"The Garden"

[Denise]

March/April, 1994 Issue Celebrate Life

October 5, 1993, was a very important date. Pope John Paul II published an encyclical (a formal pastoral letter) directed to all the Bishops of the world. In this encyclical, "Veritatis Splendor" ("The Splendor of the Truth"), the Pope rebuts the argument of those who maintain that human freedom is absolute, "a source of values, apart from any dependence on truth." "There is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly" (No. 32).

An example of individual conclusions vs. always rejecting an act that is intrinsically evil, regardless of good intentions or difficult circumstances (Nos. 80, 81) might be found in an interview with a representative of the Catholic Health Assn. ("America" 9/18/93). The interviewer said: "Certain provisions, I suppose, such as for funding of abortion make the C.H.A. uneasy."

The answer was: "Nobody around the country is going to support the funding of services that they believe are objectional. But I do think that we should not be taking an unequivocal stand on something so complicated. To say that if abortion is one of the covered services, we cannot participate is premature, I believe, very shortsighted because there are a number of values that are in conflict. One of the current intolerable evils in this country is that we have somewhere between 37 million and 40 million people with zero health care, and another 30 million with inadequate health care. If that is not the overriding evil, I don't know what is" (p. 15).

The Pope, repeating ancient truths in modern language, said: "The saving power of truth is contested and freedom alone, uprooted from any objectivity, is left to decide by itself what is good and what is evil" (No. 84).

When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone . . . Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal" (No. 96). (Quotes from "Texas Catholic," 10/8/93, p. 7.)

The dissenters were not tardy in expressing their personal opinions. However, Dr. Randall Balmer ("Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory"), who teaches at Barnard College in New York City (to mention only one non-Catholic scholar), said that "Veritatis Splendor" raised some intriguing questions, such as "How do you instill a sense of morality without recourse to religion? . . . Children are growing up with no moral compass, little sense of right and wrong" ("Dallas Morning News," 10/9/93, p. 40A).

No matter how many individual opinions, debates and conclusions try to convince us that when it comes to morality every man who wants to be an island can enisle himself accordingly, there is no dissenting from the objective truth that some day each one of us will leave this earth. Keeping this in mind will help us maintain our moral balance. It will remind us of an old adage-"better safe than sorry." Or as Pascal concluded so logically: it is better to believe in a transcendent God who will demand an account of our lives. If He does not exist, we have lost nothing. If He does, we have gained all.

Is there no God? Don't bet the house on it.

Fr. Denis O'Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, A.L.L.

[Denise]

May/June Issue Celebrate Life 1994

The Truth About Sex Education

Debates are futile unless both sides are using words in the same sense. For example, the term "sex" may refer to gender; it may also refer to conjugal union. "Education" means to instruct; it is also used in the sense of training, informing and nurturing (another word with various meanings). The necessity of defining terms is basic if the question of sex education is to be resolved in favor of morality, and thus serving to help set a child's feet on the path to heaven.

True education is not merely imparting information. TV and radio announcers inform. They are trying to sell a product. Educators set their pupils' minds towards learning a specific, concrete subject. The goal is reached by many lessons, which are evaluated and thought about in greater detail over a period of time, so that the students may benefit from an integral formation that will contribute to the general welfare and to their own welfare also. School-based sex clinics neither train nor enlighten nor correct through evaluation. They impart information, generally flawed, e.g., the protective value of a latex condom. They play hide 'n' seek with children's minds-"Here I come, ready or not"-when in fact the children, including teenage children, are not ready. They scream, "Babies are having babies!" True. Permit me to ask two questions: 1. Who called them babies? 2. Who shows them how? Like media hucksters, they are selling something. I ask why the wonder-working pill has surrendered to the latex condom. Interesting.

We would gradually return to sanity if we dropped the term "sex education." A clearer expression is "integral formation of the child." Integral, i.e., according to the child's age, the child's development, and never telling a lie when satisfying a child's curiosity. We answer truthfully, never exaggerating, never going into unnecessary details. Least said, best said. Least said, most said. Children are not stupid. And who must always be the principal educators? The parents. Many parents say, "I don't know how." Really? They begot their children by osmosis? They placed the material elements, but God said, "Let there be life," and raised them to the dignity of parents, collaborators in His plan for mankind. He confided His child to be their child also. They are the ones charged solemnly to raise their children in accordance with the eternal law, and will answer to God. To what lengths would parents go to save their child's life? To what lengths should they go to save their children's soul? They may not wash their hands with the excuse that "Well, the school board says . . ." That's what Pilate did, wash his hands.

