ROME — The long-awaited instruction on the Liturgy of the Eucharist from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments was presented by the prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Francis Arinze, April 23 in a well-attended conference in the Holy See press office.
Titled Redemptionis Sacramentum, On Certain Matters to Be Observed or to Be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist, the final document of 17,790 words, 76 pages and 186 paragraphs was prepared by the mandate of Pope John Paul II and approved by him March 19.
The document has been “quoted” often in recent months, or at least parts of its 12 draft versions have appeared in various media organs. While the lead-up to the presentation has been almost feverish at times, the “instruction does none other than reiterate existing norms,” according to Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, secretary of the liturgy congregation.
A careful reading of Redemptionis Sacramentum, in fact, side by side with the Code of Canon Law; the General Instruction of the Roman Missal; Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium; and John Paul's 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Eucharist in Relation to the Church) shows there is an unbroken continuity of rules regarding liturgical celebrations and what constitutes abuses. And abuses are at the center of the current document.
Cardinal Arinze noted that abuses over the years “have been a source of anguish for everyone.” He said “the temptation to think that paying attention to abuses is a loss of time, that they have always existed and will always exist … can always lead us into error.
“Abuses relating to the Holy Eucharist do not all have the same weight,” he continued. “Some threaten to make the sacrament invalid. Others show a lack of Eucharistic faith. Yet others contribute to spreading confusion among the people of God and to taking the sacred out of Eucharistic celebrations. Abuses are not to be taken lightly.”
Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which collaborated in producing the instruction, said, “There was no nostalgia for things of the past but rather a desire to put into practice the conciliar liturgical reform and to eliminate abuses that go against doctrine.”
Cardinals and bishops throughout the world who are members of both congregations were asked for their contributions, in particular to list the abuses that appeared most prevalent. A joint committee, led by the prefects and secretaries of both congregations, produced the final document.
Cardinal Arinze, Archbishop Sorrentino and Archbishop Amato all stated firmly that, no matter how good and sincere the intention of a priest or liturgist, experimentation on the liturgy that is based on “personal choices or preferences” and goes beyond the allowed rules is quite simply banned. All three also stressed that the instruction is merely “a continuation of Pope John Paul's beautiful document Ecclesia de Eucharistia.”
Three things are immediately noticeable in the document.
One is the numerous references the document makes to the “rights” of the Christian faithful to authentic liturgy. For example, No. 12 says: “It is the Catholic community's right that the celebration of the most holy Eucharist should be carried out in such a manner that it truly stands out as a sacrament of unity, to the exclusion of all blemishes. …” On several occasions the instruction specifically mentions the “right” of the faithful to bring abuses to the attention of their bishop and, failing that, to the attention of the Holy See.
A second observation concerns the warnings issued to bishops in particular as guardians of the liturgy. In fact, No. 24 states: “It is the right of the Christian people themselves that their diocesan bishop should take care to prevent the occurrence of abuses in ecclesiastical discipline, especially as regards the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and devotion to the saints.”
And again, No. 186 says: “Let bishops, priests and deacons, in the exercise of their sacred ministry, examine their consciences as regards the authenticity and fidelity of the actions they have performed in the name of Christ and of the Church in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. Let each one of the sacred ministers ask himself, even with severity, whether he has respected the rights of the lay members of Christ's faithful. …”
Third, one notes the strong language used in condemning abuses. The word “reprobated” appears countless times.
No. 59 states: “Let the reprobated practice by which priests, deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce, must cease.”
And No. 117: “Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality or devoid of artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made of glass, earthenware, clay or other materials that break easily.”
Cardinal Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, who was present at the press conference, while not mentioning any particular enforcement mechanism, pointed to the instruction's invitation to the faithful to “report” abuses and to appeal to the bishop or the Holy See when abuses occur and are not corrected. If a priest does not respect the norms, the faithful have a right to protest.
Archbishop Sorrentino underscored that “receiving and welcoming this instruction cannot stop at simply a one-time communication of its content, but rather it must become an ecclesial event of communion and formation. Bishops, priests and the lay faithful must not pay attention just to the first public-opinion comments. They must take the time to read, assimilate and deeply live the contents of the instruction.”
Joan Lewis writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joan Lewis ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: What the New Rules Mean DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:ROME — “Eucharistic ministers” are a thing of the past. They are now to be called “extraordinary ministers of holy Communion.” And flagons (decanters or pitchers) on the altar for the Precious Blood, glass chalices and earthenware ciboria are no longer permitted.
Those are the new elements of Redemptionis Sacramentum (The Sacrament of Redemption), the latest document on the liturgy. But for the most part, bishops and priests are exhorted to follow the rules already in place.
In dioceses where the holy Mass is already offered as prescribed in the liturgical books of the Church, the latest instruction from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments requires little, if any, change. In those dioceses where liturgical abuses are manifold, the local bishop will have a lot of work to do — perhaps even starting with his own liturgical offices.
Redemptionis Sacramentum, dated March 25 and released April 23, is the follow-up by the congregation to Pope John Paul II's encyclical of last year, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Eucharist in Relation to the Church).
In that document, the Holy Father presented anew the theological and spiritual aspects of the Eucharist and announced that a more specific practical document would follow to correct liturgical abuses. Redemptionis Sacramentum, which is already in force, completes the work of the encyclical.
The instruction is not a complete “compendium of the norms regarding the Most Holy Eucharist” (No. 2) but is a reminder of what the rules already are regarding the celebration of the Eucharist. It mostly repeats, clarifies and, to be sure, insists that those rules be followed as a sign of the unity of the Church expressed in the liturgy. Noting that “in some places the perpetration of liturgical abuses has become almost habitual” (No. 4), the instruction calls upon local bishops to correct them quickly.
And in a not-so-veiled criticism of diocesan liturgical commissions and officers, the instruction notes that they operate only under the bishop's authority and that “there has long been the need for the bishops to consider whether their working has been fruitful thus far” (No. 25).
Redemptionis Sacramentum has a twofold thrust. First, it clarifies the proper roles of the priest and the lay faithful during Mass, emphasizing the link between the ordained priesthood and the Eucharist. Second, it promotes reverence for the Eucharist in the reception of holy Communion.
Singular Role of Priest
Redemptionis Sacramentums emphasizes that only the ordained priest can validly confect the Eucharist and that his role in the whole of the Mass cannot be diminished or replaced. For example, it is stressed that the Eucharistic Prayer must be recited only by the priest (No. 52), with no parts said by the deacon or the congregation except for the “Memorial Acclamation” and the “Amen.” The practice of the whole congregation, for example, reciting the “through him, with him …” is not permitted.
Bishops, priests and deacons are likewise reminded that they are servants, not masters, of the liturgy and so are not permitted to “alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce” (No. 59). While this principle was enunciated by Vatican II, the latest instruction reminds celebrants that in changing the words on their own, they “render the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy unstable and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the liturgy.”
The instruction repeats the prohibition on lay people preaching during Mass, emphasizing that the homily is not merely a spiritual talk but a liturgical action that flows from the ordination of a deacon or priest. Even seminarians are not to preach (No. 66).
Priests themselves are reminded that their liturgical vesture expresses their irreplaceable role at Mass. Specific mention is made of using the cincture, the liturgical “belt” traditionally associated with the virtue of purity (No. 122). A clarification is made regarding concelebration, where it is common for only the principal celebrant to wear a chasuble while the concelebrants wear only the alb and stole. While that option is permitted, Redemptionis Sacramentum clearly encourages all concelebrants to wear chasubles, even if they have to wear white ones while the principal celebrant wears the color of the day (No. 124). And while deacons retain the option of not wearing the dalmatic — the rectangular “version” of the chasuble proper to their order — they are encouraged to wear it (No. 125).
Finally, in a change that will likely affect almost all parishes, the term “extraordinary minister of the Eucharist” is no longer to be used. Because only the priest can confect the Eucharist, only a bishop or priest is to be called a “minister of the Eucharist.” The deacon, who himself cannot celebrate Mass, is the “ordinary minister of holy Communion.” Likewise, all lay faithful who distribute holy Communion are to be called “extraordinary ministers of holy Communion,” which more accurately describes their role (No. 154).
Reverence in Reception
Redemptionis Sacramentum isn't only for priests. It reminds the laity as well that proper reverence for holy Communion requires them to be properly disposed. The requirement to go to confession for grave sins before receiving holy Communion is reiterated, and it is clarified that the penitential rite at the beginning of Mass is not sufficient for the forgiveness of “graver sins” (Nos. 80-84).
Holy Communion is always to be received from the priest or deacon, or a designated extraordinary minister of holy Communion. Therefore it is not permitted for lay people to take Communion for themselves or to pass it from one to the other. For this reason, the novelty of spouses giving Communion to each other at the nuptial Mass is also prohibited (No. 94).
Perhaps the provision of Redemptionis Sacramentum that will most result in changes in many parishes is the new prohibition of the use of flag-ons or large decanters to contain the altar wine to be consecrated. In order to remove the danger of spilling, the chalices are now to be put on the altar along with the principal chalice (Nos. 105-106).
The sacred vessels themselves are to be, in accord with longstanding norms, made of precious metals in a noble fashion. Existing doubts about what else could be used have now been resolved: “Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay or other materials that break easily” (No. 117).
What Will Change?
How will Redemptionis Sacramentum be implemented? Though it is already in force, that critical question remains to be answered.
Exactly 20 years ago, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments issued an instruction, Inaestimabile Donum (The Inestimable Gift), which also sought to correct liturgical abuses. Much of what was said there is repeated in Redemptionis Sacramentum, though the latter is more comprehensive.
Twenty years later, a different generation of bishops is in place. The success of Redemptionis Sacramentum will depend in large part on how they receive it.
Father Raymond J. de Souza writes from Kingston, Ontario.
----- EXCERPT: LITURGY DOCUMENT ----- EXTENDED BODY: Fr. Raymond J. De Souza ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Campus Crisis DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:MANASSAS, Va. — The Cardinal Newman Society has released the most comprehensive report to date on the extent to which Catholic campuses have embraced contemporary trends that Pope John Paul II has called the culture of death.
The Register received a preliminary copy of the report, “The Culture of Death on Catholic Campuses: A Five-Year Review.”
More than eight months in the making, the 50-page report carefully documents the various inroads made by advocates of abortion, contraception, euthanasia and sexual promiscuity at Catholic colleges since 1999.
It focuses on seven different subject areas. They include student activities and internships, campus speakers and honorees, college officials and employees, health services, college websites, abortion advocates targeting college students, and the play “The Vagina Monologues.”
Much of the information provided in the report was collected by the Cardinal Newman Society in the normal course of its activity. For example, the society provides an annual list of inappropriate commencement speakers and makes available a resource of alternative appropriate Catholic speakers. The document lists nearly 200 cases where inappropriate public figures were asked to lecture or receive special honors at Catholic colleges.
Monica Hellwig, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, strongly objected to the report. “The speakers that they object to, almost all of them, are people who are personally against abortion but have hesitation about legislation that they think cannot be enforced in a pluralistic society,” she said. “They have difficulty balancing the rights and the autonomy of a woman against the rights of the fetus.”
But both Pope John Paul II and the U.S. bishops have also addressed the issue. On Dec. 5, 2002, the Pope spoke of the Catholic character of abortion-promoting universities.
“Clearly,” the Holy Father said, “university centers that do not respect the laws of the Church and the teachings of the magisterium, particularly in the areas of bioethics, cannot be endorsed with the character of a Catholic university.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has also said as much.
“No Catholic college or university can promote abortion, period,” said Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. “Norms adopted by the U.S. bishops and approved in 2001 by the Holy See require Catholic schools to commit to be faithful to the teachings of the Church.”
Some of the incidents recorded by the Newman Society include appearances by NARAL Pro-Choice America president Kate Michelman at Boston College's law school, radical feminist Gloria Steinem at Fairfield University and National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy at Loyola University of New Orleans.
St. Anselm College hosted seven pro-abortion candidates for its final debate before the New Hampshire Democratic primary in January, and presumptive nominee Sen. John Kerry gave a major economic address at Georgetown University in April.
Shock and Dismay
The co-author and lead researcher on the report, Erin Butcher, has been at work compiling the data since September.
“As a recent Catholic convert, I am shocked and dismayed by what we found within Catholic institutions,” Butcher said. “I hope that appropriate steps will be taken to clarify colleges' Catholic identity one way or the other.”
The complete report will be posted on the organization's web-site (www.cardinalnewmansociety. org) and will also be distributed to U.S. bishops, college presidents, trustees, faculty, Catholic lay leaders and the media.
“By putting all of the information in one place, we hope to galvanize nationwide support for the genuine renewal of Catholic colleges,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society and a co-author of the report.
The student activities and internships section of the report documents instances where Catholic campus newspapers have refused to accept pro-life advertisements and inserts as well as cases where Catholic colleges have funded pro-abortion student clubs and offered internships with pro-abortion organizations.
In 2003, for example, College of the Holy Cross in Wocester, Mass., and Loyola University of Chicago refused to accept a paid insert from Human Life Alliance that promoted chastity and opposed abortion. The report also cites Boston College law school's student activity fund for supporting the pro-abortion law student club, the Reproductive Choice Coalition, and the psychology department at the College of St. Scholastica and the department of sociology at DePaul University for offering internships at the local Planned Parenthood office.
Following the California Supreme Court decision regarding contraceptive coverage, the Cardinal Newman Society conducted a telephone survey of human-resources personnel at the 13 Catholic colleges in California.
Despite the U.S. bishops' “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” which forbid the promotion of or participation in contraception and warn against cooperating with other services that violate Catholic teaching, the report documents that at least nine Catholic colleges' employee medical plans in California pay for contraceptives. They include Dominican University of California, Loyola Marymount University and the University of San Diego.
Health Services
The report also documents cases where Catholic universities refer students to organizations such as Planned Parenthood. For instance, Nazareth College's campus ministry recommends students “serve” as Planned Parenthood “clinic escorts,” according to the Newman Society report.
Georgetown University's web-site referred students to local abortion clinics, it said. In December 2002, the Register reported on the University of San Francisco's web-site directing students to two abortion businesses and a non-Catholic abortion counseling center rather than to the eight pro-life pregnancy-resource centers and maternity homes located in the city. The website failed to provide a link to the Gabriel Project at St. Ignatius Church located on the University of San Francisco campus.
As a result of the publicity, the University of San Francisco, as well as Georgetown University and Boston College, removed their offensive web pages.
But students are also endangered by health services that do not comply with Catholic teaching by referring students to Planned Parenthood and other resources for contraceptives and abortion, the report claims. It says “emergency contraception,” an abortifacient, is made available to students by the College of Santa Fe, N.M., and Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.
Cardinal Newman Society also claims to have identified several college officials and faculty members with ties to culture of death organizations including the Death With Dignity National Center, the Compassion in Dying Federation and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Pro-abortion politicians on the faculties of Catholic colleges include Carol Moseley Braun at DePaul University, Geraldine Ferraro at Georgetown University and Leon Panetta at Santa Clara University.
“The Cardinal Newman Society has questioned student activities,” Hellwig said. “For the Cardinal Newman Society the big issues continue to be the sexual issues. The big issues for the Church now are the social-justice issues — what is happening to the poor in our country and the world and the violence that has erupted around the world.”
Hellwig also questioned the Cardinal Newman Society's authority.
“It's never been clear what authority the Cardinal Newman Society claims, because they are not directly connected with a college and are not represented on the bishops' or presidents' committee that deals with the colleges,” she said.
“We're not looking to have authority over the schools,” Reilly responded. “We as Catholics bow to the legitimate teaching authority of the Church and we're asking Catholic colleges to do the same.”
Ten bishops serve as ecclesiastical advisers to the Cardinal Newman Society. Among them is Scranton, Pa., Bishop Joseph Martino. Although he was unable to comment on the Cardinal Newman Society's report, he told the Register he “supports full, authentic and explicit Catholic identity in all Catholic schools and [is committed] to working insistently on that goal.”
While few have seen the report, preliminary reaction to it has been strong.
“Catholic universities, as institutions with their origin at the heart of the Church, have an obligation to uphold the culture of life,” said Tom Harmon, director of membership and campus leadership with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. “With the evidence from this report, though, it seems that not only is the resolve of these institutions to stand for the [unborn] weak but that many of them are actually bastions of the culture of death.”
“It is providential that this report is coming out at this time while the courtroom trials continue on partial-birth abortion,” said Father Frank Pavone, president of Priests for Life. “On campus, people are always talking on the level of abstractions. That's where the disconnect is. My challenge to those who would justify these things on campus is that they read those courtroom transcripts where abortion doctors are describing abortion in sworn testimony.”
Although the Cardinal Newman Society report is filled with disheartening news, Harmon remains hopeful.
“Through the work of faithful Catholics among the students, administrators, faculty and alumni of these colleges as well as the work of organizations like the Cardinal Newman Society and a lot of prayer,” he said, “perhaps Catholic universities will be persuaded to rejoin the battle for the culture of life.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: Report Says Catholic Colleges Promote 'Culture of Death' ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: March's Focus on Women's Lives Draws Hundreds Of Thousands DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — As hundreds of thousands of women prepared to join the pro-abortion “March for Women's Lives” in Washington, D.C., Terri White began to receive more attention than she's used to.
Three newspapers printed her story (including the Register — see page 17). White had an abortion and has suffered ever since.
“Though there are activists who will march on April 25 and believe they represent all the women of America, I would like to share my personal experience of the harm that abortion has done in my life,” she told the newspapers, and they listened.
Such attention to a woman who regrets her abortion would have been more unusual 10 or 20 years ago. But times are changing. Now, a majority of Americans believe abortion is wrong. And organizers of the march felt the need to sweeten their invitations to marchers by stressing that abortion was just one of the things they were marching for.
The march was co-sponsored by the National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Feminist Majority Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. Organizers estimated that more than 1 million people marched, though several D.C. police officers estimated it was probably half that amount. CNN reported only about 250,000. The district and the National Park Service no longer issue official estimates of attendance at rallies and marches.
No matter how many people turned out, a recent poll by Zogby International suggests the sentiments of march organizers are not quite in line with the beliefs of most Americans. The survey, released April 23 by the National Right to Life Committee, showed that 56% of Americans agree with one of the following views: that abortion should never be legal (18%), legal only when the life of the mother is in danger (15%), legal for any reason during the first six months (4%) or legal for any reason at any time during the woman's pregnancy (13%).
Most speakers at the march framed participants' concerns in the language of war and injustice: Bush's “war on choice,” women in the United States as “oppressed” — or about to be.
The pro-abortion march boasted a celebrity-packed lineup, which included Susan Sarandon, Julianne Moore, Camryn Manheim, Ashley Judd and Ted Turner.
Not on hand was actress Patricia Heaton, co-star of CBS' “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Heaton, who serves as honorary chair of Feminists for Life, said in a statement, “I find it impossible to subscribe to a philosophy that believes the destruction of human life is a legitimate solution to a problem that is mostly social, economic and psychological. In reality, most women ‘choose’ abortion because they believe they have no other choice.”
Frances Kissling's pro-abortion organization was given a highly visible presence in the march program. Kissling calls her organization “Catholic for a Free Choice,” even though U.S. Catholic bishops have disavowed the organization. During her speech at the event, Kissling called Pope John Paul II “the worst enemy of choice.”
But abortion advocates weren't the only ones on the Mall.
Despite a court denial of their counter-protest permits, Silent No More, a group formed by the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life and Priests for Life, peacefully and prayerfully gathered around the perimeter of the march under another group's permit.
Though about 500 post-abortive women, men and college students joined the pro-life prayer link, the group actually discouraged too many people from joining them for the day, wanting to keep a kind of quality control over their role during the day.
“All we want to do is assemble and pray for these women,” said Janet Morana, associate director of Priests for Life.
One of the women gathered with Silent No More, Lynn Hurley, had an abortion in 1971 when she was in college. She knows the pain of abortion and said, “I hurt for the [women marching] who hurt, who have been through abortions themselves. They're probably in denial.”
“I'm hoping women might see our signs and be touched by them,” she said.
On the day before the march, pro-life college students attended a symposium on George Washington University's campus featuring Cathleen Cleaver Ruse of the Catholic bishops' pro-life office and Sally Winn, vice president of Feminists for Life of America, among others.
The event was co-sponsored by Collegians for Life and Feminists for Life.
“Though I'm disheartened that little children have abortion stickers on their shirts, I am relieved that at least their parents did choose life,” said Erin Galloway, co-director of the Symposium on Women. “But what do those pro-choice parents offer other mothers? It's sad that in America today's children have to worry about their parents' ‘choices.’ At least 25% of my generation didn't survive Roe v. Wade.”
Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor of www.nationalreview.com
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Kathryn Jean Lopez ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Democrats Try to Score Catholic Votes DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:QUEENS, N.Y. — Democrats in Congress have created a scorecard with women like Flor Marten-Ellis in mind.
The Queens, N.Y., woman, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic 43 years ago, is not just an undecided voter. She cares so much about the right to life that she sometimes goes to abortion sites and tries to talk young women into choosing life. She'd vote for President Bush, but she's not sure he'll come through on his promises to protect life in the womb.
As for Sen. John Kerry, she said: “He says a woman has a right to do whatever she wants with her body, but at the same time he goes and takes the Precious Blood of Christ. This is not for me.”
To Marten-Ellis, who has been voting for as long as she's been a U.S. citizen — some 11 years — both candidates are merely looking for votes.
Many Catholic voters seem to face a similar dilemma. On the one hand, there are candidates who purport to be Catholic yet do not uphold Catholic teaching on life issues. On the other, there are politicians who are in line with Catholic teaching regarding the sanctity of human life, even though they might not be Catholic, but whose records on helping the poor, going to war or supporting capital punishment differ from John Paul II's teachings.
Amid the confusion, organizations of various stripes are attempting to educate and influence the Catholic vote.
In fact, Catholicism has become one of the key playing cards this election year as both major parties have attempted to make their case as to who is more “Catholic.”
Deal Hudson, who advises President Bush and the Republican National Committee regarding Catholic outreach, isn't surprised by the prominence religion has taken in this election.
“Catholics provided the crucial swing voting block in the 2000 election,” said Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine. “Both sides see it as a key to winning.”
The issue of Catholic lawmakers whose votes are not consistent with Catholic teaching has come under increased scrutiny since Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., became the leading Democratic presidential candidate. He is the first presidential candidate who is Catholic since John F. Kennedy.
Catholic Scorecard
Even bishops have entered the fray.
“Catholic lawmakers who do not vigorously seek to protect human dignity and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death are not serving democracy,” wrote Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput in his April 14 Denver Catholic Register column. “They are betraying it.”
Responding to such criticism, Catholic Democrats in Congress have been preparing a “Catholic Voting Scorecard” that compares the votes of Catholic members of both parties on a selection of issues defined as legislative priorities by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The issues include partial-birth abortion, human cloning, the Defense of Marriage Act, AIDS-relief funding, assistance to needy families and raising the minimum wage. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, is leading the scorecard project with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
“Under the misconception that single issues such as choice or gay rights best represent their interests, Catholics are voting for Republican candidates with increasing frequency,” a document accompanying the scorecard stated. It concluded that “Democratic House members vote with the Catholic interest much more often than their Republican counterparts.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee responded by accusing Lampson of trying to mislead voters.
“Nick Lampson hasn't voted in line with the Catholic Church since he came to Congress,” committee spokesman Carl Forti said in a statement. “Instead of changing his votes to reflect Catholic teachings, Lampson appears to be trying to change Catholicism to be more in line with his votes.”
Both Lampson and DeLauro have strong pro-abortion records. DeLauro, a former executive director for the pro-abortion political action committee Emily's List, received a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2003. Lampson voted in support of Planned Parenthood positions 80% of the time between 1995 and 2001.
The content of the scorecard has raised concern because it gives equal weight to issues that are morally dissimilar.
”The scorecard is a sham,” said Earl Appleby Jr., editor of the Catholic Web log Times Against Humanity from Berkeley Springs, W.Va. “The scorecard issues are tilted to inflate the rating of pro-abortion Catholic Democrats to allow them to pass as ‘pro-life.’”
Life Comes First
Hudson agreed, describing the scorecard as “just more of the same old nonsense trying to provide political cover to Kerry and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians by equating less-significant policy decisions with positions on the principle of protecting innocent life.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee noted that the 11 issues used to rate Catholic members do not include other issues “that are dear to Catholics, such as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, school vouchers and stem-cell research,” because most Catholic Democrats “are on the wrong side of those issues.”
“The kindest explanation for this sort of behavior is that a lot of Catholic candidates don't know their own faith,” Archbishop Chaput wrote.
He pointed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 2002 “Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life,” which reiterates the Church's teaching “that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.”
While Archbishop Chaput stated that abortion, immigration law, the death penalty and housing for the poor were all vitally important issues, he said “no amount of calculating can make them equal in gravity.”
“The right to life comes first,” he wrote. “It precedes and under-girds every other social issue or group of issues.”
Besides Archbishop Chaput, a 2003 publication, “Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility,” provides guidance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“As bishops, we seek to form the consciences of our people. We do not wish to instruct persons on how they should vote by endorsing or opposing candidates,” the bishops' conference stated.
A task force of bishops is currently studying how to deal with Catholic elected officials who vote against Church doctrine. The task force is headed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who held a private meeting with Kerry in April. Those guidelines are not expected to be ready until after the election.
But Michael Hernon, former deputy director for grass-roots out-reach for the Republican National Committee, said Catholic laity should be more active in politics and not leave everything to the bishops' conference.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “It is not the role of the pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of social life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens” (No. 2442).
“Too often faithful Catholics are waiting for the bishops to lead,” said Hernon, a Steubenville, Ohio, councilman and a business and political consultant. “They'll say we're waiting for the bishop to excommunicate so and so before we get involved, but the Pope has explicitly said it is the laity's area to lead in politics.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Faith Drives His Zeal for Liturgy DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Cardinal Francis Arinze is prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Vatican body that just released a major document attempting to correct abuses in the liturgy.
He spoke to Register correspondent Sabrina Arena Ferrisi in Rome about his life and work.
What kinds of liturgical abuse is your congregation hoping to curb?
Examples of liturgical abuse are anything connected to the celebration of Mass that is not according to the approved rites. Individuals can invent all kinds of things once they leave the approved rites.
The general approach is that the liturgy is the public worship of the Church. It is not an area where individuals do their own thing, feed the people with the latest production of their over-fertile imaginations. This would do damage to the faithful and the liturgy. Sometimes it shows a lack of faith.
Some abuses make the Mass invalid. For example — nobody did this — but suppose a priest says, “I don't like wine at all. I am going to use Coca-Cola.” From the point of view of theology, it would not be Mass at all. If he didn't use bread made from wheat but uses bread from cassava or wine from the palm tree and not from the vine.
These are abuses that affect the validity of the sacrament.
But there can be abuses that do not make the sacrament invalid. Like if a priest begins Mass by saying, “Good morning. Did your favorite football team win?” That's banalization. Everyone would recognize that.
Suppose in preaching it is no longer on the Gospel and our faith but on politics. Or suppose he says, “I do not like these vestments. I think I will use my overcoat.” Or if he says, “I do not like some of the words in the book, I am going to invent my own prayers. I composed these myself last night.”
When it comes to the issue of liturgical dance, it seems many papal celebrations have some form of dance. Which kinds of dance are appropriate and which ones aren't?
In the last analysis, the bishops of each country must look into this matter. It is not cut and dried. There are many rites: Ethiopian, Byzantine, Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Chaldean, for example. The Latin rite has not traditionally known dance. If you say “dance” to anyone in Europe, I leave it to you to see what comes to their mind. They will say, “That has nothing to do with the liturgy. When we want to see a dance, we don't go to Mass. We go somewhere else.” It is a cultural thing.
Africa is a little different.
You see the average African — if he were bringing up the gifts at offer-tory at Mass — he would have some type of movement from left to right to show joy. They don't jump up and down! Not exactly. They show graceful movement. That would be normal.
In India, parts of Asia, there are gestures with flowers or with a bit of fire that are very graceful and meaningful in their culture. Those who are in that culture see the meaning and it lifts their heart to God.
The main reason we go to Mass is to adore God, to praise him, to thank him, to ask for what we need and ask for forgiveness. So those who want to talk about dance in the liturgy must answer some hard questions — whether what is called dance helps in those directions.
You see why it is hard to give instructions valid all around the world. You must take a hard look at culture.
I am not talking about dances that are morally unacceptable, dances that are unnecessarily provocative. Obviously, I am not talking about those. The bishops in each country have an important responsibility in this whole matter.
What advice can you give the faithful if they see abuse in their parishes?
Do your best to speak with those in the parish who can do something about it. If there is no success, if it still very important, you can approach your diocesan office. But the first thing to do is not to take paper and write to the Vatican. There must be a better solution than that, although as a last resort, people retain that right.
I have heard you are a convert, and you had the good fortune of being baptized by Nigeria's first blessed. Can you tell me a bit about your conversion?
When people hear the word “convert,” they normally think of someone who was, for example, Episcopalian or Baptist and then became a Catholic.
In my case, it was not exactly that. I was simply a small boy with my family. My parents practiced the African traditional religion. People believe in one God and in spirits, good and bad, and ancestors. That was the normal religion when the missionaries came to our area.
Gradually, parents sent their children to Catholic schools. Most of the children would become Christians freely. They were not bound to accept Christianity. It was at the age of 9, then, that I was baptized.
In our context in Nigeria, we would hardly call the person a convert. But for us, it was simply growing up in the natural religion that people had, then came contact with Christianity, and then one became a Christian.
The process of a person becoming a Christian is a work of God's grace. We cannot explain the whole thing ourselves.
The priest who was our parish priest at that time was Father Michael Tansi. He was ordained in 1937. He was, at first, assistant priest in another parish, then began in our parish in 1939. He was the first parish priest there in a place called Dunukofia. He baptized me on Nov. 1, 1941.
But before baptism, the person in our parish had to go through a catechumenate, which might have lasted about two years. You would come to Mass and to prayer with the Christian community. You would come to catechism classes.
Finally, toward the end of one or two years, the station catechist examined the person. Such stations had no priest in residence. Then, later on, there was the overall parish catechist who gave another examination. If you passed that, then you qualified for examination by the parish priest. When you passed that, then you were approved for baptism.
Most of the missionaries, at that time, were Spiritans of the Holy Ghost Congregation. In our area, they were mostly Irish. They had a very good approach. They were near the people. They approached the older people especially. Many old people said to them, “Father, do you not see we are old? Why don't you begin with the children?” So, the missionaries got the idea, and they began with the children. Gradually, the children became Christians, and the parents had no objections.
They saw they were even better children. Gradually it was the children who spoke to their parents and gradually many parents became Christians.
Did this happen with your parents?
Yes. It was normal in 1940, 1950. The majority of the families were not Christian. But now they are. Those who follow the traditional African religion are now a small minority.
How did you discern that God was calling you to the priesthood?
Again, this is God's own mystery. How he calls each one. Each one will have a separate story. We can only see a part of it. We must not pretend that we understand the whole working out of God's call, whether to priesthood or religious life, or even to marriage.
In my case, I must say in a human way, this Father Tansi was a person you could not be indifferent to. It was like sitting near fire. You were going to get warm, even if you didn't realize it. He was an extraordinary priest, and in the areas where he worked, he gave life to Christian families. There were many young people who went to the seminary and girls who went into sisterhood because of this spiritual person. After being a diocesan priest, he went to a Trappist monastery in England. And he died there as a Trap-pist Cistercian in 1964.
Of course there were other influences. We would have seen seminarians who were on holidays. There were very few at that time. And simply God's grace working. You'd start with a boy serving Mass. Indeed, even now, most of our young boys who go to the seminary are those who have been altar servers. If the priest is doing his job well, and prays well, it is likely God will call some of the boys who are around him at the altar — if he is a good role model.
You have the good fortune of being able to spend time with our Holy Father. How and when did he ask you to come to Rome? What personal testimony can you give us about him?
The Holy Father in 1984 asked me through the archbishop who was his assistant secretary that he had in mind to bring a few bishops to work in Vatican offices. How did I feel about it? My reaction was: Wherever the Holy Father wants me to work, I am ready and willing. I do not ask for this or that. I am happy to stay, happy to go.
After two months, the Holy Father finally decided and assigned me to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Looking back, I am happy, because I left myself in the hands of Divine Providence. I did not decide where to work. God looks after that and tells me. The Pope is his representative. I do not need an apparition of six angels to know the will of God.
How do I see the Holy Father? Of course, everyone has his or her own angle. I see him as a person of great faith. He really believes in God. He is a man of prayer. He really prays, whether privately or even in a big grand celebration in St. Peter's Square or in a papal visit to a country. You can see him in link with God. He also sacrifices himself. I have never seen him complaining. Even when the temperature was 38 degrees Centigrade, when he beatified my hero in Nigeria. It was very hot for us Nigerians. For the Pope, it must have been boiling!
The Holy Father believes in the promotion of the Gospel. And he takes the human being seriously: whether the unborn child, a child of 4 years or a sick person of 90 years. It is a privilege to work near this great Pope.
What are the greatest challenges to the Church in the third millennium?
I am not a prophet. The Church has the same assignment in every millennium: preach the Gospel, be witnesses of Christ to the ends of the earth. Help people believe that God loves them. In this millennium, we must think of the Church being present to the family and marriage, which is so fundamental to society.
The Church must be present in the area of work, relations between employee and employer, companies, globalization in all its ramifications, the area of sharing the good things of this world. A few should not become an oasis of enjoyment while the majority remain a desert of misery and want.
Also, the Church must be present in the whole area of science and culture. Science is a good thing. God gave us intelligence, but not all that is scientifically possible is morally acceptable — like the cloning of a human being. The whole area of the mass media — TV, radio, the press, computer, derivatives. They have wonderful powers to do good, but they can also do harm.
The Church helps promote justice and peace. Everyone is concerned about terrorism and war. Even a child understands what is meant by lack of peace.
In summary, the Church has to be a witness of Christ in the world today. When we say Church, we mean all the baptized—you should not think of the Vatican: All the baptized have a duty.
Sabrina Arena Ferrisi writes from Jersey City, New Jersey.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Inperson -------- TITLE: Oregon Suicide Cloaked in Secrecy DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:PORTLAND, Ore. — After drinking half of a fatal dose of pentobarbital, a vile-tasting intravenous tranquilizer commonly used to euthanize animals, the patient vomited. Before he could drink the rest of the poison, he lapsed into a coma. He died two days later.
The patient's final cause of death was either brain damage caused by drug-induced oxygen starvation, pneumonia caused by aspirating his own vomit or suffocation at the hands of a family member or friend.
The only thing certain is that the patient didn't die from the lethal prescription provided to him by a physician under Oregon's Death With Dignity Act. Yet this is how his demise is recorded in the sixth annual report on the act, published March 10 by Oregon's Department of Human Services.
This is why Dr. Kenneth Stevens, director of Physicians for Compassionate Care, warns there is a “wall of secrecy around assisted suicide.” Stevens said the sixth-annual report, like the previous five, is incomplete and misleading.
“Under the guise of confidentiality, assisted suicide is practiced covertly in Oregon,” he said.
He said the number of doctors prescribing more than one lethal dosage is unknown, as is much about their cause of death. That, Stevens said, is highlighted by this death.
“Those are fast-acting barbiturates that last only about six hours,” he said. “If the patient died after 48 hours, what was the actual cause of death?”
Even the choice of pentobarbital as the preferred prescription for physician-assisted suicide deserves more attention and analysis, he said.
“They say it is being used orally, but how are we to know?” he asked.
Noting that some patients died within five minutes, Stevens said this indicates the possibility they were injected.
“Oral barbiturate medication needs time to be absorbed and enter into the tissues of the brain, and it seems that five minutes is too soon for that to occur,” he said.
“The state has no control and has not been asking the right questions,” he contended. “As a result, this is in the hands of doctors and patients [who are not held accountable].”
Body Count
It has been a decade since Oregon's voters approved the nation's only assisted-suicide law. Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, approved by referendum in 1994 and again in 1997, has been used to provide 265 lethal prescriptions, which have resulted in 171 deaths, according to the state report.
Again last year, the number of people seeking to end their lives under the act increased. A total of 42 physicians wrote 67 prescriptions, nine more than 2002 and 23 more than the 44 prescriptions written in 2001. Deaths also continue to increase, with 42 people taking their own life last year, four more than 2002 and twice as many as the 21 people who died from lethal prescriptions in 2001, according to the Department of Human Services.
Darcy Niemeyer, director of the agency's Office of Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, doesn't disagree with Stevens' criticism but says there is little her office can do.
“At the time this was assigned to us, [Department of Human Services] was given very limited oversight and no budget,” she said.
Drawing on the recommendations of the bipartisan Task Force to Improve Care for Terminally-Ill Oregonians, the agency developed its criteria for what data it should and shouldn't collect.
However, the agency still has only one full-time employee collecting and analyzing data for the report, Niemeyer said, “and there still is no budget. His time and other resources come out of other budgets. This restricts how proactive we can be in gathering data.”
“Over the years, we have modified the report,” she said, adding “loss of dignity” to the list of reasons cited by those seeking lethal prescriptions in 2003. “Next year, we'll begin reporting the number of prescriptions written by each physician.”
“We have also noted trends, including the decline in the number of patients referred for psychological evaluation [from 31% in 1998 to 5% in 2003], but we can't make evaluations,” Niemeyer said. “We have to keep in mind our role, the limitations on it and on our resources.”
Meanwhile, Compassion in Dying of Oregon's executive director, George Eighmey, points to the last six years with pride, saying they prove fears about physician-assisted suicide are misplaced.
His organization is so happy it's published a book on it. Compassion in Dying: Stories of Dignity and Choice is a compilation of accounts by friends and family of those who ingested lethal prescriptions under Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, which was sponsored and promoted by the group, originally called the Hemlock Society.
Eighmey said these accounts demonstrate that other states should follow Oregon's lead and permit doctors to give terminal patients the choice of hastening their own deaths.
“All of the fears expressed by opponents of the law haven't come true,” he said. “There's no evidence of coercion, of little old ladies or the vulnerable being forced to kill themselves.”
He points to the report's conclusion that assisted suicide remains an extremely rare choice, accounting for only 14 out of every 10,000 deaths during the year in the state, and one most likely to be made by urban, college-educated, divorced or never-married people.
Suffering Rare
As with previous years, suffering was rarely cited as a cause. Instead, loss of autonomy and the ability to engage in enjoyable activities accounted for 93% of those who sought to end their lives. Eighty-two percent saw “loss of dignity” as unendurable.
“We're seeing younger, well-educated people saying, ‘When I get to that line where life is no longer worth living, I feel it is my right not to cross it.’ In the last month, I've had a Catholic, an Adventist and an atheist give me that same response,” Eighmey said.
Compassion in Dying, which popularized the use of living wills, advance medical directives and medical care based on quality-of-life considerations by patients, their families and doctors, continues to be the leading supporter of the act in the state's battle with Attorney General John Ashcroft, who is attempting to prohibit doctors from prescribing controlled substances for use in physician-assisted suicide.
In his 1995 encyclical Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II warned that “moved by an understandable even if misplaced compassion,” family members may consent to loved ones' deaths. “All this is aggravated by a cultural climate which fails to perceive any meaning or value in suffering, but rather considers suffering the epitome of evil, to be eliminated at all costs. This is especially the case in the absence of a religious outlook.”
Philip S. Moore writes from Vail, Arizona.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Philip S. Moore ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Abstinence-Only Education Works in Texas
It apparently worked.
In 1997-98, the Edgewood Independent School District decided to implement an abstinence-only curriculum. Results were dramatic: Pregnancies among sixth- to eighth-graders declined to a single case in 2000-01. At Kennedy High School in the district, the numbers dropped from 50 in 1998-99 to six in 2000-01.
Last year, however, state officials refused without explanation to renew the district's funding for the abstinence-only program, the Tribune reported, forcing it to cancel the program in middle schools and scale it back in high schools.
By the end of the year, middle-school pregnancies increased to 11. At Kennedy, they went up to 53.
“I don't know what more evidence anybody needs,” said Richard Rocha, director of the district's programs, “that this was working.”
Stem Cell Battles Erupt in More States
Thirty-three state legislatures are considering 100 bills either condoning, condemning or funding embryonic stem-cell research during this election year.
One of the biggest battles regards providing $3 billion of taxpayer money for such research in California. Supporters gained enough signatures recently to put the issue on the ballot this November.
“There is a tremendous amount of legislation flying around on one area of medical research. It is remarkable and unprecedented,” Dan Perry of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, a collaboration of 83 patient groups, universities and medical organizations that support the research, told the paper.
All the activity, the paper says, is due to President Bush's severely restricting federal funding of such research in 2001. Supporters say the research could help find cures or better treatments for diabetes and other conditions. Opponents — including the Church — point out the research harvests cells from living human embryos that are then destroyed.
The paper quoted Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who pointed out that “moral tradition does urge us to treat each and every living member of the human species, including the early embryo, as a human person with fundamental rights, the first of which is the right to life.”
Christopher Plummer to Play Cardinal Law in TV Movie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 15 — Actor Christopher Plummer, 74, will play former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law in the upcoming “Our Fathers,” a television movie about the sexual-abuse scandal in the Church.
Plummer will bring “authority, humanity and an appropriately chilling detachment” to the part, said Robert Greenblatt, Showtime Networks’ entertainment president.
The movie will be based on a book of the same name by David France of Newsweek, published in January.
Production of the movie is scheduled to begin in June, the wire service reported. A release date has not yet been announced.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Father Feeley DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:EASTON, Mass. — In all my years of interviewing people and writing for the Register, I was most moved by the following quote: “I judge distances by the number of rosaries I can say.”
I have never forgotten that quote. It was simple, it was honest, it was incredibly holy, and it defined its author, Holy Cross Father Thomas Feeley.
Now, the Church has lost this spiritual giant, one so quiet and so humble that his passing could easily go unnoticed. But quiet or not, the advice and example he gave to people of faith everywhere, to readers of the Register and to me, should not be forgotten. Though 74, Father Feeley worked tirelessly to evangelize until the end. He collapsed last month while preaching a retreat in Florida, and on April 21, he died.
I lost a friend and mentor, the Church and the world lost a humble servant of Mary and the rosary, a brilliant mind, and above all, a holy priest. It seems appropriate to remember him by revisiting his advice to us over the years in the pages of the Register and his unceasing work for the Church.
Father Feeley believed in the power of prayer, and he put great stock in the rosary, which he used to call a “catechism on a string” — because meditating on the mysteries taught so much about the faith. Whenever I interviewed him, he would always encourage families especially to “invite Mary into their homes,” adding in the words so often uttered by his predecessor Father Patrick Peyton, “The family that prays together, stays together.”
The rosary was a wonderful prayer in part, he said, because it could be said anywhere. “Say it in the car,” he once advised Register readers. “It's a great cure for road rage.”
I first met Father Feeley in June 2001. The cause for beatification of Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, the Rosary Priest, had just been opened, and Father Feeley was the vice postulator of the cause. As we talked, it became apparent that Father Peyton's love of the rosary was alive and well in Father Feeley. His love of Our Lady was contagious, and we quickly became good friends.
From then on I spoke with him regularly — whenever I was working on a story about the rosary, I would call him first. Other times I would just call to see how his work was progressing. He was always cheerful, always working for the Lord, and that meant he was often working late.
He was brilliant, and his résumé impressive — though I never heard him brag. He taught — primarily philosophy at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. — for more than 40 years, he was an author of books and meditations and of columns for the Register, he was a retreat master, and for several years he was the national director of Family Rosary. But it was his simple, unwavering faith that most impressed me.
His last book, Friends in the Lord: Exploring Consecrated Discipleship (Pauline Press), should be required reading for every vocation prospect, priest and religious. From his own deep well of prayer, he was able to present the positive aspects and importance of consecrated life despite the whirlwind of scandal then rocking the Church.
But it is for his dedication to the rosary that I will most remember him. As national coordinator for the Tilma of Tepeyac Tour last year, part of my job was promoting recitation of the rosary during the Year of the Rosary. I called to see if Father Feeley could get Family Rosary to cosponsor our nationwide pilgrimage and provide rosaries for each diocese we visited. He came through as usual. One thousand rosaries were shipped to each diocese we visited with the relic.
Though he won't be here to remind us of the power of prayer any longer, we should never lose sight of his simple advice to all of us: to pray the rosary and to invite Mary into our homes.
The rosary, Father Feeley said, was the cure for the “shambles” of the American family and a post-Sept. 11 world afflicted by warfare. “Mary is the Queen of Peace,” he reminded us.
Let us honor Father Feeley not only by remembering his good advice but also by saying our rosaries today for him — that he may rest in peace with the Queen of Peace and her Son for all eternity.
Andrew Walther writes from Los Angeles.
----- EXCERPT: The Passing of a Son of the Rosary ----- EXTENDED BODY: Andrew Walther ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Patriarch Accepts Apology for Constantinople
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 15 — Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, on April 13 formally accepted Pope John Paul II's apology for Roman Catholic involvement in the sacking of Constantinople 800 years ago.
During a visit to Greece in 2001, the Pope apologized for the attack on the city by Catholic Crusaders. The patriarch accepted it now in the spirit of the Easter season, the wire service reported.
“The spirit of reconciliation is stronger than hatred,” Patriarch Bartholomew said during a liturgy attended by Philippe Barbarin, the Archbishop of Lyon, France. “We receive with gratitude and respect your cordial gesture for the tragic events of the Fourth Crusade.”
Pope Makes Rare Visit to Countryside
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, April 15 — A day after skipping the reading of his weekly general audience April 14 on the advice of doctors, Pope John Paul II went to the countryside outside Rome to “breathe the spring air,” the news agency reported.
Police in the Lazio mountain town of Piglio confirmed the Holy Father was there. Surprised locals lined the roads to catch a glimpse of John Paul, whose trips to the countryside have been rare in recent years due to his health.
The mayor of Piglio tried to meet with the Pope, Agence France-Presse reported, but he was unable to pass through security. The Vatican neither confirmed nor denied that report.
John Paul Appeals for Release of Hostages in Iraq
REUTERS, April 18 — Pope John Paul II in his weekly address April 18 in St. Peter's Square called for the release of hostages in Iraq, asking captors to “have a sense of humanity.”
“I beg them to return the people they are holding to their families,” the Pope said. “I am particularly close in my thoughts and prayers to the families of those fearing for the fate of their loved ones, especially those who have been taken hostage.”
More than 40 hostages have been taken since the beginning of April, the wire service reported, but many have been released. A group is still holding three Italian security guards captive. A fourth Italian was killed April 14.
“I am following with great sadness the tragic news that is coming out of the Holy Land and Iraq,” John Paul said. “End this blood-letting amongst brothers. Such inhuman acts are against the will of God.”
Vatican Declares Hawaii Nun Venerable
Mother Cope came to Hawaii in 1883 to help care for the children of leprosy patients, the paper reported. She cared for patients in Oahu for five years then volunteered to supervise a home for girls on Molokai at Kalaupapa, where she stayed until her death in 1918 at age 80.
The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse, N.Y., are leading the canonization cause. The next step for Mother Cope is beatification, for which a miracle is required.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Why Makers of Abortion Laws Cannot Receive Communion DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — On April 23, Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, was asked at a press conference whether unambiguously pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be refused holy Communion. The cardinal, who is the highest-ranking Church official for questions regarding the Sacraments, responded that indeed that was the case.
The Register interviewed Legion of Christ Father Thomas D. Williams, Dean of the School of Theology at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, regarding this issue.
What significance did Cardinal Arinze's comments have regarding Church discipline?
His Eminence merely reiterated Church teaching that one needs to be in a state of grace to receive holy Communion, and that a person who objectively finds himself in a situation of grave sin should not approach Communion. And the Cardinal added: “If the person should not receive it, then it should not be given.” There are cases where a person's public conduct stands in direct opposition to the faith and morals he supposedly adheres to, and unambiguously pro-abortion legislators fall into this category.
But doesn't this blur the distinction between the internal and external forums? How can the Church judge a person's subjective moral state?
Catholic theology holds that it is impossible to know with absolute assurance the state of another's soul. Nonetheless, the word “sin” has two dimensions, a subjective dimension and an objective one. Without going so far as to make a judgment on the subjective state of a person's soul, the Church may require that persons who persist in an objectively sinful action (grave matter) with no signs of repentance abstain from holy Communion.
By admonishing pro-abortion legislators to refrain from holy Communion, the bishop is informing them that their actions are objectively sinful and impede their full communion with the Church, which is expressed and confirmed by the reception of sacramental Communion. Once they are duly advised, if they fail to amend their conduct it can no longer be postulated that they act in good faith or out of ignorance.
What of the criticism that such a disciplinary measure “politicizes” the sacraments? Should the Church really intervene in politics in this way?
The decision to refuse Communion to a member of the congregation, regardless of the nature of that person's public wrongdoing, pertains only to the Church's internal sacramental discipline, and cannot be considered a political activity. Moreover, though politics, like other temporal affairs, enjoys a legitimate sphere of autonomy, it is not exempt from moral norms.
There is a moral dimension to politics just as there is a moral dimension to the economy, medicine, family life, and science. Christians cannot engage in business as if it were outside the realm of morality, any more than doctors can practice medicine without due regard for moral norms, and thus we have “business ethics” and “medical ethics” to help people of good will, and especially Christians, to live out these vocations according to the values and principles of the Gospel and right reason. “Political ethics” offers a no less important service to Christians who engage in public service for the good of society.
Catholic politicians can no more check their faith at the door of Congress than Catholic businesspeople can conduct their affairs independently of Christian moral principles.
The first and most basic human right is the right to life, such that a legislator who fails to defend this right defaults in his most fundamental responsibility as a public servant. “It is impossible to further the common good,” writes the Pope, “without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop” (Evangelium Vitae, No. 101).
Catholic morality requires a Catholic to actively defend the right to life. If a politician actively supports legislation that attacks the life of his citizens, in this case the most vulnerable and defenseless, he contravenes his most rudimentary moral norm to “do no harm” and sets himself up as an enemy of the society he is bound to protect.
But wouldn't such a measure just alienate people from the Church?
It is hard to gauge the full pastoral effects of denying Communion to pro-abortion politicians. Such a measure aims in the first place at the amendment of the person directly affected by the ban. One hopes that no longer being able to receive Communion would spur the party concerned to self-examination and a reweighing of his positions. If he truly values receiving the body and blood of the Lord in holy Communion, he will reflect well on his actions and their consequences for his own soul.
A second reason for refusing Communion to anti-life politicians relates to the bishop's prophetic role as witness and teacher of the faith. In the face of widespread moral uncertainty in contemporary society, fostered by what Pope John Paul has characterized as a “culture of death,” the bishop's teaching mission on behalf of life takes on a special relevance.
Though more ordinary teaching instruments such as homilies, articles and pastoral letters make up the vast majority of a bishop's pedagogical repertoire, the Church also offers her pastors more forceful didactic tools to be used in graver situations. When reason and exhortation fail to produce the intended results, disciplinary measures may be employed to illustrate the seriousness of what is at stake.
A step like refusing Communion to anti-life politicians sends an extremely clear message to Catholics regarding the evil of abortion, and its radical incompatibility with Christian morals.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: The Lord Gives Us Strength and Peace DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Register Summary
Pope John Paul II met with more than 20,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for his general audience April 21. He resumed his series of teachings on the psalms and canticles found in the Liturgy of the Hours' evening prayer with a reflection on the first part of Psalm 27.
The backdrop for Psalm 27, the Holy Father pointed out, is the Temple of Zion, the “house of the Lord,” which is a place of refuge and security. But the main theme of the psalm is trust in God, both in times of joy and peril. Assailed by evil from all sides, believers do not give in to fear. Rather, they place their trust and hope in the Lord, who is their source of strength and peace.
“The life of the believer is often subject to tension and conflicts, and at times it is also subject to rejection and even persecution,” the Pope noted. “The way in which the just man conducts himself is a source of irritation, because it resounds as a warning to the arrogant and the wicked.”
The Holy Father said communion with God is like an oasis: “The Lord creates around his faithful an atmosphere of peace, shutting the door on the din of evil. Communion with God is the source of peace, joy and tranquility; it is like entering an oasis of light and love.”
Recalling the words of a fifth-century Syrian monk named Isaiah, who used this psalm as the basis for a teaching on prayer in times of temptation, John Paul urged believers to turn to the Lord, their protector, in times of spiritual attack.
Our journey through the Liturgy of the Hours' evening prayer resumes today with Psalm 27, which the liturgy has arranged into two distinct passages. We will now examine the first part of this poetic and spiritual diptych (see verses 1-6), whose setting is the Temple of Zion — Israel's seat of worship. In fact, the psalmist speaks explicitly of the “Lord's house” and of the “Temple” (verse 4), and of the “shelter, tent and house” (see verses 5-6). In the Hebrew original, these terms are used more precisely to designate the “tabernacle” and the “tent,” which is the very heart of the Temple where the Lord reveals himself through his presence and his word. The “rock” of Jerusalem is also mentioned (see verse 5), a place of security and refuge, and reference is made to the celebration of sacrifices of thanksgiving (see verse 6).
Trust in God
If a liturgical celebration is the spiritual setting for the psalm, then the main theme of this prayer is trust in God, both during times of joy as well as times of fear.
The first part of the psalm, on which we are now meditating, is characterized by a great peace, which is based on trust in God during the dark day when the wicked launch their assault. Two types of images are used to describe these adversaries that symbolize the evil that contaminates history. On one hand, there is the image of a fierce hunt. The wicked are like wild beasts that rush to seize their prey and devour its flesh, but they stumble and fall (see verse 2). On the other hand, there is a military symbol. An entire army is waging an assault and a battle rages furiously, sowing terror and death (see verse 3).
The life of the believer is often subject to tension and conflicts, and at times it is also subject to rejection and even persecution. The way in which the just man conducts himself is a source of irritation, because it resounds as a warning to the arrogant and the wicked. Wicked men, who are described in the Book of Wisdom, recognize this in no uncertain terms: “To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways” (Wisdom 2:14-15).
The Just Man
The faithful man knows consistency creates isolation and even stirs contempt and hostility in a society that often chooses personal advantage, external success, wealth and unbridled pleasure as its standard. Yet he is not alone and his heart retains an amazing inner peace, because — as the splendid opening “antiphon” of this psalm says — “The Lord is light and salvation, he is life's refuge” for the just man (Psalm 27:1). He repeats over and over again: “Whom do I fear? … Of whom am I afraid? … My heart does not fear … even then do I trust” (verses 1, 3).
He almost seems to be hearing St. Paul's voice as he proclaims: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). But interior calm, strength of spirit and peace are gifts that are obtained by taking refuge in the Temple and by turning to personal prayer and prayer in community.
Communion With God
Indeed, the psalmist entrusts himself into God's hands. His dream is also expressed in another psalm (see Psalm 23:6): “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.” There he will be able “to gaze on the Lord's beauty” (Psalm 27:4), to contemplate and admire the divine mystery, and to take part in the sacrificial liturgy and lift up his praises to God his deliverer (see verse 6). The Lord creates around his faithful an atmosphere of peace, shutting the door on the din of evil. Communion with God is the source of peace, joy and tranquility; it is like entering an oasis of light and love.
As a conclusion to our reflection, let us now listen to the words of a monk named Isaiah, of Syrian origin, who lived in the Egyptian desert and died in Gaza around 491. In his Asceticon, he applies our psalm to prayer in times of temptation: “If we see our enemies surrounding us with their cunning or with their indolence, whether it be by weakening our soul with pleasure, causing us to fail to contain our anger against our neighbor when he acts against us, tempting our eyes with sexual desires, leading us to taste the pleasures of gluttony, turning our neighbor's word into poison for us, making us disparage the word of another or leading us to create disagreements among our brothers saying, ‘This one is good, that one is evil’ — if then we are surrounded by all these things, let us not lose courage. Rather, let us cry out like David with a firm heart, saying: ‘Lord, protector of my life!’ (Psalm 26:1)” (Recueil ascétique, Bellefontaine, 1976, p. 211).
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Number of Catholics in Ireland Dips Slightly
For the first time in more than 80 years, the numbers of main Protestant denominations have grown, the newspaper reported. Catholics still account for more than 88% of the population, however.
The findings, based on a 2002 census, also found that after significant declines in the 19th and 20th centuries, the population of Ireland is on the rise. It now stands at more than 4 million.
Due to immigration from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe during the last 10 years, membership in minority religions is also increasing. The number of people declaring no religion has more than doubled.
Australian Court Okays Teen's Sex-Change Operation
The Family Court in Melbourne heard testimony that the girl, known as Alex, became suicidal at the onset of puberty and believed she was a boy trapped in a girl's body, the newspaper reported. Despite arguments she was too young to make an informed decision, the court ruled in favor of allowing preliminary sex-change processes.
“There is no evidence of the benefits of the procedure in adults let alone a 13-year-old who is undergoing the changes of adolescence,” said Nick Tonti-Filippini, a bioethicist and member of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne. “The court is endorsing an experimental treatment for a psychiatric problem.”
A man who said he later regretted his sex-change operation also criticized the court's decision.
“How can someone who is suicidal, threatening self-harm,” asked Alan Finch, who became “Helen” at age 19, “be capable of making a stable decision about having irreversible therapy done?”
Muslims in Spain Ask to Pray in Cathedral
The cathedral actually sits in the center of an ancient mosque complex originally built in the eighth century, the newspaper reported. The most important part of the mosque for Muslims is the mihrab, a recess in the southeastern wall that indicates the direction of Mecca. In the Cordoba mosque, the recess is outside the cathedral itself, so Muslims there think it would be possible for them to pray without disturbing services in the cathedral.
Today Cordoba is a small provincial capital in one of the poorer regions of Spain, the paper noted, but 1,000 years ago it was a great city. As capital of Moorish Spain it was one of the centers of Islamic culture and art.
While noting some opposition among local Catholics to the Muslims' proposal, the newspaper did not mention any Vatican comment on it.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Mass, by the Rules DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:In the instruction on the Liturgy of the Eucharist from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, titled Redemptionis Sacramentum, On Certain Matters to Be Observed or to Be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist, these norms are cited:
• All experimentation with regard to the celebration of the holy Mass, as previously announced in 1970 and reiterated in 1988, is to cease (No. 27).
• Liturgical norms of a conference of bishops are to be submitted to the Congregation for Divine Worship for “recognitio, without which they are lacking in any binding force” (No. 28).
• “The community that gathers for the celebration of the Eucharist absolutely requires an ordained priest.” The priest is the proper celebrant and terms such as “celebrating community” or “‘celebrating assembly’ should not be used injudiciously” (No. 42).
• It is “laudable” to “have boys or youth … provide service at the altar after the manner of acolytes. … Girls or women may also be admitted to the service of the altar at the discretion of the diocesan bishop and in observance of established norms” (No. 47).
• Two paragraphs speak of the “matter” of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist and forbid the use of any substance other than those described (Nos. 48 and 50).
• Only the priest may recite the Eucharistic Prayer (No. 52). — Breaking the host at the time of consecration “is contrary to the tradition of the Church” (No. 55).
• “The reprobated practice … of altering or varying at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy … must cease” (No. 59).
• It is illicit to omit or substitute the prescribed biblical readings (No. 62).
• A lay person may never give a homily (No. 64).
• The sign of peace, given just before Communion, must be sober in nature. “The priest may give the sign of peace to the ministers but always remains within the sanctuary as so not to disturb the celebration” (No. 72).
• “Anyone conscious of grave sin should not celebrate or receive the Body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession, except for a grave reason, when the possibility of the sacrament of confession is lacking” (No. 82).
• Communicants may receive the Body and Blood of Christ either standing or kneeling and “it is not licit to deny Communion” based on posture (No. 92).
• A host, when taken in the hand, “must be consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand” (No. 92).
• The communicant must not be permitted to intinct (dip) the host in the chalice (No. 104).
• Sacred vessels for the Eucharist must not be made from glass, earthenware, clay or other materials that break easily (No. 117).
• The extraordinary functions of the lay faithful: “Only out of true necessity is there to be recourse to the assistance of extraordinary minister in the celebration of the liturgy.” Such ministers, when they must be used, are never to be referred to as “Eucharistic ministers.” They are to be called “extraordinary ministers of holy Communion” and “not ‘special minister of holy Communion’” (Nos. 146-160).
• “The practice of those priests is reprobated who, even though present at the celebration, abstain from distributing Communion and hand this function over to lay persons” (No. 157).
• On the Lord's Day, holy Mass may not be substituted by an ecumenical celebration of the word or prayer services with Christians from their ecclesial communities (No. 167).
— Joan Lewis
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Pro-Choice Recast As Pro-Life DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:It was a march for women's lives. And it was wildly successful — hundreds of thousands of people were willing to march for women's lives.
Only a fraction of that number have ever marched for abortion.
The Washington Post said the march's leaders deliberately took the focus off abortion in order to get as many participants as possible.
“Organizers sought to transcend the polarizing issue of abortion,” the paper reported, “portraying the event as the work of a coalition of groups that want to improve women's access to reproductive education and health care worldwide.”
“Many people defined their own agendas,” it said, then asked some women in the crowd what they were marching for.
The paper quoted a 53-year-old activist saying what she was marching for: “I want ‘pro-choice, pro-child.’” The paper said she was busy trying to modify the sign she'd been given so it would have a pro-child statement.
Another activist, a 27-year-old, said: “It's important to look past focusing on abortion rights. You have to put abortion in the context of women's reproductive freedom,” which she said included “reproductive education.” Organizers had at long last broadened the agenda, she said — and the people followed.
Women's lives. “Reproductive education.” Better health care. Odd, these are the same things pro-lifers were marching for that day.
Groups like Silent No More were on hand, women with heart-rending stories about how abortion was a dead end for them and the children they lost.
Feminists for Life, which promotes a full pro-woman agenda, was on hand with its signature message that women need health care support for their children — not just a brutal, easy answer like abortion to make their “problems” go away.
What about “reproductive education”?
Well, that was the big abortion story on the other side of the Atlantic. A documentary called “My Fetus” aired on British television a few days before the march. The half-hour program dared to do what no one has dared do in the United States: It showed an actual abortion.
The program showed an abortion by vacuum pump at a Marie Stopes clinic on a four-week pregnant woman. The remains of the aborted child were then put in a petri dish — abortion doctors have to do this in order to make sure they get all the body parts.
The show itself tried to pretty up abortion.
“Yes, an abortion was shown; but, for obvious presentational reasons, it was one carried out at four weeks' gestation — a point at which many women do not even realize they are pregnant,” said the Scottish Guardian newspaper. “When it came to showing babies aborted at nine, 12, 18 and 23 weeks — all unmistakably human infants — still photography was employed as the more discreet medium.”
Even though it was showing the most common surgical procedure performed on women under 40 — and even though it was presented with a pro-abortion slant — abortion advocates wanted to keep it off the air.
To this day, no such television presentation has been aired in the United States, though pro-life groups have asked that it be. Will the march organizers promote such a show in America in the interest of education? We doubt it.
At any rate, the massive weekend march is good news and bad news for the pro-life movement.
The bad news is, a pro-abortion march on Washington dwarfed the size of pro-life marches.
The good news is, it only did so by calling itself a march for life — not abortion.
For decades, pro-lifers felt the momentum would be forever against us, because we had lost the battle of the rhetoric. They wanted to talk about choice; we wanted to talk about lives. Well, at long last, the rhetorical battle is swinging our way.
But don't take it from us. Take it from yet another activist quoted in the Washington Post. She conceded that, yes, she supposed the march's main reason was abortion.
“It seems a pity that it comes down to this,” she said with a sigh.
The pro-life movement's next task is to answer her concern. We can help women in 1,000 ways. It doesn't have to come down to this.
----- EXCERPT: Let's take April 25's marchers at their word: Theirs was no march for abortion. ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Letters DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:The One-Issue Party?
Many times I have remarked in years past that I could not vote for certain candidates because they were pro-abortion. I was advised I should not vote on only one issue.
After listening to all Democratic candidates running for president this year, I have observed that the one point they uniformly stress is that they would not put a pro-life person on the Supreme Court. So who has “only one” issue on their minds? (Remember what they did to Robert Bork and tried to do to Clarence Thomas?)
I was in the South Pacific for four years, fighting for what I thought was life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
America, wake up. We have our own holocaust. Every year we pile on another million or more unborn children killed by their mothers. They were denied life, liberty and happiness. Why, what was the reason? We know mothers are suffering today for what they have done to their little ones.
Do we wish to vote for any candidate who wants to continue the killing of future generations?
Deacon Henry Beck, Dayton, Ohio
Heavy Fines Levied
The ongoing, deplorable doublespeak/ duplicity in the Catholic Church is well illustrated by excerpts from the March 21-27 issue of the Register.
“A 1961 Vatican directive … advises exclusion of those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty.”
Pope John Paul II said, “Candidates with deviation in their affections should be barred from seminaries.”
“As for the homosexual priest question, Bishop [Wilton] Gregory left room for the continued ordination of homosexuals.”
With all the above remarkable statements, apparently disregarding the Pope's authority, the Church deserves what is ongoing, i.e., the paying of very heavy fines.
Louis J. Mihalyi, Newland, North Carolina
Cheers for Sister Sara
I just read the article about Sister Sara Butler and her about-face in regard to the ordination of women (“Change of Heart,” April 4-10). She is a modern-day hero. This article enabled me to see that the dissidents who persist in their error are not all malcontents with an agenda to dismantle our Church. Perhaps they actually think their remedies will solve the inadequacies and failures before us.
I had dehumanized dissidents in my mind. Sister Butler showed me there is hope. Many of those who speak the loudest about left-leaning issues are brilliant, articulate and blind. If their blindness could be healed, our Church would have a much more powerful influence in today's world.
Susanne Manocchia, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
Mini-Complaint
For shame! Now even the Register shows an Irish bartender drawing a Guinness draft beer alongside an Italian lady holding a loaf of St. Joseph's bread (“Saint vs. Saint: St. Patrick Rocks; St. Joseph Rules,” March 14-20). Such stereotyping!
I do love the Register and am happy that I found it (in my 80s!). I routinely leave my copy at the hospital chapel where I attend weekday Masses. Already I found a new friend who has been picking them up and has now switched to the Register from another Catholic weekly. The paper is always gone the next day.
Now that the snow is over (hopefully), I almost took this copy without writing my mini-complaint.
Harriett D. Fox, Mount Sinai, New York
Passionate Promotion
Just a few words to let you know how much our family enjoys reading your newspaper.
You have done an excellent job of promoting Mel Gibson's excellent and inspiring film The Passion of the Christ, which has been attacked by misguided Catholics and the powers of evil. Thank God, Jesus the Light of the World is more powerful than the power of darkness. This marvelous film continues to touch and transform lives.
We live in evil times, yet the fact remains that many souls seek a closer walk with Jesus. How unfortunate and tragic that most Catholic bishops have not encouraged people to view The Passion of the Christ, but rather timid words have come out of their mouths expressing fear that the film many “offend” some.
May the Holy Spirit continue to inspire you at the Register. Your publication is most needed these days, when some misguided Catholic leaders appear to be ashamed of being authentic, orthodox faithful Catholics.
Constantino Santos, Atascadero, California
No Ifs, Ands or Catholic ‘Buts’
In this age when “truth stumbles in the public square” (Isaiah 59:14) and, therefore, this age in which we tend to revel in sharing views and opinions (rather than seeking to know and proclaim the truth), it was indeed more than refreshing to read Bishop Thomas Olmsted's engaging article “Rebutting the ‘Catholic but …’” (April 4-10).
No irrelevant rhetoric, no jargon in this brief, densely packed narrative. With an evident sense of conviction, the bishop writes within the context of a practical realism —providing specific examples of the “I am a Catholic but …” statements — and challenges Catholic Christians to once again root themselves in the person of Christ, who proclaimed himself “the way, the truth and the life.”
In a particularly compelling way, Bishop Olmsted proclaims a dynamic orthodoxy. He pinpoints the issues of “compromise” and “watering down our faith for personal gain” and alerts us to the dangers that ensue when “relativism reigns.” He also provides a welcome note of sanity and substance as he notes the antidote for this slippery “Catholic but …” syndrome: rekindling love for Jesus and reclaiming the need for correct conscience formation.
The marvelous theologian Hans Urs von Balthsar once stated that “truth is symphonic, but it needs a score.” Bishop Olmsted has peppered his text with explicit references to the “score” that is provided by Jesus Christ and his bride, the Church.
Thank you, Bishop Olmsted, for providing a firm foundation that will help truth “walk” again in the public square.
Sister J. Sheila Galligan IHM, Immaculata, Pennsylvania
The writer is chairwoman of the theology department at Immaculata University.
Middle East Peace
Patriarch Michel Sabbah, in his quest for peace in the Middle East, says he puts the brunt of the responsibility for peace on the shoulders of the Israelis (“Patriarch: Peace Up to Israelis,” April 18-24).
I feel truly sorry for the Palestinian Christians. They are between a rock and a hard place. But to start from the false premise that Israel needs to be magnanimous is to ignore the fact that Israel is in a fight for its very survival against Islamic terrorists. If the patriarch really wants peace, he has to get his basic premise right. I believe he has his premise backward.
The Israelis want peace. They are besieged and suffering from terrorist attacks. They want and need to coexist with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1999 offered Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat roughly 95% of everything he had asked for, but Arafat found a way to turn the offer down. Arafat has shown he doesn't want peace. He wants the elimination of Israel, which he says in his speeches in Arabic (but not in his speeches to Western journalists). The Palestinian people may want peace, but they have no power and are used as pawns by their leadership.
Israel's superior military might vis a vis the Palestinians is often mentioned to show the unevenness and unfairness of the struggle. But people should recognize that the only thing that stands between Israel and its extinction is its military superiority.
I think we Americans are beginning to understand better what Israel is up against. We are learning firsthand that terrorists don't want peace. They want victory and our elimination.
Jill Meyer, Friday Harbor, Washington
’God's Mailbox’
The April 18-24 issue of the Register was my first exposure to the building plans for Ave Maria University's oratory, and I thank you for the coverage (“The St. Patrick's of South Florida?”). Although the article refers to comments having already been considered, I wish to add mine, late though they may be.
I trust they will name the church for St. Gabriel, the patron of postal workers. Or will it simply be known as God's mailbox?
I had high hopes for Ave Maria in its new location; now I only wonder. What a pity the architects didn't make a field trip to nearby Alabama, where they could have seen, up in Hanceville, a truly inspiring edifice.
Marty Fisher, Chicago
Correction
Due to an editing error, an article in our March 28-April 3 Vatican News section stated that Bishop Clemens von Galen of Munster was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1944. Bishop von Galen, who was declared a servant of God last December by Pope John Paul II, was never a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Christians at Columbine DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:“Rebuilding Columbine” (April 18-24) claims that Columbine student Valerie Schnurr was murdered by “a member of a neo-Nazi group known as the trench coat mafia.”
“Neo-Nazi group”? Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were hardly a “group,” and the fact that Klebold complained about having to read the four questions at his family's Seder (they were Lutherans, but liberal Lutherans) doesn't make him a “neo-Nazi.”
Rather, the “trench coat mafia” were tragically hip. Klebold's parents, a counselor at Colorado Community College and an oil company executive, named him after Bob Dylan.
And what did they hate? As the May 10, 1999, issue of The Weekly Standard put it, “eight of the murdered students at Columbine High School were serious Christians, four Catholics and four evangelicals. The killers went after 17-year-old Rachel Scott and 18-year-old Valerie Schnurr for no other reason than that they had Bibles.”
That may be why the official take on Columbine is that Harris and Klebold were the victims (of bullying), not that hatred of Christians is a bad thing.
Don Schenk, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Court transcripts should not make you sick. But the transcripts of the partial-birth abortion trials now under way are almost too much to bear.
They should be required reading for every politician who voted to keep this procedure legal.
As soon as President Bush signed the new law, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the American Civil Liberties Union filed lawsuits in three federal courts claiming the ban takes away a fundamental constitutional right. A parade of abortion doctors has climbed onto the witness stand in the last few weeks to describe how they kill children in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy. Their testimony is dispassionate, clinical and frank.
“It is necessary to insert our forceps, open them as wide as possible to try to capture the head within the opening of the forceps and then crush the head using external force applied against the head,” said Dr. Carolyn Westoff in the New York trial. She admitted there is “usually a heartbeat” when she performs a partial-birth abortion and that even when she collapses the skull, the baby is still “living.”
She spoke of the baby's “tiny face and a relatively large head” and how stabbing the head with scissors or her own finger causes it to look “a little wrinkly and collapsed, but the facial structures are not disturbed at all by that procedure.” She testified about the “small coffins” and the “little hats” available to “cover the back of the head where the incision had been made.”
Dr. William Knorr told the Nebraska court that “if I have enough room to slip a finger between the cervix and the fetal head … I can then insert my crushing forcep around the head, crush the head and extract it. If the cervix is very tight, I can't do that, I will use a craniotomy procedure, will turn the fetus so the back is up and find the area that I want to open and either with a finger, dilator or a scissor will open that area and gently pull down. That pressure alone is enough to empty the cranium and extract the head.”
Another witness in the Nebraska trial told the judge, “I just pull down with the forceps and, you know, see what part you have, and see if you can get more of that part out. If you get more of the part out, you twist to try to get more tissue out. If that doesn't happen, then you pull hard enough that it will disarticulate at that point or break off at that point.” Dr. William Fitzhugh's only worry was delivering a live baby: “The one thing that … I don't want the staff to have to deal with is to have a fetus that you remove and have some viability to it, some movement of limbs, because it's always a difficult situation.”
They appear to have become detached from their own humanity as they recount what they have done and continue to do to little human beings. Emotion returns only when the question of fetal pain comes up, and the emotion is anger for having been asked the question in the first place.
Judge Richard Casey in New York asked Dr. Mari-lynn Fredriksen what she tells her patients: “Do you tell them whether or not it hurts?” he asked.
She stuttered, “Who am I — what am I …” “The patient,” Casey continued, “The woman, the mother.”
“It doesn't hurt her, no,” Fredriksen said.
Casey pressed on. “Do you tell whether or not it will hurt the fetus?”
Her response: “The intent [is] that the fetus will die during the process of uterine evacuation.”
“Ma'am, I didn't ask you that,” Casey persisted. “You will deliver the baby partially and then insert a pair of scissors in the base of the fetus' skull … Do you tell them whether or not that hurts the fetus?”
In response, Fredriksen snapped, “I have never talked to a fetus about whether or not they experience pain.”
A pain specialist in the California trial, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, said “there will be pain caused to the fetus. And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain.”
The “pro-choice” movement and its friends in Congress and Hollywood have been sounding off about new threats against “choice” — chief among them, according to their literature, is this ban on partial-birth abortion. But as these political activists promote the abstract notion of “choice,” abortion doctors in courtrooms coast to coast are explaining just what that word means.
“Pro-choicers” might speak in apocalyptic terms about this modest restriction on abortion — the first since Roe v. Wade — but the abortion doctors on the witness stand are more blunt and candid.
Westoff told the court she doesn't like the new law because “I mean, I know what my purpose is … to empty the uterus in the safest way possible. Yet this language implies that I have this other purpose, which is to kill the fetus. So, to me, it's like — kind of like there is an elephant in the room besides me and my patient … there is somebody judging what my purpose is in bringing the fetus out a certain way.”
Oh yes, doctor, you are quite right. Someone else is in the room. And someone is judging you.
The fervor to win a legal prize seems to have blinded the abortion lobby to the impact this testimony will have in the court of public opinion. As they make admission after admission, under oath, a permanent public record is built of the holocaust of abortion. From this day forward, Americans will judge abortion by its chief proponents — in their own words.
Cathleen Cleaver Ruse is director for planning and information at the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Did William Shakespeare Die a Papist? DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:In the ongoing enterprise to reveal the mysterious person behind the prized poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616), some scholars are focusing on his religious upbringing and beliefs. Some say Shakespeare was once intent on training as a priest at a seminary in northern France at Douai where a college had been established for English Catholics.
In his lifetime, English priests could train only on the continent in Flanders or France. Some guess the arrest and horrific execution of the Jesuit missionary Father Edmund Campion persuaded the young Shakespeare to change course.
Considering the persecution during the Elizabethan era, a Catholic Shakespeare might have buried external displays of faith, never openly declaring Catholic attachment. To be a Catholic in Elizabethan England was to be a marked target.
Despite the anti-Catholic bias that pervaded Shakespeare's world, literary experts continue to discover expressions in his writings of Catholic faith and sympathy for those suffering under the anti-Catholic reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. Scholars are also marshalling historical evidence that suggests Shakespeare was in fact allied to England's “old faith” — that of the Catholic Church.
To set the stage, remember why the Catholic Church in England was suppressed: In 1533 Henry VIII broke from Catholicism in order to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn, declaring himself head of the Church of England. His divorce from Rome sparked religious turmoil and intolerance that lasted for years and drove the Catholic Church to operate more or less underground from the year 1550. With the coronation of Henry VIII's daughter, Elizabeth I, on Jan. 15, 1559, an era of severe Catholic persecution began.
Just months after being crowned, Elizabeth I issued a repressive law called the Act of Uniformity. This legislation sounded the death knell for English Catholics.
The government levied severe punishments and fines against those who resisted the new Protestant Church of England. The aim of the strict fines was to impoverish the Catholic loyalists. To remain Catholic or attempt to proselytize for the old faith was treasonous and punishable by violent execution.
The government attempted to stamp out Catholicism, the faith of the land for generations in times past, by brute force. Having been born just five years after Elizabeth I became queen, Shakespeare's life spanned all of her reign whose chief ambition was to eradicate the Catholic faith. Interestingly, Shakespeare stands out as one of the notable poets of his age who chose not to eulogize Elizabeth I upon her death.
Mounting evidence shows that Shakespeare was probably Catholic. At any rate, several Shakespeare scholars, including Peter Milward in Shakespeare's Religious Background and Ian Wilson in Shakespeare: The Evidence, substantiated his family's Catholicism as historical fact. His parents were raised in a time when Catholicism was the faith of England. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, descended from a staunch Catholic family, and his father, John Shakespeare, was listed as a Catholic recusant (a recusant was any person who refused to attend England's state church services).
St. Charles Borromeo's testament, Last Will of the Soul, a Catholic treatise the English Jesuit martyrs (including St. Edmund Campion) circulated at the time, was later discovered in the rafters of John Shakespeare's house.
