November 2017 by St. Anthony Messenger

RACE AND RELIGION

BLESSED SOLANUS CASEY The Rat beneath the Bed Catholics and Cremation Not Your Typical Nativity Tale A Movement of the Heart

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Works that Inform, Inspire, Illuminate “The esteemed Fr. Haggerty uses

a clear, direct style to show that conversion is the daily heartfelt response of a disciple to the Master. This ﬁne book encourages a conversion of souls to the true challenge of holiness.” — Fr. George Rutler

“From Islam to Christ oﬀers an intimate glimpse into a very unique journey of faith, and in the process touches on many critical issues of our time.” — Jennifer Fulwiler Author, Something other than God

“A beautiful book. It reveals the

profundity of daring to enter a dialogue of silence with the heart of the Lord. A dialogue that each of us is invited to know the Lord in silence.” — Most Reverend James Conley Bishop of Lincoln, NE

Author, He Spoke to Us

♦ CONVERSION

Spiritual Insights into an Essential Encounter with God Fr. Donald Haggerty he acclaimed spiritual writer offers penetrating observations into the phenomenon of Christian conversion. He discusses the repercussions of sin, the understanding of mercy, and the importance of a radical response to the will of God. His reflections also treat other issues that ensue in the immediate aftermath of a conversion—crucial issues that can make the difference between a mediocre life with God and a truly holy life.

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♦ FROM ISLAM TO CHRIST

One Woman’s Path through the Riddles of God Derya Little aised as a Muslim in Turkey, Derya wandered far in search of the truth. She rejected the Islamic faith and became an atheist. She tried to convert a Christian missionary to atheism but was converted to Christ instead. Later, during her doctoral studies in England, her amazing spiritual journey led her into the Catholic Church. Her story provides a window into both Islam and modernity. It shows that the grace and the mercy of God know no bounds.

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♦ REPORT FROM CALABRIA

A Season with the Carthusian Monks his unique book presents insights from journal notes of an American priest who spent four privileged months with the Carthusians of Calabria, Italy. He lived their daily regimen and kept a journal that gives readers a deep sense of what this intense life of prayer and contemplation is like. It invites us to ﬁnd time in our busy lives to encounter God more deeply. Illustrated with many beautiful photos of the monastery, and the monk’s lives.

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CONTENT S

| NOVEMBER 2017 | VOLUME 125/NUMBER 6

26 Miracles Happen: The Simple Witness of Solanus Casey

ON THE COVER Soon-to-be Blessed Solanus Casey, OFM Cap, teaches us the holiness that lies in simplicity.

He counseled thousands in New York and Detroit, and miracles are attributed to his intercession. In a few weeks, he will take the next step toward canonization. By John Feister

Oil painting by Helen Foley, 1982 Photo of painting by Brother Richard Merling

F E AT U R E S

D E PA R T M E N T S

14 The Rat beneath the Bed

2 Dear Reader

When he takes students to the missions, he always remembers his own early experience, when a tiny creature taught him to keep things in perspective. By John J. McLaughlin

18 Catholics and Cremation The Church’s teaching on cremation is solidly rooted in the core beliefs of our faith. By Father Donald Miller, OFM

3 From Our Readers 4 Followers of St. Francis Sister Nancy Surma, OSF

6 Reel Time I’ll Push You

23 At Home on Earth Finding Light in the Darkness

In a time of intense racial tensions, Msgr. Ray East says we need to focus on the fact that we are all made in God’s image. By Susan Hines-Brigger

25 Editorial Let’s Watch Our Language

Director/animator Timothy Reckart’s latest film is another opportunity for him to follow his God-given vocation. By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP

44 Catholic Sites to Explore The Chapel of St. Joan of Arc

50 Ask a Franciscan How Can I Forgive Him?

52 Book Corner Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty

46 A Movement of the Heart A doctor’s casual remark helped a former English professor find the words stirring within that led her to become a hospital chaplain. By Anne M. Windholz

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

10 Church in the News

36 Race and Religion

40 Following The Star

8 Channel Surfing

54 A Catholic Mom Speaks Put the Phone Down

56 Backstory

DEAR READER

A Holy Restlessness It took Blessed Mary of the Passion (1839–1904) several years to find her spiritual home. Born Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville in Nantes, France, she entered the Poor Clares in 1860, but ill health caused her to leave the following year. With improved health, she entered the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix four years later and was soon sent to work in India. In 1877, an internal dispute in the community led her and 19 other sisters to establish the Missionaries of Mary, dedicated to missionary work, especially medical care for women. She was elected their general superior. Her prayer life energized her apostolic service. In 1882, the rapidly growing international congregation changed its name to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. They have been active in education, social service, nursing, and catechetics. Seven of their members were martyred in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. They were among 120 Chinese martyrs canonized in 2000. Sister Mary of the Passion was beatified in 2002; her feast is observed on November 15.

Publisher D an i e l K r o g e r , O F M President K e l ly M c C racken Editor in Chief John Feister Art Director M a r y C a t h e r i n e K o z u sk o Franciscan Editor P a t M c C l o sk e y , O F M Managing Editor D an i e l I m w a l l e Assistant Editors S u san H i n e s - B r i g g e r K at h l e e n M . C a r r o l l Digital Editor C h r i s t o p h e r H e ff r o n Editorial Assistant S h a r o n L ap e Advertising Director Ray Taylor

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Printing Kingery Printing Co. E ff i n g h a m , IL ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956 CANADA PUBLICATION #PM40036350) Volume 125, Number 6, is published monthly for $39.00 a year by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 452026498. Phone 513-241-5615. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional entry offices. U.S. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, P.O. Box 189, Congers, NY 10920-0189. CANADA RETURN ADDRESS: c/o AIM, 7289 Torbram Rd., Mississauga, ON, Canada L4T 1G8. To subscribe, write to the above address or call 866-543-6870. Yearly subscription price: $39.00 in the United States; $69.00 in Canada and other countries. Single copy price: $3.95. For change of address, four weeks’ notice is necessary. See FranciscanMedia.org/subscription-services for information on your digital edition. Writer’s guidelines can be found at Franciscan Media.org/writers-guide. The publishers are not responsible for manuscripts or photos lost or damaged in transit. Names in fiction do not refer to living or dead persons. Member of the Catholic Press Association Published with ecclesiastical approval Copyright ©2017. All rights reserved.

2 | November 2017

S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

FROM OUR READERS Short but Sweet Richard Patterson’s article from the September issue of St. Anthony Messenger, “Who Do You Say That I Am?,” can only be described as follows: outstanding and thoughtprovoking. Thank you! Richard Zerwas Commerce Township, Michigan

Look for the Deeper Meaning I am a dedicated, longtime subscriber to St. Anthony Messenger and a writer who has been fortunate enough to appear in your pages numerous times. So I feel compelled to write to you after reading Michael Schwandt’s letter in the “From Our Readers” column from the September issue (“Fiction a Disservice to Catholic Values”). Mr. Schwandt wrote his letter in reaction to the June fiction story, “Ashes to Ashes,” by Kerry Sloan. This story is very well written, and what Mr. Schwandt does not seem to understand is that, sadly, there are mean-spirited people in the world like the main characters

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 libel. Please include your name and postal address. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. Mail Letters, St. Anthony Messenger 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 Fax (513) 241-0399

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in the story. Reading about them can help us understand them, or at least know that we are not alone when we have to deal with them. Who would want to read only stories about good, moral people? Also, the characters in the story—other than Ethel—had already made a mockery of the burial spot by their anger and focus on their and others’ opinions. So I don’t think burying the cat’s ashes there was all that bad. Actually, Ethel gave her brother the burial he wanted and treated his remains with more respect than the other relatives would have. I also wanted to mention that I thoroughly enjoyed the fiction story from the September issue, “Beginnings,” by Kathleen O’Connor. She is an excellent writer and deserves all the success she has achieved. Although I no longer write for publication, I note how quality short fiction is sorely lacking in most of today’s publications. I hope you will continue to seek out fiction stories and publish them in your magazine. Marjorie Flathers San Bernardino, California

The Thin Blue Line Sister Rose Pacatte’s “Reel Time” column from the September issue caught my eye, as I am a lifelong resident of metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri. A disclaimer in the review of Whose Streets? stated that the film “does not pretend to be objective or chronological.” I accept that. However, the tone of the movie review suggests to me that a white police officer woke up that day with the intent of shooting an unarmed black teenager. Early in the investigation, a witness claimed that Michael Brown had his hands up, leading to the “hands up, don’t shoot”

myth, which was later retracted when that witness admitted that he had lied. Other evidence corroborated the young police officer’s testimony that Brown in fact disobeyed several commands and attacked the officer in an attempt to take his gun. In the end, the grand jury did not indict the officer. I’m sad that a young man’s life was lost; especially since there were several points where simple compliance with the officer could have avoided the fatality. Likewise, I’m sad that law enforcement officers should have to apologize or be scorned for doing their jobs in such difficult circumstances. Why can’t there be any acknowledgment of sympathy for this officer and all of his brothers and sisters in blue? Tom Blair Trenton, Illinois

Portland Martyrs I want to share some thoughts on the September issue of St. Anthony Messenger. I live across the river from Portland, Oregon, so I really appreciated Kathleen M. Carroll’s editorial (“Greater Love”) about the three heroes who stood up to white supremacist hatred and the harassment of two young women. Ricky John Best was an active member of Christ the King Catholic Parish. I know there are formal definitions of martyrdom, and a married family man is not a likely candidate for Church attention. But on a personal level, I ask his prayers for courage to not even think about doing the right thing, but to just do it as a reflex—an instinct of holiness. I can’t wait for All Saints’ Day and the celebration of the great cloud of witnesses! Linda Weirather Vancouver, Washington NOVEMBER 2017 | 3

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

It All Adds Up to Mission

I Sister Nancy Surma, OSF

s kindergarten too soon to be thinking about a vocation? Not for Sister Nancy Surma, OSF, whose teacher Sister Mary Margaret was an inspiration. “That was the start of my vocation,” Sister Nancy says. “I had sisters as teachers for kindergarten through eighth grade. They were happy and loving and they really cared for us children. I could sense that they enjoyed each other’s company, too. It was a great grace to be that sure of my vocation.” Sister Nancy entered the convent in Sylvania, Ohio, just after high school. Though she was certain of her vocation, in 1965, there were many uncertainties for religious communities caught up in the wake of the changes of the Second Vatican Council. “We were an American community,” Sister Nancy explains. “While we had the big habits, the daily schedule, prescribed prayers, and the ‘grand silence’ at night, the changes for us were gradual. We didn’t have some of the rigid practices of some of the older communities, so the changes were easier for us and somewhat less urgent.” The Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania

Learn more about Catholic saints and their feast days by going to

STORIES FROM OUR READERS

SaintoftheDay.org.

St. Anthony Is a Girl’s Best Friend

AGESHIN/FOTOSEARCH

4 | November 2017

practiced a spirituality that drew on several traditions—Franciscan spirituality, of course, but also the Benedictine Rule and certain elements of Jesuit meditation. Sister Nancy recalls, “Vatican II asked religious communities to look at their own founders and unlock the riches of their particular charism. As I learned more about St. Francis, I fell even more in love. Our Franciscan heritage—what a gift!” Sister Nancy began her professional life as a high school math teacher. “I loved it and thought I’d do it for the rest of my life,” she says. But she was given more responsibility, becoming dean of girls at the school, then working in administration at the high school and later with adult learners at Lourdes College. Meanwhile, she earned her PhD in higher education at Boston College. All those meandering paths led to her current role as vice president of mission integration for Catholic Health Initiatives. “I see mission integration as a focus on the heart of what we do. It ensures that the legacy of the founding congregations (the

I am Portuguese and my great-grandmother told me I could always rely on St. Anthony of Portugal! I was attending back-to-school night when I saw that the diamond in my ring was missing. I retraced my steps through the school, to the gas station, and finally to the outside of church, to no avail. The next day, I went into the church for Mass but first made a stop in the back room, where I had taught religious education the night before. Getting down on the floor, I spotted my diamond. Then I went in for Mass—where the Gospel reading was about the lost coin and the pearl of great price. Thanks, St. Anthony! —C.V. Zarek, San Francisco, California S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

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

Missionary Spirit Sister Balvina, another relative of Clare, had been at San Damiano for 36 years when St. Clare died. She reformed a monastery in Arezzo and died a year after Clare did. Balvina recounted that Clare was the most humble of all the sisters and had such a missionary fervor that she would have suffered martyrdom in defense of her faith and her order for the love of God. Clare once desired to go to Morocco, where five friars had been the first friar martyrs in 1220. —P.M.

CNS PHOTO

vast majority of our health-care institutions were started by Catholic women congregations), their values, their spirit persist, even as we have fewer sisters who work in the ministry and even when the congregations are no longer directly involved. “I make sure that we all focus on our mission, our vision, our core values—and it applies to every one of our associates. “Being in touch with our mission allows us to provide holistic, quality care to our patients and residents, with a special focus on spiritual care, no matter what their faith background may be.” How did a onetime math teacher find herself in this position? Sister Nancy knows it’s all down to providence. “And the math foundation makes sense. Mathematics is a study of beauty, a study of relationships. It helps develop creative thinking and reaching out to make connections. It trains you to follow through to the end, which is so important in a leadership role.” —Kathleen M. Carroll

Learn more about Catholic saints and their feast days by going to SaintoftheDay.org.

S T. A N T H O N Y B R E A D

FranciscanMedia.org

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.

Send all postal communication to: St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498

November 2017 | 5

REEL TIME

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

I’ll Push You

PHOTOS COURTESY OF I’LL PUSH YOU/PUSH, INC.

