Sharing the spirit of St. Francis with the world VOL. 128/NO. 7 • FEBRUARY 2021 • PUBLISHED BY FRANCISCAN MEDIA
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Fiction: Pendulum page 40
DEACON ART MILLER
A CATHOLIC RESPONSE TO RACISM
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THE DUST OF ASH WEDNESDAY BEHOLD, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST THE AVILAS OF CLEVELAND
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VOL. 128 N O. 7
FEBRUARY
20/21 2021
22 22 A Catholic Response to Racism
COVER STORY
ABOVE and COVER: For decades, Deacon Art Miller has advocated for justice and racial equality.
Story by Susan Hines-Brigger; photography by Seshu Badrinath
No more documents. No more commissions. Deacon Art Miller says what the Church needs to do to confront racism is to act.
18 Dust to Dust
By Mary Ann Steutermann
More than simply a call to give up creature comforts, Lent invites us to confront our vulnerability and embrace our brokenness.
28 Behold, the Blood of Christ
young men discerning a call to priesthood. The Avilas do that and more—and it works.
40 Fiction: Pendulum
Story by Jim Auer; illustration by Jianan Liu
Waiting for rescue, an accident victim hovers between despair and hope.
COVER AND ABOVE: SESHU PHOTOGRAPHY
By Mary Sharon Moore
Transcendence is found in the ordinary procedure of a blood draw.
31 The Avilas of Cleveland: Seeking Laborers for the Harvest By Jerri Donohue
COMING NEXT
ISSUE
An article on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and its mission to serve the needy and break the cycle of poverty
It’s one thing to say you’ll pray for vocations. It’s another to commit to a weekly Holy Hour devoted to StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 1
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Saint Day
T
he saints were real people with real stories—just like us! Their surrender to God’s love was so gen-
erous that the Church recognizes them as heroes and
of the
heroines worthy to be held up for our inspiration. Join Franciscan Media in our daily celebration of these holy men and women of God. Sign up for Saint of the Day, a free resource delivered right to your in-box.
Our Lady of Lourdes February 11 Devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes runs deep in the hearts of the faithful the world over as a sign of God’s care and healing. The mediation of Mary, his mother, is a real consolation to those who suffer any ill.
St. Giles Mary of St. Joseph
Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto
St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
February 13 Simple, humble persons can sometimes be powerful in their effect on and work with the people of God. St. Giles Mary of St. Joseph was such a man. St. Giles was loved on the streets of Naples for his goodness born of prayer.
February 20 Two young children who died early in life, Jacinta and Francisco Marto gained the attention of the Church and world when Mary appeared to them at Fatima. Without being martyred, they became witnesses and messengers of God’s goodness.
February 27 Disappointments and suffering seem to have defined the life of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. But undeterred by whatever happened, Gabriel kept his focus and lived life well—so well that he was an example to both young and old.
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Saints featured in the month of February include . . .
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VOL. 128 N O. 7
“We must hate our lower nature with its vices and sins; by living a worldly life, it would deprive us of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of eternal life.”
FEBRUARY
2021
ALL IMAGES FALL UNDER PUBLIC DOMAIN USAGE RIGHTS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED; FAR LEFT: COURTESY OF DENNIS JARVIS
—St. Francis of Assisi
SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS 10 Ask a Franciscan
14 POINTS OF VIEW
15
15 Editorial | Pat McCloskey, OFM
What Did Jesus Mean by ‘Poor in Spirit’?
We Can Change History
12 Followers of St. Francis
16 At Home on Earth | Kyle Kramer
14 Franciscan World
44 Faith & Family | Susan Hines-Brigger
Gary Paul Nabhan
Repairers of the Breach
Felician Sisters of North America
What Does a Family Look Like?
14 St. Anthony Stories
A Name She’ll Always Remember
CULTURE
36 Media Reviews
37 38 Film Reviews
YouTube | Special Books by Special Kids
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Streaming | The Social Dilemma
Pieces of a Woman
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 Dear Reader 5 Your Voice 6 Church in the News
46
45 Pete & Repeat 46 Let Us Pray 48 Reflection
Minari StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 3
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dear reader Let Us Pray
PUBLISHER
W
hen asked once how important prayer is in our daily lives, Pope Francis’ message was short but emphatic: “How powerful it is! May we never lose the courage to say, ‘Lord, give us your peace.’” We agree—and so does science. Studies show that prayer can regulate our heart rates, lighten our moods, and increase our life spans. Even more importantly, prayer and meditation can bring us to a place of authentic peace. And considering what we endured in 2020, peace of mind has been elusive. We at St. Anthony Messenger would like to remedy that. Starting with this issue, we’re launching a new column called “Let Us Pray.” Four authors will take turns writing it month to month. They offer a variety of voices and life experiences, but their core mission with this column is the same: to share their experiences with prayer so that we, too, may deepen our own prayer lives. In fact, Deacon Art Miller, whose profile you’ll find on page 22, is one of the featured authors of this column. We hope that “Let Us Pray”—indeed, everything you read in these pages— will bring you peace.
Daniel Kroger, OFM PRESIDENT
Kelly McCracken EXECUTIVE EDITORS
Christopher Heffron Susan Hines-Brigger
FRANCISCAN EDITOR
Pat McCloskey, OFM ART DIRECTOR
Mary Catherine Kozusko MANAGING EDITOR
Daniel Imwalle
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Sandy Howison
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Sharon Lape
Christopher Heffron, Executive Editor
DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
Ray Taylor
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EP GRAPHICS Berne, IN
photographer
COVER AND PAGE 22
Seshu (pronounced say-shoe) creates intimate, sentimental, and playful photographs for a select number of portrait clients in Connecticut and beyond. He believes photographs displayed prominently at home have the potential to prime emotions and recharge relationships. You can learn more about his work at SeshuPhotography.com.
JIANAN LIU
MARY SHARON MOORE
PAGE 40
PAGE 28
Born in China, Jianan grew up in Beijing. She later moved to the United States to continue her pursuits in art. It is the hope of this artist that her portfolio prompts a thoughtful response from the reader. She now makes her home in Baltimore. You can view her artwork at JiananLiu.com.
Mary Sharon Moore is an evangelizing storyteller, writer, and speaker whose works encourage laity to be the public face of Christ. Her joy is to awaken audiences to the power of their anointing in the Holy Spirit for the good of the world they touch. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.
illustrator Pendulum
writer Behold, the Blood of Christ
To subscribe, write to the above address or call 866-543-6870. Yearly subscription price: $39.00 in the United States; $69.00 in Canada and other countries. Single copy price: $4.99. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. See FranciscanMedia.org/subscriptionservices for information on your digital edition. Writer’s guidelines can be found at FranciscanMedia.org/ writers-guide. The publishers are not responsible for manuscripts or photos lost or damaged in transit. Names in fiction do not refer to living or dead persons. Member of the Catholic Press Association Published with ecclesiastical approval Copyright ©2021. All rights reserved.
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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 128, Number 7, is published 10 times per year for $39.00 a year by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-6498. Phone 513-241-5615. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional entry offices. US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, PO Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8.
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POINTSOFVIEW | YOUR VOICE God Bless Those on the Front Lines
In the December/January issue of St. Anthony Messenger, Rita E. Piro’s article on the healthcare workers in New York City (“Health-Care Heroes: New York City Nurses”) was especially impactful. I am in awe of the bravery and resilience of those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, so many doctors, nurses, and others in health care work tirelessly to save lives, despite the real danger of contracting the virus. Along with the harrowing stories of the two nurses in the article, I also enjoyed reading about Sister Preenika Dabrera, CSJ, who works as a pastoral care minister. It’s so important to minister to those facing health crises, and it speaks to our faith to treat not only the bodies but the souls of patients. Jean Campbell, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Morality and Politics
.S.P.S. TION ed 10 Friars Street, 5615. addiddress ngers, AIM, 8.
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I’m writing in response to the letter by Michael Martin that appeared in the December/January issue of St. Anthony Messenger (“Politics an Unwelcome Addition”), which advocates separating the Catholic faith from politics. Jesus was a political figure when he, as a Jew, preached the heavenly kingdom circa 27–37. He was not politically acceptable to the ruling Roman Empire and its local governor, Pontius Pilate. If any voting group happens to be led by a person who, in his or her official capacity, uses lies or personal vindictiveness to achieve political goals in the name of the electorate, I believe the Catholic leadership has a moral responsibility to speak factual truth to that political voice or force. To be silent indirectly confirms the Church’s approval of that immoral behavior. The Church need not judge the person, but rather the behavior or overt political action(s). Catholic comment need not be political in the sense of “red” versus “blue.” However, I believe we should speak up for morality in politics, as in every other criteria of life.
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James Beck Sr., Sarasota, Florida
November Issue Inclusive
I’m writing in regard to the November issue of St. Anthony Messenger. Congratulations! This issue was addressed to everyone, and it
stands on its merits. Well done! Art Thell, St. Paul, Minnesota
Stories Worth Sharing
In the November issue of your informative and very interesting magazine, there are many articles that prompted me to write to let you know how much I enjoy St. Anthony Messenger. Upon receiving my copy of the magazine, I usually read it from the beginning to the end. When I am finished, I pass it on to my daughter, then to a friend who lives in a convalescent home. They look forward to each issue as much as I enjoy sharing it. Keep up the great work! Linda Bettencourt, New London, Connecticut
A Wake-Up Call
I’d like to offer a hearty “amen” to Patrick Carolan’s October I’d Like to Say column, titled “Don’t Be a Single-Issue Voter.” Many Catholics/Christians vote for candidates who claim (often falsely) to be “against abortion.” Before we citizens cast our votes in future elections, we should read Matthew 7:15–16: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Greg Mauz, Christoval, Texas
Joy and Courage in Your Pages
St. Anthony Messenger is a joy to read each month. Three recent columns have had particular resonance for me. Patrick Carolan’s “COVID-19 Can Lead Us to a Better World” in the September issue was enlightening and refreshing. Indeed, we should throw away the theology of substitutionary atonement. As one who deals with anxiety, I found Susan Hines-Brigger’s “A Tale of Chronic Anxiety,” also in the September issue, to be very brave and helpful. I’m sure that many readers, myself included, were able to relate to Kyle Kramer’s At Home on Earth column in November (“Battling the Darkness”). What a courageous piece! To his excellent poetry suggestions, I would add Wendell Berry’s “To Know the Dark.” Thank you! Joan R. Halpin, Madison, Wisconsin
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church IN THE NEWS
people | events | trends
CHURCH LEADERS RESPOND TO BIDEN ELECTION
By Susan Hines-Brigger
climate change, and welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into our communities.” At their general meeting later that month, the US bishops established a working group to address issues relating to the election of a Catholic president and policies of the administration that would conflict with Catholic teaching and the bishops’ priorities. The group will be headed by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, vice president of the conference. It will include conference committee chairmen in areas where disagreement is expected between the Church and the Biden administration.
REPORT RELEASED ON HANDLING OF ABUSE BY MCCARRICK Pope Francis greets Joe Biden at the Vatican in April 2016. Biden is the second Catholic to be elected president of the United States. The US bishops plan to address policies of Biden’s administration that conflict with Catholic teaching.
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St. John Paul II embraces Theodore McCarrick. A recent report about McCarrick’s sexual misconduct detailed failures by Church leaders in addressing incidents of the abuse.
n November 10, the Vatican released a 460-page report on Theodore McCarrick, detailing how Church leaders failed to believe and take action on allegations about sexual misconduct by him, reported CNS. The “Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick” describes the two-year investigation that led to the report’s compilation and gave an “executive summary” of its findings. The report, which was prepared by the Secretariat of State by mandate of Pope Francis, details the Church’s knowledge, decision-making, and investigation related to McCarrick from the years 1930 to 2017. The report is based on documents found at the Vatican and the apostolic nunciature in the United States as well as interviews—“ranging in length from one to 30 hours”—with more than 90 witnesses in the United States, Italy, and elsewhere. Those interviewed included survivors, Pope Francis, retired Pope Benedict XVI, cardinals, bishops, former seminarians, and a mother who was shocked by McCarrick’s behavior with her sons. In June 2018, the Vatican suspended McCarrick from
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CNS PHOTOS: TOP: TOM TRACY; BOTTOM: COURTESY OF M. LUBINSKI/IRAQ/USA/CREATIVE COMMONS
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CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/PAUL HARING; RIGHT: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/ARTURO MARI
ollowing the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States last November, then Cardinal-elect Wilton Gregory of Washington, DC, expressed hopes for collaboration with the new administration while also respectfully pointing out where Biden’s policies diverge from Catholic teaching, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). Biden is the second Catholic to be elected president, with John F. Kennedy being the first. During a November 24 Zoom interview, Cardinal-elect Gregory said he would not prevent the new president, who goes to Mass every Sunday, from receiving Communion in the archdiocese. He said that for eight years as vice president, Biden went to Mass and received Communion. “I’m not going to veer from that,” the cardinal-elect said. “The kind of relationship that I hope we will have is a conversational relationship where we can discover areas where we can cooperate that reflect the social teachings of the Church, knowing full well that there are some areas where we won’t agree,” Cardinal-elect Gregory said. “They are areas where the Church’s position is very clear,” particularly its opposition to the president-elect’s support for legal abortion. In deciding when to collaborate and when to criticize, he said: “I hope that I don’t highlight one over the other. I hope it’s a real dialogue, because I think that’s the mantra of Pope Francis—that we should be a Church in dialogue, even with those with whom we have some serious disagreements.” On November 12, Pope Francis called Biden to offer his congratulations. According to a press release from the Biden transition team, during the call Biden expressed his desire “to work together on the basis of a shared belief in the dignity and equality of all humankind on issues such as caring for the marginalized and the poor, addressing the crisis of
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: TOM TRACY; BOTTOM: COURTESY OF M. LUBINSKI/IRAQ/USA/CREATIVE COMMONS
CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/PAUL HARING; RIGHT: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/ARTURO MARI
ministry after an investigation by the Archdiocese of New York found credible a charge that he sexually abused a teenager. McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in July, and in February 2019, after a canonical process found McCarrick guilty of “solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power,” Pope Francis dismissed him from the priesthood. Following the release of the report, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement saying, “We are studying these findings, and we are grateful to our Holy Father Pope Francis for his pastoral concern for the family of God in the United States and his leadership in calling the Church to greater accountability and transparency in addressing issues of abuse and the mishandling of abuse claims at every level.” A month after the report was released, a panel of academics gathered for a dialogue at the event “The McCarrick Report: Findings, Lessons, and Directions.” During the event, participants discussed the many different things they felt contributed to the situation such as a “hyperclerical culture,” a lack of knowledge, and money. The full report is available on the Vatican’s website (vatican.va).
