+Sacra Cracovia+

Capitalism and Catholic Social Doctrine

2011-05-16T14:13:00.003-04:00

There has been a lot in the news recently about the Catholic Church's position on Capitalism, triggered by the reaction by some professors to Speaker Boehner's upcoming speech at CUA. Here is my own survey of "capitalism" in the Catholic social tradition.

_______________________________

The critique of socialism and communism is fairly well-known one who is at least partially familiar with Catholic social doctrine, especially given its attacks on socialism within the earliest documents in the tradition. Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum was written in large part as a response to the socialist movement in Europe in the late nineteenth century, and his work was developed by Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno, where Pius concluded, “No one can at the same time be a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.” (120) John Paul II‘s magisterium is significant for its critique of communism and other collectivist expressions of socialism. One might argue that there is not within the tradition of Catholic social doctrine, however, a parallel and consistent critique of capitalism. Thus, some have argued that the Church supports capitalism, or at least that there is an unresolved tension within the tradition. Tom Woods, an otherwise very traditional Catholic, argues that because the magisterium does not understand the functioning of economic laws, especially when it comes to the just wage, it is not infallible when it comes to such secular disciples.i The moral injunctions that comprise Catholic social teaching are based, at root, on economic misconceptions and factual error. Polemical assertion is not proof, and it should be obvious that no binding moral obligation can derive from unproven and indeed manifestly faulty premises. ii Leaving aside the question of the binding nature of Catholic social doctrine, it will be the task of this paper to suggest that perhaps some of the tension in discussions about the Church‘s position vis-à-vis capitalism stems from different notions of “capitalism” in the documents themselves. iii How is capitalism defined by Catholic social doctrine? How does it function? What is accepted, and what is rejected? After tracing a chronological trajectory of the theme, I will summarize with several evident trends related to the magisterium‘s discussion of capitalism.

The Early Tradition

The term ―capitalism does not appear in Leo XIII‘s Rerum Novarum, the main focus of which is to denounce the rising tide of socialist revolutions throughout Europe, which seek the abolition of private property as one of their basic goals. For this reason, Leo XIII defends the ―right to private property (2) as a right based on natural law, and which is necessary for the preservation of the inviolability of the family, (12) and other intermediary institutions within a society. The right to property, while strongly defended, is recognized as limited and relative to the universal destination of all goods. (19) Contrary to the evils which socialists propose, such as the elimination of private property which leads to the eventual subordination of the family and the individual to the state, Leo sees the Church as a “teacher of morality” and “right living” (23), which not only safeguards the individual, but also places at the forefront of her mission the care of the poor. In fact, Christians are called to ―give out of their excess‖ to assist those who are in need (19), and the poor are to be given special consideration in all decisions (24, 29). The poor tend to generally be identified as workers, and they are to be paid a just wage, which is not established through laissez-faire market forces or contract negotiations, but which is that amount truly needed to live and support a family, as well as be able to enable the possession of private property. (34) To achieve this goal, the Church supports the establishment of worker‘s associations (38), and recognizes that while the state has a role to play in the regulation of economic life, such decisions should properly be left to intermediary bodies at a local level (thus following the principle of subsidiarity, 41).

While Leo does not employ the word “capitalism,” it becomes clear that in his struggle against socialism, he is also struggling against a particular form of capitalism. Socialism is repudiated, but so are its causes: the destruction of worker‘s guilds in the eighteenth century, the separation of religion from public life, the callousness of employers and the greed of unconstrained consumption, widespread usury, and a spirit of avarice. (2) Implicit in the critique of socialism is therefore a critique of those factors brought about by nineteenth century liberal capitalism. Presumably, “capitalism” as such is not rejected, as is socialism, but what is needed is the proper “capitalism” that would allow spheres of influence other than blind market forces, rather than seeing workers as cogs in a machine that reduces them to the “mass of the poor” in the hands of the “small number of the rich.(2)

Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno makes explicit Leo‘s implicit critique of capitalism. He notices that since the time of Leo the “capitalist economic regime…has penetrated everywhere” (103) as a result of the growth of industry, and that its prevalence brings new challenges. First, he explicitly rejects the “Manchester school” of economics that gives free reign to “market forces” based on the principle of laissez faire (54), which is an exaltation of the individual, deprived of any relation to a moral law. Free competition is nonetheless encouraged, and is “justified and quite useful within certain limits,” which must always be derived from, and subordinate to, the “effective guiding principles” of social justice and social charity (88). These principles, however, ought not to be imposed in a heavy-handed manner from above, for this would risk the danger of the state substituting itself in the place of private initiative (95). In a response a corporate model (such as Mussolini‘s), he recognizes that while this state of affairs might seem to allow room for worker‘s rights, peaceful collaboration between classes, and the repression of socialism, such state-sponsored economic policies develop an excessive bureaucratic character that serves particular political aims, and not the common good (95).

