Editor’s Corner Newman and Vatican II the passionists
COMPASSION Published Quarterly
Fall, 2010 No. 92
Editor: Paul Zilonka, C.P. Co-Editors: Mary Ann Strain, C.P. Kevin Dance, C.P. Art/Layout: Suzanne Thomas Circulation: James Fitzgerald, C.P. Publisher: Robert Joerger, C.P. Provincial, Eastern Province Internet Edition: www.cptryon.org pzilonka@cpprov. org Photo & Graphics: Sr. Mary Ann Strain, C.P., cover Doris Klein, C.S.A., p. 17 Patricia Tryon Compassion 526 Monastery Place Union City, NJ 07087
Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was a masterful educator, a preacher of great fame and a prolific correspondent in the days before e-mail and instant messaging. The dozens of volumes of sermons, tracts and personal correspondence he left behind bear witness to the seeds of his influence, which flowered in many of the documents of Vatican II. In this issue we highlight the grace-filled meeting of Newman with our own Blessed Dominic Barberi, C.P., Italian missionary to England, who received Newman’s profession of faith in the Roman Catholic Church. Likewise, we learn about the warmth and breadth of Newman’s literary output of theological and personal writings. Their influence on successive generations of believers has given him a rightful claim to the still unofficial title of Doctor of the Church. Newman was the most frequently quoted theologian at the Council which fostered many developments in the twentieth-century Church, such as a renewed understanding of revelation, ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and the apostolic engagement of the laity, especially women. Our writers reflect on some of these developments. Rabbi Abraham Heschel in his words and actions called attention to the compassion of God for our world. Many women experience new opportunities to share their strength and gifts in today’s Church. Newman, having lived until the age of 89 himself, has become an example of the need for the Church to develop new pastoral outreach to its own seniors who suffer the challenging burdens of age that come to believers at that stage in life. May Blessed John Henry Newman inspire all of us by his wisdom and love. Paul Zilonka, C.P. 2
Lead Thou Me On—John Henry Newman and Dominic Barberi
by Paul Francis Spencer, C.P.
“The drawing together of these two holy men will never leave our mind, which will continue to ponder with great hope and prolonged prayer the mysterious meaning of their meeting.”(Pope Paul VI, speaking of John Henry Newman and Dominic Barberi, 1963) We drove out of Oxford on a bright June morning, an Australian Passionist, a young English student (or half-English, as his mother was born in Ireland) and myself. We were heading for John Henry Newman’s chapel at Littlemore where we would celebrate the Eucharist. Father Gary and myself were not the first Passionists to make this short journey. Like others before us, we were following the trail of Blessed Dominic Barberi who had gone there at Newman’s request in October 1845.
Newman was still an Anglican at this stage. He had withdrawn to Littlemore three years earlier when his attempt to reconcile the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles to Catholic Doctrine had been badly received by both Oxford University and the Church of England. During those painful years, he and his closest associates, who together had formed a small Christian community at Littlemore, had cut themselves off from any contact with Catholics. The one exception to this rule was Father Dominic Barberi.
“Let what is past be forgotten!” Even before coming to England, Dominic had reached out in friendship to those he called the ‘Professors of Oxford.’ In a letter passed 3
to Newman by a friend, Dominic had written: “Let what is past be forgotten, so that we may look forward to the future more clearly. Come the day when we may all with one heart and one tongue glorify the Lord.” Contrasting it with the suspicion with which he was viewed by English Catholics, Newman warmed to the humanity of Dominic’s spiritual ecumenism. So it was that, when he learned that Dominic would pass through Oxford on his way to the Passionists’ Chapter in Belgium, he invited him to Littlemore. Blessed Dominic’s journey was made sitting on the roof of a stagecoach, and then the last three miles on foot. Torrential rain meant that when he arrived, he was soaked through. As he stood at an open fire trying to dry out, Newman entered the room, fell to his knees and asked to be received “into the one true fold of the Redeemer.” Dominic would write afterwards to a friend: “What a spectacle to see Newman at my feet.” The next morning he would welcome John Henry Newman and two of his community, Frederick Bowles and Richard Stanton, into the Catholic Church (others from the group had already taken this step) and celebrate the Eucharist in the community’s chapel, using Newman’s writing desk as an altar.
