Saturday, March 31, 2012
Fr. Robert Barron calls 'Hunger Games' movie dangerously prophetic
The following comes from the CNA:
Father Robert Barron says the storyline in the blockbuster film “The Hunger Games,” based on the widely popular young adult book, warns of what can happen when a society becomes totally secularized.
“There is something dangerously prophetic about 'The Hunger Games,'” said Fr. Barron, founder of the media group “Word on Fire” and host of the PBS-aired “Catholicism” series.
The movie, which has already brought in $214 million worldwide since its March 23 release, is based on the young adult book of the same title by Suzanne Collins.
Set sometime in the undefined future, “The Hunger Games” tells the story of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen's struggle for survival after she volunteers to take her sister's place in her country's annual “hunger games.”
Ruled by the wealthy and authoritarian Capitol, the impoverished Twelve Districts within the country must annually offer its children as tributes to take part in a live television broadcast of an arena battle to the death. The gruesome killings between the children serve as a reminder of the Capitol's absolute power and as punishment for the Districts' failed rebellion decades earlier.
However, as the events in the arena unfold, Katniss and her teammate Peeta begin to rise against the Capitol through attempting to maintain their humanity.
In a March 29 interview with CNA, Fr. Barron said he thought the movie contained elements of modern French philosopher Rene Girard's theory of “human scapegoating.”
He explained that scapegoating has been used throughout history as a means of discharging “all of our fears and anxieties” by assigning blame to an individual or group of people.
This practice is seen as far back in history from civilizations such as the Aztec and the Roman empires and as recently as Nazi Germany.
However, Fr. Barron said, Christ undid the need for humanity's scapegoating by taking on the role of victim himself in his Passion and Resurrection.
“The Hunger Games” shows not only “how very consistent this theme is in human history” and in “human consciousness,” but also what can happen in a totally secular society.
“When Christianity fades away,” Fr. Barron said, “we're in great danger because it's Christianity that holds this idea at bay.”
Just as Christ's sacrifice was the ultimate “undermining” of humanity's scapegoating, Fr. Barron noted Peeta and Katniss' defiance in the arena is a disruption of human sacrifice in their own culture.
“Christianity,” the priest said, “is the undoing of the scapegoating mechanism which lies behind most civilizations.”
Some critics have said that the book's plot is too graphic for the young adult audience at which it is targeted because it focuses on children killing other children. As a result, much of the child-on-child combat is toned down in the movie.
Youth violence is unfortunately a “human reality,” Fr. Barron said, “it's called war.”
Although he does not think violence should be shown just for entertainment value, Fr. Barron said he thought that “there wasn't enough violence” in “The Hunger Games.”
He understood why the producers would want to make the film more age appropriate, “but there's something about revealing to people what's at stake here that I think is important.”
Muting much of the teen killings “was a bit of a weakness” on the part of the film makers, he added, because “it's actually good to let this violence be seen for what it really is.”
The film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “intense violent thematic material and disturbing images – all involving teens.”
Friday, March 30, 2012
Benedict XVI meets his 'spiritual Godmother' in Santiago de Cuba
The following comes from the CNA:
After beginning his day on Tuesday with a private Mass in Santiago de Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI met a religious sister from India who has been his “spiritual Godmother” for 20 years.
The Pope celebrated the private Mass during his historic March 26-28 visit to the country before departing for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre. The service was attended by 10 religious sisters from the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity, which was founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
When the Mass ended, Cuban Archbishop Dionisio García, presented Sister Teresa Kereketa to the Pope. Following the practice of her order, 20 years ago she received the task of praying daily for a specific priest, thus becoming his “spiritual Godmother.” The priest whom she was assigned was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.
During the emotional encounter, and following an Indian tradition, the sister presented a crown of flowers to Pope Benedict.
The Pope celebrated the private Mass during his historic March 26-28 visit to the country before departing for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre. The service was attended by 10 religious sisters from the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity, which was founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
When the Mass ended, Cuban Archbishop Dionisio García, presented Sister Teresa Kereketa to the Pope. Following the practice of her order, 20 years ago she received the task of praying daily for a specific priest, thus becoming his “spiritual Godmother.” The priest whom she was assigned was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.
During the emotional encounter, and following an Indian tradition, the sister presented a crown of flowers to Pope Benedict.
“The Pope was quite moved meeting her,” said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, during a press conference.
Prayer: A Pilgrimage through Difficult Wilderness
Is contemplation an uninteresting wilderness? Many religious who have dedicated their whole lives to prayer can speak like this, including authors like Thomas Merton. These kinds of expressions suggest those purgative experiences in prayer where our conversation with God takes on a kind of monotonous tone. It is like that part of an adventure where nothing seems to be happening and everything looks the same.
