THE MERCY OF FRANCIS A FIELD GUIDE TO CATHOLIC LIFE ❘ WHY WE PRAY THE ROSARY ❘ TWICE BLESSED
ST. ANTHONY OCTOBER 2016 • $3.95 • FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG
Messenger
B I S H O P RO B E RT B A R RO N
Evangelist
Is your mobile phone company Pro-Life? LifeSiteNews (LifeSiteNews.com) recently featured corporate watchdog 2nd Vote (2ndVote.com) and their research of corporations that fund Planned Parenthood. The article concluded, "A total of seven corporations are ranked as being Pro-Life . . . 234 corporations have abortion-supporting scores..." CHARITY MOBILE is one of the seven Pro-Life corporations, and the only mobile phone company. At no inconvenience to you, we send 5% of your monthly plan price to the Pro-Life charity of your choice! For more information about our nationwide no contract 4G/LTE mobile phone service, including our free phone offer and risk-free trial, call us toll-free or visit us online!
NEW ACTIVATIONS RECEIVE A FREE MOBILE PHONE (OR UP TO $200 OFF A PHONE) PLUS FREE ACTIVATION AND FREE SHIPPING (A $55 VALUE)! MENTION ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER WHEN YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!
CHARITYMOBILE.COM
1-877-474-3662
Charity Mobile is a trade name of Cause Based Commerce, Inc. Cause Based Commerce, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to reject any particular beneficiary or charity. Visit our web site for the latest mobile phones and plans. Free mobile phone promotion applies to specific models and is available to new activations only. Services are subject to availability and require a credit check and minimum credit score. Taxes and surcharges apply. Call to inquire about details. 2nd Vote and 2ndVote.com are trademarks of 2nd Vote. LifeSiteNews and LifeSiteNews.com are trademarks of LifeSiteNews. Samsung and Galaxy S are both registered trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. Š 2016 Cause Based Commerce, Inc. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
ST. ANTHONY Messenger
â?˜ OCTOBER 2016 â?˜ VOLUME 124/NUMBER 5
ON THE COVE R
28 Bishop Robert Barron, Evangelist
Bishop Robert Barron speaks at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, Philippines, on the topic of the Eucharist as a celebration of the Paschal Mystery, in January 2016.
His Catholicism series reached millions. The encore focuses on pivotal players who helped shape the Church. By Joyce Duriga
CNS photo by Katarzyna Artymiak
F E AT U R E S
D E PA R T M E N T S
14 Why We Pray the Rosary
2 Dear Reader
This time-honored devotion connects us to our past yet resonates today. By Jeannette De Beauvoir
3 From Our Readers 4 Followers of St. Francis Danielle Daguio
22 The Mercy of Francis Compassion is a constant theme in the ministries of both St. Francis and Pope Francis. By Murray Bodo, OFM
6 Reel Time Queen of Katwe
22
Willie Velasquez: Your Vote Is Your Voice
34 A Field Guide to Catholic Life First came their popular website. Now a book by this mother and daughter aims to help Catholics grasp their faith more fully. By Donis Tracy
10 Church in the News 20 At Home on Earth An Instrument of Peace
40 Twice Blessed This mother found joy in both sides of adoption. By Teresa Gomez
8 Channel Surfing
26 Editorial Minding What Matters
45 Year of Mercy
34
46 Fiction: The Guest List
Holding Out for Hope in Nepal
50 Ask a Franciscan
He gave her the party she had always imagined. By Kathleen Auth
Mass Facing Which Direction?
52 Book Corner The Gift of Hard Things
54 A Catholic Mom Speaks Caring for Creation
56 Backstory
40
DEAR READER
ST. ANTHONY M essenger
St. Mary of the Angels St. Francis rebuilt this tiny chapel after he repaired San Damiano in 1209. The present Gothic-style basilica was constructed in the 16th century, swallowing up the Portiuncula and the nearby chapel built over the site where St. Francis died on October 3, 1226. During his lifetime, all the friars gathered here for the feast of Pentecost—to tell what the Lord had done in their lives in the previous year, beg pardon for their sins, and receive instruction from Francis. In 1216, Francis obtained from Pope Honorius III a plenary indulgence for everyone who would visit this shrine on the anniversary of its dedication (August 2) and fulfill the usual conditions of prayer, confession, and receiving Communion. The Friars Minor administer this shrine, which was the starting point for the World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, 2002, and 2011. A 2009 meeting of male Franciscans commemorated the 800th anniversary of the approval by Pope Innocent III of Francis’ way of life, a key event also for Poor Clares, Secular Franciscans, and members of Third Order Regular communities of women and men.
Click the button on the left to hear Father Pat’s further reflections on St. Mary of the Angels.
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES If you have a question, concern, or problem with your subscription, we’re here to help.
Subscription and Billing Questions?
How to Subscribe
Toll-free phone: 866-543-6870 To help us better answer your questions about subscriptions, please have your address label on hand. If you have billing questions, please have your invoice available. Mail: St. Anthony Messenger P.O. Box 189 Congers, NY 10920-0189 Internet: StAnthonyMessenger.org/subscribe Fax: 845-267-3478
Want to subscribe or add a gift subscription? Call 866-543-6870, weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Eastern time), or visit StAnthonyMessenger.org/subscribe.
Moving?
If you prefer that your name and address not be made available to select organizations, send your current mailing label to Mail Preference Service, St. Anthony Messenger, P.O. Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189.
In order to keep your subscription current, we need four weeks to change an address. Send us your new address, new telephone number, and old mailing label.
Subscription Prices United States, $39 per year; Canada and other countries, $69 per year. See website for digital rates and to order bulk copies.
Mailing List Rental
Publisher Daniel Kroger, OFM President Kelly McCracken Editor in Chief John Feister Art Director Jeanne Kortekamp Franciscan Editor Pat McCloskey, OFM Managing Editor Susan Hines-Brigger Assistant Editors Daniel Imwalle Kathleen M. Carroll Digital Editor Christopher Heffron Editorial Assistant Sharon Lape Advertising Tammy Monjaras Printing Kingery Printing Co. Effingham, IL
ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X)
(U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 124, Number 5, 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. To subscribe, write to the above address or call (866) 543-6870. Yearly subscription price: $39.00 in the United States; $69.00 in Canada and other countries. Single copy price: $3.95. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. See St AnthonyMessenger.org for information on your digital edition. Writer’s guidelines can be found at StAnthony Messenger.org. The publishers are not responsible for manuscripts or photos lost or damaged in transit. Names in fiction do not refer to living or dead persons. Member of the Catholic Press Association Published with ecclesiastical approval Copyright ©2016. All rights reserved.
2 ❘ October 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
FROM OUR READERS
Remembering the Past, Repairing the Present “Lanterns of Peace,” Dave Hrbacek’s article in the August issue of St. Anthony Messenger, is an excellent reminder that peace must be encouraged, and sometimes repaired, by remembrances of the past. The simplicity of this gathering and the goodwill resulting from the ritual of making and sailing the lanterns is commendable and remarkable. No great expensive outlay is needed to recall and absorb the essence of real peace! Rochester, Minnesota, is a city of many visitors, home of Mayo Clinic, and has residents from a wide variety of countries. This yearly ceremony is a reminder—and in its own way a healer—not only of how inhuman war is, but also of the conviction that peace is a goal that we must
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
ICONS © ISTOCKPHOTO/ ELIELI
E-mail MagazineEditors@ FranciscanMedia.org Facebook Like us! Go to: Facebook.com/ StAnthonyMessengerMagazine Twitter Follow us! Go to: Twitter.com/StAnthonyMag
Fr ancisca n Media .org
continually search for and bring to fruition. Mary Marcan Rochester, Minnesota
A Matter of Survival I would like to comment on Bob Miller’s letter in the August “From Our Readers” column, “Shift Focus to the Mexican Government.” I agree in drawing attention to the shortcomings of the Mexican government, but I do not agree with the analogy that an undocumented immigrant is akin to a home invader. Undocumented immigrants are not marauders. They seek work in order to survive, and many also are afraid of falling victim to the very prevalent violence in their homelands. You would have to be very desperate to attempt to cross the border. I live in southern Arizona and am very much aware of the dangers inherent in such a journey. If the letter writer were to walk in their shoes even a short distance, his perspective would change dramatically. Building a wall is touted as the answer to the undocumented immigration problem, but it is not. Due to the terrain, there are many areas where it would be impossible to build. Also, there are just too many ways in which it would have a very negative impact and so cannot be seriously considered. It’s time to come up with alternative solutions. A good number of US companies have set up manufacturing plants in Mexico; this already is helping to keep Mexicans in their homeland, where I believe many of them prefer to be. As to those who are already here and working very hard in jobs that are traditionally hard to fill, we depend on them more than most US citizens are aware. Barbara Godinez Oro Valley, Arizona
Strong Women of Faith I am writing about several articles in the August 2016 issue regarding women. Christopher Heffron’s editorial, “Hear Them Roar,” was spot-on about women and the “vital force in any culture, country, or industry” they are. Then there was “Forgotten Women of the New Testament,” by Mary Ann Getty, PhD, which described their role and strong influence on our Christian faith. Robert Ellsberg’s article, “Dorothy Day: Model of Mercy,” reflects another woman in modern times expressing her faith by helping those less fortunate. Finally, the beautiful fiction piece, “Memories of Music,” by Nancy Christie, once again reflected on the strength and influence one woman had in a beautiful marriage filled with love. All of these articles and stories should be a catalyst to enable our good Catholic women to help lead us as deacons and eventually priests. Pope Francis, at least, is looking into women becoming deacons. With the shortage of priests today, there is an untapped resource in our women. Over the years, I have known many women who would have made excellent priests. I hope the Church will start considering this movement. I really enjoy St. Anthony Messenger and, with this issue, you have brought to light some amazing material. Mary Ficarra Camillus, New York Correction: Three photos in Pauline Hovey’s article from the September issue, “I Left My Heart in Bolivia,” were mistakenly credited. The photos on pages 42, 44, and 45 that were credited to the author should have been credited to Bonnie Bowen, a fellow pilgrim to Bolivia. O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 3
F O L L O W E R S O F S T. F R A N C I S
Cap Corps’ ‘Conduit’
I
t is a typical day at St. Ben’s Community Meal. The line at the Milwaukee-based food service is snaked down the block and around the corner. Every year, the Capuchin friars of the Province of Saint Joseph, along with their partners in ministry, provide 400 hot dinners each evening at the meal center. One of those partners helping this day at St. Ben’s is Danielle Daguio, director of Cap Corps Midwest, an international community of full-time volunteers who practice Franciscan spirituality while working in a variety of ministries. Says Danielle, “I am struck so deeply by the wave after wave of guests and the genuineness shown to me by guests. It was all of the reasons why a Cap Corps volunteer is needed.” A part of the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps since 1994, Cap Corps Midwest offers men and women the opportunity to work in direct service with those in need in Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Nations of Montana. Volunteers live a simple lifestyle in community with other volunteers and receive room and board, a stipend, insurance, travel expenses, and medical ben-
Danielle Daguio
efits. A sister organization, Cap Corps East, provides the same opportunities in Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; and Papua New Guinea. Each Cap Corps volunteer serves 40 hours per week at a community-based organization, parish, or school for a 12- to 18-month commitment. Currently, Cap Corps volunteers may be found at Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Earthworks Urban Farm, Cristo Rey High School, and Solanus Casey Center in Detroit; the Capuchin Community Services, Voces de la Frontera, and El Puente High School in Milwaukee; and the St. Labre Indian School in Montana. The spirit and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, that of community and service, is central. Volunteers engage in a healthy spirituality with other volunteers and Capuchins through prayer, retreats, spiritual direction, and fellowship. The program is open to single men and women as well as to married couples. More than 200 men and women have taken part in Cap Corps Midwest (capcorps.org) since its foundation. As of now, there are eight men and women serving in the organization.
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 GRYFFINDOR/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
60 Years with St. Anthony
4 ❘ O ctober 2016
It started 60 years ago. My late husband and I were on our honeymoon, and I lost my engagement ring. I knew I dropped it on the bus we took to a play. We returned to the bus terminal and there were over 50 similar-looking buses I would have to look through. The dispatcher didn’t want to help me, but I said I would recognize the bus if he would just open the front door. I prayed to St. Anthony for help. Four buses later I had found the right bus and in less than a minute I found my ring. From then on I knew who to pray to when something went missing. I always promised a donation, and, for over 60 years, St. Anthony has never let me down. —Peggy Boltja, Cary, North Carolina
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Shared Leadership Although Francis was not afraid to lead the friars, he very willingly permitted others to lead. In fact, he was revolutionary for allowing the provincial ministers to replace the general (worldwide) minister if they judged that he could no longer lead the friars effectively. Francis told the friars that when they began a journey, they should decide on a leader and follow his directions throughout their time together. He said the friars should be as ready to step down from a leadership role as to wash the feet of the friars. –P.M.
PAINTING BY CIMABUE
As director of the organization, Danielle maintains a full program of daily activities. “It is my responsibility to make sure that in all that we do, we are in line with the mission of the Capuchins. I see myself as a midwife for others to Cap Corps. Whether it be connecting with friars, the volunteers, or our service sites, I serve as a conduit for their needs related to Cap Corps.” This includes promotion, recruitment, crisis management, retreat planning, finances, administrative tasks, and generally being a support for any needs that arise. A graduate of Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, and a trained graphic designer, Danielle finds much joy in her mission. “This is the first time in my career that I feel this is where I am meant to be. To me, this is not a job, but a ministry. Inasmuch as you’re giving to others, I, too, am receiving a thousandfold. Often, my heart is overflowing when I bear witness to the beauty, love, consciousness, and selfawareness that I see from the volunteers, friars, and especially those we are asked to serve each day.” —Rita E. Piro
To learn more about Franciscan saints, visit SaintoftheDay.org.
S T. A N T H O N Y B R E A D
Fr ancisca n Media .org
Send all postal communication to: St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 5
PHOTO BY FRANK JASPER, OFM
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
Queen of Katwe
SISTER ROSE’S PHOTO BY EDWARD ECHWALU/DISNEY
Favorite
Films about
Young Women Akeelah and the Bee (2006) The Girl of the Limberlost (1945) Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) Persepolis (2007) Whale Rider (2002)
6 ❘
October 2016
Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o and Madina Nalwanga star in the inspiring true story Queen of Katwe. In Katwe, a slum outside of Kampala, Uganda, Phiona (Madina Nalwanga) drops out of school at a young age to help her widowed mother, Harriet (Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o), support the family. Meanwhile, Robert (David Oyelowo) takes a low-paying job at a Christian youth center in Katwe since he cannot find a job as an engineer. Phiona follows her brother to the center one day. To give the children something to do, Robert teaches them chess, using rustic boards and rocks as chess pieces. Phiona, dressed in rags and with minimal hygiene, is self-conscious, but catches on quickly. It’s not long before Robert realizes that she is a chess prodigy. He registers Phiona, her brother, and another student in a district competition. The authorities resist having poor children among the other students, but the games go on. Chess competition is not an easy road for Phiona, and Robert must find the money for travel and clothing. He must also get permission from a disapproving Harriet for Phiona
to continue. When the young prodigy makes it to a competition in Moscow, Robert has his own crisis about staying at the center. This may sound like your typical feelgood sports movie, but it is so much more. When the story focuses on a young girl who overcomes such abject poverty and is able to rise above it through the game of chess, it is sheer inspiration. The film is based on Tim Crothers’ 2012 book The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster. I was riveted all the way through. Nalwanga is a natural actor, while famed director Mira Nair lets us see the beauty of humanity and hope amid natural and human-made chaos. Not yet rated, PG ■ Mature themes.