The parish house at Littlemore 4
This moment had been years in preparation. Long before, while meditating in a chapel in his native Italy, Dominic had realized that his vocation was to work for the unity of Christians in England “and the neighboring kingdoms” as the Passionist founder, Saint Paul of the Cross, had prayed. In a letter written to a friend the night Dominic arrived at Littlemore, Newman described him in these words: “He was a poor boy who (I believe) kept sheep near Rome and from his youth his thoughts have been most singularly and distinctly turned to the conversion of England…After waiting near thirty years, suddenly his Superiors sent him to England, without any act of his own.”
Sanctity and bonhomie
As well as keeping sheep, Dominic had also spent several years teaching philosophy and theology in Rome. His published and unpublished works cover many topics in ethics, spirituality, pastoral guidance, philosophy and dogmatic theology, but it was not his scholarship that would endear him to Newman. Writing many years later, Newman could say: “Father Dominic of the Mother of God was a most striking missionary and preacher and he had a great part in my own conversion and in that of others. His very look had a holy aspect which when his figure came in sight in my circle most singularly affected me, and his remarkable bonhomie in the midst of his sanctity was in itself a real holy preaching. No wonder then I became his convert and penitent.”
“Let them go bare-footed”
Newman’s journey to the Cath- Dominic Barberi olic Church had been a painful one. On a visit to Rome twelve years earlier he had written: “A union with Rome, while it is what it is, is impossible; it is a dream.” Later, in a letter to his curate, J.R. Bloxam, he had written these challeng5
ing words: ‘Rome must change first of all in her spirit. We must see more sanctity in her than we do at present. Alas! I see no marks of sanctity, or if any, they are chiefly confined to converts from us… If they want to convert England, let them go barefooted into our manufacturing towns —let them preach to the people like St. Francis Xavier —let them be pelted and trampled on, and I will own that they do what we cannot. I will confess that they are our betters far.”
Blessed Dominic shrine at St. Anne’s Church, Sutton, England These prophetic words of Newman describe accurately the ministry and the trials that Dominic Barberi would know in the industrial towns of England in the 1840s. They underline for us the importance of Dominic’s witness in relation to Newman’s spiritual journey. Dominic’s enthusiasm for preaching the Gospel to the poor, his willingness to suffer ridicule and beatings in the service of Christ, his holy simplicity and warm-hearted cheerfulness showed Newman a side of the Catholic Church that he had earlier searched for in vain: “No wonder then I became his convert and penitent.” The “kindly light” had led John Henry Newman on, and among the “angel faces” had been the smiling face of Dominic Barberi.
Humility and love
And what was Dominic’s opinion of Newman? We find it in a letter he wrote after his arrival in Belgium: “He is reputed to be the most learned ecclesiastic in England. In my judgment he is one of the most humble and loveable men I have met in my life.” Newman had searched for sanctity among the Catholics and had found it in Blessed Dominic; looking into Newman’s heart, Dominic had seen humility and love to equal his own. 6
What Pope Paul VI called “the drawing together of these two holy men” was to have a lasting effect on the life of the Church. Dominic’s ecumenical outreach, which would be built on by his fellow Passionist Ignatius Spencer, was to open Catholics to the importance of praying for Christian Unity. Newman’s fresh approach to theology, rooted in his love for the Fathers of the Church, would prepare the way for the renewal of the Second Vatican Council, during which Dominic was beatified. We may esteem learning, but the world is changed by loving hearts, and it is often the simple and unexpected things that touch a person’s life. On that June morning, as Father Gary, Matthew and I were shown around Littlemore by the sisters of The Work, there were many reminders of Newman’s presence and of his “mysterious meeting” with Dominic in October 1845. However, it was not in the chapel nor in Newman’s room, but in his library that I had my own moment of encounter with the spirit of the place. When the sisters pointed out the writing desk on which Dominic had celebrated the Eucharist for John Henry Newman and his companions, I was, to use Newman’s phrase, “most singularly affected” to see this simple wooden table which had played such a central role in Newman and Dominic’s journey and which was now returned to its usual place. E (Fr. Paul Francis Spencer, C.P. is an author, preacher and currently pastor in Prestonpans, Scotland. He blogs at http://pfcp.wordpress.com. Further information on Blessed Dominic Barberi, as well as his “Letter to the Professors of the University of Oxford” may be found at http://barberi.wordpress.com)
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Heart Speaks to Heart—Newman the Preacher
by Richard Johnson, C.P.