BISHOPS ADDRESS VACCINE CONCERNS
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ith the start of distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, two US bishops addressed issues surrounding the development of the vaccines, reported CNS. While they said the vaccines do raise some concerns, receiving one is considered an act of charity and is, therefore, fine to get. On December 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement explaining the Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami receives the moral considerations regarding the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in December at vaccines. St. John’s Nursing Center for Care & Rehab in Fort The concerns stem from the Lauderdale, Florida. fact that the three vaccines that appear to be ready for distribution in the United States—Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca—all have some connection to cell lines that originated with tissue taken from abortions. However, they said, “In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines, the reasons to accept the new COVID19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines. “Receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community,” the statement read. “In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.” The USCCB, in collaboration with other organizations working to protect human life, has been engaged in a campaign advocating for the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 that has no link to abortion, the bishops said.
POPE TO VISIT IRAQ
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The Vatican announced that Pope Francis plans to visit Iraq in March, if possible, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
he Vatican announced last December that, as long as it is possible, Pope Francis will visit Iraq in March, reported CNS. The trip would make him the first pope to visit the country and would be the first trip for the pope since November 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Matteo Bruni, head of the Vatican press office, said the pope will visit Baghdad, the plain of Ur (linked to the memory of Abraham), and the city of Irbil, as well as Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh. Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, told CNS that the news of the papal visit was a “huge hope,” something for which he said the Iraqi people are thirsty. “People are suffering, dying, because of conflicts and also because of the pandemic. So this visit is a big source of joy for all the population of this region,” the cardinal said. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 7
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church IN THE NEWS
people | events | trends
POPE DECLARES YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH
ARCHBISHOP BECOMES FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN CARDINAL IN UNITED STATES
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rchbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, DC, was elevated to a cardinal— along with 12 other churchmen—last November in a different type of consistory because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Vatican News. Two of the new cardinals participated virtually since they were unable to attend because of travel restrictions due to COVID-19. During the consistory, Pope Francis presented each of the new cardinals with their red hats, a cardinal’s ring, and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a “titular” church in Rome. With his appointment, Gregory becomes the first US cardinal of African American descent. Pope Francis, in his homily at the prayer service, told the new cardinals that “the scarlet of a cardinal’s robes, which is the color of blood, can, for a worldly spirit, become the color of a secular ‘eminence,’” the traditional title of respect for a cardinal. If that happens, he said, “you will no longer be a pastor close to your people. You will think of yourself only as ‘His Eminence.’ If you feel that, you are off the path.” A limited congregation attended the ceremony, and each new cardinal was allowed to bring only a few guests or family members. The newly appointed cardinals also did not follow the custom of receiving well-wishers in the Apostolic Palace and in the Paul VI Hall after the ceremony. Cardinal-elect Gregory’s titular church is Immaculate Conception Parish on the ancient Via Flaminia in the Grottarossa neighborhood of northern Rome. The church was built in 1935 and became a titular church for cardinals in 1985. 8 • February 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: VATICAN MEDIA; RIGHT: COURTESY MSGR. J. BRIAN BRANSFIELD
Pope Francis places the red biretta on new Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington during a consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican last November. Gregory, who is now the first African American cardinal in the United States, was one of 13 new cardinals created, including two who joined by video link because of COVID-19 restrictions.
n December 8, Pope Francis released a new apostolic letter entitled “Patris Corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”) and declared a Year of St. Joseph until December 8, 2021, reported Vatican News. The letter, which marks the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the universal Church, is set against the backdrop of COVID-19. The pope noted that the crisis has shown us how “our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked.” He added that Joseph was one of those ordinary people. “Each of us can discover in Joseph—the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet, and hidden presence—an intercessor, a support, and a guide in times of trouble. St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all.” Noting Joseph’s treatment of Mary, the pope wrote, “Today, in our world where psychological, verbal, and physical violence toward women is so evident, Joseph appears as the figure of a respectful and sensitive man.”
LEFT: FABIO FRUSTACI/REUTERS POOL/CNS PHOTO; RIGHT: AK2/ISTOCK
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POPE MEETS WITH NBA PLAYERS’ UNION
ANNUAL BISHOPS’ MEETING HELD VIRTUALLY
Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles (right), president of the US bishops’ conference, and Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron (left), vice president of the conference, preside over the bishops’ fall meeting, which was held virtually, from the conference’s studio in Washington, DC. Basketball player Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic presents a jersey with his number to Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican.
CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: VATICAN MEDIA; RIGHT: COURTESY MSGR. J. BRIAN BRANSFIELD
LEFT: FABIO FRUSTACI/REUTERS POOL/CNS PHOTO; RIGHT: AK2/ISTOCK
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ast November, Pope Francis met with a delegation from the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) at the Vatican to discuss the players’ work in promoting social justice, reported CNS. According to ESPN, union officials said an “intermediary” for the pope reached out to the NBPA and informed them of Pope Francis’ interest in their efforts to bring attention to social justice issues and economic inequality. Players have been vocal regarding social justice issues throughout the year, especially following the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. Prior to resuming the season following its suspension due to COVID-19, the union and the NBA reached a deal to display social justice messages on players’ jerseys. Player Kyle Korver issued a statement saying that the association was “extremely honored to have had this opportunity to come to the Vatican and share our experiences with Pope Francis” and that the pope’s “openness and eagerness to discuss these issues was inspiring and a reminder that our work has had a global impact and must continue moving forward.”
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OVID-19, systemic racism, and the McCarrick report were the main topics of discussion this past November when the USCCB held its annual fall meeting. The meeting was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported CNS. Conference president Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles led the meeting from the USCCB studio, along with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, USCCB vice president, and Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, outgoing USCCB general secretary. The three sat at a desk behind plexiglass separators. In his opening address, Archbishop Gómez addressed issues that the bishops would be discussing during the meeting and spoke about the year’s challenges, such as the pandemic. He encouraged the bishops to meet those challenges. “In this hour in our country,” the archbishop said, “our neighbors need the Church more than ever. Now is the hour for Christian witness.” On the first day of the meeting, the bishops spent 45 minutes discussing the newly released report on Theodore McCarrick and his ascent in the Church even amid rumors of abuse. A number of bishops took the opportunity to address the situation. Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, thanked survivor James Grein for coming forward with his account of abuse at the hands of the former cardinal. “It’s curious to wonder what McCarrick would be doing today if he [Grein] had not come forward,” Bishop Olson said. Grein was among the first to publicly claim they were sexually abused as a youth by McCarrick. The bishops voted 194–3, with one abstention, to renew the ad hoc committee on racism for another three years. Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of the Ad Hoc Committee against Racism told the bishops, “As we continue to foster dialogue and encounters to seek healing and forgiveness with regard to our nation’s sinful past and present regarding racism, Archbishop Gómez and the administrative committee have asked me to host this conversation, a time of sharing so that bishops may learn about the ways that other bishops have engaged ‘Open Wide Our Hearts’ and the issue of racism and have seen positive fruit in our efforts to overcome racism in spite of the many challenges.” The bishops then held a discussion in which they reflected on and shared the work they have done, what they have learned, and what could be helpful to the rest of the bishops. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 9
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN By Pat McCloskey, OFM health, and many children. People lacking one or all three of those rewards were regarded as being punished by God. Jesus rejected that understanding. The late Johannes Baptist Metz wrote a wonderful book whose English title is Poverty of Spirit.
Share Your Reasons to Remain Catholic
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What Did Jesus Mean by ‘Poor in Spirit’? In Matthew 5:3, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In Luke 6:20b, he says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” Is he talking about two different groups of people? If not, what does “poor in spirit” mean? How can being “poor in spirit” make you blessed?
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hey are not two different groups of people. The “poor in spirit” are not tempted to credit their cleverness or God’s special favor for any financial success they might have. Because the “poor in spirit” are immersed in God’s truth, neither wealth nor political influence can give them a false sense of security. Outstanding New Testament women and men who demonstrate poverty of spirit include, to name only a few, Mary (the mother of Jesus), Joseph, Simeon, Anna, the good Samaritan, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Galilean women who supported Jesus’ ministry. The Hebrew Scriptures are also filled with many men and women such as Deborah in the Book of Judges and the prophet Jeremiah. Most books of the Old Testament do not assume that there is an afterlife where the wicked and virtuous receive different treatment. Hence, there was great surprise regarding Jesus’ parable about the afterlife of a rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Lk 16:19–31). Those same books assume that God rewards good people in this life with wealth, good
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iving someone three reasons why I still attend church is almost certainly more convincing than giving them three reasons why they need to attend church. In the long run, shaming adults cannot work because they need their own reasons to remain Catholic or not. It seems to me that Catholics and other Christians have too often presented faith as an object that can be lost or found rather than as a relationship with God that, like all relationships, needs constant maintenance to remain alive. The faith of a 5-year-old is great for a 5-year-old, but it will not be enough for a 25-year-old. Unfortunately, the term adult faith makes no sense to many Christians with an all-or-nothing approach.
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Father Pat welcomes your questions!
Local parishes encourage us to bring nonpracticing Catholics “back into the fold.” I can’t get my adult kids to come regularly because they consider Mass an ancient practice with little or no relevance today. I know many other parents who are in the same situation. What can we do?
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Pat McCloskey, OFM
Quick Questions and Answers
a that
Reflects Your Values How many times a day may one receive Communion?
Usually, only once. If you go to a regular Mass and then a funeral or wedding Mass on the same day, it’s OK to receive a second time, always remembering that “More is not better” here. The Eucharist is not simply one more consumer product.
Parents are closely involved in much sacramental preparation except for Confirmation. Why? What can we do to dispel the idea that this sacrament signals graduation from the faith?
I think parents and all adults have far more influence than they realize because they play major roles in what a child accepts as “normal” or “That’s the way life is.” Are the service hours expected in many Confirmation programs, for example, simply a hurdle to overcome or an opportunity to act as a good Samaritan? Adults can play an important role here. St. Paul VI wrote that people seek witnesses more than teachers—or rather, teachers who are witnesses.
First, the Franciscan family offers many opportunities to potential members while likewise expecting much of them. Go to Franciscan men’s communities at ReligiousMinistries.com to get a closer look at this large and very diverse group.
Can you give me a commentary on Revelation 19:19–21 (the beast and the rider on a horse)?
First, remember that this book was written to strengthen hope among persecuted Christians. The New American Bible Revised Edition has good notes. There are excellent commentaries in the New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the Paulist Biblical Commentary, and the Navarre Biblery. I am indebted to Father Timothy P. Schehr, a Scripture professor, for this last reference.
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TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; FOTOSEARCH IMAGES: TOP: TIMOF; BOTTOM: GINA SANDERS
How can I become a Franciscan brother or priest?
On my daily walks, I sometimes find money. Is it OK if I keep it?
Yes, but I would recommend giving it to a charitable cause that you already support.
Leave a legacy of mercy, compassion, and care for the poor through a bequest to our friars. For more information about including a gift in your will, call 513-721-4700 ext. 3219.
You are the heart of our ministry.
The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St, Ste 1 Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492
www.franciscan.org www.stanthony.org
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS
‘Brother Coyote’
By Janine Walsh
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rom a young age, Gary Paul Nabhan loved nature and the solitude of the outdoors. The backyard of his boyhood home butted up against Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and by age 14, he became the first youth member of the Save the Dunes Council, which worked to protect the shores of Lake Michigan. His Irish mother’s family was Catholic, but as a boy, his Lebanese relatives on his father’s side attended a Lutheran church that was closer to their home. Gary warmly describes the effort to promote dialogue and says that Catholics and other Christian denominations are united in their concerns for social justice values, such as caring for creation and human dignity. ‘ONE OF US’
Gary’s journey to becoming a Franciscan started when he was 20 years old. He spent six days meditating and camping alone. Upon returning to civilization, he saw an article on St. Francis of Assisi being designated patron of ecology, and he became interested. A few years later, he founded the Franciscan Renewal Center in Arizona and began inquiring about formal formation, but it was a long way from where he lived.
