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CONTENTS
ST. ANTHONY Messenger
❘ MAY 2013 ❘ VOLUME 120/NUMBER 12
ON THE COVER
COVER STORY
Pope Francis, our 266th pontiff, is the first from Latin America to hold the position. A lifelong advocate for the poor, he took his name from a kindred spirit: St. Francis of Assisi.
28 Pope Francis: From Argentina to the World Why did he choose the name Francis? As his story unfolds, we see a commitment to the poor, to reform, to ecology. By Christopher Heffron
CNS photo/ Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters
F E AT U R E S
D E PA R T M E N T S
16 Nurturing Your Grandchildren’s Faith
2 Dear Reader 3 From Our Readers
When it comes to spirituality, grandparents can make a big difference. By Patti Normile
6 Followers of St. Francis David Convertino, OFM
8 Reel Time
24 Mary’s ‘Yes’ Her answer shows how we can respond to God’s plan for our lives. By Kathy Coffey
42
24
The Chew
12 Church in the News
34 Faith without Borders These volunteers put a human face on the immigration debate. Their simple goal: to end death and suffering by bringing food and water into the Arizona desert. By Daniel Wilson
22 Living Simply 38 Short Take Sean-Patrick Lovett on Vatican Radio
39 Editorial
40 Life Choices This New Jersey center provides a lifeline for expectant mothers who don’t know where to turn. Text by Kathy Belby, photos by Bill Brokaw
10 Channel Surfing
34
Reconnect Sports and Health
45 Year of Faith Mary, Exemplar of Faith
50 Ask a Franciscan
46 Fiction: Dried Beans
Is a Pope Emeritus Still Infallible?
Will the cycle ever end? By Veronica Dale
52 Book Corner 54 A Catholic Mom Speaks I’m Not Crazy, I’m Sick!
40
56 Backstory
ST. ANTHONY M
DEAR READER
essenger
A Life Reclaimed
Publisher/CEO Daniel Kroger, OFM
In his apostolic letter “Door of Faith,” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI cites Vatican II’s frequently quoted teaching: “The Church . . . clasping sinner to its bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church). Margaret of Cortona (1247–1297) exemplifies repentance. She and Arsenio had a son but never married. When Arsenio was murdered, she began a new life. Rejected in the city of her birth, Margaret and her son moved to Cortona. He eventually became a friar. She became a Secular Franciscan and established a hospital there. Other women followed her example and established a religious congregation devoted to these and other works of mercy. Repentance meant that Margaret began living more deeply about the truth of her life—about who she was before God and in relation to other people. In time, she reclaimed the freedom that she had lost by following a very different path. Every sin presents itself as some type of shortcut. Many people sought out Margaret for advice and inspiration. She was canonized in 1728. Her feast is May 16 on the Franciscan calendar.
Chief Operating Officer Thomas A. Shumate, CPA
Director of Content Creation and Services Jennifer Scroggins
Editor in Chief John Feister
Art Director Jeanne Kortekamp
Franciscan Editor Pat McCloskey, OFM
Senior Editor Jack Wintz, OFM
Managing Editor Susan Hines-Brigger
Assistant Editors Christopher Heffron Rachel Zawila
Editorial Assistant Sharon Lape
Director of Marketing, Sales, and Internet Barbara K. Baker
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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 120, Number 12, 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. U.S. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, P.O. Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8. 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 foreign countries. Single copy price: $3.95. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. Writer’s guidelines can be found at Franciscan Media.org. 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 ©2013. All rights reserved.
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
FROM OUR READERS
Hungry for Recipes I received the March issue of St. Anthony Messenger and was so disappointed that you did not have any recipes for Rebecca V. Tower’s article, “Feast of St. Joseph, Italian Style.” I thought for sure you would put some of the recipes in the article. Antoinette Killhoffer Ridgway, Pennsylvania Editor’s note: Recipes are available! You can find them if you log in to your digital edition at StAnthony Messenger.org.
Wear Your Faith I found Peter Feuerherd’s March article, ‘Where There Is Hatred . . . Let Me Sow Your Love’—and the sidebar about St. Francis and the sultan—to be inspiring. Father Elias D. Mallon certainly follows in St. Francis’ foot-
What’s on Your Mind? Letters that are published do not necessarily represent the views of the Franciscan friars or the editors. We do not publish slander or libel. Please include your name and postal address. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. Mail Letters, St. Anthony Messenger 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 Fax 513-241-0399
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steps. It might be useful for us to do similar things with our non-Catholic friends as well. As a part of my own personal perspective, I’m a believer in truly representing myself for what I am—a Catholic. I was surprised, therefore, when I saw the photo of Father Mallon with the people at the mosque. They were all in traditional dress, but Father Mallon appeared to be in street clothes rather than in a Franciscan robe. If the assembly were in Rome (or Mecca), would the dress of either have changed? Thanks for a wonderful magazine! Dr. Robert Moran Methuen, Massachusetts
Fashion Statement I was shocked when I read the article ‘Where There Is Hatred . . . Let Me Sow Your Love.’ Father Elias D. Mallon was wearing a regular shirt and a necktie! Why? Please explain. Are the Roman collar and black suit outdated? Donald C. Rose Conneaut, Ohio
Faith Is Not Unconscious John Feister’s March article, “Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist: An Interview with Ron Rolheiser,” contained one troubling statement that I feel is inaccurate or incomplete. Regarding Rolheiser’s statement, “When we go to Eucharist, unconsciously we’re waiting for Jesus to come back”—I believe we’ve been taught to be ever watchful and to prepare the way of the Lord. These and many other verses and images in the New Testament tell us to prepare, anticipate, and be ready. I’ve been taught that in praying and attending Mass and learning from the Scripture readings, we are preparing to receive the Eucharist and are actively preparing to receive
Christ. We are preparing for the day of his return. This is not an unconscious act. This is being actively engaged and ready to receive Christ and his gifts. Em Murphy Rapid City, South Dakota
A Touching Subject Ron Rolheiser, in the article “Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist,” spoke about the importance of touch. He said: “A word is a word, but a touch is something deeper. God becomes a physical embrace. God becomes a physical touch.” I doubt if anyone would deny that, and yet, we are becoming a Church that no longer touches one another. An elderly man in my parish said to me, after his wife had died a few months earlier, “Sister, I love coming to Mass because it is the only day of the week anyone ever touches me.” Touching is healing. It affirms our worth, it lessens our fears, and it gives us hope. We see that throughout the Scriptures. Jesus wasn’t afraid to touch people. I pray for the day when Mass becomes a source of healing not only through the touch of Christ in the Eucharist, but also through the touch of parishioners in the pews. Sister Louise Alff, OSF Syracuse, New York
Social Media Isn’t So Sacred I was patently disheartened when I first learned that Pope Benedict XVI joined the social media revolution and begin tweeting before he resigned. I asked myself why this foray into Internet outreach should elicit such a reaction in me. It’s not the use of technology itself, I determined. In fact, I think the Internet, in conjunction with other media (not to mention a good oldfashioned teacher), can be an effective tool for catechesis. M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 3
What Our Subscribers Read Our top-read articles from the March issue were:
88%
Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist
87%
Feast of St. Joseph, Italian Style
86%
Darkness and Light: A Reflection on Good Friday
4 ❘ May 2013
Catholics in Congress In the “New Briefs” box in March’s “Church in the News,” it lists the number of Catholics in Congress as 163 as of 2012. This number is very deceiving. A more accurate number would not include the “name-only
Catholics,” such as Nancy Pelosi, who defy Catholic teachings with their pro-choice stances. Let’s be honest here: they are not Catholic. They speak with forked tongues. E.T. Craig Ogdensburg, New York
Turning the Channel I have personally boycotted NBC for shows such as The New Normal, which denigrates the Catholic Church. And Saturday Night Live recently aired a despicable skit of Jesus coming back for revenge. If you continue to review any show on that network, I will be forced to cancel my two-year subscription. K. Snelson Birmingham, Alabama
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What disturbed me was the unsettling realization that the spiritual leader of over one billion Catholics worldwide had given tacit approval to a type of media that promises far more than it delivers. Not only that—its very nature runs counter to a genuine receiving of the word. Social media websites claim that they keep people connected. But what kind of connection is it? How deep does it go? How long does it last? One has only to experience it firsthand—as I did, for a month—to recognize that the connection is, at best, superficial. So I was dismayed to receive my first copy of St. Anthony Messenger and read Christopher Heffron’s editorial, “Seeking the Sacred in Social Media,” which not only attempts to justify, but encourages the Church’s participation in social media. That an entire generation is being raised with the belief that one makes and maintains friendships with the effortlessness of a mouse-click ought to give everyone pause—especially those who understand what true friendship requires. That an entire generation cannot go 30 seconds without looking at its smartphones for the latest text message or tweet ought to be regarded as a disturbing trend—not as an opportunity for socalled outreach. Heffron’s observation that “social media is not a passing fad, nor will its power wither over time” is hardly a valid argument in favor of its benefit to society. After all, the same could be said of pornography. What’s more, his certainty that Jesus would
have taken full advantage of “an Android and a Twitter account” to proclaim the Gospel is just one example of what can be described as technological delusions of grandeur. If the Church believes that by reaching this already distracted generation via social media it is going to secure a place in their lives, it should not be surprised when its efforts, however fruitful, are short-lived. Malka Davis Indianapolis, Indiana
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F O L L O W E R S O F S T. F R A N C I S
Prayer Goes Digital
K
eeping up with the dynamic technological world is increasingly difficult for many. Relating to a more technologically savvy younger generation brings a whirlwind of confusion for most. But for a group of Franciscan friars of the Holy Name Province in New York, the gap is bridged with the new “Text a Prayer Intention to a Franciscan Friar” initiative. The Holy Name Province is the largest US province of the Order of Friars Minor, with 300 members serving primarily throughout the East Coast. In January, the friars launched the program with great success, receiving more than 4,000 prayer requests in the first week. Father David Convertino, OFM, is the director of the Holy Name Province Development Office. He and his staff created and implemented the program. “We were at a staff meeting, and I was noticing that a couple of our team members were texting,” says Father David. “The fact is that it seemed to be becoming a far more communicative way than even e-mails anymore.” The program has been a successful effort
David Convertino, OFM
in introducing a new method of communicating with the friars and of praying. “I would imagine that every generation and era has its own traditional ways of prayer and of finding God, and I think we know today that in the Catholic Church, there is a lot of spirituality and there are a lot of ways of doing that,” says Father David. “That’s one of the beauties of Catholicism—that variety of spirituality. I think this is another way of being able to pray.” According to Father David, both the young and the elderly have taken advantage of the program, with many of the prayer requests coming from people who have no way to get out and to ask for prayers. For those who do not know how or are unable to text, the province also offers the option to e-mail prayer intentions to the friars. With more than 12,000 prayer requests received since the program’s inception, one might wonder how the entire process is organized and how the friars make sure each request is prayed for. “All of the prayer requests are printed out and added to our prayer-intention books,” explains Father David. “The friars go and
STORIES FROM OUR READERS A Close Friend
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Learn more about St. Anthony and share your story of how he helped you at AmericanCatholic.org/ Features/Anthony.
6 ❘ May 2013
A couple of months ago, with great sadness, I discovered someone tore a treasured photo from a scrapbook my daughter-in-law made for me from pictures I took while on my first trip to Italy in 2001. I knew exactly what the photo was. Needless to say, I was hurt, disappointed, and down on people in general as I thought about how much love and time were put into the making of the album. Just the other day I was looking for tape to adhere a cross to my kitchen backsplash. When I opened the door where I keep the tape, out fell a pile of photographs—all taken in Italy. Next to the tape was a small album with “leftover” photos I had taken—a few double prints and a duplicate of the missing photo! I’m so grateful and know deep in my heart St. Anthony is and always will be very, very close! —Connie Hunt, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
ST. CLARE OF ASSISI
Devoted to the Eucharist Like Francis, Clare had a profound respect for Christ’s presence in the Eucharist— during Mass and in the tabernacle afterward. Once, when Muslim soldiers were about to attack the monastery of San Damiano, Clare held up the Eucharist and drove them off. Clare embroidered altar linens for many churches near Assisi. Concern about the cleanliness and physical beauty of churches is one way of showing respect for the great gift of Christ’s body and blood. —P.M.
CNS/STEPHEN B WHATLEY
look through them and pray for all of the people who have asked us to pray for them. Everyone is being brought together in prayer.” This communal aspect of the Franciscans is part of what keeps Father David strong in the faith. “The specific thing about St. Francis that inspires me is his joyful way of preaching the Gospel and his way of accepting all people,” he says. “I think his nonjudgmental acceptance and his love and care for everybody is what attracts me the most, as well as the community. Community, for me, is a major factor in my life as a friar. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I wasn’t based in a Franciscan community.” To participate in the text-a-friar program, text the word prayer to 30644. A welcome from the friars will appear along with a box to type in the prayer request. When the Development Office receives the request, the sender will receive a confirmation, assuring that the request will be prayed for. For those who do not text, requests can be e-mailed to prayer@thefranciscans.org. —Richard Meyer
To learn more about Franciscan saints, visit AmericanCatholic.org/Features/Saintofday.
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Recommendations 1. Lincoln 2. Les Misérables 3. The Impossible 4. The Guilt Trip 5. The Revisionaries
8 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
In the powerful new drama 42, Chadwick Boseman plays baseball legend Jackie Robinson. It’s 1945. Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wants to add a black player to the team. In doing so, he will break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, and he knows he will face immense obstacles if he integrates the team. He identifies a 27-year-old World War II veteran, Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), an all-around athlete who is already playing in the Negro Leagues. When Robinson comes to his office, Rickey tells him he wants a man who “has the courage to not fight back” when he is harassed. Jackie, a Methodist who does not drink, agrees. The rest is history. 42, Robinson’s number, is the best film so far this year, and it will capture the imagination of baseball fans, just as it will bring back sad memories of segregation in this country. The rawest moment in the film is when Philadelphia Phillies player Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) heckles Robinson using racial insults to intimidate him. Unable to take the abuse any longer, Robinson walks off the field and, in a heartbreaking scene, takes his frustration out on a bat. Rickey finds him
there and, in a rare show of affection, encourages him to get back in the game. Ford is brilliant, and the rest of the actors excel as well. Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson, played by Nicole Beharie, consulted on the script, and her touches are everywhere. This film is exhilarating and luminous with an underlying faith dimension that will inspire audiences. Not yet rated, PG-13 ■ Language and bullying.
