Sharing the spirit of St. Francis with the world V O L . 1 2 7 / N O . 2 • JULY 2019
IN THIS ISSUE:
A Franciscan’s Vacation Reflection pages 14–15
MISTER ROGERS’ LEGACY
THE HOLY WOMEN OF GALILEE JULY 2019 • $4.99 StAnthonyMessenger.org
FAITH-FILLED CATHOLIC SINGLES HEALING AFTER MISCARRIAGE
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GREAT LITERARY
LIVES and WORKS ◆ TOLKIEN: Man and Myth — A Literary Life
Joseph Pearce J.R.R Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, may be the most popular writer of
our age but he is often misunderstood. This major new study of his life, his character, and his work reveals the facts and confronts the myths, exploring Tolkien’s background and the culture in which he wrote. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce reveals the impact of Tolkien's great notoriety, his unique friendship with C.S. Lewis, and his deep religious faith, making it possible to understand both the man and the myth that he created.
TMANP . . . Sewn Softcover, $15.95
"This fine apologia will certainly shift our polarized view of Ronald Tolkien. Pearce writes beautifully and with great depth." —The Tablet
◆ A MOST DANGEROUS INNOCENCE —A Novel
Fiorella de Maria 1940 Britain stands alone with German invaders across the Channel as an anxious
population prepares for a bloody battle. In an isolated girls' boarding school, 16 yr. old Judy Randall is a misfit in an institution that prizes conformity; a Catholic with Jewish heritage during a time of strong anti-Semitism. She is also autistic. Convinced that her hated headmistress is a Nazi, Judy goes to dangerous lengths to prove it. British writer de Maria offers a glimpse into the early days of World War II from a sleepy corner of Britain, and a searing meditation on childhood guilt, innocence, loyalty, and the courage to stand alone.
MDIP . . . Sewn Softcover, $15.95
“A gripping tale of the search for identity and understanding in a season of radical fear." — Michael O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah: An Apocalypse "With characteristic insight and beautiful prose, De Maria intimately explores the deeply wounded world of prejudice and personality. — Eleanor Nicholson, Author, A Bloody Habit
◆ LITERATURE: What Every Catholic Should know
Joseph Pearce Pearce provides an illuminating survey of the great works of literature which help us to
know ourselves and our humanity better. Beginning with Homer and Virgil, the book progresses chronologically through the greatest works of all time, including Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Dickens, Chesterton, Eliot, Tolkien, Lewis and more. It includes a list of 100 great works of literature that everyone should read. LWCKP . . . Sewn Softcover, $16.95
“Learned and accessible, witty and wise. A must read for all who wish to mine the depths of truly Catholic culture.” —Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Author, The Romance of Religion: Fighting for Goodness, Truth, & Beauty “I love this book. Pearce’s reading program is pure pleasure. It can make the world a happier place.” —Mike Aquilina, Author, A History of the Church in 100 Objects
www.ignatius.com P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522
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VOL. 127 NO. 2
2019 JULY
26 Mister Rogers’ Legacy
COVER STORY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION (2): ABOVE: OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES; COVER: DANIEL TIGER
By Janice Lane Palko
Fred Rogers changed the world with his message of love and respect for our neighbor. The Fred Rogers Center in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, continues to spread that message.
18 At Play in the House of the Lord By Ed Gamboa
We can experience God in a most fundamental way—through the example of a child at play.
21 Meet the Holy Galilean Women By Theresa Doyle-Nelson
These women may not be in the forefront in Scripture, but they certainly had a front-row seat to Jesus’ life and ministry.
34 Party of One
COVER: Wearing one of his iconic sweaters, Fred Rogers holds Daniel Striped Tiger, one of the puppets he used in his long-running PBS show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
38 Healing after Miscarriage By Eleanor Baumgartner
After experiencing the anguish of losing her son at 20 weeks, a mother asks whether he is in heaven. In her grief, she finds that her faith grows in unexpected ways.
44 Fiction: A Greater Peace
Story by Terry Sanville; illustration by James Balkovek
A homeless veteran finds comfort in a child’s toy.
By Susan Klemond
These singles are awake and open to God, leading lives filled with faith, strong relationships, and community engagement.
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Saint Day
of the
The saints were real people with real stories—just like us! Their surrender to God’s love was so generous that the Church recognizes them as heroes and 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 inbox. Go to https://info.franciscan media.org/franciscan-media-newsletter-signup to begin your journey.
Saints featured in the month of July include…
St. Junipero Serra July 1 Embroiled in some controversy due to the interpretation of historical facts, St. Junipero Serra traveled the west coast of the country, founding many of the famous California Missions in the 18th century.
St. Maria Goretti July 6 St. Maria Goretti has captured the love and affection of thousands of people because of the simplicity and purity of her life. Mortally injured while defending her chastity, Maria Goretti witnessed the conversion of her murderer and his reconciliation with her family.
St. Kateri teKaKwitha July 14 Known as the Lily of the Mohawks, St. Kateri Tekakwitha’s story is one of courage and humility. Courageously facing her uncle’s dislike for anything Christian, she converted to Catholicism at age 19.
St. Mary MaGdalene July 22 Whether or not Mary Magdalene was a notorious sinner— and she most likely was not—she was one of the women who traveled with Jesus and the Apostles, and was present at the cross. She also was the one chosen to bring the good news of the resurrection to the Apostles.
Go to www.FranciscanMedia.org/Alexa to learn how to add Saint of the Day to your Alexa-enabled device.
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VOL. 127 NO. 2
“Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us.”
2019 JULY
—St. Francis of Assisi
10 SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS 10 Ask a Franciscan
Mental Images of God
16 POINTS OF VIEW 5
Your Voice
Letters from Readers
12 Franciscan World
16 Faith Unpacked
12 St. Anthony Stories
17 Editorial
13 Followers of St. Francis
47 At Home on Earth
Padua Program II Begins in September
Honoring a Pledge
Scars from the Past
Mister Rogers—Prophet in a Cardigan
Dr. Tim Weldon
God Wastes Nothing
54 Faith & Family
The Power of Voices
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
48 MEDIA MATTERS
43
48 Reel Time
51 Audio File
50 Channel Surfing
52 Bookshelf
A Dog’s Journey
Chasing the Moon
Marvin Gaye | You’re the Man
The Universal Christ
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 6 14 43
Dear Reader Church in the News Notes from a Friar Sisterhood of Saints
55 56 56 57
In the Kitchen Pete & Repeat Lighten Up! Reflection
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dear reader
ST. ANTHONY
MESSENGER
Let’s Play
L
ast October, Major League Baseball released a new slogan—“Let the kids play”—that encouraged players to show their personalities and enjoyment for the game and just have fun. It was a nice reminder for all of us to recall the joys of play in our lives. Surely, we can all remember summer nights of playing outside until dark—and often after—with friends. In his article “At Play in the House of the Lord,” author Ed Gamboa addresses this very topic. He writes of the joy he and his wife get from spending time and playing with their granddaughter. He then wonders why we all can’t have a similarly joyful and playful relationship with God. Surely God would welcome that. Unfortunately, these days being playful is not our default mode. We cram our schedules—as well as our kids’ and grandkids’—full with work, appointments, activities, and more. In fact, according to a number of reports, 50 percent of American workers don’t even use their vacation time from work. Those same reports list the many negative impacts of people not taking time off. The bottom line is, we need to play, and summertime is the perfect time to do it. So, in the words of the boys of summer: Let the kids play.
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Christopher Heffron Susan Hines-Brigger
FRANCISCAN EDITOR
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A Greater Peace PAGE 44
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Holy Galilean Women
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writer
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Mister Rogers’ Legacy
PAGE 21
An illustrator for 40 years, James Balkovek has illustrated many educational and children’s books. His career has spanned the fields of advertising illustration, graphic design, trade and children’s illustration, educational publishing, and teaching. Currently residing in Indiana with his wife and their menagerie of pets, he enjoys painting, reading, and travel. See more of his work at www.balkovek.net.
Theresa Doyle-Nelson has been writing for over 20 years but started out as a teacher. After taking a correspondence writing course, though, she says that she found writing to be a much stronger calling. “I love the whole writing process, the wide variety of things I learn, the unique and varied people I meet—and freelance writing has enabled me to find the time I desire/need for family things,” she says on her blog, TheresaDoyle-Nelson. blogspot.com.
Janice Lane Palko has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years. She is currently the executive editor for Northern Connection and Pittsburgh Fifty-Five Plus magazines and the lead writer for the website PopularPittsburgh.com. She is the author of four novels, including her latest, Most Highly Favored Daughter.
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 ©2019. All rights reserved.
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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 127, Number 2, is published monthly 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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R
POINTSOFVIEW | YOUR VOICE May Cover Story a Slow Build For many years, I have loved your magazine. So my reaction to the painting of Mary on the May cover was strange. I almost did not open the magazine, and I thought, That is not the way Mary looked. The magazine lay on my counter for a week (most unusual for St. Anthony Messenger). Finally, it dawned on me that many depictions of Mary—some seen in your magazine—don’t attempt to be an exact representation of her. The more I looked at the article (“Mary, Our Muse”), the more beautiful and haunting I found the renderings of Mary by the artist, Holly Schapker. As always, with the variety of letters to the editor, the articles, and the opinions in your editorials, you make me proud and happy to be a Catholic. Joanne Kelly, Lake Worth, Florida
A Courageous Voice
.S.P.S. TION lished of St. nnati, postffices. thony 0189. bram
call n the Single notice ption-
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I’m writing in regard to Susan Hines-Brigger’s article in the May issue of St. Anthony Messenger (“A Voice for Justice”). It was inspiring to read about Patty Crawford’s decision to stand up for victims of sexual assault. She is such a brave, faith-filled woman and an example for young women entering the professional workforce. Our society still has a long way to go toward gender equality, and the many cases of cover-ups of sexual assault in our colleges and universities (and other places) is proof of that. Thank God there are people like Mrs. Crawford who advocate for those who might otherwise be silenced. Joan Treare, Tempe, Arizona
Mary’s Challenges as a Mother “The Flip Side of the Joyful Mysteries,” by Martin Pable, OFM Cap, was my favorite article in the May issue. Each mystery was explained so well, and his writing made it easy to grasp the challenges Mary faced as a mother. Now, when I say my daily rosary, I truly understand each step Mary went through raising Jesus in his early life. It would be wonderful if Friar Martin would write a series on each mystery of the rosary.
PHOTO CREDIT HERE
Lenore Faughn, Universal City, Texas
Only Christ Makes Us Worthy In Father Richard Rohr’s article “Our Ordinary, Sacred World” (from the May
issue), he states, “Catholics even publicly say, ‘Lord, I am not worthy,’ in the Mass, immediately before we walk up as if we are ‘worthy’— and others are not.” I would have to disagree with him on that because I have never felt that way about Communion. To me, it means just what it says: I am not worthy, and it does not matter if I walked straight out of the confessional and right up the aisle to get Communion. Nobody in the whole world is worthy, and it is only Christ, neither the priest nor ourselves, who makes us worthy to receive holy Communion. Henry R. Kramer, London, Kentucky
Welcome Back, Fiction I was happy to see a fiction story in the May issue (“The Name of the Father,” by Jennifer Moore). I found it to be a touching, sympathetic look at the life of a priest. We often see the clergy as remote and separate from the people in the pews, but they have to deal with the same difficulties we all face—from making it through the daily grind to losing a loved one. Though it was sad in parts, I loved the way the author brought the character of Father Mark to life. Frank Jefferson, Seattle, Washington
Kids with Guns Susan Hines-Brigger’s editorial in the May issue of St. Anthony Messenger, “Beyond Thoughts and Prayers,” was right on the mark. We live in an era when mass shootings and hate crimes of all kinds occur with such frequency that we’re becoming numb to them. Prayer is crucial to our faith lives, and it nurtures solidarity. But our faith calls us to action too. We need to take a hard look at how our society’s obsession with gun rights plays a role in the problem of mass shootings in our country—not to mention woefully inadequate access to mental health resources. I doubt the Founding Fathers could possibly have envisioned an America where children would walk into their schools and open fire on their classmates. The technology of weaponry has evolved. It’s time for our perspective on guns to evolve as well. It comes down to this: Do we love our children or do we love our guns? Jim Atkins, New Orleans, Louisiana
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people | events | trends By Susan Hines-Br ig ger
BISHOPS AND SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS GATHER
POPE ISSUES NEW NORMS FOR ABUSE REPORTING
ith his latest apostolic letter, Pope Francis has established new procedures for reporting abuse and violence, ensuring that bishops and religious superiors are held accountable for their actions, reported Vatican News. The new document, “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You Are the Light of the World”), also includes the obligation for clerics and religious to report abuse. Every diocese must have a system that allows the public to submit reports easily. In the letter, the pope wrote: “The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological, and spiritual damage to the victims, and harm the community of the faithful. In order that these phenomena, in all their forms, never happen again, a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed, attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church, so that personal sanctity and moral commitment can contribute to promoting the full credibility of the Gospel message and the effectiveness of the Church’s mission.” Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told reporters that the new norms will not fix everything, but they do send “a very strong message that disclosure is the order of the day, and not silence,” reported Catholic News Service (CNS). Archbishop Scicluna is the Vatican’s top abuse investigator. He said it is also the first time “compliance with state laws” concerning the abuse of minors gets placed in the realm of the Church’s universal law. When asked if victims will be pleased with the new laws, the archbishop said, “Victims will be satisfied if the laws give rise to a new culture. “I would never go to a person who has suffered, give them a piece of paper, and say that we have fixed everything. People need concrete responses” and action, which is why “I am telling people, ‘Help the pope so that his desire (to prevent abuse) becomes a reality in your dioceses.’”
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n May 1, survivors of clergy sexual abuse shared their stories with more than 15 bishops from around the country during a day of candid discussions entitled “Pushing Back against the Darkness.” The event, which was held at the Catholic University of America, was a coordinated effort between the university and Spirit Fire, a restorative-justice initiative that collaborates with bishops to deepen pastoral care for survivors, their family members, and all Catholics, including priests, ordained, consecrated, and religious persons. The day consisted of lectures and breakout sessions discussing trauma-informed pastoral care, best approaches for hope and healing, and how survivors can reconcile their personal experiences with their faith. In his introductory remarks, University President John Garvey spoke of his own anger toward clergy members who have abused their power. He called upon Catholics to look to the examples of saints such as Catherine of Siena and John Chrysostom, who exemplified righteous anger in the face of power. “St. John Chrysostom said it was a sin not to be angry when one has cause to be,” Garvey said. “From the perspective of many laypeople and clergy, the apparent lack of anger from bishops in the wake of the abuse crisis was salt in the wound. “This is one of the reasons it is so important to listen to people who have experienced clergy abuse instead of shrinking away from their stories,” Garvey continued. “They kindle righteous anger for what needs to be done.” Boston Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap, spoke during the morning session about the importance of listening to the stories of survivors and believing them, even when the truth is painful. “Sometimes survivors have been discounted because of their anger. They have a right to be angry,” he said. “It is much better to be a Church that faces our sins and calls for repentance and reform.”
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church IN THE NEWS
PRO-LIFE LEADERS APPLAUD PASSAGE OF ALABAMA’S ABORTION BILL
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LEFT: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING; RIGHT: COURTESY OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
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n May, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill banning abortion in nearly all circumstances, drawing praise from pro-life leaders, reported CNS. Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, issued a statement on May 15, saying: “From conception to natural death, every single human life deserves to be protected by law. The violence of abortion is never the answer to the violence of rape. Like other states that have passed laws concerning when life begins, Alabama has relied upon scientific and medical facts.” Alabama now has the most restrictive abortion law in the country. The bill includes exceptions for when the life or health of the mother is seriously threatened and when the child has a fatal disease. It bans abortion in all other circumstances, including rape and incest, and makes performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. Governor Kay Ivey (pictured above), who signed the measure into law, said, “To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God.”