During this time, he was promoting a book he had written on his 250-mile walking pilgrimage to Assisi. A woman approached Gary at a reading of his book Songbirds, Truffles, and Wolves and said to him, “I think you’re one of us.” That woman was Nancy Menning, then the leader of the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans (OEF). That simple phrase jumpstarted his Franciscan formation. In accordance with St. Francis’ intention when he encouraged the formation of a third order, the OEFs welcome men and women, married or single, ordained or laity from any Christian denomination who feel called to a lifelong dedication to the Franciscan charism. Knowing him to be a nature lover and with a nod to the story of St. Francis taming the wolf of Gubbio, Gary’s friends, fellow students, and spiritual advisors have christened him “Brother Coyote,” since one is bound to see more coyotes in the Southwest than wolves like the one St. Francis tamed. Now, Gary says, whenever he walks into a room full of his OEF sisters and brothers, everyone howls. At age 17, Gary took a gap year from college to work at the headquarters for the first Earth Day and contributed to a newsletter about the event. He acknowledges some paradoxes have occurred since 1970. Despite the initial participation of
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GARY NABHAN
Considered a pioneer in the local food movement, Gary Paul Nabhan has been involved in justice and environmental causes for decades.
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ST. ANTHONY
BREAD
FRANK JASPER, OFM
For Gary Nabhan (left), the dignity of nature and of those who work the land are deeply connected.
many congregations, as more people sought to get trained in the science behind climate change, many forgot the connection to their faith. As a result, caring-forcreation discussions eventually became excluded from science-based discussions. Through his work, Gary attempts to show that science and faith are far more complementary than contradictory, citing authors such as Richard Rohr, Thomas Berry, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, all of whom use the term evolution as it relates to faith as well as science. He says, “I’ve tried my best to bridge those two sides and heal the wounds.” He is grateful for initiatives like “Laudato Si’,” which have the same goal and help point out common ground.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GARY NABHAN
HEALING WOUNDS AT THE BORDER
The National Shrine of St. Anthony is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consecrated in 1889, it includes a first-class relic of St. Anthony and serves as a center for daily prayer and contemplation.
More recently, Gary’s work has seen him advocating along the US-Mexico border, along the path of the Trump administration’s proposed border wall. When Gary was a botany student, he earned money teaching on a Native American reservation, where he met many Franciscans who lived among indigenous desert farmers. Immersed in that setting, he gained a respect for border cultures, fully accepting their different upbringings, lifestyles, customs, and traditions. He cofounded the Healing the Border project, an initiative of five indigenous tribes concerned with the border wall and its impact on their lands, life, and faith. Working among people who for generations have been allowed to live and cross the border without issue offers another perspective. One often hears the saying, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us.” Gary has worked on this issue ever since, initially assisting in transborder movement for spiritual gatherings held for centuries in the border areas. Any discussion on integral ecology, Gary says, cannot be simply about our knowledge of the environment but must also include the diversity of human lives and values. Land restoration must take into account land ethics in order to increase a “value-based education about why and how to care for the land.” Gary admits his need to be anchored to the earth rather than having it be an abstract idea. He accomplishes this by keeping a 3-acre orchard, which offers him a sense of humility due to its difficulty. He says, “To be successful at farming, there are so many variables involved.” His forthcoming collection of essays from Broadleaf Books, Jesus for Farmers and Fishers: Justice for All Those Marginalized by Our Food System, is due to be published next month. In it, he provides a retrospective on the most iconic parables Jesus offered to farmers and fishermen, drawing parallels to the crises that those now marginalized by modern agriculture and the fishing industry are facing today. To learn more about Gary and his work toward ecological justice, visit his website, GaryNabhan.com.
The Franciscan friars minister from the shrine. To help them in their work among the poor, you may send a monetary offering called St. Anthony Bread. Make checks or money orders payable to “Franciscans” and mail to the address below. Every Tuesday, a Mass is offered for benefactors and petitioners at the shrine. To seek St. Anthony’s intercession, mail your petition to the address below. Petitions are taken to the shrine each week. viSit our webSite to:
StAnthony.org mAil poStAl communicAtionS to:
St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS “Give aid to all without exception. Your vocation obliges you not to exclude anyone, for everybody is your neighbor.”
—Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska
FRANCISCAN WORLD
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Felician Sisters of North America
She saw a great need in Poland and among Polish immigrants around the world. Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska, a Secular Franciscan, founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice in 1855 to care for Warsaw’s orphans, those sick at home, and the homeless. They later became heavily involved in education. Because the sisters used to pray before a statue of St. Felix, a Capuchin saint, people nicknamed them “the Felicians.” In 1993, St. John Paul II beatified her, saying: “Blessed Mary Angela’s life was marked with love. She was concerned about all people: those hungry for bread, the heartbroken, the homeless, and those hungering for the truth of the Gospel.” She was beatified in 1993. Her feast is October 10. —Pat McCloskey, OFM
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WANT MORE? Learn about your favorite saints and blesseds by going to: SaintoftheDay.org
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ST. ANTHONY STORIES
A Name She’ll Always Remember
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ears ago, my husband gave me a diamond ring set for our 10th wedding anniversary. I never risked wearing it at work and only wore it on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon, I met with a group of other mothers at a Lutheran church to make costumes for a nearby figure skating club. When I arrived home, I realized I didn’t have my ring. I immediately called the pastor there. He looked but couldn’t find it. I looked around in every place in our house that I could think of, but I couldn’t locate the ring. I was so upset that I couldn’t even think of St. Anthony’s name, so I prayed to “St. Whoever Finds Lost Things.” The next day, I opened the hall closet, and there was a glint and gleam. I reached in, and there was my diamond ring in the least likely place, a place I hadn’t looked before. I’ve never forgotten St. Anthony’s name since. I love being Catholic! —Cynthia Lilla, Devils Lake, North Dakota
TOP LEFT AND ABOVE: COURTESY OF FELICIAN SISTERS OF NORTH AMERICA; LOWER LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM
BLESSED MARY ANGELA TRUSZKOWSKA
he Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice, commonly known as the Felician Sisters, is an international congregation of women religious who minister in Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. Founded in Poland in 1855, the first Felician sisters arrived in North America in 1874. Mother Mary Monica Sybilska led four other sisters who left their homeland to minister to the children of Polish immigrants in Polonia, Wisconsin. By the early 20th Felician Sister Carol Marie Wiatrek ministers to the homeless through century, the congregation had estabthe Angela Spirituality Center in Pomona, California. lished eight provinces across North America, which they united as Our Lady of Hope Province in 2009 to help sustain and expand their mission. Their North American headquarters is in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Blessed Mary Angela called on her sisters to live as St. Francis of Assisi had lived: in simplicity and humility, in reverence for all God’s creation, as living examples of the Gospel message, and in compassionately caring for and serving the marginalized and those living in poverty. The Felician Sisters currently sponsor ministries in California, Canada, Connecticut, Haiti, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. They also serve in parishes, food pantries, schools, social services, and other ministries that are not specifically Felician-sponsored across the continent. For more information, contact the congregation at FelicianSistersNA.org. Sister Suzanne Marie Kush, CSSF, assisted with this text.
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POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
We Can Change History
SABRINA BRACHER/ISTOCK
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ou can’t change history, can you?” confidently educator. Georgetown has established a scholarship program asserts someone who defends keeping monuments for descendants of the slaves sold by the university. of Confederate generals and slave owners in public spaces. Several Catholic schools, dioceses, and colleges have Wrong. Although we certainly cannot change a past event, recently renamed buildings named for clerics who had this statement ignores the fact that history is far more than committed or condoned sexual abuse of minors. More such random facts supporting a status quo from which we benefit. decisions are probably coming. Instead, it’s an honest, coherent telling of the past, warts and all. Honesty sometimes demands that an earlier decision OUR CHOICES SHAPE OUR LIVES be reversed. For example, in 2016, the state of Ohio removed Perhaps it helps to think of an individual’s life or a group’s life as a kind of VHS tape (remember those?), but one that a statue of William Allen, a strong 19th-century supporter of slavery, from the US Statuary Hall in Washington, DC, moves only forward, thus incapable of being rewound, replacing it with a statue of Thomas Edison, a prolific inventaped over, or edited. For better or worse, what’s on the tape tor born in Milan, Ohio. remains there. Each day, however, a person or a group can We choose what we celebrate decide which parts of that tape and where we celebrate it. There to reinforce and which parts to is rightly no monument in dilute. We choose which parts Jamestown, Virginia, to celebrate truly represent our life individuthe June 1619 sale by a Dutch ally or collectively. company of the first slaves in the Although we cannot rewind, original 13 colonies. for example, our national tape In the 1920s in Indianapolis, and edit out the choking death Indiana, a monument to of George Floyd (May) and fatal Confederate prisoners of war who shooting of Breonna Taylor died in a nearby prison camp (June) by police officers, we can was moved from a cemetery to a take effective action to admit prominent place in the city. The and decrease the systemic racism Ku Klux Klan was very strong in that many people are accepting “You can’t go back and change the Indiana then. Someone might say, through the flimsy explanation, beginning, but you can start where “That’s just the way life is.” “That’s just the way life is, isn’t A child doesn’t become a lifeit?” Not by a long shot. you are and change the ending.” long thief by shoplifting a single In 1923, Hugo Black joined the —C.S. Lewis candy bar but only by stealing Ku Klux Klan but resigned two long enough to conclude: “That’s years later in view of a future US the way I am, and that’s the way life is. You can’t change hisSenate campaign. He won and represented Alabama from tory, right?” Wrong! 1927 to 1937 when he became Associate Justice Hugo Black Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs on the US Supreme Court. By the time he retired in 1971, fighting addictive behavior recognize a participant’s freedom many Klan members regarded him as their worst enemy. to make a change, the hard-won freedom to admit what’s In her 1973 oral argument before the US Supreme Court indeed already on the person’s “tape” and decide what needs on a gender discrimination case, future Supreme Court reinforcing and what needs diluting. Individually and colAssociate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg quoted 19th-century lectively, we define ourselves by what we consider “a big deal” feminist Sarah Grimke, “I ask no favor for my sex.” Ginsburg or “not a big deal.” then added, “All I ask of our brethren is that they take their Precedent is significant but hardly absolute. The 1896 feet off our necks.” Plessy v. Ferguson decision by the US Supreme Court found “separate but equal” constitutional regarding public schools, JESUITS LEAD THE WAY but this was decisively overturned by Brown v. Board of In 2019, Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Education in 1954. removed from campus buildings the names of two Jesuit We are not slaves to our individual or collective history, priests who authorized the 1838 sale of 272 university slaves but we will be as long as we accept the sloppy folk wisdom to owners in Louisiana. Those buildings have been renamed, “You can’t change history, right?” Individually and collecone for Isaac Hawkins (one of the 272 slaves) and the other tively, we are much, much better than that. for Ann Marie Becraft, a prominent Black Catholic nun and StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 15
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POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH
By Kyle Kramer
Repairers of the Breach
Kyle Kramer
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WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org
ver the past several years, as our country has grown increasingly divided, I’ve returned many times to this beautiful passage from Isaiah: Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins; the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined dwellings” (58:12). It’s becoming more and more clear to me that one of the essential tasks of our time is to heal our deep polarization and mutual derision and suspicion. Obviously, we don’t have to erase our differences or think in lockstep with each other—that’s uniformity, not unity. But if we can’t find some sort of common ground, some shared values or goals, the chasm dividing our nation will continue to widen. We will, at best, make no progress in addressing environmental problems, racial justice, education, or any other pressing challenges. At worst—and I never imagined I would find myself writing this—we will have another civil war or even become an ungovernable, failed state. The stakes are that high. How, then, might we begin to repair the breach and to restore the dwellings that our divisiveness has so damaged? How can we make our cracked foundations whole?
Sadly, the Church also struggles with divisions between liberal and conservative, ordained and laity. Yet at the same time, it has a two-millennia history of trying to be the body of Christ, and it offers many resources. We can take steps, deeply rooted in Catholic life and tradition, that could help guide our nation along the journey toward healing and unity. FIVE STEPS FOR MOVING FORWARD
The first and most important step is for all of us to do our own inner work. While our conflict and polarization may be fed and amplified by our political leaders, they actually stem from inside each one of us: from the tendencies toward scapegoating and demonization that we all harbor in our own hearts. Healing the divisions between us by healing the divisions within us is, first and foremost, a spiritual process. It means shining the light of prayer on our interior life and allowing God to reveal and heal our sins, fears, and shadows so that we don’t simply project them onto the “other side.” It is a process that entails seeking forgiveness from God and others and offering it to those who have hurt us—even offering it to ourselves. It may also require, in some cases,
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EarthandSpiritCenter.org
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LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: FOCALPOINT/FOTOSEARCH
Kyle is the executive director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, which offers interfaith educational programming in meditation, ecology, and social compassion. He serves as a Catholic climate ambassador for the US Conference of Catholic Bishopssponsored Catholic Climate Covenant and is the author of A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt (Ave Maria Press, 2010). He speaks across the country on issues of ecology and spirituality. He and his family spent 15 years as organic farmers and homesteaders in Spencer County, Indiana.
