Columbia WYD 2016

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K N I G H T S O F C O LU MBUS

WYD 2016

SPECIAL WYD EDITION

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WYD REUNIONS

Continue your World Youth Day pilgrimage in the United States.

October 22

•

January 28

2016

2017

JPII Feast Day

March for Life

•

April 8

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July 21-23

2017 Palm Sunday (WYD)

2017 A Year after Kraków

3900 Harewood Road NE, Washington, D.C. 20017 • jp2shrine.org

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K N I G H TS O F C O LU M BU S wyd 2016 ♦ Volume 96 ♦ special edition

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Building a better world Young Catholics are called to missionary discipleship, living each day as authentic Christian witnesses.

BY SUPREME KNIGHT CARL A. ANDERSON

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Learning the faith, living the faith Christ calls us to become beacons of mercy in a wounded world yearning for true freedom.

BY SUPREME CHAPLAIN ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI

PLUS: Catholic Man of the Month

A crowd surrounds the World Youth Day cross as it is carried down a street in Sydney, Australia, July 14, 2008.

F E AT U R E S

opposite paGe: photo by matthew Barrick — aBoVe: cns photo/courtesy of world youth day 2008

6 The Church Is Young

20 Center of Pilgrimage and Renewal

World Youth Days enliven the faith of young people and demonstrate the vitality of the Church.

The Saint John Paul II National Shrine offers an array of faith-filled events for visitors.

BY FATHER THOMAS ROSICA

BY KATIE SCOTT

10 Heroes of Holiness

24 The Legacy of St. John Paul II

Three 20th-century saints provide us a model of life marked by charity, self-giving and mercy.

Through his life and holiness, the late pope left a “polyphonic” legacy of faith, hope and love.

BY DOMINICAN FATHER PETER JOHN CAMERON

BY CARDINAL STANISŁAW DZIWISZ

14 Mercy at the Centre

26 United in Faithful Service

Knights host international site for English-speaking pilgrims at World Youth Day 2016.

Knights celebrate 10 years of the Order’s presence and growth in Poland.

BY COLUMBIA STAFF

BY COLUMBIA STAFF

16 Kraków WYD Map PLUS: WYD Message from Pope Francis, official WYD Prayer and more

30 The Birthplace of the New Evangelization For John Paul II, the faith and struggle of his countrymen in Nowa Huta heralded a new springtime for Christianity.

BY KRZYSZTOF MAZUR

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EDITORI AL

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‘Great Apostles of Mercy’

PUBLISHER Knights of Columbus ________

(Jesus, I trust in you) — and believed in the power of God’s mercy.

In God’s providence, John Paul II died the evening of April 2, 2005, the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday. It was no coincidence that Pope Benedict XVI chose Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, as the date to celebrate the beatification of his predecessor. Pope Francis likewise celebrated John Paul II’s canonization on Divine Mercy Sunday — just three years later, in April 2014.

Now, as the Church celebrates the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, young people from around the world are flocking to Kraków for World Youth Day, under the theme: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7). In his message for the 2016 World Youth Day, Pope Francis said it is providential that the event should take place in Kraków, “that city which was home to those two great apostles of mercy in our times” — St. John Paul II and St. Faustina (see page 18). What better place, what better patrons, could there be to help young people reflect on the reality of God’s mercy?

The Knights of Columbus, in cooperation with the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and other partners, is excited to welcome World Youth Day pilgrims to the Mercy Centre catechetical and youth festival site (see page 14). It is our hope that through their experiences at the Mercy Centre, pilgrims may leave inspired to truly become great apostles of mercy in our times.♦ ALTON JOHN-PAUL PELOWSKI EDITOR

Featured Book: City of Saints City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Kraków (Image, 2015), by papal biographer George Weigel, takes readers on a chronological pilgrimage through the life of Karol Wojtyła — St. John Paul II — and the Polish city that formed him as a young man, priest and bishop. Part travel guide, part history book, part biography of St. John Paul II, the book contains more than 100 photographs and notes on Kraków’s principal sites, giving pilgrims a deeper apprecation of the city’s cultural and spiritual treasures.

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SUPREME OFFICERS Carl A. Anderson SUPREME KNIGHT Most Rev. William E. Lori, S.T.D. SUPREME CHAPLAIN Logan T. Ludwig DEPUTY SUPREME KNIGHT Charles E. Maurer Jr. SUPREME SECRETARY Michael J. O’Connor SUPREME TREASURER John A. Marrella SUPREME ADVOCATE ________ EDITORIAL Alton J. Pelowski EDITOR Andrew J. Matt MANAGING EDITOR Anna Bninski ASSOCIATE EDITOR ________

Venerable Michael McGivney (1852-90) Apostle to the Young, Protector of Christian Family Life and Founder of the Knights of Columbus, Intercede for Us. ________ HOW TO REACH US MAIL COLUMBIA 1 Columbus Plaza New Haven, CT 06510-3326 ADDRESS CHANGES 203-752-4210, option #3 addresschange@kofc.org PRAYER CARDS & SUPPLIES 203-752-4214 COLUMBIA INQUIRIES 203-752-4398 FAX 203-752-4109 K OF C CUSTOMER SERVICE 1-800-380-9995 E-MAIL columbia@kofc.org INTERNET kofc.org/columbia ________ Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to men 18 years of age or older who are practical (that is, practicing) Catholics in union with the Holy See. This means that an applicant or member accepts the teaching authority of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and morals, aspires to live in accord with the precepts of the Catholic Church, and is in good standing in the Catholic Church.

________

Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved ________ ON THE COVER Young people pictured in front of St. Mary’s Basilica in Kraków’s Main Square show their enthusiasm as they prepare to welcome pilgrims to World Youth Day 2016.

COVER: Photo by Marianna Gurba

ALTHOUGH THE theological and pastoral contributions of Pope John Paul II’s 26-year pontificate were far-reaching and diverse, his teachings and actions were all built on a common foundation: an unwavering trust in Divine Mercy and in Mary, the Mother of Mercy.

In 1980, John Paul II devoted his second encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, to the topic of mercy. In 1993, he beatified Sister Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), the Polish nun whose message of Divine Mercy he understood to be universal and essential, especially for our time. Seven years later, he canonized Faustina as the first saint of the new millennium and declared that the Second Sunday of Easter would from then on be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. The message of mercy was so central to the pontificate of John Paul II that he has often been called the “Mercy Pope.”

His devotion to Divine Mercy and his familiarity with St. Faustina began long before he was pope or even a priest. Young Karol Wojtyła would stop and pray at the convent in Kraków-Łagiewniki, where Sister Faustina had lived until just a few years earlier, on his way to and from the Solvay factory. Living in German Nazioccupied Poland during World War II, Wojtyła worked at the factory to avoid deportation and forced labor.

Wojtyła found himself surrounded by the atrocities of the 20th century, and his last surviving family member — his father — died in 1941. Still, Wojtyła did not despair. Rather, he embraced the simple prayer of abandonment central to the Divine Mercy devotion — “Jezu ufam tobie”

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BU I L D I N G A B E T T ER WO R L D

The Joy of the Gospel Young Catholics are called to missionary discipleship, living each day as authentic Christian witnesses

by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson

AS YOUNG PEOPLE, you are often Christ, that still today Christians die called “the future of the Church.” But willingly for their faith. The Missionyou are not the future of the Church. aries of Charity who were killed by IsYou are the Church, and what you do lamic State militants in Yemen earlier now is important for the Church. It’s im- this year, the Libyan martyrs who were portant for your Catholic community, marched along the beach in orange for your school and for your family. And jumpsuits — they did not die for a it’s important for you to understand this. philosophy. They did not die for a The decisions that you make today, lifestyle choice. They died for somemany of them, will have lasting conse- thing more. quences on the rest of your lives — perWhen St. Thomas More’s daughter, haps 60 or more years. You are entrusted Margaret, appealed to him that God with great responsibility.

And one of your responsibilities as Catholic young adults is When a person’s life becomes to look at the world not through inspired by faith, hope and a secular, ideological, political prism, but rather through the charity, they live in a more lens of the Gospel. As St. John Paul often said, the Gospel is not distinct and authentic way. an abstraction; being a Christian is not an ideology. It is not even a way of life or an ethical system. could not reasonably expect him to die Rather, the Gospel is a person. Ethics for his beliefs, he put it this way: “It isn’t are important, and rules are important, a matter of reason; finally it is a matter but they are not the essence of Christi- of love.” anity. Christianity is about discipleship, Today, people like to paint Pope about following a person: Jesus Christ. Francis in political terms, while in fact During his nine-day pilgrimage to he thinks in terms of our commitment Poland in 1979, John Paul II stood up to love God and love neighbor as discito the Communist authorities and told ples of Jesus. In his apostolic exhortahis countrymen, “To Poland the tion Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Church brought Christ, the key to un- Gospel), Pope Francis challenges us all derstanding that great and fundamental to missionary discipleship. reality that is man. For man cannot be “The new evangelization calls for perfully understood without Christ. Or sonal involvement on the part of each rather, man is incapable of understand- of the baptized,” he writes (EG 120). ing himself fully without Christ.”