John Henry Newman, priest of the Oratory and Cardinal of the Church, was admittedly the finest apologist for the Catholic faith in the nineteenth century. His beatification will undoubtedly bring a new focus on his life, his many books, his beautiful sermons, and volumes of letters recently published. What will shine forth, besides his eminent sanctity, despite many frustrations and misunderstandings in his attempts to rekindle the Catholic faith in Victorian England, will be his advocacy for the laity. He was at his best in quietly directing them to return to their Catholicism, which in England had been suppressed and nearly obliterated for three hundred years. He directed many converts to the one true faith by personal instruction and by writing hundreds of letters over his long and eventful life. Newman’s own conversion from Anglicanism, after being the leading light of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England, took place on October 9, 1845. He was then a mature forty-four years old. Ever after he wrote and spoke beautifully of his warm affection and admiration for Blessed Dominic Barberi. Newman lived as a layman for two years before going to Rome for further study. While there he very humbly and dutifully attended classes with young seminarians when he surely could have conducted the courses himself. After ordination as a Catholic priest, he founded the Oratorians of St. Philip Neri in England with his young congregation of fellow converts who also became priests and brothers.
A cloud lifts at age 78 Newman from time to time found himself embroiled in certain difficulties even with the new English Catholic hierarchy, Vatican functionaries, and other English Catholics. He was often misunderstood and thwarted in many projects and endeavors. Little wonder that Newman went about his business feeling under a cloud which would not be lifted until he was made Cardinal in 1879 by the new Pope, Leo XIII. This new Holy Father called Newman “My very own Cardinal,” and had him first in mind for elevation after his own election as a sign of the new era for the Church, rising again from the ashes, an oft recurring theme of Newman’s writings. 8
Newman’s long and holy life makes fascinating reading in the various lives written by Ian Ker, Sheridan Gilley, Meriol Trevor, Maisie Ward, Wilfrid Ward, Newman’s own Apologia and many other shorter works.
“Never enough of Newman” Newman will probably be best known today from his sermons, which he wrote and delivered in the thousands. The Newman scholars’ maxim, “Never enough of Newman” holds true today. Readers are sure to find hidden treasures in everything he wrote. As always, the beauty of his prose carries the reader into the deep riches of his mind. I know of no other saint who had saved his lifelong letters and diaries. They were published in recent years in some thirty volumes! His sermon, “The Second Spring,” on the restoration of
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the English hierarchy in 1850 is recognized as the most beautiful and famous sermon in the English language. Every Catholic college student should have as required reading, The Idea of a University, which Newman gave as lectures at the Dublin Catholic University which he founded.
Philosophy, novels and poetry Newman wrote at his best when writing for a cause, a distinct need. This verve gives his writings even now an up-to-date ring to them. Avid readers of Newman will have enjoyed his philosophical A Grammar of Assent and especially the history of his own religious development in the Apologia pro Vita Sua. For readers who may find Newman’s writings on education, religious controversy, philosophy and theology a bit heady, he also wrote two novels. Callista is a masterful tale of the Church in the third century. His second novel, Loss and Gain, is a groundbreaking story about Newman’s own Oxford University he knew so well before his turn to Catholicism. Written during his time in Rome, while waiting for an approval of his new English Oratory, some find Loss and Gain mildly autobiographical. Another side of Newman’s marvelous intellect can be seen in his poetic flair found in his Verses on Various Occasions. His long poem “The Dream of Gerontius,” is well known from Elgar’s musical version and in other great Catholic hymns. Also, my well- worn copy from many owners of Meditations and Devotions certainly now deserves a reprint.
Foresaw the Age of the Laity In Newman’s life as a Catholic priest, he counted among his friends many younger priests, bishops and a Cardinal or two. Yet he seemed to have a greater closeness to his lay friends and disciples and felt right at home with most of them. Newman knew that the age of the laity would come about in the Church. Among the lay folk that Newman knew and directed to the faith were many prominent women. Newman himself had three younger sisters. He was the oldest of six children, with two younger brothers. With the three young women in his immediate family he also got to know their friends, and ever after had a great empathy toward women and their view of things. Newman loved his sisters dearly and in an age when women were barred from any formal schooling he himself saw to it that his sisters were attuned to his 10
own university studies, and suggested appropriate readings and home projects for them. It was a great sorrow for Newman that by his conversion he lost a number of his closest friends and family who did not follow his lead into the Catholic faith. As all of us, he had to follow steadfastly his own lights. Even though Newman’s most famous poem “Lead Kindly Light” was written sometime before his conversion I wonder if the last line of that poem didn’t somehow presage his own consolation that “with the morn those angel faces smile which I have loved long since and lost awhile.”
