August 2014 by St. Anthony Messenger

THE FACE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

ST. ANTHONY AUGUST 2014 • $3.95 • FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG

Messenger

The Pope and the Patriarch Flannery O’Connor: My Unlikely Companion A Guide to God What Millennials Want

REFLECTION

PHOTO © MARILYN NIEVES/ISTOCKPHOTO

If it could only be like this always—

always summer. —Evelyn Waugh

CONTENTS

ST. ANTHONY

❘ AUGUST 2014 ❘ VOLUME 122/NUMBER 3

Messenger ON THE COVER

COVER STORY

“Greet one another with a holy kiss,” advised St. Paul. “Encourage one another, live in peace. . . .” Here, Bartholomew and Francis exchange a historic traditional kiss of welcome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, May 25, 2014.

30 The Pope and the Patriarch Francis’ was a bridge-building pilgrimage to a land marred by strife. By John Feister

CNS photo by Nir Elias, Reuters

D E PA R T M E N T S

F E AT U R E S

16 What Millennials Want

2 Dear Reader

Tapping the potential of the ‘me generation’ can energize the Church. By Jessica Zimanske

3 From Our Readers 6 Followers of St. Francis Susan Saint Sing

24 The Face of Human Trafficking Theresa Flores was a typical Birmingham, Michigan, teenager until she was blackmailed into slavery. Now she’s telling her story. By Susan Hines-Brigger

8 Reel Time Deliver Us from Evil

Last Seen Alive

12 Church in the News

36 The Power of Spiritual Direction

22 Live Well Create an Organic Garden

It’s a comfort, a challenge, and a time-honored way to guide you back to God. By Joe McHugh

42 Flannery O’Connor: My Unlikely Companion In the midst of a health crisis, this woman found a kindred spirit in a great Catholic author. By Maureen Pratt

10 Channel Surfing

40 Editorial Racism: It’s Far from Over

48 Short Take Joseph Girzone

54 Ask a Franciscan Do Children Have Religious Liberty?

56 Book Corner A Nun on the Bus

50 Fiction: Bobby, Torrington Bulldog

58 A Catholic Mom Speaks You Can Go Home

Was it worth the pain? By Patrick Seamus O’Hara

60 At Home on Earth More than Enough

61 Backstory Keeping It Current

ST. ANTHONY M

DEAR READER

essenger

Ain Karem: Prayerful Spot The village of Ain Karem (directly west of Jerusalem) has two Catholic churches: one commemorating the famous canticle of Mary (Lk 1:46-55, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord . . .”) and the other the canticle of Zechariah (Lk 1:68-79, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel . . .”). Outside these churches, ceramic plaques provide the text of these prayers in many languages (over 50 for Mary’s canticle). The Church of the Visitation is at the edge of the city and contains an upper church and crypt built after World War II on the site of earlier Byzantine and Crusader churches. In the 14th century, this shrine was under the care of Armenian monks, but the Friars Minor have been there since 1679. Visitors to custodia.org can find photos, the floor plan, pilgrim accounts over the centuries, and other information via the “Sanctuaries” and “Church of the Visitation” links. May 31 is the feast of the Visitation. The Church of the Birth of St. John the Baptist is in the city and is built over the reputed site where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived and where John grew up. A Crusader church built there in the 12th century was replaced six centuries later. The Friars Minor arrived in the 17th century. The birth of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on June 24.

Publisher/CEO Daniel Kroger, OFM Chief Operating Officer Thomas A. Shumate, CPA Editor in Chief John Feister Art Director Jeanne Kortekamp Franciscan Editor Pat McCloskey, OFM Managing Editor Susan Hines-Brigger Associate Editor Christopher Heffron Editorial Assistant Sharon Lape Advertising Fred Limke

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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 122, Number 3, 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 109200189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8.

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2 ❘ Augus t 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

FROM OUR READERS

Front to Back Today I did something I rarely do: read the most recent issue of St. Anthony Messenger front to back. I usually begin with “Pete and Repeat” and then jump around a bit, but not this time. I read the June issue straight through. I loved reading Father Pat McCloskey, OFM’s “Dear Reader,” which led to a virtual trip to Capernaum. His wisdom continued in “Ask a Franciscan.” I concurred with some letters in “From Our Readers,” and groused about a few. Each article seemed to touch a vital place in life: St. Joseph as a father, service and prayer as lifelines to God, love of neighbor, excellent fiction. Rafael Alvarez’s cover article, “Dr. Carolyn Woo’s Mission of Charity,” creates hope for a troubled world. John Feister’s editorial on human

trafficking does just what Christianity is called to do: challenge us to take a serious look and attempt to make a difference in a world where children are forced to be soldiers or prostitutes. Then came the last page, “Backstory,” with a photo and tribute to Father Leonard Foley, OFM, editor of St. Anthony Messenger 50 years ago. Father Leonard created a space, then called “Letters to the Editor,” for readers to respond to articles. During his life, Father Leonard touched many lives with the messages of Jesus and St. Francis. It is so fitting that he be acknowledged by the magazine that continues to do the same. I don’t know how you keep making St. Anthony Messenger better, but you do. Patti Normile Terrace Park, Ohio

Praying in Our Own Language

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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St. Anthony Messenger is always inspiring, but Sue Erschen’s article, “Getting Comfortable with Prayer,” hit home in a very special way. I’m a product of 12 years of Catholic school education in the 1950s and ’60s, and I memorized countless prayers and petitions. There was something for every situation—and I think I learned them all! God bless the nuns and priests of the time. But to this day, if I don’t use a “stock” prayer in the correct form, I feel that the prayer may not really count. How’s that for Catholic guilt? I’ve been struggling with this for a while, so this article was such a revelation for me. It gave me a sense of freedom and relief: it’s OK to express myself in prayer in my own words. Erschen’s article definitely came at the perfect time during my search for a more satisfying way to communicate with God. I sincerely thank you. Patricia Dressler Windsor, Connecticut

Written Prayers I was intrigued by Sue Erschen’s article, “Getting Comfortable with Prayer.” It gave me a wonderful idea for not only talking to God, but writing to God every day. Many thanks for your magazine. I love it! Barbara Graham San Francisco, California

Goodbye, Jack I agree completely with Christopher Heffron’s review of Surviving Jack in June’s “Channel Surfing.” It was a total delight to watch! It’s too bad it’s been cancelled. Another good show isn’t given a chance. Kay Miller Ashland, Wisconsin

Words Have Power In June’s “Backstory,” John Feister says that letters to the editor are not really to the editor, but to everybody. Letters have to be to the editors, too, because they have such power. They can feed a modern hermit, such as Marsha Muzzarelli, a profile in a recent issue of St. Anthony Messenger, to the dogs in this column and not print a word in her defense. I feel her heart is in the right place. Maybe she has a big chapel for guests or other hermits who wish to visit. Some people suggest the Church should change its position on married priests and gay marriage, but when someone like Muzzarelli lives the life of a hermit, she’s called on the carpet. Bonnie T. Green Atlanta, Georgia

Histories and Mysteries In May’s “Ask a Franciscan,” Father Pat McCloskey, OFM, implies that the Catholic Church suppressed Galileo’s teaching of heliocentrism (the earth revolves around the sun) because that discovery contradicted Catholic doctrine. I don’t think that Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 3

On a recent survey, we asked a portion of our subscribers what they think of St. Anthony Messenger. Here are some of their responses. ■ I’m a Secular Franciscan, so I enjoy all the Franciscan stories. ■ I enjoy the magazine, especially the book reviews and the news about what is going on in the Church. Our local Catholic paper always writes the stories as if the Church is perfect and has never made a mistake. ■ I enjoyed the article about St. Joseph by Father Gary Caster in the June issue. It was perfect Father’s Day reading!

■ I always enjoy your magazine. It makes me think about issues I would sometimes rather forget.

on to others—sisters/lay associates. Thank you for the effort you put into publishing it.

■ I am usually about two months behind in reading the magazine. When I finally get to read it, I enjoy it. I think you are open and brave when you publish some of the letters in “From Our Readers.” Some of those people are borderline.

■ The June issue had many interesting articles. My favorite column is “Ask a Franciscan.”

■ I enjoy the magazine very much. When I finish reading it I pass it

■ “Reel Time” and “Channel Surfing” are very helpful!

■ I always enjoy reading St. Anthony Messenger. It fuels my thinking and urges me on to living out my love for the Lord.

Join the discussion! Let us know how we’re doing by writing to MagazineEditors@FranciscanMedia.org.

Father Pat responds: The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains that in 1616, a group of 11 theologians appointed by the Holy Office declared that heliocentrism is “formally heretical, inasmuch as it expressly contradicts the doctrines of Holy Scripture in many places.” This issue was indeed doctrinal. 4 ❘ Augus t 2014

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is correct history. I have never seen evidence that the Church ever promulgated a magisterial doctrine of an earth-centered universe. I would be interested in whether Father Pat has such evidence. Indeed, Galileo dedicated one of his books to the pope—and he was reportedly a fan of his research. The suppression of Galileo was not “doctrinal,” as Father Pat put it, but rather a combination of political jealousy (primarily from competing scientists) and a prudential fear that dissemination of heliocentrism would undermine the Church’s teaching that human beings are the crown of God’s creation. Now that is a Church doctrine. Martin R. Boles Los Angeles, California

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F O L L O W E R S O F S T. F R A N C I S

Finding God in Sports

er first glimpse of Assisi is etched in Susan Saint Sing’s memory, “like my brain took a snapshot.” What motivated the recent college graduate to journey across the Atlantic alone with only a fanny pack and less than $100 was a simple desire: “I had to talk to St. Francis.” It was a pivotal moment for Saint Sing, a promising athlete whose life had been permanently changed by a career-ending gymnastics accident. Saint Sing hit the gym floor headfirst during a gymnastics routine in 1977, breaking her neck and back, nearly becoming a paraplegic. She would walk again, but her athletic career ended. “It ruined my life,” she says simply. Shortly before the accident, Saint Sing had rediscovered her faith. In college, after her father died, Saint Sing spent time in the chapel, grieving her loss and feeling angry with God. There, she met Father Leopold, who invited her to a campus prayer group. Still skeptical, Saint Sing sat in her living room one night and asked God to show his cards. It happened at 3 a.m. “I was in the presence of such holiness,” she says, recalling being surrounded by light, over-

Susan Saint Sing

whelmed with a sense of joy and happiness. “Once I knew God was real, I was a different person. It was like someone pulled a veil off my eyes and I could see differently,” recalls Saint Sing. When she graduated in 1978, Saint Sing moved to Cincinnati, where she joined the New Jerusalem Community founded by Franciscan Father Richard Rohr. Because of her injury, Saint Sing lived in nearly constant pain. Her medical bills mounted, and she found herself depressed, unemployed, and living in a garage. A friend recommended Franciscan Father Murray Bodo’s book Francis: The Journey and the Dream. “It changed my life,” she says. The book sealed her decision to go to Assisi, where she stayed at a retreat center. One day a man she recognized from the book jacket of The Journey and the Dream showed up at the front door. It was Murray Bodo. Father Murray and his brother friars would take Saint Sing under their wing, affectionately calling her “Brother Susie.” “That’s when I really started to heal emotionally and spiritually, and finally physically,” recalls Saint Sing.

STORIES FROM OUR READERS Learn more about St. Anthony and share your story of how he helped you at AmericanCatholic.org/ Features/Anthony.

PHOTO BY ADELE WALKIEWICZ

Here, Kitty, Kitty

6 ❘ Augus t 2014

One Sunday afternoon my husband and I were playing in our yard with our son. Our cat, Gus, was sitting at the door anxiously waiting for someone to let him outside. We decided to let him out because he loves the outdoors. He doesn’t typically go far. That evening when we went to bring Gus inside, he wasn’t there. We checked again in the middle of the night and searched the neighborhood in the morning. He was lost. I called my mother and she suggested we say a prayer to St. Anthony. So I prayed to St. Anthony that he would help Gus find his way home and be safe on his journey. Two days later, one of our neighbors came running across our yard yelling, “I found Gus in my garage!” Our prayers had been answered. Thank God, and thank St. Anthony! —Adele Walkiewicz, Cincinnati, Ohio

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

ST. CLARE OF ASSISI

Accepting Illness Although Clare was an abbess for almost 40 years, she spent most of that time bedridden in a dormitory where all the nuns slept. Before she was canonized, several nuns testified to the great patience she showed amid great physical suffering. Sister Pacifica de Guelfuccio of Assisi testified that Francis and Bishop Guido II of Assisi once commanded Clare to eat at least half a roll on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, days on which she had been accustomed to fast completely. –P.M.

ICON BY ROBERT LENTZ, OFM, WWW.TRINITYSTORES.COM

When she returned to Cincinnati two years later, her depression had lifted. “There was a realization that I was going to be OK.” The fine arts and physical education major became a lay Franciscan and drew on her creative side, editing the Secular Franciscans’ newsletter and writing for the Cincinnati Enquirer and other publications. One day she covered a rowing event. The Brown University team needed a coxswain; the coach offered to let Saint Sing take the spot on a practice row for her feature. “As soon as my backside got in that boat, I realized I can do this,” recalls Saint Sing. She would become a rowing coach at a local high school and later at Xavier University. Since then, she has coached at numerous schools, and is currently head coach at the North Palm Beach Rowing Club in Stuart, Florida. She has written eight books and, in 2009, she was invited to speak about spirituality and sport at a Vatican conference. Sports can bring us closer to God, Saint Sing says. Done right, athletics can bring out the best of people. She quotes St. Paul, who admonishes us to “run the good race.” —Patricia Mish

To learn more about Franciscan saints, visit AmericanCatholic.org/Features/Saintofday.

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Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 7

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The National Shrine of St. Anthony is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consecrated in 1889, it includes a first-class relic of St. Anthony and serves as a center for daily prayer and contemplation. The Franciscan friars minister from the shrine. To help them in their work among the poor, you may send a monetary offering called St. Anthony Bread. Make checks or money orders payable to “Franciscans” and mail to the address below. Every Tuesday, a Mass is offered for benefactors and petitioners at the shrine. To seek St. Anthony’s intercession, mail your petition to the address below. Petitions are taken to the shrine each week. To post your petition online, please visit stanthony.org, where you can also request to have a candle lit or a Mass offered; or you may make a donation to the Franciscans or sign up to receive a novena booklet.

REEL TIME

W I T H S I S T E R R O S E PA C AT T E , F S P

Deliver Us from Evil

PHOTO BY ANDREW SCHWARTZ, SCREEN GEMS

SISTER ROSE’S

Favorite

Movie Musicals Les Misérables (2012) Carousel (1956) Frozen (2013) Ray (2004) The Sound of Music (1965)

8 ❘ Augus t 2014

Deliver Us from Evil is a thriller about a police officer (Eric Bana) who investigates mysterious events. Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) is a New York City police officer who works the night shift in the Bronx. He gets called to the Bronx Zoo to investigate weird happenings that seem linked to other disturbing crimes. Sarchie is intrigued by the events and is fearless in the face of wild animals that are mysteriously released. The police ultimately arrest a man who paints symbols in blood. Once the man is in custody, a priest, Father Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez), shows up offering to help. He is an exorcist and suggests that the man might not be a criminal because evil forces could be at work within him. Last summer’s exorcism-themed The Haunting was based on a true story—and it was very frightening. Even I looked over my shoulder for a couple of days! This year we have writer-director Scott Derrickson’s movie, which may scare some. But I suspect audiences will be inspired, too. There are some very Catholic things going on in Deliver Us from Evil. In one scene, Father Mendoza tells Sarchie, a Catholic, that in order to fight the devil, he must con-

fess his sins—and he does. While it is never clear under which ecclesial auspices Mendoza is working, few will probably notice. Sacramentals are used throughout the film, such as the crucifix, a rosary, and holy water, and you may be surprised by the role of the baptismal promises in the story. As an exorcist once told me, Jesus came to relieve suffering. The film shows this in a quiet, compelling, and grace-filled moment that moved me to tears. Although Derrickson and his team use stories of demonic activity from Sarchie’s 2001 memoir Beware the Night, the film’s thematic narrative harkens back to some foundational details in 1973’s The Exorcist. Eric Bana gives a strong performance in this violent, dark film that calls us to denounce the evil in our own lives. Not yet rated, R ■ Language, peril, violence.