“Every Christian is challenged, here and And it is with this knowledge, this now, to be actively engaged in evangeunderstanding that comes by knowing lization; indeed, anyone who has truly

experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.”

So, how do you begin presenting the Gospel? How do you witness in a way that is intelligible? How do you reach people who either don’t care or who are antagonistic and reject Christianity out of hand?

Pope Francis has told us to begin with charity, authenticity and joy.

When a person’s life becomes inspired by faith, hope and charity, they live in a more distinct and authentic way. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his encyclical Spe Salvi, “The one who has hope lives differently” (2).

Christians truly living their faith are motivated by the joy of the Gospel.

This is what Pope Francis was referring to when, citing Pope Benedict, he said, “The Church does not grow by proselytizing; she grows by attracting others.”

Discussions and debates are necessary, but that is not the primary way that you are going to advance the Gospel. Rather, you will advance the Gospel by your friendships, the way you treat people, the help that you give to others in need. So, as you consider your vocation as a missionary disciple, ask yourself: When people look at my life, can they see a difference?

Vivat Jesus!

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LEARNING T H E FA I TH , L I V I N G T H E FA I TH

Religious Freedom in the Year of Mercy Christ calls us to become beacons of mercy in a wounded world yearning for true freedom

by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori POPE FRANCIS has set aside this year not filled with the same kind of hatred as a time of special grace, a Year of Mercy, that motived such violence. We are called to call our attention to something fun- to love those who persecute us, both at damental in our faith: God’s mercy. home and abroad. We must engage in the God’s mercy lies at the heart of difficult spiritual discipline of loving HEALING OUR human existence and the redemption those who hate us, aware that in the end WOUNDED FREEDOM Christ won for us. Through Jesus Christ it is only Mercy that will triumph.

Let us be clear what religious freedom — the “face” of the Father’s mercy — We ask that the Lord protect victims means. It means not only the freedom and his Church, the Father extends his of religious persecution, but we must to escape cooperation with evil but mercy to us. “Rich in mercy,” he reaches also insist that our governments do also the opportunity to create in our out in compassion to heal the wounds more to assist them, even as our Church institutions a culture of life. of human existence caused by sin, that reaches out in charity.

In this context, let us also turn our we might enjoy his friendship now and Let us also pay close attention to the attention to God’s mercy and our own for all eternity. wounded freedom. While God Pope Francis calls us to see the created us to be good and enworld through the lens of God’s dowed us with his gifts, we If God’s mercy really finds a mercy and to place ourselves at nonetheless have a propensity home in our hearts, then we will for evil, an attraction to sin. the service of the alienated and the needy. If God’s mercy really And this original wound in be not only recipients of mercy finds a home in our hearts, then human existence is daily ratiwe will be not only recipients of fied in countless acts, big and but also agents of mercy. mercy but also agents of mercy. small, that constitute a misuse We will be agents of reconciliaof our freedom. tion in a world marred by religious per- meaning of what we see. In the Middle The good news is that God’s mercy secution, and agents of compassion in a East and elsewhere in the world, we heals us and gives us the courage to reworld of broken relationships. glimpse what societies without religious spond freely to his offer of love not freedom look like. We see that once reli- merely privately but publicly and in THE EROSION OF MERCY gious freedom disappears, human dignity the company of others.

During this Year of Mercy, let us keep suffers and communities disintegrate.

Indeed, it is the reconciling power of in our minds and hearts the many Without religious freedom, a merciless God’s love that enables us to exercise Christians in the Middle East who have society emerges from the shadows. not freedom of indifference but freebeen dispossessed, uprooted and exiled, In the West, we by and large are com- dom for excellence, to use the phrase with their churches burned and their placent about the sometimes subtle ero- of a renowned moral theologian, Doheritage all but destroyed. Most people sion of religious freedom in our own minican Father Servais Pinckaers, or, do not know that we live in an age of society. We endure what Pope Francis calls in the words of the Second Vatican martyrs. We cannot imagine the suffer- “polite persecution,” carried out largely in Council, to claim “the excellence of ing that has been inflicted in Syria, Iraq courtrooms, boardrooms, legislatures and freedom.” The excellence of freedom of and elsewhere in the Middle East. government agencies, not to mention din- religion is exercised by a sincere search We should be outraged at the killing of ner parties. And in some ways, we too are for God seeking to attain the fullness the innocent because of their faith but becoming a merciless society. of God’s love in one’s life.

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LEARNI NG T H E FA I T H , L I V I N G T H E FAI T H

Our freedom, however, is wounded not only by one’s personal sin but also by what the Church calls “structures of sin” — social situations and institutions that are contrary to God’s goodness and lead their victims to commit evil (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1869).

One of the places where the structures of sin are most active is in the destruction, marginalization or overturning of institutions that stand between the power of the state and the individual conscience. They include above all the family, which should be

HOLY FATHER ’ S PRAYER INTENTIONS J ULY 2016

POPE FRANCIS: CNS photo/Paul Haring — BROTHER ALBERT: Painting by Leon Wyczółkowski / Courtesy Albertine Brothers and Sisters

Offered in Solidarity with Pope Francis UNIVERSAL: That indigenous peoples, whose identity and very existence are threatened, will be shown due respect.

EVANGELIZATION: That the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, by means of her mission to the continent, may announce the Gospel with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

the first school of goodness, virtue, prayer and mercy, but also many smaller community-based and religious organizations.

The institutions under challenge are places of mercy that tend to the spiritual, emotional and physical wounds of human existence. As they disappear or are weakened, our society becomes less merciful, less apt for human flourishing. Were we merely to collapse under the weight of the pressure and allow our institutions “to go along to get along,” we would not be serving the cause of mercy —

quite the opposite.

Fighting to defend religious liberty is not merely a matter of policy and law; it is, rather, part of the struggle to create those conditions in which the mercy of God can touch the inmost hearts of people who are being carried along by the rapid current of contemporary culture. Defending religious freedom is indeed “a work of mercy.”

As we live out the graces of this Year of Mercy, let us as members of the Christ’s body, the Church, become beacons of mercy at the service of true freedom.♦

C AT H O L IC M A N OF T H E M O N T H

St. Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916) AT AGE 25, during his final year at seminary in Kraków, Poland, Karol Wojtyła wrote a play titled Our God’s Brother. The play was about Brother Albert Chmielowski, an artist and friar whom Wojtyła — the future Pope John Paul II — recognized as an extraordinary model of charity.

Born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski, Brother Albert was raised in an aristocratic family outside Kraków. As a teenager, he took part in the 1863 uprising against the Russian Empire. After studying in Warsaw, Munich and Paris, he established himself as an artist in Kraków. While painting his most famous work, an unfinished painting of Christ titled Ecce Homo, Chmielowski entered the Jesuit order in 1880. He left the novitiate within a year and then began living as a lay Franciscan missionary.

Chmielowski returned to Kraków in 1884 and felt strongly called by God to aid the poor and homeless. In 1887, adopting a sackcloth habit and the name “Brother Albert,” he began begging on behalf of the poor. He then founded the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis, Servants of the

Poor — also known as the Gray Brothers or Albertine Brothers — and with them established nearly a dozen homes for the poor by the time of his death in 1916.

Pope John Paul II celebrated the beatification of Brother Albert in 1983 and canonized him six years later. During the Mass of canonization, the pope noted how Brother Albert found his vocation through his artistic yearnings and his compassion for the poor: “In this untiring, heroic service to the underprivileged, he finally found his way.

He found Christ.”♦

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THE CHURCH IS YOUNG World Youth Days enliven the faith of young people and demonstrate the vitality of the Church

by Father Thomas Rosica

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hen Pope Francis addressed the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday in 2013, less than two weeks after his election, he referred to the international celebration of World Youth Day that was scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro in July.

Addressing the multitude of young people present, he said, “Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, starting today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI.” In 1985, St. John Paul II invited Catholic dioceses to celebrate World Youth Day on Palm Sunday each year. In addition to the annual diocesan events, major international celebrations of World Youth Day followed every two or three years.

