journalist attending the breakfast from the National Post, without Carlos presenting that morning, maybe this story never sees the light of day. 24 hours later we receive a call from a radio producer who attended the same breakfast also looking to interview Carlos for an upcoming show on CBC's Fresh Air.

A third journalist who attended the breakfast heard us talk about the Catholic community's outreach at the Good Shepherd Centre across the street from St. Paul's Basilica and plans to film an episode for her television show with Good Shepherd as the central focus. 3 solid "Good News" stories from a simple breakfast with the media. This demonstrates to our team that proactive public relations is so important.

We need to be able to tell our story and look for opportunities to make it easy for reporters to cover the church. They often say deals get done at the golf course but for us, these past few weeks, it's pretty amazing to see what can happen over breakfast...

Photos: Freefoto.com, Archdiocese of Toronto

Connecting at the Catholic Media Convention

Just back from the Catholic Media Convention. There are very few opportunities in the year for Catholic communicators to connect in a professional development setting. For the last three years, I've had the chance to attend the convention and have always come back with a number of helpful ideas and contacts. This year was no exception.

Bill Steinburg and I from the Archdiocese had the opportunity to meet with a number of our counterparts from across North America at this year's gathering, which focused on "New Media for the Good News". We attended sessions that included: Digital Media Bootcamp, Strategic Communications Planning and Producing for the Web among others.

We also had a chance to hear a couple of very interesting keynote presentations. One was a roundtable discussion on "How to Live Your Faith in the Hollywood Marketplace". Three actors and two producers openly discussed their experiences in Hollywood and how they tried to infuse their faith into their work. A fascinating discussion that illustrated the delicate balance between trying to be a person of faith and maintaining a career in a place where religious values is not always seen as a positive thing.

The second keynote was from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who provided some insights on the phenomenon that is Twitter and how it has evolved. For those not in the loop, Twitter is the latest social media tool that allows users to exchange real time updates with others around the world. Only catch - your messages are limited to 140 characters. You can "follow" others and have them follow you. A few interesting tidbits about Twitter:

> Jack was inspired by the simple chatter of cab drivers in New York City who were able to provide information about their location, routes, etc. in just a few short words.

>The original name for the application was Twitch. The founders wanted a word that would evoke a physical sensation. Twitch didn't seem to quite do it so one of the co-founders scanned the same pages in the dictionary and found Twitter which seemed like the right fit.

>The evolution of the application is largely based on the user network. Users came up with the hande, "Tweets" (sending or receiving messages) and other commonly used jargon.

>Jack felt that Twitter will be successful when it becomes just another part of everyday life much like the telephone or electricity. He leaves it to others to determine how it will be used. He recently visited Afghanistan where they have had discussions about making Twitter a default communications system, bypassing traditional land line telephone networks altogether. It's also been used by emergency responders to provide real time updates regarding their location, emergency conditions, etc.

All in all, some very interesting presentations and informal discussions at this year's Catholic Media Convention. We'll take much of what we learned back home and consider how it can be applied in the Archdiocese of Toronto to serve our family of faith. The challenge for many communicators - how to fit it all in the course of our day. With new media emerging, how do we shift resources from one area to invest time and efforts into another.

Stay tuned as we do our best to stay on top of the latest trends and tools in evangelizing to the community at large. In gathering with others from across the country, we pray for all those who communicate the message of the church. Whatever means we use, may we continue to transmit it faithfully and joyfully!

Logos: Catholic Media Convention, Twitter