Cardinal John Fisher: Patron Saint for Church of Rochester

sketch by Hans Holbein, c. 1532-34 

Dear Friends, 

In 1935, a young Salt Lake City bishop, James E. Kearney, attended the canonization of Cardinal John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, England. Two years later Kearney was appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York. Soon after his arrival he named Fisher the diocesan patron saint. Kearney then recruited the Basilian Fathers to lead a diocesan men’s college, now known as St. John Fisher University.

Beyond these Rochester connections, some facets of Fisher’s life and ministry speak to me as we celebrate his June 22 feast day. Fisher was an extraordinary leader in the English Reformation period.  He had a lifelong affiliation with Cambridge University, as student, lecturer, and chancellor. He wrote and published responses to European theologians of the Protestant Reformation. He publicly engaged with contemporary writers and political leaders. Theologians and bishops who write and speak on today’s issues can look to him as a role model of respectful and rigorous conversation.

Fisher was a brilliant attorney and theologian and was not afraid to respond to royal requests for approval. Henry VIII announced his intended divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Citing law and theology, Fisher argued for the validity of their marriage. When Henry later declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, Fisher disapproved. Fisher was executed for his criticism of the king. 

What impresses me is Fisher’s understanding of a bishop’s responsibility to engage with contemporary issues, leading believers in discerning just action. Today questions are raised about religious believers’ and leaders’ engagement in dialogue on social issues. Pope Leo XIV spoke on the Church’s mission during a recent trip to Spain (posted below). I believe he and John Fisher would agree.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Pope Leo XIV's address to members of Spanish Parliament June 8, 2026:
…when the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate. She recognizes “the autonomy of earthly realities” and “the distinction between the ecclesial community and the political community”; and, precisely from this awareness, the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good and to recall what makes human coexistence truly human (cf. Magnifica Humanitas, 18, 19, 22).

Meeting God in the Ordinary: An Examen for Daily Life

Dear Friends, 

Growing up, many of us who are Christian were taught to pray every morning and night, beginning and ending each day close to God. 

Depending on what kind of faith formation we had, we might have been given an examination of conscience to use, as we prayed at night and thought back on our day. Often, these examens were focused on calling to mind our sins and the examen topics may have left us cold. Sometimes, they simply did not apply to our lives, or if they did, the topics were bland or made us squirm without containing any valuable thoughts to build on the next day. We may have given up the examen, or if we continued to practice it, we developed our own way of assessing our days as faithful to God or not. 

What follows here is an examen designed by Sister Joan Roccasalvo of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, NY, and is circulating nationally. It’s a spiritual practice that asks where and how did we meet and recognize God throughout the day. This practice reaches into the core belief of our congregation that we are called to love and serve the dear neighbor without distinction. If you find it potentially enlarging for you, please use it to pray yourself into a future full of grace. 

Neighbor 
Whom did I meet throughout the day? Who met me? Was there relationship, service, good and love in the meeting? 

Love 
How did love come to me today -- or the opposite? How did I love? What moved my heart? The heart of another? 

God 
What will/does/did God call me to today? What happened between us? With others? 

Summation 
Was there something of this ordinary/extraordinary day that I cherish regret, aim to carry into tomorrow/my future? 

                ***With whom and how can I share the fruits/results of this experience? ***

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A Gift on a Detour

 

Dear Friends,

On the last Saturday of May, I drove to Rochester’s Durand Eastman Park to walk along the lake shore. There’s a wonderful string of beach walkways there. I love this stretch of shore, the breezes, the sound of the water, and the sky and lake views of blue and gray. 

As I drove into the park, I was disappointed to see a large yellow detour sign. Soap Box Derby preparations had closed part of Lakeshore Boulevard. Reluctantly, I followed signs to a twisting park road. Looking for an alternate walking path, I stopped at a small field of gnarly old fruit trees, just past their flowering. I walked around the sunny field, visiting each tree and reading any remaining faded metal tags. 

The sun was quite warm. At the edge of the orchard clearing was an attractive shady glen of tangled trees and bushes. I approached the tree pictured above. Standing in its cool shade, I was inside a world of dappled liquid green. After a while, I resumed my orchard walk, but returned twice to stand in the shade of this glowing green tree. 

The photo lives on my phone screen and I smile each time I see it. I imagine that you, too, have memories of gifts received on a life detour. Join me in praying that we keep recognizing these gifts. Even on a path unchosen or a road that’s painful there are visions that bring refreshment and joy.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Enfolded in God's Love

Dear Friends, 

The sturdy looking man came out of the examination rooms as I came into the lobby of the medical office. 

“Good morning!” I said, trying to be friendly. “Good session?” 

“Wonderful!” he replied. “At 90, I’m healed of my lingering neuropathy.” 

“Thank God!” I said. 

“There is no God,” he shot back. “There’s nothing out there (pointing skyward). I have a PhD in physics from MIT. Believe me—I know there is no God out there.” 

Then he went on his way. Poor fellow! Is he in for a surprise! 

On this Trinity Sunday, I invite you to affirm with me that there is indeed a God, not just “out there," but a loving God who touches us to our depths, and who invites us into life as God’s adopted children. We belong to God as we belong to a family. 