The pope knew well that the world is often characterized by separation, fragmentation and loneliness. Through the gift of World Youth Days, he offered powerful opportunities for young people to become bearers of hope, agents of community and instruments of a moral globalization.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI continued the tradition of his predecessor and met Catholic youth from around the world in Germany (2005), Australia (2008) and Spain (2011).

Now, three years after Rio welcomed the first Latin American pope in 2013, more than 1 million young people prepare to welcome Francis to Kraków, where John Paul II’s pastoral ministry to youth first began.

The popemobile carrying Pope Benedict XVI makes its way through a throng of young people as the pope arrives to celebrate the World Youth Day closing Mass at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Madrid Aug. 21, 2011.

(CNS photo/Sergio Perez, Reuters)

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Pope John Paul II waves to young pilgrims in Toronto July 25, 2002, during his last major World Youth Day celebration. • Opposite page: Pope Francis hears the confession of a young woman during World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro July 26, 2013. Portable confessionals were set out in several public places for pilgrims attending World Youth Day, and five young people had the opportunity to take part in the sacrament of reconciliation with the pope. one generation, but are now an ordinary part of the life of the Church. The John Paul II Generation — young and old alike — is proud to be faithful sons and daughters of Pope Benedict.”

WELCOMING FRANCIS World Youth Day 2013 in Rio was an unforgettable experience.

There were the sheer numbers of pilgrims from around the world who traveled such great distances — culminating in 3 million people on Copacabana beach for the concluding Mass. There was the effusive, contagious joy and warm welcome of the Brazilian Church. There was the chaos of traffic jams, blocked tunnels, street closures, lack of information and torrential rain.

But at the heart of this World Youth Day was a simple, holy and loving shepherd who traveled to Rio and wowed everyone with his simplicity and his desire to be close to people. Like the towering statue of Christ the Redeemer high atop Corcovado, arms open wide to embrace the world, Pope Francis came to remind us of God’s mercy, tenderness and closeness to us. The pope not only made sure to address those who were fortunate enough to be present at the great events but also went to meet young people in one of Rio’s most violent favelas, visited youths in prison, inaugurated a drug rehabilitation center, lunched with a select group of pilgrims from around the world, heard the confessions of others and allowed himself to be physically touched by thousands who reached out to him along the way.

CNS photo/Arturo Mari

MODELS OF HOLINESS Among the central elements of World Youth Days are worship, sacred Scripture, catechesis, the sacraments, the cross, the saints, pilgrimage, service and vocations. Each of these components contribute greatly to, and must find a place in, an effective pastoral ministry with young people.

Even the preparation for World Youth Days offers the Church profound moments to deepen Christian piety and devotion. For example, prior to World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, Canada, the World Youth Day Cross was carried in pilgrimage from coast to coast. With the assistance of the Knights of Columbus, the cross made its way to more than 350 cities, towns and villages before finally arriving in Toronto.

World Youth Days emphasize the saints as outstanding models of holiness and humanity because young adults need heroes and heroines today. How fitting it is that one of the principal patrons of World Youth Day in Kraków is St. John Paul II. Many young priests and religious have said “yes” to their vocations because of the personal witness of John Paul II, who urged them to “Be not afraid!” Many young men and women, inspired by his teachings on marriage and family, have entered into marriage with deep faith and conviction.

The extraordinary impact that John Paul II had on younger generations happily continued with his successor. I remember the buzz: Did Ratzinger have the charisma of Wojtyła to win over today’s young people? Could Pope Benedict XVI step out of the shadow of his beloved predecessor and carry on with World Youth Days?

In Cologne in August 2005, Benedict did not patronize or pander but offered solid teaching. During the vigil at Marienfeld, he knelt in silent prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament with some 800,000 young people. That night, the German pope told his young friends that the saints “are the true reformers. … Only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world.”

In Cologne, Benedict showed the world that “Professor Ratzinger” had become the shepherd of a very large flock and proved to be more complex and charismatic than many expected. It was not a matter of “stepping out of the shadow” of John Paul II; Benedict showed the world that he was never in the late pope’s shadow at all. In Sydney and Madrid, too, his audiences were riveted by his clear teaching and captivated by his gentle presence. Quiet but firm, Benedict made own distinct contribution.

How true are the prophetic words of Cardinal George Pell, then-archbishop of Sydney, at the end of World Youth Day 2008: “World Youth Days do not belong to one pope, or even

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CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano

A person may choose to speak of his or her World Youth Day experience as something in the past that brightened the shadows and monotony of life at one shining moment in history.

There is, however, another perspective. The Gospel story is not about “Camelot” moments but about “Magnificat” moments, constantly inviting Christians to take up Mary’s hymn of praise and thanksgiving for the ways that Almighty God breaks through human history — here and now. In other words, the Christian life is not nourished simply by memories, however good and beautiful they may be. The resurrection of Jesus is not a memory of a distant event in the past but is the Good News that continues to be fulfilled.

‘THE CHURCH IS YOUNG’ We must be honest and admit that World Youth Days offer no panacea or quick fix to the problems of our times, nor to the challenges facing the Church today as we reach out to younger generations. Instead, these events offer a new lens through which we look at the Church and the world and build our common future. One thing is clear: No one can come away from a World Youth Day thinking that it is possible to compartmentalize their faith or reduce it to a few rules, regulations and Sunday observances.

In his parting message during the departure ceremony in Rio July 28, 2013, Pope Francis said, “At World Youth Days, the proclamation of the Gospel can only be the result of the joy that comes from meeting Christ and finding in him the rock

on which our lives can be built. The event in Rio gathers us together as pilgrims in search of Jesus Christ and sends us forth as disciples and missionaries.”

Finally, I cannot help but recall Cardinal James Francis Stafford’s stirring words spoken to the throngs of young people gathered in and around St. Peter’s Square at the opening ceremonies of the Jubilee World Youth Day in August 2000. Addressing a visibly moved and aging Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Stafford said, “Holy Father, as you walked in the 1960s to the [Second Vatican] Council’s sessions to express again the mystery of the always youthful Church, you experienced the embrace of these great colonnades many times. Today we all pray that your happiness may be full. For these youthful multitudes, now embraced by the arms of St. Peter also, are living witnesses to the council’s hope and to yours.”

In this way, the cardinal beautifully expressed the mission and purpose of World Youth Days, which are a snapshot of the joy, hope and unity to which the Church is called. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his inaugural homily in 2005, “The Church is alive.

And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future.” World Youth Days are a reminder of this truth.

BASILIAN FATHER THOMAS ROSICA, a member of Toronto Council 1388, was the national director and C.E.O. of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. He has been the C.E.O. of Canada’s Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation since 2003.

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Heroes of Holiness Three 20th-century saints provide us a model of life marked by charity, self-giving and mercy

by Dominican Father Peter John Cameron

W

hen Mother Teresa of Calcutta was beatified on Oct. 19, around the time she began her work for the poor in 1948 until 2003, the Vatican biography stated that she “was en- the end of her life, Blessed Teresa suffered a chronic and distrusted with the mission of proclaiming God’s thirsting love for tressing sense of being alienated from God — an experience of humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor.” The commu- her interior life that she called “the darkness.” Yet in no way did nity she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, enabled her to this painful night of her soul prevent Mother from asserting fulfill her vocation to be, as she put it, “God’s love and God’s with the eloquence of her actions, “Our vocation is to belong compassion to the poor.” totally to Jesus with the conviction that nothing can separate us For Mother Teresa, Jesus was not an idea or an abstraction. from his love. It is not what we are doing, or how much we are Rather, he was a tangible, living presence as real and as close as doing, but rather how much love we are putting in the doing.” the flesh of “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for” That is why Blessed Teresa could love every poor person who human beings she attended in the slums came before her as a living Angelus: the of Calcutta. Christ’s presence was an event physical presence of Jesus offered to her that constantly changed her and generated so that she could respond with her “yes.” her, moving her to love with a love that MOTHER TERESA’S was not of her own making. Like her paST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE: WITNESS FILLS tron, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who prayed, SELF-SACRIFICE US WITH THE “Lord, you know very well that never During the summer of 1941, a prisoner CONVICTION THAT would I be able to love as you love unless from Barracks 14 of the Auschwitz death WE CAN DO you, O my Jesus, loved in me,” Mother camp escaped. In retaliation, the commanTeresa served the poor not with philandant condemned to death by starvation 10 LIKEWISE. thropic charity but with Jesus’ own love. men of the barracks. One of them, FranShe wrote, “Today God loves the world by ciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, “My poor sending us into the world, to be his love, wife, my poor children! What will happen his compassion.” to my family!” At that, a fellow prisoner, Father Maximilian Such radical loving is possible for anyone willing to surrender Maria Kolbe, stepped forward to die in the man’s place. one’s self to the gift of God’s love. Mother Teresa often repeated, What moved Father Kolbe to offer himself in sacrifice? To “Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish be human is to be made in the image of God, and the essence great things on the condition that you believe much more in of God’s life is self-giving. Maximilian Kolbe learned the imhis love than in your own weakness.” This astonishing certainty plications of this early on in life through the compelling witness makes us marvel at the small, uncomplicated woman who of his parents. After Maximilian had enrolled in minor semichanged the world. Her witness fills us with the conviction that nary in 1907, his parents Julius and Maria signed an agreement we can do likewise. All it takes is approaching reality with the granting each other permission to enter religious life. His father same awareness and simplicity that this holy woman had. With became a Franciscan brother in Kraków, his mother a Benedicher, we can say, “Jesus loved me by giving himself to me.” That tine sister in Lwów. encounter with Christ’s love never ends. It is offered to us again Sacrifice is an act of facing reality in a way that enables us to and again in the needs of every person who crosses our path. make the best sense of it. Too often we approach our circumHeroic charity of this sort has little to do with consoling feel- stances according to the effects of original sin in us, like egoism, ings or sentimentality. In fact, in Mother’s own case, from impetuosity or willfulness. The more a person shares in Christ’s 10 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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Photo by Raghu Rai/Magnum Photos