The will of Shakespeare's grandfather, Robert Arden, is further proof of the Shakespeare family's Catholicity. In it, he declares his resolute Catholic beliefs. There were even Catholic religious among Shakespeare's ancestors: two aunts were nuns, one a prioress at the Benedictine convent at Wroxall. There is much evidence to support that Shakespeare descended from a devout Catholic family whose religion had a marked effect on the aspiring author.
Shakespeare researcher Carol Curt Enos has recently compiled a compelling thesis in the book Shakespeare and the Catholic Religion that asserts priests shared surnames with actors and playwrights, suggesting a connection between the theater world and the Catholic underground. Likewise, The Hidden Existence of William Shakespeare by Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel analyzes the connections between Shakespeare and the Catholic underground. Both authors independently reached similar conclusions regarding the strong possibility of Shakespeare's Catholic faith.
A marvelous new documentary, “In Search of Shakespeare,” which broadcast in four parts on PBS, says Shakespeare was probably Catholic. The film's writer and presenter, Michael Wood, looks at the four stages of Shakespeare's life in an untraditional TV documentary. Wood also compiled all of his findings in his book Shakespeare. Not remotely pedantic, the documentary combines the drama and intrigue of the day with flair and even a bit of funk. An unexpected techno beat — which is annoying at first — strangely unites the Elizabethan past to the present and sharpens the story's realism.
As an aside, one of the more heartening moments of the extensive documentary regards the Shakespeare sonnets that were inspired by a “lovely boy.” The case is made that these sonnets date approximate to the death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet (who died at age 11 in August 1596). Wood asserts they are most likely written in homage to the recently deceased child. After years of contemporary academics concocting their “Shakespeare was a homosexual” brew, the idea of some of these sonnets as a loving memorial to his son restores their purity of purpose.
If to understand an artist one must understand the times in which he lived, Wood says, then one needs to understand his religion, too. And so, Wood puts floodlights on all the indications that suggest Shakespeare was Catholic. It's refreshing for Catholics used to the kind of bias in shows like the deplorable series “Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance.” “In Search of Shakespeare” is startling for its fairness.
Some of the evidence of Shakespeare's Catholic sympathies:
• Shakespeare's wedding to Anne Hathaway was conducted by a priest known for his loyalties to the rites of the Catholic Church.
• Some claim Shakespeare used the name Shakeshafte to avoid examination by the anti-papist authorities in Elizabethan England. This pseudonym might explain the years when scholars can't pin down his whereabouts.
• During the 25 years of his life in London, Shakespeare never registered in church attendance at Protestant services, even when attendance was sometimes compulsory and had to be recorded.
• After Shakespeare left London to retire in Stratford-upon-Avon, he made an unusual house purchase. He bought London's Blackfriars Gatehouse. This is peculiar since he was living miles away from London and even more peculiar in that the government had identified the residence as a Catholic safe house. Much later, it was determined there were underground tunnels that allowed for safe passage and were hidden from the authorities.
• Apart from the evidence in life, Shakespeare's Catholic leanings appear in his writings. As recently as April 2003, new analysis of what was once considered Shakespeare's most enigmatic poem, “The Phoenix and Turtle,” suggests it might be a memorial poem commemorating the death of Catholic martyr Anne Line (see Times Literary Supplement, April 2003). This woman was executed for her Catholic faith at Tyburn in 1601.
• Some scholars believe Shakespeare gave voice to his own ongoing conflict between a physical or intellectual resistance to the religious persecution in “Hamlet”:
To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?
— Hamlet (Act III, Scene 1)
• Also in Shakespeare's “Hamlet” there is a startling reflection on the Catholic dogma of purgatory:
I am thy father's spirit;
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature Are burnt and purg'd away.
— Ghost of Hamlet's father (Act I, Scene 5)
Certain arguments raised in opposition to Shakespeare's Catholicism mostly concern facts of civil law. For instance, some argue Shakespeare had his children baptized in a Protestant service and in so doing confirmed his Protestant stance. Suffice it to say that Catholic sacraments were outlawed in Elizabethan England and the Protestant service of baptism would still have been both sacramentally valid and a good way around the system for those who feared government spies and reprisals. In my opinion, any judgment of Shakespeare's religion that hinges on the state requirements of the day doesn't persuade.
A Catholic Shakespeare would have walked a tightrope during the clash of Catholicism and the Protestant rebellion against the Church.
He would have been ever conscious of the religion of his youth, now outlawed in his adulthood. Unlike his contemporary Christopher Marlow, a wild and restless man who courted disaster and died young, Shakespeare seemed to have solved the fine balance between art and life through a sheer shrewdness that was necessary for survival.
Yet will the urban legend that surfaced in the Cotswolds in the late 17th century that Shakespeare had “dyed a papiste” ever be verifiable? Is the question of Shakespeare's Catholicism forever inconclusive? Well, you will certainly have the truth revealed if you die a “papist” and obtain heaven yourself.
Jennifer Roche writes from New York.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Jennifer Roche ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: The Root of All Virtue Is Love DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:It often happens in human history that an important thinker assumes the mantle of philosophy not because he has any talent for philosophy but simply because he has proved himself in some other field.
The names Pythagoras, Descartes, Rousseau and Nietzsche spring to mind. Nearer to our age, we must include Bertrand Russell, whose gifts for logic, mathematics and prose are undeniable, while whatever gift he might have had for philosophy remains undetectable.
The main problem with Lord Russell is that he preferred to wage verbal warfare — blindly and obsessively — against Christianity rather than look at the broad panorama of life with the kind of fairness and objectivity that is expected of a true philosopher. And so we read, in his work On Education, the following caricature of Christian morality: “The Church led men to think that nothing mattered save virtue, and virtue consists in abstinence from a certain list of actions arbitrarily labeled sin.”
This statement would be comical if it were not influential. At the very heart of Christianity is the command to love God and to love one's neighbor as one loves himself. The first act God commands us to do is to love. Does love “matter”? A better question is whether anything else matters. Somehow, Lord Russell missed the commandment to love and thought God's Church placed abstaining from all actions at the heart of her teaching. The growth of Christianity must have puzzled him.
Once a person loves another — that is, promotes the good of the other — it logically follows that he will refrain from doing anything to harm that person. Love comes first. But consistent with that initial act is the continuation of more loving acts and abstinence from unloving acts. “May God love you and protect you from harm” are the words of a lover.
St. Thomas Aquinas, who is a better philosopher than Bertrand Russell, makes the point that “love is not only a virtue but the most powerful of the virtues.” It is, in fact, “the form of all virtues” (De Caritate a.3; Summa Theologiae II-II, q.23, a.8).
Love, therefore, is the pre-eminent virtue and all other virtues derive their virtuousness from love. Loving parents do not want to spoil their children. The virtuous acts they employ in order not to spoil their offspring are merely extensions of their initial act of loving them. Therefore, they will refrain from being overindulgent and excessively permissive as well as negligent and unconcerned. But these restraints are not purely negative. Rather, they logically flow from an initial act of love.
The Church teaches clearly, consistently and forcefully that the first act of a Christian is an act of love.
It is most ironic, given the secular world's caricature of Christianity, that the first rule of political correctness, “Thou shall not offend anyone,” is itself not an action but an inaction. Now, if the first rule of a moral philosophy is to abstain from acting, it necessarily follows that everything subsequent to that inaction will also be inaction. If we begin with the fear that whatever we say or do (including love) might offend someone, we will retreat from others like the receding galaxies and be of no positive use to anyone.
Russell's indictment is better applied to the contemporary world of political correctness.
“Thou shall not offend” as a first principle of morality is a form of alienation. Putting it into practice is a way of increasing alienation. Its implementation makes it difficult for parents not to spoil their children, teachers not to ignore their students and priests not to leave their flock untutored. Fear is hardly a virtue; alienation is hardly a desirable outcome. But love casts out fear, just as fear casts out love.
To begin with love is to assume a risk. Christ was crucified because he dared to love. If he had been politically correct and preferred to avoid offending people (“sin no more”) he would have accomplished nothing and would have never been remembered.
How, we might ask, can a man as intelligent and accomplished as Lord Russell (and others) be so egregiously wrong about so transparent a point? The answer might be found in the very word philosophy (love of wisdom). For the first act of the philosopher is not an act of intelligence or power or reason or influence but an act of love. A philosopher may abstain from many things, but he may not abstain from love.
Philosophy, unlike mathematics, for example, begins with this generous and realistic act of love. In the absence of this love, philosophy cannot begin. If we do not love, we might become successful. We might even become influential. But we cannot achieve the destiny God gave us when he created us out of his own initial act of love.
Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus at St. Jerome's University and adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College & Seminary.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Please say Please DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Spirit and Life
Dear Adrienne and Lance,
“Remember to pick up your clothes … No elbows on the table … Straighten your tie before you go into school … Your shoes need polishing … Don't forget the note to Grandma … Make your bed … Comb your hair … Iron that shirt … Pass the food before serving yourself … Put your dirty dishes in the sink … Stand up when someone enters the room … Offer your seat on the bus to a lady … Open the car door for your mom … Take out the garbage … Time to clean the goldfish bowl … Don't slouch … Clean your room. And always remember to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”
Maybe you recall Mom or me saying some of these things to you. Maybe you remember us saying all of them, several times each. They probably seem like little, picky things. In a way, they are. But little things can add up to big things.
Back in my days in corporate public relations, I complained once to a wise supervisor that we seemed to be doing so many little things that didn't have a big, immediate payoff. He reminded me that a reputation is built “one brick at a time — and eventually you have a big building.”
So it is with personal reputation — character, if you like. You have to start with the little things and they build you into the sort of person others (and you) can respect.
This is not a new idea.
You recall the parable of the talents, recounted in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew. Three servants are given funds to manage while the master is away. Two of the three invest their funds, earn a profit and win the gratitude of their master. The third buries his money in the ground and is tossed out in the darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
The two servants who did well with their investments got the same grateful message from the master: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much, enter into the joy of your master.”
In other words, to get the big things right, you have to start by getting the little things right. Being polite, exhibiting good manners and maintaining a certain level of decorum really will make you better people.
Yes, there are some slobs who are really decent people. Yes, there are some very polite criminals. But, on average, people who show respect for others in small matters will have a better sense of right when it comes to big things.
If you don't have the decency to say “please” and “thank you,” why would I think you are fair and honest in your business dealings?
If you don't have the sense to wear business attire to a business meeting, why should I believe you understand your business or that you respect me enough to value our relationship?
If you are rude to the flight attendant on an airplane, why should I believe you will be considerate to your co-workers, your spouse or your children?
On the other hand, if you are polite and considerate I'll at least listen to what you have to say.
Abide by traffic laws when the police aren't around and I'll figure I can trust you as a business partner when I'm not around.
Give up your seat on the bus to a little old lady and I might let you sell me a used car.
I don't expect anyone to be perfect, but we all must try. Will Rogers said, “Live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.” I'm glad our parrot doesn't talk.
Jim Fair writes from Chicago.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Jim Fair ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Like Having Mary's Month All Year DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:May is Mary's month. Go find yourself a Marian church or shrine in which to say a special rosary to Our Lady sometime over the next four weeks.
You won't regret it.
I found a wonderful one while touring the Dakotas — and it's both older and more resplendent than I expected to find there.
In 1891, the newly elected bishop of Jamestown, N.D., Bishop John Shanley, moved the diocesan headquarters to Fargo, a more industrial city, and began construction of a cathedral church. The project was halted in 1893 when a fire destroyed downtown Fargo. Despite the major setback, the new St. Mary's Cathedral, with its soaring spires and steep roof pitches recalling Europe's great Gothic churches, was completed and dedicated on May 30, 1899. Its admirers quickly dubbed it the “showpiece of the Northwest.”
By the time the church's 100th birthday began bearing down, during the spring of 1995, it needed massive refurbishment in order to maintain its reputation as a showpiece of beauty, sanctity and reverence. Work began in January 1996. It was completed and rededicated later that year. Today it's clear the goal of reclaiming the sanctuary's original splendor was reached — maybe even surpassed.
Approaching the church from its front entrance, my attention was split between the two asymmetrical towers. To the left, a beautiful bell tower stretching 172 feet into the air. To the right, a humble 95-footer housing, in a niche, a white Cararra-marble statue of Mary, the Immaculate Conception. Each of the two steeples is topped by a stately cross.
Stepping inside, I found myself facing a main altar also made of Carrara marble. The altar's fore displays a mosaic of Christ bearing his own precious body and blood in the form of a consecrated host and chalice. Six onyx and bronze candlesticks surround the altar. The white marble of the ambo matches that of the altar, over which hangs a large crucifix bearing a very realistic corpus.
Directly behind the main altar are two reminders this is no ordinary parish church but the bishop's own: the bishop's chair and coat of arms. Richly carved oak screens surround the chair. On four posts are medallions to represent the four Evangelists. The screens also contain inscriptions based on titles of Our Lady in the Litany of Loreto.
In the center of the circular apse behind the chair is a colorful and traditional mural of Mary, escorted by an angel on either side, being assumed into heaven. The image is based on a painting of the Assumption by the 17th-century Spanish painter Bartolomé Murillo.
Our Lady of the Assumption, I learned, is the patroness of the diocese. That explained the Assumption window above the choir loft. The cathedral, in fact, was dedicated to Mary under the title Queen Assumed into Heaven.
Apostolic Heights
High above the Assumption mural, in the sloped space doming the altar, are murals of, from left to right, St. Joseph, Christ the King and St. John the Baptist.
Flowing down each side of the front arch of the sanctuary are paintings of the faces of the Twelve Apostles — the original 12, that is, minus Judas and plus St. Paul. Each bears a symbol of ministry or martyrdom. The Holy Spirit, taking the form of a dove, descends from the front arch.
Two side altars, also made of Carrara marble, match the main altar. On the left the Blessed Mother is honored. This altar features a beautiful mosaic, containing more than 20,000 pieces of glass, with rich blue colors for Our Lady's garment. Mary holds the Christ child. There are also three vases on this altar; these contain the holy oils the bishop blesses each year — oil for anointing the sick; the sacred chrism used for baptisms, confirmations and ordinations; and oil used to confirm catechumens.
To the right of the main altar is a marble altar of reservation. Here perpetual Eucharistic adoration takes place. (During Mass, the Precious Body is reserved in a beautiful bronze tabernacle.) The monstrance presenting the exposed Blessed Sacrament stands underneath a miniature baldacchino, also called a tempietto (little temple). A large sanctuary light, crafted in Austria, is suspended from the ceiling in front of the Eucharistic altar. The sides of the sanctuary light feature miniature statues of the Twelve Apostles.
Incidentally, the rector of the cathedral, Father Peter Hughes, told me he's seen increased reverence for the Blessed Sacrament in and around the cathedral since perpetual Eucharistic adoration was instituted here. In addition to the parishioners signed up to spend at least an hour a week with Our Lord — the exposed Body can never be left alone — many workers and professionals stop in during the workday to visit Jesus in the sacrament.
The cathedral's Stations of the Cross are about one-third life-size and made of terra cotta. Near the stations are candles that are lit for solemn liturgies. Candles in sconces mark the spots where the bishop blessed the walls during the 1996 rededication.
Hidden Praises
During the renovation, it came to light that a fresco over each of the two transept windows had been covered over when acoustic tiles were installed in 1939. They were restored. To the south is a fresco of the Mother of Perpetual Help. Its mate over the north transept window features Christ the Teacher. For their part, the transepts themselves are an ingenious architectural illusion created by varying ceiling heights.
The cathedral's marvelous stained-glass windows were manufactured by the Kenselle Glass Company of Chicago and made from Sicilian opalescent glass pieces.
In the vestibule is a richly carved baptismal font, which came from Holy Trinity Church in Grassnia, N.D., when that church closed several years ago. The vestibule also features in a special case a galero, a red, broad-rimmed hat with tassels; this was given by Blessed Pope John XXIII to the third ordinary of Fargo, Bishop Aloysius Muench. Bishop Muench served as papal nuncio to Germany after World War II and was made a cardinal in 1959.
It seems fitting a cathedral this magnificent, munificent and unambiguously Marian should honor one of its own who ascended to one of the universal Church's highest offices. When the Blessed Mother looks upon this place, she must think it's May all year long.
Joseph Albino writes from Syracuse, New York.
----- EXCERPT: St. Mary's Cathedral, Fargo, North Dakota ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Albino ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Weekly TV Picks DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:All times Eastern
SUNDAY, MAY 2
Doctors of the Church: St. Athanasius
EWTN, 2:30 p.m.
On his feast day, this bio recalls a confessor and a doctor of the Church, St. Athanasius (ca. 295-373), bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. He earned one of his titles, “Champion of Orthodoxy,” for fearlessly defending Christ's divinity at the Council of Nicea (325) and then spending years in exile in an era when Arian heretics held sway in many dioceses.
WEEKDAYS
Clean Sweep
The Learning Channel, 6 p.m.
This five-member crew helps folks reduce clutter in their homes.
MONDAYS IN MAY
Cruising America's Waterways
PBS, 9 a.m.
Climb aboard, relax and take in the scenery and local attractions as you cruise along “The Erie Canal, Albany to Buffalo” (three parts, May 3, 10 and 17) and around “Seattle and the San Juan Islands” (two parts, May 24 and 31).
MONDAY, MAY 3
American Experience: Golden Gate Bridge
PBS, 9 p.m.
This new documentary profiles a dreamer who “got it done,” the man behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Midwest bridge builder Joseph Strauss had never designed a suspension bridge, but starting in the 1920s he sought support for building such a span across one of the world's greatest natural harbors, San Francisco Bay.
TUESDAY, MAY 4
Innovation: Brain Fingerprinting
PBS, 9 p.m.
Citing actual cases, this program looks at attempts to detect deception, or the lack of it, by “reading” brain waves. Some in law enforcement are said to consider this new technique the biggest step in crime fighting since DNA. What dangers does it present?
THURSDAY, MAY 6
For Mother's Day
Food Network
Mom's big day is near, and here are tips to make it extra-special for her. At 11:30 a.m., Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay prepares a super brunch. At 6 p.m., 30-Minute Meals makes lamb chops and fixins’. At 8 p.m., Emeril Live's topic is, “Our Favorite Moms.” Best of all, at 10:30 p.m., The Best Of … suggests “Places to Take Mom.”
FRIDAY, MAY 7
B-17 Flying Fortress
History Channel, 10 p.m.
Here is the story of the brave men of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and the all-metal bombers they flew over Europe in World War II.
SATURDAY, MAY 8
Home To Go
Home & Garden TV, 11 p.m.
In this episode, “Student to Grown-Up Living,” host Peter Fallico and designer Gerald Nimchuk help guest Sonna “graduate” from the student-style furnishings in her condo.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dan Engler ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Now Playing DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:MAN ON FIRE (20th Century Fox) Director: Tony Scott. Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony. (R)
Take One: Traditionally righteous hero Washington takes on yet another in a series of ambiguous antiheroes (Out of Time, John Q, Training Day), this time as a down-and-out former anti-terrorist operative who bodyguards young Fanning in Mexico City, then goes on a murderous rampage after she's kidnapped and reported killed.
Take Two: Shamelessly manipulative and sadistically violent, Man on Fire builds up a cutesypoo relationship between Washington and Fanning solely to fan the flames of Washington's righteous anger when she's reported killed. That way, anything he does is justified, no matter how depraved. Offensive language and brief sexuality.
Final Take: Did I mention abuse of Catholic iconography? Evil men profess devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Washington clutches a St. Jude medal when he should be going to confession. Man on Fire is a new low for both Washington and Scott, and one of the nastiest bits of business I've seen at the multiplex in some time.
13 GOING ON 30 (Columbia) Director: Gary Winick. Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Christa B. Allen. (PG-13)
Take One: Garner is charming and Ruffalo preternaturally likeable in this shameless knockoff of Big that posits a 13-year-old girl magically waking up nearly two decades in the future. 1980s nostalgia buoys the film as Garner gets down to “Thriller” and quotes inspirational phrases from Pat Benatar lyrics.
Take Two: Although the movie plays it for laughs when men come on to Garner and keeps things pretty chaste with Ruffalo, there's still something unavoidably distasteful about the whole business of a 13-year-old girl-woman in the grown-up world. Sexually immoral situations and references; crass language and an instance of profanity; some drug/ intoxication references.
Final Take: Appealing as the stars are, they can't redeem the dopey writing or the unnecessarily crass content.
HELLBOY (Columbia) Director: Guillermo del Toro. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair. (PG-13)
Take One: If you can have make-believe good witches (The Wizard of Oz), how about a good demon? Perlman is entertaining as comic-book hero Hellboy, a hardboiled noir hero with red skin, horns and a tail who fights to defend mankind from fellow “demons” (not evil spirits tempting souls, but more like fantasy monsters).
Take Two: Despite fantasy elements, the movie's hellions are in some ways uncomfortably close to the real thing, including vulnerability to holy water and other sacramentals, various occult accoutrements and Hellboy's own resemblance to the stereotyped demon of Christian art. (Anyway, a “good demon” is just much more problematic than a good witch, for numerous reasons.) Strong, sometimes gruesome action violence; occasional profanity and crude humor.
Final Take: Hellboy never succeeds in redeeming its imagery or storyline the way it would have needed to really work, plus it lacks an interesting villain and storyline. And where is God in all this? One villain taunts a hero about “your God” being “silent”; in a movie like this, that kind of challenge deserves an answer.
ELLA ENCHANTED (Miramax) Director: Tommy O'Haver. Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes. (PG)
Take One: Based on Gail Carson Levine's popular fantasy novel, Ella is a Princess-Bride style fairy tale about a high-minded young girl unfortunately spellbound to comply with any order, absolutely and literally. Dancy plays the young prince sheltered from the sufferings of the kingdom's elves, giants and other magical creatures at the hands of his wicked uncle (Elwes).
Take Two: Ella is apparently not very faithful to its source material, and the book's many fans widely consider the film a disappointment. A few crude expressions and an instance of mild profanity; mild sensuality and action violence; brief comic intoxication.
Final Take: Departures from source material aside, Ella the film has more than enough magic and charm to work on its own terms. Hathaway is delightful, and the themes of youthful idealism and social justice actually matter for once.
THE ALAMO (Touch-stone) Director: John Lee Hancock. Patrick Wilson, Jason Patric, Billy Bob Thornton. (PG-13)
Take One: Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis come to life with surprising nuance and humanity in a remarkably intelligent and serious-minded drama about a critical moment in the Texas Revolution when a tragic defeat became a rallying point for victory.
Take Two: Deliberate pacing and an introspective, character-driven approach may leave some viewers cool. Intense but largely bloodless battle violence; an implied sexual encounter; some crass language.
Final Take: Against all odds, Texas-born director Hancock turns in a cinematic version of the Alamo story well worth remembering, not least for Thornton's impressive performance as the man in the coonskin cap.
Steven D. Greydanus, editor and chief critic of Decentfilms.com, writes from Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Spotlight: Spring Movie Doldrums; Box Office Revenge
With The Passion of the Christ finally fading at the box office, the traditional spring movie doldrums tightens their grip on multiplexes.
Even when a film actually is worth finding this time of year, it doesn't always find its audience. For example, Ella Enchanted and The Alamo haven't exactly lit up the box office, though they're two of the better bets currently in release.
What is hot at the box office at the moment? For one thing, murderous revenge and vigilantism.
Last weekend, three of the top five films in U.S. theaters — Man on Fire, Kill Bill Vol. 2 and The Punisher — were ultraviolent revenge fantasies about killer antiheroes wiping out scores of foes implicated in hurting people close to the antihero. Rounding out last weekend's top ten was Walking Tall, a warmed-over tale of vigilante justice with a body count not quite as high as the first three films, but still brutal and unpleasant enough.
Is this a fluke? Or has Hollywood tapped into something in the national zeitgeist? After all, embattled American forces are facing an increasingly complicated security situation in Iraq. Could it be that folks find it gratifying to watch Denzel in a foreign country single-handedly meting out his own brand of rough justice, rooting out a covert terrorist network, torturing and maiming and murdering at will to get the job done?
Whatever the answer to that question, summer can't come fast enough for me.
— SDG
----- EXCERPT: A Register's-eye view of five current box-office leaders ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly Video Picks DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Peter Pan (2003)
“Heartless” is the last word of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, a romantic but not sentimental picture of childhood. It's a tribute to childhood's magic and cruelty but also to childhood as a preparation for adulthood, for adult responsibilities and roles.
The best-known screen versions of Peter Pan, the Disney version and the Mary Martin musical, only scratch the surface of Barrie's tale. The best versions, Cathy Rigby's delightful 2000 musical and the enchanting 1924 silent adaptation, go significantly deeper. This latest version, a lavish, big-budget adaptation, eschews musical numbers, casts a boy (Jeremy Sumpter) in the title role and confronts Barrie's darker themes head-on. And it gets things mostly right.
The film's main flaw is that it's too self-aware. Hook should be a child's idea of grown-up malevolence; the moment he can psycho-analyze Peter, Hook becomes a real grown-up. No fair. Still, an interesting tribute to Barrie's enduring story.
Content advisory: Mild menace, swashbuckling action and at times comic violence, some of which is fatal.
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
One of the 15 movies in the Religion category of the Vatican's favorite-film list, The Gospel According to St. Matthew is newly available on DVD.
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an atheist, yet he came to Assisi in response to Pope John XXIII's call for dialogue with non-Christian artists and, after reading through the Gospels, was inspired to film the life of Christ straight from one of the Gospels, taking no editorial license. He dedicated The Gospel According to St. Matthew “to the dear, familiar memory of John XXIII.”
Though a Marxist, Pasolini was perhaps a poet first.
Pasolini's technique is striking in its austerity: He uses Matthew's dialogue but omits his narration, relying on images to convey whatever Matthew himself tells us. Location shooting in southern Italy using nonprofessional actors gives the film a persuasive peasant authenticity. There is no spectacle and few special effects (note the restrained but effective walking on water scene); the emphasis is on Jesus' teaching.
Content advisory: Mild passion imagery. In Italian with subtitles.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Recently released on DVD, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is the original inspirational-teacher story and a beloved valentine to classical education, tradition and the English boarding schools of a bygone era.
Based on James Hilton's novella, the film is essentially a character study spanning 60 years of a man's life. Its chief asset is Robert Donat's celebrated, Oscar-winning performance as Charles Chipping, a bookish classics professor who makes an inauspicious debut at the hallowed halls of Brookfield School for Boys but eventually finds his feet, ultimately becoming something of an institution at the school.
Donat not only ages convincingly from young adulthood into doddering old age, but he also persuasively synthesizes the various stages of the character's life, from diffident, humorless newcomer to endearingly eccentric absent-minded professor, into a well-integrated total portrait. Greer Garson, making her feature-film debut, is delightful as Katherine Bridges, the self-possessed young woman who makes a new man of Chipping and gives him a new name, Mr. Chips, to boot.
Content advisory: Nothing objectionable.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Another Take on Seton
LIFENEWS.COM, April 16 — Yes it decorated a judge who struck down New Jersey's partial-birth abortion ban. But Seton Hall University insists it is committed to the gospel of life.
“The award that will be given at the law school is not a reflection of university policy,” said Dr. Mel Shay, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, in a statement released prior to the awards ceremony.
The school awarded Judge Maryanne Trump Barry the 12th annual Sandra Day O'Connor Medal of Honor on April 16, upsetting pro-life advocates and the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., in which the school is located, LifeNews.com reported.
Archdiocesan spokesman James Goodness said Archbishop John Myers was “extremely upset” by the award.
New Direction in Dallas
Currently Lazarus is vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of San Diego. He will take office in July, the newspaper reported.
Lazarus succeeds interim president Robert Galecke, who succeeded Msgr. Milam Joseph in December.
Lazarus is “committed to the quality of education, the mission and the Catholic identity of the university,” said Msgr. Dan Dillabough, vice president for mission and university relations at the University of San Diego. “For us, it's wonderful that he can take his experience here and use it for the challenges there.”
No Time for Tenet
Father Biondi has been chair of the ethics committee for the corporation, many of whose 114 hospitals perform abortions. He had been a board member since shortly after Tenet acquired St. Louis University Hospital in 1998.
Last year, according to a Cardinal Newman Society newsletter, the group called on Father Biondi not to run for re-election this May.
Winging It in Worcester
CHRONICLE.COM, April 7 — Is “unquestioning obedience” to Church teaching a help or a hindrance to new Catholic colleges and universities springing up around the country?
That was the question posed by a Chronicle of Higher Education live online colloquy April 7. David O'Brien, the Loyola professor of Roman Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Wocester, Mass., was the colloquy's featured guest.
In a transcript of the lively discussion at Chronicle.com, O'Brien stated: “By the way, as a sometime left-winger with 35 years in these schools, I have yet to find an institution of the left.”
History-Making Texts
CATHOLICTEXTBOOKPROJECT.COM, April 13 — Volume 3 of the Catholic Schools Textbook Project is now available for fall 2004, the project's organizers have announced.
A Light to the Nations: Ancient to Medieval covers Western tradition pre-history, first civilizations, and ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece and Rome through Medieval Christendom from a Catholic perspective. The volume includes supplemental documents, art, literature and music.
The other texts in the series are From Sea to Shining Sea: The Story of America and All Ye Lands: World Cultures and Geography.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Archdiocese: No More Honors for Abortion Champs DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:NEWARK, N.J. — A recent event at Seton Hall University law school honoring a pro-abortion judge reminded Richard Maggi, a 1976 graduate of the school, why he has never contributed any money to his alma mater.
“I have never thought highly of the school from the perspective of it being a Catholic law school,” he said. “They seem to be more concerned with trying to bring in people who are of note rather than worrying about what it is they're promoting.”
Maggi was referring to the April 16 ceremony on campus that honored U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who wrote the opinion in a 2000 case that rejected a New Jersey law banning partial-birth abortion. Barry received the Sandra Day O'Connor Medal of Honor, an event that triggered protests and has led archdiocesan and university officials to review the school's policies to prevent it from happening again.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, well known for her pro-abortion opinions, was on hand to award the medal, which honors women who have distinguished themselves in public service and as lawyers. The event was sponsored by three groups of law students.
“It's yet another example of Catholic colleges giving aid and comfort to abortion advocates in the name of academic freedom,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a national organization dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education. “Catholic colleges are not supposed to be neutral on the atrocity of abortion.”
A recent study by the society found even more examples. The study documents almost 200 occasions since 1999 where speakers or honorees who support abortion have been invited to Catholic universities, Reilly said.
In a statement, Natalie Thigpen, a Seton Hall University spokes-woman, said the school's commitment to the gospel of life is “absolute” and noted that honoring people who support views contrary to the university's “fundamental Catholic identity is a serious lapse.” She added that the policies involved — which are supposed to keep such an invitation from occurring — will be reviewed.
Located 14 miles from New York City, Seton Hall bills itself as the “oldest diocesan university” in the country. Its law school, however, is a familiar place of protest for pro-life advocates who, in the past, have decried Medal of Honor recipients who support abortion rights. These have included Hillary Rodham Clinton and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman. In 1998, a wave of protests forced the law school to move the award ceremony for Whitman off campus.
Richard Collier Jr., a New Jersey attorney and president of a pro-life legal center, thought the selection of Barry was “outrageous.” He sent an e-mail April 10 to the Archdiocese of Newark asking that the event be cancelled.
On April 14, he said he received an e-mail response from archdiocesan spokesman James Goodness, who said the archdiocese was neither involved in the selection of the honoree nor notified of the law school's intent to present it.
“Catholic teaching recognizes that every life is sacred and deserving of protection under the law,” Goodness wrote in a statement. “Catholic institutions of higher learning have a choice in whom they honor. It would be inappropriate and inconsistent for the archdiocese to endorse the selection for special recognition of anyone who undermines the assurance of legal protections for the unborn.”
Collier said about 30 brave people showed up to protest the ceremony. He also said he thought the response from the archdiocese was “tragic.”
“They had four days to cancel it or to move it off campus,” Collier added. “They did nothing.”
Serious Failure?
Pope John Paul II has written about the importance of Catholic universities sticking to their Christian mission. In his 1990 apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), he said “Catholic ideals, attitudes and principles [must] penetrate and inform university activities.”
Several years later, the Holy Father mentioned what should happen if these principles aren't upheld. In his 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), he wrote that bishops must be judicious in granting the title of “Catholic” to institutions such as colleges and health-care facilities — and, “in cases of a serious failure to live up to that title, to take it away.”
Archbishop John Myers of Newark has promised to make changes. In a statement that ran in the April 21 edition of the arch-diocesan newspaper, he said he was informed about the award ceremony during the middle of Easter week. He described it as “profoundly offensive and contrary to the Catholic mission and identity” of the university, the law school and the archdiocese.
“I am proceeding in a way both to clarify the situation and to see that it does not occur again,” Archbishop Myers wrote in the statement. “I am in the process of reviewing all aspects of the matter and determining the appropriate action to be taken.”
The archdiocese doesn't have direct control of the institution, which operates as a private entity within the archdiocese, like Catholic hospitals, Goodness said. But Archbishop Myers is president of the school's board of regents.
Goodness said he didn't know when the review would be completed, but he made it clear that a pro-abortion advocate won't be honored at the university again.
“There's a lot of examination going on to make sure the processes and procedures are in place so this doesn't happen again,” he said, adding that the law school didn't inform the university about who was going to be honored at the ceremony. “We're going do it, do it once and do it right.”
The dean of the law school, Patrick Hobbs, did not return calls for comment. The secretary for the university's president, Msgr. Robert Sheeran, referred a call to the school's spokesperson.
Collier said clerical bureaucracies usually indicate that a review is under way, but he views this as “a bureaucratic ploy” to delay action until the incident is forgotten.
“No one needs to review what needs to be done here,” Collier said, adding that the award has always gone to those who support abortion. “The solution is simple, self-evident and inescapable: Just say No.“
However, another protester was hopeful about the archbishop's statement.
“I'm encouraged that the archbishop has promised to take action,” said Joseph Starrs, the director of the American Life League Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church, who attended the protest. “I hope that it's a strong action, and it's a diocesan-wide policy that would bar all pro-abortion speakers from all Church-based institutions and property.”
Carlos Briceño writes from Seminole, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carlos Briceño ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Don't Let Your Kids Flunk Life DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:CHARACTER MATTERS
by Thomas Lickona, Touchstone Books, 2004 336 pages, $14 Available in bookstores
Here's a book that delivers on what its subtitle promises: “How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity and Other Essential Virtues.”
Thomas Lickona, a developmental psychologist and professor of education at the State University of New York and a recipient of a lifetime-achievement award from the Character Education Partnership, explains early on why he set out to produce not a think piece but a ready-to-use tool for parents.
“The job [of parenting] is harder than ever because the family has fewer allies (such as the extended family and cohesive neighborhoods) and more enemies (such as a toxic media culture, other parents who are over-permissive and an economy that doesn't pay a living wage),” he writes. “Because families are more stressed than ever, and because there are many more negative forces in our children's lives, parents need to be much more intentional than in past generations about creating a family life and more vigilant about raising a moral child. Good character will not be absorbed from our current moral environment.”
How parents and teachers can be “more intentional” about raising a moral child is what this book is all about. What makes it so valuable is that, despite Lick-ona's impressive credentials as a scholar and researcher, he has no difficulty writing at a practical level. The book is loaded with concrete ideas and advice for parents and teachers.
In a refreshing chapter on teaching manners, Lickona writes: “Manners are minor morals. They are everyday ways we respect other people and facilitate social relations. They make up the moral fabric of our shared lives.”
Many parents will be especially appreciative of the chapter on how to talk to young people about sex. It is full of wisdom, prudence, facts and advice. Though I was already convinced of the immorality of birth control, a single paragraph about condoms was eye opening, and I'll probably be reading it aloud to our 12-year-old daughter sometime soon.
There is plenty here for teachers and school administrators as well. Lickona offers suggestions for homework assignments, advice on classroom discipline, and guidance on how to develop character-building programs at the classroom, school or district level. He makes an excellent case that education needs to be about developing our children's character as well as their intellect while insisting the primary role falls to parents.
Though not a religious book, Character Matters clearly regards faith and Bible-based teaching with respect. Prominent Catholics, including Father Benedict Groeshel and Peter Kreeft, are among the sources he cites. Lick-ona even explains why teachers can legitimately (and legally) include the age-old insights of religious faith in public-school discussions of sex.
As the culture war rages on, resources such as Character Matters are like powerful weapons parents can wield to protect and arm their kids for the battles they will inevitably face.
Barry Michaels writes from Blairsville, Pennsylvania.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Barry Michaels ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: From the Sidewalk to the Stove DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Prolife Profile
A leader in pro-life activism for many years, Joan Andrews Bell is now involved full time in another line of work. It's no less demanding. And no less about defending life.
It's just different from what she was used to.
Where once she blocked entrances to abortion clinics, counseled abortion clients from sidewalks and got herself arrested (more than 200 times) for her part in Operation Rescue's nonviolent protests, Bell now spends her days cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and otherwise caring for her seven children in Pompton Plains, N.J.
Six of the children are adopted, five of them physically disabled. Four are from orphanages in Russia, one is from Mexico and another was adopted from a Jamaican woman who was headed for an abortion clinic.
The desire to care for needy and abandoned children that led her into pro-life activism still motivates Bell today. She calls family life with her husband, Chris, “a vocation and a blessing” and “a dream come true.” It was a dream she thought would never be fulfilled when she celebrated her 40th birthday in a Florida jail in 1988.
After she was released, she met Chris, executive director of Good Counsel Inc., who runs five pro-life homes for pregnant women and their babies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
“Marriage and a family was what I wanted long before the whole attack on life began in this country with the legalization of abortion,” Joan says. “All I wanted to be was a wife and a mother.”
Chris and Joan were joined in a pro-life marriage made in heaven in 1991. The next year Mary Louise was born. The couple then adopted Emiliano, who has multiple birth defects, from a Mexican orphanage. He is now 14.
After Joan's sister helped a woman turn around from an abortion clinic in Tennessee, the Bells began making arrangements to adopt the child, Philomena, now 5. They then went to an orphanage in Russia to adopt a brother and a sister, Andrei, 8, and Irina, 6. Recently, they returned to Russia for two more children who had touched their hearts on the first visit. Valareia is 5 and Theresa, who is missing her right leg, is 4.
Chris Bell says he has trouble remembering that five of their children have disabilities. “They're as loving, troublesome and fun as any other children their age,” he says. “They want to do everything the other children do, and they don't want any help doing it. ‘I want to do it myself’ is heard often in our home.”
For example, Mary Louise has taught Theresa to hop around on one foot. “One good thing about having seven children is that they learn to take care of one another,” Chris says. “I never hear any of them say, ‘I'm bored.’”
“I know it may sound politically correct, but I do favor using the term ‘special-needs child,’ rather than handicapped,” he adds. “All of us are handicapped in one way or another, either physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Each one of our children is an individual, and each has wonderful gifts and God-given talents that the word handicap just doesn't capture.”
The Bells have been touched professionally and personally by the recent injuries to Father Benedict Groeschel, the popular preacher and author of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Father Groeschel, who has been hospitalized since being hit by a car in January, is chairman of the board and co-founder of Good Counsel Homes. He raises money for Good Counsel and is a source of encouragement and guidance for Chris Bell.
“Thank God it looks like Father Benedict is going to pull through, but the road to recovery will be long and hard,” Chris says. “We pray for him every day, but we can't expect him to be back on his feet for a while. From a practical point of view, we need to make up for the donations that he usually would bring us through his speaking engagements and letter writing.”
Not that Father Groeschel's touch is totally missing. In a statement on the Good Counsel Homes website, goodcounselhomes.org, the influential Franciscan writes: “How many times as a priest I have spoken to a brokenhearted woman who has been hurt, who has been abused by this hideous thing called abortion and how she wonders where her baby is. And I tell her: ‘Look, the Holy Father tells us don't give up hope, someplace in eternity is that little soul. And you pray to that little soul that he will pray for you. Someday you will meet him.’”
Although her days are filled with the concerns of her family, Joan Bell has not forgotten pro-life activism. She brings her children regularly to pray outside a hospital that performs abortions, and the family does a holy hour for life before the Blessed Sacrament each week.
“I don't think you can settle back and say, ‘I have a family so I can't be active,’” she explains. “Justice demands that we do something. God's judgment is upon us and our nation for the horrendous holocaust of abortion. I think everyone has an obligation to go out and pray at the mills, where specific, individual children are being put to death right then and there each day.”
Operation Rescue has been essentially shut down by draconian federal and state laws, yet Joan Bell says the movement should be revived.
“We need to do more, we need to be willing to die to save the babies. That is the spirit of true Christian charity,” she says. “We should start by becoming, as a movement, as a Church, more loving and sacrificial. God is not into numbers, and we shouldn't wait for someone else to get involved before we do. We need to pray more, to fast more, to perform sacrifices, to do a holy hour every week and to get out on the streets in front of the abortion mills. God will do the rest.”
“I put myself first,” she adds, “among those who need to do more.”
Stephen Vincent is based in Wallingford, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Stephen Vincent ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: No Work Satisfies Like a Family Apostolate DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Family Matters
You've written before about how our family is our first apostolate. As a home-schooling mom, I think I know what you mean, as my home truly is my workplace as well as the place I live out my vocation most noticeably. But could you expound on the concept of family as apostolate?
It's quite simple, really. Parenting is not a right granted us by the state. It's a privilege given to us as a gift from God. By extension, that means it's not just a civic duty but also a moral obligation. No one but we can parent our kids and, if we don't evangelize and catechize them, we are putting them — and ourselves — at great risk. There's a very clear example of this in the Old Testament.
God spent a lot of time recruiting and motivating a skeptical Moses to be the one to free the Israelites. Then God discovered Moses had neglected his paternal responsibility by not circumcising his young son. This was part of the covenant and God did not take lightly Moses' neglect of the divine command given to the Jews through Abraham. For this neglect God was about to kill Moses. At the last minute in stepped Moses' wife, Zipporah, to do the deed and save the day (Exodus 4:24-25).
This episode clearly demonstrates that no matter how important our work or even our Church-related activities, we are never excused from first seeing to the welfare of our kids and family. At least, not in God's eyes.
Okay. So our family is our first apostolate. Is it our only apostolate? Jesus didn't tell us to just preach the Good News to our family members. He clearly said: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). But doesn't he know how busy I am? Doesn't he realize that I'm already in trouble for not doing enough for my family?
With trust in God, all things are possible. Remember the portrayal of Simon of Cyrene in The Passion of the Christ? He was the innocent bystander who happened along the Via Dolorosa just as Jesus began to fail under the weight of the cross. When the Roman guards spotted him, they pressed him into service.
Did you notice Simon had his young son with him? He had to leave the child behind in order to comply with the guards' orders. He only did so reluctantly. But, along the way, Simon was transformed by his close contact with the Suffering Servant of God. By the time they reached the summit of Golgotha, he had found strength he probably never knew he had. He even risked earning a beating of his own by demanding the soldiers stop flogging Jesus.
Can you imagine the catechesis Simon's son must have gotten after being reunited with his father? The two probably talked about that day — and learned about redemptive suffering from it — the rest of their lives. (In fact, Scriptural clues point to Simon's two sons, Alexander and Rufus, possibly becoming leading members of the fledgling Christian community. See Mark 15:21 and Romans 16:13.)
Just so, God wants us to help our families grow in faith, hope and love. In this way he will grow the universal Church so that, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The Holy Spirit is ever ready to borrow our minds, hearts and bodies as we happen upon the Via Dolorosa every day in many ways. Are we prepared to follow the example of Simon of Cyrene? If so, our family is well on its way to functioning as a true apostolate — and our world is that much more pleasing to Christ because of it.
Art Bennett is director of Alpha Omega Clinic and Consultation Services in Vienna, Virginia, and Bethesda, Maryland.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Art Bennett ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Ads Pulled
On April 7, WWMX-FM (106.5) pulled NARAL's paid promotions of the April 25 pro-abor tion march in Washington.
According to WWMX program director Steve Monz, the station received enough complaints the first two days the ads ran that the decision was an easy one.
“We're family-friendly, kid-safe,” Monz told the Washington Post. “Our barometer is, if our listeners have to explain to their kids what an item is, and they're uncomfortable with that, we're uncomfortable with that.”
Cleft Case Reopens
Rev. Joanna Jepson, curate of St. Michael's Church in Chester, brought the case to the constabular y's attention. She thought charges should have been brought against the doctors involved in the abortion.
Last year Jepson won the right to challenge the police's decision not to press charges against the doctors. Her lawyers argued that the abortion could never be justified on the basis of the 1967 Abortion Act, which says an abortion can be performed if a “serious handicap” is involved. They argued that a cleft lip and palate is not a serious handicap.
Fund Release
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 17 — Forty-two Catholic or rural Democrats in the Missouri Legislature have signed a letter asking Democratic Gov. Bob Holden to release funding for an abortion-alternatives program.
The money was par t of about $240 million the governor withheld from the Legislature's budget out of concern it would be under-funded. He has since released all of the money withheld except for what would fund the abortion-alternatives program, the wire service reported.
“We are very hopeful that the governor will release these funds,” said Rep. Matt Muckler, D-Ferguson, who is leading the effort. “The Missouri Alternatives to Abortion program is a pro-woman, pro-family effort that helps working people and the poor.”
Literature Leeway
Last year the Lee County School District wouldn't allow the girl to pass out literature on a non-class-time day of remembrance for unborn babies, so she and her mother sued. The board has a blanket policy that does not allow students to distribute any literature.
On April 14 a U.S. district judge refused to issue a preliminary order banning the district from enforcing its policy, the paper reported. The girl and her mother will appeal the case, according to their lawyer, Joel Oster of Liberty Counsel, a firm that specializes in religious-freedom cases.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: I Regret My Abortion ... DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:When I was 15 I got pregnant with my son. Five days before he was born his father was killed in a car accident. Though my parents had originally encouraged me to place my baby for adoption, they were very supportive of my decision to keep him and helped me to finish high school.
Halfway through my senior year I turned 18 and started going to the bars. There I met my new boyfriend, my knight in shining armor who I hoped would marry me and be a daddy to my son. Just after graduation I discovered I was pregnant again. I couldn't face telling my parents. I couldn't handle them being disappointed in me again. My boyfriend told me he loved me and my son but he just couldn't promise me he'd be around if I had this baby. Now I was afraid. What on earth would I do with two children by two different fathers? Who would ever want me? I didn't want to be alone and I desperately wanted a daddy for my son.
It was a day in late August 1980. At the clinic they asked me why I was choosing abortion. I wasn't “choosing” abortion at all; I felt like I didn't have a choice. The room was cold and for a minute I think I convinced myself I was just going in for a pap [test]. They told me I would have some cramps, I would hear the suction machine and then it would all be over. I remember being scared out of my mind and wanting to leave, but I couldn't, I had to go through with this.
I remember the nurse holding my hand as I started to cry and I realized that it wasn't my insides that were being sucked out of me but my baby. Not only did my baby die that day, but deep down inside, so did I. In the waiting room afterward they give you juice and cookies, like you had just given blood or something. I remember thinking, “I just killed my baby and I get juice and cookies for a reward.” I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
I just wanted to get drunk and stoned and kill the pain in my body and soul. I ended up on a street corner, screaming and crying out to God to forgive what I had done. But I knew God couldn't forgive this one — it was the unforgivable sin. At least that's what I thought.
I bled for two months afterward, ending up in the hospital with a D&C [dilation and curettage]. Sometimes an abortion is not complete and parts of the baby can be left inside, causing hemorrhaging. I don't know for sure that this is what happened to me, but it's possible. A year later I was diagnosed with endometriosis.
With the realization that I might never have another child, I believed this was God's punishment for what I had done. I became promiscuous, I drank and did drugs — anything to stay numb. I had a few relationships in between but I wouldn't let anyone too close. If I did, they might find out who I really was. I went through the motions of living but really only existed.
But on Dec. 23, 1993, my life changed. I experienced the love and mercy of God flooding my heart and soul. That night was the beginning of a healing journey that I'm still on today. Healing is a process that will go on all my life. I have received God's forgiveness. I have learned to forgive myself.
I have grieved, for my baby, Jennifer Rose, and for the loss of my fertility, as my husband and I are unable to have a child.
I deeply regret my abortion. Living with the painful truth that I took the life of my child would not be possible if not for the grace of God. In the most mysterious ways that I can't even begin to understand, God has transformed the ugliness of my sin into a beautiful testimony of his mercy.
It's time the truth be told and abortion be seen for what it really is — the death of a child and the wounding of women and men for life — as we grieve for the little people who are no more.
Terri White is from Beloit, Wisconsin, where she has been involved with Silent No More.
----- EXCERPT: Jennifer White's horrific tale of what abortion is really like ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Crown Her With Queenly Crowns DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:“Bring flow'rs of the fairest, bring flow'rs of the rarest /From garden and woodland, and hillside and vale / Our full hearts are swelling, our glad voices telling / The praise of the loveliest Rose of the vale.”
So begins “Bring Flowers of the Rarest,” a traditional hymn reserved for May crowning ceremonies, once popular with many Catholic families and communities, and making something of a comeback of late.
What's that you say? Never heard of a May crowning? Well, just look at what you've been missing.
One day of every May — long recognized, if only unofficially, as “Mary's month” — children dressed in their Sunday best lay flowers at the feet of a Marian statue. One child, usually the oldest boy, carried a crown of flowers on a cushion to the statue. Another child, usually the oldest girl, placed the crown upon the head of the Queen of Heaven. This is where the hymns came in. When the singing was done, prayers would be said and the flowers left where they lay for the remainder of May.
In St. John, Ind., Paul and Jackie Krilich decided to revive the May-crowning custom with their eight children after returning from a pilgrimage in 1991. It wasn't long before the whole parish of St. John the Evangelist Church got involved — and, indirectly, countless motorists.
Jackie Krilich tells how two families who own land on busy Route 41 put up a 20-foot statue of Our Lady of Grace they had brought back from Italy and how Paul built a special ladder for each year's crowning.
“We have prayers in the church, including the rosary,” Krilich explains. “Then we process 1.8 miles down Route 41 with a police escort. Everyone prays the rosary as we walk. Last year we did all four mysteries.”
All the first Communicants dress up for the occasion, as do the parish's confirmation and religious-education students. Altar boys and sometimes Knights of Columbus in full regalia join the procession.
“People come from all over,” Krilich says. “During the fifth glorious mystery, one of the first communicants places the crown on the Blessed Mother.” These might be roses or other flowers, but they're not fresh because “the big crown remains on Mary all year. It's something that's visible from the road from May to May.”
Results can be unexpected. Krilich tells of a friend who once watched some strangers on motorcycles pull over, park and approach the Blessed Mother to give her a new rosary.
And Mary's crowning has inspired the community to work together, from the woman who makes the crown to those readying food to the rental agency providing vans to shuttle people back to the church.
The Hoosier crowd might stand among the best organized of all May-crowning enthusiasts, but they're not alone in their zeal for old customs that can put a new spring in their steps of faith.
“Pope John Paul II has been stressing in the new millennium the new springtime of the Church,” says Father Matthew Mauriello, pastor of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Bridgeport, Conn. “As we enter the new springtime, it is beautiful to revive all these ancient customs that have been part of our Catholic tradition for centuries and to transmit them to a new generation.
“The motivation today to have a May crowning and honor Mary during her special month is the same as people had in the Middle Ages,” the priest adds. “And that is to bring the beautiful flowers of spring to the most beautiful Mother ever created, the Mother of Jesus, to honor her and to show our love and our fidelity to her.” Stated another way: If her son is a king, then Mary is of royal rank, too. She should not go crown-less.
All 403 students at Cathedral Parish School in St. Augustine, Fla., know this well. For them the May crowning is a major annual event. Donning their first Communion clothes — girls in white dresses and veils, boys in white shirts and ties — the second-graders “oversee” the carrying of the crown. (It's a second-grade girl who does the actual carrying.)
The eighth-grade girls elect a May queen to place the crown, supported by a court of six. “They pick someone based on the qualities this girl has that imitate Mary,” explains teacher Karen Fox, who's been in charge of the event for several years.
The assembly processes to the school's shrine, which has a statue of Our Lady of Grace, for prayer and song. Students bring flowers and form an honor guard for the May queen and her court.
In addition to honoring the Blessed Mother in such a magnificent way, the youngsters get to have a “very positive” experience on many levels, Fox says. From the preparation to the ceremonies to the wearing of formal clothes, an impression is made of something special unfolding. The sights, sounds and springtime smells likely won't soon be forgotten.
And a rightly ordered, deeply Christian conception of femininity gets promoted in a very powerful way, Fox adds. The May-queen voting, for example, “is surprisingly a big deal to them, bigger than you'd think,” she says. “It's not a beauty contest, not a popularity contest.”
The same happens, albeit on a smaller scale, when families crown Mary right in their own homes.
Michael and Kimberlee KadarKallen and their six children do just that in Harrisburg, Pa., where the family made a small brick grotto with a blue-and-white statue of Our Lady of Grace in their backyard.
“We have a miniature procession from the house, and we have a crown made of flowers,” Kimberlee Kadar-Kallen says. Sometimes they use fresh flowers, sometimes artificial ones since they don't wilt. One year each of the children made and carried Marian banners with different Marian symbols, such as the Immaculate Heart with roses.
“We sing a song like ‘Immaculate Mary,’” Kadar-Kallen continues. “Usually we let the littlest person put the crown on the Blessed Mother. Then we all sit around the statue and pray the rosary as a family.”
The Kadar-Kallens say it's important to honor Mary in May. “It's her month. She's Queen of Heaven,” says Kadar-Kallen, who also finds this crowning a good way to “impress upon the children how we need to honor her because she's our Blessed Mother.”
Already, 3-year-old Mary Rose, who is about the same size as the statue, is learning that lesson well. “She's fond of hugging and kissing the Blessed Mother,” Kadar-Kallen says. “The first thing she does when she goes outside is give her hugs and kisses.”
For pure Marian devotion, May-style, a better example could hardly be set.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: No TV for Tots DATE: 05/02/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 2-8, 2004 ----- BODY:Facts of Life
A new, heavily publicized study buoys previous research showing that TV can shorten young kids’ attention spans. The study, released in the April issue of Pediatrics, suggested heavy tube-gazing might over-stimulate and permanently “rewire” the developing brain in children up to 3 years old. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends youngsters under 2 not watch television at all.
Register illustration by Tim Rauch.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Catholic D.C. Prayer Breakfast Draws 1,000 DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Evangelical Protestants have one. Women have one, and Hispanics have one. Now, Catholics have a national prayer breakfast to call their own.
More than 1,000 Catholics attended the inaugural National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., April 28.
Prior to the event, host committee member Deal Hudson admitted his “expectations were low.”
Organizers were caught off guard by the overwhelming turnout. There was standing room only during the morning's rosary and Mass, which preceded the breakfast. During the breakfast itself, participants filled the ballroom's balcony and an overflow room, forcing attendees to watch the event on large video screens.
The event drew Catholics — lay and religious — from Washington and beyond. At least nine members of Congress were in attendance, as were participants from as far away as Canada, Russia and Costa Rica.
“At a time when there is a lot of confusion among Catholics about what we are to do, I saw this as an answer,” said Kari Beckman, a Catholic convert and home-schooling mother from Atlanta. She brought her 7-year-old son and 6-month-old daughter to the event while her husband, Rich, remained at home with their other four children.
“It was great to hear our representatives speak up for life,” she said.
The morning talks were peppered with spontaneous Hail Marys and prayers. Several politicians spoke of the role their Catholic faith plays in their lives.
“There has never been a finer time to be a faithful Catholic,” said Austin Ruse, vice president of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. “We are blessed to live in these troubled times because every one of us is needed.”
“This event has been too long in coming,” said Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Thompson read a greeting to participants from President Bush.
“I am proud to be a Catholic,” Thompson added.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told those gathered that his participation in the regular House prayer breakfast and in a Christian fellowship group has given him the strength to be a Catholic first and a Democrat second.
“It's difficult to walk in the light,” Stupak said. “If we walk in the light we will love one another … rich and poor, born and unborn.”
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., lamented the fact that “we are the most blessed country” yet “our hearts and souls are vacuous, empty of [God's] spirit.” He encouraged attendees to “get closer to God.”
“He is calling,” Santorum said. “Let me assure you. He is calling.”
Cardinal Avery Dulles gave the keynote address. In it, he called for a proper understanding of liberty, warning that “once freedom operates in a moral vacuum it becomes meaningless.”
Participants went away from the breakfast with a boost to live their faith publicly.
“We are advancing into a time when the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ is becoming increasingly stark,” said Father Christopher Beaudet, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. “It is important for we Catholics to gather as ‘us’ since the ‘them’ have already drawn their lines and have organized against the work of the Church. The forces of the culture of death have set themselves as enemies of the Church insofar as the Church perpetuates the saving mission of Christ and the spread of his gospel of life.”
Jared Leland saw the breakfast as an opportunity to “give the Church back its voice.” Leland works as an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit sponsored a table at the breakfast.
Father Andrew Apostoli, a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said he was inspired by the “tremendous enthusiasm of the people gathered” and described it as a “rallying experience.”
“The truth is the truth even if no one believes it,” Father Apostoli said. “People will go home encouraged by what they've heard.”
Beckman agreed. In fact, she used the opportunity to witness to a pro-abortion Catholic sitting outside the ballroom who asked what was taking place inside.
“I think this event is going to witness to a lot of people today,” Beckman said.
Breakfast's Genesis
The idea for the breakfast originally came to Joseph Cella late last summer.
“The call to establish a Catholic prayer breakfast struck me like a thunderclap,” said Cella, director of the Ave Maria List, a political action committee that supports pro-life candidates. “After considering the other long-standing prayer breakfasts, I felt called to firmly plant a flag for our faith. After all, we are the largest church in the country and the fastest growing.”
Cella approached Ruse, and Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, retired archbishop of Philadelphia, agreed to serve as the breakfast's ecclesiastical adviser.
“There is no political agenda,” Ruse explained. “The focus is to thank God for his blessings upon our Church and our land.” While the event was nonpartisan, only pro-life Catholics were invited to speak at the event.
“Like the Church itself, everyone is welcome,” Ruse said. “Also like the Church, everyone is welcome, but only a few get to talk through the microphone.”
“As Catholics in the New Evangelization, the breakfast is a new means of spreading the unambiguous truths of our faith,” Cella explained. “It is about prayer, fellowship and helping the poor and most vulnerable in our society.”
To that end, attendees made voluntary donations to support two charities. The donations, in addition to any money left after expenses for the breakfast, are going to New York's Sisters of Life and Pope John Paul II's private charity, Peter's Pence. Organizers estimated they raised approximately $100,000.
“The turnout shows that we will have legs for the future,” Cella said. “It is springtime for the Church in America.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Pro-Lifers: D.C. March Got Violent DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Many in the crowd of from 250,000 to 800,000 people who marched on Washington in support of abortion didn't take kindly to opposing points of view. So say the pro-lifers who say they were the targets of violence at the “March for Women's Lives.”
Many pro-choice advocates who gathered for the April 24-25 event had to march past photos of babies in the womb, people holding pro-life signs and a man holding a crucifix. The pro-life demonstrators say pro-abortion marchers spit at them, threw eggs, hit them, made vulgar gestures, ripped signs, yelled insults and screamed obscenities.
Jason Jones, the former director of American Life League's youth department, said he saw people variously carrying the flag of the former Soviet Union, wearing gas masks or sporting bandanas across their faces. Some threw pennies, sticks and other objects at him. One man hit him over the head with a short flagpole, giving him a headache for the rest of the day. Another person spit into his face.
“It's a small price to pay compared with what Our Lord suffered,” said Jones, 32.
Tom Messe, a doctor from Groton, Conn., wanted to make sure of God's presence, too. At the march on April 24 he held a sign that said, “Women need love, not abortion” in one hand and a 12-inch crucifix in the other. He said some of the marchers cursed the crucifix and made obscene gestures toward it.
“I really thought they should see Christ and see what he did for us and his sacrifice,” said Messe, who also had a sign that said, “Abortion gave my wife breast cancer.”
“It didn't seem to cause any conversions over there,” he said. “It just angered them.”
One of the groups participating in the march, the Radical Cheerleaders of D.C., advocated another creative type of protest against pro-life counter-demonstrators. A “pro-choice call to action” alert from the group didn't recommend “property destruction and / or confrontation.” That tactic won't work, it declared, since pro-life advocates are “irrational” and won't listen.
Instead, the group suggested marchers focus on pro-life signs.
“These visuals are often put on the sides of mobile vehicles or set up behind a very small fence,” the alert said. “Either way, a thick layer of paint could really compliment a bloody fetus picture.”
Michael Loadenthal, one of the Radical Cheerleaders' organizers, said he didn't witness any physical altercations, but he did see “tense encounters” involving some yelling. He reiterated that the group discouraged confrontations with pro-life advocates.
2-4-6-8
Anti-choicers love to hate
2-3-4-5
We will not apologize
We are here to take a stand
We want abortion on demand
2-4-6-8
We're the ones who ovulate
Not the church, not the state
We'll decide our own fate!
— A chant of the “Radical Cheerleaders”
“Normally, radical and militant marches may use these as tactical objectives, [but] we felt because we knew the area, we knew what area of the city we would be in, that none of these tactics would prove useful,” he said, “which is why we chose the tactic of the march being radical cheerleading and a general high visibility.”
Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, one of several sponsoring organizations, said in a statement: “We sent a message to Washington today: There is a war on choice in this country, but we're going to win this battle.”
A spokeswoman for the federation didn't return calls for comment regarding the uncivil actions by some of the marchers. A spokes-woman for the National Organization for Women, another of the organizers, declined to comment. The Feminist Majority, another sponsor, didn't return a phone call.
With police dressed in riot gear, Feldt's war analogy seemed apt. But most of the pro-life advocates tried to take a more prayerful posture.
“I have to hand it to the women and men who were there, the pro-lifers with me,” said Janet Morana, associate director of Priests for Life. “They just stood like soldiers of Christ in silent prayer. They behaved as Christ would: loving, showing the truth, but not in a confrontational way.”
Praying for a softening of hearts led to a conversion during the march, she said.
Morana, who was holding a sign that said, “I'm pro-life” next to a smiley face, was standing between a woman who was holding a “I regret my abortion” sign and another woman who held up a “I'm pro-life” sign. At one point, a woman in her mid-30s came toward their sidewalk, crumpled her Planned Parenthood “Stand up for choice” sign and said, “I want one of your signs.”
The woman was handed a sign with the smiley face on it and then looked Morana in the eye and said, “I lost a child from crib death. I can't march with them any longer.” Morana said the woman put her arms around her and started sobbing. Morana hugged and consoled her.
Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, saw an egg thrown at the group she was standing with. One of the reasons she was at the march was because she believes Pope John Paul II when he says that abortion is the “greatest human-rights issue of our day.”
Standing up for babies who have been killed and the women and families who have suffered from abortions were other reasons pro-life advocates gave to being among the several thousand people at the march.
“It was frightening,” said Annie Banno, the Connecticut state leader for Silent No More, a group that raises awareness of the negative impacts of abortion and reaches out to women who suffer from post-abortion trauma.
Banno, holding a sign that said, “I regret my abortion,” was berated by marchers. “Poor baby!” “Too bad!” “That was your choice!” She felt like she was being “spiritually attacked.”
Mickey Inthavongdy, assistant director of Rock for Life, also said she was frightened by the heightened emotions.
On April 24, the eve of the march, she and four other members of Rock for Life, the American Life League's pro-life youth outreach group, went to a demonstration that was packed with people from a simultaneous protest against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The young people held signs that said, “Abortion is homicide.” Immediately, about 40 people swarmed around them, banging drums and sticks together, yelling and cursing at them, said Inthavongdy, 27.
One man was so angry as he screamed, his face an inch away from hers, that he was “foaming at the mouth,” she said. She thought he was about to hit her until someone pulled him away and said, “We're not here to fight.”
Another man came up to her and leaned in to kiss her on the mouth, she said. “Do not touch me,” she told him. She says he backed away.
This kind of frenzy went on for about 30 minutes, Inthavongdy said.
“I was praying hard,” she said. “I've never been in that situation before. It was scary. If God didn't give me the boldness to stand there and be silent and be able to look into the eyes of the protesters who wanted to hit us and were yelling at us and cussing at us, if his presence wasn't there, I would've cried and would've said, ‘Hey, let's get out of here.’ I was afraid for my life. But God was there.”
Kate Bryan was one of 26 students from Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Mich., who attended what she referred to as “a march for death.” Several students held signs that had a picture of a 12-week-old baby in a mother's womb with the sign saying, “Would you march for my life?”
She said some marchers took several signs away from them and ripped them. Others threw condoms at her group.
Police reported 17 arrests during the march, but only one for disorderly conduct. A police spokesman did not know which side that person was marching on. The other arrests were of pro-lifers demonstrating without a permit.
Bryan, a 19-year-old freshman, and her fellow students talked later about how easy it would have been to be filled with rage at what some of the marchers did and said.
“But that's exactly what Satan wants,” she said. “He wants us to get angry with each other. He wants us to start battles. He lives for people's anger. He wants to stir that up, that hatred. I think the pro-life movement is about love. We're called by God to love each and every man and woman who was in D.C. that day and to pray for them. Many people who were marching, maybe they don't know what true love is, what the love of Christ is.”
Carlos Briceño writes from Seminole, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carlos Briceño ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Catholic Hospitals To Study Implications Of Pope's Words DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Pope John Paul II's recent statement about feeding patients intravenously settled an intra-Church debate on the topic, says the U.S. bishops' conference.
But Catholic hospitals want to dialogue about the meaning of the Pope's words before they determine how to implement them.
On March 20, the Holy Father said providing food and water to patients in a persistent vegetative state is “morally obligatory” and withdrawing feeding tubes constitutes “euthanasia by omission.”
“For this particular class of patients, there was an unsettled debate,” said Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The bishops' conference was certainly recommending feeding these patients, but that was not at the level of papal teaching. Now it is. This clarifies but does not radically change the situation.”
In 2001, the U.S. bishops published the fourth edition of “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” which outline ethical standards of behavior and provide authoritative guidance on certain moral issues in medicine. Diocesan bishops are expected to enforce the directives in their dioceses.
The directives say there should be “a presumption in favor of providing nutrition and hydration to all patients, including patients who require medically-assisted nutrition and hydration, as long as this is of sufficient benefit to outweigh the burdens involved to the patient.” Caregivers are to follow instructions set out in advance by people who do not want life-prolonging medical treatments as long they don't conflict with Catholic moral teachings.
Doerflinger said he expects the ethical and religious directives will be updated with the Pope's directives and sent to the bishops' conference for their approval within a year.
Father Michael Place, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States — which represents 624 Catholic hospitals across the country — refused to be interviewed by the Register. But in a prepared statement he stopped short of saying when policies would be changed because of the Pope's statements.
“This will require dialogue,” said the statement, “especially with regard to practical implications for those patients who are not in a persistent vegetative state.”
The Pope's remarks came during a Vatican symposium on caring for people who are incapacitated. John Paul took issue with the medical terminology used to describe people in so-called “persistent vegetative states.”
No matter how ill someone is, “he is and will always be a man, never becoming a vegetable or animal,” the Pope told members of the international congress organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.
At a March 16 press conference at the opening of the conference “Life-Sustaining Treatments and the Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas,” Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Council for Life, refuted the position that “when a person loses the use of reason, he or she ceases to be a person, and then there is the possibility of interrupting feeding and hydration in order to facilitate his or her death.”
Catholic teaching emphasizes that as long as a human being is alive, he or she is a person with a right to receive care, the bishop said.
“As long as they are absorbed by the body and are beneficial to the patient,” he said, nutrition and hydration must be provided.
He said feeding and hydration of vegetative patients is a duty both from an ethical point of view — it makes possible the preservation of the good of life — and a medical point of view, since in the present state of scientific knowledge it is not possible to know ahead of time if these patients will be cured.
The bishop added that a person could not deny himself food and water — through a will — should he fall into a vegetative state, as that would be “suicide.”
The Catholic Health Association has put together materials for member hospitals to encourage study and dialogue.
The package includes a chart showing how Catholics justified denying food and water to patients before the Pope's teaching.
“The chart [which is the result of the work of a small group of Catholic theologians and ethicists who advise Catholic Health Association staff] compares the current understanding of many in the Church of the Church's teaching regarding medically administered nutrition and hydration with what seems to be contained in the papal allocution,” an association statement provided to the Register stated.
“Further study and clarification of the papal allocution could result in slight or substantive revision of the preliminary analysis contained in the chart.”
Michigan-based Trinity Health System issued a statement saying it will continue to follow the ethical and religious directives but “would not care to speculate on the implications of the Pope's message; however, we anticipate that there are implications. That discussion … will be taken up by the bishops and others whom we depend upon for expert counsel in such matters.”
Presumption for Life
In a so-called “vegetative state,” patients are awake but not aware of themselves or their environment. The patient is in a persistent vegetative state if the state continues for a month. After a year without improvement, he is considered to be in a permanent vegetative state.
Providing food and water to such patients should be considered natural, ordinary and proportional care — not artificial medical intervention as many ethicists and health-care professionals have argued, the Pope said.
“Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of [withdrawal of nutrition and hydration.] In this sense it ends up becoming in effect, if done knowingly and willingly, euthanasia by omission,” the Holy Father said.
The ethical and religious directives say there should be a presumption in favor of feeding for all patients who need it, Doerflinger explained.
“That statement remains true, but the Pope is saying that presumption is quite strong. He's saying that as long as it fulfills its goal of providing nourishment effectively and alleviating suffering, then this is the general rule and you need a serious reason to depart from that rule.”
But James Drane, a professor of clinical bioethics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, said he felt “shock and disbelief” when reading the Holy Father's directives because he believes they contradict centuries of Catholic moral teaching.
According to Drane, Spanish theologians from as far back as the 16th century — including Jesuit philosopher Francisco Suárez — held that “no one was required to do everything possible to save a life, especially when the life was compromised quality-wise or in the dying process.”
“It's the pro-life agenda that I see driving this alteration of a sound and respectful Catholic tradition, which has been accepted by the American legal system, by all of the professional associations and has become mainline bioethics,” said Drane, a former priest suspended in the 1960s from a teaching position at St. John's Seminary in Little Rock, Ark., after criticizing the Church's position on contraception.
Dissenting ethicists such as Drane think John Paul has gone too far because they believe feeding people in a vegetative state is of no benefit to that person, Doerflinger said.
They believe “the benefit of feeding is to restore people to health or to support life that is capable of human cognitive acts,” he said.
Drane agrees with that assessment, saying that feeding tubes should be removed from patients such as Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of legal battles regarding removal of her feeding tube.
“The only thing I see complicating the Schiavo case is the controversy in the family,” he said. Schiavo's husband, Michael, has sought permission to remove the feeding tube that keeps his wife alive.
Terri Schiavo suffered massive brain damage 14 years ago. Some doctors have diagnosed her as being in a “persistent vegetative state” — a diagnosis her parents adamantly reject, saying their daughter is responsive to other people. She breathes on her own but requires a tube to provide nutrition and hydration.
For some patients, however, nutrition and hydration is not a benefit said Dominican Father Albert Moraczewski, the first president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center near Boston. This needs to be clarified. Perhaps: “For some patients food and water can no longer be assimilated by the body, in which case feeding tubes fail to provide needed nutrition.”
The Pope's directives allow for a feeding tube to be removed in such a case What case?. “When a person is dying, a lot of functions stop,” Father Moraczewski said. “Consequently, the body is not metabolizing food and water properly.”
The Holy Father likely chose to clarify Church teaching on this subject because of the denigration of the human person in many countries, including Holland, where euthanasia is legal, Father Moraczewski said.
“We tend to deal with seriously handicapped individuals — physically and mentally handicapped especially — as if they were non-persons,” he said. “But it's still a human being even if the manifestations are not obvious.”
Patrick Novecosky writes from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Patrick Novecosky ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: 'New Feminism' Is Pro-Motherhood Says 'Endow' DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:DENVER — Jamila Spencer recalls the somewhat silly scene at the special session of the women's-studies course.
“Can you wear pink clothes and be a feminist?” a student asked the two young feminist authors making their presentation. “Can you have a boyfriend or husband if you're a feminist?”
The two authors were Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, who co-wrote the best-selling modern feminist “bible,” Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future. They answered Yes to every question from the gathering of 300 young feminists jammed into a University of Colorado classroom — until a young woman raised her hand to ask if she could be a feminist and defend the rights of the unborn.
“No,” the authors told the students, marking the afternoon's sole departure from the “anything goes” mantra that defines Gen-Y feminism.
Spencer begs to differ. She works full time as a feminist educator/lobbyist and is totally against the killing of unborn children.
Meet the women of Endow — Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women — a Catholic feminist apostolate based in Denver. Spencer is a program coordinator for the organization.
Feminine Genius
Mainstream feminists seem to fear and loathe the Catholic feminist apostolate.
“The idea of women who pay homage to the teachings of this Pope [John Paul II] and then call themselves ‘feminists’ is patently absurd,” said Regina Cowles, president of the Boulder, Colo., chapter of the National Organization for Women and past president of NOW-Colorado. “Pope John Paul II is the last person on planet Earth who should be talking about the role of women in society because nobody could be less qualified than he is.”
Cowles describes herself as a “recovering Catholic,” the offspring of “hypocritical” Italian immigrant Catholics who she said secretly used contraception. She said her opposition to Catholic theology inspired her to a life of feminist activism.
“The basic tenet of feminism is that a woman is not equal to a man if she does not have equal control over her destiny,” Cowles said. “In order for her to have equal control over her body she must have access to abortion and contraception, which the Pope is against. These people are not feminists and they're merely co-opting the term.”
Spencer fires back that real feminists are women who value the natural biological function of a woman's body rather than treating female fertility as a disease that must be cured in order for women to be more like men.
“Abortion and contraception are the ultimate masculinization of women,” Spencer said. “It sounds like [Cowles] is saying that if we don't take a pill each day — a pill that makes us more biologically similar to men — then we have a disease that we're choosing not to cure. She's saying women need to be more like men, and that doesn't free us.”
Spencer said Endow values much of what the mainstream feminist movement has stood for in recent decades: more opportunity for women in the workplace, better wages for working women, better educational opportunities for women and a whole slate of new options.
“But we also believe in affirming the nature of what it means to be a woman, and some feminists are working hard to abolish the role of motherhood,” Spencer said. “They say that men are not burdened with motherhood so women shouldn't be, either, in order that they can excel in the working world.
“Rather than advocating that women be more like men, in order that they can compete in the working world, we advocate that the working world become better in order to accommodate women. … We can either oppress women so that they fit into the man's working world or we can insist that the working world do more for women in order to gain the advantage of feminine genius.”
Pope's Influence
Endow co-founder and executive director Terry Polakovic said she was inspired to establish the apostolate after reading and hearing about John Paul's messages about women that are found in a variety of letters and in his theology of the body.
“Necessary emphasis should be placed on the genius of women, wrote the Pope in his 1995 Letter to Women, “not only by considering great and famous women of the past or present, but also those ordinary women who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves at the service of others in their everyday lives. For in giving themselves to others each day women fulfill their deepest vocation. Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they see persons with their hearts. They see them independently of various ideological or political systems. They see others in their greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them. In this way the basic plan of the Creator takes flesh in the history of humanity and there is constantly revealed, in the variety of vocations, that beauty — not merely physical, but above all spiritual — which God bestowed from the very beginning on all, and in a particular way on women.”
“The Pope's writings are about understanding who you are as a woman and bringing that to its full, wherever you are,” Polakovic said. “He says that women need to be encouraged and free to be who they are, whether in the boardroom or at home.”
Endow board member Ginger Giesen, a Methodist convert to Catholicism, said she, too, was inspired to work as a feminist after learning about the Pope's philosophy of womanhood. Like Polakovic, Giesen was a working mother who thought society was driving her to be more like a man if she was to be valued in any aspect of her life.
“Society was telling me that motherhood was fine so long as it didn't affect my ability to earn money, my ability to act emotionally and intellectually like a man and my ability to converse more like a man in public settings,” Giesen said. “The Pope says go ahead and have a career but bring your feminine genius to the job. Don't devalue the strength and grace that's required to be a mother, because society needs that.”
Spencer said Endow's focus is to educate women on living womanhood to its fullest. The organization serves as a resource center for educational programs, retreats and conferences and offers a “feminine genius” program and other educational seminars to Catholic schools and colleges.
Though it rents office space at the Archdiocese's pastoral center, it is not an entity of the archdiocese. It has two full-time staffers, 30 volunteers and 70 people enrolled in study groups.
Polakovic said the Pope's message about a “new feminism” has resonated with women in a dramatic way and is catching on quickly.
Though NOW's Cowles believes the message will “never catch on with anyone,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver is optimistic.
“What makes Endow so effective is the women who created it,” he said. “They're intelligent, they're very dedicated, and they're thoroughly feminine in the deepest Catholic sense. When you live with Mary and Edith Stein and Dorothy Day as your role models, there's not a lot you can't accomplish.”
Wayne Laugesen writes from Boulder, Colorado.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Wayne Laugesen ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Invigorated by the Holy Father DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is at the center of the storm brewing over Communion rules.
Should politicians who oppose Church teaching be denied Communion? Register correspondent Edward Pentin spoke to Cardinal McCarrick in Rome after the cardinal participated in the U.S. bishops' once-every-five-year ad limina meetings with the Holy Father.
What memories of your ad limina visit and meetings with the Holy Father will you take back home with you?
I think all of us, every time we see the Holy Father, we see a new enthusiasm because we see this really extraordinary man, now in his mid-80s, so still filled with zeal for the Church, so filled with courage and a willingness to serve. And we look at ourselves and we say, “I should have the courage, I should have that will, I should have that zeal” — so hopefully you bring that with you.
Were the meetings fruitful?
The meetings went well. The Holy Father is so much better than he was in October. We had a good conversation with him, good questions, he asked good questions and so he was obviously paying close attention to everything we were saying. So really it was a great grace for us to be with him. I think all of us feel that way.
I think we bring back to our local Churches the blessing of the Holy Father and the opportunities to tell the story of the opportunities we had to chat with him, to be with our other friends and to be in Rome, which is always a great grace in itself.