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LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: FOCALPOINT/FOTOSEARCH
professional therapy or at least no-nonsense counsel from trusted friends and loved ones. Second, as our tradition teaches and Pope Francis often reminds us, we need to keep internalizing the universal, bedrock truth that everything and everyone is interconnected. We are a single species, and we share a common fate. As long as we keep dividing the world into winners and losers, we will all be losers. Communion-in-diversity is one of the ground rules of reality, from the relationships within the Trinity to the way the universe has unfolded over time, in all its marvelous complexity. Like the law of gravity, we ignore this law at our great peril. Speaking of the story of the universe, a third practice is to always take the larger, longer view. We have to keep pulling back the lens. We Americans are all part of a common land and a common world. We’re part of an unimaginably large universe and a vast arc of history, which will always transcend the heat of any particular cultural moment. We have to stop thinking and acting so small. Those who do truly great things often—and paradoxically—have a deep humility that comes from seeing themselves against the backdrop of big, big history—God’s time, not ours, and God’s creation, not ours. Fourth, and after the COVID-19 restrictions finally ease up, we have to find ways to get in the same physical space with those whose opinions and experiences aren’t like ours. In an age when most of us self-sort into echo chambers of like-minded people, two of the best places to do this are also two things held up by Catholic tradition: family life and parish life. In both of these places, we are likely to encounter
HELPFUL
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people with whom we vehemently disagree—and whom we are called to love. Regardless of our divergent opinions, we can still break bread together or offer the sign of peace at Mass. Finally, we can seek out practical projects and service opportunities that transcend ideological differences. Parish ministries are genius in this regard, because when we ladle soup together, knit a prayer shawl, bring Communion to a shut-in, or hammer on a Habitat for Humanity house, we are creating a foundation of common ground based on compassion and kindness toward our neighbors. I imagine that Jesus would rather we look past our fractiousness and our fights in favor of feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. LET’S GET TO WORK
These five things—doing our inner work, remembering our interconnection, taking a large view, keeping company with others whose views are different, and taking up a common cause in practical projects and service—don’t guarantee that we will be able to repair the breach of our deeply fractured nation. We are a stubborn people, and each one of us is sinful and fallible. But I believe—I choose and keep choosing to believe—that God wants us to be one and will help us on that path. That’s the right victory: not of my side over yours, but of all of us, together, over the forces that would pull us apart. That is, as a dear friend and colleague of mine always reminds me, the work of love. That’s a foundation we can build on.
MORE WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
Parker Palmer’s Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the American Spirit continues to be an essential resource for reweaving the torn fabric of our common life.
When you are tempted to cancel a friend or family member because of differing political views, ask yourself this question: “Is it worth it?” Do you really want to sacrifice a long-tended relationship for the sake of allegiance to abstract political opinions or leaders you’ll never meet?
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More than simply a call to give up creature comforts, Lent invites us to confront our vulnerability and embrace our brokenness. By Mary Ann Steutermann
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sh Wednesday tends to get a bad rap. At first glance, the beginning of Lent each year doesn’t seem to have a very uplifting message. When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we are reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return. But “returning to dust” doesn’t sound all that positive, does it? Death isn’t something we like to think about, much less celebrate, in our liturgy and prayer. If we take a closer look, though, we find that the message of Ash Wednesday has far more to do with life than with death. It’s much more about what it means to be human— on this side of death’s door, not only beyond. Being human means being both blessed and broken, and Ash Wednesday is a special invitation to look at our own brokenness in a way that can bring healing, strength, and courage. Of course, brokenness is never the goal, even if we can encounter God through the process. We don’t set out to come up short, make mistakes, or feel “less than.” But we often do, a reality that is one mysterious thread within the intricate tapestry of human life. We have another word for this kind of brokenness, one that captures our essence as incomplete all on our own. That word is vulnerable.
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PHOTO CREDIT HERE
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biopsy results come back positive. Never in a million years Vulnerability has become something of a buzzword in recent would we choose these or many other challenges thrust years. A simple online search of the word turns up countless upon us. videos, articles, and book titles. But what does it really mean? Jesus had a lot to say about this kind of vulnerability. In To be vulnerable is to be exposed, to be open. Being vulfact, the beatitudes are the blueprint he laid out to help us nerable means that the parts of ourselves honor our broken parts as a means of that are not strong and beautiful are growth and transformation. He taught visible to others. Brene Brown, research that being vulnerable—in other words, Ash Wednesday is professor at the University of Houston being poor or meek, feeling sorrowful a special invitation and best-selling author, has become or persecuted—is an opportunity to to look at our own something of a cultural icon as a “vulnerencounter the divine. brokenness in a way ability guru.” In her words, vulnerability Suffering has a way of stripping us is “having the courage to show up and be of our ego and false notions of selfthat can bring healing, seen when we have no control over the sufficiency, which makes room for an strength, and courage. outcome.” experience of the divine. In accepting Have you ever tried something new our faults, challenges, and pain, we crewithout being sure it would turn out OK? ate a space for God’s grace to work its Then you have been vulnerable because you allowed failure inscrutable magic in our lives. Being vulnerable is the door to be a real possibility. Have you ever forgiven someone who through which we must travel to become the best, most betrayed you? Then you have been vulnerable because you authentic versions of ourselves. opened yourself to being hurt again. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable is how we accept Have you ever asked for help? You have been vulnerable our brokenness. The dust of Ash Wednesday is a powerful because you risked having your weaknesses exposed. Have reminder of the vulnerability that is part of our spiritual you ever loved another person? You have been vulnerable DNA as human beings. because you took a chance on the other person not returning that love. RETHINKING REPENTANCE Life affords us many opportunities to choose to accept If Ash Wednesday today can remind us less about death and vulnerability. We can choose to share our feelings in a more about the mystery of vulnerability in life, then does the relationship without knowing how the other person will traditional focus on repentance still make sense? Absolutely! respond. We can choose to take a chance on a new career But it may call us to rethink its purpose. path, knowing that we may not succeed. But we aren’t always John the Baptist preached repentance, saying, “The able to choose the kinds of vulnerability we experience. Life kingdom of heaven is near.” It’s easy to see his prophecy also forces us into brokenness entirely against our will. as an apocalyptic warning of imminent damnation if we We are thrown into a terrible, frightening vulnerability don’t get our collective act together. But an interpretation of when our closest friend moves far away, when our kid drops repentance that’s more consistent with the God of love and mercy is less about warning and more about promise. John’s out of school, when we learn about the affair, when the
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EMBRACING VULNERABILITY
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message doesn’t have to be his way of threatening us into good behavior, a New Testament version of “Wait till your father gets home!” Instead, it can be an invitation to make room in our hearts and lives for a God who wants to fill up our empty spaces and doesn’t take no for an answer. Repentance isn’t all about feeling guilt and shame for our shortcomings. The word’s Latin root, paenitentia, has several nuanced shades of meaning, but they all boil down to one thing—a sense of “lacking.” Repentance, then, is an acceptance of the fact that we do not hold all the cards, that we are not “enough” all on our own. Put another way, it’s a way of embracing our vulnerability and brokenness. The dust of Ash Wednesday reminds us that life is larger than our individual experiences of it. We are not in control.
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A FOCUS ON GIVING
Being broken means that healing is needed, so the age-old Lenten practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer are not only relevant today but also perhaps more needed than ever. It’s in giving up our reliance on those things we don’t absolutely need, giving to those in greater need than ourselves, and giving in to God’s presence in our lives that we are able to look our own “lacking” straight in the eye. It’s how we become aware of both the blessing and the brokenness of our human condition. Giving up: Fasting, a spiritual practice that has declined in popularity over the years, has made a comeback in a less-than-spiritual way. “Intermittent fasting” is all the rage lately on nutrition websites and in best-selling books. But when fasting is understood not as a weight-loss technique but as a way of letting go of our reliance on things we don’t actually need, it can be a powerful form of prayer. It’s fine to give up desserts for Lent if that helps us reflect on the things we can do without. Perhaps it can be more powerful, though, to “fast” from gossip or unnecessary spending or an insistence on having the last word. Fasting is a way to experience our own “lacking” in
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a transformative way. Giving to: Almsgiving, which means the giving of money or food to those in need, is another traditional Lenten practice. This, too, is relevant for us today during Lent—and all year long— because it is how we recognize that we aren’t the only ones who are vulnerable. The world is full of others just like us in our lacking. They may be vulnerable in different ways than we are, but by reaching out to them in their need, we bear witness to their pain. By standing in solidarity with their brokenness, we take steps toward being healed of our own. Giving in: Prayer as a spiritual practice never goes out of style. Not only during Lent but throughout the entire year, prayer is a powerful way of participating in divine community. By lifting our own broken pieces and those of others in prayer, we attest to—rather than run from—the vulnerable parts of our lives. Prayer connects us with each other and with God. This sacred unity connects our individual broken pieces with those of others, creating a beautiful new kind of wholeness. OUR LENTEN INVITATION
Too often, we approach Ash Wednesday with liturgical gloom and doom. It’s the “black sheep” of the family of dark solemnities in the liturgical calendar, failing even to garner status as a holy day of obligation. But when painted in this light, it’s easy to miss its beautiful invitation to claim our brokenness, embrace our vulnerability, and stand in solidarity with all those who do the same. God is ready to heal our woundedness, to make us more whole than ever before. Ash Wednesday is our call to make room for the divine dance to work its sacred magic within us. Mary Ann Steutermann is the director of campus ministry at Assumption High School, a Catholic all-girls school in Louisville, Kentucky. She’s also a freelance writer whose articles have been published in this magazine and on the popular Catholic website BustedHalo.com. Mary Ann lives in Louisville with her husband and son.
The Beatitudes Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. —Matthew 5:3–12
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A CATHOLIC RESPONSE TO
RACISM No more documents.
No more commissions. Deacon Art Miller says what the Church needs to do to confront racism is to act.
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ach of us has a narrative that has helped form who we are. Those stories are made up of pleasant experiences as well as tragic and harsh realities. For Deacon Art Miller, the latter have played a large part in shaping both his life and ministry. Miller grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he lived with his parents and three of his four siblings. For the most part, it was a typical life for a young kid—school, playing outside with friends, and spending time with family. Typical, that is, until the summer of 1955 when one of Miller’s neighborhood friends grabbed the attention of the nation in a horrible way. That friend was Emmett Till, the 14-year-old young man who was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman during a trip to Mississippi to visit relatives. It has been noted that, due to a speech impediment, Till often whistled when he began speaking.
Story by Susan Hines-Brigger Photography by Seshu Badrinath
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Molded by his own life experiences, Deacon Art Miller works to confront the issue of racial inequality both in society and within the Catholic Church. The Church, he believes, needs to be more present to the people dealing with these issues. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 23
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Deacon Miller talks with (from left) Burnell Bourgeios, Warren Hardy, and Rev. James Lane. The mural on the wall behind the men depicts Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s second principle of nonviolence, ”The Beloved Community.”
Three days later, Till’s bloated body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River. According to reports, Till had gunshot wounds in his head, his body bore the marks of a severe beating, and his fingers were crushed. Barbed wire had been tied around his neck and weighed down with a 70-pound cotton gin. At his funeral his mother, Mamie Till, insisted on his casket being open so people could see what had happened to her son. Emmett Till’s death served as a catalyst for the burgeoning civil rights movement. It also served as a catalyst for Miller’s lifelong advocacy for civil rights and justice. He recalls his personal connection with Till in his book, The Journey to Chatham: Why Emmett Till’s Murder Changed America (AuthorHouse). His life shaped by that experience, Miller set his sights on making a change. He became active in the civil rights movement and, in 1963, he was arrested during a street demonstration of the
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” —Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. His arrest, he says, was “for not being obedient to what was wrong.” He was 17 years old at the time. It was not, however, the last time Miller would get himself into what he calls “Gospel trouble,” playing off the phrase of the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. GHOST OF HATE
But there is a lifetime between those incidents. And it is a lifetime during which Miller says that, wherever he goes, he is “always consciously aware that I am Black and the impact of that.” He calls it the ghost of hate and says “it is the reality that follows me wherever I go. And no one sees it but me.” He recalls a story from 1957 when he and his mother were walking home after the pastor said he did not want Black people in his congregation. Miller’s family had recently moved into
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the parish. On the way home, Miller says his mother was gripping his hand tightly and saying that no one was going to push her out of her Church. She began attending daily Mass and sitting in the front pew. “I began to understand we had to fight to be Catholic . . . and no one was going to prevent me from being Catholic,” he said in an interview with the Catholic Transcript, magazine of the Archdiocese of Hartford. After college, Miller went into the Army where he constantly experienced incidents of racism. The only time it wasn’t evident, he says, was out in the field in Vietnam. But when he came home after the war, the reality of racism returned. Miller says he couldn’t get a cab to stop for him, despite the fact that he was in uniform. Eventually, a white police officer stopped one for him. Miller says that ghost—based on experiences such as those—creeps up in situations such as when he goes to the store or his grandchildren’s school. It’s there when he first encounters someone. And it is the reason that he and his wife don’t go to unfamiliar restaurants in certain neighborhoods. And while that ghost never leaves him, he says, “My ability to love gives me control over my spirit. I can’t allow profound disappointment to hinder what God has put within me.” ANSWERING A CALL
When he was 12, Miller thought that he was called to be a priest. Unfortunately, the priest at his parish was racist and wanted nothing to do with him. Then, Miller says, he discovered girls and the rest is history. Miller and his wife, Sandy, have been married for 49 years, and they have four children and eight grandchildren. He worked for years in the insurance industry before retiring and starting on a new path. Miller recalls his travels through various parishes over the years as his family moved. At those different parishes, he had experiences that he now sees as God nudging him along. Miller and his family eventually landed at an Afrocentric church in Connecticut, where he says he met a wonderful priest. “After about three months, he came up to me with some papers and said, ‘Fill this out; you’re supposed to be a deacon,’” recalls Miller. Despite initial hesitation, a few months later he found himself in the program for the diaconate. “The reason I’m a deacon, honestly, is because God kept asking,” he says. After his ordination, Miller was assigned to St. Michael Church in Hartford’s North End, which has been a center of ministry to African American Catholics since the mid-20th century. He then moved to St. Mary’s in Simsbury, which is located in a predominantly white suburb. And he brought his particular version of preaching, complete with “a lot of movement and hallelujahs,” along with him. It was not
Miller is a joyful and gregarious person. He often brings that positivity and energy into his ministry and lively brand of preaching.
always welcomed. He says that even though the parishes are only seven miles apart, “they are seemingly polar opposites. Yet the craving for hope in the divine God is still the same. The fragility of the human spirit is still the same.” In 2005, he was appointed director of the Archdiocese of Hartford’s Office for Black Catholic Ministries, which has since closed. Its work has been taken up by the archdiocese’s Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry. In June 2020, that office hosted a yearlong virtual conference in response to the US bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter on racism, “Rooted in Faith, Open Wide Our Hearts.” These days, though, it may be easier to ask Miller what he’s not doing as opposed to asking what he is involved with. He serves as a certified spiritual director and works with various organizations, such as COMPASS Peacebuilders, a StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 25
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Deacon Miller prays alongside Warren Hardy, president of Helping Young People Evolve (H.Y.P.E), an at-risk youth and community support organization.
youth violence mitigation and reengagement program in Hartford. He also mentors former gang members regarding things such as education. He and his wife run Deacon Art Miller Ministries, where they work with women who are homeless or are about to be homeless to help them financially or emotionally. And, if that’s not enough, he also serves as the chaplain at Hartford’s Capital Community College.
comes to dealing with systemic racial issues, Miller says, but he feels we’re going backward. “The Church is a direct reflection of our society, and our society is institutionally racist. The problem is our Church is supposed to redirect and heal our society and our society is supposed to be a reflection of the Church, but it isn’t.” The Church, Miller says, is like a locker room. “The locker room is where you go to listen to the coach to figure out the game plan, to read the playbook, to figure out who your teammates are, and what your position is. After the locker room you have to go out and get in the game. Then we have to come back the next week to gain our strength to go out into the world where the game is played. We rely on what we’ve learned, what we’ve been taught.”