The Little Prince A stunning stop-action animated film, The Little Prince is about a lonely but resilient girl (Mackenzie Foy) and her mother (Rachel St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
COURTESY OF NETFLIX
The Little Prince, a charming stop-action animated film, boasts the vocal talents of Rachel McAdams and Jeff Bridges.
COURTESY OF NETFLIX
McAdams) who move to a house that looks like all the others. Mother works all day, but has great ambitions for Little Girl, making her study constantly. But Little Girl is distracted by the house next door and the old man who lives there, the Aviator (Jeff Bridges). They become friends without Mother knowing. The Aviator tells Little Girl a story about the Little Prince he met when he crashed his plane years before. The boy, who came to earth from a faraway asteroid, met a selfish rose and a wise fox on his journey here. The Aviator and the Little Girl get in an old, battered plane to find the boy, who is now grown. The Little Prince (Paul Rudd) is now called Mr. Prince, and has no memory of his past. He is part of a workforce that no longer sees people as individuals—only work and profit. He has forgotten to look at the world and those around him with his heart, as the fox had advised him. This lovely film had a brief theatrical release in the United States, and is now available on Netflix. The story is told within the context of modern times when some would say that cookie-cutter houses and soulless labor replace the imagination and care for others. Not yet rated, PG ■ Some peril.
born. This documentary centers on artist Cai Guo-Qiang and his 21-year global quest to create a 500-meter “sky ladder” using fireworks to unite heaven and earth. Cai grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. He saw the destruction of art, books, and imagination under Mao Zedong, but in the 1980s the arts reemerged. He and his family finally left China permanently, ending up in New York. As Cai’s reputation as an artist grew, so did his desire to challenge his home country about its abuse of the environment. His art reflects this by using biodegradable fireworks. When Cai designed the fireworks for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2001, and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he was criticized for sacrificing artistic freedom for political ideology. This excellent documentary, which is available on Netflix, explores the soul and sacrifice of the artist in a world of conflict. It is stunningly beautiful. Not yet rated ■ Some peril.
The stirring documentary Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang looks at the incredible life and career of this Chinese-born artist.
Catholic Cl assifications A-1 A-2 A-3 L O
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang About one thousand years ago, the Chinese were looking for an elixir for immortality. When the “medicine” exploded, they called it “fire medicine.” They began to use it for celebrations, and modern fireworks were
Fr anciscanMedia.org
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.
■
For additional film reviews, go to americancatholic.org/movies.
October 2016 ❘
7
CHANNEL SURFING
WITH CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON
UP CLOSE
October 3, 10:30 p.m., PBS Willie Velasquez (1944-1988) stood in front of thousands of Latino voters throughout his short life always armed with his standby rallying cry, “Su voto es su voz!” (“Your vote is your voice!”). Velasquez passionately articulated a common truth that white America, for decades, refused to acknowledge: the Latino vote could tip an election. The life and legacy of this trailblazing activist is the subject of Hector Galán’s quietly moving PBS documentary Willie Velasquez: Your Vote Is Your Voice. A butcher’s son from San Antonio, Texas, Velasquez developed a taste for grassroots political work early. One of the founders of the Mexican-American Youth Organization, Velasquez devoted his young life to the betterment of Latinos in many arenas, including education. But bolstering their voice in the political spectrum, he realized, was the pathway to true progress. Velasquez sought to register Latino voters, yes, but in the grander sense, he demanded that his people be counted. Galán’s documentary, a thoughtful and tactfully nonpartisan glimpse into the heart of a groundbreaking American figure, is a fitting tribute to an important legacy—one that continues today. The revolutionary may fall, but the revolution still rages.
America’s National Parks
GEORGE VELASQUEZ
National Geographic Channel, check local listings A documentary series three years in the making, the eye-grabbing America’s National Parks is perfect for armchair explorers who want to experience these natural wonders. Coinciding with the centennial of the National Park Service, National Geographic delves into hidden corners of the parks, giving channel surfers a startling glimpse that is at once thrilling, terrifying, and absorbing. The national parks of the United States cover more than 84 million acres in 50 states and are visited by hundreds of millions annually. For those unable to see these wonders firsthand, National Geographic has you covered. What makes America’s National Parks such exhilarating television is twofold. First, the subject. From Yellowstone to the Everglades, from the Smoky Mountains to the Grand Canyon, the rugged, breathtaking, and often unforgiving landscape of our parks is a trove of beauty for the eyes. Secondly, National Geographic’s time-tested photography and almost dispassionate handling of the material makes for a television experience that entertains as it informs. Theodore Roosevelt, an outdoorsman and vocal supporter of the National Park Service, once said, “The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking.” Our national parks may be our national heritage, but, more to the point, they are proof that God alone is the true artist.
Willie Velasquez, activist and trailblazer, is photographed at the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Event in 1988. 8 ❘
October 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
DOCLIGHTS GMBH / NDR NATURFILM / ALAIN LUSIGNAN
Willie Velasquez: Your Vote Is Your Voice
Granddaughter, I Love You 18K Gold and Silver-Plated Heirloom Music Box
Free Personalization!
Plays the melody “You Are So Beautiful”
Shown slightly larger than actual size of about 3¾ ” long
An exquisite silver expression of your love ♥ Elegant silver finish with inlaid 18K gold plating ♥ Heartwarming sentiment—personalized FREE—expresses your enduring love ♥ Lavished with 20 sparkling faux jewels
Limited availability … order now! Act now to acquire your exclusive My Granddaughter, I Love You music box for just $59.99*, payable in three installments of $19.99, backed by our 365-day money-back guarantee. Send no money now. Just mail the coupon today and indicate the name for personalization on the front. PLEASE RESPOND PROMPTLY
SEND NO MONEY NOW
P.O. Box 806, Morton Grove, IL 60053-0806
YES. Please accept my order for the My Granddaughter, I Love You Music
Includes a lovely poem card
www.bradfordexchange.com/23179 ©2016 BGE 01-23179-001-BDUP
Box(es). I need send no money now. I will be billed with shipment. More than one granddaughter? Please print the name for each box ordered.
Mrs. Mr. Ms.
Name (Limit of 10 letters per name.)
Address
1. _______________________________________________________
City
2. _______________________________________________________
Email (optional)
3. _______________________________________________________ 4. _______________________________________________________
Name (Please Print Clearly)
State
Zip
01-23179-001-E10601 *Plus a total of $9.99 shipping and service per box. Please allow 4-8 weeks for shipment. A limited-edition presentation restricted to 295 crafting days. Subject to product availability and order acceptance.
CHURCH IN THE NEWS
❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER
CNS PHOTO/SCHOOL SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS AND SISTERS OF CHARITY OF NAZARETH
Suspect Arrested for Murder of Sisters
Sister Margaret Held, 68, a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, and Sister Paula Merrill, 68, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, were found stabbed to death August 25 at their home in Durant, Mississippi, police said.
1 0 ❘ O c tober 2016
The sisters worked at the Lexington Medical Clinic in Lexington, about 10 miles from the house they shared. Authorities have released few details about the crime, but police suspect that robbery was a motive. Franciscan Father Greg Plata, sacramental administrator of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lexington, where the sisters participated in parish life, said the sisters “were just two wonderful, faith-filled women who just brought so much life to this poor little section of Mississippi. They and so many of the sisters who have come down here throughout the years are the unsung heroes.”
CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS
Mississippi police arrested a man for the murder of two women religious who spent years caring for poor people as nurse practitioners in central Mississippi. The women were found stabbed to death in their Durant, Mississippi, home on August 25, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). Rodney Earl Sanders has been charged with two counts of capital murder. The bodies of Sister Margaret Held, a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, and Sister Paula Merrill, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, were discovered after coworkers called police asking to check on them after they failed to report for work at the clinic. Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said police discovered a car missing from the sisters’ home that evening on a secluded street about a mile from where the women were found dead.
Eucharist, recite the Creed, and pray for the intentions of the pope as a sign of their unity with the Church, reported CNS. During his afternoon visit to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, Pope Francis set a bouquet of red and white roses on the altar and prayed silently for 10 minutes in the Portiuncula, a stone chapel in the middle of the basilica. He then spoke about the importance of confession and forgiveness. “Too many people are caught up in resentment and harbor hatred because they are incapable of forgiving. They ruin their own lives and the lives of those around them rather than finding the joy of serenity and peace,” he said. Although it was not written in the pope’s prepared text or mentioned in the Vatican schedule for the visit, Pope Francis ended his talk in Assisi by asking the Franciscan friars and
Pope Makes Brief Visit to Assisi Pope Francis visited Assisi on August 4 to mark the “Pardon of Assisi,” a plenary indulgence offered to visitors who are sincerely sorry for their sins, go to confession, receive the
Pope Francis prays outside the Portiuncula, the chapel inside the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, in Assisi, Italy, August 4. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
CNS/COURTESY VATICAN PHILATELIC AND NUMISMATIC OFFICE
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 In connection with Mother Teresa’s canonization, the Vatican has released a special postage stamp. The 95-cent stamp features Mother Teresa smiling in her bluetrimmed, white sari. Overlaid on the design by Patrizio Daniele is another image of Mother Teresa holding the hand of a small child. The Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office said it would print and sell a maximum of 150,000 sheets of 10 stamps each.
enforcement, which encourages officers to make large numbers of stops, searches, and arrests for minor, highly discretionary offenses. These practices led to repeated violations of the constitutional and statutory rights, further eroding the community’s trust in the police.” Six men and six women were appointed by Pope Francis on August 2 to a commission to study the issue of women deacons, particularly their ministry in the early Church. The pope set up the commission at the request of the International Union of Superiors General, the organization for the leaders of women’s religious orders around the world.
“Nonviolence: a style of politics for peace” is the theme Pope Francis has chosen for the 2017 World Peace Day on January 1. A papal message on the theme will be sent to heads of states around the world in December.
A federal Department of Justice report cataloging systemic abuses by Baltimore’s police is “sobering and distressing,” said Baltimore Archbishop William Lori. He added that the report “is an affirmation of those in our community who have long criticized the policing strategies and practices of the [police] department.” The report noted that the police’s “pattern of making unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests arises from its long-standing reliance on ‘zero tolerance’ street
bishops present to go to one of the confessionals and be available to offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He put on a purple stole and heard confessions before making his scheduled visit to Franciscans in the nearby infirmary. The pope said the pardon that St. Francis preached at the Portiuncula is needed now more than ever. “In this Holy Year of Mercy, it becomes ever clearer that the path of forgiveness can truly renew the Church and Fr ancisca n Media .org
CNS/SAM LUCERO, THE COMPASS
A new Marist poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus shows that Americans strongly support abortion restrictions. According to the poll, “strong majorities also oppose taxpayer funding, support the right of conscientious objectors to opt out of abortions, and would generally limit the procedure to—at most—the first trimester.” The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, was designated a national shrine by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on August 15, the feast of the Assumption. On October 9, 1859, Mary appeared to a young Belgian immigrant living in Kewaunee County. Today, it is the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. For more Catholic news, visit AmericanCatholic.org.
the world,” he said. “To offer today’s world the witness of mercy is a task from which none of us can feel exempt.”
Retired Pope Benedict Says It Was His Duty to Resign In an interview with an Italian journalist, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said he felt a “duty” to resign from the papacy because of his declining
health and the rigorous demands of papal travel, reported CNS. Pope Benedict told reporter Elio Guerriero that, while his heart was set on completing the Year of Faith, after his visit to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, he felt he was “incapable of fulfilling” the demands of another international trip, especially with World Youth Day 2013 scheduled for Brazil. The retired pope said that during his trip to Mexico and Cuba he O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 1 1
“experienced very strongly the limits of my physical endurance.” After consulting with his personal doctor, Pope Benedict said it became clear “that I would never be able to take part in the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. From that day, I had to decide in a relatively short time the date of my retirement. “With the program set out by John Paul II for these [World Youth] days, the physical presence of the pope was indispensable. This, too, was a circumstance which made my resignation a duty,” the pope said. The interview, which is included in Guerriero’s upcoming biography of Pope Benedict, Servant of God and Humanity: The Biography of Benedict XVI, was published
Pew Study: Preaching Key in Choosing Parish
August 24 in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The retired pontiff now spends his days in prayer and contemplation while residing at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in Vatican City.
Philadelphia Priest Released from Jail Msgr. William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, was freed from prison August 2 after posting $250,000 bail, reported CNS. He will be retried next year, however, on the same charge of endangering the welfare of a child for which he was convicted and incarcerated for most of the past three years. Msgr. Lynn was the first high-ranking clergyman to be convicted in the United States for a crime related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. As secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, he carried out the clergy assignments at the behest of the archbishop of Philadelphia, including that of now-laicized priest Edward Avery—the only case related directly to the charges against Msgr. Lynn. He served 33 months of a 36-month sentence at Waymart Correctional Facility in northeastern Pennsylvania, and remained there even after his conviction was overturned in December 2015 by the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The Superior Court ruled on the grounds that the volume of evidence at trial unfairly prejudiced the jury. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has announced that he will retry the priest in a reprise of the landmark 2012 trial. The retrial date has been set for May 2017.
‘Iron Nun’ Going Strong at 86 Sister Madonna Buder, a Sister of Christian Community from Spokane, Washington, was featured in Nike’s “Unlimited Youth” ad campaign during the Summer Olympics this past August. The 86-year-old sister, known as the “Iron Nun,” has completed 45 triathlons and currently holds the world record for the oldest person to ever finish an Ironman Triathlon, which she earned at age 82. A
CNS PHOTOS/COURTESY NIKE
Eighty-six-year-old Sister Madonna Buder, a Sister of Christian Community in Spokane, Washington, rides a bike for a Nike commercial. Known as the “Iron Nun,” she has completed 45 triathlons. 1 2 ❘ O ctober 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
Why We Pray the
Rosary This time-honored devotion connects us to our past yet resonates today. BY JEANNETTE DE BEAUVOIR
Y
OU’VE PROBABLY HEARD the expression knock on wood. But what you might not know is that one derivation of this popular saying refers to one of our own Catholic traditions—the recitation of the rosary. The rosary was a physical representation of inner faith, and it was natural to touch it when you were in distress or pain. “Knocking” rosary beads together, people said, was a sure means to get an answer to your prayer! It comes from a Latin word, rosarium, meaning “a garden of roses,” which doesn’t sound as if it has very much to do with praying. But in the 13th century, a garland of roses was used as a crown for a secular lady, and that practice was extended to statues of Mary; so the devotion to her took on the name of that garland.