Those who suffer this find themselves wandering, searching through a forest of unanswerable questions: Is He asleep? Why isn't something happening when I pray? Sometimes prayer can seem boring and can even feel like a complete waste of time. This can be dissatisfying and even discouraging. Yet this is a part of the journey of prayer and, as a character in a Tolkien story observes, not all who wander are lost. In this real adventure, each step potentially unleashes into the world the transforming power of Divine Mercy if we allow ourselves to be guided by love.
Prayer can be extremely difficult when we do not understand or have real feeling about what God is doing. And, sometimes, the Lord can choose to keep us in the dark about his mysterious purposes for a very long time. Only after we have grown accustomed to the vast expanses of unfamiliar horizons does the apparent lack of consolation begin to disclose its beauty to us.
We sometimes glimpse, if only for a rare and transitory moment, a greater interior freedom, a real humility, a deeper strength, and a firmer sense of purpose. A bold desire to glorify God with an unflinching resolve has taken hold. In our dryness, we know these movements of holiness in our heart did not come from ourselves - they are the fruit of Someone else's life born in us.
St. John of the Cross was so at home with this prayer, he came to see it as a sheer grace, a providential moment of pure luck. This is because abiding with God is our true home, the end of the journey we have undertaken. But He is "so totally other" than that with which we are comfortable, to find Him, He must lead us beyond what is comfortable and into a truly tedious vulnerability. It is as uninteresting as death on a Friday afternoon. Yet it is through this wilderness that we must pass if we are to live life to the full -- if we are to know the joy of possessing the One who longs to possess us in love.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pope Benedict's Message to Cuba touches hearts
The following comes from the CNA:
The words of hope delivered by Pope Benedict XVI to the people of Cuba at a March 28 Mass are inspiring Latin Americans from countries across the region.
Nadia Martínez de Pimentel told CNA that the Mass was an “overwhelming experience.”
Originally from the Dominican Republic, she said that she was deeply touched to see the “resilience of the people of Cuba” and the faith they have exhibited despite numerous challenges.
“I think that just to be part of it is a very humbling experience,” she said.
Officials predicted a turnout of more than half a million people at the Papal Mass in Revolutionary Square in Havana, Cuba on March 28, which came on the final day of the Pope's visit to the country.
During his homily, Pope Benedict applauded steps that have been taken in Cuba “to enable the Church to carry out her essential mission of expressing her faith openly and publicly.”
He urged the nation to “continue forwards” and encouraged the government to “strengthen what has already been achieved.”
The Pope told the people of Cuba that the “path to a true social transformation” requires the formation of “virtuous men and women” who can help to “forge a worthy and free nation.”
“Cuba and the world need change, but this will occur only if each one is in a position to seek the truth and chooses the way of love, sowing reconciliation and fraternity,” he explained.
The Pope’s message made an impression not only on Cubans, but on members of other Latin American nations as well.
Pilgrims from countries including Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dominican Republic flocked to Cuba to participate in the papal events that took place March 26-28.
Diana, age 20, said that she came to Havana from Mexico because she wanted to “hear the message of faith” that the pontiff was bringing to Cuba.
Although the Pope just concluded a visit to her home country of Mexico, she followed him to Cuba in order to immerse herself even further in his words to Latin America.
Diana called it “amazing” that she was able to see and listen to the “representative of God on earth.”
“You get to know another country through this experience,” she observed, adding that she believes her participation in the papal events “will bring me closer to Christ.”
For pilgrim Ramon Tallaj, the Pope’s message “is clear.”
Tallaj, a Latino who lives in the United States, explained that “the Holy Father came to tell the people about hope.”
Even in the most oppressing circumstances, people need not lose hope if they can turn to their faith, he said, because ultimately “that is what matters.”
Tallaj believes that apart from politics, faith and religion are “important for the human being.” Although religion can be a force for social change, he added, any movement must begin with a profound renewal of faith.
Ultimately, Tallaj thinks Pope's visit will have a long-lasting effect in bringing about true change for the people of Cuba. “Now it is confirmed,” he said. “This truly is a revolution square.”
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Saint of the day: John Damascene
Son of Mansur, representative of the Christians to the court of the Muslim caliph. Apparently thrived as a Christian in a Saracen land, becoming the chief financial officer for caliph Abdul Malek. Tutored in his youth by a captured Italian monk named Cosmas. Between the Christian teaching from the monk, and that of the Muslim schools, John became highly educated in the classical fields (geometry, literature, logic, rhetoric, etc.).
He defended the use of icons and images in churches through a series of letters opposing the anti-icon decrees of Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople. Legend says that Germanus plotted against him, and forged a letter in which John betrayed the caliph; the caliph ordered John’s writing hand chopped off, but the Virgin Mary appeared and re-attached the hand, a miracle which restored the caliph’s faith in him.