The Croods During prehistoric times, in a cave somewhere on earth, there lived a family named Crood. Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) is the head of the family, and he lives according to the rules of fear, so that he and his family can survive. Eep (voiced by Emma Stone), Thunk (voiced by Clark Duke), and Sandy (voiced by Randy Thom) are his children. Grug tells them a story every night that ends with the same theme: obey the rules on the cave walls and you will survive. His wife, Ugga (voiced by Catherine Keener), is not as fearful as Grug, and his mother-in-law, Gran St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
© 2013 DREAMWORKS ANIMATION LLC
Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, and Emma Stone voice characters in The Croods, directed by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders.
Starbuck David (Patrick Huard) is a 40-year-old adolescent in Montreal. He lives a self-complicated life, works for his Catholic family’s business, and manages to mess up every task he’s given. He’s also in debt to the mob for $80,000, which he cannot pay. His girlfriend, Valérie (Julie LeBreton), a police officer, tells him she’s pregnant. One day, a lawyer surprises David with a subpoena. He is being sued by 140 of his more than 500 biological children. They want to know who the man is behind the code name “Starbuck” in the files of a fertility clinic that was supposed to seal records. As a young man, David committed the immoral act of donating sperm for money, and the clinic used all of his samples. He Fr anciscanMedia.org
© 2010 ENTTERTAINMENT ONE/PHOTO BY JAN THIJS
(voiced by Cloris Leachman), mostly irritates him. Grug’s mistreatment of Gran is supposed to be funny, but this adds the only real sour note to the story that, in many ways, is interesting and different. One day, Eep encounters a young man named Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), a nomad. Guy is a pivotal figure, whose invention of fire fascinates the Croods and is the first step toward leading them out of their cave toward survival. Guy invites the Croods to become self-aware and to embrace their imaginations and creativity to solve problems. There is an evolutionary tone to the film as well. Kids will mostly get the same hackneyed moral in these animated films that are really meant for their parents: things change, and you have to embrace the new. A-1, PG ■ Some scary action.
begins to read the biographies of his biological children and sets out to find them without disclosing his identity. (Starbuck was the name of a bull in Canada that produced hundreds of thousands of offspring in the 1980s and ’90s). Starbuck is a warm-hearted, amusing, fictional movie, but it is filled with many ethical issues and a total lack of consideration for consequences about artificial reproduction. It’s troubling to anyone who understands Catholic teaching about life issues. The idea that 500 children living within one—albeit large—city could meet, marry, and have their own children is very serious, but barely mentioned. This is only one of the problems. The film’s strong entertainment value and endearing characters make artificial reproduction appear to be normal and problemfree for the children who may never know their father. A US version of this film is in the works. Starbuck is in French with English subtitles. Not yet rated, R ■ Mob violence, crude humor.
In the comedy-drama Starbuck, Patrick Huard plays a lovable loser who sires over 500 children through artificial reproduction.
Catholic Cl assifications A-1 A-2 A-3 L O
General patronage Adults and adolescents Adults Limited adult audience Morally offensive
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The Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. See usccb.org/movies.
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Find reviews by Sister Rose and others at CatholicMovieReviews.org.
M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 9
CHANNEL SURFING
WITH CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON
UP CLOSE
Weekdays, 1 p.m., ABC The late Bill Copeland, American poet, writer, and historian, once said this of daytime programming: “Before deciding to retire, stay home for a week and watch daytime TV shows.” He was right: worthwhile, life-affirming programming during the weekday is hard to come by. Judge Judy is unjust punishment. Soap operas are often funny by accident. Talk shows, however, are a different animal—and there are fewer hits than misses. ABC’s The Chew falls somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Mario Batali, Daphne Oz, and Michael Symon, The Chew is a loud, convoluted, and occasionally entertaining stew of a talk show aimed at making viewers better cooks, crafters, hosts, and organizers. It’s a hodgepodge that can leave the casual viewer winded. Say what you will about Oprah—or Donahue before her—but the one-host format didn’t overload our senses. Moments of true discovery had the space and the quiet to happen when a lone person was at the helm. The five hosts of The Chew are likable, but they get lost in the shuffle. One thing that unifies channel surfers is a need to better ourselves—to improve our lives. That is the main ingredient of The Chew. But 60 minutes of this show is just a bit too much to swallow.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Weeknights, 12:35 a.m., NBC Longtime fans of Jimmy Fallon knew the exSaturday Night Live funnyman was bound for great things. Now he’s being tapped to take over Jay Leno’s seat on The Tonight Show—a promotion that is not undeserved. Of all the late-night hosts, Fallon shines the brightest. Funny without being caustic or crude, the comedian excels on Late Night because he keeps viewers guessing, much like Conan O’Brien does. And with his use of social media during broadcasts, Fallon has his hands on the pulse of what’s trending at the moment. The new time slot will double his audience—and reportedly his paycheck. Hopefully his time-tested brand of humor will not be corrupted.
Mike & Molly
PHOTO BY LOU ROCCO/ABC
Mondays, 9:30 p.m., CBS Nearing the end of its third season, Mike & Molly has proven to be one of the most consistent comedies on the CBS lineup. What I like about this show, which revolves around a plus-sized Chicago couple, is that weight doesn’t hamper the characters’ love of life or pursuit of happiness. Melissa McCarthy, who won an Emmy for her work on this show, is becoming one of our finest comedic actors (her Oscar nomination for Bridesmaids was no fluke). And Billy Gardell, as the lovable husband, matches her joke for joke. These days, the television landscape too often resembles a fashion catwalk. What makes Mike & Molly work is that it showcases a husband and wife who are flawed, funny, and, above all, real.
Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Michael Symon, Daphne Oz, and Mario Batali host ABC’s The Chew. 1 0 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
PHOTO BY LLOYD BISHOP/NBC
The Chew
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CHURCH IN THE NEWS
❘ BY RACHEL ZAWILA
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
US Catholics Pleased with New Pope
The US flag is seen as Pope Francis greets the crowd during his arrival to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 27. Pope Francis is off to a good start. According to a March survey by Pew Research Center, nearly threequarters of US Catholics said they are happy with his selection. American Catholics say they hope Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American to be elected pope, brings about other “firsts” as well: a CNN/ORC International survey indicated three-quarters of its respondents want Pope Francis to allow Catholics to use birth control, while 64 percent call for him to allow priests to marry and 60 percent think he should allow women to become priests. The majority of those surveyed (52 percent) also said they believe Pope Francis should allow Catholics to divorce and remarry without annulment, though 55 percent don’t want him to make Church doctrine on abortion less strict. According to the Pew survey, US Catholics are optimistic these 1 2 ❘ May 2013
changes will come, just not anytime soon. About half predicted the Church will change its position on birth control over the next 40 years, while 40 percent expected the Church to allow priests to marry and women to become priests by the year 2050. Regardless, the CNN/ORC poll found nearly three-quarters of American Catholics said they are more likely to follow their own conscience on difficult moral questions rather than the teachings of the pope. Pope Francis’ humble gestures made a favorable impression on the world almost immediately, as Catholic News Service reported: bowing and asking for the crowd’s blessing on election night, paying his own hotel bill, and eschewing papal regalia such as red shoes and a gold pectoral cross. In the almost two months since his election, he’s kept his security detail on its toes, often making a beeline toward crowds in order to extend personal greetings to
as many people as possible. This personal, approachable style comes in contrast to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s more reserved presentation as pope. On March 23, the two personalities met for the first time since Pope Francis’ election. They met in Castel Gandolfo, where Benedict was staying while a former Vatican monastery was being remodeled as a residence for him. Referring to Benedict as his “brother,” Pope Francis prayed side by side with his predecessor in the chapel of the papal villa. Afterward, the two spent 45 minutes talking alone. “Certainly Pope Francis renewed his gratitude and that of the whole Church for Pope Benedict’s ministry during his pontificate,” said Vatican spokesperson Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi. Although the two popes’ styles may differ, the challenges each had and will face remain the same. Both surveys showed American Catholics believe that addressing the sex-abuse scandal should be the top priority for Pope Francis. Other priorities that should be added to the list, according to the Pew survey, include standing up for traditional moral values, spreading the Catholic faith, addressing the priest shortage, and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.
Pope a ‘Powerful Symbol’ for Immigrants The election of an Argentine as pope is “a sign of changing times,” says Archbishop José H. Gómez of Los Angeles. Citing Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who described Latin America as the “continent of hope,” Archbishop Gómez called Pope Francis “the face of the Church’s new hope,” reported CNS. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
N E W S B R I E F S N AT I O N A L A N D I N T E R N AT I O N A L Both houses of Arkansas’ state legislature voted March 6 to override Governor Mike Beebe’s veto of a bill that outlaws most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The vote came less than a week after the legislature overrode the governor’s veto of another bill that banned abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy. While the 20week prohibition took effect immediately, the 12-week ban won’t go into effect until this summer.
CNS PHOTO/NANCY PHELAN WIECHEC
Maryland has become the 18th state to outlaw capital punishment. “I applaud the Maryland General Assembly for choosing to meet evil not with evil, but with a justice worthy of our best nature as human beings,” said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori in response to the April vote. Maryland will replace death sentences with life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. A new reproductive-health law in the Philippines has been put on hold by the Supreme Court. On March 19, the court ordered a “status quo ante” on the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, after petitions challenged the constitutionality of the law, which provides for government-funded contraception for the poor and sex education for middle- through highschool students. The law, which was supposed to take effect March 31, was put on hold for 120 days while the court reviews the petitions.
“The Catholic Church’s center of gravity has long been undergoing a global shift. The Church’s growth and creative energy no longer come from Western Europe, but from Africa, Asia, and most of all, Latin America,” the archbishop wrote March 20 in La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States. “The new papacy Fr ancisca n Media .org
Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, founder of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, has been named one of nine American women to be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013. Mother Mary Joseph established the Maryknoll Sisters January 6, 1912. Today, the sisters serve in 26 nations.
CNS PHOTO/MARYKNOLL
Father Robert Marrone, a Cleveland priest who led a faith community formed after its parish was closed in 2010, has been excommunicated for failing to reconcile with the Catholic Church. Father Marrone had celebrated weekly Mass and the sacraments for the 300 members of the Community of St. Peter since August 2010. Many members were parishioners of Cleveland’s St. Peter Parish, which closed in April 2010. Father Marrone was the pastor of the parish.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law a bill that legalizes same-sex civil unions in the state. Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila called the law the “beginning of an effort to redefine the family in Colorado and to undermine the right of all children to have a mother and a father.” Although the new law exempts religious institutions from being required to certify a civil union, it does not grant any religious freedom provision for adoption agencies. The law takes effect May 1.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced March 14 that it will allow girls to play full-contact football on Catholic Youth Organization boys teams. The decision came after Caroline Pla, 11, was told she could no longer belong to her region’s team, after two years of playing. After an online petition on her behalf drew more than 100,000 signatures, the archdiocese reversed its decision. North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple signed three anti-abortion bills into law March 26. Set to take effect August 1, the laws will ban abortions in which a fetal heartbeat is detected and those performed solely for gender selection or genetic abnormalities. The third law will require physicians who perform abortions to have admitting and staff privileges at a hospital. Lawmakers also voted to put a referendum on the 2014 ballot to amend the state constitution to recognize the right to life of every human at any stage of development. For more news, visit AmericanCatholic.org.
should awaken our memory of our country’s deep Christian roots and its connections to the Church’s missions in Mexico and Latin America.” While Pope Francis’ new home, Europe, once held the majority of the world’s Catholics (65 percent in 1910, according to the World Christian Database), today, Europe is home to only 24 percent of all
Catholics, Pew Research Center estimates. By contrast, during the same period, Latin America’s share of the global Catholic population grew from 24 percent to 40 percent, making it the region with the most Catholics in the world. Immigration from Latin and Central America is changing the face of M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 1 3
to voice their concern. Pastors in the diocese said they were not consulted in advance about the document. In his letter, Bishop Vasa said he still plans to implement “in some form” the “goals which we established for this year’s teacher contract” in the spring of 2015.
CNS PHOTO/VICTOR ALEMAN, THE TIDINGS
Missouri Religious Liberty Law Struck Down
On March 17, Archbishop José H. Gómez celebrates the first Spanish-language Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles since the election of Pope Francis. the United States and the Church, says Archbishop Gómez, and Pope Francis can serve as “a powerful symbol. Millions of immigrants can look now to a pope who knows their experience of coming to a new country to make a new life. “Could there be a more beautiful sign of every immigrant’s dream?” the archbishop continued. “Our new pope is the son of a hard-working immigrant who has grown up to become the leader of more than a billion people in the world’s largest religion group.”
California Bishop Withdraws Teacher ‘Belief Requirement’ Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa, California, announced March 19 that he was temporarily withdrawing his requirement that all teachers and administrators in the diocese sign an addendum to their 2013–2014 contracts that states they reject positions that “gravely offend human dignity,” including contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia. In his letter to pastors and Catholic school principals and teachers, Bishop Vasa said that he recognized his “degree of vigilance” in 1 4 ❘ May 2013
assuring “the greatest hope of finding the truths of Jesus in our Catholic schools” for students “can look like a lack of trust.” He also acknowledged “that I overlooked proper engagement of the principals” and “erroneously chose a path of informing rather than mutual discernment.” Entitled “Bearing Witness,” the 400-word addendum was intended to outline specifically what it means for a Catholic schoolteacher to be a “model of Catholic living.” Bishop Vasa said he questioned whether the 200 schoolteachers in the diocese’s 11 schools could teach “what the Catholic Church teaches with zeal and enthusiasm while holding . . . views that are contrary to Catholic doctrine.” The addendum required all teachers—Catholic and non-Catholic—to “agree that it is my duty, to the best of my ability, to believe, teach/ administer, and live in accord with what the Catholic Church holds and professes.” According to National Catholic Reporter, about 25 percent of the teachers in the diocese are not Catholic. The bishop’s withdrawal of the requirement came after parents, teachers, students, and pastors began
A federal judge issued an order March 14 that struck down portions of a Missouri law that protects the conscience rights of those who object to coverage of contraceptives and abortifacients in their health plans, reported CNS. Judge Audrey Fleissig’s decision came after she issued a temporary restraining order in December that blocked enforcement of the law, which was passed last year to ensure no one would be forced to pay for abortion drugs and similar items in their health insurance plans when it violates their religious beliefs. According to Tyler McClay, general counsel for the Missouri Catholic Conference, the judge’s order thereby requires “churches and houses of worship to provide the offending coverage to their employees under Missouri law. She did this despite the fact that the Obama administration recently amended the rules to clearly allow churches and their affiliates to be exempt from the mandate.” McClay was referring to the new proposed rules issued February 1 by the US Department of Health and Human Services that would widen the exemption for religious organizations. The Catholic conference has asked all Missourians to contact Attorney General Chris Koster and urge him to appeal the judge’s order. The attorney general “vigorously defended the law before the court, but Judge Fleissig dismissed his arguments,” McClay said. “Now [he] needs to appeal this overreaching decision and stand up for the religious liberties of all Missouri citizens.” A St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
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Nurturing Your Grandchildren’s
Faith When it comes to spirituality, grandparents can make a big difference. B Y PAT T I N O R M I L E
N
“
AMA,” my grandson Will asked, “how do you talk to God?” That was a big question coming from an 8-year-old who just moments before had been crawling along the sidewalk, vision pasted on the path of a string of ants scurrying along the sand that separated the bricks. I could think of only one way to respond—honestly. “Well, Will, I just talk to God like I talk to you. I say ‘thank you’ for the good stuff in my life—good things like you! I ask for help when I or others need it. And I say to God, like I say to you, ‘I love you!’” Silence followed. Will is the quiet, thinker type. “Do you talk to God, Will?” “Yeah, sometimes.” More silence. Having been entrusted with the tender task of explaining how one talks to God, I slipped back through the decades to retrieve my first memory of prayer. There I was, snuggled once again in my grandma’s huge sleigh bed. As a young child, I spent many weekends at Grandma and Grandpa’s minifarm. After a day filled with farm fun, Grandma would tuck me into her larger-than-life bedstead, later climbing in herself. Her whispered prayers for members of her family echo through the many years that separate those times from today. Though our family was not a churchgoing family in those days, Grandma and her prayers created in me a deep desire to know this God to whom she prayed. That desire has never left me. This is the great inheritance I hope to leave my children and grandchildren.