TALK LESS, DO MORE
At their meeting this past November, the US bishops voted 194–3 to renew its Ad Hoc Committee against Racism for a second three-year term. The committee, which was put in place in 2017, focuses on addressing the sin of racism. When asked about the committee only being ad hoc, Miller says, “Maybe it would make a significant statement that they have this regular committee on racism. The fact that it’s ad hoc means it will end. Racism hasn’t ended for 400 years.” Miller says he is tired of committees and statements. What he wants to see, he says, is action. “They need to do something. And I don’t mean issuing another paper. We need to form a community of action.” There has been progress in the Catholic Church when it
THE SMELL OF THE SHEEP
Miller takes his personal experiences and perspective to public forums, houses of worship, schools, and universities across the country. He also attends marches and rallies, offering his perspective as a Black man. Far too often, though, he says, “I’m the only Catholic clergy at any of them. Period. The Church does not get involved in the street.”
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LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF DEACON ART MILLER; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/BISHOP OLIVER GEROW, COURTESY DIOCESE OF JACKSON ARCHIVES
Miller talks with his close friend, Rev. James Lane. Both of them are certified trainers in the nonviolence philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.
to wear your collar, because your collar is power.” The archbishop agreed but has not been able to do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Miller says he will hold the archbishop to his promise, though. That is because he believes, “If God were to give us an 11th commandment, I believe it would read: Thou shall not be a bystander.”
LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF DEACON ART MILLER; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/BISHOP OLIVER GEROW, COURTESY DIOCESE OF JACKSON ARCHIVES
Miller has spoken and participated in many rallies for justice and civil rights, such as this one in Simsbury, Connecticut, last June.
The young people, he says, just as during the civil rights era, are a driving force for change. He tells the story of a particular Black Lives Matter rally he attended in Simsbury, Connecticut, about a month after the death of George Floyd. At some point during the rally, about 100 young people gathered in the middle of a busy street and were blocking traffic. The police chief asked Miller for his assistance, so the deacon walked into the street and told the group, “I have been doing this for decades, and you don’t know what you are doing. You need to get out of the street and follow me so I can teach you.” The group followed him and listened to him tell them about how to protest in peace and how to make change. “If I had not been there, if the Catholic Church had not been there, I don’t know what would have happened,” says Miller. He says that, too often, people use their dislike for the Black Lives Matter movement as a reason to not get involved. Miller says: “Then tell them what you do care about. Say, ‘I’m here because Black lives matter. I don’t agree with the organization, but I agree with the statement.’ Or go and do something else. There are all kind of organizations” (see sidebar at right). In October 2015, Miller was arrested for the second time in his life when he and about a dozen other protesters knelt and blocked traffic as part of a “Moral Monday” demonstration in an effort to raise awareness that Black lives matter. In an interview with the Hartford Courant days after his arrest, Miller said, “I’ve never wanted to look back on my life and see that I was on the wrong side of justice.” He is not afraid to speak his mind when he sees the Church failing, either. He has even challenged his own archbishop, Leonard P. Blair of Hartford. After the killing of George Floyd, Miller says he heard from the heads of many of the different faith traditions in the area but not his own archbishop. Miller wrote to Blair expressing his disappointment, especially since Miller is the only African American deacon in the archdiocese. The two eventually met and the archbishop sent a letter to the priests of the archdiocese recommending that they read a piece Miller had written. But beyond that, Miller told the archbishop: “I want you to come out with me into the streets. And I don’t want you
Susan Hines-Brigger is an executive editor of this magazine. She has previously interviewed Msgr. Ray East on this same topic (November 2017). Visit info. franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger for more on Deacon Art Miller.
Webinars on Racism
Members of Pax Christi stand with youth who came to the St. Francis Information Center in Greenwood, Mississippi, in this 1952 photo.
Last June, the Association of Catholic Publishers provided the webinar “Coming Together: Two Reflections—‘The Ghosts of Hate’ and ‘The Reforming Power of the Gospel,’” featuring Deacon Miller and Bishop Edward Scharfenberger from the Diocese of Albany. The group also offered the webinar “Coming Together: Talking with Kids and Teens about Racism.” Panelists offer insights on how to lead conversations about racism with your children and teens to allay any fear and anxiety they may have and give them the tools to respect human dignity. Both webinars are available on the association’s YouTube channel.
Resources The National Black Catholic Congress NBCCongress.org National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life BlackCatholicsForLife.org US Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee against Racism usccb.org/committees/ad-hoc-committee-againstracism
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itting in the blood-draw chair in the pathology lab at 7:30 a.m. and craving my morning coffee, I am not really thinking about the consecrated elements of the Eucharist. I’m thinking, actually, about how big the needle, how small my vein. Perky and personable, the lab technician ushers me swiftly into her blood-draw cubicle. Too perky, I am thinking, for so early in the morning. Her efficiency moves me only faster toward the draw. In no time flat, she has me strapped into the big paddle-arm chair. Well, I’m not exactly “strapped in,” but it feels that way as she tightens that little rubber tourniquet around my upper arm.
She leans in close and ever so deftly taps at the vein in the tender bend in my arm, assessing its capacity to fill a vial of blood—my blood—which she soon will extract through a needle whose whereabouts right now I do not want to know. I was hoping we could sort of ease into this procedure. But she has a fresh needle out of its wrapper before I can take a decent breath. All for you, Jesus, I silently pray, eyes closed, as I recall a consoling line of Henri Nouwen. Well, it’s nothing, this little needle prick and the long minute of draw. It’s over so soon. I open my eyes just in time to see the technician elevate toward the light the little vial
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Behold, the Blood of Christ
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Transcendence is found in the ordinary procedure of a blood draw.
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By Mary Sharon Moore
of rich, red blood, a look of serene stillness on her face, as though offering for divine consecration this still-warm specimen of myself. Whatever this white blood cell deficiency is that brings me here, I consider it healed, my blood made whole in this simple gesture of silent beholding. The technician lowers the vial from the light, slaps on a label, shows it to me for my approval, and places the vial in its holder. She reaches over, gently unties the tourniquet, and gives me cotton gauze to press against the puncture. “We don’t want you to bruise now,” she says cheerily. A bruise, I think. A bruise would be a sweet reminder of
this unbidden holy encounter—that little vial of my blood briefly elevated in that reverent way, held up to the light that only appeared fluorescent against the pathology lab ceiling. REFLECTION AT MASS
By Sunday morning, the tourniquet, the needle prick, the draw, the bruise, the technician’s cheery voice, even the delayed early morning coffee—all have faded from memory. I am sitting again, this time not in the paddle-arm draw chair but in the chair where I usually sit at Sunday Mass, thoughtfully observing the graceful movements in the preparation of the gifts. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 29
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This is the wine I am given to lift up in sacrifice. And the altar? The confused, bleeding, and precious world of our 21st century.
REFLECTION IN THE WORLD
Already I understand this wine—holy in its very essence, awaiting a greater consecration—to be a participation in the blood of the living Christ. I understand this wine, and that last little drop, to be, dare I say, already a participation in the human blood poured out in the course of the preceding week, everywhere, throughout the world. Blood poured out in sacrifice by those who risked their
lives to save others. Blood of innocents spilled in a rushing cry for shelter and protection from assault. Blood of prophets and witnesses who have pressed with flesh and soul against the injustices that squelch the human spirit. Blood of frontline martyrs who refused to back down from the claim of God’s unstoppable mercy and love. Blood of the poor, wasted in the shadows of the world’s shiny opulence. Blood of the uprooted, the banished, the marginalized, the dispossessed, all now tragically spent. Blood of those whose hearts are torn in two through the violence of separation. Blood of those whisked off to the dungeons of torture. Blood of the abducted, the sold, the exploited. Blood of those laughed at, spit upon, ostracized, scorned. Blood of those deceived, stripped of rights, locked out from the circle of life. Blood of those denied their dignity and access to what they need. Blood of the perpetrators of injustice, exclusion, and unashamed violence. Blood of the morally vacant, deeply asleep in the frightening dungeons of inhumanity. I offer it all. This is the wine I am given to lift up in sacrifice. And the altar? The confused, bleeding, and precious world of our 21st century. Behold, the blood of Christ. Mary Sharon Moore is an author, teacher, and spiritual director who writes and speaks frequently on the liturgical and sacramental dimensions of ordinary life. Her latest book, Dare to Believe, Rise Up to Act, equips laity to be the public face of Christ. Find out more about her work at MarySharonMoore.com.
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I cherish this part of the Mass. The priest receives the bowl of eucharistic bread, the flagon of wine, gifts of the people, gently elevates them for us to see, then places them on the altar. And now—the moment I have prepared for all week—he pours the wine from the flagon into the waiting chalices. On first glance, this decanting of the wine into the sacred vessels is part of preparing the table, a practical and useful gesture to set the scene for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. But that’s just on first glance. As the choir and assembly sing, as the collection basket is passed around, I watch. Four silver chalices, all lined up, glisten under a brilliant spotlight. I watch the careful filling of one vessel, then another, the third, slowly, and the fourth. A last little portion of blood-red wine remains, and the priest tips the flagon straight down to empty it into the final cup. And in a gesture so small you might not even notice, he gives one last sharp little shake, to wrest from the flagon that last remaining drop. All of it, poured out. This is the moment I wait for, this gesture, this holy act.
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THE AVILAS OF CLEVELAND: Seeking Laborers for the Harvest
It’s one thing to say you’ll pray for vocations. It’s another to commit to a weekly Holy Hour devoted to young men discerning a call to priesthood. The Avilas do that and more—and it works. By Jerri Donohue
COMPOSITE: FOTOSEARCH: WOMAN: ANDREY KUZMIN, PARKING LOT: REEED
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ith candor and self-deprecating humor, Father James Cosgrove describes his first two trips to the Cleveland Diocese’s vocation office. Both times, he hesitated in the parking lot, then “chickened out” and drove away without setting foot in the building. Father Cosgrove credits the Avilas, a diocesan group that prays exclusively for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, with helping him overcome his reluctance. On a spring afternoon, he shared his vocation story with them at the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe, Ohio. “I am convinced that, next to the work of the Holy Spirit, your prayers had a role in my vocation,” Father Cosgrove said. After earning a degree in biology, the future priest abandoned his plan for a career as a storm chaser and instead landed a job at the Cleveland Clinic. He soon enrolled in an accelerated nursing program, a decision that did not still his growing restlessness. Little by little, he felt called to the priesthood. On his third visit to the vocation office, he finally went inside. He entered the seminary several months later and was ordained in 2017. “Pray for the intercession of Mary and the working of the Holy Spirit to aid any man or woman who most needs help
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Father Cosgrove now prays for the Avilas every day. God alone knows what impact their prayers made on his life, but the Diocese of Cleveland—the 23rd largest in the United States—has ordained one or more men every year since the Avilas were founded in 1972. In 1962, Father James Viall, who was then Cleveland’s vocation director, recruited women from throughout the diocese to establish a chapter of Theresians. At that time, this international organization named for St. Thérèse of Lisieux was in its infancy and concentrated on prayerful support for women religious. When the organization added other goals, the Cleveland members decided to focus solely on praying for vocations. The women withdrew from the Theresians to form a separate, local organization, approved by the Cleveland Diocese. Choosing another “Teresa” for their patroness, they called themselves “The Avilas,” after St. Teresa of Avila, and took to heart her words: “There is but one road which reaches God and that is prayer; if anyone shows you another, you are being deceived.” The Avilas expanded their mission to include prayerful support for men discerning for the priesthood, and to pray
The Avilas begin each meeting (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) with a Holy Hour to pray for vocations and already ordained priests and vowed religious.