Sister Rose’s

FAVORITE

JOURNEY

FILMS Paris Can Wait (2017) The Way (2010) The Searchers (1956) Cast Away (2000) Wild (2014)

6 | November 2017

I’ll Push You is a stirring documentary about two friends—one of whom is in a wheelchair—who conquer the Camino de Compostela together. There have been many documentaries about the Camino de Compostela, but none as inspiring or emotionally powerful as the story of Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray in the documentary I’ll Push You. Their lifelong friendship started when they were born in eastern Oregon in July 1975 at the same hospital—only 24 hours apart. They lived near each other, went to the same schools, and attended the same Nazarene church. But after a car accident in his junior year of high school, Skeesuck developed a rare autoimmune disease called multifocal acquired motor axonopathy. Now in his late 30s and unable to move except to work the remote control, he turns on a Rick Steves travel show on PBS about the Camino. He wonders if he could make the 500-mile pilgrimage in his wheelchair. He asks Gray and, without hesitation, his friend says, “I’ll push you.” With the backing of their wives and children—and the support of a league of

friends—they set out in 2014 to conquer the Camino. The human and spiritual lessons both men learn will resonate with viewers. Gray wants to be in complete control and do everything himself, but pilgrims along the way teach him otherwise. Skeesuck accepts the help that others must provide, from being carried up narrow staircases in tiny hotels to personal needs. I’ll Push You is one of the most deeply felt films I have seen in a long time. It is based on their book, I’ll Push You: A Camino Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair. Not yet rated • Mature themes. ST. ANTHoNY meSSeNGer

CNS PHOTO/WARNER BROS.

The Stray

It, based on Stephen King’s novel, is about a group of young misfits who are haunted by a terrifying clown, played with relish by Bill Skarsgård.

FranciscanMedia.org

The year is 1989 in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Fourteen-year-old Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), sick in bed, makes a paper boat for his 7-year-old brother, Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott), to play with. Georgie goes outside alone in the rain and lets the boat run down the gutter to a storm drain. From inside the drain, a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) pulls him in. Georgie’s body is never found, and Bill’s guilt at letting Georgie go out alone weighs on him. During the summer, Bill and a posse of six friends form the “Losers Club”—which includes a homeschooled African American boy named Mike (Chosen Jacobs) and one girl, Beverly (Sophia Lillis)—because they are the targets of bullies. They roam the town trying to find Georgie. One by one, they encounter bright red balloons and the terrifying clown. It is a disturbing film and a solid adaptation of horror maestro Stephen King’s 1986 best-selling novel. The violent situations that the adolescents face seem real, but they are psychological projections of their fears. The absence of adequate adults in their lives fuels their isolation. This coming-of-age parable about kids who are willing to sacrifice everything for one another—and how they prove that love conquers fear—makes for compelling viewing. L, R • Violence, gore, language, mature themes and situations.

Mitch Davis (Michael Cassidy) is an overworked Hollywood producer. His long hours are taking a toll on his wife, Michelle (Sarah Lancaster), and their oldest child, Christian (Connor Corum). Christian, especially, resents his father’s absence and lack of involvement in his life. In an effort to save their family, they move to the country, where a stray dog chooses the Davis family as his own. They name him Pluto. Soon, he proves his mettle by alerting the family when their toddler is in danger. In a last-ditch effort to reach Christian, Mitch takes him, two of his friends, and Pluto on a camping trip. They quickly get lost. Written and directed by Mitch Davis, who also gave us The Other Side of Heaven, The Stray is a gentle, faith-inspired film based on a true story. The acting is sincere but unexciting. However, what happens on the camping trip and on the way home will transform and inspire audiences. It is a sweet look at a wounded family and how a dog brings them together. Not yet rated, PG • Appropriate for all audiences.

The Stray is a gentle look at how a dog rescues a family in crisis.

C AT H O L I C C L A S S I F I C AT I O N S A-1 A-2 A-3 L O

General patronage Adults and adolescents Adults Limited adult audience Morally offensive

■ The Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. See usccb.org/movies. ■ For additional film reviews, go to FranciscanMedia.org/movie-review.

November 2017 | 7

13 10 ⁄8 103⁄4 10 ⁄16 7

101⁄2

CHANNEL SURFING

| WITH CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

PHOTO COURTESY OF NAKADAIRA

Jazz legend John Coltrane is the subject of John Scheinfeld’s new documentary. 8 | November 2017

November 6, 10 p.m., PBS John Coltrane was a whole universe crammed into one body: jazz saxophonist and composer, husband and father, peace activist, Christian, and junkie. What set him apart from many of his contemporaries wasn’t simply raw talent. It was how he infused his music with the very contents of his soul—both the agony and the ecstasy. The life and legacy of this music icon is the subject of John Scheinfeld’s stunning new documentary, Chasing Trane. And channel surfers—even those unschooled in jazz—should take a look. Meticulously crafted, Scheinfeld’s film covers a lot of ground in 90 minutes. From Coltrane’s upbringing in the Jim Crow South to the beginnings of his musical prowess; from his itinerant life in the world of jazz to his dangerous dalliance with heroin—an addiction he ultimately conquered—Scheinfeld leaves no stone unturned. Narrated, in part, by Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, who lends vocal gravitas as the voice of Coltrane himself, Chasing Trane gives us a pulsating, threedimensional look at one of jazz music’s favorite sons. Scored entirely with Coltrane’s own music, this documentary shows how the man’s influence lingers still.

UP CLOSE

The Gifted Mondays, 9 p.m., FOX Marvel’s X-Men, the comic-book series and the film franchise, managed to elevate itself above its contemporaries in the superhero stratosphere because the central themes of bigotry and tolerance are ever present. Mutants—humans who have developed superhuman abilities—are targeted, corralled, and in some cases euthanized because they do not fit within the status quo (read: the Holocaust of World War II; the Rwandan genocide of 1994). While the films have been a sometimes uneven, though ultimately satisfying blend of social commentary and action/adventure, The Gifted, FOX’s new series that borrows from the franchise, doesn’t fare so well. The series centers on Reed and Kate Strucker, parents who discover their teenage daughter and son possess superhuman powers. Reed, a district attorney who has prosecuted mutants in the past, must reconcile his new role as the patriarch of a mutant-diverse family. This dichotomy is neither adequately explored nor interesting enough to delve into deeply. Indeed, weak writing fails this freshman series. Filling out the cast are other misfit mutants who go underground and evade capture from Sentinel Services, a government agency that seeks to segregate them from society, and possibly worse. The series does manage a few exciting moments— particularly when mutants use their gifts to assure their freedom—but those moments are, sadly, not enough to save it.

S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r 101⁄2 103⁄4 1013⁄16 107⁄8

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CHURCH IN THE NEWS

| BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

An estimated 20,000 people gathered in Oklahoma City for the beatification of their native son Father Stanley Rother.

Cardinal Angelo Amato called Father Rother an “authentic light” for the Church.

On September 23, a crowd of 20,000 people packed the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City for the beatification ceremony of Father Stanley Rother, an American missionary murdered in Guatemala in 1981, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). Father Rother is the first US-born martyr. Prior to the Mass, the congregation viewed a documentary made about the priest’s life and ministry titled The Shepherd Cannot Run: Father Rother’s Story. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City; his predecessor, retired Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran— who formally opened the Rother sainthood cause 10 years ago—and about 50 other US bishops, over 200 priests, and about 200 deacons then processed in for the start of the beatification ceremony. Archbishop Beltran said that little did Father Rother know that his hardworking years on his family’s farm near Okarche “would mold him into the kind of man who

where the martyred priest and his siblings grew up, located three miles from the center of Okarche. Cardinal Amato presided over the beatification Mass and, during his homily, said that while Father Rother’s martyrdom “fills us with sadness,” it also “gives us the joy of admiring the kindness, generosity, and courage of a great man of faith.” The 13 years he served as a missionary in Guatemala “will always be remembered as the glorious epic of a martyr of Christ, an authentic lighted torch of hope for the Church and the world,” he added.

10 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

would make great strides when he volunteered to go to Guatemala.” After the archbishop spoke, Cardinal Amato read the formal letter about the priest’s beatification. When he concluded, a huge, colorful banner was unfurled above the altar with a likeness of Blessed Rother and an image of his Guatemalan mission and the Oklahoma City archdiocesan coat of arms at the bottom. His feast day will be celebrated July 28, the day he was fatally shot in the head by masked men. Relics of Blessed Rother, including a piece from one of his rib bones, were brought to the altar in a golden reliquary and set on a small table to the left of the main altar. Cardinal Amato venerated the relics and incensed the reliquary. Father Rother’s family members then came up to the altar to greet the cardinal: his sister, Sister Marita Rother, a member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, who lives at her community’s motherhouse in Wichita, Kansas; and his brother Tom and his wife, Marti, who live on the farm

Seminary Cancels Speaker Following Backlash Following increased negative feedback by some groups over Jesuit Father James Martin’s recent book about the Church and the gay community, the Theological College, a national seminary affiliated with The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, rescinded its S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

CNS PHOTO/STEVE SISNEY, ARCHDIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA CITY

CNS PHOTO/DAVE CRENSHAW, EASTERN OKLAHOMA CATHOLIC

American Martyr Beatified

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 Pope Francis instituted the World Day of Prayer in 2015. He said the day was meant to be a time for individuals and communities to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

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“Be Not Afraid” is the theme for the 2017–2018 Respect Life Program, which began on Respect Life Sunday last October 1. Each year, new materials are produced to help Catholics understand, value, and become engaged with supporting the God-given dignity of every person. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, along with 40 other countries, at the United Nations on September 20. The archbishop also addressed the 10th Conference on Facilitating Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, a treaty the Vatican adhered to in 1996. That treaty, he said, “is all the more urgent when one considers contemporary threats to peace—from the continuing challenges of nuclear proliferation to the major new modernization programs of some of the nuclear-weapon states.” On the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, head of the Orthodox Church, issued a joint statement urging people to adopt a respectful and responsible approach toward creation, while also being aware of how disrupted ecosystems impact the poor. invitation to Father Martin to speak at an October 4 symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of the seminary’s founding, reported CNS. The college said the decision was made after it “experienced increasing negative feedback from various social media sites regarding the seminary’s invitation.” In a Facebook post regarding the FranciscanMedia.org

The work of Pope Francis’ international Council of Cardinals—the so-called C9—is “more than three-quarters of the way there—it is almost complete,” Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, secretary of the council, told Vatican Radio on September 11. The council is advising the pope on a major reform of the Roman Curia. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, a longtime leader in Catholic-Anglican relations and former archbishop of Westminster, was remembered at his September 13 funeral as a gifted man who put his talents at the “service of God and the Church and society at large.” Cardinal O’Connor passed away on September 1, a week after his 85th birthday. Thousands of runners took part in the first ever “multireligious” half marathon in Rome on September 17. The Via Pacis race was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture. An estimated 2,000 people took part in the half marathon and almost 4,000 people signed up for the 5K fun run, according to Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, undersecretary of the pontifical council and head of the office’s section on sport. He said that some 200 members of Rome’s grand mosque participated, as well as members of the Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Bahai communities. The race started and ended near St. Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis delivered his Sunday Angelus prayer and address at noon. During his address, the pope said he hoped “that this cultural and athletic initiative fosters dialogue, coexistence, and peace.” For more Catholic news, visit FranciscanMedia.org/ catholic-news.

cancellation, Father Martin wrote: “The organizers were all apologetic and in some cases more upset than I was. I know that they were under extreme pressure, and in some cases were overwhelmed by the rage that can be generated by social media: ill will based on misrepresentations, innuendos, homophobia, and especially fear. Perfect love drives out

fear, as 1 John says. But perfect fear also drives out love.” He said the cancellation was not the first, even though that speech and others he was to give were about Jesus and not his book Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 | 11

In an article published by America magazine on September 18, San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy defended Father Martin, saying, “This campaign of distortion must be challenged and exposed for what it is—not primarily for Father Martin’s sake, but because this cancer of vilification is seeping into the institutional life of the Church. The concerted attack on Father Martin’s work has been driven by three impulses: homophobia, a distortion of fundamental Catholic moral theology, and a veiled attack on Pope Francis and his campaign against judgmentalism in the Church.”

Pope, Catholic Leaders Denounce Trump’s DACA Plans Saying politicians who call themselves pro-life must also be profamily, Pope Francis said he hopes that US President Donald Trump will reconsider his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, reported

CNS. The DACA program has allowed some 800,000 young people brought to the United States illegally as children to stay in the country if they are working or going to school. The president’s decision was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on September 5, and places the undocumented immigrants under threat of deportation and losing permits that allow them to work. “I hope he rethinks it a bit,” the pope said, “because I’ve heard the president of the United States speak; he presents himself as a man who is pro-life, a good pro-lifer. If he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that the family is the cradle of life, and its unity must be defended.” Many of the US bishops also spoke out against the president’s decision. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a joint statement with other USCCB leaders: “The Catholic Church has long watched with pride and admiration as DACA youth live out their daily lives

with hope and a determination to flourish and contribute to society: continuing to work and provide for their families, continuing to serve in the military, and continuing to receive an education. Now, after months of anxiety and fear about their futures, these brave young people face deportation. This decision is unacceptable and does not reflect who we are as Americans.”

Pope Francis Rebrands Institute on Marriage, Family The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family has been renamed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and Family. The refoundation of the institute was issued motu proprio (on his own initiative) on September 8, in his apostolic letter “Summa Familiae Cura” (“Great Care for the Family”). The institute was established by St. John Paul II in 1982, following the 1980 Synod of Bishops on the family, which called for the creation of centers devoted to the study of the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family. The new institute, the pope wrote, will expand and deepen the types of courses offered, as well as take “an analytical and diversified approach” that allows students to study all aspects and concerns of today’s families while remaining “faithful to the teaching of Christ.”