1 6 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
Share the Gift of Faith After answering Will’s question (and wishing I had done better!), questions popped to mind. Do grandparents have a responsibility to help grandchildren develop faith? If the answer is yes, how can that be accomplished? If our own children were raised in an atmosphere of faith, why might there be gaps in their churchgoing? How can our grandchildren’s faith be supported without our being judgmental or interfering St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
© MONKEY BUSINESS/FOTOLIA
with the efforts of their parents? Judgment might arise if we question our children’s and their spouses’ choices of different churches for their places of worship. Interference could damage relationships if grandparents resort to suggesting what their children should do with their own families. If our own child and their spouse choose not to attend church, we might simply and respectfully state to the grandchildren that that is a choice Fr anciscanMedia.org
their parents make. An invitation to attend with Grandma and Grandpa might follow. As we seek ways to build faith in grandchildren, we must respect the faith choices of their parents, other grandparents, and relatives. Little is gained by criticism of another’s faith. An old adage says, “God has no grandchildren.” But we do! How can we share with them the glorious gift of faith that we have gathered through our lives? Our spiritual care for our
grandkids may have begun before they were born. Perhaps we prayed for grandchildren to enter our families, prayed for their health, and for a safe birth. Some children seem to arrive in the world with a deep awareness of God’s love. At age 7, Laney begs to go to church. Young John asks interesting questions about faith matters. When Ellie first walked, whenever she came to visit, she would toddle as fast as her M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 1 7
little legs would carry her through our house to the family room where a statue of the Holy Family sat on the coffee table. Carefully picking it up, she would plant a kiss right on baby Jesus! That was a beginning of faith, a faith to be nurtured throughout her life. Encouraging faith development in today’s younger generation comes with obstacles. We live in a whirling world of work and multiple activities. Two parents working outside their home, single-parent families, differing religious beliefs within a family, and demanding schedules may infringe on faith-building opportunities within families.
Grandparents guide their children’s children on the path of faith in gentle, loving ways.
Finding Common Ground
Demonstrate Your Faith Grandparents have an awesome role to play in the faith life of their grandchildren as they guide their children’s children on the path of faith in gentle, loving ways. We cannot effectively tell grandchildren what to believe. Faith must be seen and lived to be authentic. However, we can lead our grandkids into the great truths of faith. The way we live our own faith is the primary way to guide them. Beth and Ken take their grandchil1 8 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
© BLEND IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY/VEER
Unfortunately, some individuals have left their spiritual roots because of unhealthy theology that was forced upon them as children. Meredith and Tom no longer attend Mass because of images that linger from Meredith’s childhood religious education where God was portrayed as a severe, punishing power who burns people in hell. Of that “You’ll go to hell if you don’t do . . .” theology she blurts, “Who needs it?” Jack and Maddie’s children all married members of other denominations. As grandparents, Jack and Maddie believe their role is to support their children as they raise their families. Even though they worship in different churches, they certainly worship the same God. Maddie plans holiday gatherings to draw the families together to bridge denominational differences rather than emphasize them.
dren with them when they volunteer at a food pantry. One of their grandsons’ favorite gifts to receive for his birthday or Christmas is a grocery card so he can shop for the pantry and help stock the shelves. Donating gifts received at a birthday party to a charitable group delights the child who gives (and undoubtedly keeps his or her room a bit more tidy, too!) and surely blesses those in need who receive. Beth and Ken help their grandkids understand that this is not just doing something good; it is faith put to work. They were rewarded for their endeavors to help their grandchildren grow in faith by an assessment their grandson wrote for a school paper: “Grandparents are the most important people in the family, because they won’t last as long as your mom or your brother. They love to be around you and they are so much older than you that they probably have a lot of life experiences to share with you. They may be a bit
more brittle, but they are as strong as steel in their hearts.” That’s right. We grandparents won’t be around forever, so we must do what we can now in order to share the wisdom of faith we have gathered. Grandchildren will not always be children, either. So once again, now is the moment to touch their lives with the gift of faith.
Ways to Explore Faith Developing faith doesn’t need to be super serious or boring. It can be fun and joyful! Try an “Eyes Wide Open” prayer as you hike with a grandchild. That is a way to discover God in all things. As you walk, thank God for the delightful sights and events you share: a wild canary winging over the yard, a puddle to jump in, a puppy learning to walk on a leash, a rainbow on a rainy day, the joy of playing in the sprinkler on a steamy summer day, making snow angels in the winter St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
white. Joy is always an occasion to give thanks to God. The “Eyes Wide Open” prayer is also a way to teach children that we can pray anytime, anywhere. We only need to begin. Prayer gives children a place to take their anxieties. When a beloved pet dies, a friend is ill or injured in an accident, or things are troublesome at home, prayer links children to strength and peace beyond themselves. News— both local and around the world—can trouble children who are aware of frightening times. It may not be in the Bible, but Tennyson did write, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” Teaching our grandchildren to take their concerns to the Lord provides them with a valuable means to face life.
Bringing Faith to Life Creating times of silence for grandchildren can be special times. Turning off the iPod and listening for a tree frog or identifying a bird’s song are ways of opening up to the beauty of silence. Prayer is not only talking to God. Prayer is listening to God’s message for us, perhaps not in words, but in the still of the morning or in the silence of the evening at bedtime. I like to remind my grandkids that the words listen and silent are composed from the same letters. Silence provides the space where one can listen and learn. Discussing personal family names is another way to explore relationships in faith. A child who is named for a relative—deceased or living—can be told of the qualities that person possessed that led to their shared names. These qualities may reveal aspects of the individual’s Christian beliefs: kindness, trustworthiness, patience, wisdom. The child gains a sense of who her name calls her to emulate. Asking a grandchild to think of the many names for God or Jesus expands understanding of the magnitude of our God and our savior. Knowing Jesus as our brother opens the door to knowing we have a friend who is with us at all times. While the concept of the Holy Spirit is complex—even for adults—children’s fascination with Fr anciscanMedia.org
ghosts can enable them to begin to explore the idea that the Spirit of the Lord dwells within them. This Spirit is a good one, a holy one, who can be trusted to guide and inspire them. Taking grandchildren with us to church offers balance between freestyle activities in which we discover God and the beauty of ritual found in the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. Together we experience the solemnity of these profound acts of faith. Sacred music heightens the celebration. Stories from Scripture may need discussion to understand. Breakfast following Mass can be a great discussion and learning time. Acting out the Scriptures after Mass may further imprint their message on the child. (There may be some Scriptures you would not want to act out!)
More Ways to Keep Connected Literature provides another way to lead grandchildren along the faith path. Your favorite bookstore or library will have books for all ages telling how others seek and find God. A book does not have to be a specifically religious book. Faith factors can be sought in most high-quality juvenile literature. Reading together opens discussions on matters of faith. Kids love to receive mail. Subscribing to faith-based magazines puts articles about faith with your grandchildren when you cannot be there. If you have teenage grandkids who have smartphones, you might look for apps that will encourage them to ponder spiritual things as they are texting their friends. Most teens won’t refuse a free app, and curiosity might bring them to access it. You may be thinking that many of these suggestions are activities that parents might do with their children. That is true. The fact that you may encourage your grandchildren in similar ways as your children do doubles the impact. You are special in your grandkids’ lives. As a generation once removed from the grandchild, you inhabit a special place. You are not the one responsible for frequent “clean up your room”
reminders or “No, we cannot give our permission for you to go to that party” squelchers. You are free to be Grandma or Grandpa, Pops or Nana! You can truly be a “Godsend” whom your grandkids can trust.
Reaching Out over the Miles Distance grandparenting doesn’t remove the possibility of helping grandchildren grow in faith. E-mail, Skype, and phone calls offer opportunities to share what has happened in your day and link it to God’s presence in your life. Tell about a scary moment when a car almost struck yours and you prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. Ask your grandchildren to pray for your friend who is in the hospital. Old-fashioned letter writing is another option. Jot a meaningful bit of Scripture down on paper. Small gifts with a spiritual message— a book, statue, notepads with Scripture quotes, comic books about saints—might be sent. Kids love stories! You might write a story about how the Lord touched your life. Then tuck a prayer card into the envelope. And when those distant grandchildren come to visit, have a faith-based surprise for them to remind them of the faith you want to share with them. What is our goal for our faith relationship with our grandkids? Our pri-
Click here to learn 10 ways to be a better grandparent and to read related articles.
tal Digi as Extr
mary goal is to lead them to worship the God who loves them unconditionally. Grandchildren experience God’s love through our love for them. God’s love is so immense that Jesus chose to die to bring eternal life to those who follow him. Jesus’ dying and rising to new life is the heart of our faith. It’s a celebration, not something dull and meaningless! Marcy plans to continue a family M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 1 9
tradition by taking her grandchildren to a different church each Good Friday to pray the Stations of the Cross with her. They will share the joy of faith as they contemplate the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus. A 5-year-old once asked my mother, “What’s a grandma?” No grandparents graced her life. With her parents’ approval, my mom and dad “adopted” her and became her surrogate grandparents. The faith side of that relationship led Candace to know God’s love
We may not see the fruit of our sowing immediately, but our call is to plant faith. through two individuals who cherished her. Just as not all children know their grandparents, not all elders have grandchildren in whom to nurture faith. If you lack grandkids, simply look around. Across the backyard fence, down the block, or at your church, there may be children in need of grand-
POETRY
© GELLI.PH/FOTOLIA
Sound of Bees
The Sun
Within the narrow garden The close, Familiar sound Of illusive bees, Moving In sunlight, Shadows, Their honey color Laced with brown, Ascending, Descending Above the green, Extended carpet Of the grass.
a yellow bird sings in the forest of night her tune dances among the twinkling branches blissful her ruffles, her fiery feathers then sings on
—Sister Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS
dandelions on our walk my child and I find a lawn splashed with yellow
—William Beyer
Overheard Raindrops playing jazz tap dancing on the crest of the road until the sun pushes aside the clouds and waltzes in.
—Mary Hoeft
she picks them handfuls these weeds no one wants except a child she twirls the flower on its stem and says see the sun this is the way to see a simple flower of a weed now the sun a whirling burst of light and the opening to a bright world
—Judy Rae Cavagnero
2 0 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
parents to guide them along the path of faith. Mrs. Sharp, a faithful churchgoer, was a caregiver for 4-year-old David. His parents did not attend church, but David longed to go, so he asked Mrs. Sharp to take him. She responded, and David is a priest today. Grandparents— whether biological or not—can lead children to faith. Grandparents are sowers of the seeds of faith. We may not see the fruit of our sowing immediately, but our call is to plant faith. We live in a society that frequently resists religious teachings and ignores moral codes. That can be hostile ground for sowing the seeds of faith, but if we are patient, faith can blossom. Fran agonized when her granddaughter made some poor choices as a teenager. But she never gave up on her. She knew she had sown seeds of faith in Ashley’s life. She prayed . . . and she prayed. Ashley’s life changed. Fran followed one of the primary “rules” of grandparenting: PRAY! Couple prayer with living the faith you profess and your grandkids will be blessed with growing faith. You will truly be GRANDparents! A Patti Normile is “Grammy” to Ellie and JP and “Nama” to Will and Laney. She has been a teacher, youth retreat director, and children’s hospital chaplain and has written several Youth Updates. Her most recent book is John Dear on Peace: An Introduction to His Life and Work. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
A DAY THE WORLD REJOICED
A His DayHoliness, the World PopeRejoices Francis Not Available in Stores
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When the papal conclave concluded on March 13, 2013, millions of the faithful PLEASE RESPOND PROMPTLY SEND NO MONEY NOW around the world celebrated the appointment of Pope Francis, history’s first Jesuit Pope and the first from the Americas to be chosen. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires chose the papal name Francis in honor of Francis of Assisi, beloved 9345 Milwaukee Avenue · Niles, IL 60714-1393 patron saint of animals. The 266th Pontiff was ordained as a priest in 1969 and YES. Please accept my order for the “His Holiness, Pope has devoted his ministry to humility, teaching and social justice. His values and Francis” Commemorative Edition Plate for me as described in teachings give new hope and inspiration to believers the world over. this announcement. I need send no money now. I will be billed A Joyous Tribute on Fine Porcelain with shipment. Limit: one per order. Now the Pope who represents many historic firsts inspires an exclusive comMrs. Mr. Ms. memorative plate hand-crafted of triple-fired Heirloom Porcelain®. Featuring Name (Please Print Clearly) his first official appearances in Rome, the “His Holiness, Pope Francis” plate is Address graced with an elegant 22K gold rim and rich burgundy inner border with filigree designs. The edition is not available in stores and early orders receive the coveted City low edition numbers. Order “His Holiness, Pope Francis” now at $39.99*, State Zip payable in two installments of $19.99 each, backed by our 365-day money-back 01-18699-001-E10601 *Plus $7.99 shipping and service. Limited-edition presentation restricted to 95 firing guarantee. Send no money now, just return the coupon today. days. Please allow 4-8 weeks for shipment. Sales subject to product availability and ©2013 BGE
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LIVING SIMPLY
❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER
Money-Saving Tips for the Garden
G
ardening is good not only for the soul but also for the body. And while we may not all have the same amount of space or climate conditions, there are ways that everyone can have a beautiful and useful garden. So whether it’s in your backyard, a flower box, or on a windowsill, here are seven ways to save money and still get the garden we all desire.