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LOGO COURTESY OF JOAN EVANS; PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRI DONOHUE
A LONG HISTORY
for the perseverance of already ordained priests and vowed religious. Held five times a year at the Center for Pastoral Leadership, Avila meetings begin with a Holy Hour in the seminary chapel. Seasonal prayers include the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Mother Rosary for priests in September and the Stations of the Cross for vocations during Lent. Mass with the seminarians follows the Holy Hour. Diocesan priests and members of religious orders often share their vocation stories. Father Lester Knoll, a Capuchin Franciscan priest for 55 years, recently described the missionary work and other ministries that have made his priesthood so rewarding. In addition, Father Michael McCandless, director of the diocesan vocation office, sometimes conveys prayer requests (first names only) for men and women in discernment. Each Avila commits to making a weekly Holy Hour, using a handbook first printed in 1973. The current roster lists 109 active or sustaining members, which translates to 109 hours of prayer each week for vocations and for already ordained priests and vowed religious. “Nine men are being ordained this year,” observed outgoing Avilas president Virginia Kovacina shortly before the 2019 ordinations. “Our seminary is full. This is a tangible sign of our prayer.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRI DONOHUE
in discerning a religious vocation,” Father Cosgrove urged his audience. “Prayer works! Prayer matters!”
FAST FACTS ABOUT THE AVILAS • Because prayer is their mission, the Avilas do no fundraising. Active members pay $60 in yearly dues to cover the cost of bimonthly newsletters and the expense of five luncheon meetings. For sustaining members, who receive the newsletter but do not attend meetings, dues are $30 per year. These dues also enable the group to honor a request by Father Michael McCandless, director of the diocesan vocation office, to give new seminarians a welcome package that includes a required Bible and a handmade rosary. • The Avilas host a day of prayer for vocations every autumn.
“God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres.” —St. Teresa of Avila
• In addition to acknowledging the newly ordained with cards, last year the Avilas sent celebratory messages to approximately 140 priests, deacons, and religious marking milestone anniversaries of ordination or religious profession. • For their 40th anniversary, the vocation office presented the Avilas with an icon of their patroness, St. Teresa of Avila. • Retired Bishop Anthony M. Pilla designed the Avila logo.
LOGO COURTESY OF JOAN EVANS; PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRI DONOHUE
PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRI DONOHUE
• For more information about the Avilas, visit AvilasCleveland.Weebly.com or contact Marlyn Tunnell at Arco58@att.net.
Avila officers and Father Michael McCandless, vocation director for the Cleveland Diocese, pose with an icon of St. Teresa of Avila. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 33
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The Avilas gathered for brunch to welcome Bishop Nelson Perez, who led the Cleveland Diocese from 2017 to 2020.
In the privacy of her quiet family room, 96-year-old Rosemary Cochran fulfills her weekly Holy Hour using the Avila handbook she received decades ago. Cochran joined the Avilas soon after the organization was formed. Although she was busy raising six children, she always kept her Holy Hour, and for many years she drove older members to Avila meetings. These days, she rarely leaves her house. “My health prevents me from being as active as I’d like to be,” Cochran says. “But I certainly can pray at home.”
PARISH UNITS: PRAYER POWERHOUSES
As sunlight streams through the stained glass windows of St. Bridget of Kildare Church in Parma, Ohio, a dozen men and women linger after Thursday morning Mass. They set out a small statue of St. Teresa and then spend a half hour praying for vocations. This weekly practice began in 1988, but the Avilas have been developing “parish units” like St. Bridget’s since 1974 so that nonmembers can pray with them. Patricia Rybka has led her parish’s group for 20 years because she recognizes the value of communal prayer. “The ones who are praying for vocations need the support of the other Avilas,” she says. “We are all of one mind.” “The parish units are the basic foundations of the Avila prayers,” Kovacina says. “This level of membership is
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DECADES OF PRAYER
The great-grandmother says she prays daily for priests and religious—partly because of concern for the spiritual needs of her grandchildren and even younger generations. “I found early in life it’s important to have men in the seminary studying for the priesthood,” Cochran says. Initially composed of women like Cochran, the Avilas eventually accepted men too. “This group is open to everyone and anyone,” Kovacina says. “Those in nursing homes and those who are sick and suffering have a very special offering to the Lord with their prayers. They should know that we need them, their prayers and their suffering, to pray for our priests.” Bishop Anthony M. Pilla, then head of the Diocese of Cleveland, acknowledged the prayers of homebound Avilas and others in a letter he wrote to the group in 1999, calling them “a generous response to Christ’s words: The harvest is good but the laborers are scarce. Beg the harvest master to send out laborers to gather his harvest.” Although now retired, Bishop Pilla joined the Avilas for their 40th anniversary Mass in 2012. “I have great respect and admiration for the faithfulness of the Avilas,” he writes in an e-mail interview for St. Anthony Messenger. “One of the reasons for the high number of vocations we have in the diocese . . . is the fact that people like the Avilas pray for vocations. It is more than recruitment when we talk about ordination and religious profession—it is a work of God’s grace.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOAN EVANS (2)
Of the nine newly ordained, seven are priests of the Diocese of Cleveland. Another is a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph. (Two other communities of religious men attend the diocese’s Borromeo Seminary or St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology.) The ninth priest is from the Archdiocese of Daegu, South Korea. In a special arrangement, men from his diocese receive their formation in Cleveland and minister there for four years after ordination, before returning to their homeland. Cleveland recently began a similar program for Vietnamese seminarians. Men studying to become priests for the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, also undergo formation in Cleveland. The Avilas pray for all of them. “We’re praying for the Church as a whole, that the Church of Jesus Christ will be blessed by these holy priests wherever they go,” Kovacina says. “We are all family, brothers and sisters in Christ.” Members are encouraged to personalize their prayers by using a calendar produced by another diocesan group, Parents of Priests. It devotes each day to an individual seminarian. Early in the academic year, the Avilas also receive a poster of seminarians, enabling them to match names with photographs.
designed for those who want to foster communal prayer for the Avilas’ intentions in the unity of the parish, under the structure of the Avila organization.” In 2019, three parish units were added for a total of 47. Most parish units hold monthly Holy Hours, sometimes in the evening to accommodate working parishioners. Although the format varies from parish to parish, Holy Hours usually include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary, prayers from the Avila handbook, and intercession for communities of religious men and women designated for that month. Each group prays by name for its parish’s priests, deacons, and sisters, and for parishioners who are already ordained or in the seminary. At St. Justin Martyr Parish in Eastlake, Ohio, the Avila unit has kept its Holy Hour every month of its 19-year existence. During that time, one parishioner was ordained a Dominican priest, and two others became diocesan priests. But few women are choosing religious life these days, and some communities of religious women have left the Cleveland Diocese. St. Justin Martyr’s Avila group now petitions God for a sister to be called forth from its parish. St. Mary Parish in Hudson, Ohio, offers fertile ground for vocations to the priesthood, largely because of its vibrant youth ministry. It probably helps that its Avila unit has held monthly Holy Hours for a dozen years. For the seventh consecutive year, a man from St. Mary was ordained a diocesan priest in 2019. One parishioner currently is in formation to become a priest in a religious order; five others are diocesan seminarians. PRAYER MOMS AND DADS
Father Joseph Cappelletti will soon celebrate his 89th birthday, and he knows his anonymous Prayer Mom will send her greetings. “She writes to me once in a while,” the retired priest says. “And I pray for this person whom I do not know.” A former religious brother and teacher, Father Cappelletti was ordained a diocesan priest at age 52. He is grateful to
the unknown Avila who makes a weekly Holy Hour and has been praying for him for years. “I believe strongly in prayer in the presence of God in the Eucharist,” he says. Father Cappelletti is one of 162 priests to be assigned an Avila “Prayer Mom” or “Prayer Dad” since 1984. Prayer Moms and Dads spiritually adopt a priest, promising to pray for him regularly. Using the vocation office as their return address, Prayer Moms and Dads also send cards or notes of encouragement at Christmas and Easter, and for the priest’s birthday and the anniversary of his ordination. When he is transferred, the vocation office alerts this spiritual benefactor to his new location. A priest can reply through the vocation office if he wishes, but no priest learns the identity of his Prayer Mom or Dad until that person dies. The Avilas then assign him a new one. Tom Kovacic and his wife, Barbara, witnessed the ordinations of their respective prayer sons almost a decade ago. The couple anonymously has sent these priests notes four times a year despite a number of transfers. Unlike his wife, Tom Kovacic has never heard from his prayer son, but he says it is irrelevant whether or not the priest acknowledges his cards. “More importantly, we pray a daily rosary and mention him by name,” Kovacic says. In addition to their prayer sons, the Kovacics also pray for Father Michael McCandless, director of the vocation office. “We pray for Mary’s intercession in their lives,” Kovacic says. “She’s the mother of all priests.” Father McCandless says his Prayer Mom contacts him every two or three months, and the timing is often fortuitous. “We know that somebody is sacrificing their time and intention for us every day,” the vocation director says. “That’s a big commitment.” Based in Brecksville, Ohio, Jerri Donohue writes for a variety of religious and secular publications. Her article “All in the Parish Family: An Organ Donor Story” appeared in the July 2018 issue of St. Anthony Messenger.
Sense Something? Say Something!
LITTLE NY/FOTOSEARCH
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOAN EVANS (2)
Priests and religious sisters often tell the Avilas that relatives, friends, and even total strangers suspected they had a vocation and suggested they consider the priesthood or religious life. A young parishioner once mistook Father James Cosgrove for a seminarian, for example—before he had made his fateful trip to the vocation office, eventually working up the courage to get past the parking lot. The future priest experienced a rush of such memories when he began to spend more and more time in eucharistic adoration. He advises the Avilas to speak up whenever they sense someone might have a vocation. “That is a seed worth planting,” Father Cosgrove says. “Never underestimate the power of suggestion. If you see it, say it. You won’t be the only one.” StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 35
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By Daniel Imwalle
Special Books by Special Kids YouTube
hen St. Francis embraced the leper, it was one of the most important turning points in his life. He chose not to look away. More than that, he chose to make an outward gesture of love and compassion to a person whom society had cast out—someone who likely hadn’t felt kindness from a stranger for a very long time. Today there are so many people who quietly, even silently, struggle with physical and mental disabilities, people our society would rather not see or hear. Chris Ulmer and his wife, Alyssa Porter, have spent the past four years sharing the stories of individuals with disabilities on their YouTube channel, Special Books by Special Kids (SBSK). Ulmer, a former special education teacher, had initially wanted to publish a book that would tell the stories of some of his students. When no publisher expressed interest, Ulmer started filming interviews and uploading them to YouTube. On the channel’s description page, Ulmer writes that, after he had uploaded a number of videos: “People around the world started e-mailing me, asking if I could interview them also. Although the medium has changed, the idea remains the same. Founded in 2016, SBSK is a 501(c)(3) organization that seeks to normalize the diversity of the human condition under the pillars of honesty, respect, mindfulness, positivity, and collaboration.” With hundreds of interviews uploaded to the channel, it can be a bit intimidating at first to figure out where to begin. No matter what story you select, though, the uniqueness and resilience of the subject shine through. From individuals with more common conditions, such as autism, to rare conditions, like Hallermann-Streiff syndrome, SBSK highlights its subjects’ inherent dignity without shying away from asking some hard questions. In a recent interview with a teenager with epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic skin condition that results in his body being covered with painful sores, Ulmer asks, “Do you
believe life has a purpose, and if so, what is the purpose of your life?” The boy tearfully responds, “After 16 years of meeting so many people [who have said], ‘You’re an amazing person,’ and stuff like that, maybe I’ve started to believe them. . . . If this is the payment of helping other people, then bring it on.” Ulmer is keen to raise awareness of mental health conditions and how to help those struggling with them. In an interview with a young man with schizoaffective disorder, Ulmer asks him to describe his symptoms, which include paranoia, hallucinations, and mixed episodes of mania and depression. About a year after that interview, Ulmer learned that the man he interviewed had just been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric stay, so he drove hundreds of miles to check on him and do a follow-up conversation. It might have saved this young man’s life. SBSK is a bright light of goodness on YouTube, a virtual space that often presents content ranging from trivial to terrible. Take a deep dive into this channel for stories of courage, compassion, and community. For more information, visit sbsk.org.
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podcast tv & streaming
film
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The Social Dilemma Netflix
“There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software.”