A Brief History of the Rosary PHOTO © SHERI ARMSTRONG/ FOTOSEARCH
Using prayer beads as a counting device is common in many religions. The Church’s use of beads to count the number of times a prayer is spoken may have come from earlier Buddhist or Hindu sources. In fact, some sort of physical prayer aid seems to be fundamental to the spiritual lives of many people: when you have a number of prayers that need to be counted, you also need a method for counting them! Fr anciscanMedia.org
Although it is popularly attributed to the founder of the Dominican Order, the 13thcentury St. Domingo (Dominic) de Guzman, the rosary, in fact, comes from much older traditions. Several different threads came together to give us the rosary we use today. One of the first threads was the Church’s wish to encourage people to pray the Our Father. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was clear in AD 248 about the need to use the Our Father in personal as well as communal prayer. The early Church was already fighting numerous heretical factions, and there was some concern that people would make up their own prayers that might or might not conform to the Church’s teachings. In fourth-century Egypt, Paul the Hermit imposed on himself the recitation of 300 prayers every day, which he counted by collecting and tossing away 300 pebbles. Celtic monks in the seventh century prayed the Book of Psalms (150 psalms), keeping count of each psalm by tying knots in the cords used as belts for their habits. (Throughout the Middle Ages— and still continuing in some communities today—members of religious orders wore large rosaries attached to their belts as a continuation of this practice.) At the same time, in the 12th century, the Hail Mary started gaining in popularity alongOctober 2016 ❘
15
● ● ●
side the Our Father. It was another easily memorized prayer that came to be associated with popular piety. In the area of personal devotion, these prayers leveled the playing field: everyone could participate. By the 13th century, the term rosary started describing a string of beads that was then beginning to be used to recite 150 Hail Marys. As rosaries gained in popularity, so too did their manufacture, resulting in Paternoster Row in London, once the site of a thriving guild that made more and more elaborate beads—monks were even cautioned against the use of excessively beautiful or expensive beads. In fact, in France, royal inventories for the year 1380 listed enameled gold rosaries encrusted with jewels, amber, and coral. The following century saw mass production of less expensive rosaries, and rosaries made of wood, bone, and lead, once again linking the practice back to popular piety.
(Below) Walking on her knees at the Marian shrine of Fatima, in central Portugal, this pilgrim exemplifies the persistent power of Mary—and the rosary—for Catholics.
CNS PHOTO/ALESSIA GIULIANI, CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO
(Right) At one time, rosaries were adorned with precious jewels and metals. However, by the 1400s, the popular piety expressed by common people of faith led to rosaries being massproduced out of wood, bone, and lead.
The Dominican Influence Dominic de Guzman is a saint of uneven appeal. While the founder of an important order in the Church that elevated preaching, study, and education to a new height, he also was a strong supporter of the Crusades, at one point traveling around in the wake of Simon de Monfort’s crusader knights and converting what was left of the vanquished “enemy.” On the other hand, the Church was fighting
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
ANY PEOPLE BELIEVE that Mary continues to give us specific directions about how and when the rosary should be prayed, as the rosary has been linked to a number of apparitions of Mary. At Fatima, she encouraged the children to say the rosary every day to obtain peace in the world; at Kibeho, Rwanda, she again emphasized the importance of the rosary. Alan de la Roche, a 15th-century Roman Catholic theologian, stated, “The Holy Rosary is the storehouse of countless blessing.” One way to connect with the rich blessings of the rosary is to meditate on the mysteries, deeply focusing on the grace of God.
M
CNS PHOTO/ RAFAEL MARCHANTE, REUTERS
16 ❘
October 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
●
●
● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
PHOTO FROM SOTHEBY’S LONDON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
●
for its life on another front altogether. The popularity of medieval heresies was splitting it apart, particularly in the important Languedoc region of France. One of the prevalent nonorthodox beliefs, the Albigensian heresy, took the view that the spiritual world is good and the material world is evil. Christ, Albigensians believed, was never truly human; and Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection were only illusions. Mary belonged to the material world of sin, and therefore could not be seen as the mother of God. Sent to preach in the south of France, Dominic immediately encountered the heresy, and was by all accounts extremely eloquent in refuting it, even once arranging for a sort of preach-off, a competition between himself and a local heretic priest. (Dominic won.) One day, Dominic was said to have encountered Mary in a vision, and she gave him the “Marian Psalter” that would later develop into the rosary. It was a gift that made sense to his time and situation, since the prayers of the rosary emphasize the mysteries of the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, as well as underlining Mary’s role as the mother of God—all orthodox refutations of the heretical Albigensian claims. In fact, while the apparition is a nice story, that’s really all it is: there’s no evidence connecting Dominic with the rosary. The customs of carrying and praying with a Paternoster, and even the addition of the Hail Mary to the
Paternoster beads, precede Dominic by more than a century, while the practice of meditating on the mysteries didn’t begin until two centuries after his death. As for Dominic, he was silent on the subject of the apparition. It was a later Dominican, Alain de Rupe, who in the late 15th century
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
●
Legend has it that St. Dominic, portrayed here in a photo by El Greco, had a vision of Mary, who gifted him with a rosary. What is certain is that he was a staunch defender of the Church’s teachings and Mary’s role as mother of God.
●
●
●
●
●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Meditating on the Mysteries The joyful mysteries are generally prayed on Mondays and Saturdays. They include: 1. The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lk 1:38) 2. Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1:45) 3. The birth of Jesus at Bethlehem (Lk 2:7) 4. The presentation of Jesus in the temple (Lk 2:22) 5. The finding of the child Jesus in the temple (Lk 2:49)
Fr anciscanMedia.org
The luminous mysteries are generally prayed on Thursdays. They include: 1. John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan (Mt 3:17) 2. Jesus performs a miracle at a wedding in Cana (Jn 2:5) 3. Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God and calls us to conversion (Mk 1:15) 4. The transfiguration of Jesus (Lk 9:35) 5. Jesus gives the Eucharist (Jn 6:54)
The sorrowful mysteries are generally prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays. They include: 1. Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane (Lk 22:44) 2. Jesus is scourged at the pillar (Jn 19:1) 3. Jesus is crowned with thorns (Mk 15:17) 4. Jesus carries the cross to Calvary (Jn 19:17) 5. Jesus dies for our sins (Jn 19:26-27)
The glorious mysteries are generally prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays. They include: 1. Jesus rises from the dead (Jn 20:19) 2. Jesus ascends into heaven (Mk 16:19) 3. The Holy Spirit descends on the apostles (Acts 2:4) 4. Mary is assumed into heaven (Lk 1:48-49) 5. Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth (2 Tm 2:12) October 2016 ❘
17
● ● ●
CNS PHOTO/ ERIC GAILLARD, REUTERS
spread the story of the saint’s connection with the rosary. In 1470, Alain divided the rosary into three groups of 50 beads and three groups of mysteries—the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Resurrection—and, perhaps more importantly, encouraged the practice of praying the rosary in groups.
us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” wasn’t added until after a famous sermon preached by St. Bernardine of Siena in 1487 captured pious peoples’ imaginations and got transferred to their daily devotions. The Glory Be was not part of the rosary in its earliest stages; and the pendant (composed of the cross and the five extra beads) was also a later addition. The most recent change was in 2002, when Pope John Paul II commemorated the 25th anniversary of his pontificate by adding the mysteries of light, or luminous mysteries, to the saying of the rosary. In his apostolic letter, the pontiff spoke specifically of using the rosary as a path to contemplation. In that sense, we can see the rosary as a unique pairing of both prayer and contemplation, connecting us back to the roots of our tradition and to the practices of the earliest Christians—our ancestors in the faith.
Praying the Rosary Today
(Above) It’s easy to think of the practice of saying the rosary as a static phenomenon. However, it has changed over the years, including St. John Paul II’s addition of the mysteries of light in 2002. (Right) The rosary in the 21st century includes apps for smartphones and electronic models, such as the one pictured, which features the voice of St. John Paul II.
CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF PREX COMPANY
Changes through the Centuries Nothing in life is static. Much of what many Catholics think is “the way it’s always been done” is, in fact, relatively recent in practice. In the 13th century, for example, the Hail Mary sounded very different from what we say today. The word Jesus didn’t appear as part of the prayer until the 14th century; and the last line, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for 18 ❘
October 2016
One could argue that there is less need for the rosary now than in the past. During the Middle Ages and beyond, people were required to attend a liturgy celebrated in a language that they did not understand, often in places where they were unable to even see what was happening. They could, however, continue their private devotions through praying the rosary and feel as though they had been spiritually uplifted by the experience. But the Second Vatican Council brought the liturgy into the languages of the world, and these days, everyone can understand what the priest is saying. So why the rosary now? Part of the answer has to do with its very intimacy. The rhythm of the prayers, coupled with the fact that many Catholics have been reciting them since early childhood, makes the rosary a familiar touchstone in a world that often feels very unfamiliar and chaotic indeed. Moreover, one of the truths of the Catholic Church is that it is an incarnational Church, concerned with articles of daily life: with bread, wine, homes, and relationships. The fact that the rosary is an object, part of the material world, can help to celebrate the incarnational side of our religion—and remind us all of where we started, and who we are. A Jeannette De Beauvoir does marketing copywriting for Pauline Books & Media, the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul. She writes and gives workshops about topics connecting the Church’s past to its present in meaningful ways. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
DAUGHTER DIAMOND RING
Set with 3 genuine diamonds
Share With Her God s In nite Love Sharing your faith with a beautiful daughter is a precious blessing. And your daughter’s trust in the Lord fills your heart with joy. Now, she can wear a stunning expression of this belief with a new jewelry creation— the “Pure Faith” Daughter Diamond Ring, only from The Bradford Exchange. Hand-crafted of solid sterling silver, the ring’s band crisscrosses to create an infinity bypass design. Etched in the center is a mirror-cut cross set with a radiant diamond. Two more diamonds are set among the stylish filigree work of the band. The band is engraved on the inside with You’ll Never Walk Alone, as a reminder that the Lord is by your daughter’s side!
A Remarkable Value... Available for a Limited Time This ring is a remarkable value at $99*, payable in 4 easy installments of just $24.75 and backed by our 120day guarantee. It arrives in a custom case along with a Certificate of Authenticity. To reserve, send no money now; just mail the Reservation Application today!
A Fine Jewelry Exclusive from The Bradford Exchange www.bradfordexchange.com/16585 ©2016 The Bradford Exchange 01-16585-000-BI
LIMITED-TIME OFFER
Beautifully hand crafted in solid sterling silver Elegantly engraved with the message “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
RESERVATION APPLICATION
Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Respond as soon as possible to reserve your ring.
SEND NO MONEY NOW
P.O. Box 806, Morton Grove, IL 60053-0806
YES. Please reserve the “Pure Faith” Daughter Diamond Ring for me as described in this announcement. Ring Size_____ (if known) Shown actual size
Signature Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly)
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED To assure a proper fit, a ring sizer will be sent to you after your reservation has been accepted. *Plus $9.98 shipping and service. Please allow 4-6 weeks after initial payment for shipment of your jewelry. Sales subject to product availability and order acceptance.
Address City
State
Zip
E-Mail (Optional)
01-16585-001-E10601
AT HOME ON EARTH
❘ BY KYLE KRAMER
An Instrument of Peace
O
St. Paul, Baton Rouge, and Dallas (and who knows where else by the time this goes to press), and the horrific truck rampage in Nice, France. Pope Francis is right that Let’s Take Action there can be no peace with October 4 is the feast day our planet without also strivof St. Francis of Assisi. Can ing for peace among people. you honor him by praying In Laudato Si’, he wrote: “We his peace prayer and by are faced not with two sepacommitting to one peacerate crises, one environmenmaking action in your life? tal and the other social, but rather with one complex criSt. Augustine once said sis, which is both social and that those who sing, pray environmental.” Only twice. Our Church has a healthy communities can treasure trove of good ensure a healthy planet, and music to support love-invice versa. action. Sing out at Mass— How can we become and anywhere else! instruments of peace? Fear, anger, bluster, or revenge Consider organizing a don’t overcome violence; parish prayer vigil for they feed it—whether peace. Pray, for example, between people or nations. for victims and perpetrators Only love will bring peace: a of gun violence. fierce, gentle love that gives us the courage to face suffering, a love whose power even death cannot defeat. As Christians, we claim this to be divine Love, embodied in Jesus: in his ministry, on the cross, and in the resurrection. Opening ourselves to this fierce love through prayer, and then acting out of it— personally and in our public policies—is the only pathway to peace. A
1
2
3
Kyle Kramer is the executive director of the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
We are much stronger when we join together in an effort to find peace and common ground. 2 0 ❘ O c tober 2016
Click the button on the right to listen to an interview with Kyle. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
© LUSHPIX/FOTOSEARCH
CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ
ne of my all-time favorite songs is John Michael Talbot’s version of St. Francis’ peace prayer. Years ago, with pounding hearts, my wife and I sang it as a duet at our wedding Mass, to express some of the core values on which we want to build our marriage. My mom, after recently surviving a grueling course of chemotherapy, asked us to reprise that song at a large party she threw to celebrate her gratitude for still being alive. She feels that she has survived for a reason, that there’s something more God wants her to do in this world, and “make me an instrument of your peace” articulated her wish to take this calling seriously. Those were fitting words at celebrations of love and life. But such a song, such a prayer, is all the more needed in the troubled times we all are going through. As I write this, I am trying to wrap my heart and head around the recent violence in our nation and our world: the senseless shootings in
Francisscan Wisdom
from Daniel P. Hooran, OFM and Richard Rohr Living our o faith can sometimes seem out of step s with the times. But the risk of appeearing foolish never stopped “God’s Fool,� St. Francis of Assisi, from living thhe Gospel as best he could. Author, Franciscan friar, and popular modern retreat leader Dan Horan puts m Christiaan dilemmas into a new w light. HWLYIHJR ‹ WHNLZ ‹
“This Franciscan messagee is sorely needed in the world, and Rohr’s masterful m exposition of its treasures offfferss spiritual salve.� —PPublishers bli h Weeekly kl 7HWLYIHJR ‹ WHNLZ ‹
‹ 0:)5
NOW AVAILABLE INN PAPERB A ACK!
‹ 0:)5
The
Mercy of Francis Compassion is a constant theme in the ministries of both St. Francis and Pope Francis.
B Y M U R R AY B O D O , O F M
CNS PHOTO/GIAN MATTEO CROCCHIONI, POOL VIA REUTERS
22 â?˜
October 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
I
Fr anciscanMedia.org
perfunctorily, unlike later in the afternoon in the cathedral of Assisi when he welcomed enthusiastically the ordinary laborers who work in the hotels and other establishments of Assisi. He was similarly enthusiastic that evening when he was leaving from the Church of Rivo Torto on the plain below Assisi, where his helicopter idled, waiting for him to embark. He stopped instead, seeing all the wheelchairs outside, and blessed and greeted each one of the people there. Was it just me? Was I the only one who felt he was not “on his game,” as it were, when he celebrated Mass that morning?