Life at age 89
It is indeed inspiring to know of young saints and martyrs truly heroic in their youthful enthusiasm. But in our own day and age, when so many are living longer and are having to cope with daily trials, Cardinal Newman, who lived to be eighty-nine, is truly an inspiration. In the pictures that we have of him in his final years, there is patience and calmness in his face, along with the sagging lines of age. He is a man who has gone through much sadness and pain. However in the battles of life, he won! Now, his beatification tells us that he still speaks not only to the aging, but also to all the troubled hearts and perhaps doubting minds of many modern-day lapsed Catholics. Newman had taken as his motto for his cardinal’s coat of arms, Cor ad cor loquitur, to aptly sum up his preaching apostolate: “Heart speaks to heart.” He always spoke heart-to-heart to all who heard him, a true reflection of the ever living and loving heart of God. All of his work was perfectly attuned to each varied group of hearers. Let this little essay on the vast outpouring of God’s gift to us all in the life and work of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman close with a part of his remarks, not too long before his death, to his beloved Oratory in Birmingham, England. “You ask for my blessing, and I bless you with all my heart, as I desire to be blessed myself. Each one of us has his own individuality, his separate history, his antecedents and his future, his duties, his responsibilities, his solemn trial and his eternity. May God’s grace, His love, His peace rest on all of you.” E (Fr. Richard Johnson, C.P., Ph.D. completed his doctoral studies in 2001 on the Catholic Sermons of Newman and the New Evangelization stemming from Vatican II.) 11
Newman’s Words God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me, which He has not committed to another. I have my mission – I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his – if indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling. Therefore, I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about. (Meditations and Devotions)
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Abraham Heschel and the God of Pathos
by Gus Parlavechio, C.P.
“God is the most moved mover; a God of great Pathos who weeps when people suffer, is angered when they mistreat one another and gladdened when they pursue the right and the good.” Those words of Rabbi Abraham Heschel were the beginning of my interest in the religious thought and spirituality of this man. Born in Warsaw in 1907, Abraham Heschel’s initial education followed the traditional study of the Bible, Talmud (an interpretation of the Bible) and Jewish mysticism. His higher education took place in Vilna and Berlin, and he was ordained a Rabbi in 1934. In 1939 he was invited to join the faculty of the The Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati by the president of that institution who was making a concerted effort to ‘rescue’ as many European Jewish scholars as possible from the encroaching Nazis. In 1939, just six weeks before the invasion of Poland, Heschel was granted a visa to England and in a month’s time arrived in Cincinnati. After five years, he joined the faculty of the The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he remained until his death in 1972.
An insistent bell ringing His doctoral dissertation on the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible was published in 1935 in Poland. It was the genesis of his understanding of a “God of Pathos.” This theme then re-echoes in his writing and lectures—almost like the insistent ringing of a bell. While classical theological and philosophical thinkers such as the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides and the Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas do not deny that God has concern for creation, they were not convinced that God is concerned to the point of being affected. Heschel understood that ancient Israel’s prophets were not seers or doomsayers, but rather witnesses to God’s concern for humankind – graced with the ability to experience the anguish of God in response to human suffering. Heschel wrote, “There are no proofs for the God of Abraham, there are only witnesses. The greatness of the Prophet lies not only in the ideas he expressed but also in the moments he experienced. The Prophet is a witness and his words a testimony.” 13
God’s pathos means that God is never neutral. God’s pathos means that God is involved in history and is affected by events. This view of God’s passionate relationship with humankind is based on prophetic utterances. God’s intervention in history in real events such as the Exodus from Egypt, the return from the Babylonian Captivity, and the promise of a Messiah all point to God’s ultimate concern for his creation. For Abraham Heschel, religion is not what humankind does for God - but rather what humankind does with God’s concern for them—God’s concern for justice, compassion, and the elimination of oppression. His lifelong study of the prophets and his understanding of a God of pathos, a God concerned with and affected by issues of justice, compassion and oppression, profoundly influenced his life, particularly his stance on prejudice. Having experienced firsthand the prejudice that plagued the Jews in Europe, and always aware that he just barely escaped the horror of the holocaust in which his mother and three sisters were killed, Heschel took a public stand on issues of race.