OWNERS OF ARK REPLICA SUE OVER FLOOD DAMAGE
T
he owners of a replica of Noah’s ark in Kentucky have sued its insurers for refusing to cover rain damage to the property, reported Religion News Service. Ark Encounter says that heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on its access road. Its five insurance carriers refused to cover nearly $1 million in damages. The ark itself was not damaged and the road has been rebuilt, according to the 77-page lawsuit. When informed that Ark Encounter had sued for flood damage, Melany Ethridge, a spokeswoman at the attraction’s Dallas-based public relations firm, laughed, saying, “You got to get to the boat to be on the boat.” Ark Encounter says its version in Williamstown was built to the dimensions in the Bible and is the largest timber-frame structure in the world. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 7
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Cardinal Blase J. Cupich says he was unaware that Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan (right) was invited to speak at Chicago’s St. Sabina Church on May 9. Farrakhan reportedly made derogatory remarks about Jewish people, for which Cardinal Cupich apologized.
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ust days after he was banned from Facebook, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan spoke at a church in Chicago, prompting an apology from Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, reported CNS. “Without consulting me, [Father] Michael Pfleger invited Minister Louis Farrakhan to speak at St. Sabina Church in response to Facebook’s decision to ban him from its platforms,” said Cardinal Cupich in a May 10 statement. Father Pfleger is the pastor of St. Sabina, a predominantly black parish. On May 2, Facebook banned Farrakhan along with others, including right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, founder of Infowars, from using its services, calling them “dangerous individuals and organizations.” Instagram, another social media platform, has followed suit. “Minister Farrakhan could have taken the opportunity to deliver a unifying message of God’s love for all his children. Instead, he repeatedly smeared the Jewish people, using a combination of thinly veiled discriminatory rhetoric and outright slander,” said Cardinal Cupich. He then apologized “to my Jewish brothers and sisters, whose friendship I treasure, from whom I learn so much, and whose covenant with God remains eternal.” According to local media reports, during his speech Farrakhan mostly spoke about historic injustices against black people, but also said that he was “here to separate the good Jews from the satanic Jews” while addressing the crowd. He also is said to have spoken about “Talmudic thought,” which he said sanctioned pedophilia and misogyny in reference to the Talmud, the collection of writings that constitute Jewish civil and religious law. Cardinal Cupich said he encouraged Father Pfleger to accept an invitation from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center to meet with leadership and dialogue with survivors.
J
ean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche community, passed away on May 7 from thyroid cancer, reported CNS. Vanier was 90 years old. Pope Francis said he spoke to Vanier a week before his death. “He listened to me, but he could barely speak. I wanted to express my gratitude for his witness,” Pope Francis said on the day of Vanier’s death. Jean Vanier 1928—2019 Vanier stood up for those “who risk being condemned to death even before being born,” said the pope. “Simply put, I want to thank him and thank God for having given us this man with such a great witness.” L’Arche was founded in 1964 in response to the treatment that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities faced in institutions. It now includes more than 150 communities in 38 countries around the globe. The organization’s more than 10,000 members welcome and celebrate people with intellectual disabilities, fostering growth and allowing everyone to share their talents and abilities, according to the website larcheusa.org. L’Arche communities in the United States provide homes and workplaces where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers, create inclusive communities of faith and friendship, and transform society through relationships that span social boundaries. Vanier also cofounded Faith and Light, an international organization of small groups that supports and celebrates people with developmental disabilities and their families. L’Arche International leader Stephan Posner said Vanier “left an extraordinary legacy. “His community of Trosly, the communities of L’Arche, Faith and Light, many other movements, and countless thousands of people have cherished his words and benefited from his vision,” Posner said in a statement.
POPE ACCUSED OF HERESY
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n late April, a small group of Catholics wrote a letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy and asking the world’s bishops to “take the steps necessary to deal with the grave situation of a heretical pope,” reported CNS. The 20-page letter, which was originally signed by 19 people—most of whom were scholars and retired academics—was published April 30 by LifeSiteNews, a frequent critic of Pope Francis. It was also posted on the change.org petition website by Nick Donnelly, a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Lancaster and one of the original signers of the letter. As of May 21, the number of signatories stood at
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CHICAGO ARCHBISHOP APOLOGIZES FOR FARRAKHAN VISIT TO CATHOLIC CHURCH
JEAN VANIER PASSES AWAY AT 90
CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: KAREN CALLAWAY/CHICAGO CATHOLIC; MIDDLE: REBECCA COOK/REUTERS; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY JEAN VANIER ASSOCIATION
church IN THE NEWS
STUDY ON WOMEN DEACONS INCONCLUSIVE
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CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: KAREN CALLAWAY/CHICAGO CATHOLIC; MIDDLE: REBECCA COOK/REUTERS; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY JEAN VANIER ASSOCIATION
In a 20-page letter published on April 30 and addressed to the world’s bishops, a small group of Catholics accused Pope Francis of heresy.
90, according to LifeSiteNews. In the letter, the authors state, “We take this measure as a last resort to respond to the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis’ words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church.” A large part of the letter focused primarily on “Amoris Laetitia,” the pope’s 2016 exhortation on marriage and family life, especially its suggestions for a process of guided discernment that might eventually lead to a determination that a couple who are divorced and remarried civilly could access the sacraments. The letter writers also objected to statements Pope Francis has made about ecumenical relations and his gestures of welcome and respect for homosexual persons. According to LifeSiteNews, the authors “respectfully request the bishops of the Church to investigate the accusations contained in the letter, so that if they judge them to be well founded they may free the Church from her present distress, in accordance with the hallowed adage Salus animarum prima lex (‘The salvation of souls is the highest law’). The bishops can do this, they suggest, ‘by admonishing Pope Francis to reject these heresies, and if he should persistently refuse, by declaring that he has freely deprived himself of the papacy.’”
he commission that Pope Francis appointed in 2016 to study the history and identity of women deacons did not reach a unanimous conclusion about whether deaconesses in the early Church were “ordained” or formally “blessed,” the pope told reporters on May 7, according to CNS. The pope was asked about the status of the commission during the flight back from his trip to Bulgaria and North Macedonia. He told reporters, “What is fundamental is that there was no certainty that there was an ordination with the same form and same aim as the ordination of men.” He said that after the six men and six women scholars on the commission finished their work, there was “some agreement,” but not on the crucial question of whether women were ordained or solemnly blessed as abbesses are. “Some say there are doubts,” he said. “Well, then, let’s study some more. I don’t have a problem with that.” Pope Francis appointed the commission in August 2016 after being asked at a May 2016 meeting with the women’s International Union of Superiors General: “What prevents the Church from including women among permanent deacons, as was the case in the primitive Church? Why not constitute an official commission to study the matter?” The pope told the sisters that his understanding was that the women described as deaconesses in the New Testament were not ordained as permanent deacons are. He said it appeared that they assisted with Baptism by immersion of other women, with anointing women, and with giving witness on behalf of women seeking a dissolution of their marriage because their husbands beat them. WANT MORE? Visit our newspage:
FranciscanMedia.org/catholic-news
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN Mental Images of God
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Although I have struggled with an eating disorder for most of my adult life, this has been less of a problem in recent years. I am, however, tormented by some things I did in order to support that disorder. I have tried to make amends, but I am never satisfied that I have done enough. I sometimes feel that I will go to hell because of these sins.
I
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?
Limits of Language
If God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons in a single divine nature, why does Jesus say that Caiaphas will see Jesus seated at God the Father’s right hand (Mt 26:64)?
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he New American Bible translation speaks of “the Son of Man” (Jesus) and “the Power” (God the Father). In Jesus’ culture, being seated at a host’s right hand was considered a place of honor. However, if Jesus now has a glorified body and God the Father is pure spirit, how can Jesus sit at the Father’s right hand? It is enough for us to know that Jesus is worthy of such respect without worrying about the physical logistics.
WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org
WE HAVE A DIGITAL archive of Q & As, going back to March 2013. Just click: • the Ask link and then • the Archive link. Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, Jesus, moral issues, prayer, saints, redemption, sacraments, Scripture—and many more!
Many artistic representations of the Holy Trinity resemble this one.
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ILBUSCA/ISTOCK
Father Pat welcomes your questions!
TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP RIGHT: IQONCEPT/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN
Pat McCloskey, OFM
f God were answering your question—definitely not the case here!—I am quite certain that God would urge you to ease up on the sins you have already confessed and for which you have done penance. This “easing up” will enable you to live in greater God-given freedom, inevitably becoming even more generous and compassionate than you already are. God is not tormenting you by memories of these past sins—the devil is. The Bible presents many mental images about God. If we latch on to one (for example, God as a strict judge) to the exclusion of all the others, we will be ignoring God’s equally important self-revelation elsewhere in the Bible.
Quick Questions and Answers
In 1 John 3:21 we read, “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God.” Why would our hearts condemn us?
In a sense, a person’s heart “condemns” her or him when that individual’s conscience is working properly. In Jesus’ story about two men praying in the Temple (Lk 18:9–14), one man’s conscience is working well. Unfortunately, the other man’s is not.
How do I become an actual, practicing Franciscan? There are no such groups near where I live.
Calling 1-800-FRANCIS will enable you to get in touch with nearby Secular Franciscan fraternities. If you want to become a Franciscan priest, brother, nun, or sister, your parish may have a copy of the Official Catholic Directory, which can help your search.
He should go through the RCIA because it will expand his knowledge of what the Church believes and why. It will also help him see from a new perspective to what kind of service lived faith leads.
My parish’s large crucifix shows Jesus with nails through his wrists. It also has a stained glass window showing the apostle Thomas placing his finger through the nail marks in Jesus’ hand. Why the difference?
A nail below the wrist could secure an adult to a cross. A nail in the palm of a hand would not because the person’s weight would cause the body to tear away. The stained glass window represents the more common artistic tradition with nail marks through Jesus’ palms. By the way, John 20:24–29 does not say that Thomas actually took Jesus up on the offer to do this.
For years our friars in Jamaica, like Fr. Colin, have worked to feed the hungry and get kids to school. Help the friars continue to serve Jamaicans with our new medical clinic! Visit
stanthony.org/clinic to learn more.
What type of degree is required to become a priest?
ILBUSCA/ISTOCK
TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP RIGHT: IQONCEPT/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN
My husband of 31 years was baptized a Baptist but has not practiced that faith since he was a teenager. He has been going to church with me throughout our marriage. We have raised our three children as Catholics. Is there some way for him to become a Catholic without going through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)?
Any degree could be a starting point. The US bishops require 18 credit hours in philosophy before a man can begin theology studies leading to priestly ordination. Most seminaries have “pre-theology” programs for students who have not already earned those credits.
The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St., Ste 1 Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492
www.stanthony.org
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS “We must love greatly those who unjustly oppress us, for we shall possess eternal life because of what they bring us.”
—Francis of Assisi, Earlier Rule
FRANCISCAN WORLD
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Padua Program II Begins in September
ELIZABETH of Portugal (1271–1336) was related to Elizabeth of Hungary, another saintly member of the Secular Franciscan Order. As a wife and mother, she was well known for her works of compassion on behalf of the sick and the poor, especially for poor girls needing a dowry for marriage. After her husband, King Denis, died, she considered becoming a Poor Clare in Coimbra, but she was persuaded to become a Secular Franciscan and so continue her works of mercy. Elizabeth of Portugal was canonized in 1625. On the Church’s worldwide calendar, her feast is observed on July 4 and on July 5 in the United States. —Pat McCloskey, OFM
?
WANT MORE? Learn about your saints and blesseds by going to: SaintoftheDay.org
he second cohort of the very successful Padua Program will begin on September 23, 2019, at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. This program offers a deepened Franciscan formation for laypeople who have “mission effectiveness” responsibilities in a wide variety of educational, health-care, parish, and other ministries. Registration information and a more complete description of this program are available at PaduaProgram.org. “This program,” explains Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, “is revealing the urgency of creating or publicizing sound educational resources and professional networks for the increasing numbers of lay leaders in our institutions. Previous generations created a universe of excellent materials on the Franciscan vision. Now we have the delight of opening that treasure trove to new leaders who are ready to embrace this Franciscan worldview both intellectually and spiritually.” The first cohort’s 19 participants will hold their second weeklong conference starting July 22, 2019, at St. Tower Hall is part of the University of Bonaventure University in southwest New York state. They have explored the riches of the Franciscan charism via eight St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. online seminars since last October 12, when they completed their opening weeklong session. The first cohort of the Padua Program was described within my “Francis and Clare Go to College” article in our September 2018 issue (available online). The Padua Program is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities and the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University.
ST. ANTHONY STORIES
Honoring a Pledge
I
don’t lose many things, but when I do, they are usually very important things, such as my checkbook, which I lost recently. When this happens, I need those things right away, so I always promise that I will donate $100 whenever I find the items. This time, however, I promised $50. A little later, I wondered to myself, Why the difference? I then committed to sending the $100 and, upon coming home from a Good Friday service, I walked into the room where I normally place my checkbook in a drawer and saw it right in front of that drawer. It was not there this morning, and my wife told me that she had not found it and put it there. You will be receiving a $100 check in the mail. Thanks again, St Anthony! —Jim Mader, Greendale, Wisconsin
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PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. TIM WELDON
In a very violent age, Elizabeth was renowned as a peacemaker within her family and in society at large.
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LEFT: WIKIOO/ARTIST: FRANCISCO ZURBARAN; TOP: UNIVERSITY OF ST. FRANCIS IN JOLIET, ILLINOIS; BOTTOM: ANDREYPOPOV/FOTOSEARCH
ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL
s
FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS
ST. ANTHONY
‘I Love, Therefore I Am’ “Beauty is what they call one of those transcendental truths. Beauty leads to love, and love leads to God.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. TIM WELDON
LEFT: WIKIOO/ARTIST: FRANCISCO ZURBARAN; TOP: UNIVERSITY OF ST. FRANCIS IN JOLIET, ILLINOIS; BOTTOM: ANDREYPOPOV/FOTOSEARCH
as first and foremost unique,” Weldon says. “I think that’s a great sentiment. He says that when we look at the human person, we have to look at the sanctity of life and dignity, and we do that best by looking at them in their uniqueness.” Affirming and cultivating the uniqueness of each of his students is his starting place for teaching. “I look at their thoughts and see them as fresh from God’s hands,” he continues. “The classroom, then, becomes like a ship— the whole class is going on a journey, everyone is contributing and learning from one another. My philosophy is to confer as much information as possible in the most entertaining way as possible.” As each class sets sail, one of Weldon’s hopes is that their philosophical journeys will also take them deeper into beauty—the spiritual realm. “Beauty is what they call one of those transcendental truths. Beauty leads to love, and love leads to God,” Weldon says. “For the Franciscans, my take is that they view the world as a landscape and a ‘lovescape,’” Weldon says. “The former is to be investigated thoroughly, scientifically, critically, etc. The latter is to be investigated with the fullness of humanity. “Socrates’ great aphorism was ‘Know thyself ’—that’s classical philosophy. Then you have René Descartes, a modern thinker, whose great aphorism was ‘I think, therefore I am.’ From a Franciscan point of view, I would say that it is ‘I love, therefore I am,’ and we are only in the state of informed wonder to the extent that we are loving and thinking and joining the two.” —Stephen Copeland
FRANK JASPER, OFM
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hilosophy means “love of wisdom,” but to Tim Weldon, that definition is incomplete. Weldon, professor of philosophy and department chair at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, would instead define philosophy this way: “wisdom that is learned and lived. “Wisdom is not a trophy,” Weldon says. “It’s something that goes with us and is meant to be lived. Wisdom is meant to be manifested in our actions.” Weldon’s definition is much needed in both academia and our culture, where often it is a certain headiness, intellectualism, or lust for being right that pulls the train. And his definition of philosophy really is a philosophy for him, something he has tried to apply to his classroom environment since he began teaching at the University of St. Francis in 2001. “Life is a thinking journey,” Weldon continues. “I became a professor because I didn’t want to stop learning, and I didn’t want to stop talking about what I was learning.” Weldon’s love for learning is apparent. In his interview with St. Anthony Messenger, he referenced well over 20 authors and books. He’s also the author of five books himself, finding philosophy’s intersection in a wide range of topics. But it’s the title of his most recent revised book, Be Filled with Wonder: The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition, that most accurately reflects what he does day-to-day in the classroom, for it’s both wonder and Franciscanism that deeply inform the environment he creates for his students. “John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan philosopher known as the ‘Subtle Doctor,’ thought of the human person
Dr. Tim Weldon
BREAD s
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. 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
s
mAil poStAl communicAtionS to:
St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
s
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NOTES FROM A FRIAR Jeremy Harrington, OFM
REVELATIONS I
h c a e B e h at t
t was an idyllic scene. It could have been an Impressionist’s painting of families vacationing at the beach: July sun, white sand, gentle surf of the Gulf of Mexico, blue sky, fathers building sandcastles with their daughters, mothers lathering their sons with lotion, people of all ages walking the beach. It was peaceful and serene. In the evening, grown-ups in beach chairs faced the west to watch the sun go down. When there are clouds, the sunset seems to span the Gulf in a spectacular array of colors. Looking at this scene, I realized that, even though I did not know the vacationers on the beach, I was connected with them. Each of us is a child of God, the Creator who had separated dry land from the waters, made the sun and the sky, and brought beauty to the formless wasteland. Our Father wanted us to enjoy his gift of the world and to live in harmony: “Let everything that has breath give praise to the Lord” (Ps 150). I was moved by the wonder. I thought of St. Francis of Assisi seeing each person as his sister or brother, praising God for Brother Sun and Sister Lark.