Church Was ‘Late’ in Response to Sex-Abuse Crisis

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Saying the Church was “late” in facing the sex-abuse crisis, Pope Francis told his advisory commission on child protection during an audience at the Vatican September 21 that he has endorsed an approach of “zero tolerance” S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

toward all members of the Church guilty of sexually abusing minors or vulnerable adults, reported CNS. Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors were meeting in Rome September 21–23 for their plenary assembly. Listening to abuse survivors and having made what he described as a mistake in approving a more lenient set of sanctions against an Italian priest abuser were factors in the pope’s decision that whoever has been proven guilty of abuse has no right to an appeal, and that he will never grant a papal pardon. He said proof that an ordained minister has abused a minor “is sufficient [reason] to receive no recourse” for an appeal. “If there is proof, end of story,” the pope said; the sentence “is definitive.” And, he added, he has never and would never grant a papal pardon to a proven perpetrator. The reasoning has nothing to do with being meanspirited, but is needed because an abuser is suffering from “a sickness.” Setting aside his prepared text, the pope told members of the commission that because the Church was late in properly addressing the crisis, the commission, which he established in 2014, has had to “swim against the tide” because of a lack of awareness or understanding of the seriousness of the problem. “When consciousness comes late, the means for resolving the problem come late,” he said. “I am aware of this difficulty. But it is the reality: we have arrived late.”

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ANSWERS TO PETE AND REPEAT 1. The candle now has a flame. 2. Mom already has food on her plate. 3. Scruffy is hiding under the table. 4. The portraits have switched. 5. Mom’s chair has a heart carved out of it. 6. There is an extra fold in the corner of the tablecloth. 7. The plates now have rims. 8. The top of Dad’s chairback is round.

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THE RAT BENEATH THE BED “

Why should we travel far away to do service when there’s so much need right here at home?” I’ve heard this question every year for nearly two decades, from parents and pastors concerned about sending their student volunteers with me to the Dominican Republic for a faith-based immersion experience. I’ve heard it from students, too, as they try to talk themselves into (or out of) this challenge. Many times I’ll respond reasonably, with some to-the-point statements about global solidarity and long-term personal growth. I’ll ask them to consider that, because an international experience can invite a

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When he takes students to the missions, he always remembers his own early experience, when a tiny creature taught him to keep things in perspective. BY J OHN J . M C LAU G HLI N

volunteer far beyond her or his comfort zone through a different language, climate, diet, and culture, it can plant the seeds of deeper transformation. And I’ll note that, really, the question poses a false choice: Why not do both, since in God’s eyes home is everywhere? Jesus and Paul, for example, sometimes ministered in places that necessitated days of travel by foot, animal, or boat. In fact, when asked directly, “Who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29), Jesus taught the parable of the good Samaritan, illustrating that foreigners are as capable of giving God’s love—and receiving it—as locals are. If my questioner is still unconvinced, I’ll ask if I can tell a story. ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER

Nearly 20 years ago, during my first night in a rural community in the Dominican Republic, I was awakened by a gnawing, sawing sound somewhere in the room where I slept. I switched on my flashlight. I was the guest of a very humble coffee-farming family in Cacique—a community without electricity, plumbing, or English. Since at that time I knew little Spanish, the flashlight represented my only adequate preparation. I swept its beam around the room, and the sound stopped; I switched it off, and it began again. This time, I understood what was making the sound, now coming from beneath my bed. Let’s just say this was not a pleasant, or even a neutral, realization. If you are one of those people who likes rats, or can even tolerate the thought of them, well, congratulations. I despise them. Naively, I believed it was trying to chew through the mattress, rather than merely sharpening its teeth on the foot of the bed, as it was actually doing. So I prepared for battle. My best weapons were my boots, but they were in the opposite corner of the room, and I was too fainthearted to get them. My sandals, on the floor within reach, presented the next best option. I slowly extended my hand from beneath the mosquito net, then jerked one up like pulling a trout from a stream, before the rat—foul creature—could attack. The rat, unaware that I was now armed, continued its gnawing. I slapped the mattress with the sandal, and it scurried off, only to return minutes later. I switched on the flashlight again, but this time the rat just kept gnawing, perhaps grateful now for the illumination. This went on for an hour or so—slap, scurry, return—until I admitted defeat. I put away the flashlight and tried praying, breathing, whatever might calm me. Eventually, the rat moved on. But I kept my sandal close, just in case.

Language and Laughter I found myself in that room because, frankly, some plans had fallen through. I had just finished graduate school in creative writing, and my dreams of immediately landing a book contract or a college teaching job had proven unrealistic. Feeling unmoored, I took a job with a Jesuit university’s semester FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG

abroad program in the Dominican Republic, ostensibly for noble purposes—service! justice! solidarity!—but also to distance myself from my failures. As an introvert who’d never been to Latin America or studied Spanish, I found the country’s noise and chaos overwhelming, and I spent the first few weeks largely frustrated and humiliated, bumbling my way through conversations, sometimes even faking comprehension— “Oh, ¡sí, sí!”—simply because I was tired of asking people to repeat themselves. I felt like a little boy, learning to talk all over again. I’d had a great plan for this weekend: I would stay with a gregarious Dominican family, accompanied by my bilingual mentor, who could translate when I needed help. But I was asked to stay with a very shy family, alone. When I arrived at their tiny clapboard home, it was past dark. The two youngest daughters, 7 and 9 years old, simply stared. The mother, María, tried to engage me, but I couldn’t understand her, and her repetitions got faster and louder until she dismissed me with a disappointed wave, returning to her plantains boiling over the fire. I might have put on a good face, but in the weak glow of that family’s oil lamp, I was far outside my comfort zone. I went to sleep regretting I’d come to this house, even to this country. The rat beneath the bed seemed yet further confirmation I didn’t belong. In the morning, the family’s father, Edilio, greeted me with great concern. “Juan, ¿qué pasó anoche?” What happened last night? I’d hoped that the family had slept through the slap-scurry racket. But, given their home’s eighth-inch-plywood interior walls, I should have known I wouldn’t escape a reckoning. “Una rata,” I began, reaching for the pocket dictionary that was not in my pocket. But I’d already looked fruitlessly for gnaw, chew, and chomp. Eat was as close as I could get. I told Edilio, in Spanish, “Last night . . . I hear rat . . . eat . . . close . . . my bed.” By this point his four children, amused by my Spanish, had gathered around to listen. Swallowing my pride, I said that I’d been afraid. Then I paused, intending to say that the rat kept gnawing away no matter what I did. “La rata . . . ,” I trailed off, and in frustration simply bared my teeth and chomped rapidly several

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Gnawing in the Night

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INSET PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN J. MCLAUGHLIN

Th e au thor Cap (brm tion ackatio info lefnt)to stago ndher s wie,thwa hisitin pagpá todo hea mirnic from anJoh ano d th e Ro dr igu n Mc ez family in Cacique Laughlin , Dominican Republi c.

times. The children cracked up, and Edilio covered his laugh. I hadn’t meant to be funny, just accurate, but now a new door had opened. “¡Otra vez, Juan, otra vez!” The kids told me to do it again, then called their mother to come and watch. María’s face soured as she approached, as if at some insipid food. She stood next to Edilio, crossed her arms, and said in Spanish, “Let’s see.” I paused, wondering: Is this what I’m here for? Is this how I’m going to serve the poor? When I’d worked with the homeless in the United States, I’d brought some relevant professional skills to the task. But now, what—I’ll play the clown? Against my better judgment, I chomped away, with even more vigor, then made claws with my hands and play-swiped at María. She started, then chortled, and Edilio and the kids cracked up again. The boy, Esteban, looked at me excitedly. “Juan, what other animals do you know? How about a rooster?” he asked in Spanish. I did the rooster, adding a strut and some chest thumps. I became a cow, then a sheep, then a wolf that ate them both. Esteban got the fever, and did an excellent dogfight bit, and the girls chimed in with meows and a donkey’s bray. Edilio and María wouldn’t take turns, but they couldn’t stop laughing, either.

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Connecting through Vulnerability I usually pause the story there. As you can see, I wasn’t doing anything useful or productive; I wasn’t making a difference in this family’s life as much as burdening them (and maybe providing someone to laugh at)—criticisms that are often leveled, fairly, at some international service experiences for US youths and adults. I’ve leveled them myself over the years, having witnessed this too many times: well-meaning groups arriving with inadequate preparation, jumping into make-work projects that put their experience at the center and leave the supposed beneficiaries in a subservient position, even on the sidelines. At the same time, we must be careful not to make productivity our primary goal. Yes, projects must be useful, but an essential element of that utility resides in the degree to which they emerge from, and are done collaboratively with, the beneficiaries, rather than imposed or done for them. Relationship—a genuine, human encounter with a person, not an issue or a statistic—must be the heart and foundation of faith-based service if it hopes to be truly transformational. And we must build this foundation carefully, by creating a context of mutual vulnerability, an experience of childlike dependency and openness for everyone involved, not only the poor. Otherwise, we have only the powerful serving the weak. That has

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value—we do need to feed the hungry— but in the long term, nothing will change. With mutual vulnerability, we upend traditional notions of server and served: everyone who embraces his or her vulnerability, in whatever form, offers another person a chance to be generous. And that can change everything. In a service setting, vulnerability is not the same as danger, nor does danger equate to lack of comfort. Physical risks must be minimized to maximize spiritual risks. But safe discomforts—rickety buses, cold showers, the occasional spider or rodent—are welcome (in theory, at least) to increase vulnerability. In fact, the more, the better. That’s the chief advantage most international service experiences possess.

Lessons Learned To my surprise, that afternoon the children invited me to play with them again, and at the end of the weekend the family invited me to return. I did, often, riding up in a bus or motorcycle taxi from the city of Santiago, where I lived. For a while, as I struggled to become more fluent, to avoid getting cheated by the moto-taxi drivers, and to recover from the various illnesses I contracted, the family took care of me, as if I were another son. It was clear that all I could offer was my presence, so I let go of the hope of being of service, of possessing some power to help. Two years later I’d built enough trust to invite the first US service group to visit, and

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Capría Ma tioand n infEdi orm lioatiflon anktodau goght ers wa here, Maitin rilygn to and hear Ma rielfro a at m the Johirn hom McLau e in ghSep lin tember 1997.

for the past 18 years others have followed, to stay in the homes of Dominican families and collaborate on projects that community leaders have identified, designed, and blessed. To serve and be served; to change and be changed. Service values relationship over results. It asks us to surrender, to give up control, and to act not upon favorable odds, but upon our convictions—even against great odds— while leaving room for God to make a way out of no way. Jesus taught that children are first in the kingdom. Letting go of the need to be a savvy, in-control adult allowed me to become more open, dependent, and childlike—more (not less) of my true self. The Dominican family’s obvious vulnerabilities—living in poverty, at the mercies of nature and the coffee market—forced me to accept my own; and our mutual vulnerability began to bind us as friends, even family. I still refer to Edilio as mi papá dominicano (my Dominican dad). Vulnerability offers the opportunity to be broken and healed by love, a love that binds us to God and others. We don’t know what kind of men the good Samaritan and the robbers’ victim were before they encountered each other in their mutual poverty: the one a despised foreigner, the other a naked wretch beaten nearly to death. Perhaps they harbored deep prejudices about the others in their respective lives. But vulnerability created the opportunity for compassion, which transformed them both. The grain of wheat, to produce fruit, must be broken open. Though I didn’t know it at the time, the rat’s gnawing had been my wake-up call, my breaking open: an invitation to surrender control, humble myself like a child, and be open to relationship. That’s the invitation to all called to service—to hear, in that midnight gnawing, sawing sound beneath the bed, the still, small voice of God. John J. McLaughlin holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Iowa. A married father of two, he is currently the director of the organization Education Across Borders.

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Catholics Cremation &

The Church’s teaching on cremation is solidly rooted in the core beliefs of our faith. B Y FATHER D ONA L D M IL L E R, OF M

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family faces the inevitable—Mom is dying. It’s only a matter of time, and her children will have to make some major decisions. So they gather to discuss what to do. One of the daughters says that she would like a traditional funeral at the parish church where Mom worshiped most of her life. One of the sons says that he would prefer not having a church service at all. Mom may have been religious and practiced her faith, but he would prefer not to. “Would you be willing to go to a church service for Mom’s sake?” he is asked. He wants time to think about it. Meanwhile, one of the daughters says that she finds traditional funerals too morbid and would like to have Mom cremated. That way, all would avoid the unpleasantries of a funeral, and each could keep some of mom’s ashes at home. The youngest daughter says that if they are going to have Mom cremated, she would like the ashes scattered over the family property where Mom and Dad lived so many years. That way, Mom would still be at the homestead; at least, her ashes would be. Finally, the youngest son speaks up and asks if anyone thought to ask Mom what she wants. No one had. This scenario is not that far-fetched. With the changing social situation regarding death and funerals and the Catholic Church’s seemingly changing attitudes toward cremation, families can be left in a proverbial quagmire. What to do? And how best to observe Church teaching? Is there even a Catholic teaching to follow?