Pius XI therefore critiques not only a form of state-sponsored capitalism such as Mussolini‘s, but also notices that capitalism can go seriously awry at an international level. “Unbridled ambition for economic domination has succeeded the desire for gain; the whole economic life has become hard, cruel, and relentless in a ghastly measure.” (109) Leo‘s critique of avarice and greed is therefore applied here directly to a capitalist system; an individualistic spirit, a supposed necessity of free competition, has “committed suicide; economic dictatorship has replaced a free market.” (109) The critique of such capitalism, expressed in the consolidation of a large amount of wealth in few capital-owning entrepreneurs, at the expense of laborers, however, does not lead Pius to dismiss the system altogether. The “system as such is not to be condemned,” but must rather take into account the social character of economic life, social justice, and the common good in order to function properly. (101) The unbridled free market capitalism needs to be ordered, curbed, and directed towards these three factors through a legitimate public authority (110). Furthermore, capitalism cannot be based on the “rationalism that had taken hold of large numbers” at the time when the new social order was beginning (133). In order to function correctly, therefore, capitalism needs to be based on an entirely different metaphysics, “inspired by Christian principles.” (136) Economic goods would be seen only as instruments to the supreme end (God), and would only be used insofar as they help to the attainment of that end. (136)

Shifting Emphases

During the pontificate of Pius XII, we see both an inherited critique of capitalism from Leo XIII and Pius XI, as well as new themes in relation to the Church‘s understanding of the system. First, we see in very explicit terms a re-statement of the rejection of economics as a value-neutral science, governed by supposed “natural laws” that exist independently of moral norms.

…if the physiocrats and the representatives of classic economics believed they had built a solid framework by treating economic facts as if they were physical or chemical phenomena amenable to the determination of natural laws, the falsity of such a conception was revealed in the crying contradiction between the theoretic harmony of their conclusions and the terrible social misery which they allowed to exist in reality.iv

While such a critique of economics might apply as equally to socialism as it does to capitalism, which both claim to follow laws inscribed into the order of things, Pius suggests that he is critiquing capitalism:

…they ignored the essential human element, the relations which unite the individual to society and impose upon him not only natural but also moral criteria for using material goods. Diverted from their communal purposes, these elements become means of exploitation of the weak by the strong, under the law of sheer merciless competition.

Modern, industrialized capitalism can bring with it much misery and plight for the worker. Thus, while it has always “condemned the various forms of Marxist socialism… the Church cannot ignore or overlook the fact that the worker in his efforts to better his lot, is opposed by a machinery which is not in accordance with nature, but is at variance with God‘s plan and with the purpose he had for creating the goods of the earth.”v

In answer to the social misery, Pius proceeds to argue that the recent contemporary situation (World War II) demonstrates that “almost nobody is incapable” of making selfless, altruistic feelings predominate, at least in critical times. The flourishing of each person and a just society is not therefore something that can only be known to the Christian, but seems to be accessible to all, whose increasing interdependence in light of the horrible preceding era reveals that problems, including economic ones, must be solved through “understanding and sincere mutual love.” In no way can social order “be sought from the theory of the “laws of the market’ “a purely positivistic by-product of neo-Kantian criticism—nor in the mere formula, every bit as artificial, of ‘full employment,’”vi but must rather be sought in “the conservation, development, and perfection of the human person, helping him to realize accurately the demands and values of religion and culture.”vii One notices therefore an increasing link between capitalism and the authentic flourishing of the human person.

To my knowledge, “capitalism” does not appear again until the social doctrine of Paul VI, but it is important to notice that John XXIII’s thought continues the general trajectory. In Mater et Magistra, he summarizes Rerum Novarum as a critique of economics which divests itself from the moral law (11), the recognition of which would entail a desire for social justice, charity, and a juridical order (38-41). He upholds individual initiative, and argues that where it is lacking, “tyranny prevails.” (87) One notices therefore the discussion of economic matters in keeping with Pius XI (emphasis on social justice and charity), a strong juridical order (Pius XII), and the role of private initiative (Leo XIII and Pius XI). We will see these themes continued and developed within Paul VI and John Paul II.

Increasing Critique

Continuing Pius XII’S “personalist turn,” Paul VI frames his economic discussion in Populorum Progressio within the framework of a “new humanism that will enable modern man to find himself anew by embracing higher values of love and friendship…which will permit the fullness of authentic development.” (20) Within this framework, he condemns a kind of capitalism (which he identifies as a fruit of liberalism) that considers profit as the key motive, competition as the supreme law, and private ownership of the means of production as an absolute right, which has led to excessive suffering, injustices, and fratricidal conflicts. (26) Nevertheless, work within a capitalistic system can still be done in common, bring joy, and unite hearts, minds and wills. (27) In Octagesima Adveniens, however, he is concerned with a “renewal of a liberal ideology” that brings with it economic efficiency, to which even Christians can succumb, but which has at its basis an erroneous affirmation of individual autonomy, personal motivation, and liberty. (35) This ideology is exposed in the system of “technocratic capitalism” which is egotistical, (37) and ultimately grounded on a false anthropological notion. Technocratic capitalism is set alongside “bureaucratic socialism and authoritarian democracy” as equal systemic threats that derive from false ideologies.

We therefore see in Paul VI‘s writings a shift from the prior discussion, in which “capitalism” was strongly associated with liberalism, and juxtaposed against socialism/collectivism. Paul suggests that both a certain kind of capitalism and a certain kind of socialism (previously antitheses) both ultimately deny the transcendence of the human person, whose freedom calls her to ―go beyond‖ every ideology and bring to every historical process truly human values. Any capitalistic system that does not take into account nor make possible the integral development of the human person (spiritual, corporeal, moral, material, psychological, etc.) is not acceptable. John Paul continues this “Pauline” trajectory, while specifying what the magisterium means by “capitalism.”