1
Share. There are so many plants that are just calling to be divided and shared with others. Hostas are a great example of this. Do a plant swap with your friends. It can offer a variety of plants you haven’t had before. Most houseplants can also be divided. Spread the beauty!
2
Get creative with watering.
3
Eat fresh.
4
Recycle.
Put out buckets to collect some of the spring rain to water your flowers. If you’re feeling really ambitious, install a rain barrel below one of your downspouts. Don’t have a way to collect the rain? Collect the water that usually goes down the drain while you’re waiting for the shower to heat up.
Grow some of your own herbs and vegetables. By planting your own, you will be able to reap the harvest of fresh produce all summer long. You’ll also save money at the grocery store. And you don’t even need a yard. Make use of window boxes or a sunny window or spot in your home or apartment. Again, don’t be stingy. Share the wealth. Tomato plants especially tend to offer quite a bounty. While you’re swapping vegetables, go ahead and swap recipes. Or share a prepared dish featuring the vegetables.
Give your plants the best possible growing environment by spreading on the compost. Turn grass clippings, kitchen recyclables, or other things that would normally end up in the garbage can into valuable nutrients for your plants and vegetables. Contact your local Extension Office (a federal government program) for tips on how to start a compost bin or bucket and what to put in it. There is also plenty of help online.
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St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
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Get involved in community gardening.
Seed packets are usually much less expensive than actual plants. Start your own plants or, if that sounds like too much work, just drop them in the ground or a pot and let nature take over. Also, look for reduced-price plants at the nursery or store. Sometimes these plants—just because they aren’t looking their best—get overlooked and can often spring back to life just by being cut back and given a little TLC.
These programs offer lots of advice and opportunities to get the most out of your garden. Search for a local one on the Internet.
Finally, give thanks. Plants are a living reminder of the beauty of God’s creation. Take a moment to look around and say a prayer of thanksgiving for nature and all the wonders it brings.
Easy Salad Dressing or Dip 2 Tbsp. Greek yogurt 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar 1 tsp. white sugar 1/4–1/2 tsp. dill Splash of milk for dressing consistency or No milk for a thicker consistency, which can be used as a vegetable dip Mix ingredients well in small bowl. Keep dressing refrigerated for up to a week. For a more ranch-style dressing, add parsley, garlic, or a dash of thyme. —Jackie Marshall Fr ancisca n Media .org
GARDEN © ELENA PETROVA/FOTOLIA; VEGGIE TRAY © ELENA ELISSEEVA/FOTOLIA
5
Start at the beginning.
Mary’s Her answer shows how we can respond to God’s plan for our lives. B Y K AT H Y C O F F E Y
“Look, Neely!”
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
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The dad’s voice could barely hold his excitement as he showed his little girl the waterfall. In response, his daughter shivered with delight. In a similar way, God unfolds creation: “Look what I made for you!” Then God invites our participation. How do we respond? Surely the finest response in all human history was Mary’s. To picture her more clearly, imagine a dancer poised on the brink of the music, totally in control, awaiting the note which will launch her first step. For an exquisite moment, she is the still point that will become graceful motion. She is free, gifted, and beautiful. This might be an apt image for Mary at the Annunciation, which we celebrated just last month. She can exercise free choice; God waits on her answer to Gabriel. When she gives it, human history begins a stunning new ballet, an epic love song, a dramatic concert that outshines any symphony. What one word do you associate with Mary? Scripture scholars might answer in Latin: fiat, or “let it be done to me.” But that’s rather cumbersome. Many people might say yes. That single word had enormous implications and continues to resonate for us today. Let’s look first at what it meant to Mary.
‘Yes’
@ ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV/ISTOCKPHOTO
Implications for Mary
Anyone who says yes to a marriage, children, or a religious community knows that the initial commitment leads to the sequel: a chain of unforeseen commitments that multiply in the future. As Brother David Steindl-Rast writes in Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: “Growing in love means drawing out the implications of that ‘yes’ which our heart sings out spontaneously when we are at our best.” One word for Mary led to a lifetime of yeses, including uncomfortable journeys, birth in a stable, diapers, illness, insecurity, and crucifixion. But that long path culminated in the colossal yes of Easter. Seeing her son resurrected from death must have been a thundering echo of her original assent. In her presence at Pentecost, the Spirit, which overshadowed her at the Annunciation and birthed Jesus, gave life to the new community. Seeing him live again in them, she must have murmured, “Yes!” From some reluctance to disturb their privacy, we avoid thinking about the tough conversations Mary and Joseph must have had. For starters: the revelation of her pregnancy in an unfriendly society, the decision about traveling to Bethlehem at a precarious time, wondering whether to flee Herod’s murderous thugs, where to go, then when to return from Egypt. Any one of these choices would petrify most of us, but the brave couple forged through them, relying on a tripod of support: their own intelligence, their faith in God, and God’s fidelity. And somehow it all worked out. God didn’t take away any of the natural, human pain, but God remained presFr anciscanMedia.org
ent with Mary in it: through Joseph, Elizabeth, Jesus, his friends, and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross. This shows that God is present for us, in the people and events carefully placed in our lives.
Jesus’ Inheritance What did Jesus learn from his mother’s yes? One answer might be found in his healings. Often a timid, sick person approached him. Tentatively, a woman brushed the hem of his garment or a man explained that he had no one to lower him into the pool after the angel blessed it. Jesus’ response was overwhelmingly positive: “Do I want to heal you? Of course!” Jesus’ appreciation of creation turned into the ultimate compliment. As a yes to all God had made, he used these things for messages that soared beyond the things themselves, which taught people at a level beyond ordinary words. When Paul’s critics accused him of vacillating, changing his travel plans (2 Cor 1:15–17), he turned to the strongest anchor he could imagine, implying that “yes” is another name for God. “Jesus Christ . . . was not ‘yes and no’; but in him it is always ‘yes.’ For in him every one of God’s promises is a ‘yes.’”(2 Cor 1:19–20, NRSV).
Effects on Us We are all somewhat reluctant to say yes to the new. As author Ken Wilber says, most of us can question only 5 percent of our M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 2 5
present information—on a good day. The stakes rise higher when we confront something threatening, scary, or beyond our control. No sane person embraces fear or pain. Yet Mary knew God’s fidelity to her great-grandparents, despite their frequent, wavering infidelities. As tangible reminders she’d lit the Sabbath candles, eaten the Passover meal, and sung the psalms. Asked to trust that same God, with no guarantees, she said yes. Without a script for the future, she
Shortly after the angel’s surprising announcement, Mary undertook a difficult journey to visit Elizabeth. It would be perfectly natural for the two pregnant women to complain. Added to the usual litany of nausea and discomfort, they could bemoan an unmarried state, old age, and sons whom they intuited would be different, not knowing just how. Yet what do the two startled women do? They praise. The Magnificat echoes their foremother Hannah and begins themes of justice
“What good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace?”
@ ZERGKIND/PHOTOXPRESS
—Meister Eckhart
must have clung to the angel’s words, “Do not be afraid.” Her model demonstrates how such openness creates an inner space that bears nourishing fruit. Surely Mary’s yes demonstrates that openness to surprise is crucial for a follower of Jesus—along with being puzzled, unsure, afraid. Mary moved into mystery as we all do, one shaky step at
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Click here to watch an interview with Chris Padgett and read related articles and resources on Mary.
a time. Insecure as that sounds, the alternative is worse: to cower like terrified children dreading a monster. “Sin happens whenever we refuse to keep growing,” St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote. 2 6 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
that Jesus would continue in the Beatitudes. How does that exuberant song of thanks translate to our more prosaic days? As Steindl-Rast points out, “The more difficult it is to say a grateful ‘yes,’ the more we grow by learning to say it gracefully. . . . Every time we say a simple ‘thank you,’ and mean it, we practice that inner gesture of ‘yes.’” That’s why a good practice for Advent, Lent, or any season is a gratitude journal. The research of Robert Emmons, a professor, leader in the positive psychology movement, and author of THANKS!, shows that a deliberate practice of “counting our blessings” can make people happier. The habit of deliberately paying attention to daily gifts is reinforced by writing them down in one place. It enables people to find meaning in their days
and organize what might otherwise be a blur of experience. As “yes” and “thanks” become clearer and more frequent, those who keep a gratitude journal notice what might have previously been taken for granted. In what once seemed like a mess, they find the seeds of grace. An ongoing practice of yes might also lead to a carefully considered no. If other causes, no matter how virtuous, interfere with the primary commitment made in love, a no can, in fact, strengthen a yes. Refusing time or money to projects that drain energy can make a yes fuller, more lifeaffirming, and rewarding. Sometimes it’s a matter of self-care. Simply allowing time for reflection or rest, while it might seem heretical to some, can affirm the original yes of God’s creation, God’s dream for us. God made humans as beloved daughters and sons, not frazzled workhorses. Acting upon a yes, small and insignificant as it may seem, answers the question Meister Eckhart asked centuries ago. “What good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to birth the Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?” The human response to Mary across time and space has been to live out her yes. Like daughters and sons of a famous ballerina, we take tentative, clumsy steps, trying to follow the mother’s dance. Whatever swamp or sanctuary people are in, their turning to Mary continues her yes in places and people she’d never imagined. Sometimes this affection overflows language, so art, music, and sculpture echo her yes. One image of Mary comes from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “Her life resembled trumpets on the feast days that reverberated far inside every house; The trumpets sing out yes; their powerful affirmation reaches into many houses, including our own.” A Kathy Coffey, the mother of four, authored Hidden Women of the Gospels and Women of Mercy (Orbis). She gives many retreats and workshops; her favorite is a mother-daughter retreat. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
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From Argentina to the World Why did he choose the name Francis? As his story unfolds, we see a commitment to the poor, to reform, to ecology. BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON
2 8 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
Then, in an unprecedented move, the pope asked the crowd to pray for him. When that moment of silence ended, he invited Catholics on a journey with him—one of love, of prayer, and of brotherhood. The flock had a new shepherd.
A Rapid Rise Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, to Italian immigrants. Studious throughout his young life, he studied at the University of Buenos Aires, receiving a master’s degree in chemistry. He began his religious training at the Jesuit seminary of Villa Devoto, entering the Society of Jesus in 1958. He attended the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel, earning a degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology in Freiburg, Germany. Bergoglio’s climb in the Catholic world was relatively swift. He was ordained in 1969 and served as Jesuit provincial from 1973 through 1979. In 1992, he was ordained auxiliary St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
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T
HE SUN HAD SET over Vatican City on March 13 as the white smoke barreled out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, announcing the election of a new pope. The smoke eventually stopped, but the rain did not, and those crowded into St. Peter’s Square seemed unfazed. The anticipation could be felt: people danced, sang, waited. Minutes later, clad in a simple, ivory-colored robe, the man once known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, emerged to greet the crowd—and the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide—as the new pope. For a moment he stood motionless, save the occasional wave to the 150,000 who came to meet him. When the crowd quieted, Pope Francis, the 76-year-old Jesuit from Argentina, said, “Brothers and sisters, good evening. You all know that the duty of the conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the earth to get him. But here we are.”
POPE FRANCIS (Opposite page) Pope Francis leaves the Sistine Chapel after being elected on March 13. With a warm smile, newly elected Pope Francis, the humble Jesuit from Argentina, waves after praying at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome on March 14.
CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
(Below) Cardinal Bergoglio, seen here on a Buenos Aires subway in 2008, is no stranger to simple—and affordable—means of transportation.
CNS/CLARIN HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
(Right) Jorge Mario Bergoglio, standing second from left, was the eldest of five born to Mario José, a railway worker, and Regina, a housewife. Both were from Italy.
CNS/DIEGO FERNANDEZ OTERO, CLARIN HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
(Above) Then-Cardinal Bergoglio meets with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2007. Six years later, Bergoglio would replace him.
CNS/ L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS
bishop of Buenos Aires. After becoming archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, he was named a cardinal three years later. Four years later, Bergoglio became the president of the bishops’ conference of Argentina—a position he held until 2011. But an even loftier position awaited him.
Introducing Pope Francis On April 19, 2005, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger secured the required votes to be elected our 265th pope—a job many believe he didn’t want. Bergoglio, the quiet Jesuit, came in second. He still had the confidence of many cardinals in the days that followed Benedict’s resignation in 2013. On the second day and the fifth ballot, Bergoglio won the two-thirds majority and was elected, taking the name Francis and, with it, the reins of the Catholic Church. He is the first 3 0 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
Jesuit pope and the first one from Latin America—home to 40 percent of the world’s Catholics. From the beginning, Francis avoided papal formalities. He greeted the crowd in a simple cassock, not the ornate, red mozzetta worn by his predecessors. Rather than being elevated on a platform above the cardinals, Francis positioned himself standing with his brothers when he was introduced. The pope “stands as the figure of unity for all Catholics,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Catholic News Service that day. It’s that gift for unifying that likely got him elected. While conservative on matters of contraception and samesex marriage, Pope Francis, known to have washed the feet of persons with AIDS, leans progressive on issues of poverty and economic progress. The
(Left) Pope Francis washes the foot of a prison inmate during the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at Rome’s Casal del Marmo prison for minors March 28.
breadth of his principles, many believe, will help him in reaching Catholics— both devoted and disenfranchised.
What’s in a Name? In his lifetime, St. Francis of Assisi wed himself to simplicity and poverty. Some 800 years later, the saint’s legacy clearly influenced Pope Francis. He is no stranger to the slums of his native Argentina. He seems less interested in pushing Church doctrine than Benedict was, instead focusing his attention on the world’s poor. And he appears to have little use for pageantry. Prior to his election, the pope lived in a simple apartment, cooked his own meals, and took public transportation. He joined his brother cardinals on the bus after his election— forgoing the limousine ride—and stopped at his hotel the next day to pay his bill. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
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COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
However, the pope is not without controversy. He was an important figure within the Argentinian Jesuits after a military junta seized power in 1976. Two Jesuit priests, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, were kidnapped that year by the navy. They resurfaced five months later. In March 2013, Jalics, who lives in a German monastery, officially cleared Pope Francis of any involvement in his kidnapping. But his admirers far outnumber his critics. In an interview with St. Anthony Messenger, Miguel H. Díaz, PhD, professor of faith and culture at the University of Dayton and a retired US ambassador to the Holy See, praises the new pope and says he’s wasted no time in reaching out to people of faith—much as his namesake did centuries ago. “He is already bringing the Church
CNS/PAUL HARING
Pope Francis reportedly gave his security team (behind him) a scare when he unexpectedly greeted a crowd outside St. Anne’s Parish on March 17.