Cremation Is the Latest Thing The social reality is that more and more FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG

people are opting for cremation. According to the Cremation Association of North America, the cremation rate within the United States was 48.6 percent of all deaths as of 2015, up from 47 percent in 2014. They predict that the rate will reach 54.3 percent by 2020. The rate in Canada was 68.8 percent in 2015 with a projection of 74.2 percent by 2020. In 2015, 65 percent of Americans reported that they were inclined to choose cremation. So almost two thirds of the people in this country say that they are likely to opt for cremation over a traditional burial when the decision must be made. Why the change? To fully understand the motives and reasons behind this move away from traditional burial to cremation, we would need to know the thinking of every person who has chosen to be cremated—an impossible task. So we are left with generalizations and some guesswork. A glance at the Web offers reasons ranging from cost considerations to environmental concerns to personal fears and phobias. The arguments against cremation also range from the practical to the personal. No single factor seems to prevail. So it seems we know more about what is happening than why. To add to the muddle, the Catholic Church has modified its position on the morality of cremation. Prior to Vatican II, the Church strictly forbade cremation except in emergency cases where the quick disposal of bodies was a civil necessity—such as during a plague or natural disaster. But with the reforms of the funeral and burial rites of Vatican II, the Church has taken a more relaxed approach, allowing cremation with one very explicit proviso. This modification was codified in the latest Code of Canon Law: N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | 19

G M N I E V M O ORY L N I The Human Body Is Holy, Warts and All Historically, the concern of the Church has been to preserve the dignity of the human person and to protect the integrity of the faith and practices related to the body. Basically, we are an incarnational people who hold that all creation is holy because, as St. John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). We don’t look for God “up there” or “out there” someplace. No, we look inward to find God within us and within all creation. It is within this incarnational framework that we view the human body as something good and holy, and desire to treat it with the utmost respect both during life and after death. The Church also firmly holds that the person—body and soul—is the object of salvation. God did not become flesh to save souls only, but also persons. That may sound rather nitpicky, but it speaks against a view of humanity that often sees all material things, including the human body, in a negative light—spirit is good; the physical is bad. Nor are we imprisoned souls or animated bodies, but rather, persons with a physical and spiritual aspect, both of which Jesus shared as a human being through his incarnation, both of which he laid down his life to save. It is out of this perspective also that we hold that the body is worthy of the utmost respect. It is no less sacred than the soul. The Church is faithful to this incarnational view in its liturgies as well as in its theology. Sacraments, for example, are conferred on persons in very bodily ways using very concrete material things. People are baptized when water is poured over their heads, confirmed when hands are placed on their heads and their foreheads are anointed with oil, and fed consecrated bread and wine in the Eucharist. The Sacrament of Reconciliation involves physical presence, and the Anointing of the Sick involves both a laying on of hands and an anointing with oil. Marriage celebrates the union of two persons who express their love in mutual living and sexual union. And the ordination of deacons, priests, and bishops includes the laying on of hands, an anointing, and the giving of the implements of office: respectively, a book; a chalice and paten; a ring, a miter, and a staff. And the Catholic funeral rite includes the use of incense and holy water as we pray 20 | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7

that the Lord receives this person into paradise. The body is a focus of attention from birth to death. It is because of these beliefs and practices that the Church requires that, if the body is cremated, the ashes be treated with due respect and dignity. This was a body that was a temple of the Holy Spirit. This was a body that received the sacraments. This was a body that communicated the thoughts and feelings of its heart to others in words and actions. This was a body that sang the praises of God, hugged and embraced loved ones, cried when sad, and laughed when happy. This was a body that made the person present and allowed him or her to be active in the world and to relate with others. This was a body that will live with God forever when it is transformed and risen with Jesus. This was a body that demands our utmost respect. To choose cremation in opposition to any of these beliefs and practices would be to choose cremation “for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching.” In its most serious form, this would involve a conscious decision to deny what the Church teaches or to intend disrespect toward the body. Most people would not intend to do either, but the Church, nonetheless, wants to recall a few ramifications of some choices.

The Church’s Latest Instruction On October 25, 2016, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an instruction addressing some objectionable ideas and practices. The document clearly recognizes that the practice of cremation has increased significantly in recent years, and takes no exception to that fact. It is neither the existence nor the frequency of cremation that is at issue, but rather, some new ideas and subsequent behaviors regarding the sacredness of the body and the treatment of the ashes that are the concern. Clearly, this is not a change of the Church’s stand on cremation, nor has it limited people’s freedom to choose it as a valid and acceptable alternative to traditional burial. But there is a question of how to properly handle the remains with dignity and with full respect in view of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Citing the fact that Jesus was buried and rose again, the document restates the preference for a traditional burial as an expression of our faith and hope in the resurrection, and insists that, even in the case of cremation, a person’s final resting place be a cemetery or other sacred place (e.g., a church, a columbarium, or a mausoleum). Other practices, it concludes, do not retain a proper reverence— practices such as keeping the ashes at home, dividing ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER

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“The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained; but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching” (CIC 1985, #1176.3; italics added).

them among family members, or scattering them abroad. These behaviors, it concludes, are contrary to the teachings of the Church. Such practices often reflect an attitude or a view of life contrary to Christian teaching. For example, a quick Internet search makes it very clear that there are those who view death as the total destruction of the human person. Denying any notion of an afterlife, this view considers death to be the end of the person’s existence and, thus, concludes that it makes little difference what happens to the mortal remains of the deceased. Others view the body as a negative limitation on the freedom of the soul or on the person’s spirit, and view death as a liberation: a freeing of the soul from bondage and a return to Mother Nature. This view hardly accepts the notion that all creation is made sacred and destined for eternal life by the incarnation and redemption of Jesus. Likewise, any notions of regeneration or reincarnation are, in effect, denials of individual uniqueness and the resurrection of the body. The Church clearly holds that the person—body and soul—is eternal, for Jesus has promised life everlasting. Death neither destroys the person nor reduces his or her uniqueness and individuality (cf. Ad resurgendum cum Christo #3).

Family Choice So, our family members do have a few guidelines to help them with their decisions. The Church has not left them totally in the dark, wondering what to do. If they choose to follow Church teaching, their choices come down to two acceptable options—traditional burial or cremation followed by burial of the cremains. These, the Church feels, best comply with the dignity we owe the human body. As our fictional family continues in discussion, they become more and more aware that there are deeper issues than what to do when Mom dies. There are some deeper faith issues that need to be addressed. They hadn’t realized just how far some had drifted from the beliefs and practices that their parents had taught them. But Mom was still teaching and lovingly caring for her family as she lay dying. After all, it is she who brought them together and forced them not only to face the reality of her death, but also to share their deeper convictions and feelings. They decide to meet more often and to FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG

learn from one another just how much their parents had taught them, and to see where it will all lead. The one thing that they are sure of is that Mom and Dad loved them, taught them, and brought them up well—otherwise they wouldn’t be having this conversation. Father Donald Miller, a Franciscan priest of St. John the Baptist Province, has worked in the domestic missions in the southwestern United States, taught at the university level, and served as a campus minister. He also has experience in professional counseling, earned a doctorate in moral theology, and served as the vocation director of his province.

Cremation & World Religions

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Christians: In general, all Christian denominations, except the Greek Orthodox, allow cremation, although burial is preferred. Roman Catholics: prefer that the body be intact until after the funeral Mass. Only Roman Catholics require that the cremains be buried in the ground or at sea or entombed in a columbarium; they may not be scattered or kept by the family. Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Lutherans, and Methodists: allow cremation before or after the funeral rite. Presbyterians: generally do not support cremation but do not strictly forbid it. Jews: Cremation is allowed among Reform Jews. Cremation is forbidden among Orthodox Jews; only traditional burial is permitted. Muslims: Cremation is forbidden to the point of excluding someone from a Muslim burial. Buddhists: allow cremation; cremains may be kept by the family, enshrined in a columbarium or urn garden, or scattered at sea. Hindus: require cremation for all except babies, children, and saints. Mormons: encourage burial, but don’t forbid cremation.

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AT H O M E O N E A R T H

| BY KYLE KRAMER

Finding Light in the Darkness

Earth dwellers, peering out together into the vast and mysterious universe beyond our blue-green home. The eclipse was not our country’s only common experience of darkness. With ugly Tips and Resources partisan politics, racial tensions running high, environIn a public park or other open mental troubles, and nuclear space, try this trust exercise: threats abroad, many feel that close your eyes and have a friend we are going through an espeor loved one lead you around cially dark period in history—a for several minutes, as if you darkness that divides rather were blind. Can you trust their than unites. guidance in your darkness? The wonderfully heartenAll of reality is a mixture of ing message of God’s creation, darkness and light, and not all however—both on Earth and darkness is bad. Can you pay in the heavens—is that darkattention to the ways darkness ness doesn’t last forever. The is a good and necessary part of sun came back out after the your daily life? eclipse. Our year may be waning toward the winter solstice, Visit NASA.gov to see photos but then the light will return. and news about August’s I think it’s no coincidence that eclipse—and to get information Jesus was born at the darkest about the next total solar eclipse time of the year and is the that crosses the United States on light of the world. April 8, 2024. We will come through our dark times, whether the darkness is social sin, ecological challenges, or the personal episodes of darkness that we all face. I have faith in that, both from the Gospel and from the message of creation. The question is this: Can we find a way, in the midst of the darkness, to grow more together rather than apart?

1 2 3

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CC0 CREATIVE COMMONS/PIXABAY

ack in August, my wife and children convinced me to take them to see the total solar eclipse. So I took the day off work, we drove two and a half hours south on rural Kentucky roads, and we found a great eclipse lookout spot—out in the country on the lawn of a small missionary Baptist church near Russellville. We felt the strange weakening of the sun’s warmth as the eclipse grew. At the moment of totality, we saw the colors of sunset all around the horizon and the sun’s blazing corona emanating from behind the black moon. It was a moment of awe and wonder, and I hope we all remember it for a lifetime. At the time, and especially as we subsequently swapped stories with other eclipse watchers, I felt a strong sense of solidarity with the millions of diverse people who shared a similar experience. That celestial darkness united us in a way I had not expected. Of course, public figures quickly began sniping at each other once again, no great cultural rifts were healed, and our society basically went back to business as usual. But at least we were given a glimpse of what it could be like to look past all our differences and feel the simple kinship of being fellow

Kyle Kramer is the executive director of the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

This summer’s solar eclipse provided not only a stunning example of the natural world, but also a brief respite from our differences. FRANCISCANMEDIA.ORG

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S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

EDITORIAL

Let’s Watch Our Language Our increasingly coarse conversations about politics and religion are dragging all of us down. RINO and DINO may not be terms you use frequently for “Republican in name only” or “Democrat in name only,” respectively. The use of these terms and similar expressions poisons our political discourse. These terms, usually spoken with a sneer, suggest the speaker can define party orthodoxy. For at least 17 years, we seem to have lived in an either/or world where everyone who disagrees with me should be demonized for destroying our country and its hard-won liberty. Let’s all take several deep breaths and start using terms such as the common good more often. Quoting Vatican II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church described the common good as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (1906). The bishops went on to describe its three essential elements: fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person, social well-being and development of the group, and peace (1907–09). Ideologues comfortable with the RINO and DINO slurs, in fact, betray our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution and its 27 amendments. The only selfevident truth that many people in the United States seem to hold now is that all people who hold a different political opinion are evil fools. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed heatedly about slavery, but they found a way to work together. Concluding his 1861 inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln urged US citizens to allow themselves to be touched by “the better angels of our nature.” Was he foolish for asking that? No. Are we following his advice? By and large, no.

What About the CINOs? Copying our deteriorating political discourse, some people readily use the term CINO (“Catholic in name only”). They FranciscanMedia.org

make the harshest judges in the Spanish Inquisition look wishy-washy. The Catholic Church has legitimate either/or as well as both/and yardsticks. For example, Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. It’s not a zero-sum situation where one side must be vanquished in order to affirm the other. The Church also needs civil discourse. Within the last century, Angelo Roncalli (the future St. John XXIII) was falsely accused of supporting the Modernist heresy, and three French theologians were censored in the 1950s, only to become key consultants at Vatican II. These three (Henri de Lubac, Jean Daniélou, and Yves Congar) were eventually named cardinals. Zeal can trample truth, as we frequently see in several self-appointed theological censors now active on social media. Speaking at his general audience last August 9, Pope Francis reflected on the scandalous forgiveness that Jesus offered the “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36–50. Pope Francis said that he thinks “of the many Catholics who believe they are perfect and scorn others—this is sad. . . . God did not choose people who never make mistakes as the first dough to shape his Church. The Church is a people of sinners who feel the mercy and forgiveness of God.”

The Way Forward Neither democracy nor discipleship is easy. Each requires constant conversion of a unique type. The tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, last July began with and were nurtured by hate speech. If the common good has lost all meaning, then we are indeed lost politically. If those who follow Jesus are eagerly looking for people to excommunicate, they are deceiving themselves about being disciples of the Lord of mercy. Let’s try to be adults politically and religiously.—P.M. N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 | 25

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOLANUS CASEY GUILD ARCHIVES

MIRACLES 26 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

ST. ANTHoNY meSSeNGer

The Simple Witness of Solanus Casey He counseled thousands in New York and Detroit, and miracles are attributed to his intercession. In a few weeks, he will take the next step toward canonization.

hy did they follow him? Why did they line up by the hundreds on a Detroit sidewalk or in New York, day after day, patiently waiting their turn to talk with him? This man was deemed not sharp enough to be a diocesan priest. He tried again and barely made it to ordination as a Capuchin Franciscan priest, and then without license to preach or hear confessions. Yet the faithful came by the thousands to hear simple counsel from this ordinary man. “Be confident in your faith,” Solanus Casey would tell them. “Seek, and you will receive.” On November 18, in Detroit’s Ford Field, the Catholic Church will recognize this Capuchin Franciscan as Blessed Solanus Casey. Declaring him a saint seems only a matter of time—and one more sanctity-proving miracle. In the weeks before his beatification, we visited the Detroit center devoted to his message and memory. There we talked to ordinary folks and two Franciscan experts about the man about to be named Blessed Solanus. What was his strongest trait? He had a reputation as one who had the biblical gift of healing, which is why many came to

him. Capuchin author Father Marty Pable says that flowed from a deeper gift, his “confidence in faith.” Another Capuchin, Brother Richard Merling, assistant postulator for Casey’s canonization, says it was his compassion. We’ll get back to these friars shortly. But first, a little background.