After this incident, John became a monk near Jerusalem. Priest. Anathematized by name by the 754 Council of Constantinople over his defense of the use of icons, but was defended by the 787 Seventh Council of Nicea.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Saint of the day: Margaret Clitherow
The following comes from the Catholic.org site:St. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of protestant parents. Possessed of good looks and full of wit and merriment, she was a charming personality. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes. The humanity and holiness of this servant of God can be readily glimpsed in her words to a friend when she learned of her condemnation: "The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming Friday; and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but my spirit rejoices greatly. For the love of God, pray for me and ask all good people to do likewise." Her feast day is March 26th.
Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord
The following comes from the Women for Faith and Family site:
The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, is one of the most important in the Church calendar. It celebrates the actual Incarnation of Our Savior the Word made flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary.
The biblical account of the Annunciation is in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke, 26-56. Saint Luke describes the annunciation given by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she was to become the mother of the Incarnation of God.
Here is recorded the "angelic salutation" of Gabriel to Mary, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum - Lk 1:28), and Mary's response to God's will, "Let it be done to me according to thy word" (fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum) (v. 38)
This "angelic salutation" is the origin of the "Hail Mary" prayer of the Rosary and the Angelus (the second part of the prayer comes from the words of salutation of Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation).
The Angelus, a devotion that daily commemmorates the Annunciation, consists of three Hail Marys separated by short versicles. It is said three times a day -- morning, noon and evening -- traditionally at the sound of a bell. The Angelus derives its name from the first word of the versicles, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae (The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary).
Mary's exultant hymn, the Magnificat, found in Luke 1:46-55, has been part of the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, at Vespers (evening prayer), and has been repeated nightly in churches, convents and monasteries for more than a thousand years.
The Church's celebration of the Annunciation is believed to date to the early 5th century, possibly originating at about the time of the Council of Ephesus (c 431). Earlier names for the Feast were Festum Incarnationis, and Conceptio Christi, and in the Eastern Churches, the Annunciation is a feast of Christ, but in the Latin Church it is a feast of Mary. The Annunciation has always been celebrated on March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas Day.
Pope Benedict's Address to the Young in Guanajuato, Mexico
Dear Young People,
I am happy to be able to meet with you and to see your smiling faces as you fill this beautiful square. You have a very special place in the Pope’s heart. And in these moments, I would like all the children of Mexico to know this, especially those who have to bear the burden of suffering, abandonment, violence or hunger, which in recent months, because of drought, has made itself strongly felt in some regions. I am grateful for this encounter of faith, and for the festive and joyful presence expressed in song. Today we are full of jubilation, and this is important. God wants us to be happy always. He knows us and he loves us. If we allow the love of Christ to change our heart, then we can change the world. This is the secret of authentic happiness.
This place where we stand today has a name which expresses the yearning present in the heart of each and every person: “la paz”, Peace. This is a gift which comes from on high. “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:21). These are the words of the Risen Lord. We hear them during each Mass, and today they resound anew in this place, with the hope that each one of you will be transformed, becoming a sower and messenger of that peace for which Christ offered his life.
The disciple of Jesus does not respond to evil with evil, but is always an instrument of good instead, a herald of pardon, a bearer of happiness, a servant of unity. He wishes to write in each of your lives a story of friendship. Hold on to him, then, as the best of friends. He will never tire of speaking to those who always love and who do good. This you will hear, if you strive in each moment to be with him who will help you in more difficult situations.
I have come that you may know my affection. Each one of you is a gift of God to Mexico and to the world. Your family, the Church, your school and those who have responsibility in society must work together to ensure that you receive a better world as your inheritance, without jealousies and divisions.
That is why I wish to lift up my voice, inviting everyone to protect and to care for children, so that nothing may extinguish their smile, but that they may live in peace and look to the future with confidence.
You, my dear young friends, are not alone. You can count on the help of Christ and his Church in order to live a Christian lifestyle. Participate in Sunday Mass, in catechesis, in apostolic works, looking for occasions of prayer, fraternity and charity. Blessed Cristóbal, Antonio and Juan, the child martyrs of Tlaxcala, lived this way, and knowing Jesus, during the time of the initial evangelization of Mexico, they discovered that there is no greater treasure than he. They were children like you, and from them we can learn that we are never too young to love and serve.