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ST. FAUSTINA KOWALSKA: MERCY In 1934, the Lord spoke mystically to Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, saying, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to my mercy.” Pope John Paul II, in his 1980 encyclical on mercy titled Dives in Misericordia (DM), wrote that a world without mercy “would be a world of cold and unfeeling justice in which the selfishness latent in man would transform life into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong” (DM 14).

Mercy effects peace because, as St. Thomas Aquinas states, “the quality of sacrifice, the more he participates in mercy consists in bringing a thing out of and is truly in harmony with reality.

Father Kolbe non-being into being.” “Mercy,” says the “Sacrifice,” writes Msgr. Lorenzo Alcarried on his pope, “is manifest in its true and proper asbacete, “is respect for the truth of the peron a note: pect when it restores to value, promotes and other. The opposite of the path of sacdraws good from all the forms of evil exist‘For love, to rifice is the path of selfish possession. ing in the world” (DM 6).

Without sacrifice, what we love corthe sacrifice On Easter Sunday 1936, Sister Faustina rupts in our very hands. Sacrifice is the of my life.’ wrote in her diary: “Everything I look at very opposite of indifference or insenspeaks to me of God’s mercy.

Even God’s sibility. Sacrifice is not a matter of ‘givvery justice speaks to me about his fathoming up’ what we love, [but rather] a matter of preserving it from corruption.” At his first Mass, the less mercy, because justice flows from love.” In fact, St. Thomas newly ordained Father Kolbe carried on his person a note de- observes that “mercy does remove justice but is rather like its fullness.” Even more, “true mercy,” writes Pope John Paul, “is claring: “For love, to the sacrifice of my life.”

We begin to understand sacrifice by accepting that what we the most profound source of justice. ... Mercy has the power need to be complete cannot be found inside us. We must go out to confer on justice a new content” (DM 6, 14).

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CNS File Photo

of ourselves to come to the total fulfillment that our hearts so crave, and we do that through sacrifice. The essence of every sacrifice is an act of self-renunciation by which we encounter a truth beyond ourselves. Precisely through that encounter we gain back a more perfect self. It was this conviction that prompted Father Kolbe to state in a 1940 letter to a Nazi district officer: “For this ideal I wish to labor always, to suffer and even to offer my life in sacrifice.”

Msgr. Luigi Giussani, an Italian priest and founder of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, has written: “Man completes himself by giving of himself, sacrificing himself. Human existence is a consuming of oneself ‘for’ something.

This is man’s greatness. Happiness comes through sacrifice. And the more one accepts this, the more one experiences a greater completeness already in this world.”

The Nazi jailers who witnessed the condemned Father Kolbe praying, singing and comforting others in the starvation bunker were heard to remark, “That is a man.”

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By definition, mercy is the experience of being loved — not Conviction about all this led Sister Faustina in 1936 to probecause of our own goodness, but because of the goodness of the fess in her diary: “O my God, I am conscious of my mission in one loving us. In particular, Divine Mercy is that love beyond all the Holy Church. It is my constant endeavor to plead for mercy demands and rights which “is able to reach down to every human for the world.” misery” in such a way that a person feels “found again and reThe pope writes, “Love and only love is capable of restoring stored to value. ... [It] lifts man up when he falls into the abyss man to himself ” (DM 14), but “in human history … love must and frees him from the greatest threats” (DM 6, 15). be revealed above all as mercy and must also be actualized as The experience of mercy, by “essence mercy” (DM 8). Through the veneration a creative love” (DM 14), perfects our of the famous image of Jesus as the Divine own ability to love. The Lord revealed to Mercy, the praying of the Divine Mercy Sister Faustina Chaplet, the celebration of Divine Mercy St. Faustina, “Everything that exists has wrote in her diary: Sunday (the first Sunday after Easter), and come forth from the very depths of my the holy example of St. Faustina, the revemost tender mercy.” The revelation of ‘Everything I look lation and the restoration that John Paul mercy restores to human loving that creat speaks to me of speaks about are happening. ative power by which we have “access to God’s mercy.’ the fullness of life and holiness that come from God” (DM 7).

AWESOME INSTRUMENTS The witness of these three heroes of holiness is both a consolation and a provocation for us today. Mother Teresa’s greatness began, not the moment she moved to Calcutta, but when she resolved to believe more in Christ’s love than in her own weakness. That conviction filled her with the certainty that Jesus would impart his own love to her to do what would otherwise seem impossible. If we share Blessed Teresa’s resoluteness we will become awesome instruments of Christ’s charity.

Similarly, Father Maximilian Kolbe’s act of sacrifice at Auschwitz was the climax of a life of countless acts of self-donation. If we follow his example and conceive of sacrifice as a way of loving, we will love to offer ourselves in sacrifice as the perfect way to reach the happiness we crave.

For those of us mired in the nothingness that the world offers, the message of mercy revealed to St. Faustina remains our certain hope, because only mercy holds the key to our peace. It is a mark of great holiness to be able to pray with unwavering confidence, “Jesus, I trust in you.” We must do so, for by this prayer and by concrete acts of mercy, unfathomable good will be drawn from the unspeakable evil existing in the world. And then the world will change.

DOMINICAN FATHER PETER JOHN CAMERON is chairman of the department of homiletics at St. Joseph’s Seminary-Dunwoodie in Yonkers, N.Y.; artistic director of Blackfriars Repertory Theatre; and editorin-chief of Magnificat (magnificat.com).

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WYD Kraków 2016 ❦ wydenglishsite.org #WYDMercyCentre #kofcwithfrancis

MERCY AT THE CENTRE T

he Knights of Columbus will host the international English-language catechetical and youth festival site at World Youth Day July 26-31. Tauron Arena Kraków will be the site of “Mercy Centre,” which will offer pilgrims an inspirational program of events in English as part of their World Youth Day 2016 experience in Poland.

Particularly catering to those who speak English as a first or second language, Mercy Centre will be open to all World Youth Day pilgrims and feature catechetical sessions led by Vatican-assigned bishops; concerts featuring globallyrenowned musicians; talks by prominent Catholic speakers and witnesses to persecution of the Church in the Middle East; and a series of exhibits and liturgical celebrations.

“Pope Francis has declared mercy a key theme both for this year and for World Youth Day,’” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “This is especially appropriate given the selection of Kraków as host city, since this is where devotion to Divine Mercy was born and where St. John Paul II during his time there grew in this devotion, which became a major theme of his pontificate as well. Mercy Centre is thus perfectly situated 14 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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to help pilgrims understand that Christian life must be an experience of receiving mercy from God and giving it also to our neighbors in the form of love, charity and forgiveness.”

On Wednesday, July 27, programming will include a “Night of Mercy” Youth Festival, with performances by eight-time Grammy nominee Matt Maher, and Dove Award nominee Audrey Assad, as well as talks by Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries and LifeTeen’s Joel Stepanek. The evening will conclude with the musical performance I Believe in Mercy by the Cenacolo Community.

Mercy Centre pilgrims will also have the opportunity to encounter holiness through Kraków’s own saints who inspired a young Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, to pursue his vocation. Relics of several Polish saints, beloved by John Paul II, will be available for veneration. Throughout the week, the centre will feature a “Vocation Café” and exhibit on the diocesan priesthood, as well as other exhibits on topics such as Divine Mercy, the history of Christianity in Poland, St. John Paul II and the Solidarity Movement, and Auschwitz.