I remembered from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander the famous revelation of Thomas Merton at the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville in 1958: “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” I know I was only seeing a snapshot that day. It was real, but not the whole picture. I was at the beach because my sister-in-law let me use her condo for a week. Others in our society are not that fortunate: seniors who can’t afford their bills, hungry children during the summer months without school lunches, workers who do not get a vacation, refugee families from Iraq or Syria living in stark poverty. If from my spot in the shade I could see all the people there as my sisters and brothers, how would I see them when I left the beach? There I was relaxed with leisure time to pray, read, and think. Would I be patient with the driver who cut me off in traffic or the shopper at the supermarket who couldn’t find her credit card? Would I greet and express my gratitude to my sisters and brothers collecting the trash? They are all children of God. As it reads in Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!” Jeremy Harrington, OFM, is associate pastor of Transfiguration Parish in Southfield, Michigan. He was formerly the publisher of Franciscan Media and editor of this publication.
SPIRAL NOTEBOOK: NU1983/FOTOSEARCH; BEACH SCENE: FATCAMERA/ISTOCK
ONE FAMILY
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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH UNPACKED Scars from the Past
By David Dault, PhD
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Want a certain topic covered? Send us your request. E-MAIL:
FaithUnpacked@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL:
Faith Unpacked 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 PODCAST:
The Francis Effect podcast can be streamed live at FrancisFXPod.com.
THE OLD THINGS
“Maybe it’s old,” she said. “It’s here, but maybe it’s not from here.” My wife understands old things. When Kira suggested that the anger “was not from here,” I knew what she meant. She meant that it was part of the buried gnarl of thorns that I carry with me from my own childhood. I agreed, but I did not know what to do. The fear was a flood, and its presence was immediate. The anger that followed from the fear was also immediate. The kids were scared of it, and so was I. My demand for quiet and my reaction to their laughter were a growing problem. When I was little, bad things happened around me, and sometimes bad things happened to me. Over time, the bad things became worse because no one was allowed to talk about them. Sometimes, when I tried to name them out loud, I was punished. More often, however, I was told the bad things didn’t exist. Everyone grows up with pain. Many grow
up with family secrets. For people who grew up like me, however, the frequency and intensity of the pain and the secrets create artifacts in the mind and the body. These are the old things. They have fancy names that are hard to explain to children. But my wife understands the old things, even though she did not grow up the way I did. Because of that, we have agreed to try to explain these old things to our two children— as much as we can—and to be open and honest about the work I do each day to release myself from them. FACING THE PAIN
My children were laughing, and it was making me angry, and no one in our home pretended it wasn’t happening. No one made me feel ashamed for the old things that were haunting me, but we also weren’t letting the old things set the rules for our lives today. Kira and I talked about it with each other, and we talked about it with the kids. We worked on it—together. It took me longer than I would have liked to figure out that when I hear my children laughing with joy, a very old and very young part of me is trapped somewhere 40 years ago. I am a little boy, terrified of the shouting and the fighting I hear from the other room. But the day came when I did figure it out. It didn’t suddenly make everything better, but it helped. I told Kira, and she hugged me. Then I told my kids, and they hugged me. In our home, we name the old things. We work on them—together.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION/OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
David hosts the weekly radio show Things Not Seen: Conversations about Culture and Faith. He also cohosts the Francis Effect podcast with Father Dan Horan, OFM. He lives with his family on the South Side of Chicago.
TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF CHICAGO SUNDAY EVENING CLUB/KHIEM TRAN; TOP RIGHT: GRADYREESE/ISTOCK
David Dault, PhD
ere’s my confession: The laughter of my children bothers me. I’d be sitting on the sofa or fixing myself a sandwich and hear it from the other room. You know the sound: the rolling, uncontrolled ecstasy of play that starts bright and grows brighter still, until the laughter is coming in great waves like a ringing of bells. That sound—the sound of my children— would terrify me. Fear grabbed me fast and gripped me hard. Whatever I was doing a moment before was lost, and the insistence of it became the whole of my mind. I would hear the laughter build, and it would be like the flipping of a light switch. A click, and suddenly I was flooded and spilling over. I was angry. I was insistent. I was shouting into the distance of the rooms around me, “Quiet! I want quiet!” It occurred to my wife, Kira, that this might not be how it appeared. Something was happening, and it kept happening. That was clear. Though it erupted in the wake of the laughter, my response didn’t seem “rightsized” to the laughter. The stimulus did not seem to match the outcome.
POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL
Mister Rogers—Prophet in a Cardigan
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION/OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF CHICAGO SUNDAY EVENING CLUB/KHIEM TRAN; TOP RIGHT: GRADYREESE/ISTOCK
I
n the days following Senator Robert a kind of bravery Rogers would have Kennedy’s assassination in June 1968, celebrated. “The truth is inside of us,” the country fell into a kind of collective he said once. “And it’s wonderful when stupor. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had we have the courage to tell it.” Honesty, been murdered only two months prior though, begins and ends with us. When in Memphis. Civil unrest gripped the we see an injustice, let’s take a page from nation: Cities burned while an uncertain Rogers’ book and muster the courage to future loomed. Political talking heads right it. and journalists weighed in on the recent KINDNESS. Basic human kindness is events, but perhaps the best example of hard to come by anymore. The public coping through tragedy was given by a degradation of the human person, in puppet named Daniel Striped Tiger and fact, has nearly become a sport on social his friend Lady Aberlin on Mister Rogers’ media. And though doing good for Neighborhood that year. In a voice barely others has physical benefits—releasing louder than a whisper, Lady Aberlin endorphins that can remedy pain— explained that fear and anxiety we feel Rogers understood that simple measures over tragedy can feel like a balloon rapof kindness can take root in our souls. idly leaking air. But all is not lost: We And that is where we find God. just have to breathe again. ACCEPTANCE. “I like you just the way “I’ve been terribly concerned,” Rogers you are” was the heartbeat of Rogers’ said at the close of the episode, “about work. In 1969, he invited François the graphic display of violence which the Clemmons, an African American, to “All I know to do mass media has been showing recently. take on the role of Officer Clemmons. In is to light the And I plead for your protection and a now-famous episode that same year, candle that has your support of your young children.” Rogers and Clemmons rolled up their been given to me.” That episode wasn’t a novelty. Rogers pants and submerged their feet in a pool often used the Land of Make-Believe —Fred Rogers of cool water. Though the Civil Rights to address real-world issues. Divorce, Act of 1964 abolished segregation, such physical and mental disabilities, civil a moment of racial harmony on public rights, the Cold War, and nuclear disarmament were broken television was considered bold. To prove its staying power, down into bite-sized pieces for children to digest. Rogers, by the two reenacted the scene 25 years later. way of puppets, helped a nation heal. LOVE. “Faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). Throughout the history LESSONS FOR LIFE of television, who has illustrated this Gospel message better Life can be a challenge—just glance over the day’s headlines. than Rogers? But in true fashion, he simplified it, made it If Rogers were alive today, he would surely address ongoing accessible. Cleaning a room, visiting a sick friend, or drawing social ills such as school shootings, global warming, racial a picture for a sad loved one are simple measures of love. Do unrest, and the deafening political infighting in our country. we truly celebrate this greatest of virtues? But there are many Gospel-infused lessons he left behind that can still guide us to higher ground. Here are five: THE GREATEST NEIGHBOR COURAGE. It’s too easy to close our eyes to the plight of In his 2001 address to Marquette University graduates, migrants at the border, to the rise in racial violence in our Rogers remarked that loving another person and appreciatcountry, or to the suicides of our LGBTQ youth. It takes real ing each other’s gifts are acts that mirror God. “When we grit to face a crisis and help those on the periphery. How look for what’s best in the person we happen to be with at can we spread goodness? By “treating our ‘neighbor’ at least the moment, we’re doing what God does,” he said. as well as we treat ourselves,” Rogers wrote. That message As citizens of a nation fractured by violence and politiechoes Luke 6:31: “Do to others as you would have them do cal division, perhaps the best we can do is look to a quiet, to you.” Jesus cleared that path. Rogers walked it. How can humble Presbyterian minister who used puppets to spread we not follow? Gospel truths. HONESTY. Those who speak truth to power exemplify —Christopher Heffron StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 17
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At Play
in the House o
We can experience God in a most fundamental way — through the example of a child at play. By Ed Gamboa
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t’s Thursday afternoon. My wife, Lucie, has been treating children all day—infants brought in for their first checkup, toddlers for vaccinations, kids with a cough, fever, or a rash. The sun is setting. She cannot wait as she reassures the anxious mother and writes a prescription for her colicky child. My wife loves children, yet she cannot wait to see the one child across the hill. Lucie bids the nurses and clerks goodbye, puts her stuff in the station wagon, and drives an hour to Silicon Valley. I, too, am finishing rounds at the hospital. We meet at our son and daughter-in-law’s house, but it’s past dinnertime and little Olivia has gone to bed. Oh, well. We will see her in the morning. Lucie, the pediatrician-grandmother, will babysit Olivia all day, as she does every Friday. It will be a playful, happy day. As we sit down for a late evening meal, I wonder if we can have a similar playful relationship with God—not in the external, hierarchical sense, but in the playfulness, in the joy and delight we experience as little Olivia wakes up in the morning and, upon seeing us, breaks into a smile. THE HUMAN SIDE OF GOD
SANYASM/ISTOCK
Many of us—perhaps most of us—grew up praying to what we considered the God of the Old Testament: the Creator of heaven and earth, the God who banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This God rained pestilence on a defiant Egyptian pharaoh and directed Moses to lead the Israelites through the desert to the promised land.
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e of the Lord
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someone we could take a trip with, as Thomas H. Green wrote in A Vacation with the Lord.
that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves: “interior intimo meo” (more inward than my innermost self).
GOD’S MYSTICAL SIDE
THE PLAYFUL SIDE OF GOD
Perhaps we began to experience the “gift of tears” as the mystical spark hit us, though briefly. Perhaps “the flame of love” engulfed us or “the dark night of the soul” enveloped us, as it did the Carmelite mystic St. John of the Cross. Had we reached out toward the margins of God’s ineffable presence, as Orthodox theologians encourage us to do? Did we find a mysterious God who is unreachable but nonetheless keeps bidding us to come closer? Maybe, like St. Teresa of Avila, some of us have traveled through “the interior castle” and finally found the King of Glory who, it turns out, is also the spiritual bridegroom or bride. It’s an unusual turn of events for most. But St. Teresa, in her ecstatic vision, recalled: “In his [the seraphim’s] hands, I saw a golden spear, with an iron tip at the end that appeared to be on fire. He plunged it into my heart several times . . . leaving me all on fire with love for God . . . so gentle yet powerful is this wooing that takes place between God and the soul that if anyone thinks I’m lying, I pray that God, in his goodness, will grant him or her some experience of it.” Though far removed from our mundane experiences, St. Teresa is not alone. Way back in the earliest days of Christianity, the apostle to the gentiles, St. Paul, already talked about this divinehuman union: “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. . . . I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Gal 2:19–20). In his Confessions, St. Augustine further claims
What if our relationship with God is as simple but as joyful and sweet as spending the day playing with our grandchildren? We are delighted with their every tentative move, questioning eyes, captivating smiles, out-of-leftfield antics, half-blurted syllables. Before someone hauls me before the Inquisition for heretical ideas, may I offer the scenario of the third joyful mystery, the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ? The three Wise Men traveled from afar, guided by the bright star, anticipating the once-in-a-lifetime meeting with the promised Messiah. At the end of their long and harrowing journey, there was Jesus, asleep in the manger—a beautiful, gentle, innocent baby. Our infinitely loving God will do anything to get us closer. Anything to gladden our hearts. Anything to make our day. Surely, God will happily play with us, as Christ did with his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. Can we open our hearts, “become like children” (Mt 18:3), and allow God to play with us? Ed Gamboa is a general surgeon, writer, and avid traveler who enjoys sailing in his free time. Originally from the Philippines, Ed resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife of over 40 years, Lucie.
TOP: VECTORSHOT/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: LJUPCO/ISTOCK
As our prayer life progressed beyond the memorized prayers we learned in catechism class, God became less distant. We looked upon God with awe and respect, as king and master of the Spanish soldier and saint, Ignatius of Loyola. This God is a majestic king, but one whose throne we can only tentatively approach. Or perhaps God became a dear and loving Father, as St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, wrote in her autobiography, Story of a Soul. The young Carmelite nun bemoaned that she could not travel far and wide as a zealous missionary. She felt she did not possess the heroic traits of God’s most adventurous saints and martyrs. Yet she felt close to God. And St. Thérèse, at her sister Pauline’s request, worked out the outlines of her “simple” theology, the uncomplicated pathway of spiritual childhood. As we struggled through our prayer life, perhaps some of us began to look at Christ as a dear friend and confidant—someone we could rush to in our desperate, darkest hours, someone we could pour out our hearts to. Christ said it best: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt 11:28–30). Some of us, such as Thomas Merton, became comfortable hanging out with Christ. No longer king and master, Jesus was our buddy, a college roommate or coworker we could have a beer with, someone who would hike with us through the woods,
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Meet the Holy
Galilean Women These women may not be in the forefront in Scripture, but they certainly had a front-row seat to Jesus’ life and ministry. By Theresa Doyle-Nelson
SEDMAK/ISTOCK
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t requires a bit of detective work—pulling a few threads here, a few more there, and so on throughout the Gospels—to form a viewable tapestry of the holy Galilean women. However, by taking the time to delve into the verses on these women, this lovely group slowly comes into focus, and we can better learn to appreciate them for who they were and all they did for Jesus. St. Mary Magdalene, Blessed Joanna, Susanna, St. Salome, St. Mary of Clopas, and many others unnamed are indeed a special collection of women to know. It is Luke who gives a formal introduction to these women. At the start of his eighth chapter, he presents them as
a unique cluster from the region of Galilee who ministered to Jesus from “their resources.” Luke also lets us know that at least some of these women had suffered terribly and found healing. We can only imagine the day-to-day lives of these women while they traveled with and assisted Jesus and the Twelve Apostles. Obviously, they had “resources” to spare. Perhaps it was strictly financial assistance that they gave. However, it seems possible that they helped with other things too— maybe they did some cooking, helped with laundry and mending, or nursed anyone who got sick. With a bit of imagination, it is easy to envision them helping in a variety StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 21
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The region of Galilee was the site
ST. MARY MAGDALENE
Poor Mary Magdalene has been stuck for centuries now with the reputation of having been a prostitute. In reality, though, all we know for sure about her past is what Luke tells us: that she had
been burdened with seven demons that had left her—presumably under the authority of Jesus. During the early medieval days, Pope Gregory the Great once connected Mary Magdalene to a passage shortly before Luke’s formal introduction to the Galilean women (Lk 7:36–39). In it, a sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and then anointed them with a flask of ointment is presented. Evidently, the pope had a hunch that the sin of this woman was prostitution and that she was likely the same as Mary Magdalene, who is mentioned just 12 verses later. Pope Gregory the Great (who we must remember really did do many “great” things) also linked Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany. These wellintentioned ideas stuck for a long time. You still don’t have to go far to find someone who thinks Mary Magdalene was undoubtedly a prostitute and the same as Mary of Bethany. Many now assert that seven demons may actually represent mental illness—not prostitution. And most conclude that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears are most likely three separate women. Of all the holy Galilean women, Mary Magdalene is the most prominent. Three evangelists name her specifically as being at the Crucifixion, two at the burial, and all four Gospel writers put Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb. Matthew, Mark, and John also assert that she saw and spoke to the risen Christ. BLESSED JOANNA
Mary Magdalene is called the “Apostle to the Apostles” because she was the first to bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection.