How I would like to spend more time with all of you, but the time has already come for me to go. We will remain close in prayer. So I invite you to pray continually, even in your homes; in this way, you will experience the happiness of speaking about God with your families. Pray for everyone, and also for me. I will pray for all of you, so that Mexico may be a place in which everyone can live in serenity and harmony. I bless all of you from my heart and I ask you to bring the affection and blessing of the Pope to your parents, brothers and sisters, and other loved ones. May the Virgin accompany you. Thank you very much, my dear young friends.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Guanajuato: A spiritual heartland
Guanajuato state, is described as the most observantly Catholic state in Mexico, which in itself is the world's largest Catholic, Spanish-speaking country. Listen to Emer McCarthy's report:
This is the land that Pope Benedict has chosen for his very first meeting with the Mexican people. The land that was the wellspring of an armed uprising against harsh anti-clerical laws in the 1920s, a revolt for religious freedom that became known as the Cristeros’ War.
Saturday afternoon at 5pm local time, Pope Benedict will travel from Miraflores convent in Leon, his residence for the duration of his stay, to the state capital Guanajuato city. There, as per tradition, he will pay a closed door courtesy visit to Head of State, President Felipe Calderon, in the Casa del Conte Rul, the seat of the state government.
Following the meeting, Saturday evening the Holy Father will make his way to Peace Square in the heart of the city to meet with groups of school children, before his return journey to Leon, home to the Archdiocese, 58 kms away.
But between Leon and Guanajuato, on the summit of Cerra del Cubilete, Beakon Hill, rises what is perhaps the most eloquent reminder of the profound religious roots of this land: a giant bronze statue of Christ the King. It is a monument to the martyrs of the faith, who died in the Cristeros war and whose motto was Viva Cristo Rey. And beneath its outstretched arms in the Bicentennial Park on Sunday morning, Pope Benedict will preside over an out door mass, the first of this Apostolic voyage, his first on Mexican soil.
Catholicism Lenten Reflection
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. Father Barron highlights the life and witness of one of the great saints of the 20th century- Edith Stein, whose name in religious life is Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Saint Edith demonstrates that the Faith is not just a matter of emotions, but also a matter of mind. Why does the Catholic Faith insist on the rapport between faith and reason? What happens to the Faith if it is limited to emotions and experiences?
2. Saint Edith Stein's faith in Christ was quickened by an encounter with a friend who had suffered the death of her husband, yet found in Christ's cross consolation and hope. What does the cross reveal about humanity's experience of suffering and death? In what ways does the Cross of Christ offer humanity hope?
3. Saint Edith Stein entered the Carmelite Order, a community whose evangelical witness demonstrates a radical poverty, rigorous commitment to prayer and detachment from worldly pre-occupations. One of the great spiritual masters of the Carmelite Order is St. John of the Cross. Saint John of the Cross wrote eloquently of the "dark night of the soul" or the feeling that God was distant and that one's spiritual practices afforded little, if any, emotional consolation. This dark night was not so much an experience of depression or evidence of the distance of God, but was, paradoxically, an encounter with the Lord so profound that the soul lacked the capacity to feel or understand God's presence. Can the negative experiences of life actually be bearers of God's grace and presence? How so?
4. The Carmelite Order directs itself to prayer and contemplation. How and why are prayer and contemplation essential to the mission of the Church?
5. The sad circumstances of Saint Edith Stein's final days might evoke our own fear of catastrophe and inescapable suffering. What does the Paschal Mystery of the Lord Jesus teach us about our fears concerning suffering and death? What quality or virtue was given to Saint Edith Stein that enabled her to face the circumstances of her death with the conviction that whatever happened, God still was acting to redeem and to save?
6. Saint Edith Stein is part of a great flowering of Catholic intellectual culture that happened in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For many, it seems that this bloom has faded over the past few decades. What can the Church do to renew Catholic culture in terms of the arts, literature, theology and philosophy? Why are such things essential to the mission of the Church?
7. Father Barron asserts that too many of us opt for spiritual mediocrity rather than aspire to holiness. Why do we resist holiness? What do we fear will happen if we aspire to heroic sanctity? Why do we think that we can get away with opting for less in terms of our commitment to Christ rather than desiring more?
Mexican faithful flock to Pope Benedict
The following comes from the CBS News site:
It had become tradition in Mexico. Before daybreak, youths would creep as close as security permitted and serenade their beloved Pope John Paul II with a song of greeting and celebration.
Now a new, less familiar pope had come, seeking to strengthen his own ties with the largest Spanish-speaking Catholic nation.
So well before dawn Saturday, two dozen youths from a Guadalajara church group gathered near the school where the Pope Benedict XVI was staying. "We sang with all our heart and all our force," said Maria Fernanda de Luna, a member of the group. "It gave us goosebumps to sing 'Las Mananitas' for him."
Songs, joyful throngs, church bells and confetti welcomed Benedict as he began his first trip to Mexico, a celebration that seemed to erupt spontaneously out of what had been a thin, sun-dazed crowd.
As Pope Benedict XVI's plane appeared in the shimmering heat of Friday afternoon, people poured from their homes. They packed sidewalks five and six deep, screaming ecstatically as the pope passed, waving slowly. Some burst into tears.