Life of a Saint The man we will know as Blessed Solanus was born Bernard (“Barney”) Francis Casey on a farm near Prescott, Wisconsin, in 1870. Within a few years his father, Barney Sr., moved the family to a newer, bigger house, described later in life by Friar Solanus, with tongue in cheek, as a “one-story mansion, about 12 by 30 feet.” (He was known for his sense of humor.) The big room was divided to accommodate all 11 of the Caseys at night—parents in one section, kids in the other. The snowbanks sometimes mounted as high as the gable roof, he later recalled, not atypical for country living in Wisconsin winters. His parents were first-generation Irish Americans. From his parents, Barney picked up folk traditions, songs, and storytelling— and a deep piety—of the old country. He

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF SOLANUS CASEY GUILD ARCHIVES

(Clockwise) Porter was his assignment—to serve the needs of those who came to the door. He was not ordained to preach at Mass, but Casey spoke at events. Casey serves bread and soup at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen during the Great Depression.

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would hold these for the rest of his life, most notably his seemingly constant prayer, his gift for listening to people’s stories and connecting to them. Then there was his (debatable) talent for playing the fiddle (see box on p. 31). In his religious family, Barney the younger found himself naturally devoted to the Blessed Mother. He loved his rosary. No doubt he prayed it every other Sunday, when his half of the family alternated going to Mass with the other, for lack of space in the horse and wagon. Of his life on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, he later wrote that he had “never seen a picture in Bible history or elsewhere so nearly like an earthly paradise.” But there were hard times. After two years of failed crops, the family decided that

17-year-old Barney should head to nearby Stillwater and find work. He worked at the log booms, unjamming felled trees as they floated to mills downriver. Then he moved to Superior, Wisconsin, where he was a conductor on the streetcar—a new invention at that time. He fell in love with a young woman and proposed marriage, but her parents wouldn’t allow it. Along the way, God was calling him in another direction. One day in 1891, it all came into focus in Superior. Barney had to stop his streetcar because a beating was taking place amid a crowd, blocking the tracks. An injured woman was on the ground; a drunken man threatened her with a knife until police arrived. Casey “saw this as a kind of microcosm of all the violence and anger in the world,” writes a biographer. He felt called to do something

Along the way, God was calling him in another direction. One day in 1891, it all came into focus.

S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

Casey’s death became a witness to his life. At his 1957 funeral in Detroit, 20,000 people waited outside (below) to file by his casket. Before the altar at St. Bonaventure Monastery (above), they paid respect to one who was more than a doorman. The porter, this simple priest, proved to be a beloved counselor who even prayed for miracles, which were sometimes granted. He was no magician, but rather a compassionate, realistic man whose faith moved mountains. “Thank God ahead of time,” he would say—perhaps the most confident of prayers.

FranciscanMedia.org

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PHOTO BY JOHN FEISTER

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOLANUS CASEY CENTER

Casey’s body is enshrined in a simple wooden tomb at Solanus Casey Center, where thousands come to pray and leave petitions, some tucked beneath a fiddle plaque atop the tomb.

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about it, something different with his life than operating streetcars. He sought counsel from his pastor and discerned his call. He would, in his words, try to make the world better by serving God as a priest. He was accepted at St. Francis Seminary of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. One could go on, but here are the keys to Casey’s Milwaukee seminary experience: Classes were taught in German. He was Irish. Try as he might, he remained a poor student academically. And he had a noticeable rebellious streak. He was sent home. God was still calling, though. His spiritual advisor recommended the Capuchins to him. At St. Bonaventure Seminary in Detroit, Casey’s holiness shone, but still there were classes in German. He didn’t do well with Latin, either. Due to his academic deficiencies, the order made use of the nowantiquated practice of ordaining him a simplex priest, without faculties to preach or to hear confessions. Today he might have been declined ordination. In Brooklyn, his first assignment, he was eventually appointed to help the porter, the friar who answers the door and interacts with visitors on behalf of the Franciscan community. It was there at the door, in New York parishes for 14 years, then in Detroit for 30 years, that Casey would make his mark, counseling people and praying for their healing. Healing came to many.

A Legacy of Love Casey personally interacted with thousands of visitors over his career. In fact, most of those had come to the Capuchin Franciscan monasteries specifically to talk with Casey, whose healing reputation had spread. Today, families keep living memories of him. Visiting Detroit’s Solanus Casey Center one day in August of this year, Shirley Smitz tells the story of her miraculous life. “I had a deadly kidney disease when I was 6,” Smitz, now in her 60s, explains. After she had received six transfusions without remission, her mother, Mary Waters, came to St. Bonaventure to ask for Casey’s prayers. Mary, now elderly, sits close by, occasionally nodding in agreement as Smitz continues: “After my mother returned to the hospital, there was a doctor’s examination. The doctors came out and said, ‘Mrs. Waters, your daughter is well. It’s gone!’ The doctors didn’t know how it happened.” There are ST. ANTHoNY meSSeNGer

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hundreds of miraculous stories connected to Father Casey in Detroit. “He was a very humble and simple man,” says Capuchin Brother Richard, “and people were very attracted to that. They knew that he was a man who had the gift of healing . . . not only physical healing, but spiritual and relational healing.” Physical healing didn’t always come, he adds—Casey was no magician.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SOLANUS CASEY GUILD ARCHIVES

SOLANUS CASEY’S INFAMOUS FIDDLE

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or a decade starting in 1946, Father Solanus Casey lived in semiretirement at St. Felix, then a 60-member Capuchin house in Huntington, Indiana. The facility was part school, part retirement home. Every Sunday evening, there were socials that all the friars were expected to attend. “He would have us listen to him playing the violin and singing ‘Mother Machree’ [a sentimental Irish favorite],” recalls Capuchin Father Marty Pable. “The events were kind of boring, frankly,” he says, laughing. “Sometimes he would try and play the violin in the priests’ recreation room, and they would turn the radio up! He got the hint, and he would go out to chapel and play before the Blessed Sacrament.” Brother Richard Merling affirms that, recalling a fiddle story from one of Casey’s work partners, the late Brother Leo Wollenweber: “He would go out and play in front of the statues. He knew they weren’t going to take off!” For all of the kidding, though, there are some who enjoyed Casey’s playing. Brother Richard tells his own story of Casey coming to talk with an ailing relative and offering a tune on his newly restrung violin. The priest liked an audience. “Maybe he was having a good day,” says Brother Richard. Laughing now, he tells of the sarcastic reception his news got back home. He excitedly told some brothers, “We got to hear Father Solanus playing the violin! ‘Yeah,’ they said. ‘So did we!’”

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ALL PHOTOS BY JOHN FEISTER

The Casey Center displays artifacts from his life, including a daily log, where he kept handwritten notes of prayer requests.

Secular Franciscans play a major role in the work of Detroit friars, which this museum display attests.

This replica of Casey’s bedroom is a testament to biblical simplicity. 32 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

Casey lived a simple life with simple possessions—the ideal of Franciscans. Brother Richard tells the story of one woman—whose husband was in the hospital and too ill to come to the monastery—coming to ask Casey to pray for a miracle. She asked him if he would call her husband and pray with him. Casey agreed, and, talking with her husband, said, “I’m praying that you will have a happy death.” The woman was dumbfounded, says Brother Richard. “That’s not what she came for!” he says with a knowing grin. But the man died happy: “He was so at peace with the fact that he was going to die. He accepted it all.” Are all of these stories really believable? Father Marty jumps in: “I think they’re very believable. Once you grant that his faith in God’s power, in God’s love, was so strong, nothing is surprising when you think about it.” People were not always healed, Father Marty is quick to add—this is about God’s will for each of us. “But you always felt better; you always felt some kind of spiritual lift when you talked to Solanus.” S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

Feeding the Poor Casey’s work at the door brought him in touch with people with every sort of need. As the Great Depression overtook the land in 1929, hungry people came to him for help. That was the beginning of a soup kitchen ministry that continues to this day. In the beginning, he would give away some of the evening supper for the community, explains Brother Richard. “The cook would just be furious at that—you could understand it, in some sense,” he continues. “But Father Solanus had this sense that these people needed it.” It wasn’t long before the Capuchin Soup Kitchen was established. There’s nothing like giving away someone’s supper to motivate action! “During the time of the Depression, they had close to four or five thousand people a day—they had lines going both directions down the block, around the corner on both ends,” says Brother Richard. The Secular Franciscans, a lay order founded by St. Francis, was strongly present, associated with the friars in Detroit. Urged by Casey and the other friars, they took it upon themselves to head out by horse and buggy to collect food from nearby farms and work at the kitchen. Today there remain two soup kitchens. The original one, where the Solanus Casey Center is today, was moved a few blocks away from the monastery. Now it serves about 300 meals per day, says Brother Richard. The second location, closer to downtown, serves 1,500 meals daily. The kitchens provide an array of services—a story in their own right—in the spirit of Casey, who would say, echoing St. Francis himself, “I have two loves: the sick and the poor.”

Patience of a Saint Casey was indefatigable, listening to people’s stories for as long as they needed to talk, praying with them well into the evening. It was a boon but also a challenge to his brother friars, especially as he went into FranciscanMedia.org

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Moving from the present day to the past, we honor our models of faith in paintings, in stained glass. Solanus Casey, pray for us!

overtime. The people “all waited their turn,” says Brother Richard, even waiting for Casey when other friars were available. “There were chairs set up, and the biographies say nobody would seem to get upset because they knew that they would get the same attention.” The friars, in turn, were patient with the visitors, Brother Richard explains, then Father Marty jumps in: “Except the brother who was in charge at the front desk. He would say: ‘Casey, get a move on!’” Closing time was supposed to be 9 p.m. Just as one might imagine a saint would do, Casey would then sometimes retire to the chapel “to pray a little.” Or he would answer the door before hours, early in the morning: “The other friars are too tired,” he said. In Shirley Smitz (left) and her daughter Jackie pose in front of a Tau cross at Detroit’s Solanus Casey Center. Shirley, cured of illness, was a miracle baby.

“We must be faithful to the present moment or we will frustrate the plan of God for our lives.” – Solanus Casey

Four of the Beatitudes in sculpture: Mother Teresa, Msgr. Klement Kern, Oscar Romero, and Martin Luther King Jr. 34 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

the middle of the night once, Casey met a drunken man at the door. “Where’s Father Solanus?” he demanded. “Why do you want him?” asked the priest. “I want to kill him!” the man said. “Well, we’ll need to talk about that,” said Casey, and invited the man in. As he sobered up, his story came out, and he sought confession. Casey insisted that he come back the next day to see a priest. “Tell him you’ve talked with me, and it will go quickly,” he added. Casey’s work continued essentially till the end of his life. He had retired to St. Felix Monastery in Huntington, Indiana, but the people followed him. Father Marty, who lived there as a seminarian when Casey was in retirement, remembers that a box of letters would arrive daily, letters Casey would answer individually. The once-quiet phone line was constantly ringing with requests to talk with the healing priest. But Casey would find time to wander around Huntington in the evenings, smelling the flowers, taking in nature, even harvesting honey from hives the friars kept. He died in 1957, at age 86, after several illnesses. Today, interest in Solanus Casey is by no means limited to the places he lived. “Once he died, people started coming here and praying at his tomb, his gravesite, and felt that many wonderful things were happening,” says Brother Richard. Those people ST. ANTHoNY meSSeNGer

unison, a refrain of Casey’s: “Trust in God; trust in God!” Yet, “there’s nothing spectacular about him,” observes Father Marty. “He had no charisma at all! He didn’t preach, for one thing. He just had that gentleness, love, and compassion—people just sensed it; they were drawn to him.” As Blessed Solanus Casey, even more will be.

Capuchins Father Marty Pable (left) and Brother Richard Merling help tell the story of Blessed Solanus Casey.

even come from countries afar. Healing services, up until recently held monthly at the monastery chapel, are now happening every two weeks. Much of this renewed interest is related to the Solanus Casey Guild, which grew rapidly after Casey’s death to ensure he would be remembered. The drive that has promoted Casey’s canonization cause was part of that effort from the beginning. Brother Richard is the guild’s director. He says membership went from 60 members to 600 in its first month back in 1957, and kept growing. It had 100,000 members at one point, reports Brother Richard.

A Lasting Memory Later this month, Father Marty and Brother Richard will look out at the crowd in Ford Field as bishops, cardinals, and Capuchins lead 60,000 in the beatification Mass. The day of festivity will be for something they have known all along: this man was a saint. If Brother Richard had to say one thing that we could most imitate in Solanus Casey’s life, it would be his “compassion and understanding of other people.” For Father Marty, it is Casey’s “sense of God’s presence and God’s goodness. I think that’s what Solanus tried to communicate to people. God is here, and he’s here for you. You can trust in God.” Perhaps capturing some of Casey’s humor, Brother Richard imitates the holy man’s high-pitched, soft voice as the two friars recall, almost in FrANCISCANmeDIA.orG

John Feister is editor in chief of this publication. He holds master’s degrees in humanities and theology from Xavier University, Cincinnati. For more on Solanus Casey, see Thank God Ahead of Time, by Michael Crosby, OFM Cap, and Meet Solanus Casey, by Leo Wollenweber, OFM Cap (both at Shop.FranciscanMedia.org). Some biographical content of this article is drawn from these sources; find out more about the museum at SolanusCenter.org.