(Opposite page) Pope Francis blesses a child at the Serafico Institute during his 2013 visit to Assisi. The Institute helps with the rehabilitation of severely disabled children across Italy. (Left) This statue at the Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, DC, depicts the story of St. Francis and the turtledoves. The saint rescued the birds that the young boy had brought to the market to sell. PHOTO BY JEANNE KORTEKAMP
n 2013, when Pope Francis came to Assisi for the feast of St. Francis, I happened to be there as a guide with a group of pilgrims making the Assisi Pilgrimage Program, which coincided with St. Francis’ feast day. It was a cold, wet October 4, but no one seemed to mind, knowing that Pope Francis would be there the whole day, which began just outside the city walls at the Serafico Institute, a religious charitable institution that treats seriously disabled children. He spent a good 40 minutes there greeting each one of the over 100 children and, in his brief remarks, reminding the staff of their wonderful responsibility in tending to the wounds of Christ and telling the children how special they were to Jesus. Needless to say, with such an introduction to the city, I was anticipating a really exciting Mass and homily later in the morning. All of us Franciscan pilgrims had tickets to the outside Mass, which we would view on a large screen located on the upper level of the Basilica of St. Francis. Pope Francis was to celebrate the Mass in the portico of the lower level of the basilica. Earlier in the morning, the staff of Casa Papa Giovanni, the pensione where we live while in Assisi, informed those of us who had not yet left to secure a seat at the basilica, that Pope Francis’ motorcade would be passing along the street below ours on his way down the hill to the basilica. Four of us made our way immediately down Viale Aluigi to the street below to wait for Pope Francis to pass by, knowing we would be quite close to him as he made his way through the narrow street. When the moment came, he seemed so large to me and, strangely, rather wooden with his arm raised in a blessing that seemed so frozen in the air that I spontaneously blessed him instead, my large cross signing the air and causing a fleeting smile to cross Pope Francis’ lips. I felt that his rather absent stare was asking us to pray for him, bless him, just as he did when he stood on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election to the papacy, with the same rather lost look, as if wondering how he got there, and asking us to pray for him. It was that same look that prompted my blessing, which, afterward, made me feel like a fool. At the Mass, which loomed large on the screen, Pope Francis again seemed to me to be elsewhere and celebrated, I thought, rather
An Encounter with St. Francis As it happened, I was the main celebrant at the Mass the next morning at the tomb of St. Francis in the crypt below the church in the lower basilica. It was our final Mass of the pilgrimage, and I arrived early to make preparations, but also determined to ask one of my Franciscan brothers working at the basilica if the pope had seemed distracted or different the day before. Luckily, I chose the right brother. In a lowered, more confidential voice, he told me that Pope Francis had walked briskly down the steps of the crypt and knelt before Francis’ tomb in prayer that seemed longer than expected. When he finished and tried to rise, October 2016 ❘
23
of love; . . . Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer. “My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, . . . For I am God and not a man, the Holy One present among you” (11:1-4, 8-9). This is the God who is the model of all mercy, the God whose name, according to Pope Benedict XVI, is mercy, “the face with which he revealed himself in the Old Testament and fully in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of creative and redemptive love.” It is this God that Pope Francis has been called to reveal to us again by reminding us by his words and, especially, by his actions that we are all called individually and as a Church to be the face of God’s mercy to the broken and rejected ones. We are the Church that Cardinal Walter Kasper says “is not a kind of social or charitable agency; as the body of Christ, it is the sacrament of the continuing effective presence of Christ in the world.” The Church, like God, must be mercy, must open its heart to wretchedness.
I thought immediately of St. Francis going to Rome in 1209 to have his Rule approved by Pope Innocent III, and here now was Pope Francis, centuries later, coming to St. Francis, his patron, to have his papacy validated, a papacy not unlike Francis’ rule and life, that was to be about the poor and neglected, that was to be a renewal of living the Gospel in our own time. The theme, as with St. Francis, was to be about mercy. If ever two men would understand each other, it was these two men, Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi, who, Pope Francis has said, alongside St. Augustine, is closest to his soul. No wonder he seemed in a daze when he came out for Mass. His papacy would indeed be the Franciscan message reincarnated today, and it would begin with mercy.
Following St. Francis
CCNS PHOTO/OCTAVIO DURAN
he seemed to have trouble getting up and coming back to himself again. “Did he have a vision or something like that?” I asked. “I don’t know,” he answered, “but he surely did have some kind of experience at St. Francis’ tomb.”
During his 2013 visit, Pope Francis spent time praying before the tomb of St. Francis. One of the Franciscan brothers present said the pope seemed profoundly moved by the experience.
If ever two men would understand each other, it was these two men, Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi.
24 ❘
October 2016
A Call to Mercy The word mercy, as Pope Francis has pointed out, derives from the Latin word misericordia, which means to open one’s heart to wretchedness. It is what God does time and again in our lives, God the lover, God the healer, God who opens his heart to our wretchedness, saying through the prophet Hosea: “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me. . . . Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; . . . I drew them with human cords, with bands
This is what Pope Francis has done from the beginning by taking the name and ministry of St. Francis of Assisi in response to a fellow cardinal’s whispered plea, “Don’t forget the poor.” At that moment, Cardinal Bergoglio knew what his name would be: Francis—for the saint of Assisi who said in his Testament: “For I, being in sin, thought it bitter to look at lepers, and the Lord himself led among them, and I made mercy with them. And when I left their company, I realized that what had seemed bitter to me, had been turned into sweetness of soul and body.” St. Francis says that he made mercy with them. He didn’t patronize them by simply having pity on them. They made mercy together; they became Church to one another. In kissing the leper’s hand, Francis received Christ himself from the leper; and the leper, in letting himself or herself be ministered to, received the opening of God’s heart, received hope which is the ability to imagine a better future. There is mutuality in mercy. Mercy reveals the face of God to both the giver and the receiver, especially when mercy is given freely with no strings attached. St. Francis, in his letter to those who are given the ministry of leadership among the brothers, says, “Let there be no brother who has sinned, no matter how seriously, who would look into your eyes seeking forgiveness, St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
and go away without it. And should he not seek forgiveness, you should ask him if he wants it. And if after that he were to sin a thousand times, even before your eyes, love him more than me, for this is how you will draw him to the Lord; and always have mercy on such as these.” Those are the eyes of St. Francis and Pope Francis, whose eyes draw us with love, not judgment. It is Pope Francis who says, “Who am I to judge?” thereby drawing to God’s open, merciful heart those who feel rejected and condemned by the Church.
privileging those on the margins of society whenever he travels outside the Vatican, trying to find ways of working mercy with those whose decisions have removed them from the body of Christ and/or from full participation in the sacraments. Pope Francis proclaimed this Year of Mercy
Pope Francis’ Mission
Fr anciscanMedia.org
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
A few months after Pope Francis was elected, I was riding in a taxi in Rome and asked the driver what he thought of the new pope. “Oh, we don’t have a pope,” he answered. “You don’t have a pope?” I asked, fearing he somehow did not like Pope Francis. “No, we don’t have a pope; we have a pastor!” And there it all was for me. We have a pastor, one who, as St. Francis before him, had heard and was putting into practice the same Gospel words that changed the life of the rich young man of Assisi named Francis Bernardone, who at Mass on the feast of St. Matthias, February 24, 1208, heard these words of Jesus to his disciples: “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of God is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” (Mt 10) That is the mission of Pope Francis. He shows in his very gestures the Gospel as joy, a joy that comes from healing mercy; he models in his person what St. John XXIII proclaimed at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council: “The Bride of Christ prefers to use the medicine of mercy rather than arm herself with weapons of rigor.” God has many faces, and God turns now one face and now another throughout time. The face of God shining in our time is mercy; and when we, in turn, work mercy with one another, we become the face of God among us. How that is done is being spelled out by Pope Francis daily when he says again and again, “Don’t forget the poor,” and when he acts upon his own words, providing showers for the homeless, for example, or opening the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums to them, providing food and shelter in the Vatican to Syrian refugees, washing the feet of prisoners,
not as an end in itself, but rather so that we can all participate in working mercy with one another, thereby opening our hearts to wretchedness in ourselves and others. In this, we’ll see that the merciful face of God is the face of God. Then we can be, more fully, as a Church, the sacrament of the merciful renewed face of God, the face of God mirrored so dramatically in those of Pope Francis and his patron, St. Francis of Assisi. A
Pope Francis’ call for mercy was exemplified when he brought 12 Syrian refugees back to Rome with him following his April 2016 visit to the Greek island of Lesbos.
Murray Bodo is a Franciscan friar and the author of 30 books, including the best-selling Francis: The Journey and the Dream, Enter Assisi: An Invitation to Franciscan Spirituality, and Gathering Shards: A Franciscan Life. He resides in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio, and spends two months of the year in Rome and Assisi as a staff member of the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program. October 2016 ❘
25
EDITORIAL
Minding What Matters Street violence has many looking up for answers, but maybe we should look around. The US Department of Justice reports that one in three black American men can expect to go to prison in his lifetime. One in three: the same proportion as suffer hair loss or weight gain. The same ratio as those who have insomnia or develop diabetes. One in three. It’s hard to imagine that this stark fact is a fluke rather than a symptom of a larger problem. How can we begin to address the inequalities at the root of this issue? Some have taken the divide-and-conquer approach, and are rallying against one aspect of the racism still endemic in our society. Black people die at the hands of police at twice the rate of white people. The Centers for Disease Control lists the 10th leading cause of death in black males aged 15–24 as “legal intervention,” that is, death by police. Part of the national conversation are those who say racism is history. The election of President Barack Obama or the court rulings in the 1950s that outlawed housing and school segregation support the idea that some progress has been made. But the recent spate of police killings shines a cruel light on how much more remains to be done.
Losing Ground The segregation banned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 has rebounded. Between 1954 and 1988, the percentage of black children enrolled in predominantly white schools had risen from 0 to 43 percent; by 2011, that rate was down to 23 percent— about what it was in the late 1960s. That separate and unequal state of affairs in education has devastating consequences. One is the racial wealth gap. A 2011 study of US Census Bureau data shows the median wealth of a white household is just over $111,000; the median wealth of a black 2 6 ❘ O ctober 2016
household is just over $8,000. If you are white, you are, on average, 14 times wealthier than if you are black. The grim statistics could parade unceasingly, but they don’t change minds. A 2015 CNN/Kaiser Family Foundation poll asked if racism is a “big problem.” A majority of black and Hispanic respondents said yes; a majority of white respondents said no. Privilege is like a nose: it’s hard to see your own. It’s obvious how easy your wealthy neighbor has it, but you rarely meet the people who can’t afford to live in your part of town. It’s clear the higher-ups at work get all the perks, but your desk doesn’t have a view of the unemployment office. If you’re a man, you probably don’t spend a lot of time worrying whether your outfit will provoke a sexual assault; if you’re white, you probably find those flashing lights in the rearview mirror an inconvenience, not a death threat. But the nonstop media coverage of police shootings—Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile—is impossible to ignore. In the words of actor Will Smith, “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed.” Cell phone cameras and Facebook Live are making it possible to see things from another angle.
Citizens of Another Kingdom We’re used to thinking of America as a Christian nation, so we don’t always stop to consider how often the ideals of both are in opposition. We have turned the conversation on race into an argument about whose rights are more equal than others. Equality is an important issue in any civil society, but Jesus doesn’t preach equality. He preaches charity: Love your neighbor. Love your enemy. If someone strikes one cheek, offer the other; if you are forced to walk one mile, walk two. Let’s have a different conversation. Instead of asking who has more, let’s ask: Who has less than we do? Why? How can we help? —K.C. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
Mother Teresa, A Gift to the Faithful Heirloom Music Box and Golden Rosary
Plays “Amazing Grace”
Shown smaller than actual size of 6" long x 4" wide
loving portrait of Mother Teresa, graced by her † Ainspiring quote, is framed by a golden border
†
Heirloom quality, hand-crafted music box is finished in rich mahogany and rests on golden ball feet
a decorative golden key on the front and † Features elegant black velvet lining inside
Includes a golden rosary and commemorative Canonization Card
RESERVATION APPLICATION
Commemorative Music Box is strictly limited—order now! In 1948, a faithful young nun left the convent, answering a call to live among and serve “the poorest of the poor.” Now, this beloved servant of the Lord inspires the Blessed Mother Teresa Heirloom Music Box and Golden Rosary—a celebration of her life’s work helping those in need, and her September 4, 2016 canonization by Pope Francis. This hand-crafted music box is an heirloom to treasure, and it includes a golden rosary and commemorative Canonization Card. Order yours now at just $59.99*, payable in three installments of $19.99 and backed by unconditional 365-day guarantee. Send no money now. Just return the coupon now!
SEND NO MONEY NOW
9345 Milwaukee Avenue · Niles, IL 60714-1393
YES.
Please accept my order for the Blessed Mother Teresa Heirloom Music Box and Golden Rosary as described in this announcement. I need send no money now. I will be billed with shipment. Mrs. Mr. Ms. Name (Please Print Clearly)
Address City
State
Zip
Email (optional)
©2016 BGE 01-24891-001-BD
www.bradfordexchange.com /24891
01-24891-001-E10601 *Plus a total of $9.99 shipping and service. Limited-edition presentation restricted to 295 crafting days. Please allow 4-8 weeks for shipment. Sales subject to product availability and order acceptance.
Bishop Robert Barron,
At the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, Philippines, Bishop Robert Barron spoke of the importance of the Eucharist in terms of the Catholic faith.
© PSAMTIK/ FOTOSEARCH
Evangelist
His Catholicism series reached millions. The encore focuses on pivotal players who helped shape the Church. BY JOYCE DURIGA
R
CNS PHOTO/ KATARZYNA ARTYMIAK
OBERT BARRON is settling into his new role as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles—but it was an adjustment at first. Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which produced the award-winning Catholicism series used in thousands of parishes and that aired on PBS stations around the country. He’s a native of Chicago and was a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago before being ordained a bishop in the fall of 2015. He never thought it would happen. “God’s full of surprises,” he tells St. Anthony Messenger. “I’ll admit candidly, it was a difficult transition because I was totally ensconced in Chicago—friends, family, ministry, connections, everything. I travel around the world a lot, but Chicago has always been home.” With one phone call from the US papal nuncio, all of that was taken away, and he says he experienced a type of desolation. “I didn’t know this place at all. I had been to LA to give talks and that sort of thing. But the geography, the people, the priests, the roads— I knew nothing about it. It was hard. The first couple of months here were difficult just because every day was such a huge adjustment,” he says. “But I’ve turned the corner. I’m very comfortable here now and have gotten to know a lot of folks.” Some of the little things were an adjustment, too—like wearing a zucchetto. When delivering the opening keynote address at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September 2015 (see box on p. 32), he asked the crowd to forgive him for always adjusting his zucchetto. He had only been ordained about a week. October 2016 ❘
29
“I’m kind of used to it now, but when you first put it on it’s weird,” he recalls. “It does feel like it’s falling off of your head all of the time. I’m not used to having a hat in that position.” Then there is the bishop’s ring. “I never wore a ring in my life,” he says. “When you’re a bishop, they tell you don’t take it off. It’s like a wedding ring. I’m just now kind of getting used to it, but that was difficult, too.”
in the past six months than I’ve had in a long time.” So far, his duties as a bishop—Confirmations, parish visits, presbyteral council meetings, and the like—haven’t limited his evangelical work with Word on Fire, but time will tell. Despite Barron’s relocation, Word on Fire remains headquartered in a Chicago suburb.
Evangelization Begins in Chicago
CNS PHOTO/JOHN RUEDA, THE TIDINGS
Barron’s interest in evangelizing through media began in 1999 when he asked parishioners at his parish—Sacred Heart in Winnetka, Illinois—to fund a radio program that he would host on WGN Radio in Chicago. “I would say that was the moment that Word on Fire began,” back in 2000, says Father Steve Grunow, CEO of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Barron is founder of this Catholic media apostolate, dedicated to spreading the beauty and truth about the Catholic faith. It has been enormously successful over the years, with millions of viewers and listeners via TV, radio, books, articles, and social media. By that time Barron had been teaching at Mundelein Seminary—the largest major seminary in the United States—for 14 years and was traveling the country preaching and giving
(Right) For his Catholicism series, Bishop Barron traveled to over 50 locations in 15 countries.