Jersey Boys In 1951, a group of young men in New Jersey spend time getting into trouble and setSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

CNS PHOTO/WARNER BROS.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Vincent Piazza, Erich Bergen, John Lloyd Young, and Michael Lomenda star in director Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys.

Fr anciscanMedia.org

CNS PHOTO/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

ting up a singing group. Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) is the youngest in the group and becomes the lead singer because of his unique voice. Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) is the ringleader, while Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda) plays guitar and stays in the background. And Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), who joins the group last, is a brilliant songwriter and businessman. The group is signed by a producer, Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle), but they fail to read the fine print, which stipulates that they must sing backup for other artists until they can find the money to release their first record. Their first hit as The Four Seasons, “Sherry,” launches them to stardom with a string of hits. Frankie marries, but the relationship ends in divorce when his womanizing behavior on the road gets back to his wife. Tommy is in debt to a loan shark and steals $500,000 from the group’s account, putting them at risk with the IRS. At a meeting with Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), a sort of godfather to the young men, they have a meltdown. DeCarlo offers the group a loan, but they refuse, choosing to pay it all back. That is, after all, what guys from New Jersey do. Jersey Boys is based on the Tony-winning Broadway musical and ably directed by Clint Eastwood. The story of rags to riches to quasi-ruination is artfully narrated with each of the singers speaking directly to the camera as the seasons of their success pass. Jersey Boys is wonderfully entertaining, especially if the music of The Four Seasons formed part of the soundtrack of your youth. A-3, R ■ Language, sexuality, alcohol.

Five years have passed since the Vikings and dragons began to live peacefully together in the village of Berk. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon, Toothless, are closer than ever, and they join with the others in village competitions. Stoick (Gerard Butler), Hiccup’s father and the chief, wants to retire and name Hiccup as his successor. But Hiccup is not sure he’s ready. Hiccup and his friend Astrid (America Ferrera) investigate a wildfire and discover a dragon trapper, Eret (Kit Harington), who works for a conqueror named Drago (Djimon Hounsou) who is amassing an army of dragons to take over the villages. Hiccup and Astrid are convinced that they can talk Drago into peace, so they surrender to Eret. I liked the first Dragon movie much better, but there are some interesting themes in the sequel about family, character, vocation, and the avoidance of war to preserve peace. I didn’t care, however, for the stereotypical representation of Drago as the bad guy. A-1, PG ■ Peril, cartoon violence.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 boasts the vocal talents of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and Gerard Butler.

Catholic Cl assifications A-1 A-2 A-3 L O

General patronage Adults and adolescents Adults Limited adult audience Morally offensive

■

The Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. See usccb.org/movies.

■

Find reviews by Sister Rose and others at CatholicMovieReviews.org.

Augus t 2014 ❘ 9

CHANNEL SURFING

WITH CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

UP CLOSE

Mondays, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery According to the National Crime Information Center, in 2013 there were 84,136 active missing persons on record. Investigation Discovery’s galvanizing new documentary series, Last Seen Alive, wants to lower that number. What hooked this channel surfer was one episode in particular. On April 26, 2010, Ali Lowitzer exited the school bus at 3 p.m. and walked to her new job in Spring, Texas. She hasn’t been seen since. Ali’s father, with whom she was emotionally estranged prior to her disappearance, looks into the camera, and with tear-filled eyes makes the pledge, “If I find you, I won’t fail you again.” This is powerful stuff. Investigation Discovery has a record of bawdy, sensationalistic programming, but Last Seen Alive is its strongest show in years, because it speaks to every person’s fear of a loved one vanishing. The interviews with the parents and siblings of the missing can be emotionally taxing to watch, but it makes for gripping television. And faith plays an important role in the series, as those left behind often look to God for answers and peace. Their pain is all too human. Who among us hasn’t experienced the terror of losing a child in a store or a crowd? Remember the relief that followed when that child was found? The families of these missing people deserve to feel that, too.

Primetime Emmy Awards August 25, 8 p.m., NBC Part of what makes the Emmys fun is that, unlike the Oscars—the granddaddy of all awards shows—it doesn’t take itself too seriously. And with Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers at the helm this year as host, the show should be an effortless ride. Emmy voters tend to play it safe when awarding statuettes, and some old favorites are bound to acquire more hardware. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, already a two-time Emmy winner for her role in HBO’s hilarious Veep, should have an acceptance speech ready. And AMC’s popular (for this writer, too popular) Mad Men, which will end in 2015, has sentiment on its side. Get the popcorn ready, TV lovers!

Halt and Catch Fire

Sundays, 10 p.m., AMC “This puts the future squarely in the hands of those who know computers not for what they are, but everything they have the potential to be,” one character says to another in AMC’s fascinating, quickly paced new drama. Set during the computer boom of the early 1980s, Halt and Catch Fire (fictitious industry verbiage for stopping a computer’s central processing) follows former IBM exec Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace, always excellent), who wants his new company front and center in the PC rat race. Stylized and deeply entertaining, Halt is also an engrossing look into how ambition can eclipse human decency.

Cameron Remmer, who disappeared in 2011, is one of the subjects of the docu-series Last Seen Alive. 10 ❘ Augus t 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

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CHURCH IN THE NEWS

❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

Pope, Presidents Talk Peace

(Left to right) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Francis, and Israeli President Shimon Peres arrive for an invocation for peace in the Vatican Gardens on June 8. Pope Francis invited them during his trip to the Holy Land in May. Pope Francis met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on June 8, for an “invocation for peace” in the Holy Land, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). The two presidents were invited to meet at the Vatican during the pope’s trip to the Middle East in May. At an evening ceremony in the Vatican gardens, the pope said, “More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the evil one, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it. That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God.” Both presidents spoke during the ceremony. Peres said, “I was young, 1 2 ❘ Augus t 2014

now I am old. I experienced war, I tasted peace. Never will I forget the bereaved families, parents, and children who paid the cost of war. And all my life I shall never stop to act for peace for the generations to come. Let’s all of us join hands and make it happen.” Abbas said, “We want peace for us and for our neighbors. We seek prosperity and peace of mind for ourselves and for others alike.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was also present as was Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custos of the Holy Land and the principal coordinator of the event. The ceremony lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. At the end of it the pope, patriarch, and the two

presidents kissed each other on both cheeks. The three then took up shovels and added dirt to the base of a newly planted olive tree, before spending about 15 minutes speaking privately inside the nearby Casina Pio IV, a 16th-century villa which now houses several pontifical academies.

Working Document for Synod Released On June 26, the Vatican released the working document for the October Synod on the Family, reported CNS. The 75-page “instrumentum laboris” is based principally on comments that were solicited in a questionnaire last November from national bishops’ conferences around the world. It also 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

CNS PHOTO/TYLER ORSBURN

The Vatican’s financial watchdog agency got a shakeup in June when Pope Francis replaced the previous allItalian panel with members from Italy, Switzerland, Singapore, and the United States. The Financial Intelligence Authority was established by Pope Benedict XVI in late 2010 to monitor Vatican financial operations and ensure they meet international norms against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In October 2013, Pope Francis revised the agency’s statutes, clarifying the roles of the authority’s president, board of directors, and director, and specified that it would have two separate offices: one concerned with supervision and regulation, the other with financial intelligence.

Hundreds of supporters of traditional marriage gathered at the US Capitol on June 19. The first-ever March for Marriage was organized by the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council. Deacon Keith Fournier of St. Stephen Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, Virginia, likened the event to the annual March for Life. “This march is the seed of a movement that is global. It’s good to see a grassroots movement being raised here,” he said. Pope Francis announced that he will make a one-day visit to Albania on September 21 to encourage the Catholic minority there and the people “who long suffered as a result of the ideologies of the past.” The trip

reflects comments sent directly to the Vatican by individuals and groups responding to the questionnaire, which was widely published on the Internet. The document is supposed to “provide an initial reference point” for discussion at the synod, whose theme will be the “pastoral chalFr ancisca n Media .org

will be Pope Francis’ first visit to a European nation and one where all religious practice was banned from 1967 to 1990. Persecution of the Church, especially the clergy, had become the norm when the Communist Party took control of the government in 1944. The pope then addressed the volatile situation in Iraq, saying he hoped the whole country could enjoy “security, peace, and a future of reconciliation and justice, where all Iraqis, whatever their religion, could build their nation together, creating a model of coexistence.” During a genealogical search, Mary O’Connor Ward, sister of the late Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, discovered that their mother was born Jewish and had converted to Catholicism when she was 19. Ward said the discovery came when she found that their maternal grandparents, Tina and Gustav Gumple, were buried in a Jewish cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they had lived. Tina Gumple died in the 1800s, and at the time, no woman who was not Jewish could have been buried in a Jewish cemetery. Ward said it is believed that the late Cardinal O’Connor, who had a strong relationship with the Jewish community, was unaware that his mother was a convert from that faith. Members of Italy’s Mafia received a strong condemnation and a de facto excommunication from Pope Francis on June 21 during a Mass in the southern region of Calabria, Italy. “Those who follow the path of evil, like the Mafioso do, are not in communion with God; they are excommunicated!” He said that even if mob families continue to go to Mass and decorate their homes and hideouts with religious pictures, they have cut themselves off from communion with the Church and with God. “When instead of adoring the Lord, one substitutes the adoration of money, one opens the path to sin, personal interests, and exploitation. When one does not adore the Lord God, one becomes an adorer of evil, like those who live lives of crime and violence,” the pope said. For more Catholic news, visit AmericanCatholic.org.

lenges of the family in the context of evangelization.” Topics addressed in the document are some of the most contested and controversial areas of Catholic moral teaching on the family, such as contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriage, premarital sex, and in vitro fertilization.

The complete text of the document is available at vatican.va/ roman_curia/synod/index.htm.

Arrest Made in Killing of Phoenix Priest One priest was killed, and another critically wounded, on June 11 at Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 1 3

dreds gathered at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Phoenix for a standing-room-only funeral Mass for Father Walker.

Bishops Extend Invitation to Pope Francis for US Visit

CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC

In their annual spring assembly, held June 11-13 in New Orleans, the US bishops discussed a wide range of issues, including extending an invitation to Pope Francis to attend the World Meeting of Families next September in Philadelphia, reported CNS. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told the bishops the 2015 gathering “comes at a time when the Church in the United States urgently needs an opportunity for joy and renewal. It’s also a time of great confusion about the nature of marriage and the family. “Our goal is to exclude no one from the excitement of this meeting,” the archbishop said. “Our goal is to offer the beauty of Catholic teaching about marriage and the family with confidence and a spirit of invitation to every person of good will. That’s the heart of our theme: ‘Love is our-

Police tape and vehicles are seen outside Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission in Phoenix the morning after a priest was killed and another critically injured during an attack at the mission the night of June 11. 1 4 ❘ Augus t 2014

CNS PHOTO/BOB ROLLER

Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission in Phoenix, Arizona, following a 911 call about a burglary, reported CNS. The two priests, Father Kenneth Walker and Father Joseph Terra, are both members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Father Walker was pronounced dead at the hospital, and Father Terra was in critical condition at the time of this writing. Gary Michael Moran, 54, a transient who was released from prison in April, was arrested June 15 in connection with the shootings. Moran was taken into custody at a psychiatric treatment center some four miles northwest of the Mission, where the attacks occurred. Phoenix police say Father Terra heard a noise outside the rectory and opened the door to investigate, only to be attacked. Father Walker heard the melee and came from his room. That’s when the suspect allegedly shot him. Police say Father Terra was beaten with an angle iron during the assault and that the gun used in the murder belonged to Father Terra. Moran was able to overpower Father Terra and take the weapon from him. The day after Moran’s arrest, hun-

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, looks on as Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput addresses the media June 11 at the annual spring meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in New Orleans. mission; the family fully alive.’” Among the other items the bishops addressed were a vote to extend their Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty and approval of a limited revision of the 2007 statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” along with a draft of a new introductory note for it. The revision and draft will be presented for a vote by the US bishops at their annual fall assembly in November. The document has been issued before every presidential election for almost four decades. During the meeting, the bishops also received a report by the National Review Board, which monitors dioceses’ performance in dealing with sexually abusive priests and creating a safe environment for children. The board said that while progress has been made, there is still much work that needs to be done. The bishops were also told how the $21 million in aid relief from US Catholics to Catholic Relief Services helped with immediate and longterm aid and reconstruction of churches in the Philippines after last year’s Typhoon Haiyan. A St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

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What Millennials Want

BY JESSICA ZIMANSKE

Tapping the potential of the ‘me generation’ can energize the Church.

EXT, post, tweet, pin, repeat. Text, post, tweet, pin, repeat. The unfailing cadence of the millennial generation. The drum of social media and connectivity that beats faster every day, pushing my generation onward—as if it were the refrain of our having been told as adolescents to walk to the beat of our own drums. If I want to see where my friends are eating dinner on a Saturday night, I check Foursquare. If I want to click through hundreds of spring break photos, I scroll through my Facebook news feed. If I want the latest news from anywhere around the world, I pull up Twitter. I want, I want, I get, I get. Instantly. At 80 million strong, millennials, born roughly between 1980 and 2000, represent the largest age group in American history. Adolescents aspire to be us. Teenagers act as if they are, and baby boomers are just plain scared of a generation that boasts not only Olympiclevel texting abilities but also the education and opportunities they were denied. It’s also the generation that writer Joel Stein dubbed “The Me Me Me Generation” on the cover of Time in May 2013. “Millennials are lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents,” the subtitle fiercely proclaims. That assertion troubles me because I belong to this demographic club. And so I decided to examine the spiritual lives of the millennial generation. According to the Pew Research Center, one-third of adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated, the highest percentage ever. Most startling, nearly one in three Americans were raised in the Roman Catholic faith, yet today fewer than one in four describe themselves as Catholic. 16 ❘ Augus t 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

The Church is on the brink of a crisis. As the baby boomers reach retirement age, millennials are less likely to fill the pews, forcing the Catholic Church to rethink how it reaches 20and 30-somethings—the so-called “Me Me Me Generation”—not only on Sundays, but every day in between.