Joanna is the next Galilean woman Luke introduces. Little is said about Joanna, but the brief mention that Luke presents offers an intriguing clue. He included the fact that Joanna had a close connection to Herod Antipas the Tetrarch, who had John the Baptist beheaded. Joanna was the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza. Being a steward, Chuza likely had the responsibility of overseeing Herod’s estate, a job that surely demanded a
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CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: BERNHARD STRIGEL
THEIR HOME OF GALILEE
of many wonderful New Testament events: the Sermon on the Mount, the miracle of the wine at Cana, the healing of the centurion’s servant, and the Transfiguration—just to name a few. And, of course, Jesus’ childhood home in Nazareth was in Galilee as well. This collection of women is another star for this region west of the Sea of Galilee.
CREATIVE COMMONS: RESURRECTION DAY/ARTIST: HEINRICH HOFMANN
of ways. These women most certainly gleaned some significant insights and understandings during their time of accompanying Christ. It would be nice to have more biblical elaboration on their roles, but we don’t. After pondering their time going from town to town with Jesus and the apostles, Bible readers pretty much have to wait until the Passion narratives in each Gospel to read anything more about these women (a short narrative on St. Salome is one exception).
certain loyalty to this ruler. One can only guess how Joanna managed to support her husband and follow Jesus without any conflict. Perhaps Joanna and her husband were present at the ill-fated birthday banquet. Maybe they heard Herod’s order for the beheading of John the Baptist and perhaps even saw the gruesome platter. We can only wonder. Joanna is mentioned by name only one other time in the Bible—Luke lists her as one of the women who went to the tomb on the day of the Resurrection. According to Luke, Joanna—along with other women of Galilee—saw two men in dazzling clothes at Jesus’ empty tomb, learned of Christ’s resurrection, and shared the great news with the apostles—who did not believe them! Although Joanna’s name is never mentioned again, it is reasonable to consider that she was likely a part of the group whenever there is a general reference to the Galilean women. In the current Roman Martyrology, Joanna is listed as a blessed, rather than a saint. This is hard to discern; in the earliest days of the Church, the words blessed, holy, and saint were often used interchangeably. So you might see Joanna listed as a saint in some resources and as a blessed in others, similar to the way we call Mary the Blessed Virgin Mary or St. Mary. It’s impossible to know with certainty what exactly was meant. Was Joanna considered an official saint in heaven or just a really good and pious person (perhaps not martyred)? Either way, she gave much and is an inspiration to all. Blessed/St. Joanna’s memorial is May 24.
CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: BERNHARD STRIGEL
CREATIVE COMMONS: RESURRECTION DAY/ARTIST: HEINRICH HOFMANN
ST. SALOME
It is Mark and Matthew who let us know that Salome is another holy woman of Galilee. Mark provides us with her name—within his Crucifixion and Resurrection narratives. Matthew, who calls her “the mother of the sons of Zebedee,” gives an additional, somewhat amusing account of St. Salome. In his 20th chapter, he relates how this mother of two apostles—James the Greater and John the Evangelist—had big ideas for her sons and boldly requested: “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom” (Mt 20:21). Of course, Jesus took the opportunity to preach on the importance of humility and
April 24 is the feast day of St. Salome, one of the women who followed Jesus. According to the Golden Legend, a collection of tales compiled in the 13th century, Salome was a half sister of the Virgin Mary. Matthew’s Gospel describes Salome as the mother of two apostles, James and John. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 23
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This 13th-century Italian doctor of the Church wrote a commentary on the Gospel of St. John, a Gospel that offers particularly poignant highlights on Mary Magdalene’s role on that first Easter morning. John’s 20th chapter presents Mary Magdalene arriving at the empty tomb alone. His unique and rich portrayal of this special woman asserts that she tearfully glanced toward the empty tomb, was visited by two angels, mistook Jesus for a gardener, and then was overcome with emotion as she recognized her Lord. Then, Mary Magdalene—without hesitation—followed Jesus’ charge to share the news of his resurrection: “Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’” (Jn 20:18a), and shared what he told her. It was Mary Magdalene carrying out Jesus’ wish to announce his resurrection with eager confidence that prompted St. Thomas Aquinas to call Mary Magdalene the Apostle to the Apostles within his commentary. It is compelling to note that St. Thomas Aquinas also pointed out Matthew’s inclusion of another holy Galilean woman—“the other Mary” (St. Mary of Clopas)—during the first appearance of Jesus. Certainly, her role was profound as well, and more elaboration on her story would be welcome. However, St. Thomas Aquinas couldn’t help but notice Mary Magdalene’s overall prominence, especially in John’s Gospel, and felt inspired to highlight her apostle-like role. Evidently, Pope Francis has read this commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas and agrees. In June 2016, the pope expressed a great appreciation for this title bestowed upon St. Mary Magdalene and felt it was time to elevate her day of remembrance (July 22) from a memorial to a feast. (The rank of Church celebrations are: optional memorial, obligatory memorial, feast, and solemnity.) This seems a perfect counteraction: to start referring to St. Mary Magdalene as the Apostle to the Apostles in order to help restore her due reputation and highlight her holiness; to focus on her great love and devotion to Christ; and to recognize her rich contribution of proclaiming Christ’s triumph over the cross.
SUSANNA
Susanna is mentioned one time only— in Luke’s introduction to the Galilean women. So we can only glean that she, like Mary Magdalene and Joanna, had been cured of some demon or malady, traveled with Jesus and the apostles, and offered assistance in whatever way she could. Susanna was credibly present at the Crucifixion, burial, and empty tomb. It would be nice to know more, but we just don’t. Susanna is not listed in the current Roman Martyrology; however, that does not exclude her from sainthood. Actually, if you were to attend Mass at a Byzantine Catholic church two Sundays after Easter, you would notice that Susanna is given special notice and is commemorated as a part of a group called the Holy Myrrhbearers. ST. MARY OF CLOPAS
St. Mary of Clopas is especially hard to pin down in the Gospels, for she is referred to by a variety of titles: Mary, the Mother of James and Joseph; The Other Mary; Mary, the Mother of the Younger James and of Joses; Mary, the Mother of Joses; Mary, the Mother of James; Mary, the Wife of Clopas It is through John’s labeling, “Mary, the wife of Clopas” (19:25), that she has received her name: St. Mary of Clopas. Although she doesn’t stand out like Mary Magdalene, one variation or another of her titles appears at the death, burial, and empty tomb scenes repeatedly. Matthew’s Gospel asserts that both Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas saw and heard Jesus that first Easter morning. Some propose that Mary of Clopas’ husband was the Cleopas who traveled to Emmaus with a friend and met up with Jesus in Luke’s 24th chapter. Many even suggest that it was St. Mary of
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CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: BERNHARD STRIGEL
HOPEFULLY, ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S mistaken reputation as a prostitute will continue to steadily diminish. It seems reasonable to offset this unfortunate label by putting a special emphasis on a far better one—a label given to St. Mary Magdalene by St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Apostle to the Apostles.”
CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: MICHELE TOSINI
Restoring St. Mary Magdalene’s Reputation
that serving others would count for more than grand places of honor. St. Salome is listed on the April 24 page of the Roman Martyrology.
A Retreat with the Holy Galilean Women
Clopas who was the unidentified traveling partner. This is not known for sure, but it is an intriguing thought to consider. St. Mary of Clopas shares a memorial day with St. Salome: April 24. THE UNNAMED OTHER GALILEAN WOMEN
Although we don’t know their names, it is only fair to also remember the unnamed women of Galilee—many others, according to St. Luke. Perhaps these nameless women were shy or had other responsibilities that took them away from Jesus and the apostles from time to time. Whatever the reason, the Gospels give plenty of assertions that there were others. And they deserve our notice—especially if we have ever experienced being overlooked or not named. When we get to heaven, we can meet these women, learn their names, and thank them for their rich contributions to the mission of Jesus, for Various Gospel writers place St. Mary of Clopas at Jesus’ death bringing comfort to his and burial, as well as at the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene. Along with the other holy Galilean women of the Bible, St. Mary of crucifixion and love to his burial. Clopas serves as an example of generosity and love of God.
PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE a twoweek, at-home retreat with these special women. If so, take some time each day for 14 days to read a biblical passage on them. Take in one or two surrounding verses and read the footnotes, if desired, and ponder their impact. Try to imagine yourself at the various scenes; maybe jot down your thoughts in a journal. Note which of these women each Gospel writer chose to highlight for the death, burial, and Resurrection accounts. By melding these varying extracts together, see if you have a renewed picture in your mind of Jesus’ passion. During your two-week retreat, be sure to ask these holy women to pray for your special intentions. ❑❑ Day 1) Luke 8:1–3 ❑❑ Day 2) Matthew 20:20–28 ❑❑ Day 3) Matthew 27:50–56 ❑❑ Day 4) Mark 15:37–41 ❑❑ Day 5) Luke 23:46–49
Even though the Gospel writers vary somewhat in their placement of the holy Galilean women, we can still get the general idea. They were there, they were helpful, they were devout, they were fearless (braver than most of the apostles at the Crucifixion!), and they loved Jesus dearly and showed it. And at least Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas were highly blessed by being the first to see Jesus resurrected. Though not specifically mentioned, it seems highly probable that at least some of the holy Galilean women were present during the nine days in the upper room in Jerusalem, praying and awaiting the Holy Spirit. The holy Galilean women were generous in many ways and great adorers of God; their good works are an example to all Christians. They fully and very bravely lived out Christ’s command to deny oneself and follow him. Theresa Doyle-Nelson enjoys researching and writing about holy people from the Bible and is the author of Saints in Scripture. She and her husband, Chad, have been married for 33 years and have five grandchildren. You can find more of Theresa’s writing online at TheresaDoyle-Nelson.blogspot.com.
❑❑ Day 6) John 19:25 ❑❑ Day 7) Matthew 27:59–61 ❑❑ Day 8) Mark 15:46–47 ❑❑ Day 9) Luke 23:53–56 ❑❑ Day 10) Matthew 28:1–10 SHERI ARMSTRONG/FOTOSEARCH
CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: BERNHARD STRIGEL
CREATIVE COMMONS: SAMUEL H. KRESS COLLECTION/ARTIST: MICHELE TOSINI
HONORING THE HOLY GALILEAN WOMEN
❑❑ Day 11) Mark 16:1–11 ❑❑ Day 12) Luke 24:1–12 ❑❑ Day 13) John 20:1–18 ❑❑ Day 14) Acts 1:14
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MISTER ROGERS’
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FRED ROGERS CENTER/JIM SHAFER
PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION: OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES; TROLLEY: LBJ LIBRARY/JAY GODWIN; BACKGROUND IMAGE: THESUPE87/FOTOSEARCH
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FRED ROGERS CENTER/JIM SHAFER
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PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION: OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES; TROLLEY: LBJ LIBRARY/JAY GODWIN; BACKGROUND IMAGE: THESUPE87/FOTOSEARCH
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Fred Rogers changed the world with his message of love and respect for our neighbor. The Fred Rogers Center in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, continues to spread that message.
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erhaps no one other than Jesus Christ is more noted for speaking about love of neighbor than Fred Rogers. Better known as Mister Rogers and as the creator of the children’s television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Fred Rogers welcomed people into his neighborhood for over 30 years. He died on February 27, 2003, but his legacy of neighborliness and caring for children lives on through the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. Located in his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the center lies 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, on the campus of Saint Vincent College, a Catholic Benedictine liberal arts institution. Although Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, he shared a lifelong friendship with Douglas Nowicki, an archabbot of Saint Vincent, and felt that Latrobe was his “first neighborhood.” Before his death, Rogers made plans to establish his legacy at the college. “Fred had talked to the archabbot back in the 1990s about establishing a center here. He was going to teach StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 27
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and live at the center, but he died in 2003,” says Dana Winters, PhD, director of simple interactions and academic programs at the center. “We knew he wanted to continue to help children.”
A FRIEND TO GOD’S PEOPLE
The second initiative of the center is digital media and learning. In 2012, the Fred Rogers Center joined with the National Association for the Education of Young Children to release a position statement, “Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early 28 • July 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES (3)
TOP: A young Fred Rogers plays with the family dog, Mitzi. BOTTOM: Fred enjoys a playful musical interlude with his baby sister, Nancy Elaine, known as Laney. Fred was 11 when she was born.
Ground was broken in 2006 for the two-level facility that overlooks the rolling farmlands and Chestnut Ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. The center opened in 2008 with the mission to help children grow on the inside, learn through relationships, and give meaning to technology through three initiatives at the center: academic, digital media and learning, and archiveology. Rogers believed that human relationships are crucial to a child’s development. “Academically, through Saint Vincent College, we offer a minor in children’s studies that is inspired by the works of Fred Rogers and which is available to students in all schools in the college,” says Dr. Winters. The center also houses a research lab called Incubator 143. “It was named for Fred’s favorite number and symbolizes the phrase I love you. The number 1 represents the word I, and 4 stands in for love, and 3 symbolizes you,” Dr. Winters says. The incubator is an undergraduate research and development group focused on creating positive change for children’s development by supporting the work of childcare centers, urban schools, nonprofit community programs, and overseas orphanages. In addition, the center is home to the Fred Rogers Scholars Program. “Each year, five freshmen students are selected as Fred Rogers Scholars and receive a $2,500 merit-based scholarship per year. The scholarship is awarded to students pursuing careers or interested in doing graduate work that helps young children grow and become confident, competent, and caring human beings in keeping with the mission of the Fred Rogers Center,” says Dr. Winters. Students in their first year learn about Rogers himself—his work, his philosophy, and the archives. In year two of the program, students commit to a service-learning project. In year three, students define a culminating project that will be finished and presented in their fourth year. “Honestly, besides my faith, my family, and my friends, Fred Rogers has had the greatest impact on the person I am today,” says Sydney Schoff, 21, a senior Fred Rogers Scholar majoring in communications. “It is extremely difficult for me to even put into words how important Fred was and is to me. He had this incredible ability to meet people where they are. He never saw people as ‘someone that will be great one day.’ Fred’s ‘one day’ was every day.” “Fred Rogers’ work and legacy have impacted the way I view the world and those around me. He approached every interaction with unparalleled intimacy that I now attempt to implement in my daily life,” says Kyle Ward, 21, a senior psychological science major and Fred Rogers Scholar.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MCFEELY-ROGERS FOUNDATION (2)
DEVELOPING HEALTHY CHILDREN
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES (3)
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MCFEELY-ROGERS FOUNDATION (2)
Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8,” which provided research-based guidance to early childhood programs and educators on the effective use of media and technology. “We believe children grow best through relationships with others, but we also know that technology can also promote that growth,” says Dr. Winters. “The digital media and learning program poses this question: It’s fine to use technology, but are you using it for good?” The last initiative is the Fred Rogers Archive, which is housed at the center and contains more than 16,000 items. Among them are handwritten texts, scripts, and production books from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, his iconic sweaters and tennis shoes, the Neighborhood’s Make-Believe Trolley, and beloved puppets such as King Friday and X the Owl. The center also contains the Fred Rogers Exhibit, which is open to the public and enjoyable for both adults and children. The multimedia, interactive display traces Rogers’ life and career. It documents his childhood in Latrobe, his rise as an advocate for children, and his dream of building a legacy through the Fred Rogers Center. The exhibit features video clips, his sweaters, puppets, and some of the numerous honors and awards he received, which include a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But perhaps the most enduring legacy of Fred Rogers and that which inspires everything at the center is his subtle spirituality. Like St. Francis of Assisi, Rogers radiated a simple spirituality that drew people in. Henri J.M. Nouwen, the Dutch Catholic priest and theologian who was a good friend of Rogers, said this of everyone’s favorite neighbor in his book Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith: “Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who live ordinary lives and struggle with ordinary problems. What makes them saints is their clear and unwavering focus on God and God’s people.” BIRTH OF A LEGACY
Rogers’ gift for being able to focus on God and God’s people began in childhood. He was born on March 20, 1928, to James and Nancy McFeely Rogers. His father, a prominent industrialist, owned the Latrobe Die Casting Company. Rogers was an only child for 11 years until his sister, Nancy Elaine, was born. His was a Father Knows Best kind of life. His mother volunteered at the local hospital and knit her son a sweater for Christmas each year. Until she died, those were the sweaters he wore on the show. His family members were faithful Presbyterians. During a 1999 interview with the Archive of American Television, when asked if he had a religious life, Rogers replied, “You bet we did, and what continues within me is the knowledge that each one of us can be used in perfectly wonderful ways.”