In Laborem Exercens, he provides an account of the subjective meaning of work, through which and by which the person determines and fulfills himself in relation to others, and whose labor, as an expression of and constitutive part of his humanity, must always take precedence over capital. (6) It was early capitalism that denied the priority of the person and her labor over capital, and this reversal, expressed both in collectivism and capitalism, presupposed a way of looking at economics marked by the “premises of materialistic economism,” (7) which can be a “theoretical” ground for either capitalism or collectivism. John Paul recognizes that “capitalism” has a definite “historical meaning as a system” that is opposed to communism or socialism, but he argues that the error of early capitalism can be repeated anytime that “man is treated on the same level as the whole complex of the material means of production.” (7) Thus, any system that adopts the reversal of order between man as the effective subject of work and its creator and man as a mere instrument of production can be called capitalism. (7) John Paul II therefore argues that the problem of Pope Leo‘s time was that the whole liberal socio-political system was based on “economistic premises,” which reversed this order. History interprets the “class struggle” as one of an ideological conflict of liberalism as expressed in capitalism, and Marxism as expressed in socialism, but both ideologies share the failure to recognize the priority of labor over capital.

In the modern world today, he warns of the dangers of “neo-capitalism or collectivism” which can, based on the experience of the past, effectively safeguard workers‘ conditions, provide proper social legislation, and allow associations, but which can easily fall prey to “ideological or power systems” which allow “flagrant injustices” to persist. (8) The same error of early capitalism can be expected if economic thinking starts from the improper theoretical (materialistic philosophy) or practical (economistic way of thinking) starting points. (13) It is evident that John Paul II, following Paul VI, does not simply speak of capitalism as a set of conditions or characteristics, but argues with it from a more explicitly philosophical point of view.

He continues this philosophical trajectory in Solicitudo Rei Socialis, where he provides more specific insights about the kind of system that might be acceptable. The right to economic initiative is upheld (15), since its denial ultimately disregards human subjectivity and creates dependence, and its suppression is likened to the “dependence” of the worker-proletariat in “capitalism.” (15) It is interesting to note the use of the word “proletariat” with regard to capitalism, and the accompanying discussion of the “liberal capitalist West” and the “Marxist collectivist East,” both towards which the Church “adopts a critical attitude.” (21) Both systems need updates and change, in order to promote the integral development of peoples and society. Once again, “economism” is rejected, since development cannot occur simply through the new accumulation of goods (28), and there is a sharp critique of “superabundance” in the capitalistic west, which manifests itself in a culture of consumerism, gratification, consumption, and waste. (28) Having critiqued both liberal capitalism and communism, John Paul II points out that Catholic social doctrine does not offer a “third way” between the two, but that it offers tools with which one can transcend both systems in a truly international outlook. (41)

The increasingly strong critique of modern liberal capitalism is repeated in Centesimus Annus, which begins by drawing parallels between the “unbridled capitalism” of Leo XIII‘s time and the modern condition, both characterized by abuses of women, children, working conditions, hygiene in the workplace, and fair pay. (8) He points out that especially in the Third World, which is often at the mercy of the developed nations, there exist the “human inadequacies of capitalism,” (33) which also manifest themselves in the developed countries. The struggle against such inadequacies [notice that the struggle is now one against inadequacies of capitalism!] does not propose a socialist alternative [which turns out to be state capitalism (35)], but what John Paul II calls a “market economy,” or a society of “free enterprise,” marked by participation, free work, business, a role for the market, and private property. (42) In this “new capitalism” the state and all of society has the goal of pursuing and defending “those collective goods, which among others, constitute the essential framework for the legitimate pursuit of personal goals on the part of each individual.” (40) Capitalism is to be rejected if by this is understood an “economic sector which is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality.” (42) There is a danger of a “radical capitalistic ideology.” (43)

From this brief survey, at least three trends associated with the discussion of “capitalism” by the Catholic social tradition become evident. First, capitalism, as an economic system, is not a value-neutral system, which operates on the basis of self-evident and self-sufficient economic laws. Rather, if there are “laws” that govern capitalism, these can never be separated from morality, and in fact, are always already based on a prior philosophical or moral conception—such as rationalism, economism, individualism, materialism, practical atheism, liberalism, etc. These philosophical and moral systems in turn regulate and govern the practical decisions about the regulation of and structure of capitalism. Second, the tradition strongly emphasizes the need to order capitalism (and any economic system) in a manner that respects and is grounded in a higher order. This relation of the economy to a higher order is expressed in different ways by the popes. The creation account of Genesis functions centrally for John Paul II in LE; natural law functions in a central manner in RN and QA; the “divine law of harmony” grounds social order for Pius XII; the paschal mystery grounds Christian humanism in PP and OA; and the later works of John Paul II (SRS and CA) focus on the nature of the human person. Common to all these ways of referring economic teachings to a higher order is an optimism that, in spite of the misery of a particular situation, it is truly possible to bring about a just system.

Holy Week, Absence, and Anticipation

2011-04-21T11:48:00.003-04:00

It's been a very long time since I've posted. Perhaps the world of doctoral studies can have that effect on a person. The long, deep, hidden immersion into a life that, by all external appearances, can be misunderstood and questioned about its validity or "productivity," or application to real life. But then again, didn't the Lord Jesus live this hidden life for thirty years? Not that I'm comparing the life of a doctoral student to the hidden life of Christ--manual labor is not intellectual labor; the intellectual life poses temptations to pride perhaps unparalleled by any other way of life--but I've always liked to think that perhaps the more fruitful reflections on the life of Christ might be found by taking a starting point from the fact that 90% of his life is unknown to us.

Holy Thursday--the hiddenness; the isolation; the suffering; the pain; the frustration; the overwhelming anxiety; the anticipation of death: the "great desire" to eat this Last supper with us; so the Triduum is here. So Lent comes to an end. So death is imminent. And Life again triumphs; life again transforms; life again conquers. And so does hope and joy.