Many had said moments earlier that they could never love a pope as strongly as Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II. But the presence of a pope on Mexican soil touched a chord of overwhelming respect and adoration for the papacy itself, the personification for many of the Catholic Church, and God. Thousands found themselves taken aback by their own emotions.
As a girl, Celia del Rosario Escobar, 42, saw John Paul II on one of his five trips to Mexico, which brought him near-universal adoration.
"I was 12 and it's an experience that still makes a deep impression on me," she said. "I thought this would be different, but, no, the experience is the same."
"I can't speak," she murmured, pressing her hands to her chest and starting to cry.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Mass in Colegio di Miraflores in Leon, Mexico, Saturday, March 24, 2012.
(Credit: AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)Many said the pope's message of peace and unity would help heal their country, traumatized by the deaths of more than 47,000 people in a drug war that has escalated during a government offensive against cartels that began more than five years ago.
In a speech on the airport tarmac shortly after arriving, Benedict said he was praying for all in need, "particularly those who suffer because of old and new rivalries, resentments and all forms of violence."
He said he had come to Mexico as a pilgrim of hope, to encourage Mexicans to "transform the present structures and events which are less than satisfactory and seem immovable or insurmountable while also helping those who do not see meaning or a future in life."
Saturday, March 24, 2012
St. Thérèse de Lisieux on Small Sacrifices
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
Friday, March 23, 2012
Pope welcomes news of rapid Church growth in Texas
The following comes from the CNA:
Pope Benedict XVI is “glad to hear” from U.S. bishops on a recent visit to the Vatican that the Catholic Church is rapidly expanding in Texas.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, told CNA that what caught the Pope's attention the most is that “we are the region in the United States where the Catholic population is growing and growing intensely.”
Cardinal DiNardo and 21 other bishops from Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma have just completed six days in Rome on what is known as an Ad Limina Apostolorum visit. That involves making pilgrimage to the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul as well as meeting the various Vatican departments to discuss the health of the Church in each diocese.
“This has been a very fine visit,” Cardinal DiNardo said, “and we’ve had beautiful celebrations at the tomb of the apostles.” He said that “offering Christ’s sacrifice” at the tombs renewed the bishops “sensibilities” towards their “commitment to the apostolic faith” and brought about “a grand communion of all the bishops together.”
The delegation met with Pope Benedict XVI in three groups over two days. Cardinal DiNardo, who also serves as head of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee, explained the changing demographics of the Catholic Church in their region to the Pope.
He noted that 25 years ago, Houston had a Catholic population of around 12 percent – a that figure has since doubled.
The ethnic diversity of that new Catholic community is now such that Mass can often be offered in 18 different languages across the diocese each Sunday. The main influx has come from other parts of the U.S. such as the Midwest or north-east and also from other parts of the Americas.
“Houston also has the largest Vietnamese population outside Orange County in California,” explained Cardinal DiNardo.
The city has 135,000 Vietnamese of which about 30,000 are Catholic. That figure is rising, said the Cardinal, as many Vietnamese are now converting from Buddhism to Catholicism.
He described the trend as “very interesting” and ascribed it to the intensity with which Vietnamese Catholics practice their faith.
Cardinal DiNardo said the “huge influx” of people from all over the world and from elsewhere in the U.S. has produced “a grand enrichment and a very positive flavor to Catholicism.” Added to a “Texan informality” and the result has been a faith which “people find very welcoming.”
This has been “extremely helpful,” he said, in making people feel “attached” to the Church so that “we can then deepen more in terms of formation and catechesis.”
Thursday, March 22, 2012
CARDINAL BERTONE: POPE BRINGING ENCOURAGEMENT TO MEXICO
Benedict XVI will be in Mexico this Friday through Monday, before going on to Cuba. While there, he wants to encourage Mexicans, especially young people, observed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Holy Father's Secretary of State.
Cardinal Bertone was interviewed by Mexican television Televisa and by El Sol de México newspaper. The text of his talk was published by Vatican Radio.
The Pope will be taking “a message of encouragement, especially to young people, so that they will not allow themselves to be discouraged, to be enticed by easy goals of gain or social climbing, but instead, that they be committed to building a supportive society, an honest society, a society where each one has his place, his recognition -- a message of love and of great encouragement and, hence, of optimism,” he said.
Regarding the challenges facing Mexico’s society, the Italian cardinal suggested that the Pope might appeal for an end to violence, for the protection of human life, and for the promotion of the family.
Benedict XVI is well aware of the situation in a country marked by the challenges “of violence, of corruption, of drug trafficking,” which implies the commitment by everyone,”of both social and religious forces, to “re-found” Mexico on the Christian values imprinted in its DNA: peaceful coexistence, fraternity, solidarity and honesty.