30 ❘
October 2016
None of these are earth-shattering problems, he says, just things to adjust to. The weather and location have helped the transition. Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez assigned Barron to be the episcopal vicar for the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, which has a population of one million Catholics and is larger than many dioceses in the country. He lives in Santa Barbara, which he calls the “American Riviera.” It’s certainly a different climate than what he was used to in Chicago. Barron admits that he relishes teasing his friends and family in Chicago about the beautiful weather in Santa Barbara—especially during this past winter. Before being named a bishop, Barron served as rector and president of Mundelein Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois. Since he has spent much of his ministry in academics, he has had to shift his focus as a bishop. “What strikes me is it’s a very pastoral job. I’m out with the people a lot,” he says. “I’ve had probably more of the smell of the sheep
PHOTO FROM WORD ON FIRE
(Above) At his episcopal ordination on September 8, 2015, Bishop Barron receives the Book of the Gospels from Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez. Bishop Barron has said there have been adjustments to his new position, such as wearing the zucchetto: it “feels like it’s falling off your head all of the time.”
talks and workshops. He also had published seven books. With the radio show opportunity, he gathered a board of directors and founded Word on Fire. Around this time Chicago’s late Cardinal Francis George assigned Barron the task of “evangelizing the culture.” Grunow recalls: “I remember Father Barron saying that the conversation with Cardinal George was that John St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
Cardinal George
Mentor and Friend
I
f not for Cardinal Francis George, Word on Fire Ministries and Barron might
not have been as successful. Barron explains: “Several years ago, to my infinite sur-
CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC
Paul II asked Cardinal George, ‘What are you doing to evangelize the culture?’ Cardinal George did not have an answer for him and that disturbed him. Then he asked Father Barron to, in the cardinal’s words, ‘jump-start’ evangelization in the archdiocese, at which time Father Barron said, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ Cardinal George said, ‘I don’t know.’ I think the Spirit took over from there.” What resulted was a yearlong endeavor called Mission Chicago 2006, which included a three-day Festival of Faith at a convention center, a day of round-the-clock confessions with 70 priests on hand, a series of six sermons by Barron, and the distribution of 2,500 motivational DVDs.
prise, he said, ‘I want to take you out of the seminary and put
Catholicism Goes Nationwide
you more into this evangelical
After the successful Chicago Mission 2006, the question became, “What is next for Word on Fire?” The radio show had been picked up by WGN America and aired nationally. The Word on Fire website (wordonfire.org) became a hub for podcasts, videos, sermons, and reflections by Barron and others that sought to engage fallen-away Catholics. Barron wanted to make a documentary about the Catholic faith that would do for the Catholic Church what Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation did for Western civilization. The Catholicism series was born. “Once that clarity was given, the begging began,” Grunow recalls. The series cost $3 million to produce and was financed by donations from individuals, mostly laypeople. No money came from the Archdiocese of Chicago. Catholicism included 10, hour-long DVDs, leader and group study guides, and a 300-page stand-alone book of the same title. The series, which Barron hosts, was filmed in state-ofthe-art high-definition and spans more than 50 locations in 15 countries. Those involved made it for a Church and public audience. Word on Fire pitched all 10 episodes of Catholicism to PBS, and the network chose four. Ninety public stations across the country aired those four episodes. No money was exchanged under the agreement, despite PBS’ usual practice of charging to air outside productions.
work.’ And then he said, ‘And I’m going to invite you to stay at my house.’” Cardinal George always had several priests or auxiliary bishops living with him at the Archbishop’s Residence on the Near North Side of Chicago. Barron lived with Cardinal George for about six years until he became rector of Mundelein Seminary. He says, “I was able to sit at his table. Not every night—he was gone and I was gone a lot—but maybe once or twice a week I’d be able to have dinner with him.” Being at the table with Cardinal George, he says, was like going to graduate school. “I used to say that the conversation was like your doctoral defense. If you said something, he would come after you to know, ‘OK, what are the footnotes, what is the background, can you defend that position?’” Barron recalls. “But I learned so much about the Church’s missionary élan from him, because he was a missionary.” It was Cardinal George who taught Barron how to read the Second Vatican Council as a missionary council. “He helped me to see what my generation got was a distortion of Vatican II whereby we spent a lot of time talking to ourselves about our inner-churchy issues—usually about sex and authority,” Barron says. “Cardinal George saw that as a tragedy in some ways because it obviated what Vatican II was about.” The council was about bringing Christ, the light of the nations, to the world, he maintains. “That’s where a lot of my evangelical work would fit in there. Vatican II didn’t say conform yourself to the times; it said read the sign of the times. I think that people just miss that all of the time. You read the sign of the times in light of Christ. He helped me see that with great clarity.”
Preview of Coming Attractions Now Barron and his Word on Fire team are working on the high-quality follow-up to Catholicism called Pivotal Players, which will profile great Catholics throughout history. Catholicism had an episode featuring four saints. But Barron, who says he has always Fr anciscanMedia.org
Barron continues to seek the late Cardinal George’s guidance, even today: “I’ve got his picture up in my room here. I pray to him a lot. I ask for his intercession.”
October 2016 ❘
31
Reflecting on the Image of God
I
been “big on the saints,” wanted to expand that to great Catholic figures. “I think that’s what always grabs people’s imaginations, when you instantiate the faith in a figure, in a person. And I wanted it to be saints, scholars, artists who have really influenced the Catholic imagination,” he says. They settled on 10 figures: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, Blessed John Henry Newman, St. Catherine of Siena, G.K. Chesterton, Michelangelo, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Benedict, St. Ignatius, and Bartolomé de las Casas. Six episodes, filmed on location, were released in September 2016. Each episode is designed to highlight the beauty in the faith. “We tend to lead with the beautiful. That’s the mark of Word on Fire,” Barron says. “It’s beautiful and it’s smart. Those two features of the Catholic tradition we really emphasize.” He aims to reach first fallen-away Catholics and then the broader public and to be “culturally plugged in. “One thing that’s really gratified me about Word on Fire is that focus has not put people off at all. We have wonderful numbers in terms of our followers and those who use our material,” he says. “In all my evangelical work I’m trying to respond to a crisis in the Church 32 ❘
October 2016
CNS PHOTO/JEFFREY BRUNO
N SEPTEMBER 2015, on the tail end of Pope Francis’ visit to America, Bishop Barron delivered the opening keynote address at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. The meeting is held every three years and is sponsored by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family. It is the largest Catholic gathering of families. The theme of last year’s event was “Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.” In his address, Bishop Barron spoke on the topic of “Living as the Image of God: Created for Joy and Love.” During his hourlong speech, he told attendees, “The image of God is for the world. We must think of ourselves as representatives of God bringing his power, his wisdom, his heart, his mind to the world. Image of God is a mission and a responsibility.” The family, he said, “is the place where the imago dei [the image of God] is burnished, where the imago dei is brought to life. . . .
Families where the virtues are cultivated, the virtues of courage and of prudence, virtues of forgiveness, virtues of nonviolence—where these virtues are being taught, that’s a family that can go out to teach the world the same virtues.”
Last September, Bishop Barron kicked off the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia with his keynote address: “Living as the Image of God.”
that I grew up with, that I’ve been living through, which is a crisis in education, communication, evangelization—a passing on of our faith in a way that’s compelling, smart, beautiful, profound. We missed the boat on that.” He calls it a crisis of “dumbed-down Catholicism,” which his generation saw often. The view of this crisis was one he shared with Cardinal George. While Cardinal George was a living influence in Barron’s spiritual life, through Pivotal Players he shares some of those he has studied over the years, such as Thomas Aquinas, G.K. Chesterton, and John Henry Newman. He has other influences, too, such as Dorothy Day, Dante, and Thomas Merton. Maybe those will surface in future Word on Fire series where they are committed to sharing the beauty of the faith. “We’ve been saying it for a long time. Don’t lead with all of the hot-button issues,” Barron says. “Lead with the beauty of the faith. Lead with the mercy of God. Lead with the saints.” A Joyce Duriga is the editor of Catholic New World, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of Chicago. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
A Field Guide to
Catholic Life First came their popular website. Now a book by this mother and daughter aims to help Catholics grasp their faith more fully. BY DONIS TRACY
C
atholic. The word itself means universal, diverse, broad. And yet, a mother/daughter team from Colorado Springs, Colorado, has attempted to catalogue the many varied traditions and practices that make up the Catholic faith. In their book, The Catholic Catalogue: A Field Guide to the Daily Acts that Make Up a Catholic Life, mother Melissa Musick and her daughter Anna Keating take readers through a journey that describes many practices and suggests ways for everyday Catholics to celebrate their faith in their lives. Although the book was published in February 2016, its origins date back to the 1970s, explains Musick. As a young, single college student, Musick stumbled across the book The Jewish Catalogue: A Do-It-Yourself Kit. “I was mesmerized,” she recalls. “Even though I was not Jewish, I thought that was the most won-
34 ❘
October 2016
derful idea: to have a book that summarizes the traditions of the Jewish faith. After that, I always thought that this was something that Catholics needed, too,” Musick continues. As a convert to Catholicism, Musick was fascinated with many of the aspects of the faith. Raised in a strong Methodist household in Texas, Musick began attending a daily Mass at the cathedral near her workplace “out of sheer curiosity,” she recounts. “I found myself falling absolutely in love with the words of my eucharistic prayer,” continues Musick. “It was the completion of the way I had been raised.” So, at age 20, she entered into full communion with the Catholic Church, receiving her Confirmation at the same cathedral she had first entered. “I loved the church I grew up in,” she says, adding that her upbringing “really grounded” her faith. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
PHOTO BY LOVE ROOTS PHOTOGRAPHY
The idea of writing a book about Catholic practices and traditions remained in the back of her mind as she met her husband, Martin, married, raised her five children, and embarked on a career as an author of books on religion and spirituality and a columnist for National Catholic Reporter. It wasn’t until her youngest daughter, Anna, had to leave her job as a high school teacher to care for her first child, who had medical issues, that Musick’s dream became a reality. “I thought to myself that maybe this is something that she and I could do together,” the 63-year-old recalls. She approached her daughter, who wholeheartedly agreed, with a twist. “I came up with the idea of beginning the writing not as a book, but as a website,” Keating explains. “It really felt like this was the right project for us to do together.” Fr anciscanMedia.org
Two Generations, Two Perspectives And so, in April 2013, thecatholiccatalogue. com was launched. The website posts weekly articles on everything from popular culture to apologetics; from raising children in the faith to the importance of being in communion with God through gardening. It was an instant success, according to Keating. In the three years since they launched the website, between 5,000 and 10,000 readers view the site every day. To date, over 60,000 people have become followers of the site on Facebook. “Once people were excited about the project, we turned our attention to writing the book,” Keating says, adding that because the two are at “different stages in life, there is a definite richness to the topics. We each see things in very different ways because of where we are in life.”
Melissa Musick (left) and her daughter Anna Keating (right) enrich the faith lives of thousands every day with the resources provided on their popular website.
October 2016 ❘
35
PHOTO FROM THE YORCK PROJECT
(Above) Once popular during the Middle Ages, as depicted in Upper Rhenish Master’s Little Garden of Paradise, Mary gardens are seeing a revival in interest by gardeners such as The Catholic Catalogue’s Melissa Musick.
CNS PHOTO/ PAUL HARING
(Right) With the body as a canvas, some Catholics today choose to bear witness to their faith with tattoos, a topic that Anna Keating covers in a chapter of The Catholic Catalogue.
36 ❘
October 2016
Keating, 32, a young mother with two children under 5, came to the book with her perspective. Raised in a strong Catholic family in a neighborhood where Catholicism was a rarity, she struggled as a youth with “the idea of being different” from her friends. “Mine was a strange way to grow up,” she recalls, “with all kinds of different practices that no one around me was doing.” That struggle ended once she realized that many of her friends began looking for solace in her house. “They were drawn to my house, in part because of the way we were raised. Life was full of meaning—the passage of time was full of meaning,” she muses. Keating needed for the book to “meet people where they are in life right now. This book is for everyone, even for those who maybe are spiritual, but not practicing Catholics.” She notes that she has encountered many young parents—in person and through the website—who are searching for ways to incorporate faith into their lives. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
“It’s not uncommon for me to see someone in person or through a message on Facebook saying, ‘I had a baby and I want to start a family tradition. Do you have any?’” According to Keating, she and her mother decided that instead of cowriting each chapter of the book, it would be more “fruitful and rich” if each delved into topics that interested her personally. Once the chapter was written, the other would edit, review, critique, and add points she thought would be of interest. “It was difficult at times,” admits Keating, “but it brought us much closer. There are definitely two voices in the book, but I think that makes it much fuller.” “Our passions led us to decide what to put in the book,” she explains, noting that since each of them is at a different stage in life, the ideas they found appealing were not always the same. For example, Musick passionately devoted a chapter to gardening—with topics such as creating a Mary garden, and underscoring the relevance of the animals and plants at the Nativity. Keating, on the other hand, wrote a chapter on the history of tattoos in different Catholic traditions. “That is something that would never have occurred to me,” Musick says with a laugh. “But I did learn from her.”
See Europe next year with YMT Vacations!
FREE BALCONY UPGRADE FREE ONBOARD CREDIT
2 FOR 1 SAVINGS
Grand European Cruise & Tour 17 days from $3,398* now $1,699* Discover 7 European countries from the comfort of your cruise ship cabin. Start in vibrant Milan and enjoy a city tour before boarding the elegant Costa Mediterranea in Savona. Spend the next 13-nights cruising to the European ports of Marseille and Le Havre in France; Cadiz and Vigo in Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Harwich, England; Amsterdam, also known as the “Venice of the Netherlands;” and Stockholm, Sweden. Spend your final day on a sightseeing tour with an included farewell dinner. Departs May 19, 2017.
Travel with Monsignor Steffen on both Scotland & Ireland itineraries. He is from Alton, IL and is Pastor of Historical Saint Peter and Paul Proto-Cathedral. He also serves as a Chaplain for other communities and hospitals. This will be his 8th trip with YMT. $
Save
$
Save
200 per couple
200 per couple
*
*
Fueled by Family Stories “Our own personal stories also came through in the book, which made it much richer and more real,” Keating points out—stories such as the family’s practice with regard to the feast of St. Nicholas. According to Musick, when her children were young, she and Martin would always serve a festive meal, full of foods that children love to eat. At the end of the dinner, “St. Nicholas” would send a letter to each child “reviewing the last year and citing a biblical verse.” Attached to the letter was a small sack of goodies for each child. “That was such a bright spot in Advent for the children,” Musick remembers. After writing, rewriting, editing, and occasionally arguing over topics and Fr anciscanMedia.org
Sights of Scotland
Best of Ireland
10 days from $1,624* now $1,524*
12 days from $1,624* now $1,524*
Begin in Edinburgh and enjoy a panoramic city tour. Visit Edinburgh Castle and see the Scottish Crown Jewels. Drive through scenic Cairngorms National Park, witness stunning views of Inverness and the Great Glen; world famous as the setting for Loch Ness, where you’ll enjoy an included boat ride. Continue to the Isle of Skye, Fort William and along the shoreline to Argyll, where you’ll visit Inveraray Castle. End in Glasgow and stroll through Glasgow Green, the area’s most popular park and George Square before bidding farewell. Departs May 31, 2017.
Your exploration of the Emerald Isle starts and ends in Dublin. See all of the city highlights including the Bank of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Next is the Rock of Cashel, Waterford and a visit to the famous crystal factory. Continue to Cobh, Blarney Castle and Killarney. Drive the spectacular Ring of Kerry, explore Bunratty Castle & Folk Park and view the incredible Cliff s of Moher before arriving in Galway. In the Sligo area, see Kylemore Abbey en route to Belfast. Lastly, discover “The Giant’s Causeway” and Titanic Belfast, visitor experience. Departs June 8, 2017.