You're heading up the bishops' task force on politicians who oppose Church teachings. You've said you're reluctant to withhold Communion from pro-abortion politicians. Why?
With regard to the Eucharist becoming a political tool, that would be a horror because personally, I find it hard to see the Eucharist as a moment of confrontation.
But on the other hand, the Catholic Church has to speak very clearly; opposition has to be known.
The rules of receiving Communion are the teaching of the Church for centuries: to be in a state of grace in communion with the Church. If you're not, then you yourself have to examine your conscience and say, “I am able to receive” or not.
But once a person in his own heart feels he or she is able, then, even though we might not agree because of the public things that are happening, I am uncomfortable about using the Eucharist as a point of confrontation.
And you think the guidelines will help?
I pray they will. I'm the chairman of the task force; I'm not all the members and so I don't want to anticipate what they will come up with, but that's the hope we all have.
The Holy Father and the Curia have made their positions very clear regarding Iraq. Why is the Church's voice not heard more in the Bush administration, do you think, both with regard to Iraq and the ongoing situation in the Holy Land?
I think with regard to the Holy Land, the Catholic bishops have spoken very clearly. We have always insisted on the rights of Israel to have secure borders and to live in peace without violence. We have always been terribly troubled, condemned terrorism and any suicide bombing that takes human life — the bishops of the United States have always been clear on that.
But we've also been clear on the fact that we believe the Palestinians have a right to a state of their own. We believe the Palestinians have a right to live in freedom, with justice and in peace. We've criticized the building of the wall, we've criticized the repression that so often has taken place. We know that when this happens the [Palestinian] people just rise up as one person and feel so threatened by it, and rightly so.
But again, if 10 people of Israel are killed — and that's a horror — then they proceed to kill many more Palestinians and so the cycle of violence goes on and on. We need to get them back to the table and this is why we sometimes are disappointed in our own government because we were so much in favor of the road map [for Middle East peace]. We would love to see our president and our government get back to pushing the road map and getting people back to the table together.
So how can the Church influence the government more to pursue that line?
I do not know. If I knew some way we could do it more I would certainly use it. But as archbishop of Washington, I certainly make it clear to all those in government.
I think they're trying, but I think sometimes they get caught up with other emergencies and they don't make as much of a priority on this, which I feel, as you do, is probably the key to peace in the Middle East.
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Inperson -------- TITLE: A Cookie Boycott and a Bishop's Ban DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WACO, Texas — When the Texas Bluebonnet Girl Scout Council in Waco earlier this year cosponsored a teen sex-education conference called Nobody's Fool with Planned Parenthood and honored the organization's executive director with a Woman of Distinction Award, parents across the state were outraged.
Cynthia Baylor of nearby Temple pulled her 7-year-old daughter out of Brownies and quit as troop leader. Lisa Aguilar of Crawford also pulled her daughter out. Several troops disbanded.
Their decisions were difficult, Aguilar said, but “we had to get their attention and take a stand. The Girl Scouts isn't a Christian organization and we weren't looking for Sunday school, but that kind of stuff crossed the line the other way.”
John Pisciotta, co-director of Pro-Life Waco, uncovered the Girl Scout/Planned Parenthood link and organized a Girl Scout cookie boycott in February. Only after a fire-storm of protest did the Bluebonnet council pull out of the conference and sever its ties with Planned Parenthood, he said.
Pisciotta was interviewed on NBC's “Today” show along with Kathy Cloninger, the chief executive officer of Girl Scouts USA, who told viewers it “partners with Planned Parenthood organizations across the country to bring information-based sex-education programs to girls.”
The news prompted STOPP International (Stop Planned Parenthood), a division of American Life League, to survey all 315 scout councils. While nearly 80% would not say whether they associate with Planned Parenthood, 17 councils said they do and 49 said they do not. STOPP posted the results on its website (www.all.org/stopp) in April.
Baylor said she can no longer support the Girl Scouts after discovering certain troubling facts. She's organizing a campaign to speak out about what they're up to.
And that's quite a lot, according to various reports around the country:
• In Pennsylvania, Junior Girl Scouts can attend a workshop on puberty designed by Planned Parenthood of Northeast Pennsylvania to earn their Becoming a Teen badge.
• In Connecticut, the Girl Scouts honored a Planned Parenthood official for promoting “healthy practices” in local troops.
• In Amarillo, Texas, Girl Scouts have sponsored Planned Parenthood sex-education seminars for fourth-through eighth-graders.
Bishop Bans Troops
Planned Parenthood did not return calls from the Register, and Girl Scouts USA would only read a statement citing its official policy that it “does not take a position on abortion or birth control” and that sex-education topics are “discussed from an informative rather than advocacy point of view.”
But Jim Sedlak of STOPP said if the Girl Scouts truly believed that, it would not have anything to do with Planned Parenthood, an organization that is all about birth control and abortion. It is the largest provider of abortions in the United States.
“We are just as upset about [Planned Parenthood's] sex education because it is aimed at young people, and getting kids into sexual sin is not our idea of a good experience for girls,” he said.
Baylor wrote to Bishop Gregory Aymond of the Diocese of Austin, Texas. The bishop contacted Girl Scouts leaders, asking them to reexamine their position.
He released a statement April 20 to Catholic school principals and pastors in his diocese saying that “scouting troops associated with the diocesan entities will not support, encourage or in any way endorse the activities and programs of Planned Parenthood or any other organization espousing similar beliefs and practices. … Any scouting unit or troop not embracing the above directives shall not be permitted use of parish or school facilities … or indicate association with the Catholic Diocese of Austin. Whether or not we will be able to continue our association with Girl Scouts of America is still questionable.”
There are 25 to 30 troops that meet at Catholic schools or parishes in the diocese, and Bishop Aymond said he is further concerned about the Nobody's Fool sex-education program, which gives no direction on right or wrong and has no Christian morals.
“We have a Catholic scouting program nationally and it would be a shame to lose that link,” he said, “but as Catholics we must stand for Catholic moral principles. I don't see this as a resolved issue.”
Girl Scout fans have been concerned about the organization's direction since 1993, when the word God in the Promise was changed to mean any spiritual influence a girl chooses. Not long after, the organization openly acknowledged its acceptance of lesbians in leadership positions.
When Cloninger was interviewed as the new chief executive officer in the winter 2003 issue of the Girls Scouts' Leader magazine, she applauded the Girl Scout Research Institute for its information assembled from “other experts” to help the Girl Scouts develop a progressive approach to serving girls 11-17.
“We're on the front end of that process right now and my goal is to support local councils as they integrate this new approach to serving girls,” she told the magazine. “It really requires a paradigm shift.”
Troop leaders say they're feeling the shift. In Indiana, leaders at three councils are reporting a growing distance between them and Girl Scout boards. Some have been threatened, and information about what's going on is suppressed, they say.
Linda Cook, a 12-year troop leader with the Calumet Council in Griffith, Ind., said the council has lost 60% of its adult and girl membership since a new chief executive officer was hired from the Waco council three years ago, armed with a “powerful” endorsement by Cloninger.
“A. number of us are afraid she's going to bring the [Waco] agenda here,” Cook said. “She said she wants to revamp the older girls' instruction and touch on all aspects of girls in development in middle school and high school. They haven't brought out the new [handbooks] yet and I think it's because of this controversy; they're afraid to put them out. I would love to see what's in them.”
Shelley Jones of Burlington, Ind., who was a co-trainer with the Tribal Trails Council, said there are still a lot of “safe” councils and good leaders, but the national philosophy is spreading.
“As long as you have Christian-valued people on your board or as leaders you can have a good council, but they're outnumbered,” she said. “The feminists have been infiltrating for too long. As a nation we need to stand up and fight; however, with the Girl Scouts, we should have started a good 10 years ago.”
Barb Ernster writes from Fridley, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: Fighting for the Soul of the Girl Scouts ----- EXTENDED BODY: Barb Ernster ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Judge Denies Former Phoenix Bishop's Travel Request
Bishop O'Brien, who was found guilty in March of leaving the scene of a fatal accident last summer, is in the midst of carrying out his sentence of three years’ probation and 1,000 hours of community service, the newspaper reported. The judge based his April 27 decision on the recommendation of the Maricopa County Probation Department.
Pope John Paul II summoned Bishop O'Brien last year to make his once-every-five-year ad limina visit to the Vatican, which all U.S. bishops are currently fulfilling. He wanted to attend because he was bishop for four of the five years since his last visit, Bishop O'Brien's defense attorney wrote in the request.
A diocesan spokeswoman said the bishop was going to travel on his own and not as an official representative of the Phoenix Diocese.
Cleveland Bishop Bans Controversial Group
Future Church supports allowing Catholic priests to marry and is in favor of women's ordination in order to alleviate a shortage of priests. The group had operated in the diocese for more than 10 years, the newspaper reported, but it ended April 1 when Bishop Pilla warned priests about the group.
“Future Church is an independent organization of individuals who promote an agenda that is not consistent with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church,” and the group's activities are “not appropriate” at Church institutions or facilities, a statement from the bishop said.
The group's executive director, Sister Christine Schenk, said in a statement on Future Church's website that the group's beliefs were consistent with Church teachings and called on the bishop to open discussions on priestly celibacy and women's ordination.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Catholic Communication Campaign DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Patrick Tapia, a parishioner at Mary Star of the Sea Parish in San Pedro, Calif., has never heard of the Catholic Communication Campaign. Neither has Adolfo Corzo, a parishioner at St. Perpetua and Felicity Parish a few miles away in San Marino.
“It sounds fairly interesting,” Tapia said, “and I could guess what they do, but I don't really know anything about it.”
Each year parishes across the nation take up a collection for the Catholic Communication Campaign's work to maintain a Catholic presence in the media. This year, the collection takes place the weekend of May 15-16 in most U.S. dioceses. Its theme is: “How the Good News Gets Around!” World Communications Day 2004 also will be observed May 16 in the United States.
“I never knew anything like [the communications campaign] existed,” Corzo said, “but if they support evangelization in the media — especially Catholic evangelization, I would support it.”
A part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the communication campaign's work falls into three major areas: creating short videos on Catholics in action that appear on the conference's website, funding ventures that will have a moral or Catholic influence on the entertainment industry and creating original radio programming.
It sponsors public-service announcements in English and Spanish, the radio series “Catholic Radio Weekly” and the quarterly View in the Pew parish-bulletin insert. It also helps finance large-scale projects such as the documentary “The Face: Jesus in Art” and a continuing series of TV specials aired by ABC, NBC and CBS for Sunday broadcast on faith issues in everyday life.
Each diocese keeps half of the proceeds for its own communications work, such as televised Mass and diocesan newspaper, while the other half is sent to the campaign.
Barbara Nicolosi has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and is executive director of Act One, an organization dedicated to training aspiring Hollywood writers to be sensitive to moral issues. She credits much of her organization's success to the support of the Catholic Communications Campaign.
The campaign is “under the radar,” Nicolosi said, “but without their support, Act One would have been a one-shot deal.” The campaign has been Act One's second-largest contributor with more than $260,000 donated during the past several years. That funding has enabled Act One to take its training nationwide.
‘Forward Thinking’
Nicolosi finds the campaign to be more forward thinking than most of the Catholic groups that fund ventures in the entertainment industry. Other Catholic sources of funding were turned off by the fact that Nicolosi dealt with non-Catholics as well as Catholics, but the campaign “saw how important it was to have artistry and spirituality in entertainment,” she said.
Martin Doblmeier, president of Journey Films, has been equally impressed. In 1980, he was one of the first recipients of a Catholic Communication Campaign grant for a program called “Reel to Real,” a weekly television magazine that presented news profiles of Catholic activity, including the work of Covenant House and Mother Teresa.
The program “aired to 35 or 40 dioceses on television for as many as 12 years,” Doblmeier recalled.
More recently the campaign has funded some of Doblmeier's independent film projects, including the documentary Church Without Borders, a film on migration and one on the 1999 apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America (The Church in America) that was released to ABC. Others included Final Blessing, which covered the spiritual issues of the terminally ill and was released to NBC and PBS, and A Time to Build on the resurgence of religion in post-Cold War Eastern Europe.
Doblmeier praised the campaign for not trying to do everything itself and for having the good sense to support quality projects by qualified producers.
Nicolosi agreed. “They support lay people” whose expertise lies in particular areas of communication in a very forward-thinking way, she said.
In March, Pope John Paul II called on Catholic laity and clergy alike to help those involved in the media “animate it with a ‘humane and Christian spirit.’”
Bishops' conference spokesman David Early said that is the job of the campaign.
“We live in a media culture,” he said, “and the collection for Catholic Communications Campaign offers a perfect opportunity to support the type of media that supports Catholic values.”
Information Source
In addition to funding films, the campaign supports Masstimes.org, the Internet and telephone service providing the times of Masses in churches throughout the country.
Another aspect of the campaign's work is film reviews. The campaign funds the U.S. bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting, which produces the movie reviews found on the bishops' conference's website and run in many diocesan newspapers.
“We get feedback from parents that they want guidance and don't have the time to pre-screen the movies themselves,” said Gerri Pare, director of the bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting in New York City. That is what her office seeks to do — help parents and the public make the right decisions about what they watch.
Such a mission fits well with the Catechism of the Catholic Church's call to exercise care when dealing with the media.
“Users should practice moderation and discipline in their approaches to the mass media. They will want to form enlightened and correct consciences the more easily to resist unwholesome influences” (Catechism, No. 2496).
Popular culture and entertainment are very important, Pare said, because they affect people's values. She said her job is to help people discover which programs are “positive and uplifting” and which are not.
Pare said her office also attends appeal screenings for movies that have appealed the rating they were given by the Motion Picture Association of America to make sure the whole process is above board.
The reviews Pare and her office produce also take into account “artistic and technical considerations,” she said.
Nicolosi said the Office for Film and Broadcasting provides “one of the best, most-balanced reviews of movies because they view movies as an art form.”
“Communication is one of the most important aspects of the mission of the Catholic Church,” Doblmeier said. “Catholics are the largest percentage of the [U.S.] population by numbers. The Church simply must have a presence and the [Catholic Communication Campaign] is one way that it does.”
Andrew Walther writes from Los Angeles.
(CNS contributed to this story.)
----- EXCERPT: A Collection That Helps the Church 'Get the Word Out' ----- EXTENDED BODY: Andrew Walther ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Nun Named Undersecretary of Vatican Congregation
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, April 24 — Sister Enrica Rosanna, a sociology professor who had been serving as the head of Salesian University in Rome, was appointed April 24 as the No. 3 person in the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The 60-year-old nun is the first woman to obtain a senior position in a Vatican congregation, the news service reported. The congregation oversees both men's and women's religious orders and secular institutes regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights and privileges.
“Women will save humanity,” Sister Rosanna told Vatican Radio, echoing Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, (The dignity and Vocation of Women) “because they are capable of compassion, because they are able to appreciate beauty, because they are capable of sacrifice, because they are capable of going where there is need and are capable of seeing beyond ordinary life to go where life is wanting or where the necessary is lacking.”
Pope Beatifies Five Religious and One Lay Woman
Five were religious: August Czartoryski, a 19th-century Polish prince who became a Salesian priest; Laura Montoya of Colombia, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Mary; María Guadalupe García Zavala of Mexico, co-founder of the Congregation of the Servants of St. Margaret Mary and the Poor; Nemesia Valle of Italy, a nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Giovanna Antida Thouret; and Eusebia Palomino Yenes of Spain, a nun of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians.
A lay Portuguese woman, Alexandrina María da Costa, was also beatified. She worked with the local Salesian community and is said to have spent 13 years eating only Communion bread and wine until her death in 1955.
The beatifications bring the number of people beatified by John Paul to 1,330. He has canonized 476.
Papal Trips to France and Switzerland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 22 — A delegation sent by the Vatican visited Lourdes, France, April 19-22 to explore the possibility of a papal visit there this summer.
The visit to study the area was in response to an invitation to visit the shrine at Lourdes, which draws more than 4 million visitors a year, sometime near Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption, the wire service reported.
A statement from the French bishops noted that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the Church's promulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
John Paul last visited France in 1997.
The Vatican is also considering a papal trip to Switzerland in June, the Associated Press reported. It said an advance team has already visited the country and bishops there are anticipating the arrival of the Pope.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Blessed Hardini DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:BEIRUT, Lebanon — His name, Nimattullah, means “God's blessing” in Arabic. To the Lebanese he is affectionately known as Hardini, a simple monk whose creed was “the wise man is the one who can save his soul.”
Blessed Hardini is scheduled to be canonized May 16 in Rome by Pope John Paul II. He will be the third Lebanese recognized as a saint by the Church, joining St. Charbel, canonized in 1977, and St. Rafqa, canonized in 2001.
“Lebanon has always been in a war or occupation, and yet its Christians have always survived,” explained Father Paul Sfeir, dean of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology at the University of the Holy Spirit in Kaslik, Lebanon, and author of a book about Blessed Hardini's life. “That is because of saints like Charbel, Hardini and Rafqa. They give hope to Lebanese Christians to hold on to their land and their religion.”
Blessed Hardini was born Joseph Kassab in 1808 in Hardine, a Maronite mountain village located above the Mediterranean coast toward the north of Lebanon. In those days, the Lebanese were typically referred to by their birthplace or their father's profession. Blessed Hardini adopted the name Nimattullah when he became a novice.
Blessed Hardini was one of seven children, four of whom entered religious life. Even as a young boy, the saint-to-be preferred solitude and would often pray for hours in a mountain cave.
His rigorous education included studies in mathematics, Arabic and Syriac, which is the liturgical language of the Maronite rite. Later he would urge all those who became priests to learn Syriac well to better appreciate the Mass.
Blessed Hardini yearned to consecrate his life to God, and at age 18 he entered the monastery of St. Anthony-Kozhaya. There he demonstrated his love of books through the art of bookbinding.
Blessed Hardini was ordained a priest at the Monastery of Sts. Justine and Cyprian in Kfifan at age 25. The Kfifan Monastery — about an hour's drive from Beirut — dates back to the seventh century and is the resting place of Blessed Hardini.
The young priest's “greatest love was for the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, where he spent numberless hours in adoration,” wrote Father Nimattullah Al-Kafri, who taught with Blessed Hardini at the Kfifan Monastery. “When he celebrated the Mass, he did it with a burning fever of love.”
In fact, Blessed Hardini's extensive preparation for Mass included daily confession and attending all the Masses of his brother monks. He would kneel straight, with his arms outstretched, as shown in the portrait by which he is known.
“I think the best example Hardini gives us is his commitment to Christian values in daily life,” said Father Miled Taraby, superior of the Kfifan Monastery. “Several times he held high positions within the monastery, knowing that even through responsibility he could sanctify his life.”
Blessed Hardini also instructed the novices at the Kfifan Monastery. Lebanon's first saint, St. Charbel, was one of Hardini's students. Like his teacher, St. Charbel is known for his devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother.
Miracles
“When I look at St. Charbel's picture and see his holiness, I think, if the student is like that, how much greater the teacher must be,” said Nariman Eliah of Jdeideh, Lebanon, whose 8-year-old daughter, Sarah, was healed of a cancer of the blood through Blessed Hardini's intercession five years ago.
Even while he was still living, Blessed Hardini was always known as “the saint of Kfifan” and was responsible for a number of miracles, including cures.
In 1858 at age 50, Blessed Hardini contracted pleurisy and never recovered. His last words, while holding a picture of Our Lady, were: “O Virgin Mary, between your hands I submit my soul.”
Those near him when he died witnessed a light illuminating his room and an aroma remained there for several days afterward. Immediately after his death, people began to visit Blessed Hardini's tomb to seek blessings and cures.
“If I could kneel and pray for the rest of my life and thank God for what he did for me, it still wouldn't be enough,” said Andre Najm of Balouni, Lebanon, who experienced a miraculous cure of leukemia through Hardini's inter-cession in 1987. His cure was officially recognized by the Council of Saints in Rome, through which Hardini was declared blessed in 1998.
Najm, 21 at the time, saw specialists in Lebanon and in Paris to no avail. A bone-marrow transplant was not an option for the only child.
“I was dying,“ Najm explained, “and so my father got on his knees and prayed and said, ‘I want to do a campaign for God’ [petitioning local churches, convents, neighbors and strangers on the street] asking everybody to pray for me.”
A neighbor suggested they go to Hardini's tomb. Two busloads of pilgrims accompanied the dying young man, who was on a stretcher. Upon arriving, he kneeled in agony before the tomb pleading, “I beg you, Jesus, to give me one drop of blood from the Eucharist.”
“Right away, I felt a heat in my body, then peace and joy from the inside. That's the only way I can describe it,” Najm recalled. “At that moment, I stood up and began running all over the place. I felt like a bird freed from its cage.”
Najm's next visit to the hospital revealed he was completely cured.
Today, the 37-year-old and his wife, Rola, have their own triad: Rebecca, 11 (which means “Rafqa” in Arabic); Charbel, 8; and Maria, 4 (who would have been named Nimattullah had she been a boy).
Father Taraby said he expects tens of thousands of pilgrims to visit Blessed Hardini's tomb throughout the weekend of his canonization. Activities include processions from neighboring churches to the Kfifan Monastery as well as from St. Rafqa's and St. Charbel's tomb followed by an all-night vigil to stay up with Blessed Hardini on the eve of his canonization.
The Maronite Church celebrates Blessed Hardini's feast day Dec. 14.
Doreen Abi Raad writes from Bikfaya, Lebanon.
----- EXCERPT: Canonization of Blessed Hardini Completes Lebanon's Triad of Saints ----- EXTENDED BODY: Doreen Abi Raad ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Trust in God in Times of Trial DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Register Summary
Pope John Paul II continued his teaching on Psalm 27 during his April 28 general audience with 15,000 people in St. Peter's Square. He had offered his reflections on the first part of the psalm, which he characterized as a “diptych,” during his general audience the week before.
The second part of Psalm 27, the Holy Father said, speaks of confidence in God in times of trial and tribulation. Psalm 27 depicts “a dramatic scene in which those who are closest to the psalmist and most dear to him forsake him, while his ‘enemies,’ ‘foes’ and ‘lying witnesses' close in upon him.” Despite the presence of evil in the world, the psalmist remains steadfast in hope: “Even if my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in.”
“Even in his loneliness and amid the loss of his loved ones, the psalmist is never totally alone because God, the merciful one, is watching over him,” the Pope noted. This confidence in the Lord, John Paul said, should inspire and console all who feel abandoned and alone because God has become visible to us in Christ.
“Christ has revealed God's face in a way that is accessible to us,” he said, “and he has promised that in that final encounter of eternity — as St. John reminds us — ‘we shall see him as he is.’” This encounter with the Lord, the Holy Father said, takes place especially in the liturgy and in personal prayer.
In the evening prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, Psalm 27 is divided into two parts, which correspond to the diptych-like structure of the psalm. We have just heard the second part of this song of trust, which the psalmist raises up to the Lord on a gloomy day when he is under attack by evil. It consists of verses 7-14 of the psalm. These verses begin with a cry to the Lord: “Have mercy on me and answer me” (verse 7). Then they portray an intense search for the Lord amid an anguish and fear that the Lord has abandoned him (see verses 8-9). Finally, they depict before our very eyes a dramatic scene in which those who are closest to the psalmist and most dear to him forsake him (see verse 10), while his “enemies” (see verse 11), “foes” and “lying witnesses” (see verse 12) close in upon him.
Our Strength and Hope
But even now, as in the first part of the psalm, the decisive element is the psalmist's faith in the Lord, who saves him in the midst of trials and sustains him during storms. In this regard, the plea the psalmist addresses to himself in the final verse of the psalm is particularly beautiful: “Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!” (verse 14; see Psalm 42:6, 12 and Psalm 43:5).
This certainty that the Lord is the source of strength and hope is also made very clear in other psalms: “The Lord protects the loyal but repays the arrogant in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Psalm 31:24-25). The prophet Hosea exhorted Israel in the same way: “You shall return by the help of your God, if you remain loyal and do right and always hope in your God” (Hosea 12:7).
For the moment, we will limit ourselves to highlighting three symbolic elements that have a deep spiritual intensity. The first element is a negative element — the nightmare of the psalmist's enemies (Psalm 27:12). They are characterized as wild beasts that roar at their prey and then, more directly, as “lying witnesses” who seem to breathe violence from their nostrils, just like wild beasts before their victims. There is, therefore, an aggressive evil in the world that Satan guides and inspires. As St. Peter reminds us, “Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
God's Compassion and Love
The second image clearly illustrates this faithful man's peaceful trust, even if his parents have abandoned him: “Even if my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in” (Psalm 27:10).
Even in his loneliness and amid the loss of his loved ones, the psalm-ist is never totally alone because God, the merciful one, is watching over him. This is reminiscent of that famous passage from the prophet Isaiah, who attributes to God feelings of compassion and tenderness that are more than maternal: “Can a woman forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).
Let us remind everybody — the elderly, the sick, those who feel like everybody has forgotten them and those to whom no one will ever show any tenderness — of the psalmist's and prophet's words, so they will feel the Lord's paternal and maternal hand silently and lovingly touch their suffering and perhaps tear-stained faces.
Seek God's Face
Thus we come to the third and final symbol, which the psalm reiterates several times: “‘Seek God's face’ your face, Lord, do I seek! Do not hide your face from me” (verses 8-9). The object of the psalmist's spiritual quest is God's face. In the end, an indisputable certainty emerges — the certainty of being able to “enjoy the Lord's goodness” (verse 13).
In the psalms, “seeking the Lord's face” is often synonymous with entering the Temple to celebrate and experience communion with the God of Zion. But this expression also encompasses the mystical need of intimacy with God through prayer. Both in the liturgy and in personal prayer we are given, therefore, the grace to perceive the face we will never be able to see directly during our life here on earth (see Exodus 33:20). However, Christ has revealed God's face in a way that is accessible to us, and he has promised that in that final encounter of eternity — as St. John reminds us — “we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). As St. Paul adds, “Then we will see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Commenting on this psalm, Origen, the great Christian writer of the third century, noted: “If a man seeks the Lord's face, he will see the glory of the Lord in an unveiled way and, having become equal to the angels, he will always see the face of the Father, who is in heaven” (PG 12, 1281). St. Augustine, in his commentary on the psalms, continues the psalmist's prayer in the following words: “I have not sought from you some reward that is outside of you but your face. ‘Your face, Lord, will I seek.’ I will pursue this search with perseverance. In fact, I will not seek anything of little worth; rather, I will seek only your face, O Lord, so I may love you freely since I find nothing more precious … ‘Do not turn angrily away from your servant’ so that, while seeking you, I will not stumble across something else. What sorrow would be greater than this for the one who loves and seeks the truth of your face?” (Esposizioni sui Salmi, 26, 1, 8-9, Rome, 1967, p. 355, 357).
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Vatican Names New Dublin Archbishop
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 26 — Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, coadjutor archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, has been named archbishop of Dublin. He succeeds Cardinal Desmond Connell.
The Vatican announced the appointment April 26. Cardinal Connell, 78, submitted his resignation in 2001 at age 75 as required by Church law. Pope John Paul II just now accepted it.
“I am greatly looking forward to retirement,” the cardinal told reporters in Dublin, the wire service reported. “There will be a period of adjustment, but it will be good to have time to spend with family and friends, and to catch up on my reading.”
Before his appointment as archbishop in 1988, Cardinal Connell served as a professor of metaphysics at University College Dublin.
Archbishop Martin, 59, has served as the Pope's observer to the United Nations in Geneva. He was appointed to his Dublin post last year.
Church Leaders Weigh In on Philippine Elections
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, April 22 — Leaders of the Church in the Philippines are encouraging Catholics not to vote for inexperienced candidates in the May 10 election.
“Elections are a crucial moment in our continuing task of nation-building,” the country's bishops’ conference said in a letter April 22. “They're a timely opportunity to transform society by electing wise, capable and upright leaders.”
It is the “right and duty,” said conference president Archbishop Fernando Capalla in the letter, to “discern and choose candidates” based on their competence, conscience and program of government, the news service reported. The letter also asked Catholic voters to consider a candidate's commitment to issues including the family, the environment, illegal drugs and gambling, justice, peace and order, and poverty alleviation.
Current president Gloria Arroyo is seeking a full six-year term as president after serving three years as interim president. Her main rival is actor and high-school dropout Fernando Poe. In the campaign, Arroyo has dismissed Poe as an “inexperienced actor” with no government program.
According to the news service, as of April 22 Arroyo was slightly ahead in the polls for the six-way election.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: On Receiving Communion DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Cardinal Francis Arinze, following a groundswell of activity in dioceses around the world, finally raised it to the level of a Vatican pronouncement.
Well, a press-conference pronouncement, yes, but a pronouncement all the same: Politicians who make or defend laws that promote the abortion business shouldn't receive Communion.
Some Catholic politicians — and some Church leaders — have vigorously complained about the new rule. But in doing so they betray two tragic conditions: Many Catholics have forgotten just how bad abortion is, and they've forgotten just how great Communion is.
The Second Vatican Council called abortion a “heinous crime.” The U.S. bishops call it today's “pre-eminent threat to human dignity.” They warn that attacks on life “are endorsed increasingly without the veil of euphemism, as supporters of abortion and euthanasia freely concede these are killing even as they promote them.”
In other words, those who make the laws that encourage abortion are legalizing killing — and threatening human dignity.
Our politicians have forgotten that abortion isn't a political issue. It's a horrifying crime that will one day haunt our nation and all who were involved in it.
We've also forgotten what Communion is.
Politicians, pundits and the public should be asking, “Should the Church add abortion lawmaking to the long list of things barring people from Communion?” After all, the Church has kept very strict limits on who can receive Communion.
The fact is, you can't receive Communion if you're conscious of any serious sin on your soul, unless you've gone to confession — for starters, sins such as violating the Third Commandment by missing Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation.
We think that, were the truth about Communion rules better known, there would be no controversy about pro-abortion politicians being denied Communion.
Evidently parents, priests and bishops haven't done a good job communicating to people either what Communion is or what the safeguards on it are.
The Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ — the Real Presence of God among us — and the strict safeguards on the receipt of this precious gift have been in effect since the first days of the Church.
St. Paul himself said, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).
Those safeguards have been reiterated time and time again in the history of the Church.
“In line with this admonition of St. Paul,” Pope John Paul II said in his 2002 Letter to Priests, “is the principle that states that ‘anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to Communion.’” Those last words are the Catechism's.
In one passage of his 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Eucharist in Relation to the Church), the Pope restates the rule with both poetry and authority:
“St. John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: ‘I, too, raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called communion, not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but condemnation, torment and increase of punishment’ … I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul's stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, ‘one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin.’”
These safeguards first of all should cause us to look inward. Forget for a moment the question of which politicians are able to receive Communion. How about ourselves?
But then the Holy Father's words should inspire us with amazement at the great, undeserved gift of the Eucharist — and with horror that we would ever treat it as anyone's right.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Letters DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Fight for Peace
I would like to respond to Leszek Syski's letter to the editor titled “War on Salvation” (April 25-May 1).
Contrary to Syski's assertion, Saddam Hussein was indeed a sponsor of terrorism, as demonstrated by the fact that he gave money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. He also gave safe haven to notorious terrorists Abu Nidal and Abul Abbas, the latter being responsible for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, which killed one American. Of course, the greatest victims of Saddam's terror were the Iraqi people themselves, who had to deal with torture chambers and rape rooms.
While no one wants war, people such as Saddam who terrorize citizens worldwide need to be stopped. It is unfortunate, but sometimes we must fight in order to preserve true peace.
SHAWN GRUBBS, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Shakespeare and Henry
I read the article “Did William Shakespeare Die a Papist” (May 2-9) and it hit my suspicions.
Henry VIII asked for permission to divorce Catherine of Aragon because she was his dead brother's wife. Henry VII arranged a political marriage between his son James and Spain. When James died they asked the Pope for a dispensation for Henry to marry Catherine to keep the alliance with Spain alive.
Hamlet's father dies (killed by his uncle) and his uncle assumes the throne and marries his dead brother's wife (Hamlet's mother). I wonder if Shakespeare used this as part of the plot to remind the people of the shakey basis of the Church of England.
BILL DEVLIN, Jasper, Arkansas
Kerry's Conscience
Regarding “Faith in the Spotlight” (April 25-May1):
Despite Sen. John Kerry's assertion regarding abortion that the Catholic Church “allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices,” the Catholic teaching on abortion is not drawn in misty half-truths and evasions, such as the claim to be “personally opposed” to abortion.
It is clear, complete and proudly promulgated. Catholics are obligated at all times to advance a culture of life instead of a culture of death. Pope John Paul II himself reaffirmed this ancient teaching in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).
In a November 1998 statement, “Living the Gospel of Life,” the National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued this exhortation to American Catholics in pursuit of the Pope's encyclical: “The gospel of life must be proclaimed, and human life defended, in all places and all times. The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government but the voting booths as well.”
The Holy Father recently issued the “Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life.” In this document, Catholic laity are instructed that “a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.” Neither can a well-formed Catholic conscience permit a voter to vote for someone who holds such views.
The Pope reaffirmed to Roman Catholic politicians that when they take positions opposing “the basic right to life from conception to natural death” they are outside the doctrine of faith. Kerry, as an American citizen and politician, is free to hold and express any views he so chooses, but you simply cannot claim to be a faithful Catholic and support pro-abortion laws or a political candidate or party that supports pro-abortion policies. Nor should you receive or be allowed to receive holy Communion if you do. There is no wiggle room.
DANIEL JOHN SOBIESKI, Chicago
The Scandalous Candidate
Regarding “Vatican Warns of Scandal Regarding Kerry” (April 18-24):
Contemplate three hypothetical cases, all involving self-professed Catholics. One is an unrepentant rapist, another is the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Clan and the third is a vocal and ardent neo-Nazi. Would our bishops be silent if any of these three boldly presented themselves, with hands or tongue outstretched, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ? Would not the faithful openly weep and cry out in protest?
We have, at present, self-professed Catholics who boldly and persistently support what is a far more evil crime — the killing of tiny, innocent, defenseless, unborn babies in this country, often painfully and sometimes right up to the moment of birth.
Many bishops, priests and deacons are silent or give us pious platitudes such as, “This is a matter between a person and his God.” This failure to protect the Eucharist from sacrilege must be an abominable crime against the Holy Spirit, as it is aiding and abetting presumption on the part of pro-abortion politicians and sending an unholy message to the faithful.
JOHN F. O'BRIEN, Ocala, Florida
On God's Palms
Why don't Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Kerry and all the pro-choicers call their choice by its right name — pro-death?
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, addressing the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C, on Feb. 3, 1994, very well said as I wish to say: “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of an innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can even kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”
God says: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name” (Isaiah 49:15-16).
SISTER MARY MARTIN, SA, Garrison, New York Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement
What the Bishops Said
For an interesting study regarding the majority of bishops' silence with regard to Catholic politicians' pro-abortion stances, perhaps the bishops could reread their own adopted 1998 statement in contrast, “Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics,” specifically paragraphs 24 (elected officials), 25 (Catholics in general), 29 (bishops themselves), 31 (political leaders), 32 (Catholic officials who depart …) and 33 (voters).
I suppose Catholics might question how their diocesan bishops publicly proclaim their own teaching.
FATHER JOHN J. MCCORMACK, Chaplain, Little Sisters of the Poor, Kansas City, Missouri
Let's Make Muscular Catholics
We've had enough of weak Catholicism. Let's make our Catholic faith the driving force in our private, political and social lives, and give full and true Catholic teaching to our children.
Since Catholic schools are fast becoming too expensive for the average Catholic parent, would it be possible to make arrangements with elementary public schools for Catholic teachers to be granted a certain time each day to instruct Catholic students? Or perhaps Catholic instruction could be given in the “after-care” programs? Maybe Catholic parents themselves could get together and share the instructing of their children.
If anyone has a good suggestion on how to improve this bad situation, I'm sure our dedicated Register would be glad to hear it.
CONNIE DERRICK, Nashville, Tennessee
Sinful Rights
God sent his Son to awaken man, to found a Church and to teach us the laws he established to give natural and spiritual order to the earth. We needed a universal church, a central depository for the spiritual, moral and historical knowledge acquired in 2,000 years. We needed a base for the training of leaders, essential for the continuity of Catholic education dedicated to those beliefs.
Today we are ignoring the teachings of that Church and its saintly Pope. We are allowing our political representatives to pass legislation that overturns our God-given laws of nature. We are killing our own offspring, using the special gifts he gave us for the procreation of the race he created, for nothing but our own pleasure. And now is coming the decimation of the human race.
Maybe The Passion of the Christ will make us think of how it all fits together in a pattern of natural and spiritual law — an orderly plan, a way of living for fathers, mothers and children that he intended us to follow (not the way of judges ignorant of God's real plan for freedom). There is no freedom in sinful behavior — and sinful behavior has no place in civil rights.
DELPHINE MCCLELLAN, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Harmonic Divergence DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:In defense of “I am God” hymns, Janet Noveske points to the use of Psalm 89 as the responsorial psalm for the Christmas Vigil and John 6:57 as the Communion antiphon for Corpus Christi (“Lyrical Liabilities?” Letters, April 25-May 1).
But you might notice that in the first instance the cantor sings from Psalm 89 to the congregation, which responds with, “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” If the Corpus Christi Communion antiphon is sung at all, it is by a schola or trained choir (which, contrary to what some say, was not abolished by Vatican II) to the congregation, and the schola adds, “Says the Lord.”
In both cases the congregation is sung to, and the participation expected of them is to listen with an open ear and attentive heart so they might grow in holiness.
That's why I hope the bishops' conference does take a closer look at the lyrics of hymns and judges them by the standards of orthodoxy instead of ideology.
DON SCHENK, Allentown, Pennsylvania
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Whither Hollywood, Post-Passion? DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:“Expect a slew of religious movies following the extraordinary success of The Passion of the Christ,” reads the lead sentence of an Associated Press story predicting Hollywood's reaction to the record-setting popularity of Mel Gibson's spiritual and artistic masterpiece.
If Hollywood, home of the blockbuster sequel, thinks it has hit upon another winning formula, it had better pay attention to the fine details. Most notably, the film industry has to acknowledge that The Passion is compelling not just because it is religious or even biblical but because it works hard to be faithfully so.
Hence the tough question: Aside from Gibson, are there other major producers in today's Hollywood with the faith and understanding to get religious and biblical stories right?
Consider the 1985 flop King David, starring a Buddhist, Richard Gere. Critics panned it while Christians and Jews alike rolled their eyes at the casting and at a film that could make a life so rich in the struggles of faith seem so lifeless. The box-office take was less than $5 million. The lesson: To make a film about a life of faith, the film-makers have to connect with the struggle in a meaningful way — in the way the audience will connect with it.
On the other hand, the 1998 animated Prince of Egypt grossed $218.6 million worldwide. Produced by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks at a cost of $60 million, this retelling of Moses' transformation from adopted son of the Egyptian royal family to leader of the Hebrew slave revolt benefited from beautiful animation, well-crafted songs and a compelling treatment of Moses' personal journey.
Tellingly, Spielberg himself recently dodged questions about The Passion at a press conference for the release of Schindler's List on DVD, saying he was “too smart” to get involved in the controversy. Spielberg, who is Jewish, clearly is comfortable with stories from the Old Testament but, understandably, not the New Testament.
The Christian Film & Television Commission, founded in 1978 by Dr. Ted Baehr, has been among the groups actively lobbying Hollywood executives to attract more ticket-buyers with films that appeal to Christian audiences.
Baehr notes that “the number of movies with positive moral content has increased from 68 such films in 1991 to 202 in 2002 — an increase of 197%. Even more amazingly, the number of movies with spiritually uplifting, redemptive and/or Christian content increased from a mere 27 movies to 135 in the same time period — an incredible 400% rise.”
Baehr's lobbying has been buttressed by the insightful work of Michael Medved, the film critic whose best-seller Hollywood Versus America first broadcast the case that the film industry was losing out because of its antipathy for what its audience holds most dear. Medved, an orthodox Jew, argued compellingly that Hollywood's anti-Christian bias and fetish for R-rated films was chasing away tens of millions of moviegoers.
S. Abraham Ravid of Rutgers University published a 1999 study in the Journal of Business looking at what factors best predict box-office success for a film. Star power? Megabucks advertising? No and no. His conclusion: “The only significant independent variables are the ratings — in other words, G- and PG-rated films seem to do better.”
Hollywood has gotten the message that most R-rated fare does not sell. In fact, Hollywood columnist Martin Grove argues that Gibson broke “Hollywood's Ten Commandments of movie marketing,” including “Thou shalt avoid R ratings, subtitles, strange languages, blood and gore, and graphic violence because they limit a film's audience.”
It will come as surprising good news to many Americans that to “avoid R ratings” is now conventional wisdom. Many have noticed, however, that the PG-13 rating is often used as a means to get what once was R-rated before a larger audience. But if Hollywood producers think the lesson of The Passion is that they need to make gory, brutally realistic versions of Bible stories, they will fail. The Passion will then become an aberration, not the start of a trend.
If film studios seek out the help of people such as Barbara Nicolosi and Stan Williams, faithful Catholics trying to work from the inside to win over the Hollywood culture, they stand a better chance of creating films that will resonate with the audience.
Producers need to work from the perspective of faith — or at least from a profound respect for it. As for Gibson himself, he has said he wants to try doing something lighter for his next project, though he has created a hunger for more films of spiritual substance. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Judge has urged Gibson to dramatize the amazing life of the real St. Patrick. A worthy subject, no doubt.
Countless stories could be turned into edifying films with mass appeal. I for one wish Gibson would take up the story of King Baldwin the Leper of Jerusalem, who despite his crippling infirmity led his knights into battle to defend the Kingdom of Jerusalem established after the initial success of the Crusades. King Baldwin's story is movingly told in historian Warren Carroll's The Glory of Christendom. Having already earned the scorn of many Jews, would Gibson take up a subject from the Crusades, with our nation in the middle of a war against Islamo-fascist terrorists? Perhaps not. But perhaps he's the only one who could.
Jay Dunlap writes from Hamden, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Jay Dunlap ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Homosexual Rights vs. Civil Rights DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Astute politicians always try to build coalitions of support based on common interests of constituents. For political strategists, that's key to winning elections. Last month, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Jackson, Miss., tried to apply this principle at a predominantly black church.
The members of the Greater Bethlehem Temple Pentecostal Church of the Apostolic Faith listened politely to Kerry. The senator used the occasion to compare the homosexual-rights movement to the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Kerry insisted homosexuals and blacks share a common experience in the struggle for civil rights.
His comparison did not draw fervent shouts of “Amen” or “Hallelujah” from the congregation.
Kerry isn't the only politician equating the cause for homosexual rights to the civil-rights movement. Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, N.Y., said, “The people who would forbid gays from marrying in this country are those who would have made Rosa Parks sit in the back of the bus.”
West, who started presiding over homosexual weddings recently, considers homosexual marriage “the flowering of the largest civil-rights movement the country's had in a generation.”
Like West, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a keynote speaker at the 1963 civil-rights march on Washington, sees homosexual marriage as a civil-rights issue. Writing for the Boston Globe, Lewis stated, “I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
Julian Bond, national chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, supports Lewis' claim. “Discrimination is discrimination — no matter who the victim is, and it is always wrong,” he told the Associated Press. “There are no ‘special rights’ in America, despite the attempts by many to divide blacks and the gay community with the argument that the latter are seeking some imaginary ‘special rights' at the expense of blacks.”
While some politicians try to link homosexual rights to the struggle blacks endured for civil rights, many black religious leaders reject the idea. For instance, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, one of the planners of the 1963 march, labels same-sex marriage an “abomination.” Fauntroy, a spokesman for the Alliance for Marriage, said, “For most black Americans who know our history, we do not want any further confusion about what a marriage and a family happen to be.”
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, director of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny in Los Angeles, agrees. “Homosexuality is not about family, it's not about love,” he asserted. “It is about sex, nothing but sex.” Boston minister Rev. Gene Rivers contends that “the gay community is pimping the civil-rights movement and the history.”
Between politicians and ministers, the majority of blacks, for now, seem to be listening to their ministers. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released a poll indicating that 60% of blacks oppose homosexual marriage. Yet leaders of the homosexual movement believe with time their civil-rights strategy will work. They know Americans and especially minorities shun bigotry as one of the worst social evils. If they can play effectively on fears of the past, the rainbow coalition believes many people will join their cause.
This strategy strikes me as an effective spider web to lure the vulnerable to something harmful that appears credible. In reality, the homosexual-rights analogy to the civil-rights movement misrepresents the truth about blacks' struggle for civil rights. Here's why: On Aug. 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington with 300,000 demonstrators with a moral mandate for our nation: recognize the God-given rights of every human being.
In other words, the civil-rights movement of the 1960s started and developed as a faith-based movement. The black church gave birth, sustenance and direction to this nonviolent movement. For this reason, the civil-rights movement needs to be understood within the tradition of the African-American church.
This tradition held that God, not the state, gives us our rights and dignity as human beings. However, the civil-rights movement challenged the state to recognize and to protect by law the rights God gave to everyone. In short, blacks placed God firmly at the center of the civil-rights movement. They believed God gave them courage to endure and to confront the evil Jim Crow laws throughout the South.
In contrast to the moral underpinning of the civil-rights movement, the homosexual-rights movement embodies the worst of secularism. It makes no coherent appeal to God, religion, morality, natural law or tradition to construct its ideology. This might explain why the homosexual movement enjoys so much support from agnostics, atheists and libertarians.
Clarence James, a professor at Temple University, characterized well the essence of the homosexual movement: “The homosexual movement is part of the sexual revolution. It is about negative freedom and freedom from moral restraint.” For this reason, James concludes, “The homosexual movement has nothing to do with civil rights.”
Homosexual-rights advocates disagree. Unjust discrimination, they charge, points to a common denominator between the two movements. A closer look at this argument will display flawed reasoning. As I said before, the civil-rights movement started in the black church as a faith-based movement. It should be understand in this context.
During the civil-rights movement, black Christians understood justice as fidelity to God's law. Consequently, in the mind of black Christians, unjust discrimination occurs with the violation of God's law. They believed institutionalized racism broke God's law of charity. Furthermore, it dishonored their ethnicity as people created in the image and likeness of God.
Homosexual activity deals with behavior, not ethnicity. To disagree with the legalization and promotion of this behavior doesn't violate any ethical or moral precept. Therefore, it doesn't constitute unjust discrimination.
Blacks believed in the civil-rights movement because it stood on God's truth. That's what makes any cause credible. And, to this day, we take the words of Christ seriously: “The truth will set you free.”
Legionary Father Andrew McNair teaches at Mater Ecclesiae International Center of Higher Studies for consecrated women in Greenville, Rhode Island.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Father Andrew Mcnair, LC ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Passion and Pain DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:The revulsion many nonreligious critics feel toward The Passion of the Christ cannot be explained by the violence and gore it depicts.
I believe this movie generates hostility because it is radically counter-cultural. Mel Gibson's devotional film raises questions the modern world can't face.
Why do the innocent suffer? How should we behave in the face of unavoidable suffering? What is the point of suffering that appears meaningless? The main intellectual constructs of the modern world have trouble dealing with these questions.
For instance, science can't answer these questions. When parents of a terminally ill child turn to their doctor and ask, “Why?” he cannot answer them as a scientist. Medical science might tell him the particular organism that caused the disease. But this isn't the sort of answer the parents are looking for. Evolutionary biology might tell him that the death of this particular child will enhance the long-run survival of the species. But if the doctor offers that as an explanation, the parents might just punch him in the nose.
The crude utilitarianism so common in the modern West isn't much help, either. “Avoid pain; pursue pleasure” doesn't tell us what to do in the face of unavoidable pain. Nor does it tell us what to do when someone we love is suffering. Do we avoid them? Do we put them out of their misery? Watching people try to apply these answers tells us for sure that these answers are incomplete at best. There is something pathetic about the frantic flight from pain so common in the modern world.
We demand relief from, or at least compensation for, ever more trivial discomforts. We seem to have lost the capacity for endurance in our own pain or for genuine solidarity with the suffering of others.
We sometimes find people so disabled by these questions that they avoid suffering people altogether. When someone gets sick, we bustle them out of the workplace, out of the home, into secluded places where no one but sick people go. When people die, we can't bear to see the body. Cremation might be cheaper than an open-casket funeral. But in the richest country in human history, it is hard to believe that cost alone accounts for the increasing popularity of cremation. People for whom avoiding pain is the ultimate value are not prepared to look at the lifeless body of a loved one.
Sometimes we redefine the question: Why do the innocent suffer? The suffering person must be guilty of something, like evolutionary unfitness. According to the postmodernist, the word innocent has no meaning. We are supposed to be beyond guilt and innocence. So there is only suffering, equally meaningless for all.
By contrast, Christianity confronts the questions surrounding suffering and its meaning quite directly. Throughout the course of human history, no other belief system, whether religious or philosophical, has placed these questions at the center of its attention to such a great extent as Christianity has done.
Can there be meaning in suffering that appears arbitrary? Christianity claims suffering can be redemptive. How should we deal with unavoidable pain? Christianity teaches its followers to unite their sufferings with those of Christ, the suffering servant of Isaiah's prophecy. In so doing, we participate in the redemptive sacrifice of the cross for the benefit of our own souls and the souls of those we love.
Why do the innocent suffer? This is truly the unanswerable question, even for the Christian. We cannot really fathom why the world is the way it is. But Christianity assures us that the evidence of our senses does not deceive us: The innocent do sometimes suffer. Jesus really was innocent, and he really did suffer. We are invited to contemplate the ultimate mystery of why the world is as it is rather than rage against the world as it is. The Christian need not fear what he cannot explain.
In The Rise of Christianity, sociologist Rodney Stark shows that Christianity was successful in its early centuries precisely because it confronted these issues better than its competitors. The subtitle of Stark's book states the historical question it answers: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries.
As the Roman Empire collapsed, people faced war, social dislocation, poverty and ignorance. Not only did Christian communities offer effective methods of alleviating suffering, but Christian doctrine also helped people find meaning in their suffering. It helped them see that pain need not be their fault or punishment for anything they had done. They learned that pain could be redemptive if they united it with the suffering Christ. Most of all, Christianity taught them that they did not suffer alone: The God of the Christians remains in solidarity with every soul in pain.
Likewise, historian of religion Philip Jenkins has shown that in modern times, the center of gravity of Christianity is shifting from the developed West to the impoverished South. The Christian message of the redemptive power of suffering resonates with people who face starvation, war and political instability. Far from being an outmoded religion for “dead white males,” Jenkins argues that the next Christendom will be brown, poor and particularly attractive to women.
The modern West is rich, fat and self-satisfied. We barely even understand the question to which Christianity is the answer. This is why so many critics cannot comprehend the countercultural message of The Passion of the Christ or, indeed, of the Gospel itself.
Jennifer Roback Morse, is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of Love & Economics:Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work (Spence, 2001).
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Jennifer Roback Morse ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Mothers' Days DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Spirit and Life
“Look at me!” I announced to my bleary-eyed husband when he emerged from the bedroom one morning soon after our second child was born. Carefully, I shifted tiny Eamon in the crook of one arm as I scrambled eggs, buttered toast and poured juice with my free hand. “I can nurse the baby and cook breakfast at the same time!”
I was such a fool. What I didn't know is that it's not long after a young mother makes her first heroic efforts in the face of parental adversity that family members stop applauding her clever resourcefulness and just plain expect it.
By the time Eamon was 1 year old he could turn cartwheels and scale the curtains, but he still expected that I would pick him up whenever he demanded. This, of course, was most of the time. I soon became proficient at weeding the garden, cleaning the bathroom and changing my clothes without ever putting down the baby in my arms.
Eventually, I wound up at my doctor's office complaining of backache, occasional numbness and sharp pains in my legs. He suggested I might have pinched a nerve and asked if I had been doing any heavy lifting.
Reluctant to diagnose me with an acute case of motherhood, he wrote “sciatica” on my chart and sent me home with a dose of ibuprofen and a photocopied list of back-strengthening exercises.
Today, 7-year-old Eamon walks quite surely on his own two feet, but his younger brothers and sisters have claimed their rightful places in my arms, each in his own turn. On most mornings these days it takes me a full 20 minutes to unload the dishwasher, one glass at a time, with Baby Gabrielle clinging to me like a determined monkey.
I know I am not alone. The other day I noticed a woman in the parking lot of the grocery store. She had her pocket book, two bags of groceries and an infant car seat hanging from one arm and a kicking 3-year-old in the other as she struggled (I think with a third arm) to unlock her minivan. When I offered to help, she observed the flock of children hanging from my various limbs and smiled.
“I'll manage,” she answered.
In our brief exchange I recognized a level of appreciation and mutual understanding mothers can only get from other mothers.
It's sad but true. A valiant mother who slithers on her belly to extract a child's sneaker from the dust-bunny farm deep beneath the living-room couch probably won't emerge to rounds of applause. In fact, her efforts are likely to be greeted with, “I wanted to wear sandals and could you take another look under there for my G.I. Joe's ammunition belt?”
As the ever-present, behind-the-scenes family supporters, mothers are easily taken for granted. While I enjoy receiving flowers and construction-paper crafts as much as the next mom, outside of annual Mother's Day celebrations, I don't crave much official recognition. Rather than bemoan my circumstances, I like to think there is power in my hidden “mom nipotence.”
Mothers are the secret, silent force behind homemade birthday cakes and neatly folded piles of laundry that magically appear in dresser drawers. We kiss boo-boos better, mop up spills and whip up peanut butter and jellies. All with a smile on our face and a baby on our hip.
We might let our husbands and children take some of the credit, but most mothers know we are the ones who quietly shape our family's lives and run the universe. In fact, some might say we do it … single-handedly.
Danielle Bean writes from Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Danielle Bean ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Where Manhattan Mothers Go to Grieve DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:This Catholic landmark in New York City was established in 1866, when Irish immigrants were coming to America in droves.
But how many Manhattanites and daily commuters know the Church of the Holy Innocents was originally the property of the Episcopal Church?
The church is named, of course, for the baby boys slaughtered by King Herod after the Magi told him of a great king having been born in his territory. The Archdiocese of New York purchased property from the local Episcopal Church. The property included their Church of the Holy Innocents. The archdiocese decided to retain the name.
The Episcopal facility was used for Catholic worship for two years until a new Catholic church — the present sanctuary — was completed nearby in 1870. (The Episcopal church, which was located on Broadway close to 35th Street, was subsequently demolished.)
During the two-year construction project, Father John Larkin lived in the rectory of the church of neighboring St. Stephen's. It was then that Father Larkin came in contact with Constantino Brumidi, an artist in the classical tradition who, at the time, was painting a monumental picture of the Crucifixion in the sanctuary of St. Stephen's.
Father Larkin would hire the artist to paint a Crucifixion scene in the new Church of the Holy Innocents. Brumidi's moving oilon-concrete mural has been a point of conversion and comfort to the untold thousands who've visited Holy Innocents ever since it went up.
Given its patrons, this church seems a fitting place to pray for mothers come May 9, Mother's Day. For it's a sorrowful fact that we live in an age whose own innocents are endangered in far greater number than King Herod had in mind 2,000 years ago.
Holy Innocents, pray for an end to abortion!
Tranquility Amid Tumult
The Church of the Holy Innocents stands tall in one of the busiest commercial districts in the world, even though many of its neighboring buildings literally scrape the sky.
Its present pastor, Msgr. Donald Sakano, calculates that more than 1 million souls pass through the neighborhood daily. This estimate, no doubt, takes into account the vast nexus of subways that runs beneath the church.
The church is located in one of this stressed-out city's most stressful locations. The Times Square air is boisterous, frenetic and highly competitive. “The noise is more than physical,” Msgr. Sakano says. “It is a noise that reverberates into one's soul.” Not too infrequently, he notes, individuals come into the church just to soak in its relative silence.
In appearance, the church has remained loyal to its original, traditional Catholic design. It is a church that looks like a church. Statues of the saints keep watch over the goings-on as they unfold under arched, neo-Gothic apses and large, stained-glass windows.
Walking through the doors after traipsing along the humming street, the feeling is of entering a different world. It's not just a matter of moving from a place of clamor to one of calm, either; the sensation is of breathing in an entirely different atmosphere. You exhale utter worldliness and inhale authentic sanctity. The presence of God is palpable.
In the rear of the church is a shrine dedicated to children who have died unborn. Here statues of the Holy Family surround a casement that contains a bound volume known as The Book of Life. Parents or other grieving loved ones are invited to submit the names of children who have died unborn. Naming a deceased unborn child, I learned, can provide a sense of closure for mothers (and others) who have lost a son or daughter through stillbirth, miscarriage or abortion. If the sex of the child is unknown, the term “child of” is simply used.
This Book of Life ministry is conducted by the Sisters of Life, who receive the calls, letters and e-mails and enter the babies' names into the book. On the last Friday of each month, a 12:15 p.m. Mass is celebrated in their memory.
Return to Me
In the church's northwest corner is a large crucifix known as the Return Crucifix. It's so named because an artist, Bussemer Chambers, observed a French soldier kneeling before it at the beginning of World War I. He later went on to paint the scene; the finished work hangs alongside the crucifix.
A duplicate of the painting also hangs in the rectory, and the church sells greeting cards featuring the image. As for the Return Crucifix itself, the feet of the corpus have been rubbed clear of their paint as a result of the uncounted kisses of adorers through the years. Viewing the adored feet, anyone who saw The Passion of the Christ will be mindful of the scene in which Mary kisses her Son's blood-soaked feet.
Until his recent accident, Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Father Benedict Groeschel conducted a monthly afternoon of reflection here. He is recovering from his injuries but has suspended his normal travel and preaching schedule indefinitely.
The church continues to host its popular concert series, though, and it offers theology lessons and even a “Bible for Dummies” course Wednesday nights. Periodically performing are the High-bridge Voices, a choir developed by the pastor and composed of children from the Highbridge Section of the Bronx.
The Church of the Holy Innocents is connected with two famous literary names. Renowned playwright Eugene O'Neill was baptized here and popular poet Joyce Kilmer (“Poems are made by fools like me / But only God can make a tree”) frequented the church. In fact, Kilmer said it was while praying before the Return Crucifix that he received the inspiration to become a Catholic.
You can receive that kind of inspiration here, too — even if you're already Catholic.
Joseph Albino writes from Syracuse, New York.
----- EXCERPT: Church of the Holy Innocents, New York City ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Albino ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: 'A Voice Was Heard' DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:“When Herod realized he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity 2 years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.’”
— Matthew 2:16-18
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Weekly TV Picks DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:All times Eastern
SUNDAY, MAY 9
Mother Angelica Teaching Series: Heaven
EWTN, all day
On Mother's Day, tour heaven with Mother Angelica in these seven hour-long shows at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. and 1:30, 4, 5, 7 and 8 p.m. Mother tells us about paradise and what is known about companionship, music, beauty, knowledge and the state of body and soul there. She also discusses heaven's secrets, joy and “work.”
MONDAY, MAY 10
If Walls Could Talk
Home & Garden TV, 5:30 p.m.
In this episode, families discover their homes’ links to a New Hampshire stagecoach owner, a Kentucky tobacco firm and a circa-1900 San Francisco family.
TUESDAY, MAY 11
Don't Forget!
PBS, 9 p.m.
This episode of Scientific American Frontiers surveys recent research into our human memory processing and recall. Tips for maintaining a healthy memory include, as we might expect, eating well, physical exercise and cutting stress — but also daily brain exercises. Advisory: Some sad profiles of people who have memory afflictions.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12
Dawn of the Maya
PBS, 8 p.m.
In this National Geographic Specials installment, archaeologists speculate about the significance of recent exciting discoveries, including a major mural, an elaborate mask and perhaps the biggest pyramid city of all.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12
Capturing the Killer Croc
PBS, 9 p.m.
Chronicles an effort to catch and relocate a crocodile, said to be 30 feet long and nearly a century old, that is believed to have killed 200 people near Lake Tanganyika.
THURSDAY, MAY 13
Fatima
EWTN, 4:30 a.m., 6 p.m.
This 30-minute documentary from the Vatican Television Center relives May 13, 1982, when Pope John Paul II went to Portugal to thank Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day for saving his life in the assassination attempt on that date the year before.
FRIDAY, MAY 14
Burma Bridge Busters
History Channel, 11 p.m.
In World War II's China-Burma-India theater between 1943 and 1945, the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 490th Bomb Squadron destroyed 192 bridges crucial to the Japanese army. Former President George H.W. Bush hosts this program, which features archival footage as well as reminiscences by squadron members at an emotional reunion.
SATURDAY, MAY 15
Automobiles
History Channel, 8 a.m.
This show profiles the man behind the Buick: Scotland-born automotive genius David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929). He was producing gasoline engines by 1899.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dan Engler ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: From the Tree to the Tee DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:The long-term effects in Hollywood of the unprecedented success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ remain to be seen. In the short term, one thing we can look for is marketers looking for ways to capitalize on that film's success by finding any possible point of contact between the film they're advertising and Gibson's box-office behemoth.
Classical costume dramas, religiously themed films, even films with subtitles will be marketed to Passion audiences as Another Movie You Might Also Be Interested In.
Whatever future marketing tieins might crop up, it's hard to imagine any being more blatant or shameless than the first for Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, which loses no time reminding us that its star, Jim Caviezel, played Jesus in the year's highest-grossing film to date: “His passion … made him … a legend.”
Of course the film itself can't be blamed for this shameless marketing tie-in. Still, the connection seems ironic, on several levels. Caviezel's earlier film has been called one of the most brutal films of the year; Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius might turn out to be one of the gentlest. The Passion focused on a savage execution; Bobby Jones is about that least-violent and confrontational of all competitive sports, tournament golf.
Also, where The Passion will likely stand as the year's most widely seen film, Bobby Jones seems destined to reach only a tiny audience of serious golf fanatics and dedicated Jim Caviezel fans. (Last weekend Bobby Jones not only debuted outside the top 10, but it also was edged out of 15th place by the aging Passion.)
Still, the star and year of release aren't the only points of contact between Bobby Jones and The Passion. Both films are reverently respectful portraits of a real-life person who endured physical sufferings in the course of pursuing his life's work and achieved something unique. As Caviezel reported one fan commenting, in a Georgia accent, during the shooting of Bobby Jones, “Y'all just got done playin' the Messiah, now you're playin' the messiah of golf.” Unquestionably, it's an infinite step down — but then anything would be.
In purely mortal terms, Bobby Jones was a singular individual. He has been called the greatest golfer who ever lived. He's also been called the last great amateur, and his crowning achievement, the Grand Slam of golf tournaments (the U.S. Open, the British Open, the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur), not only has never been duplicated but isn't even a possibility for professionals such as Tiger Woods.
To top it off, Jones achieved this before turning 30 while suffering from an undiagnosed neurological disorder that caused him excruciating pain. Then he retired from tournament play at 28 and went on with his life.
Even in his own day, Jones was a bit of an oddity as an amateur. In one scene he hotly defends his amateur status, pointing out that “amateur” means one who loves, and what one does for pay one is no longer doing for love.
This is a high-minded ideal, but the film also suggests that golf is a harsh mistress whom even the most favored might pursue for years not only without winning her but even without taking much joy or satisfaction in the pursuit. Bobby might play for love, but he doesn't seem to play for pleasure. In fact, he's prone to blowing his top when he's losing.
Losing is a fact of life in any sport. But golf seems especially unkind, even to its top contenders. In April, for example, Tiger Woods placed 22nd at the Masters. This was a disappointment, certainly, for the player widely regarded as the best in the world. But how often does a player such as Serena Williams or a team like the Lakers or the Yankees finish outside the top 20?
My companion at the movies the night I saw Bobby Jones, who has some experience with golf, described his impression of the game as a sport seemingly deliberately designed to be so hard that no one could ever play it well consistently. “You can never be good enough for golf” was his comment. (Since the game in its present form developed in Scotland, home of Presbyterian Calvinism, I'm almost tempted to hypothesize some kind of reflection of Calvinist sensibilities regarding the impossibility of pleasing God — though I'll be happy to hear otherwise from some knowledgeable Catholic golf aficionado.)
Still, I see my companion's point. Think of other sports involving some kind of target or goal — soccer, archery, basketball, darts. There's a certain relationship between the size of the target and the scale of the field of play with the physical powers of the players that golf goes wildly beyond. In golf, the target is so minute and far away and the field of play so enormous and unforgiving that the sheer scale seems to me at least almost inhuman somehow.
By now, of course, it will be obvious that — in contrast to the subject of Caviezel's last film — when it comes to golf, I'm not a true believer. Those who are will perhaps want to regard my take on the film with a grain of salt, just as negative comments on The Passion from unbelieving critics needed to be taken with a grain of salt.
Still, I find that the most successful sports movies, such as the recent Miracle and The Rookie, reach out across the divide separating fans from non-fans, finding ways of making the drama compelling to the uninitiated as well as aficionados.
Bobby Jones, while sweetly sincere and uplifting, doesn't fully succeed in doing this. I appreciated some of the film's niftiest golf stunts, such as a rebound shot from Jones' cheerfully decadent professional rival Walter Hagen (enjoyable Jeremy Northam) and a wild back-and-forth putt on a practice green on a rocking ship from Jones. But I wasn't drawn into the game the way I wanted to be.
There's also a cute romantic subplot involving Jones' future wife (Claire Forlani), whose Catholic father initially objects to her romance with a non-Catholic youth — but only until he realizes it's the Bobby Jones.
At 35, Caviezel's too old to play the 20-something Jones, especially in his college days. However, he convincingly projects the character's sincerity, flashes of anger and bursts of pain. Also, for what it's worth, his swing looks solid to me.
Steven D. Greydanus, editor and chief critic of DecentFilms.com, writes from Bloomfield, New Jersey.
----- EXCERPT: Jim Caviezel comes back to earth in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly Video Picks DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
Life in the Baker house is as chaotic and hugger-mugger as life in the original 1950 Cheaper by the Dozen Gilbreth house was well-ordered and organized. I think I like the in-name-only remake better — not necessarily as a story but as a picture of large families.
The Gilbreths were certainly disciplined and well-behaved, but there was also something a bit “off” about the whole family, and one got the definite impression that only a professional efficiency expert like Mr. Gilbreth could even think about having so many offspring. By contrast, the Bakers might not be the ideal family — discipline can be lax, and a brief early scene establishes that Tom Baker (Steve Martin) had a vasectomy after the first 10 kids — but everyone seems more normal. Plus we see that it's okay for an ordinary shmoe like Martin's college football coach to have a dozen kids and, even if things get crazy at times, it's ultimately worth the trouble to have a big family.
A satirical subplot skewers modern anti-family sensibilities, lampooning an uptight couple who've imposed only-child status on their lonely son and look down on the Bakers for their “irresponsibility.” And the main story, while formulaic, emphasizes the need for parental sacrifice in putting career after family.
Content advisory: Mild suggestive dialogue; mild crude humor; a fleeting scene involving a vasectomy; a depiction of nonmarital cohabitation; very mild sensuality.
Emma (1996)
Gwyneth Paltrow is effervescent as Jane Austin's blissfully oblivious matchmaker in Alister McGrath's Emma, a lighthearted romp that pokes gentle fun at the over-refinements of privileged gentility while enjoying its trappings and honoring its best aspirations.
If love makes the world go ‘round, the dizzily whirling globe in the title credits establishes the film's theme. And when we see the globe is a model on a thread in Emma's hand, it's clear how she sees herself — pulling the strings, orchestrating the happy convergences that make the world go ‘round. A later archery scene suggests Emma as a distaff Cupid — while pointedly suggesting that her aim might not be as unerring as her serene self-assurance would suggest.
Emma takes place for the most part in a genteel world in which life consists of parties, teas, picnics and other social engagements. Who will marry whom is the bottom line of nearly every conversation, few things worse than a cold or a tiresome conversation ever happen, and more or less everyone is eventually destined to happiness. Yet one memorable scene dramatizes that thoughtless actions can have painful consequences, and Emma's platonic friend Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam), who quite lives up to his name, fiercely admonishes her on the debt of compassion and charity owed to those weaker or less fortunate than oneself.
Content advisory: Romantic complications.
Little Women (1933)
“Imagine a picture concerned merely with the doings of a healthy-minded family!” wrote one critic in 1933 when Little Women debuted. Of course, Louisa May Alcott's oft-adapted story of a family of four daughters in Civil War-era New England is concerned with more than that.
The Marches are certainly a healthy-minded family, but they are also a family separated by war, Mr. March being away with the Union army. This means they're a family of women, led by their matriarch (Spring Byington). Nor is there any strong male romantic figure; three of the sisters marry, but none of the beaus figures prominently in a significant romantic subplot — except when one is rejected.
While Little Women is far from feminist in the anti-male sense, it has a positive feminine character, defining its protagonists not by relationships with men but by moral choices, domestic ties and communal experiences. Part comedy of manners, part morality tale, it's more interested in its heroines “conquering themselves” than in suitors conquering their hearts. Strong-willed Jo (Katharine Hepburn) has unusual aspirations of becoming a professional writer, and she and her sisters face diminished fortunes, neighbors in need, life-threatening illnesses, tragedies and the usual trials of growing up and facing change. One of the 15 films on the Vatican film list in the Art category.
Content advisory: Nothing objectionable. Fine family viewing.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Grand Canyon College?
Bishop Olmsted has appointed Msgr. Dale Fushek to oversee the effort, the Arizona daily reported.
In August 2002, leaders of the effort announced plans for fund raising to help build a 5,000-student campus on 125 donated acres located in the far western part of the Phoenix area. The offer of land still remains on the table.
College Pulls Papers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 21 — La Roche College in Pittsburgh pulled the student newspaper from campus before an April 17-18 open house because the issue contained a column about condom use.
The college said the column didn't reflect its policy or the Church's teachings on condoms. The open house was for potential students and their families, the wire service reported.
The article, which was written as an opinion piece, questioned why there were pamphlets available on campus for information on where to drop off unwanted babies but no information about condoms.
Iona Satellite
For more than 20 years, the Rockland Graduate Campus was located in nearby Tappan Zee High School, where evening classes were held. As attendance grew, so did the need for more space, the newspaper reported.
Now students can enjoy state-of-the-ar t technology, a library, a lounge and conference rooms in the former Images nightclub, which closed in 2002.
The campus boasts more than 300 students studying for arts and sciences graduate degrees.
A Gathering of Cardinals
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore were joined at the event by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, the newspaper reported.
“There's a desire to make the university better known in other areas,” said Catholic University spokesman Victor Nakas, “since it is the national university of the Catholic Church.”
Home Schools Rise
When one woman started home schooling her kids a decade ago, she was the only person she knew who home schooled. Now, the newspaper reported, as many as 20 and perhaps up to 50 families in the area home school their children.
Massachusetts doesn't keep track of the exact number of home-schooling families. However, the founder of the Montachusett Area Christian Homeschoolers noted the number of families in its support group rose from six to 35 in the last 20 years.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Donations Fuel Diplomas at Mano Amiga Schools DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:MEXICO CITY — When the first Mano Amiga school opened in 1963 in Naucalpan, a poor neighborhood in Mexico City, students had to wear plastic bags on their shoes to reach the school because there were no paved streets.
Today, roads allow for cars and public transportation. Homes have electricity and plumbing. Increased commercial activity has helped create economic stability.
Since Mano Amiga means “helping hand,” it seemed to be an aptly named school. It has not only helped the students but indirectly the community as well.
The first Mano Amiga contributed to the economic development of Naucalpan by educating the youth. According to Luanne Zurlo, director of the World Education and Development Fund in New York, founded primarily to support Mano Amiga schools, the schools educated the poor, allowing for employment or better jobs. In turn, businesses invested in Naucalpan, creating more jobs and prosperity.
Humberto Trevino was hired to oversee the foundation of new schools. As director of Federation Mano Amiga in Monterrey, Mexico, he provides financial, administrative and pedagogical direction. Alejandro Fabian, Trevino's assistant, helps create Mano Amiga models based on the educational needs in each location. He helped develop a standard curriculum for Mexico and is forming a school model for El Salvador.
According to Zurlo, less than a quarter of all Mexican adults have graduated from high school. In comparison, more than 90% of Mano Amiga students graduate.
Mano Amiga schools throughout Latin America educate economically challenged students from pre-kindergarten through high school. There are 17 Mano Amiga schools operating; just a little more than half are in Mexico. Others are in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador.
Mano Amiga is a not-for-profit educational organization initiated by members of Regnum Christi, an apostolic movement associated with the Legionaries of Christ. The schools are partially supported by wealthier private schools.
Families whose children attend schools such as the Cumbres Institute, a prestigious school in Mexico City, contribute resources to support Mano Amiga schools, said Legion of Christ Father Juan Sabadell. Mano Amiga schools use the same curriculum as the private schools, including The Treasure of Our Catholic Faith, a textbook series for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade produced by the Legionary and Regnum Christi school network.
Social Education
Father Marcial Maciel, the Mexican priest who founded Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ, addressed the Legion's social outreach in Latin America in Christ Is My Life, a book-length interview with the priest. Social education and service to the neediest are mandatory in the higher-end schools, he said.
“Our focus in social issues is to apply the broad principles of the Church's social doctrine,” he said, “trying to jog the consciences of the lay people, especially those with greater possibilities due to their political, economic or social status.”
Each Mano Amiga school has a chapel for prayer where Legionary chaplains offer the sacraments. During the last four years, a school in Monterrey has had one or two religious vocations each year to either the priesthood or consecrated life out of a graduating class of approximately 70.
Mano Amiga schools depend on local and international fund raising for support.
“At first I worried about finances,” Trevino said. “Eventually donors, seemingly sent from heaven, would give the money needed. I then understood Mano Amiga to be God's work, not mine.”
The needs are ongoing, along with the desire to reach more families with more Mano Amiga schools.
Schools raffle valuable items, such as donated cars, or sell lottery tickets for cash prizes. Some donors sponsor Mano Amiga students through Adopt a Child scholarship or padrino (godfather) programs, whereby a monthly donation is deducted from the donor's credit card. Local companies, such as the cement company Cemex and the industrial conglomerate Grupo Alfa, also make financial donations. In addition, the local phone company Telmex has supplied computer terminals for a number of the schools.
Approximately $50 per month is needed to educate a student, though pupils typically pay much less, owing to difficult economic situations. The schools typically charge a dollar a day. Scholarships are available for those who cannot pay the full tuition.
Ana Marith Garcia Perez of the Cualcan Mano Amiga in Lerma, Mexico, completed her high-school education through the Adopt a Child scholarship program. Later she studied marketing at Anahuac University in Mexico City and today is an international business development officer for Buchanan Lumber Sales in High Prairie, Alberta.
Some Mano Amiga schools have been funded by donors seeking to remedy the destruction from natural disasters, such as the major earthquakes that have struck Mexico City. The government offered land and buildings for reconstruction. The Legionaries, in conjunction with Anahuac University faculty and students, then built a Center for the Integral Development of the Community, which includes a Mano Amiga school.
Today there are such centers in Mexico City, Acapulco and Merida, Mexico, as well as in El Salvador. Catholic World Mission, a religious nonprofit organization based in Hamden, Conn., raises money for the centers.
More English
The quality and level of education attained by most citizens of developing countries remain far below that of developed countries, Zurlo said. Mano Amiga schools include more English classes than are available in state schools.
She believes the discipline provided by qualified teachers at Mano Amiga schools creates a learning environment superior to state-run schools. As a result, Fabian said, “Thirty to 40 students are studying in the better universities of Mexico on scholarship.”
One Mano Amiga school in Leon, Mexico, offers a bilingual curriculum in English and Spanish — a model Trevino and Fabian desire for all Mano Amigas. Schools with more funding have extra English and computer classes as well as an indoor gym. Nursery through kindergarten classes average 25 students per class. Primary and secondary schools average 35 students per classroom.
Fabian said secondary schools have vocational training for beau-ticians, tailors, steelworkers, carpenters, mechanics, electricians and computer technicians.
Mano Amiga schools aim to involve the community. They offer parenting classes that teach morality, family management and strategies to reduce the risk of drug abuse. There are adult literacy classes as well as workshops that train women in sewing skills, for example.
Breakfast and lunch are provided for students. Some mothers help in the kitchen in exchange for a tuition break for their children. Sports and cultural events such as soccer competitions, carnivals, Christmas pageants and open houses involve the entire community.
Concetta Pilsner writes from New York.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Concetta Pilsner ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Forming Christ-centered Females DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:WOMEN IN CHRIST: TOWARD A NEW FEMINISM
Michele M. Schumacher, ed.
Eerdmans, 2003 342 pages, $38
In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II called for the establishment and development of a “new feminism.” In so doing, he challenged women to assist in transforming culture in the direction of supporting life. He appealed to “the true genius of women” to turn the tide against all discrimination, violence and exploitation” while rejecting the temptation of “imitating models of ‘male domination.’”
The 10 contributors to Women in Christ (one man and nine women) have answered this challenge admirably, putting together a balanced and scholarly discussion about women and their distinctive Christian vocation in the modern world. This means that they outline how the woman's authentic self-realization must be understood horizontally — involving the proper balance between nature and nurture — as well as vertically, which is to say harmonizing nature and grace.
Hailing from an array of international locations — Canada, Venezuela, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States — the contributors' diverse backgrounds and complementary views attest to the universality of the Church and testify to the unity of truth.
“That we are in sore need of a new feminism can hardly be doubted,” writes Elizabeth FoxGenovese, “and the answer to why we need one could hardly be more disconcertingly simple: The old one failed.”
Meanwhile Beatriz Vollmer Coles asserts, “Lacking a rigorous methodology supporting their ideology, many feminists have seen their goals come to nothing.”
Women in Christ, then, is a palimpsest overlying “women in crisis.”
All the contributors are on the same page, so to speak. Their allegiance is directed toward Karol Wojtyla, Thomas Aquinas, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel and Edith Stein — thinkers who have played an integral role in providing a balanced humanism that is not estranged from the body, nature or the Church.
The essayists write calmly and intelligently in the face of utter nonsense such as Monique Wittig's insistence that women and men, “as classes and categories of thought or language … have to disappear, politically, economically, ideologically.”
Several themes are essential to this well-organized collection: personalist humanism (Prudence Allen, Michele Schumacher); the Holy Father's theology of the body (Father Robert Martin); combat-i n g the culture of death (Margaret Léna); the contributions of St. Edith Stein to the new feminism (Elizabeth FoxGenovese, Sibylle Von Streng, Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz).