The concept of the Trinity can test our patience in an age that expects the immediate usefulness and relevance of every idea. But we cannot fully or instantly grasp the meaning of God. 

God cannot be defined by our need. God does not fulfill our personal or political agenda.  

God simply is. God is connected to us, irrefutably and wholeheartedly. 

The boundaries of our language give us no once-and-for-all way of giving clear, unequivocal expression to who God is, but when we switch to the categories of love, ah! That’s different. Think of the people you love and who love you. God’s love is their love exponentially multiplied. We are enfolded in God’s love. 

On this Trinity Sunday, let’s speak love words to God and about God to others.  

Let us thank God for welcoming us into the family of God, for wanting us, and being our inspiration, our hope, our enlivener into eternity 

The late American Benedictine Macrina Wiederkehr prayed to the Trinity this way:
You are extravagant with your love.
You drown me with devotion and understanding.
You leave me breathless, thoughtless….
           When I hold nothing, I hold You.
       When I hold You, I hold everything.              (Seven Sacred Pauses, 2008) 

Holding God, being held by God, we move into an unknown future.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Pentecost 2026

Dear Friends,

Sunday’s feast is Pentecost, the remembrance of the Spirit’s descent on the disciples. In the Pentecost story, we hear that the disciples can communicate with listeners of many cultures and nations. The milling festival crowds in Jerusalem heard the Jesus story in their own tongues. They were amazed.

Equally amazed are the disciples. These men and women are still reeling from the experience of Jesus’ departure. The Spirit is transforming them from mourners to preachers and pushes them out in mission. When they tell the Jesus story, their listeners hear and many respond. 

Pope Leo interprets this story as a challenge to eliminate boundaries. I share his words from Pentecost 2025 for our reflection. 

Whenever God’s “breath” unites our hearts and makes us view others as our brothers and sisters, differences no longer become an occasion for division and conflict but rather a shared patrimony from which we can all draw, and which sets us all on journey together, in fraternity.

The Spirit breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred because he “teaches us all things” and “reminds us of Jesus’ words” (cf. Jn 14:26). He teaches us, reminds us, and writes in our hearts before all else the commandment of love that the Lord has made the center and summit of everything. Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for “security” zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.

You can read the full Pentecost Homily here.

In the Spirit,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Making Room for Newness

Dear Friends, 

Springtime continues in our part of our world. Newness. Since April, the fields are strewn with new lambs and calves, baby goats, and chicks. Perennials are blossoming. Trees are visions of beauty in their new green. 

It’s still Eastertime. The season liturgically goes on for 50 days. To help us realize how much more important the Easter season is, the Church maps out more celebrations of Easter than observances of the 40 days of Lent. 

Newness is a pervasive theme of Scripture. At the end of the bible – the last chapter of the Book of Revelation – Jesus says; “Behold I make all things new!” (Rev. 21.5) If, indeed, we are in Christ, which I believe we are, then we are a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2Cor.5.17) May we relish the newness of this time. 

In the last year, what has been new for you? New ideas, new friends, new convictions, new places to visit, new kids or grandkids? Surely there have been new losses or new illnesses as well. Sometimes we become so overwhelmed by the new losses that we forget, ignore or just miss the beautiful new realities that have come to enrich our lives.

In our minds, hearts and thoughts, where do we put the newness of the last year? Jesus in Mark 2.22 tells us not to put new wine into old wineskins, lest the old wineskins burst. Wineskins become stiff over time – having no yield. They get tired from the work of bearing wine for a long time. Jesus says, put new wine, which is still fermenting, into new wineskins where continued fermenting can take place without danger of breakage or spillage.

Someplace, deep inside us there is a place to carry new wine/newness safely and tenderly – a place where it can be nurtured into the future. Some of the newness we put into this new wineskin will stay with us forever. Some will leave only to come back in some unexpected moment in the future. And there is some fleeting. Taste it while you can. 

You know that commercial that says "What’s in your wallet?” Each of us can also ask “What’s in your wineskin?”

In this very springtime, with its burst of color, its ordinariness, in its dailyness, may we be open to You, Loving God, and the newness You offer. May we treasure its value and value its place in our lives. Amen! Alleluia! Amen!

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A Reason for Your Hope

Dear Friends,

This Sunday many Christians will hear a portion of the first letter of Peter. This text urges early Christians (and us) to

                Always be ready to give an explanation
                to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
                but do it with gentleness and reverence.
                1 Peter 3:15-18

The photo above helps me reflect on my own hope. On a May day five years ago, I photographed this snow challenged plant. I could see both lingering winter cold and bright green promise. I smiled as I recognized the familiar collision of decaying leaves and new growth. I felt myself rooted in creation’s cycle of death and rebirth. On that spring day, I was challenged to hope.

Five years later, I recognize the same juxtaposition of death and life. I carry many concerns and worries into my appreciation of this garden photo. I also carry hope, weather-beaten though it may be. That hope comes from stories and prayer shared with others who know the contradictions, but choose the new life Jesus promises. Peter would approve of the way we share reverently, respecting the pain and joy each brings to the table. Around that altar table we are creating another spring picture, created by Jesus who lived and died and rose. 

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