Joining the Knights of Columbus as co-sponsors of the

Photo by Marianna Gurba

Knights host international site for English-speaking pilgrims at World Youth Day 2016

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‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy’ (Mt 5:7)

Mercy Centre are the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the religious congregation best known for promoting the message of Divine Mercy received by St. Faustina Kowalska, the 20th-century Polish nun of the same order; the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C.; and the Sisters of Life, a New York-based religious community of women that works to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.

Also partnering with the Knights at the Mercy Centre are Salt + Light Television, Holy Cross Family Ministries, the Dominican Liturgical Institute, the National Conference of Religious Vocations Directors (NCRVD) and the National Council of Diocesan Vocations Directors (NCDVD). The bishops’ conferences of the United States, Canada and Australia will also host their national gatherings at the Mercy Centre.

Tauron Arena Kraków is located adjacent to the Polish Aviators Park, five kilometers east of Kraków’s Main Square. It is one of the largest entertainment and sports venues in Poland, with seating for more than 20,000. Pope Francis will hold his final meeting in Kraków with World Youth Day Volunteers at the Mercy Centre at Tauron Arena Kraków on Sunday, July 31.

For more information and a complete listing of programming, visit www.wydenglishsite.org or follow #WYDMercyCentre #kofcwithfrancis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.♦

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE Tuesday, July 26 8:30 a.m.

10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

12 – 1 p.m.

1 – 3 p.m.

Blessing of Mercy Centre Australian National Gathering Kraków City of Saints Panel Reflection, including procession of relics Canadian National Gathering

Wednesday, July 27 8 a.m.

9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

2 – 3 p.m.

3:45 – 5 p.m.

5 – 7 p.m.

7 – 9:30 p.m.

9:30 – 11 p.m.

Thursday, July 28 8 a.m.

9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

2 – 3 p.m.

9:30 – 11 p.m.

Friday, July 29

8 a.m.

9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

2 – 3 p.m.

Saturday, July 30 8 a.m.

9 – 11 a.m.

Doors open Catechesis Session and Mass School of Mercy breakout sessions Divine Mercy talk and Chaplet Panel on Religious Liberty U.S. National Gathering Night of Mercy Youth Festival Credo: I Believe in Mercy by Cenacolo (outdoor stage) Doors open Catechesis Session and Mass School of Mercy breakout sessions Divine Mercy talk and Chaplet Credo: I Believe in Mercy by Cenacolo (outdoor stage) Doors open Catechesis Session and Mass School of Mercy breakout sessions Divine Mercy talk and Chaplet Doors open U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops National Mass

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following text concludes the message of Pope Francis for the 2016 World Youth Day, published on the Solemnity of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 2015.

K

raków, the city of St. John Paul II and St. Faustina Kowalska, is waiting for us with open arms and hearts. I believe that Divine Providence led us to the decision to celebrate the Youth Jubilee in that city which was home to those two great apostles of mercy in our times. John Paul II realized that this is the time of mercy. At the start of his pontificate, he wrote the encyclical Dives in Misericordia. In the Holy Year 2000, he canonized Sister Faustina and instituted the feast of Divine Mercy, which now takes place on the Second Sunday of Easter. In 2002, he personally inaugurated the Divine Mercy Shrine in Kraków and entrusted the world to Divine Mercy, in the desire that this message would reach all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope: “This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness!” (Homily at the Dedication of the Divine Mercy Shrine in Kraków, 17 August 2002).

Dear young people, at the shrine in Kraków dedicated to the merciful Jesus, where he is depicted in the image venerated by 18 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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the people of God, Jesus is waiting for you. He has confidence in you and is counting on you! He has so many things to say to each of you. ... Do not be afraid to look into his eyes, full of infinite love for you. Open yourselves to his merciful gaze, so ready to forgive all your sins. A look from him can change your lives and heal the wounds of your souls. His eyes can quench the thirst that dwells deep in your young hearts, a thirst for love, for peace, for joy and for true happiness. Come to him and do not be afraid! Come to him and say from the depths of your hearts: “Jesus, I trust in you!” Let yourselves be touched by his boundless mercy, so that in turn you may become apostles of mercy by your actions, words and prayers in our world, wounded by selfishness, hatred and so much despair.

Carry with you the flame of Christ’s merciful love — as St. John Paul II said — in every sphere of your daily life and to the very ends of the earth. In this mission, I am with you with my encouragement and prayers. I entrust all of you to Mary, Mother of Mercy, for this last stretch of the journey of spiritual preparation for the next WYD in Kraków. I bless all of you from my heart.

CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters

‘This Is the Time of Mercy’

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PRAYER WYD Kraków 2016 GOD, MERCIFUL FATHER, in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman.

We entrust to you in a special way young people of every language, people and nation: guide and protect them as they walk the complex paths of the world today and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits from their experience of the Kraków World Youth Day. Heavenly Father, grant that we may bear witness to your mercy.

Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt, hope to those who are discouraged, love to those who feel indifferent, forgiveness to those who have done wrong and joy to those who are unhappy.

Allow the spark of merciful love that you have enkindled within us become a fire that can transform hearts and renew the face of the earth.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us.

St. John Paul II, pray for us.

St. Faustina, pray for us.

Polish for Pilgrims SALUTATIONS Szczęść Boże!

Dzień dobry!

Dobry wieczór!

Cześć!

Do zobaczenia!

Do widzenia!

Dobranoc

Photo by Marianna Gurba

GOOD MANNERS Przepraszam Proszę Dziękuję (bardzo)!

Smacznego!

God bless sh-CHENSHT BO-jah (traditional greeting to clergy or religious) Good morning / Hello jyehn DOH-brey Good evening / Hello DOH-brey VIEH-chore Hi / Welcome / Bye CHESH-cht See you later DO zo-bah-CHEN-yah Good-bye do-vid-ZEN-yah Good night do-BRAH-notes Excuse me / I'm sorry Please / You’re welcome Thank you (very much) Bon appetit!

pshe-PRA-sham PRO-sheh jin-KOO-yah BARD-zo smatch-NEH-go

MAKING NEW FRIENDS Jak masz na imię?

Mam na imię …

Miło cię poznać.

What's your name?

My (first) name is …

Nice to meet you.

YAHK MAWSH nah EEM-yah?

MOM nah EEM-yah …

ME-woah CHE POSE-notch

PLACES

Restauracja Łazienka

Restaurant Bathroom/Washroom

rest-aw-RAT-see-yah waj-YEN-kah

PEOPLE

Pope Francis Volunteer Guard Pilgrim Knight of Columbus

POP-yej fran-CHEE-shek vol-ohn-TAR-ee-oosh oh-KRONE-yaj PYELLG-jim RIT-sej ko-LOOM-bah

Papież Franciszek Wolontariusz Ochroniarz Pielgrzym Rycerz Kolumba

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Center of Pilgrimage and Renewal The Saint John Paul II National Shrine offers an array of faith-filled events for visitors

by Katie Scott

A

s the last light of the day streamed through the floor-toceiling windows of the rotunda at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., Maruška Healy watched her 1-year-old alternately toddle and crawl across the expansive floor. A few steps away, in the shrine’s Redemptor Hominis Church, a choir sang motets for a Tenebrae service, a solemn Holy Week tradition dating back to the ninth century.

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Together, the liturgy and everyday act of a mother caring for her baby reflect the spirit of the shrine as a space that celebrates the human as well as the sacred. With Masses, concerts, retreats and lectures, the shrine gives life to the liturgical year, the wisdom of St. John Paul II and the late pontiff ’s love for family and young people.

“There’s a deep sense of promoting the family here,” said

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The Saint John Paul II National Shrine in northeast Washington, D.C., is pictured following John Paul II’s canonization in 2014.

Healy, a mother of six whose husband, Nicholas, is a member of Father Rosensteel Council 2169 in Silver Spring, Md. “As a family, we must center our life around faith because it is what nourishes everything else,” Healy explained. Visiting the shrine bolsters that faith, she added, because “everything is infused with the beauty and truth and goodness of John Paul II.”

EVANGELIZING THE DOMESTIC CHURCH In 2011, the Knights of Columbus embarked upon a historic initiative to establish the Western Hemisphere’s foremost shrine dedicated to celebrating and preserving the enduring legacy of St. John Paul II. The U.S. bishops designated it a national shrine in anticipation of John Paul II’s canonization in 2014, and later that year, a world-class, permanent exhibit on the pope’s life and teaching was completed.

The shrine’s worship spaces — the Redemptor Hominis Church and Luminous Mysteries Chapel — were completed and dedicated in 2015. First and foremost a place of worship, the shrine also hosts a wide variety of activities and events that are informed by the life, witness and teachings of St. John Paul II, who is remembered as “the Pope of the Family.”