TOP: Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood featured dozens of puppets. MIDDLE: David Newell played Mr. McFeely, a postal carrier. BOTTOM: Actor Audrey Roth and Fred Rogers watch a replay.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF JUNLEI LI
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
However, it took a while before Rogers would discover the way God intended for him to be used. He was an overweight, shy, lonely child who suffered with asthma and endured bullying. It was his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who set the young Fred on the road to his destiny. Rogers said this of a memory he had of his Grandfather McFeely: “I think it was when I was leaving one time to go home after our time together that my grandfather said to me, ‘You know, you made this day a really special day. Just by being yourself. There’s only one person in the world like you. And I happen to like you just the way you are.’ Well, talk about good stuff. That just went right into my heart. And it never budged. And I’ve been able to pass that on. And that’s a wonderful legacy.” As he grew older, Rogers became more self-confident. After spending a year at Dartmouth College, he transferred to Rollins College in Florida, where he could hone his musical talents. In addition to a gift for music, he also felt called to ministry, and was accepted by the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. While at Rollins College, he met his wife, Joanne, and earned a degree in music composition. In 1951, during his senior year, he saw a television program for children that featured people throwing pies at each other. He found it demeaning for the children and decided he wanted to be involved with television. Rogers married Joanne in 1952, and after working in New York City as an assistant producer for several NBC shows, he learned of a new educational broadcasting station launching in Pittsburgh. He returned home to help found WQED, the first communityowned public station in the country. There, he and Josie Carey volunteered to develop a program for children, and The Children’s Corner was born. The show became a hit and won a Sylvania Award for best locally produced children’s show in the country in 1955. During this time, Rogers was also attending the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. While taking a course in
counseling, he decided that he wanted to serve children and worked with Dr. Margaret McFarland, the director of the Arsenal Family and Children’s Center, founded by the renowned pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock. Rogers spent hours observing children at play and interacting with them, using puppets he brought to the center. Rogers graduated from the seminary in 1963 with a charge to minister to children and their families through television programming. The only problem was there was no money to support a television program. Later that year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation invited Rogers to Toronto to create a children’s program. The 15-minute program required that he host the show and talk directly to children, something he hadn’t done before. By 1965, Rogers and his wife had two young sons and had decided to move back to Pittsburgh to be close to family and friends. He was also planning a new show called Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. THE QUIET RADICAL
PHOTO COURTESY OF JUNLEI LI
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
The Fred Rogers Center sponsors Digital Media and Learning Partnerships to promote the healthy use of technology in children’s education.
After several years of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood running in limited broadcasting areas, the Sears-Roebuck Foundation offered to underwrite the show. On February 19, 1968, the first national broadcast of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood aired. One of the most tumultuous times in American history, 1968 gave us the assassinations of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
and Senator Robert Kennedy, riots at the Democratic National Convention, and violent anti-war protests. It also gave us Mister Rogers, a kind, gentle man in a sweater and tennis shoes. With all the shouting, it’s a wonder the nation heard this soft-spoken man over the racket. But hear him it did. Children across the country tuned in to hear Mister Rogers’ words of unconditional love and acceptance. “Mr. Rogers was quite radical for his time, but in a quiet way,” Dr. Winters says. “On his show, he talked about what assassination meant. He discussed divorce and adoption, which was not done on television at that time.” Rogers’ credo was, “If it is mentionable, it’s manageable,” and he encouraged children and their families to communicate their fears and feelings. Although he was satirized on Saturday Night Live, Rogers was genuine. “The most surprising thing that I have discovered in studying Fred Rogers and his work is that the person who is portrayed on the screen was the real Fred Rogers. The talented, considerate, and genuinely kind individual who Fred Rogers was on television was the person he was in real life,” says Sarah O’Callaghan, 20, a junior early childhood education major and Fred Rogers Scholar. “One of the most memorable things he did happened during the civil rights movement. In 1969, during a show, Mister StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 31
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The Fred Rogers Exhibit displays artifacts from the iconic TV show.
Janice Lane Palko is an author with over two decades of writing experience who has written for numerous Catholic and secular publications including Reader’s Digest, the Christian Science Monitor, and this magazine. She resides in Pittsburgh.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Rogers invited the character Officer Clemmons, who was black, to rest his feet in a pool of water with him. Afterward, Mister Rogers wiped the feet of his neighbor,” says Dr. Winters. The religious symbolism of this action may have gone unnoticed by the children viewing the show, but the love behind his deed did not. It was his subtle preaching of love of neighbor through his words and actions that endeared him to generations of children. Like St. Francis, who also carried a message of love and dignity to the world, Rogers’ gentleness and love affected people deeply. He had an unusual ability to reach in and connect with the inner child in those he met. His philosophy was, “Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” Through his simple songs such as “I Like You as You Are,” “You Are Special,” and “It’s You I Like,” he reached deeply into our hearts and touched them, and he also taught us how to love one another. “Not only is Fred Rogers teaching me how to help others, but he’s teaching me how to be a good human. And I know that will help me as I settle into a career in the future,” says Lilly McCormick, 19, a sophomore communications major and Fred Rogers Scholar. “Fred Rogers respected children. He never talked down to them, and he respected their feelings. He assured them of their self-worth and told them it was OK to have emotions,” says Dr. Winters. “And Fred Rogers regarded the space between the television and a child as holy ground.” For more information on the Fred Rogers Center, visit www.FredRogersCenter.org.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE FRED ROGERS CENTER (3)
ABOVE and INSET: Free and open to the public, the self-guided Fred Rogers Exhibit is an interactive space that includes photos, narratives, and four video screens featuring interviews with Fred Rogers.
MISTER ROGERS ON: HELPERS
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
HEROES
“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”
TIME
“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”
“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.”
—Fred Rogers
IMPRESSIONS
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
HONESTY
“The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.”
SUCCESS
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LYNN JOHNSON COLLECTION, OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE FRED ROGERS CENTER (3)
“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”
FORGIVENESS
“Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love. Like all of life’s important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.”
HEAVEN
“The kingdom of God is for the brokenhearted.”
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By Susan Klemond
These singles are awake and open to God, leading lives filled with faith, strong relationships, and community engagement.
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hile Vivian Sutch was growing up, she always thought she’d get married. But when she was in her midtwenties, an engagement didn’t work out and, after that, her job as a high school Spanish teacher took priority over finding a husband. Sutch continued to wonder about her vocation until one day, about 20 years ago, she read about how as a carpenter, Christ sanded the yokes he made for oxen so they would fit well. At that moment, she considered that the single life might be her personal yoke because it didn’t chafe her. “From then on I’ve not looked at getting married,” says the active 71-year-old who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. “It’s just not been anything that I’ve continued to search after. I’m very content.” Some single Catholics have heard a call to live their entire lives as singles, but others see the life as transitional, as they discern marriage, priesthood, or religious life. Still others find that the right opportunity to enter a vocation hasn’t come after years of waiting. Whether or not they intend to be single, singles interviewed for this article have found unique ways to love, serve, enjoy friendship and community, and meet God in the Church and in prayer. They sometimes experience loneliness and isolation, but also joy and consolation.
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FOLLOWING GOD’S GUIDANCE
In 2016, about 110 million Americans were unmarried: 64 percent had never married, 23 percent were divorced, and 13 percent were widowed, according to US census data. More than 30 million US Catholics—or 43 percent—are unmarried, divorced, or widowed, a figure that has continued to
increase since the 1960s, according to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Factors in the trend include delaying marriage for educational and career reasons, the individualistic culture, and higher rates of divorce. Singles are a diverse group, and at one time or another everyone goes through a period of living as a single, says Father Ben Hasse, vocations director for the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan. “Nobody’s born into a particular state in life,” he says. “Lots of people find themselves single and come to a deep sense of peace in prayer that God’s at work in their lives, maybe even if they didn’t intend to be single.” For most, the single life is not a permanent, lifelong state as are the vocations of marriage, religious life, and priesthood. But all singles share the basic—and most important— Christian vocation to holiness, one that is definite though not easy to live, he says. “We really believe God’s calling in every level of our lives,” Father Hasse says. “We believe in those daily encounters with people the Lord moves, and we listen. That call will take shape in your life in a way that’s as unique as you are.” Peter Braam, a 48-year-old who lives in Denver, doesn’t think his single life constitutes a vocation, but he agrees that God always has a purpose for each person. “It shouldn’t be seen as a denigrating reality that people happen to be single,” he explains. “The only thing that matters in life is to be a saint.” Braam continues to discern God’s call and mission for his life. After founding a young adult ministry that flourished in the early 2000s and nearly proposing marriage to a woman, he ultimately left both for different reasons. “Day to day, moment to moment, I ask what he wants me to do,” he says.
Father Ben Hasse (far right) of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, emphasizes that all single people are called to holiness. Everyone is single for some period, he says, including the college students he leads on retreats in the Upper Peninsula, encouraging an awareness of God in daily moments. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 35
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Angela Neumann, Whatever company 31, of West St. Paul, you’re in, you’re not Minnesota, sought God’s looking at their marital will for her life durstatus.” ing the eight years she Mary Pavek, a slender seriously considered a woman of 60 who lives religious vocation and in Boise, Idaho, desires still does as she’s disto be married, and if that cerned a call to marriage. happens, she says she will After college, she served continue to find peace, as a bridesmaid at many hope, and love in the friends’ weddings, but Lord’s call each day as she now feels somewhat has in her life as a single. orphaned from that “I’m not going to identify friend group as the only as a single person or a single. “You grow up and married person,” she says. there is a life template of, “I am to love where the ‘You go to school, and Lord has me, to love the then you get married people that come into my and have kids,’” she says. life every day in a daily “There’s no template of pattern.” what [to] do when that In a 1997 address, doesn’t happen.” Pope John Paul II recNeumann feels a ognized singles who had tension between remainbeen unable to marry or ing open to God’s will enter a priestly or reliand trusting that if he gious vocation. “If their wants her to meet a Delving into a deeper relationship with God is one way many singles use their time to celibacy was not chosen, future spouse, she will. this can make them feel grow spiritually. Additionally, giving of oneself in volunteering or helping family members And at times, she has a that their life is partly a nourishes connections and a sense of purpose. temptation to question, failure,” he said. “May What’s wrong with me that I’m still single? She thinks singles they not lose heart, for Christ never abandons those who could use more formation on how to approach dating and trust in him! They can dedicate themselves to others and to life. “More and more people are either not getting married developing fulfilling fraternal relations. They are examples or they’re getting married later in life,” she says, “so some for many. They have their full place in the ecclesial commuformation about how do I live out holiness in this state is nity. In every state, a life of giving is a source of joy.” really necessary.” Singles such as Pavek have freedom to give of themselves As he seeks to grow in holiness and prepares to be a good and accept opportunities that other Catholics can’t because spouse, Tom Ryan, 41, of Stillwater, Minnesota, is trying to they’re not single. Three years ago, Pavek moved back to break bad habits he hasn’t had to work on while living alone. Idaho from Minnesota to care for her parents who suffer Ryan also is learning about spiritual fatherhood by prayerfrom Alzheimer’s disease. Her siblings live closer but have fully “adopting” unborn babies who may be in danger of their own families and couldn’t oversee their parents’ care abortion. as Pavek could by moving in with them. The move also has “I believe if I’m to enter the marriage vocation, it will given Pavek, who suffers from Lyme disease, flexibility to rest unfold in God’s time when I can get my pieces together, my when necessary because she’s not working at a full-time job. act together,” Ryan says. “God’s not going to give us things More recently, she’s managed her parents’ transition to a care we’re not prepared for. I do believe I’m not where I’m supcenter. posed to be. I’m getting there, but I’m still on that pilgrimage “Now I think my role is more hidden, serving my parents to get there.” and my family,” she says. Along with finding special ways to serve, singles someLOVING AND SERVING OTHERS times can take advantage of other opportunities. Neumann Whether they feel their single life is transitional or permais considering studying for a doctorate in Austria next year, nent, being single shouldn’t be a label, Sutch says. “We’ve something she thinks would be difficult if she were married become too compartmentalized with so many things. with a family. “I’m radically available, so how do I use that 36 • July 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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for good versus the negatives of just thinking, I’m still not married, still don’t have a family?” she asks herself. In 2005, Sutch offered her availability to assist with administrative work at a Catholic community in Costa Rica during a senior gap year. “It opened up new avenues of skills that I didn’t realize that I had, and it actually sharpened a lot of the skills and developed new skills in translating,” she says.
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FINDING COMMUNITY
Ryan has become more involved in his parish community and other faith organizations since he experienced a faith conversion at a Divine Mercy Sunday prayer service several years ago. He’s continued to grow in his faith and make Catholic friends, and has served in different ways, including organizing events and helping to lead rosaries for inmates at a nearby prison. While involvement in his faith fills some need for fellowship, Ryan admits that “I’m not going to identify as a single occasionally he gets lonely person or a married person. I am to or upset about being single. love where the Lord has me, to love “I will see married couples, the people that come into my life every and they seem so happy and day in a daily pattern.” I will start to get jealous, —Mary Pavek but it quickly fades away,” he says.
Singles have freedom, but they do well when they’re able to find communities of friendship and leave the poverty of isolation, Braam says. He relied on his community of friends when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2008 and felt that God had taken him into the desert. “I think we always look for some sense of being on the right path or on the rails,” he says. “Cancer derailed everything that I thought I was supposed to do. I really had to accept this was the new reality that God had for me, fighting a deadly illness. And also, I had to accept that my life might end.” During his four years of desolation with the disease, Braam’s friends and family responded in many ways, including gathering regularly to pray for him, helping with therapy, organizing fund-raising to pay his medical bills, and making meals. Now in full remission from the cancer, Braam continues to find fellowship and support for his faith in the Neocatechumenal Way, a charism within the Church dedicated to formation in Christian life based principally on catechesis and liturgy, which is lived in communities of believers. As a single woman living far from her biological family, Sutch says she finds a sense of family and community in different circles of friends: the Catholics she meets for coffee after daily Mass, the Catholic covenant community she’s belonged to for 34 years, and her fellow retired teachers, whom she sees regularly. Through relationships, Sutch and other singles say that God has provided assistance with her car, home advice, and other needs of life that a spouse might normally handle. “God has always provided men in my life for advice,” she says. Singles also feel they belong in the Church, even if their needs don’t come up in the Mass intentions. “I feel that we are part of the Church and we don’t have to be married to be part of the Church,” Sutch says. When Catholic singles gather to share interests other than their singleness, Neumann says she feels less awkward. She has found friends and community through playing softball and socializing with a network of other Catholic young adults.