Miguel Díaz, former US ambassador to the Holy See, calls Pope Francis a unifier. together through his simple acts of kindness, love, and embrace of human differences,” Díaz says. “Listening to the suffering of the world, exercising compassion toward all, proclaiming a merciful God, and welcoming the gifts of men and women of goodwill who desired the good of the Church repre-
sents, in my opinion, his recipe for success.” In his first meeting with the media, Pope Francis spoke of his fondness for the great saint. “Right away, with regard to the poor, I thought of St. Francis of Assisi, then I thought of war,” he said. “Francis loved peace, and that is how the name came to me.” During his inauguration on March 19, his homily echoed the principles laid down by St. Francis. “I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political, and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment,” he said. His papacy mirrors St. Francis in another way. Just as the poor man from M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 3 1
What’s Next for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI? CNS/L’OSS ERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS
Benedict leaves after appearing for the last time at the balcony of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by announcing his resignation, citing his advanced age and health concerns. After meeting with the College of Cardinals on February 28, 2013, Pope Emeritus Benedict boarded a helicopter bound for the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo. Soon after, his resignation took effect. He’s the first pope to step down since Gregory XII in 1415. In his last address, Benedict was introspective about his resignation. “I took this step in full awareness of its gravity and novelty, but with profound serenity of spirit,” he said. “Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult, painful choices, always keeping the good of the Church in mind and not ourselves.” Benedict was at Castel Gandolfo until renovations were completed at Mater Ecclesiae, a former monastery inside the Vatican Gardens. Catholic News Service (CNS) reported that Benedict’s mood in the days following his resignation was relaxed. So what’s next for him? Not much,
Pope Francis embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo March 23. “We are brothers,” Francis told him. officials say. In a CNS report, Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi, SJ, said that Benedict will not have the title of cardinal and will not hold any office in the Roman Curia. It has also been reported that he will disappear from the public, devoting his life to solitude and prayer. “I no longer have the power of the office of the government of the Church,” he said, “but I will remain in service of prayer within, as it were, the enclosure of St. Peter’s. I will continue to accompany the Church with prayer and reflection.”
CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS
Assisi was chosen by God to repair a broken Church, Pope Francis is called to a similar mission.
Hope Lives In choosing his name, the pope set for himself an intimidating standard. There was perhaps no greater reformer in Church history than St. Francis, and the pope is not blind to the need for
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Click here to watch a video of Pope Francis’ meeting with members of the media.
reform today. The sex-abuse crisis, for starters, requires immediate attention. But former ambassador Díaz has 3 2 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
hope that change is possible under this papacy. Thorny issues will not be ignored. “Pope Francis inherits a broken Church torn by moral, social, and financial challenges,” he says. “If his papacy can redouble the Church’s efforts to go out into the streets and meet the face of human suffering, starting with the victims of sexual abuse, we are in for transformative changes.” Díaz would also like the pope to address human sexuality, the misuse of power and privilege, the role of women and the laity in the Church, reforming the Roman Curia, and pursuing more reforms regarding the Vatican’s financial system. But hope is alive. Pope Francis is, by all accounts, a realist—and a doer.
In his meeting with journalists, he recognized that the Catholic Church is made up of “virtues and sins” and urged people to focus on the “truth, goodness, and beauty” that live on. Healing and progress are attainable, but only when there is harmony among the faithful. “I would like for all of us, after these days of grace, that we find courage to walk in the presence of God . . . and to build the Church with the blood of Christ,” Pope Francis said to reporters. “Only this way will the Church move forward.” The white smoke has cleared. The bells are silent. It’s a new day. A Christopher Heffron is an assistant editor and the social media editor of this publication. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
Feed your spirit, renew your mind Thank You, Sisters
Francis and Jesus
Stories of Women Religious and How They Enrich Our Lives
Murray Bodo; foreword by Richard Rohr
Edited by John Feister
Take a journey with Jesus and his ultimate disciple! Learn how Francis shows us how to imitate Christ in every age, in every walk of life.
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without Borders These volunteers put a human face on the immigration debate. Their simple goal: to end death and suffering by bringing food and water into the Arizona desert. BY DANIEL WILSON
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Y ALARM CLOCK rumbles at 4:30 a.m. It is just barely dark as the sun rises in the Sonoran Desert, about 60 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, and 12 miles north of the United States/Mexico border. The morning could not come soon enough after my night of fitful sleep on a slowly deflating camping pad. I did not use the sleeping bag again; the weather dropped to a stuffy 80 degrees overnight. I roll out of bed and put on the same threadbare pants, praying that they will hold together for at least one more day and, I hope, the rest of my threemonth summer commitment. I open my tent, turning my boots upside down and shaking them. Luckily, there are no scorpions in them this morning. With my headlamp on, I do the morning chores: water in the large stockpot, water in the gallon pitcher, oatmeal in the pot, and coffee in the pitcher. I look in the kitchen tent for our broken lighter and flick it at the propane stove for several seconds. The heat from the flames is another unwelcome reminder that it is only going to get hotter today. Someone said that it will get up to 115 degrees this week. I tune my banjo and play as loudly St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
PHOTO BY DANIEL WILSON
(Above) This fence in Arizona separates the United States from Mexico. Similar fences have been built in California, New Mexico, and Texas. At least 500 people die each year on the US side.
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PHOTO BY SMATT
as I can, walking around the camp. Another 20 young volunteers roll out of their sleeping bags, tents, or the back of the truck where they have been sleeping. We all meet 20 minutes later at the plastic folding tables next to the kitchen tent. As volunteers with No Más Muertes (No More Deaths), a humanitarian-aid organization whose mission is to “end death and suffering in the desert,” we are the only group that has a medical camp right in the middle of the main migration corridor to the United States. With bowls of oatmeal and large cups of coffee in hand, we begin again the conversation that we have been
CNS PHOTO/JIM WEST
Jim Marx (red jacket) and Charlie Rooney, volunteers with the organization No More Deaths (No Más Muertes), walk the desert trails near the US-Mexico border in Arivaca Junction, Arizona. The group brings food and water to those migrating north through the Sonoran Desert.
(Left) Daniel Wilson, the author of this article, takes a break at the top of Montana Peak, one of the higher mountains in southern Arizona. Most of his days volunteering in the Sonoran Desert were much more difficult than this one.
having all summer. “When was the last time people went to Ruby East?” “Three days ago.” “How about Apache?” “How much water did we bring there last time?” “Twenty-five gallons, I think. And about eight cans of beans.” “We saw a lot of footprints at Murphy’s Well last week.” “What about Deadman’s Drop?” “We only found slashed water bottles there.” “Did you bring them up the trail, up that really steep hill? Border Patrol won’t climb that high; you could try
putting the bottles up there.” In this conversation I have yet another surreal moment, which seems to make up the majority of my summer. This group of 20 idealistic volunteers is responsible for trying to save the starving, dehydrated, and injured masses migrating north through the unforgiving Sonoran Desert. Thirty minutes later, the day’s work is decided. Four groups will go out on “patrols” and “water runs.” Three people will stay back to monitor the patients in camp and to give the “Know Your Rights” talk. We also need to monitor patients’ blood pressures. Doctors working with No More M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 3 5
CNS PHOTO/JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ, REUTERS
ticket to northern Mexico. It reads, “Thank you and God bless you very much.”
Reuniting with Families in the United States
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n their 2007 statement Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the US bishops urged Catholics to ask candidates how they intended to help our nation pursue 10 important goals. One goal was to
“achieve comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, treats immigrant workers fairly, offers an earned path to citizenship, respects the rule of law, and addresses the factors that compel people to leave their own countries” (#90). The bishops reissued that statement in 2011 with a new introduction.
Deaths in Tucson are worried that the 50-year-old couple staying in camp may have ruined their kidneys’ ability to filter blood. Out here, you need to drink a gallon of water a day to keep your body working. They were both in the desert for three days without food or water. We leave camp in large, scraped, bent, loud, old, and awesome fourwheel-drive trucks. Each is loaded down with tired volunteers, hiking packs, lunches, crates of beans, medical packs, and about 50 one-gallon jugs of water. For the next 90 minutes, we drive over dirt roads that I would feel uncomfortable walking over. We listen to an old cassette by John Prine. We pass one or two locals driving into town and about eight white-and-green Border Patrol “dogcatcher” trucks. Instead of a bed in the back, they have a low-ceilinged box, with bars for windows. We drive through yellow moun3 6 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
tains, yellow not with sand but with blooming Mexican poppies. Our GPS tells us we are in the right place. We all hop off the truck, load ourselves with as much water as we can carry, and then throw in cans of beans. We follow our GPS down a hill and into a ravine. My thighs are burning; my knees feel abnormally shaky underneath 8 gallons of water and my med pack. I am blinking twice as fast to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and I realize not five minutes later that my shirt is once again soaked in sweat. We carefully enter a ravine, which makes me regret carrying 64 pounds of water. At the bottom of the ravine, I see the most beautiful sight I have seen all summer in this magnificent and deadly desert: 30 empty gallons of water and 25 empty cans of beans! In the watertight bucket that once held packets of food and socks is a note scribbled on the back of a bus
Scattered throughout this desert are the relics of the journey: valleys filled with empty water bottles, ravines littered with sweatshirts, fields strewn with backpacks. In the midst of this debris, in the midst of all this suffering, are islands of shrines. A small cluster of old candles surrounds the sun-tinted picture of Jesucristo y La Virgen, whose serene, saintly eyes follow you as you walk by. Above a discarded black pair of jeans on a lowly mesquite tree hangs a wooden crucifix; its dying Christ blends in with the gnarled and thorny branches. Taking hope from the fact that their Savior, too, was lost in the desert and also migrated to a new and better home, most of those traveling find hope in their deep faith. “Vaya con Dios” (“Go with God”) we write on the gallons of water we leave behind. We write this not to convert, but to affirm the attitude already held by those crossing. The most conservative estimates show that at least 500 people a year die in this desert, on the US side of the fence. Since 1994, our country has been pushing people out of the cities, off the roads, and into the bleak, burning desert. Over 18 years later, the reality of the border is changing. We are not closing our borders to drug smugglers, job stealers, or terrorists. We are closing them on those trying to go back to their lives in the United States. According to a survey of those recently deported to Nogales, Mexico, the average person deported has lived in the United States for more than 14 years and has two to three children still living in the states (70 percent of those children are citizens). Of those interviewed, 70 percent said they would continue to cross the border until they make it back to their families. The trip into the United States consists of a three-day hike (usually done at night and running) and about St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
$3,000 paid to a coyote (human trafficker) who will leave you for dead if you lag behind or kidnap you if you are unable to pay. If you are caught, Border Patrol will—91 percent of the time—either hit you; deny you food, water, and medical care; take your belongings; or mentally abuse you for the 48 hours you spend with them (cultureof cruelty.org). After this, some of those held will go to court and spend up to six months in the worst jails in the country. Even so, the human spirit survives. Still, people make the journey for their children, spouse, family, and almost never for their own sake.
One Couple’s Story I first met the 50-year-old man and woman a couple of hours after they arrived in camp. Having been lost in the desert for three days without food or water, they had incurred significant kidney damage, and we were advised to monitor their vital signs every 15 minutes to make sure they did not go into shock. By the time it was my turn to
monitor them, they were tired of being constantly prodded and squeezed by inexperienced EMTs. The woman avoided eye contact and nodded politely when I asked her if I could take her blood pressure. Unable to interact with my poor Spanish, they sat silently as I tried to count their breaths per minute. An exceptional cook, she had a much stricter standard for cleanliness than most of my fellow volunteers. When another patient walked into camp, she made an excellent bedside nurse, though in need herself, giving water and attention to a man who had been lost for a week. Her husband, a mechanic by trade, was shocked at the lack of maintenance we gave to our overworn trucks. Through lots of patient pointing and hand gestures, we worked on the trucks together. He taught me how to replace a flat tire. They had been living in Florida and have a 7-year-old daughter, who is a US citizen. After they were deported to Guatemala, their country of origin,
they could not return to the United States legally for 15 years. Determined to be with their daughter, they wrote living wills for each other, talked to family about who could take care of their daughter if both of them died in the journey, and forged Mexican citizenship papers. The journey from Guatemala to Mexico alone is as deadly as the trip
Click here to learn more about what the US bishops’ have to say about immigration and to read related articles.
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into the United States. Because they knew that they probably would not make it on their first try, they were ready to keep trying again and again. We met them during their second attempt. After a week eating her cooking and fixing cars with him, it was time for all three of us to head north. I needed to go back into Tucson to shower and take a break from the heat, and they had decided that if they stayed longer it would increase their likelihood of being captured by Border Patrol. We left camp at the same time, me driving the truck that he helped fix, and they on foot. While I drove through the hot, dark desert, they were apprehended and deported back to Nogales.
A Unique Perspective
PHOTO BY DANIEL WILSON
One of the miraculous things about the desert is its ability to cut through all of our preconceived notions about “the immigration issue.” Theories about free trade, border militarization, and national security no longer seem relevant when you meet someone who has been lost without food, water, or shoes for a week. There is one truth given to us from the desert: we are killing our neighbors. We are killing our brothers and sisters in Christ. A
A cross stands as a memorial to a 13-year-old girl who died while crossing the desert in 2008. More than 5,000 other people have died in similar circumstances since 1998. Fr anciscanMedia.org
Daniel Wilson holds a bachelor of science degree from Winona State University in Minnesota and works at the Catholic Worker house in that city and as a day laborer. M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 3 7
SHORT TAKE
❘ AUTHOR
Vatican Radio English Programming Director Sean-Patrick Lovett speaks about Vatican Radio’s history and mission. How did Vatican Radio begin? When Italy was united in 1861, they didn’t know what to do with the pope. So they shoved him inside Vatican City and said, “Stay there and keep quiet,” which he did until 1929. Then there came the Vatican City State. Pope Pius XI understands that he can’t be confined to this tiny space. Without an Italian passport, he can’t leave Vatican City State, but he’s heard of this new radio technology. Pope Pius XI calls Marconi, the very inventor of the radio himself. Marconi spends two years setting up the Vatican Radio Station. It was the first of its kind. What does Vatican Radio do? Our mission is to try to shed light on places and issues that are not being covered by mainstream media; to be the connection between the center of the Catholic Church and the people, because the people want to feel that they are in contact with the pope.
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How do I listen? You can tune in to Vatican Radio easily on any sort of device. We have an app for iPhones and Android. We are on Twitter and Facebook. There is also the Vatican YouTube channel and a website: radiovaticana.va. —Richard Meyer and John Feister Sean-Patrick Lovett was interviewed at the University of Dayton, where he received the 2013 Daniel J. Kane Religious Communications Award. tal Digi as Extr
Click to hear an excerpt from our interview with Sean-Patrick Lovett. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
PHOTO BY JULIE WALLING
How has it changed? It has grown and adapted from 1931 to today. We broadcast in 40 languages, using every means at our disposal. The reason that Vatican Radio is still here today is that it has been able to adapt. We used to be a radio that was also on the Internet, but now we are on the Internet and also on the radio.