Random musings in the midst of a paper...

The Ukraine

2010-06-04T15:11:00.002-04:00

Latin-Rite Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Lviv, Ukraine (Former Lwow, Poland)

George Weigel, in his recent column, and others, have noted the new fears that are rising in Ukraine. For example, Rev. Borys Gudziak, the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, has reported harrassment and possible surveillance on the part of the Ukrainian state police. What it his "suspicious activity?" Presumably, he is being watched because he is the head of the university from which many students participated in the Orange Revolution--the peaceful revolution that promised sweeping democratic reforms five years ago.

I had an opportunity to visit Lviv in 2006, just after the Orange Revolution, and was impressed byt he new found freedom--especially the increasing ability of the Greek Catholic Church (in the Ukraine) to express itself freely and without fear. For over fifty years, the five million members of this Church found themselves as members of the largest illegal religious body int he world--and faced great persecution from the Soveit regime.

Unfortunately, under the new government of the Ukraine, many of the changes brought about by the Orange Revolution are slowly disappearing, with a new state crackdown on religious liberty.

Let's all pray for the triumph of freedom and civil rights in the Ukraine. I think of my friends whom I met there, who struggle with the hardships of daily life in this former Soviet republic, now coupled with the struggles of trying to live out their faith freely and without fear or intimidation. Yuriy, if you are reading this, know that you are in my prayers.

Unfair Journalism

2010-05-07T23:50:00.003-04:00

Here's what I have to say to the Park Record article from last Wednesday:

As a native Parkite, and one who hopes to return one day to our beautiful mountain town, I continue to follow news, articles, and events in Park City when the time allows. I was dismayed recently to find the article entitled, “Park City Priest Slams Catholic Church.” The editorial choice for the title of the article was very poor. Fr. Bussen’s comments do not “slam” the Catholic Church, and the title is an insincere attempt to perpetuate the false images of the Roman Catholic Church as some international institution of organized sexual immorality and crime (as Christopher Hitchens has recently suggested).

Admittedly, the Catholic Church has faced many difficulties in recent times. Most shameful of these are the recurring revelations of sexual abuse of both boys and girls by a minority of Catholic clergymen along with their accomplice and enabling bishops, who for too many years had turned a blind eye to the crimes, rather than dismissing pedophile priests from their ministry and convicting them to prison. What the US Catholic Church went through in 2002 beginning with the revelations of sexual abuse in Boston has now occurred in European countries, and has provided much fodder for the international press, such as the New York Times, which is often all too eager to portray that Catholic Church as an outdated, unprogressive, morally hypocritical and power-driven organization.

Facts, however, cannot be changed. The sexual abuse of minors is not a “Catholic” phenomenon, and especially not a result of the priestly requirement of celibacy for Latin-rite Catholic priests. It is a global scourge affecting all sectors of society, socio-economic classes, religious denominations and races. It is estimated that as many as thirty nine million Americans are victims of childhood sexual abuse, and that upwards of sixty percent of perpetrators are relatives. Only about two percent of perpetrators of sexual abuse are identified as Catholic priests, and most of these cases occurred between thirty and fifty years ago, a time of poor seminary training and massive changes within the Church. According to the 2009 United States Catholic bishops’ audit, there were six cases of priestly abuse within the nearly 65,000,000 member U.S. Catholic Church. The scourge of sexual abuse is a societal phenomenon, the causes of which can be attributed to a complex variety of factors ranging from the prevalence of pornography and sexually promiscuous materials in the media, to the breakdown of the nuclear family. In reality, the Catholic Church today is one of the safest environments for a child today.

The scandal of sexual abuse among Catholic clergy is rightly just that—a scandal. People expect holy and virtuous behavior on the part of the leaders of a Church. While a minority of priests and bishops have committed sins that cry out to heaven by perpetrating crimes and covering them up, the vast majority of leaders of the Catholic Church, beginning with Pope Benedict XVI, have exhibited the prudence and justice needed to purge the Church of pedophile priests. Pope Benedict, since the 1980’s, has shown a resolved commitment in the Church to root out pedophile priests—through the expansion of the process of applying canonical penalties, to priestly dismissals and harsh words, such as those to the Irish bishops in a March 20th letter: “You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals.”

Blaming the pope for covering up abuse without checking the facts, and setting up a “pope” versus “local church” dichotomy that has been enhanced through the recent Park Record article, does not help an honest reader come to a reasonably informed decision, but seeks to manipulate her into accepting a pre-conceived and false opinion. Such journalism is repugnant, dishonest, and simply unfair.

Jason Evert Coming

2010-05-03T13:20:00.004-04:00

For anybody who is in the Fort Wayne or South Bend areas, please consider the following, with which I will pretty much be busy with during the next week:

sexYOUality: Valuing the Gift

an evening for teens and young adults

May 5th, 7:00 p.m., Holy Cross College (Pfeil Center), South Bend

May 6th, 7:00 p.m., University of Saint Francis (North Campus Auditorium), Fort Wayne

Jason is a staff apologist with Catholic Answers, a non-profit organization
dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith through all forms of media.
He speaks to over 100,000 teens and young adults around the world each
year, presenting the truth and power of the gift of human sexuality in an
honest and direct way, challenging teens to live authentic chastity.

High school teens and parents won’t want to miss this.