He described Mexicans’ faith as “solid, not superficial,” and observed that, to surmount the challenges of the moment, “there is need of help from above, greater rootedness in the faith, more prayer and greater personal commitment.”
In regard to the project on religious liberty, Cardinal Bertone said that “if the right to religious liberty is firm, the other rights are also protected. If the right to religious liberty collapses, given that it is fundamental, the other rights also vacillate.”
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J. on path to Sainthood
Hat tip to Deacon Greg on this one!
A Catholic priest buried at the Jesuit Center at Wernersville cleared the first hurdle on the road to sainthood Monday, the Allentown Diocese announced.
The Rev. Walter J. Ciszek, a native of Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, attended St. Casimir’s Roman Catholic Church and school in Shenandoah before becoming a celebrated Jesuit priest who was held in a Russian prison for 15 years. He died in 1984.Since 1989, after a mandatory five-year waiting period, his life has been under investigation by church officials both in the diocese and at the Vatican.
After a decade-long investigation, Ciszek’s life story in writings, sermons and actions was packed in wooden crates and shipped in 2006 to Rome for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
There are still two steps, veneration and beatification, that must be completed before Ciszek is canonized a saint.
“This is exciting because it is one of our local boys making good,” said Monsignor Donald Bocian, president of the Father Walter J. Ciszek Prayer League and pastor of St. Casimir’s Church.
“But it is a very long process,” Bocian said. “I was told it could happen very quickly. I was also told the next of two steps could take three to four years.”
Ciszek was a member of the first class of Jesuits at the Novitiate of St. Isaac Joques in Lower Heidelberg Township, now known as the Jesuit Center at Wernersville. He is buried there and was nominated for sainthood in 1989.
“This breakthrough in the process is very encouraging and a testimony to the commitment and dedication of all those involved,” Allentown Bishop John O. Barres said.
Saint of the day: Enda of Aran
On March 21, four days after the feast day of Ireland's patron Saint Patrick, the Catholic Church honors Saint Enda of Aran, a warrior-turned-monk considered to be one of the founders of Irish monasticism.
Born during the fifth century, Enda inherited control of a large territory in present-day Northern Ireland from his father Conall. His sister Fanchea, however, had already embraced consecrated religious life with a community in Meath, and looked unfavorably on the battles and conquests of her brother.
Enda is said to have made a deal with his sister, promising to change his ways if he could marry one of the young women of her convent. But this was a ruse on Fanchea's part, as the promised girl soon died. Fanchea forced him to view the girl's corpse, to teach him that he, too, would face death and judgment.
In this way, Fanchea – whom the Church also remembers as a saint – succeeded in turning her brother not only from violence, but even from marriage. He left Ireland for several years, during which time he became a monk and was ordained as a priest.
Upon his return to Ireland, he petitioned his King Aengus of Munster – who was married to another of Enda's sisters – to grant him land for a monastic settlement on the Aran Islands, a beautiful but austere location near Galway Bay off Ireland's west coast.
During its early years, Enda's island mission had around 150 monks. As the community grew, he divided up the territory between his disciples, who founded their own monasteries to accommodate the large number of vocations.
Enda did not found a religious order in the modern sense, but he did hold a position of authority and leadership over the monastic settlements of Aran – which became known as “Aran of the Saints,” renowned for the monks' strict rule of life and passionate love for God.
While living on an Irish island, Enda's monks imitated the asceticism and simplicity of the earliest Egytian desert hermits.
The monks of Aran lived alone in their stone cells, slept on the ground, ate together in silence, and survived by farming and fishing. St. Enda's monastic rule, like those of St. Basil in the Greek East and St. Benedict in the Latin West, set aside many hours for prayer and the study of scripture.
During his own lifetime, Enda's monastic settlement on the Aran islands became an important pilgrimage destination, as well as a center for the evangelizations of surrounding areas. At least two dozen canonized individuals had some association with “Aran of the Saints.”
St. Enda himself died in old age around the year 530. An early chronicler of his life declared that it would “never be known until the day of judgment, the number of saints whose bodies lie in the soil of Aran,” on account of the onetime-warrior's response to God's surprising call.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Southern Catholic Boom Continues With New Seminary
The following comes from the CNA:
A community of cloistered nuns and a future regional seminary plan to occupy newly purchased property in Cleveland County, North Carolina to serve a flourishing Catholic population.
The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration joined with the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Te Deum Foundation to spend $2.9 million to purchase 484 acres in Mooresboro, which is about 60 miles west of Charlotte.
“Most seminaries only teach how to close parishes, cluster parishes, and how to administer to several parishes in light of dwindling numbers of Catholics,” the foundation said. “Praise be to God that this is not a problem in the South!”