What unique role does Vatican Radio play in events such as a papal transition? To try to draw the world’s attention back to the real issues at stake; to reinforce that the Catholic Church does have a predominantly spiritual dimension and that a papal election is not really about power, money, and sex after all—but about a 2,000-year-old, God-given institution struggling to listen to the voice of the Spirit. We provided upto-the-minute coverage in sound, images, and text through radio commentaries and Internet webcasts of the events surrounding the recent papal election and made this available to the world through every technological means at our disposal.
EDITORIAL
Reconnect Sports and Health You’d think a sports-obsessed country would be a healthy one, right? The United States has turned that logic on its head, and American children are paying the price. Not ticket prices, of course. Mom and Dad pay those. For many parents, it seems to be no problem at all to spend $65 per ticket to an NFL game (not counting parking, snacks, and a large beer), but paying $8 for a pound of organically raised beef would break the grocery budget. It’s perplexing that 35 million children are playing youth sports, yet childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in 30 years. All across the country, parents are taking weekend trips out of town so their 12-year-olds can play select soccer against a team from another state. They’ll pay for gas, meals on the go, and a night or two in a hotel as their kids strive for the height of amateur athletic glory. Two days later, little Johnny is back at school, where the cafeteria is serving the time-honored staple of rectangular pizza and sodium-laced canned corn because the levy failed that would have allowed the district to improve the quality of its lunchtime offerings. Raise taxes? Absolutely not! A $300 team sign-up fee? Yeah, that seems reasonable. Really?
A Dangerous Disconnect Somehow, we have disconnected sports from health in a dangerous way, and we’ve done it at every level. We see so many stories about professional athletes using performanceenhancing drugs, or abusing other illegal substances, that we’re nearly immune to that phenomenon. It is what it is, right? Typical behavior Fr ancisca n Media .org
from overpaid, self-entitled “stars.” We’ve heard it all before. But listen more closely—and closer to home—and you’ll hear the dissonance loud and clear. Athletics and wellness are moving in opposite directions, and it’s affecting our culture across the board. At one extreme: a generation of kids who are overweight before they even make it to grade school. On the other side: a generation of kids suffering physical and psychological injuries in the name of “sports.”
Ingrained in the Culture The root of this isn’t especially new. How many people do you know who watch auto racing for the crashes? How many people do you know who sign up for the company beerdrinking, er, softball team? How many people do you know who battle gambling addiction? Our societal approach to sports has been skewed for decades. What’s getting some attention now is the effect this shift has on children. Somewhere along the line, sports—remember playing kickball in the street with your neighbors or shooting hoops in the driveway?— became Sports, a 24/7 universe of competition, high stakes, intense pressure, and infinite scrutiny. Children stopped being participants; they became Athletes. The under-12 soccer team wasn’t about Saturday mornings and orange slices; it was about getting recruited to the top high school in the hope of winning a college scholarship. For the kids who weren’t capital-A athletes, sports stopped being about physical activity and became either nonexistent or incompatible with a lifestyle geared toward takeout meals and television.
Bottom line: the children on both ends of the spectrum are losing, regardless of what the scoreboard says on the field.
Back to the Fundamentals Coaches often preach to their protégés the importance of fundamentals, and that’s where we as a nation need to revert. That doesn’t mean free-throw shooting or ball-line defense. It means thinking of athletic activity as a key piece of overall wellness and fitness. It means seeing the value in the game itself, not just the score. It means seeing movement—simple movement—as something worth prioritizing, whether we move quickly or slowly, alone or with a group. It means relating to team sports with an emphasis on the former as much as on the latter. It means investing in health and fitness holistically—mind, body, and spirit—and with time, energy, and money. Even the most active child, if raised in an environment centered on convenience foods and soft drinks, is likely to have issues with health and body image as an adult. And even an active child whose parents serve healthful meals cannot succeed if the only endgame of playing sports is winning or losing. Ultimately, reconnecting sports and health is a practice in purposeful decision-making. Changing our physical beings requires a wholly different mind-set, one of intentionality. We have to rethink our value system as individuals and start the shift in our own lives. —Jennifer Scroggins tal Digi as Extr
Click here to find statistics about youth in sports and childhood obesity. M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 3 9
Life Choices This New Jersey center provides a lifeline for expectant mothers who don’t know where to turn. T E X T B Y K AT H Y B E L B Y
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N T H E A F T E R N O O N sun streaming through the glass storefront of Life Choices in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, four young moms sort through bins of baby clothes. The room is orderly and tidy; donated clothes are separated by size and gender and stored behind a counter. Three of the babies doze in strollers while their mothers search through the clothes, and one sits on her grandmother’s lap. Joan Fasanello, director of Life Choices, stops by and reads the inscription on the baby’s pink shirt. “Princesa,” she says. “And you most certainly are.” The baby coos, and her grandmother smiles. Less than 15 years ago, this Life Choices building was little more than another rundown storefront on South Main Street, a lowincome area in Phillipsburg, a historic town midway between Philadelphia and New York City. But a plea from one friend to another set in motion a vision that has expanded to the bustling, vibrant organization that Life Choices is today.
Praying for a Solution “Someone should do something!” Fasanello recalls her friend Arlene Lippincott telling her on the phone. Lippincott, along with other members of St. Phillip & St. James Parish in Phillipsburg, had been praying on Saturday mornings at an abortion clinic on South Main. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
(Left) The Life Choices center in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, was a leap of faith for director Joan Fasanello. Today, the center serves hundreds of families each month. PHOTOS BY BILL BROKAW “I feel so helpless watching these women,” Lippincott had said. Fasanello, at the time a stay-at-home mom of four children, wasn’t sure what they could do, but she suggested the two women might pray. For the next nine days, they said a novena to the Virgin of Guadalupe together over the phone, and, by the end, Fasanello was convinced that they needed to take some kind of action. At first, they simply talked to the women before they entered the clinic. “How can we help you?” they asked. “What do you need?” From these conversations, they learned that many women were not convinced that abortion was the best solution to their unplanned pregnancies, says Fasanello. “Yet they were overwhelmed at the thought of supporting a child or felt pressured by relatives to terminate their pregnancies.” Fasanello and Lippincott began collecting gently used baby items and offering them to the women at the clinic, some of whom changed their minds and decided not to have an abortion. From this early experience, the two friends learned that if they were to minister to these women through a pro-life center, they would have to meet the many needs of young families. When a building became available on South Main in 2000, Fasanello again turned to prayer. She had already named and incorporated Life Fr anciscanMedia.org
Choices and applied for tax-exempt status. Her next step? She took a leap of faith, cashed in her small 401(k), and used her own house as collateral to obtain a loan for the building. Rent from upstairs tenants paid the mortgage, and the pastor of St. Phillip & St. James agreed to pay $250 toward the utilities each month—something the parish still does today. Volunteers scrubbed and painted the building, and soon the center was seeing its first patients. The center opened to walk-ins four days a week, with everything—from sonography to counseling to parceling out baby items to providing pregnancy tests—done on the first floor. All of these services were free and provided by volunteers. Today, there are between 400 and 500 family visits each month at Life Choices and more than 700 medical appointments (which include pregnancy testing and ultrasounds) each year.
(Opposite page) Life Choices helped this young mom two years ago. Now, she often returns to the center with her son Tyree to help serve and visit with other new and expecting mothers.
Lending Support Fasanello credits much of the success of Life Choices to those first days of talking to women along the sidewalk of South Main in front of the abortion clinic. From these conversations, she learned that these women needed multiple kinds of support during their pregnancies and beyond in order to have their babies. As a result, the mission of Life Choices—“to promote and help build healthy families by proM ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 4 1
(Upper) Children play while parents visit and “shop” for free items. Beyond the tangible necessities, the center provides mentoring for young families and other forms of continued support. (Lower) Fasanello is an active presence at the center. She’s found by simply letting expecting mothers know they are not alone, the women often choose to keep their babies. 4 2 ❘ M ay 2 0 1 3
viding medical services that encourage good prenatal care, material assistance for families in need, mentoring, and encouraging risk-free behavior in youth”—was drafted. Like many of Life Choices’ clients, 24-year-old Tanya (all client names have been changed to protect their privacy) has availed herself of a variety of these services. She first came to the center for an ultrasound when she was pregnant with her third child in three years and seriously considering an abortion. At the time, she was living in a faith-based shelter with her two children and had no idea how she could support a third. After her sonogram, when Tanya witnessed her baby’s heartbeat for the first time, Fasanello sat and talked with her. “I cried and cried,” Tanya says, “but Joan made me see that if I did have the baby, I wouldn’t be alone.” Tanya went on to deliver a healthy baby girl who is now 2 years old. Life Choices supplied her with diapers and children’s clothes, and she spent time with the center’s counselor, talking about her own life choices. Tanya now volunteers at the center four days a week in exchange for rent through a government program. She has long-term goals of going back to school and becoming a nurse.
In order to reach young women like Tanya who use the center (28 percent are in their teens and 45 percent are 20 to 25 years old), Life Choices has had to stay current with technology. From research, Fasanello knew that this population prefers interactive websites, so she designed one herself with input from clients. The result is a user-friendly site that contains videos of client stories, links to information on subjects such as abstinence and natural family planning, and PDF pamphlets to download. There is a complete list of services offered at the center and a link for donors. Most important, visitors to the website can see sonogram videos of babies in utero and can make appointments online. As in any nonprofit, the continued success of Life Choices depends on the generosity of donors. Throughout the unfolding of this ministry, Fasanello and Lippincott have relied on prayer. When they are in need of funding, they pray specifically to Mother Cabrini, the resourceful Italian nun who left her own country to minister to Italian immigrants in New York City. “We pray, and God provides,” Fasanello says. “Our theme has been trusting in God and leaping in faith.” In the beginning, Fasanello sent letters to everyone she knew, asking for donations. The staff held benefit concerts and approached local clergy, who have been most supportive and generous. They continued praying and working, and Life Choices kept growing. Fasanello, a longtime member of Annunciation Parish in Bloomsbury, New Jersey, speaks frequently at local churches in the Metuchen Diocese. Sometimes she brings new baby bottles and asks parishioners to fill them with loose change over the next month; sometimes parishes respond by holding a baby shower for the center. Life Choices’ major fund-raising effort centers on an annual banquet held in the Right to Life month of October. Keynote speakers in the past have included Raymond Arroyo of EWTN and Doctor Haywood Robinson of Texas, a former abortionist who is now a pro-life activist. The 2012 banquet featured Pam Tebow, mother of NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, and was the most successful to date, with more than 475 people attending and more than $85,000 raised. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
Compassionate Care Although technology and funds may keep the business of Life Choices going, the staff is the lifeblood of the center. There are now a small number of parttime, paid employees—most of whom began as volunteers—who include office manager Lippincott, two nurses, a sonographer, and two receptionists. “Many of our clients have had a negative experience at a gynecological office,” says Fasanello, “so it was necessary that we presented a compassionate, yet professional atmosphere. Paying staff ensures that our turnover is minimal and our care is consistent.” One of these key staff members is registered nurse Jennifer Chirdo, who moved back to the Phillipsburg area after graduate school and immediately searched for a crisis-pregnancy center where she could volunteer. Chirdo, who had worked with Generation Life—a movement of young people committed to chastity education and outreach as a way to end abortion—had difficulty finding a center that incorporated such values. “I grew sad and disappointed,” she says, “because two of the more local centers did not connect sexuality to life matters. Talking about abstinence, chastity, and natural family planning were either not permitted or not welcomed there.” A friend suggested she talk to Fasanello, and Chirdo knew instantly that she’d found a mission that resonated with her own. “What I find most rewarding,” Chirdo says, “is that the multidimensional needs of the human person, pregnant or not, are being met by love and continuous tangible support at Life Choices.” Ana Gomes, a physician who volunteers one day a week at the center, first approached Fasanello nine years ago with a donation. A meeting ensued, and Gomes became part of the Life Choices team. “I wanted to be a helping hand to Joan and the clients by giving them credible medical advice and ensuring that clients were well informed about all the choices available,” she says. Not only does Gomes provide guidance as a physician, she is also fluent in both Spanish and French, which enhances communication with the center’s Latino and Haitian population. About eight years ago, Gomes asked sonographer Adrienne Williams if she might consider volunteering at Life Choices. Williams Fr anciscanMedia.org
has been at the center ever since. “Being a part of what Life Choices can do to help so many in need is where I want to be,” says Williams. “As long as I’ve been an ultrasonographer, I have never taken for granted how powerful the modality of ultrasound is. Just to witness the bonding of an expectant mother and father to their baby is priceless!” Free counseling is offered on-site by a licensed social worker who volunteers her time for six hours a week. Some clients may meet with a counselor only a few times; others, with deeper-seated issues such as abuse, may avail themselves of longer therapy. Life Choices also works closely with Rachel’s Vineyard, an organization that supports women and men who are suffering from the trauma of abortion. Clients may attend parenting classes or use computers at the center for job searches. Some
(Upper) Nurse Jennifer Chirdo shows an expectant mother an ultrasound of her unborn baby. The center provides a variety of medical assistance to pregnant women. (Lower) This young mom volunteers at the center out of appreciation for the help she receives. Many former and current clients often want to give back to the center.
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Expanding Their Reach
(Above) Sister Judith Andrews meets with mothers weekly, lending an ear and guiding the young women on their path of motherhood. (Right) Fasanello cuddles a sleepy preschooler as office manager Arlene Lippincott shares the day’s news.
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choose to go to the Wednesday afternoon teas, headed by Sister Judith Andrews, and bring along their babies, an excellent opportunity to ask spiritual questions of a religious or just to bond with other young moms. “We are very service-oriented,” says Fasanello. Chirdo echoes that theme, calling Life Choices a “full-service kind of place” with “real, ongoing resources for every need imagListen to an interview with inable.” Mary Peterson, cofounder of Julie, a 32-year-old mother of pro-life center Maggie’s three who supports herself on Place. a paper route and government assistance, says that the center Click here for related articles. has been a personal lifeline for her and her family. “I’ve been able to get a crib and a toddler bed for my youngest at Life Choices. They helped me with formula and baby food. Even the thrift stores cost money for clothes, and here I can get things for my kids to wear. If it weren’t for Life Choices,” she says, “I don’t know where I’d be.”