Early in his priesthood, Father Karol Józef Wojtyła, the future pope and saint, served as chaplain to university students in Kraków, Poland. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he developed a close circle of young married friends and students. Calling themselves Środowisko, (“environment” or “milieu” in Polish), the group regularly went hiking, kayaking or skiing, discussed cultural and religious topics, and attended Mass together.

While the charismatic priest ministered to the young Catholics as they discerned marriage and had children, they in turn provided the future pope with direct pastoral experience of marriage and family life.

John Paul II later wrote in his landmark document on the Christian family, Familiaris Consortio, “The little domestic church, like the greater Church, needs to be constantly and intensely evangelized.”

In many ways, his ministry to families inspires programming at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine today, which includes half-day retreats for families and engaged couples three times a year. These “Domestic Church Days” include talks for adults, activities for children, and opportunities for confession and eucharistic adoration. A highlight for many couples is the chance to touch their wedding or engagement rings to the first-class relic of St. John Paul in the Luminous Mysteries Chapel.

Kristen Lichtenwalner, who attended a Domestic Church Day with her husband, Andrew, and their three children, said the retreat was a chance to step back from their busy day-today lives and toward what is most important: “loving God and sharing the faith.”

“It is a time of peace and renewal,” agreed Andrew, a member of Sacred Heart Council 2577 in Bowie, Md., who serves as executive director of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“I’m also grateful that the shrine makes very intentional the identity and mission of the family,” Andrew added. “We are domestic churches. That is not an abstract concept; we are called to live out that reality when we try to love each other and God as best we can and when we are living the sacrament of marriage.”

The shrine hosts many other events for families and young people throughout the year as well.

In April, a day retreat of hope and healing was held for married couples experiencing infertility or who have suffered a

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miscarriage. The event included Mass, lunch, a personal testimony, eucharistic adoration and the opportunity to venerate a blood relic of St. John Paul II. The previous month, a group of young men from The Catholic University of America, which is located nearby, gathered at the shrine for a retreat titled “Manliness in the Modern World.” The students found guidance from the teachings of St. John Paul II on how to live as faith-filled men in a secularized culture.

“I know that after I graduate and start working for a company, the challenge will be to not lose sight of my faith in the workplace,” said retreatant Jon-Paul Kaczmarek, a senior accounting major and member of The Catholic University Council 9542.

Noting his intention to return to the shrine, Kaczmarek added, “There are layers of things to experience there.”

CELEBRATIONS OF FAITH In addition to the church, chapel and permanent exhibit space, the shrine also includes an auditorium used for lectures 22 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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and film screenings, a space for temporary exhibits, a lower level atrium, and a front lawn where pilgrims can gather for larger festivities. The shrine’s varied facilities make it easier to host many events that foster faith and holiness, including a variety of liturgies, lectures and retreats in observation of the liturgical year.

For example, the shrine celebrates one of the newest additions to the Church calendar, St. John Paul II’s feast day, on Oct. 22. Last October, the celebration included a candlelight procession, Mass with a full choir and violin accompaniment, veneration of John Paul II’s relics and a reading of his homily from the inauguration of his pontificate in 1978. As a tasty tribute to the pontiff ’s Polish roots, guests had a chance to eat kremówki, rich cream cakes that were John Paul II’s favorite dessert.

In December 2015, the shrine hosted an Advent concert with music and readings from Scripture, the writings of St. John Paul II, and poems and prayers.

On Holy Saturday, families visited for a special blessing of Easter baskets. The following week, they returned for a Mass

EXHIBIT: Photo by Albert Vecerka/Esto

From left: Young adults participate in a candlelight vigil at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in celebration of John Paul II’s feast day, Oct. 22, 2015. • The Communion of Saints gallery of the shrine’s permanent exhibit, “A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II,” features the hundreds of holy men and women who were canonized and beatified by John Paul II. • St. John Paul II is depicted with the Magi in a mosaic of the Epiphany, one of numerous mosaics installed in the shrine’s Redemptor Hominis Church in September 2015.

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MOSAIC: Photo by Peter Škrlep/Tamino Petelinsek

and eucharistic procession in celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday.

The shrine similarly plans to host a Mass, procession and reception for Our Lady of Częstochowa’s feast day, Aug. 26, and a Mass in honor of Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s canonization Sept. 4.

In the more immediate future, the shrine will host a daylong celebration titled “Kraków in the Capital.” Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington and the Archdiocese of Washington, Kraków in the Capital is to be a one-day gathering of youth mirroring the weeklong World Youth Day in Poland. The July 30 event will include talks from bishops, adoration, confession, Stations of the Cross, Polish food, a late-night concert

VISITING THE SHRINE The Saint John Paul II National Shrine is located at 3900 Harewood Road N.E., in Washington, D.C. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The permanent exhibit, “A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II,” is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit jp2shrine.org or call 202-635-5400.

and opportunities for young pilgrims to venerate a blood relic of St. John Paul II. Over the next year, the shrine will also host a series of World Youth Day “reunion” events, as an extension of young pilgrims’ WYD experiences (see inside front cover).

Finally, a temporary exhibit on St. Thomas More, scheduled to run for six months beginning in September, will not only highlight the lawyer-saint’s life but also serve as a timely examination of his defense of religious freedom and marriage.

Canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935 as a martyr who affirmed the indissolubility of marriage, More was proclaimed patron of statesmen and politicians by John Paul II in 2000.

Although the cultural and spiritual life of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine is still in its early stages of development, it is already bearing fruit for its growing numbers of visitors and pilgrims.

In the experience of Andrew Lichtenwalner, who plans on attending several events with his family this summer, the shrine communicates one of St. John Paul II’s most powerful messages.

“God is with you in the ordinary moments, the extraordinary moments and in the suffering,” he said. “Time here really helps to put that into our minds and hearts, so we can rely on God’s grace as we live each day.”♦ KATIE SCOTT is a reporter for the Arlington Catholic Herald.

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The Legacy of St. John Paul II Through his life and holiness, the late pope left a ‘polyphonic’ legacy of faith, hope and love

by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz

EDITOR’S NOTE: At the conclusion of the Oct. 2, 2015, Mass and altar dedication at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine’s Redemptor Hominis Church, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków, presented the following remarks to those gathered. ear Brothers and Sisters! First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight, for the invitation to visit the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington.

In a sense, this shrine is a symbol of the deep and mutual bond which united and continues to unite John Paul II with the American people. …

Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank the Knights of Columbus for their love for the Church. I am particularly grateful to them for their touching remembrance of John Paul II, expressed also in their fidelity to his doctrinal and moral teaching. …

John Paul II departed for eternity more than 10 years ago.

Memory of him is constantly alive in the hearts of millions of Christians around the world. Today, after his beatification and canonization, they pray to him and entrust their concerns to his intercession in heaven. For many people he is still a guide on the paths of faith, hope and love. …

Having little time, I would like to say just a few words about the legacy of faith, hope, love and holiness of John Paul II. The key to understanding the personality, attitude and achievements of Karol Wojtyła is his faith. In the center of his life there was always God. An expression of Karol Wojtyła’s faith was his prayer. I witnessed his daily prayers not only in the chapel or during public celebrations, but in the midst of work, meetings, trips and matters filling up every day. Knowing his living faith in God’s providence, faith that the fate of the world and man are in God’s hands, I was not surprised by the words that he addressed on the day of the inauguration to all people, all cultures and political and economic systems, that they open wide the doors to Christ. After all, Christ threatens no one. He does not take anything from man, but rather he gives everything to him. John Paul II left us with this truth.

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Photo by Matthew Barrick

Right: Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków, affixes a replica of St. John Paul II’s iconic crosier to a reliquary containing a glass ampoule of the saint’s blood. Cardinal Dziwisz gave the relic to the Knights of Columbus for veneration in the Luminous Mysteries Chapel of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. • Opposite page: Pope John Paul II is pictured during a general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in 1980.

John Paul II began his pontificate in a difficult time for the world. He personally experienced what were two totalitarian, godless and inhumane systems, Nazism and communism, which deeply scarred the lives of the peoples of the 20th century and brought upon them untold suffering.

The Holy Father did not have any army. He faced challenges that could cause fear and a feeling of helplessness. But his weapon was truth and belief that God will claim his children, created in his image and likeness. The election of John Paul II aroused great hopes in his homeland. The nations of Central and Eastern Europe found in him a spokesman for their aspirations, their hopes to live in freedom and truth.

There is no doubt that the pope, who came to Rome “from a distant country,” from Poland, made a major contribution to the collapse of the communist system.