Combine our Scotland and Ireland tours! 20 days from $3,149* now $3,049* - Call for details. *Prices are per person, double occupancy. Plus $299 per person taxes & government fees. Cruise tour pricing based on Inside Cabin, upgrades are available, as is add-on airfare. On-board credit only for balcony cabins. All special offers apply to new bookings only made by 11/30/16 and are subject to availability. Prices shown are after Instant Rebate is applied. Single supplements apply. Additional terms and conditions apply, visit ymtvacations.com/setsailoffers or ask your Travel Consultant for details.
1-877-636-5412 Mention promo code X6009 ymtvacations.com October 2016 ❘
37
CNS PHOTO/ KAREN CALLAWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD
Birth, Death, and Everything in Between The first section of the book, titled “Smells and Bells,” explains the physical elements that make up the Catholic faith, such as relics, holy oils, vestments, and candles. It speaks of housewarming gifts and the importance of hospitality, and offers suggested prayers for everything from breakfast to eucharistic adoration. “We like to say that this is all about what your grandmother knew, but your mother forgot to tell you,” laughs Musick. “In these very simple gestures, such as making the sign of the cross or sprinkling holy water, are the whole story of our faith,” offers Keating. The second section of the book, titled “Seasons of the Church Year,” takes readers through 38 ❘
October 2016
(Right) Though it might not be familiar to many US Catholics, Walpurgis Night in Northern Europe welcomes the Marian month of May with huge bonfires and other festivities.
PHOTO BY CERIXSSON/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
(Above) Catholic traditions are as varied as the cultures that celebrate them. The feast of St. Nicholas, portrayed above by Graziano Marcheschi of Evanston, Illinois, was a particular favorite in the Musick household.
(Right) The Catholic Catalogue sheds light on the simple gestures of our faith, such as venerating saints’ relics. Here, people venerate relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux at the Basilica and National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. CNS PHOTO/NANCY PHELAN WIECHEC
suggestions, the result is just what Musick dreamed it would be over 40 years ago. “Catholic is, above all else, about life. We are the people who gather on Sunday. We are the people who raise our children and bury our dead. This is about who we are,” Musick says emphatically. Because Catholicism is made up of “living traditions,” Keating observes, she fears that “if we don’t pass them on, then they may just cease to be.” “We know this is not a comprehensive look at Catholicism,” acknowledges Musick. “We tried to bring in many universal practices, and then focused on the traditions we knew well.” In the book’s introduction, Musick and Keating explain: “Before all else, Catholicism is a life, a life that moves through cycles and seasons. That’s why this book, this field guide, is divided into sections organized around these times and seasons—the Church year, human life— and the elements—smells and bells, religious signs and symbols, fasting and feasting, gathering and processing, baptizing and burying— that mark us as Catholics.”
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
the liturgical seasons and gives them ways to celebrate feast days within the home. “One of the things we hope to do with this section of the book is to introduce some feast days and celebrations that aren’t very common anymore,” Musick says. One of those celebrations is Walpurgis Night, commonly celebrated in Northern Europe on April 30, with customs such as lighting bonfires and hosting parties to welcome in the Marian month of May. “Anything we suggest in the book is simple to do,” Musick notes. “We don’t want people to shy away from celebrating because it’s too complicated. Far too many books about lifestyles make us feel guilty and inadequate. This book is the opposite. When we suggest activities, it’s either things we have actually done or things that regular people can do. We don’t want to make this another unattainable goal.” The final section of the book, titled “Seasons of Life,” takes readers through the stages of life—from childhood into adulthood, from naming a child to planning a Christian funeral. Their different perspectives shone through when writing this section, explains Musick. As a 63-year-old, she was initially “shocked” when Keating approached her about writing the chapter on tattoos. Keating, in turn, was most interested in the concept of “Christian road trips,” not simply taking arbitrary vacations, but making them into pilgrimages. “It helped me to be a seeker, to want to go and see what’s going on throughout my country,” she says. All in all, both women agree that writing The Catholic Catalogue has strengthened their own faith. “I was really touched with the way writing this book helped me to see that the passage of time is so full of meaning,” Keating observes. “From Baptism to funeral, from birth to death—there’s so much in our faith. It really has made me grateful for how big the Church is.” A Donis Tracy is an award-winning author who lives and works in the Boston area. Fr anciscanMedia.org
Divine Word
Charitable Gift Annuity Rewards you with a fixed income and supports our mission to serve the poorest of God’s people.
CONTACT US 1 - 800 - 461 - 3064 annuity@uscsvd.org www.annuitysvd.org Divine Word Gift Annuity (SVD Funds, Inc.) PO Box 6067 1985 Waukegan Road Techny, IL 60082-6067 October 2016 ❘
39
Twice
Blessed This mother found joy in both sides of adoption. BY TERESA GOMEZ
T
HE MUSIC BEGINS and everyone in the packed church stands. Straining my neck and rising onto my tippy-toes, I spot my birth daughter, Lauren, walking down the center aisle with her classmates and taking her seat in a front pew. Goose bumps form on my arms, and pride wells in my heart as I gaze at Lauren’s profile as her baccalaureate Mass begins. Tomorrow, Lauren will graduate from high school, but it seems like just yesterday I was cradling her tiny body in the hospital, tears rolling down my face as I kissed her goodbye, and told her that I loved her. As a classmate approaches the lectern to proclaim the first reading, my mind wanders back to the night that I discovered I was pregnant with Lauren. I vividly remember watching the liquid line pass over the windows of the pregnancy test as I stood in my parents’ downstairs bathroom. My lifelong best friend, Anne, was on the other end of the phone receiver cradled between my chin and shoulder. “Well?” she asked. “It is positive,” I said, my voice devoid of emotion. “I knew it would be.” “Oh, Teresa, I am so sorry. What are you going to do?” she asked. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Could this really be happening to me? I thought about how committed I had been in high school to my faith and chastity. I was valedictorian of my class, an all-star athlete, and
40 ❘
October 2016
a person to whom others looked as a positive role model. I cringed as I thought about the many poor choices I had made after high school that had led me away from my values and away from God. Now as a 21-year-old college student, I was unwed, pregnant, and petrified. The months that followed brought a roller coaster of emotions. There was confusion from the pressure of doctors and friends to have an abortion. There was the rejection and pain when the birth father said he wanted nothing to do with me or our baby. There was shame and guilt when I told my family that I was pregnant. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
FAMILY PHOTO COURTESY OF TERESA GOMEZ; BACKGROUND © VIPERAGP/FOTOSEARCH
Yet I also remember the excitement I felt at the first flutters of movement in my womb. There was exhilaration upon seeing the 20week ultrasound that confirmed that Lauren was a girl. There was even laughter at my constant cravings for Taco Bell and sardines. And I felt awe and wonder when I gazed at Lauren’s perfect little face after delivering her via Csection.
A Life-Changing Decision Amid the ups and downs of pregnancy, my heart and my head consistently told me I was not emotionally, spiritually, or financially mature enough to be a single parent. Though Fr anciscanMedia.org
the temptation presented itself, I knew it would be wrong to have an abortion, and I could never have lived with myself had I made that choice. My dream for my children had always been for them to benefit, as I had, from the stability of a family with a mom and a dad. I began to look into the option of relinquishing my parental rights through an open adoption. After meeting with an adoption counselor from Catholic Charities, I began to look at the scrapbooks of potential parents. Scanning the pages, I found it difficult to imagine these families raising my daughter. Then I saw Karen and Mark and their son, Peter. Their scrapbook pages were meticulously decorated, but it was
Teresa and her two daughters, Lauren and Olivia, gather for a Christmas get-together. The picture was taken shortly after Teresa and her husband, Aric, returned home with Olivia from Guatemala.
October 2016 ❘
41
FAMILY PHOTOS COURTESY OF TERESA GOMEZ; ALBUM © OLIWKOWYGAJ/FOTOSEARCH
(Above left) Twenty-oneyear-old Teresa holds Lauren in the hospital shortly after giving birth. Days later, Teresa would place Lauren in the loving arms of her adoptive family.
their tender and loving faces that caught my attention. I wanted to meet them. It always amuses me which memories and details stick in the human mind. I don’t remember much of what was said between Lauren’s future adoptive parents and me, but I can tell you that I was wearing a burgundy, corduroy jumper with room enough to fit my growing belly. I can describe the dimly lit (Above right) Teresa room with stained-glass windows where we embraces Olivia after fingreeted each other for the first time and where ishing a sprint triathlon. 7-year-old Peter gave me an orange clay heart The two ran the final that he had made. blocks of the triathlon side Most distinctly, though, I remember crying by side and crossed the hysterically while talking with them and then finish line together. being escorted by my caseworker from the room. The tears were not because Karen, Mark, and Peter weren’t exactly what I was looking for in an adoptive family. They were tears of being ANSWERS TO PETE AND REPEAT overwhelmed with the gravity 1. The light is now off in one of the of my situation and the weight windows. of the decisions I had to face. 2. Pete’s sleeve is shorter. 3. The full moon is now a crescent moon. A Gift from Guatemala 4. There are fewer steps leading up to the A cough from my 9-year-old house. daughter, Olivia, who is seated 5. There is a person at the door. next to me, brings me back to 6. Pete is smiling with his mouth open. the present. We stand with the 7. Pete’s friend’s ponytail is showing. rest of the congregation to lis8. A jack-o’-lantern is in front of the house. ten to the Gospel, and I rub Olivia’s back and pull her close. 42 ❘
October 2016
Even though she has been struggling with a respiratory virus for the past couple of days, Olivia wouldn’t miss this Mass for the world. Lauren is her sister-figure and role model, and someone with whom she shares the special bond of adoption. It is always a surreal experience when I am with Lauren and Olivia; tonight is no exception. Lauren left my arms through adoption, while Olivia entered my arms through the same process. My husband, Aric, and I had just returned home from a wedding in southwest Colorado when we received the news. Exhausted from our long drive home, I dropped my suitcase in the kitchen and started browsing through the stack of mail on our counter while Aric checked our phone messages. Two hang-ups and a message from my mom later, we heard the voice of our adoption agent: “Hi, Teresa and Aric. I have some good news!” Aric and I looked at each other. “On July 3, your baby girl was born. Congratulations!” Tears welled up in our eyes and my husband ran to embrace me. While we had been dancing the night away in Durango, our soon-tobe daughter was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. After struggling for three-plus years to conceive and then jumping with a spirit of faith through the many hoops of the international adoption process, our dream of being parents together was finally going to be realized. The day after listening to that phone message, we received electronic photos of Olivia. Her angelic facial features and chubby cheeks made me long to have her in my arms, but I knew that the red tape of adoption would mean at least three more months of trying to be patient. Though I filled the time with work, St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
baby showers, and preparing Olivia’s room, the wait was agonizing. At last, near the end of October, we received the green light to fly to Guatemala. Within a week, we had packed our bags, purchased plane tickets, and were off to Guatemala City to be united with our daughter. I can still picture Aric and me sitting anxiously in the airport terminal during our layover in Atlanta, attempting to get some shut-eye, but both too excited and nervous to do so. Looking for productive ways to pass the time, I wrote an entry in Olivia’s pink, flannel-covered journal: “11/7/05—Many fears and anxieties make my heart beat fast, and so I try not to think about going to a new country where we don’t speak the language, about how you are going to react to us, about caring for an infant, about the paperwork that we need for your visa, and the list goes on forever. All of these worries are overshadowed, however, by our deep love of you and our excitement to start this new life with you. I just hope that we are the wonderful parents that you deserve.”
ish vocabulary to catch a cab to our hotel. Upon arriving, we called our attorney to arrange plans to pick up Olivia. She suggested meeting at her office, which was only a couple blocks from our hotel. Later that afternoon, Aric and I walked, actually ran, the two blocks to our attorney’s office building and then rode the elevator to the fourth floor. The doors opened to a small atrium and there she was: Olivia, our daughter. The photographs that had been sent to us didn’t do her justice because she was more adorable than we could have imagined. She was being held by her foster mom, Ana, who had tears in her eyes and a kind face. For the next hour, we took snapshots and videos, listened to instructions on caring for Olivia, and held and kissed our daughter. Olivia touched our faces and enjoyed playing with our noses, most especially Daddy’s. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as Ana said goodbye to Olivia. No doubt, Olivia had been cherished for the first four months of her life and she had adored her Ana. Now it was our turn to love and care for this treasure God had given to us. We were in Guatemala for nearly two weeks
Meeting Olivia Our first day in Guatemala City was a whirlwind. After landing, we used our limited Span-
Y O U
C A N
H E L P
FA C I NG T H E F U T UR RE WITH HOPE at y’s
Du r sc h l
a
i
.
i g e
’ $ U fo H n
c e
l e
i
i
i
ot s
. HUNDREDS MORE N E E D O U R H E L P!
.
t
r
a
.6 i l .
t
r -
Th
Provinc 513 721friar works
t r
r i
c e,
. ren ool.
.
eaven
Fr anciscanMedia.org
October 2016 ❘
43
(Above) Lauren and Teresa share a meal with family after one of Lauren’s many violin recitals. Open adoption has allowed Teresa to share in so many of Lauren’s special moments.
while the legalities of adoption were completed. We spent most of that time in our hotel room bonding with Olivia. As new parents, we learned how to change diapers, heat bottles, and unfold and fold a stroller. I played patty-cake with Olivia and sang “Rock-a-Bye Baby” to her by the hour. Aric wrapped her in a hooded towel and cuddled with her after bath time, calling her his “little burrito.” She would often squeal loudly with happiness and we wondered what those in the neighboring rooms thought. On November 14, 2005, Olivia received her visa and US passport. We were finally ready to fly back home to a life with more meaning than we could ever have imagined before we became parents.
God Writes Straight with Crooked Lines There will never be a more heart-wrenching decision in my life than the one I made to place Lauren for adoption. There will never be a decision in my life requiring so much blind trust, surrender of control, and patience as the one to adopt Olivia. Yet the love and happiness that these young ladies have brought to my life make those struggles seem like no more than a drop in a bucket. I cannot imagine my world without Lauren and Olivia. Life is 44 ❘
October 2016
Teresa Gomez is a freelance author from Littleton, Colorado, where she lives with her husband and three children. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o r g
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TERESA GOMEZ
(Right) Olivia and Lauren celebrate Lauren’s 11th birthday. Through the years their relationship has grown into a beautiful friendship.
so beautiful—even when it is not “planned” or enters the world in less-than-ideal situations. I often ponder the loss that the world would have experienced had I decided to abort Lauren, or if Olivia’s birth mother had made that choice. Ears never would have heard Lauren play the violin or Olivia’s beautiful voice. Those enslaved in human trafficking would have lost a tireless advocate in Lauren, and Olivia’s sponsored friend in Guatemala, Consuelo, would never have experienced her financial help and encouraging letters. Their families and friends would not have known their hugs, laughter, and charisma. No one, however, would have missed out more than me, had Lauren and Olivia not been born. My life, when I conceived Lauren, was in turmoil. Plagued with anxiety, depression, and a low self-esteem, I turned to alcohol abuse and promiscuity to ease the pain. When I reflect back on my life now, I can see that Lauren and my experiences during pregnancy were a positive turning point. The pregnancy ended a dysfunctional relationship with her birth father and some toxic friendships. My need to lean on my family for support during my pregnancy rekindled our relationship. My dad told me once that he had lost a granddaughter, but gained back his daughter. When we adopted Olivia, I decided to take some time away from work. In the silence of our home during her naps, I was forced to be with my thoughts. I realized that I was not at peace and that something was missing in my life. God was calling me back to him. This spiritual awakening and the desire to share my experiences as a birth mother and adoptive mother led me back to the Catholic Church, to respect-life work, and, most importantly, into a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord. I would not be who I am today without my two daughters. The baccalaureate Mass ends and Olivia and I rush to the back of the church to greet Lauren and her adoptive family. As I pose for a photo with Lauren and Olivia, I am reminded that God truly does write straight with crooked lines. If we let him, the Lord uses our weaknesses, shortcomings, and mistakes to build his kingdom. Likewise, when we honor life, including those lives which come to us in unexpected ways, divine love and beauty abound. My two daughters are proof of that. A
YEAR OF MERCY
❘ BY PAUL JEFFREY
Holding Out for Hope in Nepal The Corporal Works of Mercy ■ Feed the hungry ■ Give drink to the thirsty ■ Clothe the naked ■ Shelter the homeless ■ Visit the sick ■ Visit the imprisoned ■ Bury the dead
CNS PHOTO/PAUL JEFFREY
The Spiritual Works of Mercy ■ Admonish the sinner ■ Instruct the ignorant ■ Counsel the doubtful ■ Comfort the sorrowful ■ Bear wrongs patiently ■ Forgive all injuries ■ Pray for the living and the dead Following a magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, rebuilding has been steady but slow. Here, women stack blocks that will be used to build new homes.