Protest and prayer In 1963 he was invited to deliver the keynote address at the National Conference on Religion and Race where he met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time. Abraham Heschel was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. He not only wrote and spoke in favor of the movement. He also participated in Civil Rights Marches – the most notable being the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. When he returned from that event, he wrote to his daughter Suzannah, “For many of us, the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.” What a marvelous, insightful concept! Heschel was also active in his opposition to the war in Vietnam. He was often criticized and called to task by those who believed that religious leaders should stay out of politics. At these times, he would point out that the prophets themselves were involved in politics when justice and compassion were being violated. He was quoted as saying, “I learned from the prophets that I have to be involved in the affairs of humankind—the affairs of suffering humankind.” 14
The imperative to action Supporting the Civil Rights Movement and opposing the Vietnam War were for him good deeds, which he considered a part of religious living. He realized that sometimes a well-thought stance or action might meet with resistance, as the prophets met with re-
Rabbi Abraham Heschel sistance. Whatever one’s personal stance on the war, my purpose here is to demonstrate that Abraham Heschel took very serious the imperative to action, which he considered a component of good religious living.
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In addition to his teaching and his activism, his input was also sought out as the American Jewish Committee worked on proposals on Catholic-Jewish relations to be presented to the Second Vatican Council. Many of his suggestions were incorporated into the Council’s documents. He firmly believed that any religious tradition that cultivates disgust for violence, cultivates sensitivity to suffering, and cultivates a love for peace is a valid pathway to God. Creeds and ritual may be different but all are united in faith in the living God. Although staunch in his own religious practice, he never implied that the Jewish people are the only vehicle of God’s revelation. Abraham Heschel was a witness to the God of Pathos, the God who looks at the world and all in it and is affected by what is there. Humankind’s relationship with God is rooted in God’s care – God’s pathos. He was convinced that each believer was to be a partner with God in restoring wholeness to creation. No deed or action was too small or insignificant.
A meaning beyond absurdity Carl Stern of NBC television recorded an hour-long interview with Dr. Heschel just thirteen days before Heschel’s death on December 23, 1972. At the end of the interview, Stern asked his guest if he had any words he would like to address to young people. Heschel said, “…Remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity... be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power and that we can, everyone, do our share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and all the frustrations and all disappointments. And, above all, remember that the meaning of life is to build a life as if it were a work of art…start working on this great work of art called your own existence…” May Abraham Joshua Heschel’s insights and religious thought help all of us to build our lives into works of art that give testimony to the One God who cares for us, suffers with us and rejoices with us. E (Brother Gus Parlavechio, C.P. serves in ministry at the Passionist Spiritual Center in the Riverdale section of New York City.)
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Strong Enough to Bend
by Mary Kay Burberry
The class was a fair mix of men and women. For the last three days we had been centering our discussions on spirituality and the presence of God in this world. The afternoon would bring a new experience in which our spirituality would be revealed and celebrated. The instructor assigned a task. Read a scripture passage and reflect on that passage in terms of how it affects you and how it applies to life in this world. This class would be different from our other discussions, however, in that we would be segregated by gender. The women would reflect upon the story of the woman bent over by illness in Luke 13:10-17 while the men would focus on the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10. The women were excited and a little apprehensive about working together. Some thought there might be control issues to deal with but most saw our group as an opportunity to pick apart this story as only a woman could. It would be an adventure.
Is she one of us? We were instructed to read the passage with as many different translations of the Bible as we had. Luckily for us, there were four separate translations in our group. Four times, we heard about the woman bent over for eighteen years—a lifetime back then, and a good start on one now. Four times we heard how she stood stooped in the
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corner of the synagogue unable to stand erect. She had to be uncomfortable. The pain must have been constant. Four times, we heard her rejoice to God for the touch of Jesus’ hand. Four times we heard the accusations of the chief of the synagogue condemning Jesus’ actions and then Jesus rebuking the hypocrisy which would help an animal but forbid the healing of this woman afflicted for almost two decades. Four times we heard Jesus call this bent woman a daughter of Abraham. The more we read the story, the more familiar we became with this woman. Wasn’t she someone we knew? Could it be one of us? Each person was allowed one observation about the story. Only after everyone had spoken their piece could you jump in with additional comments. No criticism was allowed. No answer was to be considered definitive. This was our opportunity, and we were not going to allow anyone to interfere with our delicious savoring of the story of this poor bent woman. She was becoming one of us as we were becoming her. We were formed in a circle so that we could see each other from every angle. We sat for one moment in silence not knowing where to begin or exactly if we should, wondering if we had it right, each waiting upon the other. It was a sacred silence.