Overall, a marvelous consistency and depth of thought characterize this volume. There is perhaps more philosophical than theological discussion (largely because the antagonists who formed radical feminism were mainly philosophers), and the reader might be disappointed that its Christology is not nearly as well-developed as its title might suggest.
Nonetheless, this collection does deliver what it promises: an excellent articulation of the new feminism that John Paul has challenged us to develop.
Donald DeMarco teaches philosophy at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ontario, and Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Donald Demarco ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Prepare Now for Tax Times to Come DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Family Matters
Each year I scramble to gather the information necessary to complete my tax return. What can I do now to make filing my taxes easier next year?
There are a number of steps you can take that will simplify your tax preparations next time around. Advance planning will pay big dividends in both time and money. There are two main things to keep in mind.
First, you'll want to consider the “strategic” tax-planning issues that will allow you to legally minimize your tax burden. These issues will be dependent on your particular financial situation. Sorting all this out can be fairly complicated, so it might be wise to seek the counsel of an experienced tax professional such as a certified public accountant or tax attorney. While such help is not inexpensive, these specialists can review your current financial picture as well as your goals and objectives. Together you can then formulate an overall strategy that makes the best sense for you.
I would encourage you to visit with at least two or three such professionals before choosing. Your parish or a well-established certified public accounting firm in your area can be good sources for referrals. When you begin to work with someone, remember that they are dealing with your finances. Make sure to apply your values and common sense to decisions that need to be made. Don't let your adviser talk you into actions you aren't comfortable with.
Second point: Start considering, right now, the information requirements you'll need for your return. One way to get started is to set up a record-keeping system that takes these requirements into account. With a capture-and-organize system in place, you can gather important information throughout the year — rather than waiting until the last minute, as many people do, to find important information (some of which will undoubtedly be lost). A good record-keeping system will include, along with your basic financial information, the necessary information for your taxes, such as your salary and W-2 information, self-employment income receipts, charitable-giving records (tithing and almsgiving) and investment-income paperwork. You'll also want files for other common deductions — mortgage interest, property taxes, medical bills and such.
It would also be a good idea to maintain a notebook for those miscellaneous deductible expenses you otherwise might forget about (such as automobile mileage for business or charitable purposes). Include the list of your appointments that will support these deductions.
When you sit down to prepare your return (or have it prepared for you), the information you need will be right at your fingertips. Once the return is completed, you can consolidate the files into one and store everything in a fireproof box in your garage.
Remember that the less organized you are, the longer and more frustrating it will be for you to complete your tax returns. If you pay a professional, you'll find that your fees will be substantially higher if you don't have the necessary information readily available. Finally, poor record-keeping will probably also cost you money in the form of lost deductions.
Bottom line: Start now to simplify your taxes for later. God love you!
Phil Lenahan is director of media and finance at Catholic Answers in El Cajon, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Phil Lenahan ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Teachers Denounce March
The association's headquarters in the city were scheduled to serve as a “hospitality center” for the March for Women's Lives, the newspaper reported. The association's state affiliates were also organizing to bring people to the march.
“We're supposed to be for children, and they say it's okay to eliminate our very clientele,” association member Connie Bancroft, a middle-school teacher for handicapped children in Mahoning County, Ohio, told the paper. “That's hard to understand.”
Counter-Punching the March
CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE, April 20 — A legal group has filed suit against the federal government for revoking the permit of pro-life groups who wanted to counter-demonstrate the pro-abortion march in Washington, D.C., April 25.
The American Center for Law and Justice, which specializes in constitutional law, filed the suit April 20 against the interior secretary and the National Park Service, the news service reported. It represented members of the Christian Defense Coalition and Generation Life.
The lawsuit said the government violated the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The park service said it revoked the permit because it would interfere with the March for Women's Lives.
Veep Hails Nat'l Right to Life
Cheney promised the Bush administration would defend “confidently and vigorously” the Partial-Birth Abortion Act signed into law last November.
“Your idealism brought the movement into being,” Cheney told the committee. “Your energy has kept it strong. Your faithfulness, integrity and good hearts will see it through until this great nation honors the God-given dignity of every life.”
Utah Hospital to Cut Abortions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 21 — University Hospital in Salt Lake City has announced it will no longer perform abortions on babies with deformities, citing fears it would lose state funding under a new law.
A new bill enacted by the state legislature would end state funding of any agency that performs abortions except in cases of rape, incest or “permanent, irreparable and grave damage to a major bodily function of the pregnant woman,” the wire service reported.
About 5% of the university's $1 billion budget comes from the state in the form of education funding and Medicaid reimbursement. The legislation goes into effect May 3.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: He Couldn't Outrun His Call DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Priest Profile
Looking back at his life now, Bill Wiltison says it was God's providence that led him to volunteer about three years ago at St. Jerome Church near Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. Because it was there, he said, that he was “ambushed by God.”
One day Wiltison had to bring some letters to the parish's education building. That was when he met Father Ken Malley. The priest smiled, said hello and made some small talk. The next day Father Malley waved to him from across the parking lot.
“I tried to run back into the office,” Wiltison recalls. “But I couldn't move. It was like I was frozen. I could see him coming across the parking lot. It was like Jesus walking on water. He was floating along.”
Not long after, Father Malley had occasion to visit the Wiltison home. Soon enough began a discussion between the two men that would go on for several hours. That was the beginning of their friendship — and of Wiltison's unplanned interior journey.
“He had something I wanted,” Wiltison says, “but I didn't have any idea what it was.”
Later, after asking many questions about God and going to confession, Bible studies and daily Mass, Wiltison realized he finally understood what Father Malley had that he wanted.
“Jesus was shining through him,” Wiltison says. “He was always so happy, and he was always smiling. He was full of love. It just came out of him. He was like that with everybody. It was not just with me. What it was, was the love of Jesus.”
God's Instrument
Father Malley, 37, is grateful to be the instrument Jesus used to reach out to Wiltison.
“Fortunately, he was able to see something that was something more than I was able to give,” Father Malley says, “and it wasn't me. It was Christ shining through me, and in such an ordinary way. Sometimes we can underestimate those moments — the impact you can have on people.”
Father Malley recounts how, when he was studying to become a priest, Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity were huge influences. He worked with the order in Moscow and in Warsaw, Poland, during mission trips after his first and third year of studies in Rome. He saw how they cared for the homeless and for orphans with great joy and simplicity. And he noticed how their prayer life was the fuel that made “the light of Christ” grow stronger in them.
His meeting with Mother Teresa in Rome, for about 10 minutes, also had a profound impact, he says. He was part of a small group of seminarians to whom she said: “If you don't want to be a holy priest, you should leave now.” Those words reverberate in his ears even now.
Father Malley and his two brothers grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla., where his parents were active in their parish. After four years of active duty in the Navy, he went to the University of South Florida and studied Russian; he said it was there, after meeting several “on-fire Catholics” who invited him to their rosary group, that his faith began to grow. As did thoughts of a priestly vocation.
At first he tried to run away from the call. But this only led to a strong sense of being restless and unsettled. One day, after much prayer, he listened to what God was asking him to do. And at age 25, he entered St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach. He later went to Rome, to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, where he got a master's degree in spirituality, and the Gregorian University for his doctorate in sacred theology.
“Even now, growing in the vocation and trying to discover and uncover the call, it's all about trying to listen to God,” he says. “Trying to slow down the busyness and saying, ‘God, what are you calling me to do here?’ Just growing in that union and coming to know God's love and his desire for me. How can you get better than that?”
Fragrance of Christ
At St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, Malley met Father John Cippel, now the pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Church in Spring Hill, Fla., who was then Malley's spiritual director.
“His energy flows in his commitment to serve the Lord and people,” Father Cippel says of Father Malley. “It's an energy that's focused and channeled in his dedication to the Lord. He has a fidelity to the Lord in his personal prayer life and his personal sense of relationship to God. He has a strong sense of hearing his call; he heard both his call as a priest and his call to serve.”
After his ordination in 1997, Father Malley served at St. Raphael's Parish in St. Petersburg until 2000. Then he went to St. Jerome until the end of 2001. Now he's dean of students and vice rector at St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami.
“Working with young adults to discover or to uncover their vocation is a very big part for the future of our Church,” he says, “because in discovering it and living out what God wants them to be there's going to be great happiness and great fruit within families and within our Church.”
In all he does, he says he tries to remember the lessons he learned from Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity. It can be summed up in a prayer by Cardinal John Henry Newman that the order recites after every Mass. The prayer can be found on the back of Father Malley's ordination card, and it is what Bill Wiltison says he's striving for now that he knows Jesus:
“Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that all our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every person we should come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul … Let us preach you without preaching: not by words, but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you. Amen.”
Carlos Briceño writes from Seminole, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carlos Briceño ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: In the Very Mary Month of May DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:“I'm here,” Mary reassures Jesus as he makes his way, under the weight of the cross, to Calvary in The Passion of the Christ.
Chances are, if you saw the movie, those words are now written on your heart — even though they're nowhere recorded in Scripture. For this is Mary as we know her: always present to her Son, always present to us.
Did you know that Mary's place in the life of the Church, always one of unique prominence, is amplified in a special way each May? And it's not just for Mother's Day.
“This is her month,” Pope John Paul II said in 1979, during the first May of his pontificate. “This time of the liturgical year [Easter] and this month are a call, inviting us to open our hearts in a special way to Mary.”
Of course, this invitation extends to children.
Why not take time this month to introduce a child to the rosary, then lead the creation of a May altar in your home or the planting of a Mary garden in your yard? Then, after working on all those labors of love, you and your young ones can curl up with a good book or two before bedtime.
Here are some great new titles that will hold their attention — and yours — as you learn together about our Blessed Mother, queen of May and everything after.
THE STORY OF MARY
by Patricia A. Pingry
Illustrated by Stacy Venturi-Pickett
CandyCane Press, 2000
24 pages, $6.95
To order: (800) 586-2572
“You will be the mother of a very special baby,” the Angel Gabriel tells Mary. “The baby will be God's son.” Toddlers will delight in holding this board book and hearing more about the Annunciation, Visitation and Nativity. Simple words, colorful pictures and sturdy pages make this an excellent choice for introducing Mary, a very special mother, to the very special children in your life. Ages 2 to 5.
MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS
by Mary Joslin
Illustrated by Alison Wisenfeld
Loyola, 1999
32 pages, $15.95
To order: (800) 621-1008 or www.loyolapress.com/store
Many books present the story of Mary, but this one is told from her own perspective. In the opening pages, children gather around Our Lady and ask to hear the stories they love. Now an older woman, she uses simple language to tell stories of her life and that of her Son. Both adults and children will savor this tender look into Mary's heart as a daughter, wife, special friend of the apostles and, of course, Mother of Our Lord. Ages 4 to 10.
MY FIRST BOOK ABOUT MARY
by Christine Virginia, FSP
Illustrated by Julia Mary Darrenkamp, FSP
Pauline, 1995
78 pages, $9.95
To order: (800) 836-9723 or www.pauline.org/store
Who is the Blessed Mother and why is she so special to us? Children who read this book will be able to joyfully answer these questions. More than an introduction, this book invites readers to look at many different aspects of Mary's life, Assumption and Coronation. A special section, “Mary Comes to Visit,” carefully introduces children to apparitions. Directions for praying the rosary are included. Thorough content, simple language and large, bright illustrations make this a great choice for parents and children to enjoy together. Ages 6 to 12.
THE LADY OF GUADALUPE
by Tomie de Paola
Illustrated by Tomie de Paola
Holiday House, 1980
48 pages, $8.95
To order: www.holidayhouse.com
Roses in winter, a mysterious image, a beautiful woman: The story of Guadalupe is one of intrigue, devotion and love. This faithful rendering of St. Juan Diego's most unusual encounter with Our Lady is told with warmth and charm. Folk-art illustrations bring the story to life. A Spanish version, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, is also available. Ages 5 to 10.
JOURNEYS WITH MARY: APPARITIONS OF OUR LADY
by Zerlina DeSantis
Illustrated by Edwin Lebel
Pauline, 2001
123 pages, $5.95
To order: (800) 836-9723 or www.pauline.org/store
“Who is she?” St. Juan Diego wonders. “Can this really be the Blessed Mother?” Sister Catherine Labouré gasps. Ordinary people encounter Mary in extraordinary ways in the nine separate apparition stories told here. Common to all is Mary's deep wish that we draw closer to her Son. Our Lady's visitations to the children and teens in LaSalette, Lourdes, Fatima, Beauraing and Banneux will especially encourage young readers. Includes glossary. Ages 9 to 14.
MARY, DID YOU KNOW?
by Mark Lowry
Illustrated by Phil Boatwright
WaterBrook Press, 1998
32 pages, $9.99
To order: www.randomhouse.com/waterbrook
The lyrics of this popular contemporary song combine with outstanding full-page illustrations in this picture book that parents, teachers and children will treasure. The title is also the beginning of each verse. Mary is asked what she knew as she cradled the baby in her arms. Did she know that he would one day cure the sick? Calm the storm? Save our sons and daughters? In the asking of these and other questions, God's loving plan for redemption unfolds. Ages 4 to 8.
THE ROSARY COMIC BOOK
by Gene Yang
Illustrated by Gene Yang
Colored by Lark Pien
Pauline, 2003
56 pages, $5.95
To order: (800) 836-9723 or www.pauline.org/store
Recommending a comic book? You betcha! This soft-cover book with glossy pages tells the stories of the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. Young Catholics can read it as they would any comic book or — and here's the clever part —pray with it! For each decade, a rectangular comic panel (in place of a bead) represents an Our Father; a square panel, a Hail Mary; and a small rose, a Glory Be. Terrific illustrations and rich dialogue within the panels bring each of the mysteries to life. Scriptural references included. Ages 9 to 12.
Patricia A. Crawford writes from Winter Park, Florida.
Kerry A. Crawford writes from Pittsburgh.
----- EXCERPT: Children's Book Picks ----- EXTENDED BODY: Patricia A. Crawford and Kerry A. Crawford ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Sloth Stings DATE: 05/09/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 9-15, 2004 ----- BODY:Facts of Life
Researchers at the University of California have found that, health-wise, too much sleep can be just as harmful as not enough. Study subjects who regularly overslept (nine to 10 hours a night) were fatigued during the day, restless at night and had trouble concentrating. Eight hours, they said, is the optimal sleep time.
Source: Medical News Today, April 16.
Register illustration by Tim Rauch.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: New Catholic Groups Target Public Square DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — The presence of a Catholic major-party candidate in this year's presidential race seems to have raised interest in the interplay of faith and politics.
As the country's bishops put off until after the November elections a formal policy on what to do about Catholic politicos who take a public stance against Church teaching, several groups of Catholics are working to influence the votes of their co-religionists.
While previous efforts such as the Catholic Campaign for America and the Catholic Alliance never took off, organizers are hoping their new entities will be here to stay. They include the Ave Maria List, Real Presence Communications and Your Catholic Voice.
Each of the groups views its efforts as answering the call of Pope John Paul II and the U.S. bishops for Catholics to be active in the political process.
“In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue; participation in the political process is a moral obligation,” stated the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in its document “Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility.” “All believers are called to faithful citizenship, to become informed, active and responsible participants in the political process.”
The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Ave Maria List is the nation's first and only Catholic-based political action committee. An idea devised jointly by former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and former political campaign manager Joseph Cella, the committee was officially formed May 1, 2002, in direct response to the pro-abortion political action committee Emily's List. The word “list” refers to the list of candidates the committees provide to their members.
“We saw a void of Catholics in the national political arena,” said Cella, who serves as executive director for the group. “We felt it was very important to answer the call of the Holy Father and the U.S. bishops to engage our faith in the political arena as part of the New Evangelization.”
Prior to heading the Ave Maria List, Cella worked as regional director for Sen. Spence Abraham, RMich., who currently serves as secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.
The list's goal is to elect a new generation of pro-life, pro-family leaders to the U.S. Senate. To that end, the list contributed several hundred thousand dollars to key senatorial races in 2002.
“Our top four races were Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota and Louisiana,” Cella said. “We focus like a laser beam on close races by providing direct contributions, bundling and independent expenditures to candidates.” The list also participated in races in Colorado, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Texas.
In the end, the Ave Maria List-supported candidates won in Minnesota and Missouri and the remaining races with which they were involved. This year the list is focusing efforts on races in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Louisiana.
Last year the list sponsored a series of radio and television ads during the nomination hearings for Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to a federal court seat. The ads accused Democrats of opposing Pryor because of his Catholicism.
Cella described the ads as “massively” effective.
“We were barraged with hundreds of e-mails from people expressing interest in supporting our mission,” he said.
Using his constitutional privilege to fill vacancies while Congress is not in session, President Bush installed Pryor on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 20.
A Catholic NPR
Real Presence Communications is working to give Catholics a voice — literally.
Founded by John Edward Hurley and Nick Heidenberg, the organization's purpose is to influence communications, particularly radio, by providing a Catholic perspective on the news. The apostolate's name derives from the love for Eucharistic adoration both men have.
“We're patterned after National Public Radio but with the mind of the Church,” Heidenberg said. “I would listen to the radio, but all I would hear is the news body slamming the Church. Twenty-five percent of the country is Catholic, yet we hear nothing from the Church's perspective on secular radio.”
For the past seven years Heidenberg has conducted radio interviews for a Knights of Columbus program that airs on public-access channels in Maryland. Hurley serves as chairman of the Sarah McClendon Study Group, which meets biweekly at the National Press Club. Founded by longtime White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, the group has heard from Cabinet members, agency directors and members of Congress.
Real Presence currently has correspondents in Washington, D.C., and Uganda. It has turned to the Dominican House of Studies and the Catholic University of America for Catholic voices.
“We've helped put Catholic scientists on secular radio and television to present the Church's perspective on how she sees herself,” Heidenberg said. “We went to Angola Prison and interviewed a Catholic horticulturalist who teaches prisoners how to care for plants that are going extinct. We'll soon be interviewing a nun in Delaware who takes care of migrant workers.”
The recently formed apostolate wants to flood the public-access air-waves with programs and offer them online.
While the organization is nonpartisan, Heidenberg noted that “influencing communications is political. When you go into some of these newsrooms, it's like you're entering King Herod's court. Real Presence Communications is a prayerful presence.”
Countercultural
Another organization trying to bring the Catholic perspective to the public square is Your Catholic Voice. Ray Flynn, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and mayor of Boston, serves as the organization's president.
Started by computer entrepreneur Michael Galloway, Your Catholic Voice is rallying the Catholic vote using a database of 165 million voters and the $5 million it has raised.
The group plans to create and distribute scorecards for voters in 19,000 Catholic parishes across the nation. In a “Faithful Citizenship Guide” issued for the Pennsylvania Senate primary April 27, the group outlined the positions embraced by Sen. Arlen Specter and challengers Rep. Pat Toomey and Joe Hoeffel. The guide pointed out that Specter voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2003.
Specter, who supports abortion, narrowly beat pro-life Toomey in the closely watched election.
Another voter's guide distributed in March throughout Massachusetts compared Democrat Angus McQuilken with Republican candidate Scott Brown.
“We're definitely trying to influence the Catholic vote,” said Dolores Meehan, marriage committee member for the organization.
On April 3, the organization held a successful Rally for Marriage and Family in San Francisco, attended by San Francisco Archbishop William Levada and Oakland, Calif., Bishop Allen Vigneron. Approximately 1,500 protesters peacefully processed around the North Beach neighborhood while praying the rosary.
“It was the first time an organized group of people peacefully protested against the powerful gay-activist minority here. Your Catholic Voice offered the structure. We're bringing our passion,” Meehan said. “We're declaring a Catholic countercultural revolution.”
“We are not doing this at the direction of anyone in the Church in Rome or the United States,” added Bill May, vice president of the organization. “We are merely responding to the call of the Holy Father for a New Evangelization and a new layled Catholic action and the call of the U.S. bishops to faithful citizenship.”
Observers see the various new efforts as promising.
“Too often we criticize Catholic politicians who do not support Catholic teachings, but we don't often support Catholic politicians who uphold Catholic teachings,” said Michael Hernon, a city councilman in Steubenville, Ohio, who works as a business and political consultant.
“Catholics are the largest denomination out there,” he said. “These groups are responding to the needs of Catholics to put their faith into action and make sure the candidates are aware that Catholics do in fact have a voice.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: Ave Maria List, Real Presence Communications and Your Catholic Voice ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: With New Law, Is Christianity Hate Speech in Canada? DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:OTTAWA — A new law in Canada is touted as a way to protect homosexuals from violence. But the Catholic Church says it could violate the freedom of speech and religion of individual Canadians and religious institutions.
Bill C-250 is opposed by Catholic organizations and Christian leaders as well as academics for including “sexual orientation” in existing anti-hate legislation protecting religious or ethnic groups.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has declined to comment since Bill C-250 was passed by the Senate in late April. In earlier statements, however, the conference opposed it because it “could be used in an attempt to silence Church teaching” on the immorality of homosexual relations as well as silencing those who oppose homosexual activity for “secular” or “philosophical” reasons.
Vancouver Archbishop Bishop Ray Roussin said the bill's passage, despite “huge opposition,” was “not a defeat for the Church, though perhaps it was a rejection of Judeo-Christian values. … It seems the government was not listening.”
Its effect remains to be seen, Archbishop Roussin told the Register, “but it is certainly a matter of grave concern how it will impact freedom of speech and religious freedom.”
While mainline Protestant denominations supported the bill or remained silent, Muslims and evangelicals joined the Catholic Church in an ultimately fruitless resistance.
“While opposing the promotion of hatred against anyone, we are deeply concerned about the chilling effect this legislation may have on the legitimate expression of religious belief,” said Janet Epp Buckingham of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
Buckingham added that free speech was especially important at a time when “issues of sexual morality and marriage are in the forefront of public debate.”
Sen. Anne Cools, who led the opposition to the bill in Canada's Upper House, agreed, saying issues of human sexuality will be “major questions” in the next couple of years.
The new law will be used, she fears, to silence “those who hold opinions that homosexuality is sinful, immoral or unhealthy.”
Those views were already vilified as “hateful,” she said, during the debate over Bill C-250.
Testing the Law
Cools noted the “bizarre fashion” of the bill's passage. While controversial private members' bills such as this — introduced by members not under the authority of the governing party — invariably die, this one received the informal support of the Liberal government at all stages, allowing the normal rules of order to be set aside.
“Normally if the government supports a measure it adopts it as a government bill so it can be held accountable,” Cools said.
But Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin, is a “past master of having it both ways,” said Edmonton, Alberta, Baptist pastor Shafer Parker. “He wants to be able to say he supported the bill when talking to downtown gay audiences and then turn around and tell rural Alberta voters the government didn't support it.”
Parker plans to expose the law as unenforceable by publishing statements condemning homosexual actions and daring prosecution.
“I want to make it clear that I believe all of us are sinners and that homosexuals need God's grace no more or less than anyone else,” he said. “The issue is: Will I be free to say this?”
Sean Murphy, spokesman for the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League, warned that the new law could be used against everything from papal statements to letters to the editor.
“The bishops in Ireland were warned that they would face action under Irish anti-hate laws if they distributed or taught from a papal statement on sexual morality,” he said.
Closer to home, the British Columbia courts recently supported the suspension of a public-school teacher. He was targeted because of his letters detailing the moral and health problems associated with homosexual activities. The provincial attorney general argued in a losing case that another public official deserved censure for similar letters to newspapers because they might incite “homophobes” to violence.
In recent years the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission found a man guilty of inciting hate for publishing scriptural condemnations of homosexuality. The body reasoned that since Christianity preached love and not hate, the man was not entitled to invoke freedom of religion in his defense.
In Ontario, the human-rights court forced a Toronto printer, Scott Brockie, to accept jobs from a homosexual-advocacy group. Brockie was “free to hold his religious beliefs and to practice them in his home and in his Christian community” but not in his workplace.
And in Newfoundland a major daily paper recently rejected a letter from 10 Catholics opposing a local priest who supported homosexual conduct. A brief reference to Catholic teaching in their letter “might be actionable under Canadian hate-literature legislation,” the paper deemed.
Academic Chill
Throughout the bill's journey through Parliament, defenders have insisted it protects religious freedom.
Laurie Evin of the homosexual-advocacy group EGALE Canada told the Register that “it will take some time for churches and religious groups to see there is nothing to fear. You would have to be spreading the most vile form of hatred to trigger this legislation, and even then, you could still get off the hook if it were based on an honestly held religious belief.”
However, the Catholic Civil Rights League's Murphy said the defenses provided in the legislation for religious belief do not extend to its provisions against statements “likely” to incite violence.
The chilling effect is already being felt by academics. Paul Nathanson of McGill University's religious studies department warns that political correctness has already threatened free inquiry in the university classroom, especially for comments deemed hostile to feminism.
“What constitutes hatred? It seems to be anything that makes someone uncomfortable,” he said. “But if we aren't free in the classroom, what's the point of having a university?”
Nathanson, a Jewish homosexual, opposes singling out homosexuals or any other group for protection.
Similarly, John Stackhouse, a professor of religion and society at Vancouver's Regent College, believes the new legislation could be used to silence scholarly comment as well as religious teaching.
“I've been assured that I would win any criminal case brought against me,” he said. “But will this law make me more liable to a civil suit?”
Stackhouse said the law renders Christian and other religious opponents of homosexuality “second-class Canadians” by solidifying the notion that a “good” Canadian is one who accepts all sexual behavior, along with all ethnic groups, as equally moral. Stackhouse believes the bill exemplifies the triumph of the baby-boomer generation's preoccupation with individual freedom.
However, “history is not linear,” he said. “It doesn't just go on in the same direction. There is renewal and revival. There is no reason ever to give up.”
Steve Weatherbe writes from Victoria, British Columbia.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steve Weatherbe ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Parish Boycotts Catholic Items Made in China DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:JONESBORO, Ark. — Look underneath the last statuette of Mary you bought. It likely says “Made in China.”
But because of Beijing's policies that intersect with human rights, one Catholic parish recently decided to boycott religious items with the “Made in China” label.
“Basically, we were of the opinion that supporting a regime that's persecuting your fellows doesn't make much sense,” said Deacon David England of Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro, Ark. “If there's a regime hurting my immediate family or my Church family, I'm certainly not going to support that regime in any economic fashion or any other fashion.”
What products are boycotted? “We don't buy religious articles made in China,” whether for resale in the church's gift shop or use in the parish, Deacon England said.
The boycott that began in March arose out of a social justice reading group started by the permanent deacon. The group read and discussed “everything,” he said, from summaries of Catholic social-justice ideas and encyclicals such as Pope Leo XIII's 1891 Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor) to an introductory book on liberation theology “just because we didn't know anything about it.”
A parishioner noticed that goods in the church's gift shop and some items used in church were made in China, and that led to the question, “Why the purchase of religious articles made in a country that persecutes the Roman Catholic Church and has tried to control it with a Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association?”
Bishops, priests and laity of the underground Church are routinely arrested, fined and given stiff jail sentences simply because they are loyal to the Pope instead of part of the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
At the same time, other Catholic promoters of social justice are shying away from China boycotts arguing that they target the wrong people.
Arthur Hippler, director of the Justice and Peace Office of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., said, “Some lump together ‘Made in China’ with ‘Made in Prison Camps.’ But what if it's made by someone in Shanghai in a factory that's not state-owned or in prison camps?”
Finding New Sources
Father Mark Wood, pastor of Blessed Sacrament, also saw the great number of religious goods made in a country where the Church is persecuted.
“A couple of years ago I was in Mexico,” he said, “and even noticed there — it seemed so bizarre — images of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the stores said, ‘Made in China.’ It made me curious what happened to the religious goods in the West.”
With the blessing of Father Wood, Blessed Sacrament's social justice group acted to stop getting Chinese-made religious items for the gift shop and the church.
“Basically, we're committed to do all we can to find alternate sources for the goods not made in China,” Father Wood said.
Parish volunteer Nancy McFarland, who works in the gift shop, is all for finding new sources.
“I truly believe that if we are going to mouth social justice, then we need to practice what we preach,” she said. “And providing income to a country that does not provide its citizens with human rights is not providing social justice.”
Deacon England pointed out that “‘Made in China’ is so ubiquitous, it's hard to avoid [purchasing goods made there]. So we're just really going to concentrate on religious goods.”
Even with these products, the question of slave labor making them in the Chinese Laogai “labor reform” prison system came up.
“These are low-tech articles and there's a good possibility they're made by slave labor,” the deacon said.
“Even if the items were not made by slave labor, the suppression of the Church would support our boycott,” he added. “And if they are made by slave labor, that would just add fuel to the fire.”
Another Side
Arthur Hippler of the Diocese of La Crosse examined another side of the boycott picture.
“Sometimes it's hard to make sure a thing is from [the prison],” Hippler said. He pointed out that Harry Wu, a prisoner in the Laogai system, explains how different products are indeed made in them yet gives both sides of the picture (www. laogai.org).
“When you can identify injustice, you would never want to support injustice,” he continued. “I would boycott if I could be fairly certain the boycott was hurting the people carrying out the injustice and not the people in the society.”
“But on the other hand, you would never want to boycott people so you spread injustice and punish the people not involved,” he said.
He noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Social Development and World Peace has criticized government embargoes more than private boycotts — including the Iraq and Cuba embargoes.
Hippler noted that Pope John Paul II in his January 1995 address to the diplomatic corps observed that the embargo issue was “a means of exerting pressure on governments that have violated the international code of good conduct and of causing them to reconsider their choices.”
“But in a sense it is also an act of force and, as certain cases of the present moment demonstrate, it inflicts grave hardships upon the people of the countries at which it is aimed,” the Pope said.
Before governments impose such measures, “it is always imperative to foresee the humanitarian consequences of sanctions without failing to respect the just proportion that such measures should have in relation to the very evil they are meant to remedy,” John Paul said.
“Some people will only buy and sell with ‘my own,’” Hippler said. “I don't see how that's compatible with solidarity and recognizing all men are my brothers. All this has to be done with the view of solidarity.”
Alternatives
Joseph Kung, director of the Cardinal Kung Foundation in Stamford, Conn., also noted the difficulty of identifying items made by forced or slave labor.
“If it's not slave labor, it must come from the factory run by the open church authority [the Patriotic Association],” he said. “A huge quantity comes into the United States.”
“If you keep buying religious goods made in China you are in effect supporting the religious policies and the human-rights policies of the Chinese government, which includes forced abortion and the severe restriction of religious practice,” Kung emphasized. “And you are supporting the ‘open church,’ which openly defies the authority of the Holy Father.”
Kung discourages people from buying Chinese products.
“I give examples of many religious stores around the country where the majority of religious items are made in China. Most of the people are not even aware of it,” he said. “They can replace the religious items with those made in other countries and made better. China isn't the only cheap import.” He advised looking to countries such as Taiwan or the Philippines.
Deacon England would like the boycott to extend statewide. He plans to present the idea to the Diocese of Little Rock's social action advisory board.
Father Wood believes the policy would have a great effect if it spread nationwide.
“If enough Catholic parishes and Catholic bookstores stopped buying goods from China and [started] buying them [for example] from the Philippines,” he said, “that would have an impact and give a message to the Chinese government to change its policies.”
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Mother of The Family DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:WARSAW, N.D. — Residents of Warsaw, N.D., are familiar with one of the Church's newest saints — Gianna Beretta Molla. She has had a significant impact upon the rural city.
The Italian doctor died in 1962 of medical complications that could have been prevented by an abortion. Pope John Paul II will formally name her a saint and give her the title Mother of the Family on May 16.
But in North Dakota, a maternity home named for her has already welcomed at least 12 newcomers to this town of 60, six of them babies that might not have otherwise been born.
It's only appropriate, especially given the sacrifice Gianna Molla made for her own unborn daughter.
“You can't find a more appropriate modern woman who sanctified the ordinary events of her life and [who] shows us the sacrifices that a mother makes to give life to the child in her womb,” said Mary Pat Jahner, resident director of Blessed Gianna's Maternity Home. “She is a great model of heroic virtue for all of the young mothers who come here.”
Trained as a medical doctor and pediatrician, Gianna opted for a risky surgery to remove the tumor but to protect the developing baby at all costs. She entered the hospital on Good Friday 1962. She gave birth to her fourth child, Gianna Emanuela, on Holy Saturday and developed an infection that led to several days of excruciating pain. She died of septic peritonitis.
Jahner, Father Damian Hils, the home's spiritual director, and Fargo Bishop Samuel Aquila will all be in attendance at Blessed Gianna's canonization.
“Gianna is the only layperson being canonized that day,” said Joseph Cunningham, president of the Society of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. “Here's a layperson who has lived a life like we have.”
Well, almost.
‘Time to Intercede’
Gianna's cause for canonization was first introduced in the early 1970s. The first miracle occurred through her intercession in Brazil in November 1977. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994.
The Pope proposed her as a model for all mothers saying, “A woman of exceptional love, an outstanding wife and mother, she gave witness in her daily life to the demanding values of the Gospel. By holding up this woman as an exemplar of Christian perfection, we would like to extol all those high-spirited mothers of families who give themselves completely to their family, who suffer in giving birth, who are prepared for every labor and every kind of sacrifice, so that the best they have can be given to others.”
The miracle needed for her canonization was recognized formally Dec. 20.
That miracle took place in Brazil in 2000. Elisabeth Comparini Arcolino, a mother of three, was 16 weeks pregnant with her fourth child when she sustained a tear in the placenta, resulting in the loss of her amniotic fluid. She was told the baby's chances of survival were nil.
By divine providence, Bishop Diogenes Silva Matthes of Franca, Brazil, was visiting a friend at the hospital. After being summoned to Arcolino's room, Arcolino told him the doctor had advised her to have an abortion.
“You don't kill life inside the mother,” the bishop told her. “This is the time for Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla to intercede for the life you are carrying.” At home the bishop began praying, “The time for your canonization has arrived. Intercede to the Lord for the grace of a miracle and save the life of this little baby.”
Despite the lack of amniotic fluid, Elisabeth delivered a healthy baby girl, Gianna Maria, by Caesar-ean section on May 31, 2000. The Arcolino family will be present for the canonization.
The evening before the canonization, Cunningham will be meeting with the Molla family — Gianna's husband, Pietro, and her children, Gianna Emanuela, Laura and Pier-luigi — in the Vatican Gardens to pray a rosary in thanksgiving for her canonization. The following morning the first Mass of the new saint will be celebrated at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls followed by the family's private audience with Pope John Paul II.
Fitting Patron
Officially licensed last December, Blessed Gianna's Maternity Home is located 30 miles north of Grand Forks, N.D. Housed in a renovated 9,000-square-foot former convent, the home has 19 beds available to mothers in crisis pregnancies.
The idea for the home came as the result of individual prayer on the part of Father Hils, Jahner and Colleen Sampson. Father Hils serves as pastor of the Church of St. Stanislaus, which sits across from the convent. Jahner, a teacher, had volunteered time with the Missionaries of Charity in California. Her failure to help two former students caught in crisis pregnancies led to her desire to help women in similar situations. Sampson is the director of a crisis-pregnancy center in Park River, N.D.
The process officially began in December 2000. The group raised nearly $500,000 for the necessary renovations and enlisted the help of 30-40 volunteers every weekend to bring the building up to code. Three years later it became licensed and began accepting women. To date, the home has assisted six women and their babies. It expects to welcome several more this summer.
“Some come for a weekend, others come for longer,” Jahner said. “They find the home a place of peace and healing.”
An original painting in the home's Chapel of the Visitation shows Blessed Gianna being welcomed into heaven by the Blessed Mother. The home's founder thinks Blessed Gianna is the perfect patron for the home.
“Gianna speaks to the example that she sets for women today and her commitment to the dignity of life, no matter what the cost,” Bishop Aquila told the Register. “The purpose of the center is to provide a real home that is Christ-centered for women in difficult pregnancies.”
“Gianna proves the sanctity of human life,” Father Hils said. “She proves the heroic nature of motherhood.”
“These women's stories have opened up a new window on the sufferings of Christ for me,” he said. “They are complex and tragic. By starting the home, I've seen so much of Christ's cross in the world that I had never seen before. These women are deserving of God's love and kindness and often do not receive it until they arrive on our doorstep.”
“Gianna has impacted people in many ways,” Cunningham said. As an example, he offers Gianna Homes, an Alzheimer care facility in Minnetonka, Minn. He said he is also aware of Gianna's impact on the ministry of priests and the life-and-death decisions made by physicians. Although he's lost count, he is aware of more than 200 children who have been named after the saint.
“Just last week,” he said, “one of my students told me her mother gave birth to her 11th child and named her Gianna Maria.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: Pope to canonize doctor who died for her daughter ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Back to the Church's Roots in Tough Times DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Cardinal Adam Maida is no stranger to Pope John Paul II.
The Detroit archbishop initiated the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. He discussed the center with the Pope at his recent ad limina visit to Rome — a five-yearly visit by American bishops who meet in small groups with the Pope (see story, page 5).
Register correspondent Edward Pentin spoke with Cardinal Maida about the center, about the current Communion controversy and whether Michigan's Catholic, pro-abortion governor should receive Communion (see related story, page 2).
What did you find most helpful about your visit?
Coming to the Vatican is always uplifting; it brings us to our roots. When we visit the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul we recall their generosity — we can identify with them and the challenges they faced, which are great sources of hope. The meetings give us 20 bishops the opportunity to meet and gather for prayer and to have open discussions that are affirming.
The Church in the United States has had to face much lately concerning issues such as the sexual-abuse crisis. Were any of these issues discussed?
The life of the Church is multifaceted — the sexual-abuse issue is one problem but it's not the only one. What we discussed depended on the particular congregation we were meeting.
The Holy Father is particularly interested in matters concerning family life, marriage, young people and education. The life of the Church is rich and provides many opportunities and hope on many issues on which people need guidance.
What is your opinion on the question of Church sanctions against pro-abortion politicians, in particular the current governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, who is a pro-abortion and pro-homosexual-rights Catholic politician who has served as a lector in her home parish?
To my knowledge she is not a lector. In her younger life she was a lector but when she entered politics she no longer served as such.
Anyone who's taking a position against Church authority we restrict from taking positions within the Church. But it depends on the issue, the person and the circumstances as to which particular sanctions we take — it has to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
Was the issue of politicians and their eligibility to receive Communion discussed in your meetings?
The issue was not raised so much. The United States is a pluralist country — we have different problems than other countries — these problems are important for us but there are other problems for other cultures.
The question of reception of the sacraments must be applied in the context of different cultures, and it can be applied in different ways.
You mean that issues such as this are the responsibility more of the U.S. Church, the U.S. bishops, rather than the Holy See?
They are problems that need to be applied to the local scene.
Did you discuss with the Holy Father the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington?
We didn't discuss it in our public audiences with the Holy Father. But at least once a year, trustees of the center make a pilgrimage to Rome to report on what's happening.
The Holy Father is always anxious to know how things are going and is kept informed. The center has been open three years now and is still evolving.
What other topics did you discuss in your meeting?
What I was surprised to find fascinating was our visit to the secretary of state, where we discussed the world situation and had a meeting with the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, who is a very positive presence here in Rome.
We discussed world poverty, the effects of globalization, the movement of people across borders, jobs, war, the Church's position in the Middle East, the relations with Jews and so on.
It reinforced the fact that whatever we do, whether it be making automobiles or whatever, affects other countries very much. What was particularly interesting for me was that in my archdiocese we have the largest Muslim community in the United States — in Detroit — so these discussions were very helpful.
On these visits one is taken out of one's local environment and onto the world stage, which is refreshing — there aren't many organizations with the worldview the Church has. We had discussions on how the Church can bring its voice to certain issues, to speak ecumenically, to see how dialogue can affect humanity.
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Inperson -------- TITLE: To Keep Kids Out of Jail He Teaches Them How to Sail DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:BRISTOL, Maine — Samuel Johnson said, “No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail.”
Kurt Rauscher would disagree.
In 1997, Rauscher formed the Maine-based Maria Mercedes Foundation with the specific aim of keeping young men and women out of jail by turning them into sailors and boat-builders. And, most importantly, by turning them into morally conscious human beings.
Rauscher, a lifelong sailor and Navy veteran, was 48 when he began working with “at-risk” youth. The former health care risk manager “decided that perhaps, God willing, I could be of some use to my fellow human beings.”
He saw the need for people to work with teen-agers whose undisciplined lives combined with “a lack of Christianity in our society” led them to the first stages of alcoholism, violence, drug abuse and incarceration. He knew he could help.
With that belief, an old boat in need of work and some referrals from the Maine Department of Corrections, the Maria Mercedes Foundation was born.
To work with the state, the Maria Mercedes Foundation remains — technically — a secular organization, but in truth Catholicism informs every aspect of the program, from grace before meals to the non-relativist approach to moral issues.
It is a quality Father Stephen Mulkern, a local retired priest, has observed. As he put it, “The name itself tells you that the foundation is Catholic.” Maria Mercedes is Spanish for Mary the Merciful.
Rauscher maintains the Catholic identity of the program because the Church forms the very bedrock of what he is trying to accomplish.
“We have 2,000 years of Church teaching to help us answer all of the hard questions,” he said. “Kindness to others, obeying the law, no pre-marital sex and all the issues that seem to be blurred for them but are crystal clear to us because we are Catholic.”
In the seven years Rauscher has operated the foundation, the program has been refined to a unique blend of boat building, seamanship and often-subliminal counseling. During the winter session, the clients — medium- to high-risk juvenile offenders — spend two nights a week in the boat shop developing a work ethic and a sense of responsibility as they learn basic carpentry skills with a dose of academics thrown in.
“We get the client engaged in an activity, boat building or sailing, and once he is disarmed by the act of ‘doing,’ we introduce a subject such as drug usage as a natural course of events,” Rauscher explained. “With these kids it's no use using the adult model for drug counseling — sitting in a room talking about drugs.”
Each client begins by building a toolbox, giving him something he can keep and be proud of. Rauscher stocks each box with a collection of the basic hand tools needed for woodworking. From there, clients build small rowboats and participate in the construction of a 20-foot sailboat.
Get Them Thinking
The effectiveness of that approach is not lost on the Maine Department of Corrections. “Kurt has a dynamic personality; he challenges the kids,” said Martha Takatsu, a juvenile community corrections officer who refers clients to Maria Mercedes. “It is small and hands-on. Kurt has them building something while talking about life skills.”
With the young people working shoulder to shoulder with Rauscher in the small boat shop, the counseling is done without them realizing it but is all the more effective for it. Over dinner (carried out with the strictest attention to table etiquette), Rauscher will ask a question out of the blue such as, “So, what happens to you after you die?”
Soon the apprentices are discussing things they might never have thought of before: “Why should we bother being nice to each other?” “Why should people who are married stay married?” The questions are designed to get the kids to consider moral issues, and they do.
“Maria Mercedes encourages spirituality and good moral decisions, which is very important for young people,” said Kendra Potz, who, as prosecuting attorney for Maine's Midcoast District, has had plenty of opportunity to see the program in action. “A lot of these kids don't think about morality.”
Potz admits she is a big fan of Maria Mercedes. “The kids might have a very bad attitude in court,” she said, but after working with Rauscher, “they come back and their whole demeanor has changed.” Rauscher has even taken clients shopping and bought them presentable clothes for a court date.
The workshop setting serves admirably for giving the kids the structure and discipline their lives lack, but for structure and discipline there is no venue like a boat.
“The ultimate authoritative community in the secular world would either be prison or a sailboat,” Rauscher said. “And since the allure of adventure and freedom as represented in sailing is much more motivating than incarceration, young people tend to listen better to instruction.”
Winter's End
Bristol is located on the Maine coast halfway between the New Hampshire state line and the Canadian border. It is a solidly maritime community, encompassing the small fishing ports of New Harbor and Round Pond with ties to the sea that go back generations. Like many Maine coastal towns, it has a wide economic mix — wealthy retirees alongside working-class and often poor longtime locals.
That dichotomy and the economic pressure it brings to bear on the less-wealthy residents of Bristol is part of the reason for the increase in juvenile crime.
When the cold Maine winter ends, Maria Mercedes moves into its summer sailing program.
“Teaching respect for authority on a sailboat is obvious in that there can be only one person in charge,” Rauscher said. Working and living in tight quarters — clients are on the boat for a week at a time — demands consideration for others, teamwork, cooperation and respect for authority.
More than 60% of clients who graduate from the program stay out of trouble, “a very high success rate,” Potz said, and a rate much higher than most programs. Parents have credited Maria Mercedes with saving their children's lives.
Jim Nelson writes from Harpswell, Maine.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: James Nelson ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Couples Have Babies to ‘Save’ Other Siblings
Embr yos are created in vitro and then DNA removed from them to test for antigen genes that are compatible to those of the sibling, the newspaper reported. The embr yos with matches are then placed in the mother with the hopes they will implant and grow into a baby.
The study the doctors reported on required creation of 199 eight-celled embr yos, “many of which lost the luck of the draw merely because they weren't compatible,” the Tribune reported.
Pope John Paul II, in his 2000 address to the 18th International Congress of the Transplantation Society, said of such procedures: “Any procedure that tends to commercialize human organs or to consider them as items of exchange or trade must be considered morally unacceptable, because use of the body as an object is to violate the dignity of the human person.”
Pelosi Says She'll Take Communion
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 29 — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a Catholic who supports abortion, says she'll take Communion regardless of what some bishops and Church leaders have said on the topic.
“I fully intend to receive Communion, one way or another. That's ver y important to me,” she told reporters at her April 29 weekly press conference, the wire ser vice reported.
Pelosi said she believed her support of abortion was “one that is consistent with [her] Catholic upbringing, which said that ever y person has a free will and has the responsibility to live their lives in a way that they would have to account for in the end.”
Missouri Republicans Oppose Catholic Conference
Republicans are particularly incensed at the conference's main lobbyist, Larr y Weber.
They accuse him of distorting figures in a letter from the conference signed by the bishops that said the cuts would hinder access to health care for the state's poorest citizens. Republicans argue that the 20,000 figure in the letter would actually be closer to 2,400, the newspaper reported.
“We felt it was obvious the figures before the House understated the effect of the bill,” Weber told the paper. “To deprive state assistance from families like this we just thought is unconscionable.”
Rep. Jodi Stefanick, R-St. Louis, a Catholic who said she follows Church teachings, said it was frustrating to be on the opposite side of the Church on the issue.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: From Homosexual Activist To Committed Catholic DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:ARLINGTON, Va. — Massachusetts will begin issuing marriage licenses to members of the same sex May 17. David Morrison is not surprised.
“We have reduced marriage in many instances to contracepted partnerships with some financial advantage,” he said, adding, “Is it any wonder that same-sex couples want a piece of that legal pie?”
Morrison readily admits he is homosexual. In the 1999 book Beyond Gay, he describes his transformation from homosexual activist to committed Catholic. He now writes and speaks to audiences seeking to understand the Church's position on sexuality, same-sex attraction and chastity.
His transformation began in the midst of a crisis. Desperate and despairing, he offered the only honest prayer he could at that moment in his life: “Lord, I don't even know if you exist, but if you do, I sure need you in my life.”
Suddenly he experienced a profound, deep awareness of a presence in the room. “Jesus was there and he loved me,” Morrison writes in the book.
He spoke to Register correspondent Nona Aguilar from Arlington, Va.
After your experience of Christ's presence, you write that you rose from your knees with more questions than answers. Where did you go for answers?
I looked for a church. I knew no one to ask, so I opened the yellow pages and started scanning. I narrowed my search to an Episcopal church; I felt I could count on Anglicans to be friendly toward a homosexual activist. I was right. At Trinity Episcopal in Arlington, Va., everyone had a story; everyone had a past. Nobody scorned me because of my homosexuality; one way or another, we were all there because of Jesus.
For a time you held to the beliefs of so-called homosexual Christianity, which are positions you no longer hold. What happened?
At a certain point, I felt I had to “come out” to my pastor. After telling him everything, including the fact that I was a homosexual activist, I was powerfully struck by what he said to me. “David, if you need me to affirm what you do in bed, I can't, because I think that's sin. But if you need me to affirm you as a brother in Christ, I can do that. Anyone who confesses Christ is welcome here.”
I could live with that, especially since I hoped to help educate my pastor and fellow congregants out of their “backward” ideas. But by the end of the year, it was my ideas that changed.
What sparked the change?
I read The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Confronted with Christ, Bonhoeffer makes clear one has but two possible choices: either to follow and serve or to walk away. To my deep, bone-shaking horror, I realized that I had begun to walk away.
How?
For example, in preparation for my baptism, I began to read the Bible carefully to understand, as best I could discern it, what sex is for in the mind of God. Over and over again in Scripture, God's witness is to a fully human sexuality that includes sex drive and tenderness, orgasms and eggs, passion and possible parenthood. In short, fertility matters! It can't simply be discarded from the sex act as irrelevant or meaningless. The homosexual “theology” I had signed on to didn't stand up to this fuller understanding of sex. To hold on to its misunderstanding would be a form of “walking away.”
I also began to comprehend what love really means vis-à-vis interacting with other people: It means doing the right thing, which is not always the comfortable thing. Love, Christ and real faith demanded that I cease treating my partner, or anyone else, as an object for sexual evaluation or pleasure.
When I reached the point that I could no longer ignore how I was leading my life, I had to make the choice Bonhoeffer described. One Saturday evening, I wrote a final note to some of the people I knew from our homosexual “theology” initiative to explain why I had to withdraw. The next morning I went to my partner, whom I loved deeply and was terrified of losing after so many years, and told him that I loved him, had made a decision for chastity and wanted to find a way to work this out together.
Did you?
We did, but it was hard. He was confused and upset about where I was coming from and what it would happen to us and our relationship. Through a series of graced moments, over the course of a year, we concluded that our relationship meant far more than merely what happened in the bedroom.
Are you still in touch?
Very much so! It's been more than a decade and we are the closest of friends. Neither of us could have imagined how much richer, intimate and meaningful our relationship would become once we were both chaste.
Were you a Catholic at that point?
Not then, but after I began living a chaste life, I saw things even more clearly. I also learned about Courage, the Catholic organization that supports and helps same-sex-attracted people to live chaste lives.
Other organizations for same-sex-attracted people, such as Integrity, which is Episcopalian, and Dignity consider chastity irrelevant. It's not irrelevant; it's central! I saw that the Church understands sex as pertaining to the whole person, not just to his or her sexual inclinations. Soon after that, I sought instruction.
What are your thoughts on same-sex marriage?
The fact that we are debating it at all indicates how badly we have treated marriage up to this point. We have lost sight of marriage as a vocation, as much of a vocation as the priesthood or religious life or the Christian life overall for that matter.
Like all vocations, it calls for us to die to ourselves, which is never easy to do. …
I hope the debate occasioned by the same-sex marriage fight helps spark a deeper comprehension of marriage overall. Even if the forces in favor of defining marriage as between a man and a woman win in the coming legislative and legal contests, there will still be a lot to do. Winning that battle will mean the patient has been revived with the electric paddles on the floor of the emergency room, not that he or she walks smiling out of the hospital cured of terminal illness.
Nona Aguilar writes from New York City.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Nona Aguilar ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Vatican Exorcist ‘Always Wins’
“These customs open the door to evil spirits and to demonic possessions,” Father Amorth, 80, told the paper. “Exorcism is God's true miracle.”
From Europe to the Americas to Africa, exorcism has been experiencing a renaissance as of late, the newspaper reported. The number of exorcisms has increased in Italy more than tenfold in the last decade alone to 300.
Father Amorth, co-founder of the International Association of Exorcists and its president emeritus, says he's never been afraid of the devil. “In fact,” he said, “I can say he is often scared of me.” While it might take some time to heal certain patients, he insisted he — and God — always wins.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, Italy, recently organized a task force of exorcists and doctors to handle an overload of troubled Italians seeking the Church's help, some of them possessed and some of them just “disturbed.”
“The devil is real,” Cardinal Bertone said. “He is at work, and he is agitating.”
John Paul to Visit Switzerland in June
SWISSINFO, May 3 — Pope John Paul II will visit Switzerland in June, the Vatican confirmed May 3. It will be his first trip abroad since September and his first one to Switzerland in 20 years.
The Pope will visit Bern, the Swiss capital, June 5-6 and meet with a government delegation. He will also attend a youth festival, the news service reported.
The decision to visit is a “huge gift,” according to a spokesman for the Swiss bishops’ conference. It shows the Pope is still a “friend of youth” despite his advanced years, the spokesman said.
John Paul is scheduled to stay at a residential home for elderly people run by an order of nuns. On June 6, tens of thousands are expected to attend an open-air Mass celebrated by the Holy Father.
Archbishop: No Muslim Prayer in Spanish Cathedral
“We, too, want to live in peace with persons of other religions,” Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the Vatican's AsiaNews agency. “However, we don't want to be pushed, manipulated and go against the very rules of our faith.”
The Vatican has been careful not to demand similar rights at mosques that were once Catholic churches, Archbishop Fitzgerald noted. Pope John Paul II had prayed at a mosque at Damascus in Syria, he said, “but he did not ask to celebrate Mass. One has to accept history and go forward.”
While Spanish Muslims had been lobbying to pray in part of the cathedral, the newspaper reported, Archbishop Fitzgerald said they had yet to make a formal request to the Vatican.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Happy Birthday to a Young and Holy Pope! DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Before August 2000, the world had never seen 2 million young people in one spot. “You are young,” the enthusiastic boys and girls cried out to Pope John Paul II during the World Youth Day vigil in Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome.
“Young?” he replied, smiling. “A youth of 80 years of age!”
On May 18, the “young” Pope will turn 84.
I find it meaningful that he celebrated his last two birthdays with youth and with holiness.
On May 18, 2002, he met with 7,000 young people from Rome to mark the third centenary of the presence of the Christian Brothers' Schools in Italy. “Happy Birthday, Holy Father!” the youths sang, accompanied by their Neapolitan orchestra.
A year later, his birthday coincided with the proclamation of four new saints — a Polish bishop, an Austrian nun and two Italian foundresses of religious congregations.
“There is no age that is an obstacle for a perfect life,” the Holy Father said during the homily of the canonization Mass. ”There is no age — we may add — that is an obstacle for a ‘young’ life.”
Youth and holiness: the two sides of the same 84-year-old soul. Holiness is, by nature, youthful. Spiritual youth is, essentially, saintly.
Holiness and youth: the two sides of the key to unlock John Paul's consequential pontificate. “To believe and to love: This is the program of your pontificate,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said last year, congratulating the Pope on his birthday. “You show us, tirelessly, the face of Christ, the face of the merciful God.”
Youth and holiness will be somehow visible in the extraordinary way the Pope celebrates his birthday — with an ordinary day of work. There is no public Mass, no official gathering, no extra free time. It is not a day off for the Vatican staff and the Roman Curia. The Holy Father prefers to celebrate the feast of his patron saint, St. Charles Borromeo, Nov. 4, and the anniversary of his election as Bishop of Rome on Oct. 16.
The only unusual event that day will be the special dinner cooked by the Polish nuns who look after the Pope. They are nuns of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded in Krakow in 1894 by Polish Bishop Sebastian Pleczar, whom the Pope elevated to the altars 365 days ago. One of the nuns, Sister Germana, will prepare a cake for dessert, John Paul's favorite course.
If the Holy Father would ask for something that day, he would ask for prayers, as he did last year, “so that God will help me to fulfill faithfully the mission he has entrusted to me.”
The Pope's birthday will be preceded and followed by holiness and youth. On May 16, the Holy Father will canonize Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla, a doctor, wife and mother who, in her fourth pregnancy, accepted the risk of death from cancer rather than abort the baby girl she was expecting. She died in 1962 at age 39.
On June 5, Christ's Vicar will travel to Bern, Switzerland, to take part in the first National Meeting of Swiss Catholic Youth.
Unchangeable John Paul! As he grows older, he continues to grow young and holy.
“There is a Polish proverb,” the Pope said spontaneously to the 2 million youths who attended the 2000 World Youth Day. “It says: ‘Kto z kim przestaje, takim si? Staje,’ which means, ‘If you live with the youth, you will also become young.’ Thus, I come back rejuvenated.”
We, too, wish to be rejuvenated by living long with a young and holy Pope John Paul II.
Legionary Father Alfonso Aguilar teaches philosophy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome.
He can be reached at aaguilar@legionaries.org.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Father Alfonso Aguilar, LC ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Trust in God's Wise Plan of Salvation DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Register Summary
During his general audience with 12,000 people in St. Peter's Square on May 5, Pope John Paul II continued his teaching on the psalms and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours with a meditation on the hymn to Christ in St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians. The Holy Father pointed out that many scholars believe the canticle is actually an ancient hymn of the Churches in Asia Minor that St. Paul included in his letter.
The canticle offers a vision of the history of the world with Christ at its center as Lord of the universe. “This hymn paints a wonderful fresco of the universe and of history, inviting us to trust,” the Pope noted. “We are not some useless speck of dust lost in space and time without meaning; we are part of a wise plan that flows from the Father's love.”
Through Jesus, God's beloved Son, in whom everything in heaven and earth is created, all people are drawn into God's transcendent plan for mankind, John Paul explained. “He is also the Lord of salvation history,” the Holy Father said, “which is manifested in the Church and is fulfilled by ‘the blood of his cross,’ a source of peace and harmony for the entire human project.” Christ, he said, directs us to the fullness of life to which the Father, in his love, calls us.
The Pope ended his reflections with a quote from St. John Chrysostom, who reminds us that we most experience God's providence and gratuitous love for us in the Church and who encourages us to respond with joy to the intimate communion we are privileged to share.
We have heard the marvelous Christological hymn from the Letter to the Colossians. Evening prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours includes it in every one of its four weekly cycles and offers it to the faithful as a canticle, possibly the form in which it was originally conceived. In fact, many scholars maintain this hymn might be quoting a song from churches in Asia Minor that Paul included in his letter to the Christian community in Colossae, which was then a large and flourishing city.
However, the apostle was never in this town, which was located in Phrygia, a region of present-day Turkey. The local Church had been established by one of his disciples, Epaphras, who was a native of that land. He is mentioned at the end of the letter, along with the Evangelist Luke, “the beloved physician” as St. Paul calls him (see Colossians 4:14), and another figure, Mark, “the cousin of Barnabas” (see Colossians 4:10), possibly the same Mark who was the companion of Barnabas and Paul (see Acts 12:25 and 13:5, 13) and later became an Evangelist.
Lord of the Universe
Since we will have an opportunity to return to this canticle on other occasions in the future, we will limit ourselves for the time being to offering an overview of it and quoting a spiritual commentary, which was composed by St. John Chrysostom (fourth century A.D.), a famous Father of the Church, a renowned speaker and the bishop of Constantinople. The majestic figure of Christ, the Lord of the universe, emerges in this hymn. Like the divine, creative Wisdom that is exalted in the Old Testament (see, for example, Proverbs 8:22-31), “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”; furthermore, “all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16-17).
Thus a transcendent plan is unfolding in the universe, which God carries out through the work of his Son. This is also proclaimed in the prologue of the Gospel of John, when John states that “all things came to be through [the Word], and without him nothing came to be” (John 1:3). Matter — with its energy — and life and light also bear the mark of the Word of God, “his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). The revelation found in the New Testament casts new light on the words of the Old Testament sage who declared, “For from the greatness and beauty of created things, their original author, by analogy, is seen” (Wisdom 13:5).
Lord of History
This canticle from the Letter to the Colossians presents another one of Christ's roles: He is also the Lord of salvation history, which is manifested in the Church (see Colossians 1:18) and is fulfilled by “the blood of his cross” (verse 20), a source of peace and harmony for the entire human project.
So, it is not only the world outside of us that is marked by Christ's powerful presence but also the human creature's most specifically human reality: the unfolding history of our lives. Our history is not left to the mercy of blind and irrational forces; in the midst of sin and evil, Christ's work sustains and guides it to fullness. This is how, through the cross of Christ, all of reality is “reconciled” with the Father (see verse 20).
In this way, this hymn paints a wonderful fresco of the universe and of history, inviting us to trust. We are not some useless speck of dust lost in space and time without meaning; we are part of a wise plan that flows from the Father's love.
Trust in God
As we mentioned earlier, we now listen to some words from St. John Chrysostom so he can be the one to leave the crowning touch on this meditation. He reflects at length on this canticle in his Commentary on the Letter to the Colossians. At the beginning, he emphasizes the gratuitous nature of this gift from God, “who has made us fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light” (verse 12). “Why does he call it ‘inheritance’?” St. John Chrysostom wonders, and he answers: “To show that no one can obtain the Kingdom by his own works. Here, as in most instances, ‘inheritance’ [or ‘lot’] also means ‘good fortune.’ Nobody shows behavior that deserves the Kingdom; everything is a gift from the Lord. This is why he says: ‘When you have done all you have been commanded, say: “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do”’” (PG 62,312).
This benevolent and powerful graciousness re-emerges later on, when we read that all things were created through Christ (see Colossians 1:16). “The subsistence of all things depends on him,” the bishop explains. “Not only did he bring them out of nothing into being, but he is the one who still sustains them, so that if they were severed from his providence, they would perish and dissolve … They depend on him. In fact, merely turning toward him is enough to sustain and strengthen them” (PG 62, 319).
An even greater sign of this gratuitous love is all that Christ is doing for the Church, of which he is the head. In this regard (see verse 18), St. John Chrysostom explains, “After speaking of Christ's dignity, the apostle also speaks of his love for man: ‘He is the head of his body, the Church,’ out of a wish to show his intimate communion with us. Thus, he who is above all and superior to all united himself to those who are below” (PG 62, 320).
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Soho's St. Patrick Church DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:LONDON — Sex clubs, fashionable bars and restaurants, prostitutes and drug dealers — these are the main attractions for the crowds who throng the narrow streets of the Soho neighborhood in London's West End.
But in the midst of these spiritual stumbling blocks, the local Catholic Church is seeking to serve as a “spiritual lighthouse” and reclaim the people and streets for God.
Built of red brick in an Italianate style and with an imposing tower, St. Patrick's Church attracts many American tourists who stay in the hotels near the British Museum. Archbishop Fulton Sheen spent a number of summers here. The church is also a focal point for the capital's Latin American and Chinese Catholics, and each weekend, Mass is celebrated in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Cantonese.
When Father Alexander Sher-brooke became parish priest in 2002, leaving behind a middle-class parish in leafy west London, he immediately set about drawing up a radical and ambitious plan to respiritualize Soho. With the help of a team of volunteers, he has established an international school of mission, an SOS prayer line based in the church tower and a drop-in center for homeless people.
The church is also home to the Cenacolo, Shalom and Oasis prayer groups as well as the London Fertility Care Center, which aims to meet the needs of individuals and couples seeking moral alternatives to contraception and artificial reproductive technologies.
Father Sherbrooke
“There are a lot of things that happen here at St. Patrick's,” Father Sherbrooke said. “It's a bit like opening a door. Once a door is opened a lot of things come in. People want to take part in evangelization or commit themselves to a life of prayer. We're now beginning to think this through systematically.”
Father Sherbrooke has been personally exposed to Soho's seedy side. ”At certain times, I've been offered everything from girls to boys to drugs,” he said. “Soho is a place where there are a lot of people who need money quite quickly.”
So how different is the West End from suburban London?
“Someone once described West End parishes as spiritual snack bars — the West End parishes have all suffered from movement of population, but they have a very important ministry because of Masses, confession and adoration,” Father Sher-brooke said. “I call St. Patrick's a spiritual lighthouse where the work of the Lord is happening in a world that is hedonistic and, dare I say it, anti-God.“
“The sacrament of confession is very important here,” he continued. “I'm kept very busy with confession without ever having really pushed it.”
”The challenge of evangelization here is in some ways easier to define,” Father Sherbrooke said.” … First and foremost, we are collaborating in bringing people to the Lord.
“For example, the idea of the Cenacolo prayer group is to befriend adults from the streets and then direct them to a Cenacolo community in Ireland or Italy. Once a month the members of the group go out into the streets after adoration and rosary. So far they have taken four addicts into a Cenacolo community.”
Forming Youth
A key initiative at St. Patrick's is Commission, an international school of mission that currently has seven students.
“Young people today don't know anything about the Christian faith,” Father Sherbrooke said. “You can give young people an experience of religious enthusiasm but when it comes to engaging with the world, what do they know about the structure of the Mass, the call to evangelization, the theology of the body? The school of mission provides the best lecturers up and down the country and it tries to form the young people. The disciples were with the Lord for three years before being sent out.”
In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia In Europa (The Church in Europe) Pope John Paul II said:
“I encourage the Church in Europe to give greater attention to the training of young people in the faith. … There is no need to fear making demands upon them with regard to their spiritual growth. The way of holiness should be pointed out to them and they should be encouraged to make demanding choices in their following of Jesus, drawing their strength from an intense sacramental life. In this way they will learn to resist the enticements of a culture which often proposes values which are merely superficial or even contrary to the Gospel, and become capable of demonstrating a Christian approach to every sphere of human life, including entertainment and leisure” (No. 61-62).
Steve White, 27, from Milwaukee, decided to join the school after hearing about it while he was studying at the University of Dallas.
“I didn't know what I wanted to do after university,” he said. “When I heard about the school of mission, I figured it would help me to find out what God wanted me to do with my life.”
He has noticed a big difference between the Church in America and in Britain.
“Britain is a less-Christian country,” White said. “Yet, although the numbers of Catholics are small, people have a great sense of the need for evangelization. The Masses are packed in the States but there isn't the same sense of urgency.”
Fellow student Maureen Cox, 27, returned to her faith last year after abandoning it as a teen-ager.
“Family and friends were asking me questions about Catholicism that I couldn't answer, so I applied to join the school of mission to get some formation,” she said. “The most challenging part of my time here has been the street evangelization. Many people are often quite open to discussing faith, although we never see the fruits. But we could be scattering seeds that bear fruit later on.”
Father Sherbrooke insists this kind of evangelization is a basic component of an active faith.
“If you are not speaking to people about Jesus Christ and bringing people to Jesus Christ, your faith will grow weak,” he said. “The body needs food and water to stay alive. The Church needs to evangelize to stay alive.”
”We know that only God can console,” he added. “This is why we're trying to build up a host of projects — so God can be God. We started with very little. But the most important thing is that we start on our knees.”
Greg Watts writes from London.
----- EXCERPT: Bringing Christ's Light to London's Red-Light District ----- EXTENDED BODY: Greg Watts ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:French Officials Debate Same-Sex Marriage
REUTERS, April 28 — Mayor Noel Mamere of Begles, France, plans to wed two homosexual men in June. But the action would be null and void in the eyes of society, according to French Justice Minister Dominique Perben.
The debate highlights recent questions of same-sex marriage in Europe and the rest of the world.
Mamere says there is nothing in current French law that forbids homosexual marriage. Perben, however, says France's Civil Code explicitly refers to marriage as the union of one man and one woman, the news service reported. He warned Mamere of punishment if he went through with the wedding.
“This marriage will be quite simply null and void because it is against the law,” Perben told the newspaper Le Figaro. “A mayor represents the state. He is therefore duty-bound to apply and respect the law, not to promote his own opinions.”
If the wedding were to be performed, Reuters noted, it would do so two months before a visit to France from Pope John Paul II.
Protesters Take Over San Salvador Cathedral
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 28 — With the demand that El Salvador president-elect Tony Saca pull the country's troops out of Iraq, protesters seized the San Salvador cathedral April 28.
About 50 people wearing ski masks stormed the cathedral and kicked out visitors and faithful, the wire service reported. They sealed the doors and hung up banners protesting everything from the government's health policy to the U.S.-Central America free trade agreement.
Saca, who takes office June 1, said he plans to leave the troops in Iraq until August as planned, the wire service reported. The soldiers were serving under Spain, which pulled its troops out early.
The protesters eventually gave up their position inside the cathedral, but demonstrations continued outside, the Associated Press reported. About 25 people were injured by tear gas and by rocks thrown by protesters.
Bishop Zen Visits China for First Time Since 1997
BBC NEWS, May 4 — Bishop Joseph Zen, the leader of the Church in Hong Kong who was banned from China in 1998, visited his home-town of Shanghai at the end of April at the invitation of mainland authorities.
Bishop Zen reportedly met with Shanghai bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian during his trip, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. news service. Bishop Zen has long criticized the China government's suppression of Catholics loyal to Rome and has called for democratic reform in Hong Kong.
China only allows Catholics to worship in state-sanctioned churches and bans all contact with the Vatican, the BBC noted. However, it has allowed the 300,000 Catholics in Hong Kong to practice their faith freely in accordance with the high degree of autonomy that exists under the territory's mini-constitution.
“They said there were no conditions attached to the visit,” Bishop Zen told the South China Morning Post, “and I made it clear that I am not going to be silenced and will continue to speak out after I come back.”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Pornography And Iraq DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:I had nothing to say except to express my revulsion and horror that some of our troops have committed shameful acts against their hapless Iraqi prisoners. Until now.
So begins Patrick Madrid of Envoy magazine in a column for Envoy Encore (find it at www.EnvoyMagazine.com) that is our guest editorial this week. He continues:
Early this morning, I logged onto the Internet news sites and saw the latest round of images of U.S. troops leering and mugging for the camera as they forced Iraqi men to stand naked and hooded, made them sprawl across one another on the floor in groups, simulating homosexual acts, humiliated them for the cameras in other sexual ways, dragging a naked Iraqi man on the floor, a dog leash around his neck, and other atrocities.
It occurred to me that the reason this is happening — and the reason our country might be shocked but shouldn't be in the least surprised that this is happening — is the following: The pornography chickens are coming home to roost. Or to say it the way the Bible does, the American, indeed Western, fascination and enslavement to pornography has sown the wind and now we're reaping the whirlwind (see Hosea 8:7).
The massive and steadily expanding availability of pornography, in all its forms (including, I'm sure, some that you and I would never even dream of), has become so widespread that it pervades every element of our culture: movies, TV, books, music and beyond.
It's no longer just seedy men skulking around back-alley bookstores and porn theaters in the bad part of town. These days, pornography is as common and as mainstream as cable TV (where much of it is easily available). It has a place in many, perhaps most, American homes. Perhaps in your own home.
Several Catholic priests I know have told me in recent years that the incidents of even married women confessing sins involving porn (and related sexual sins) is skyrocketing. And that's just from those Catholic women who still go to confession. The actual number of women involved with pornography is, I fear, staggeringly high. Much higher than we might imagine.
Teens and even children are now being shaped and distorted by the steady diet of pornography that swirls all around them. Hardly a week goes by without some new story involving grammar-school students getting busted for sexual antics (and sometimes crimes) on campus, in school buses, even in the schoolroom. Third-graders don't naturally know about this kind of behavior, much less act it out, unless they are learning it from somewhere.
The multi-billion-dollar porn industry is finding and forming eager consumers at every level. Its many tentacles slither across our culture, snaking their way into our homes through our computers, televisions, radios and DVD players.
Which leads me to my thesis about the “bad apples” among our troops in Iraq. Of course it's only a minority of Americans there who are acting out these macabre sexual impositions against their Iraqi captives, but it seems to me that it's a significant minority. They reflect the moral state of the nation. They are America.
And though we recoil in shock and embarrassment when confronted with their stupid and shameful antics with the prisoners, we shouldn't be surprised by their behavior. They learned it here, stateside, on the Internet, in the movies, at their neighborhood video store, in their hotel rooms, in their living rooms.
Is it any wonder that when, suddenly, these military “bad apples” (the blandly innocuous term so many people have called them on talk radio these last few days since this story broke) are acting out the depraved images that litter the minds of people who are enslaved to porn? I don't think so.
It's terrible to have to say such things about our fellow citizens — American men and women in uniform who are there in Iraq in our name — but what other conclusion can one draw from this? What else would explain their sexual, pornographic depredations against the Iraqis?
Yes, we're shocked by these pictures. We should be repulsed and horrified. But not surprised.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Letters DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Political Problems Persist
Carlos Briceño's article “Faith in the Spotlight” (April 25-May 1) is an excellent summary of several critical moral issues facing the Roman Catholic Church — specifically abortion, conscience and the duties of public leaders who profess to be Catholics.
Catholics cannot wait for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to “release guidelines about how the Church should treat Catholic politicians who ignore Church teachings.” Canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church provide all that is necessary. Clearly there is an element within the bishops' conference that would just as soon wait for the problem to go away, as evidenced by [conference head] Bishop Wilton Gregory's refusal to be interviewed for your article.
Whether because of “analysis paralysis,” cowardice or whatever other reason, the hierarchy's inability or unwillingness to act compounds this scandal the same way it compounded the priest sexual-predator scandal. I believe, with all my heart, that the faithful will rally behind the bishops if they would act to discipline Sen. John Kerry, Frances Kissling and the so-called Catholics for a Free Choice organization, and others who arrogantly disobey Church teachings.
In this Easter season, it is important to emulate Christ, who overcame evil and death not by appeasing it but by taking the battle directly to it and defeating it.
BOB HAUGH, Colonial Heights, Virginia
Unforgettable Images
I am writing this letter to give my support to the use of graphic abortion images that have the potential to save the lives of the unborn and change the hearts and minds of countless people. Since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, 40 million unborn children have been murdered in the United States.
The pictures are brutal, disturbing and disgusting, but they convey a necessary message. Abortion, first and foremost, is murder. It is not simply a “choice” but the willful and premeditated ending of a human life. There is no way for an honest person to deny this fact after viewing these photographs.
When I looked at these horrible pictures, I was filled with sorrow on so many different levels — for all of the lost potential, the ruined lives both of these children and also their potential mothers. I struggled with these images, and I came to the conclusion that there is no other way to show the public what abortion truly is. These photographs have the potential to change the hardest of hearts and, in fact, they already have.
A society's values are reflected most clearly in how the most vulnerable and helpless are treated. The sad legacy of abortion must end. We must be resolute in standing up for the dignity of each and every human life, from conception until natural death, as the Roman Catholic faith teaches so beautifully.
I look forward to the day when the tragedy of abortion has ended, and the pictures of aborted children will serve as a memorial to the countless victims, both born and unborn. Until that day, these pictures serve a necessary purpose in the pro-life battle.
I wanted to end this letter with a quote from our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, which has guided me in my own life and my own medical practice. I think it speaks to the mission of Catholic Christians and compels us to accept the challenge of being witnesses for Christ.
“Our commitment to the dignity of all human beings is the reason why the ecclesial community establishes such things as soup kitchens, provides shelters for the homeless and medical care for the poor. The same conviction should compel all of you today to defend the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death, to care for and protect the unborn and all those whom others might deem ‘inconvenient’ or ‘undesirable.’”
We need to build a culture of life!
Glenn Applegate, M.D., Milwaukee
Hellwig's No Help
Your recent article on dissent at Catholic colleges extensively quotes Monica Hell-wig, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (“Campus Crisis: Report Says Catholic Colleges Promote ‘Culture of Death,’” May 2-8).
Considering her willing and deceitful defense of such obvious anti-Catholic activities as awarding honorary degrees to notorious pro-abortion supporters, supporting pro-abortion clubs, offering internships at local Planned Parenthood offices and hiring pro-abortion politicians as faculty members, it seems clear the problem in Catholic higher education is systemic, not random.
It would be a scandal if she had been appointed to her post only recently and was ignorant of all these problems. Much worse than that, her comments reflect her conviction that such activities actually support Church teaching.
DAVID R. KLUGE, Sheridan, Oregon
Maddening Microcosm
Not too long ago the Register interviewed Mark Shields of CNN's “Capital Gang” and, if I remember correctly, your interviews are a complimentary look at Catholics in the public eye and a short review of their positive achievements.
Since you contributed to the credence and notoriety of Shields' Catholicism, I believe you now have a responsibility to report to your readers how Shields performed as a Catholic on the May 1 broadcast of his show, seen by millions across the country. In my opinion, he and Margaret Carlson have scandalized our faith and have added to the confusion of Catholics and others who are in conflict on abortion. When powerful “Catholic” voices sacrifice integrity and betray their faith to maintain power, they must be challenged! We must fight back vigorously. And who can do it better than the Register?
While watching the show, I found it hard to believe my ears; I had to resort to the transcript to confirm what I heard. The comments of these five people and the quoted comments of our cardinals were to me a microcosmic view of the fundamental crisis in the Church today. This group reflected the anti-Catholicism outside the Church in Al Hunt's insulting comment about Archbishop Raymond Burke and his ridiculous comparison of the death penalty with abortion. It showed the conflict among Catholics — two faithful to doctrine and two in dissent. And it revealed that top Church leaders are still unwilling to provide the decisive leadership for which they are responsible.
CHARLES N. MARRELLI, Irvine, California
The Might of Men
Regarding “I Regret My Abortion: Jennifer White's Horrific Tale of What Abortion Is Really Like” (May 2-8):
Many of us viewed the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. It is a visual testimony of how husbands are to love their wives as taught to us in Ephesians 5:23-33. What woman would not feel cherished, loved and respected if she were loved like Christ loves his bride, the Church, as portrayed in the movie?
Granted, most men will never be scourged or crucified for their beloved — but they will always have the opportunities of total self-giving and self-sacrifice for their beloved, seeking her welfare instead of fame, fortune, excessive sports and unbridled passions.
Jesus Christ left all men an example to follow and the promise that he would be with them until the end of time with the Eucharistic graces necessary to truly love their wife and children. No woman would ever resort to the killing of her children through abortion because of feelings of fear, pressure or abandonment if men would be more Christlike in their commitments and responsibilities entrusted to them by God.
In turn, what woman would be foolish enough not to submit to such a Christlike, loving husband?
PATRICIA STRANG, Foley, Minnesota
Singular
In our community, the Franciscans of the Immaculate, we are forbidden to watch TV or go to the movies. Although we utilize these means for evangelization in the spirit of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, we do not use them for ourselves because of our vow of poverty, our call to interior contemplation and our need for fraternal interaction (something TV does not promote).
So as we followed the Register's reports about the release of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, we knew we would not ourselves be seeing it … or so we thought. As Providence would have it, on Feb. 19 a friend of our community drove to our isolated friary for no other reason than to implore us to go to the movies with him. He offered to buy the whole community tickets and drive them to the theater to see The Passion. It was a unique request; it is a unique movie. So we asked our regional superior for a unique permission and it was granted.