A
Fr ancisca n Media .org
“The initial response to the quake was wonderful,” he says. “But then everything slowed down.” Months later, back in Canada, Robins says not much has changed. “People with money can get loans and rebuild, but the poor who have no money or collateral are stuck.” A
tal Digi as t Ex r
Click here for a longer version of this article.
Paul Jeffrey is a freelance photojournalist for Catholic News Service. His work has also appeared in America.
POPE FRANCIS ON MERCY “The works of mercy are endless, but each bears the stamp of a particular face, a personal history.” —Retreat with Priests for Year of Mercy, June 2016, Rome
O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 4 5
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
year after an earthquake toppled them to the ground, the stones that once formed Sarita Majhi’s house were stacked neatly, waiting to be used to rebuild a house for her and her two children. Majhi lives in a temporary hut formed from sheets of tin roofing and a sunbleached tarpaulin. Her husband went to work in Saudi Arabia before the magnitude7.8 quake, and in its aftermath told her he’s not returning home. So Majhi waits on the government’s promise to deliver roughly $2,000 per family to get started on the rebuilding process. “We are all waiting for the money from the government, waiting so we can build a house,” says a patient Majhi. “It won't be as nice as what we used to have, but it will be a real house.” Canadian Jesuit Father Bill Robins, who lived in Nepal for 39 years, says he is not as patient as most Nepalese.
The
Guest List
He gave her the party she had always imagined. FICTION BY K AT H L E E N A U T H
4 6 ❘ O ctober 2016
M
ARTY HUMMED an old tune as he walked across the cabin’s creaky wooden floor. His arms were weighed down with groceries. “You’ll win everyone over,” he said, peeking at his wife between the brown paper bags. “Now, where do you want these? I think I got everything.” “Jush on the counter,” Emma said, as a little telltale whistle careened alongside her words. Marty put the packages down and arched his back. “Rain must be com-
ing.” He rolled up the sleeves of his checkered wool shirt. “Did you remember to take your medicine?” “You fuss, fuss, all the time, fuss. Yes, I remembered.” “I heard the Titans won.” He winked at her. “Coffee smells good.” “Shugar,” she cooed. “For the hors d’oeuvres, I’ve planned my momma’s . . . ,” she looked away, “ . . . my momma’s slang jangs.” After a moment and with more found words, she continued. “I’ll serve it in a bowl with salty crackers and chips.” She smiled, forgetting she’d forgotten her upper St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
ILLUSTRATION BY VINCENT ZAWADA
bridge. “You did get the canned tomatoes and canned oysters, didn’t you?” “I did. Onions, too.” He reached for his cup, filled it with the fresh dark brew, and savored his first sip. “What’s the main course?” “It’s . . . ” Emma touched her mouth and, with a tight-lipped grin, scuffled from the room.
M
arty sang as he put the groceries away. It was his song, one of dozens he’d written. “When the roses bloom and the moon’s full, you’re in my arms and love is true. I dream, dream, dream . . . .”
Fr ancisca n Media .org
“Just needed to powder my nose,” Emma said, returning with a full set of teeth. “Now, for the dinner, we’ll have shrimp casserole with rice and fresh beans.” “Good.” Marty peered out the window. “Nice being up here this time of year. The colors are more vivid than I ever remember, but the leaves are falling too soon. An early winter’s coming.” He glanced at his wife of 60 years, and his leathered face beamed. “Feeling chipper, are you?” “Oh, yes.” She smiled, but her eyes said other things. “What do you say we take a little
walk to the lake? The air is nice and crisp.” Then that familiar blank expression stole Emma’s face. Marty ignored his fear as the intruder invaded their lives. “No boats floating around this time of the year. Most folks have gone home. It’ll be nice and quiet.” “Baked apples for dessert,” she said. “Did you mention rain?” He moved toward her and touched her face. “Come, the fresh air will do you good. It’ll put color into those beautiful cheeks.” “Oh, Marty,” she said, sounding young and shy. They walked into the living room O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 4 7
and when Emma passed the mirror, she pinched her cheeks and fluffed her short white hair. Marty held her jacket and she slipped her arms into its sleeves. He stepped around to help with the buttons. “Have you lost weight? This seems large.” “You know I like to watch my figure.” “Yep.” He took in her image and gently placed it in his soul.
O
nce outside, he held her arm and they followed the trail to the lake’s edge. While they stood in wild grasses, the hint of a late afternoon brilliance flashed across the horizon, and a family of ducks swam across the wind-lapped water. Marty squeezed her hand. “Ever regret moving to Tennessee and marrying me?” “Why, you silly boy, you know I love you and our home.” “You’ll always be my Emma Louise.” “For the party . . . ” Marty closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ll use the good silver and linens and order fresh flowers. But I’m worried about what to wear.” “I like the blue,” he said, remembering another time. She giggled. “You like it ’cause it’s showy. Once I turned 80, I decided not to wear that one anymore.” She squinted. “Maybe I was 82? It’s no matter.” Marty yearned for their old life. He glanced at the sky. “Dark clouds moving in.”
As he spoke, small raindrops pearled glossy on leaves, and he placed his hand on her back. “It’s time to go, darlin’.” “Don’t push me, and if your shoes are dirty kindly remove them at the door. We can’t have footprints everywhere.” “They’re not dirty.” “I’m only reminding you.” Marty wrapped his arm around her waist as they sauntered back to the house. He opened the screen and they stepped inside. “I’ll bring in some firewood ’fore it gets wet. You rest for a few minutes.” “No. Let’s go over the guest list.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Don’t blame me if we can’t have a nice fire ’cause of wet wood.” He put her jacket over a chair, then marched to the desk and searched for something he could use. He picked up the grocery list and moved to the sofa. Emma sat next to him. “OK,” he said, pointing his finger toward the top of the paper and hiding the words: butter, bread, and milk. “Barb and Casper are available.” “Good. What about what’s-hisname? It’s on the tip of my tongue.” “Who’s that?” “You know, the food critic from the local paper.” “Him? He’s always good for a free meal.” “That’s no way to talk about your brother. You must stay friends, since so many aren’t with us anymore.” She patted the back of his hand. “Who else is there?”
So that his work might continue... Please remember FRANCISCAN MEDIA in your estate plans Our legal title is: Franciscan Media LLC 28 W. Liberty Street ■ Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 For more information, call: 1-800-488-0488 4 8 ❘ O ctober 2016
“Let’s see.” Marty pointed again and turned the paper away from her. “They can’t come, nor can they.” “Oh, them, I don’t mind. What about the Monds? They’re so dear. He served in World War II. Of course, he lied about his age. Only 16 when he signed on. Brave child.” She looked at Marty and hummed an old tune. “Remember that one?” He nodded. “It’s one of mine.”
E
mma’s eyeglasses dangled from a ribbon around her neck, and her hands trembled as she placed the rimless bifocals across the bridge of her nose. She peered at Marty. “Well?” “Well, yourself.” “Stop teasing, you big old bull. Are the Monds coming?” “Yes. Junior will bring them up. I told him they could stay overnight if they wanted, but he said they couldn’t. After dinner, they’ll go home.” “Everyone loves my slang jangs, but I’m not sure ’bout all that lemon on the shrimp.” “It’ll be fine. Now, if you don’t mind, your royal highness, I’m getting the firewood.” Marty stood, tucked the paper inside her cookbook, and walked toward the porch. Emma toddled after him. “I’ll hold the screen.” “Thanks,” Marty said as he gathered the kindling. “It must be close to suppertime.” “Yes.” He arranged the logs on the gridirons. “I bought a cooked chicken and one of Shubba’s mixed salads.” He slapped sawdust from his hands. “Sound good?” “Scrumptious.” “We’ll eat in the living room tonight, dumpling. You sit tight; I’ll have this fire goin’ in a minute, and then I’ll set the table. OK?” “All right.” “Don’t go anywhere, you hear?” “Where do you think I’m gonna go?” Emma’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head. Marty chuckled. “Do us a favor. Turn on the radio and get some nice music. I’ll have things ready in no time.” Emma played with the radio dials St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
while Marty did everything else. He set the table with a white cloth and the old green stoneware they’d bought at a garage sale for two dollars almost 30 years ago. He cut a sprig of evergreen from the bush near the back door and placed it in a vase on the table between two candles. “How’s it going, Emma? Find something?” “I did, but didn’t really care for the music, so I’d rather not listen.” She sniffed. “Everything smells delicious.” He fixed their plates and set them down on the clean cloth. “Come, Emma, let me help you to the table.” He hugged her. “We’ll have to leave early in the morning to get you back to Red Pines. It’s a long drive.” Her eyes filled, and she broke off a small piece of pine to hold. She placed it between her hands in a prayerful pose. “We can do this. We’ll get through it. You’ll see. I love you with all my heart.” He was certain she understood. “What about my dinner party?” He swallowed hard. “We can talk about it again next weekend, the way we always do.” “Yes, Marty.” They sat and gave thanks for their lives and the food they were about to eat. As they dined, they were comforted by the crackle and scent of burning oak logs and the sound of rain tapping on the roof.
A
week later, Marty received an emergency call from Red Pines. He was asked to get there as quickly as possible. When he arrived, he was greeted by the managing director, Miss Connor. She sat him down, and her words were slow and hesitant. “Your dear Emma left us a little while ago. I’m so sorry. When I called you, she wasn’t doing well, but I’d hoped for the best. About 20 minutes ago, she fell asleep and passed on.” Marty’s face drained of life and filled with deep anguish. His gasp muffled the loud cry of his heart. “She was spared,” Miss Connor said, “from the arduous difficulties of Alzheimer’s.”
Fr ancisca n Media .org
Marty knew that was true. “I’ll take you to her.” He stood and nodded.
T
he months passed in loneliness. By the following summer, he’d sold the townhouse they’d occupied for so many years and moved to the cabin full-time. Marty had good friends there in the Smoky Mountains; besides, he knew he could fill his time with fishing and hiking. One evening, while sitting on the porch, watching fireflies and listening to crickets, a thought popped into his mind. He made his way into the darkened house, turned on the lamp, and rummaged through stacks of papers, searching for that magical grocery list. Then he remembered and slipped Emma’s cookbook from the bookcase shelf and skimmed through the spotted pages. He went through it a second time and out fluttered her list. He held it to his heart and placed it on his lips: butter, bread, and milk. Marty knew
he’d host Emma’s party, using her special recipes. During the next days, he shopped, cleaned, and cooked. On Sunday evening, the cabin awakened with the warmth of friends. After supper, Marty’s brother played the piano, and guests sang songs that the world had long stopped hearing. The evening ended on a high note, with promises of everyone getting together again. Later that night, Marty awakened with a start. Was he still dreaming? His room glowed in a soft light. “It’s you,” he said. “Emma? Is it really you?” “Yes, Marty.” “You’re so young. How can this be?” He sat up, feeling light as air. “It’s your time now. Darling, take my hand. It’s beautiful where we’re going. You’ll see. By the way, I loved the party. Thank you, Marty. Thank you for everything.” A Kathleen Auth is a freelance writer from Westlake Village, California. Her passions, she says, are God, family, and friends.
Simply delicious handmade treats
Save 15 00 Enjoy handmade fudge and fruitcake from the Trappist monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani. 20 oz. fruitcake and 16 oz. Chocolate Bourbon Fudge
0 0
No. 127 – $33.95 now $28.86
20 oz. fruitcake and 16 oz. Traditional Chocolate Bourbon Fudge (without Bourbon) No. 128 – $33.95 now $28.86 Use coupon code SA601. Offer expires Feb. 1, 2017
800-549-0921 gethsemanifarms.org
Your Digital Edition • Free to print subscribers • Does not change your print subscription • Many digital extras • Register at StAnthony Messenger.org
Consider a Gift Subscription
O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 4 9
ASK A FRANCISCAN
❘ BY FATHER PAT McCLOSKEY, OFM
CNS PHOTO/MIKE CRUPI
Mass Facing Which Direction?
I recently read a news story about a cardinal who encouraged priests to start facing away from the congregation when celebrating Mass. Is that allowed? I thought Vatican II called for the priest to face the congregation. On July 5, Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, spoke to a liturgy conference in London and urged that as of the First Sunday of Advent (November 27), bishops and priests face ad orientem (to the east) when celebrating Mass. According to a Catholic News Service article, Cardinal Sarah went on to say: “Dear fathers, I ask you to implement the practice wherever possible, with prudence and with the necessary catechesis, certainly, but also with a pastor’s confidence that this is something good for the Church, something good for our people. We should listen again to the lament of God proclaimed by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘They have turned 5 0 ❘ O ctober 2016
their back to me.’ Let us turn again toward the Lord!” Yes, this is allowed now and has never been forbidden. Most Tridentine Masses celebrated with the local bishop’s permission occur on altars where the presider has his back to the people. Cardinal Sarah’s recommendation assumes that all churches are on an east/west axis. Many, but not all, are. It also seems to assume that such a change can be introduced by individual priests, apart from the role of the local bishop and bishops’ conferences in such a change. There are procedures in the Catholic Church for introducing a change like this. A speech at a conference is not how this is done. Some future edition of the Roman Missal may note that this is an option, but it is unlikely to make this a requirement. When Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, was asked about Cardinal Sarah’s comments, Father Lombardi responded: “It turns out that Cardinal Sarah was giving a personal response to a question asked by a member of the audience at a conference. There is no reason to think that the cardinal intended anything contrary to what is already foreseen by the current possibilities in liturgical matters or to announce new instructions.” Jesuit Father Bruce Morrill, professor of Catholic studies at Vanderbilt University, noted that such a change would require approval from the pope and would be released in an official statement from the Congregation for Divine Worship. “This is not official; he was speaking to an annual meeting of an erratic conservative group. . . . Those directives don’t happen in speeches and inter-
views” such as this one, Father Morrill said. Quite frankly, I will be very surprised if Pope Francis and all the world’s priests, bishops, and cardinals adopt this change on November 27, 2016. On this issue, I do not think Cardinal Sarah reflects the “sense of the faithful” about a change that, in my experience, most Catholics have very willingly accepted after this option became available when the “New Order of the Mass” went into effect in 1970. National episcopal conferences approved the change for their areas after that. Cardinal Sarah presents the ad orientem choice as a sign of greater reverence. Can anyone seriously suggest that the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches now show a lack of reverence in how they celebrate the Divine Liturgy? That is their term for the Mass. Even in churches built on an east/west axis, their presiders at the altar always face the people, whether the doors of the iconostasis around the altar are open or closed. I think the Latin Church’s de facto practice of having the presider face the assembly fosters the “full, conscious, and active participation” the bishops called for at Vatican II (Sacred Constitution on the Liturgy, 14).