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In a time of intense racial tensions, Msgr. Ray East says we need to focus on the fact that we are all made in God’s image.

B Y S U S A N H INE S- BR I G GER

During his keynote address at the 2017 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, Msgr. Ray East told attendees, “We are one body—not divided—with Jesus as the head.” 36 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

Lack of Mercy He points out, though, “In a very real way, these are the most merciless times. The climate has become so antagonistic.” Things like race, religion, and nationality shouldn’t be dividing factors, but instead should show us the great diversity of God’s creation, he says. “Here we are, living on one small planet in a country that’s been so blessed, and we can’t even figure out how to be civil and love one another because there are these things that divide us,” says the monsignor. “We agree on so many beautiful principles: that we should love one another, that we should care for one another. But how to do it? That’s where the problems come.” The first step in confronting racism, Msgr. East believes, is for people to realize that racism is a sin. “It tears down the image of God. It attacks the dignity of the human person. And besides being a sin, it is an illness. It affects people; it infects people.”

Addressing the Issue This past August, in the aftermath of racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the US bishops made a move to more actively confront racial issues in our country by establishing an ad hoc committee on racism. The committee, which is being led by Bishop George Murry, SJ, of Youngstown, Ohio, will focus on addressing the sin of racism in our society—and even in S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

CNS PHOTO/VICTOR ALEMAN, ANGELUS NEWS

sgr. Ray East, a nationally known speaker and evangelist, thinks Pentecost is a perfect image of the Church. In fact, he thinks everyone should look up and memorize the second chapter of Acts. What takes place on Pentecost, he says, shows that “the diversity that exists in the Church now was present from day one. In fact, it was precisely because of that worldwide gathering that the Holy Spirit came, and that’s the birth of the Church.” But he’s also acutely aware that there are difficult issues within both society and the Church that must be confronted. One of those issues is racial division. “You could look at the history of the United States from the Native Americans right through to the current days, and say we’ve been a nation marked by genocide, riots, pogroms, and things that would tear people apart and divide,” says Msgr. East. “That’s in our DNA. But the recipe for healing is in our natural culture, as well. We need to use that ‘medicine of mercy’ that St. John XXIII talked about—the Church being a medicine of mercy for the sin of racism.” Mercy, he says, is at the very heart of our faith. “It’s why God came to earth. It’s why Jesus formed as one of us. It’s at the heart of all of the Gospels and particularly the story of the good Samaritan or the prodigal children that God welcomed home. Mercy is the way that we manifest our Christian, Catholic faith.”

CNS PHOTO/VICTOR ALEMAN, ANGELUS NEWS

FrANCISCANmeDIA.orG

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our Church—and the urgent need to come together as a society to find solutions. At a press conference about the committee, Bishop Murry said: “We’re here today because of our confidence that Christ wishes to break down these walls created by the evils

“If our anger today is just another mental virus displaced tomorrow by the next distraction or outrage we find in the media, nothing will change. . . . If we want a different kind of country in the future, we need to start today with a conversion in our own hearts, and an insistence on the same in others.” — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia ““

BLACK CATHOLICS IN THE UNITED STATES • There are 3 million African American Catholics in the United States. • Of the 17,651 Roman Catholic parishes in the United States, 798 are considered to be predominantly African American. Most of those are on the East Coast and in the South. Farther west of the Mississippi River, African American Catholics are more likely to be immersed in multicultural parishes. • About 76 percent of African American Catholics are in diverse or shared parishes, and 24 percent are in predominantly African American parishes. • At present there are 15 living African American bishops, of whom eight remain active. • Currently, six US dioceses are headed by African American bishops, including one archdiocese. • There are 250 African American priests, 437 African American deacons, and 75 African American men in seminary formation for the priesthood in the United States. • There are 400 African American religious sisters and 50 African American religious brothers. • The black population in the United States is estimated to be just over 36 million people (13 percent of the total US population). • By the year 2050, the black population is expected to almost double its present size to 62 million, and it will increase its percentage of the population to 16 percent. “The Catholic Church: By the Numbers,” USCCB Office of Media Relations (2012) Updated: February 2017

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of racism, be they on display for the world to see or buried deep within the recesses of our hearts. For too long the sin of racism has lived and thrived in our communities and even in some of our churches.” For Msgr. East, the development of the committee was a welcome move. “Racism is one of the least written about, talked about, researched subjects,” he says. Nor does he believe that the Church is doing enough to counter it. “Racism is such a loaded word that we walk away from it. We walk away from the challenge to address racism. We walk away from it in our official pronouncements. We’d rather talk about anything else,” he says. Given the fact that there have been only two major documents on racism from the US bishops since 1979, that seems to be an accurate assessment. In 1979, the bishops released the pastoral statement “Brothers and Sisters to Us,” and in 1984, the 10 black bishops of the United States issued the pastoral letter “What We Have Seen and Heard,” as a witness to the black community. Aside from those, statements on the issue of race have come mostly from individual bishops. For example, Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, recently wrote two pieces addressing the issue of race: “The Racial Divide in the United States and The Catholic Church” and “Black Lives Matter Movement: The Racial Divide in the United States Revisited.” A pastoral statement on racism from the US bishops is supposed to be released next year, though.

Children of God When asked about the controversial movement Black Lives Matter, Msgr. East points out that “people would not have had to come up with the term Black Lives Matter unless there was this huge countercurrent that said black lives don’t matter.” That does not, however, mean that the message is exclusive to the African American community, he says. “When you say black lives matter, it doesn’t mean that blue lives don’t matter— lives of police officers—or that the lives of all the other members of the community or the lives of women don’t matter. No, it means that everybody matters and everybody’s important to God. And because they’re important to God, they should be important to us.” S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

AN IMPORTANT GATHERING

CNS PHOTO/COURTESY NANCY JO DAVIS

This past July, 2,000 people gathered in Orlando, Florida, for the 12th National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC). Under the theme “The Spirit of the Lord Is upon Me: Act Justly, Love Goodness, and Walk Humbly with Your God,” attendees took part in workshops on prayer, Bible study, and prison ministries, as well as ones on racism as a destructive force and lessons learned in the St. Louis Archdiocese from the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. The NBCC began in January 1889, when 100 black Catholic men gathered in Washington, DC, and met with President Grover Cleveland. Daniel Rudd, a journalist from Ohio and founder of the American Catholic Tribune, recruited delegates to the first Black Catholic Congress. He also helped organize the first lay Catholic Congress of the United States in 1889, insisting that blacks be treated as part of the whole, not as a special category. The movement would go on to hold Speakers at the National Black five congresses from 1889 to 1894. Catholic Congress addressed a Following a long period when no gathervariety of topics facing black ings were held, the congresses began communities and families. again in 1987 and have been held every five years since. At this year’s congress, Father Patrick Smith, pastor of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Washington, DC, said: “Black Catholics and sympathetic clergy demonstrated by this gathering—in a way like never before—that the plight of black citizens of this country and members of the Catholic Church matter. In other words, the first congress emphatically declared that ‘Black Catholic Lives Matter’ in the Church and ‘Black Lives Matter’ in and across this country.”

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Moving Forward The best way to address racial issues within the Church, Msgr. East says, is to imitate or recreate Jesus’ encounters, such as with the woman at the well. In that meeting, Jesus crosses borders, listens to her story, and offers her the gift of himself and his honesty, thus allowing her to be honest with him. “In that same way, we encounter the other. We share our stories. We make eye contact. We share our name, a little bit about ourselves, and we realize that Christ is the glue that is keeping us together. And then we go forth and share that relationship with others. “I think we forget that we’re one family, or as I like to say, we’re all Afrikin—k-i-n—under the skin. . . . St. Paul says in such a beautiful way, God made us in his image and in this image of God we are all one. When we forget about that, we miss the beautiful richness of all the different cultures and places [to which] the human family has migrated.” Susan Hines-Brigger is the development manager for Franciscan Media. Before that, she served as managing editor of St. Anthony Messenger from 2011 to 2016. FranciscanMedia.org

Spend a day following the footsteps of St. Francis in Assisi

FOLLOWING

THE STAR JAMES WHEELER/FOTOSEARCH

Director/animator Timothy Reckart’s latest film is another opportunity for him to follow his God-given vocation. B Y S IS T E R R OS E PAC AT T E, F S P

imothy Reckart is a 30-year-old animated film writer/producer/director and the first Hollywood filmmaker I’ve ever heard use the word catechesis correctly in a sentence—or use it at all, for that matter. That word, as well as a lot of others, came into play during a phone interview I had with him this past July, when we not only discussed his upcoming Christmas movie, The Star (scheduled for nationwide release November 17), but also how his personal and spiritual beliefs have informed his career. Reckart’s interest in moviemaking had its roots in his childhood in Tucson, Arizona,

when he “hired” his siblings as the production crew for his homemade movies while he took on the combined role of cameraman and director. His parents, Jane and Tim Sr., served as the audience for the homemade films and encouraged him to continue, even willing to tolerate the ketchup-based fake blood concoction he kept in the refrigerator for the more violent scenes.

Bo the Donkey (voiced by Steven Yeun)

Mary (voiced by Gina Rodriguez)

Joseph (voiced by Zachary Levi) 40 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

ST. ANTHoNY meSSeNGer

From Homemade Movies to the Oscars

But it was Head over Heels, the stop-action film he made before graduating from the National Film and Television School in England, that launched Reckart’s professional career—quite auspiciously, as it turned out. Head over Heels is about an aging married couple with communication issues—“a story about love, but not love as feelings, but love as an act,” Reckart explains. “In the film, the protagonists know and feel that their marriage is not working and take action to restore the unity of their commitment to one another,” he says. “Love and relationships are a deep source for stories. And rather than showing marriage, for example, as a simple ‘school of love,’ I’d rather show how much continual effort it requires to make it work.” The film was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award in 2013 in the Best Animated Short Film category.

A Career with Faith at the Core Following that, Reckart took on the role as lead animator for Charlie Kaufman’s 2015 Oscar-nominated animated feature, Anomalisa. The comedy-drama is about a successful motivational speaker who wrote a book about customer service, yet finds himself in the throes of an existential crisis, further complicated by an extramarital affair. It was during Reckart’s work on this film that his personal and professional values collided with the requirements of his job—specifically when he was asked to animate an explicit sex sequence. Aware that he could be fired for opting out of part of a production based on his personal objections to the material, he nonetheless stood firm, recognizing that animating the scene would be in stark opposition to who he was and who he wanted to be as a filmmaker. “I decided that, even if they did fire me, I would be OK with it,” Reckart

Ruth the Sheep (voiced by Aidy Bryant)

Dave the Dove (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key)

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“Using talking animals is not just for children or adults, but occupies a space in between so families can connect with the heart of the story, which is love.”

Characters such as Deborah the Camel (voiced by Oprah Winfrey) and Abby the Mouse (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth) fill the screen with joy, laughter, and Christmas spirit in The Star, in theaters November 17.

says, “because I did it for the right reasons.” As it turned out, standing up for his values didn’t cost him his job, with the producer noting, “You’re the third animator who had asked not to animate those scenes.” I asked Reckart where he found the confidence to hold fast to his beliefs, and he credited it to the ethics and religious values instilled in him by his parents. The second eldest of six children, he was raised in the Catholic faith, although his first eight years of schooling took place in an Episcopal school, followed by four years at a public high school—choices made by his parents because they felt both schools to be the best in the area. “This was a good thing,” explains Reckart. “Our parents knew that teaching us the faith was their job and that they couldn’t hand catechesis off to someone else.” He remained active in the Catholic faith, and in 2014 he and filmmaker Hana Kitasei were married at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Ossining, New York. His faith and directing career meshed with his latest project, The Star, by Sony Studios under its faith-based wing, Affirm Films.

A Different Kind of Nativity Story In The Star, the Nativity story is told through the eyes of Bo the Donkey (voiced by Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead and Okja). The story begins with Bo dreaming of a life beyond working the village mill and the 42 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

daily grind of life, imagining joining the parade of horses in a royal caravan. Envisioning the possibility for greatness, the donkey breaks free, but is disappointed when, rather than being part of a royal caravan, he ends up serving as transport for a lowly carpenter and his very pregnant wife: Joseph and Mary on their way to Bethlehem. Ultimately, he realizes that Mary is carrying the Son of God, who will be born in a barn in humble surroundings, just as Bo was. During the journey, Bo teams up with other animals, offering audiences an upclose-and-personal view of their experiences, and the story ends in a way Bo never imagined for himself or for the world. “He realizes that great things can have humble appearances,” says Reckart, “and decides to stay with his new friends out of love, even though it is a sacrifice for him.” In addition to the voices of a host of well-known stars, The Star features a new title song by Mariah Carey. DeVon Franklin, who produced the modest hit Miracles from Heaven in 2016, also produces here. Other characters in The Star are voiced by Gina Rodriguez (Mary), Christopher Plummer (King Herod), Zachary Levi (Joseph), Kris Kristofferson (Old Donkey), Patricia Heaton (Edith the Cow), Delilah Rene (Elizabeth), Kristin Chenoweth (Abby the Mouse), Keegan-Michael Key (Dave the Dove), Anthony Anderson (Zach the Goat), Gabriel Iglesias (Rufus the Dog), and Kelly Clarkson S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

(Leah the Horse). Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey provide comic relief as the voices of the three camels: Felix, Cyrus, and Deborah, respectively. Directing an animated Christmas feature attracted Reckart because it brought back memories of watching Christmas movies as a child—a tradition in his family. “Growing up Catholic, we celebrated the holiday by watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. We’d pull out the box of videotapes and CDs from storage every year. There were Santa Claus movies, of course, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and others about Christmas, but no highquality, studio-produced movie about the Nativity,” he says. “What appealed to me about directing The Star is that it would be an opportunity to watch an entertaining animated movie about the birth of Jesus every year. This is what attracted me to the project; I couldn’t believe it had not been done before.” For Reckart, telling the Christmas story in a less literal way by using talking animals in key narrative roles feels more like a bedtime story. “Using talking animals is not just for children or adults, but occupies a space in between so families can connect with the heart of the story, which is love.”

value of sacrifice and even suffering, that motivates Reckart in his choice of artistic projects to pursue. “Somewhere along the way, we have swallowed a misconception of how humanity really works. For example, we have a fear of suffering, but anyone who has ever won a game in sports knows how much suffering and sacrifice is involved in training for it.” As for how his faith has influenced his art, he recalls something he read once “that everything that is true and beautiful is Catholic. Some stories may not be explicitly religious, but you just have to baptize them with what is true and beautiful.” He views creating art as his vocation, explaining: “There is an emphasis on the sanctity of the laity. We are all called to be saints, whether you are a janitor, lawyer, priest, or nun. The call to sanctity must play out in the world by each of us. “This is why I want to make films, because it requires a deep engagement with the world through my vocation as a lay Catholic. This is where I want to be in that struggle to be in the world but not of the world, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. I am so passionate about making cinematic art; it’s the playing field for my vocation. It’s where God wants me to be.”