Religion and Technology I remember my first cell phone. I was a sophomore in high school driving an embarrassing, hand-me-down Buick LeSabre, and the simple flip phone was reassurance to my parents that 911 could be called at any time. Nearly 10 years later, I see toddlers with cell phones, already conditioned to send the more than 60

text messages the typical teenager sends daily. It’s no secret that millennials are dependent on technology—a true paradox as our relationships and faith life seem to be faltering, even as we grow more connected in the digital space. But it’s a mistake to blame technology for severing the ties between millennials and our personal relationships with God or a church community. In fact, these electronic tools represent opportunities for the Church to integrate with this generation in unprecedented ways. Sunday bulletins are no longer the only way for religious leaders to reach parishioners. For example, a simple Facebook post can reach more users faster than a church coordinator can

(Left) Author Jessica Zimanske believes that her generation—whose potential has been untapped—has a lot to offer the Church. (Below) A young woman tweets a message to pharmaceutical companies during a 2012 plenary session of the Interfaith Pre-Conference on HIV at Howard University in Washington, DC.

CNS PHOTO/PAUL JEFFREY; PHOTO ABOVE OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY JESSICA ZIMANSKE

Fr anciscanMedia.org

Augus t 2014 ❘ 17

CNS PHOTO/RICK MUSACCHIO, TENNESSEE REGISTER

type a single paragraph. And, since nearly every person in his or her 20s and 30s carries a cell phone, group texts are an easy and affordable way to invite young adults either to adoration or to a social event.

Father John Sims Baker, chaplain of University Catholic, formerly Vanderbilt Catholic, talks with student Elise Burgett as she reads e-mails from students signing up for a trip she is planning to the March for Life in Washington, DC.

Many religious leaders are already adapting to these popular forms of communication. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, boasts more than 130,000 Twitter followers who can view his daily tweets, hashtag and all. Only months after he was named pope, Pope Francis tweets as @Pontifex to an audience of more than 3 million followers around the world. Catholics of all ages can interact with Church leaders and other Catholics in ways their parents and grandparents could never have dreamed, forming a global pipeline for religious conversation, prayer networks, and more. As millennials, we listen to our iPods while texting and banking online because that’s the technology available and familiar to us. We’re not some new species that nonmillennials have to figure out. We’ve just mutated technologically and adapted to fit our electronic environment. Other generations have adjusted to change, though at a slower rate, and so we’re only asking the Church to adapt with us.

Revitalizing Potential for the Church This burgeoning Catholic generation continues to press the Church forward into the 21st century while simultaneously questioning how it will leave its mark. “Millennials are looking at a blank canvas in terms of leaving their mark on the Church,” says Megan Miller, 27, a Chicago-based editor for Wrapports, LLC, the parent company of the 18 ❘ Augus t 2014

Chicago Sun-Times. “In many ways, it’s like we’re all holding our brushes deciding who’s going to put the first colors up. “We have a stronger desire to encounter Mass and really know God,” she says. “We want the tradition and to know the teachings. These are the characteristics of millennials that will impact the Church—we have the potential to be the generation that reintroduces the world to our faith.” So how can the Catholic Church welcome us, the Catholic millennials, who can potentially lead this new evangelization effort? How can the Church encourage us to stay rooted in a faith community and eventually raise our families in the tradition of the faith? I believe that millennials will remain in or return to their faith when the Catholic Church creates a home for us. It’s clear that we’re different from any previous generation, so the Church needs to engage us differently. That doesn’t require either the Church or my generation to abandon our rich Catholic tradition or its core teachings. But it does mean that the Church needs to recognize what makes us unique and to create groups, services, and opportunities for involvement that meet our needs.

In Search of a Home After moving their futons and twin-sized sheet sets back into their parents’ homes postcollege, 20-somethings will also need a home for their spiritual lives. Many of the college campuses they left boast thriving Bible studies and student-led Masses or, in non-Catholic schools, Newman Centers for spiritual growth. So when these millennials come home, they often lose those supportive faith communities and are forced to integrate into their “old” churches where they’re more familiar with the Sunday school programs they might have attended than with adult ministries. Millennials like me want to feel that our parish can be our home at any age—and to feel that there are positions and opportunities for us to serve in that parish faith community. You may not see us at 7:30 a.m. Mass, but we’ll take advantage of the alternate Mass times and the virtual prayer networks that easily meld into our everyday lives. We have unique gifts that we want to use, particularly in our technological proficiency, but we need an invitation and reassurance that even though we may be past Confirmation age, we still have a role within and outside the Mass. To Tim Weiske, 26, a parish transformation St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

leader at the Archdiocese of Chicago, the most successful parishes encourage millennials to spearhead programs—often missing—that serve young adults. “Reflecting on my own parish’s vibrant young adult community, much of the reason for our vibrancy is that the young adults have been empowered to start new activities and refresh old [ones],” he says. “Parish leadership and staff provide important guidance, but the young adults themselves do most of the legwork to actually initiate and implement [them].”

Single-Living Support

■ According to the National Institutes of Health, 58 percent more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. ■ Forty percent of millennials believe they should be promoted every two years regardless of performance. © FRANCESCO RIDOLFI/PHOTOXPRESS

Marriage and family life have always served as a pillar of the Church community, but many millennials are not rushing to the altar postcollege or soon after. Marriage rates are at their lowest point in more than a century, and the median age for an American woman’s first marriage has risen from 20.6 in 1967 to 26.9 in 2011. Fewer people are marrying, and if they do, they’re waiting to tie the knot until they are stable in their finances and careers. Even if marriage rates continue to decline, it’s still the responsibility of—and the opportunity for—the Catholic Church to provide resources and support for Catholic singles who

The “Me Me Me Generation”?

■ According to the 2012 Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults, more people ages 18 to 29 live with their parents than with a spouse.

may eventually choose to enter into the Sacrament of Marriage or a consecrated single life. If we want a society rooted in family and Catholic values, the Church must show sin-

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Bringing the Catholic Faith to Life

Augus t 2014 ❘ 19

gles—many of them millennials—how to prepare for holy, Catholic, single, and married lives. Parishes should take note of online communities like CatholicMatch.com that are already

We know how to “brand” ourselves, creating our own websites in minutes and blazing a career and social path that sets us up for the next career move. I receive daily event updates from local young professional groups inviting me to networking events. How great would it be if some of those invitations came from my own parish, allowing me to network with faithful parishioners? With the right direction, the Church can teach tomorrow’s leaders how to think and act both ethically and morally. I think we can all agree that the corporate world could use more faith-filled leaders, and that begins within the Church and among the faithful members of the Church community.

CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ

‘We’ Instead of ‘Me’

Damian Wargo of Philadelphia poses a question to, from left, Monica Barnes of New York, Marysia Czaplinski of Brooklyn, and Claire Nerbun of New York, while playing the “Catholic Dating Game” during a Catholic Thrive conference in New York.

working to reverse the marriage decline and provide support for Catholic singles. In July 2013, CatholicMatch co-founder Brian Barcaro announced the new CatholicMatch Institute for dating and marriage, focused on advocacy, programs, and scholarships for single Catholics. “The increase in singles directly affects the marriage and religious vocations crisis,” Barcaro stated on the organization’s blog. Now parishes need to match these efforts and move beyond singles groups by creating a culture that welcomes singles and values them as much as families.

Balancing Work and Spiritual Lives

tal Digi as Extr

Millennials entering the workforce for the first time wonder how we can integrate our faith into our choices while still respecting the opposing views around us. When I graduated from a Catholic university in 2009 with a four-year degree Click here for more on that cost me more than I would millennials and the Catholic like to admit, I was immediChurch. ately thrown into the corporate world that didn’t care about my 30-page thesis or my extracurricular activities or my spiritual well-being. Naturally, just starting out, we’re unsure of how to achieve that elusive work/life balance everyone talks about, and we’re already wondering what our next job move should be.

20 ❘ Augus t 2014

But even if the Church creates new ministries and fully meets the spiritual needs of millennials, how can we be sure that they will positively impact the Church? Despite the unflattering statistics on entitlement, self-centeredness, and laziness, the millennial generation is composed of idealists and dreamers. My peers and I are earnest and optimistic and more accepting of differences than the generations that came before us. It’s clear that millennials are looking inward, but it’s also clear that we’re then looking outward—not at our smartphone screens or our Facebook walls but at the world around us and the opportunities it offers. In his Time article on millennials, Stein said it himself—this generation is ambitious, confident, and, more than anything, nice. Can you imagine how great our world could be if we could all just get along? The Catholic Church cannot change this technology-driven and ambitious generation. Nor should it. It’s we, the millennials, who can—and, given the chance, will—change the Church through our quick adoption of social media and our expectation of inclusive communities. Young Catholics have the power to thrive even within the “Me Me Me Generation” and create a Catholic millennial subculture that will finally usher the Catholic Church into the 21st century while staying true to its 2,000-year history. Don’t let the Time headline fool you, and don’t let the statistics scare you. We millennials will change the Church and, more importantly, the world. A Jessica Zimanske is a marketing professional and awardwinning freelance writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her website is jessicazimanske.com. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

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LIVE WELL

❘ BY COLLEEN MONTGOMERY AND JIM BRENNAN

Create an Organic Garden ment to plant seeds, grow plants, and harvest vegetables. Steps to make a garden organic include planting chemical-free seeds, using natural sources of fertilizer to build healthy soil, rotating crops, and applying natural substances and techniques to control pests. Organic practices can be applied to a garden of any size: cramped urban gardens, midsize urban community gardens, or large farms. Creative urban gardeners grow an abundance of produce in tight quarters using pots, raised beds, trellises, and hanging planters. For those with no space at all, community gardens exist in most metropolitan areas.

Go Organic

hen I’m turning the soil in my garden, sometimes I wonder how my father-in-law—a plasterer from the inner city with a very small backyard—knew so much about organic gardening. He taught me as a young man about the miracle of growing vegetables from seeds. Now, two generations later, my sons and daughters-in-law raise gardens while the grandchildren hunt around for ripe cherry tomatoes. And my daughter, Colleen, coauthor of this column, plans a garden for her first house. Organic gardening celebrates God’s earth by creating a natural and chemical-free environ-

2 2 ❘ Augus t 2014

As with any garden, select a place with adequate sun exposure (minimum six hours each day) and good drainage. Use organic or untreated seeds that are, ideally, indigenous to your region. These are available from garden centers, catalogs, or seed suppliers. Plants get nourishment from the soil, so feed the soil in your garden with complex nutrients, such as decaying leaf mold, compost, green manure, and dried animal manure. Complex nutrients are broken down by microorganisms, worms, and insects to feed plants naturally and provide immunity against pests and disease. Rotating crops can strengthen the soil by alternating related vegetables in different spots year to year. Likewise, planting root crops, such as carrots and onions, in places where non-root crops, such as tomatoes and peppers, were grown the season before is a healthy soil practice. As an organic alternative to pesticides, make plants and gardens less desirable to pests by taking preventive measures, such as weeding, using natural fertilizers that are resistant to pests, and managing moisture (drainage).

Promoting Wellness Organic gardening promotes wellness in many ways. It shows a respect for God’s earth, offers physical activity, relieves stress, restores St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

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Click here to learn more about starting your own organic garden.

It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’ —Luke 13:19

balance to life, and puts you in touch with nature. Get moving. Gardening uses a variety of muscles. When gardening, we bend, stretch, pull, and plant. More strenuous chores, such as assembling fixtures, constructing raised beds, erecting trellises, and building irrigation systems burn calories. It is estimated that a 150-pound person burns 326 calories per hour gardening. Eat nutritionally. Eating vegetables closer to their actual harvesting date means more vitamins and minerals. They also tend to be more flavorful. Find spirituality in nature. The soil is an ecosystem—a universe within a universe— created by God. Working the garden is a labor of love that creates a natural and wonderful connection with our Creator. Organic gardening is a wholesome and rewarding activity that pays wellness dividends. Preparing the soil, planting seeds, nurturing plants, and harvesting wholesome and healthy food is doing God’s work.

Beginner’s Dictionary ■

Organic gardening: Raising plants without the use of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides.

■

Untreated: Chemical-free.

■

Complex nutrients: Fertilizers, such as compost, green manure, and dried animal manure.

■

Green manure: Crops that have been uprooted and placed under the soil.

■

Compost: Natural fertilizer, such as eggshells, unused portions of vegetables and fruits, etc.

Jim Brennan writes about health and fitness from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Colleen Montgomery is a registered clinical exercise physiologist and certified wellness coach. They collaborate on this column. Fr ancisca n Media .org

PHOTO BY JACK KUSTRON

The Face of

Human Trafficking 24 ❘ Augus t 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

Theresa Flores grew up in a typical suburban neighborhood much like the one seen here. That, however, didn’t protect her from getting caught up in the world of human trafficking.

Theresa Flores was a typical Birmingham, Michigan, teenager until she was blackmailed into slavery. Now she’s telling her story. BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

HEN YOU HEAR the words human trafficking, what comes to mind? Do you think of the cocoa fields in Africa? Or brick workers in India? Well, you would be correct on both accounts. But would you also think of the young girl down the street? Theresa Flores’ neighbors probably didn’t, either. But according to statistics on human trafficking, there are many Theresas out there at this very moment. And Fr anciscanMedia.org

that, she says, is why she is telling her story. It took Theresa, now a licensed social worker, years before she was able to share her story about the horror of those two years. But she shares it, sometimes three times a day, she says, “because I know that this is my calling. God wanted me to put a face on this issue. And, as hard as it is, there’s always somebody coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I know somebody. . . .’ The Lord gives me strength, definitely.” Augus t 2014 ❘ 25

The Cold, Hard Facts So what is human trafficking? According to the United Nations, human trafficking is the transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of threat, use of force, or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploitation. It is the second-leading crime in the world and in the United States—after drugs. And according to the organization Free the Slaves, modern cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 US states. The top five states today for human trafficking, in order, are: California, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and Ohio. The top three cities are Atlanta, Seattle, and Toledo. Surprising? It shouldn’t be. Report after report shows that this growing problem is happening all around us.

A Horror Story Begins

Around the time these pictures were taken, Theresa was sneaking out of her house at night and being offered to men for sex by her traffickers. She tells her story in the book, The Slave Across the Street.

A Living Nightmare Her worst moment during her two-year ordeal, she says, was when she was kidnapped by this group that was trafficking her. It was probably

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THERESA FLORES

26 ❘ Augus t 2014

When her ordeal began, Theresa was a typical 15-year-old. As she says in her book, The Slave Across the Street, “I wasn’t a runaway. I wasn’t abused at home. I had professional parents, loving siblings, and a privileged lifestyle.” Theresa, a devout Catholic, relied heavily on her faith. Her family moved frequently because of her father’s job, and when Theresa was a freshman in high school, her parents announced that the family would be moving again. This time it was to Birmingham, Michigan, an affluent suburb of Detroit. Theresa and her three younger brothers once again found themselves acclimating to a new school and seeking out new friends. At the high school, Theresa encountered a wide array of ethnic cultures that she had not experienced before. She found it intriguing, and was particularly drawn to the kids of Arabic culture, which was prevalent in the school and community. One boy, in particular, caught her attention. Daniel, a fellow Catholic, was different from the other boys she had known, says Theresa, and that excited her. Her friends warned her that he was trouble. But she wasn’t listening. One day before track practice, Daniel approached Theresa, asking if she wanted a ride home. Thrilled that he had asked, she accepted. But before he took her home, Daniel said he

needed to make a stop at his house. In hindsight, Theresa says, she should have heeded the red flags in her mind. What happened next would change her life. Daniel invited her into his home, drugged her, and then proceeded to rape her. The following day, Theresa was met with a white envelope containing pictures Daniel’s cousins had taken of the incident, and a threat that the pictures would be distributed to people— including her father—if she didn’t work them off. She never imagined, though, what that work would entail. Daniel told her: “They want you to meet them tonight at my house to earn the pictures. You have to have sex with them.” But afterward, the pictures weren’t returned. So began a two-year slavery that had Theresa sneaking out of her house at night to be offered to strange men for sex. She endured constant harassment and threats of bodily harm, both to herself and to her family, if she didn’t comply with the demands of her traffickers. How could her parents not have known this was going on? In a 2009 interview with the Today show, Theresa said, “They had no signs beyond the normal teenage things—like your grades dropping and being tired. I was a teenager going through hormones, so they had no idea. “I was very good, as all these girls are, at hiding it, because they can’t tell their parents. The shame is so huge and they have no other options; they have nobody they can really talk to, they feel.” They also didn’t check her bed at night, something Theresa now recommends to parents.