On Thursday, Feb. 26, after our usual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with rosary and Benediction, our rides came to pick up two Franciscan priests and four brothers in full habit — plus three retreatants who decided to go with us — a diocesan priest in clerics and two nuns in full habit. Off we went to the movies. (For me it had been about 15 years since I last saw a movie in a theater; it had been 17 years for Father Raphael!).
We waited at the entranceway to the theater, waiting for the previous showing to finish. It was simply amazing to see the people coming out of the theater. They were speechless; some were in tears. It was quite the preamble. Then our turn came. We took our seats in the small-town theater, which dated back to 1908. The lights dimmed, the usual previews were skipped (at our benefactors' request) and the movie began.
Well, it was more like going to Calvary with Jesus and Mary than going to the movies. It was as if we were there — Hebrew, Latin and all, watching Good Friday unfold. What a masterpiece! Beyond words. Unlike any other film I had ever seen.
FATHER MAXIMILIAN MARY DE CRUCE, FI, Maine, New York
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Good Posture DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Thank you for publishing Joan Lewis' fine report on Redemptionis Sacramentum, the recent Vatican document addressing the widespread problem of liturgical abuse (“Mass Abuse,” May 2-8). I do, however, feel obliged to offer an important clarification to the otherwise excellent piece.
On Page 7, Ms. Lewis identifies several norms cited by the new document. She includes the “norm” that “[c]ommunicants may receive the Body and Blood of Christ either standing or kneeling.” This is at best misleading. What Redemptionis Sacramentum actually says is that “[t]he faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the conference of bishops will have determined, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See” (No. 90).
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, with the recognitio of the Apostolic See, has determined that the norm for reception of Communion in the United States is standing.
Lewis does rightly add that one should not be denied holy Communion based on posture (though the proper cite is No. 91, not No. 92). This is an extremely important point, as some pastors have unjustly denied Communion to those who kneel to receive. This is simply an application of the general principle that any baptized Catholic who is not prohibited by law must be admitted to holy Communion (see Code of Canon Law, No. 843).
Even so, the norm is standing, and pastors have been given the at times unenviable task of “catechizing” the faithful on this controversial norm.
LEON SUPRENANT, Steubenville, Ohio
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: A Tale Of Two Marches DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
On April 25, pro-abortion marchers descended upon Washington, D.C., in droves — homosexual protestors, cross-dressers, half-clothed women and radical feminists with a bevy of aging Hollywood starlets leading the throng. Instead of using the word killing, they marched in unity for “lives.”
Those gathered for the March for Women's Lives included the usual abortion supporters such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood as well as a few surprises, such as the National Education Association, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, YWCA and Georgetown University's H*yas for Choice.
Their T-shirts and placards were filled with messages of hatred, including: “Barbara Bush Chose Poorly” and “The Pope's Mother Had No Choice.”
Depending on whom you believe, there were “tens of thousands” (according to The New York Times) and more than a million (according to Planned Parenthood) in attendance.
The numbers are due to the organizer's shrewd planning — and big wallets. Unlike the March for Life, which takes place on Jan. 22 whether it's a weekday or a weekend, the March for Women's Lives was held on a Sunday to maximize the turnout. Unlike the March for Life, which is held in the midst of winter, this march was held on a beautiful spring day. Unlike the grass-roots March for Life, which is run on a shoestring budget, the March for Women's Lives benefited from a high-dollar promotion effort from the big-money abortion industry and the organizations it funds.
The protest was also planned to coincide with the International Monetary Fund/World Bank and anti-war protestors' presence in town — so professional protesters were in town looking for places to “riot,” to use their word.
The secular media fueled the march with a plethora of stories prior to and on the day of the event. This stands in stark contrast to the media attention historically given to the March for Life.
According to the Media Research Center, not one network news story profiled the pro-life demonstrators at January's March for Life as the central topic. In fact, the center reported that ABC failed to mention the protest at all.
Though more than 100,000 people attended the March for Life and only hundreds attended the pro-abortion counter-protest, CBS' Dan Rather obscured the counts by saying, “Tens of thousands of demonstrators on both sides of the issue filled the streets of Washington.”
When the tables were turned, however, CBS was careful to separate the statistics, noting that the March for Women's Lives drew between 500,000 and 800,000 and “a much smaller contingent of abortion opponents.”
The Associated Press and all the major media outlets were also quick to claim that the number exceeded the last pro-abortion protest of 500,000 in 1992. The media loathes bringing up past numbers when it comes to the March for Life.
Think about it.
The March for Life has been taking place for 30 years. Every single year since, it has attracted crowds ranging in size from 20,000 in 1974 to upward of 200,000 in 1993. On average, the march attracts about 125,000 annually.
Taken collectively, that would be a cumulative total of at least 2.2 million people who have marched for life since the March for Life first began. There is no other civil-rights issue in American history for which more Americans have demonstrated in a march for so many years and in such great numbers. Yet it's a number that, to the best of my knowledge, the media have never reported.
Whether it's 500,000 or not, it doesn't appear those in attendance at the April 25 march are in the mainstream. According to a Zogby International poll released the week of the march, only 13% of Americans believe abortion should be completely unrestricted. Fifty-six percent of the general population and 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds believe abortion should not be legal.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter how many people were in Washington on April 25. We've tolerated the intentional killing of more than 42 million human beings in this country, one by one. Ultimately, one is the only number that really matters. It represents each vulnerable child growing inside his or her mother's womb.
One is a number that's particularly important to me. I was once one such child, threatened in the womb but saved by adoption. But then each of us was loved and born from our mothers, one at a time.
Tim Drake is the Register's staff writer.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Will Merely Pious Movies Reach Them? DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Secular reporters always get around to asking me the same question: “So why do we need Christians in Hollywood?”
They aren't asking why the Church might have an interest in the most influential technological pulpit on the planet. They don't care about the fact that there might be such a thing as a Christian artist who is driven just like other artists to communicate through film and television.
What they mean is, “What's in it for the rest of us that Christians should be in Hollywood?”
I'm always tempted to query back, “Do you ask homosexual artists why they are here? Or have you ever asked Latino artists why Hollywood needs them?” But I never do because I know they don't think of us as a cultural group. And frankly, they are right. Cultural groups are those who make culture. For the last half-century, there hasn't been a lot of culture-making in the name of God.
We religious people tend to be busy about subculture-making — but because these efforts are generally so artistically mediocre, they are completely irrelevant to our secular friends. If we were producing fabulous sacred art, we would necessarily come to the attention of the broader culture.
Most of the “pagans” I know have been to see St. Peter's Basilica. They can't ignore it. It's just too good. One of my sisters sat in a classroom at the University of California-Berkeley and heard her Birkenstock-clad, Karl-Marx-loving music professor proclaim, with a tear in his eye, that “Gregorian chant was the summit of Western civilization's music.” Whoever makes something beautiful wins the culture.
But we have more to give to the world than just sacred art and theological formulations.
It is a good exercise to try to justify ourselves as a distinct cultural group by what it is that we might bring to the mainstream table in every different discipline. What defines a Christian doctor? What makes a Christian teacher? Or lawyer? Or soldier?
Or, as a reporter from Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America, asked me, “If you took all the Christians out of Hollywood, what would be missing?”
Lots of young people have been inspired by Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to come to Hollywood and do more of the same.
That's all well and good, but making sacred art isn't being the “yeast” that Jesus said we believers are supposed to be in the world. Yeast does its work by vanishing. It doesn't make the lump turn into yeast. It gets lost in the lump, which then becomes a different kind of lump, a better lump.
So, the goal for Christians in arts and entertainment isn't just that we produce a continuous stream of movies about the Bible, saints and religious themes. I say this because I know of several people who are fund-raising for production companies to do just that.
As one aspiring Catholic producer put it to me, “I want to make movies that put positive images of priests and nuns back on the screen! Like Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's.” The obvious objection is that we already have those movies. If they were enough, we wouldn't be where we are today culturally, would we?
We also have to be about more than just setting up ministry centers for the creative community. Although one or two would be nice … Eventually, someone in the Church is going to follow through on the bright idea of setting up a beachhead in Hollywood to form, counsel, provide spiritual direction and offer a fellowship of faith to the artists, writers, actors and technical people who get up every morning and define the global culture. And that will be a great and holy thing that will exert a tremendous influence on Hollywood and then the screens of the world.
But even that is not the extent of what Hollywood needs from the Church.
We have things we might say about entertainment and creativity that no one else is saying and that the people who work in the arts and media desperately need to hear. We need to speak not as religious people separate from the world but as human beings in the world who happen to be informed by our religion.
Applying Pope John Paul II's philosophy of personalism to entertainment and the arts would be a wonderful beginning.
How can some methods and themes in entertainment inhibit broad human freedom? How can certain stories make us want to be more of who we are supposed to be? We can propound the idea that entertainment is not optional but a constituent element of human development.
There are places we need to go in our entertainment time to stretch the muscles of our inner person, our soul and psyche — places our normal worlds of work and activity will not take us. There are diseases of the human spirit that mere reality cannot heal.
What is it going to take for some Catholic scholars to apply the theology of the body to the arts? And to do it in a way that will be intelligible to artists, who do not tend to be scholarly?
We might propose to the industry a whole ethics of entertainment built around the sacredness of the human person. How about extending the “right to privacy” to the viewer so as to not violate someone's innocence or healthy sensibilities? What are healthy sensibilities for viewers? As consumers of the arts and entertainment, people today are generally either poisoned beyond knowing what is making them sick or else so reactionary that they reject even things that could heal them.
The Church's constant preoccupation must be for the poor, to recall to the broader society those who otherwise would have no voice. In popular culture, the one group who is “voiceless” is the audience. The Church needs to stand for the masses of viewers, championing their developmental needs and their rights to the advertisers, corporations, artists and executives who will otherwise have nothing but self-interest as a guide.
As people operating in a post-Christian context, we need to bring all of these insights — and many more — into the temporal order without making any reference to God. And we absolutely can. The Gospel is either relevant to every aspect of human experience, or it is a sham.
We have something to say, and all we have to do is figure out a way to translate that to people who don't speak our language.
Screenwriter Barbara R. Nicolosi is the director of Act One:
Writing for Hollywood. She writes from Los Angeles.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Barbara R. Nicolosi ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: King and King? The Battle for the Imagination DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:The battle for the imagination will be the most decisive conflict in the culture war.
Those who capture the imagination — especially the imagination of children — will insure the victory of their cause in the succeeding generations.
Those who are working so feverishly for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages ought to be far, far more concerned about children's books.
“A joyful celebration that firmly challenges the assumptions established and perpetuated by the entire canon of children's picture books,” trumpets the revered Kirkus Reviews. The book? King & King by Linda De Haan.
That is a very exact statement of its revolutionary aim. The “entire canon of children's picture books” has been based on the assumption that the essential ingredient of any romance is a prince and a princess. At the foundation of this assumption is yet another — that male and female are biological, sexual and spiritual complements. This foundation was “established and perpetuated” not out of any conspiracy but merely by the natural flow of common sense. Anything else was unthinkable precisely because it was unimaginable.
As De Haan realizes, in order for the unthinkable to become thinkable, the unimaginable must be imagined. Hence, her “joyful celebration” of Prince Bertie and Prince Lee. Witness the corruption of the imagination as the plot unwinds.
Prince Bertie's overbearing mother, the queen, decides she's had enough of handling the rigors of rule and browbeats her forever-lounging son into choosing a princess. Poor Prince Bertie — just what he'd always dreaded. “Very well, Mother,” he moans reluctantly. “I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses.” A young page gives a knowing wink!
Well, one princess after another is paraded in front of Bertie, but alas, none of them seem to have the proper … qualifications. Finally, Princess Madeline enters and oh how Prince Bertie's heart now flutters with joy! “At last the prince felt a stir in his heart. It was love at first sight” — not for the princess but for her brother, Prince Lee. They both exclaim at once, “What a wonderful prince!”
Oddly enough, the gruff and rather masculine queen seems for once to have unruffled feathers and — without worrying how the two pretty princes will bring about an heir — orders a wedding. The gayla affair is consummated with a lovely kiss between Prince Bertie and Prince Lee. (And just so you won't have to wonder, they live happily ever after because they adopt some children in the sequel, King & King & Family.)
De Haan's book is, alas, just one of the many books aimed at capturing and distorting the imagination of children. You've always enjoyed Hans Christian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling? Well now there's homosexual activist Harvey Fierstein's The Sissy Duckling.
Elmer the duckling doesn't fit in. He wears a pink backpack with daisies on it and loves baking cookies and staging puppet shows. His distraught and all-too-manly father laments, “I'm the laughingstock of the whole flock.” But Elmer turns out to be the hero, nursing his father back to health after he's been wounded by a hunter. In the end, all is well and Elmer proclaims, “I am a big sissy and proud of it!” Gay pride for little ducklings.
Love Dr. Seuss? Try the bad imitation of him in One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dad. Some have one dad, some have two. Those with two dads, dads are blue! Isn't that nice? Two blue dads are special, too!
Perhaps you'd like to read fairy tales? Try The Duke Who Outlawed Jellybeans and Other Stories, a “collection of fairy tales,” to quote one happy reviewer, “all featuring children with GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] parents. The family structures are just integrated into the background, and no big deal is made of it.”
Maybe you'd think it safer just to teach your children their ABCs. Check your local library for a copy of ABC: A Family Alphabet Book. “C is for cookies. Both of my dads know how to make great chocolate-chip cookies.” “L is for lunch. We always pack a picnic lunch when my moms take me to the beach.”
Well, maybe it would be better to stick to counting. 123: A Family Counting Book. Ahh, that sounds innocuous. Let's check out the book description. “Have fun with the kids, moms, dads and pets in this delightful book that celebrates alternative families as it teaches kids to count from 1 to 20. All of the full-color paintings depict families headed by gays and lesbians. Two dads read a bedtime story to their kids, two moms share Popsicles with their kids on the porch and several families gather around the campfire on a summer night.”
Such is a very short sample of the arsenal meant to assault the imagination of children — a very short sample. Bring up any of these books on Amazon.com, and you'll find a nearly endless trail to others. I gave up counting.
Who's buying these books? Public and school libraries all over the nation. Who's paying for these books? You are, with your taxes. Who will be reading these books? Soon enough, they will be read by teachers to their first-, second- and third-grade students — that is, to your children, if they are in public school. What difference will a marriage amendment make? None at all, if the current generation of children find it unimaginable that only a prince and a princess may marry.
Benjamin Wiker (www.benjaminwiker.com) writes from Steubenville, Ohio.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Benjamin Wiker ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: The Mirror Crack'd DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Spirit and Life
Recently I received an e-mail from a Professor R, who teaches religious studies in the Southeast. He wrote, “I am a professor who has used your Book of the Goddess Past and Present: An Introduction to Her Religion in my Women and Religion classes, so I am familiar with your work from other venues.”
Of course, Professor R had confused me with another Carl Olson. Evidently my non-New Evangelization namesake's other literary achievements include Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy: Two Paths of Liberation From the Representational Mode of Thinking.
It seemed Professor R had happened upon my website, carl-olson.com, and found himself “interested in how many articles on the rapture” he found there. He said he's writing a book on “rapture” — that is, spiritual states of ecstasy in which perceptions of reality and identity are altered. I responded, admitting that I didn't have much personal experience with that form of “rapture” and explaining that the form of the rapture I do know about — the so-called pre-tribulation rapture of Left Behind fame — is actually a fictitious future event, so nobody has (or will) experience it.
This led to some conversation about the Catholic understanding of heaven, a topic Professor R found to be “remarkably obscure.” He wondered why more hasn't been written on the topic, writing, “I do not sympathize with this notion that there is not enough data because people don't visit heaven and come back — nobody visits the Trinity either (except in Eastern Orthodoxy), and that never stopped Trinitarian theology.”
Hold on a second! Nobody except the Eastern Orthodox “visit” the Trinity? I couldn't let that go by without comment. I wrote:
“As a Catholic who attends a Byzantine Catholic parish, I have to insist that Catholics also visit the Trinity — or, perhaps more accurately, the Trinity visits us, especially at Divine Liturgy/ Mass. In fact, it is the Catholic (and Orthodox) understanding of deification — that man is truly filled with the Trinitarian life in baptism and in receiving the Eucharist — that played a major role in me leaving behind evangelical Protestantism.” I then referred him to some articles on deification I've written.
His response: “I'll accept deification as union with the Trinity, but that is not mainstream Catholic doctrine.”
I suppose there could be a lively debate about what “mainstream Catholic doctrine” means to Professor R. After all, I don't know if he's Catholic, Unitarian or Tom Cruise's Scientology guru. But the belief that man can enter into an intimate, transforming relationship with the Trinity and truly share in the inner life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is official Catholic doctrine. Check out the very first line of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.”
This theme is found throughout the Catechism, for it's hardly new. Peter's second epistle states that salvation involves becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
Communion with the Trinity is the goal of the Catholic faith. And grace is not just a pleasant concept or a good buzzword but “is a participation in the life of God.” “It introduces us,” the Catechism teaches, “into the intimacy of Trinitarian life” (No. 1997).
Catholics do indeed visit the Trinity. No offense to Professor R, but for my money that's far more attractive and compelling than anything offered by the goddess, Zen or the rapture.
Carl E. Olson is co-author, with Sandra Miesel, of The Da Vinci Hoax, due out from Ignatius in June.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carl E. Olson ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: In Tuscany, an Ascension of the Heart DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Ascension Sunday is devoted to Our Lord's Ascension into heaven, no doubt about that. But on that day, May 20, many Catholics also honor a woman whose sainthood marked an astonishing ascent all its own.
I knew nothing about St. Margaret of Cortona when I arrived in Cortona, Italy, one spring morning. Walking through the quiet, winding streets lined by sand-colored houses with their red-tiled roofs, I admired the Tuscan hills beyond. The trees were just absorbing the pastel hues of spring. How easy it would be, I thought, to drop the world's cares here and open my heart and mind to God's all-consuming love.
I was staying at a peaceful convent in a lower level of the city; I suppose this pre-excursion experience encouraged the mystical feeling. There I had picked up some brochures about the local saint. How fortunate was this St. Margaret of Cortona, I thought, living where the stuff of sainthood seemed to permeate the air.
While on the next morning's walk, I noticed a sign for the Santuario. I instinctively followed it, traipsing up a long, winding, wooded hill. Along the way, the Stations of the Cross led me with prayerful pauses to the top. Then I came at last to the church, whose official name is the Basilica Shrine of St. Margaret of Cortona. (There was a parking lot, so not everyone makes the trip on foot, but commuters miss the stations.)
I soon learned that such was Margaret's reputation even while she was living that a church was begun in her honor in 1297 — the very year she died. Her body was transferred there in 1330. The original site was expanded but finally torn down to make way for this current, large sanctuary. Her incorrupt body lies at the altar in Franciscan robes.
Above the altar is a crucifix she spoke with in her solitude. Also of note in this pilgrimage church is her tomb monument in the Gothic style of the period (1360). Another artistic highlight is the rose window by the celebrated sculptor Giovanni Pisano (1250-1314).
Wayward Youth
Margaret's youth, I learned on that trip, was no more idyllic than that of countless alienated teens you can see scuffing through America today, multiple tattoos and piercings on display. As one biographer put it: “Margaret's surroundings were such as to force to the surface the weaknesses of her character.” In other words, she went looking for love in all the wrong places. And that's an understatement.
Margaret was born not yesterday, however, but around 1247 in a town near Cortona, Italy. Her parents were poor farmers; her mother died when she was young. An unloving stepmother made the loss harder to bear.
During her teen-age years, she fell in with a nobleman named Arsenio from neighboring Montepulciano. He had been looking for a servant and he persuaded Margaret to move into his home and his life. He seduced the unhappy girl (she was still young) and she lived with him for about nine years. He had promised to marry her, but not even the birth of a son motivated him to do so. As his mistress, Margaret had no social position. Arsenio often traveled, leaving her lonely and abandoned.
At some point Arsenio was murdered while hunting; why is not clear. It's said that his dog came to Margaret and, pulling on her dress, took her to where the body lay. The terrified Margaret saw the death as a foreshad-owing of her own fate if she did not change her sinning ways. She returned to her father's home and began to exhibit public penance, wearing a painful rope around her waist.
The problem now was that her past was behind her, but she was wracked with regret. She began to take out her emotional turmoil on her son, whom she reviled as a child of sin. No doubt disturbed by her volatility, her father threw her out of the house.
But Margaret truly had begun to turn her life around. With the help of some Franciscans, she devoted her life to works of charity. Imitating St. Francis himself, she fasted frequently and took to wearing sackcloth.
After three years of strict penitence, she became a Third Order Franciscan. As her devotion to the poor grew, so did her love for Christ. She acquired a following of admirers and helpers. A wealthy woman donated her house and other land to develop a hospital; this became the nucleus of the still-existing Hospital of St. Mary of Mercy.
Thirteenth-century Tuscany was a constant battlefield among local warring factions, yet Margaret was able, with her confessor, to help negotiate peace among the cities. This entailed some prodding of the resistant local bishop. But the fortress, walls and gates of the town — still very much in place today — hint at the troubles expected.
Margaret eventually felt the need to retreat from the town. She moved up the hill to live in a solitary cell, perhaps continuing her penitence. A small church dedicated to St. Basil already existed nearby, just beneath the fortress of the Medici family.
When she died there in 1297 she was already considered a saint in Cortona — despite the skepticism of neighbors who never let her live down her early life and continually questioned the sincerity of her piety. At her death, a mysterious sweet odor emanated from her cell. She soon became patroness of repentant sinners, but her canonization would not be until 1728.
Rewards Aloft
One of the rewards of climbing to the sanctuary today is the spectacular view of the Tuscan countryside from on high. For those on pilgrimage, many other resonant places of Catholic devotion can be found not far off. A small, unusual church with an elegant portico is dedicated to St. Christopher; one to St. Nicholas, with some fine paintings inside, is nearby as well. (You might need to flag down a sacristan to unlock the doors for you at one or both of these.)
At the far side of town, a diocesan museum contains some of the greatest art of the early Renaissance. Fra Angelico's “Annunciation,” for example, is here. It's considered one of the finest representations of this transcendental moment ever created.
On a lower level from the church, near the convent where I stayed, stands the church of San Domenico (1400s) next to the one-time convent where Fra Angelico died. (He's buried in Rome.) Nearby is a public park, again with lovely views.
For all else it offers, though, Cortona is nowhere more magnificent that at the amazing 13th-century Basilica Shrine of St. Margaret of Cortona. It's a very old sanctuary that speaks volumes to contemporary souls about God's sweet mercy on the penitent sinner.
Whether or not you have a troubled teen to pray for, an ascent up the hill to see St. Margaret will help you lift up your heart to our redeeming Lord.
Barbara Coeyman Hults is based in New York City.
----- EXCERPT: Basilica Shrine of St. Margaret of Cortona, Italy ----- EXTENDED BODY: Barbara Coeyman Hults ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Weekly TV Picks DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:All times Eastern
SUNDAY, MAY 16
Historic Homes of Miami
Home & Garden TV, 5 p.m.
Some stops on this tour of historic homes and architectural milestones are Ralph Munroe's Barnacle House from the 1880s, James Deering's Vizcaya palace, Mediterranean homes from the 1950s and a 1980s home in five shades of pink.
MONDAY, MAY 17
Super Saints
EWTN, 9 p.m.
Bob and Penny Lord travel to Spain to acquaint us with St. Pascal Baylon (1540-1592), a shepherd and later a Franciscan lay brother from Aragon, on his feast day. A great lover of the Blessed Sacrament, he once defended the Real Presence from a Calvinist preacher in France so well that a mob of Huguenots tried to kill him.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19
Future Car
PBS, 8 p.m.
In this Scientific American Frontiers episode, host Alan Alda visits automotive research labs in the United States and overseas to learn about trends in car design.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19
Secrets of the Dead: D-Day
PBS, 9 p.m.
As the 60th anniversary of the allied invasion of continental Europe on June 6, 1944, approaches, this two-hour special recalls that epochal day by marshaling veterans’ first-person accounts, archival film, reenactments and even test runs of a replica of the Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) amphibious tank created especially for the invasion.
THURSDAY, MAY 20
The Most
History Channel, 7 a.m.
Two of the major topics covered in this wide-ranging episode are attacks against the U.S. mainland and infamous prisons such as the Soviets’ Kolyma death camp in Siberia.
FRIDAY, MAY 21
Classroom: National History Day
History Channel, 6 a.m.
What's your IQ in American history? Watch these students display their knowledge as they compete at the local, regional and national levels.
SATURDAY, MAY 22
From Martha's Kitchen: Memorial Day
Food Network, noon
As Memorial Day (observed May 31) approaches, perhaps you're thinking of going to Mass for our war dead at your local cemetery or attending a veterans’ ceremony. You might be contemplating a picnic, too. If so, these recipes for crispy-crunchy fried chicken, confetti slaw and apple fennel slaw will fit right in with your day.
SATURDAY, MAY 22
Food Finds: Sweet Charity
Food Network, 3 p.m.
The food and restaurant industries tend to be generous to food banks and other charities. Examples in this show include Mickey Mantle's Restaurant in New York City and Tamale Molly's, which donates its profits to a food bank in Santa Fe, N.M.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dan Engler ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: From the Monitor to the Monastery DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Each spring, Bishop John Nevins of the Diocese of Venice, Fla., invites various priests, religious and laity for an Easter dinner at his house.
I was fortunate to be on the guest list this year.
I sat next to a Carmelite priest and we discussed, among other subjects, vocations. The Carmelite province father runs a few Catholic high schools. They receive some vocations by staying in touch with students after graduation. But, he assured me, most of their vocations in the United States come through the Internet.
I wasn't surprised to hear that. The same is true for my community. Most vocational inquiries we get come from the web. Some still come from the Guide to Religious Ministries, nicknamed the Blue Book after the color of its cover. It lists religious communities of men and women for free, along with descriptions, and the book is updated annually. But now even the famous (well, famous in religious-community circles) Blue Book is online. Anyone can read it at religiousministries.com.
It is hard to beat an online vocation page, as compared with the same information in print, for a number of reasons. For one thing, the cost of a vocation page is minimal; the reach, worldwide. Further, one can include multimedia information including pictures, audio and video clips. And a vocational inquiry is easy from the user end, too — just send an e-mail. When we receive a vocational inquiry through the mail or by telephone, we always refer the individual to the vocation page on the website for more information. We do have a printed vocation booklet, but we only use it when online access is impossible for a prospective vocational candidate.
A number of religious communities are struggling to get new vocations. This has led to more aggressive recruitment techniques. The Maryk-noll Mission Society, founded in the United States, has produced a TV commercial. I was visiting my parents when I saw the spot and found it quite impressive. Of course, the society has a website at maryknoll. org. I have also seen its paid banner advertising on Catholic websites such as catholic.org.
The Vincentians' eastern province recently revamped its website at vincentians.net and has seen a 50% jump in vocation inquiries coming from the United States, Western Europe and South America. So successful has the website been that the Vincentians are considering it to represent the order for the entire country.
The website has a link to “Vincentians in the News.” Click here and you bring up stories of ordinations, final vows and such along with audio and video selections of Vincentians in action. Coupled with this are links to “Discernment Resources,” “Formation Programs” and “Questions & Answers.” And the website will soon be available in Spanish.
Some of this growth in the Vincentians' vocational web presence might be related to another technique they're employing — a business-card-sized CD-ROM that has been distributed to college students at St. John's and Niagara universities in New York as well as to youth-ministry programs in various Vincentian parishes in the eastern province. Images, video and text provide information about the Vincentian community, its ministries and those involved along with web links highlighting the worldwide lay organizations.
“The CD-ROM was devised with the help of a consultant with great expertise in this new type of technology,” says Vincentian Father John Maher, director of the Vincentian vocation ministry for the eastern province. “It contains what young people seek the most: a combination of information and inspiration.”
Gone Fishing
Meanwhile, vocation.com bills itself as the Web's most comprehensive Catholic vocation resource. It includes testimonies, common questions and answers and more. While it's a Legionaries of Christ site, it has netted more vocations for dioceses and other religious congregations by its expansive approach.
Nor is it only religious communities that are exploring technological avenues for vocational-outreach.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., has the vocations.com URL. Its site is the first to appear for those who run a Google search for “vocations.” Here you can explore the “Diocesan Priesthood: After the Heart of Jesus” link. Of course, there is also information for those interested in religious life, the deaconate, lay-ministry opportunities and secular institutes.
Do all Internet inquiries lead to a vocation in the religious life or diocesan priesthood? Certainly not. But the technology offers a way to “put into the deep and cast your nets for a catch” right where young people (or late bloomers) are likely to be “swimming.”
God is still calling people to priestly and religious vocations. But now he has to reach them in a culture that is indifferent at best and hostile at worst toward those who pursue religious vows, especially in the Catholic Church — to say nothing of the prevailing attitude toward Catholic vocations recruiters.
Most families are small and parents want their children to marry for the joy of having grandchildren. I have been in Catholic countries where it is the pride and joy of parents to have one of their children become a priest or religious. (And, poor as they are, unlike us, somehow they manage to support large families!) Unfortunately, that sentiment has all but disappeared from a number of Catholic homes in America.
Even before the recent scandals, a bishop I know was encouraging a youth to become a priest and his mother responded, “God forbid he become a priest!”
Like the early Church that was driven out of Jerusalem by persecution, today's religious communities and dioceses must cast their nets into uncharted waters. Then, through the work of the Holy Spirit, generous and joyful men and women will have a chance to hear God's voice and respond with undivided hearts.
Jesus is calling. Is his voice being heard?
Brother John Raymond, co-founder of the Monks of Adoration, writes from Venice, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: Vocations recruitment goes online - and doesn't stop there ----- EXTENDED BODY: Brother John Raymond ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Monthly Web Picks DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:One root problem of the crisis in family life is the practice of contraception. This month we'll look at web-sites related to this issue.
“The Fecundity of Marriage” and “The Gift of a Child” are covered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 2366 through 2379, at scborromeo.org/ ccc/p3s2c2a6.htm.
Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on the regulation of birth, remains a must-read for Catholic couples. It's online at www.vatican.va/holy_ father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_ 25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has a number of articles on this issue at usccb.org/prolife/issues/ contraception/index.htm.
Catholics Against Contraception at catholicsagainstcontraception.com has links to Vatican documents, bishops, canon lawyers, theologians, priests, philosophers and articles that explain why contraception is wrong, whom it hurts and how.
“From Contraception to Natural Family Planning: One Woman's Experience” at faithleap.home.att.net/ contraception_to_NFP.htm takes the reader on one couple's journey with this issue.
Catholic Pages at catholic-pages.com/dir/contraception.asp has many links worth exploring.
And, of course, you can always turn to my online directory on this issue at monksofadoration.org/bcontrol.html.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Brother John Raymond ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly Video Picks DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Faustina (1995)
Recently released on DVD, Polish di rector Jerzy Lu kaszewicz's beautifully made film on the life of St. Faustina Helena Kowalska (Dorota Segda) belongs on a very short list of deeply spiritual portraits of faith and religion, alongside such films as Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc and Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest.
One unique aspect of Faustina is the directness of its approach to the saint's visionary experiences. Unlike such films as Jesus of Nazareth or The Song of Bernadette, which carefully set up depictions of the miraculous to engage the viewer's suspension of disbelief, this film throws us right into the thick of Faustina's experiences, prompting us to take the story on its own terms. It's a surprisingly successful approach, aided by gorgeous cinematography and a haunting score.
Like many mystics and visionaries, Faustina is viewed with doubt and skepticism by peers, superiors, confessors — even a psychiatrist. Yet Faustina resists reducing any of these characters to one-dimensional opponents or obstinate skeptics. For the most part, they're simply exercising reasonable prudence. (Note the bishop's insightful comments about the Church's characteristic caution.)
In fact, watching Faustina's confessor trying to cope with her increasingly lengthy and complicated confessions, one can't help feeling sorry for these hapless ordinary people unlucky enough to have to judge and govern a saint.
Content advisory: Nothing objectionable. In Polish with subtitles.
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
L ' Chaim! Life itself, joyous and tragic, is the subject of the boisterous, comic, heartbreaking vision of Fiddler on the Roof. In this tale of rural life in a Ukrainian village on the eve of the Russian Revolution are faith and struggle, happiness and suffering, passionate youth and tired old age, idealism and practicality, money and poverty, compromise and conviction and, above all, constancy and change.
The themes are universal, but the sensibility is distinctively Jewish. The story of Tevye the milk-man and his daughters living in Anatevka began as a series of short stories by Ukranian writer Sholom Aleichem before becoming a stage musical in the 1960s, and the production rings with echoes of the questioning of Job (Tevye's tart one-way dialogues with God), of the exuberance of Song of Songs (“Miracle of Miracles”) and of the eternal verities of Ecclesiastes (the haunting chorus of “Sunrise, Sunset”).
Director Norman Jewison (a Gentile whose surname is of English origin) shrewdly cast Palestinian-born Jewish actor Topol as Tevye, passing over the popular Zero Mostel, who originated the role on Broadway. Topol carries the film effortlessly on his broad, round shoulders and makes the quietly bittersweet “Do You Love Me?” as memorable as the raucous “If I Were a Rich Man.” A true classic.
Content advisory: Comic drunkenness; a scene involving semi-macabre nightmare-horror imagery that might frighten children.
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Most of us, even the most honest, notice occasionally how vulnerable the systems and institutions around us are to fraud, theft and abuse. In the checkout line at the supermarket or going through an airport security check, we spot ways of beating the system.
When British screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke approached the Bank of England for advice on a plausible way for a trusted bank employee to steal a million pounds' worth of gold, the bank responded enthusiastically, making an investigation into the subject. Their conclusions went into Clarke's Oscar-winning screenplay for The Lavender Hill Mob, one of the best-regarded of Ealing Studios' drolly subversive British crime comedies featuring Alec Guinness. (Other entries include Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers.)
Guinness plays a diffident clerk named Holland who bides his time for years looking for a way to get away with stolen gold. The humor lies partly in reversal of stereotypes, as mild-mannered Holland aspires to the role of criminal mastermind.
Though it's far from a morality tale, a neat crime-doesn't-pay twist is more than the mere “sop to the censors” one writer unfairly labeled it, since it makes for a satisfying twist and a memorable final image. One of the 15 films on the Vatican film list in the Art category.
Content advisory: Brief comic drunkenness; comic depiction of grand larceny.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:The Uninvited
Information provided to the university by Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., Bishop John D'Arcy noted Snyderman's comments in support of abortion on an episode of ABC's “Good Morning America,” on which she serves as medical correspondent, in 1997.
In its statement rescinding the invitation, the university said Snyderman's comments were not in line with Church teaching.
Supreme Students
FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY, April 27 — Four Franciscan University of Steubenville students are taking their research on forced abortions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The research forms the appendix to a brief filed by attorney Christopher Sapp, according to a press release from the university. Sapp is presenting Jane Roe II v. Aware Women Center for Choice Inc., a case that involves a woman whose abortionist had her physically restrained and performed the procedure on her after she had changed her mind.
Students Shannon Andriyanova, Shane Haselbarth, Heather McCombs and Ann-Marie Morris researched cases of abortions performed on unwilling women as the main project for their senior seminar on legal studies. The school is located in Steubenville, Ohio.
Mount St. Mary's U?
Part of Thomas Powell's plan is to drop the “college and seminary” from the name of the school, replacing it with “university,” and to increase enrollment. Powell shared his vision for the future with students April 23, the newspaper reported.
Most of the complaints came from taking the “college and seminary” out of the name. Powell also said he wanted to increase the number of Catholics at the school. Right now, 67% of enrollment is Catholic; he wants to increase it to 70%.
Curtains for Cabaret?
Messages posted to an Internet bulletin board criticized the opening, the paper reported. One message said the play is “180 degrees opposed to the holdings of the Roman Catholic faith.”
Pro-Life Students Injured
LIFENEWS.COM, April 27 — Pro-life students from George Washington University were forcibly removed from a pro-abortion rally led by Sen. John Kerry on April 26 — not by police but by abortion activists.
After pro-abortion supporters began chanting, “What do we want? Choice!” the pro-life students countered with “Life!” LifeNews.com reported.
Women in National Abortions Rights Action League Tshirts surrounded the pro-life students and told them they had to leave. When they refused, the pro-abortion women dragged the students away, injuring one of the students’ feet and causing another to begin choking.
“They had no right to touch me like that,” said student Suanne Edmiston. “So much for ‘my body, my choice.’”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: A New Springtime on Campus - in More Ways than One DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Like a lot of upper-class college students this year, the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II will turn 21 years old. As it does, we would do well to revisit the past and make plans for the future of evangelization on the campuses of America's colleges and universities.
Youth for the Third Millennium, an apostolate of Regnum Christi, has been responding with vigor to the Holy Father's summons to “go out onto the streets and into public places like the first apostles who preached Christ” to the world.
Since its inception in 1994, Youth for the Third Millennium missionaries have gone door to door and parish to parish in cities around the world proclaiming the reason for the hope that is in them (1 Peter 3:15). They have made headlines in Paris, Rome and Toronto, where they commanded international attention at World Youth Days with the Pope.
Their combined local and national missions take place at various intervals during the year and in many different cities. These missions regularly involve 100 or more young missionaries. Annually, a “mega-mission” takes place in Mexico, and it has been attracting tens of thousands of young people in recent years.
These young men and women spend a week or more evangelizing local communities and assisting in the work of nearby parishes and Catholic charities. During the missions, they lead intensely Eucharistic lives, spending long hours in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and attending daily Mass together. There are also opportunities for confession and spiritual direction. In evangelizing others, they are evangelized, too.
Since it began, Youth for the Third Millennium has established rural and urban missions, humanitarian programs, Bible camps for children, sports clinics for teen-agers, evangelization workshops for college and high-school students, Eucharistic and Marian processions for families, and food-collection missions for the poor and the elderly.
Following the successes of Youth for the Third Millennium, more young people started to get involved in the work of the New Evangelization.
In 1999, for instance, Jonathan Morris, now a Legion of Christ priest, began to bring Catholic college students and their professors together in Rhode Island, where he was doing an internship in preparation for his priestly ordination.
He wanted to form a vibrant chain of faith that would encircle colleges and universities. And so, some months later, those first meetings gave birth to Compass, a national and, now, international network of Catholic college students.
Compass aims to convert college campuses to Christ. While this is an ambitious goal, the group has begun to make significant progress already. Its members devote themselves to a deep spiritual life and to study of the Church's teachings and the lives of her saints.
Compass students can be found on more than 14 campuses in the United States and Canada, including several of the military academies, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, College of the Holy Cross and the University of Toronto.
Compass' activities include annual conferences, internship programs, seminars, debates, discussion groups and even a fellowship program that takes place in Switzerland or Austria every summer. All of its programs and events are oriented toward college students and their work of evangelization at their home institutions.
Yet the most intriguing development among Catholic college students has been the emergence of “Catholic households.” These small enclaves of spiritually serious men and women are modeled on Greek associations. But, unlike their decadent counterparts, these groups are regular spiritual powerhouses.
At the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, for example, small groups of men and women live together in their respective dormitories. They can be found in groups attending daily Mass or spending time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. While the members of “Catholic households” do not always turn out to be priests or nuns, they do go forward to bring Christ into the middle of the world.
Groups such as Youth for the Third Millennium, Compass and Steubenville's “Catholic households” are responding with vigor to the Pope's call for a New Evangelization. Through their efforts the New Evangelization is beginning to establish itself in even the most remote posts of the Catholic world.
St. Anselm College just north of Boston is a case in point. The school is one of the oldest Catholic and Benedictine colleges in America. Students have graduated from its programs in the sciences, nursing, politics and the humanities and have gone on to do tremendous things for the Church and for the world.
I graduated from St. A's in spring 2003. Before leaving, I had established a strong base of Catholic friends with whom I attended Mass and Eucharistic adoration on a regular basis. Some of my friends and I used to meet on Thursday nights to pray the rosary.
It was our distinctively Catholic friendship that brought one young man back to the Church. Eventually he joined our prayer group, became a theology major and is now thinking very seriously about life as a Franciscan friar.
The “methodology” that unites all of these efforts at evangelization is an ancient one. And it is really quite simple. It involves the biblical invitation to “come and see.”
As John Paul wrote in his 2001 apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium): “If Christ is presented to young people as he really is, they experience him as an answer that is convincing and they can accept his message, even when it is demanding and bears the mark of the cross.”
Youth for the Third Millennium, Compass, Franciscan University's Catholic households — and my small group of distinctively Catholic friends — all based their efforts at evangelization on that single principle.
Many have responded to our invitations to “come and see” Christ as he really is. In so doing, they have found the deep joy of heart and true freedom that characterize Christian people.
John Paul Shimek will begin graduate studies in philosophy at The Catholic University of America in the fall. He lives in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: John Paul Shimek ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: When a Body Meets The Body DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:THEOLOGY OF THE BODY EXPLAINED
by Christopher West
Pauline Books and Media, 2003
530 Pages, $29.95
To order: (800) 836-9723 www.pauline.org
A quarter-century after Pope John Paul II began explaining his theology of the body — in Wednesday audiences that ran intermittently until late 1984 — the teaching remains largely dormant.
Two priests, Richard Hogan and John LeVoir, sought to popularize it in a 1985 Doubleday book (reprinted in 1992 by Ignatius), Covenant of Love. But, by and large, the theology of the body has not yet exploded into the Church's culture — as it inevitably will, according to papal biographer George Weigel. He has likened it to a ticking time bomb.
Christopher West wants to help set off the detonation. Think of this book (along with his website, www.theologyofthebody. com) as a fuse.
The theology of the body, West insists, is not just a personalistic sexual ethic. It has implications for Christian thinking on creation, soteriology, eschatology, the relationship of nature and grace, spirituality and sacramentology.
Nor is sexual ethics something tangential to the “essential truths” of the faith, as some dissident Catholic theologians have suggested. What one thinks of sex depends on what, or whom, one thinks man is — and that's a matter rife with implications for the identity of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
William May rightly observed that the dubious Christologies of the 1970s were a natural outgrowth of the theological rebellion regarding sex in the 1960s. The roots of the confusion lie in a failure to grasp what Pope John Paul II calls “the nuptial meaning of the body,” a concept West exhaustively fleshes out.
“[A]ll of the sexual confusion in our world — and in our own hearts — is simply the human desire for heaven gone berserk,” West writes. “Untwist it and we rediscover the image of God in every human being; we rediscover the deep human longing … for union with him.”
Bask long enough in these pages and you'll notice the Pope doesn't contradict or change the basic lessons on life and love that wise Catholic parents have always taught their children. The problem, such as it is, is that the Holy Father lays out the teaching with such depth, precision and erudition that we need help unpacking it. After all, we've been weaned in a culture not accustomed to thinking too hard, especially about sex.
West does a superb job, commenting on each of the more than 100 audiences, bringing the themes together into a clearer whole. Following the Pope's plan, he examines man before sin, man sinful yet redeemed and eschatological man. West also examines the “sacramentality” of marriage and specific issues raised by Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on the regulation of birth, Humanae Vitae (On Human Life). “We can appreciate the vital role of the sexual relationship in shaping ethics and culture in the simple truth that the family is the fundamental cell of society,” he writes. “As the family goes, so goes culture. But, pressing further, what is the origin of the family if not the ‘one flesh’ union of spouses? …
T]he relationship between the sexes becomes the meeting place of God and man or it becomes man's point of closure to God and the first step in the disintegration of culture.”
Attentive readers will recognize what it is they're holding in their hands — the fuse of a time bomb under the appearance of a book.
John M. Grondelski writes from Warsaw, Poland.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: John M. Grondelski ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Too Young to Date, Old Enough to Want To DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Family Matters
Our 11-year-old wants to date. She argues with us because her middle-school friends are already doing so. Can you recommend anything for her to read that will discourage this? She's too young to date. Help!
Short answer: Just say No.
Longer answer: In our days as teachers, we saw absolutely nothing good coming from early dating. At best, it's an emotional roller-coaster ride ending in heartbreak; at worst, it's an occasion for serious sin. And your daughter might not be exaggerating when she reports that her classmates are dating. Unfortunately, the kids-pairing-off phenomenon has been trending younger and younger for years.
Part of the blame lies with us parents: We think it's “cute” when Jack and Diane start going around together in elementary school. Then we acquiesce to dance parties and middle-school sock hops. Big events like the Senior Prom were once a rite of passage reserved for 12th-graders; now we're crowning homecoming queens among 12-year-olds.
As Caroline's brother, a veteran high-school principal, laments, “By the time they reach high school, what else is there left to try but sex?” A recent study supports his observation: If a child has a first date between the ages of 11 and 13, there is a 90% chance he or she will be sexually active by senior year. Meanwhile, the longer the first date is held off, the lower that percentage falls.
That's ammo to fire up your resolve, but how can you deal with this issue practically in your family?
Our own children have not reached dating age, so we're going to share with you tried-and-true wisdom from Caroline's parents, who raised five chaste teen-agers and lived to tell.
First, plan a pre-emptive strike. Talk and pray with your spouse to discern at what age you'll allow a one-on-one date. (In our house, it was 16). My parents encouraged us to go out in groups, go to football games, even sock hops, but absolutely no single dating until 16. That needs to become your family standard to proclaim from the rooftops, starting now. This helps make the battle not so personal: “Sorry, Sweetie, I think Bubba is a nice boy, but in our family we don't date until we're 18.”
When your child turns 16, you don't have to immediately relinquish your car keys. Same with dating. It's a privilege to be earned, based on showing responsibility through earning good grades, honoring household rules and so on.
Even if you allow an occasional date, you must still discourage steady dating. The purpose of serious dating is to find a mate for life. So, as my father used to say, “Unless you're ready, willing and able to be married, you should not steadily date.” When we reached the designated age, my father presented us with a contract that spelled all this out. A corollary was that we couldn't go out with the same person more than three times in a row. We had to sign and date the form, which didn't mean we agreed with it. (I didn't, at the time!). It simply indicated we understood the family standard.
Finally, two great books for your daughter are Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot and I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. Stand firm, Mom and Dad!
The McDonalds serve as family life directors for the archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tom and Caroline McDonald ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Calling All Callings DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Priest Profile
When Father John Cihak went to his public-high-school reunion, he showed up in his clerical garb. Since most there didn't have an inkling he had become a priest, he says with a chuckle that he got the “least-likely-career award.”
“I love making people think about God,” Father Cihak, 34, says today from Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, where, as director of human formation, he's helped turn the institution around from its once troubled ways. It's currently one of the country's largest seminaries, with 182 seminarians from 25 dioceses in the West.
With his characteristic pleasant voice that seems to sport a smile, he says he likes wearing his clerics to the store or restaurant. “I enjoy being a sign of Christ in the world,” he says. “When people look at me, they have to take a position about God.”
“Just being who we are and not being afraid about being a priest in public, a priest in the marketplace — that helps further the message of the Gospel,” he points out. “It's often outside our comfort zone to do that. Sometimes it's tiring to be in the fishbowl. But it is something I enjoy.”
Father Cihak (pronounced SY-ack) didn't set out to be a priest from the getgo. From age 6, he aspired to be a doctor and head a family. The second of eight children, he grew up “in a very loving, nurturing family,” he says. “My parents always encouraged us to see what the Lord wanted. They gave a great example of their faith. We prayed the family rosary together.”
Things started shifting during his senior year of high school, where, as he puts it, “most of my energy went into music.” A clarinetist with a range of musical interests, he and three of his younger brothers played in a rock band they called Corvallis Calling. (He still plays the clarinet and enjoys singing, especially during Mass.)
But a calling of another sort arrived senior year. He began attending the daily Mass of Holy Cross priest Father Charles Harris, a close friend of the family who gave him spiritual direction. When Father Harris died suddenly, a chain of events was set in motion.
“It was during serving his funeral Mass that the first spark of a vocation of being a priest came,” Father Cihak says. He describes it as an interior illumination accompanied by joy and peace.
At the University of Notre Dame he focused on pre-med studies, praying for vocational discernment as he went about his business. But before long, his desire for medicine plummeted and the desire to become a priest lifted off. He changed to a double major of philosophy and theology.
At first the monastic life attracted him. But “what the Lord gave me was a strong desire to preach the Gospel and work with families and parochial life,” he says.
After ordination in 1998, he remained at North American College in Rome to finish his licentiate. Today he finds the Mount Angel Seminary environment directly connected to parish life.
“I see every seminarian here is going to be the pastor of souls,” he says. “I see the thousands of faces they're going to be a priest to, and I'm thinking of the parishioners and the kinds of priest and spiritual father they need.”
“There are times when I feel out of the loop because I'm not working with parishioners day in and day out,” he adds. “But by forming these guys, literally thousands and thousands of people are going to be affected.”
Vineyard Workers
Yet Father Cihak affects parishioners directly, too. “One of the blessings in this assignment is that weekends I'm always assigned to a parish,” he says.
For two years he's been at the large suburban parish of St. John the Baptist in Milwaukie, Ore. He helps women heal from abortion working with Project Rachel and Rachel's Vineyard retreats. And now every summer he runs Quo Vadis Days, a camp for high-school boys considering a vocation.
“There's such a hunger in the parishioners for the truth,” he says. “They want to know what the Church teaches. And I consider it a great privilege, helping parishioners to connect with the truth in their own lives. That goes from the basic truths about a personal relationship with Jesus to the more difficult truths about contraception and same-sex unions.”
Father Cihak's homilies stir people to put their faith into action. “Recently when he had preached on the Church's teaching on the same-sex marriage issue that we're faced with here in Oregon,” says Father Todd Molinari, the pastor of St. John's, “a parishioner came after Mass, very enthusiastic, and asked what we can do as Catholics to respond to this in an organized way. They were definitely listening and appreciative.”
Lori Eckstine, a local coordinator of Project Rachael, marvels at the way Father Cihak “sacrifices his time to attend the retreats.” She recalls the turnaround for several severely traumatized women when Father Cihak got involved.
“His dedication to bring the compassion and mercy of God into these women's lives made profound changes,” Eckstine says. “They made remarkable progress. He brings the spiritual into their healing and helps them return to the sacraments.”
It was because of a “strong call from the Lord to do something” for the guys with potential vocations that Father Cihak teamed with Father Bill Dillard to start Little River Christian Camp. That's where high-school boys gather for Quo Vadis Days to talk about the priest-hood in a fun and relaxed setting. Last year, 50 teens interested in the priesthood came to the camp in the foothills of the Cascades.
Kipp Johnson, 18, looks forward to Quo Vadis again this June and has vivid memories of the three times he's already attended them with his brother Michael.
He's awed by the reverential way Father Cihak “holds the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at Mass. That came through more than with any other priest that I ever celebrated a Mass with,” he says. “And going to confession to him was incredible. It was his whole sincerity and love. I felt I was in the presence of Jesus. It was a transforming experience.”
Father Cihak believes the key to increasing vocations in this country is the local parish priest's relationship with the young men in his parish.
“If they can look to their priest and see a real man and a real spiritual father, and if he invites them,” he says, “they will respond.”
“He's had an impact on a number of the altar boys in our parish,” says Father Molinari, who sees tremendous success in Quo Vadis Days. “There are two eighth-graders in our parish school; they're also altar boys. They came right out and said, ‘We're thinking about the priesthood.’”
Both Johnson brothers served Father Cihak's first Mass.
“Because of him both my sons would like to be priests,” Irene Johnson says. “I don't know if they're called, but they're definitely better people and practice the Catholic faith more fervently because of Father John.”
Amen to that.
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Mastering Morals DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Facts of Life
Business schools across the country are placing more emphasis on ethics, nonprofit work and “corporate social responsibility” than at any other time in memory. “Our data suggest that [master's in business administration] students are more interested in thinking about the role of business in society … and as a generation are saying, ‘We want to do a better job,’” said Nancy McGaw, deputy director of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program, which has been tracking the trend.
Source: The Associated Press, April 16.
Register illustration by Tim Rauch.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: What This Man Means to Me DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:By the grace of God, he keeps going and going and …
The man we know as Pope John Paul II began leading souls to Christ even before he was ordained a priest. That was back in 1946, when he was 26 years old.
On May 18, the Holy Father will celebrate his 84th birthday — and so will the Register. Cake and ice cream being out of the question, we sent our reporter to ask a sampling of well-known Catholic well-wishers: What impact has the Holy Father made on your life? Here's how they responded.
Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts: “Pope John Paul II is the person in the world I most admire. What I especially admire is his embodiment of the fullness of the Catholic vision and character. As a poet I am personally both astonished and gratified to see my own art so nobly reflected in the greatest papacy of the modern era. What a blessing this Pope is. The presence of John Paul in the world today restores one's faith in divine providence. Imperfect as we are, we all need our faith restored.”
Camille de Blasi, president and founder of Healing the Culture: “First of all, I'm a lousy sufferer, and I often stand at the front of the ‘poor-excuse-for-a-Christian’ line when it comes to facing trouble or difficulty. I've been very humbled by the beautiful example of Pope John Paul II in his illness as he slowly breaks down my brick wall and teaches me what it means to ‘suffer well.’ Secondly, he is having a profound effect on our professional mission through his call to promote and defend the dignity of women. I believe if every woman understood what it means to be a woman, we'd see the collapse of the culture of death overnight. The writings of our Pope on the ‘genius of woman’ have completely transformed the way we approach the life issues at Healing the Culture.”
Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “Even more than his writings, by the example of his own life, Pope John Paul II has inspired millions to build a culture of life. Here's a man who speaks of love as our vocation against death, and that is somewhat of a miracle, given his own life. He survived the two great death machines of the 20th century: Nazi Germany and communism. He personally escaped death from the bullet of a gun. Many believe, as I believe, he was saved to be a witness of love in the culture of death. He is inspiration personified for my work in the pro-life movements.”
Russell Shaw, author and journalist: “He's provided a whole and almost new way of thinking about the laity and a significantly updated framework for their life and activity as members of the Church. The outstanding document is the 1988 apostolic exhortation Christifideli Laici — a beautiful, important and difficult document, but worth the work it takes. It's a goldmine of insights and motivation for lay people for living the Catholic faith. It made a great difference to me in my personal and professional life. What I've written on the laity has been derived from John Paul II. It's the major source. I turn to the Pope as a source not just now and then, but constantly.”
Marie Bellet, singer, songwriter and mother of eight: “He has put a very gentle and loving face of unconditional love on the Catholic Church, which gives me a lot of hope and strengthens my desire to pray for the Church and be the best Catholic I can be. It's not undemanding and unchallenging love. He somehow puts a face on the love of God, and I think that's why he's such a witness to hope. He touches people's hearts and reminds them again of what they hoped was true, that God is love.
“And I really appreciate as well his belief in the arts as a way to touch people's hearts and a way to capture their imagination. I love the CD he put out. He starts out, ‘Put out into the deep. Be not afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity.’ I think that speaks to everybody.”
Father Mitch Pacwa, Jesuit author and host of “EWTN Live”: “He keeps me working! I'm doing a series on ETWN called ‘Threshold of Hope.’ I'm going through John Paul's encyclicals very much line by line, trying to work through the meaning of what he's trying to say. We don't want people to be John Paul cheerleaders, we want them to be John Paul readers. A lot of people who love John Paul don't read what he says. What I'm trying to do is encourage people to read the texts. He's offering us a tremendous vision for our lives. That certainly has given me a direction in what I want to teach on television.”
Deal Hudson, editor and publisher of Crisis magazine: “His preaching on the gift of self led me to adopt a young boy from Romania two and a half years ago. His name is Cyprian. And the gift of Cyprian has transformed my life and the life of my family.”
Raymond Arroyo, news director for EWTN: “He has taught me and showed us all the redemptive power of suffering and has reconciled for the world a spiritual balance between temporal works and true Christian mysticism. Even in his weakened state today, he remains a powerful sign of assurance and strength for so many. We saw him stride upon the world in his full vigor and we've also seen him die shamelessly before our eyes. And that witness is unique and extremely potent. He restored the masculine to Christianity. John Paul taught us how to be men and the proper role of men in the faith. To me he really is Peter. And in some way will always be.”
Mary Beth Bonacci, author, speaker, and founder of Real Love Productions: “Everything I do, everything in my chastity work, in my message, in what I write, in the talks I do, is based on Pope John Paul II's theology of the body. His catechesis on love and sex is revolutionary. It's beautiful. It's positive. And people actually like hearing about chastity when you put it in those terms.”
Karl Keating, president of Catholic Answers: “He has demonstrated a capacity to encourage zeal in young people. And that has given people of the next generation, people like myself, a shot of confidence in the short-term future of the Church. For those of us who lived through the years after Vatican II, it's gratifying to see young people becoming ‘John Paul II Catholics.’”
Father Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life: “I have personally felt called to [help] end abortion. This Pope has just profoundly reinforced that calling for me — by my personal contacts with him and by his personal ministry, in which he has put this issue front and center for the whole Church. He's been a great model and inspiration to me.
“When I started with Priests for Life in 1993, I began a nonstop journey throughout the country meeting people and ministering to them. Clearly to me the heart of pastoral ministry is personal presence, to be with the people you're serving. John Paul has traveled more than any other pope. He believes in the same thing, the irreplaceable role of personal presence as the spiritual shepherd. That has very much shaped my own ministry.”
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: Happy Birthday, Holy Father ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 05/16/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 16-22, 2004 ----- BODY:Florida: No Suicide Concert
A proposed bill to ban suicide as public entertainment passed the Senate 39-0 on April 24, a response to the band Hell on Earth, which attempted to feature a suicide at a live concert last year, the newspaper reported.
The bill would make it a third-degree felony to promote such an event, with violators facing five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
While the band never delivered on its promise to feature the suicide as a statement in support of euthanasia, the paper said, its action prompted the St. Petersburg Council to pass an emergency order banning it.
Public's Right to Know
CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE, April 28 — The Coalition for Life says it wants to let the public know who is footing the bill for Planned Parenthood's Texas operations.
The Texas-based pro-life coalition sent more than 300 letters to businesses, government agencies and foundations that support Planned Parenthood's Houston-based operations, the news service reported. The letters ask the groups to stop funding the pro-abortion organization.
The coalition said it planned to release the names of organizations that fund Planned Parenthood at two public press events and on its website May 8.
Pro-Life T-Shirt Controversy
A student was ordered to remove her shirt the day Rock for Life, an arm of the American Life League, designated National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day, the newspaper reported.
Students were asked to remove them after debates about abortion broke out in class.
Rock for Life has encouraged students to contact the Thomas More Law Center, which takes cases regarding religious rights and free speech.
’Not Medically Necessary’
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 2 — A federal appellate court has ruled that because it wasn't medically necessary, medical workers at a Louisiana prison were correct in denying an inmate an abortion.
The court also said in its April 30 decision that the prison's policy to make the inmate obtain a court order for the elective procedure was reasonable, the wire service reported.
The woman learned of her pregnancy upon incarceration in 1999 after her probation was revoked. Her lawyer filed for her early release so she could obtain the abortion, but she would have to pay for it herself, which she said she could not afford.
She was released in October 1999, too late for her to undergo an abortion under state law. She carried the baby to term and gave it up for adoption.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: 'Emergency Contraception' Could Still Gain FDA Approval DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Mary Smith, a junior at the University of North Texas in Denton, is worried. She's taken Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, in the past and is afraid that the Food and Drug Administration may make it easy for others to repeat her mistake.
“It was terrible,” she said. Smith fought nausea, stomach cramps and dizziness — the same symptoms for ectopic pregnancy — for more than 24 hours.
The FDA on May 6 rejected a pharmaceutical company's request for Plan B to be made available without a prescription. Barr Laboratories failed to prove that women under 16 can use Plan B safely for emergency contraception without professional supervision, the FDA reasoned.
But that wasn't the end of the story. The FDA offered Barr two alternative approaches for winning approval for Plan B's over-the-counter status. The company could “provide additional data demonstrating that Plan B can be used safely by women under 16 years of age without professional supervision.” Or it could supply additional information in support of permitting the marketing of the drug as a prescription-only product for women under 16 and a nonprescription product for women 16 years and older.
Plan B can cause early abortions. It consists of two high-dose birth-control pills that either interfere with ovulation or prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. It can be taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse or contraceptive failure, such as condom breakage.
Rejection of Barr's request surprised the medical world and abortion/ contraception advocates. The agency went against the advice of an outside advisory panel that in December recommended Plan B being available without a prescription.
Dr. Steve Galson, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, acknowledged that he overrode the opinion advisory committee's 23-4 vote as well as that of his staff.
Galson said he was concerned about the lack of information about “the younger age group between 11 and 14, where we know there is a substantial amount of sexual activity.” Barr's application only included study data on 29 women aged 14 to 16 and none under 14.
“Wide availability of safe and effective contraceptives is important to public health,” Galson wrote in his letter to Barr. “We look forward to continuing to work with you if you decide to pursue either of these options.”
Bruce Downey, Barr's chairman and chief executive officer, is hopeful.
“While we are disappointed the FDA did not approve our application at this time, we are encouraged by the FDA's suggestions and look forward to working with the agency toward approval of Plan B for over-the-counter use,” he said in a statement. “In the meantime, we remain committed to providing Plan B as a prescription-only product and to increasing awareness among the health-care-provider community and women of this safe and effective option.”
The reaction of a Catholic bishops' conference spokeswoman focused on the temporary victory rather than the FDA's conciliatory attitude toward Barr.
“We are pleased the voice of reason prevailed,” said Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. “A drug that can destroy human embryos and increases health risks to women and girls does not belong on the drugstore shelf.”
Another close observer of moral issues in public policy, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, commented: “This is a prudent decision to say that we must consider the consequences if teens use this drug as a means of birth control.”
But Judie Brown, president of American Life League, said the FDA's action is far from satisfactory.
“The FDA should never have approved the various concoctions described as morning-after pills, erroneously labeled as ‘emergency contraceptives,’ in the first place,” she said. “These pill regimens are known to cause abortion during the first seven days of a human being's life, [and] there are no studies indicating the long-term side effects of these pills when used by adolescents.”
And a Concerned Women for America spokeswoman predicted that “broad availability of Plan B would allow people to slip the medicine to women without their knowledge.”
“The morning-after pill is a pedophile's best friend,” said Wendy Wright, senior policy director of the pro-family women's organization, in written testimony to the FDA. “Morning-after-pill proponents treat women like sex machines.”
Next to Hair Spray?
Nationally, there are more than 1.3 million surgical abortions each year, and approximately 1.5 million women purchase emergency contraception annually.
Kathy Morgan, a Texas Catholic pharmacist who works for a large-chain pharmacy she did not want identified, wants women to receive screening by doctors who can take down their history.
“Imagine women who smoke taking this pill. They're going to have serious complications,” she said.
Morgan is also concerned that making Plan B available over the counter would leave women vulnerable to potentially fatal complications with no medical supervision.
In a letter to the FDA last year, 44 members of Congress urged rejection of Barr's petition “to make the morning-after pill as accessible to our nation's teen-age daughters as aspirin or hair spray.” If Plan B goes over the counter, the members of Congress asked, what stops teenage girls from using these pills as regular birth control?
Barr had until May 16 to respond to the FDA's letter.
Six states — Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico and Washington — allow women to buy Plan B from certain pharmacists without a prescription. The FDA's decision does not affect those programs.
“Although we did not have sufficient data to approve this application now,” Galson said, “I will be working toward the expeditious evaluation of Barr's response to [the FDA's] letter.”
Colleen Hammond writes from Valley View, Texas.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Colleen Hammond ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Creighton Doesn't Hide Professors' Status DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:MANDATUM SECRECY INVESTIGATIVE SERIES PART 9
OMAHA, Neb. —Micah Kiel received his diploma from Creighton University with a double major in communications and Spanish on May 15.
He also has a hefty number of credits in theology and philosophy, thanks to a requirement that all Creighton students take three courses in each discipline.
“The joke on campus is that once you leave Creighton, you almost have a theology minor,” said Kiel, who hails from Des Moines, Iowa. “In learning about our [Catholic] religion and the religions of others, it helps us to be more who we are.”
Among the nation's 28 Jesuit institutions of higher education, Creighton University stands alone. Whereas the others have not revealed which theology faculty members have received the man-datum, a bishop's statement that they are teaching in line with Church doctrine, Creighton has. Much of that is due to the approach of Omaha, Neb., Archbishop Elden Curtiss.
In November 2000, Archbishop Curtiss expressed his concerns to the U.S. bishops' conference's ad hoc committee on the mandatum.
“Bishops are concerned about undergraduates at universities and the quality of the theology they are receiving there,” Archbishop Curtiss told the committee. “The expectation of Catholics, if they send their children to a Catholic college or university, [is] that grounding is going to take place.”
The archbishop added that he thought it was his obligation to make it public if there were professors of Catholic theology who would not seek the mandatum.
In early 2001, Archbishop Curtiss met with Creighton's theology faculty. With the assistance of former theology chairman Father Richard Hauser, Archbishop Curtiss carried on a dialogue with the theology faculty.
“What made this possible was the accord between the archbishop and the theology department,” explained Father Hauser, professor of systematic and spiritual theology.
“I promised the faculty that if there was ever an issue, I would dialogue with them personally,” Archbishop Curtiss said. “Therefore, they didn't see the mandatum as a threat.”
“The Holy Father's intention was that the bishop would dialogue with the faculty and show that they were in union with the Church and the teaching magisterium,” he said. “I told the faculty that if they did not sign the mandatum, I would make that public.”
Department chairman John O'Keefe put a copy of the mandatum in the mailbox of each faculty member. In the end, all but one of Creighton's theology faculty members received the mandatum.
Archbishop Curtiss told the Register that one faculty member felt he could not sign the mandatum for matters of conscience but told him he was willing to support the archbishop and the teachings of the Church. In response, Archbishop Curtiss gave that professor a verbal mandatum.
Jesuit schools nationwide enroll 190,000 of the 700,000 students at America's Catholic colleges and universities. The situation at Creighton is unusual not only among Jesuit institutions but also among Catholic colleges and universities in general.
Since 1983, canon law has required that a theologian teaching in a Catholic university receive a mandatum from the local bishop. The mandatum is the bishop's recognition of the theologian's intention to teach in full communion with the Church's magisterium, or teaching office. The requirement was highlighted in a footnote in Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
For the past year, the Register has been investigating Catholic colleges and universities featured in U.S. News & World Report's college guide, asking: Are parents and students allowed to know whether those who teach theology intend to teach in communion with the Church? Or is secrecy about the canon-law mandatum being used to protect dissenters?
Very few schools are willing to say whether their professors have the canon-law mandatum.
During his meeting with U.S. cardinals in 2002, Pope John Paul II linked the dissent cover-up with the sex-abuse cover up saying parents “must know that bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality, a truth as essential to the renewal of the priesthood and the episcopate as it is to the renewal of marriage and family life.”
Creighton is ranked first among master's universities in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2004.
History of Dissent
The roots of the higher-education crisis go back decades.
In July 1967, 26 Catholic college and university presidents gathered at the Land O' Lakes Conference to discuss the future of Catholic higher education. At that conference, the university presidents and administrators declared, “The Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.”
Many observers point to the conference as one of the causes for the secularization that has since plagued Catholic institutions of higher learning.
Pope John Paul II's 1990 apostolic constitution on higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), was a response to that secularization. As its title indicates, these institutions grew “from the heart of the Church.”
Their mission and their life should reflect that, the Pope said.
Archbishop Curtiss is one of a few U.S. bishops who have revealed whether theology faculty in his diocese have received the mandatum. He has joined Chicago Cardinal Francis George; Steubenville, Ohio, Bishop Daniel Conlon; Kansas City, Kan., Archbishop James Patrick Keleher; and Allentown, Pa., Bishop Edward Cullen in publicly stating that the mandatum is not a private matter.
“The mandatum is a public reality,” Cardinal George told the Register last year. “It's a personal act, but personal acts are sometimes public — like receiving the sacraments.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated in a 1990 “Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian” that “the theologian who is not disposed to think with the Church (sentire cum Ecclesia) contradicts the commitment he freely and knowingly accepted to teach in the name of the Church.”
The Vatican-approved U.S. application of Ex Corde Ecclesiae set the deadline for bishops to require the mandatum as June 1, 2002. The U.S. application will come up for review by the U.S. bishops' conference in May 2006, five years after the norms implementing Ex Corde Ecclesiae went into effect.
In the meantime, there has been no mechanism for accountability, nor is there a review board to monitor bishops' compliance. At this stage, nearly two years later, some bishops have yet to require the mandatum or even to grant it where theology professors have voluntarily requested it.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk told the Register that if people want to know whether a professor has or has not complied with the mandatum requirement, “they should raise it with the professor himself.” Archbishop Pilarczyk headed the U.S. bishops' conference ad hoc committee on the mandatum.
“I'm not prepared to say that [compliance] has been perfect,” Archbishop Pilarczyk told Register correspondent Edward Pentin in Rome. “It's been adequate, but it's open to improvement.”
A Matter of Mission
Father Hauser, the former theology department chairman at Creighton, said the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae at his university has been due in part to the theology department's clearly stated mission.
Theology faculty members spent two years working on the mission, which was formulated in 1997. Some theology departments, he said, have a problem with the mandatum because their mission is either too “open or undefined.”
“We stated that we are a department of theology, not religious studies, and we do our studies in the work of Tradition,” Father Hauser said. “We operate under the assumption that we are believing Catholic Christians in keeping with the Tradition.”
The department's mission statement specifies that the department, as Catholic, bears the characteristic of “fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church.”
Students have appreciated the approach taken by the theology department.
“My spirituality classes have been good,” said Franciscan Sister Monica Spates, who is approaching the end of a master's degree program in Christian spirituality. She particularly enjoyed a course that focused on saints from the early disciples to the present day.
“The content was excellent and it really made you love the Church,” Sister Monica said. “How can I not love the Church when it consists of people who wanted to give so much to the Lord?”
New graduate Schwartz agreed. “The mission grounds the department and the school in a real solid way,” he said. The former Lutheran became a Catholic during his freshman year and said his time at Creighton both strengthened and deepened his faith.
“Theology here has given me a richer sense of the Church's Tradition,” he said.
Jesuit superior general Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach was once quoted by Father Richard John Neuhaus as saying, “For some [Jesuit] universities, it is probably too late to restore their Catholic character.”
“I'm blessed,” Archbishop Curtiss said. “I [have] probably the only Jesuit university in the world with everyone on board.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Judge Kills Law That Saved Terri Schiavo DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:CLEARWATER, Fla. — Terri's Law, the emergency bill passed last fall by the Florida Legislature that saved the life of a 40-year-old brain-damaged woman, has been declared unconstitutional.
In a May 6 ruling, Florida 6th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird said Floridians have the constitutional right to the privacy of their medical decisions.
“The state's interest in preserving life does not override an individual's personal choice regarding his or her own medical-treatment decisions,” Baird wrote.
His decision paves the way for the feeding tube to be removed again, although Michael Schiavo's lawyer has said that won't occur until the appeal process is finished.
Terri's Law was swiftly enacted and signed last October by Gov. Jeb Bush to save Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who had suffered heart failure and severe brain damage in 1990. Although she is not in a coma and can breathe on her own, she has been kept alive with the help of a feeding tube.
The courts have found her to be in a “persistent vegetative state,” which her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, deny. They believe she might be able to recover if given the proper therapy. Her family also disputes the contention of her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, that Terri told him she never wanted to be kept alive by artificial means.
Last October, the court ordered the removal of Terri's feeding tube, which would have allowed her to starve and dehydrate. But six days later, with a public outcry opposing Terri's death, the Florida Legislature hastily wrote and passed a law that was clearly aimed at saving Terri's life.
The bill stated that the governor had the authority to prevent the withholding of nutrition and hydration from a patient if the patient had not written an advance directive, was found by a court to be in a persistent vegetative state and a family member was challenging the withholding of the feeding tube. Bush then signed an executive order for Terri's feeding tube to be reinstated. Michael Schiavo immediately challenged the law in court.
In his ruling, which voids the law, Baird said the bill authorized the governor to act “according to his personal discretion” while ignoring the patient's right to privacy.
Extra Protection
Ken Connor, an attorney for Bush, said the governor was “steadfast” in his belief that the statute is constitutional and immediately ordered an appeal. Connor added that the governor is willing to take the appeal, if possible, to the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts.
“This statute, far from being the penalty the judge described it, really is intended as an extra layer of protection for the frail and handicapped and disabled who meet its criteria,” Connor said. “The governor has never maintained that he has unlimited discretion on how to deal with Terri's situation. What he has sought to do is to follow a process that allows us to determine with confidence what her desires are.”
Connor also expressed concern about the dangers of judicial activism, which he defined as the occasions when judges are not interpreting the law but are “one-person legislatures who are really social engineers in black robes who seek to advance their own ideas of what the agenda ought to be.”
This brand of activism “undermines democratic self-government through our elected representatives,” he said.
Michael Schiavo, who has two children with his girlfriend, offered no statements regarding the latest decision. Meanwhile, his lead counsel, George Felos, did not return phone calls for comment.
Howard Simon, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which is assisting Felos, said in a statement that the ruling was “a strong rebuke to politicians who attempt to interfere in medical decisions that should be left to all of us.”
The Florida Catholic Conference did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the court ruling.
Terri's father, Robert Schindler, said the judge's decision was expected.
“It's just another event in Terri's case where these judges have made decisions that I feel are totally one-sided,” he said.
The Schindler family is still upset about not being able to see Terri since late March — ever since puncture wounds were found on her arms after a visit by her parents. Police are still investigating.
Since the discovery, Michael Schiavo has not allowed anyone to visit Terri, though in early May he seemed to soften that stance. One of his attorneys said the Schindlers may be allowed to visit their daughter but only if they pay for an off-duty officer to accompany them. The Schindlers have denied any connection to the puncture wounds.
Pat Anderson, the Schindlers' attorney, said she has filed an emergency motion to restore family visitation.
Schindler, who couldn't offer specific comments because of the current police investigation, said it was “upsetting” for him and his wife not to be able to see their daughter.
“Terri is nothing more than a pawn, and they're using her to inflict a hardship on our family,” Schindler said. “To deny her mother the opportunity to be with her is absolutely cruel. We have a concern she's totally isolated from any type of stimulation. Lord knows what they're telling her. They may have told her we've abandoned her. We just don't know.”
Pope's Comments
Meanwhile, Anderson said she will include Pope John Paul II's March 20 remarks about patients in a “persistent vegetative state” in a motion she plans to file within the next several weeks.
During an international meeting with Catholic physicians, the Pope said those who are considered to be in a “vegetative state” have the right to nutrition and hydration — which he said are “morally obligatory.” He said no one, no matter how seriously ill or disabled, should be considered a “vegetable” or an “animal.” If done willingly and knowingly, death by starvation or dehydration ends up being “true and proper euthanasia by omission,” the Pope said.
Anderson said Terri went through 12 years of Catholic-school education. “We have to assume that if Terri could tell us today what she wants, she would want to be obedient to the Pope's teachings,” Anderson said.
Mary Jane Owen, executive director of a newly formed organization called Disabled Catholics in Action, said she found the Pope's comments to be compassionate and show that the Church is concerned about every life.
“Yes, people who are non-responsive in the present moment deserve to be treated as people,” she said, “and they don't deserve to be starved and dehydrated to death.”
Carlos Briceño writes from Seminole, Florida.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Carlos Briceño ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Iraq: Bush And Pope To Meet DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope John Paul II will tell President George W. Bush to rethink his position on Iraq during their June 4 meeting in Rome, according to a former U.S. papal nuncio.
Cardinal Pio Laghi said the Holy Father will warn Bush that American forces in Iraq are damaging efforts to bring religions together and that Washington should have better understand of the Islamic world.
“We are at the edge of a precipice and we must stop,” the cardinal told the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. “We are told this by the horror unleashed by the tortures of Iraqi prisoners, the beheading of the American hostage, and the scoffing at the bodies of American soldiers.”
Cardinal Laghi was nuncio in the United States from 1980 to 1990 and helped establish diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Washington.
The Pope sent him to meet with Bush in March 2003, asking the president not to engage in a preventative war in Iraq.
Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things magazine, said the Pope and only the Pope would decide what he was going to talk to the president about.
But he said he doesn't believe the Holy See is floating a “trial balloon” by asking Cardinal Laghi to speak to the media in advance of Bush's visit to the Vatican.
Cardinal Laghi said he is certain that the Holy Father will repeat to Bush “the advice I gave him, which he decided not to heed. Now we see how wise it was.”
The Pope “will again express the more ample appeal he made in the message for the 2004 World Day of Peace,” the Italian cardinal continued. “In it, he called for a higher level of international order and warned that the struggle against terrorism cannot only be ‘repressive,’ but must start with the ‘elimination of the causes’ of the injustice.”
In that message, according to the cardinal, “it is stated that respect for life must always be honored and that the struggle against terrorism does not justify giving up the principles of the state of law, as the end never justifies the means.”
Cardinal Laghi also said that “the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq should be replaced by a multinational presence, which is not dominated by those who wanted and fought the war,” according to Agence France-Presse.
Russell Shaw, a Washington, D.C.-based writer and journalist, agrees with Cardinal Laghi's assessment.
“I suspect that the Pope would want to encourage the president to move faster and even more firmly in the direction of internationalizing the trusteeship over Iraq,” he said. “If that's the way the Pope's half of the conversation goes, that's not exactly calling on the president to change his policy. “
But Shaw says Iraq will only be part of the conversation between Bush and the Holy Father.
“I expect him to encourage the president to continue to work for peace and justice in Iraq and in the Middle East generally. I don't think he's going to only talk about Iraq. When he talks about the Middle East, he will explicitly or implicitly include Israel and the Palestinians under that heading because the Vatican is as concerned about what is happening there as it is concerned about what is happening in Iraq,” Shaw said.
A Matter of Timing
Michael Novak, the George Frederick Jewett scholar in religion, philosophy, and public policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Pope and president are on common ground when it comes to Middle East policy.
“No one more than the Pope has stressed the importance of human rights and democracy for freeing the human spirit and no political leader more than George Bush has worked toward democracy and human rights in the Middle East,” he said.
“For 50 years,” he added, “the Muslims of the Middle East have been the forgotten people in the arena of human rights. George Bush has changed that and launched a crucial humane vision in the world.”
Cardinal Laghi said that to reestablish law in the Mideast, and in particular in Iraq, requires “a cultural understanding of that world that is difficult for us and that I think our American friends have not achieved.”