"If the object of the concrete action is not in harmony with the true good of the person, the choice of that action makes our will and ourselves morally evil, thus putting us in conflict with our ultimate end, the supreme good, God himself" (John Paul II, "Veritatis Splendor" ["The Splendor of the Truth"]).

Fr. Denis O'Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, A.L.L.

[Denise]

July/August Issue Celebrate Life 1994

PERMIT ME TO SUGGEST that we continue our reflection on the integral development of a child through the teen years by recalling the basic principles that must be put into practice if disaster is to be averted in matters relating to sexuality.

1. The purpose of education is to prepare students to live as God wants, not restricting their vision to the passing things of earth.

2. The family has priority of nature and thus of rights over civil society. Children are not born into civil society, they are born into a family. The purpose of civil society is to protect and nourish the unity, the basic prosperity, the loyalty to the fatherland, and right to worship God which is due to every family.

3. Children are an extension of the parents. The parents have the right as well as the strict obligation to educate their offspring and guide them to a balanced development of soul and body and talents-and to show them by example and deed that they must respect the legitimate rights of others and help the disadvantaged.

4. Parents must insure that the education of their children remains under their control and absolutely refuse to send them to any school where there is danger of their children being taught anything that would lead them astray from righteousness.

5. Parents may not accept the decision of any school that they not question the scholastic program. They must be alert to make sure their children are not being told to keep something from their parents. If necessary, the parents have the right to bring charges against any school and let the chips fall where they may. Parents have a right to know what their children are being taught.

What about instruction in sexuality?

"As they [children] grow older they should receive a positive and prudent education in matters relating to sex" (Vatican II "Declaration on Christian Education," No. 1).

"Parents, first of all, and then teachers must try to lead their charges- their children and their pupils-by means of a complete education, to proper mental, affective and moral maturity. Thus, they will teach them about sex prudently and in a manner suited to their age. They will form their wills in accordance with Christian behavior, not only by giving them advice but also by the powerful example of their own lives, supported by God's help, obtained through prayer. They will protect them from the many dangers whose existence the young do not expect" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Declaration on Certain Problems of Sexual Ethics," No. 13).

"Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them. In this regard, the Church reaffirms the law of subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in sex education, by entering into the same spirit that animates the parents.

"In this context education for chastity is absolutely essential, for it is a virtue that develops a person's authentic maturity and makes him or her capable of respecting and fostering the 'nuptial meaning' of the body. Indeed, Christian parents, discerning the signs of God's call, will devote special attention and care to education in virginity and celibacy as the supreme form of that self-giving that constitutes the very meaning of human sexuality" (John Paul II, The Christian Family in the Modern World, No. 37).

Always answer a child's questions truthfully, in accordance with the child's age and development. Be content with answering the question. Avoid details that are not asked. Thousands of parents have been supported and helped by this method of imparting an integral education to their children. More than anyone else, they hold their children's souls in the palm of their hand.

Fr. Denis O'Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, A.L.L.

[Denise]

Sept./Oct. Issue Celebrate Life 1994

OH, INEFFABLE GIFT of the Cross! How wonderful is its magnificence! The Cross does not enclose within itself a mixture of good and evil like the tree of Eden. It is altogether beautiful and attractive, as much in appearance as in its form. We are speaking, then, of the wood which begets life, not death, which sheds light without shadows, which introduces us to Eden and not to the occasion of our exile. The Cross is the wood upon which Christ ascended, as a king leaps into his chariot of war, in order to conquer the devil who unjustly held the reins of death, and to free the human race from the slavery of the tyrant.

It is the wood upon which the Lord as a valiant warrior, although His hands, His feet, His side were wounded in the strife, healed the wounds of our evil acts, that is, our nature wounded by the dragon from hell.

First we encountered death on one tree, now on another, we have come back to life. We who had been fooled through one tree have, on the other tree, rejected the wily snake. Certainly a completely new change-and mysterious! Instead of death it gives us life, in lieu of corruption it gives us immortality; far from dishonoring us it fills us with glory.

The Apostle had every reason to exclaim, "As for me, may God free me from any glory that is not the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; through Him the world is crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal. 6:14). That supreme wisdom which is born of the Cross had made a liar of any boasting which the world calls wisdom. It pulls the mask off that arrogance which is mere stupidity. All the goodness which flows from the Cross has destroyed every seed of malice.