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

around midnight when she was summoned. ing been sold over and over again, I took a She left her home barefoot and wearing her bath. And I believe that those were healing pajamas. They beat her, drugged her, and drove waters.” It is that connection with her to a hotel in Detroit. “What awaited me in this tiny motel room water that served as the founClick here for resources were about 20 men,” she recalls. “I was the only dation for the S.O.A.P (Save to help you learn more female, and I was auctioned off all night long Our Adolescents from Prostiabout human trafficking. tution) initiative, which is an until I passed out.” The next morning, Theresa says, she woke outreach of Theresa’s Traffickup, put on her pajamas, and realized she had free organization no shoes, no money, no ID, and no idea where (traffickfree.com). she was or what to do. She went into a little “How it came to be was diner near the hotel and encountered a wait- really divine,” says Theresa. “I had been asked ress whom Theresa firmly believes was an to go do a talk in Detroit, and I had not gone angel. “She just took one look at me and she knew,” Theresa recalls. “And she had the guts to say, ‘Can I help you?’ Nobody had ever said that. I came from the upper-middle-class neighborhood—the coaches, the teachers, the counselors—nobody ever said, ‘Can I help you?’” But even after what she had been since through the night before, her response was, “‘No, I’m OK.’ It seems so silly now, but it is really a very typical response because I thought, What can you do for me?” know? Even then, though, Theresa’s nightDid you ift ritable G mare was not over. She continued to be ord Cha is over W e in Div am trafficked until her family moved once y Progr nd that your Annuit A ? ld o again, removing her from the grips of years k of our hundred acting the wor ies a r p her captors. A fellow classmate, howim 1 count gift is ies in 7 ld? r a n ever, wasn’t quite so lucky. io s mis the wor around “It crushed me to watch her get into

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his car after school, knowing what was happening to her,” Theresa writes in her book. And while Theresa had escaped the immediate danger and suffering of her ordeal, the trauma continued to haunt her for years. She found some solace, however, in her faith. “I think that my religion and my faith in God are what saved me. I just prayed to the angels and to the Lord. And because I had a strong foundation in my religion before it happened, I know that is the only thing that got me through it.”

Your name (please print) Address

City

Healing Waters One thing that was always a constant throughout her ordeal, Theresa says, was water. “Every time that I would come home, every morning after havFr anciscanMedia.org

Phone

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Augus t 2014 ❘ 27

back to Detroit since I left there being trafficked. I had vowed I would never do it, but I kind of had a feeling that the Lord was preparing me in all my other talks around the country to get strong enough to go back because I kept running into survivors who said, ‘Oh, yeah, I had been trafficked in Detroit, too.’” She ended up lost and began to see the signs

Some Facts on

HUMAN TRAFFICKING ■ The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 is the main US federal law on trafficking. It has been reauthorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008. ■ The “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children” is the main international law on the subject. ■ 1 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year. ■ $32 billion is the total yearly profit generated by the human trafficking industry. ■ The average age of entry into sex trafficking is 13.

CNS PHOTO/LISA JOHNSTON, ST. LOUIS REVIEW

■ As many as 2.8 million children run away each year in the United States. Within 48 hours of hitting the streets, onethird of these children are lured or recruited into the underground world of prostitution and pornography. – The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ■ An estimated 300,000 children in the United States are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. – US Department of Justice ■ Child pornography is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States right now. Nationally, there has been a 2,500 percent increase in arrests in 10 years. –Federal Bureau of Investigation

28 ❘ Augus t 2014

from where her traffickers had taken her years ago. It was late at night, she recalls, “and I lost it. I said, ‘God what are you doing to me? I obeyed you. I came here to Detroit because you wanted me to and I can’t.’” Theresa says she thought about all the girls who had reached out to her, and how she herself had needed somebody to talk to back when she was being trafficked. “I thought, We have this human trafficking hotline number and they don’t know that. They don’t know they are a human trafficking victim. They just know they’re living in hell.” Theresa says she had the idea to put the phone number where they could see it, which is usually in motels. “I decided I would challenge God—which is usually never a good idea. I said, ‘So, God, if this is something you truly want me to do, what would I call this?’ and I heard, ‘SOAP.’ I thought, What would SOAP stand for? And it was literally like a second and it popped into my head: Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution. And so I started S.O.A.P.” The program started with the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas and continues to this day. (Major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the recent World Cup, tend to be draws for traffickers.) Volunteers put labels with the human trafficking hotline number (1-888-3737888) on bars of soap and offer them to hotels, as well as offer to educate the hotel workers about the red flags.

Spreading the Word Theresa says she shares her story because “I think that my story shows others hope and redemption.” She also wants people to be aware of the issue of human trafficking. She says that if she has one message for people about the issue it would be “that nobody does this by choice. Not one single person out there. Even if she says she does, she really doesn’t. Nobody would choose to have sex with 15 men a night, six to seven nights a week the whole year long. It’s very violent, it’s horrific, and nobody would choose to do that. They just don’t know a way out. And this is happening everywhere, in every single community. “So I travel and educate people on the issue. I want you to think of this. And I want it to haunt your dreams.” A Susan Hines-Brigger is the managing editor of this magazine. She has a BA in communication arts from the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

A Glorious Tribute!

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Exclusively from Ashton-Drake April 27, 2014, will forever be remembered as the day of the canonization of Pope John Paul II. Only nine years after his passing, his ascension to sainthood is the quickest in modern times, inspired by the chants of Santo Subito (“Sainthood Now!”) from the crowds gathered at his funeral Mass in 2005. “The Pilgrim Pope” was one of the Catholic Church’s most inﬂuential leaders, serving for almost 27 years and traveling to more than 100 countries to deliver his message of peace. Now you can honor this beloved Holy Father and his historic papacy with the Saint John Paul II Commemorative Edition. Beautifully sculpted by a master doll artist, it is hand-painted for touching realism. Unwavering attention to detail has been given to the crafting of his papal vestments embellished with golden trim and papal symbols. The edition is 17 inches high, including the custom display base which features an engraved brass-ﬁnished plaque.

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Pope and the Patriarch Francis’ was a bridge-building pilgrimage to a land marred by strife. BY JOHN FEISTER

30 ❘ Augus t 2014

T CNS/GIANCARLO GIULIANI, CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO

(Right) 1964’s meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras was a historic first that led to serious discussion of unity. The first step: rescinding 1054 AD’s mutual excommunications. Notice the clasped hands. (Above) Francis and Bartholomew exchange ideas as they celebrate the anniversary 50 years later.

HE HEADLINES were many when Pope Francis visited the Holy Land this past May 24-26. It was a pilgrimage of prayer and unity, as he said, a religious event. And, though politics are unavoidable when a world leader visits the Middle East, it was a historic, religious visit, in a political, and even religious, tinderbox. Pope Paul VI, in 1964, had been the first modern pope to visit the Holy Land. During that visit 50 years ago, there was a historic embrace that changed the climate— dramatically—for Christian unity, the embrace of Paul and Athenagoras I, leading patriarch of Orthodox Christianity. It was the first time the successor of St. Peter had embraced the successor of St. Andrew since before both the pope and the patriarch of 900 years ago had excommunicated each St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

CNS/PAUL HARING; BACKGROUND © TIERO/FOTOLIA

The

CNS/GRZEGORZ GALAZKA

other. (It’s a long story, one that includes the scandalous looting of Constantinople in 1204 by Roman Crusaders.) In those centuries before the 1960s, Catholics were discouraged from stepping foot into other Christian churches. But at Vatican Council II, it was the Orthodox representatives, invited by St. John XXIII, who helped Roman Catholic bishops understand the Church’s early liturgy. That understanding resulted in sweeping changes to the Mass (Liturgies of Word and Eucharist, and much more) that are considered normal today. Unity of the Roman Catholics with Orthodox Christians has been a big concern of popes since, most memorably, St. John Paul II, who even wrote an encyclical (“That They May Be One”) about it. It was John Paul who called our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters the other lung of the Church (“The Church must breathe Fr anciscanMedia.org

with two lungs!”). Now this pope, Francis, a man missing part of a lung, would seek out a way for the Church to breathe more fully. So Pope Francis went to the Holy Land to celebrate—and to further—1964’s embrace. He prayed with His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built around the sites of Golgotha and the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, scenes of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These two older men (74 and 77, respectively), kindred spirits, had become friends since the papal election. Bartholomew had attended Francis’ inauguration, another historic first. Their kneeling together, nearly prostrate, at the shrine of the anointing of Jesus, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was itself history. Peter and Andrew hadn’t prayed together at the Holy Sepulchre for a very long time.

(Above) “The message of the life-giving tomb is clear,” said Bartholomew: “love the other, the different other, the followers of different faiths and confessions.” Here Bartholomew and Francis kiss the Table of Anointing in the Holy Sepulchre, the first time pope and patriarch have prayed together so closely at Jesus’ tomb.

Augus t 2014 ❘ 31

CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO

(Above) Pope Francis made an impromptu decision, while driving through Bethlehem, to stop and pray at the wall that separates Palestine (the West Bank) and Israel. The Israeli government asked that the Holy Father stop the next day and pray at a memorial for victims of terrorism.

32 ❘ Augus t 2014

But that event was only one of the headlines of the Holy Father’s visit. A Church leader, after all, cannot step into the Holy Land without creating a political stir. Christians have been leaving Israel and the Palestinian territories in droves, as Israel continues to deepen its grasp on Palestinian land. The promise of 1993’s Oslo Agreement between Israel and Palestine never came to pass. After several meetings of Middle East bishops over the last few years, Pope Francis was there to encourage Christians to stay. The pope, stopping first in Jordan and visiting a UN refugee camp where Palestinians have lived since they were forcibly evicted by Israel in 1947, flew by helicopter directly to Bethlehem, avoiding entering via Israel’s restrictive border crossings. When he got there, he said he was in “Palestine,” a recognition of Palestine’s statehood, one sticky issue for Israel. While in Bethlehem, he made a Francis-like impromptu stop at the Wall of Separation—a sprawling 26-foot-high containment wall,

CNS/PAUL HARING

(Right) Pope Francis embraces Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.

Unity beyond Faith

extending for 43 miles as part of a 430-mile fenced-in barrier around the West Bank (Palestine), nearly complete, built by Israel. There he prayed—a photograph of which was seen worldwide. And he embraced Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Then he made historic appearance after St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: CNS/PAUL HARING

appearance in Israel, some at Christian sites, others at shrines sacred to Judaism and Islam: the Wailing Wall, the grave of Israel’s founding leader Benjamin Herzl, a sobering visit to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, where he wrote in the guestbook, “Never again!! Never again!!” He met at Islam’s sacred Dome of the Rock with the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein. All of it was accented by the presence, throughout, of his two Argentinean friends, Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Muslim leader Omar Abboud. This writer crossed paths with the papal party at the presidential palace of Nobel Prize winner and then-Israeli-president Shimon Peres. Plans were firmed up there to take advantage of another Francis-like gesture: the previous day’s invitation to Presidents Peres and Abbas and Patriarch Bartholomew to come to the Vatican to pray for peace (they indeed met in the Vatican gardens—see p. 12). Stalled commuters aside, the mood was electric in both Israel and Palestine. Fr anciscanMedia.org

(Above) St. John Paul II had placed a prayer in Jersusalem’s Western Wall, a sacrosanct place of prayer for Jews, asking forgiveness for the mistreatment of Jewish people. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had prayed there for peace among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Pope Francis placed in the wall the Lord’s Prayer, handwritten in Spanish.

But, as University of Notre Dame theologian and analyst Candida R. Moss wrote in the Daily Beast, the most important news of the trip was Pope Francis’ meetings with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. They discussed such seemingly mundane things as reestablishing a common date for Easter (to fix a “ridiculous”

(Left) “We did it!” Argentinian Rabbi Skorka (left) said to friends Pope Francis and Argentinean Muslim leader Omar Abboud, as the three embraced at the Western Wall May 26.

Augus t 2014 ❘ 33

CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO

(Right) Pope and Nobel Laureate President Peres embrace before members of an interethnic choir.

situation, said Pope Francis), but also signed a historic agreement to work together, both on unity and on such urgent issues as environmental stewardship. Soon after the Holy Land visit, early talk surfaced in the Vatican press office about their While in Israel, John talked to the director of a program that brings children of different faiths together to learn about each other and to build peace. Click here to visit their site. Click the button on the left to hear the interview.

34 ❘ Augus t 2014

intention to bring Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops together in Iznik, Turkey, site of ancient Nicaea, to commemorate the upcoming (2025) 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Nicaea was a foundational Council for the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, one whose creedal agreement, the Nicene Creed, we recite at Eucharist to this day (“We believe in one God, the Father almighty . . .”). It would be centuries after that council before Roman Catholicism would set its own course apart from the Eastern Churches, in the Great Schism of 1054, whose excommunications of pope and patriarch modern-day Paul and Athenagoras would renounce in 1965. Fifty years later, in May of this year, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew would start the wheels rolling faster toward an eventual reunion of Christianity, East and West. It was a historic time together in Jerusalem. A CNS/TSAFRIR ABAYOV, EPA

(Above) At Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, Pope Francis lays a wreath as President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu look on. Francis would take the unprecedented act of kissing the hands of survivors during the ceremony. Patriarch Bartholomew would place a similar wreath next to Francis’ the next day.

Editor in Chief John Feister attended the papal visit, courtesy of Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. He has master’s degrees in humanities and theology from Xavier University. 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 Power of

Spiritual Direction It’s a comfort, a challenge, and a time-honored way to guide you back to God. BY JOE MCHUGH

PIRITUAL DIRECTION, an ancient Christian practice of spiritual guidance, remains a lifeline for many contemporary believers who want to grow in an intimacy with God that shows itself in ever more faithful love and service. After 40 years of involvement with it—receiving it, giving it, and teaching it—I’ve concluded that few experiences are so consistently misunderstood and chameleonlike than spiritual direction. Few lay Christians have even heard of it, but those who have incorrectly figure it’s an ethereal, gnostic-like ritual reserved for priests, religious, and other professional holy types. Others equate it with getting religious advice, solving personal problems, or a rebranded form of pastoral counseling. Processes like these can help us decide what we need to do or how to map out an action plan, but none really gets at the heart of what spiritual direction is about. The term itself is deceptive, easily giving the impression of somebody being directive in the extreme by telling us exactly what to do. Instead, spiritual direction helps a person find and embrace his or her own direction in, with, and toward God. My goal is to introduce you to spiritual direction, explain how it works, and show you how to get involved with it. But before we get

36 ❘ Augus t 2014

started, you’ve got to jettison the misguided notion that spiritual direction is above your head. Instead, replace it with the belief that spiritual direction can help many ordinary Christians grow in faith, hope, and love. Simply stated, spiritual direction is help that one believer offers to another to notice, understand, and respond to the personal word of resurrected life that God speaks into our lives. A considerably less formal description: personal training for the soul.