“To bomb a mosque, to enter holy cities, to put women soldiers in contact with naked men, shows a lack of understanding of the Muslim world that I would label astonishing,” Cardinal Laghi said. “Bridges must be built with Islam, not pits dug.”
Mark Shea, senior content editor for CatholicExchange.com, said he believes the Holy Father has not strayed from his position that the war in Iraq was unjust.
“Nobody in Rome was persuaded that this was a just war from the outset,” he said. “When I look at the administration's justification for war, I find myself in agreement with [Cardinal Joseph] Ratzinger and the Pope and much of the American episcopacy that this doesn't seem to add up to fitting just war criteria. That's a problem. I also recognize that now that we're there, we can't just bail.”
Shea said he also said he believes that Bush may have ulterior motives for his meeting with the Pope during an election year.
The president altered his schedule in order to make sure he didn't miss the Pope, who is scheduled to travel to Switzerland on June 5.
“He respects the Holy Father and genuinely wants to hear what he has to say, [but] it may be political as well,” he said. “He is running for reelection, so maybe he's hoping for a photo op. Much that this administration has chosen to pursue has become increasingly mysterious to me.”
But Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine, adamantly rejects that theory, pointing out that the visit will be part of an already-planned tour of Europe.
Bush will begin his trip in Italy with ceremonies on June 4, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Rome by American and allied forces.
Hudson acts as a liaison between Bush and the Catholic world.
“In [Bush's] mind, going to Rome means dropping by to see John Paul II,” he said. “It would be lack of diplomacy on his part not to seek to meet with him on such a visit to the city where the Pope resides. It's a simple as that. If the president doesn't reach out to the Pope on a visit to Rome, he can always be accused of avoiding him in a time when the Vatican has been critical of [him on] Iraq.
“He'd rather be criticized for reaching out to him than be criticized for avoiding him,” said Hudson.
Patrick Novecosky writes from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Patrick Novecosky ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Communion and the Catholic Politician DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D., recently reminded his flock of St. Paul's admonition about receiving Communion unworthily.
“Catholics who separate their faith life from their professional and social activities are putting the salvation of their souls in jeopardy,” said the former pre-med student, who has been bishop of Fargo since 2001.
He spoke recently with Register staff writer Tim Drake.
On April 25 you gave a homily at the Cathedral of St. Mary addressing Communion and the Catholic politician. What prompted that homily?
The question regarding human life has always been an important one for me, especially for the dignity of the unborn child. This stems, in part, from my experience while I was an emergency-room orderly in Colorado back in 1971.
Even before Roe v. Wade, abortion in Colorado was legal in the first trimester. I will never forget a woman who came into the ER who had been given a saline abortion earlier in the afternoon. The doctor had sent her home and told her she would pass it later. All of us in the ER had to respond to her situation. She was passing the fetus at that time. The fetus was broken apart and it's an image that has always lived with me.
As I was looking at a small arm and leg it was obvious to me that it was a human person who was destroyed.
In the context of the present political situation, there had been media coverage in the newspaper on Sen. John Kerry's unambiguous support for the right to abortion and his statement that he is personally opposed but that his faith life is different from his public life and that the two could be separated. An additional article mocked the Vatican's position, and there was the coverage of the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. All of those played a role in the development of my homily.
One of my great fears is that many lay Catholics — whether we like to admit it or not — obtain their information on what the Church teaches and believes through the media. I, as the bishop, have the responsibility to teach clearly what the Church teaches and to respond to what they are receiving from the media or theologians who would support the separation of one's faith from one's public positions.
The purpose of my homily was to present clearly the Church's teaching on the relationship between the living of one's faith in one's professional life and in the world. I took the teachings from Scripture and the documents of the Second Vatican Council and quoted those for people so they could see how that relationship is rooted in the call that Christ has given to us to be salt for the earth and light for the world.
What kind of reaction have you received?
As people left church they were very positive. Some told me they had never really thought about it at that depth and that it was helpful in clarifying what the Church really does teach.
I've heard from a couple of people who were not happy with it, but I keep presenting them with the Catechism, Scripture and the documents of Vatican II, so they don't know how to respond.
I would venture to say that most Catholic politicians have not read the [1995] encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), nor have they read and prayed with the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the documents of Vatican II. My greatest desire is to give them the teaching, help them go to it and help it become a part of their lives so they can live the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Church in the world.
Do you support the idea of sanctions, such as the denial of Communion, for pro-abortion Catholic politicians?
I believe in terms of Catholics who support the right of abortion, that they really should not be receiving holy Communion. The Eucharist is a sign of our unity with Jesus Christ and with the Church and the Church's teachings.
The separation, especially on such an essential issue of the faith as the dignity of human life as clearly presented in The Gospel of Life, is one of those foundational principles that one cannot deny and still be in communion with Christ and the Church.
If a lay Catholic is truly informed and still holds that position publicly and then receives holy Communion, he or she is causing scandal to other Catholics and therefore should be denied holy Communion.
Is abortion such a social evil that no politician can be permitted to call himself a Catholic and support the right to choose it?
Yes, that is the definitive and consistent teaching of the Church thoroughly explained in Evangelium Vitae.
Do you think the confusion surrounding this issue stems in part from a misunderstanding of what the Eucharist is?
There is a misunderstanding about the meaning of receiving the Eucharist. When one receives holy Communion, one is entering into communion with Jesus Christ, who is truly present in the Eucharist, and one is also in communion with the Church and is identifying himself as being in union with the one holy, apostolic Catholic Church and with the Holy Father and bishops.
When one looks at the Eucharistic prayers, one can see the depth of unity to which we are called. We are unified with Christ and in union with Mary, the heavenly court, our Holy Father and with the local bishop and with Catholics everywhere in the world. A very prayerful meditation on the Eucharistic prayers helps us to understand more fully the full significance of the Eucharist and the unity it brings about. Hence, there needs to be a unity between one's faith life and one's public life.
We need to be cognizant of the whole question of judgment and the eternal things. On the day of our personal death and judgment, as we proclaim in the creed every Sunday, we will have to stand before God to say how we lived our life in the world and how we brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ — the Gospel of life — into the world. God will probably care less if one was Republican, Democrat or Independent. What he will care about is whether we live the truth, proclaim the truth and transform the world.
How far can the Church take such sanctions? Could Catholic politicians who support stem-cell research or the death penalty, for example, be denied Communion as well?
We have to follow the Code of Canon Law and what is allowed for in the code. We also must recognize how essential this one issue is. This issue is different from every other issue. If there is no respect for the life of the unborn and the dignity of the unborn person, there will be a lack of respect and a relativistic approach to human life on all other levels.
Only a handful of bishops have spoken out publicly on this issue. Can we expect any clarification from the U.S. bishops' conference prior to November's election?
I pray God, yes. Hopefully the discussion will take place and something will be done at our June meeting.
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Communion Issue Shows No Sign of Letting Up DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:TRENTON, N.J. — In a year when pro-abortion Catholics in public offices have defied their bishops on the issue of receiving Communion, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's decision was a head-turner.
McGreevey said May 5 he would stop receiving Communion during Mass.
Newark, N.J., Archbishop John Myers published a pastoral letter that day asking Catholic voters and politicians opposed to fundamental Church teachings to refrain from Communion. Archbishop Myers reminded the faithful that “no one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true.”
The reception of the Eucharist also symbolizes the union one has with the whole Church, according to Archbishop Myers.
“To receive Communion when one has through public or private action separated oneself from the unity with Christ and his Church is objectively dishonest,” he said.
McGreevey, an Irish-Catholic Democrat who has been governor for three years, supports legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research.
“Archbishop Myers felt that the governor was honest,” said James Goodness, spokesman for the archbishop, “and he respected that.” Goodness noted McGreevey's decision might have been one that had already been made privately during the past few years.
The issue of Catholic lawmakers ignoring Church teaching when they cast votes on legislation concerning life issues has been in the public eye at least since former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said he is “personally opposed” to abortion but supports it because it is legal. The matter has been ratcheted up this year with the presidential candidacy of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a Catholic who supports abortion.
Bishops in the United States tend toward one of two camps: a small but growing group of bishops who have decided to refuse Communion to such politicians or who call upon these figures to voluntarily refrain from taking Communion, and another group who think refusing Communion is the wrong approach.
Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., believes refusing Communion is not helpful.
“The role of the Church is to teach the sacredness of the life of the child within the womb and the importance of the life of the mother who is carrying the child,” said Father Kenneth Doyle, chancellor for public information in the Albany Diocese. “The Church tries to prompt a reasoned discussion about the relative rights of each. Refusing Communion might well put the focus instead on politicians and penalties and sidetrack the essential discussion.”
Furthermore, Father Doyle believes such a policy would be impracticable.
“How would you administer such a decision to refuse Communion — would you list all of the life issues and then decide on an appropriate passing percentage of ‘good votes’?” he asked.
Shepherds and Teachers
Others believe a blanket policy for all pro-abortion Catholic politicians would be impossible to carry out because of the individual differences among lawmakers.
“It's a question of prudence — what's the best way to handle these situations in a charitable way,” said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, which lobbies lawmakers in Albany. “The primary role of the bishop is the salvation of souls. It's a balancing act — because any act can backfire. What works for one politician may not work for another.”
Poust noted that part of the bishops' role is to teach the faith.
“When a politician misrepresents Catholic teaching, bishops may be obligated to say something,” he said. “But it's a pastoral matter. I would suspect that public statements would only come after the public has been confused.”
Others think the real issue is not Communion per se.
“The broader and more important issue is: Can a Catholic in good conscience vote for someone who works flagrantly against Catholic teaching?” asked Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute.
That issue was addressed by Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo., who said in a May 1 pastoral letter to the people of his diocese that “any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem-cell research or euthanasia … place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation.”
While an ad hoc committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, chaired by Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCar-rick, studies the issue and plans to release its conclusions after the fall elections, bishops have autonomy in their respective dioceses on the issue.
Blanket Policy?
Msgr. Gerald Murray, a canon lawyer in New York, pointed out that Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law says that those who obstinately persist in “manifest grave sin” are to be refused Communion.
Before determining they are obstinately persisting, “ecclesiastical authorities have to make them aware of what they are doing,” Msgr. Murray said. “Some politicians act that way because they've had poor formation.”
Every document put out by the Holy See on issues of politicians and the sanctity of human life call it a “grave” sin whenever a politician votes for laws that directly attack human life.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship, told journalists in April that Catholic politicians who unambiguously support abortion should be refused Communion and that such politicians must not go to Communion.
Cardinal Arinze's statement “is not so much a direct order,” Florida-based canon lawyer Pete Vere said, “as it is revealing of the mind of our Holy Father. It is a glimpse into what he is thinking. The Holy Father is backing the decision of these bishops.”
Vere noted that a blanket policy that would refuse Communion to such politicians could be acceptable under canon law. However, such a policy would have to be carefully worded to differentiate between legislators who are “incrementalists” — those who are basically pro-life but who fight abortion through small steps even if they vote for a law that accepts some types of abortion — and legislators who are committed to keeping abortion legal.
“We don't want to shoot our allies,” he said.
A blanket policy, according to Vere, should specifically target lawmakers who are radically pro-abortion.
In Poust's view, McGreevey's decision could be a teaching moment.
“McGreevey made a wise decision by not bringing this issue to a head,” Poust said. “The ideal outcome is that the politician begins to realize that we aren't free to do evil. Hopefully this will lead some back to the Catholic Church.”
Sabrina Ferrisi writes from Jersey City, New Jersey.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Sabrina Ferrisi ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Priest Asks Homosexuals to Refrain from Communion
Father Larry Wieseler of St. Mary's parishes in Baudette, Williams and Falun, Minn., acted after a letter to the editor appeared in the local newspaper by one of the men in which he stated he was a homosexual “in a committed relationship with another man whom I love, as you should love your spouse,” the Herald reported.
Father Wieseler had previously talked to the couple about Church teaching on homosexuality. When the letter appeared and they went public, however, he said he had to do something.
He did not deny Communion to the men but merely suggested they should not come to receive Communion, he told the paper.
The men said they are looking into other denominations that might welcome a homosexual couple as active members.
Ads Target Cardinal's Comments on Communion
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 7 — American Life League took out ads in early May in several newspapers in response to Washington, D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's comments about denying Communion to pro-abortion politicians.
The ads say, “You can't be both Catholic and pro-abortion!” The ads, which addressed a statement by the cardinal specifically, ran in the Washington Times, the Wanderer Catholic newspaper and Human Events magazine.
Cardinal McCarrick told the Associated Press in early May that “I have not gotten to the stage where I'm comfortable in denying the Eucharist.”
The cardinal chairs a panel that is currently deciding how bishops can respond to Catholic pro-abortion politicians.
Movie Makes Jesus a Fashion Statement
FOX NEWS, May 10 — Thanks to The Passion of the Christ, Jesus “is a movie star and a cultural icon,” according to Fox News. Now, it said, he's also a fashion statement.
“Jesus chic” wear is becoming all the rage in Hollywood, the news station reported. Designers and boutiques have been quick to offer everything from T-shirts to belts with pictures and statements by Our Lord.
Celebrities such as Madonna and Pamela Anderson have been spotted wearing “Jesus Is My Homeboy” T-shirts and baseball caps. Some have been seen wearing “Mary Is My Homegirl” apparel.
“It's a fun, little Hollywood trend that was sparked by the success of the movie,” said E! Networks lifestyle director Elycia Rubin. “Obviously, fashion influences movies and movies influence fashion.”
Others, however, don't see it as “fun.”
“I think these T-shirts are disrespectful,” said Los Angeles attorney Michael Allan, who is Catholic. “Mary and Jesus don't belong on Tshirts. There are other ways to show your devotion.”
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Chaplains and Commentators Weigh In on Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — The abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war by U.S. military personnel must be “condemned without equivocation” and “we must bring to justice those responsible,” said Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, head of the U.S. Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services.
He called “outrageous” the abuses that first came to light in photographs presented April 28 on CBS' “60 Minutes II” showing U.S. military personnel abusing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners.
Agreeing with Archbishop O'Brien were two military chaplains scheduled to become auxiliary bishops of the military archdiocese in July. All three said the abuses go against what the U.S. military stands for and are contrary to the actions of the vast majority of the members of the U.S. armed forces.
“The military is no place for Rambos. We have to weed them out,” said Bishop-designate Richard Higgins, an Air Force chaplain since 1974.
Bishop-designate Joseph Esta-brook, a Navy chaplain since 1977, said the abuses show the need for military chaplains because they can provide moral guidelines for military people having to act in complex and stressful situations.
All three spoke in answer to a question by Catholic News Service at a May 7 news conference in Washington to announce the appointments of Bishops-designate Higgins and Estabrook. Archbishop O'Brien spoke via telephone from the Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany during a tour of U.S. military installations.
The archbishop contrasted the abuses in the photos to the “excellent attention” he said he saw wounded Iraqi prisoners of war receive at U.S. military hospitals in Germany.
His statements were echoed in Register interviews with a chaplain and a serviceman who recently returned from Iraq.
“This situation is a microscopic, unfortunate event that the troops who are doing honorable duties out there are embarrassed by and regret,” said Father S. Richard Spencer of the Office of the Army Chief of Chaplains at the Pentagon. “But they also realize the greater good they are accomplishing because they are still involved in the orphanages and building hospital clinics and schools, and so they know the good that is being done.”
“It's unfortunate that we have the blemish of these incidents at the prison,” said Father Spencer, a major in the Army. “But by no means does it indicate that that is acceptable or the norm of behavior by our military personnel.”
“I have personally witnessed great compassion by our men and women in uniform as they reached out to hundreds and hundreds of Iraqis who have been injured or who go without shelter or food,” he said, pointing out that service personnel returning to the United States from their tour even donate a lot of their extra civilian clothes rather than bring them back to the states.
“That's a very touching, compassionate gesture,” Father Spencer noted. “The American people can be and should be very proud of their men and women in uniform. They're performing with great pride a heroic service for a better tomorrow not only for our country but also for the world.”
Frustrated Servicemen
From the serviceman's perspective, Specialist Frank O'Farrell with the Army Reserve's 411th Civil Affairs Battalion stationed in Baghdad from March 2003 to earlier this year said there's no excuse for mistreating prisoners, and he has no sympathy for those who abused them.
“It's frustrating for me,” he said. “I left projects I'm incredibly proud of, and I left them in good hands.”
O'Farrell said the U.S. work in Iraq is “still the largest humanitarian-aid effort going on the planet. There are 144,000 of us there rebuilding schools and hospitals, helping to secure free elections, working on infrastructures like garbage, electricity and drinking water. All these good things have been going on since Day One. There's so much good going on there and it's not getting to the press. It's just not news-worthy. It's frustrating for me.”
Bishop-designate Estabrook said he has been teaching a moral decision-making course for Marines in which real-life military situations are simulated and students have to decide which courses of action to take.
Marines coming back from Iraq have spoken about the moral decisions they have had to make and “I'm proud of them,” Bishop-designate Estabrook said.
At the time of his appointment, Bishop-designate Estabrook was command chaplain at the Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Setback With Muslims
John Borelli, special assistant for interreligious initiatives to the president of Jesuit-run Georgetown University, said the abuse “sets back our work on reconciliation” with Muslims.
“We are trying to get past the stereotypes and ill will from our past,” Borelli said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service.
“The abuse reveals in the minds of U.S. citizens a dehumanizing view of Arabs and Muslims,” Borelli said.
Prior to joining Georgetown in February, Borelli was involved in Catholic-Muslim dialogue as an associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
“The abuses go against everything the U.S. military teaches its soldiers about treatment of prisoners of war,” Borelli said. “I know from my personal experience as an Army interrogator during the Vietnam War.”
A different take on the matter was offered by the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council. In a May 12 statement on the prisoner abuse, Tony Perkins, president of the group, said Americans “must be willing to look deeper — we must be willing to look our culture in the mirror and ask some hard questions about what kind of society our children are growing up in.”
“What is surprising and what should shock our nation's conscience is that these U.S. soldiers took photos and homemade pornography of the abuse as ‘trophies’ for their actions,” Perkins said. “When you mix young people who grew up on a steady diet of MTV and pornography with a prison environment, you get the abuse at Abu Ghraib. America is in a perilous situation. In the eyes of these Muslims, we are the enemy because we are Christian, but in many areas of our culture, our conduct as a nation is anything but Christian.”
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: The U.N. and the Holy See's Tense Cooperation DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — Before the Iraq war, Pope John Paul II and the Holy See were advocating that the United Nations take control of the situation and promote peace, according to Cardinal Renato Martino, who for 16 years represented the Holy See at the United Nations.
“Now we hear everybody saying the United Nations must come in,” the cardinal said.
But for all the undoubted good will on the part of the cardinal, such seemingly unqualified trust and faith in the United Nations baffles many American Catholics.
Isn't this the same organization that advocates abortion, calls for new definitions of the family and promotes birth control? Wasn't it the United Nations that failed to enforce a decade of resolutions regarding Iraq? Didn't the organization neglect its duty to prevent genocide in Rwanda?
The United Nations has responsibility for international peace and security, which includes economic and social development in poorer countries. Yet even in those areas there are major problems.
Some of its development projects, which include providing emergency food aid, clean water and vaccinations, are criticized for placing too much faith in the state and serving to prop up inefficient and corrupt political regimes.
So with such problems in mind, what exactly is the attitude of the Holy See toward the United Nations?
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer at the United Nations in Geneva, calls relations “good” between the two institutions. He said the Holy See supports the United Nations in its efforts toward “human promotion, search for peace and peaceful coexistence, and of developments of the poorer countries.”
“In general, the Holy See favors all that is good for the human family,” he added, “but when needed, it disagrees with one or many countries if the Holy See's vision and understanding of the human person — its rights, its dignity, its uniqueness — are involved and distorted.”
The Holy See's primary role, the archbishop asserted, is injecting a “spiritual focus” into international life, thereby strengthening it.
His views are echoed by other Holy See officials, who cite key Vatican statements on the United Nations, particularly Blessed Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) and Pope John Paul II's addresses to the United Nations in 1979 and 1995.
In accord with John Paul, Cardinal Martino sees the United Nations as an important instrument in a “globalization of solidarity.”
“We know from natural law that human beings are sociable — they have to work together,” said the cardinal, who now serves as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. “And with the global village we speak about, this is true at the international level, too.”
The cardinal strongly believes the United Nations is there “as an instrument to serve the human being and the universal common good.”
And because the organization is particularly prone to moral relativism, he sees the Church's chief role as bringing into the forum of the United Nations the objective truth of the natural moral law that is common to everyone.
Global ‘Mirror’?
Janne Haaland Matlary, a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and a former Norwegian deputy foreign minister, supports the presence of the United Nations because it “mirrors the world” and is the “only global political organization in existence.”
In the area of international security, she stands by the U.N. Security Council as the “legitimizer of military force.”
“States that act without a mandate, like the United States in Iraq, realize that they act against international law,” she said. “Military might would be used much more freely without the existence of the general norm of prohibition of the use of force the [Security Council] lays down.”
On the organization's approach to social policy, Matlary, who is also a consultant at the Pontifical Council for the Family, believes that “without the United Nations, we can forget international human rights.”
Despite not being binding on member states, she says the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights “is a natural-law document” and subsequent conventions have been defined in “very good ways from a Catholic point of view.”
And facing continuing pressure from two particularly powerful U.N. agencies, the U.N. Population Fund and UNICEF, and from many nongovernmental organizations active at the United Nations to promote anti-life and anti-family policies, she argues that it is extremely important for the Church “to be present in the political process to uphold and argue for a natural-law definition of these rights.”
The Holy See has had some notable successes at the United Nations, particularly at the 1994 World Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.
There the Holy See delegation delayed final agreement on the conference document for a full week in order to successfully get rid of the reference to abortion as a means of family planning.
And according to Matlary, the Holy See wields a fair amount of political clout, being both “feared and revered” at the United Nations for its professional skills of diplomacy and international law and because, through its independence, it is probably the only state actor that is “consistent on the controversial topics.”
But there is room for improvement. Some argue the Holy See would be more effective were it to become a permanent member of the United Nations rather than continue with its current observer status.
The possibility is “still under study,” according to Cardinal Martino, who believes the Holy See's “presence would be more felt” but maintains that the Church, in any case, is able to “speak in any circumstances.”
Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, which monitors the United Nations from a pro-life and pro-family perspective, believes the Holy See should pursue permanent-member status immediately. He views the Church as the United Nations' “moral conscience” that has saved the organization from “social policy disaster.”
U.N. Reform
This September, U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan will present recommendations on reforming the organization.
Ruse said authentic reform must contain steps toward accountability and transparency, to “lessen the impact and control of U.N. bureaucracy,” in particular the power of certain U.N. agencies that are “too powerful for any one government to tackle.”
Matlary would like to see reforms that allow the natural moral law to become more fully adopted in the United Nations and for changes to the way the U.N. Security Council operates.
Whatever reforms are enacted, the United Nations is clearly here to stay — and so is the Holy See's influential presence there.
“Those who want to listen to the Church will listen,” Cardinal Martino said, “even if we whisper.”
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Pope Tells U.S. Bishops to Clean Up Seminaries
REUTERS, May 7 — Pope John Paul II on May 6 told U.S. bishops in Rome for their once-every-five-years ad limina visit to get seminaries in order so future priests will live by Church teachings.
Twenty bishops from Michigan and Ohio were visiting the Pope. “As a spiritual father and brother to his priests, the bishop should do everything in his power to encourage them in fidelity to their vocation and to the demands of leading a life worthy of the calling they have received,” John Paul told them.
The Holy Father also said the bishops must keep up dialogue with seminarians and priests and correct them if needed, Reuters reported. Candidates to the priesthood have to accept a “life of celibate chastity as the expression of a radical commitment to follow Christ,” the Holy Father said.
“It is in major and minor seminaries,” he said, “that the seeds of a spirituality of communion and mission, and of a healthy priesthood, are sown.”
Swiss Guards to Celebrate 500th Anniversary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 9 — The Vatican's Swiss Guards are getting ready to celebrate their 500th anniversary as protectors of the Pope with several celebrations in 2005 and 2006.
The guards announced their plans in early May. Anniversary celebrations will begin June 21, 2005, with the publication of a book on the history of the Swiss Guards, the wire service reported.
Part of the celebrations will include a 530-mile march from Switzerland to Rome to recreate the arrival of the first contingent. The march is expected to take about a month, and the guards will make 26 stops to mark Switzerland's 26 cantons.
Other plans for the anniversary include issuance of a special stamp by the Swiss and Vatican post offices as well as a coin worth about $15.
The Swiss Guards were founded in 1506 by Pope Julius II. Currently 110 guards protect the Pope, guard the entrances to the Vatican and the Apostolic Palace, and perform honor-guard duties at Vatican ceremonies.
Police Reopen Vatican Kidnapping Case
Emanuela Orlandi disappeared June 22, 1983, and was thought to have been taken by Turkish extremists with links to the KGB. It was suspected they wanted to exchange her for Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, the newspaper reported.
The Holy Father appealed for the girl's release eight times, but she was never found and police believed she was either dead or had married one of her Turkish captors.
Police said aged photographs of the teen-ager bear a “startling resemblance” to Orlandi, the newspaper reported. Orlandi's mother, however, said she didn't believe the woman in the new photograph was her daughter.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Pope's Visit to Highlight Catholic Roots Of Switzerland and Europe DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II's short visit to Switzerland on June 5-6 will be more significant, symbolic and timely than one might imagine.
Although he will be spending time in a country whose Catholics have been some of the most resistant to his papacy, he will also be traveling to a land whose historical patrimony addresses two particular concerns of the Pope: reverence for the Eucharist and a return to the Christian roots of Europe.
The particular patrimony in question revolves around one man.
Ask any Swiss national who is the most admired figure of their past and he will probably not cite Albert Einstein or William Tell but a father of 10 children who left his wife and family to live as a hermit in the Swiss mountains.
Yet although St. Nicholas von Flue, the country's founding father and patron saint, continues to draw much affection from the Swiss, few recognize the power of his testimony or the striking relevance of his life to this present age.
St. Nicholas was a farmer who at age 50 answered a calling to radically live a life characterized by the interior journey. The son of a devout Catholic mother, his life was marked by obedience and such intimacy with God that, as a hermit, he was said to have lived a miracle by finding sustenance from the Eucharist alone.
The fruits of this could be seen through his reputation as a peace-maker, which spread throughout Europe and led many people, from peasants to royalty, to visit him and seek his counsel.
In 1480, he performed the so-called “Swiss Miracle” when he was called out of his hermitage near the Swiss village of Stans to mediate a dispute that threatened civil war and the breakup of the Swiss confederation of cantons (states).
So successful and miraculous was his peacemaking that it helped his compatriots form a country that, for the large part of 500 years afterward, has remained at peace with itself and its neighbors.
According to Father Agnell Rickenmann, general secretary of the Swiss Bishops' Conference, St. Nicholas, otherwise affectionately known to the Swiss as “Brother Klaus,” gave his compatriots “a great example on how to realize one's identity, how to live one's faith and the manner in which to live one's relationship with God.”
Saint for Today
Michael McGrade, author of The Invisible Crown — a biography of St. Nicholas' life through the eyes of his wife, Dorothy — believes his testimony has wider implications that have “never been more relevant” to the modern world.
“By using a saint who for 20 years miraculously embodied the union of Christ with the soul to effect a lasting union of the warring cantons,” McGrade said, “God signified the centrality of socio-political harmony and peace to the holy Eucharist and thus the Church, which alone confects and preserves it.”
All of St. Nicholas' actions were so “profoundly Catholic,” so God-centered, that they united the warring cantons “despite themselves,” McGrade said.
“According to St. Nicholas, for the state to remain peaceful and prosperous it must be united, free, independent, defended and above all else, Catholic,” said McGrade, who believes that unless Europe is likewise united once more in the Catholic faith, “lasting peace will remain unattainable.”
Recalling the words of Pope Saint Pius X, who said in 1910 that “there is no true moral civilization without the true religion [i.e. Catholicism],” McGrade believes the “materialistic and relativistic ideology” of the current European Union is “utterly opposed to this Catholic worldview.”
And he draws a parallel with what “John Paul continually points out and the truth that St. Nicholas lived by: ‘… that Christ has established a teaching authority within the Church to safeguard and make known the truth of the faith.’”
But he believes this wisdom, instinctively understood in St. Nicholas' day by those who shared the Catholic faith, “is ignored.”
And echoing John Paul's concerns over Europe, St. Nicholas had particularly strong words of warning for nations that pay scant attention to their religious heritage: “What the soul is to the body, God is to the state. When the soul leaves the body, the body falls apart. When God is driven from the state, the state is doomed to ruin.”
Swiss Youth
John Paul, who has always held youth in great affection, is expected to draw at least 15,000 young people to the country's National Catholic Youth meeting in the capital, Bern.
He is making the visit at the invitation of the Swiss bishops, but “it was the country's youth who had the idea to invite the Pope and organize this meeting,” Father Rickenmann said. “I think a great part of the Swiss youth will be very positive about it.”
Father Rickenmann added that the bishops' conference has been “surprised” at the “positive reactions” from the civil authorities, especially considering the visit will take place in or around Bern, which is in a Protestant canton.
He hopes the meeting will encourage the Swiss people to have faith, hope and “to be a little proud to be Catholic.”
“Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Where is the joy among us Catholics in Switzerland?’” Father Rick-enmann said. “We have a message of hope, a message of faith and of the future, and that to give all this to our population today can, I think, be a great, great light.”
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Mankind Yearns for Victory Over Death DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Register Summary
During his general audience with 15,000 people in St. Peter's Square on May 12, Pope John Paul II said pride and self-sufficiency are temptations in times of prosperity. He made his remark during a meditation on Psalm 30 as he continued his teachings on the psalms and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours' evening prayer.
Psalm 30 is a song of thanksgiving for deliverance from death. In a series of contrasts, the psalm-ist describes his earlier anguish followed by his restoration to life, hope and freedom. This crisis has allowed him to move beyond the illusion of self-sufficiency to an abiding trust in the Lord, who is always faithful to his promises.
“This psalm shows us that we must never be seduced by the dark confusion of despair, when it seems that everything is lost,” the Pope noted. “We must not fall prey to the illusion that we can save ourselves with our own resources.”
John Paul said Psalm 30 is an encouragement never to despair of God's saving power, even in the face of death. “Nobody prays for help without recognizing his needs, nor does anybody believe he can keep what he has by trusting only in his own virtue,” he noted, citing a letter written by Fulgentius of Ruspe, a sixth-century bishop.
“The Old Testament expresses man's intense desire for God's victory over death,” he said. “This powerful desire was fully fulfilled by Christ's resurrection, for which we can never thank God enough.”
An intense yet gentle prayer of thanksgiving to God rises from the psalmist's heart after the nightmare of death has dissipated. This is the feeling that stands out most strongly in Psalm 30, which we have just heard, not only with our ears but, undoubtedly, also with our hearts.
This hymn of thanksgiving has remarkable literary qualities and is based on a series of contrasts that express in a symbolic way the Lord's deliverance. Thus, a contrast is made between the descent “down to the pit” and being “brought up from Sheol” (verse 4); God's “anger” that “lasts but a moment” is replaced by his “favor” that “lasts a lifetime” (verse 6); the “weeping” that comes at dusk is followed by “rejoicing” that comes at dawn (verse 6); “mourning” is changed into “dancing” and clothing made of “sackcloth,” a sign of mourning, is replaced by clothing of “gladness” (verse 12).
The night of death has passed away and a new day is dawning. It is for this reason that our Christian tradition sees this psalm as a paschal song. The opening quotation that is taken from John Cassian, a great monastic writer of the fourth century, and that is found in one edition of the liturgical text for evening prayer, attests to this: “Christ gives thanks to the Father for his glorious resurrection.”
Call Upon the Lord
The psalmist addresses the “Lord” repeatedly — no less than eight times — either to announce that he will praise him (see verses 2 and 13), to recall his cry unto the Lord during the time of his trial (see verses 3 and 9) and the Lord's liberating intervention (see verses 2, 3, 4, 8 and 12), or to call upon the Lord's mercy once again (see verse 11). In another passage, the psalm-ist invites the faithful to sing hymns to the Lord so as to give him thanks (see verse 5).
His feelings vacillate constantly between the terrible memory of the nightmare he experienced and the joy of his deliverance. Of course, the danger he has left behind is serious and it can still make him shudder, the memory of his past suffering is still clear and vivid, and the tears in his eyes dried up only a short while ago. But now it is the dawn of a new day; death has been replaced by the prospect of ongoing life.
Thus, this psalm shows us we must never be seduced by the dark confusion of despair when it seems everything is lost. Of course, we must not fall prey to the illusion that we can save ourselves with our own resources. Indeed, the psalmist is tempted by pride and self-sufficiency: “Complacent, I once said, ‘I shall never be shaken’” (verse 7).
A Call to Humility
The Fathers of the Church also reflected on this temptation, which creeps up during times of comfort, and saw trial as God's call to humility. For example, this is what Fulgentius, the bishop of Ruspe (467-532), says in his Epistle 3, which he wrote for a nun named Proba, when he comments on a passage of the psalm with the following words: “The psalmist confessed that at times he was proud to be healthy, as if it were one of his virtues, and thereupon was able to determine that very grave illness was a danger. In fact, he says: ‘Complacent, I once said, “I shall never be moved.”’ And for having said this, he was left without the support of God's grace. He was troubled as he was hurled into a state of illness and went on to say: ‘Lord, when you showed me favor I stood like the mighty mountains. But when you hid your face I was struck with terror.’ Moreover, in order to show that we must, nevertheless, ask for the assistance of God's grace humbly and incessantly (even though he already had it), the psalmist adds: ‘To you, Lord, I cried out; with the Lord I pleaded for mercy.’ However, nobody prays for help without recognizing his needs, nor does anybody believe he can keep what he has by trusting only in his own virtue” (Fulgentius of Ruspe, Le Lettere, Rome, 1999, p. 113).
After having confessed his temptation to pride during a time of prosperity, the psalmist recalls the trial that followed, saying to the Lord: “But when you hid your face I was struck with terror” (verse 8).
The psalmist then recalls the way in which he beseeched the Lord (see verses 9-11): He cried out and asked for help and prayed to be preserved from death, citing as a reason the fact that death is no advantage to God since the dead are no longer able to praise God and, having been abandoned by him, no longer have any reason to proclaim fidelity to God.
We find the same argument in Psalm 88, in which the psalmist, who is close to death, asks God: “Is your love proclaimed in the grave, your fidelity in the tomb?” (Psalm 88:12). Similarly King Hezekiah, who was gravely ill and then cured, says to God: “For it is not the netherworld that gives you thanks, nor death that praises you … The living, the living give you thanks” (Isaiah 38:18-19).
Man's Ultimate Desire
It is in this way that the Old Testament expresses man's intense desire for God's victory over death and refers to similar cases in which this victory was obtained: people threatened by death from starvation in the desert, prisoners that have escaped the death penalty, sick people who have been healed and sailors who have been saved from shipwreck (see Psalm 107:4-32). However, they were not the final victories. Sooner or later, death always managed to have the upper hand.
In spite of everything, the desire for victory always prevailed and, in the end, became the hope of resurrection. This powerful desire was fully fulfilled by Christ's resurrection, for which we can never thank God enough.
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Lebanon's Voice of Charity DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:BEIRUT, Lebanon — “Whenever I need you, wherever I go, your voice is with me, from the Voice of Charity,” resounds the theme song during the English hour of the Middle East's only Christian radio station.
From its humble beginning 20 years ago, Lebanon's Voice of Charity radio can now be heard all over the world, thanks to satellites and the Internet.
The Voice of Charity was the inspiration of Father Hannoun Andraos as part of the Lebanese Missionaries Congregation in Jounieh, Lebanon. Father Andraos began by building a studio “for those who wanted to record Christian songs for Jesus and Mary but who didn't have money.”
His timing was crucial: The country was experiencing the devastation of a civil war, and Lebanon's Christians, particularly its youth, were in need of evangelizing. The project evolved to producing audiocassettes for distribution, with topics ranging from Bible readings, the lives of saints and the sacraments.
“I realized there were a lot of broadcasters working in Lebanon. But for Jesus, there was no one,” Father Andraos explained. He produced the first transmitter with an electronic kit; volunteers supplied the labor.
In 1982, Father Andraos sought permission from Lebanese government officials and was denied. At that time, he pointed out, many radio stations were operating illegally in Lebanon.
“If they are broadcasting without permission, then Jesus doesn't need permission,” he recalled thinking.
After doing a small test, the Voice of Charity began broadcasting on Pentecost Sunday 1984.
“No one thought we could carry on,” Father Andraos said.
Nor could anyone have imagined that the station would become a link to Christianity (via the Internet) for Christians living and working in the Gulf area, as it is today.
Initially airing for just a few hours, the Voice of Charity — Sawt el Mahabba, as it is called in Arabic — steadily increased its broadcasting to 24 hours a day. Finally, the Lebanese government relented, allocating an official waveband to the station in 1996.
Father Andraos is now the superior of Harissa, Lebanon's renowned shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Entering the parking lot of the Voice of Charity, Our Lady — perched on a 1,866-foot summit overlooking the Bay of Jounieh — looks as though she is watching over the station. Last May, about 7,000 participated in the station's annual pilgrimage, on foot, to Harissa.
Something for Everyone
With St. John as its patron, the radio station offers a combination of live and taped programs by bishops, priests, nuns and lay people from all the rites of the Church represented in Lebanon.
“Our programs are targeted to everybody — young kids, youth, mothers at home, the elderly — at specific times of the day,” said Father Fadi Tabet, who has served as director of the Voice of Charity since 1999.
Program titles include “The Blessed Mother in Our Life,” “The Difficulties of Faith,” “Whispers of the Spirit” and “You're With Jesus!”
“For sure, our listeners are becoming well-informed about their religion and deepening their faith,” Father Tabet said.
A wide range of Arabic Christian music can be heard throughout the day. There is Maronite liturgical music, Marian songs and uplifting praise music as well as recordings by Father Tabet, who has a music ministry especially popular among the youth.
The Angelus airs at noon (Lebanon is seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time). The rosary is prayed three times daily, including a live broadcast from Harissa. Every Sunday, Mass is celebrated live from Bkerke, the Maronite Patriarchate. A Saturday vigil Mass is also broadcast live from various churches throughout Lebanon.
In addition to the Voice of Charity's regular Arabic-language programming and daily broadcast from the Vatican, there are daily or weekly segments in French, English, Armenian and Italian. Weekly programs in Ethiopian, Filipino and Ghanan are especially important to Lebanon's large population of migrant workers.
Currently there are 32 paid staff and more than 200 volunteers involved in the Voice of Charity. Mona Ajaka has been with the station for 13 years, beginning as a volunteer. Today, her responsibilities include scheduling programs, typing scripts and hosting a live call-in program.
“I came to buy cassettes, and Father Andraos asked me if I had some free time to offer the station,” Ajaka said. “That's why I'm sure there are no coincidences in the Christian life. There is providence. I was called to be here, and it's a privilege I can never deserve.”
“The Lord speaks to me through that station,” said Nyla Mouzanar, a regular listener. “There have been many times when I have experienced a desert time in my faith and have been put back on the right path through listening to the Voice of Charity.”
The station does not receive funds from the Church, instead depending on a number of fund-raising activities, including pilgrimages to holy sites in Syria, Jordan and Europe. A group of 500 was scheduled to travel to Rome with the Voice of Charity for the canonization of Lebanon's Nimattullah Kassab Al-Hardini on May 16.
Conversions
The station began broadcasting its programs live on the Internet in 1997. Based on the e-mails he receives, Father Tabet said there are listeners from all around the world. At one time during Holy Week, for example, there were 35,000 people tuned in to its website.
Through its satellites, the Voice of Charity is now able to reach Syria, the Holy Land, Cyprus and parts of Alexandria and Jordan.
“A few months after we started broadcasting in Syria two years ago,” Father Tabet said, “a bishop called to tell me that 22 young Muslims came to him asking to be converted.”
Doreen Abi Raad writes from Bikfaya, Lebanon.
----- EXCERPT: Spreading Christian Love Through the Troubled Mideast ----- EXTENDED BODY: Doreen Abi Raad ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Demand for London's Religious Schools Increases
In some cases, more than three children are vying for one spot in a school. Overall, the paper reported, 1,275 children are competing for 767 spots for enrollment for the next school year.
Parents need to demonstrate a commitment to their church for their children to become eligible. While some parents have been known to lie or try to bribe their children's way in, the paper noted, experience has shown that some parents begin attending church more regularly than they did before their children went to a parochial school.
Irish Bishop Calls for IRA to Disband
IRELAND ONLINE, May 9 — Armagh archbishop Sean Brady called May 9 for the Irish Republican Army to disband, insisting violence could not be justified.
The archbishop's call came after criticism regarding the British government's handling of security issues with loyalist supporters, the website reported, as well as for a speech in which he was appeared skeptical about changes to the Northern Irish police service, which is mostly Protestant.
“We must dispel any ambivalence in our own community about the presence or actions of nondemocratic and totally unaccountable armed groups in our own community,” Archbishop Brady told BBC Radio. “I'm calling on people to forsake once and for all the armed struggle.”
Chilean Government Legalizes Divorce
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 8 — Despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church, the Chilean government on May 7 legalized divorce in that country.
The Church warned the move would be harmful to families, the wire service reported. However, in an indirect reference to Church opposition, President Ricardo Lagos said the government “cannot impose the positions of one sector of our society on all Chileans.”
About 87% of Chileans consider themselves Catholic. Chile was one of the last countries in the Western Hemisphere without a divorce law.
“This is a sad day for the Church and the whole Catholic community,” said Church spokesman Father Pedro Fernandez. “It hurts us, because this law damages the family.”
Image of Virgin Is Not Miraculous, Says Church
REUTERS, May 11 — Though thousands have flocked to see an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appearing on a hospital wall in Ensenada, Mexico, the Church in Mexico has ruled out any divine origin for the shadowy figure.
It appears every night when a light is switched on in the patio of a clinic in the Pacific resort area, the news service reported.
“The Church is quite clear that it is not a miracle but a natural phenomenon that serves to strengthen the faith of the believers,” said a spokeswoman for the Tijuana Diocese in which Ensenada falls.
The image was first reported to hospital authorities April 19. Among those visiting it are those with chronic illnesses, Reuters reported, many of whom say they received miraculous cures.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: The Torturers Next Door DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:It's easy to blow out of proportion the pictures of prison abuse in Iraq.
The photos were shocking and frightening. But the people responsible for the abuse of prisoners are being dealt with decisively.
The difference between Iraq torturers and U.S. torturers is that the U.S. torturers will be prosecuted — and what's the same between them is that it took the United States to bring them to justice.
But the photos also remind us of the current state of the American character. The U.S. torturers don't come from the cruel backwaters of an oppressive regime. They come from our own neighborhoods. Their friends and family back home said they were normal, apparently good-hearted Americans.
And the U.S. torturers behaved like children of the media — as if they intended their torture to have an audience. They took pictures of what they were doing, and made gestures for the benefit of the audience. They were gleeful and smiling. They acted like pornographers, not interrogators.
How were our own neighbors capable of this bizarre sexual torture? In his 2001 World Peace Day address, Pope John Paul II suggested the reason. He said the culture in the West was becoming increasingly distant from God, and destructive. He called the degradation of character in the West “a phenomenon of vast proportions, sustained by powerful media campaigns and designed to propagate lifestyles, social and economic programs and, in the last analysis, a comprehensive world-view that erodes from within other estimable cultures and civilizations” (No. 9).
He said this cultural anti-revolution is being driven by the most sophisticated media products in years.
When he pointed out that “Western cultural models are enticing and alluring because of their remarkable scientific and technical cast,” he was undoubtedly speaking of America. It is by and large American movies and television shows that entice not just our neighbors, but millions worldwide, to buy into a secularized worldview.
These products, he said, are “marked by the fatal attempt to secure the good of humanity by eliminating God, the Supreme Good.”
His message: The post-Christian culture in the West, married to American hip ingenuity, was a juggernaut capable of leveling other cultures with its sickness.
Cardinal Pio Laghi said that it is just this sort of horror that Pope John Paul II will mention to President Bush when he visits the Vatican on June 4. Cardinal Laghi is a close friend of both the Holy Father and the Bush family. The Holy Father sent him to speak with George W. Bush on the eve of war last year.
“I was afraid that the war would make the plague of terrorism more violent, as the Pope said, and that there would be cruel massacres,” the cardinal told Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. “But I did not expect the torture of prisoners.”
“I love the United States and I did not imagine this madness was possible. I am dismayed,” he said. “I have American friends who are holding their heads in their hands and I with them.”
What is a Catholic response to this horrifying situation, in which America is becoming synonymous with the perversity of the West to so many in the world?
It's the same response Pope John Paul II has been suggesting throughout his long pontificate.
“Today more than ever, dear brothers and sisters,” he told lay people on the feast of Christ the King in the year 2000, “your apostolate is indispensable, if the Gospel is to be the light, salt and leaven of a new humanity.”
If Catholics are willing to do what the Pope asks, we will slowly, arduously, but surely bring the Gospel back to America. We can start with our own neighborhoods — where the prison torturers started out. Who can we invite back to Mass? Who can we tell about the good news that the confessional is a place of mercy? What family can we introduce the rosary to? We won't change our neighborhoods overnight — but we can do more, faster, than we think.
We must also take up the Pope's even more challenging call. “Dear lay faithful, as witnesses to Christ you are especially called to bring the light of the Gospel to the vital nerve centers of society,” he said.
How can Catholics bring the new evangelization to the leaders in media? To the government? To academia?
The juggernaut of American secular culture could eventually become a dynamo of the new evangelization, if Catholics follow what Pope John Paul II has asked them to do in our society.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Letters DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Illusory Rights
“Democrats Try to Score Catholic Votes” (May 2-8) criticizes various organizations for treating all issues as equal when trying to decide how to vote.
The article says, “While Archbishop Chaput stated that abortion, immigration law, the death penalty and housing for the poor were all vitally important issues, he said ‘no amount of calculating can make them equal in gravity.’” What is needed, then, is some guidance that says how to weigh the issues.
Two paragraphs later, the article says, “a 2003 publication, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, provides guidance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.” It turns out that publication is written by the administrative board of the U.S. Catholic Conference, and it does not provide a weighting of the importance of the various issues Archbishop Chaput indicated was necessary.
There is, however, a publication that does provide weighting of the importance of the issues. It was voted out by the entire U.S. bishops' conference in 1998 by an overwhelming vote. It's Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics. Here's what Article 19 says:
“Pope John Paul II elaborates on this responsibility in his 1988 apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici [The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World]: ‘The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life … is not defended with the most maximum determination. … The human being is entitled to such rights, in every phase of development, from conception until natural death; and in every condition, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor … [Moreover, if] indeed, everyone has the mission and responsibility of acknowledging the personal dignity of every human being and of defending the right to life, some lay faithful are given particular title to this task: such as parents, teachers, health workers and the many who hold economic and political power’” (No. 38).
The 1999 version of Faithful Citizenship on Page 13 contained a sentence that followed Article 19 very closely: “Calls to advance human rights are illusions if the right to life itself is subject to attack.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Administrative Committee took it out for the 2003 version of Faithful Citizenship.
CLARE K. AND WILLIAM J. RICHTER, Charleston, South Carolina
Why Catholics Don't Sing
As a lover of both the liturgy and the rich musical heritage of the Catholic Church, I am writing in response to “Bishops Plan to Make New Hymn Rules” (March 28-April 3).
It seems that, in many Catholic churches throughout our country, the congregations do not sing. I believe part of the reason lies in the fact that the hymns used in the liturgy are continually changing. Even in the tunes many of us know as Catholics, the lyrics are continually changing. This is particularly painful for me, because lyrics I memorized as a youth and that have a deep spiritual meaning for me have changed.
When I was in Portugal for two years, I observed that many of the hymns contained a small response and the actual scriptural text from the standard Portuguese edition of the Bible. In the United States, the hymns seem to be based loosely on the Scriptures, but the literal scriptural text is not preserved. Wouldn't it be a good idea to actually sing the literal words of Scripture to a common tune in order to help the faithful memorize key passages of Scripture?
Finally, it deeply saddens me that one rarely hears a Marian hymn. We often sing the Easter tune “Lasst uns erfreuen.” The literal German text is “Let us rejoice heartily, for Mary no longer suffers or mourns. Alleluia. Alleluia.” All reference to Mary's participation in the Easter mystery is removed from the English text. Perhaps we as a nation more than others need to re-cultivate our country's consecration to the Immaculate Conception, especially since we seem to have lost our sense of purity and sexual morality as a nation. What better way to begin than ending every sacred liturgy with a hymn and prayer to Mary?
EDWARD WASSELL, Fillmore, California
Communion
After reading Cardinal Theodore McCar-rick's responses to interview questions (“Invigorated by the Holy Father,” Inperson, May 9-15), I can't believe he is heading up the bishops' task force on politicians who oppose Church teachings.
The Church position on abortion is the most prominent Church teaching being opposed. And our spiritual leader, Cardinal McCarrick, says he's concerned about “the Eucharist becoming a political tool” and that “once a person in his own heart feels he or she is able [to receive Communion], then, even though we might not agree because of the public things that are happening, I am uncomfortable about using the Eucharist as a point of confrontation.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion since the first century and that this teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable (No. 2271). While the Catechism certainly agrees that a human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience (No. 1790), it also says moral conscience can remain in ignorance and make erroneous judgments (No. 1791) and that education of the conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings (No. 1783).
JOHN OPPIE, Georgetown, Texas
Pro-Motherhood Feminism
How refreshing to finally see an article embracing the concept of the “new feminism” (“New Feminism' Is Pro-Motherhood, Says ‘Endow,’” May 9-15).
The 1960s version of feminism stated loud and clear that what was keeping women from achieving equality with men and “having it all” was their reproductive faculty. Instead of looking at this as the gift God intended it to be, it was viewed as a curse. Consequently, women bought into the notion of birth control, sterilization and abortion — the sacrificing of their own children — as a way to achieve equality.
I, for one, welcome the advent of the new feminism. As the mother of three children (two daughters and one son), I hope my children are recipients of better opportunities in the workplace than those offered in the last four decades. I sincerely hope the new feminism will afford all of my children opportunities to be able to better balance a fulfilling life outside of the home while raising their children at the same time (and not leaving that all-important job to someone else).
I'd like to see their God-given skills used fully not only in the home but also in the workplace. Perks such as benefits, retirement and even travel would also be nice amenities. Companies might even be surprised by the win-win situation for both sides — more hours for the employee to spend with home and family, and a dedicated worker for the company. The employer might be truly surprised by an employee who is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a workplace that will let the individual pursue both home and work pursuits without neglecting — or sacrificing — either.
The new feminism — unlike the old feminism — can certainly embrace both home and the workplace, if the workplace becomes more willing to accommodate the changing needs of the family. Until that time, companies will continue to lose out while women such as myself will continue to find other ways of doing both without sacrificing either.
L.A. GRIBLE, Akron, Ohio
The Gift of Suffering
I always read Jennifer Roback Morse's column with interest. Her “Passion and Pain” in the May 9-15 issue, and another column about offering personal suffering in solidarity with Christ and with those suffering in the world (written a year or two ago), address the mystery of suffering with profound insight.
Suffering has always been a stumbling block for the greatest theologians. Avoidance of suffering in our culture accounts for the pervasive and addictive use of drugs, sex and violence to smooth the way into oblivion. Roback Morse's thoughts on suffering affirm my personal experience that, though we fight tooth and nail to be comfortable and secure, when the inevitable pain and difficulties overwhelm us, we dimly perceive suffering to be a gift. Our only recourse is surrender to the mercy of the suffering Christ.
BETSY KLECZKOWSKI, Salt Lake City, Utah
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: 'More and More Catholic' DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Thank you for giving “Mass Abuse” (May 2-8) the prominence it deserves.
Catholic politicians with pro-abortion hearts surely need to be instructed in their faith, and I am grateful that more and more bishops and priests are addressing this problem. However, can anything be more important than abuses in the Mass — from which, I believe, all other abuses flow?
Each and every failure to act or teach properly is an abuse of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It is also an abuse of the rights of each and every one of the lay faithful. That adds up to a lot of abuses by priests for approximately 40 years.
When the sex-abuse scandal hurt Our Lord and his Church so deeply, I know I was not alone in believing surely the U.S. hierarchy will see this as a wake-up call and return to loving obedience to Christ's vicar.
I recall having felt the same way when Inaestimabile Donum [“Instruction Concerning Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery”] was issued in 1980! We all know what happened — things continued to get worse.
So we continue to pray. Sometimes we have unkind thoughts like, “Is there no end to their ego?” and “Have they forgotten we are Roman Catholics? and “Do they not know they are free to go elsewhere if they prefer not to obey?”
Thank you for making the Register more and more Catholic.
ALICE SAVA, Yachats, Oregon
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: The Value of Life: Karen Hughes Was Right DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:The angry matrons of the pro-abortion movement are aiming their ire at presidential adviser Karen Hughes regarding her response to a question about the recent pro-abortion march in Washington.
Her offense? Believing that Americans seem to value life more now, after Sept. 11, 2001.
“I think after Sept. 11, the American people are valuing life more,” Hughes said, “and I think those are the kinds of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy, and really, the fundamental difference between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life.”
“We're endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” she added. “Unfortunately, our enemies in the terror network … don't value any life, not even the innocent and not even their own.”
“Insensitive! Divisive!” shrieked Gloria Feldt of Planned Parenthood — “outrageous” to suggest that we “do not value life.” Feldt has demanded an apology. Hughes has not given one.
Of course Hughes wasn't saying that abortion activists are terrorists or are like terrorists. No reasonable person would conclude that from her remarks.
The irrational attack on Hughes stems from a new sense of panic in the pro-abortion movement, the source of which is not George Bush or his advisers — it's the mass exodus of Americans from their cause.
Polls show that in the last 10 years, there has been a seismic shift in public opinion on abortion. Ten years ago Gallup found that 56% of Americans identified themselves as “pro-choice” compared with only 33% calling themselves “pro-life.” A new Zogby International poll shows the numbers have flipped: Today more Americans call themselves “pro-life” than “pro-choice” — 49% to 45%.
In fact, women poll more “pro-life” than “pro-choice” by a margin of 48% to 46% in the recent Zogby poll.
This is a bitter pill to swallow for Planned Parenthood. And it is not the first indication of the diminishing appeal of “pro-choice.”
In April President Bush signed a new law that was fought vigorously by the “pro-choice” community — vigorously but unsuccessfully. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act recognizes an unborn child as a second victim in a federal crime of violence, and polls show that 80% of Americans believe such crimes have two victims. Against this overwhelming majority stood the pro-abortion movement — not because the law threatened abortion (it exempted abortion), but because it was said to undermine the “logic” of Roe v. Wade.
Here again, the sense of panic. The “pro-choice” movement holds up Roe v. Wade as the standard by which all other laws should be judged, forgetting what the rest of us know well — that legal abortion is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to the way the law treats unborn children.
Outside the context of abortion, unborn children are often recognized by the law — as victims of recompensable personal injury, as inheritors of property, as claimants in paternal wrongful-death actions, as wards of a legal guardian and more recently as recipients of state-funded health insurance.
The “logic” of Roe is like the emperor's new clothes — and the abortion movement stands in fear of the day when it, too, will be seen as nonexistent.
The worst news of all for Planned Parenthood must be that young people are turning away from the pro-abortion movement. Today, according to Zogby, 60% of the under-30 crowd thinks abortion should never be legal or should be legal only in cases of life endangerment or rape or incest. Abortion supporters themselves acknowledge that these circumstances account for only about 2% of abortions.
Young people — the prize of any movement — are the very raison d'etre of the “pro-choice” cause. They are the very people to whom abortion “rights” should mean the most, if they mean anything at all. And yet they are leaving.
And this departure of the young is not for lack of effort on Gloria Feldt's part. Planned Parenthood and its allies launched a $40 million advertising campaign a few years ago designed specifically to draw young people to their cause. Forty million dollars spells desperation, even for well-heeled Planned Parenthood. It does not seem, however, to spell “success.”
Planned Parenthood is promising to send activists into bookstores to heckle Karen Hughes at her upcoming appearances to promote her new book, Ten Minutes from Normal. The most likely result of these bookstore brawls is a boost in book sales for Hughes. In the public-relations world, this is known as “earned media.” By standing up to Planned Parenthood, she's earned it well.
Cathy Cleaver Ruse is director of planning and information for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Cathy Cleaver Ruse ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Our Soldiers DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:War is such an unpleasant and messy business that it's not surprising most Americans spend little time following the details of our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan except when it's a situation that has gotten scandalously out of hand.
Certainly, it's much more enjoyable to scan the stock pages or the baseball box scores than to read about the latest young men and women who have died in combat halfway around the globe. Blood and body counts don't make for a good mix with the morning coffee.
With all the endless diversions we have in this country, it is easy to forget that men and women are fighting and dying each day in Iraq and Afghanistan. All too often, the only way for the war to manage to recapture our attention is for it to somehow intrude upon our pleasant diversions. For the many Americans whose diversion is sports, the death of Pat Tillman did just that.
In the early Afghan evening of April 23, Tillman was killed in an ambush while serving with the Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment. His fate was not unlike the hundreds of other young men and women in the U.S. military who have paid the ultimate price defending our country since Sept. 11, 2001.
The circumstances, however, that brought Tillman to that fateful day in Afghanistan were unique enough that, for a few days, the war on terror dominated the sports pages and reacquainted many Americans with the realities of war.
It turns out that during the 2001 NFL season, Tillman was the starting safety on the Arizona Cardinals football team. Although he was undersized for his position, Tillman was an over-achiever on the football field. In fact, the Cardinals thought enough of his play to offer him a $3.4 million contract following the 2001 season. This is where the story gets interesting. In a decision that can only be described as shocking, Tillman decided to leave the $3.4 million contract on the table, preferring instead to enlist in the U.S. Army and accept an annual salary of only $18,000.
In the prime of his career, Tillman walked away from both the game he loved and financial security to serve his county. His motivation for this decision: the events of Sept. 11. In Tillman's mind, the need to address the impending threat of terrorism took precedence over that large stack of money and comfortable living of a professional football player. For Till-man, the time had come when tangible sacrifices were needed to deal with evil.
Amid a culture that fawns over material success and the arrogant self-serving publicity antics of its sports “heroes,” Tillman was a man who could renew your faith in the professional athlete. Rather than desiring to bring attention to himself, a trait that is rare among celebrities, he denied virtually all media interviews after he enlisted. He realized his decision to enlist was no more worthy of attention than the thousands who had enlisted before him. It is ironic that in death, the media attention he so spurned in life has caught up with him, brought to bear by a country badly in need of a tangible hero.
I have read numerous articles about Tillman since his death, all of them mentioning the many fitting tributes that have been paid to him: Flags were flown at half staff throughout the state of Arizona; his alma mater, Arizona State University, will retire his No. 42 jersey next fall; and the Arizona Cardinals have set up a memorial outside team headquarters.
While these are all fitting, there has been little mention of what would be the best memorial to Tillman's life, and it is something much more dynamic and personal than a faded jersey set off behind a glass frame. To understand how best to honor his memory, it is necessary to understand the magnitude of what Tillman did.
Tillman, like many men before him, gave us his life as a gift, a sacrifice to ensure our freedom. Many might argue about the details of the war he participated in and whether it was just or not, but in Tillman's case, it is hard to argue that his decision to serve was anything less than a gift to this country and all who inhabit it. We live in a fallen world, one in which the human heart's capacity for evil too often becomes fully evident. At such a time, it is necessary for men and women to meet the challenge head on.
That will always entail the type of sacrifice that is an essential part of the Christian life. It is the paschal mystery of redemptive suffering in which we are all called to participate; it is the antidote for a fallen world.
Certainly, Christ's sacrifice was the ultimate antidote, but the story does not end there. Rather, Christ allows each of us to be active participants in the great cosmic struggle between good and evil, a struggle that manifests itself on the evening news but is waged silently in the depths of the human heart. It is in those depths that we encounter the gravity of the freedom we have been given, the ability to choose between life and death.
We have been given what we need to choose wisely, but unfortunately we don't always follow through. Christ came to free us from death, but his gift is lost on us if we don't accept him and alter our lives. Likewise, men like Tillman have given us a free land, full of unbounded promise, but that is lost on those of us who refuse to live a life equal to that promise.
Accepting our freedom cognizant of this responsibility is the ultimate tribute to Tillman and the others who have gone before him. It demonstrates we understand his gift just as asking God for forgiveness demonstrates recognition and appreciation of the gift of his Son. I'm sure you have heard the phrase, “Life is God's gift to us, what we make of it is our gift to him.” Well, the enduring freedom in our country is Tillman's gift to us, what we make of that freedom is our tribute to his memory.
Unfortunately, freedom has been bastardized in our country. Freedom now entails the liberty to do whatever you wish, with whomever you wish, whenever you wish. If we follow this path, we make a mess of our freedom. If we choose the self over self-sacrifice, we are no longer free and Tillman and many others have died in vain. We cannot allow that to happen; rather, we must take a lesson from Tillman.
I do not know his religious convictions, but Tillman demonstrated the essence of true Christian freedom, the freedom to choose the good, no matter the personal risk.
Tillman recognized the debt he had to those who secured him this freedom in our country's previous wars, but more importantly he realized the responsibility inextricably linked with this freedom. The two cannot be separated. In America, we are free to live the lives that Christ has intended or we are free to live our own way. While recognizing that we have such a choice is important, deciding how Christ wants us to use it is even more crucial.
Such groups, though, do not stand alone. In fact, all of us have succumbed to the age-old temptation of taking our freedom into our own hands, trying to transform Christ's will to our own. Real freedom, though, has it the other way around. Real freedom is found in a daily dialogue with Christ and a willingness to allow him to transform our will into his own.
Through such an encounter, we give our lives completely to the service of Christ in much the same way Pat Tillman gave his life — turning down fame and fortune — completely to the service of his country. It is only through this act, the free gift of the self to Christ, that we can hope to use our freedom — which has been purchased at such a price — wisely.
Daniel Kuebler, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of biology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
----- EXCERPT: Don't Forget Pat Tillman and Real Freedom ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dan Kuebler ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Liberal? Conservative? Keep 'Em Guessing DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:We were brought up in an evangelical, Bible-believing church. Of the five of us children, the three boys are now all Catholics.
When my older brother Ron started his RCIA course, he sent me an e-mail asking, “Do Catholics believe in hell?”
I assured him it was an article of faith. “Why do you ask?”
“It's just that Sister Janet, my catechist, says, ‘After Vatican II we don't have to believe in all that stuff.’”
“Oh no!” I exclaimed. “What's your priest like?”
“What should I do?” my brother asked. “Go to the next-door parish that is more conservative?”
“No. Stick with Sister Janet. She's your catechist. For better or for worse, she's part of the Catholic Church, too, and you'll have to get used to that. But do this: Go to your next class with a copy of your big black Bible under one arm and a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the other arm. I'll bet you already know more of the Bible than Sister Janet, and when she sees you, you'll scare the wimple off her.”
“She doesn't wear a wimple.” “Of course. I forgot.”
The RCIA course went ahead, and my brother Ron not only joined the Catholic Church, but he also learned to appreciate Sister Janet. He didn't always agree with her. In fact, they had some pretty sharp arguments, but in the end they both learned from each other and grew a little.
One of the most maddening and delightful things about being a Catholic is that you have to learn to get along with people who are different from you. For those of us who were used to sectarian Protestantism, this is difficult. Because the Protestant mentality encourages church shopping, most Protestants end up in a church they like with people they like. In other words, they end up in a church with people just like them.
In the Catholic Church, that doesn't work.
I often say the Catholic Church is more like a bus stop than a club. Like a bus stop, there are lots of very different people gathered together for the same purpose, not just because they have the same hobby. Like a huge extended family, there are loads of people in the Catholic Church you didn't choose to be in a family with, and you all have to learn to get on. This means that to be a Catholic you have to be both conservative and liberal.
The conservative is suspicious of things that are different and those who want to change things. The liberal, on the other hand, wants to be open to all that is new. The liberal is truly open-minded, tolerant and ready to learn.
If you want to be a Catholic, you have to hold both of these human tendencies in balance. First, you have to appreciate the other side.
To appreciate the conservatives you have to realize there is a lot from the past that is worth conserving. You have to see that conservative tendency as a good thing. If you tend to be conservative you have to see that it's actually a good thing to be open, accepting and tolerant. Then to really turn things on their head the conservative — while accepting the liberal — has to challenge him, and the liberal, for his part, has to challenge the conservative, and the challenges need to be firm, even if that means there are some fireworks.
This is difficult because we want to challenge the other side before we accept them. That's not allowed. It's the wrong way around. We have to accept and love them first, then challenge later. And if we challenge them we have to be open enough to be challenged back.
This is actually a much more demanding way to live the Christian life. It's far better than to take refuge in a club, a clique, a sect or a secure ideological ghetto. It's more demanding. It's more exciting, but it's also much more fun. In every way and on every front the conservative-liberal Catholic is constantly keeping ‘em guessing.
The conservative-liberal mentality is summed up in a favorite saying of mine by the English writer F.D. Maurice. He wrote, “A person is most often right in what he affirms and wrong in what he denies.” This tricky little saying carries more weight than it first seems. If we are right in what we affirm, then we should affirm everything we can. If we're wrong in what we deny, then we should deny as little as possible. This means we will be liberally minded in the right sense in that we will be seeking to affirm all that is good, true and beautiful wherever it appears and however it appears.
To do this we must learn to value all things according to their worth. And if we value all things for what they are worth, we must especially value all people for what they are worth, and each person is of eternal worth.
We cannot afford to put other people into neat categories in order to dispose of them. We have to accept each person exactly as he is. Each person, with his own messy mix of ego, ideas, ideologies, dreams and desires, is God's own tiny, unfinished icon. None of us has it all right, but none of us has it all wrong, either.
The mystery of loving one another and learning from one another is how God completes the image of Christ in us. This is what we are here for: to learn the difficult lessons of love. If we blank out others, we're blanking out the very ones who might be our best teachers.
Dwight Longenecker's book, Adventures in Orthodoxy, is a creative consideration of the Apostle's Creed. It is available through www.dwightlongenecker.com.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dwight Longenecker ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Virtuous Vigilance DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Spirit and Life
The house is clean. The food is prepared and you are ready. You are expecting a very special guest at your home and you want everything to be just right.
You have worked diligently for weeks, clearing the clutter and dusting away the cobwebs that usually go unnoticed. The long-awaited time has come and you feel an excited sense of anticipation as you await the arrival of your guest. You are sure your time together is going to be wonderful. You are peaceful and happy, and you watch hopefully out the window, waiting and watching. You are vigilant for your guest's arrival.
Now let's take a look at how you might feel if that same guest were coming to visit and you were not so ready.
You have been preoccupied with the demands of your dayto-day life and have not taken time to clean your house. In the middle of preparing the special meal you have planned, you realize you do not have all the ingredients you need and decide to run to the grocery store even though you are short on time. To add to your stress, traffic is heavy and the lines at the checkout lanes are long and slow. You return home with just enough time to finish preparing the food.
As you run to get dressed, you peer out the window and pray your guest will be late so you can have more time. You still have so much you need to do to prepare for your guest. Then you hear the doorbell ring. Oh no! You're not ready. You wanted this evening to be so special, but you just had not planned your time well. You feel tired and defeated and disheveled. You tuck in your shirt and smooth the wayward strands of hair from your face as you open the door, out of breath and forcing a smile. Instead of feeling excited to see your special guest, you feel frustrated and embarrassed. Your guest was worth the extra effort, but you did little to show it.
The guest is the same in both cases. His or her expectations for enjoying your company are the same. You, on the other hand, are like two different people inhabiting the same body. The tone for the whole visit has been set by how prepared you were to receive your guest.
How vigilant will you be on Sunday to receive the greatest Guest of all into your own body? Will you be ready and watching for the coming of Christ? Have you cleaned the cobwebs from your soul by making a good examination of conscience and then going to confession? Have you been watchful for opportunities to prepare your heart for Jesus by spending quiet time in prayer or are you more worried about getting “everything done”? Have you shared your time and treasure to show gratitude to God by helping the less fortunate through acts of charity and love?
Some weeks it can be hard to see Jesus coming through the clutter of our day-to-day lives. Sunday morning might arrive to find us feeling exhausted, stressed and completely unprepared to receive Christ into our frustrated hearts. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can stop the craziness of the workaday world and decide to let God take control of your life.
Slow down. Take a breath. Look at your schedule and clear away the things that do not help you prepare for Christ each Sunday morning. You will then be able to receive him well and make Christ the special guest of your soul. Be vigilant for Christ. Who knows what gift he will try to give you in your very next holy Communion — but only if you are ready to receive him.
Jackie Oberhausen writes from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Jackie Oberhausen ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Poland by the Lake DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Ethnic parishes have a long history in Chicago. Lithuanians, Bohemians, Italians, Germans, Koreans, blacks, Hispanics — all these and more have come to the shores of Lake Michigan, formed communities and built churches with their own pennies and sweat.
Some came to gratefully inherit stewardship from those who arrived before them.
Regardless of how or when they came, these groups have made the body of Christ in the City of Big Shoulders a much broader and stronger presence than it would otherwise have been if not for their culture, passion and sacrifice.
In the midst of this cultural smorgasbord, it's Chicago's Polish-Americans who lay claim to special pride of place — if only for their sheer numbers and long presence. And, for many of them, St. Hyacinth Parish is the community's spiritual hub.
St. Hyacinth is a church where “Old Europe” has met the American dream, and each one has enriched the other. It's home to a parish community that has not forgotten its history, nor has it lost sight of why memories matter.
The parish is 109 years old, although the current sanctuary opened in 1921. The man who would be Pope John Paul II, that most famous of all Poles, visited when he was a cardinal. If you walk around the church, you will find echoes of these and other events from the recent and distant past.
For example, a large monument outside honors the many parishioners who fought and died in World War I. Nearby is the tombstone of one Father Jerzy Popieluszko. The epitaph states that he died at the hands of the communists in Poland in 1984.
But while the contributions of the past are cherished and preserved here, it is viewing such sights in the context of the unfolding present and future that the deeper meaning becomes clear. A new banner on the outside of the old church, for example, declares 2004 to be a year of Divine Mercy — and so it is.
A Piece of Poland
Not many parishes have cause to change the cornerstone of their church. Yet St. Hyacinth has made two such moves in the last few years. The first development to occasion such a change was a major renovation to prepare the church for the Jubilee Year 2000. The second was the designation last November of St. Hyacinth as a minor basilica — which called for an additional cornerstone to be laid directly above the original one.
The title of basilica brings significant value to parishioners and visitors alike. For one thing, those worshipping at the church on Aug. 17, the feast of St. Hyacinth, can gain a plenary indulgence, assuming the normal requirements are fulfilled. (These include Mass, confession, Communion and prayer for the Holy Father, as well as complete detachment from sin.) A basilica may also bear the papal insignia on its exterior and on banners and furnishings inside the church.
Impressive as the recent elevation to basilica is, though, I found other aspects of the church even more memorable on a visit for Mass one frigid Sunday this past winter. Outside, the mercury showed 9 degrees while the wind-chill factor was well below zero. Inside, heat was pouring out of the radiators.
I had to find my way to a standing spot along the outer wall because this church that was built to hold 2,000 people was packed with at least 500 more than capacity. Every pew was filled and the aisles were swollen with standing-room-only believers.
One amazing aspect of the Mass was the participation of the attendees. In typical Polish style, there was no announcement of the well-known hymns. Instead, everyone joined in after the first two or three notes, singing lovingly and respectfully in their mother tongue. The Mass itself was warm and beautiful. At the close, all 2,500 in attendance turned west and sang a Polish hymn to the Blessed Mother, remembered in an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa. After the final blessing, all fell to their knees, praying “O Sacrament most holy …”
From what I hear, this is the norm here.
Exceptional Artworks
I saw little evidence that the majority of adults could speak English, although some of the children were clearly bilingual when asked a few questions. Chicago has the largest Polish-Catholic population in the world outside of Warsaw, and St. Hyacinth remains a magnet for émigrés who heard about it before even coming to the United States. It's not uncommon for new arrivals to show up on the doorstep of the rectory.
Other Polish parishes in Chicago are older, but most have changed and have a more varied ethnic makeup. St. Hyacinth continues to attract a predominantly Polish congregation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church draws a contrast between patriotism and the love of a motherland vs. nationalism, the latter of which is condemned. The members of this parish clearly love their Polish heritage. They use it to enrich and strengthen each other and grow in their faith.
The church building and architecture complement the rich beauty of the parish's humanity: Physically, St. Hyacinth is simply stunning. The church was impeccably restored for the new millennium so that, today, it's surely a living model of what old Europe's churches must have looked like when they were new.
High above the altar is an image of the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance surrounded by angels on a field of gold-painted tiles. The Latin inscription Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) reminds us to adore our Eucharistic Lord constantly when we are before him.
The art of the parish is exceptional as well. The domed ceiling presents images of more than 150 souls, earthly as well as heavenly, circling the glass of the dome. I can only imagine that, in the style of that era, many of the faces were likened to those of prominent figures in the community when the images were created.
A gaunt and agonized Christ looks out from a large crucifix that recalls a painting by El Greco. Meanwhile, at the left side altar, a shrine to Our Lady of Sorrows is adorned with an unusual depiction of Veronica. She shows her veil to the Blessed Mother, who is reaching out to the only remaining image of her son. One woman prostrates herself while others weep and kneel: The Resurrection had not yet occurred.
At Chicago's St. Hyacinth Basilica, one gets the impression that spiritual resurrections are an everyday occurrence.
Len Pacek writes from Orland Park, Illinois.
----- EXCERPT: St. Hyacinth Minor Basilica, Chicago ----- EXTENDED BODY: Len Pacek ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Weekly TV Picks DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:All times Eastern
SUNDAY, MAY 23
Quest for Columbus: In Search of the Santa Maria
Discovery Channel, 9 p.m.
In this premiere, underwater explorer Barry Clifford tries to find the wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus, which ran aground and sank somewhere near present-day Cap Haitien, Haiti, on Christmas Eve 1492.
TUESDAY, MAY 25
Bible Tech
History Channel, 7 p.m.
Tells us what we can infer and surmise about architectural engineering, construction and design from Scripture's accounts of battles, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, the temples in Jerusalem, wells and other structures.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26
Audie Murphy: Great American Hero
A&E, 7 a.m.
Audie Murphy, a Texas farmer's son, became America's most decorated soldier in World War II. While wounded, he attacked and outfought 250 German soldiers by himself. He won the Medal of Honor and 32 other medals. In later life, he became a star in Hollywood, a country music songwriter and a prominent American patriot.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26
Incredible Cons and Scams
Travel Channel, 2 p.m.
Find out how to avoid being bilked during your vacation and other travels.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26
Gold Star Mothers: Pilgrimage of Remembrance
PBS, 8 p.m.
In the early 1930s, the U.S. government took thousands of Gold Star Mothers — the mothers of our World War I dead — to their sons’ graves in Europe's military cemeteries. This is their story, including the tragic segregation of black mothers on the voyages.
FRIDAY, MAY 28
Monuments of Freedom: To Those Who Served
History Channel, 6 a.m.
To bury the dead is one of the corporal works of mercy. This edition of Classroom profiles the Women of Arlington, who attend the funerals of military veterans who have no known relatives. It also tells us about the giant Iwo Jima statue Felix de Weldon sculpted for the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial and about other monuments.
SATURDAY, MAY 29
World War II Memorial Dedication
History Channel, 2 p.m., live
The new World War II Memorial is a striking addition to the Mall in Washington, D.C. Josh Binswanger hosts this broadcast of the dedication ceremonies as our grateful nation pays solemn tribute to all who served and sacrificed in that terrible conflict.
SATURDAY, MAY 29
Stanley Cup Finals
ABC, 8 p.m., live
The National Hockey League's championship series is always full of great play and thrilling echoes of past contests. This year's teams not set as of our deadline.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Daniel J. Engler ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Intimidated Yet Inspired DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Catholic painter Timothy Norman recently completed his first sacred-art commission, a portrait of the Holy Family. He spoke with Register correspondent Dana Lorelle from his home in Dallas about the intersection of faith and art — and how losing a 6-month-old child affected both.
Did you always want to be an artist?
No, I didn't. When I was growing up I was enchanted with Jacques Cousteau, and I thought I would follow in his fins. I actually had enrolled at Texas A&M in its marine biology program, but I never ended up going to the university.
So how did you make the leap from marine biology to art?
When I was in high school, I was watching a television program with my dad about Michelangelo. At the time, I was more concerned with myself than with Christ. I was watching this show and I thought, man, this guy lived 500 years ago. Look at the fame he has — people are still talking about him. So I thought, “I think I'll do what he did.” You can see how God uses the vanity and the vices in which we are enmeshed to guide us to his purpose.
How did you fulfill that goal?
I took college classes and I was introduced to the human figure. I had a teacher who really instilled in me a love of the dynamics of the human figure. After that I ended up taking some portrait classes where I would paint from life. That further pushed me into the subject matter of the human person. Again, you can see the unseen hand pushing one toward flight. From that point I did a few commissions a year.
How do you approach commissioned portraits?
It's quite a simple task. You have been commissioned to paint someone's beloved. You have an image of the Creator right there before you. This person is individual, unique. How can I paint them showing the beauty God has put within that soul? That's always the key.
Tell me about the commission of the Holy Family.
It was commissioned by a very good friend. I thought of it at one point as the making of one scene of a movie. For a realist like myself, that means being accurate to the time period of Our Lord when he walked upon the earth. You have to find the costumes, the props, the characters.
This commission took three years because I had to get all of those elements in place. Everything I said about a portrait — apply that to the Holy Family. You can see the mountain before the artist; he is to depict in truth and in beauty the three most beautiful souls that have walked upon the face of the earth.
Was that intimidating?
It was intimidating, but you know you're praying to those same people and asking them for help in painting their portraits. It's a beautiful thing. So it's intimidating, and yet you have the advocates there, you have the grace there for the asking. Intimidating yes, but doable, yes.
You also do noncommissioned paintings, many of scenes in Europe. How do you find beauty in everyday situations?