Co-Sponsored by the Offices of Family Life & Youth MInistry www.diocesefwsb.org 260.422.4611

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

2010-04-10T23:21:00.003-04:00

+ Lech Kaczynski + and Pope Benedict XVI

This morning began with a sad phone call from my mother, informing me that the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and the top officials of the Polish government were tragically killed in a plan crash near Smolensk, Russia. They were on their way to pay their respects to the 20,000+ Polish officers, clergymen, and intelligentsia who were killed by the Soviet army in 1940 near Katyn.

Among those who died in Katyn in 1940 were two of my great uncles, as well as my great grandfather, who was killed earlier by the Bolsheviks near the same area. Now, Poland has suffered another tragedy, and Katyn will forever be associated with dark times in the history of the Polish nation. president Kaczynski has paid the ultimate tribute, having given his very life, in memory of those who died in honor of their country and who died as patriots to defend Poland against the tyranny of Soviet domination. [A fact usually unknown and completely ignored by the West]

Kaczynski was a noble man, a just man, and a true patriotic president, who lived out his Roman Catholic faith through the political commitments he made. A staunch supporter of a free and democratic, modern Poland, he was nevertheless opposed to achieving this goal if it meant bowing down to the secularism of the European Union or the expansionist aims of the mob politics of Putin's Russia. He recognized that Poland finds itself in a very fragile situation, on the borderlands (as it has always been) between Russia and the West, and therefore needs to maintain a strong democratic presence of its own in it region.

Kaczynski often made public pilgrimages to major shrines, such as to the Black Madonna in Czestochowa, and was not ashamed of being seen praying in public, and asking for the guidance of Our Lady, who is the Queen of Poland. He has the occasion to meet multiple times with Pope Benedict, who encouraged him to keep the faith in the public square, as Poland seeks to navigate a delicate path, being a member of the EU, while seeking to be faithful to its own cultural heritage (which the rest of Europe has long forsaken).

For these reasons, his death is a great loss to the future of Poland--the Civic Platform party, a pro-Russian, pro-EU party to which the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk belongs, will probably only gain ground, as it has now lost one of its fiercest and most vocal critics. We can only pray that Kaczynski's death might inspire a new wave of patriotism in Poland, and encourage young Poles, especially politicians, to follow the example of Kaczynski, knowing that it is, indeed, possible to be a good Catholic and a good politician, and that sometimes this requires taking the hits, sacrificing, and yes...even paying with your life.

We can take consolation, knowing that it is the Feast of Divine Mercy, and on the eve of this feast, we can beg Our Lord to accept the soul of President Kaczynski, his wife, and the 94 other passengers of the airplane (including two bishops and four priests) into their eternal rewards.

Ora Pro Nobis

2010-04-02T20:04:00.002-04:00

Today marks the five year anniversary of the passing of our beloved Holy Father, John Paul the Great. How fitting it is that this anniversary also falls on Good Friday!

I will never forget John Paul's last celebration of Good Friday--too sick and unable to move to be able to personally celebrate the via crucis. So he sat in his chapel, clinging to the crucifix, and participating via live feed--but more importantly, he participated by uniting his own burden, his own way of the cross, to the salvific and redemptive act of Christ on the cross. It was in these final moments of his life that we saw the man unvelied--a man whose busy, active life was always sustained by and given to the service of the glorious cross of Christ Jesus.

May we always have the courage to cling to this cross, and follow the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the order that runs my alma mater--ave crux, spes unica.

May this Good Friday and Paschal Triduum lead us through the cross to the resurrection, and help us to daily live this mystery in our own lives.

2010-01-15T14:29:00.000-05:00

Test

JPII Tiara?

2009-12-23T20:33:00.002-05:00

So I was talking to Fr. Erik today, who informed me that apparently John Paul II was given a tiara! I have done some research, and it looks like Fr. Z posted on this about two years ago, so I will only include the picture. It was given to him by the Hungarian church in 1981, an obvious sign of devotion to the Roman pontiff on the part of that (at that time) greatly persecuted Church. What many people are not aware of, is that JPII, as Bishop of Krakow,, regularly clandestinely ordained priests for Hungary and Czechoslovakia during the time of communist repression. Perhaps this gift was one expression of thanksgiving to him not only for his witness as pope, but also for his secret aid that he had offered for decades through covert ordinations and border smuggles.

Updates

2009-12-22T17:07:00.006-05:00

The big news this weekend was, of course, the declaration by Pope Benedict XVI of a number of (famous) new venerables--two who are Polish: our beloved John Paul II, as well as the martyr, Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, who was murdered gruesomely by the SB (Polish equivalent of the KGB) in 1984. For Poles, these two men are national heroes, who stand as witnesses to the truth about human freedom.

Both John Paul II and Fr. Popieluszko, in the particular way in which God was calling them, stood for the inherent dignity and truth about man that, no matter what external force can take away, human freedom cannot be suppressed, and is a basic and intrinsic right given by God. Whenever reflecting on the (typically modern) suppression of human freedom by external forces, I recall the words of Chesterton:

Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them." (G.K.'s Weekly, April 28, 1928)

While communism sought to offer freedom to the proletariat by seeking to address the alienation of man from his labor and capital, Wojtyla and Popieluszko (the latter through his chaplaincy of Solidarnosc) proclaimed the truth that true freedom cannot be had apart from the truth about the human being. Who is man? Why is he free? Why does his freedom surpass that passing and illusory freedom promised by the authroities? Both proclaimed that true freedom comes from God, is an inalienable part of being created inHis image and likeness, and that if we fail to protect the inherent dignity of each human being, and his right to freedom, everything else that was meant to liberate man will ultimately lead to his enslavement. And so these two Polish priests suffered as a result of their bold challenges to the system and proclamation of the Gospel. Both were stalked by the secret police, both were followed and placed under surveillance, yet both also persevered in their peaceful witness to the truth.