He teaches us that it is worth it to entrust everything to God, that it is worth it to have hope in Him, that it is worth it to build our world upon eternal values, inscribed in natural law and the Gospel.

John Paul II followed the logic of the Gospel. It is the logic of love and mercy, the logic of merciful love. In response to the great provocations and challenges of the modern world with a hedonistic culture, a materialistic desire for possessions and a false understanding of freedom separating it from its bond with the truth and the moral norm, the Holy Father called for building a civilization of love.

He was a defender of authentic marital love, which is open to life and is the foundation of every family. While bishop of Kraków, he published a book with the telling title Love and Responsibility. His apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio remains an important document of the modern Church’s consciousness with respect to marriage and family.

Similarly, his encyclical Evangelium Vitae is a great magna carta of the Church’s teaching on the dignity and sanctity of human life. John Paul II defended life, demanded the right to life for the unborn, those who are the most vulnerable and do not have a voice.

It is impossible to quickly present the legacy of John Paul II. It is “polyphonic,” scored for many voices, issues, aspects, achievements, testimonies, events, gestures, texts, documents, places and images related to his pontificate.

After John Paul II’s death, we were struck by the call of God’s people for the official recognition of his holiness. This desire has already been fulfilled in a very short time, also thanks to the personal involvement of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Holiness in a sense is a synthesis of all that John Paul II was, the attitude he had, how he loved and served. It

was an ordinary holiness, lived and attained day after day in prayer and service.

John Paul II was also a mystic. He was immersed in God. He would stand every day before God, to contemplate the face of God, and God led him to serve the Church and the world.

In the saintly pope, prayer and service intertwined into one.

Through his holiness, he drew us all to the ideal of holiness and to our calling to holiness. This is also his legacy.

Beside many titles, John Pope II earned the title of “Pope of the Young.” Young people were a priority in his pastoral ministry. Therefore, he made a far-reaching decision to organize World Youth Day. It is one of his greatest apostolic initiatives.

I take this opportunity of my visit on American soil to invite the young people from the United States and Canada for the 2016 World Youth Day to Poland and to Kraków, the city of John Paul II, the spiritual capital of Divine Mercy. Dear young friends, we want to share with you our faith, our culture, but we also want you to enrich us with the enthusiasm of your faith. We are very much looking forward to this mutual exchange of gifts.♦ CARDINAL STANISŁAW DZIWISZ, archbishop of Kraków since 2005, served as John Paul II’s personal secretary for nearly 40 years.

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United in

Faithful

Service Knights celebrate 10 years of the Order’s presence and growth in Poland

by Columbia staff

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ore than 350 delegates, wives, chaplains and guests, including Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson and his wife, Dorian, together with representatives from Lithuania and Ukraine, gathered April 22-24 in Łomża, Poland, for the jurisdiction’s sixth state convention. The convention coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Order’s 2006 establishment in Poland, its first international expansion in nearly a century. Located northeast of the capital city of Warsaw, Łomża is one of the original six cities where the first Polish Knights of Columbus councils were founded.

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served as a personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, presided at Mass April 23. Nearly 40 council chaplains concelebrated the Mass, which took place in the 16th-century Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel. Those in attendance made an Act of Consecration to the Holy Family in the presence of the Order’s Holy Family pilgrim icon.

In remarks that evening, the supreme knight expressed his pride in the accomplishments and growth of the Polish jurisdiction, which started a decade ago with several hundred members in six councils and today numbers more than 4,300 members in 88 councils.

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At the invitation of Cardinal Józef Glemp of Warsaw (front), a delegation of Fourth Degree Knights, including then-Supreme Master Joseph P. Schultz (left), participate in a procession at the third National Eucharistic Congress in Warsaw June 2005. • Opposite page: Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, then-archbishop of Kraków, talks with Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson during the October 2004 pilgrimage of the Knights of Columbus Board of Directors to Poland. Cardinals Glemp and Macharski were instrumental in the Order’s expansion to Poland in 2006.

“Ten years ago, we began a journey to make St. John Paul II’s dream come true and bring the Knights of Columbus to his native homeland,” the supreme knight said. “He wanted our model of Catholic brotherhood, united in faithful service to the Church, to take root in Poland.”

Noting that in the past decade the Order in Poland has provided approximately $1 million to charity and more than 450,000 hours of volunteer service, Anderson called Polish Knights “faithful co-workers.” He praised their efforts in defense of human life, such as gathering thousands of signatures for the

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Above: Pope John Paul II blesses an image of Divine Mercy while meeting with Supreme Knight Anderson; the supreme knight’s wife, Dorian; and Dr. Stanisław Grygiel in 2003.

Also pictured is then-Bishop Stanisław Dziwisz. The Divine Mercy image was used in a yearlong K of C prayer program for the pope and all priests.

Left: Members of St. Padre Pio Council 15015 in Starachowice, Poland, are pictured cutting planks of lumber while framing the roof at their new parish rectory in 2011. Knights volunteered several hundred hours to help construct the rectory, focusing specifically on installing floors and the roof.

“One of Us” European Citizens Initiative and hosting the First Congress of European Pro-Life Organizations in Kraków. He also noted that Poland had a higher rate of participation than any other jurisdiction for the Our Lady of Guadalupe pilgrim prayer program from 2011-13.

“I am especially proud that you have reached out to your neighbors to the east and to the north and have assisted our Catholic brothers in Ukraine and Lithuania,” Anderson added.

“These actions testify to the vision of St. John Paul II, who encouraged us all to embrace the common Christian roots of Europe as the best way forward to a future that respects human dignity and authentic national development.”

The supreme knight pointed to Poland’s role as “a light unto the nations” during the 20th century.

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“One place where you can see this vividly is within the Luminous Mysteries Chapel at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington,” he said. “Just a few weeks ago, we dedicated the altar that contains the sacred relics of four Poles — St. Albert Chmielowski, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Paul II. All are tremendous role models for our Order and our society.”

Finally, the supreme knight thanked Polish Knights in advance for the role they will play when Kraków hosts World Youth Day in July.

“The Knights will be there providing volunteers and assistance, and — I’m proud to say — hosting a center for English-language pilgrims,” he said. “What we are planning for World Youth Day will take hard work. And it will not be possible without the commitment of many brother Knights in Poland.”♦

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Clockwise, from top: • Knights from throughout Poland ´ participate in the annual men’s pilgrimage to Piekary Slaskie, Poland, in May 2010. The supreme knight spoke at the event, which drew some 100,000 men from throughout Poland, and the first Third Degree exemplification in Poland took place afterward • A map of Poland shows the locations of the country’s 88 Knights of Columbus councils. • Supreme Knight Anderson and State Deputy Andrzej Anasiak shake hands during the sixth Poland State Convention in Łomza, Poland, April 23. ,

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The Birthplace of the New Evangelization For John Paul II, the faith and struggle of his countrymen in Nowa Huta heralded a new springtime for Christianity

by Krzysztof Mazur

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hen St. John Paul II was canonized April 27, 2014, the walks, brick towers and massive blast furnaces — a symbol of date was meaningful for several reasons. First of all, it the industrial might of the Soviet Union. was the Second Sunday of Easter, which has been recognized The decision to construct Nowa Huta adjacent to the ancient as Divine Mercy Sunday since the Jubilee Year 2000. In his city of Kraków was a deliberate strategy on the part of the comhomily for the Mass for the canonization of St. Faustina munist authorities. For centuries, Kraków had been the intelKowalska, apostle of the message of Divine Mercy and the first lectual and cultural center of Poland, due largely to the presence saint of the new millennium, Pope John Paul II encouraged of the 600-year-old Jagiellonian University. The huge steel mill his listeners to make St. Faustina’s prayer their own: “Jezu ufam was intended to transform this academic city into a prototypical tobie!” (“Jesus, I trust in you!”). city of workers, an embodiment of communist ideology. AcAfter a long period of suffering, the cording to communist propaganda, the Holy Father died in 2005, entrusting residents of Nowa Huta were expected his soul to the Lord on the eve of Dito give up the old Catholic worldview; vine Mercy Sunday. The significance of one post-war newspaper stated that citthis feast for John Paul II is no doubt izens should be “snatched from the AKE THIS STONE part of the reason why Pope Benedict clutches of the clergy” and taught how XVI celebrated his beatification on Dito love communism. Thus would “the BACK TO P OLAND,” vine Mercy Sunday in 2011. new man” be forged.

HE SAID. “M AY THE In 1982, on the first anniversary of Certainly, Nowa Huta was a very the assassination attempt against him, comfortable place to live in those times.

CHURCH OF N OWA John Paul II famously said, “In the deThere was a cinema and theater, as well signs of providence there are no mere as sports clubs, libraries and schools.