“I’ll start!” And then one voice broke the silence. She was calling us all to prayer and contemplation by announcing, “I’ll start.” We all began then and the responses circled the group like they would never end. We were ready to burst with what we had to say, each holding dear the little bit that had to be said, hoping that someone else would not speak it first and take away the thrill of revelation. There were fifteen women in our group. Many were from religious orders and others were lay ministers working towards a higher degree. We were young and old, experienced and fresh. The energy could have lit up a city block and then some. The intensity of the quietest of responses was an earthquake of the highest magnitude. The story was weaving itself into our very nature and bonding us together in its truth and simplicity. As each of us peeled away layer upon layer of the story, we were not just revealing the message of Jesus Christ but we were revealing ourselves as women of the Church.
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Silent hardship All of us had worked with children. All of us had bent our backs nurturing and caring for our families, friends and our parishes. One of the sisters mentioned how in her country the women, at the end of their lives, are bent over from working a lifetime in the rice paddies. It is a story of hardship borne in silence. It is a human story, the story of a woman’s relationship with God that surpassed the pain and humiliation of her stature in that long ago society. There is a presence around her that disturbs her enough to move her to that holy place. There is her relationship with God that transcends the hardships of her world. It goes beyond the words and the practices of a culture. This bent woman has a relationship with God that lifts her up in praise of all that is holy.
The celebration pin The women in our circle connected with the relationship of this woman to God through Jesus – her pain, her joy, her faith. We recognized her in our lives. Many of us voiced the truth that, in our own Church we also were bent women. One of the women had designed a pin and painting for another class that showed women in celebration. They were dancing with their arms stretched to the heavens. They were jumping for joy. It was a sign for us of the rightness of what we were saying that day. It moved us deeply. As all the men and women resumed their seats, one of the women volunteered to read our Gospel story but soon paused. We all inhaled, our eyes brimming with tears. We looked away. We had not realized how deeply this bent-over woman had touched our 19
hearts, how powerful the story had become in our reflection until we shared it again with both the men and the women. We knew her pain, her life and her desires. We lived that story. We were there!
We listened to the story with a different understanding this time. We were not hiding our connection to this sister of the Church, and when she raised her eyes to the heavens, and straightened her back to leap for joy, praising her God, we were laughing and crying all at once! We rejoiced with her and praised God not only for her salvation but also for ours.
Women share their talents generously in Church ministry today.
Regal endurance The Holy Spirit had woven a connection among us. There would be a connection for all of us to that bent woman for the rest of our lives. How well she praised God! How loyal and steadfast her commitment! How regal her endurance! This daughter of Abraham made us realize that we too were daughters of Abraham worthy of all that God bestows on this earth and the next. Despite the fact that two thousand years separated us, the woman had taught us a lesson of how to live in this world with God, despite hardships, despite cultural differences, and despite the way that religion might not always affirm us. The bent woman demonstrates great virtue in the face of a disability, which demeans her status, yet her faith in God and in her spirit never waivers. She is a source of strength for all women and for women in the Church today. E (Mary Kay Burberry is Director of Religious Education for St. Francis of Assisi parish in Orland Park, Illinois.) 20
Ministry to Seniors
by Charles Dougherty, C.P. The pastoral care of the senior members of our parish communities has become a priority in recent decades. Indeed, in some parish communities the membership is predominantly older. These men and women of strong faith over the years have given their Time, Talent, and Treasure for the support of the Church, local and universal. For many years, they have persevered through many changes, uncertainties and even scandal, and still have remained faithful. These are the people who can be forgotten and lost in the shuffle as they become homebound, or move to senior residences, assisted-living situations, nursing homes and other institutional circumstances. They deserve the very best of pastoral care as they face the challenges of aging with its limitations and, sometimes, financial uncertainties.