From the beginning of the world all those things which were but figures and announcements that foreshadowed this wood were a sign and an indication of something far more admirable than themselves.

See if this is not true, you who wish to know it. Did not Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives and the animals of every species escape, by God's will, from the flood in a fragile wooden ark?

What did the rod of Moses signify? Was it not a figure of the Cross? When it changed water into blood, when it devoured the false serpents of the magicians, when by its powerful stroke it divided the waters of the sea, when it joined them again and returned them to their flow, drowning in those waters the enemy and saving the chosen people.

The rod of Aaron had a similar power, a figure of the Cross to come, which bloomed in a single day, thus showing that he was indeed a priest.

Abraham likewise announced the Cross beforehand when he placed his only son, bound, upon a pile of wood.

Through the Cross death was destroyed and Adam was restored to life. All the Apostles gloried in the Cross; through it the martyrs received their crowns, the faithful were sanctified. Through the Cross we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27) and we have divested ourselves of the old man. Through the Cross we, the lambs of Christ, have been gathered together in one flock, having for our rest the heavenly sheepfold.

St. Theodore (759-826), superior of the monastery of Studius, Asia Minor; The Adoration of the Cross; Liturgy of the Hours, Friday, Second Week of Easter, from the Spanish.

Fr. Denis O'Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, A.L.L

[Denise]

March/April Issue Celebrate Life1995

The Cross

Whoever possesses the Cross owns a treasure. By treasure I mean that it is the most excellent of all that is good--in name and in fact. Through the Cross our salvation attains its ultimate greatness and our state of original justice is restored. Without the Cross, Christ would not have been crucified. Without the Cross, He who is life would not have been nailed to the wood. If He had not been crucified the blood and the water, fonts of immortality, which purify the world would not have flowed from His side. The lien of the debt which our sins contracted would never have been torn in two, we would not have been released from bondage, we would not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree. Paradise would yet be closed to us. Without the Cross, death would not have been defeated nor the abode of the dead vacated.

Thus, the Cross is a great and glorious thing. Great, because it is the source of countless favors which, like the miracles and sufferings of Christ, play a decisive role in His work of salvation. Precious, because the Cross signifies the suffering and at the same time the victory of God: suffering, because on the Cross He voluntarily tasted death. And victory: through the Cross the devil received a mortal wound, and death, with him, was overcome. On the Cross the gates of the kingdom of death were pulled down and the Cross became the salvation of all men.

The Cross is also called the glory and the exaltation of Christ. It is the chalice overflowing of that which the Psalm speaks to us and the culmination of all the torments which Christ suffered for us. Christ Himself teaches us that the Cross is this glory when He says: the Son of Man has entered into His glory, and God has received His glorification through Him, and God has clothed Him with His own glory (cf. John 13:31-32). Again: Glorify me, Father, with the glory I had before the world existed (John 17:5). And again: Father, glorify Your name. And suddenly there were heard these words from heaven: I have glorified it and I will glorify it again (John 12:2icon_cool.gif--words which referred to the glory which He would obtain on the Cross.

Christ also teaches us that the Cross is this exaltation when He says: I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself (John 12:32-33). It is evident, therefore, that the Cross is the glory and the exaltation of Christ.

--St. Andrew of Crete, Bishop
+ c. A.D. 740
(from the Spanish)

Rev. Denis O'Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, A.L.L.

[Denise]

We've come to the end of "The Garden". Here is one of his entries in the Knights news/paper.

CHAPLAIN’S COLUMN

Fr. Denis Edward O’Brien, M.M.,

Council Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus Dallas Council 799

“You Asked For It”

Written by: Fr. Denis E. O’Brien, M.M.

At my age, I am reminded of two old ladies who had a daily checker battle in the retirement home. One day, the eldest, a mere 90, beat the other lady six times. Miffed, the 89-year-old dowager thought of a way to get her aim back. “I forgot to tell you”, she said with a demonic leer, “I had an affair!” “Do tell”, came the riposte, “Who catered?”