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Recently, Fasanello took on another project. Because clients fill out an intake survey, she knew that only 20 percent of pregnant women who came to the Life Choices center were fully intending to abort. Thinking that a separate medical facility—away from babies and baby items—might draw more women faced with difficult decisions about their unplanned pregnancies, she began to explore the possibility of opening a second building. Again, the Life Choices staff turned to prayer—this time with a novena to St. Joseph. Through the generosity of four donors who contributed $25,000 each, Life Choices purchased a second building on South Main in April 2012. The new center has a comfortable reception area, five examining rooms, and two counseling rooms. Here in this clean, quiet space of the medical center, clients can view images of their babies in 3D with real-time movement and talk about their decisions in the company of supportive staff. Fasanello was right. Now, more than 40 percent of the women who come to the center are “abortion-minded.” The new center serves more than 100 women a week, and 94 percent decide to keep their babies. Meanwhile, the Life Choices staff continues to work and pray. Over a 12-year span, they have helped more than 6,000 babies and their families. As they have filled their own lives with a purpose and mission, they have provided the same to their clients. As Chirdo puts it, through serving others “you find you are humbled by . . . the fruit in your clients, who return the charity they are given in the form of loving and serving as well. It’s a cycle of love.” It’s evident that the cycle of love is working in the clients of Life Choices. “Joan and Arlene are strong women to look up to,” says Sandra, a Life Choices client and 35-year-old mother of two. “They are so understanding and compassionate. They’ve taught me that when you don’t understand your situation, you thank God for it . . . that he is in there in the negativity. Because of them, I am trying to see God’s will in all the events of my life.” A Kathy Belby is a former Army and hospice nurse from Belvidere, New Jersey. She currently serves as a volunteer parish nurse and freelance writer. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
YEAR OF FAITH
❘ BY GINNY KUBITZ MOYER
Mary, Exemplar of Faith
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S T. G I A N N A B E R E T TA M O L L A “I trust in God, yes, but now I must fulfill my duty as a mother.” Those words by St. Gianna Beretta Molla— doctor, wife, mother, saint—exemplified her devotion to her children, much in the spirit of Mary. During her fourth pregnancy, St. Gianna (1922–1962) discovered that she had an ovarian tumor. Doctors recommended that she terminate the pregnancy and have a complete hysterectomy. Refusing to sacrifice her child for her own life, St. Gianna postponed the surgery to remove the growth, fully aware of the danger that continuing the pregnancy presented. She eventually gave birth to her daughter Gianna Emmanuela and died seven days later. St. Gianna was canonized in 2004.
the apostles. I imagine them in a semicircle around her, listening raptly to this middle-aged woman who knew details about Jesus that no one else knew. And I like to think that they also learned from her faith, the faith of a mother who faced countless frightening situations but who always believed that something good would happen. Perhaps her faith gave some of them the extra boost of courage that they needed to spread her son’s story to the world. Because that’s the thing about faith: it can be wonderfully contagious. And, as Mary’s story shows, one person’s faith can forever change the world. A
Trust in Faith Mary, guide us to serve in the ways of your son. Give us the strength that you so often displayed and help us to be living examples of his message and to carry it to the world. In our daily lives, help us to act with the courage that you have modeled for us and to face our challenges and obstacles with the same faith. In you, we see a shining example that all will be well through
Ginny Kubitz Moyer is the author of the books Mary and Me: Catholic Women Reflect on the Mother of God and Random MOMents of Grace: Experiencing God in the Adventures of Motherhood. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay area and blogs at randomactsof momness.com.
your son.
M ay 201 3 ❘ 45
ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE LONNEMAN
ver the six years that I’ve been a mom, I’ve learned that there are certain qualities that are very useful for parents to have. These include a sense of humor, the ability to multitask, and the knowledge of which battles to pick (note: forcing a toddler into a sweater he doesn’t want to wear is the very definition of “lost cause”). As important as all these are, though, I think the most useful parental quality is faith. What is faith? I’d define it as the ability to trust that there will be good things ahead. It’s the knowledge that this moment—this crosscountry flight with a screaming baby, this child’s scary bout with pneumonia—is not the final chapter. Something good is waiting to happen. Often that something good is over a distant horizon, impossible to see from where we stand. Faith is the certainty that it is there all the same. Every parent faces countless situations where faith is required. When I think of Mary, it’s clear that she was an expert in this area. She gave birth on the road; she had to escape to a foreign country for her baby’s safety; she even lost her teenage son for a few terrifying days. When her child was an adult, she saw him saying things that hit a little too close to the bone of the powerful ones, who ended up killing him. All of it must have taken extraordinary faith on Mary’s part. And yet, even she must have been surprised and overjoyed at the exact nature of the good things that were finally revealed: a resurrection, eternal life, a fleet of devoted friends who would travel the globe to share the message of her son. In Door of Faith, I love the image of Mary passing on her knowledge to
Dried Beans Will the cycle ever end? FICTION BY VERONICA DALE
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ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS KOEHLER
SHARP RATTLE awoke her. Heart pounding, Lottie turned to look at the pitch-black rectangle of the open bedroom door. From down the dark hall it came again, the sound she dreaded, of dry beans flung like pebbles across the linoleum floor. A chill skittered down her arms. She waited, holding her breath, but the sound was not repeated. The feel of a ghostly presence slowly ebbed away. She must clean up the mess before her husband saw it in the morning. He worked the early shift at Dodge Main, on the assembly line where the new 1949 Coronets were coming through. Quietly, so as not to wake Martin, she slid to the edge of the bed. The springs creaked, and he grabbed her arm so roughly she took a sharp breath. “What you get up for?” he demanded. “Lay down.” He’d spent some time at the beer garden again, so she knew enough to obey. Had the noise disturbed little Anna? No sound came from her daughter’s cot at the foot of their bed. Lottie waited until Martin’s breathing roughened into snores and then got up the courage to slip down the hall to the kitchen. The light from the bare bulb revealed that navy beans had been strewn over the floor again. The glass jar had been taken from the pantry and now sat empty in the middle of the oilcloth-covered kitchen table. Fr ancisca n Media .org
The ghost lady had done it. Wanda Malaski next door said the wife of the previous renter had hung herself in the pantry. Now her ghost emerged from time to time, voiceless and restless, to fling hard beans on the floor. Glancing over her shoulder at the dark opening to the pantry, Lottie scooped up the beans and poured them back in the jar. After novena last Friday, she had told Father Wujek about the ghost, and he said to pray for the woman’s soul. While she was talking to him, Lottie hoped he wouldn’t notice her swollen eye. If Father had asked about it, she would have said she bumped into a door at night. “What’s the matter, Mama?” Lottie whirled to see Anna at the kitchen door, nervously rubbing the sleeve of her flannel nightgown between her thumb and forefinger. “Nic, sweetheart. Go back to bed.” Behind the child, Martin loomed out of the dark. “What’s all this noise? Can’t a working man get sleep in his own house?” He pushed Anna roughly toward their bedroom. Lottie backed away, but Martin hit her anyway. She tasted blood inside her cheek and swallowed it.
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nna grew up, her mom and dad passed away, and now she, too, was married. It was 1969. With her baby daughter in her arms, Anna shifted her sore back M ay 2 0 13 ❘ 4 7
against the rocking chair and stared at the brightly-colored globs oozing up and down in the lava lamp. Turning away from her almost-empty bottle, little Kimberly watched them, too, until her eyes glazed and finally closed. Anna tucked the child into her crib and shut the door. Her husband’s voice emerged from their bedroom down the hall. “Get in here, for godsake. I gotta get up at four in the morning.” Anna obeyed and slid into bed
ANSWERS TO PETE AND REPEAT 1. The hill to the right is higher. 2. There are more leaves on the tree. 3. Dad is no longer wearing glasses. 4. Dad’s box is now marked as “bait.” 5. The towel in the basket has moved. 6. Mom is wearing glasses. 7. A yellow square is missing from the tablecloth. 8. A basket weave is missing.
So that his work might continue...
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4 8 ❘ May 2013
beside him. Their lovemaking was over quickly and tasted of cheap whiskey. He fell asleep, and Anna lay quiet, not daring to toss or turn. Her mind wandered to a ghost story her mother used to tell, about the soul of a troubled woman who threw dried beans on the floor. Why dried beans? Odd she had never asked herself that question before. Perhaps the beans were all the thin, ghostly hands could lift. Perhaps the poor soul was desperate to be heard, to be acknowledged, but didn’t have the strength to shatter cups or break dishes. Her mother said she prayed for the woman’s soul and the ghost went away. Anna used to pray—for a happy family life, for a husband who didn’t drink—but her prayers never worked. Her secret sorrow never went away. She hoped life would be different for her daughter. That night she dreamed of things that rattled: a baby toy, chains, dried beans scattered like seeds on a hard kitchen floor.
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nna’s daughter Kimberly grew up and decided she wouldn’t live the kind of life her mother had. She was a woman of the ’90s and could choose not to get married at all. In the next 15 years she’d had a succession of boyfriends, the latest being Shawn. He came around when he felt like it and sometimes paid for part of the rent. The greatest love in Kimberly’s life was her daughter, Emma. Emma’s father was one of the boyfriends who had left abruptly before she was born. Now Emma sat quietly at a table with her second-grade class. She felt like crying, because Shawn hit Mommy again last night. She wanted to scream at him—“Stop! Stop!”—but was afraid he’d hit her again, too. She peeked a look at her teacher, Miss Kathy. Miss Kathy always looked so worried whenever she asked about a bruise on her arm or cheek. “If an adult is hitting you,” Miss Kathy told the class, “you have to tell. Even if it’s your mom or your mom’s boyfriend or your stepdad.”
But Emma never told. Mommy said not to. Miss Kathy walked around the table, and Emma ducked her head. She didn’t want her teacher to see the mark on her chin, where Shawn had pinched her so hard he made her cry. And made her angry, too. She didn’t do anything wrong, and it just wasn’t fair. Her teacher stopped, then crouched down beside her. “What’s this?” Gently she touched the spot. “Nothing. I fell on some steps.” “Are you sure?” Emma nodded, biting her lip. Her teacher sighed, got up, and spoke to the class. “Tomorrow we’re going to learn how to grow a plant. Then you can give the plant to your mothers for Mother’s Day. Does anyone have seeds at home they can bring to school?” Emma raised her hand. “I can bring dried navy beans,” she said proudly. “My mom’s going to make the kind of soup my great-grandma used to make.” One of the students spoke up. “Maybe those beans would be too dry to sprout.” “And maybe not,” Miss Kathy said. “You never know about the power of a seed. Bring them, Emma, and we’ll see what happens.” The next morning, Mommy and Shawn argued again, and Shawn shoved her against the refrigerator. After he went to work, Mommy grabbed the plastic bag of dried navy beans from the kitchen counter and threw it very hard on the floor. The bag broke and beans scattered everywhere. She was crying as the two of them picked beans off the floor and put some of them into a Tupperware container for school. “This can’t go on,” Mommy sobbed. “It just can’t.” Emma didn’t know what to say, but after her mom stopped crying, she told Emma the story about her greatgrandmother and the ghost who threw dried beans. “Why did the ghost lady do that?” Emma asked. Mom was filling a pot with water and didn’t look at her. “Maybe she was married to someone like Shawn,” she muttered. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
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t school, Miss Kathy smiled as she took the container full of beans. Following the teacher’s directions, Emma filled a Styrofoam cup with dirt from a pink, plastic basin, poked a navy bean into it, and carefully poured a little water over the seed. I hate Shawn, she thought, and never want to see Mommy throw beans on the floor again. I’m sure Miss Kathy wouldn’t, either. Emma put her cup on the windowsill, where the sun would shine on it, and glanced over her shoulder at her teacher. Maybe she should tell. No, it would be better to wait and see what the seed would do.
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very school day she made sure to water it. Then, on Saturday night, the sound of Mommy and Shawn arguing again woke her up. She was too afraid to get out of her bed, but next morning Mommy’s jaw looked all black and blue. “She slipped and fell on the kitchen floor,” Shawn said. He looked at her with those little pig eyes and smiled, as if he dared her to say anything different. On Monday morning at school, Emma ran to the windowsill. A little green stem, with its head still in the dirt, had appeared. In only a short time it stood up straight and sprouted two fat leaves. “See, boys and girls?” Miss Kathy said. “That dried bean looked dead on the outside, but look what was inside it all this time.” Dried beans were amazing. And they were brave, too, reaching out with their leafy arms. Emma made up her mind. You should cook dried beans or plant them and never have to throw them on the floor. As the children filed out for recess, she approached her teacher’s desk. A
Veronica “Vernie” Dale is a pastoral minister at St. Michael Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and a mother of four. She is an award-winning author of several short stories and a member of the Detroit Working Writers Club among other organizations. She lives in Macomb, Michigan, with her husband. Her website is veronica dale.com. Fr ancisca n Media .org
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1-800-736-7300 M ay 2 0 13 ❘ 4 9
ASK A FRANCISCAN
❘ BY FATHER PAT McCLOSKEY, OFM
Is a Pope Emeritus Still Infallible? A friend asked me recently, “Now that Benedict XVI has resigned as pope, is he still infallible?” I don’t think so, but I wasn’t sure how to explain my answer. Can you help? No, a retired pope is not infallible because that guarantee is not a personal quality; it is attached to the office that he no longer holds. This is true in terms of the pope’s extraordinary teaching authority, which Pope Pius XII used in his 1950 definition of Mary’s assumption into heaven. He acknowledged consulting the world’s bishops prior to that decision. Benedict XVI remains a member of the college of bishops—though obviously a unique member. When that
group collectively teaches something as essential to the Catholic faith (for example, the Nicene Creed, the Trinity, or the Incarnation), it teaches infallibly. The college of bishops has “supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff” (Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 22). Infallibility is a guarantee that the Church cannot lead Catholics into definitive error on a matter essential for their salvation. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has chosen a hidden life of prayer as his new ministry within the Church. Less than 12 hours before he resigned on February 28, he publicly
pledged to the College of Cardinals that he would accept and obey whomever they elect as his successor. Theoretically, a retired pope could become a point of division within the Catholic Church; Benedict XVI has promised not to cooperate with any such attempt.
Can They Marry in the Catholic Church? My daughter received a declaration of nullity (annulment) over 10 years ago and later, in a civil ceremony, married a nonpracticing Jewish man. He did not want to have a wedding in a Catholic church. She spoke to her pastor recently about having her marriage blessed.
Is There an Official Catholic Bible?
CNS PHOTO/BOB ROLLER
Years ago in parochial school, I recall that we were told that the Douay-Rheims version was the only one that we were allowed to read. The teacher even said that reading any “Protestant” Bible, especially the King James Version, was sinful. I’m sure that’s no longer the case, but is there an official Latin version and an English translation? How are we to choose among the many translations now available? We should keep three things in mind in this area. First, no biblical book was originally written in Latin. All of them were written in Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic. St. Jerome’s translation into Latin is known as the Vulgate. It is held in high regard in the Catholic Church, which also acknowledges that older texts in the original languages have come to light since St. Jerome translated the Vulgate.