NEVER ALONE
Singles may find themselves seeking companionship, but Pavek says she knows that, during those times, God is with her. “I’m not on this journey alone,” she says. “Even though I’m alone physically, often I’m not spiritually or emotionally. I’m pretty grateful.” The added solitude many singles have can be an opportunity to pray and seek God, Father Hasse says. “The entire rich spiritual tradition is open to every person,” he says. “To the extent that people may have space in their life because of being single, one very hopeful, beautiful, fruitful thing they could do with some of that space would be to devote it to pursuing the spiritual life.” Braam takes time with the Lord as he continues to discern God’s will for his life, often with a prayer written by St. Ignatius: “The deep yearning in my heart is to walk on his path and not my own.” Singles may be waiting on the Lord for direction on their state in life, but they shouldn’t forget that God has adventures and graces for them where they are. It’s a misperception of the single life for singles to think they’ve missed out on something, Sutch says. Singles—and especially those who didn’t plan to be single—can pursue deep friendship and intimacy with the Lord while seeking to serve and give of themselves, Father Hasse says. Braam agrees: “The challenge of being single is not to lament singleness so much that we don’t turn ourselves outward and give ourselves to something,” he says. “It’s really important to see these years not as wasted years and ask the Lord what he is calling us to—not is he calling me, but what is he calling me to?” Susan Klemond is a freelance writer from St. Paul, Minnesota. She enjoys writing about the Church—both the institution and its members. Her article “Make Money, Make a Difference” appeared in the January 2019 issue of St. Anthony Messenger. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 37
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HEALING
after Miscarriage After experiencing the anguish of losing her son at 20 weeks, a mother asks whether he is in heaven. In her grief, she finds that her faith grows in unexpected ways. 38 • July 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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By Eleanor Baumgartner
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uring fall 2017, my husband and I took our young family to France while he taught a semester at a French university, and we came home with a special souvenir. We were expecting a new baby! In the woods bordering the village where we were staying, there was a small shrine to the Virgin Mary. Legend has it that, in the 17th century, villagers discovered a statue of Mary in the branches of an oak tree. Since then it had become a place of local pilgrimage, the destination for an annual procession of the faithful. When I would escape from our gîte (or vacation cottage) to go running, I’d deliberately pass by the shrine and silently pray: “God, if it is your will, please give us another baby.” Some days after I found out that I was pregnant, I visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Reims, a Gothic masterpiece possessing a breathtaking beauty with its vast, soaring nave and the light filtering through thousands of fragments of colored glass. I lit a prayer candle against a centuries-old stone pillar, and then I went to the gift shop and bought a small figure of a sleeping cherub. I wanted something to keep with me as this new life began to grow. I was a little troubled by the idea of an “angel-baby,” but it was the only item not obviously intended for a boy or girl. Even so, I felt a strange sense of peril throughout the weeks that followed. Every ache and cramp left me terrified. I lit candles at every church we visited. I prayed everywhere. Back home in the United States, we had a 14-week scan. I saw our new son for the first time! His heartbeat was strong and regular, and I watched him moving his tiny hands and feet on the ultrasound. One month later I felt the first fluttering of his movements. We joyfully told his four siblings that they were getting a baby brother. Our earnest 6-year-old expressed concern that we might struggle to get to school on time with a newborn, but even he enthusiastically joined in the excited games of “taking care of baby.” In the meantime, my husband and I chose a name for our child: Sebastian Nicholas David.
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As I held him, I was both overwhelmed by grief and awestruck at the wonder of human life in the womb, at the divine power that had turned a single cell into a baby.
Approaching the 20-week ultrasound, I hadn’t felt any movement for several days, and I went to the doctor’s office with a sense of trepidation. Sure enough, my worst fear was realized. On the screen was our tiny baby, but he was perfectly still. A few seconds passed before the technician told me: “I’m so sorry. Your baby has no heartbeat. He’s passed.” It is impossible to describe the anguish I felt, and likewise his father. Our beloved baby was dead. It felt like the end. In another sense, it was the beginning. Little Sebastian was delivered at the hospital the next morning. He came into the world with the two of us weeping, but without much physical pain. I was scared to look at him, my own flesh and blood, so his father took him in his arms first. He was beautiful, our tiny son. Everything was there—his hands and feet, his delicate closed eyes, nose, and mouth. It was amazing how much love we both felt for this baby. As I held him, I was both overwhelmed by grief and awestruck at the wonder of human life in the womb, at the divine power that had turned a single cell into a baby. Our child was unfinished but still wonderful. “You formed my inmost being,” reads Psalm 139, “you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!” Of course, everyone on earth had been this small at one time, only partly finished. Even baby Jesus had been tiny and fragile in the Virgin Mary’s womb. I felt a renewed sense of awe in God come to earth, God made flesh. Here was a child made in God’s image. I don’t know exactly why I was so struck by this. Perhaps it was simply because his body was unfinished. We stayed with our son in that room for several hours, praying, crying, and looking out the window over the city and toward the snow-capped mountain on the horizon. I knew that life would never be the same. IS OUR SON IN HEAVEN?
At that point and over the following days, my greatest concern was whether our son was in heaven. Of course, he was not baptized; the
Sacrament of Baptism can only be given to the living. Meanwhile, Church doctrine tells us that we must be cleansed of original sin if we are to see the face of God. The fate of unbaptized infants is not a small question. Brilliant Church theologians have debated this issue for 2,000 years, and there is still no definitive answer. My husband felt certain that Sebastian was in heaven. We’d asked our parish priest within hours of learning of his death, and Father Brian had told us that we should trust that our child was with God. Still, “trusting” sounded so uncertain. The more I read about the subject, the more grief-stricken I felt. St. Augustine famously concluded that children who die without Baptism are destined for hell, albeit to face only mild punishment. At that time, in the late fourth century, he was locked in a battle with a British monk named Pelagius, who was propagating a popular heresy that human beings are born in a state of grace and that we can lead a moral life through self-reliance. St. Augustine affirmed that we have all sinned in Adam, and that Baptism is necessary for salvation. The Latin Fathers adopted Augustine’s position. Even infants who had committed no personal sin were condemned to “everlasting torments.” Little wonder that even a few generations ago, it was common to baptize babies within days or even hours of their birth. By medieval times, theologians began to speculate that unbaptized children would instead suffer no punishment beyond being deprived of the vision of God. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote of the “limbo of children,” a sort of borderland where they might still be happy because they wouldn’t know what they were missing. Other writers suggested a “baptism by desire,” saying that, essentially, the intention of parents to baptize their child and their inability to do so somehow conferred the grace of the sacrament. At the turn of this century, the question was made increasingly relevant by the existence of so many millions of babies killed by abortion. What happens to the souls of all those babies? In 2007, the International Theological Commission, theological experts appointed
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UNFINISHED YET WONDERFUL
by the pope, published a report on the question. The commission emphasized that God desires all to be saved and that we have substantial grounds to hope that there is a path to salvation for infants who die without Baptism. God is not bound by the sacraments, and he always provides some means of salvation. That conclusion was in harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “The Church can only entrust them [unbaptized infants] to the mercy of God. . . . Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: ‘Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,’ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism” (1261). I asked a second priest after Mass that next Sunday. “We trust that
Sebastian is saved,” he affirmed. As for the gap between trusting and knowing that our son was saved, he added, that was the space filled by faith. A LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH
One day before our baby’s funeral, there was a heavy snowfall. The sky was gray like stone, and it was bitterly cold. The next morning was still glacial, but the sky was a perfect blue and thousands of ice crystals sparkled in the deep snow. We celebrated a beautiful funeral Mass at the chapel of our Catholic cemetery, and we buried Sebastian in the special “Babyland” section. Miscarriage is heartbreakingly common. I now understand why it is described as a hidden loss. Friends sent cards and flowers. Many of them had suffered this same grief. Others, even Catholic friends, clearly did not know what to say. Some made no comment,
as though we had not just had a baby son who had died. Especially confusing were the tender responses of friends who I knew were pro-choice: I am absolutely sure that their sympathy was heartfelt, but did they only consider Sebastian to be a real baby because we had wanted him? I do not want to understate my sorrow in the weeks that followed. I wept every day, often several times. I got angry very often, at the children and my husband. I started wondering whether C.S. Lewis’ fictional demon Uncle Screwtape had ever advised his nephew to use grief to break families apart. I reread The Screwtape Letters to check. He didn’t, but it seemed to me that he might have. I observed that when I sang hymns while going about the day’s activities, albeit a little tunelessly, I felt peace, even happiness, alongside the sadness. “He who sings, prays twice,” it has been
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I feel sure that we are blessed by our baby and that those blessings will continue for the rest of our lives.
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Blessing of Parents after a Miscarriage or Stillbirth COMPASSIONATE GOD, soothe the [parents’] hearts, and grant that through the prayers of Mary, who grieved by the Cross of her Son, you may enlighten their faith, give hope to their hearts, and peace to their lives. Lord, grant mercy to all the members of this family and comfort them with the hope that one day we will all live with you, with your Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
personal. Joyce Kilmer, the popular American Catholic poet killed in the First World War, remarked upon this after the death of his beloved daughter Rose, who was afflicted with polio as a baby. Earlier, Rose had influenced Kilmer’s conversion to Catholicism. “When faith did come,” he wrote to his friend Father James Daly, SJ, “it came, I think, by way of my little paralyzed daughter. Her lifeless hands led me; I think her tiny feet know beautiful paths.” When his daughter died in 1912 at 5 years old, he wrote: “Certainly, Rose makes heaven dearer to us.” In the loss of our son, we experienced the full depth of human love, a love that is stronger than death, an echo of God’s love for us, seen through a glass darkly. Sebastian brought heaven closer to us in both our desire for joyful reunion and his presumed intercession for our souls. Some weeks after Sebastian’s death, a Catholic friend who had previously suffered a miscarriage sent a card in which she wrote: “They [our babies] are happy, and we are blessed.” As I reflect on our loss, I keep coming back to my friend’s words. I believe that she captured a perfect truth. I don’t know why we lost our baby. I do know that his loss deepened my faith in remarkable and unexpected ways. I have never stopped mourning Sebastian, but now when I think about him I have a sense of something shining and of a surprising joy I can’t quite put in words. I feel sure that we are blessed by our baby and that those blessings will continue for the rest of our lives. God works in mysterious ways, but he also never stops loving us. Eleanor Baumgartner is a former journalist, enthusiastic traveler, and grateful mother of four young children. She resides in Spokane, Washington.
—from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website (usccb.org)
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I was raised Anglican and converted to Catholicism when I was married. I felt a rightness about my new faith and a warm comfort. There had never been a transcendental moment—until now. After that night I felt that my faith had been brought alive. It was transformative and healing. It wasn’t the only way that we were changed by our baby. For the first time, I was struck by the profound reality of death. Neither my husband nor I had previously lost someone close to us. Yet our Catholic faith only comes together when life and death are intermingled instead of death being pushed to the periphery. As St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote: “The world’s thy ship and not thy home.” Most of all, what had changed for me was that heaven now felt so very
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said (perhaps by St. Augustine again, although no one seems sure). One night about two months after the miscarriage, I had a curious experience. Some may attribute it to wishful thinking, but it felt vividly real. I was wide awake lying in bed, praying fervently for God’s help, when I felt an immense sense of comfort. It was like a radiant joy, but with no visible brilliance. The simplest comparison would be that comfort you experience when you are with your spouse and feel absolutely safe and protected, but it was much more than that. It was absolutely external to me and lasted for only a few minutes. It was powerful enough to bring tears to my eyes. I took no specific message from it, except that God loves us more than the human mind can ever grasp.
sisterhood of saints Kateri Tekakwitha
By Melanie Rigney
1656–1680 | Feast Day: July 14
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ateri, called the “Lily of the Mohawks,” had virtually no traditional family support on her Christian journey. By some reports, her Algonquin mother was a Christian, educated by French missionaries. However, before her mother, father, or baby brother could have much influence on the 4-year-old’s life, all died of smallpox. The disease also left the child with serious facial scarring and partially blind. It was because of the latter she became known as Tekakwitha, “she who bumps into things.” She went to live with an uncle and aunt, and it was as she was working as a servant in their home that she met the Jesuit missionaries who put her on a path to Christianity. It would be nine years before she was baptized, taking the name Kateri in honor of Catherine of Siena. While her uncle did not oppose her conversion, others in the community were less accepting and began to talk of her as a sorceress. Tensions at home grew when Kateri refused to marry the man who had been selected for her, saying she was not called to marriage.
Finally, Kateri left the village and traveled two months to reach a Catholic mission near Montreal. She worked with children and the elderly, providing tender guidance as her role in the community that became her family. She was only 24 when she died of tuberculosis. We know her today as the first Native American to be formally canonized. No one has a perfect upbringing or is a perfect parent. Sometimes, our faith community is solely people with whom we are joined in spirit, not blood. In Kateri, we see the power of the unquenchable thirst for Christ, even when those around us ridicule and hurt us as we seek to quench that thirst. INSPIRATION
“Who can tell me what is most pleasing to God that I may do it?”—St. Kateri Tekakwitha CHALLENGE
Write a letter of thanks to the person—a relative, perhaps, your childhood pastor, or a teacher—who fed your spiritual fire while you were growing up. REFLECTION
We like to think that our proposed holiness is thwarted by our situation. If only we could have more solitude, less opposition, or better health. Kateri Tekakwitha repeats the example of the saints: Holiness thrives on the cross, anywhere. Yet she did have what Christians—all people—need: the support of a community. She had a good mother, helpful priests, and Christian friends. St. Kateri is a model for those of us who hold fast to a higher calling. This article was excerpted from Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration, by Melanie Rigney (Franciscan Media). Melanie Rigney is the author of Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith and Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration, both published by Franciscan Media. WANT MORE? Visit our Sisterhood of Saints page:
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Visit our online store to order: Shop.FranciscanMedia.org St. Kateri Tekakwitha—the first Native American to be canonized—is a patron of the environment, Native Americans, orphans, and people in exile.
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fiction
A GREATER
PEACE A homeless veteran finds comfort in a child’s toy. Story by Terry Sanville Illustration by James Balkovek
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arge hobbles along the sidewalk next to the Catholic church, keeping to the shadows. The straps of his overstuffed rucksack cut into his sloping shoulders. The scrap cardboard soles he’s inserted into his combat boots have worn through. He groans and stops to inspect his feet, sitting cross-legged with his back against a tree. The August heat radiates off the concrete, yet he keeps his Army field jacket zipped shut, as if he’s expecting snow. What he doesn’t expect is the bunny. On the top of the stone wall that separates the church from the sidewalk rests a small gray rabbit with shiny black eyes, ears sticking straight up, and a pink nose. Sarge mops his face with a filthy handkerchief and looks again to make sure. The stuffed toy seems almost real. He struggles to his feet and retrieves the rabbit while looking up and down the street to see if anyone might lay claim to the prize. He strokes the bunny’s back, enjoying the feel of its soft fur. It reminds him of his cat, Sleazy, a tailless calico that he’d befriended in Afghanistan while stationed in the Garmsir district. He’d fed her milk and table scraps. In winter, the cat followed him on patrol of the river villages, almost like a dog. At night she’d nestle against his neck. One day she disappeared, like a lot of things in that endless war. People passing on the sidewalk stare at Sarge with suspicion. Women cross the street to avoid him. A bicycle cop at the end of the block moves in. Sarge stuffs the rabbit into his jacket and lumbers away. The cop doesn’t follow. That night, Sarge camps under a highway bridge next to a creek. He slides the bunny under the top of his T-shirt and against his neck, then lies on the ground. He listens to the creek babble and dreams of river towns, ambushes, and the faces of the dead. He wakes in darkness, screaming. But the bunny is there to stroke, to help him remember the softer things in his life. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 45
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fiction
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ophia sits in the back seat of her mother’s Camry and bawls, her eyes squeezed shut, tears flowing down her 3-year-old cheeks, her nose exuding snot bubbles. Her bunny rabbit has disappeared. Sophia wails, “I want my bunny. I want my bunny. I want my . . . bunny.” Her litany of cries breaks only when she needs to suck in a breath. Barbara clenches the steering wheel and struggles to control her voice. “Honey, we’re going to look for bunny right now. Stop crying and sit up. You can help Mommy look.” Sophia’s tears continue flowing. “I want my bunny. It’s my favorite. Daddy gave it to me.” “I know, honey. I know. But even Daddy loses things.” Barbara cruises the town’s business district. Yesterday she and her daughter had walked the streets window-shopping before attending her weekly coffee with other military wives. Her exhausted daughter must have dropped or laid her bunny down somewhere within a 12-block area. Barbara knows they probably won’t find it. But her daughter cried herself to sleep last night and woke up weeping. It tore at Barbara’s heart, since her husband had deployed a month before and wasn’t there to comfort his little girl.