I was born in old St. Paul’s on October 8, 1923 and I was baptized in danger of death. We lived in Holy Trinity Parish somewhere around Cole Avenue. When I was able to leave the hospital, my parents moved to Oak Cliff while escape was possible. I grew up in Blessed Sacrament Parish; we were poor but humble and we were clean. We had a tremendous Pastor, Fr. James F. Burns, who turned down an offer to pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals because he wanted to be a priest. He inspired many vocations, among them, Father Joe Vann, Carl Vogel, John O’Rourke, John Ellis Mitchell, the Landermeyer twins, Pat Kock, SJ; (Pat and I lived on the same block), and myself. There were probably others later on including vocations when he started St. Elizabeth. More than one family scrimped to send their children to Our Lady of Good Counsel…tuition-$3.00 for a month, and the kids did very well later on. We had CCD on Sunday afternoon; I slept on Carl Vogel’s shoulder. The nuns despaired of Carl and me and offered Perpetual Novenas that God would take us before we were sent to the Penitentiary.

I went to W.H. Adamson High School, 1936-1940 and after graduation worked briefly at Neiman Marcus as a bellhop until I found work at Dallas Power and Light Company. In 1941 I went to St. John’s Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in 1942 I was “gung ho” and joined the United States Marine Corps. After boot camp and basic training as an artillery forward observer I joined the First Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, in Melbourne. I was sent to division headquarters, in part because I had a year of college. I did nothing to write about, but I was at Cape Gloucester New Britain, Pelelin (where we lost two infantry regiments in a week), and Okinawa that cost more than 250,000 allied and innocent Okinawan lives; the Japanese used them as decoys. I almost went on to China but I knew if I didn’t go back to the seminary right away I would stay in. I’ve always been proud of the Marine Corps.

Fr. Burns had pointed me toward Maryknoll and after having seen some results of missionaries in the pacific, I thought he was right. I never regretted it so, Bishop James E. Walsh, M.M., the Superior General said, “Ok.” So I studied from 1946 to 1953. Bishop Walsh later spent twelve years in the Shanghai Hilton as a guest of Mao Tse Teung. He drove them mad and they gladly let him go twelve years later.

I spent 1953-57 in Tanganyika, E. Africa, near the Seregeli Plains. My usual transport was a motorcycle. Get home before dark because the lions are restless! One time I didn’t but my guardian angel took over. Another time I was going to turn into the Mission of Iramba and made the quickest stop ever; a mamba was looking straight at me, it’s head about ten feet above the ground. I sat there until it got bored. Another time I went outside to see some people; they were talking while they stood almost on top of a Cobra. Lucky Me! I stepped on it! The Olympic high jumpers would have envied me.

In 1957 I was called back to P.R. I cured them of that when I sent my map of the U.S. with the distances between cities clearly marked. In those days Yankees were not very familiar with maps.

In 1959 I was assigned to the Yucatan. “Where is the Yucatan?” I asked myself. It is a peninsula of Mexico, 500 miles south of New Orleans. It turned out to be Heaven on earth. The Mayas are fantastic! Maryknoll does not accept wealthy parishes so I lived in places with no running water and at times two days from the highway by horse or ten hours by jeep. In one place, Huhi, the people were dirt poor; (ask me about the Christmas apples sometime), the collection on Sunday from two Masses averaged $1.19 in U.S. dollars. I ate in a lot of very poor huts; the cost of my food was $4.00 per week…no cholesterol problems.

In 1971 I was exiled to Mexico City. The parish had 200,000 Catholics and all first class theologians. The first six weeks I had no assistant and I spent Sunday afternoon blessing houses. I was elected Mexico’s delegate to our General Chapter and I returned to Mexico City in 1972 to a less populated parish…only some 80,000 parishioners.

When abortion was legalized in the United States I sat down and tried to figure out how I could keep the horror from invading Mexico. Slowly I got information and on my next vacation while I stayed with Carl at Good Shepherd where he gave me what he had. One pamphlet, ‘WHO KILLED JR’? was a cartoon story of prenatal life so I sent it to Cardinal Miranda. He like it and his Vicar General and his education director translated it into grammatical but simple Spanish. Over the years we must have passed out thousands of these copies. My first film on abortion was, “Abortion, A Woman’s Decision”, in 8mm, produced and filmed by Fr. Bill Cogan of Chicago.

The Cardinal named me pro-life director for the archdiocese and I had lots of lay people who gladly hewed the wood and fetched the water; they made me ever look good and, I still had the parish.

Two interesting experiences: The Cardinal insisted that I act as Chaplain for the Pan American Games and there is where I met Sugar Ray Leonard. There was a World Congress of Women, which I studiously avoided but a refugee Cuban lawyer insisted that I help her talk with the Pope’s representative, Mother Teresa. I tried to stay away from such important company but I was subject to the French Proverb, “What a woman wants, God wants.” So, I spent an hour providing for the lawyer and also, “Surprise father!” for the society columnist of Mexico’s biggest paper, Excelsior. We were in the Hotel Geneva at a table next to the bar, which were the only seats in the hotel and Mother Teresa had everything in order. She told the columnist, “If you can’t see Jesus in the host, you will never see Him in your neighbor.” Truly words to live by!