Art as a Vocation

Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP, is the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles and the longtime film critic for St. Anthony Messenger.

It is this interest in telling deeply human stories, including those that deal with the FranciscanMedia.org

Bo the Donkey had dreamed of being part of a royal caravan and was granted his desire in an unexpected way: by serving as transport for Mary as she and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, where the Son of God would be born.

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13 10 ⁄8 103⁄4 10 ⁄16 7

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C AT H O L I C S I T E S T O E X P LO R E

| T H E C H A P E L O F S T. J O A N O F A R C

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY

The St. Joan of Arc Chapel at Marquette University dates back to the 1400s, making it over 400 years older than the campus around it.

French Chapel in Milwaukee

n the campus of Marquette University, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stands a 15th-century chapel that has a connection to St. Joan of Arc. In 1926, Gertrude Hill Gavin, the heiress to a railroad fortune, saw the tumbledown, five-century-old chapel in the village of Chasse in the Rhone Valley in southeast France, and decided to buy it and relocate it to her estate on Long Island, New York. Seven years later, in 1933, Pope Pius XI granted Gavin permission to have Mass said in the chapel, which she had renamed in honor of St. Joan of Arc (originally, the chapel had been dedicated to St. Martin of Tours). Gavin furnished the chapel with a 13thcentury altar and an artifact known as the Joan of Arc Stone. It is said that the stone comes from a church in France where Joan once prayed before battle; then, as an act of humility, she bent down and kissed the stone. Tour guides point out the stone set in the wall behind the altar and encourage visitors to touch it and then the stones

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surrounding it—the Joan of Arc Stone is colder than its neighbors. (It’s true. I visited the chapel years ago and experienced that the stone is indeed colder.) In 1962, the Gavin estate passed to the Rojman family, who donated the chapel to Marquette University. Mass is said in the chapel on weekdays during most of the school year. Call the Office of Campus Ministry to find out the days and hours the chapel is open to visitors and what times Mass will be celebrated. Adapted from 101 Places to Pray Before You Die, by Thomas J. Craughwell (Franciscan Media).

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A Movement of the Heart

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BY ANNE M. WI N DHO LZ

ow does one capture the flames of a burning bush? Trying to describe what happens when God calls our name can be hard. I tried for years to explain to myself what changed inside me at midlife, turning an English professor into a hospital chaplain. Then one morning, during a family conference on the pediatric ward, a physician unwittingly gave me the words. He spoke about life’s blood and movements of the heart. “The blood has to flow backward,” the doctor explained. “The right side of the heart is strongest in the womb, but in the world the left side takes over. The circulation changes direction. Backward.” The bereaved parents’ eyes were still—the mother’s cast toward her lap on something far away. Maybe on the baby S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

IGORKOVALCHUK /FOTOSEARCH

A doctor’s casual remark helped a former English professor find the words for the stirring within that led her to become a hospital chaplain.

who had nestled there, safe in her body, not so long ago. The father’s eyes were bright with tears. The tears never slid down his cheeks, but every now and then he would blink quickly as if trying to force them back. He blew his nose. His eyes stayed bright. Her eyes moved with life only once, when the doctor said, “There is no sign before birth of a problem like this. We don’t know why it happens. Something just doesn’t work right as the puzzle of the body is being put together. Some children escape it; some do not.” Her eyes flew upward. A scathing glance at God? It looked almost as if she were rolling them, but not quite. Anger, or maybe grim irony, glowed there. Her baby had been the one whose lungs had been too small for the body they needed to support. Her perfect, 39-week baby. He did not escape. But she expressed gratitude to the doctor and nurses for all they had done. She hugged the doctor—or maybe he hugged her—as the meeting broke up. I had watched the obstetrician’s face as he talked to the couple; once or twice his personal anguish showed. The baby’s father quietly followed his wife and the doctor out of the room. Corrine, my supervisor, would be taking the bereft parents to the medical records area so they could pick up a copy of the autopsy report. I walked back to my office alone, thinking about the cruelty of it: to carry a baby to term—a baby who comes out looking just beautiful—and suddenly he cannot breathe, stays blue instead of warming to a healthy pink. You cannot know until after the baby is born, the doctor said. More than once, he wanted to absolve the parents of any guilt that might come with foreknowledge. And probably he also wanted to absolve the medical team, who could not have known, not even with all their amazing technology.

A Sudden Change of Direction The image that stayed with me after the family conference was that of the blood suddenly being asked to flow backward. A sudden—and permanent—change in direction on which life depends every single time a baby emerges from the womb and takes its first breath. Blood flowing backward. Life energy somersaulting to adapt to new circumstances— within the space of a minute. Change direction or die. Survival often demands that of us, especially in times of grief. Learn to go backward from everything you’ve ever known. The metaphor is powerful. But how do you unlove the lover who has left you forever; walk toward death with the cancer-sick child who tells you he can fight no more; turn your back on the vocation you had long embraced, so certain it was God’s call—only to find out it was not? In such circumstances your heart must beat in a different rhythm, do an about-face, push and pump contrariwise. Small wonder that in the process so many hearts break. And sometimes babies die. For myself, sometime between the turn of the century and now, my blood began to run backward. Having earned a PhD in English, gained tenure at my first job, and secured a professorship at the same college where my husband worked—all career accomplishments that should have fueled contentment—I woke each morning feeling trapped. My heart felt sluggish. I confided in a close friend—a Lutheran—who stunned me by suggesting, “Why don’t you go to seminary?” Those are startling words for a married Catholic woman. My heart skipped a beat. True, in youth I had seriously considered religious life, the Benedictine ideal of work and prayer resonating with the rhythm of

IGORKOVALCHUK /FOTOSEARCH

Blood flowing backward. Life energy somersaulting to adapt to new circumstances— within the space of a minute.

FranciscanMedia.org

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my heart. Ultimately, I made different life choices. I found deep, abiding joy in the vocation of family with my husband and our three children. I loved teaching literature. But some deep need was left unanswered. This uneasiness—was it God bidding my blood to turn? Unlike our physical experience as newborns, when blood shifts direction with marvelous efficiency, spiritual change later in life can be slow. Though I felt my blood stir at God’s whisper, I was haunted by memories of my own failed compassion. At the age of 27, early in my teaching career, I found that I could not voice my sympathy to a student whose brother had accidentally killed himself with a shotgun. At 33, I was unable to face the bereaved neighbor whose 3-year-old had died suddenly of the flu—not even when she stood at our back fence sharing her grief with my husband. And at age 37, I backed away in pity and horror from the volunteer work I had just begun at a local nursing home. I entered my name in the computer log after my first visit—and never returned.

Then, while I fulfilled the practicum requirement at a regional hospital, my heart’s labor began in earnest—the blood not just turning, but sometimes rushing fearfully backward. Skilled midwives of the soul, my mentors in spiritual care accompanied me—listening to my questions and fears, guiding me until I found a home among people seeking healing of body and spirit. I finished my divinity degree, was hired as a chaplain, and became board-certified with the endorsement of my bishop. Jesus said we must be born again. I feel great sympathy for Nicodemus, so puzzled by the thought of a man returning to his mother’s womb. A literal thinker, Nicodemus struggled to fit this strange demand into an understanding of the world he could recognize. But Jesus calls us to a brave new world—a world that looks, smells, and sounds utterly different, and will never feel the same again. The Pharisee Nicodemus, whom John tells us “first came to Jesus by night” out of fear (19:39), ends up boldly accompanying Joseph of Arimathea to bury his dead Lord. Our blood runs counter to what came before—or it does not run at all. On my 52nd birthday, my elderly father told me he was proud of what I had achieved in becoming a chaplain, something he had never said about my PhD. Observing that my work sometimes involves closing the eyes of the dead, he said, “That is a very touching thing.” I was embarrassed. “I don’t know,” I said. “I am able to do it, so I do.” I am able to do it because God—patient and persistent—bid my blood run backward. Yet my blood still runs cold when I watch young parents bury a child, their own childhood scarcely past. My blood boils at the injustice of babies suffering, old people being stripped of dignity, or good people enduring heartbreak. I don’t know whether

But Jesus calls us to a brave new world—a world that looks, smells, and sounds utterly different, and will never feel the same again.

From Professor to Hospital Chaplain The year I turned 40, my husband accepted a university position near Chicago, a job that required resignation from my professorship and a 300-mile move for our family. His enthusiasm and hope about his new position became for me a sign. I, who had so feared and avoided death, would take a deep breath and try again. I started volunteer work at the hospice in our new town— and stayed. When our youngest son started school, I enrolled in the master of divinity program at Catholic Theological Union. Sitting in class with seminarians and laity, I sensed a deep, surging joy. 48 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

it hurts newborn babies when their circulation changes direction, but I know for sure that when my heart turned on me, it hurt.

Hope amid Heartbreak I have not always embraced the change. I fought that differently coursing blood when, during my second year at Catholic Theological Union, the student shootings occurred at Northern Illinois University, where my husband teaches. I fought it when, as a neophyte chaplain, I watched a sweet woman spit up fecal material as she died—so very slowly—of pancreatic cancer. I fought it when, late in my first year of clinical training, children experienced sudden death in the emergency room. Those battles hurt so much that I could almost have wished every drop of blood would be drained from my body. Better bloodless than broken. Yet, almost as fast as I have run away from grief and death, I have been compelled to walk into its midst. And (the true miracle) there—in hospice and hospital—I have found experience that speaks hope just as strongly as despair, and profound love that runs deeper than the deepest heartbreak. This doesn’t end the heartbreak, of course. How could it? Rebirth of spirit, like bodily birth, is ever bound to danger, pain, and risk. As Nicodemus learned, our blood turns to the flowing of our tears. I will never forget the baby boy who taught me this lesson. Peace to Nathan, whose name means “God’s gift.” Peace to the parents who still grieve and will always love him. And peace to all whose blood God bids turn, and who answer by following their hearts. Anne M. Windholz, a married mother of three and grandmother of one, is a board-certified hospital chaplain in northwest Chicago. She’s written articles for US Catholic, New Theology Review, Vision, and other national publications. FrANCISCANmeDIA.orG

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N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 | 49

ASK A FRANCISCAN

| B Y FAT H E R PAT M c C L O S K E Y, O F M

How Can I Forgive Him?

LEAF/FOTOSEARCH

My neighbor of many years was recently arrested for viewing child pornography. I’ve known him and his beautiful family since they moved into our neighborhood; I had considered him a pillar of the community. He hid this sin from everyone, including his family. We are now helping his family in every way that we can and are praying for them. In many ways, this has shaken the roots of my own spirituality as I watch his family trying to deal with this. I pray that the years he has spent devoted to Jesus—and I truly believe he was devoted—will help him in jail. I realize better than before how powerful addictions can be—and how selfish and self-absorbed we individuals can be, especially when we don’t consider our family members. As more of his story comes out, I’m finding it hard to forgive him. How do I forgive when the sin is so great?

People who use computers in public spaces at home are more likely to use them in a healthy way. 50 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

Yes, this situation is incredibly shocking and very difficult to handle. What you are now doing to help support this man’s family emotionally is almost certainly having a benefit beyond what you can now see. Your support may, in fact, eventually help this man. Although forgiveness and reconciliation are very different things, many people use those terms interchangeably. In fact, forgiveness is one-sided; I can forgive someone who shows no remorse for what he or she has done. Forgiveness is not a favor shown by an innocent party toward a guilty party. I can forgive someone who may yet die clueless and in denial. In this situation, if you can honestly say that you want for this neighbor what God wants for him (accepting a share in divine life), then you have already forgiven him, perhaps without realizing it. Reconciliation seeks to restore a relationship without denying a past event—in this case, an addiction to child pornography. By definition, reconciliation must be mutual and even then can never fully restore things to “the way they were before.” Why would you want to forgive someone who may yet die in denial? Forgiveness allows you to move forward even if the other person admits no guilt or shows no remorse. If what you really want is reconciliation, then your hands are tied, so to speak, until this neighbor seeks reconciliation. You can forgive this man and yet believe that he should receive the maximum jail sentence for this crime. Your question could suggest that you are stuck in unforgiveness and are waiting for your guilty neighbor

to free you from that condition. Remember, forgiveness and reconciliation are very different actions. Don’t abandon what you can already do on your own because you are hoping that the guilty party will someday seek reconciliation. One Holocaust survivor said, “I forgive the Nazis not because they need it, but because I need it.” In a sense, every addiction is an attempt to live in a fantasy world where one’s actions have only the consequences that the addicted person allows them to have. Following Jesus allows no room for such a fantasy world. Your own faith and spirituality are currently at a breaking point. I pray that you will find a healthy and honest way to deal with this betrayal, a way that will take you to a deeper faith than you ever imagined possible.