As an artist, when you see anyone, you see the Creator. You see an image of the Creator, and that could provide you with enough inspiration to paint for the rest of your life.
How do you approach the human subjects of your paintings, such as the Portuguese fishermen in “After the Catch”?
Well, I've got a fisherman before me. Think about what he is doing. A little bit of reflection can lead the thoughts to very fundamental truths of human existence. He is a fisherman; he is working. Why is he working? That is our lot. That is what we do. It is a blessing. That is what we do as humans; we are commanded to “keep the garden.” We are commanded to work. And since the fall, we are commanded to work by the sweat of our brow.
There are two aspects to work: the blessing and, sometimes, the curse of unfruitfulness. So what is the fisherman working at? He is catching fish. Why? Because he needs to eat — another fundamental truth of human existence. We require continual nourishment physically but also spiritually. So before us we have a worker and we see he's getting food and, furthermore, he's fishing. Well, what were some of the apostles? They were fishermen. And Christ himself was a “fisher of men.” So the symbolism in fishing — how could it be richer?
How have your experiences as a husband and father affected your art?
Well, earlier I talked about the beauty of the gift of humanity Our Creator has bestowed upon us and you see the very direct link it has with the [1968] encyclical Humanae Vitae [On the Regulation of Birth]. When I first read it, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty therein that I thought to myself, “This really is what I'm about as an artist. It is this beauty of all human life.”
It is such a blessing to find a woman to whom I can give myself completely — that is what the artist does when he approaches his medium, his canvas. If he wishes to make a meaningful work of art, a true work of art, he gives himself unreservedly to that piece.
As the Holy Father says in his “Letter to Artists,” your whole life is a work of art that you give back to God. After him having given you the raw materials, you give yourself back to God as a work of art.
Tell me about your daughters.
I have five daughters, ages 9, 7, 4, 3 and then Sophia Caeli, who, if she were with us here on Earth, would be 1 and a half.
How did her passing affect you?
There are two ways it affected me. The first was that I wondered if I was going to be able to paint again. I just didn't know.
She took her trip during Holy Week of last year. Her funeral was on Holy Thursday. That Easter my brother asked me how this would affect my artwork. And I looked at him and I said, “It may destroy it.”
I'd already faced that personally in a very real way about a half hour after she died. There was a temptation; I could hear the enemy saying, “What's the use of living? You don't have before you anymore this beautiful gift of heaven.” But I knew exactly by the grace of God that it was the enemy and it was something utterly wrong.
This pain that I feel — I can offer it up to Our Lord. This is something he has allowed to happen, something that, in the grand scheme of things, is very right and good because he ordained it. He will allow us to bear a cross and if we bear it well, that is a gift we may give back to Our Lord.
How did it ultimately affect your art?
When I faced that canvas about eight days later, I took up the brush and started with my first stroke. I didn't feel any shackles and I just kept going. Within about a minute and a half I didn't think there would be any problem with it. And it never has affected my painting in a negative sense.
From another standpoint, this makes you think of eternity. We were talking at the table and Francesca, our 4-year-old, said, “Daddy, don't worry. We'll be there before you know it.”
You have the pain that is natural and yet our faith supplies us with the opportunity for joy, for making that which would normally just be senseless suffering into something good.
Dana Lorelle writes from Raleigh, North Carolina.
----- EXCERPT: Painting the Holy Family ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dana Lorelle ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly Video Picks DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
It's hard to overstate the soaring achievement of Peter Jackson and company in the third and final chapter of The Lord of the Rings. To call it the grandest spectacle ever filmed is no exaggeration; it might also be the most satisfying third act of any film trilogy, completing what can now be regarded as possibly the best-realized Hollywood trilogy of all time.
The Return of the King also displays some of J.R.R. Tolkien's most overtly Catholic themes and motifs. Certainly it's Jackson's Lord of the Rings as much as it is Tolkien's. Yet the spirit of Tolkien's work is honored — imperfectly but brilliantly, from the Shire to Gollum's emaciated frame and spidery gait, from the Nazgûl to the wonderful strangeness of Treebeard and the Ents.
One bit of creative license at an extremely crucial moment is bound to be controversial among purists. Fortunately, what matters most about the scene as Tolkien wrote it holds true in Jackson's version.
The films will never replace the books. But the films also are irreplaceable. More than merely honoring Tolkien, their glorious imagery has for me forever enriched the experience of reading Tolkien. This film, and this trilogy, is a gift to be treasured.
Content advisory: Some depictions of intense and sometimes bloody battle violence; scenes of menace and grotesquerie involving orcs, goblins and other “fell creatures.”
On the Waterfront (1954)
Elia Kazan's great masterpiece On the Waterfront is one of those few films that could reasonably have been honored on the Vatican film list in any of the three areas of Religion, Values or Art.
While its listing under Values is probably most appropriate, the film's “values” are given a remarkably religious angle by fiery Father Barry Malone (Karl Malden), whose moral crusade against mob corruption in a local dockers union offers a striking contrast to the “safe” issues with which Hollywood priests in the 1930s and '40s generally concerned themselves (often saving some church building or school).
Father Barry seeks to foster solidarity among the laborers and empower them to resist their oppressors. Better still, instead of simply moralizing, he explicitly connects the oppression of “the least of these” to Jesus' own passion in his great “sermon on the docks.”
The Christological significance of this mob oppression impacts Marlon Brando's startlingly unmannered performance as Terry Malloy, an unreflective, inarticulate has-been prizefighter who works for mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Shaken by an unexpected act of retribution, Malloy gradually develops a conscience through the graces of the dead man's sister (Eva Marie Saint) and Father Barry, and ultimately faces his own passion and via dolorosa.
Content advisory: Some street violence; recurring menace and intimidation.
Shane (1953)
Shane defined the archetypal Western hero who is not a cowboy or a sheriff but a wandering gunslinger who comes upon oppression in a lawless frontier and sides with the oppressed. If the Western is the quintessential American mythology, Shane is the Western's great knight-samurai archetype — stern in battle, mild with women and children, siding with the wronged, honoring marriage.
Shane is self-consciously mythic, in part because the story is seen through the eyes of a young boy, the son of a homesteader couple beleaguered by a ruthless cattle baron.
We see Shane as Joey does, but we're also aware that Shane sees how Joey sees him, highlighting the disconnect between a boy's hero worship and what a man knows himself to be.
The depiction of violence in Shane warrants mention. While an extended barroom brawl (eagerly witnessed by Joey from a safe hiding place) is ultimately as cheerfully romanticized as any in the genre, the film takes a notably different view of gun violence. Shane is overtly critical of the romantic view of guns in many Westerns — an attitude Joey exemplifies. The number of bullets actually fired in the film is remarkably small, especially compared with the number of punches thrown in the brawl scene, and each bullet has enormous impact.
Content advisory: Recurring fistfight-brawl-style violence; brief deadly gunplay; discreet romantic complications.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Give Discipline Time to Work DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Family Matters
I've tried just about everything to change my strong-willed child's problem behaviors. How about some ideas for finding discipline that works?
It all depends on what you mean by “works.” Almost all discipline works — and immediately — in that it teaches a lesson. It says to Sherlock: “If you do A, I'll do B.” Elementary.
This is not, however, how most people define “discipline that works.” What they mean is a technique or strategy that changes Watson's behavior for the better — and fast. Though this is a desirable goal, in reality it often leads to undesirable results. It can cause pinball parenting: bouncing from idea to idea in search of that one that will instantly cure madden-ingly repetitive misconduct.
“I've tried everything; nothing works. I've talked until I'm hoarse, taken away his favorite toy until the year 2057, used 17 different sticker systems, nine reward charts, promised him an all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World, threatened grounding with backup banishment to Siberia. Finally I got totally frustrated. I sent him to run an errand to the neighbor's and moved while he was gone.”
As parents lament to me all they've tried, in their minds fruitlessly, I find they tried plenty that would have worked, given time. They mistakenly assumed that, if they didn't see results in short order, they must have been on the wrong track. Not necessarily so. The discipline was working, just not as quickly as they had hoped or expected.
Okay, but don't different kids respond differently to different techniques? Sure. Maybe Macy would do absolutely anything to avoid losing her favorite sweatshirt for a week, while Levi doesn't know the difference between a sweatshirt and sweat socks. On the other hand, the thought of writing a 200-word essay on his misconduct makes Levi sweat bullets. Certainly some discipline “works” more or less quickly for some kids than others — but almost all discipline needs more time to change a child's behavior than grown-ups would like. Such is the nature of discipline and kids.
So am I trying to weasel out of giving you an answer to your question? Well, whatever works. Actually, there are a few general principles to keep in mind in searching for discipline that works.
First, keep it simple. Repetition is what makes discipline work. And it's hard to persevere with complicated consequences. Pick stuff you can use for most trouble — standing in the corner, extra chores, writing essays or sentences, room time, remodeling the attic (just kidding). Then be ready to “repeat as necessary.”
Second, be patient. God gives us a lifetime to work on our behavior. We can give the kids a few years to work on theirs. Discipline is a process, not a fix.
Third, hold the course. Almost any thoughtful consequence will work — that is, change the behavior — given enough parental perseverance. I know, you want to retire in 31 years. But believe it or not, time is your ally. Good, steady discipline does teach good behavior — even while your child is still a child.
Dr. Ray Guarendi is the father of 10, a psychologist and author. He can be reached at DrRay.com.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dr. Ray Guarendi ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Woman to Woman DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Prolife Profile
Grieving the death of a baby brother. Suffering through years of infertility. Having a child with multiple birth defects that require many surgeries.
Experiencing even one item from this litany of challenges would bring terrible pain into any family. Yet a woman who has experienced them all has drawn from her experiences to create a life-affirming group called Elizabeth Ministry.
“Elizabeth Ministry is really the legacy of my brother who was born prematurely, lived for three days and died before I ever saw him,” says Jeannie Hannemann, who was only 4 years old when her brother Jimmy died.
When Hannemann and her husband, Bruce, married, they planned to have children together. Eight long years went by before they successfully conceived and delivered first one daughter and then another. The younger was born with multiple physical problems demanding surgery — and much of the Hannemanns' time and energy.
During this period, Hannemann recalls, members of their parish pulled together to bring them a meal every other day. “Not only were the meals great, but it also meant so much to have someone stop by to cry with,” she says. “Frequently people left a little poem, a reflection or statue. Some nights our daughter had a seizure every half hour and at the moment I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I'd see one of those signs of support and I could go on.”
Hannemann says she saw a way to share her experiences when she was pastoral associate at St. Bernard Parish in Appleton, Wis., while teaching new parents about the sacrament of baptism.
Many of the couples had moved away from family and had little support as they faced the trials of parenthood. At the prompting of Bishop Robert Morneau, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., and with the help of her good friend Capuchin Father Kurt Gessner, Hannemann launched Elizabeth Ministry.
The program is as simple as it is powerful: When a woman of the parish goes through a tragedy or trial, she's visited by a fellow female parishioner who has been through something similar. The shared experience might be a miscarriage, a difficult adoption or any one of a host of “curveballs” life can throw at women.
The Elizabeth minister, representing the parish at large, usually brings a care package of prayers, resource information and a small gift item. The women might chat, laugh, cry, pray — and heal — together.
Why “Elizabeth?” Hannemann says the story of the Blessed Virgin Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth recorded in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel provided the perfect model for the ministry.
“Elizabeth praised, encouraged and built up Mary for her faith,” Hannemann says. “God knew Mary needed a mentor, someone to share the miracles and maternal mysteries with.”
What began in one parish has spread, during the last nine years, to nearly every diocese in the United States — not to mention Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Korea, England and Wales, and many Central American countries. Much of the expansion has come through the work of Capuchin missionaries and military chaplains.
More than 500 chapters have officially registered with Elizabeth Ministry headquarters. Hannemann hopes many more will come on board now that the group has a dynamic website at www.elizabeth-ministry.com.
Bishop Morneau says he was so impressed by the program he knew it had to be shared. “Jeannie [is] addressing a real need of moms,” he says. “I think it's a wonderful way for the Church to connect, to render assistance and reach out to moms even before baptism.”
The books, pictures, statues, stuffed animals and sacramentals sold at the center support the ministering that happens in its prayer and counseling area. Hannemann says she hopes the website will become a virtual place for this kind of support to happen. To that end, the site offers a message board where people can post prayer requests or share stories.
Online visitors can purchase a “blessing bundle” with devotional prayers, books, gifts and other items. The packages are available for almost any family-related situation including pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, adoption, infertility, onset of menses, menopause, grieving child loss and other times of crisis.
Hannemann sees Elizabeth Ministry as an important member of the pro-life community because an essential part of its message is that life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
“If we want to say we're pro-life, then we have to mourn a miscarriage,” she says. “We're saying, ‘This unborn life is important.’”
”One in four pregnancies end in miscarriage,” Hannemann adds. “It's a grief we've kept silent and private. We've lost a chance to proclaim what we believe.”
Proclaiming life and reclaiming lost opportunities — that's what Elizabeth Ministry is all about.
Nancy Vande Hey writes from Brookfield, Wisconsin.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Nancy Vande Hey ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:New Pro-Life Center
LIFENEWS.COM, May 6 — Not only is Life International encouraged by the closing of an an abortion business in Grand Rapids, Mich., but it's also bustling — thanks to the fact that the center has been turned over for use as a pro-life center.
The building, originally a Jewish synagogue, was leased to an abortionist in 1996. It was purchased recently by local businessmen and deeded to Life International, the pro-life news service reported.
The owner of the abortion business reportedly has been trying to find another location, according to Life International, but he has repeatedly been rejected by owners who do not want such a business in their buildings.
No Contraception Coverage
The May 3 vote signaled a “bleak future” for the legislation during the current session, the newspaper reported, but supporters said they will continue to push for passage. In order to take the bill up again, however, two-thirds of the House must agree. The bill was defeated by a 50-42 vote.
Several lawmakers questioned how the bill could be considered at all when last year legislation was approved that said no new mandates would be placed on insurance companies or employers who provide insurance until 2008.
Opposes Building Funds
In a May 6 letter to senators, Missouri Right to Life's president and general counsel said the proposed $350 million bond sale to fund capital improvements in the University of Missouri system gives no specific prohibitions against building facilities that could be used for such research, the newspaper reported.
Lawmakers who usually side with Missouri Right to Life said they were “blindsided” and “put out” by the group's opposition.
TV Ads Call for Restrictions
The group is attempting to get the issue on a statewide referendum in 2006. The ads show the state Capitol while a woman's voice says people have been told the proposal is “unnecessary,” “divisive” and “will never pass,” the newspaper reported. This is not so, the woman says. The ad goes on to blame the Tennessee Supreme Court for its incorrect interpretation of the state Constitution.
If the House doesn't pass the resolution this month, voters would have to wait until 2010 to be heard on the issue.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:The Uninvited: Part 2
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 1 — St. Joseph High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., on April 30 rescinded its invitation to Gov. Joe Kernan to speak at his alma mater's graduation because his pro-abortion stance conflicts with Church teaching.
The school made its decision upon the request of Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who has direct authority over the school, the wire service reported.
St. Joseph's theology teachers said they thought the Catholic governor's presence would contradict moral truths they teach, the bishop said, adding, “I am in full agreement with these teachers.”
Crucifixes Return
An alumnus and high-profile benefactor visited the school in the fall and noticed the lack of crucifixes in the classrooms he remembered when he was a student there, the newspaper reported. The alumnus paid for the crucifixes in more than 100 classrooms on campus.
“It was a long time coming,” said Kim Morey, the college's student government president. “Students are supposed to embody the mission of the Christian Brothers.”
Discussing NFP
“Catholicism and Contraception: Why Condoms Don't Work” discussed Church teaching on contraception and natural family planning, the student newspaper of the university reported.
Several students were impressed. “The nature of [natural family planning] is so powerful,” one audience member said. “I mean, is their anything in this world that is more powerful than creating life?”
D.C. Schools Thrive
However, the one exception has been in the District, where fund-raising efforts for improvements have helped increase enrollment. More than half of the city's 30 Catholic schools have undergone renovations in the last few years.
The news comes at the same time the District is preparing to start a federally funded voucher program for the 2004-05 school year. Many of its participants will likely choose to attend Catholic schools.
Michigan to the Vatican
Father Bernard O'Connor will leave for his new post in late May. In the area of diplomacy, the priest will work with the Catholic population and issues in Iraq, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, the newspaper reported.
Father O'Connor has been a professor, lawyer, adviser and arbitrator on the campus. He has won awards for teaching and holds several bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, including a law degree.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: The Franciscan Four Go to Washington DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Four Franciscan University of Steubenville students have done their homework on forced abortions. Now they're taking their findings all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The students spent the spring semester compiling research related to Jane Roe II v. Aware Women Center for Choice. In the case, a woman now known as Jane Roe II charged the abortion providers with violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law after they physically restrained her and completed her abortion — even though she tried to leave the clinic during the procedure.
A federal appeals-court panel earlier ruled that the abortionist did not violate federal law in completing the abortion against the woman's will.
Jane Roe II's attorney, Christopher Sapp, contacted Franciscan University professor and attorney Dr. Brian Scarnecchia last December to enlist the help of his legal-studies students in filing an appeal with the Supreme Court.
“From dealing with pro-lifers around the country, I had been most impressed with not only the students but also the faculty at Franciscan University,” said Sapp, who represented Jane Roe II with fellow attorney Michael Hirsch. “I had spoken there at seminars, visited with the students and worked with them in the past. They're very, very committed, first of all to Jesus Christ and secondly to the pro-life cause.”
Franciscan's legal-studies program combines professional and liberal-arts courses to teach undergraduates to analyze and understand contemporary issues from an ethical and legal perspective. According to Scarnecchia, it prepares students not just for law school but also for work as paralegals — or as concerned citizens who can continue to further the pro-life, pro-family mission of the school.
“We put in what most law schools leave out: an emphasis on natural law and jurisprudence and Catholic teaching,” Scarnecchia said.
Above and Beyond
The students — Shane Hasel-barth, Heather McCombs, Ann-Marie Morris and Shannon Andriyanova — used their legal-studies skills to create the appendix to Sapp's brief, eventually culling eight inches of research into two and spending well more than the one hour per week on the case required for their legal-studies seminar.
The students' documentation of other instances of forced abortion could make the Supreme Court more likely to review the case, Sapp said.
“What we needed on the Jane Roe II case was some research showing the U.S. Supreme Court that they needed to protect not only the woman who was Jane Roe II but also women all over the country,” he said.
Scarnecchia, the legal-studies program director, acted as the senior partner in a law firm and met weekly with the students to review their work.
After “casting their nets wide,” they narrowed their research topics into four areas: international incidences of forced abortions, documentation supporting the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (otherwise known as Laci and Connor's Law), anecdotal evidence of cases where women have sued boyfriends or abortionists for forced or coerced abortions, and studies on women most susceptible to coercion, such as prostitutes and women in jails or mental institutions.
“The students at Franciscan University did quite a bit of research,” Sapp said. “They turned up reports and studies from the Florida Everglades out to Guam and Hawaii. We covered the entire United States geographically and the cases cut across all races and economic statuses, from extraordinarily wealthy people to the very poor and quite often imprisoned people.”
Legal Learnings
Haselbarth became the program's first graduate in May and will enter Ave Maria School of Law in the fall. Since Laci's Law, which criminalizes acts that harm unborn children, was making its way through the House of Representatives at the time, Haselbarth used the footnotes of the bill as direction to other studies and cases.
“Before I started, I didn't know anything about coerced abortion and the real, real darkness of the abortion industry,” he said. “It's not very public. I knew abortion was wrong but I thought it was usually voluntary on the part of the mother. This was a rude awakening.”
Students also found that the problem isn't just in the United States; they learned about forced abortion in China and forced sterility in Peru.
All this research will show the Supreme Court that the Jane Roe II case is “just the tip of the iceberg,” Scarnecchia said.
If the court chooses to hear the case, a decision for the defendant would set the precedent that a woman has an absolute right of refusal of an abortion.
The crux of the case is using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law — originally intended for use against pro-lifers who block clinic entrances — to prosecute those in the abortion industry who block clinic exits.
“We've seen the Department of Justice go to great effort in the past to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law against prolifers,” Sapp said. “Hopefully they would be equally zealous in enforcing [the law] against the abortion industry.”
The research, as well as the legal-studies program, also translates into everyday applications. Even those students who don't enter the law field will be formed and trained adequately to assist pro-life attorneys and groups in their own communities, Scarnecchia said.
He has plans for similar projects in future legal-studies seminars. In May, he took a group of students to the U.N. Conference on the Family in New York. And while the first class has definitely set a high standard, he said each group's work will put the same emphasis on one of the program's key goals.
“We want to train Catholics in the Church's social teaching,” he said, “and teach them ways to be more effective in Church apostolate.”
Dana Lorelle writes from Raleigh, North Carolina.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Dana Lorelle ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Road Map to Love for a Lifetime DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:CHRISTIAN COURTSHIP IN AN OVERSEXED WORLD: A GUIDE FOR CATHOLICS
by T.G. Morrow
OSV, 2003
320 pages, $13.95
To order: (800) 348-2440 www.osv.com
While immediately directed to the young single adult, Father Thomas Morrow's manual makes equally engaging reading for married couples who recognize the value in “courting” one another throughout their lives.
Christian Courtship not only makes the case for chaste romance but also charts the entire journey. There are chapters on love, modesty, how and where to find a spouse, courtship strategies, engagement, marriage, children, communication between the sexes and even a wedding planner. Not assuming that all readers will be starting out on the right foot, the book also presents a program for “new beginnings.”
Father Morrow is associate pastor of St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton, Md., and the former host of a three-year radio series, “Catholic Faith Alive!” He entered the priesthood in his 30s, after his own period of Christian courtship, which gives him the credibility of having practiced what he preaches. He also helped found two societies for single adult men and women, with chapters in four cities, and he proves himself a gifted teacher of faith, reason and the moral virtues.
There's no question we need good guidance on sex, dating and marriage — and fast. As Father Morrow says in the introduction, the typical pattern today is for a couple to date two or three times a week, sleep together after the third date and get married after a year and a half. About half of those marriages will end in divorce; for those who live together first, the divorce rate rises to an eye-opening 74%.
Christian Courtship is not the first book to try to introduce some hope and sanity into this scene. But unlike Joshua Harris' popular I Kissed Dating Goodbye or Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity (to which Father Morrow gives favorable nods), this book opens up the possibility of “shared affection” during courtship — affection that is tender without being sexually arousing.
“One young man about 30 years old called me after one of our ‘Christian Dating in an Oversexed World’ seminars and asked, ‘Well, Father, what should I do to tell my sweetheart goodnight?’ I told him, ‘Well, you might put your hand to her face and move forward ever so slowly, and gently kiss her. Once. Twice. Then give her a big, slow hug, pressing your cheek against hers and feeling the warmth as a way of proclaiming your real warm feelings for her. Then, perhaps say something nice, such as, ‘You are so precious to me,’ and then gently kiss her a second time. Then say goodnight and kiss her once, more slowly, tenderly, as if you fear she might break if you aren't careful.’”
There you have it, gentlemen. Clip and memorize.
Christian Courtship is an excellent resource, conversational in tone and bursting with good sense. Chastity, Father Morrow explains, is not a white-knuckled struggle from puberty to age 28 (which he cites as the minimum age most associated with successful marriage). It is, instead, a “true virtue, since it wins the appetite over to reason, thereby eliminating the battle. With chastity the person has head and heart united in pursuing the more noble values of a relationship with the Lord, the truth about the sacredness of sex and loving another as a human person in his/her dignity.”
Single or married, that's a lovely place to spend a lifetime.
Ellen Rossini writes from Richardson, Texas.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Ellen Rossini ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Godparenting With Grace - and Goals DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Rare is the godparent who takes the role seriously enough to see to the spiritual welfare of his or her godchild through childhood — and beyond.
Rare, but not nonexistent.
Take Harry A.M. Rush, a retired teacher from East Millinoket, Maine, who has been an active godfather to Mary Thomas of Lewistown, Mont., for more than 30 years.
“He is the perfect example of everything a godparent should be,” says Thomas of the man her family affectionately calls “Cousin Buddy.” Although she has had little face-to-face contact with her godfather through the years, Rush, her father's second cousin, has always gone out of his way to demonstrate his ongoing concern for her standing before God.
“When I was kid, he always remembered me on my birthday and Christmas, but he did even more than that,” Thomas recalls. “At different times throughout the year he would send me rosaries, scapu-lars, holy cards and Catholic magazines. Other times he would just send a card with a handwritten prayer inside. Even if he lived far away, he has always been a part of my life.”
His steady presence made Rush a valuable source of support for Thomas during those moments in her life when she struggled with her faith.
“When I was 18 my father died, and I was angry and devastated,” she explains. “But I knew I could count on Cousin Buddy.”
She sent him a letter describing how she was feeling and received a prompt response in the form of a 10-page, handwritten letter. The letter was filled with such wisdom and love that Thomas has held onto it through the years and reread it many times. She explains that, even from a distance, Rush has always served as a spiritual adviser to her, helping her through rough spots in her marriage and encouraging her to return to the Church when she fell away.
Because they have always enjoyed a special closeness, when it came time for Thomas to choose a godfather for her own children, the choice was clear. Rush agreed to be the godfather of all five of Thomas' children; his wife, Sharon, is godmother of three of them. With this next generation, the Rushes have continued their commitment to loving service as godparents.
In fact, one recent Christmas, when Thomas felt particularly overwhelmed by commercial materialism, a card arrived in the mail from the Rushes. It was a gift of Masses being said for their family — an opportunity for Thomas to teach her children the true value of spiritual gifts.
“It was wonderful,” she says. “I asked the kids, ‘What other present will help you get into heaven?’”
Harry and Sharon Rush have long been faithful Catholics, attending Mass and praying the rosary daily. Though they never had children of their own, being godparents has given them a lasting connection to future generations.
“Our faith has always helped us in our marriage,” Rush explains. “Being godparents gives us a way of passing on the benefits that we've enjoyed. We pray for our godchildren all the time; it's the most important thing we can do for them.”
Rush also reports that living out his calling as a godfather has provided him with many unexpected graces.
“It has given me a spiritual concern beyond myself,” he explains. “It has expanded my horizons. We have no children of our own, but, in our godchildren, we will always have an extension of ourselves.”
Dominican Father Michael De Temple of St. Gertrude's Parish in Madeira, Ohio, often advises parents to carefully weigh their options when it comes to choosing godparents for their children.
In order to be a godparent in the Catholic Church, he points out, one must be at least 16 years of age, not a parent to the child and be a fully initiated, faithful, practicing Catholic.
And those are just the bare basics. Beyond them there are many other important factors parents need to consider.
“It is important for parents to realize they are choosing a person who will be involved in the life of their child for the rest of their lives, hopefully,” Father De Temple says. “They are entering into a relationship that is meant to last for many years.”
More specifically, the priest suggests parents take into account a prospective godparent's “knowledge of the faith and their example in living out the faith through regular attendance at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, a genuine prayer life and a commitment to serve others through works of charity.”
“The primary role of the godparents is to assist the parents in the faith formation of their child,” he explains. “Especially if the parents fail in their role for some reason.”
Father De Temple has witnessed firsthand the importance of the relationship between godparents and godchildren. He describes the spiritual history of one young boy whose father died at an early age.
“His mother, in her grief and anger, had not been coming to church or attending to her son's faith development,” Father De Temple says. “His godmother decided she needed to step in and take responsibility for the commitment she made to him at his baptism.”
With the mother's permission, the godmother began taking her godchild to church every week and making sure he went to confession regularly.
“Her commitment has had a profound impact on her own spiritual life,” Father De Temple says. “And, in God's providence, it may lead the boy's own mother back to her own faith.”
Tom Sheridan, a deacon in the Archdiocese of Chicago and author of The Gift of Godparents: For Those Chosen With Love and Trust to Be Godparents (ACTA Publications, 2003) reiterates the call to choose godparents with prayer and care.
“Most people choose godparents for honorific reasons, and that's too bad,” he says. “[Parents] should look for people who are an example of the faith in practice.”
In his ministry, Sheridan urges godparents to become involved in their godchildren's spiritual upbringing right from the start. He invites them to attend baptismal-preparation classes along with the parents and encourages them to pay close attention at the christening ceremony.
And he stresses that, on the god-child's baptismal day, a godparent's responsibilities are only just beginning.
According to Sheridan, the most effective godparents are the ones who make an effort to bond with their godchild through a constant presence in the child's life. He recommends that godparents remember their godchildren not just on holidays and birthdays but on the anniversary of their baptism as well.
Sheridan further points out that the godparent-godchild relationship is unique in that it is strictly a spiritual one. Through regular contact with a child, he says, a godparent has an opportunity to “plant seeds that will strengthen the child's faith.”
Mary Thomas is living proof of the promise behind that proposition.
“My godfather has been such a blessing to me,” she says. “His prayers have kept my marriage together and given me back my faith. What more could I ask for than that?”
Danielle Bean writes from Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Danielle Bean ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Sneeze Busters DATE: 05/23/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 23-29, 2004 ----- BODY:Facts of Life
The more siblings a child has, the greater his or her chances of warding off allergies. That's according to a new study by the Danish Epidemiology Science Center in Copenhagen. Researchers found that the incidence of atopic dermatitis, an itchy skin allergy, decreased by 21% in allergy-prone children who had, among other factors, three or more brothers and sisters.
Source: British Medical Journal, April 30
Register illustration by Tim Rauch.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: What Next for Marriage? DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Here is what the first recipient of a Provincetown, Mass., same-sex marriage license had to say about marriage, according to his local paper:
“[Jonathan Yarbrough] says the concept of forever is ‘overrated’ and that he, as a bisexual, and [his partner Cody] Rogahn, who is gay, have chosen to enjoy an open marriage. ‘I think it's possible to love more than one person and have more than one partner, not in the polygamist sense,’ he said. ‘In our case, it is, we have, an open marriage.’”
Now that Massachusetts has begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, some predict the federal courts will soon have the opportunity to impose same-sex “marriage” on the entire country.
Out-of-state homosexual couples have already received marriage licenses in Massachusetts and plan to sue in order to have their “marriages” recognized by their home states.
Few believe the U.S. Supreme Court will refrain from imposing same-sex “marriage” on America. “They will file lawsuits in federal court to make this national under false constitutional arguments,” predicted Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, on May 19.
Daniels said U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia got to the nub of the problem in his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas. That 2003 Supreme Court decision discovered a right to commit sodomy and declared states' anti-sodomy laws — in place since before the American Revolution — null and void. The basis for the decision was a vague “liberty” interest rather than previous legal standards, which had already been rendered elastic by decades of activist jurisprudence.
Scalia, who is Catholic, cast doubt on a statement in the court's majority opinion that the case “does not involve whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter.”
“If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is ‘no legitimate state interest' for purposes of proscribing that conduct,” Scalia warned, “and if, as the court coos [casting aside all pretense of neutrality], ‘[w]hen sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more enduring,’ what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising ‘[t]he liberty protected by the Constitution’?”
The problem “requires a constitutional answer,” said Daniels, who advocates a federal marriage amendment. That proposed amendment to the Constitution would define marriage as between a man and a woman and prevent judges from imposing same-sex “marriage” or civil unions but allow state legislatures to create civil unions for homosexuals with all the benefits of marriage.
At a press conference May 17, the day Massachusetts officials began issuing licenses to homosexual couples, the alliance released a Wirthlin poll finding strong support for the proposed amendment. The survey, conducted April 2-5, found that 67% of Americans — with men, women, whites, blacks and Hispanics all in equal support — favor it, including 57% who “strongly favor” it.
“Marriage between a man and a woman serves two roles that are indispensable to civil society: procreation, by which we perpetuate the species; and socialization, by which bonding takes place for both boys and girls with both a man and a woman,” the Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a black pastor and veteran of the civil-rights movement, said at the press conference.
Conscientious Objector
Some pro-family groups prefer a stronger amendment that would also forbid civil unions. But Daniels said that would never achieve the approval needed to make it into the Constitution.
A constitutional amendment needs passage by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification of three-quarters (or 38) of the state legislatures.
“Matt is dead wrong,” said Robert Knight, director of the Culture & Family Institute at Concerned Women for America. “The reason the [federal marriage amendment] hasn't gone anywhere [in Congress] is because it's so weak.”
Republican congressional leaders have not committed to having a vote on the federal marriage amendment this year, despite an endorsement of the amendment's objectives from President Bush.
Knight added that Daniels and other federal marriage amendment supporters have “their hearts in the right place” but said that without banning civil unions, “that will affect adoption, the Boy Scouts, what's taught in the public schools, which will say, ‘In this state, gay unions are considered equivalent to marriage.’”
Same-sex “marriages” are already creating upheavals in Massachusetts, in a portent for the rest of the nation, as individuals and institutions struggle to deal with homosexual relationships that have suddenly acquired all the rights and protections formerly accorded genuine marriage.
Asked three days after the implementation of homosexual “marriage” whether the Massachusetts Catholic Conference would now be required to extend benefits to the potential same-sex “spouses” of its employees, Associate Director for Policy and Research Dan Avila wasn't sure.
“It's a question that requires some research because there are state and federal laws in conflict,” he said. Avila said moral theologians and legal experts were studying the issue.
The new regime is driving Catholics and other traditional Americans of conscience out of certain offices, such as that of justice of the peace.
Linda Gray Kelley, a Catholic who believes she was the first to resign out of a refusal to perform same-sex ceremonies, said she could not have remained as a justice of the peace because she would have been sued for discriminating against same-sex couples.
“We had a meeting of the Massachusetts Justices of the Peace Association about how to handle same-sex ceremonies. A representative of Gov. Romney's office told us, ‘Just do it,’” Kelley said. “The next speaker was the head of the Massachusetts discrimination board. He said, ‘We will sue.’”
The Boston Globe reported that Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers changed its policy to avoid giving same-sex partners benefits, but a union employee said its policy had not changed but rather had been clarified. Union officials did not wish to speak about their policies or plans on benefits.
Will Act Help?
Under certain federal laws, including the Defense of Marriage Act, states do not have to recognize same-sex “marriages” performed in other states and many private entities don't have to at all.
But the Defense of Marriage Act is exactly what observers expect the federal courts to invalidate.
Knight said a bill, the Marriage Protection Act from Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., would remove the Defense of Marriage Act from the jurisdiction of the federal courts by simple majority vote of both houses of Congress and Bush's signature. But that would not prevent same-sex “marriages” in the states, whether created by state legislatures or imposed by judges.
“Congress has had opportunities in the past to restrict the courts' juris-diction on social policy, but it has failed to do so,” said Daniels in urging his federal marriage amendment instead. “Why should we expect it now?”
Daniels said he did not expect the American people to engage on this issue and demand protection of marriage until the courts impose the new order on the whole country.
“The other side is passionate about destroying marriage,” Knight said. “We need equal passion.”
Joseph A. D'Agostino writes from Washington, D.C.
----- EXCERPT: AFTER MASSACHUSETTS, 'SAME-SEX MARRIAGE' IS POISED TO GO NATIONAL ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph A. D'Agostino ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Cardinal Will Meet With Lawmakers On Communion DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:WASHINGTON — Forty-eight Catholic members of Congress sent a warning letter to Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick on May 10.
They said the Church's efforts to deny holy Communion to politicians who support abortion could severely harm the Church, and they want to meet with him about it.
The three-page letter was signed entirely by House Democrats. Cardinal McCarrick is chairman of the task force of U.S. bishops considering whether it is a public scandal to offer Communion to Catholic politicians whose votes support abortion.
Cardinal McCarrick said he is open to meeting the group of Catholic Democrats favoring legalized abortion, said Susan Gibbs, the cardinal's spokes-woman.
The bishops' task force expects to complete its work after the presidential election this year, in which Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic with a 100% pro-abortion voting record, is the Democrats' presumptive nominee.
“For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the Pope,” the representatives wrote. “While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by Church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome.”
The Catholic Church, in the Second Vatican Council, teaches that abortion is a “heinous crime.” The Church teaches that abortion kills a living human being, and doing so is wrong not because of Church doctrine but because the killing of the innocent is always wrong.
“We firmly believe that it would be wrong for a bishop to deny the sacrament of holy Communion to an individual on the basis of a voting record,” the letter went on. “We believe that such an action would be counterproductive and would bring great harm to the Church.”
The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 2002 “Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life” stated that “those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.”
The letter was circulated among 73 Catholic Democrats in the House by Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Nick Lampson, D-Texas, who created a “Catholic Voting Scorecard” in April. The scorecard compared the votes of Catholic members of both parties on selected issues defined as legislative priorities by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It treated welfare reform as equal in importance with abortion.
Both DeLauro and Lampson have a strong pro-abortion voting record. They both voted to keep partial-birth abortion legal. That's the abortion procedure in which a doctor kills a baby with scissors moments before the child is born.
DeLauro, a former executive director for the pro-abortion political action committee Emily's List, received a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2003. Lampson voted with Planned Parenthood 80% of the time between 1995 and 2001.
Three of the letter's signers have mostly pro-life voting records.
Gibbs said that when and how a meeting with the task force will happen has not been determined. She said the task force has already met with a broad variety of different groups in the United States and Rome as well as with several Catholic conferences in other nations.
“The cardinal considers any correspondence that he receives to be private,” Gibbs said. “In this case, the congressmen wrote a letter to Cardinal McCarrick in his capacity as chairman of the task force and made it public. The task force is trying to operate free of any political overtones.”
At least 15 of the country's Catholic bishops, including bishops in California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota and Oregon, have publicly stated that Catholic politicians who support abortion should voluntarily abstain from the Eucharist. Four have announced they would deny the sacrament to such politicians.
In late April, Cardinal McCarrick met privately with Democratic presidential hopeful Kerry just days before Kerry spoke at a pro-abortion rally. In his May 13 column in the Catholic Standard, the Washington, D.C., diocesan newspaper, Cardinal McCarrick offered his approach to the question.
“As a priest and bishop, I do not favor a confrontation at the altar rail with the Sacred Body of the Lord Jesus in my hand,” he wrote. “There are apparently those who would welcome such a conflict, for good reasons, I am sure, or for political ones, but I would not.”
Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo., went further.
In a May pastoral letter to the people of his diocese, Bishop Sheridan stated that any Catholic who votes for candidates who support abortion, illicit stem-cell research or euthanasia may not receive Communion “until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the sacrament of penance.”
Author and canon lawyer Pete Vere said the issue bishops are facing is illuminated by canon law.
“All baptized Catholics have a right to the Eucharist, but that right is not absolute,” he said. “That is outlined in Canon 915.”
Canon 915 states: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or the declaration of a penalty as well as others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion.”
“If these politicians are so concerned about their right to holy Communion being denied, it's about time they took a look at their responsibility for the common good and the right to life of children in the womb,” Vere said. “Not only are they doing nothing to stop this evil, but they're promoting it. A certain level of political compromise is possible, but one cannot compromise on those issues that involve intrinsic evil.”
Those bishops who have spoken publicly about Catholic politicians receiving the Eucharist say they have done so out of concern for the souls of the faithful.
“We need to be cognizant of the whole question of judgment and the eternal things,” Fargo, N.D., Bishop Samuel Aquila told the Register. “On the day of our personal death and judgment, we will have to stand before God to say how we lived our life in the world. God will probably care less if one was Republican, Democrat or Independent. What he will care about is whether we live the truth, proclaim the truth and live it in the world.”
In early May, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey said he would no longer receive holy Communion after Archbishop John Myers of Newark, Bishop John Smith of Trenton and Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden spoke publicly on the issue.
In response to Bishop Sheridan's pastoral letter, businessman Ric Keth-cart told the bishop in an open letter that he would revoke his $100,000 pledge for a church-building campaign in Highlands Ranch, Colo., unless Bishop Sheridan recanted.
Peter Howard, the bishop's executive assistant, said Bishop Sheridan would not be intimidated by money.
“The Church doesn't exist because of money,” he told the Denver Post. “The Church started out poor, and if such teachings and teaching the truth results in people withholding their money, so be it. That's sometimes the price of the Gospel.”
“Bishops who call upon Catholic legislators to protect the rights of the unborn lest they jeopardize their Catholic standing are simply exercising their episcopal authority,” said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
“Both the bishops and the Catholic lawmakers have a free-speech right to say what they want,” he said. “But if the latter seeks to cry ‘separation of church and state’ against the former, then it must be equally wrong for Catholic agents of the state to tell the bishops what to do.”
Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: India's Elections Give New Hope To Christians DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:NEW DELHI, India — In a desperate bid to woo back alienated religious minorities to its fold, the government of the Tamil Nadu state in southern India declared May 18 that it will scrap the controversial anti-conversion law that had been enacted two years ago despite strong protests led by the Church.
This change of heart by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam Party follows the drubbing the party — an ally of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that governed India until its defeat in the national election — received in the elections.
The two parties' alliance lost all of the state's 39 seats in the national Parliament, with the Christians and other minorities who comprise more than 10% of the state population rallying behind the opposition alliance led by the Congress Party.
“The government has learned a lesson,” Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence Pius Dorairaj of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, told the Register. “This is a victory for us and others who had been continuously protesting this in various ways.”
In fact, there is widespread joy and relief across India among Christians regarding the dramatic downfall of the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won only 187 seats in the election to choose India's 14th national Parliament, compared with the 302 seats it held in the 545-member Indian Parliament after the 1999 election.
The opposition Congress Party, along with its allies in smaller parties, won 219 seats and the communists, with 63 seats, extended their support for the Congress Party by giving it a mandate to head the next government.
Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, was sworn in May 22 as India's first non-Hindu prime minister after Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, an Italian-born Catholic, decided not to seek the office.
Welcoming “the verdict given by the people of India,” the Indian bishops' conference expressed hope that the outcome “will herald a new era of social harmony, peace and economic justice.”
Indeed, the Catholic Church in India, along with other Christians and the larger, 130-million-strong Muslim minority, have much to rejoice over in the downfall of the National Democratic Alliance government.
During the last five years, the minuscule Christian community, which accounts for only 2.3% of India's 1 billion people, has been at the receiving end of hundreds of orchestrated attacks by Hindus while the ruling alliance often turned a blind eye to the attacks.
In the run-up to the election, India's bishops and other Christian groups had issued “voter guidelines” asking the Christian electorate to vote for secular political parties committed to communal harmony. Catholic groups such as diocesan councils contacted voters throughout parishes, stressing the critical importance of voting.
The election results demonstrated such efforts had paid dividends, especially in Christian pockets such as Jharkhand. There, the Bharatiya Janata Party won only a single parliamentary seat, compared with 11 seats in the last Parliament.
“This is a massive defeat for the fascist and Hindu fundamentalist forces,” said Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, spokesman for the United Christian Forum of troubled Gujarat state. In the state, which has been a flashpoint for violence against minorities, the Bharatiya Janata Party lost substantial ground to the Congress Party, which won 12 of 26 parliamentary seats, compared with only four in the 1999 elections.
The people of Gujarat, Father Prakash said, are “getting disen-chanted with the Hindu fundamentalists” who have carried out a violent campaign against the state's minorities under Bharatiya Janata Party rule.
In the neighboring Andhra Pradesh state, which had elections for the state legislature at the same time as the federal parliamentary elections, the ruling Telugu Desam Party, a crucial ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, also got a drubbing. The Congress Party and its allies swept 36 of the 42 parliamentary seats, and it also won 226 of the 294 seats to the state legislature.
The 3.5 million Christians in the state, which has a population of 80 million, were even more ecstatic when a Protestant, Yeduguri Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy, was chosen unanimously by the victorious Congress Party to head the new state government.
Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, hailed the outcome. The archbishop said many Catholics have booked thanksgiving Masses following the elevation of Reddy, who he said has “excellent rapport with the Church” and has even donated a university college owned by his family to the Jesuits.
“Our joy,” Archbishop Joji said, “is overwhelming.”
Anto Akkara writes from New Delhi, India.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Anto Akkara ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: New Abuse Audits? DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:CHICAGO — American bishops will vote at a June 14 gathering in Denver on whether to conduct a second round of audits of diocesan compliance with their 2002 Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, according to the head of the National Review Board.
Earlier, it was reported by Catholic News Service and other outlets that the issue would merely be discussed, but the Register has learned that a vote will take place.
The item is on the agenda at the urging of the two committees charged with advising the bishops on how to deal with the sexual-abuse scandal, despite the fact that the June gathering is a quadrennial retreat, with no business to be conducted.
“The proposal by the Ad Hoc Committee [on Sexual Abuse] will be for an audit,” said Justice Anne Burke, interim chairwoman of the National Review Board, created by the bishops two years ago in Dallas as a mandate of the Charter.
“If the bishops vote to do so at their June meeting, there will be sufficient amount of time and material to produce the audit,” Burke said.
The solution to the audit question resulted from a May 17 meeting in Chicago of the National Review Board and the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, she said. That meeting followed weeks of turmoil after the bishops' Executive Committee put the audit vote on the agenda for the bishops' November meeting — and several bishops, in letters to the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, questioned whether a second round of audits of each diocese's compliance with the charter was even necessary. Some also cited the costs it would entail.
“Out of [the Chicago] meeting came a universally accepted … compromise solution to the audit question,” said Bill Burleigh, a member of the National Review Board. “Archbishop Flynn, who is the chairman of [the ad hoc committee], and the members of the review board both believe that this is satisfactory to all of the questions that have been raised.”
The simmering dispute became public with a March 29 letter from Burke, approved by the entire review board, to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The National Catholic Reporter published the letter and several responses to it on its website May 11.
In the sharply worded letter, Burke argued that bishops must approve conducting a second round of audits at its June meeting if the board is to complete its next annual report mandated by the Charter. The bishops conference's Office of Child and Youth Protection conducted the first round of audits for its first annual report released earlier this year.
To delay the bishops' vote until November “will undoubtedly have serious adverse repercussions both within and without the Church,” Burke wrote. “A decision to back-slide on the charter … will delay the necessary healing and reopen the wounds of deception, manipulation and control — all the false ideals that produced this scandal.”
Burke's letter led to a teleconference call with members of the review board, the ad hoc committee and members of the bishops' Executive Committee, which resulted in the audit question being placed on the bishops' agenda. Details were hammered out at the May 17 meeting.
In their own letter, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver and his auxiliary bishop Jose Gomez questioned the Burke letter's tone and intent.
“We were embarrassed by the tone of your letter,” they wrote. “It assumes the worst motive on the part of the bishops, despite the progress that has already been made. Your language is designed to offend and contains implicit threats that are, to put it mildly, inappropriate for one of your professional stature.”
But Burke defended the letter's content. “That is the feeling and words of the entire board,” she said. “It is appropriate. I don't know what other kind of tone would have been appropriate to let the bishops know that we were terribly upset with the fact that they [wanted to postpone the vote on audits until November].
“What they said to the laity and the victims in the United States, not just the review board, was that we're tired, we don't want to do this right now, safe environments for children, perhaps, are not the first thing on the agenda for them.”
The whole dispute has led another bishop to question the mandate and composition of the 12-member review board. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., said some out-spoken members of the board have lost sight of its mandate.
“Some of the noises coming from the board leave the impression … that somehow they are put in charge of supervising bishops or controlling bishops, auditing them, monitoring them, whatever,” he said. “The implication being that all bishops are, by nature or by office, untrustworthy and they have to be under the supervision of this board.”
Bishop Bruskewitz also questioned the credentials of some board members appointed by Bishop Gregory — including Dr. Michael Bland, a former priest and alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse, and Leon Panetta, who served as chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, was notorious for his own support of abortion.
“I don't think there should be a board … even if they're practicing Catholics or they adhere to the doctrines of the Catholic Church,” the bishop said. “That such a board should be able to enforce its decisions by means of bad publicity to bishops or dioceses that don't obey them — I don't think that's the proper ecclesio-logical way to proceed.”
Burke said each member was approved by his or her own bishop prior to being named to the review board. A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, who did not want her name used, confirmed that Cardinal Francis George vetted and approved Bland for appointment. Kevin Drabinski, director of communications for the Diocese of Monterey, Calif., confirmed that Panetta lives in that diocese but could not confirm prior to the Register's press deadline that Monterey Bishop Sylvester Ryan approved him for appointment.
The bishops conference's Office of Communications refused an interview on Bishop Gregory's behalf to answer Bishop Bruskewitz's charges.
Bishop Bruskewitz is not the only bishop who has expressed reservations about the National Review Board in recent months. Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford, Conn., wrote to Bishop Gregory on behalf of all the bishops of Connecticut, saying they were troubled to see the word “independent” being used indiscriminately in reference to the board and the bishops' Office for the Protection of Children and Young People.
“They appear to be expanding their competence, responsibilities, activities, and studies in a dynamic of autonomy,” Archbishop Mansell wrote Feb. 12. “A particularly disturbing example is the intervention of the Office in individual cases in various dioceses, and this being carried forward without communication with the local Diocesan Bishop…. The Office appears also to be handling cases involving priests and adults.”
Archbishop Chaput also expressed concerns about the board's autonomy. “It is not the NRB's duty to interpret the Charter,” he wrote to Burke April 2. “The NRB is an important advisory body at the service of the bishops. It does not and cannot have supervisory authority.”
Bishop Bruskewitz also questioned whether the Charter is doing enough to address the sexual-abuse crisis. The full conference of bishops will review its effectiveness in November, as outlined in the Charter.
Unlike the “Essential Norms,” which is now Church law for the United States, the Charter is merely a set of guidelines for the bishops, Bishop Bruskewitz said.
The Charter “does give to some bishops a direction that maybe they didn't have,” he said. “It gives to others the impression, correct or incorrect, that something significant is being done — that appropriate drastic measures are being taken for these horrible crimes of sexual misconduct by bishops and priests.”
But a more effective response might be to hire “apostolic visitators” with the proper credentials, authorized by the Holy See to inspect U.S. dioceses, Bishop Bruskewitz said.
“Let them look at the whole situation from top to bottom instead of having an audit done by non-Catholic firms — and let these apostolic visitators undertake such audits,” he said. “The bishops pay for these secular firms to audit their dioceses. They could just as well pay for an audit by the authorities of the Holy See.
“I think also, quite honestly, resulting from the audit, bishops who were guilty of gross negligence or whatever — carelessness or recklessness — if a reprimand is not sufficient, that the Holy Father should remove them and put somebody else in their place.”
Patrick Novecosky writes from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Patrick Novecosky ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Politics and the Courage to Oppose Abortion DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Denis Dillon, for the past 29 years, he has brought the principles of the Catholic faith to his job.
He's the popularly elected district attorney of Nassau County in New York's Long Island.
He worked for civil rights in Robert F. Kennedy's Justice Department in the early 1960s and in 1988 left the Democratic Party because of abortion, which he calls the civil-rights issue of our time.
He spoke to Register correspondent Stephen Vincent.
Were you always interested in law enforcement?
Honestly, I never had a plan of life. I grew up in the South Bronx, in St. Jerome's Parish, when it was mostly Irish Catholic. I was graduating from college, and a bunch of my friends were taking the civil-service exam, so I did, too.
I became a police officer. After graduation from the police academy, I went into the Air Force for two and a half years. When I got out of the service, I decided to go to law school. Someone was giving out scholarships to cops, so I got three years of law school for free.
How were your years under U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy?
I was assigned mostly to civil-rights enforcement in Mississippi, but I was also chosen to help enforce the court order at the University of Alabama on desegregation. I investigated a lot of civil-rights cases.
Later, under his tenure, I worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and, after Kennedy was killed, I directed the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in the Eastern District of New York.
How have you handled clerical sex abuse in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.?
I've never had a problem prosecuting priests who break the law. About five years ago, there was a case involving a priest here. The parents were Jewish, and they brought it to the police. We prosecuted the priest and he got four years in state prison. During the recent crisis, we prosecuted another priest whom we convicted of a felony and who went to prison.
The problem has always been — and it's not just the case with the Church — that agencies that deal with children don't report these kinds of things to law enforcement. I've been here almost 30 years, and prior to the crisis, I never got a report from the Church and never from agencies that are not required by law to report.
Abuse is an extremely serious violation of young boys and adolescent youths. The media exaggerated it. They made it appear that it was all happening now, and involved mostly pedophilia. That was not true.
Aside from that, it was a wakeup call, and I hope the bishops got the message.
How did you proceed on the cases?
The bishop here [Bishop William Murphy] gave us everything we requested. We went back about 50 years to look at every allegation of sexual abuse. In a very short time I realized nothing could be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out on all the incidents. There was only a five-year statute of limitations at the time.
I made a public statement that there could be no prosecutions. I did not release the names of the priests, since we were bound by grand jury secrecy. Moreover, they were only allegations and could not be tested in a courtroom because the statute of limitations had expired. The accused priests had not been given due process of law. I decided to seek the correction of weak points in the law.
I asked the New York State Legislature to extend the statute of limitations for future cases. I asked that instead of five years it be extended to 15 years beyond the minor's 18th birthday. Also, I asked that there be mandatory reporting of violations by every agency that was not already mandated to report, so all the children would be protected. The Legislature failed to pass either bill.
You came under fire in the late 1980s when Operation Rescue was blocking abortion clinics.
I publicly asked the county police officers to petition their unions to have a conscience clause passed by the Legislature. This would enable them to avoid having to follow orders that violated their conscience—a right nurses and other professionals have.
When people were blocking entrances and a police officer would remove them and arrest them, that officer was removing the last barrier between the abortionist and the baby that was going to be killed. That constitutes proximate material cooperation with abortion. Under Catholic teaching, one who engages in proximate material cooperation with abortion is culpable.
My problem as prosecutor was different. If I prosecuted the people arrested, my cooperation would have been remote. I think I could have prosecuted them and not have been morally culpable. Nevertheless, I asked to be recused by the court, as I have a right to do—if I believe there is a conflict of interest. I stated in an affidavit filed in court that, as a matter of science and of conscience, I believe abortion is the unjustified killing of innocent human life.
Not only could I not prosecute individuals seeking to save innocent babies through minor offenses such as trespass, my public stand against abortion could cause others to question my professional judgments if I did prosecute.
Moreover, I said I believed the rescuers were morally justified. So a special prosecutor was appointed, and the Operation Rescue people were prosecuted, even though the media gave the impression that they weren't because I refused to do it.
Your pro-life stands have not hurt your career.
One of the reasons I take such a strong public stand is to show other people in public life that taking a strong stand won't hurt them. Waffling will hurt them.
Why did you leave the Democratic Party?
In 1986, I started leading demonstrations against abortion clinics. Peaceful demonstrations, not sit-ins. The Democrats got very upset about it, and they passed a resolution at their county convention saying abortion is a woman's God-given right, and they wanted every public official to support that right.
I said I considered that statement to be blasphemous, an offense against God. I told them it would have to be rescinded or I would leave the party. I thought that was a trump card because I was their biggest vote-getter. But in my party at the time there were zealots in favor of abortion and they weren't going to back down. We negotiated for a few years.
I took time out to run for governor on the Right to Life line against the Democratic candidate [Mario Cuomo], which further enraged them. So in 1988, when I was coming up for the 1989 election, I switched over to the Republican Party.
How do you view the push for same-sex marriage?
Just [recently] we had a female rabbi call wanting us to know she was going to perform a same-sex marriage, as she called it, in one of the villages here. One can't get a marriage license for that in New York, so I didn't think any legal issues were involved. We checked the statutes though, and it did look as though she might be committing a crime. We sent two investigators.
In the end, we decided that under New York law, there can't be a same-sex marriage because marriage in New York is defined as requiring a man and a woman. What they did might have been a religious ceremony, a blessing. Whatever it was, it was no marriage, so no law was broken.
I oppose same-sex marriage because it undermines traditional marriage and the traditional family, which are foundations of our culture.
Do you see yourself at the fore-front of the culture wars?
I do try to build public support for issues I'm interested in. There's more secularism in our society, and much of it is sponsored by government. I do what I can to oppose that.
I dispute public officials who say their moral beliefs should not influence their public decisions. They're wrong. If something is morally evil such as abortion, one can't support it. We are never free to knowingly do immoral acts. I can't go before the judgment seat of God and say I was a public official and I did what my constituents wanted. I'll be held responsible for what I do.
There are times when I might have to recuse myself. There are other times when my moral beliefs have as much right to be involved in the clash of ideas in the public square as anyone else's.
If I get my moral beliefs from the Catholic faith and the dictates of the natural moral law, so be it. I have every right to draw on these sources in a democracy as the secularists have drawn from their own sources in forming their opinions.
What's in the future for you?
I'll be 72 years old at the end of my present term. I am satisfied with many things I've done.
What gives me the most satisfaction, what keeps me thinking about re-election, is the Rising Star Program, sponsored by my office. It gives kids from economically deprived areas a chance when they have few other opportunities. We teach them the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude. We also fund after-school programs and sports activities and find them jobs. We try to make a real difference in a young person's life.
Stephen Vincent is based in Wallingford, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Stephen Vincent ----- KEYWORDS: Inperson -------- TITLE: Imposters on the High Seas DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Father Sinclair Oubre remembers the story one Catholic man told him. The man had been enjoying his trip on a cruise ship — there was relaxation, and entertainment, and the sacraments, too. He went to Mass every day with a nice man who said he was priest and was readily available to assist travelers with other spiritual needs.
“At the end he described himself as a Roman Catholic Eastern-rite married bishop,” Father Oubre said. But Eastern-rite churches only ordain celibate men as bishops. “He knew that didn't exist.”
Father Oubre is president of the 83-year-old Apostleship of the Sea of the United States, a group which has been ministering to sailors since 1920 and has been focusing on the cruise ship problem.
It's an issue that might not cross many people's minds. But some Catholics have come home from cruises and sat down to write the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, complaining about a sea-faring chaplain who introduced his wife at the end of Mass.
Bishops and priests met for months to create the program to screen priests and make recommendations to cruise lines. This is the first full summer the program will be in place.
Many of the priests who have served on cruise ships are married or laicized, said Father Oubre, who is also pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Port Arthur.
Some cruise chaplains are supplied by Rent-A-Priest, which is part of an organization that advocates the abolition of mandatory celibacy in the priesthood, or come from a schismatic organization. Apostleship of the Sea is trying to supply cruise lines with priests in good standing.
Father Oubre said the problem arose in part because cruise assignments often are made privately for priests who have a friend or relative who works in the cruise industry.
“There was no accountability, no standards in terms of who sets fees, where the collection [money] would go,” he said. “The potential for abuses was pretty high.”
Calming the Seas
The organization signs contracts with cruise lines and supplies a database of priests who are in good standing with the Church and have endorsements from their bishops to serve on cruise ships. The group ensures that priests assigned to cruises understand what's expected of them and has created a manual outlining responsibilities.
“It's important that priests understand their responsibility is not just to say a quick Mass every day and then hang out by the pool but to be actively involved in being the cruise-ship priest,” Father Oubre said. “That includes saying Mass and being in public spaces to talk to people or visit those who are sick” as well as celebrate Mass for the ship's crew members.
More than 400 priests have applied for the program, and two major cruise lines, Holland America and Celebrity Cruises, have signed up to receive recommendations. As part of the contract, cruise lines agree to use only recommended priests.
Doreen Badeaux, secretary-general of Apostleship of the Sea, said priests must reapply each year to be retained on the list, submitting a letter from their bishops certifying they are in good standing.
Badeaux said some cruise lines have not understood how important the issue is to faithful Catholics. The service should benefit the companies as well as Catholics who go on cruises, she said.
“It's something to offer to customers, not to mention the people who work on the ships for months at a time,” Badeaux said. “It's important to have someone there to minister to their spiritual needs.”
Those who assign priests for cruises say the program will be helpful.
“We've never really had a large database of available priests from across the nation,” said Robert Vazquez, specialist for cruise activities at Celebrity. Vazquez said the company had been using third-party agencies to get priests for cruises. On one occasion a ship had a priest who was married and the cruise line received negative comments, he said.
In general, Celebrity receives positive feedback from passengers whenever a priest is available on ships, and it tries to book one on every cruise, Vazquez said.
Msgr. Michael Harriman, a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco who assigns all cruises for Holland America, said the company schedules daily Masses on every ship. While Holland has not had a problem booking priests in good standing on its ships, Msgr. Harriman said the cruise line will benefit from having a greater number of priests from which to draw.
Some Keep Renting
Rent-A-Priest, a Framingham, Mass., organization, will continue to provide priests — through booking agents — in response to requests from cruise lines, said founder Louise Haggett. The group is part of Celibacy Is the Issue Ministries, and many of its priests no longer have faculties from the dioceses in which they were incardinated because they attempted marriage. Rent-A-Priest books its priests for weddings and other events.
“If we receive a request from a cruise line, it means they're usually unable to find a clerical priest to serve them on a particular cruise,” Haggett said. “We give them a list of those priests who are interested in going.”
The priests who are married usually introduce their wives at the beginning of Mass, she said. “Nothing is done secretly; it's all out in the open,” she said.
But Legionary Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome, said a priest who has received a dispensation from the clerical state loses both the obligations and the rights pertaining to his ordination.
“He may no longer exercise any function reserved to the ordained, and he is forbidden to present himself as a priest,” Father McNamara said in a question-and-answer interview on www.zenit. org, a Rome-based Catholic news service. He said a Mass celebrated by a priest in this situation would be a valid but illicit act. A wedding would be invalid.
In any case, Lois Coy from Livingston, Texas, is pleased Apostle-ship of the Sea is providing its service.
“It's very important” that a legitimate priest be on board, she said. “There's something special about attending Mass on a ship.”
Bob Violino writes from Massapequa Park, New York.
----- EXCERPT: Program wants real priests saying Mass on cruise ships ----- EXTENDED BODY: Bob Violino ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Residents Have Enough Signatures to Stop Mosque
Petitioners submitted 632 signatures to the city clerk's office May 18. Only 552 signatures were needed to force the Hamtramck City Council to reverse its unanimous April 27 decision to allow the mosque to carry the call to prayer five times a day, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The signatures had to be certified and the council notified of the certification by May 25. Otherwise, the law was to become effective May 26.
If the council chose not to rescind the ordinance, it would have automatically been suspended and placed on the ballot for voters to decide. A vote could have been held in August or earlier.
The blue-collar city of 23,000 once was overwhelmingly Polish and Catholic. Some Muslims say the call is the equivalent of church bells. Opponents say allowing the Islamic call gives that religion preferential treatment.
Bush and Senate Agree on Judicial Nominations
Bush said from now until his current term ends Jan. 20, 2005, he will not use his constitutional power to bypass the Senate and give temporary judicial appointments during congressional recesses, as he has done twice during the past several months. In turn, Democrats agreed to allow votes on 25 “noncontroversial” appointments to district and appeals courts, the Washington Post reported.
However, Democrats have refused to include seven appeals-court nominees they have been blocking or have threatened to block because of their views on abortion, labor rights and other issues.
Bush appointed U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering Sr. of Mississippi to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in January and former Alabama attorney general William Pryor Jr. to the 11th Circuit Court in February.
The newspaper noted the only “seriously controversial” nominee on the list is James Leon Holmes, a pro-life Catholic whose nomination was sent directly to the Senate for approval rather than to committee for recommendation.
Solar-Power Stained-Glass Windows?
At St. Catharine on Columbus’ East Side and St. Andrew in Upper Arlington, ar tist Sarah Hall of Toronto arranged grids of photovoltaic cells and sandwiched them between layers of glass, the newspaper repor ted. The inner aspect of the windows includes figures and other patterns normally found on stained glass.
“Those solar cells are hooked up to a battery, and then we illuminate the narthex at night with this energy or pump the [water in a] font,” Hall said during a recent visit to St. Catharine.
In the United States, energy from photovoltaic cells costs more than energy from other sources. However, it would prove a cheaper alternative in Europe, where Hall hopes to sell many of her designs.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: In Iraq, Soldiers Find Their Greatest Allies in Chaplains DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:NEWPORT, R.I. — In an unexpected way, Father Michael Dory is reassured about the generation that is carrying out the war on terrorism.
Father Dory, basic course training officer at the Navy's Chaplains School in Newport, R.I., spent a month in Iraq around Easter time, a few miles from Falujah. He counseled soldiers and Marines who struggled with the notion of killing the enemy.
“We had a lot of time to talk about what it means to take a life,” said Father Dory, who holds the rank of commander. “I was quite moved that so many were struggling with killing an enemy, especially in the age of computer games where violence and killing is so prevalent. They have not been numbed by it. They understood the seriousness of taking a life. And they wanted to talk over those serious moral issues with a priest. They've not become hardened.”
When it comes to coping with the violence of war and keeping morale high, troops in Iraq find their greatest allies in the chaplains at the front.
“Priest-chaplains are crucial to the morale of our soldiers in the way they show them the face of Christ in the darkness of terror and death,” said Msgr. Aloysius Callaghan, vicar general of the Archdiocese for Military Services U.S.A. “Even in war, they remind our people that they must fight with a spirit of peace in their hearts to re-establish justice and freedom. They are to be ambassadors of peace and guardians of life.”
Like Msgr. Callaghan, Father H. Timothy Vakoc, an Army major in the 44th Corps Support Battalion, also speaks of “dark situations.” When two soldiers were killed in early May, he flew to the Combat Surgical Hospital to be with other soldiers who were in the convoy. Another died at the hospital just before he arrived. He prayed for him and prayed with an injured soldier.
“I spent time with the other soldiers who were physically all right but in a state of shock,” Father Vakoc said in an e-mail interview from Iraq. On his return to the unit's main base, he met with another company who had lost a soldier that morning in an attack.
On another occasion, the priest listened to a soldier as he discussed his faith. The soldier was a lector at the Mass that day. Just days later, Father Vakoc celebrated a memorial Mass for the young man — he had died after being hit by a roadside explosion.
“The bottom line in helping these soldiers through the grieving process is to be present to them and walk with them,” Father Vakoc said. “I prayed with the soldiers, I prayed for the soldiers who died, I brought the sacraments of the Church and the light and love of Christ into the darkness of the situations.”
Soldier's View
Specialist Frank O'Farrell knows the value of having a Catholic priest close by. Until earlier this year, he was in Baghdad with the Army Reserve's 411th Civil Affairs Battalion. He was stationed at the U.N. compound when a truck bomb there last August killed 23 people, including the U.N. envoy.
“The chaplain corps was right there,” recounted O'Farrell, who spent that afternoon loading medivac helicopters. “They were all over us after that making sure we were okay through this and encouraging us to talk about what we saw and what we were feeling not only with them but with each other. They were great with stress counseling.”
“Guys going out on patrols are looking for the Catholic chaplains to give a blessing and say a prayer,” said Father David Kloak, a captain and deputy chaplain of the Marine Corps. “They want all the support they can get.”
Father Dory said the sacraments are vital. Confession might be out of style in stateside parishes, he said, “but not on the battlefield.”
Well Protected
The Army realizes the importance of chaplains, said Father F. Richard Spencer, an Army major and action officer at the Office of the Army Chief of Chaplains in the Pentagon.
In Iraq until May, he testified that every time he went somewhere to say Mass, he had four armored vehicles to provide protection along the way.
“When we flew, it was with two helicopters,” he said. “The military is willing to dedicate those kinds of resources to make sure their troops are receiving the sacraments and services.”
Father Dory concurred.
“Every time I went for Mass, I had a Humvee with a .50-caliber machine gun in front of me and in back of me,” he said. “You're always under threat.”
Father Spencer is based at Camp Cook, home to 16,000 coalition troops just north of Baghdad Airport, the Forward Operating Base used by the coalition forces. He saw chaplains heavily involved in the midst of combat situations, taking care of the wounded and administering last rites.
“The troops love their chaplains,” he said. “They knew the chaplains were right there with them and that gave them great courage and spiritual strength.”
Father Vakoc calls it a “ministry of intentional presence.”
“I live with [the soldiers], work with them, eat with them, care for them, listen to them, counsel them,” he said. “The soldiers know if you are real and genuinely care or not. The soldiers see me out there with them and that makes a difference.”
After one attack that left 17 dead and 37 wounded, Father Spencer found that nine medics had never experienced or been around death before.
“I became like a counselor to process their emotions during this critical incident,” he said.
“The chaplains were always ready to help, especially for confessions to prepare your soul for peace in anything that happens,” said Marine Cpl. John Paul Marchetti, who served on a ship in the Persian Gulf escorting Marines in and out of the war zone.
“I wanted to be as close to Our Lord as possible,” he said. “My first sovereignty is to Christ, then I can properly carry out my duty to my country as a Marine.”
Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joseph Pronechen ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Archbishop: Vatican-Russian Meeting Not a Good Idea
INTERFAX NEWS, May 18 — A meeting between Pope John Paul II and the Russian Orthodox patriarchate would not be a good idea, nor would a papal visit to Russia, according to a Russian Orthodox archbishop.
There is currently too much confrontation between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Great Britain said May 18 at a briefing in Moscow. His position reflected that of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, which is the same position as that of the Orthodox Church in Russia, the news agency reported.
Archbishop Mark said confrontations — most notably the dispute regarding Church territory in Ukraine — should be resolved before any meetings take place.
However, other Orthodox leaders pointed to progress already made between the Churches. Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill said dialogue between the two has been “very positive.”
Swiss Bishops Criticize Letter to Pope
SWISSINFO.COM, May 18 — Switzerland's bishops have called a letter written by more than 40 priests and lay people calling for Pope John Paul II to step down “disgusting and disloyal.”
The letter, which was delivered to the Swiss bishops’ conference May 14, came only a few days before the Pope's 84th birthday May 18 and only a few weeks before a scheduled papal visit to the country, the news site noted.
A spokesman for the bishops’ conference said it was “extremely upsetting that people should use the arrival of the Pope to make such a comment” and that it is “not characteristic of the greeting Switzerland is preparing for him.”
One of the letter-signers said the Church is best served by setting a retirement age for popes at 75, saying that these days the media focus more on the Holy Father's health than on his message, the site reported.
John Paul spent his birthday working and receiving visitors, which included the prime minister of Portugal and the president of Poland.
Pope Extends Blessings to Olympic Organizers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 15 — As he offered blessings for organizers of the Olympic Games to be held in Athens, Greece, this summer, Pope John Paul II called for the games to be a show of fraternity and peace.
The Holy Father made his comments May 15 while meeting with the mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyianni, who was on a tour of Europe and the United States leading up to the Aug. 13-29 Olympics, the wire service reported.
“I express the wish that the next celebration of the Olympic Games in your city be a show of brotherhood for all the participants and a message of peace and union for all those who will be spectators across the world,” John Paul told the mayor. “In this spirit, I invoke divine blessings for you and all the organizers of this celebration.”
In the week before her meeting with the Pope, Bakoyianni encouraged countries to attend the Olympic Games in her country and not be swayed by security fears and fears of terrorist attacks.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Challenges Still Abound After 40 Years of Interreligious Dialogue DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — Worrying that the Church in Europe might one day simply be vanquished could be a self-fulfilling prophecy — unless Catholics respond positively to the challenge rather than trying to shut other views out, warns the Vatican's top official for dialogue with other religions.
Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, warned in mid-May that by saying Europe is becoming like another North Africa where the Christian faith was all but wiped out is, in a sense, “going to help fulfill that.”
Unlike the conquests of North Africa by the Byzantines, the Visigoths and the Muslims, the archbishop said that in Europe today there “isn't an invasion” of a region where “the Church was already weak at the time.” Rather, he said, there is a “pacific influx of Muslims and other religions into Europe.”
And instead of decaying in the face of this influx, it “should wake us up, it should be a salutary shock and make us more lively in our approach to religion,” the archbishop told the Register. “I don't think we should close in on ourselves and become like a fortress.”
The archbishop was speaking during a break at the end of a five-day plenary assembly of the pontifical council — an event he described as “extremely useful.” The May 14-19 meeting was also a celebration to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Vatican dicastery.
In his address to the assembly, Pope John Paul II praised the curial office for its “ecclesial service” of profitable contacts and dialogue initiatives with other religions that, he said, had been carried out with “diligent determination.”
Interreligious dialogue is important in proposing “a firm base of peace,” the Holy Father said, recalling his 2001 apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium). It was a point echoed by Archbishop Fitzgerald who, in an interview with Vatican Radio, said dialogue should be regarded as a means to reinforce the bond between religions and to avoid conflicts.
But interreligious dialogue is not without its critics. Some high-ranking members of the Curia are said to be “gravely concerned” that dialogue confuses the Gospel message. Others have accused of it being a “dialogue at all costs,” a watering down of Christ's redemptive action, a betrayal of the doctrine of the Triune God and of promoting a “relativist mood” to an already relativist and secularist society.
John Paul noted these criticisms in his remarks to the council, stressing that while dialogue must continue as “it is part of the evangelizing mission of the Church,” it must also avoid “all relativism and religious indifference.”
In responding to the criticisms, Archbishop Fitzgerald said dialogue should not be an attempt to forge a unity at all costs.
“There is a great usefulness at looking at our differences … just to be ourselves,” he said. “When we are like that we will see there are certain points in common but there are many fundamental differences and that helps us take away the relativism.”
The key, he said, is rootedness in Christ, which comes through sound formation.
One bone of contention for many opponents of interreligious dialogue has been the historic meetings at Assisi, where leaders of all the world's major religions have gathered at John Paul's initiative to pray for world peace. According to the critics, the Assisi meetings served to foster a misperception that all believers of various religions worship the same God.
“Absolutely not,” countered Father Felix Machado, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. “What actually happened in Assisi does not correspond at all to what journalists were saying.”
“It was nothing at all about people praying together but — as the Holy Father said very clearly — we came together to pray,” he said.
Like Archbishop Fitzgerald, Father Machado places much emphasis on the essential need for formation, a central theme at the plenary assembly.
“The Catholic Church knows where the limits of interreligious dialogue lie,” he explained. “If only the faithful would study the documents of the Catholic Church more and see there is really no need for relativism to enter into this. It is ignorance that gives rise to a lot of ambiguities and relativism.”
According to Archbishop Fitzgerald, “We have to try to see the logic of another religion. We then come to a common acceptance. It's not tolerance, it's respect.”
For an exemplar, Father Mach-ado believes we need look no further than the Pope himself, whose steadfast commitment to Christ and the Catholic faith has attracted some members of other religions who want him to be their protagonist and leader.
Ancestral Religions
One member present at the meeting who has been particularly grateful for the work of the council is Father John Gorski, president of the International Association of Catholic Missiologists.
The association is trying to discover the religious experience of American Indians in their ancestral religions and to bring this into dialogue with the Gospel for the first time in their history.
He agrees with Archbishop Fitzgerald's call for respect and common acceptance and refers to the Pope's words that interreligious dialogue is not just a question of tactics but rather a profound “respect for the action of the Holy Spirit among all the peoples, all the cultures and all the religions.”
“We have to look for how people are experiencing this paschal action of the Holy Spirit,” Father Gorski concluded. “That's the challenge, and we're not accustomed to that.”
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: Confessing Sin Leads to Joy and Freedom DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Register Summary
During his general audience May 19, the eve of the feast of the Ascension and the day following his 84th birthday, Pope John Paul II met with thousands of pilgrims who crowded together in St. Peter's Square. He offered his insights on Psalm 32 — the song of a repentant sinner — as part of his ongoing teachings on the psalms and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours' evening prayer.
The Holy Father said Psalm 32 is “not some generic reflection on sin and forgiveness but rather the personal testimony of a repentant sinner.” The psalmist describes the inner turmoil he experienced after committing some serious sins, but he kept silent because he did not have the courage to confess his sins.
However, the Pope pointed out, “The sinner felt the weight of God's hand upon him; he was aware that God does not remain indifferent to his creatures' wrongdoing, because he is the guardian of justice and truth.”
Finally, the sinner confesses his guilt. “God responds immediately with generous forgiveness,” the Holy Father noted.
John Paul said that we, too, are blessed by recognizing and confessing our sin, particularly in the sacrament of penance, where we experience and celebrate with joy the reality of God's unfailing mercy.
“Happy the sinner whose fault is removed, whose sin is forgiven.” This blessing at the beginning of Psalm 32, which we just heard, immediately helps us to understand why our Christian tradition has included this psalm in the series of seven penitential psalms. After this initial twofold blessing (see verses 1-2), we encounter not some generic reflection on sin and forgiveness but rather the personal testimony of a repentant sinner.
The composition of this psalm is rather complex. After the personal testimony (see verses 3-5), there are two verses that speak of distress, prayer and salvation (see verses 6-7), which are then followed by God's promise of counsel (see verse 8) and a word of warning from him (see verse 9). Finally, some words of wisdom follow that take the form of a contrast (see verse 10), along with an invitation to rejoice in the Lord (see verse 11).
Return to the Lord
At this time, we will only examine a few elements of this composition. First of all, the psalmist describes a very painful moral situation that occurred when he “kept silent” (see verse 3): Having committed some serious offenses, he did not have the courage to confess his sins to God. It was a time of terrible interior turmoil, which is described in some rather striking images: His bones wasted away as though a fever were consuming him and leaving him dehydrated; the dry summer heat melted away and sapped his strength; his groans were constant. The sinner felt the weight of God's hand upon him; he was aware that God does not remain indifferent to his creatures' wrongdoing, because he is the guardian of justice and truth.
Unable to resist any longer, the sinner decides to courageously confess his guilt, using words that seem to foreshadow those of the prodigal son in Jesus' parable (see Luke 15:18). With all sincerity of heart, he says: “I confess my faults to the Lord.” They are only a few words, but they originate from his conscience; God responds immediately with generous forgiveness (see Psalm 32:5).
The prophet Jeremiah spoke about God's plea to us: “Return, rebel Israel, says the Lord. I will not remain angry with you; for I am merciful, says the Lord, I will not continue my wrath forever. Only know your guilt: how you rebelled against the Lord, your God” (Jeremiah 3:12-13).
A Source of Peace and Joy
Thus, in spite of life's trials, the prospect of security, trust and peace opens before “all God's faithful” who have repented and who have been forgiven (see Psalm 32:6-7). They may still experience times of anguish, but the advancing tide of fear will not prevail, because the Lord will lead his faithful to a safe place: “You are my shelter; from distress you keep me; with safety you ring me round” (verse 7).