Silent Hearts Contemporary believers seeking a deep, personal experience of God will recognize a kinship with St. Ignatius of Loyola, who taught in St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

the 16th century that “it is not in an abundance of knowledge that the soul is satisfied, but in the interior sense and taste of spiritual things.” Doctrine assisted by theology calls us to join the Christian community intellectually. In the end, however, we believe in God, not in ideas about God. Doctrine always begins in God and must always lead us back to God. Those who are no longer satisfied with just knowing about God, but have a desire to know and experience God, make good candidates for spiritual direction. Our spiritual lives come alive in this “sense and taste,” an ever-deepening personal experience of a God who never fails to love us, Fr anciscanMedia.org

gives us cause for hope, and offers us the fullness of life we see in Jesus. Gospel stories have the power to change us, but healing and transformation happen when the silence of our hearts touches the infinite silence of God’s sheltering, sacred heart. This touch is the stuff of spiritual direction, and God always takes the initiative in calling us to grace (1 Jn 4:10). We live perpetually suspended in the give-and-take between God’s approach and our response in faith, hope, and love. It might seem counterintuitive, but spiritual direction has more to do with what God does than what we do. As our spiritual center of gravity moves from us to God’s activity,

Spiritual direction is not a high-minded, esoteric exercise that many believe it to be. Rather, it is simply a way to reconnect with the soul, with faith, with God.

Augus t 2014 ❘ 37

spiritual direction helps us clarify what God’s actions might mean in terms of our personal response. God’s call is never abstract: we are always called by name. When we decide to take responsibility for our spiritual growth, it’s also an opportune time to reflect on our image of God. Sometimes we think of God as a heavenly GPS device that gives turnby-turn directions about what we ought to do. In this divine scheme of things, we get a pass on having to make decisions on our own because God’s will is always clear: we only need to do as directed. In real life, however, God calls us to freedom and responsibility by handing us a map and saying, “Keep your destination clear, but make your own decisions about which roads you need to take to get there. Be responsible for what you do and who you become.” These kinds of decisions initiate us into the sometimes scary “freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).

Setting Manageable Goals A competent spiritual director can help us negotiate the roads we choose and the detours we’ll inevitably meet on the way. Our choices start in prayer and discernment, the content of the spiritual direction conversation. I joke with people that we often have to stop praying so we can learn how to pray. Think of prayer the way we described spiritual direction: both start in what God does, not in what we do. But while prayer needs to make room for saying prayers and engaging in the public prayer of liturgy, it also

Examen Getting Started On a regular basis, spend time with God by reflecting and praying about the rhythm of your life. ■ What

did I depend on?

■ Where ■ How

did I find life?

was God at work?

Keep brief notes and keep looking forward with God.

Conversion of the Heart has to make explicit room for God to pray in us. Just as there is always give-and-take in any healthy relationship, prayer always comes with both active and contemplative moments. It’s these contemplative moments we often need to learn. Our active and productive muscles are typically overdeveloped, while our silent and receptive muscles usually need to be strengthened and flexed. Sometimes we need to learn how to wrestle with—not against—God. Perhaps that is a good way to characterize the often misunderstood process of discernment. Stated most simply, discernment is seeing things as they really are in origin and trajectory. What apparently starts in God is proved authentic only if it leads us back to God. Discernment can get dicey when selfishness and pride obscure the voice and presence of God. We often need a spiritual director to keep us

Getting Started with Lectio Divina Start by reading the Letters to the Galatians, Philippians, or Colossians. ■

Slowly read a chapter at a time.

■

Listen for places that grab your soul.

■

Reflect, with the Lord, on what might account for your attraction to a particular word, phrase, or idea.

■

Keep brief notes and don’t be afraid to read the same passage over and over, as long as you continue to find life in it.

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honest and attentive to how we are being moved in our hearts to do or to pull back from something. When I’m asked how to get started in spiritual direction, I usually encourage people to learn how to tolerate quiet and look carefully for traces of God. Trying to spend 10 minutes a day in the car without the radio is a good place to start. Set manageable goals for your gradual immersion in quiet. If you don’t, you’ll get discouraged and stop trying. We turn to noise and chatter to protect us, but silence is often where God chooses to spend time with us.

Be sure to develop the discipline of spending quiet time reflecting on what you are experiencing. Don’t just think about what happens, but write it down. When we do, we often find an instructive pattern in what we experience that can teach us about God and ourselves. Over time, the quiet emptiness we interiorly experience is transformed through grace into holy silence: quiet is empty; silence is full. St. Ignatius of Loyola encouraged his followers to engage in “spiritual conversation” on a regular basis. Spiritual direction is one form of spiritual conversation. But before making a decision about engaging in one-on-one spiritual direction, many people I work with find it helpful to do it first in a group. Whether it’s practiced one-on-one in traditional spiritual direction or in a group of spiritual friends, Ignatius was not encouraging theological discussions, but rather conversations of the heart: gracious dialogue about how God seems to be at work in the hearts of those gathered in God’s name. Sometimes spiritual direction replaces or complements group spiritual conversation, but I see spiritual friendship groups as a way for people to develop the spiritual vocabulary they need to describe the interior movements they experience. To do this individually or in a group, it’s often helpful to read something, reflect on it, pray about it, and then talk about it. This gives folks new to the St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

Doing Gospel Contemplation

process a sense of how a relationship with God can unfold and the language they need to identify what’s going on. Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian Spirituality by Margaret Silf is a great book to read first. It’s filled with helpful information and excellent exercises for reflection and prayer. Her other book, Close to the Heart, and Anthony Bloom’s classic Beginning to Pray are also effective tools in helping us learn to pray. I’m not suggesting that gathering a group of spiritual friends together for prayer and conversation has to come before individual spiritual direction. What I am saying, however, is that many people find it to be a good first step. For some, the group is all they need, while others eventually migrate into individual spiritual direction.

Things to Look For Learning the Examen, or praying with Scripture—often called the practice of lectio divina—and the art of Gospel contemplation taught by St. Ignatius of Loyola are indispensable prayer practices to learn. Countless online resources are available to assist with learning this practice. But while reading about prayer may help us, we learn to pray by praying. God’s spirit will not let us down. Here are some tips: ■ Committing to prayer as a life value, and setting up a reasonable, achievable Fr anciscanMedia.org

■

Start with the first 10 chapters of the Gospel of Mark. Read slowly, looking for your place in the story.

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Picture yourself in the story: Where are you? Who are you with? What’s being said? What do you want to say? Does your place change as you read further?

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What are you feeling and what are you learning?

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Keep brief notes and, once again, pray with this same story as long as it moves you and awakens God’s spirit in you.

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Don’t be afraid to be silent.

rhythm of doing it, is a must in genuine spiritual growth. Keeping yourself accountable is much different than feeling guilty when your practice isn’t perfect. ■ Don’t be afraid of silent pauses in your prayer, and act against the temptation to be busy when it happens. Give God a chance to speak in a language and grammar grounded in silence. ■ Keep up the practice of journaling about your experience of God in silence and activity. Make it simple and doable—just a couple of sentences each time. Your objective is not to write the great American novel, but to start seeing patterns, not isolated events. If you feel more comfortable with a nonverbal journal, do so. Finding an experienced, trustworthy spiritual director, however, can be challenging. Don’t immediately assume that all priests, religious, or pastoral ministers know spiritual direction. Many of them are trained in pastoral counseling, but few are trained in the art of spiritual direction. Network for suggestions, call retreat houses or spirituality centers, and ask pastors and pastoral ministers for leads. Spiritual Directors International is a worldwide association of spiritual directors. You’ll find a directory of spiritual directors in your area at sdi world.org.

Interview potential spiritual directors, and find somebody you feel confident can support and challenge you. Then, agree to talk for a trial period, after which both of you can decide if it seems helpful to continue. Don’t be afraid to tell a spiritual director you want to change directors: your relationship with God is more important than the individual ego of any director. You’ll probably find your best source for a new spiritual director is one you’ve had in the past. Spiritual direction is, of course, no spiritual panacea, and not everyone makes a good candidate for it. But it is a practice that has proved a grace-filled way of growing into Christ. Your Christian birthright is an ever-deepening intimacy with God, and, as a result, don’t be satisfied with just knowing about God. You’re far too precious in God’s eyes to let that happen. A Joe McHugh is a spiritual director, retreat leader, teacher, and the author of Startled by God: Wisdom from Unexpected Places (Franciscan Media). He can be reached at spiritualdirectiontwincities.com.

Click here for more resources on prayer and spiritual direction.

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Augus t 2014 ❘ 39

EDITORIAL

Racism: It’s Far from Over How much progress have we made? Racism keeps showing up when we least expect it. Donald Sterling’s racist rant last April about African Americans has led Adam Silver to ban him for life from the National Basketball Association and forced the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers. Racist taunts against soccer players in Spain, England, and other countries have become increasingly common. Unfortunately, similar incidents occur in the United States at all levels of sport competition and in many other parts of daily life. People sometimes try to mask racist behavior by claiming that they are simply plainspoken or telling it like it is. But are they?

Hiding behind Political Correctness Racists claim that all members of some ethnic group reflect certain positive characteristics or negative traits. Even though we may rarely say, “They’re all like that,” all too often that’s the spirit behind our words. We can praise Swiss compassion or excoriate Chinese greed as though either group has a monopoly on those traits. “This may not be politically correct, but . . . ,” we hear people say—or may even say ourselves. That same disclaimer can disguise intolerance based on race, religion, gender, social status, or sexual identity. None of this reflects the fact the speaker and the individuals so carelessly lumped together are, in fact, women or men individually made in the image and likeness of God—and loved by God. The deck can easily be stacked against some group after others assume that all decent people never act as members of the targeted group do. Evil thrives by creating a socially acceptable cloak of “this action or attitude is no big deal. I’m simply being realistic.” Systemic evils such as racism always claim to be more realistic than any challenges to their favored status quo, but they never are. 4 0 ❘ Augus t 2014

Only an illusory bubble can prop them up or try to make them look respectable within a constantly shrinking comfort zone.

Respecting Each Person Although the signers of our Declaration of Independence affirmed the “inalienable right” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” we know those men did not mean that slaves, women, or poor people possessed these same rights. In fact, a few of those signers helped 11 years later to write the US Constitution, which banned for 20 years any interference in the international slave trade. Furthermore, they agreed to count every five male slaves as though they were three white men in order to elect white men to the US House of Representatives. That’s all very normal according to that text. Let’s admit that no ethnic group or individual has perfectly clean hands. People deserve a Would any racist certain respect simply for dare to take a DNAbeing human beings. They don’t have to earn it each swab test from day by meeting someone ancestry.com? else’s standard of what is required for respect. These five suggestions will help challenge racism wherever any of us encounters it: • Watch your own language. Do not feed the fires of bigotry. “We have met the enemy and they is us,” said a character in the Pogo comic strip. • Question sweeping generalizations about what “they” always do or never do. • Support organizations that oppose efforts to demonize people because of their race or for a similar reason. • Oppose any actions within organizations to which you belong if those actions reflect a racist attitude—no matter how genteel or normal it may seem. • Work on common projects with men and women of other ethnic groups. Racism has the last word only if it remains unchallenged. —Pat McCloskey, OFM St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

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My Unlikely

Companion In the midst of a health crisis, this woman found a kindred spirit in a great Catholic author. B Y M A U R E E N P R AT T

F PHOTO OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR COURTESY W.A. SESSIONS; BACKGROUND BASED ON A PHOTO BY MICHAEL GILLETT

LANNERY O’CONNOR and I have something in common besides being Catholic writers. She had lupus. So do I. When I was nearly 38 years old, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, and my life turned upside down. At the time, I was working in the business world, conducting an African American gospel choir at a Catholic church in Los Angeles, getting my writing career off the ground, and enjoying a rich social life. All that changed, however, when the rheumatologist told me, “Lupus is trying to kill you. If you don’t stop and take care of yourself right now, it will.” A year before the diagnosis, I had started feeling unusually, profoundly sick. A red rash crept across my cheekbones, my long, blond hair fell out in clumps, my hands were weak and often could not reliably hold a cup of coffee. I bruised easily, was spiking fevers, and felt bone-tired despite long stretches of sleep. On business trips, I started oversleeping my alarm. Throughout that year, I prayed for wisdom, patience, and guidance to know what to tell my doctors and what to ask. It was just after one of those prayers that words spilled out of my mouth one day in my dermatologist’s office. “I know something is wrong. Please do some tests. Humor me.” My doctor complied. The tests showed very active, destructive lupus activity. Throughout my life, I have believed that God is in control of my life. With the diagnosis, I was shaken, even a little afraid. But I never doubted God, nor did my faith waver.

Fr anciscanMedia.org

I did, however, have a huge question: How would my life unfold from now on? Of course, I prayed. My mother, my church community, and other close friends gave me wonderful support. But my writing mentor had a very unusual response: “You must read Flannery O’Connor,” the late theologian and preacher Walter J. Burghardt, SJ, told me.

Common Ground Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic author from Georgia whose work is considered among the most masterful ever written by an American. She’s right up there with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. She wrote from a deep well of Catholic faith—although most of her characters were not Catholic—earning accolades and harsh criticisms as, increasingly, the literary world and, indeed, society were pressured to turn from mystery and faith to “rational” reality. As a writer and a dedicated Catholic, I could appreciate and learn greatly from O’Connor’s work. But I hesitated, at first, to follow through with Father Burghardt’s suggestion for one unsettling reason: On August 3, 1964, at the age of 39, she died from her lupus. I was diagnosed at 38. When you are facing a potentially lifethreatening diagnosis of your own, the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time reading the work of someone who died of the same disease. Over the next few weeks, I read about lupus, but found more questions and no clear answers. Augus t 2014 ❘ 43

Lupus brought many lifestyle restrictions— no work, no sun, avoid potential infections, eliminate stressful situations (as if the diagnosis weren’t stressful!). As someone who was used to being busy, these were hard to deal

Above all the critical writing that has been published concerning her technique, faith, and even her humor, the more compelling truth about Flannery is that she really faced death by living.

PHOTO BY JOE MCTYRE

The Habit of Being

Flannery O’Connor had a lifelong fascination with birds. By the end of her life, dozens of peacocks roamed the grounds of Andalusia, the house where O’Connor spent her final years.

with. I also had to cope with side effects from medications, especially high-dose steroids and a weekly dose of a chemotherapy drug. Insomnia, nausea, migraines, and brain fog were frequent antagonists. O’Connor’s fiction did not appeal to me in my oh-so-sick state. But another book eventually won over my hesitation: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor. There, my lupus journey met with hers, with much common ground, insight, and, yes, even humor.