"Oppose evil with good." This was Fr. Popieluszko's motto, and this desire to always do the good was what drove the communist authorities crazy in their dealings with Wojtyla. Two different men, two different cities, and two different generations--yet both men were incorruptible and ultimately paid the price, while conquering the evil which they opposed. Wojtyla was systematically opposed, yet caused fear in the authorities. The authorities feared Popieluszko, and could only resort to kidnapping him, beating him multiple times, and throwing him into a river to squelch his message of freedom, joy, and peace to the people of Poland.

Needless to say, I think we have much to learn from the example of these two (soon to be) saints--although we enjoy the "freedoms" of our country, we do struggle against secular humanism which ultimately fails to address the truth about man in the same way that commusim did. For the truth about man transcends all political systems, all material values, and all economic markets--we are made for eternity, and our freedom to choose goodd derives from the ability to participate in the work of God, and in doing so, to become more of who we are meant to be.

This becoming who we are meant to be is, of course, one work of the liturgy upon us--which leads me to today's update. We are now in Utah for Christmas, and were able to visit our favorite church (where we were united in Matrimony), the Cathedral of the Madeleine. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the new Benedictine setup on the altar--an arrangement that Pope Benedict has praised in his book, Spirit of the Liturgy. The altar crucifix helps the people call to mind that sacrifice that is being re-presented, and reminds the priest of the saving work in which he is participating--without the distractions of the congregation. All are united around the crucifix of Our Lord, the true Light of the world, to whom we all pray ad orientem.

In addition to this new setup, I was blown away by the cathedral's new vestments. I don't know who made them (yet), but they certainly look a bit like St. Bede's studio in Australia. Fine, nobly simple vestments are faithful to the Church's tradition of honoring Christ, present in the priest and the Eucharist, and give God his due--hey, you wouldn't show up to a wedding wearing a t-shirt. When the priest wears vestments that are beautiful, rich, lavish, yet nobly simple, we are reminded of the great mystery that is taking place--a fitting reminder for the Advent season--Jesus Christ, the redeemer of mankind, comes to us to offer Himself to us in an intimate communion of love. We receive the grace of God and truly become (more of a) new creation in Christ. The beauty of the liturgy--the sights, sounds, smells, and noises sanctifies our senses and increases in us the ability to perceive the world throguh divine eyes--leading to an increase of what JPII called the "peace of the interior gaze," a way of seeing the world that leads to true intimace with God and others. Videri sequitur esse, as JPII has said in the theology of the body.

Indeed, John Paul II provides a hermeneutic of proper vision that can help one understand the right disposition needed towards God and other human beings. In taking human embodiment very seriously, John Paul points to the central role that vision plays in manifesting a proper stance toward God and the world. “The look expresses what is in the heart. The look, I would say, expresses man as a whole.” Commenting on the axiom operari sequitur esse (operation follows being), John Paul II notices Christ seeking to show that “man ‘looks’ in conformity with what he is: intueri sequitur esse (looking follows being).” Thus, the inner state of the human being, his stance toward God, is made manifest through the way the person looks at the world and people around him. The reality of sin, concupiscence, “has the effect that in the interior, in the ‘heart,’ in man and woman’s interior horizon, the meaning of the body proper to the person itself is obscured.” One can choose to see the other in conformity with the spousal meaning of the body, in which each human being is seen with a fullness of vision within the full dimension of his or her subjectivity.

In order, therefore, to live in right relation with others, one must recapture the ability to see in a way that is in conformity with the deepest truths about the human person. It is necessary to acquire a vision of the world and of other human beings, in their relation to God, through an “inner dimension of a share in the vision of the Creator Himself.” Saint Paul wrote, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” Thus, one must acquire a way of looking at the world, which expresses the purity of the interior of the person. Such purity leads to the “peace of the interior gaze, which creates precisely the fullness of the intimacy of persons.” Thus, human intimacy, right relationships between persons, is established on the basis of a proper way of looking.

Kudos to liturgies that help to elevate our senses and enable us to grow in our ability to perceive the world with the divine gaze. By gazing upon the newborn Christ, the baby in the manger, may we all grow in our ability to see the world the way it ought to be seen.

The Soul of the Woman

2009-11-30T15:57:00.003-05:00

Jan Vermeer, Martha and Mary

One of my favorite stories told by our belvoed Bishop D'Arcy (and he likes to tell a lot of stories!) is the account of his ad limina visit with Pope John Paul II a few years before his passing. Bishop asked the pope about some of the cultural issues facing our American society, especially the issues related to the challenges to marriage and the family. In a great impersonation of JPII's hard Polish accent, Bishop D'Arcy quotes the pope as saying, "It is necessary to understand the soul of the woman."

How true is this!? So many of the very things that were meant to "liberate" women have actually only led to their entrapment and their objectification as a result of the lust of men. Recently, I ran across a great speech entitled "Feminine Identity: Challenge and Quest," given by one of my new favorite people, Msgr. Cormac Burke (formerly a judge of the Roman Rota), in which he discusses the necessity of understanding the truth about femininity, which I actually think can apply to all of us during this Advent season.

He notices:

Love and life and creativity go together. One of the major impoverishments of our value-free world is that we are no longer artists, no longer creative in any true sense. What sort of creativity can spring from a life-view which refuses to envision limitless beauty, goodness, love, life, glory, generosity - or their opposites?