Confess All Venial Sins? Should I confess only one or two venial sins that I will focus on trying not to commit, or do I have to confess all venial sins since my last confession? As an elderly person, it is hard to confess all venial sins; many of them happened because I forget and say the wrong thing (for example, not St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
the truth, but what I thought was true). Do I have to go around correcting things I said or be guilty of an unintended lie? Do I have to correct things like that? First, the Catholic Church obliges you to confess only mortal sins. It does, however, strongly encourage you to confess venial sins, especially those that are becoming more and more characteristic of your life. In that sense, concentrating on one or two sins that trouble you the most would be good. Second, people often find that the truth of a situation is not to their advantage. Therefore, they sometimes “embroider” it. The long-term solution is to live in such a way that the truth is always your friend; that you never have to worry what may be revealed if the wrong people talk to each other, revealing parts of a story that you may have embroidered to your own advantage. The virtue of honesty suggests that you contact everyone who heard a falsehood from you and tell them the truth as you know it. You cannot, of course, guarantee that each of them will pass on the truth to everyone to whom they told the earlier, inaccurate story, but you can certainly ask them to do so. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, remember that you always encounter a merciful God who is more ready to forgive than any penitent is eager to seek forgiveness.
‘Lead Us Not into Temptation’ I have been praying the Lord’s Prayer for many years, but now I am troubled by the phrase “and lead us not into temptation.” That seems to infer that God could lead us into temptation. If I lead someone into sin, that will be considered a sin. Yet if God is without sin, how can I reconcile God’s infinite goodness with that petition? Commenting on Matthew 6:13 (“and do not subject us to the final test, but Fr ancisca n Media .org
deliver us from the evil one”), the editors of the New American Bible write: “Jewish apocalyptic writings speak of a period of severe trial before the end of the age, sometimes called the ‘messianic woes.’ This petition asks that the disciples be spared that final test.” In his Dictionary of Biblical Theology (second edition), Xavier LeonDefour writes that God “merely permits temptation (1 Cor 19:13). This comes from the tempter (Acts 5:3; 1 Cor 7:5; 1 Thes 3:5) through the world (1 Jn 5:19) and, above all, through money (1 Tm 6:9). That is why we must pray that we may not ‘enter’ into temptation (Mt 6:13; 26:41), for it leads to death (Jas 1:14ff). This attitude of filial prayer is diametrically opposed to that of tempting God (Lk 11:1-11).” God tempts no one. This petition asks, in effect, that we accept God’s grace to recognize that every sin is a dead end, a failed shortcut around God’s ways. A
Click the button above to hear Father Pat’s insights on Catholic topics.
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.
How to Subscribe to
ST.ANTHONY M essenger
St. Anthony Messenger is only $39.00 for 12 monthly issues. This price includes our digital edition: StAnthonyMessenger.org/DigitalEdition __ YES! Please begin my subscription. Ship to: Name ________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________________ Payment Options (Choose one) ___ Please bill me $39.00 for 12 monthly issues. ___ Enclosed is my check or money order. ___ Charge my: __ Visa __ Mastercard Card #: __________________________ Expiration Date ______ Signature __________________________________________ Phone _____________________________ ________________ Mail to: St. Anthony Messenger, P.O. Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189 For fastest service, call toll-free: 866-543-6870, M-F, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern) To order a subscription online: StAnthonyMessenger.org/subscribe
O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 5 1
BOOK CORNER
❘ BY CAROL ANN MORROW
The Gift of Hard Things Finding Grace in Unexpected Places By Mark Yaconelli InterVarsity Press 151 pages • $16 Paperback/E-book Reviewed by MARK M. WILKINS, who has taught religion at St. Xavier High School, Cincinnati, Ohio, for 40 years and written more than 50 reviews for this magazine. Learning that Mark Yaconelli is a longtime youth minister led to an assumption that
WHAT I’M READING ■ Finding
Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict, by Heather Boushey
■ Evicted:
Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond
■ The
Strength of Her Witness: Jesus Christ in the Global Voices of Women, edited by Elizabeth A. Johnson
■ Fatal
Pursuit: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel, by Martin Walker
Sister Simone Campbell has served as executive director of NETWORK since 2004. She is a religious leader, attorney, and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on issues that help “mend the gaps” in income and wealth in the United States, focused specifically on how they disproportionately affect people of color and women. Around the country, she is a noted speaker and educator on these public policy issues.
5 2 ❘ O ctober 2016
didn’t take long to overcome. I expected a work of plans, projects, and programs geared to “convert” questioning and doubting young people, but it soon became clear that this book is aimed at the adult, not the child. In fact, it became too clear. This is actually the ministry memoir of a man who is in recovery from burnout, from feelings of emptiness, and the “obscure” night of the soul that plagues people of faith from all traditions. The chapter headings might, at first glance, seem to be overly negative and depressing: “How can burnout, disappointment, and difficult people lead us to God?” “How can brokenness, anger, and powerlessness open us to Jesus?” “In what way can someone have the audacity to promote loss, suffering, darkness, and death as the way to the Spirit?” Living in a culture that equates greatness only with success and achievements, rarely do we hear testimonies to brokenness, loss, or darkness from those in positions of power and prestige. If we do, it is either when they have fallen from favor or afterward in their memoirs. The author then realizes that a life of routine and predictability can blind one to surrounding possibilities. The following chapters explore how being mired in grief or fixating on the past can numb us to experiencing the joy, beauty, and goodness at our fingertips. He comes to the awareness that one of the invitations of life is to hold confusion, frustration, and suffering for the potential for good that they contain. Suffering can open us to enlightenment. Grief can create a sense of compassion. Brokenness can make us more available to the real presence of the Divine. This is not a platitude; it is the paschal mystery. This slim volume lives up to its subtitle, “Finding Grace in Unexpected Places.” Reading it while preparing for another school year reminded me that my own conversion should be my focus, not theirs. Teaching high school sophomores how to live is teaching them how to be in touch with their own journey of conversion. St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
BOOK BRIEFS
Meditations on Mary Ave Maria See, Learn, and Meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary By Maria Rosa Poggio Paulist Press 112 pages • $17.95 Paperback
Blessed Among Us Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses By Robert Ellsberg Liturgical Press 792 pages • $29.95 Hardcover/E-book Reviewed by LINUS MUNDY, veteran author, editor, and publisher in the religious press. In 1988, he created and founded CareNotes from Abbey Press. In 2012, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Catholic Publishers. The saints have clearly come “marching” back in. Over the past three or four decades, Catholic publishers have presented a holy host of heroes to inspire us. The hugely popular Saint of the Day, issued in the 1970s, was one of the first entries to dramatically succeed and supplement the old standby Butler’s Lives of the Saints. Now comes Blessed Among Us, an astonishingly rich and diverse daily companion. It is hefty (almost 800 pages), comprehensive (more than 700 “saintly witnesses” included), and full of wonderful surprises (entries such as Mahalia Jackson and Oskar Schindler). This volume has it all. The selections are taken from Ellsberg’s excellent column in Liturgical Press’ Give Us This Day, itself a daily guide that meets Ellsberg’s goal of “expanding our moral imaginations.” I myself am a daily reader and fan. It helps keep me centered. Ellsberg’s book shows us there have been people through the ages, including our own, who light our path to God. It is not just a book about saints; it offers a “cloud of witnesses” for us—lay and religious, single and married, Christian and not, canonized and not. These blessed people wanted to be and do what God wanted them to be and do. They are real people who, in this volume, inspire us daily. What a treasure! Fr ancisca n Media .org
An expert in religious education and cultural anthropology, Maria Rosa Poggio deftly couples gorgeous medieval and Renaissance art with straightforward descriptions of the 20 mysteries of the rosary.
Word by Word Slowing Down with the Hail Mary Edited by Sarah A. Reinhard Ave Maria Press 160 pages • $14.95 Paperback/E-book Many times we may find ourselves rushing through a prayer. Recognizing that, blogger and author Sarah Reinhard invited 40 powerful Catholic voices, including Lisa Hendey and Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, to take one word from the Hail Mary and reflect on its meaning in our spiritual lives.
Mother of God Similar to Fire Icons by William Hart McNichols with reflections by Mirabai Starr Orbis Books 128 pages • $25 Paperback/Kindle Each beautiful icon of Mary crafted by William Hart McNichols is accompanied by a moving and poetic prayer from Mirabai Starr, an expert on the inter-spiritual teachings of mystics. The combination of the imagery and the words has a stunning and spiritually enriching effect. —D.I.
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 O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 5 3
A CATHOLIC MOM SPEAKS
❘ BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER
Caring for Creation
M Click the button above to listen to Susan’s reflections on family life.
5 4 ❘ O ctober 2016
ost of the time when people speak of creation in October, it’s in reference to St. Francis of Assisi. He is, after all, the patron saint of ecology and animals, and October 4 marks his feast day. So it would make perfect sense that I would be talking about the many ways in which St. Francis reminds us to be good stewards of the earth and its inhabitants. But I’m not. Well, not exactly. No, I’m taking the concept of caring for creation back a bit further—to the very beginning, in fact. I’m going back to the Book of Genesis, where we read, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he
created them” (1:27). So there you have it: caring for creation also means caring for ourselves. Sit with that for a minute.
A New Concept I suspect that, for some of us, the idea of honoring ourselves as part of creation might seem foreign. Yet just as God did with the earth and the waters and the animals, God also created us, “and found it very good.” Pope Francis enforced this idea of caring for ourselves when he said during a general audience in May 2014, “In the eyes of God, we are the most beautiful thing, the greatest, the best of creation.” Isn’t it time, then, that we started acting accordingly? How often do we succumb to our fastSt A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
LETTERS TO ME
paced, fast-food, high-stress society simply because it’s easier that way? In the midst of work, activities, family obligations, and any number of other things that seem to pop up, I know I’m guilty. But easier doesn’t mean better, and we deserve better simply by being who we are. Caring for ourselves as creations of God means treating our whole person with the same awe and wonder as our creator did. It is not selfish. It is honoring the glorious creation we are. How we do that is up to us. We can do it through properly nourishing our bodies and minds. Or we can try to focus less on our
Since I first came across this idea, I’ve written some of these letters, and I’ve opened one or two. I like the idea. It’s a nice way to connect with myself—something I don’t think most of us do often enough.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY KURNICK MAASS
Not long ago, I saw an idea on Pinterest that grabbed my attention. It was the concept of “Open when . . . ” letters. The idea is to write a bunch of letters to someone for specific times that he or she may need to hear from you. Then the recipient can open a letter when he or she feels the need to hear that particular message. For instance, maybe there’s a letter for when he or she needs to laugh. Or write one to help the person get through a difficult time. I pinned it to my board with the idea that I would write letters to my kids. But later it occurred to me that I could just as easily do it for myself. If I could offer supportive and comforting words to others, why not to myself? I sat down and made a list of situations that I thought would merit a letter: feeling like a failure at parenting, lacking self-confidence, doubting my abilities. I also wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of positive affirmations, too. So I added things like “Here’s a reminder why you’re awesome,” accompanied by a list of some of my biggest accomplishments.
flaws and more on our God-given assets. A wonderful byproduct of treating ourselves in such a way is the example it then sets for others. In fact, caring for yourself may be just the example that other people need in order to see themselves through the eyes of God. 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 42)
Fr ancisca n Media .org
O c to b e r 2 0 1 6 ❘ 5 5
BACKSTORY
Francis, Francis, Francis!
W
ant to know what makes this place tick? Sure, St. Anthony of Padua, that great Franciscan messenger of God’s word, is our namesake. And, of course, any Franciscan, all Christians,
really, and in the broadest sense, all people, as St. Paul says, live, move, and have our being in Christ. It is a simple follower of Christ, St. Francis of
PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON
Assisi, who inspires us. The feast of St. Francis is October 4. It would be hard to overstate how solid a role St. Francis plays in our backstory. We come nowhere near his ideal in our devotion to Christ, in the simplicity of our lives, in his service to the poor. But you might see Father Pat sneak out of here on Friday afternoons to work at the parish soup kitchen next door. You will see anyone who is able to break free from work each morning gather for a moment of prayer. You will see your St. Anthony Messenger staff devoted to their families, to their parishes, to service projects in their communities. The spirit of St. Francis is alive in this place. The hallmark of a Franciscan approach is to speak plainly, to be well-informed but not haughty, to be, in a word, popular (“of the people”). Yes, there are very good periodicals out there from other religious orders and Catholic laity. I subscribe PHOTO BY GREG FRIEDMAN, OFM
to a few at home, and we get most of them in our office. Some are directed to our thought-leaders, or university folks and others more academically minded. It’s our little secret that many of these same people are reading this very magazine. One of them—probably not one of our regular readers, we’re sorry to say—a Jesuit, named himself Francis, after our beloved saint. I’m sure that if Pope Francis ever were to read this magazine, he would love the way, the style, in which we reach out to you, God’s people. Beautiful images, inspired design, offerings of features and departments that cross the breadth of Catholic life—these all mark our approach. We aim to stay as close to the spirit of St. Francis as possible. That’s what makes this place tick: we’re unquestioningly committed to Christ and his Church, but also not afraid to challenge that Church, that people, to take their faith to a deeper place. Isn’t that what St. Francis was all about?
Editor in Chief @jfeister
5 6 ❘ O ctober 2016
St A n t h o n y M e s s e n g e r . o rg
REFLECTION
g he world is charged with the
grandeur of God. —Gerard Manley Hopkins © CNS PHOTO/CHAZ MUTH
ST. ANTHONY M 28 W. Liberty Street Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
essenger
Angels of Peace Rosary This rosary features crystal beads that shine with an aurora-borealis ďŹ nish. Each decade is accented with glimmering crystals. The Our Father markers are AVAILABLE FROM in the shape of adorable THE MISSIONARY angels. The centerpiece OBLATES depicts Our Lady and the Child Jesus on the front with the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the back. The Angels of Peace Rosary will be sent to you in gratitude for your gift of $12 or more. Your donation will support the ministries of the Missionary Oblates as we serve poor and needy people in our missions around the world. $12 $20 $25 Check/Money Order
$30
$45
$ ______
Donate Now Toll-Free At:
1-888-330-6264 Mon. - Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Central
To request this item on our secure internet site, visit
oblatesusa.org/ads
Thank you for your generous support!
Credit Card # ______ ______ ______ ______ Exp. Date ____ /____ Please send ___ Angels of Peace Rosary(ies). #210041 ($12 suggested donation each) Name _________________________________________
Fr. John Madigan, O.M.I.
Address ________________________________________ City _____________________ State ____ ZIP ________ E-mail ________________________________________
#M17ADAAA1
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows 9480 N. De Mazenod Drive • Belleville, IL 62223-1160
Follow us on Facebook facebook.com/oblatesusaorg