The building plans come amid a shortage of Catholic seminaries in Southern States, the Catholic News Herald reported. At present, seminarians from the Diocese of Charlotte attend seminaries in Maryland, Ohio and Rome.
The Te Deum Foundation website suggested that seminarians for southern dioceses would be “blessed” to be able to stay in their own region. In addition to the necessary academics and formation, they could learn how to approach “the everyday challenges of living in the 'Bible Belt'” as well as how to open parishes and build churches.
The Catholic population in the region is said to be rapidly increasing, as the Diocese of Charlotte expects to reach 120,000 by 2030 – twice its current population.
For their part, the Poor Clares plan to build a permanent monastery for their community, which has lived in a temporary monastery in Charlotte since moving from Ohio in 2010. They emphasized that they plan to build the chapel first.
“We figured if we put the Lord first, do His building first, He will provide for ours,” Mother Dolores Marie, abbess of St. Joseph Monastery, told the Catholic News Herald.
The order plan for a cloister of 40,000 square feet, including interior courtyard space, recreation and prayer ages, an infirmary and a cemetery.
Billie Mobley, the Te Deum Foundation president, said she hopes that a group of bishops from the southeast U.S. will join in support for the seminary project.
The Te Deum Foundation is a non-profit organization that operates separately from the Diocese of Charlotte to support seminarians in their education.
Pope Benedict: Listen to Jesus’ voice in the desert of Lent
Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Christians to walk with Jesus across the desert of Lent, to “listen more closely to the voice of God, and to unmask the temptations that speak within each of us.”
Before praying the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer at noon, Pope Benedict offered those pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square a reflection on how Lent is a “journey with Jesus through the desert.”
“On the horizon of the desert looms the Cross,” he said. “Jesus knows that it is the culmination of his mission: in fact, the Cross of Christ is the height of love, which gives us salvation.
“He himself says in today's Gospel: ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life,’” the Pope recalled.
He based his words on the Gospel reading from St. John for the fourth Sunday of Lent, a day that is popularly known as Laetare (Rejoice) Sunday, which marks the halfway point of the penitential season.
The Pope explained that in a similar way to how the Jews were healed from poisonous snake bites in the wilderness when they looked at the bronze serpent Moses created, so too are Christians healed of their sins by gazing upon Christ on the cross.
“Jesus will be lifted upon the Cross,” he said, “that whoever is in danger of death because of sin, turning in faith to Him who died for us, is saved. For God -- St. John writes – ‘did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.’”
The Pope brought his remarks to a close by looking ahead to the March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph, after whom he is named, and his upcoming March 23-29 trip to Mexico and Cuba.
“Dear friends, tomorrow we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph. I sincerely thank all those who have remembered me in prayer in the days before my name day. In particular, I ask you to pray for the apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba that I will begin next Friday.”
He entrusted the trip to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is “so loved and revered in these two countries that I am going to visit.”
After praying the Angelus, Pope Benedict offered greetings in multiple languages to those present. He urged English-speaking pilgrims to keep their eyes fixed upon the goal of Lent, “when we will accompany our Lord on the path to Calvary, so as to rise with him to new life.”
What is Piety? And How Does a Lack of Piety Spell Doom for Us?
In the modern world the word “piety” has come to be associated with being religious. And while it does have religious application, its original meaning was far wider and richer. The English word “piety” comes from the Latin pietas, which spoke of family love, and by extension love for one’s ancestors, of one’s country, and surely of God. Cicero defined pietas as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.”
For the ancient Romans piety was one of the highest virtues since it was the virtue that knit families and ultimately all society together in love, loyalty and a shared, reciprocal duty. Piety also roots us in our past and gave proper reverence to our ancestors.
I hope you can see how essential piety is and why, if we do not recapture it more fully in the modern world, our culture is likely doomed. Piety is like a glue that holds us together. Without its precious effects, we fall apart into factions, our families dissolve, and the “weave” of our culture gives way to tear and dry rot.
Recently over at the Catholic Education Resource Center Donald Demarco (Professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell CT) wrote some helpful reflections on Piety. I’d like to share some excerpts here, the full article is HERE.
“Piety,” said Cicero, “is justice toward the gods,” and “the foundation of all virtues.” By extension, piety is the just recognition of all we owe to our ancestors. [Thus], the basis of piety is the sober realization that we owe our existence and our substance to powers beyond ourselves. We are social, communal beings. We are not islands; we are part of the mainland…..
“Greatness” is never a purely individual accomplishment. Its roots are always in others and in times past….Our beginning coincides with a debt. Piety requires us to be grateful to those who begot us. It also evokes in us a duty to give what we have so that we can give to our descendents as our ancestors gave to us. [And] Piety, by honoring what poured out from the past to become our own living substance, enlarges and enriches us. It disposes us to give thanks and to live in such a manner that we ourselves may one day become worthy objects for the thanks of others.