—Edward Tufte
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othing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” That quote from ancient Greek playwright Sophocles marks the beginning of the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. What follows is 90 minutes of insights and warnings from former developers of the many social media platforms many of us use daily, as well as commentary from experts who have studied people’s behavior and addiction to those platforms. What they reveal is both terrifying and eye-opening. The documentary, by award-winning filmmaker and environmentalist Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Ice, 2012; Chasing Coral, 2017), debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was met with rave reviews. We first meet Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and cofounder and president of the Center for Humane Technology. Harris said he left his job because of ethical concerns he had with the industry. Developers originally had the best of intentions when developing the platforms, Harris says, but “we were naive about the flip side of the coin.” Other speakers in the documentary include big-name players in the tech world, including Jaron Lanier, founding father of virtual reality; Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment, former director of monetization at Facebook, and former president of Pinterest; Dr. Anna Lembke, medical director of addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine; and Justin Rosenstein, cofounder of Asana and One Project, former engineering lead at Facebook, and a former product manager at Google. And the list goes on. Considering the wide range of information that is constantly being thrown at us and the manipulation of what we’re seeing, they offer a few pieces of advice: Get lots of types of information, fact-check, and turn off notifications. One example of that manipulation, the film points out, entering “Climate change is” into a Google search bar: Everyone would get different suggestions based on their online profile and the information that has been collected about him or her. In order to put a face on the insights of the experts, filmmakers present a real-life dramatization. We watch a
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By Susan Hines-Brigger
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When Pew Research Center began tracking social media adoption in 2005, just 5 percent of American adults used at least one of these platforms. By 2011, that share had risen to half of all Americans, and today, 72 percent of the public uses some type of social media.
family and the different ways they are affected by social media. The parents attempt to limit their children’s access to social media—including locking their phones up. The young daughter, however, shatters the box in order to get to her phone. Later, we see her dealing with the pressures of perfection and acceptance younger people struggle with because of platforms such as Instagram. We also watch her older brother get drawn into a downward spiral of hate and disinformation based on the manipulation of three executives behind a giant control panel. The scene seems straight out of a sci-fi movie, but the scariest part is the reality of what they are doing. The use of practical applications for the viewers to put what the experts are saying into context is a brilliant move by the filmmakers. Producers also incorporate a rather somber and ominous soundtrack as a backdrop for the film. If the content doesn’t leave you feeling unsettled, the film’s haunting score certainly will. Given the popularity of social media, I would suggest that everyone watch this movie. It will definitely open your eyes—and may change your behavior—next time you log in to social media. More information can be found about the documentary at TheSocialDilemma.com. Not yet rated by Catholic News Service, PG-13 • Thematic elements, disturbing/violent images, and suggestive material.
HAVE A FAVORITE CULTURE ITEM YOU WANT US TO REVIEW? Let us know about it: MagazineEditors@FranciscanMedia.org StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 37
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CULTURE
By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
PICKS FOR
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 42 (2013)
Hidden Figures (2016) Selma (2014) The Hate U Give (2018) Get Out (2017)
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WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org
I
t’s a hot summer day in Chicago, 1927. Black band members gather at a recording studio to await their lead performer, “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey (Viola Davis). They are planning to record several songs in one session, and Ma’s manager, Irvin (Jeremy Shamos), becomes increasingly nervous when his artist fails to show. Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne) is the demanding and greedy owner of the studio who wants to squeeze as much from the popular singer as he can for as little money as possible. The band members gather in an airless room to eat lunch and rehearse, but the older musicians seem annoyed by the young horn player, Levee (Chadwick Boseman), who writes his own music and restyles one of Ma’s songs from blues to jazz. As they wait around telling stories, tensions rise. When Ma and her girlfriend, Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige), and her nephew, Sylvester (Dusan Brown), arrive, the singer refuses to begin until Irvin provides her with a cold Coca-Cola and agrees to let Sylvester introduce the song on the record. Because Sylvester stutters, the whole production can only grind slowly ahead in the suffocating heat. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’s adapted script, by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, is based on the Tony Award-winning 1982 play by August Wilson. It is part of The Pittsburgh Cycle, 10 plays by Wilson that explore the 20th-century
African American experience—and the only one that features a real character (Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, 1886–1939). The 2016 film version of Wilson’s Fences was like watching a play on the big screen, but Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a superbly produced film with incredible cinematography by Tobias A. Schleisser. Both films are produced by Denzel Washington. Davis’ performance is all-consuming and mesmerizing, as she stands her own with the white-run recording industry and belts out the blues (Davis actually provides the vocals for “Those Dogs of Mine” about her sore feet). Chadwick Boseman, in his last film role, is a hopeful, charismatic, and tragic figure. His performance soars. The soul-searing soundtrack is produced and curated by Branford Marsalis, who adapts some of Ma Rainey’s original songs. Racial tensions, power struggles and injustices, creative differences, and the very souls of these artists are at the heart of this film, which is the best of 2020. Not yet rated, R • Language, suggested lesbian relationship, violence.
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PIECES OF A WOMAN: NETFLIX/BRON STUDIOS; MINARI: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
Sister Rose’s
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM: NETFLIX INC./DAVID LEE/AP
Sister Rose is a Daughter of St. Paul and the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. She has been the award-winning film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger since 2003 and is the author of several books on Scripture and film, as well as media literacy education.
MINARI
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PIECES OF A WOMAN
PIECES OF A WOMAN: NETFLIX/BRON STUDIOS; MINARI: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM: NETFLIX INC./DAVID LEE/AP
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artha (Vanessa Kirby) is a Boston executive married to construction worker Sean (Shia LaBeouf). They are expecting their first child, a girl, and Martha chooses a home birth, though her mother, Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), disapproves. They go to all the classes and prepare for every eventuality, but when Martha goes into labor, her midwife cannot come. Instead, a new midwife, Eva (Molly Parker), assists. Martha’s labor is progressing well, but when the baby’s heart rate drops, Eva calls for an ambulance. Despite all efforts, the baby dies during birth. In the year that follows, Martha and Sean must navigate their relationship, the role of Elizabeth in their lives, and the decision to prosecute Eva for malpractice. This is where director Kornél Mundruczó excels in vividly bringing Kata Wéber’s screenplay to life. The images of water are a motif throughout the film, suggesting that water is the womb of life. The couple must sign papers for a new car and more papers for the home birth, giving the impression that life is all business. But they learn that the real business of life—living and loving—is fragile and requires the freedom of forgiveness to move ahead. The progress of the bridge that Sean is building marks the passage of time and the suggestion that healing after tragedy is possible. Kirby’s performance is deeply felt and nuanced, while LaBeouf is believable as the father whose loss is just as devastating. Not yet rated, R • Dramatic depiction of labor, graphic nudity.
Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. A-1 General patronage
A-2 Adults and adolescents
A-3 Adults
L Limited adult audience
O Morally offensive
young Korean immigrant couple in the 1980s, Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica (Yeri Han), and their two children, Anne (Noel Cho) and David (Alan S. Kim), move from California to Arkansas after 10 years in the United States. Jacob believes that growing Korean vegetables will have a market as the Korean immigrant population increases. But he makes decisions without Monica’s input, and this causes a strain in their marriage. During the day, Jacob and Monica work at a hatchling plant. They send for Monica’s mother, Soonja (Yuhjung Youn), to look after the children. David, who has a heart murmur, thinks she isn’t a real grandma because she uses profanity and doesn’t bake cookies. At night, Jacob works the farm, which is doing well until the water dries up. A local man, Paul (Will Patton), is like a biblical prophet who performs exorcisms wherever there is a problem and helps Jacob whenever he can. When Soonja arrived from South Korea, she brought minari, a water plant similar to American watercress, and planted it near the creek. Just when the family seems to lose everything, her thoughtfulness brings them hope. This is a film about seeking the American dream, yes, but it is even more about life, family, and faith. Minari, which is in Korean with English subtitles, is enjoyable and inspiring on every level. Not yet rated, PG • Loss, death, grief.
Source: CatholicNews.com/movie-reviews
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fiction
PENDULUM Waiting for rescue, an accident victim hovers between despair and hope. Story by Jim Auer Illustration by Jianan Liu
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dull consciousness set in slowly, posing vague, shadowy questions, difficult to focus on. He moved an arm. A slashing stab of pain warned him not to do it again. He tried to sit up, with the same result. The effort told him he couldn’t move anyway; there was no room. He tried a leg. Worse pain. No room. No way to do anything. Briefly, he resigned himself to accept without a shred of understanding. But as layers of consciousness returned in small, fuzzy-edged increments, questions could not be forestalled. What? Where? How? He searched dully for a method of discovery and stumbled on one. “I am . . . Glenn Langenbuehler,” he mumbled, barely aloud, through thick lips. Start there. Work backward. Glenn Langenbuehler. Worked at . . . the Pharos Corporation. Wife . . . Sally. She’d be worried. Kids . . . James and . . . and Elia and . . . Florence. An automatic reflex triggered an attempt to brush away liquid trickling down his face. Pain from the attempt made him gasp. He looked for the liquid to drop. Red. Looking down for it, he discovered why there was no room to move. Plastered against his chest was a steering wheel. To the right of it, a grotesquely twisted dashboard. Sally must be worried . . . didn’t know about this. He had to find his phone. Honey, I’m in an accident, so I’ll be late, but don’t worry. Honey, I’m in an accident, and I’m going to die, but don’t worry. There were no sounds. Nothing, nobody. Just him and the mangled wreckage. And . . . trees. He could see trees. Why trees? He strained to remember, make sense of it. He shook his head as vigorously as he could to dispel the fog. Mistake, mistake! Searing onslaught of pain. Wait—why was the steering wheel . . . why didn’t the airbags . . . ? Oh. He was in the Shelby. The ’66 Shelby Cobra. Over a million. But long before airbags. StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 41
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fiction Nobody around. Nobody knew! No. God knew. Knows everything. But God doesn’t always make things right. Red Sea was a long time ago. Out of the miracle business these days. No, wait! Those no-longer-needed crutches at Lourdes. And those books about angel rescues. Even today they do things . . . rescue . . . fix things . . . then disappear, no footprints in the snow, no tire tracks, no . . . no traces. He waited for angels. He took as deep a breath as he dared and closed his eyes. Improbably, in spite of pain ramping up, he lapsed into what passed for sleep.
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e awoke as before, with gradual increments of returning consciousness, and slowly regathered the pieces. Car wreck. Can’t move. Steering wheel. Pain. Blood. Sally worried. Something else . . . angels coming? Maybe. Depends on . . . no. Won’t be coming—not to rescue him. Not after everything. Damn the past. It would damn him. As much as he weakly willed otherwise, the past returned in shadowy swirls, like floating objects behind a scrim. Suddenly the scrim disappeared; people, places, and objects became hard, painfully glaring, outlined by edges so sharp they shimmered. The ghost accounts. A ghost payroll so diabolically well disguised it passed scrutiny, passed audit. Costly repairs to things never broken. All the channels of stolen income that bought the pristine Shelby, the extravagantly opulent Lexus. Business trips that had more to do with pleasure than business. Invisible flowing streams of illicit money providing unearned luxury. He had rationalized or minimized it all as he continued to bask in the clueless admiration of colleagues, family, friends, and other churchgoers. “Glenn, we just love when you do one of the readings. You sure know how to bring them to life.” “Glenn, have you ever thought you might be called to the diaconate?” Put me in a whitewashed tomb; I am one. No, no, wait, I didn’t mean that! No, rescue me. Please, please, rescue me. It was getting harder to breathe. He alternated between long, slow breaths and short, quick ones. No difference. Both equally difficult and painful. The idea that he might not be found until after his last breath settled in and declared itself likely. By then he would be . . . where? His body here, wherever that was. Perhaps decayed beyond recognition. Soul . . . ?
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emembered voices from opposite stances assembled in their respective trenches; a theological battle began on the terrain of his mind. “God is not our pal! Oh, sure, God loves us. But that does not mean he puts up with anything and everything! We like to think he does, but we think that at our peril! God’s love does not cancel God’s wrath!” That came from Msgr. Gallion, in a First Sunday of Lent homily.
“God never tires of forgiving us.” Pope Francis. “Back in the day, we got solid Catholic truth from the pulpit, even if it wasn’t pleasant to hear. Today, we get watereddown pablum. We need sermons about sin and the fires of hell. Hell doesn’t evaporate because people think it’s oldschool!” Uncle Herb. “Like most of us, I used to believe in a punishing God who kept track of every screwup. Then I read the Gospels— hard to believe, right? Jesus modeled what God is like. He said so himself: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Problem is: We’ve never believed it. So that punishing God we were taught . . . that’s not my God anymore.” His brother Ted. “By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath.” Romans. “The Lord, your God, is a merciful God. He will not abandon or destroy you.” Deuteronomy. The intensity of the battle grew. Volleys of bullets from long-past retreats, homilies, and books flew back and forth as though powered by a gleeful pendulum. They fought to an impasse. God passionately loves us. The Bible says so. God hates our sinfulness! The Bible says so. You don’t earn heaven. It’s a free gift from a gracious, loving God. But you have to be worthy of the gift! “Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.” Had Mary prayed enough? Had he prayed enough? Were his parents praying for him from heaven or purgatory? Or was there a purgatory? Billy Graham didn’t think so. Was there really a hell? If somebody has doubts about hell, do they forfeit the right to expect heaven? Was there a heaven? Briefly, atheism seemed appealing. No worries about what happens next if there is no next, if, as Porky Pig says, “That’s all, folks,” and it really is. Game over; lights out. Later. Thanks for the memories. But there’d be no memories. No one to thank. No later. Just nothing. Feeling like someone inserting his last dollar in a penny slot after squandering six figures, he began in a hoarse whisper, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed—” but the next words stuck in his throat and felt like proof of hypocrisy. Everybody knows what God thinks about hypocrites. My, my, my, isn’t this a hoot? You know, Glenn, you have a lot of nerve praying so earnestly now that you need an ambulance and a hospital. But God, God, wait. I did some good stuff too, didn’t I? Doesn’t that count? Charity covering a multitude of sins? He had made an initial attempt at restitution, making sure to hide the credits as masterfully as he had hidden the debits, but it was too little and, by then, futile. The recession of 2008 sucked most of the remaining strength from the weakened company. Chapter 13 was of little help. They searched for a buyer, but none came forward. The company was dissolved.
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fiction Gone because of him, after headlines like “Small Company Finds Success through Caring for Employees and Clients Alike.” Bruce’s dream. “I’m sorry!” he sobbed to his former coworkers who had lost jobs they loved and needed. None of them had reaped a plush, lucrative job that fell out of nowhere—only the man responsible for toxic rain drenching two or more generations.