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eekend shoppers crowd the downtown. After a half hour of driving, Barbara parks the car, slips Sophia into her stroller, and begins walking. She stops at the stores
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they visited the previous day. The sales clerks remember them but not a gray bunny. Sophia whimpers. After an hour of trudging, they turn down a side street that leads to the parking garage. A large man with long greasy hair and dressed in Army gear sits with his back against a storefront, blocking half the sidewalk. Barbara considers crossing the street to avoid him, then reconsiders. I can do this. I can’t be afraid of the homeless in my own town. The man chews greedily on a sandwich. A pint of something alcoholic peeks from one of the pockets of his field jacket. His Army cap on the sidewalk contains coins and crumpled dollar bills. A staff sergeant’s insignia is pinned to the cap’s front, the same rank as her husband. Sophia rides quietly, staring. Barbara picks up the pace and comes abreast of the forgotten soldier. A toy rabbit rests on a clean handkerchief next to the man. In front of it is a paper plate with a fork, spoon, and napkin neatly laid out. The plate holds food scraps from the man’s sandwich. A cup of water stands guard. Sophia’s high-pitched squeal breaks the morning stillness. “Bunny, bunny!” she cries and points. Barbara halts so quickly that Sophia almost falls out the front of the stroller. “He got my bunny.” Sophia leans toward the man, little arms and hands flailing. “Give me my bunny! Give it back!” The man grabs the rabbit and holds it to his throat, his eyes squeezed shut, head bowed, body shaking. “Bunny, bunny, I want my bunny!” “Hush, Sophia,” Barbara murmurs into her daughter’s ear. “He got my bunny.” Sophia hiccups, her face red and swollen. The man brings his arms up over his head and rocks back and forth, like a soldier trying to survive incoming mortar rounds. Barbara asks, “Are you all right . . . Sergeant?” He opens his eyes and stares at her. His lips quiver but he says nothing, just gives a quick nod.
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ith her heart pounding, Barbara removes a five-dollar bill from her purse and drops it into his cap. His eyes shift between mother and child. His hands clutch the rabbit. She thinks of her daughter’s sorrow at losing the bunny, the tears, the days of recovery as Barbara tries to regain peace. She thinks about what must have happened to this man to make him create a friendship, a relationship, a world around something so soft, yet lifeless. With a shudder she straightens her shoulders, smiles at the sergeant, and pushes Sophia down the street, the little girl whimpering but strangely quiet. Terry Sanville lives in San Luis Obispo, California, with his artist-poet wife (his in-house editor) and their cat. An accomplished jazz and blues guitarist, he writes full-time, producing short stories, essays, poems, and novels. Since 2005, his award-winning short stories have been accepted by more than 250 literary and commercial journals, magazines, and anthologies, including the Potomac Review, Shenandoah, and Conclave: A Journal of Character.
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POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH
God Wastes Nothing
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Kyle Kramer
TOP: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; BOTTOM: LABOKO/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. EarthandSpiritCenter.org
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here’s something magical about a compost pile. We take the ickiest leavings of our kitchen, put them in a pile outside, and they are somehow transformed into nutrientrich humus that we can use in the garden. Not only do we avoid sending excess waste to the landfill, but we can actually benefit from it. That’s amazing. It’s probably just because I’m a middleclass, 21st-century American that I find the compost process such a wonder. Most of human history (and prehistory) has been one of frugal and creative reuse of resources. After all, we’re part of the natural world, in which death and waste always become new life and nutrients, in a perfect circle of sustainability. I see in this pattern a sacrament of the divine, whose very Trinitarian nature is a circular dance of self-emptying and being filled, and in whose loving care no sin or sinner is ultimately beyond redemption. It’s only the modern industrial age, which has pulled us away from both nature and God, placing us in a linear process of resource extraction and pollution, that blinds us to a fundamental truth: In God’s realm—both spiritual and material—nothing goes to waste. On one hand, I find this divine truth of “zero waste” to be a tremendous relief and a great invitation. If we can trust in it, then our lives can’t ever be without meaning or purpose, and it becomes possible to live with openhearted curiosity, discerning the great mystery of how God might be making use of even our mistakes, failures, and sins. On the other hand, the truth that God wastes nothing is both a high standard and a severe judgment. If we are called to conform ourselves and our culture to the nature of
By Kyle Kramer
God and the nature of nature, then we can’t simply throw away things—or, far worse, people. We can’t keep turning the material world into garbage and pollution through our industrial processes, and we can’t keep wasting people through gun and domestic violence, poor schools, poor social safety nets, or the lack of meaningful and well-paid work. Living up to such a calling may be daunting, but all we can do is start where we are and move toward the vision, doing what is ours to do as part of a larger collective effort—sometimes with small, cautious steps, sometimes with brave leaps of faith. Maybe we commit to minimizing our purchases, reducing our waste, and repurposing or recycling all we can. Maybe we give our lives to improving public education or social services. Maybe we advocate for better working conditions and a living wage—or run a business that provides them. Maybe, if we are limited by age or infirmity, we encourage and support those on the front lines of change. I can’t prove it, but my heart tells me that God is guiding us and that the divine breath is in our sails. If that’s true, then it’s safe to trust that not one effort toward a better world will be wasted.
HELPFUL
TIPS1
Ways You Can Help
The best way to avoid waste is on the front end—don’t make unnecessary purchases. Ask yourself: Do I really need this? Can I find it used? How can I take responsibility for its entire life cycle?
2
Only about 35 percent of American waste gets recycled, largely because we put the wrong things in our recycling bins. Go to popsci.com/how-to-recycle to learn how to properly recycle.
3
Even if you live in an apartment, you can compost. Google “worm composting” to learn how.
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media MATTERS
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By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
FILMS DIRECTED BY
WOMEN The Hurt Locker (2008) Where Do We Go Now? (2011) Crossing Delancey (1988) Water (2005) Whale Rider (2002)
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randparents Ethan (Dennis Quaid) and Hannah (Marg Helgenberger) live on a farm in Michigan. Their dog, Bailey (voice of Josh Gad), loves to play with Ethan and keep an eye on their granddaughter, CJ (played at different stages by Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathryn Prescott). Their son has died, so his widow, Gloria (Betty Gilpin), and CJ live with them. Gloria accuses Ethan and Hannah of wanting control of their son’s insurance money when they offer to let CJ live with them so that Gloria can develop her singing pursuits. In a huff, she takes CJ and leaves. Bailey, the narrator of our story, is sad because CJ is gone. Gloria and her daughter move to Chicago, where CJ becomes interested in music. Gloria starts drinking and dating. CJ adopts a puppy and names her Molly, hiding her from Gloria. Molly takes over Bailey’s job as CJ’s guardian angel because Molly is Bailey born again as a female dog of a different breed. After getting arrested at a party where underage drinking and drug use are going on, CJ has to complete 100 hours of community service. She is assigned to an organization where service dogs are trained to detect cancer. Molly copies the other dogs and learns how to detect cancer as well. One evening, CJ and Molly go for a drive with CJ’s exboyfriend, Shane (Jake Manley), and they get into a car accident. Molly dies as a result, and
CJ moves to New York. On the way, CJ stops at a gas station in Pennsylvania, and a large dog named Big Dog chases her car down the road. The dog instantly recognizes her. CJ struggles in the big city but eventually finds a boyfriend and moves in with him. When CJ walks through a pet adoption fair in Washington Park, a small dog, Max, recognizes her and manages to escape and get adopted by her. One day, Gloria comes to visit, and CJ’s life begins to change. A Dog’s Journey is based on the 2012 novel of the same title by W. Bruce Cameron. It is the sequel to the 2017 film A Dog’s Purpose, but the new film stands on its own. Gad reprises his role as the canine narrator, and Quaid is back as Ethan, now an aging grandfather. Rather than being seen as reincarnated, I prefer to see these lovable dogs as God recycling CJ’s guardian angel, loving her and keeping her safe. A-2, PG • Alcohol, drugs, some peril.
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TOLKIEN: FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES © 2019 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION; BE NATURAL: COURTESY BE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS
Sister Rose’s FAVORITE
A DOG’S JOURNEY
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; A DOG’S JOURNEY: UNIVERSAL PICTURES (2)
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.
BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ
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TOLKIEN: FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES © 2019 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION; BE NATURAL: COURTESY BE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; A DOG’S JOURNEY: UNIVERSAL PICTURES (2)
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he film opens at the Battle of the Somme in World War I. A young officer, J.R.R. Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult), known as Ronald to his friends, is sick with trench fever and worried about his childhood friend, Geoffrey (Anthony Boyle), who has gone missing. Ronald absorbs the terror and destruction around him until he is sent back to England to finish his service. The film then goes back to when a younger Ronald (Harry Gilby) and his brother, Hilary (Guillermo Bedward), play in the woods outside of Birmingham. The boys’ mother, Mabel (Laura Donnelly), is a born storyteller, and Ronald’s imagination develops so much that he begins to create his own language and draws amazing sketches in his notebooks. Their father dies in South Africa, never making it back home to his family. Mabel dies as well, placing the boys under the guardianship of a Catholic priest, Father Francis (Colm Meaney), who obtains a scholarship for Ronald to attend a pres-
tigious school. There, Ronald astonishes everyone when he recites, from memory, the epic poem Beowulf in Old English. He makes friends slowly, but they remain friends for life and form a secret society called the T.C.B.S.—the Tea Club, Barrovian Society. While at university, Ronald meets Dr. Joseph Wright (Derek Jacobi), a noted professor of philology, and finds a way to become his student so he can learn more about languages, history, textual analysis, myth, and literary criticism. And then the war comes. Tolkien is a romantic introduction to the young man who would become the author of the greatest fantasy novels of the 20th century—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, events in Tolkien’s life are compressed and reordered, and the influence of Catholicism on his inner life is almost nonexistent. A-2, PG-13 • War violence.
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
n 1895, Alice Guy-Blaché was a secretary at a camera manufacturing company outside Paris. She was invited to see the first projected film by the Lumière brothers, along with other executives from the Gaumont Company. Then and there she decided that she could make movies that actually told stories. She made her first film in 1896, The Cabbage Fairy. In 1906, she made The Life of Christ, one of the first big-budget films ever made. Over the next two decades she wrote, produced, and directed over 1,000 films. Then she faded away, written out of history by a male-dominated industry. Filmmaker Pamela B. Green began working on the film in 2012 with Robert Redford and Jodie Foster among the executive producers. (Foster also narrates the film.) Green’s goal was to make sure that film students and filmmakers alike would have an appreciation for Guy-Blaché’s work and innovations still in use today— such as the close-up shot. The first part of the documentary is an exercise in keeping up. The latter part of the film slows down and tells more about GuyBlaché’s family and her life in America. Be Natural is an essential film to appreciate cinema and the role that women played in its development—as well as the possibilities for female directors today and tomorrow. Not yet rated • Sexism.
Source: USCCB.org/movies
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media MATTERS
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By Christopher Heffron
President John F. Kennedy (with sunglasses) is briefed by NASA officials at the Saturn rocket on Pad B, Complex 37, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Chasing the Moon
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson (center) and Vice President Spiro Agnew (right) view the liftoff of Apollo 11.
n a balmy Texas afternoon in September 1962, President John F. Kennedy took to the podium at Rice University and laid out his administration’s ambitious space program. In a tone laden with confidence, he said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept.” It was as though Kennedy was speaking to a cynical God and saying, “Challenge accepted.” The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union is at the heart of American Experience’s methodical, carefully researched, and ultimately thrilling documentary Chasing the Moon. But what the film uncovers is something far deeper, richer. BOUND FOR GLORY
After the Bay of Pigs embarrassment in 1961, Kennedy needed a win. He found it in the heavens—as well as a worthy adversary in Premier Nikita Khrushchev, whose country
launched the first man into space in 1961. A sense of urgency soon fell upon NASA engineers: The race to get a man on the moon became its central mission. Careers were made and unmade in those early days, and the film documents the trials and errors in creating a vehicle that could get a man on the moon. Kennedy, who feared losing the space race would damage his presidency, wanted to save face. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth,” Kennedy wrote in a message to Congress in 1961. “No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind.” His interests might have been politically motivated, but his directive won us the race. Sadly, he did not live to see it happen. Directed by the peerless Robert Stone and scored to perfection by Gary Lionelli, Chasing the Moon is a celebration of American grit and vision. But it also speaks to our need for closeness with the divine—that which seems unreachable. And that is no mission impossible.
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BOB DYLAN: COLUMBIA; MARVIN GAYE: MOTOWN/UME
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TOP: COURTESY OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM (2); CENTER: LAMMEYER/FOTOSEARCH
Premieres July 8, American Experience on PBS
reel time | channel surfing | audio file | bookshelf
By Daniel Imwalle
Editor’s Pick
MARVIN GAYE | YOU’RE THE MAN
Retro-spective BOB DYLAN | THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN
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BOB DYLAN: COLUMBIA; MARVIN GAYE: MOTOWN/UME
TOP: COURTESY OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM (2); CENTER: LAMMEYER/FOTOSEARCH
ice llo 11.
t’s hard to imagine the cultural landscape of the 1960s without Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Few other songs so perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the disillusioned youth who would push for social change in that tumultuous decade. “Blowin’ in the Wind” opens his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which was released in 1963, when the folk singer was only 22. The follow-up to his largely ignored eponymous first album, Freewheelin’ rocketed Dylan to the top of the early ’60s folk scene. He’s been a powerful voice for justice and poet for the marginalized ever since. In “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Dylan asks deep, existential questions in the verse parts of the song (for example, “How many times must a man look up/Before he can see the sky?”) and responds esoterically with, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.” In a genius move, he combines the call-and-response form of African American spirituals with a meditation on the meaning of life. Other songs in the same vein include “Masters of War,” “Talkin’ World War III Blues,” and the complex “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.” Love ballads balance out the politics nicely, helping to keep Dylan grounded and relatable in songs such as “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” It’s hard to believe that someone so young could convey such wisdom and depth of experience, but the climate of the 1960s was just right for a poetic genius like Dylan to emerge. People needed his words then, and we need them even more now.