Piety was a favorite virtue of Socrates. Far from considering himself a self-made man….[he] gave full credit for whatever civility he enjoyed to those who preceded him. Ralph Waldo Emerson, by contrast, America’s head cheerleader for the man of self-reliance, spoke of “the sovereign individual, free, self-reliant, and alone in his greatness.” Emerson’s belief in the “greatness” of the individual is a dangerous illusion. It is a presumption that naturally leads to pride.
The great enemy of piety is individualism. Individualism is the illusion that we are somehow self-made, self-reliant, and self-sufficient. It is essentially an anti-social form of thinking that belongs to Nietzsche, Rousseau, Sartre, and Ayn Rand rather than to Socrates, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Founding Fathers of the American Constitution.
The soul of individualism is unfettered choice. Abortion, for example, is presumed to be a private affair. Magically, as its advocates allege, it affects neither the child, its father, the family, nor society…. “Individuality” is the result of a fall from grace. Adam and Eve behaved as persons until sin reduced them to individuals. As individuals, they began lusting after each other. The aprons of fig leaves they fashioned indicated that they were profoundly ashamed of their new identities as self-centered and self-absorbed individuals.
Yes, individualism leaves us largely closed in our self and pathetically self-conscious.
So many of our struggles in this modern era center on a loss of piety, a loss of love and duty owed to our families, community, Church and nation. Our families and our duties to them and the wider community are sacrificed on the “altar” of self-love and self-aggrandizement. Divorce and cohabitation stab at the heart of families ties and family loyalty. We indulge our sexual passions and selfishly cling to our supposed right to be happy at high cost of a devastated family structure, and a heavy-laden community. Church and nation, that are somehow supposed to carry the weight of our imprudent and selfish choices. We speak incessantly of rights but almost never of duties. Love of me, and what I “owe myself” is alive and well, but love and duty toward family, Church, community, and nation has grown cold. “I gotta be me” results in many, very small and competing worlds.
Further, Our modern and post-Cartesian era is mired in a “hermeneutic of discontinuity.” That is to say, we have significantly cut our ties with the past. Our ancestors, and antiquity have little to say to us since we have closed our eyes and ears to them. The “Democracy of the Dead,” as Chesterton called tradition, has been cut off by the “Berlin Wall” of modern pride. Our love and respect for our ancestors and the duty we have to honor their wisdom is, to a large extent, gone. We largely see ourselves as “come of age” and are arrogantly dismissive of past ages. As such our continuity with our ancestors and with the wisdom they accumulated is ruptured, and our mistakes are both predictable and often downright silly. As we indulge our passions, and are largely lacking in self-control, we who pride ourselves as “come of age” look more like silly and immature teenagers, than the technical titans we boast of being. It is one thing to go to the moon, it is another to wisely accept need to learn from the past.
Some will like to emphasize the errors of the past, such as slavery, in order to dismiss it. But this misses the point that we learn, not only from the good things of the past, but also from the errors of the past. I learned as much from my parents’ struggles as from their strengths. We do not honor our ancestors because they are perfect. Rather we honor the collected wisdom they have handed on to us, some of which was discovered in the cauldron of struggle and sin.
Finally, the loss of piety also means the significant loss of learning. Without the respect and honor of our parents, teachers and ancestors, there can be no learning. If I do not respect you I cannot learn from you. It is no surprise that in our current American culture, which often celebrates youthful rebellion, that learning, tradition and faith are in a grave crisis. Teachers in classrooms spend so much time in discipline that there is little quality learning time. Parents, whose children are often taught by popular music and television that “adults are stupid” and “out of touch” give little thought to dismissing their parents wisdom. Where there is no respect, there can be no learning.
It is no surprise that the opening commandment of the second table of the Law is “Honor your Father and Your Mother that you may have long life in the land.” For God knows well that if a generation lacks piety, it severs itself from no only from worldly tradition but also from Sacred Tradition. Without reverence, without piety, there is no learning and there is no faith. We are cut off from the glorious wisdom God entrusted to our ancestors. It is no wonder that, in these largely impious and individualistic times, faith is considered irrelevant to many and the Churches are increasingly empty.
Pray for piety. Pray for the gift of strong and abiding love for your family, for Church, for community and nation. Pray too for a deep love and respect for the ancestors who have gone before us, stretching back into antiquity. We owe a great debt to our family, nation, Church and ancestors. They have much to teach us, not only by their strengths, but also by their struggles. Scripture says, Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith(Heb 13:7).
This song is rooted in Hebrews 12:1-3 and the opening lines say, We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, looking on, encouraging us to do the will of the Lord! We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Let us stand worthy and be faithful to God’s call. The photos in this video are from the clerestory walls of my own parish, showing the saints in the “cloud of witnesses.”
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