At this point, the Lord speaks and promises that he will guide the repentant sinner from now on. Indeed, it is not enough to have been purified; we then need to walk on the right path. This is why the Lord promises, “I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk” (Psalm 32:8) and invites us to be docile — like he also does in the Book of Isaiah (see Isaiah 30:21). His call is made with kindness and is tinged with a bit of irony thanks to the vivid comparison to the mules and horses, which are symbols of stubbornness (see verse 9). True wisdom, in fact, leads to conversion, leaving behind any vice and its dark power of attraction over us. But above all, it leads to the enjoyment of the peace that flows from being delivered and forgiven.
In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul refers explicitly to the beginning of this psalm in order to celebrate Christ's liberating grace (see Romans 4:6-8). We can apply it to the sacrament of reconciliation. In light of this psalm, we experience in this sacrament a consciousness of sin, something that is often clouded over in our days, together with the joy of forgiveness. The two terms, “sin-punishment,” have been replaced by two other terms, “sin-forgiveness,” because the Lord is a God who forgives “wickedness and crime and sin” (Exodus 34:7).
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (fourth century) used Psalm 32 to teach catechumens about baptism's profound renewal, a radical purification from every sin (Procatechesis, No. 15). He also exalted God's mercy, using the psalmist's words. Let us conclude our catechesis with his words: “God is merciful and does not skimp on forgiveness … The accumulation of your sins will not surpass the greatness of God's mercy. The seriousness of your wounds will not surpass the skill of the supreme physician — as long as you abandon yourself to him with trust. Show the physician your illness and speak to him with David's words: ‘I confess my faults that are always before me to the Lord.’ In this way, you will obtain what has proved true for others: ‘You have forgiven the evil of my heart’” (Le catechesi, Rome, 1993, p. 52-53).
(Register translation)
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: BUSH AND THE POPE: DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:VATICAN CITY — Many people expect Pope John Paul II will tell President Bush when the two leaders meet June 4 that Bush's policies in the Middle East are not helping the cause of peace.
This expectation is based largely on interviews given to the press in May by Cardinal Pio Laghi, former papal nuncio to the United States — and a friend of George Bush Sr.
Yet U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Jim Nicholson nevertheless believes the president will receive a “gracious welcome” from the Pope.
“The Holy Father has a great deal of respect for the president because of the president's value system,” Nicholson told the Register. “Undoubtedly they will have a discussion about Iraq, about which they had a difference in the beginning, but since then our two entities have been working very closely together on humanitarian relief.”
Bush, who is paying his third visit to the Holy Father since taking office in January 2001, will arrive in the Italian capital in June to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Rome by Allied forces.
The visit had originally involved some organizational difficulties with both the Vatican and the White House having to change their schedules so the visit could take place.
“It's important to recognize that both have made a special effort to meet at this particular moment in history,” said Father Robert Gahl, a professor at the Holy Cross Pontifical University in Rome. “This is not just a pro forma visit — if either were looking to make an excuse not to meet, it would have been easy to do so.”
According to Nicholson, the visit is very “logical,” owing to the president's esteem for the Pope's “service to human dignity” and his “moral authority and wise counsel.”
But the news of the trip came as somewhat of a shock to some.
“I was surprised, given the strength of opposition by the Holy See to the war in Iraq,” said Father Drew Christiansen, associate editor of America magazine and former head of the U.S. bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace. “On other occasions it's been harder to bring the two parties together when the differences were much less.”
Some commentators suggested the visit is simply a photo opportunity ahead of the election this year, while others believe the president is genuinely seeking the Holy Father's advice and consultation.
“The Holy See must have considered the fact that it is taking place in an election year,” Father Christiansen said. “But with still five months to go, the Vatican must nevertheless have thought that perhaps some good things can be gained from it.”
He added that “what the administration is trying to gain from it is unclear” but believed there is still “a lot of common ground” between the Holy See and the White House.
Nicholson said the precise details of the agenda have not yet been set but said the Holy See is “well aware of the president's steadfast position about the sanctity and preciousness of life and the opposition of the United States to human engineering, and our advocacy for a total ban on cloning.”
The Vatican, he said, is “very appreciative of that position.”
But Iraq is still likely to prove to be a sticking point. In an interview with an Italian newspaper in May, Cardinal Laghi said John Paul is likely to drive home issues over the conflict in Iraq and specifically ask the president to stop basing his policies in Iraq and the Holy Land on recourse to force.
Father Gahl, however, does not think there will be any admonishments or finger waving, at least on matters concerning past policy in Iraq.
“The Pope isn't one who holds grudges but rather looks forward as to how to foster a better world,” he said.
Father Gahl believes the Pope might want criteria for military operations to be applied differently in the future.
“[The Holy Father] may take the opportunity to urge the United States to lead an international humanitarian intervention, ready to use force if necessary, in the Sudan,” Father Gahl said. “In the western part of the country there is a possibility of genocide, where geopolitical considerations are such that the international community may prefer to ignore the imminent disaster.”
According to Father Christiansen, there could be “some common ground as the Bush administration begins to look for international help in Iraq, and it may seek the Holy See's support to encourage other countries to be involved in the peacekeeping process.”
Viewing the natural moral law as the foundation of any agreements, John Paul is also said to be likely to encourage the president to implement accords made in international and humanitarian law, and could also raise concerns about religious freedom, especially in China and Russia.
The president, meanwhile, is expected to offer an apology for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Bush Converting?
Being his third visit to the Vatican, there is some speculation that the president might be considering joining the Catholic Church.
“It's my prayer that he would enjoy the fullness of the faith,” Father Gahl said. “His father is warm toward the Church and [Bush] certainly desires that the Roman Catholic Church be strong, that it continue to be a voice of moral authority and social assistance.”
Edward Pentin writes from Rome.
----- EXCERPT: What Will They Discuss? ----- EXTENDED BODY: Edward Pentin ----- KEYWORDS: Vatican -------- TITLE: British Passion DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:WINTERSHALL, England — Many people have heard of the famous Oberammergau Passion play performed every 10 years in Germany. But few are aware that thousands flock each year to an English country estate to see the life of Christ acted out in the open air.
The Wintershall Estate in the county of Surrey, about 30 miles south of London, is made up of 1,000 acres of rolling green farmland. On first impression, it looks no different from many other large farms. But when you drive through it you notice there are Stations of the Cross spread out over half a mile, two small chapels and a Rosary Way.
For the Wintershall Estate is the home of Peter Hutley, an imaginative and passionate English Catholic convert. But to really understand what he is trying to do, you have to visit the estate in June, when a 200-strong cast acts out the five-and-a-half-hour-long “The Life of Christ” in the open air.
Last year, 15,000 people showed up during the six days of production to witness the play.
A property developer by profession, Hutley first got involved in religious drama when he staged a small production of the Nativity on the estate in 1990.
“In 1994, I thought we ought to do the Passion at Easter,” he said. “We did it at Easter for a number of years with a cast of 50 or 60 and it drew audiences of between 1,200 and 1,500. It seemed to be something they wanted. But the play was difficult to put on at Easter because we frequently had very bad weather. The poor men on the crosses nearly got hypothermia.”
“In 1998, I read somewhere that the Pope had said 1999 had to be the year of preparation for the millennium,” Hutley continued. “And it flashed into my mind that there would be no better celebration for the millennium than to put on the life of Christ. There was a lot of debate at the time in England about street parties, and there was also the Dome being built in London. But without Christ there would be no millennium and no celebrations. I felt Christ was the only thing to be primarily celebrated.”
So Hutley wrote a three-act play based on the life of Christ, which was first performed on the estate in 1999.
Biblical Scenes
The play begins with the Nativity and ends with the Ascension. The grounds of Hutley's estate contain representations of places such as the inn in Bethlehem, Lazarus' tomb and the Temple in Jerusalem. A lake acts as the river Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.
The audience moves with the action while a professional public-address system using 60 loudspeakers and 16 radio microphones mixes the spoken word with evocative music.
“When I start the play I say to the audience that I want them to imagine they were in Palestine 2,000 years ago, and I ask them to listen carefully to the words of Jesus,” Hutley said. “The play is narrated by St. Luke, who comes on and says that he wrote the Gospel. He then takes the audience from one scene to another and fills in any gaps in the story.”
“I've borrowed bits from the Bible to suit our particular production,” he added. “So, for example, where Jesus comes into the Garden of Gethsemane, he talks about him being the vine and his Father being the gardener. He didn't actually say this in Gethsemane, but it doesn't matter. It fits very well.”
Kids play a prominent role in the biblical re-enactments.
“In the scene where Jesus says, ‘Let the little children come unto me,’ we place the children at one end of the field and Jesus at the other,” Hutley said. “Then the children come running across the set screaming, ‘Jesus! Jesus!’ It's the most wonderful moment in the play. And we have a number of children who perform a mime during the Sermon on the Mount.”
Conversion
Brought up in the Church of England, Hutley became a Catholic in 1994. His conversion happened partly, he said, as a result of the faith he had witnessed among the priests and people he had met in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina where he first visited with his wife after she had converted to Catholicism.
“I'm one of those fortunate people who has always had a faith,” Hutley said. “I've always believed in a God, some great creator of the universe and mankind, and I used to go to church periodically.
“As I grew older, I went more frequently. Gradually, the realization of God became more prominent in my mind and I discovered that I was thinking about him more than when I was much younger. At Medjugorje I saw the greater depth of prayer, understanding and history of the Roman Catholic faith.”
Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton said the play is a very spiritual piece of drama.
“I saw most of it last year,” the bishop said. “It was astonishing — it really grips you. It's remarkably faithful to the Gospel and also very prayerful and deeply spiritual.”
“Before the Crucifixion everyone was applauding each scene, but after [that] it was just total silence,” Bishop Conry recalled. “I'm sure it would be a serious challenge to Oberammergau if more people knew about it.”
Greg Watts writes from London.
----- EXCERPT: English Property Developer's Life of Christ Play Stirs Souls in Surrey ----- EXTENDED BODY: Greg Watts ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Media Watch DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Police Detain Two Priests in China
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 17 — Authorities recently detained two priests from the underground Catholic Church in China — which is loyal to the Pope — as they were about to begin teaching classes on natural family planning and theology.
Police did not comment on the report by the Cardinal Kung Foundation, the Stamford, Conn.-based group that monitors the Catholic Church in China and the communist government's attempts to repress it, the wire service reported.
Father Lu Genjun, 42, was detained in Dingzhou, a city in Hebei province. The whereabouts of Father Cheng Xiaoli, 40, were unknown. The Associated Press reported a number of priests have been detained in the Hebei province, some for years.
Catholic Radio Station Comes to Rwanda
BBC, May 17 — A new Catholic radio station will be available soon in Rwanda.
The Rwandan government signed an agreement in early May with the Church in Rwanda to allow the new station, Maria Nyina wa Zombo (Radio Maria), to broadcast in the country, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The station is expected to broadcast evangelization programs as well as to support unity and reconciliation policies in the country. It will also include programs on social welfare, combating HIV-AIDS, fighting illiteracy and how to assist street children, orphans and widows.
Church Leader Questions Philippine Vote Results
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, May 13 — Philippine Archbishop Oscar Cruz on May 13 questioned the election results of President Gloria Arroyo, who garnered 100% of the vote in the May 10 elections in one Filipino community.
Archbishop Cruz said he found it “amazing” that all 5,470 voters of the town of Santo Tomas had taken the voting advice of their mayor, Antonio Aguilar, a supporter of Arroyo, the news service reported.
Archbishop Cruz compared the elections to those during the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, which ended in revolt in 1986. Other senior Church officials before the elections had expressed concern of an alleged plot to commit wide-scale voter fraud.
Thousands of priests and lay people participated in poll-watching during the May 10 election, Agence France-Presse reported; however, the Church as a whole had not yet given its verdict on the conduct of the election.
Exit polls had predicted Arroyo would beat out her main rival, film star Fernando Poe.
Still Hope for Christian Reference in EU Constitution
REUTERS, May 18 — God is making a comeback in the European Constitution — at least for now.
Several countries demanded a reference to Europe's Christian roots at a meeting in mid-May regarding a draft of the constitution, the news service reported. Italy and Poland raised the issue again at the meeting of European Union foreign ministers on the constitution. The 25-member bloc hopes to approve the constitution in June.
“We are aware of the difficulties,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, “but we believe that a small inclusion in the text would not alter the preamble too much.”
Ireland, Poland, Italy and Spain have long sided with the Vatican position to include a reference to Christianity in the constitution. Secular France has opposed such a reference.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: News -------- TITLE: Meddling in Politics DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Have we forgotten the debate over Pope Pius XII and the Nazis?
As more and more bishops deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians, more and more commentators are crying foul. They say it's wrong to mix religion and politics.
But we remember a different recent debate, in which commentators were making the opposite criticism of the Church: that it was too silent about what was happening in politics. In particular, in German politics in the 1930s and '40s.
What a difference a few years — and a new issue — makes.
Leave aside for a moment that Jeff Jacoby, writing in the Boston Globe in March 2000, was wrong about Pius XII's silence. For now, just follow Jacoby's logic:
“The stony silence of Pius XII, who spoke not a public word in defense of the Jews as millions were shipped to the death camps, is one of the worst moral failures in the Church's long history.”
Compare that with Ellen Goodman's column in the Boston Globe this past April. In it, she says the Pope shouldn't be allowed to meddle in politics and he should be ignored when he tries — even if Catholics believe that wide-scale, government-sanctioned killing is taking place, as they do in abortion.
“John Fitzgerald Kennedy addressed the anti-Catholic prejudice in a campaign speech in 1960 when he said famously, ‘I do not speak for my Church on public matters, and the Church does not speak for me.’ Back then, most Catholics were relieved to break down the stereotypes about them as people who followed orders from Rome and weren't allowed to think for themselves. But in 2004, it turns out, the conservatives in the Church are the ones demanding that politicians toe the line.”
Or, take another. James Carroll suggested in a Feb. 12, 2002, Boston Globe article that Catholic complacency causes it to avoid confronting the sinners in its ranks and that this failure has disastrous consequences.
“It is out of this conviction of Catholic exceptionalism that Church leaders, when faced with obvious failure, whether the ‘silence’ of Pius XII before the Holocaust or the abuse of children by priests, put such priority on ‘avoiding scandal’ — which really means covering up anything that might call the sinlessness of the ‘Church as such’ into question. If sins are nevertheless exposed, they are blamed on ‘members,’ leaving the blameless Church unchanged.”
Compare that with a Patricia O'Connell condemnation of an overbearing Church that won't let people call themselves Catholic regardless of what they are promoting. Her column ran May 19 in Business Week Online.
“PAPAL BULL. What are Catholics — and all Americans — to make of this increasing clerical activism in trying to shape their political decisions? The bad news is it shows that the Church — for centuries no stranger to abuse of power, muddled priorities and interfering where it shouldn't — seems to be at it again. The good news: Perhaps now the media will stop personalizing the matter vis-a-vis a presidential candidate and be forced to frame the issue in its proper context: Where is the line that separates church and state?”
The truth is, history shows that there are times when the Church should “meddle in politics” — where it will be accused of a moral failure if it doesn't.
Germany in 1933 was just such a time. When they recognized dark clouds gathering on the horizon, the German bishops didn't hesitate.
According to Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel, a longtime promoter of Pope Pius XII's canonization cause, the “German episcopate condemned the National Socialist movement repeatedly” before Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
“It prohibited Catholics from being associated with it or voting for” the Nazis, Father Gumpel said in 2000.
The Church's action had an effect — at least for a while. In the elections that brought Hitler to power that year, virtually all Catholics remained faithful to the Zentrum Christian party, which was well known for its opposition to the Nazis.
Today the circumstances are totally different. But we know that abortion is destroying lives — the lives of children and the lives of their mothers. It would be wrong for the bishops to stay silent in the face of forces so powerful and so deadly.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Letters DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Reaping the Whirlwind
Regarding “Pornography and Iraq” (Editorial, May 16-22):
Many Americans of all political persuasions have expressed outrage, dismay and calls for justice over the recent news of abuse of Iraqi detainees at the hands of some American military personnel. Since 1973, American society has promoted the violence of legal abortion as a Supreme Court-mandated right of individual privacy and choice — to the tune of an estimated 43 million abortions. It is ironic that those politicians who cannot even bring themselves to outlaw the procedure known as partial-birth abortion now shout the loudest over the acts against the imprisoned Iraqis.
The issues of abortion and the mistreatment of the prisoners are questions of basic human dignity. Is it really any surprise that these abuses occur at the hands of some members of our modern American culture, which has grown so callous to even the most innocent stage of life? One action we justify as “a woman's choice” while the other is called a crime against humanity. We are simply reaping what we have sown.
STEPHEN ROSCHER, Owings Mills, Maryland
Don't Judge Politicians
I feel your editorial on politicians, abortion and the Eucharist was put in a way that made it into a “black-and-white” issue (“On Receiving Communion,” May 9-15). Even the interview with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (“Invigorated by the Holy Father,” Inperson, May 9-15) was more nuanced than your editorial.
When I read statements by some today such as the archbishop of St. Louis regarding politicians and Sen. John Kerry in particular, I cannot help but reflect on the incident in the Gospel when Mary Magdalen came to wash the feet of Jesus and dried them with her tears. The Pharisees at table said within themselves: “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is who touches him.” But Jesus vindicated her by saying to his host: “Many sins have been forgiven her because she has loved much.” The Pharisees also judged Jesus because he “eats and drinks with publicans and sinners.”
Is the judgment of politicians not running the risk of a similar judgment — and by that fact running the risk of going counter to the role of Jesus Christ as savior?
I think that, as Catholics, we need to be very slow to urge the bishops to use the Eucharist as a sanction or to state publicly that Kerry or any other Catholic politician is not a good Catholic. Particularly this year, it is important not to do anything that could be construed as an encouragement to vote for President Bush in November. His position against abortion is very weak in that he will do as little as possible in order to cater to a Catholic vote. But if we are saddled with four more years of Bush, we may have many other issues besides abortion to contend with — such as war, economy, environment and many other things. For this reason I feel that Catholics need to be very circumspect in judging whether Kerry or any other politician can be voted for.
FATHER JAMES CONNER, OCSO, Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky
Qualifying for Communion
Regarding “On Receiving Communion” (Editorial, May 9-15):
It has been reported, of late, that Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Vatican official, has called on priests to stop granting Communion to politicians who vote for or advocate abortion. It has also been reported that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has a task force studying whether to sanction Catholic politicians who take stances contrary to Church doctrine.
And what political views shall the Church consider worthy of the sanction of barring from Communion? After more than 100 years of official Church documents on social issues, and as documented by the U.S. bishops' “Pastoral on Civic Responsibility,” it is clear that there are more areas of responsibility than just abortion. The pastoral states that “in accordance with God's plan for human society, we are called to commit ourselves to protect and promote the life and dignity of the human person and the common good of society as a whole. We must always remember God's special concern for the poor and vulnerable and make their needs our first priority in public life. We are concerned about a whole range of social issues: economic issues, labor, rights and responsibilities of every person, option for the poor and vulnerable, dignity of work and the rights of workers, solidarity (global) [and] care for God's creation.” These are the seven themes of Catholic social teaching and the heart of Catholic social tradition.
Abortion, although an important issue, is just one issue within just one of these tenets. Where are the outrage and the calls for sanctions against those politicians and candidates who publicly support the gutting of health-care programs for the most vulnerable groups of people? Where are the Church's efforts to discipline those who enact official governmental policies that destroy the earth and its resources? Will the Church refuse Communion to those who publicly support the expansion of the death penalty? Where is the outrage for those government officials who knowingly lie to justify the abandonment of international peace efforts in a rush to war?
If the Church is going to use access to Communion as a means of endorsing and condemning political candidates or those who publicly oppose any aspect of Catholic teachings, how many could pass [its] test?
MARTHA J. CAMELE, Cincinnati
Communion Rights
Regarding your editorial “On Receiving Communion” (May 9-15):
You write, “The Holy Father's words should inspire us with amazement at the great, unde-served gift of the Eucharist — and with horror that we would ever treat it as anyone's right.”
While I think I understand the point you are trying to make, I believe you have wandered (perhaps unintentionally) into troubled waters. Of course the Eucharist is a great, undeserved gift — perhaps the greatest gift God has given us. But to say that it is a gift does not negate the fact that baptized Christians in good standing with the Church absolutely have the right to receive it. This teaching is woven into the fabric of our worship. Near the end of the Rite of Baptism is a provision for the celebrant to state that the person who had just been baptized now enjoys the right to hear the Gospel and to receive the sacraments. So please don't try to remove that right in an overzealous attempt to protect the purity of the Eucharist.
Did we earn this right? Not at all. Can we forfeit this right through sin and willful disobedience? Absolutely. But neither of these truths negates the fact that I have the right to receive — and my pastor has an obligation to give me — Communion.
I for my part would love to be able to dance my way up the aisle on Sunday, amazed at my Father's love and overjoyed that he has invited me to receive his beloved Son in such an intimate way. If some want to shuffle up there, hat in hand like a beggar hoping for just a small morsel from a strict and stingy God, I suppose that this, too, is their right. Just don't tell me that I should be equally glum.
MARK JAMESON, Fruit Cove, Florida
The Voting Faithful
Regarding “Faith in the Spotlight” (April 25-May 1):
It's incredible, but true, that states with the largest Catholic populations also send the highest number of pro-abortion, anti-family politicians to Washington, D.C. Hard to believe? Check the rosters of senators and representatives from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California. Do Catholic voters knowingly aid and abet politicians who support policies and programs condemned by our Church? I think not.
It's time to end the deafening silence coming from our parish pulpits. Our clergy need to dust off the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Gospel of Life, those marvelous teaching instruments. Laypersons don't need anyone to tell us how to vote. But if we're ever going to build a culture of life in this country, our people need desperately to know exactly what the Church has to say about the great moral issues of our time. That teaching can only come from the clergy.
JOSEPH COSTA, Murrieta, California
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Cookie Conundrum DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Regarding “A Cookie Boycott and a Bishop's Ban” (May 9-15):
I am a Girl Scout leader in my community and (I hope) a faithful Catholic. When I first read about the Stop Planned Parenthood initiative concerning Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood, I was extremely worried. Living in Massachusetts, I am not inclined to give any institution the benefit of the doubt when it comes to association with so-called “pro-choice” organizations. I e-mailed my council, identified myself as a Girl Scout leader and inquired about the connection with Planned Parenthood. Within an hour, I got a call and an e-mail from my council.
The initial (telephone) response was to state emphatically that Patriot's Trail does not have any official relationship with Planned Parenthood. The second (e-mail) response was more nuanced — although Patriot's Trail does not currently sponsor any programs with Planned Parenthood, they will not categorically rule out the possibility of such programs in the future. I conveyed this information to STOPP, which decided to list this council as cooperating with Planned Parenthood.
From this experience I learned two bits of information. First, the Girl Scouts are aware of and concerned about the controversy regarding their involvement with Planned Parenthood. This is a positive result of STOPP's actions. Second, STOPP is insufficiently nuanced in its approach to this problem. There is a world of difference between a council that “refuses to rule out” the possibility of a future program (which may never materialize) and a council that is actively sponsoring such a program right now or has done so in the very recent past.
I would caution your readers against making any assumptions about their councils from the STOPP website. The STOPP initiative is well worthwhile, both because it puts pressure on the Girl Scouts nationwide and because it brings the issue to the attention of Catholic Scouts and leaders. However, it is important to distinguish between councils that actively pursue this immoral association and those that do not do so.
I would suggest that it is easier for Catholic Scouts and leaders to bring pressure to bear on councils that are not already actively involved in these associations and to bring pressure to bear (ultimately) on the national organization in this way. It does make a difference whether an immoral aim is actively being pursued in a given location or just being considered as a possibility.
KARIN V. MORIN, Needham, Massachusetts
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Opinion -------- TITLE: Honesty Is Necessary for True Compassion DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Although Catholics are accused of everything from fearing homosexuals to hating them, the ironic truth is that Catholics alone can be said to have true compassion for those attracted to people of the same sex.
To grasp this, one must understand the origin and the fruits of homosexuality.
While scientific studies have failed to prove homosexuality to be genetic or inborn, practical experience shows the true origin of the majority of cases of homosexuality: a dysfunctional relationship of a child with one or both of his parents.
For example, a male child with a distant or abusive father or a young boy with a mother who foolishly dresses her son in frilly girls clothes may well develop an attraction for other males because his sexual identity has been confused during his vulnerable, formative years.
Children learn the different roles of men and women by watching their parents, and when their relationship with their parents is dysfunctional, or when the parents' sexual identity is not modeled properly, the child's own sexual self-identity suffers.
This is hardly the basis of a happy, well-adjusted adulthood! Although homosexuals have dubbed themselves “gay,” there was never a more inapt misnomer. Statistics bear this out: Homosexuals have been found to demonstrate a disproportionately high rate of depression and suicide, not to mention a disproportionately high rate of abusing children.
Christ said, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). Surely we can infer a great deal about homosexuality both from its origins and from its fruits.
So, then, how does the Church deal compassionately with homosexuals? By being the only institution in the modern world to recognize homosexuality as a disorder and by helping homosexuals to deal with, and even overcome, this affliction.
After all, no progress can be made, no solution can be found, until one recognizes there is a problem to be solved. Supposed “friends” of homosexuality do incalculable damage to homosexuals by glorifying their unfortunate condition, persuading them they have no disorder and thus forever closing the door on any hope to discovering the key to their unhappiness.
The Catholic Church avoids this type of false charity. Refusing to hate the sinner but only the sin, the Church insists that true charity be extended toward those burdened with same-sex attraction; the Catechism of the Catholic Church urges that men and women with homosexual tendencies “be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity” (No. 2357).
Further, the Church calls homosexuals and heterosexuals alike to the exercise of chastity, which entails reserving sexual union to marriage between a man and a woman who are open to new life. The Church offers real, concrete assistance to the homosexual in the sacraments of confession and holy Communion, through which flow the grace to persevere in this difficult virtue of chastity.
More recently, other means of assistance have blossomed as well, particularly in the group Courage, founded by Father John Harvey to help men and women with same-sex attraction live chaste lives. Some homosexuals who have participated in Courage have even progressed so far as to develop a heterosexual orientation and are now happily married.
Lastly, the Church offers real hope to the homosexual: In revealing the mental and physical anguish of Christ's passion and the unexpected joy of his resurrection, the Church provides the hope of eternal bliss to all those struggling with chastity or any other virtue in this vale of tears.
What a contrast to the typical media response to homosexuality! Today's “experts” proclaim from the rooftops the supposed glories of the homosexual lifestyle, thereby condemning homosexuals to an unnatural and unhappy way of life, all in the name of friendship.
It is as if those professing to assist people afflicted with alcoholism or eating disorders were to glorify these conditions as perfectly natural and good, and lobby for special laws protecting the rights of citizens to practice alcoholism or bulimia. Rather than helping unfortunate people out of a pit, these “friends” dig the hole even deeper.
Thus we see that these experts were never the friends of homosexuals; rather, they act as their prison guards, jealously watching to ensure that none escape their joyless and fruitless lifestyle.
From all this we can see that the Church, in urging us to oppose laws enacting homosexual “marriages” and same-sex civil unions, acts not from bigotry but from a motive of true compassion and love for men and women afflicted with homosexual tendencies.
Let us imitate her wisdom and charity by praying unceasingly for the spiritual and psychological healing of these, our unfortunate brothers and sisters in Christ.
Agnes M. Penny is the author of Your Labor of Love: A Spiritual Companion for Expectant Mothers, published by TAN Books.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Agnes M. Penny ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Christianity Tomorrow DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Philip Jenkins is a distinguished professor at Penn State University and perhaps the foremost historian of religious trends today. With one book after another, he has treated with objectivity and unique insights topics as varied as pedophilia and priests, biblical scholarship, child pornography and terrorism.
Although he is a historian, his expertise in the use of statistics also gives him credentials as a sociologist. Consequently, the media often call on him for commentary on controversial subjects.
In the last several years Jenkins has published two notable books, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice, in 2003, and The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, in 2002, both from Oxford University Press.
In the second book he tackles the most intriguing subject of all: Where is Christianity headed in the next 50 years?
He speaks in demographic and geographical terms, although he most certainly takes into account the question of what brand of Christianity will grow. He uses the terms liberal and conservative rather than orthodox and heterodox, but the meaning is clear for the discerning reader. Jenkins, himself a former Catholic turned Episcopalian, does not signal his current religious posture but maintains a cool objectivity as the historian he is. The book won several mentions as one of the top religious books of the year.
Jenkins tells us: “We are currently living through one of the transforming moments in the history of religion worldwide. Over the past five centuries or so, the story of Christianity has been inextricably bound up with that of Europe and European-derived civilizations overseas, above all in North America. …
“[T]he stereotype holds that Christians are un-black, un-poor and un-young. If that is true, then the growing secularization of the West can only mean that Christianity is in its dying days. Globally, the faith of the future must be Islam. Over the past century, however, the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward, to Africa, Asia and Latin America.”
It astonishes how few serious Christians connect their present efforts of evangelization in terms of where they would like the faith to be in the future. Many in the West simply bemoan the sad decline of religious Catholic practice and fight a rear guard action to salvage what is left of Christian culture in their own countries or continents.
Other faithful living in what are referred to euphemistically as “developing countries” are simply content, and rightfully so, to survive the economic and societal misery in which they live and look forward more to the rewards in the next life rather than worrying about Christian growth or impact in the next several decades. Indeed, in Asia, Africa or Latin America, many are literally suffering or dying for their Christian beliefs while many in the decadent West are lightly throwing away centuries of their Christian heritage.
Jenkins goes into great detail explaining that Christianity of the Southern Hemisphere is above all traditional, whether it is of the Catholic or Protestant variety.
He also points out the existence of hundreds of millions of Pentecostal Christians and independent churches, of whom he says, ”These new churches preach deep personal faith and communal orthodoxy, mysticism and Puritanism, all founded on clear scriptural authority. …”
To these, he writes, “prophecy is an everyday reality, while faith healing, exorcism and dream-visions are all basic components of religious sensibility. … According to current projections, the numbers of Pentecostal believers should surpass the 1 billion mark before 2050.”
Both of these developments have enormous consequences for where the Catholic Church places its resources for evangelization in the decades ahead, in terms of new dioceses, utilization of priests and religious, and the new ecclesial movements and institutions. Surely it is not a question of abandoning the declining continents of Europe and North America. They can recover even though the demographics argue against it, particularly in Europe.
The West still maintains great economic and cultural power in the new world of globalization. In the waning years of the awe-inspiring pontificate of Pope John Paul II, we can see what enormous challenges will face his immediate successors, who well may come from the ranks of African or South American cardinals, in just keeping pace with the growing number of “Southern” Christians.
Every Christian with apostolic desires and historical insight who rejoices that indeed the Gospel is being preached even to the ends of the earth should read The Next Christendom. At the same time, every Catholic longs for unity. When primitive Christianity is so alive, particularly in Africa, it is time for the hierarchical and sacramental Church to preach the truth enthusiastically to those newly evangelized Pentecostals and independent churches.
In Central and South America, with centuries of Catholic culture and tradition, the solution is re-evangelization to win back the millions who have fallen into Protestant sects, due, above all, to lack of catechesis and native clergy. According to Jenkins, Christianity will continue to be the largest world religion for decades to come with explosive growth, but we must ask ourselves, will it be Catholic? The answer will come from the Holy Spirit and from those who collaborate with him. Who knows, perhaps in a century or two or less, we will be sending missionaries to New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Moscow, or even to Rome!
'the Longest Prejudice'
In The New Anti-Catholicism, Jenkins deals with anti-Catholicism, perhaps the longest prejudice in the history of the United States, particularly topical at this moment when a professed Catholic is running for president while holding views antithetical to Catholic moral teachings on issues regarding marriage, family and life while his opponent, an evangelical Christian, holds to Catholic beliefs in these same areas. Jenkins starts off his book with the famous quote of a social critic of several decades ago, Peter Vierick, who said, “Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals.”
Jenkins gives a short history of anti-Catholicism in the United States. He tells of the 19th-century bigotry stemming from the overwhelmingly Protestant culture that was aimed at the millions of emigrant Catholics who came from Ireland, Italy and southern Germany.
This attitude stemmed from the prejudices dating from the Protestant Reformation and was transmitted to the Unites States by earlier migrations of dissenting English Protestants and most notably the Scotch-Irish, who were Calvinists. They perpetuated the famous “black legends,” such as the Crusades, the Inquisition and the persecution of Jews, brought up to date in recent days with the controversy regarding Pope Pius XII's role in the Holocaust.
Rarely, however, did these prejudices result in violence; rather, they were reflected in general Protestant-oriented teaching in public schools and in a lack of economic and political opportunity for new Catholic emigrants.
With the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency and the growing societal power of lay Catholics in all sectors of society, it was thought that some of these prejudices were about to disappear. However, as Jenkins points out, the leading anti-Catholics today in the United States are “anti-Catholic Catholics,” or so-called liberal Catholics who have internalized the world's contempt.
The reaction to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ took place after the publication of the Jenkins book but surely would merit a chapter in a second edition. Ironically, those who used to be the most suspicious and even bigoted, the evangelical Christians, are gradually becoming faithful Catholics' best allies in the cultural wars taking place in the United States.
Now, anti-Catholicism will never disappear, whether in the United States or elsewhere. After all, the faith, like the cross, is a sign of contradiction. The New Anti-Catholicism does an excellent job, however, in showing its roots, history and current state in the United States.
Jenkins and sociologist Rodney Stark of Baylor University (see Aceprensa reviews) are two preeminent American researchers on religious themes and are widely recognized as such by the American media.
They show in their many books the beneficial effects of orthodox Christianity on civilization and culture through the centuries while patiently analyzing the many misunderstandings, myths and plain lies its enemies allege against it.
The Church continues to grow, and as such, it will always be subject to attack by those who hate it. It is encouraging to have two such renowned researcher scholars make the case scientifically for the great good the Church has done and continues to do for the human race.
Father C. John McCloskey writes from London, where he is on sabbatical from the Catholic Information Center in Washington D.C.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Father C. John McCloskey ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Pope and President: Parallels in Purpose DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:From September 1979 to November 1984, Pope John Paul II gave 129 lectures that are known collectively as the theology of the body.
The Holy Father's inspiration for delivering this unified series of live presentations was to give form and substance to what Pope Paul VI referred to as the “total vision of man.”
On Nov. 28, 2001, President Bush created the President's Council on Bio-ethics and named Dr. Leon Kass its chairman. At the council's initial meeting on Jan. 17, 2002, the president spoke of the need to explore how medicine and science interface with the dignity of life and that the ultimate source of life is the Creator.
Kass spoke of his vision as chairman by referring to “the need to provide an adequate moral and ethical lens through which to view particular developments in their scope and depth.”
This “ethical lens” for both the Pope and the president is the nature of the human being. The Holy Father's theology of the body is seen through an anthropological realism that firmly establishes his subject in reality.
That the president's council has made a similar effort is evident from its December publication, Being Human: Readings from the President's Council on Bioethics. Both the Pope and the council are dedicated to a true humanism that will serve as a realistic and universally acceptable basis for dealing with contemporary moral issues. The popularity of these two efforts is clear.
With regard to the Pope's theology of the body, innumerable conferences, seminars, classes, study groups and home discussions have been organized throughout the world. The Theology of the Body International Alliance has served as a successful facilitator for such events. On the other hand, the unforeseen demand for Being Human cleaned off the government shelves within a few months. The book is currently unavailable, though interested purchasers may add their name to the waiting list by e-mailing info@bioethics.gov.
Catholics will be pleased to note that President Bush has named to the 18-member council such Catholic stalwarts as Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard University, Robert George of Princeton University and Alfonso Gomez-Lobo of Georgetown University.
In addition to ascertaining a true understanding of human nature, the Pope and the president's council have a number of other basic interests in common. Those with only a passing acquaintance with the Pope's theology of the body know it affirms three fundamental realities: 1) that man is a bodified being; 2) the essential dignity of the human person; and 3) that human beings, though inevitably imperfect, strive to be better.
It is most encouraging, in reading through Being Human (628 pages long), to see how these points are affirmed and developed. Editor Kass begins his introduction to Chapter 4, “Are We Bodies?” with the following words: “We begin in this chapter by acknowledging that we have both corporeal and non-corporeal aspects. We are embodied spirits and inspirited bodies, (or, if you will, embodied minds and minded bodies).”
Expressing his congeniality to those whose concept of true humanism includes a relationship with the Creator, Kass opens the final chapter, “Human Dignity,” with these words: “The religious among us may locate the origin of our special dignity in our God-given origin and Godlike being.” Included among the readings in this chapter is the Book of Genesis.
In his introduction to the first chapter, “The Search for Perfection,” Kass states: “Seemingly from the beginning, human beings have been alive to the many ways in which what we have been given falls short of what we can envision and what we desire. We are human but can imagine gods. We die but can imagine immortality.”
Pope John Paul II begins his theology of the body by citing Matthew 19:3, when Christ says to the Phari-sees, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female?”
In citing this passage, the Holy Father inaugurates his theology of the body with an integration of the Old and New Testaments as well as an integration of morality and nature. He goes on to describe the loss of innocence in Adam and Eve, their fall from grace and their need for redemption. Kass is as unabashedly Jewish as the Holy Father is unabashedly Catholic.
But this Jewish-Catholic synthesis is also an essential part of the Pope's theology of the body.
Being Human and the Pope's theology of the body have much in common and affirm man's nature, his bodily reality, his dignity, his imperfection and his need for something greater. The theology of the body is, of course, more unified and comprehensive than Being Human. Nonetheless, it is heartening to see that Being Human and the president's council have such evident affinities with the theology of the body.
It is also most encouraging to observe a much-welcomed narrowing of the gap between the Catholic and the secular visions of what it means to be human. Together, these two works offer a measure of hope for international and interdisciplinary unity in the areas of both intellectual thought and its application to contemporary moral issues.
Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ontario, and adjunct professor of Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Donald DeMarco ----- KEYWORDS: Commentary -------- TITLE: Montana Mysteries DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:The new mysteries of the rosary introduced by Pope John Paul II in 2002 have deeply impacted our family's prayer life. We love contemplating the Lord's baptism, miracleworking at the Cana wedding, proclamation of the Kingdom, institution of the Eucharist and transfiguration.
But, even with the addition of the luminous mysteries, we must not have been satisfied that all of the bases had been covered. For, in recent months, we've developed a new set of mysteries all our own. Meet the Drake family's “Montana mysteries.”
See, whenever our five children pile into our trusty Pontiac Montana for a drive of half an hour or longer, Mary quickly dispatches a batch of white and blue rosary beads. You know — the plastic, kid-proof models that can't be torn apart by an angry, fit-throwing toddler.
Mary usually leads the prayers while Tim does the driving. We pray for a potpourri of intentions — a safe trip, sick family members, a little land we can call our own, the Church, the Holy Father and his intentions.
Perhaps you're familiar with the practice of adding a phrase after each Hail Mary to help you reflect on the corresponding mystery. For example, during the sorrowful mysteries, you might say, “and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, who died for us on Calvary,” when contemplating the Crucifixion.
Well, we too add our own extra phrases. What they lack in spirituality, they make up for in spontaneity and humanity. Or so we hope.
“Blessed art thou amongst women — Here Elias, give him an animal cracker — and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” This one works well when our 19-month-old son starts to cry after throwing every book on the floor that his older brother has employed to pacify him.
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you — Ssshhh Elena, we can't hear.” Perfect for those moments when our 3-year-old begins belting out her favorite song.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God — Keep your hands to yourself, Elias — pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Ah, ah, ah, get it! Get it!” (Too late. There go the entire contents of a sippy cup into someone's lap.)
In recent months, the children themselves have asked to lead particular mysteries, thus launching new and even more interesting variations on the theme.
“Hail Mary — I can't hear you, Elias — full of grace, the Lord is with you.” This one's usually heard when our eldest son is mumbling the lead prayers so softly that the rest of us can't figure out when our part comes in.
And then there are the steady currents flowing beneath all our prayerful excursions. Trying to get our 6-year-old twins to project their voices from the far-back seat, for example. Needless to say, these efforts are only necessary when prayers are being said. It's funny how this problem resolves itself at all other times.
Also in this vein are the predictable Where Are We's and Are We There Yets that can crop up at any moment.
The Drake family's Montana mysteries certainly are not the most deeply contemplative set of mysteries we've ever prayed. Sure, little Claire's recent “Hail Mary, full of kids,” offered with great piety, had a certain unexpected insight worth thinking about. But I don't expect to see a devotional book coming out of our improvisations, much less an apostolic letter.
Still, I'm confident that Our Lady is smiling down on us from her place in heaven. After all, when my chest isn't tightening along with my grip on the wheel (big decibels in a small space will do that to a driver), smiling is exactly what I find myself doing.
Tim Drake is the Register's staff writer.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Tim Drake ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: The Vatican in the Maritimes DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:At the world's only museum devoted to the popes of the Catholic Church — the Musée des Papes in the Canadian maritime province of New Brunswick — there is a very special statue standing in the back garden.
A magnificent, 8-foot depiction of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the work was originally intended to stand atop the steeple of a local parish church. It was found to be too heavy for that perch and erected here in 2002 as a shrine.
It's a fitting setting since Mary, under that title, is patron saint of the Acadian French in Canada's Maritime Provinces — and the museum is located in the heart of Acadia in northeast New Brunswick, bordering Chaleur Bay. These are the people from whom Louisiana's Cajuns are descended.
In 1534 Jacques Cartier named the waters for their warmth (chaleurs meaning warmth). French-speaking Acadians were the area's first settlers. After 25 years of cruel exile following the English conquest of French Canada, many returned in 1780 from France, Louisiana and other areas to which they had been dispersed. Much of their land had been taken over by English colonists and their property given away to strangers. Life for the former exiles was harsh.
Edmond Landry, the museum's founder, is an Acadian businessman, entrepreneur and many-times mayor. The basement of his house is covered floor to ceiling with awards testifying to his dedication to faith and community. He uses private capital, not government funding, for his projects.
The oldest in a family of 10 children, Landry was 20 years old when his father died. “I had to assume responsibility for ensuring the welfare of my mother, brothers and sisters. This is why I never married,” he told me. “First my father died, then my brother who had three children also died and I wanted to help take care of them.”
Asked why he decided to build a museum devoted to papal history, Landry said: “Throughout our history, the Roman Catholic faith of our forefathers was very important, for cultural as well as spiritual reasons. During the long years of the dispersal and the subsequent return of French Acadians, it was the Roman Catholic Church, through its priests and sisters, that kept our culture, language and religious beliefs alive. Otherwise we'd have been assimilated into the general population and lost our identity.”
What better way, he decided, than to design a professional and reverent presentation of Church history since the time of the first pope, St. Peter?
Around Every Corner
This gem of a building was completed in 1985. It's well lit and multi-storied, with a surprise around every corner. The design incorporates crisp, clean lines and tasteful accoutrements, including enormous picture windows overlooking the bay.
One of the first displays I came to was a 1/60 scale model of St. Peter's Basilica and Square in Rome. It measures 21 by 11 feet. The soft, yellow-beige tone of the structure warms the room, whose walls are decorated in a rich red tapestry.
“This is by far the favorite exhibit of those who come to the museum,” Landry said. “Most people who've never been to the Vatican are amazed at the immense size of St. Peter's Square.”
From there I moved into a gallery containing bright paintings of all 264 popes from St. Peter to John Paul II. Here also is a model wearing a reproduction of the Swiss Guard uniform.
The popes come alive when you move on to the small theater. Here a full-length video (produced in French as well as English) tells the story of the papacy, reminding us that the office is the oldest institution in the world.
The film, shown in a comfortable screening room, opens with these dramatic words: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The commentary and images provide a riveting history lesson showing the part both Church and popes played in the development of Western civilization. It's a fair and balanced look at the popes and the Church through the centuries. That is to say, it does not shy away from dealing with the fact that there have been some dark moments.
Watching it, I was struck with how human the Church is, with its fair share of sinners even among St. Peter's successors. Without Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, it surely would have never survived.
By the same token, I was amazed at the number of Catholic popes who've been canonized. And I was surprised to learn of the number of short-lived pontificates.
Marvels of Memorabilia
Another section of the museum is devoted to the members of the many religious orders that have worked in Acadia. They're represented by life-size mannequins dressed in their respective habits.
Last year a special exhibit featured the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who were celebrating their 100th anniversary. For me the display evoked memories of school days long past. I thought of the sisters who would sweep through classrooms in their long black habits, the only sound the clicking of rosary beads hanging from their waists.
There's a lot of memorabilia in this section, with photos of school and related activities through the years. There's also an extensive display of paintings of Acadian churches, vestments and chalices used in Acadian churches, along with models of Church architecture both in Acadian New Brunswick and around the world. For those interested in the Acadian story and architecture, this is a must-see part of the museum.
Outside the museum stands the Fountain of Peace sculpture, symbolizing the international peace the Church continually prays for. Many distinguished visitors over the years, such as the Malachite Patriarch Maximos V from Lebanon, the former apostolic delegate to Canada and Quebec Cardinal-Vatican administrator Edouard Gagnon, have prayed for peace in this garden.
Today Edmond Landry is 73 years old and, although he has had heart trouble in the last few years, his dedication to the museum — and all it represents to Catholics and the Church — is stronger than ever.
Thanks to his vision, for those interested in St. Peter and his successors, Grand Anse, New Brunswick, just might be the next best thing to Vatican City.
Lorraine Williams writes from Markham, Ontario.
----- EXCERPT: Popes' Museum, Grande-Anse, New Brunswick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Lorraine Williams ----- KEYWORDS: Travel -------- TITLE: Take Five DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:SHREK 2 (Dream-Works) Director: Andrew Adamson et al. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz. (PG)
Take One: Scottish-burred ogre Shrek, his Matrix-kickboxing lady-love Princess Fiona and fast-talking, wisecracking Donkey are back for another foray into adolescent humor and fairy-tale deconstruction, aided by a very funny Antonio Banderas as legendary ogre-killer Puss in Boots and John Cleese and Julie Andrews as Fiona's royal parents.
Take Two: Apparently cross dressing is the new flatulence humor: Where the first Shrek had more breaking wind than any movie since Murphy's Nutty Professor, Shrek 2 gives us a Pinocchio who likes wearing women's underwear, a deep-voiced bartender in evil-step-sister drag and a wisecrack about the big bad wolf in Grandma's nightie being “gender-confused.”
Final Take: The off-color humor is mitigated somewhat by certain redemptive elements, including an initially unsympathetic father figure who eventually makes a touching sacrifice for a beloved family member — but parents need to learn once and for all that “animated” doesn't equal “family film.”
TROY (Warner Bros) Director: Wolfgang Pe tersen. Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom. (R)
Take One: Working from one of the greatest stories of Western civilization never to have been made into a good film, Petersen and company deliver a Trojan War movie for the Gladiator generation, with epic-scaled computer-assisted battle sequences, brutal battlefield violence and behind-the-scenes political machinations.
Take Two: Classical purists might balk at a Trojan War movie that leaves out the Greek gods (though, to be fair, Shakespeare did the same thing in Troilus and Cressida). More problematic is the film's overall attitude toward religion: Anyone who tries to know or follow the will of the gods is deemed foolish, and impious Achilles not only mocks the gods and their service, but he also seduces a consecrated virgin of Apollo so easily that it seems she was given vows only to break them.
Final Take: As an action-adventure interpretation of the Trojan War, Troy delivers, but gratuitous and excessive bedroom scenes are the film's Achilles' heel.
MEAN GIRLS (Paramount) Director: Mark S. Waters. Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan. (PG-13)
Take One: Do we ever really get over the trauma of attending high school? Screenwriter Tina Fey sets out to expose the cruelty, peer pressure and moral degeneracy that are a nearly universal rite of passage in our society. Heroine Lindsay Lohan is a near exception, having been home schooled till age 16, thus avoiding the usual socialization in barbarity.
Take Two: Lest anyone draw obvious positive inferences about home schooling, the film opens with a gratuitously mean stereotype of home schoolers as dysfunctional geeks or fundamentalist bigots. Filmmakers, heal thyselves! The film likewise satirizes the mixed messages of a sex-ed program that says “Don't do it” and then hands out free condoms — yet reinforces the assumption that everyone's doing it and that this is normal.
Final Take: Much objectionable language, crude sexual content and humor, and decidedly mixed messages about judging by appearances and treating people kindly make Mean Girls an unpleasant experience that fails at whatever redemptive message it was aiming for.
VAN HELSING (Universal) Director: Stephen Sommers. Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh. (PG-13)
Take One: In the tradition of Brendan Frasier's The Mummy, Universal Studios (home of the original monster movies) robs the graves of its remaining franchises for one big eye-candy-laden version of Frankenstein Meets Dracula Meets the Wolfman. Vampire hunter Van Helsing gets an action-hero image update by X-Men star Hugh Jackman.
Take Two: In the best monster-movie tradition, when it comes to fighting evil, the Catholic faith has always had the goods. That tradition continues in Van Helsing, which depicts the Vatican as the worldwide center of global monster-fighting efforts. Unfortunately, artistically the film falls well short of the best monster-movie tradition, with intense action-and-effects sequences leaving little room for humanity and pathos. Content issues include stylized partial monster nudity and implied violation of clerical obligations.
Final Take: Too intense and cheesy for some, Van Helsing is nevertheless enjoyable action-movie nonsense with a “Catholicism = good” subtext an added plus.
SUPER SIZE ME (Roadside/Goldwyn) Director: Morgan Spurlock. (NR)
Take One: Part documentary, part stunt, Super Size Me manages to be both entertaining and horrifying as it dramatizes the effects of eating too much fast food. Spurlock's guinea pig is himself as he embarks on a month-long McDonald's binge, with such a startling toll on his health that even doctors are stunned.
Take Two: No matter how health-conscious you are, Super Size Me is guaranteed to leave you with new resolve to eat better and exercise more. Besides McDonald's, targets include sugar-laden school lunches and in-school vending machines. Content issues include a shot of Spurlock getting violently sick and interview footage of Spurlock's live-in girlfriend discussing the effects of his experiment on their sex life.
Final Take: With the above caveats in mind, Super Size Me is a positive appeal for personal responsibility over the culture of blame.
Steven D. Greydanus, editor and chief critic of Decentfilms.com, writes from Bloomfield, New Jersey.
----- EXCERPT: A Register's-eye view of five current box-office leaders ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Spotlight: The Theater and the Supermarket DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Part of Morgan Spurlock's beef with McDonald's in his anti-fast-food documentary Super Size Me is that even with health experts warning about the increasing problem of obesity among the youngest children, McDonald's deliberately targets children with on-site playgrounds, “Happy Meals,” toy collectibles and its instantly recognizable clown mascot.
On a similar note, consider the marketing of non-kid-friendly films such as Shrek 2 to children. As a critic, I visit the theater many more times a year than I ever set foot in a supermarket, so I'm not the most marketing-savvy individual when it comes to which films are being pushed on the lunch-box set. Still, I have it on good authority that, with the release of Shrek 2, supermarket aisles are bursting with Shrek cereal, fruit snacks, yogurt, cookies, comic books, plush toys and so on.
As one who's been beating the “cartoons aren't necessarily for children” drum for years, I find this disheartening, not to say irresponsible. No kid young enough to eat movie-character cookies needs to see a film that announces that Pinocchio is wearing a ladies thong.
Shrek 2 is far from a perfect movie, but it's a perfect example of a movie that shouldn't be inappropriately targeted for kids. Not everyone in Hollywood is evil. But I bet a disproportionate number of those who are work in marketing.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly Video Picks DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:The Son [Le Fils] (2002)
Actions, not words or feelings, are at the center of The Son, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ' s challenging, nearly religious parable of h u m a n i t y, fallenness and grace.
The Dardenne brothers allow Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a tightly wound, middle-aged carpenter who works at a youth center, to define himself through actions. Olivier's inner life, his motives and emotions, aren't revealed to us, and he doesn't seem preoccupied with them himself. But a crisis arises when a boy arrives at the center to whom he has a secret connection, and circumstances cause Olivier to take stock of his life and what he has lost. And he makes a radical choice: He will teach this boy carpentry.
Why? Why does he do it, and what does it matter? With documentary-like restraint and immediacy, the Dardenne brothers explore but don't explain: What matters is what he does and what happens. The Dardennes aren't interested in crafting an entertaining film, but what they present is far more valuable.
Content advisory: A few objectionable phrases; references to remarriage after divorce and extramarital pregnancy. In French with subtitles.
Dersu Uzala (1975)
Vladimir Arseniev was an early 20th-century explorer who mapped much of the krai territory of the Russian Far East and studied its indigenous peoples. Based on his journals, Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala tells the story of an unusual friendship between Arseniev and the nomadic tribal hunter for whom the film is named. Dersu's unsophisticated manner and outlook make him an object of fun from Arseniev's men, but his endless resourcefulness and rough-hewn wisdom eventually win the civilized men's respect.
To modern audiences, Dersu seems part Yoda, part Davy Crockett, with his blend of pre-Christian spirituality and shrewd woodcraft. To Arseniev, he embodies something civilized men have lost, something that can no longer survive in the world Arseniev is helping to build. Neither man really understands the other — which is precisely what makes their friendship so special.
One of the 15 films on the Vatican film list in the Values category.
Content advisory: Animist-type modes of expression. In Russian with subtitles.
Citizen Kane (1941)
What can there possibly be to say about Citizen Kane that hasn't already been said? Regularly voted the greatest film ever made, its very title has become a superlative — ”the Citizen Kane of its genre” is about as lavish an expression of praise as any film might hope to achieve. But Orson Welles's legendary masterpiece isn't “the Citizen Kane” of any particular subset of cinema (fictional biopics, say, or proto-noir). It's just Citizen Kane.
What makes Kane worthy of such acclaim? There's no simple answer, for the film's greatness is not simple but multifaceted. Some films are honored for one overriding reason — some special achievement in cinematic technique, memorable character drama or great performances, some profound theme. Kane has all this and more. With its circular narrative, cinematic use of deep focus and deep shadows, and its inventive camerawork, Kane is bravura, sophisticated moviemaking that asks anew the 2,000-year-old question, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”
One of the 15 films on the Vatican film list in the Art category.
Content advisory: Implied adultery; divorce and remarriage.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Steven D. Greydanus ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Weekly TV Picks DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:All times Eastern
SUNDAY, MAY 30
National Memorial Day Concert
PBS, 8 p.m., live
For next week's 60th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of France on Jun. 6, 1944, the National Symphony Orchestra plays patriotic themes and guest stars perform dramatic readings against a backdrop of documentary film footage.
SUNDAY, MAY 30
The World War II Memorial: A Testament to Freedom
PBS, 9:30 p.m.
This special about the new memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., takes us to the design studios, quarries and foundries involved. It also lets us hear the reminiscences of prominent World War II combat vets, including actor James Arness, pilot Chuck Yeager, Sen. Daniel Inouye, Bob Dole and George McGovern.
MONDAYS
The Creative Life
PBS, 5 p.m.
Each 30-minute segment in this new 13-part series offers tips on fun projects around home, inside and out. Tonight's topic is “Garden Delights.”
JUNE, VARIOUS DATES
Dr. Gary Small's Memory Bible
PBS, check local listings
In this special, Dr. Small, director of the UCLA Memory Clinic and the UCLA Center on Aging, explains how to better understand our brains and take care of them. He demonstrates a “brain fitness” program.
TUESDAYS
The Four Points
Familyland TV, 9:30 a.m.
Father Kevin Barrett, chaplain of the Catholic Familyland Apostolate, explains the four main points of Pope John Paul II's Marian spirituality.
WEDNESDAYS
The Rosary for Children
EWTN, 4 p.m.
Starting Jun. 2, this series presents each of the Mysteries of the Rosary in animation.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2
D-Day: Down to Earth: Return of the 507th
PBS, 8 p.m.
In 2002, D-Day veterans of the 507th Parachute Regiment held a reunion in Normandy to salute their fallen comrades in arms and the French people who aided their unit.
THURSDAY, JUNE 3
Sara's Secrets
Food Network, 4:30 p.m.
Answering viewers’ requests, chef Sara Moulton shows us how to make chicken tortilla soup, Sloppy Joes and cheesecake.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5
The Belmont Stakes
NBC, 5:30 p.m., live
After undefeated Smarty Jones won this year's Kentucky Derby, he won the Preakness, and by a record 11-1/2 lengths. Can he complete the third leg of the Triple Crown, a prize no horse has won since Affirmed in 1978? If he does, his owners win a $5 million bonus from Visa.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Daniel J. Engler ----- KEYWORDS: Arts -------- TITLE: Campus Watch DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Campion's First …
CAMPION COLLEGE, May 12 — Campion College of San Francisco has graduated its first class.
In May 15 ceremonies, 14 students received associate of arts degrees in Catholic humanities from the college, which was founded in 2002 by former faculty and supporters of the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco. The institute had been broken up by Jesuit Father Steven Privett, USF's president, and placed under the authority of the university's theology department.
This fall, according to a Cam-pion statement, Campion graduates will matriculate at such schools as Ave Maria University in Florida, Benedictine College in Kansas and the Josephinum Seminary in Ohio.
… Franciscan's Largest
FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY, May 8 — Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, has graduated the largest class in its history.
On May 8, some 434 undergraduates and 127 graduates received their diplomas in more than 30 undergraduate disciplines and among the seven graduate-level programs, a press release from the university reported.
Jim Towey, director of the White House Office for Faith-Based Initiatives, spoke to graduate students, telling them to never stop learning. “Education will cease,” he said, “with the last breath you take before you meet God.”
Author George Weigel addressed undergraduate students, urging them to “think of your life as a vocation.”
Facing Competition
For most of its 128-year-history, Belmont Abbey College has been the only Catholic college between Virginia and Florida, the paper noted. While the college had traditionally recruited heavily in the Northeast, where more Catholics are located, the increasing numbers of Catholics in the South led it to change its marketing strategy.
The college was founded by Benedictine monks in 1876.
New DePaul Leader
He replaces Father John Minogue, who announced his retirement in October after 10 years as the school's president.
Father Holtschneider, 42, faces the challenge of expanding the school's modest endowment, the paper noted. The school still relies on tuition for 80% of its operating budget.
The Vincentian priest holds a doctorate in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard. He is currently vice president and chief operating officer of Niagra University in New York.
College Vouchers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 10 — Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has signed the nation's first-ever college-voucher plan into law.
The law would give up to $2,400 per voucher to high-school students in need. Owens said the bill sends a message to high schoolers that college is not out of reach.
Students attending private schools — such as Regis University in Denver, which is Catholic — will receive $1,200 per voucher, the wire service reported. The money is allowed to go to religious schools as long as they are not “pervasively sectarian.”
The program is set to begin in fall 2005.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: Look Who's Coming to Commencement DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Here we go again. Another spring, another round of dubiously distinguished commencement speakers and honorees at Catholic colleges.
“It happens every year,” says Patrick J. Reilly, president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society, which annually lists the offending campuses on its website, cardinalnewmansociety.org. “We usually have about 20 speakers that we protest.”
Colleges and speakers on this year's list of 19 include, for example:
• The Dominican University of California in San Rafael, whose guest speaker May 15 was U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, an outspoken abortion-rights activist;
• Regis College in Weston, Mass., which on May 16 honored former U.S. surgeon-general David Satcher, who, serving under President Bill Clinton, opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion and oversaw the placement of ads promoting condom use; and
• The College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y., where on May 8 Libby Pataki, wife of pro-abortion N.Y. Gov. George Pataki and herself an abortion-rights advocate, spoke and was awarded an honorary degree.
• At Boston College Law School, graduates heard from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger May 24. Dellinger has been associated with NARAL Pro-Choice America and, under President Clinton, drafted five executive orders that nullified President George H.W. Bush's pro-life policies.
“It is certainly disappointing that Boston College has chosen a commencement speaker whose views so radically conflict with the Church's teaching,” says Ryan Connors, a Boston College undergraduate who has written for the Register. “Boston College cannot honor someone who stands so opposed to the faith of the Church and at the same time remain faithful to its Catholic identity and mission.”
This year, as in past years, most of the speakers and honorees espouse pro-abortion views — but some have additional credentials on their respective resumés.
For example, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who broke California state law by issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, was the University of San Francisco's commencement speaker May 22.
“Coming right after the Church has engaged in a major battle over the issue of gay marriage, cases like this strike me as a direct affront to the bishops,” says Reilly. “Most people throughout the country know Newsom only for that issue.”
Many Catholic parents use the Newman Society list as an indicator of which schools not to send their children to.
J. Fraser Field, executive officer of the Catholic Educator's Resource Center, an Internet resource library for Catholics at catholiceducation. org, finds the Newman Society list a “simple barometer of authenticity in Catholic institutions.”
“The list is a very simple way of exposing the frauds,” adds Field. “But it's more than that. The society is pointing out the hypocrisy, and holding people's feet to the fire, in order to call these colleges back to their Catholic identity, their integrity.”
In fact, all Catholic colleges are called to be faithful. The Vatican's 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, requires that “any official action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”
Says Field, “There is something fundamentally dishonest and hypocritical about an institution calling itself Catholic, but not — in even these simplest ways — being responsible to what that means.”
Besides publishing offending colleges online, the Newman Society contacts the presidents of colleges on the list and notifies the bishops who are local to those colleges.
“If a bishop privately or publicly expresses concern about a commencement speaker, the level of concern rises significantly,” explains Reilly. “These colleges are going to be much more concerned about a bishop expressing reservations. “
Reilly points to Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., Bishop John D'Arcy, who declined the offer of an honorary degree from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne when he learned that Dr. Nancy Snyderman, a TV journalist who holds pro-abortion views, was the scheduled commencement speaker. The school subsequently rescinded its invitation to Snyder-man.
Bishop D'arcy explained that he held the University of Saint Francis in high regard but felt compelled to act. “A bishop is bound to preach the truth, not only in words, but also by his actions,” he said in a statement released April 28. “The Church's position on unborn life is well known, and the Church's position is my position. It is my obligation to all the faithful and especially to the young graduates to make sure there is no confusion on this matter.”
This was just one of the more highly visible signs that the Cardinal Newman Society's watchfulness is making a difference, according to Reilly. “I think that the schools are much more attentive to these concerns now,” he says. “A few years ago, they didn't give it a second thought.”
Reilly adds that a number of colleges have begun privately contacting the society to inquire about prospective speakers and honor-ees — before the invitations go out. “They are clearly concerned about being embarrassed,” he says, not to mention mindful of dropping alumni donations and student applications.
Those are fine motivators to think “outside the box” of placing high-profile names ahead of strong Catholic voices when it comes time to plan commencement ceremonies at Catholic colleges. But, says Reilly: “We hope our list is also reaching their conscience.”
Mary Ann Sullivan writes from New Durham, New Hampshire.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Mary Ann Sullivan ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: A Leap Ahead to a Long Look Back DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:THE PRIVILEGED PLANET:
HOW OUR PLACE IN THE COSMOS
IS DESIGNED FOR DISCOVERY
by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay
Richards
Regnery, 2004
464 pages, $27.95
Available in bookstores
Here's a publishing event that stands to do nothing less than frame the thinking of an entire generation not only on science — but on theology as well.
For at least two centuries, scientists by and large have insisted that Earth is a dismally ordinary planet, an unintended byproduct of cosmic evolution spinning around an insignificant sun in one of the billions of galaxies peppering the cold, dark, indifferent universe. According to this view, Earth is (in the words of the late Carl Sagan) “a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.”
This approach has been dubbed the “Copernican Principle” after the famous Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Legend has it that he hurled us into insignificance by announcing in the 16th century that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the cosmos. His principle has become a kind of gospel for secularizing scientists like Sagan bent on deflating “our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe.”
Sagan did not live to see the advent of a revolution that may yet sweep away the Copernican Principle. For, as this revolutionary text by astronomer-physicist Guillermo Gonzalez and theologian-philosopher Jay Richards demonstrates, Earth is a privileged planet indeed. The deck has been stacked in its favor with a suspicious thoroughness in every imaginable detail.
Gonzalez and Richards show how Earth is privileged in two important and very surprising respects. First, the conditions that allow for complex life on our planet are so extraordinary that it may well be the only planet in the universe that could possibly support complex life. Second, our place in the cosmos is (as the subtitle says) “designed for discovery.” That is, Earth is eerily well equipped as a laboratory for the very human activity of science.
Did you know, for example, that Earth is the only place in our solar system where it is possible to view a perfect solar eclipse, “where the moon just covers the sun's bright photosphere”? Or that our ability to understand the chemical makeup of distant stars depended upon discoveries made during these rare and magnificent events? But having a total solar eclipse (where our moon exactly covers our sun) depends on the curious, near-perfect roundness of our moon, placed at just the right distance between the earth and the sun.
This is the same moon, by the way, that has just the right mass to stabilize our earth's tilt so that we don't have enormous, lethal climate changes.
This is only one of the hundreds of strange “coincidences” pointed out by Gonzalez and Richards. For them, it cannot be mere coincidence that the “same rare conditions that have sustained our existence also make possible a stunning array of discoveries about the universe.” What can we legitimately infer? “We have good reason to suspect that things have been intentionally arranged, even if this came about through the interaction of natural laws and initial conditions.” In short, not only the latest evidence in science, but the very fact that we have science at all “points to purpose and intelligent design in the cosmos.”
The implications of this well-backed assertion for theology are immense — and well worth considering for believers and skeptics alike.
Benjamin D. Wiker writes from Hopedale, Ohio.
----- EXCERPT: Weekly Book Pick ----- EXTENDED BODY: Benjamin D. Wiker ----- KEYWORDS: Education -------- TITLE: The Silence of the Managers DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Family Matters
I work for a company with an entrenched culture of minimal communication between management and staff. I suppose they believe paying us is all the communicating they need to do to tell us we're doing a good (or good enough) job. But we can never get too comfortable, because we're never sure where we stand in management's eyes. As a Catholic, should I “offer up” my job insecurity as a form of redemptive suffering, say something to make my concern known or just go looking for new work?
It sounds like you've been working hard with not much appreciation and you're getting resentful. Everyone's situation is unique, but in today's economy you shouldn't feel stuck with a job where you aren't appreciated.
Unless your resume reads like a travel itinerary, you generally want to be open — if not actively looking — for new opportunities. This applies even if you are happy. If we are continually forming ourselves, growing and expanding our skills, we will generally be doing some movement in our professional life.
You need not be miserable to look around. Sometimes people leave a job they're happy with simply because something better or closer to their vocation comes along. But if you are getting resentful, then you want to explore aggressively.
Every employer deserves our best effort, but we need constructive feedback and respectful communication in order to deliver. It's not only inconsiderate on your company's part, but also dangerous for you not to know what your boss thinks of your ideas and your performance.
In fact, the one person with whom you always want to be in a good working relationship is your boss. That relationship, more than any other, will generally have the biggest impact on your opinion of your company and your ability to grow. So you want to do everything in your power to improve the communication and get your boss's evaluation.
In your case, waiting for your boss to offer helpful feedback obviously hasn't worked. And you can't rely on the obligatory, annual performance evaluation. You must know what your boss thinks of your work on specific tasks, assignments and projects, and you need to find out if he cares about your opinions and ideas for improving quality, efficiency and productivity. This is not an option. Your job satisfaction and the company's productivity are at stake.
Why don't you schedule a 15-minute meeting with him every two to four weeks? Tell him you'll ask the questions and all he has to do is respond with honesty. If it turns out he isn't pleased with you or your ideas, or his responses are more discouraging than encouraging, at least you know where you stand. You can decide whether to try to turn things around or get out of Dodge. This is more than you have now.
As for “offering up” your struggles to God: For a Catholic, this should be automatic. It's always the right thing to do. Just remember that a certain amount of drudgery comes with even the best occupations. Ask Christ to do something new with yours — and with you.
Art Bennett is director of Alpha Omega Clinic and Consultation Services in Vienna, Virginia, and Bethesda, Maryland.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Art Bennett ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: A Man Fully Alive DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Priest Profile
Like Pope John Paul II, Father Owen Keenan shows the glory of God by being a “man fully alive.”
The famous phrase of St. Ireneus, which the Pope included in his very first encyclical, is an especially apt description of both the Holy Father and the priest who was ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto shortly before that city hosted the 2002 World Youth Day presided over by John Paul.
Like Father Karol Wojtyla in postwar Poland, Father Keenan hikes and canoes with the young people to whom he ministers on a deep level. He is a pastor who, like the Pope before him, seems destined to also teach in a university setting.
True to his role model in Rome, the busy associate pastor at St. Ignatius Church in Mississauga, Ontario, maintains a spiritual regimen that is fostered by the contemplation of nature, scholarly reflection and an intense life of prayer grounded in the Mass and the faithful observance of a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament.
He is also an active promoter of the Pope's theology of the body and is the author of a graduate dissertation, The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest as Found in the Writings of John Paul II, which was published by the U.S. National Catholic Education Association's seminary journal.
“The Pope emphasizes that, in addition to the priest's sacramental role, the people benefit from his closeness to Christ and Mary, from his commitment to prayer and asceticism, to celibacy and chastity,” Father Keenan says. “A priest has to be holy before he can ask it of others.”
According to those around him, Father Keenan, 31, is a faithful disciple.
“He possesses a holiness beyond his years,” Dr. Maria Kraw says, “but he's also a fun person, an attractive personality; he likes to laugh and joke. The two things are great together.”
Kraw, a specialist in reproductive health, is one of five doctors who are founding members of a monthly discussion group led by Father Keenan to mine the insights of Love & Responsibility, the 1958 book by the Pope that examines Catholic sexual teachings.
Like many of the “John Paul II generation” of priests, Father Keenan was drawn to the Pope's authenticity — and has been formed by his thinking, which is based on perennial truth expressed in a new language.
“Father Owen is mastering that language,” says Father Tom Lynch, academic dean at Toronto's St. Augustine Seminary and Father Keenan's spiritual director. “Today's seminarians come from a hyper-sexual culture and they want to find deeper meaning, which is why the Pope resonates with them.”
One of four sons, Owen Keenan was born in Edmonton, Alberta, to devout Irish immigrants, Owen Sr. and Carmel Keenan. The local parish was staffed by Holy Ghost Fathers “who were always a part of our lives,” the priest recalls. “They were funny, charming — and manly.”
When Keenan was 13, the family moved to Toronto, where he graduated from St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto.
“I wondered about the priest-hood in those days but I also thought about a family,” Father Keenan says. His pastor submitted his name to the archdiocese's “Called by Name” vocation program, which led to a private meeting with Toronto's Cardinal Aloysious Ambroszic.
“The cardinal said he thought I should become a priest,” Father Keenan recounts. “It was very humbling that he would see something in me.”
A major impetus in favor of a vocation came from attending the 1995 World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, which opened the young man's eyes to the reality that so many young Catholics were passionately dedicated to their faith.
He returned to the Philippines to teach philosophy, and he gave thought to becoming a missionary. He also visited the American novitiate of the Legion of Christ.
While Father Keenan ultimately decided on the diocesan priest-hood and in favor of working in the “missions” of modern Canada, a Legionary pamphlet helped spark the youthful generosity that would help him to decide in favor of the priesthood.
“The Legionary piece turned me around,” Father Keenan says, ‘because it said something like, These men are giving Christ the first shot at their young lives.’”
Throughout the adventure that has led to the demanding life of an apostle, Father Keenan credits the Holy Father with being “a large part of why I am a priest” and for being a certain kind of priest — one “who knows the great joy of entering people's lives to serve them.”
“He's real, down to earth, witty,” says Patrick Yeung, an old friend of Father Keenan's. “We used to sing a cappella at old-age homes; he would get the old people to smile.”
“He is,” Kraw says in agreement, “a man fully alive.”
Joe Cullen writes from Floral Park, New York.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: Joe Cullen ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Prolife Victories DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Pro-Life EMT Sues Employer
The American Center for Law and Justice filed the suit on the woman's behalf in U.S. District Court on May 7.
Last August, Stephanie Adamson, 30, and her crewmate received a non-emergency call to take a woman having abdominal pain from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago to an abortion site, the newspaper reported.
Adamson told Superior Ambulance Services, her employer, that she couldn't per form the task because of her pro-life religious beliefs.
Another crew was dispatched to the hospital and Adamson was fired.
Governor Signs Pro-Life Bills
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 7 — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has signed several pro-life bills that will become law July 1.
According to the Associated Press, the legislation, which the governor signed May 6, will allow health-care workers to opt out of per forming abor tions if they have moral objections; prohibit doctors or other workers to let a baby die if he or she sur vives an abor tion; allow prosecutors to pursue wrongful-death charges in cases where the fetus could have sur vived outside the womb (this law went into effect immediately); and require doctors to file repor ts with the state for patients who experienced complications from abortion.
----- EXCERPT: ----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- KEYWORDS: Culture of Life -------- TITLE: Pressure Pointers DATE: 05/30/2004 12:00:00 PM CATEGORY: May 30-June 5, 2004 ----- BODY:Do you get up before light and go to bed long after dark, but still feel there isn't enough time in the day to accomplish everything on your to-do list? Do you struggle to balance work, family, household chores and social obligations? Do you fret about the bills' due-by dates, the kids' discipline, crime rates, terrorism and your health?
If you just said Yes, Yes and Yes, you are not alone. More than 90% of respondents in a National Women's Health Resource Center survey last year reported that the level of stress in their lives was moderate or high and more than half said that stress adversely affected their personal lives. Many of us are busier than ever — and, according to some experts, busier than we should be.
“Many of today's jobs are not family-friendly,” says David Reuter, a Catholic family counselor at the Center for Peace in the Family in Eureka Springs, Ark. “Employers often demand that the job comes before the family. Many families are dependent upon two such jobs to make ends meet. Mom and Dad are often stretched to the limit.”
Reuter believes that many of today's families are further strapped for time because their children are involved in an overwhelming number of extra-curricular activities.
“Many sports programs demand endless hours of practice time and games can take our children hours from home and late into the night,” he says. “Add a few unavoidable social events and there is next to nothing left for the family at home. Time for chores, meals, family recreation, family communication and prayer are carved out of what is left: not much.”
Reuter contends that this kind of strain on family time is a threat to the health of individual family members, not to mention to the emotional and spiritual well-being of the family unit.
“People say and do things they often regret when they are under stress,” he explains. “Our ability to be patient, kind, understanding and forgiving is often quite limited at such times. Harsh discipline, yelling, name-calling, cursing and mutual blaming can rule our family relationships and we can lose all sense of peace in our home.”
Ordinary Options
Some Catholic families are making a conscious effort to remove themselves from the typical, modern-day rat race and preserve a healthy home life.
With five young children, a full-time job and a home daycare business, Joe and Jeanette Klein of Blaine, Minn., have plenty of opportunities for stress in their family life. They are careful, though, not to let work or outside activities threaten peace in their family.
Jeanette explains that, before the family will commit to any outside activity or obligation, the activity must meet certain criteria. First, they consider whether a proposed activity could potentially bring the family or an individual family member closer to God. Second, the proposed activity could be approved if it teaches a valuable life skill such as swimming lessons or karate. Finally, no outside activity, no matter how worthy, is acceptable if it would significantly detract from what Jeanette calls “family time.”
“If it means we will not be able to eat supper together or even see each other some nights of the week, then this is not a good plan.”
In addition to limiting outside activities, the Kleins further reduce stress by taking regular family trips to break up their routines and spend undisturbed time together.
“We have a family cabin we go to frequently,” Klein says. “This gives us nice time together on the ride there and back, and time uninterrupted by the usual demands of life while we are up there. I really cherish that time.”
Darcee Thomason of Portland, Ore., finds that not watching television greatly decreases stress for her, her husband and their five children.
“The real beauty of getting rid of the TV,” she says, “is the amount of time it frees up to do things like play games as a family, talk, tend to the housekeeping, go for walks, read or work on craft projects.”
Besides gaining time, Thomason believes that her family benefits from an absence of the stress-inducing images and information many television programs pour into the minds of their viewers.
“There is an element of stress that is added just because of the information that is sent into your home and we completely avoid that,” she adds. “My children don't see graphic images of the military happenings overseas.”
The Thomasons are active members of their community, participating in sports, chess clubs, school committees and their parish pastoral council, but they make an effort to restrict the number of their outside commitments and are careful not to let social activities threaten their family life.
“We limit after school play-dates and sleepovers,” Thomason says. “Usually we go for a hike together as a family each Saturday. We attend Mass, we read, we pray and we study together.”
She is clear, however, that the things her family does to reduce stress are not difficult or extraordinary.
“Any family that put the same priorities first in their lives would have a similar result. The teachings of the Church reinforce what we are trying to do.”
Prayer Produces Peace
Jerry Coniker, father of 13, grandfather of 56 and co-founder of the Apostolate for Family Consecration and Catholic Familyland in Bloomingdale, Ohio, knows a thing or two about the stresses of family life.
When he looks back on the life and work he shared with his late wife Gwen, one thing stands out as the most essential element in preserving family peace and keeping his children faithful.
“The most important thing we did to protect our family was to pray the daily rosary,” he says.
He worries that today's hectic schedules and the frenzied pace of modern family life leave little room for family prayer.
“We have to get back to the basics and anchor our children in the truth,” he says. “It might be hard to find time [for family prayer] so maybe you'll have to schedule your spiritual life.”
Coniker further recommends that Catholic parents make frequent, short prayer a daily habit. Particularly in those moments when the stress of too many responsibilities and too little time threaten to get the better of us, he suggests saying a short prayer and abandoning oneself to the will of God before responding to the situation.
“If the kids are pushing your buttons, get a prayer out before you respond to them. If you have a disagreement with your spouse, pray about it for a while before you overreact.”
David Reuter agrees that faith and prayer are critical to overcoming the challenges of stress in modern family life.
“Christ our peace is with each family as we struggle to make good decisions, develop our gifts, and love one another through the thick and thin of everyday family life,” he says. “Our Catholic faith enables us to find the wisdom, courage, strength and support we need to face every challenge.”
And for those times when we feel over-stressed and overwhelmed by worldly worries, Reuter offers a simple reminder: “Our faith is in Jesus Christ who said: In the world you will have troubles, but fear not, for I have overcome the world.’”
Danielle Bean writes from Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
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The major TV news networks have more than doubled their coverage of religion during the past 10 years, according to a survey by the Media Research Center. That's the good news. The bad news is, reporters often approached religious issues from a political perspective — and their tone was generally suspicious of orthodox faiths yet supportive of minority religions and progressive fads. The Catholic Church received the most coverage among all faiths.
Illustration by Tim Rauch
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