Stories of faith
For the last four years, I have devoted my ministry to the care of seniors. Once I could never imagine what a blessing would come from this ministry as people tell their stories and share their faith experience. One such experience for me came one afternoon as I stood at the bedside of a dying man. As I had entered the room, I noticed a statue of Mother Cabrini. I asked the family about the patient’s devotion and was told that as an infant, he was critically ill. He was born in Chicago in Cabrini Hospital. As it happened, Mother Cabrini was in the hospital herself at the time and heard of the critical condition of this infant. She went to the nursery, took 21
the child in her arms and prayed. He recovered and lived for 95 years. It brought chills to me as I heard that story of faith. Believe me, there are hundreds of stories just waiting to be told if there is someone to listen. In writing this article, I reflected on the brief preparation I had received for this ministry during my seminary education. I never realized that my deeper understanding would come from the last few years of caring for my mother while she was in a nursing home. The first Christmas my mother was there, I was sitting in a large auditorium with her in her wheelchair and other residents, about one hundred in all, singing Christmas carols. I thought to myself, “God, what a sense of humor you have, and you teach us in all ways and circumstances.� That would be the beginning of my continuing education.
My Mother taught me When one year turned into two, then almost three, my mother taught me what it was like to be in such circumstances: loneliness, depression, failing health, and loss of independence, just to mention a few of the burdens. Little did I know then how she was preparing me for my present ministry. My mother was also very clear about what it meant to her to be in a Catholic institution. Her faith was everything to her. It was her strength. The regular celebration of Mass as well as the Anointing of the Sick, Confession, devotional prayers, and the rosary sustained her until the end of her life. At present, I have the responsibility for visitation of our parishioners in the hospital, and celebration of the Sacraments in four nursing facilities that are under the pastoral care of the parish. Mass is celebrated in each facility at least once a month. The Sacrament of the Sick is celebrated on a monthly basis as well as the distribution of the Eucharist weekly and the recitation of the rosary. 22
Parish teamwork is best The ministry to seniors is most effective when it is carried out by a parish team. Parishioners who have been competently trained and are aware of the psychology of aging, as well as sharing a deep love of prayer and the Sacraments are essential.
I would like to share with you the structure of our pastoral ministry for seniors here at John XXIII Catholic Community. Our teams are divided into three groups: Companions, Ministers and Angels.
The Companions are those companioned with someone who is homebound, and journey with them through regular visits. The Ministers bring the Eucharist on a weekly basis to those in the nursing homes and other institutions. The Angels accompany the priest when and where he celebrates Mass for those who now live in institutions. The Angels also create and distribute little gifts each month to commemorate a special event, such as springtime, Easter, etc. This team approach has been most helpful and meaningful both to the seniors and to the parishioners who minister to them.
Celebrating the Sacrament: Anointing of the Sick Lord God, you have said to us through your apostle James: “Are there people sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the Church, and let the priests pray over them, anointing them with oil, in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and if they have committed any sin, their sins will be forgiven them.� The introduction to the Rite of the Anointing of the Sick, and the Celebration of the Sacrament itself, serve as the most important cornerstones of ministry to the senior members of our community. These men and women come from a long history of Catholic faith instilled in them by their families, their religious education and from the ethnic customs of their family origins. It always amazes me how strong the lives of these people are and how dedicated they are to their Church. We owe them the very best in spiritual care as they continue on their life journey. In my experience of ministry to seniors, visiting the sick and those who are dying at home, in hospitals, and in other institutions, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is at the very center of the care we offer. This Sacrament is such a source of grace, compassion and peace. 23
Ongoing education It is important to have an ongoing catechesis of this Sacrament in order to help people understand the scope, the benefit, and effect of celebrating the Sacrament of the Sick on a regular basis. The challenge often is to get beyond the “Last Rites” mentality and help people to see the value of the Sacrament of the Anointing as they encounter the effects of sickness and the aging process, and also to help them realize they are not on the journey alone. Scripture encourages us: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind…There was no needy person among them.” (Acts 5:32-35) And that passage reminds all of us of what Christ says in the parable of the Last Judgment. “When you have done it to one of my sisters or brothers, you have done it also to me.” E (Fr. Charles Dougherty, C.P. serves in pastoral ministry at John XXIII Catholic Community in Albuquerque, New Mexico.)
Poem contributed and artwork by Dennis Lennon, Angola, La.
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