From 1977-83, I was Pro Life Director for the Mexican Episcopal Conference and lived on airplanes and in nearly every Diocese more than once. The bishops, priests and laity were magnificent. I soon graduated from “preaching to the choir” and began to go to universities and public hospitals. I’d like to think it was my handsome and saintly face, but it wasn’t. I had scientific movies and the people saw for themselves that life began at fertilization.

In 1983 I had come to Dallas for health reasons; it turned out to be the gall bladder. After the operation I was told that I wasn’t supposed to be alive because the gall bladder was all gangrene.

When I returned to Mexico I was assigned to Merida, the Capital of Yucatan. I had seen that there was no professional preparation for retarded people to go to Communion. A lot of retarded people can learn when they receive proper instruction. Thanks to Maryknoll’s benefactors, I was able to study a little about genetics, mental retardation, and catechisms for the retarded; Chicago has a great program. I translated books into Spanish and as I expected, the people overwhelmed me with the desire to help. While in Mexico City I had done a little bit of this so, by God’s grace we started. We had to first convince the parents; by now we had some 90 people going to class every week. Some made their First Communion while others never will, and believe it or not, a few became catechism helpers. We have some 20 kids who are profoundly retarded in our day-care center, so more can do something for a while. We have some 10 kids who are incurable and they were abandoned. We do not sit in an office; we go out and look for them.

On December 1st we will have three nuns from Portugal to direct our center. The retarded won’t be retarded in Heaven. Lucky us, why save them now? Its money in the bank where rust and mold do not consume, nor thieves break in and steal. Our Lord never made it too easy for us, but He has always been doing the heavy lifting and we are most grateful; we have never lacked what we really require.

How did I get back to my native city? In 1988 I was diagnosed with having prostrate cancer. It was removed on August 25th. How am I? I don’t know about tomorrow but today is very nice. Final words in too long a story not worth telling, I learned that cancer is a grace. I use to think I was kind and self-giving to the sick, but now when I talk to cancer patients, I can tell them that I know where they are coming from.

Kiss your cross and join yourself to the Lord on His Cross for the Salvation of all men.

Fr. Denis O’Brien M.M.

written during the Lenten Season, 1997

[Denise]

Who was/is Father Denis E. O'Brien M.M./USMC?

Rev. Denis E. O'Brien was born on October 8, 1923. He was the son of Richard and Rose McGilligan O'Brien. Two of his fraternal uncles were priests in West Texas in the early 1900s.

In 1945 Father O'Brien entered Maryknoll Apostolic College and on January 3, 1946, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and his Master of Divinity degree at Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining, where he was ordained a priest on June 13, 1953.

After ordination, Fr. O' Brien was assigned to the Maryknoll Mission in Musoma. Tanganyika, East Africa. In 1957 he was recalled back to the United States due to health reasons, and assigned to the Maryknoll Mission in Mexico. In Mexico City he served as the national advisor to the Episcopal Conference for their pro-life campaign. Father O'Brien was the founder of Pastoral del Amor, an organization that serves mildly retarded children who study Christian Doctrine. He also sponsored a day-care center for profoundly retarded children and a hospice for incurable and abandoned retarded children.

In 1966 while on furlough home, Fr. O' 'Brien earned his Certificate in Theology of Papal Social Encyclicals at Loyola University. When he returned to Mexico he served as Director of the Cursillo Movement of the Maryknoll Mexco Region from 1968-1971.

In 1988 Father O' Brien returned to the United States and became a "Priest in Residence" at St. Pius X Parish in Dallas. He went on to serve as the Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus Council 799, National Chaplain to the First Marine Division Association and local Chaplain to its Dallas Chapter, National Spiritual Director to the American Life League, and he worked tirelessly to protect human life from conception to natural death.

Father O' Brien died of cancer on August 29, 2002 at 8:00am, holding a first class relic of his Patron Saint, St. Bernadette of Lourdes. Father O' Brien was 78 years old and had been a Maryknoll priest for 49 years.

Semper Fi, my little Father!



Father Denis O’Brien, M.M.
Spiritual Director, American Life League
October 8, 1923 – August 29, 2002