During Advent, we are forced (especially by the readings during the liturgy), to focus on the fact that we will die, we will be judged, and one day Christ will return as a triumphant mercifully just Judge. Are we preparing our lives for this? Are we living in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces in such a manner that we rejoice in, and respect, the dignity of work---not only of our material work, but the work of our person--the recognition that each of us is a project that is to be made by God's grace through our human action. We are true artists, and ought to be always aware that each on of our acts is either helping create a beautiful picture, contributing to a beautiful masterpiece, or is either tarnishing, obscuring the glory for which God has created us.

Therefore:

Home needs to be remade. To be homemakers is one of the highest ideals for both men and women, especially today. It draws them on to true personal fulfilment, and involves them in the great enterprise of rehumanizing our modern world.

Burke notices that this work of art called life begins in the home--the first school of life and of love for each of us. It is in our homes that we must, as both women and men find the opportunity and blessed occasion to become who we ought to be--through the exercise of charity in our actions and way of treating one another. The way I scold my child, the way I speak to my wife, the way I welcome visitors in my home helps me to humanize society, or dehumanize it at the most fundamental level. A key to this is the confidence that the woman has in the home, and the affirmation which she receives:

Yes, indeed, for we have gone through a century in which woman has stepped down from her pedestal, has cast away her throne and her crown, and preferred to have the democratic right of being just one guy more.

Burke notices the ravages of feminism. But why has woman become "just one guy more?" Many times it is because a man who is unwilling, unable, or clueless as to how to live authentic masculinity treats a woman as just one guy more. A man must recognize the calling to cherish, affirm, build up, and respect the great dignity that a woman has. The sweetheart whom he has married has become the mother of the future of the human race. Who would not bow down in awe in admiration of such a great calling and vocation?

If this richness of the home is not built up, we will (as we are) continue to face a dehumanization and demoralilzation of society:

"...a dehumanized, devalued, civilization where, having stupidly mortgaged our life's possibilities, sinking them in the acquisition of material things, we see society totter on the verge of bankruptcy. In a frenzy of accumulating possessions and experiences, we have pawned or jettisoned the treasure of selfhood and self-gift, and now we are tempted to think there is no way of redeeming what has been so recklessly thrown away. Oh, but there is. It will take time, but there is a way to redemption, and it depends very principally on woman's proudly recovering her feminine identity."

So I think that we all have some thinking to do about what John Paul II might have meant when he said that it is necessary to "understand the soul of the woman." I am convinced that if men and women seek to open heartedly and sincerely understand the opposite sex, we will be well on our way to building up a true communion of persons within our families, the Church, and the greater social order.

Finally

2009-11-28T19:58:00.003-05:00

Ad te levavi animam meam; Deus meus in te confido. Non erubeseam: neque irrideant me inimici mei; etenim universi qui te exspectant; non confudentur. Vias tuas domine demonstra mihi: et semitas tuas edoceme. Gloria patri.

All my heart goes out to thee; my God, I trust in thee, do not belie my trust. Let not my enemies boast of my downfall. Who ever waited for thy help, and waited in vain? V. Lord, let me know thy ways,teach me thy paths (Ps 24:1–3).

Advent is finally here. It's been a crazy fall, and I am looking forward very much to a quiet, reflective time of preparation for the nativity of Our Lord.

Advent is also a time to think about the end times...and there are possible a lot f ends before us. Right now, the ND Stanford game just came on. Is it going to be the end of the Charile Weis era? I guess we will see. What a good way to begin Advent, though. The football season ends. Time to look forward to more quiet weekends...We'll see the results of the end of our season soon...

Three Saint Joe's

2009-11-16T23:17:00.002-05:00

This diocese has at least six St. Joseph Catholic Schools! Sometimes I myself cannot keep straight which Saint Joseph's Catholic School we are at in a given week.

Today, we were in Decatur, IN at St Joseph Catholic School, which is attached to Saint Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, a beautiful, yet modern, art nouveau church from the 1940's. I think it is a great example of a very short period of modern, post-WWII architecture that actually witnessed many beautiful and traditional edifices. Another one of these is Holy Cross Church in South Bend, IN.

Anyway, not too much to say right now. It's late, and tomorrow and Wednesday, we're off to another Saint Joseph's--this time in South Bend.

Habemus...

2009-11-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

An announcement is imminent. We will have a new Ordinary for the Dicoese of Fort Wayne-South Bend tomorrow at 10:15 E.S.T. The press conference will be in Fort Wayne at the Archbishop Noll Center, and then again at 2:15 p.m. at Saint Matthew Cathedral School in South Bend. This is truly an event that happens "once in a generation."

We'll see what happens...

Patience is a Virtue

2009-10-30T16:01:00.002-04:00

Any comments about the re-design? Please be patient as I tweak things here and there to fully update the blog according to the signs of the times...

Dolan Blog

2009-10-30T14:32:00.002-04:00

Today I was happy to discover that Archbishop Dolan is blogging with a new blog entitled "The Gospel in the Digital Age." He has just published a wonderful op-ed piece that was refused by the NY Times. We need to pray that shepherds like him will remain strong in the faith, and that God will grant the U.S. Church more strong and ardent defenders of the faith in the public forum!

Zzzzzzz....

2009-10-28T01:54:00.004-04:00

Has it really been over a month since I have last posted? Sad. But maybe not really. It's at crazy, busy times like this that we find happiness in carrying out the signified will of God, a concept very dear to me, and taught to me by one of my beloved friends who is a monk at Our Lady of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Huntsville, UT. Since September, we've been:

--Presenting our First Comes Love chastity education program at about fifteen schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

--Spoken at a Mother-Daughter prayer breakfast at a local Catholic high school.