Why Two Feasts for St. Joseph? On March 19, we celebrate St. Joseph, husband of Mary. On May 1, we celebrate St. Joseph the Worker. Why are there two feasts for the same saint? The worldwide Church has long honored St. Joseph, and his feast entered the worldwide calendar in 1324. The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was added in 1955. Even though the Catholic Church had opposed Communism for over 100 years by that date, many people felt that the Church was not as concerned about ordinary workers as the Communists were. This feeling was especially true in Europe. Because the Communists for many years had been celebrating their S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

movement on May 1, Pope Pius XII selected that date for the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. On May 1, 1933, Dorothy Day distributed the first copies of The Catholic Worker, a newspaper that sought to challenge Communist claims that only they were looking out for the best interests of working women and men. Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI had sought to answer the Communist challenge through their encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno (1891 and 1931, respectively). In addition to the many feasts of Mary throughout the liturgical year, the Church celebrates two feasts for St. John the Baptist: his birth (June 24) and his martyrdom (August 29). The men’s movement in the Catholic Church has recently led to an increase in devotion to St. Joseph. “Protector of the Redeemer” is the English title of an apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph, written by St. John Paul II and released on August 15, 1989. On March 20, 2013, during the Mass for the beginning of his Petrine ministry, Pope Francis asked: “How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly, and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. “As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.” Later the pope added: “Caring, protecting, demands goodness; it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, St. Joseph appears as FranciscanMedia.org

a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, capacity for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!”

15th Station of the Cross? I recently attended a Way of the Cross that ended with a 15th station: Jesus rises from the tomb. Is this allowed? Also, Communion was distributed at the end of this service. Is that permitted?

stations was set by Pope Clement XII in 1730, but this last Good Friday the French theologian who wrote the meditations used at Rome’s Colosseum had a variation on this number. Distributing Communion after the Way of the Cross is not prohibited, but it should be done only after the Church’s guidelines for distributing Communion outside Mass have been observed. Additional prayers and a Scripture reading are needed. The difference between a popular devotion (the Way of the Cross) and a sacrament (Eucharist) should be respected by everyone.

Father Pat welcomes your questions! Mail to: Ask a Franciscan 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 or E-mail: Ask@FranciscanMedia.org All questions sent by mail need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

The practice of having a 15th station has become more common in the last 50 years, especially through the influence of Cursillo groups. The reason is to end this prayer on an obviously upbeat tone. The traditional number of 14

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N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 | 51

BOOK CORNER

| BY CAROL ANN MORROW

Dorothy Day

The World Will Be Saved by Beauty By Kate Hennessy Scribner 384 pages • $27.99 Hardcover/Paperback/E-book

CATHOLIC

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Catholic Guide to Depression

Aaron Kheriaty and John Cihak Bored Again Catholic: How the Mass Could Save Your Life

Timothy P. O’Malley

52 | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7

Reviewed by ROBERT ELLSBERG, a former managing editor of The Catholic Worker, editor of The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day and All the Way to Heaven: Selected Letters of Dorothy Day. His most recent book is The Franciscan Saints, published by Franciscan Media. Although she was famously averse in life to premature canonization, it is likely that Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, will one day be added to the list of official saints. In part, this reflected her fear of the pious hagiography that sets its subjects on pedestals and denies their humanity. She need have no worries on that count after this extraordinary biography by Kate Hennessy, the youngest of her nine grandchildren. Though Hennessy’s portrait leaves no doubt about her grandmother’s quest for holiness (Day constantly insisted that all Christians are called to be saints), it is precisely her humanity—as highlighted through the relationship with her daughter, Tamar—that is the focus of this portrait. Readers of Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness, are familiar with the story of her conversion and of the special part she attributed to her pregnancy and the birth of Tamar. After years of immersion

in the radical movement and a good deal of restless searching, this experience filled her with such a sense of gratitude that only God could receive it. Nevertheless, the decision to be baptized in the Catholic Church involved a painful separation from Tamar’s father, Forster Batterham, who refused to marry. That decision opened a mysterious path that led, ultimately, to her founding the Catholic Worker, the movement where she would spend the rest of her life. It also set off reverberations that would echo not only in Dorothy’s life but in the life of Tamar and her children. In launching the Catholic Worker, Day struggled to balance her role as Tamar’s mother with her role as matriarch to a raucous and demanding community. With Dorothy often on the road, Tamar was left in the care of others or sent to Catholic boarding schools. Like her father, Tamar was introverted, quiet, drawn to nature. She did not share her mother’s activist or literary bent. She found her own place in the Catholic Worker farming communes, where she eventually met and married her husband at the age of 17. Dorothy had fateful premonitions—ultimately justified—about this marriage. In her struggles to find the balance between letting go and exerting control, it becomes clear, if there were any doubts, that holy people are indeed fully human: beset by the same complexities of love, the difficulty of truly knowing another any better than we know ourselves. Throughout this story we follow the emergence of the author herself, a talented artist, a witness and protagonist in this complicated chronicle of mother-daughter lives. Her book would be moving and fascinating even if her grandmother were not among the four great Americans whom Pope Francis cited in his 2015 speech before Congress. It is essential for anyone wishing to understand Dorothy Day—a true saint of our time. But ultimately this book tells the universal story of the many forms of conversion—and the mysterious task of being human. ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER

BOOK BRIEFS

Challenging Meditations On My Way Home

A Hospice Nurse’s Journey with Terminal Cancer

A Whispered Name A Father Anselm Thriller By William Brodrick Overlook 352 pages • $27.95 Hardcover/E-book Reviewed by MELANIE CHACON (formerly Sheets), retired writing instructor and current ESL tutor. Her family once raised bees, a plot element in this novel. Father Anselm, a lawyer turned monk, is the protagonist of six mystery novels. Newly available in a US edition, this third installment in the series deals with the death of a young soldier executed for desertion. The plot unfolds in two worlds—a World War I battlefront in France and the peaceful Larkwood Monastery in England. Brodrick writes with authority since he was an Augustinian friar who later left for a career in law. The reader is engaged as the complexities of war help to explain secrets harbored for six decades by Father Anselm’s friend Father Herbert Moore. Father Moore’s recent passing complicates an inquiry into a wartime court-martial and execution. Father Anselm embraces this mystery along with the mysterious world of bees, whose hives he has been recently assigned to maintain. Descriptions of the stresses experienced by men on the battlefront as they fight for their lives in the worst of conditions and the moral anguish unique to war demonstrate Brodrick’s ability to capture emotions. Father Anselm is challenged to interpret military law regarding desertion and its punishment in order to understand the events of the past. Running themes of courage, cowardice, and self-sacrifice make the work sad yet inspiring.

By Joyce Hutchinson Ave Maria Press 128 pages • $13.95 Paperback/E-book This poignant set of reflections from an oncology nurse and pioneer in the hospice movement features a foreword and afterword from the bestselling Catholic author Joyce Rupp. The abiding faith present in every page will be a comfort to those in the last stages of life and those caring for them.

Saint Benedict for Boomers Wisdom for the Next Stage of Life By Christine M. Fletcher Liturgical Press 152 pages • $16.95 Paperback/E-book For the generation that once swore not to trust anyone over 30, Fletcher offers time-tested wisdom of a sort they may have not expected to need. Each chapter offers some insight into the traditions of Benedictine spirituality that will be of benefit for newcomers to this way of life.

The Four Last Things

A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell By Father Wade L.J. Menezes, CPM EWTN Publishing 128 pages • $14.95 Paperback/E-book Relying heavily on Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Father Wade reminds us that the last four things should always be first in our thinking. —K.C.

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 Prices shown in Book Corner do not include shipping.

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | 53

A C AT H O L I C M O M S P E A K S

| BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER

Put the Phone Down

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY KURNICK MAASS

did it. I swore I never would. Not me. I wouldn’t be one of those parents you see who chooses their phone over their child. Nope, not this mom. And then, I was that mom.

Wake-Up Call My youngest daughter, Kacey, had asked me to watch a movie with her. “We can watch Scooby-Doo, Mom—our favorite,” she said excitedly. We snuggled up in Mark’s and my bed and started the movie. But then my phone buzzed. I instinctively grabbed for it to see what I was being alerted to—a text, an incoming e-mail, a re-Tweet, or comment on my Facebook post? Whatever it was, of course, it demanded my instant attention. I unlocked my screen and entered the rabbit hole. The buzzing was, in fact, an e-mail. It was nothing 54 | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

important, just one of the many newsletters I’ve signed up for but never seem to read. I decided to leave it for later, just in case, but noticed an e-mail from Pinterest suggesting five new pins I might like. I’ll just check them out real quick, I thought. A few of them piqued my interest, so I immediately pinned them to various boards. But then I noticed that there were other alerts lined up ever so neatly on top of my phone, patiently waiting for their turn. It didn’t make sense to leave them up there while I was already checking things out. So I opened them up one by one. Each one led me down a different path— further away from Kacey. Suddenly I heard Kacey laugh. She looked up at me and said, “That part is so funny, isn’t it?” “It sure is,” I said, phone still in hand. I didn’t even know what

part she was talking about because I wasn’t paying attention, and she knew that. She knew my attention was somewhere other than here with her, watching our movie. Suddenly I felt like the worst mom in the world. What was so important on that phone that I let my daughter think it was more important than she is? The answer is nothing, yet I chose it anyway.

Back in My Day When did this happen? I wonder. When did I become so addicted—for lack of a better word—to being connected all the time? It’s not as if I haven’t lived without constantly having technology at my fingertips. When I was growing up, my family had two phones in our house. One was attached to the wall in the kitchen. The other was on the wall in the basement. S t . A n t h o n y M e ss e n g e r

We thought we were something special because we could answer calls both upstairs and down. My two sisters and I shared that one phone line. Can you imagine? We have all become so accustomed to being connected 24/7. We expect people to answer our calls at any time. Texts that are not acknowledged or replied to within an allotted amount of time are viewed as a direct reﬂection of a person’s character. Yes, times have changed. What’s important hasn’t. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that.

Do you have comments or suggestions for topics you’d like to see addressed in this column? Mail to: A Catholic Mom Speaks 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498 E-mail to: CatholicMom@FranciscanMedia.org

LET’S DISCONNECT I have a question for you—and a challenge. How long do you think you could go without looking at your phone? Five minutes? 10? Could you do a half hour? In our house, I know that our family can do it at least for the length of dinnertime. I know that because we have a strict no-phones-at-the-table rule. Unfortunately, outside of that, we all fail when it comes to disconnecting for any substantial amount of time. I don’t think our family is alone, though. I think it

would be a struggle for most people. So I’m going to challenge myself—and you. Let’s put our phones down for a while. It’s not as if we can’t exist without being constantly connected. And I’m not talking about just putting your phone in sleep mode next to you. I mean turn it off or put it away somewhere for a while. Use that time to refocus on things that have taken a backseat. For me, that means re-watching that ScoobyDoo movie with Kacey that I missed the last time.

P E T E a n d R E P E AT These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two. ILLUSTRATION BY TOM GREENE

So look and see if you can name Eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers on page 13)

FrANCISCANmeDIA.orG

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 | 55

B AC K S T O R Y

Creative Choices

ow do you make a call between two different styles? In one case—in this very issue—I’m referring to Sister Rose Pacatte’s wonderful article about Timothy Reckart, “Following The Star.” He’s a remarkable man who

has crafted an outstanding animated film about the Holy Family for the holiday season. We could have illustrated her interview in more than one way—either in a

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFRON

more photographic style or with animated characters from the film itself. Mixing and matching these could be done, I suppose, but Art Director Mary Catherine Kozusko knows that design brings hard choices. Which approach might be the strongest, most inviting visually? For everything that stays, something must go. I hope you agree with our choice: we couldn’t resist the cute animation. Those kinds of choices are driving our behind-the-scenes work redesigning St. Anthony Messenger for the coming (January) issue. What will stay? What will go? Much like remodeling a room—in this case the whole house!—we’ve been talking and talking about possibilities, trying a little of this, changing a little of that, fussing over the details. It’s a long conversation among designers and editors. One of the many things we have decided is to devote a special section to things Franciscan, led by Father Pat McCloskey’s”Ask a Franciscan” column (which vies for most-read column—competing with “Church in the News”), followed by his insightful look at Franciscan topics. Father Pat, who often introduces himself in public with “I’m on page 2,” will no doubt find a new, clever introduction. The team has kicked me—this column, revised—to the front of the book. “From the Editor,” my new column, will often have a different flavor than “Backstory”— more about what’s in the current issue, with some occasional musings. Though I can’t compete with Father Pat, more than half of you read this column (thank you for answering Managing Editor Daniel Imwalle’s online surveys). Come January, I hope you’ll follow me to the front. There will be more changes, all with you in mind. We pray that you’re going to love the end product. But between here and there? In these final weeks, lots of construction and difficult choices. And in the end? Great results. And Timothy, I hope you agree with our choice of animation for illustration instead of photos. It

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

was a tough call.

Editor in Chief JFeister@FranciscanMedia.org

Timothy Reckart (left) practices, years earlier, with models (above), learning the basics of animation. 56 | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7

ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER

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