Facing Death by Living Oh, that book was heavy! My arthritic fingers couldn’t hold it comfortably, and I could only read in short spurts at first. But immediately, this Southern Catholic author, with her sharp observations and far-ranging themes, went from being “O’Connor” to “Flannery.” What makes the book so special is that, although most of the letters were written when she was struggling physically with lupus, she clearly was no victim of the disease. Rather, the experience of living with a death sentence did not stop her from writing, reaching out in friendship to others, and, most especially, from nurturing and practicing a full, rich life as a devout Catholic. Flannery’s correspondence with friends, fellow authors, agents, editors, priests, religious, and even total strangers is a personal look at the grace and practicalities needed to follow God’s call to action, vocation, and evangelization. 44 ❘ Augus t 2014

Flannery’s letters began shortly before learning she had lupus. From childhood, she’d wanted to be a writer, and she expected she’d have to live away from home to accomplish her goals. She earned a degree from Georgia State College for Women, then a master of fine arts (MFA) degree from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Afterward, she participated in Yaddo artists’ colony in New York. She was surrounded by the best writing teachers and authors of the day, and began earning critical acclaim and notice for her short stories. She moved to New York City, and then Connecticut, where she continued working on her first novel, Wise Blood. The parallels between her pursuit of life experiences and learning, and my own, I think, are eerily strong. I, too, had wanted to be a writer from a very young age. I understand the satisfaction and confidence that come from the hard work required to earn an MFA from a top program, the burst of enthusiasm when first pursuing literary representation and publication. I also empathize with being a person of faith writing in a secular artistic environment—early on, you learn to stand your ground and defend yourself. But, above all, I understand the devastation when all the forward momentum you’ve created is suddenly, cruelly derailed with the diagnosis of lupus. Flannery returned home for Christmas in 1949, already ill, and was definitively diagnosed with lupus in 1951. But for a few occasions, she spent the remainder of her life with her mother, Regina, on Andalusia, a family farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, south of Atlanta. There, she lived out her faith, producing story after story, novels, and countless letters and essays. She even raised a large brood of squawky, flashy peafowl! In her letters, she doesn’t dwell on lupus, but Flannery does cover familiar ground. She writes about having to avoid the sun, conserve energy, and take medication regularly. Fatigue was a huge factor, and her writing process, although very regular (she had a habit of writing twoSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

Essential Reading by Flannery O’Connor Wise Blood (1952) O’Connor’s first novel is about the brutal and unpredictable life of a returning World War II soldier.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) A masterwork of short stories, A Good Man Is Hard to Find tackles everything from sacraments to serial killers.

The Violent Bear It Away (1960) A novel about death, family, destiny, and religion, The Violent Bear It Away is O’Connor at her most audacious and relevant. PHOTO BY JOE MCTYRE

Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic writer whose novels, short stories, and essays were fueled by her faith. And though she never experienced fame or adulation for her work during her short lifetime, she is now regarded among critics as one of the most important Southern writers. For those who are unfamiliar with her writing, the following are some of her most famous and important works.

Laughter and Lemonade From describing side effects of taking ACTH, a form of corticosteroid, to her comments about having to use first, a cane, and then crutches, Flannery’s ability to find and express humor crackles throughout The Habit of Being. It is one of the things that draws me to the book still today, especially if I’ve experienced a setback or need a little lift. Fr anciscanMedia.org

Another collection of short stories, Everything that Rises Must Converge addresses themes of family, racism, tradition, and madness. Humor for Flannery was also an extension of her gifts of perception, which enabled the writer in her to make the most of isolation from more cosmopolitan stimuli. It’s a good lesson for other authors to learn, too; readers who are entertained, even a little, are more inclined to be attracted to the work as a whole. Today, we also know that laughter is a potent weapon against the bad effects of illness. There are physiological benefits—an uplifted mood, for example—and social reasons—what better way to draw people, not repel them. But there is also something profoundly faith-centered about seeing humor and practicing laughter to help us look upon our health challenges as gifts with, sometimes, hidden blessings. The scientific studies were made years after Flannery’s death, but she sure came by humor honestly! Flannery’s humor, determination, faith, and humanity have encouraged and inspired me throughout my lupus journey. I have gone back and read her fiction again with fresh eyes and have learned much from that, too. But above all, I glean determination in Flannery O’Connor’s letters. This was someone who died from lupus, but who lived as fully as she possibly could, in the most grace-filled sense, for the time she was given. She endured pain, setbacks, and physical deterioration, and

(Above) O’Connor never achieved the same level of success that other Southern writers of her time had. But she is now considered a master of character, theme, and foreshadowing.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL GILLETT

three hours every morning), was slow, a comforting revelation to me because I’d been a quick writer prior to lupus and was finding it difficult to adapt to a slower pace. As a writer concerned with all matters of faith and mystery, it must not have escaped her that lupus is the quintessential “mystery” illness—no understanding of what causes it, no cure, no way to control when it will flare and what organs it will affect. As Flannery turned her writing talents to diving into stories that lived in mystery, she must have called upon this other, physical sense of mystery, too, as she drew her vivid descriptions. Certainly, it did not escape her that her father had died from lupus when she was 15 years old. That was a terribly difficult life event, but with her diagnosis, in her letters, there is no sense of horror or dread of the future. Rather, she had an arsenal of gifts that she used in her battle to live as she felt she ought, gifts that are still very valid and important to us today.

Everything that Rises Must Converge (1965)

“I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing,” O’Connor once wrote in one of the many letters she wrote in her life. Augus t 2014 ❘ 45

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL GILLETT

PHOTO COURTESY W.A. SESSIONS

O’Connor (pictured top right) lived at Andalusia, a 544-acre plantation in Baldwin County, Georgia, from 1951 until her death in 1964. Her Catholic faith was not only the engine to her writing, but also her life. A photo of the Sacred Heart of Jesus still hangs on a stairwell wall (top left). Once calling the South “Christ-haunted,” O’Connor wrote two novels and two collections of Christ-haunted short stories during her time at Andalusia.

without a constant and healthy dose of each, punctuated by frequent visits with Flannery O’Connor’s ever-giving letters.

Fighting Isolation

she fought each lupus-laced step, so that she could experience the joy of fulfillment of her vocation. “That’s Flannery,” W.A. Sessions, one of the writers with whom Flannery corresponded, told me. “You just don’t copy joy; you have to fight for it. You have to stalk it.” You must have joy (which comes from living our vocation), determination (not to fight the disease, but to fight for living), and faith (constant, full, and expressed). They don’t make a medical prescription of these, but I couldn’t imagine a life with lupus 46 ❘ Augus t 2014

Lupus can be very isolating. Flares, fear of infection, and lack of energy for even the briefest conversation can make forging relationships difficult at best. In Flannery’s arsenal of gifts was a strong commitment to use her vocation of writing to nurture and maintain relationships with people in the broad world beyond Andalusia. In person, I learned recently, she was not a great talker. Dorrie Neligan, with her husband and daughter, were parishioners at the same church Flannery and her mother attended, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Milledgeville, Georgia. “What do I remember most about Flannery?” Mrs. Neligan told me. “Her absence of small talk. A mutual friend once stated that Flannery could be silent in 50 languages. Flannery was always in charge of her life—whether seated at the typewriter, dealing with a crippling disease, or maintaining daily correspondence. By nature, she was a very reticent person.” Yet this reticence does not reflect in her prolific correspondence—the best way for her, with her limited energy, to be present to others, often offering advice, prayers, and sometimes even very pointed critiques. Today, we have myriad ways to reach out to others from the confines of our sickbeds or homes—many more than Flannery could have imagined. The totality of The Habit of Being St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g

reminds us that, when we are determined to not be solitary, isolated from the world, we can find ways to join in with others, even if we have limited energy.

Faith and Vocation

understood, as I have come to understand, that, despite what society might expect, God often has other plans. The restrictions of lupus were extreme, the physical effects painful and increasingly difficult to abide. But Flannery’s life on Andalusia afforded her long stretches of time, quiet, and care within which to write. She could live out her vocation there as she might not have been able to do elsewhere. I’ve come to understand this, Click here for more too: adversity is painful, but if on Flannery O’Connor. we trust God, we are open to seeing the many blessings that come from it. Without lupus, I would not have enjoyed the many blessings that have come from it. I would never have made the friends I have, nor deepened my understanding and compassion for others, as I have. And I would certainly not have been able to write the books that I have, nor even this article! A

Above all these and other tools that Flannery had at her disposal, none were more meaningful than prayer and the practice of her Catholic faith. It was through these that she discovered and developed her vocation as a writer, and it was because of these that her work is so tal Digi as full and strong. Extr Before I was 18 years old, I’d had pneumonia 13 times. During those long days and weeks of sickness, my mother introduced me to Catholic prayers and a very important lesson that I carry to this day: “Even if no one else is with you, you can always talk to God.” In The Habit of Being, I got the sense that Flannery was having nonstop, full-on conversations with God. Faith was central to her life and work, and she nurtured every aspect of it that she could, from personal prayer—especially the Divine Office and the Prayer of St. Maureen Pratt is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, CalRaphael—to near-daily attendance at the pre- ifornia, and the author of six books, including Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness. Her website is Vatican II, Latin Mass at the local parish. She was not unopinionated about some maureenpratt.com. aspects of the Church (the commercialization of shrines, for example), but sive observed protocol, even asking for perImpres ches n mission to read a book that was on 16½ hiigh the Index of Forbidden Books, a list of Masterpiece Framed Plate publications Catholics were prohibby Warner Sallman ited from reading before 1967. For more than 70 years artist Warner Critics of the Church might think Sallman’s image of Jesus Christ has been a defining image of our Lord. this kind of structure stifled creativity Now, this masterpiece of devotional and individual thinking. But Flannery art makes a stunning debut in O’Connor’s writing proves just the “The Lord’s Prayer” Masterpiece Framed Plate, limited to 3,500 opposite—habit enabled her creativworldwide. ity to blossom. Imagery and words unite for a The recent publication of A Prayer two-in-one work of art Journal: Flannery O’Connor reveals that, Available only from The early in her writer’s journey, Flannery Bradford Exchange, this limited edition pairs words to “The wants to be able to give up all else in Lord’s Prayer” with Warner order to write as she was born to do. Sallman’s luminous portrait of She asks for strength to resist distracChrist. The gently curved shape of the plate adds subtle depth and tions, even romantic ones. dimension to this moving union of In Flannery’s time, Catholic women art and prayer. A mahogany-finish usually either married or entered a relioval frame encircles the plate for the perfect finishing touch. gious order. Even now, as a devout Catholic woman, I sometimes find others uncomfortable with the notion that To ﬁnd out more and to order, go to I can be content, even thrive, single Shown much www.bradfordexchange.com/pray and unaffiliated with an order. smaller than actual ©Warner Press, Anderson, Indiana. Used with Permission. size of 16½ inches high All rights reserved. ©2014 BGE 01-16895-001-Z But Flannery’s faith life was so full, x 10½ inches wide and her clarity so precise, that she

“The Lord’s Prayer”

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Augus t 2014 ❘ 47

SHORT TAKE

❘ BY SHARON CROSS

A Few Minutes with Joseph Girzone This best-selling author says there are still more lessons to glean from the teachings of Jesus. Father Joseph Girzone has spent his life leading people to Jesus. He accomplished that in a big way after he retired in 1981 and wrote the best-selling Joshua series. Father Girzone talks with St. Anthony Messenger about his new book, Stories of Jesus: 40 Days of Prayer and Reflection, and what he hopes readers take away from it. Why write stories about Jesus? Because he’s our religion. I’ve found out, in my almost 50 years as a priest, that most Christians don’t know anything about Jesus other than what they read in the Gospels. You really cannot get to know Jesus in any depth just by reading the Gospels. What I tried to do in the book was to examine, as thoroughly and concisely as I could, the life of Jesus, to trace his pathway through the plan that his Father had for him so that we could get a glimpse of the most important episodes in Jesus’ life that were ultimately leading to the end of his life and to his ultimate victory with the Resurrection. How does one get to know Jesus? You have to spend a life living inside of the Gospels. The secret to really getting to know Jesus is contemplative prayer, and nobody teaches contemplative prayer anymore, except the monks. So people don’t know how to pray? Very few people know how to pray. We’re great in prayers of petitions—asking God for all kinds of things—but people don’t realize that the best kind of prayer is the prayer of

listening because God has so many things to share with us. In contemplative prayer, you listen. Why is prayer so important? My experience is that everybody’s hurting. Whether they are rich people or poor people, everybody’s hurting. From my experience through the years, I have found that perhaps 90 percent of the people on earth have been in some way damaged from childhood. I don’t think anybody arrives at a mature age without having been damaged in some way—very, very painfully. And a lot of times it gets in the way of living their religion. So many times, they were damaged by what they were taught about religion and what they were taught about God. People desperately need healing. Clergy have to learn to be compassionate and look at people the way Jesus did. Don’t see their sins, but be compassionate enough and let them know that, in spite of their sins, Jesus wants to embrace them. What do you hope readers gain from this newest book? What I try to do in the book—in all my books—is to help people realize that Jesus loves you just as you are, even with your sins. All he wants to do is reach out to you, hoping that you’ll accept him and let him heal you as he embraces you and identifies himself with you. It’s that simple. Just let Jesus hug you and heal you. Sharon Cross produces audiobooks for Franciscan Media. Associate Editor Christopher Heffron contributed to this article.

tal Digi as t Ex r

Click here for more on Father Joseph Girzone.

4 8 ❘ Augus t 2014

St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

New Audiobooks and Presentations from Franciscan Media! Listen to your favorite spiritual authors on the road, in the gym, and at your leisure. Coming in September!

Coming in August!

Sacred Fire A Vision for a Deeper Christian and Human Maturity Ronald Rolheiser

Eager to Love The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi Richard Rohr

Beloved author Ronald Rolheiser continues his search for an accessible and penetrating Christian spirituality in this highly anticipated follow-up to the contemporary classic, The Holy Longing. With his trademark acuity, wit, and thoughtfulness, Rolheiser shows how identifying and embracing discipleship will lead to new heights of spiritual awareness and maturity.

Francis found an “alternative way” to follow Jesus, one that disregarded power and privilege and held fast to the narrow path of the Gospel. Rohr helps us look beyond the birdbath image of the saint to remind us of the long tradition founded on his revolutionary, radical, and life-changing embrace of the teachings of Jesus. Rohr draws on Scripture, insights from psychology, and literary and artistic references to weave together an understanding of the tradition as first practiced by St. Francis.

Audiobook, read by Al Hirt, O.F.M. Item #A36853 978-1-61636-853-1 | $49.99

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Thomas Merton in Audio

Rohr considers the power and healing of God, and directs our attention to our need for the divine and our victory through connecting to God.

Coming in September! New Seeds of Contemplation

Audio Presentation Item #A36825 | 978-1-61636-825-8 | $29.99

One of Thomas Merton’s most widely read and best-loved books, New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. Audiobook, read by Jonathan Montaldo Item #A36820 | 978-1-61636-820-3 | $49.99

On Pilgrimage Lourdes, Holy Land, Assisi, Rome

Walk with Richard Rohr as a pilgrim in the footsteps of Jesus in the Holy Land, of St. Francis in Assisi, and of other saints and those of faith in Lourdes and Rome.

Thoughts in Solitude

Audio Presentation Item #A36829 | 978-1-61636-829-6 | $19.99

The Spiritual Family & the Natural Family Richard Rohr brings his understanding of Scriptures to focus on the connection of our individual family to the spiritual family. Rohr considers God’s authority, the unity found in community, the role of the nuclear family to helping us relate to one another, the special bond of ministry found in marriage, and the proper and healthy place of sexuality.