“S
top remembering!” He paid with pain for his spontaneous scream into the emptiness of the mangled car. All the stinking fallout. Disheartened parents; disappointed, fearful kids; dreams deferred, crippled, mortally wounded. Forgiveness? For that much suffering, for that kind of ruin, for that many tears? “You drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves with the finest oils but care nothing for the affliction of Joseph!” He had read Amos 6:6 from the ambo once. No forgiveness for that much—no! That’s despair. Deadly sin. Insults God. Of course, forgiveness. God never tires of forgiving, so— no! That’s the other deadly sin—presumption! Despair . . . presumption. Scylla . . . Charybdis. “One fist of iron, the other of steel, if the right one don’t a-get you, then the left one will, you load 16 tons . . .” of guilt. The pendulum swung frenetically. Salvation to damnation and back.
Glenn stared as the past, present, and future roiled and churned. “Sir, don’t try to move, we’re bringing our equipment down right—” “Do you think God forgives me?” Glenn interrupted. There was a pause. “Well, I . . . just a second. Tom, send Chap down. Tell him careful of that drop-off. But hurry.” A new face appeared at the mangled metal. “. . . if God forgives him,” the first face was saying in an undertone to the new one. “Good thing you came along on this run. Sir, this is our chaplain.” “Does God forgive me?” Glenn asked with slow, labored words, as others brought the transport backboard and tools. “What’s your name?” “Glenn.” Chap reached in and signed a cross on the bloody forehead. “God forgives you, Glenn.” Glenn closed his eyes. Jim Auer has written numerous books for young Catholics, including Handbook for Today’s Catholic Teen (Liguori Publications), as well as articles and fiction for this publication. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife of over 50 years.
Your Gifts Power Our Work
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urry. OK, that’s good. Right there—stop.” “Spreader won’t work. Door’s gonna kick back.” He slid into a world of strange voices uttering strange things. “Need the cutter.” “Careful down there, careful.” And still the pendulum swung. Sunny skies to vindictive thunderclouds. O my God, can you hear me? Can you hear me? “Sir? Sir! SIR! Can you hear me?” He squinted up through blood-crusted eyelids. “Sir, hold on. We’re gonna get you out. You’re gonna be OK.” The Jaws of Life began to peel back the roof. Arms reached in and stabilized his head and neck. The Jaws then went to work on the steering column. Arms lifted it out. From a surreal mix of the apparent outer world and his inner one, he asked, “Did God hear me?” “I . . . I’m sure he did, sir. Try to relax.” “How do you know?” “Some guy said his car broke down right at this spot— Tom, we’re gonna need everybody on the backboard; that hill’s steep—So, the guy got out, saw your car down here smashed against the tree, and called 911. Weird thing, though—car wasn’t even broken down. Soon as we got here, he drove off.”
OUR MISSION is to spread the Gospel in the spirit of St. Francis in ever-widening circles through new media. With joy and with purpose, we seek to follow in the footsteps of our founder and share the grace of our loving God. We are blessed to join with generous partners like you to grow our circle of friends and multiply our efforts. Your gift will support critical new initiatives that share powerful messages of hope, inspiration, and purpose for our lives. For more information, please contact Ray Taylor at: (614) 495-7378 or RTaylor@FranciscanMedia.org StAnthonyMessenger.org | February 2021 • 43
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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH and FAMILY
By Susan Hines-Brigger
What Does a Family Look Like?
Susan Hines-Brigger
E-MAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Faith & Family 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
y kids often joke that they never know who their biological family members are because, in our house, the term family is much broader than that. Friends are also family. I consider my coworkers to be part of my family. The families of my sisters and brothers-in-law are also family. Growing up, we knew my mom’s best friend as Aunt Ellie, and now my children address my best friend the same way. Yes, for us, the term family is pretty broad. When I first started writing this column more than 20 years ago, someone—another mom, actually—questioned the move, wondering how much I really knew about being a mom since, at the time, my husband, Mark, and I only had one child and one on the way. I remember wondering why my family was any less than hers, simply because my kids were younger and there weren’t more of them. That sentiment has stuck with me all these years and has also served as a guide for how I interact with and approach the concept of what defines a family. Since then, my immediate family has expanded to four kids, but it is no more of a family now than it was back when Mark and I had only one kid and I started writing this column, or even before then when it was just Mark and me. That’s because families take on all different shapes, sizes, forms, and looks. Families aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of thing—and that’s a blessing. BROADENING OUR DEFINITION
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If you look up the word family in the dictionary, the first one is a very traditional definition of what society sees as a family: “a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit.” I would argue that
the notion of family can be much broader than that. In that spirit, our staff—made up of many different types of families—has decided to open up this column a bit to include some different voices from families that may not look like mine but are families nonetheless. We will hear from married couples with no kids, single people, divorced parents, widows, people taking care of their elderly parents, and many other incarnations of the family unit. These families all look different and face different issues. Some are dealing with issues that may be familiar to us. Others might seem foreign. Every day, families find themselves facing things such as divorce, infertility, adoption, illness, addiction, sexuality, and many more. We want to give a voice to all types of families—not just mine. I’ll still be writing about my family’s adventures, but now I’ll have companions on the journey. We can’t wait for you to come along. LET’S GET GOING
We’re going to get started with Chris, my fellow executive editor of this magazine. He writes about being a single man in a world that seems obsessed with the nuclear family. Chris and I have grown up together. He is the brother I never had. His family and mine are intertwined in many ways. In short, he is part of my family. And yet, our lives could not look more different. We often focus too much on the things that are different about our families, but perhaps it’s time we started looking at what we have in common. We are all members of a family. Sometimes, they just don’t look exactly the same.
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RIGHT: DOLGACHOV/FOTOSEARCH; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE
Susan welcomes your comments and suggestions!
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MC KOZUSKO/SAM; KUDRYASHKA/FOTOSEARCH
Susan has worked at St. Anthony Messenger for 26 years and is an executive editor. She and her husband, Mark, are the proud parents of four kids—Maddie, Alex, Riley, and Kacey. Aside from her family, her loves are Disney, traveling, and sports.
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FAITH and FAMILY
ALONE BUT NEVER LONELY I am part of a vast human family. I am a link in a mighty chain. And because I am never alone, I have no fear of loneliness.
Y
ears ago, for my niece’s third birthday, her mother threw a party. I can remember walking into the house and immediately surveying the landscape. It looked like The Lord of the Flies: toddlers screaming, crying, fighting over toys, throwing pieces of cake, howling for their mothers. The chaos was crippling—literally. One little scamp charged me and wrapped her arms around my legs in a vise-like grip. Immediately, I froze. God, what do I do now? I thought. The child’s mother soon freed me, and suddenly something concretized in that moment: This is not for me. And I’m not sorry about it. Though I have always loved spending time with my nieces over the years, I also relish getting in my car and going back to an environment I can actually control. While marriage and children are the building blocks of any society, it is a calling unheeded by many. According to a study by the US Census Bureau, “singleperson households increased fivefold since 1960, from 7 million to 36 million.” Marriage and family are desirable for countless people; for others, however, it’s not enough. I deeply admire those who raise children: There is perhaps no harder job one can undertake. It’s just not something I want. As a single, I enjoy certain freedoms that married people do not. I am spared recitals and soccer games, PTA meetings and midnight feedings. But I’m not lazy. Because I am not tethered to a family of my own, I have the freedom to assist friends, family, and neighbors as the need arises. Because I have aging parents, I’m relieved that I have the freedom and the geographical proximity to help them if and when they require it. If I had a family of my own, I don’t
know that I’d have the availability or the mental bandwidth to keep everything afloat. It’s more than an even trade. But if I stand back and look at this from a different angle, I am reminded that we are never truly alone. I am part of a vast human family. I am a link in a mighty chain. And because I am never alone, I have no fear of loneliness. In his 2017 TED Talk, Pope Francis eloquently spoke to all believers—regardless of their marital status—about the need to shore up our whole human family. “We all need each other, none of us is an island, an autonomous and independent ‘I,’ separated from the other,” the pope said. “And we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone.” —Christopher Heffron
RIGHT: DOLGACHOV/FOTOSEARCH; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE
These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two. So look and see if you can name Eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers below)
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LET US PRAY
reflect | pray | act
By Carol Ann Morrow
Carol Ann Morrow
In the Mojave Desert, the Milky Way galaxy paints the backdrop of a Joshua tree, a plant named by early Mormon settlers after the Old Testament prophet. Lent provides an opportunity for us to prayerfully wander the desert of our spiritual lives.
“L
et me just finish what I’m doing,” my husband says. “I’ll let you,” I say grudgingly, knowing I have little power to stop him in his tracks. In his own good time, he shows up, and I’m by and large grateful, unless I was in a hurry. I’ve often mused on this “let me,” which feels like stalling or stubbornness, despite its lighthearted promise that my husband will indeed saunter my way. And, you might well ask, what does this have to do with prayer? It’s linked by this frequent invitation in Catholic ritual: “Let us pray.” Do those assembled expect actual prayer to follow? Does it? I confess of myself: not always! I have come to the assembly intent on prayer, but I stray, I idle, I dream, I waver, I focus, I fiddle. You may be much better at this, but I’m grateful if prayer has occupied the larger part of my time in a place of worship! Alone in my space for personal prayer, it’s much the same.
LET US DO THE DESERT
On the cusp of Lent, I echo the nursery chant: “Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” My personal
plague is falling down and failing any resolutions I make. When I lamented this to a confessor, he suggested short-term resolutions, a day or a week or some shorter span I might be able to manage. I now realize that managing isn’t the idea at all. I’m not meant to manage Lent, but to slog through, to intend, to hope, and, most of all, to remember. I am remembering that Jesus wandered in a desert, wanting to face up to the mission that lay ahead. He was gathering courage, practicing self-discipline, acquainting himself with loneliness, and facing the devils of distraction, desire, and desolation. Not to put too fine a face on it, but me too. I’ve come to believe that Lent is not about doing. It’s about not doing. It’s not about trying, but letting ourselves take that ramble through the desert. Prayer is the backbone of Lent. I reject Satan, however evil manifests itself in my desert. I affirm my belief that I can make it through, and that prayer is that way. And prayer is not primarily doing; prayer is letting, allowing, even embracing the mysteries.
PR
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Prayer: Allowing, Aiding, and Abetting
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Carol Ann Morrow is an associate of the Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, Indiana. She is also a wife, sometimes a mother to two grown stepchildren, and always a grandmother of four. She was on the staff of St. Anthony Messenger for 25 years and is the author of A Retreat with Saint Anthony: Finding Our Way (Franciscan Media).
LET US SKIP SANDCASTLES
and where the divinely human awaits. I’m not asking for insights or visions When I traveled through the Mojave Desert, I saw firsthand that deserts are or comfort. I’m just repeating: “Let us pray. Let me pray. Let me finish or far from empty. Jackrabbits and Joshua trees abound near cavrefinish.” Or I may be silent. The less of a erns, abandoned silver rule I make for myself, mines, and prickly Let it be. pears. My own Lenten the less likely I will fail to observe it. I don’t desert has a large Let me begin. want to box out any population of distracLet me finish. possibilities. I want to tions and delights. be open to uncertainty. My prayer is similarly populated. My current I want to be in the motto: Let it be. Let me begin. Let me desert, but not be deserted, please God. finish. This year, I am wandering the LET US NOT LOOK FOR STATISTICS Mojave in my mind and heart. If you’ve OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS What am I doing for Lent? I blush to experienced the Judean wilderness or Jordan’s Wadi Rum, go there. Just go. say, “Nothing.” This is so hard. I love to do two things or more at once. It Jesus stayed for 40 days. I’m staying offers me a kind of dizzying pleasure. just one day—actually one fragment of a day—at a time. I’ll sit down. I’ll be But let us pray that our Mother Church quiet. I’ll stay. No timers, no music, no repeats and repeats. script. I just mean to stay until I know This Lent, I’m planning to respond. where I am. I may be in a cavern. I I’m going to allow nothingness to reign may be in a field of wildflowers. I may in my desert of prayer. I’m going to be lost in a barren sandscape. When I hope to run into Jesus in my Mojave, know where I am, I may say, “Let me but I’m not counting on any revelafinish,” or I may say, “I’ve got to rush tions. I have realized that let and Lent are two words separated by a single off.” But I will have been in the desert letter. Or not. of Lent, a place where Jesus has been
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PRAYERFUL
IN THE
DESERT
God of the desert’s wildness: Let me linger with you. I am here. I bring no baggage, no petitions, no worries. I ask you to continue what you have begun in me, to forward my faltering self, to strengthen my irresolute self, to sit here with me in this desert. Amen.
FINDING YOUR WAY
If you are an introvert, you may need a different invitation in Lent. Thomas Merton had a revelation on a street corner in Louisville, Kentucky, where he realized that he was one with all the people. For you, a place that is not isolated, a place filled with people may be the greater effort. Allow people to grace your life.
2 MIK 122/FOTOSEARCH
TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP RIGHT: JOEBELANGER/FOTOSEARCH
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PRAYER
Some of us need more props as we picture ourselves in a desert. Seek out a photo book of the desert or a moonscape. Open it randomly for your prayer time. For others, a miniature sandbox in which you can trace a path can be a tactile invitation to enter a place of prayer.
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reflection
The time is always right to do what is right.
February is Black History Month.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/MARION S. TRIKOSKO
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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