HUTA BE BUILT ON IT.” coincidences.” The same could easily be However, one structure was conspicusaid about the date of his canonization, ously absent from the urban plan: a for April 27 was also a date of great imchurch. Despite the fact that the majorportance for John Paul II and the ity of the population consisted of Church in Poland. On this date in 1960, a pivotal incident Catholic peasants from the surrounding villages, it was detook place in the city of Nowa Huta as Karol Wojtyła, then a signed to be “the first communist city without God.” young auxiliary bishop, served in nearby Kraków. For the fuFor many years, residents of Nowa Huta tried to get permisture pope, the events of this day and those that followed would sion to build the church for which they longed. Following come to symbolize the beginning of the new evangelization. what came to be called the political “thaw” of October 1956, the communist authorities finally gave permission to build a COMMUNISM AND THE CROSS place of worship in the city square. Citizens immediately Nowa Huta (literally, “The New Steel Mill”), the easternmost placed a large wooden cross there, and the square became the district of Kraków, was originally constructed as a new city fol- center of the city’s religious life. Regular prayers, as well as oclowing World War II. At the heart of the rapidly developing casional Masses, were organized near the cross. A church, howcity stood the Lenin Steelworks, a grim maze of metal cat- ever, was not built. The citizens struggled for years to obtain

“T

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Photo by Jerzy Ridan/Fotonova/East News

Together with then-Cardinal Wojtyła, workers lay the cornerstone — a stone from the tomb of St. Peter given to the Polish cardinal by Pope Paul VI — for the Lord’s Ark Church in Nowa Huta in 1969. construction permits, until the authorities finally decided that a school would be built in the city square instead. Moreover, it was ordered that the cross be removed.

On the morning of April 27, 1960, a corps of workers guarded by armed officers arrived early in the morning to tear down the Nowa Huta cross. A group of women saw what was happening and equipped themselves with shopping carts, brooms, bricks and bottles. A short time later, when a shift at the steel mill was let out, more than a thousand men started making their way toward the cross carrying shovels, pickaxes and other tools. In a spontaneous act of civil disobedience, 5,000 workers and citizens suddenly gathered in the square.

After several hours, what began as a nonviolent protest devolved into street fight against the militia and the police special forces. Lasting for days, “the defense of the cross” led to bloody repression: A dozen people were killed and hundreds were injured; more than 500 demonstrators were arrested; 87 received prison sentences and many more lost their jobs. The witness of the protest, though, was not in vain, for the cross remained standing over “the city without God.”

BISHOP WOJTYŁA AND THE NEW EVANGELIZATION In “the defense of the cross” in Nowa Huta, a young bishop named Karol Wojtyła played an important role. Just two years earlier, Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak of Kraków had come under fire for recommending Wojtyła as an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. The majority of Kraków priests were critical of the decision because young Father Wojtyła was inexperienced and had no family connections among the elite of Kraków. Archbishop Baziak defended the appointment, arguing that he wanted a bishop “to grind, not for decoration.”

Moreover, Father Wojtyła “had been trained as a worker” and understood the theoretical foundations of communism. Such a man, the archbishop concluded, would be particularly valuable to the Church in Kraków.

Ordained Sept. 28, 1958, Bishop Wojtyła worked in this difficult ministry with great sacrifice. From the beginning, he strongly supported efforts to build a church in Nowa Huta. After the protests in the city square, he protected victims of communist repression and organized open-air midnight Masses under the cross on Christmas Eve — despite the severe Polish winter.

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Pope Paul VI was elected in June 1963 and appointed Wojtyła as the new archbishop of Kraków several weeks after Christmas.

Later, just three days following the closing of the Second Vatican Council in December 1965, the pope presented Archbishop Wojtyła with a stone from the tomb of St. Peter. “Take this stone back to Poland,” he said. “May the church of Nowa Huta be built on it.”

Thanks to the undying perseverance of the city’s Catholics, the first church in Nowa Huta was finally built in 1977. When Cardinal Wojtyła traveled to Rome for the conclave and was elected pope in October 1978, he took with him a piece of the wooden cross of Nowa Huta.

During his first apostolic journey to his homeland in June of the following year, the communist authorities did not permit John Paul II to visit the church in Nowa Huta. Instead, he celebrated Mass at the shrine and medieval Cistercian monastery in Mogiła, a nearby village. Founded in the 13th century, the monastery became famous for housing a relic of the Holy Cross.

In his homily at the shrine June 9, 1979, the pope noted that the history of Nowa Huta has been written “by means of the Cross,” referencing the ancient cross of Mogiła and the contemporary cross in the city. Even amid rapidly changing times and technological advancement, John Paul II explained, “the life of the human spirit, which is expressed by means of the Cross, knows no decline, is always relevant, never grows old.”

He added, “Where the Cross is raised, there is raised the sign that that place has now been reached by the Good News of Man’s salvation through Love. … A new evangelization has begun, as if it were a new proclamation, even if in reality it is the same as ever. The Cross stands high over the revolving world.”

It was perhaps the first time that John Paul II used the expression “new evangelization” — an idea that deeply influenced his pontificate and the universal Church. In fact, he twice repeated the sentiment in his homily at Mogiła, further noting, “From the Cross of Nowa Huta began the new evangelization, the evangelization of the second millennium. This church is a witness and confirmation of it.”

THE WITNESS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE For John Paul II, it seems, the events of Nowa Huta were emblematic of the Church’s task of reintroducing the Gospel in Western societies, especially those that have lost a sense of God 32 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦

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Polish faithful gather at the Nowa Huta cross outside Kraków circa 1960. The large wooden cross was erected in the city square in 1956 and served as a place of worship until a church was finally built. to progressive secularization. Thus, it is no coincidence that divine providence has linked the date of John Paul II’s canonization and the date of “the defense of the cross” in 1960.

As it was in Poland more than five decades ago, the cross today is also, in a sense, being removed from politics, academia, culture, family life and the media as the Christian faith becomes increasingly marginalized. The new evangelization, the “great springtime for Christianity,” therefore, depends on our own reaction to the problems of the contemporary world.

It depends on our willingness to start a personal “defense of the cross” in the places where we live.

In his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, John Paul II stated, “The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission” (42). This witness, he added, involves not only “taking courageous and prophetic stands” in the face of corrupt political powers, but also exercising humility; practicing charity toward the poor, weak and suffering; and “imitating Christ’s own simplicity of life” (43).

This task of the new evangelization, this call to Christian witness, is certainly difficult and demanding. Yet, inspired by St. John Paul II and the men and women of Nowa Huta, we too must have the courage to take up and defend the cross in our society today.♦ KRZYSZTOF MAZUR is a member of Our Lady of Mercy Council 15128 in Kraków.

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K N I G H TS O F C O LU M BU S

Building a better world one council at a time Every day, Knights all over the world are given opportunities to make a difference — whether through community service, raising money or prayer. We celebrate each and every Knight for his strength, his compassion and his dedication to building a better world.

TO

BE FEATURED HERE , SEND YOUR COUNCIL’ S

C OLUMBIA , 1 C OLUMBUS P LAZA , N EW

Students from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks and North Dakota State University in Fargo competed April 30 in an annual 32-mile bike race to raise funds for their respective Newman Centers.

College Knights from both North Dakota State University Council 9126 and Cardinal John Henry Newman Council 10829 at the University of North Dakota participated in the event. Members of Council 9126 (pictured) also held a bike clinic beforehand to make sure things ran smoothly. In total, more than $120,000 was raised to help support the two campus ministries.

“K NIGHTS IN A CTION ” H AVEN , CT 06510-3326

PHOTO AS WELL AS ITS DESCRIPTION TO : OR E - MAIL : COLUMBIA @ KOFC . ORG .

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K E E P T H E FA I T H A L I V E

‘I NEVER KNEW SUCH PEACE EXISTED.’

SISTER GAUDIA SKASS Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy Kraków, Poland

Photo by Tom Serafin

Although my family lived under communism when I was a child, I was blessed to attend strong Catholic parishes. I later entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw to study painting, which was a dream come true. Still, nothing in my life satisfied me completely.

I was seeking to grow closer to God, and I met a very holy Jesuit priest who became my spiritual director and confessor. He helped my spiritual life to grow, and deep inside I felt the call to give my all to Christ. Until this time, I had planned to serve the Church as a layperson, and I was terrified by the idea of leaving my family and my dreams — painting, dancing, having children.

Then a moment came in prayer when, deep in my heart, I simply said to God, “OK, I will do it.” Suddenly, a peace entered my life like I never experienced before. I never knew such peace existed.

I soon finished my studies and my final exhibition, and two weeks later I was at the convent with my suitcase.