Audio Presentation Item #A36825 | 978-1-61636-827-2 | $29.99

Audiobook, read by John Quigley, O.F.M. Item #A36703 | 978-1-61636-703-9 | $39.99 Hardcover / jacket | 320 pages Item #B36701 | 978-1-61636-701-5 | $21.99

Thoughts in Solitude addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private. In thoughtful and eloquent prose, Merton writes of our inalienable right to solitude and interior freedom. Audiobook, read by Jonathan Montaldo Item #A36843 | 978-1-61636-843-2 | $29.99

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Bobby, Torrington Bulldog Was it worth the pain? F I C T I O N B Y PAT R I C K S E A M U S O ’ H A R A

ILLUSTRATION BY DANNY SCHWARTZ

e was out of place, surrounded by the long, lean faces of pit bulls trapped in cages next to his. His face was lined with vivid red scars where other fighting dogs had taken their toll on him. We managed to get them into the transport cages without getting bitten or hurting the dogs. It was messy and unappealing work. Everyone I’ve ever met in animal control was there because they love animals, and this kind of thing gets us a bit barmy around the edges. The drive back was quiet. No one likes to talk about it. “What kind of nutter does this sort of thing?” It was Andy. He had drawn the short straw for euthanizing that day and he was not happy about it. No one likes the job, but Andy in particular despises it. He once gave me a tenner to take his place, but he wasn’t getting out of it today. “Bloody bastards!” he mumbled loudly under his breath. All the dogs were to be put down. Andy quietly loaded a dart into the tranquilizer gun and walked up to the first cage. The dog lunged at him, bouncing off the mesh of the door and snarling defiantly. There was a soft whoosh as compressed gas sent the dart to its target. Five minutes later Andy loaded the limp body onto a cart and headed off to the gas chamber, still cursing under his breath. I leaned back and stretched, tired from an hour of filling out official papers on our

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grouchy old computer. After downing the last of me tea, I stood up, stretched again, and took a slow walk down the concrete runway between the pens. As I approached each cage, the occupant would snarl and bark, often charging the door as if to say, “Just let me get me teeth into you, you bugger!” I could only shake my head at the injustice of it all. It wasn’t their fault. They’d never known affection; their lives from day one had been a swirling mass of pain designed to make them vicious fighters who’d attack anything, sometimes even their owners. Pit bull fighting is a nasty sport run by vile human beings who have little regard for life. So what was this bulldog doing here? I stood outside his cage and studied him carefully. Unlike the others, he was a young dog. Did someone use him to train young pit bulls? Maybe that explained the scars across his face. He was a training dummy, a poor bloke who’d the misfortune to wind up in a place where his life was expendable. He looked absolutely knackered. While all the other dogs had charged snarling to the front, he lay still in a corner of the cage. His body language seemed to say, “Just go away, will ya, and give a bloke a rest, eh?” I grasped the door and shook it. Immediately he was on his feet, barking loudly. But instead of lunging for me, he’d backed to the rear of the cage, his tail between his legs. His eyes told me all I needed to know. They weren’t Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 5 1

filled with anger and a desire to kill. They were filled with fear. “It’s OK, mate,” I said quietly. “I’m not about hurting ya.” I turned around and almost knocked Andy off his pins. “Guess I’ll do him next.” He looked at me with a combination of sorrow and disgust. “You owe me a pint after work.” I put my hand on his and lowered the gun he was holding. “Go do the rest. Leave him alone. Understand?” “You’re kiddin’, right? The old man’ll have his knickers in a twist.” “No, he won’t.” I put my hand on his shoulder and led him away from the cage. “I’ll go talk to him now.” I turned back to the cage. “Andy, look at that bloke. There’s something different about him. There’s something there worth saving. I just know it.”

hat’s what I told Tedford, the head of District B animal control. He looked at me as if I were a nutter. “So what do you want to do? Turn ’im loose?” He got up from behind the

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5 2 ❘ Augus t 2014

desk and came around to me. “Come on, John. You’re off your trolley. He’s a fightin’ dog. He’s a time bomb waiting to go off. You know that as well as any of us.” “I don’t think so, sir.” I returned his look, dead in the eyes. “He’s not a killer. He’s a scared dog who got his arse in a bad situation. I don’t think he’s much more than a real big pup someone thought they could use as a training dummy.” I took a couple of steps closer and lowered my voice. “Come on, Teddie. At least give me a chance. The worst that happens is I get me arse chewed a bit, and that’s nothing new.” Tedford stared me down for a few seconds, then, with a deep sigh, returned to his desk. “Two conditions. One, if he so much as farts on someone, down he goes. And if you get seriously hurt, I didn’t authorize you to do this. Got it?” Sometime later I was made to think I perhaps should have listened to him.

named him Bobby, after me late brother. I’ll tell you something funny. I always thought me brother looked like a bulldog. He was a big guy with jowls and a chin that jutted out like a bulldog. But he and I were best mates and when he died, I went on a weeklong bender that damn near killed me. I wasn’t much good after that, either. It was working with dogs that saved me life. I’d probably still be down in Liverpool, poppin’ pills in some filthy flat, if it wasn’t for the kitten I found wandering down an alley. I took it to animal control and that’s where I met Sheila. She cared for the kitten and she took care of me as well. “You’re a good-hearted lad, you know that?” I wasn’t ready for that, so I kind of shuffled me feet and cleared me throat while she continued to wash the kitten with those gentle hands of hers. “I’ve seen what some people do to strays. You don’t seem like that at all.” I took a liking to her and started showing up at the clinic just so I could be around her. It wasn’t too long before she had me at work, first sloppin’ out the cages and then helping her with

the larger dogs. I don’t know if dogs have a soul, but helping with them saved mine. When I first started working there I was still hurting for me brother—boozing and taking pills every weekend. It took a while, but Sheila was patient with me and finally, between her and the dogs, I somehow got cleaned up. Sheila said she was praying for me, but I didn’t want to hear any of that God stuff. I just loved the animals and they gave me peace. I never figured God had much to do with it. When Sheila got an offer to head up District A animal control, she moved down to a little farm near Torrington and I followed along. Tedford—good old Teddie from District B—took me in as a favor to her. Somehow I’ve found a lot of peace comforting suffering animals. I’m not sure how that works, but I figured with Bobby I had a chance to pay it back to all the animals that’d helped me over the years. I owed him at least that much—a chance. I know something about fear and pain.

e didn’t get off to a good start. Bobby wouldn’t let me get near him, no matter how soothingly I talked to him. I started with the only kindness I could think of—food. I told me mates in the district not to feed him so that I could be the only face he associated with this one small pleasure in his life. But even then, any time I tried to get close to him he’d slowly back into a corner with his tail between his legs and that scared look in his eyes. He never tried to lunge at me, but then again, I never got too close to him, either. He’s a wellbuilt dog and powerful, and I gave him that respect. I think I began to make progress the day I got the brilliant idea of cooking him up some sausages for his dinner. “You’re bringing our good bangers to that dog?” Sheila needled me, trying to act offended, but smiling nonetheless. “Next thing you know you’ll be bringing that dog home with you.” I reminded her that was the goal, kissed her good bye, and smiled as I walked out the door. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

I opened the door to Bobby’s kennel and entered slowly. “Here ya go, mate!” The dog stared at me. The smell of bangers had his attention despite his fear. I approached him cautiously until he made a move backward. Stopping, I took the lid off the container, kneeled down, and placed it on the floor. Bobby didn’t move. I was hoping the meat would bring him to approach me, but after 10 minutes of staring at each other, it didn’t appear to be working. I eased myself out the door and watched as he bounded over to the bangers and devoured them in a gulp. He looked at me and I wondered if that was a wee bit of a smile I saw, or was it just the turn of his bulldog face?

e went on like this for a couple of weeks. Some days it was bangers, some days anything other than the dry dog food we give most of our patients. Bobby needed love, and the only love I had to give him was real good food. I must have been knackered the day it happened. I’m normally very aware of me surroundings in a kennel. A bloke has to be because you’re working with animals in stress, and they can be unpredictable. I’d just entered Bobby’s cage with a fresh baloney from the butcher over on Smythe Street when I turned me ankle on Bobby’s water dish. The fall tossed me right at Bobby. I heard him growl, then a thousand hot irons dug into me face as he defended himself. “186 stitches, John.” Teddie was standing right at the foot of me cot in the emergency room. “I warned you, didn’t I?” He walked over to the side of the cot. “You’re lucky he didn’t tear your throat out, you damn fool.” He paused. “I’m having him put down. It’s over, John. You should thank God you’re still alive.” I grabbed him as he turned to leave. “Teddie, please! Just a fortnight more. I was getting closer to him every week.” I tightened me grip on his wrist. “It’s not his fault I scared him. Put yourself in his place. Anytime something lunged at him, it was trying to

Fr ancisca n Media .org

kill him.” I lowered me voice to plead with Teddie. “If he meant to kill me, I’d be dead right now.” Teddie peeled me hand from his wrist and began to walk towards the door. “I know nothing about this. You hear me, John? Nothing! This was your decision and your fault.” He stopped in the doorway and turned around, his eyes stern. “Right, John?” I could only gratefully nod me head.

Bobby’s head turned to one side. He rose and cautiously walked to me. I held completely still, me right hand draped protectively across me neck, waiting for his next move. He lowered his head and sniffed me face, then softly licked the bandages on the right side before he lay down right beside me. He put his big head against me chest and gave a deep sigh. I knew we had won.

Patrick Seamus O’Hara, a freelance writer from Fairfax, Virginia, received recognition for “Bobby, Torrington Bulldog,” from Writer’s Digest in its annual (2013) competition. This is its first publication.

don’t know where I got the inspiration, but I had a night in the hospital to think, and somewhere in the early hours of the morning I realized what I had to do. After she got the kids off to school, Sheila came back to bring me home. She listened wideeyed as I explained me plan to her, then turned away in distress. “Cor, love! I knew you were a little potty when I met you, but this is . . .” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head slowly from side to side. Turning back to me, she held a pocket mirror to me. “Johnny, look at your face.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I know the dog means a lot to you, but you have to give it up.” I took her hands in mine. “One more try. If this doesn’t work, then I’ll let go of him. Promise.” I looked her in the eyes. “Aren’t you the girl who said you love me because of how I treat animals? Do you really expect any less from me?” wonder if dogs think like we do. When I opened the door to the kennel and slowly slid in, Bobby cocked his head to one side. I could imagine him thinking, “What the hell are you doing back here after the arsekickin’ I gave you?” I stood against the wall of the kennel, watching him carefully. After a minute, satisfied that I wasn’t going for him, he settled back down with his head on his paws, eyeing me carefully. I slowly eased down to the floor and lay on me back. That position means surrender when dogs fight. It’s language that says to a dominant dog, “OK, OK, you win. Don’t kill me, please.” I was gambling that gentleness would win over authority.

obby stays in me office now. I don’t see the fear in his eyes anymore, but he’s still a bit dodgy around strangers. Trust is coming slowly. When we go walking, people say we look like twins. I take that as a compliment. I was walking by the old parish church in town last Sunday and for some strange reason I felt a strong desire to go inside. Mass was over and the church was dim except for a corner of brightly lit candles. I stood in the back for a while, terribly out of place. I hadn’t felt a need for church since a kid. The only thing I ever remembered about church was that as a little bugger, I was scared by the sight of a bleeding man hanging on a giant cross. He was still up front, in the dim light behind the altar. I sat in a pew and stared at him for a while. For the first time, those scars on his body made perfect sense. A

ANSWERS TO PETE AND REPEAT 1. Pete’s friend is waving to him. 2. Pete has his foot in the water. 3. There is a rubber duck in the pool. 4. Pete’s friend is wearing a chain. 5. A cup is sitting on the edge of the pool. 6. The inner tube has a nozzle. 7. There is a drain on the pool wall. 8. The boy’s hair is no longer tucked behind his ear.

Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 5 3

ASK A FRANCISCAN

❘ BY FATHER PAT McCLOSKEY, OFM

Do Children Have Religious Liberty? After reading your answer about religious freedom in the digital edition of last month’s column, a friend and I discussed when a child is considered to have religious freedom. He said a child always has it. But as a parent, I wonder if this is true. Does my 8-year-old daughter have the right to choose how she wants to practice or not practice her faith? Her older siblings have not yet raised this issue. My husband and I are puzzled about what to do.

I hear you. The short answer is that religious freedom is a human right given by God, not a right granted by governments or by anyone else, including parents. A child’s exercise of religious freedom, however, takes place for many years within a family. If your 8-yearold daughter declares some Sunday morning that she has decided not to join your family for Mass, you are within your rights to say that this is a family practice. She might respond

Is That Baptism Valid?

CNS PHOTO/LISA JOHNSTON, ST. LOUIS REVIEW

A recent discussion surfaced two questions about Baptisms in the Anglican or Episcopal Church. Does the Catholic Church recognize them as valid? If someone baptized there later decides to join the Catholic Church, would that individual be baptized again? The Catholic Church recognizes as valid the Baptisms of most major Christian groups as long as the Baptism was with water and was done in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If someone who has received such a Baptism later decides to become a Catholic, that person would not be baptized again. He or she would make a profession of faith and be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. This often happens at the Easter Vigil, but it can occur at any time of year. The Baptism of adults usually completes a several-month process known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches administer the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist together—even to infants. The Catechism of the Catholic Church repeats Vatican II’s teaching that Baptism constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn (1271).

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that this is unfair, that this is a stupid rule, and that she is simply being herself. At this point, you and your husband may want to share why going to Mass is important to you. Have you considered enlisting help from your older children? Do all of you go simply because of family pressure? The argument from authority will not work forever, and if it is used too soon and in a heavy-handed manner, it may backfire, fostering a sense that her earlier religious practice was like once-favored clothes, games, or hobbies—“OK, but I’ve outgrown them.” If this scenario occurs, perhaps your daughter will be trying to find out how real your faith is.