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Second, Bible translations used by Roman Catholics and members of the Orthodox Churches have a longer Old Testament canon (list of inspired books). The longer list was used for over 1,000 years before it was formally accepted at the Council of Trent (1545–63). The Catholic Church has given an official, binding interpretation to very few texts—for example, understanding Matthew 16:18–19 as authorizing Peter and his successors as leaders of the Church and accepting the Last Supper accounts as teaching the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The word of God is given to a faith community and needs to be interpreted accordingly. In the Catholic Update archive of AmericanCatholic.org, you can read Father Ronald Witherup’s “Choosing and Using a Bible: What Catholics Should Know.”
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
He agreed to work with her but said that her husband would have to get a declaration of nullity. I thought that because her present marriage is not recognized by the Catholic Church, she would not need to get an annulment. Is that correct? No, that is not correct. The issue here is not whether they must marry in a Catholic parish church. Local bishops can and often do dispense with that requirement, especially if one spouse is Jewish. I have received Church permission to co-officiate at two Catholic/Jewish weddings outside a parish church. The issue here is whether the Catholic Church agrees that your son-in-law is free to enter a marriage recognized by the Catholic Church. That is what your daughter’s pastor was saying. If your son-in-law’s ex-wife is now deceased, he is clearly free to enter a second marriage. Otherwise, your daughter will need to work with her parish staff and, ultimately, a diocesan tribunal. She is welcome to address her desire through the “Marriage Issues” conversation corner at Once Catholic.org. Visitors are encouraged to use a screen name.
In Heaven Will She Learn of My Infidelity? In your August 2012 column, you answered a question about whether a spouse who commits adultery and then goes to Confession must also confess this fact to his or her spouse. My wife of almost 40 years died a few months ago. Early in our marriage, I was unfaithful twice, both times under the influence of alcohol. I confessed both sins but never told my wife. We have several beautiful children and grandchildren. Although I have now been sober and chaste for many years and attend daily Mass, I just can’t get rid of my feelings of guilt, even though I know that I have been forgiven. Does my wife in heaven know of Fr ancisca n Media .org
those two acts of infidelity? If so, does she still love me? The forgiveness that you need most now is your own. I encourage you to speak about this with a priest outside Confession or to a counselor. God wants you to live in greater inner freedom than you are now experiencing. These two past sins are not the entire story of your life. I don’t mean to make light of them, but your years of sobriety and chaste living are also part of your life’s story. Why are you allowing these confessed sins to eat away at you? You cannot change your past, but you can decide how it will influence you in the present. Jesus cautioned his disciples against thinking that heaven would simply be an extension of human relationships, such as marriage (Mt 22:23–30). It’s much more than that. If your wife is in heaven, will she learn of those two acts of infidelity? Perhaps. Will she stop loving you? Absolutely not. She will see the
whole situation much more clearly than she could have done here on earth. In light of being in God’s presence completely and permanently, how could your wife have time and energy for the recrimination that you fear? I think that would contradict what heaven means. Endless recrimination sounds more like something that belongs in hell. I encourage you to commend yourself anew to the grace and mercy of God, using the time and energy now devoted to guilt for something that nourishes more life in yourself and in others. A
Father Pat welcomes your questions! Send them to: Ask a Franciscan, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498, or Ask@FranciscanMedia.org. All questions sent by mail need to include a selfaddressed stamped envelope. This column’s answers can be searched back to April 1996 at StAnthonyMessenger.org.
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M ay 2 0 13 ❘ 5 1
BOOK CORNER
❘ BY CAROL ANN MORROW
Growing in Love & Wisdom Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation By Susan J. Stabile Oxford University Press 272 pages • $19.95 Hardcover
FIVE FAVORITES These books, all written by or about my favorite women saints, had a particularly powerful impact on my life. ■ Marcelle Auclair’s Saint Teresa of Avila: My father gave me this book when I was a college student, not terribly interested in the lives of the saints. Auclair’s gripping biography changed that. ■ The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volumes 1, 2, and 3: This collection is a perfect way to encounter St. Teresa in all her holy boldness. ■ Dorothy Day’s Therese: Bohemian Dorothy and bourgeois Thérèse of Lisieux may seem an unlikely match, but both share a belief in the power of hidden grace and little souls to change the world. ■ St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul (translated by John Clarke, OCD): Read it at least twice. There are profound truths hidden beneath the surface of her flowery prose.
PHOTO BY AMBER MONTGOMERY
■ St. Teresa Benedicta’s Essays on Woman (translated by Freda Mary Oben): The insights of this Catholic feminist, philosopher, and Auschwitz martyr are as relevant to women today as ever. Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, print and broadcast journalist, and former presidential speechwriter. She hosts Faith & Culture, a weekly television and radio show on EWTN, Sirius Satellite, and Relevant Radio. Her newest book is My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir, and her website is colleen-campbell.com.
5 2 ❘ May 2013
Reviewed by MITCH FINLEY, author of more than 30 books on Catholic themes, including a recent best-seller, The Rosary Handbook: A Guide for Newcomers, Old-Timers, and Those In Between (The Word Among Us Press). Learn more at mitchandkathyfinley.com. PERHAPS THE MOST prominent proponent of drawing from non-Christian religious traditions as a way to enrich one’s Christian faith and spirituality was the great Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton (1915–1968). Merton celebrated the insight of St. Thomas Aquinas that all goodness, truth, and beauty—no matter what the immediate source—are from the Holy Spirit. Susan J. Stabile’s book draws on her own experience of turning away from the Catholicism into which she was born, living for 20 years as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, then returning to her Catholic faith in 2001. I would have enjoyed reading more about all of this, as she says little about it in the book. Stabile divides Growing in Love & Wisdom into four sections: how we think about other faith traditions, adapting prayer practices from another faith tradition, analytical meditations and commentary, and other meditations and practices. Many Christians, even Catholics, Stabile says, find it difficult to understand how their faith can be enriched by paying attention to other religions. The author reminds readers of the Vatican II teaching that there is much that is “true and holy” in other religions. She points out that we may nourish the affective dimension of spirituality by adapting prayers and practices from Buddhism. Stabile then provides 15 Tibetan Buddhist meditations adapted for Christian prayer, followed by other practices Christians may find helpful. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
BOOK BRIEFS
A Female Perspective Rooted in Love Our Calling as Catholic Women By Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle Ave Maria Press 224 pages • $14.95 Paperback
Hallowed Be This House Finding Signs of Heaven in Your Home By Thomas Howard Ignatius Press 136 pages • $14.95 Paperback/e-book Reviewed by MARY LYNNE RAPIEN, catechist, clinical counselor, and contributor to Homily Helps. She is married and the mother of six married children, with 20 grandchildren among them. IF FAITH IS MORE CAUGHT than taught, then Hallowed Be This House builds on this concept and shows how the simple functions of the home give witness to the basic tenets of faith. Thomas Howard does not talk about family customs such as the Advent wreath, family rosary, or night prayers. Rather, he focuses more on the broader virtues learned in the home: discipline, charity, selfless giving and receiving, and the continual dying to something to give new life. The author develops these Christian values by going through the various areas of the house. In the dining room he shows need for ritual. In the kitchen he sees the dignity of work done in loving service. In the bathroom he discusses the need for privacy, ablution, cleansing. The bedroom is not only a place of sleep and refreshment; it is the place of conception, covenant, and sometimes death. In every room, Howard proffers his insights into the sacred hidden in the profane. First released in 1976, this new edition of Hallowed has several dated expressions. Some discussions seem belabored while others offer thought-provoking insights into complex issues. While recognizing the flawed reality of our lives, Howard presents the life-giving ideal. For parents who are serious about raising faith-filled families, this book could help them gain an appreciation of the holy in their everyday lives. Fr ancisca n Media .org
Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, a best-selling author and EWTN television host, encourages Catholic women to gain strength from the Church during tough times. Relaying stories from her own experience, she stresses how the sacraments, prayer, and devotion to the Church can help one cope with life’s hardships.
Breaking Through Catholic Women Speak for Themselves Edited by Helen M. Alvaré Our Sunday Visitor 176 pages • $16.95 Hardcover Through real-life stories from other Catholic women, Helen M. Alvaré explains ways women struggle to maintain their faith in a culture where being a Catholic female seems contradictory. Topics explored by the contributors include contraception, politics and Catholicism, being a single mother, and more.
Mary in the Mystery The Woman in Whom Divinity and Humanity Rhyme By Thomas J. Norris New City Press 102 pages • $9.95 Paperback Mary is a symbol of human perfection for the Catholic Church. This reflection on her life by Father Thomas J. Norris presents us with reasons why the mother of Jesus plays such a large role in art, literature, and the founding of the Church. —Richard Meyer Books featured in this column can be ordered from
St. Mary’s Bookstore & Church Supply 1909 West End Avenue • Nashville, TN 37203 800-233-3604 www.stmarysbookstore.com • stmarysbookstore@gmail.com M ay 2 0 1 3 ❘ 5 3
A CATHOLIC MOM SPEAKS
❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER
I’m Not Crazy, I’m Sick!
I
f someone told you he or she had a mental illness, how would you react? Now, if that same person said he or she had cancer, or some other physical illness, how would you react? It would probably be very different, wouldn’t it? Mental illness in general has quite a stigma in our society. Some see it as a sign of weakness, others simply as an excuse for ill behavior. But, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), mental illness is “a medical condition that dis-
tal Digi as Extr
Click here to find additional articles and resources on mental illness.
5 4 ❘ May 2013
rupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.” Deacon Tom Lambert and Connie Rakitan recently presented a session at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on ways churches can welcome people with mental illness. Both have devoted over 25 years to providing support and educating parishes and dioceses about ministering to people with mental illness.
A Very Real Issue Statistics show that one in five families—many members of our own parishes—are touched by mental ill-
ness. Those families are not, however, getting much pastoral attention. You see, mental illness is referred to as what Deacon Lambert calls a “no-casserole” disease, meaning that no one shows up at the door bearing a casserole as they do with more visible—or perhaps acceptable—illnesses. Unfortunately, Lambert and Rakitan’s message isn’t reaching everyone. I’ve seen it firsthand.
A Closed Door My nephew is a Sunday school dropout. Well, not exactly a dropout. It’s more like he got kicked out. Why? Because he has developmental challenges that, when he was 4, had not yet been diagnosed. Yes, he was a bit hyper. But he wasn’t a bad kid. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
IT’S PERSONAL
He wasn’t trying to be disruptive. He was just being himself. But the coordinators of the program didn’t quite see it that way. So one day after class they pulled my sister aside and asked her not to bring him back. Apparently there was “no room at the inn” for a child who didn’t fit the mold. My sister grabbed her son’s hand, walked out the door—and away from her lifelong parish and the Church altogether. It wasn’t until years later that she found her way back—along with her son—but to a new parish. She has not, however, forgotten the hurt and rejection she felt at the lack of compassion, understanding, or charity shown to her son—all because he
depressed. After all, I knew it often went hand in hand with MS. But perhaps I, too, considered it a weakness or something I could “get over” as so many people in society do. But it’s not a weakness. It’s as much a real and valid illness as my MS is. And chances are you know someone suffering from mental illness as well. You probably just don’t realize it. So I’m asking you, please be understanding. Please don’t judge. Please don’t turn your back on those with mental illness. We are your family, your friends, your coworkers, your fellow parishioners. And we, too, are members of the body of Christ—just like you.
suffered from the mental disorders Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder, and Social Anxiety Disorder. I’m sad to say that I know my sister’s experience is not so uncommon. I’ve heard the stories of others who have felt shunned or overlooked. I’ve seen the looks of disdain from fellow parishioners when a child with special needs—sometimes that are unseen—doesn’t behave in the way he or she is expected. But like it or not, these people— adults and children alike—are a part of our Church community. As Rakitan says, “There are justice issues” at play here. These are children of God. They, too, were created
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY KURNICK MAASS
Aside from my nephew’s story, I have another reason why this subject is near to my heart. You see, I have a mental illness. I suffer from depression, brought on by my multiple sclerosis. (Even after writing this column, it’s still a little scary to put this out there.) For months last year, I would follow my husband, Mark, around the house because I didn’t want to be alone. I would cry. I would retreat to my bed whenever possible. But I was not going to admit I was depressed. I was just in a funk. Maybe it was the weather. Surely, I’d snap out of it. But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t overcome it. After much cajoling by Mark, I finally went to the doctor. I’m not sure why I couldn’t accept the fact that I was
in God’s image. I’d say it’s about time we started acting accordingly. Oh, and by the way, my nephew is now a straight-A student and a member of his school’s robotics team and string quartet. He plays multiple musical instruments and is a purple belt in karate, where he is also part of a leadership program. Not bad for a Sunday school dropout, huh? A
Do you have comments or suggestions for topics you’d like to see addressed in this column? Send them to me at “A Catholic Mom Speaks,” 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498, or e-mail them to CatholicMom@FranciscanMedia.org.
PETE AND REPEAT These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two. So look and see if you can name ILLUSTRATION BY TOM GREENE
Eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers on page 48)
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et us begin again!” Those famous words of St. Francis of Assisi seem all the more relevant with a new pope, especially one who chose Francis for his name. We are in a season of new beginnings. Last month I mentioned what a scramble Pope Emeritus Benedict’s surprise resignation caused for us. This month the scurrying continued. While some members of our editorial team continued to work on our new digital edition at StAnthonyMessenger.org—it’s up and running,
PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON
with Rachel at the lead—others devoted themselves to the breaking papal story. Christopher volunteered to take the writing assignment, well in advance of the papal conclave. We had decided that, for this issue, we’d depend upon the strong photography of Catholic News Service, as well as its on-the-scene reporting from Vatican City. Christopher did us one better by interviewCNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
ing Miguel Díaz. There will be time in the coming months to dig in a bit deeper on Pope Francis—what a fascinating man! And what a fascinating decision, to take the name of St. Francis! Clearly, he’s not only sending a signal to those cardinals and others who might revel in the trappings of high office; he’s sending a message to our entire Church. Francis of Assisi found devotion to the poor as a key to understanding who he was before God. But there are other aspects of St. Francis that were behind the pope’s choice of name. Father Pat is mulling all of that over for a future article—watch for it down the road. To keep St. Anthony Messenger as timely as possible, we used any and all means to tune in to details of the papal transition. Besides the impeccable Catholic News Service (thanks, Barb Fraze and crew!) and the reliable Internet reporting of trusted Catholic journalists in Rome such as John Thavis, Father Tom Reese, and John Allen, one of my favorite sources is Google News. I set the keywords conclave and papacy and Google sent me links, daily, to any sources carrying stories. (Of course, by now, I’ve switched to Pope Francis for the new stories.) Pretty cool, eh?
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REFLECTION
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he world is a playground, and life is pushing my swing. —Natalie Kocsis
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