{"id":2754,"date":"2008-10-01T07:56:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T07:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-i-behold-your-heavens.html"},"modified":"2008-10-01T07:56:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-01T07:56:00","slug":"when-i-behold-your-heavens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-i-behold-your-heavens.html","title":{"rendered":"“When I behold Your heavens…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

That phrase from Psalm 8 popped into my mind as I started to read this item. This story from the National Catholic Register fixes its gaze on the heavens — and on a side of Catholicism we rarely read about: Catholics in space<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Take a look: <\/p>\n

Oct. 1, 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration \u2014 better known as NASA \u2014 began operations. Several Catholics who came to work at the new administration saw their work in space exploration as part of their life\u2019s vocation to go to heaven.<\/p>\n

In recent years, space shuttle astronauts Thomas Jones, Kevin Chilton, Sid Gutierrez and Bob Cabana have carried on the tradition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jones is one of few who have spoken openly about his faith. He authored the 2006 book, Sky Walking: An Astronaut\u2019s Memoir<\/i>.<\/p>\n

As one of six crew members aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, Jones spent spare time reading the Bible, praying his Rosary, and even received the Eucharist while in space.<\/p>\n

In a 2004 article, Jones recounted receiving the Eucharist on the shuttle\u2019s flight deck.<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin shared the body of Christ with Sid and me, and we floated weightless on the flight deck, grateful for this moment of comradeship and communion with Christ,\u201d wrote Jones. \u201cOur silent reflection was interrupted by a sudden burst of dazzling white light. The sun had risen just as we finished Communion, and now its pure radiance streamed through Endeavour\u2019s cockpit windows and bathed us in its warmth \u2026 I rolled away from my crewmates, unable to stem the tears evoked by that singular sunrise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Catholic character of astronauts has persevered, despite the fact that NASA does not provide a Catholic chaplain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call on people like us,\u201d said Msgr. Thomas Bevan, pastor of St. Patrick\u2019s Catholic Church in Cumberland, Md.<\/p>\n

Msgr. Bevan served as Jones\u2019 childhood pastor and remains a friend. When Jones was preparing for his first space flight, he invited Msgr. Bevan down to the launch. There, on the beach near the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Msgr. Bevan led a prayer service for the astronauts and their families.<\/p>\n

He said that the service seemed to bring a great deal of comfort to Jones and his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom\u2019s wife was scared to death. She got sick to her stomach. That\u2019s what the spouses live with,\u201d said Msgr. Bevan. \u201cThe prayer service helped to place it in context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went away from the prayer service with a lot of my worries lifted away,\u201d agreed Jones.<\/p>\n

Several other priests have served this \u201cspace flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 1977 and 1996, Father Tom Butler, a Carmelite priest, served NASA employees and astronauts at St. Bernadette\u2019s Church in Houston. After the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Father Butler organized an ecumenical service with other ministers in town.<\/p>\n

Father Butler made astronaut and parishioner Bob Cabana an extraordinary minister of holy Communion prior to his shuttle flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, if a parishioner was going up, I would make them a Eucharistic minister,\u201d said Father Butler.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s much are at the Register link<\/a>, so visit there for the rest. <\/p>\n

Photo: Astronaut Tom Jones.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That phrase from Psalm 8 popped into my mind as I started to read this item. This story from the National Catholic Register fixes its gaze on the heavens — and on a side of Catholicism we rarely read about: Catholics in space. Take a look: Oct. 1, 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-and-that"],"yoast_head":"\n"When I behold Your heavens..." - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-i-behold-your-heavens.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""When I behold Your heavens..." - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That phrase from Psalm 8 popped into my mind as I started to read this item. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}