Confessing to a Priest My adult children do not believe in confessing to a priest. They say that they can simply talk to God and be truly sorry just like people in other religions. Also, they say that Catholics are not the only ones going to heaven, and those other people do not confess their sins to a priest. Any suggestions for discussing this with them? If sin were simply a private matter, they might be correct, but it always involves God, the sinner, and other people. In a sense, every sin is a statement about what is normal in that person’s life; every confession is a way of establishing a “new normal” (more accepting of God’s values) in that person’s life. If I honestly face my sins and genuinely repent of them, then I have to admit that no sin is as private a matter as the sinner might like to believe. It always has consequences for other people—even if they St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

never learn the details of that sin. The act of confessing to a priest is a reality check, not because the confessor is able to catch a penitent in a lie, but because admitting one’s sin to someone representing God in that sacrament is part of that person’s spiritual journey toward greater honesty and integrity. The prodigal son in Luke’s Gospel could simply have told God that he was sorry for demanding his inheritance early and then going on to waste it. Admitting this to his father was important—even if the father had accepted him back not as a son, but only as a hired laborer. Our God is incredibly generous; seeking forgiveness without any other human involved may seem appealing, but it does not reflect how holy lives build up everyone and how sinful lives tear down the human family. Yes, some people are in heaven who were never baptized, never received the Sacrament of Reconciliation, never joined in the Eucharist. Does that make all these practices superfluous? Confessors are sinners who have been designated to help other sinners be honest about their sins and not despair of God’s desire to forgive them. Have you shared with your adult children why you make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

Two Questions about Jesus The apostle Judas is identified in the Gospels as the person who identified Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. If all those who went to arrest him already knew what Jesus looked like, why was a betrayer needed? Also, if Jesus had already died on the cross, how could water and blood come out from him when a soldier pierced him with a lance? Dead people do not bleed. And where did that water come from anyway? Jesus was seized at night in the Garden of Gethsemane. In fact, the Fr ancisca n Media .org

Temple guards may not have known what Jesus looked like, or they may have feared that he would try to escape once their presence was known. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is in complete control of this moment; the same is true of his questioning by Pilate. Jesus speaks with authority, guarantees that the apostles will not also be seized, and tells Peter to put away his sword (18:1-11). He had earlier said that he would lay down his life; no one will take it from him (Jn 10:17-18). The story about the soldier’s piercing of Jesus’ side with a lance appears only in John 19:32-34. The reason for breaking the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus was to hasten their deaths by asphyxiation. Doctors affirm the possibility of blood flowing out of a deceased person hanging on a cross. After the Gospel author notes in verse 33 that Jesus had already died, the writer gives in verse 36 a theological reason for not breaking any of Jesus’ bones. Jesus is identified with

the Passover lamb whose bones were not to be broken (Ex 12:46, Nm 9:12, and Ps 34:21). John 19:37 implicitly cites Zechariah 12:10 about looking at the one they have thrust through. Many Church fathers saw the blood and water cited here as symbolizing the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. The water reference certainly evokes the “living water” of John 4:10 (when Jesus preached to the Samaritan woman) and of John 7:38 (when Jesus preached in the Temple, evoking Isaiah 12:3 and Ezekiel 47:1). This water and blood symbolism is repeated in 1 John 5:6-8. 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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Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 5 5

BOOK CORNER

❘ BY CAROL ANN MORROW

A Nun on the Bus RELIGIOUS

Best-Sellers from Books-a-Million 1. Heaven Is For Real Todd Burpo 2. The Last Days of Jesus: His Life and Times Bill O’Reilly 3. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism Timothy Keller 4. The Five Love Languages of Children Gary D. Chapman and Ross Campbell 5. The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago

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How All of Us Can Create Hope, Change, and Community By Sister Simone Campbell with David Gibson HarperOne 201 pages • $25.99 Hardcover/Kindle Reviewed by VIRGINIA ANN FROEHLE, RSM, a spiritual director and freelance writer whose focus is spirituality. She is the author of the best-selling book Loving Yourself More (Ave Maria Press). She participates in Network. Tackling social issues is Sister Simone Campbell’s calling. A Nun on the Bus paints her passionate convictions in action-laden stories. Its lodestone is the Gospel presentation of Jesus as preacher of justice. Sister Simone is best known for her appearance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Many also know her as the woman religious who organized and rode on the first “Nuns on the Bus” tour. It traveled 2,700 miles through nine states in two weeks. Since 2004, she has been the executive director of Network, a Washington-based group that promotes economic and social justice. Forty-seven religious communities founded it in 1972. The civil rights movement influenced Sister Simone as she was growing up in Long Beach, California, in the ’50s and ’60s. Her concern for justice led her to join the Sisters of Social Service (SSS) in 1964. Their founder, Sister Margaret Slachta, said, “We are to be pioneers for a better world, work-

ing for social reform, not through decrees imposed by power, but from renewal of the Spirit from within.” Sister Simone’s early assignments included parish social-service worker, religious education consultant, and ministry at the Newman Center of an inner-city college. After final vows, she attended law school and, after graduation, founded the Law Center for Families in Oakland, California, serving people who are neglected by the law community. She was in her 18th year there when the Sisters of Social Service elected her general director of the society. After her leadership term ended, she spent a short period with Jericho, a state lobbying organization. Then she accepted the position as executive director of Network. Sister Simone and Network members searched for a way to draw more attention to their mission. They birthed the idea of a bus carrying sisters who would preach and celebrate the Gospel wherever they went. The sisters did so by stopping at clinics, schools, and social-service agencies where sisters were ministering to the poor. People everywhere who supported their work toward health-care reform and toward supplying an alternate budget to Paul Ryan’s greeted them with enthusiasm wherever they stopped. Many stories reflect these two weeks. She writes them in a casual, easy-toread style. In 2012, the Democratic Party invited Sister Simone to give a brief talk at their convention. It became a show-stopper. That talk and accompanying anecdotes are included. Sister Simone is open about her feelings of fear, enthusiasm, worry, and compassion. Christ the victim and Christ the redeemer become alive in her stories. Sister Simone and Network encourage civil obligations over civil rights. They continue on with great concern for income disparity and immigration issues. Although Sister Simone describes herself as “direct” in her speech, she is also a poet, and the end of the book contains her powerful poems, linked closely to her experience. They feel like a meditative conclusion to a narrative of action. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

BOOK BRIEFS

Big Books for Vacation Reads Journey to the Sun Junípero Serra’s Dream and the Founding of California By Gregory Orfalea Scribner 465 pages • $30 Hardcover/Kindle

Adventure of Ascent Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey By Luci Shaw InterVarsity Press 174 pages • $15 Paperback/Kindle

Tourists to the California missions will gain a livelier perspective on both Blessed Junípero Serra and the Native Americans whom he evangelized. This is a well-researched historical volume written as an action-packed, poetic story.

City of Tranquil Light Reviewed by MELANIE SHEETS, MS ED, semiretired college writing instructor and ESL tutor. Do we really want to dwell on aging and our own mortality? I thought not so much as I began to read Luci Shaw’s book. It even bothered me at first, but as I continued to read, I started to appreciate the reflections that she offers often in poetic nuggets that you just have to read over again to savor the beauty of her words. Shaw uses the word ascent in the title of the book, and it reflects her optimism and spirituality. Life is an ascent into heaven rather than a downward spiral to nothingness. In spite of her creative talent, Shaw, a published poet, offers a very practical view of the aging process with its physical and mental challenges, as well as observations of those who are further along in their ascent. She notes that we have to pay better attention to the details of life. Her describing her own experiences and thoughts on a variety of subjects with similes and metaphors had me scrambling for my highlighter! She writes about things we all think about. That is what had me sometimes chuckling and sometimes nodding in agreement over subjects such as getting a massage, parenting our children, waiting for a diagnosis, and moving to smaller quarters. This volume is all about making transitions in life as we ascend to the next life. That is the journey that Luci Shaw so lovingly shares with her readers. Fr ancisca n Media .org

By Bo Caldwell Henry Holt and Company 287 pages • $25 Hardcover International or armchair travelers will want to read about American missionaries to China, characters inspired by the author’s own maternal grandparents. This loving couple served from 1906 to 1961, during which they faced famine, civil war, loss, and other extreme tests. The text is a poetic, inspiring, and meditative love story.

Mermaid A Memoir of Resilience By Eileen Cronin W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. 336 pages • $26.95 Hardcover/Kindle/Audible.com This autobiography is not about a swimmer, unless the exercise of seeking the truth behind the disabilities with which she was born counts. Eileen Cronin was born into a large Catholic family. Her mother had taken just one dose of thalidomide, and the guilt weighed heavy on her. Eileen’s story shines a light on her path toward stability, love, and acceptance. Books featured in Book Corner and Book Briefs 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 Au gu s t 2 0 1 4 ❘ 5 7

A CATHOLIC MOM SPEAKS

❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

You Can Go Home

s of this writing, I am packing up my home of 15 years and preparing to move myself, my husband, Mark, our four kids (Maddie, Alex, Riley, and Kacey), and our dog into my parents’ home, the home I lived in until the day I got married. More specifically, we are moving into the basement. That statement is one no 42-year-old wife and mother wants to make. But it’s the right move. You see, when my mom died last

Click the button to the left to listen to Susan’s “Marriage Moments.”

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April, my sisters and I worried about our dad being in the house alone. My mom had been quite the caregiver for him, and now that role was empty. At the same time, Mark and I were discussing the difficulties our twostory home presented with my multiple sclerosis. At some point, we put the two together and devised a plan: we would temporarily move in with my dad. The ranch-style house would provide an absence of extra steps, which would help me conserve my energy, as well as provide us with ample time to find a home that would better suit our needs. In return, my dad would get some help around the house, as well as companionship. So we took a leap, put our house

on the market, and here we are. If I said I wasn’t scared to death, I’d be lying. Yet, despite my trepidation, there is also great comfort for me in the joy I will receive from cooking for my family in the same kitchen where I apprenticed at the side of my mom. It is a blessing that my children— and I—have the opportunity to spend time with their grandpa/my dad. Most important, it is the right thing to do.

Faith Crisis This move reminds me of another difficult situation that has recently taken place in my life, and that is my faith life. As a writer in the Catholic press, I have seen the many failings of the Church in the past years. I St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

element of my faith life, but I struggled to find something that would call me home.

PLAY YOUR PART

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY KURNICK MAASS

Some Fresh Air

In hindsight, I realize that what happened with my faith was in a big way my own fault. To be honest, I didn’t do anything to counter what was burdening me. True, I couldn’t do much to rectify worldwide Church issues, but I could have done more nearer to home. If I was feeling disengaged, I could have volunteered to become a more active participant, possibly effecting some of the change I hoped to see. I could have set a better example for my kids, rather than wait for Pope Francis to provide it. Now, as we are called by Pope Francis to more fully live out our faith, maybe we should all take a long, hard look at ourselves. Are we part of the problem? Or are we going to be part of the solution to reinvigorate our parishes, our Church that has seen more than its share of bumps and bruises, and our own faith lives?

have reported on the sex-abuse crisis from the beginning. I have seen example after example of what I felt was a great divergence from the message of Christ. My Mass attendance became spotty. When I did go, it was only for the sake of my kids. I sat in the pew and thought of a million other things than what I was there for. I was tired of the hypocrisy I felt, the lack of inspiration I found in homi-

lies to which I was listening, and the overall judginess, as my kids say, that I felt. I felt as if this was no longer my Church. Not the one of love and inclusion with which I had grown up. Oh, sure, I still maintained my faith life on a personal level. I prayed and tried to live out my faith as best I could. But something was missing, and that missing piece was community. I didn’t want to lose that key

And then my prayers were answered. Along came Pope Francis. Slowly, as I read and listened to his words, and watched his actions, I began to feel reconnected. This was my Church. This was what I had been missing. And it wasn’t just me. My friends and fellow parishioners spoke of how the pope’s words and messages resonated with their desires for their faith lives, too. They felt engaged, supported. Even my kids caught the spirit. My son, Alex, signed up to be an altar server. During this past Holy Week, I watched my daughter Maddie try to explain to her 3-year-old sister why the statues in church were covered over. (She did a good job, too, I must say.) My daughter Riley began to actually pay attention during Mass without me reminding her. I was home. Was it a struggle? Yes. But it was worth it. Just as it’s going to be worth it to move back to my childhood home. Both will offer me the love and comfort that we all so desperately desire. 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 53)

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AT HOME ON EARTH

❘ BY KYLE KRAMER

More than Enough

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fuels until they’re gone, we might fully embrace God’s abundant and renewable gifts of sun and wind. If we harness them properly, these could easily provide us all the energy we need. In our farming and land use, we would stop trying to Take Your conquer and dominate our Temperature landscapes with toxic chemicals and supersized machinTake an honest look at your ery. Nature responds best to daily or weekly schedule. careful tending and pruning How can you become betrather than clear-cutting and ter friends with time? bulldozing. In architecture and urban Are you driven by a sense planning, we would begin to of abundance or one of invite nature back into our scarcity? Do you feel you cities in the form of parks have enough? Are you and trees, greenways, and always scraping by? Do you urban farming. We would give to others? design homes and buildings that harmonized with the In your relationship with the landscape instead of ignoring rest of nature, what signs of or fighting against it—and so abundance do you see? would be beautiful, efficient, and a pleasure to occupy. A sense of abundance could inspire us to stop the endless cycle of acquiring wealth and instead spend more time tending our souls and our relationships. As a result, we might be less inclined to wage wars over land and resources, and we might try to lessen the widening gap between the mega-rich and the absolutely destitute members of our society. You might call such a vision wishful thinking. But I would also call it the kingdom of God, unfolding on Earth, as it is in heaven. Perhaps it’s prayerful thinking? A

Kyle Kramer, an organic farmer, is author of A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt (Sorin Books).

The message of Scripture is this: there’s more than enough—in the earth, in the sky, in our hearts. 6 0 ❘ Augus t 2014

tal Digi as Extr

Click here to hear an interview and explore links. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg

here isn’t enough” is one of the main messages in today’s public discourse. There isn’t enough money, or time, or employment, or . . . you name it. When we think like this, life becomes a zero-sum game, and our chief concern is then to get and keep what we can before some other person or country gets it first. Christians should see through such nonsense. We worship a God who rained manna from the sky, and we follow a savior who livened up parties with barrels of extra wine and fed thousands with just a little bread and a few fish. The message of Scripture is this: there’s more than enough. That’s the message of God’s creation, too. On our farm in the late summer, we can hardly keep up with the harvest of vegetables, berries, and other fruit. Reflecting God’s own self-giving nature, the earth yields prolifically, if only we nurture it with care and respect its limits. What might happen if we truly lived out of a belief in generosity and abundance, rather than one of scarcity and competition? We would certainly use natural resources differently. Instead of a mad rush to burn fossil

BACKSTORY

Keeping It Current

onthlies are notoriously slow, especially in the digital age, when everyone has access to publishing commentary and analysis instantly.

That’s not a problem in much of our magazine. The inspirational sto-

ries, the profiles of amazing people, the seasonal features, and our many columns keep our content vibrant. But we like to stay close to current events, too. So we try, constantly, to anticipate the future. PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

What will be in the daily news three or four months from now that will interest you? What can we take the kind of long look at, that the daily or hourly media simply can’t? Or in the case of big, recent news events, how can we offer some type of wrap-up or overview, or how can we help our readers interpret the importance of events? Such is the case with this month’s cover story about Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land in May. We—and select Catholic press worldwide—had the opportunity to go, courtesy of Israel’s tourism ministry. They wanted to demonstrate all of Israel as safe and interesting. They knew we would want to be in Jerusalem, close to the Holy Father, so they provided a way for us to do both. In addition to the papal story, in future months you’ll see a few stories sparked by the things we saw.

CNS PHOTO/ABIR SULTAN, EPA

Two friends met at the Holy Sepulchre to pray together for the Church—all of it. Here, after making the initial photo appearance together, Francis and Bartholomew help each other navigate steep steps in the ancient Church.

At the end of the day, we are able to report on an aspect of this story that, in the mainstream media, kept getting pushed aside in May by the critical, unsettled business of Israel and Palestine. That neglected story was the reason for the pope’s visit: to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and demonstrate a heartfelt desire for Christian unity. We editors met and talked about many ways to tell the story of the pope’s historic visit. Though there were a number of truly significant events, we settled on keeping our focus steady. It didn’t make the most news, and it’s not the jazziest of the possible stories, but the union of East and West is a huge issue in the Church, one that we Roman Catholics barely understand. Art Director Jeanne Kortekamp and I tried to infuse that story with the jazz of the pope’s trip, especially through photos. Let us know how we did!

Editor in Chief

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ST. ANTHONY M 28 W. Liberty Street Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498

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