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he mystique of “the lost album” has long fascinated and frustrated music lovers. When an artist spends time writing and recording an album only to shelve the project—due to internal struggles among the musicians, external pressure from record company executives, or a combination of the two—it’s often crushing for the artist and fans alike. Following the critical acclaim of 1971’s What’s Going On, soul singer Marvin Gaye sought to catch lightning in a bottle once more the following year with You’re the Man. Unfortunately, Gaye found himself at odds with Motown Records head, Berry Gordy, over the political messages in the music. When the lead single, title track “You’re the Man,” fizzled on the Billboard charts, the album was canceled. Gaye would go on to write and produce the well-received soundtrack to the 1972 movie Trouble Man and find enormous success with 1973’s Let’s Get It On, but the question of what his follow-up to What’s Going On would sound like would persist in the minds of fans and music journalists for decades. Finally, on April 2, which would have been Gaye’s 80th birthday, the album saw the light of day. You’re the Man starts off with the politically charged title track, which clocks in at nearly six minutes and takes aim at institutional racism and a corrupt government. At one point, he specifically calls out then President Richard Nixon: “Politics and hypocrites/Is turning us all into lunatics/Can you take the guns from our sons?/Right all the wrong this administration’s done?” White America might have thought the civil rights movement was over, but Gaye clearly saw otherwise. Certainly, strides toward equality were made, but Gaye seems to be pointing out that real change requires a transformation in the hearts of the white majority so that they see their black brothers and sisters as truly equal. In “Try It, You’ll Like It,” he tells us that this transformation can only happen when sparked by love: “How you gonna get it together/With chains around your mind?/ We must all work together/Lord have mercy/We must all love one another.” With rampant gun violence, gang warfare, and the drug trade plaguing many black communities and the drawn-out, unpopular war in Vietnam, Gaye’s question of “What’s going on?” from his previous album is answered by a frustrated lamentation in some of the songs on You’re the Man. But there’s levity and diversity to be found as well. Love songs are interspersed throughout the album, reminding listeners that love, whether romantic or platonic, shines a light on the path toward a better world. There’s even a Christmas song, though it’s far from the traditional sort. The touching “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” is written from the perspective of an American prisoner of war in Vietnam who is dreaming of returning to his family to celebrate the holiday. Present throughout You’re the Man is the trademark sound of Motown’s session musicians, the unsung heroes of dozens of number one hits from the ’60s and ’70s. Called the Funk Brothers, their expert work on their respective instruments helps bring Gaye’s artistic vision to life. Lost no more, You’re the Man is a treat to finally listen to and a welcome addition to the catalogue of one of the greatest soul singers of all time. StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 51
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media MATTERS
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By Julie Traubert
Restoring the Authentic Christ
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THE UNIVERSAL CHRIST BY RICHARD ROHR Convergent
“Humans were fashioned to love people more than principles, and Jesus fully exemplified this pattern. But many seem to prefer loving principles—as if you really can do such a thing.”
ichard Rohr has once more given us a gift. His latest book is true to form and will undoubtedly become a classic in Christocentric literature. But reader be forewarned: If you are a child of the Church before Vatican II, you will find Rohr’s conclusions challenging, as they put a new, yet really original, spin on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. If you are someone born after Vatican II, you will have less of a struggle embracing what Rohr presents. As a product of both eras, this reviewer leans toward post-Vatican II thought because the current polarized world seems to desperately need the real Jesus and the real Christ. That is reason alone this book is a singular blessing. For Rohr the bottom line is that it is not a matter of being right or wrong, but rather it is a matter of manifesting divinity. Yet he successfully argues that Christian traditionalists and liberals have much to teach and offer each other through a process of reordering our priorities when we study the life of Jesus and the Christ. In laying out his arguments, Rohr provides a historical context for readers to understand how, in the centuries since Jesus walked the earth, the meanings of the words Jesus and Christ have shifted. He urges us to take up the work and words of the early Church fathers and mothers and St. Paul because they did not carry the baggage we modern pilgrims do of how to look at Jesus and the Christ. Rohr’s viewpoint is that “Christianity in its maturity is supremely love-centered, not information- or knowledge-centered.”
Rohr also explores the role of science, particularly the increasing evidence of the “plasticity” of the brain. This concept shows we can actively change the structure of our brain cells, which could change our ways of thinking from a dualistic paradigm to a nondualistic approach—one of the core tenets Rohr has offered in previous works. The God Rohr experiences is a big God, not a small, narrow God who is punitive, rule-bidden, and nothing like Jesus. And it’s not just Christianity that Rohr argues has become dualistic. For him this is the norm of most religions; therefore, this is a human issue, not one isolated to Christians. Rohr believes that over time we have separated Jesus from Christ and that Jesus is the human figure in history, while Christ is the message of the all-powerful, loving, merciful embracing of God with humanity. Christ is found in the compassion we provide to one another, in the energy that heals wounds, and in the relationships we build with each other. Given how much we see of our broken world thanks to social media and the 24-hour news cycle, Rohr encourages us to return to the roots of our faith and to listen to voices of the men and women who were the original contemplatives of our faith. Then we can recognize the role we play in heaven and on earth and in manifesting the second coming of Christ. Reviewed by James A. Percoco, a nationally recognized history educator with over 35 years of teaching experience.
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HELPING TEENS WITH STRESS, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION
HUMAN RITES
GOD ISN’T FINISHED WITH ME YET
BY DRU JOHNSON
BY BARBARA LEE
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
BY ROY PETITFILS
Loyola Press
Ave Maria Press
“You will find language that can help you open up dialogue with a closed-off young person.”
“I hope you’ll join me to pause and reflect on whose rituals we’re embodying and why.”
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s society grapples with the prevalence of mental health issues, this is indeed a timely book. Author and psychotherapist Roy Petitfils presents a field guide for parents and all who work with teens, giving insight into how to reach out to teens when they are showing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Petitfils explains the difference between healthy and unhealthy amounts of stress and gives tools for stepping in: listening and using faith as a structure of support. While only 136 pages, this book is packed with information that could give any parent the strength and push needed to truly connect with a stressed-out teen.
ituals are not found only in religious services or activities—they are part of our daily lives: walking the dog, putting a child to bed, reading the news. Theology professor Dru Johnson points out that when we consider the many rituals and habits we have, we can gain insight into why we think and act as we do. He calls us to discern where our rites originate and explore how we can make a biblical connection to our rituals. Seeing through this faith lens, we are able to forge greater meaning and purpose in moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Reader Recommendations The Sun and Moon over Assisi: A Personal Encounter with Francis and Clare, by Gerard Thomas Straub Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life, by Joyce Rupp Becoming, by Michelle Obama Surrounded by Love: Seven Teachings from St. Francis, by Murray Bodo, OFM Who Does He Say You Are?: Women Transformed by Christ in the Gospels, by Colleen C. Mitchell
KIDS’
SPOT F
“Grow in a God-centered life by exploring the graces specific to the later stages of life.”
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s people age and enter retirement and experience an empty nest or other losses, questions of purpose and direction are at the forefront and can be troubling. Facing her own “Who am I now?” thoughts after a successful career as a lawyer and federal magistrate judge, Barbara Lee focused her life on Ignatian spirituality to guide her path. Lee spells out the issues that define the later stages of life: determining what to do with your time, caregiving, downsizing, and declining health. She then asks questions that help you reflect and find meaning, supported within the framework of Ignatian prayer.
THE DOG IN THE DENTIST CHAIR BY PEGGY FREZON Paraclete Press
rom Murphy the airport dog to Sage the school camel, kids will read about the true stories of 21 different therapy animals “who help, comfort, and love kids.” Children will get a sense of the enormous devotion and care animals show and how beneficial those bonds can be.
Books featured in this section can be ordered from:
St. Mary’s Bookstore & Church Supply
1909 West End Avenue • Nashville, TN 37203 • 800-233-3604
web: www.stmarysbookstore.com e-mail: stmarysbookstore@gmail.com
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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH & FAMILY
Susan Hines-Brigger
Susan has worked at St. Anthony Messenger for 25 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.
Susan welcomes your comments and suggestions! E-MAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Faith & Family 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
nytime someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them I’m a storyteller. Sure, I have a more formal title than that, but telling stories is what drives everything I do. I’m a firm believer that everyone has a unique and important story to tell. Those stories connect us and can teach us. Unfortunately, we sometimes become so insulated in our own lives that we fail to hear other people’s stories and the lessons they can teach us. I thought about that a few months ago when I attended an event hosted by my daughter Riley’s eighth-grade class. The event was the culmination of a yearlong project the grade had been working on about the Holocaust. They had read and discussed Elie Wiesel’s book Night, visited local museum exhibits on the subject, and, finally, completed a report on both an individual who was directly affected by the Holocaust whom they had chosen and someone the students knew who had faced a situation where they had to stand up for justice. The entire project was amazing. The most powerful part, though, was the guest speaker the students’ teacher had lined up for that day. Conrad Weiner is a survivor of and a witness to the Holocaust. That day, at a Catholic grade school on the west side of Cincinnati, he took everything the students had learned and put a face to it. A HARROWING STORY
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When Conrad was very young, he spent four years in a concentration camp in Romania. His memories, he says, are that he “was always hungry and cold, and that people were dying every day.” His mother, he says, saved his life in the camp. His stories of the experience are
chilling and disturbing. Many of his other memories are ones that his mother and other family members would recount each Friday night after Shabbat dinner. His mother would remind him: “Do not forget.” Conrad says he began telling his story about 13 years ago when he was working as a substitute teacher. During a history class on World War II, a high school student, who knew that Conrad was from Europe, asked if he had met Hitler. Conrad says he told the student that not only was Europe a rather large area, he and Hitler also didn’t exactly run in the same social circles. When the boy asked what Conrad did during the war, he told the student that he had spent four years in a concentration camp. The student asked Conrad, “What were you concentrating on?” That interaction prompted Conrad to share his story with others “in an attempt to educate the last generation to see a survivor.” NEVER FORGET
After his talk, I asked what he wanted people to always remember about the Holocaust. He said, “The Holocaust was made possible by indifference and hate. The international community remained passive for too long, and it is unfortunate that we did not learn from this calamity. The killing of innocent adults and children continues to this day.” What are their stories? I wondered. One look at the faces of those students and others in attendance that day told me that there are so many stories we need to hear, yet haven’t. We must seek them out, listen to them, and share them. Because everyone’s story deserves to be told.
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TOP: T JIRKAEJC/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: JACEK CHABRASZEWSKI/GBH007/ISTOCK
A
TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP RIGHT: OLV’S ORIGINAL PROGRAM COVER ARTWORK BY ANNA HORGAN, HAILEY MENNER, AND ELISE KENNEY; COLORIZED BY JESSICA COORS
The Power of Voices
By Susan Hines-Brigger
in the kitchen
with Rita Heikenfeld
Greek Oven-Roasted Chicken with Summer Vegetables
SALT OF THE EARTH
Prep time: 20 minutes | Yield: Serves 5–6
Ingredients:
Mix oregano, oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Pour over chicken and vegetables.
6
Italian or garden tomatoes, cut into quarters
Lay vegetables in pan first, then place chicken—skin side up—on top of vegetables.
1
very large yellow onion, cut into into eighths
Pour any remaining sauce over chicken.
5
medium potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks
2 tsp.
dry oregano or 2 tbls. fresh, chopped, or more to taste
2½ to 3 lbs. chicken thighs, bone in and skin on, or your favorite pieces
1/3 cup olive oil 1 tbsp. (heaping) garlic, minced (3 nice cloves) Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
NOTE: Recipe easily converts to a grill or cast-iron skillet. Feel free to add your family’s favorite summer vegetables. Rita Heikenfeld is an award-winning syndicated journalist,
Instructions: recipient of the American Culinary Federation’s President’s Preheat oven or grill to 450 degrees. Use nonstick Medal, Appalachian herb scholar, accredited family herbalspray on a large rimmed roasting pan. ist, and the founding editor of AboutEating.com. Toss chicken, tomatoes, onion, and potatoes with salt and pepper.
TOP: T JIRKAEJC/FOTOSEARCH; BOTTOM: JACEK CHABRASZEWSKI/GBH007/ISTOCK
TOP LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP RIGHT: OLV’S ORIGINAL PROGRAM COVER ARTWORK BY ANNA HORGAN, HAILEY MENNER, AND ELISE KENNEY; COLORIZED BY JESSICA COORS
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Roast until vegetables are tender and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the chicken registers 165 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Skin will be golden brown and crisp.
?
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FIND THIS AND OTHER RECIPES AT: FranciscanMedia.org/source/recipes
SALT: As mentioned in both Job 6:6 and Leviticus 2:13, the most common and important seasoning during Bible days was salt. It’s referenced throughout the Bible. Salt was obtained from the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea.
We are always on the lookout for tasty, easy recipes. If you have a favorite recipe you want to share, send it to us. By sending your recipe, you are giving us permission to reprint/post the recipe. Please include your contact information in case we have any questions. Photos of the finished dish are welcome.
E-MAIL: MagazineEditors@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: In the Kitchen 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
StAnthonyMessenger.org | July 2019 • 55
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LIGHTENUp!
brainteasers | games | challenges
WORD FIND
G F F A S V S C R I P T U R E B H T I A F S H A R E U A I R S L AWN A I B E A C H QH KM Z X N C E U TWA E J B S R J A E A A I M I MS DA A A A YME L R AUD L Y A P KO L K A A T P T OA S E J D I AM L J F P E T Y T E Y I MQD U D A R C A N U A R R L R H R L OHOE A S P T S H K H J P A S E EME ANAON V F U SMA L A F O I A E E P A R A E AMO AM A E A G L O S A F L P D I AMA N Y I I ODMR P P H T R O P M R O E A A N A L L A WO A T I T L NA A R H SMAOR E E U Y A R A B R R E B I B L AGAHO L Y T R I N I T Y T U P A A E A A Y T L U F KNAH T E A F D OA A V S I GNO F T H E C RO S S P A A F UOY R Z A I A B A R B EQU E L L BO Y L T A U T T I L N L E P S OG B R E U R P L E AN F R ANC I S C AN F R I A R S P A D I H P E A D T H E WO R D O F G O D A N AWAM E R I C A S B I R T H D A Y A H S R A K S U MM K A E R B R E MM U S E
AMEN
AMERICAS BIRTHDAY
APOSTLE PAUL APPLE PIE
BARBEQUE BEACH
FRANCISCAN FRIARS FREEDOM GOSPEL
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY HOLY TRINITY ISAIAH
BIBLE
JESUS
FAITH
LOVE
FAMILY
ATTENTION WORDSMITHS:
SEND US YOUR best caption for this photo. The winner will get his or her caption published in an upcoming issue, a special gift from SAM, and, of course, bragging rights!
TRIVIA QUESTIONS
MEMORIES
SMILE
1: When is the feast day of St. Mary of Clopas?
PRAY
SUNDAY HOMILY
2: Which Psalm is “O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!”?
MOTHER MARY ROAD TRIP
SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA SCRIPTURE SHARE
SIGN OF THE CROSS
PETE&REPEAT
SUMMER BREAK
TAU
THANKFUL
THE WORD OF GOD VACATION
WATERMELON
3: Where is the Fred Rogers Center located? 4: Who was the first Native American to reach sainthood? HINT: All answers can be found in the pages of this issue. ANSWERS AND CAPTIONS: E-mail your answers and captions to: MagazineEditors@FranciscanMedia.org, or mail to: St. Anthony Messenger, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202
TOP: CSP DAMEDEESO/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)
GET THE Great fun for BOOK puzzlers of all ages!
Go online to order: Shop.FranciscanMedia.org For ONLY $3.99 Use Code: SAMPETE ANSWERS to PETE & REPEAT: 1) Sis’ hair is longer. 2) The building behind Pete is taller. 3) The white firework is smaller. 4) One of the buildings is now black. 5) Pete has a white stripe on his sleeve. 6) The middle firework has a longer tail. 7) There are windows on a building behind Pete. 8) The windows on the building in the middle are lower. 56 • July 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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reflection
America is a tune. It must be sung together.
BIGJOHN36/ISTOCK
—Gerald Stanley Lee
57 • July 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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28 W. Liberty Street Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
Crucified Love
Bonaventure’s Mysticism of the Crucified Christ In this comprehensive study of St. Bonaventure’s theology of Christ crucified, Sr. Ilia Delio explores the breadth and depth of mediaeval philosophy and theology and she does so in a way that makes it relevant to the twenty-first century. “Ilia Delio’s Crucified Love has become a modern classic in the study of Bonaventure’s Christology and theology of the Cross.”
—Daniel P. Horan, OFM,
author, All God’s Creatures: A Theology of Creation and The Last Words of Jesus: A Meditation on Love and Suffering
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