--Spoken to a few sophomore retreats of the said Catholic high school.

--Working on a presetnation on the theology of the family for Saint Ann's Parish, in Augusta, MI

--Spoke on chastity at Holy Cross College, Notre Dame, IN

--Spoken to Saint Matthew's Co-cathedral youth group

--Helped run the Day of Formation in Bioethics with Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

--Trying to sleep with a one year old who doesn't like to snooze in the house

--Trying to catch up on sleep

--Did I mention being tired?

Hopefully, I will find more time to post on the many exciting things going on, both here and abroad. Bear with me...

Eucharistic Adoration

2009-09-09T12:48:00.004-04:00

Raphael's Disputation Concerning the Holy Eucharist

Fr. Richard McBrien has a column this week in which he expresses his belief that the rise of eucharistic adoration in recent years is "doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward."

He makes two valid points, but then he misses the point with his conclusion:

1) Eucharistic adoration needs to be liturgically grounded.

2) The Mass provides all that a Catholic needs, spiritually and sacramentally.

This emphasis on the centrality of the liturgy in the life of the Church is a correct understanding of Vatican II's teaching that the "Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith." Everything that we do as Catholics flows from the Eucharist and returns to it. Is not the Eucharist our participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ? We participate in the radical and transformative event which stands at the center of human history. We take part in the sacrifice of Christ whose passion has redeemed the us, redeemed all of creation--and which opens for us the possiblity of participating in the Trinitarian life as God's adopted children. Our entire life must be eucharistic--recognizing our need for redemption, and being grateful to our God for having "loved the world so."

Precisely because the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, ought it not to be revered not only within Mass, but also outside of Mass? Indeed, if the liturgy is truly for the "life of the world," then is not the world to also be affected by it? If this is true, then our participation in devotions, such as Eucharistic adoration, is ordered to the radical truth about the liturgy--that in it, we encounter the work of the Trinitarian God who has sanctified all of creation. This is why we can enter into a chapel outside of Mass, and in an encounter with what appears to be a host, give thanks to the Eucharistic Lord for having redeemed matter and all of creation. Much more could be said here...

Another point that the column misses is love. The Eucharist is the sacrament of charity, by which those who receive it with the right intention and properly disposed become friends of God, partakers in the divine nature. Christ's love for us did not end on the cross--it continues by our participation in that event in each and every Mass. It continues by our participation in Eucharistic adoration, in which Christ, through the ministry of His Church, makes himself present for us to contemplate. We can come to him as friends, and speak and converse with Him about our lives. Although he is closer to us than we are to ourselves, He waits for us in a sepcial way in the Eucharist, and by making an act of the will to come and be present with him in adoration, we ourselves express our love for Him. The great mercy of God--that by coming to spend time with Him in adoration, we ourselves grow in grace and virtue, because we become who we are by our actions. If we choose to spend time with Him, to take time from our busy schedules in order to be with Him, our intentions are purified, our hearts are enlarged, and our will is strengthened. We recognize the primacy of God's love in our lives--and by doing so, we are led more perfectly to participate in the Eucharistic liturgy, in which the Christ whom we contemplate visually and eat spiritually in adoration enters into us physically, through our sacramental and spiritual eating in Holy Communion.

If one understands the love and mercy of God for us, He comes to understand the great gift of Eucharistic adoration, and its intrinsic connection to the Eucharistic liturgy.

On a side note, just because Fr McBrien is at Notre Dame, his views are not indicative at all of the attitude towards adoration on campus. Thanks to great priests such as Fr. Kevin Russeau, CSC and Fr Richard Warner, CSC, Eucharistic adoration at Notre Dame now totals about 50 hours a week, and is steadily increasing!

Gay Marriage vs. 1st Amendment

2009-09-04T13:51:00.001-04:00

Well put. I'd like to keep my first amendment rights!

Pius is Awesome

2009-09-02T15:39:00.004-04:00

Pius XII, of Happy Memory

Recently, I have been doing a lot of historical research on the theology of marriage and the family, for a series of presentations that I will be giving at a parish in Michigan, this coming November. So, I've happily been reading a lot of the popes on the topic.

A beautiful theme that emerges and is clearly seen is the continuity of the Church's present teaching about marriage and the family, with the teaching from past centuries. Many people like to argue that with Vatican II there was a radical break with the past teaching on marriage, especially as regards the teaching on the traditional "ends." While this argument may be acceptable to a degree, I think it needs to be much mroe nuanced. The teaching on the ends never disappeared from documents such as Gaudium et Spes 48-52, nor did it disappear from the huge corpus of JPII. Rather, I think it has been enhanced and made more palpable, robust, and beautifully articulated, through the adoption of personalistic language, and the insistence on the centrality of conjugal love, which is of its nature orderd to both "ends" of marriage.

I particularly love this quote from Pope Pius XII in his Address to Midwives: "Happiness in marriage is in direct proportion to the mutual respect of the partners, even in their intimate relations; not that they regard as immoral and refuse what nature offers and what the Creator has given, but because this respect, and the mutual esteem which it produces, is one of the strongest elements of a pure love, and for this reason all the more tender."

I think many times in the Church today, even among "faithful" Catholics, and perhaps due in part to the popularity of the theology of the body, there is a widespread curiosity about the morality of "x" act or the acceptability of "y" act. While these discussions are needed, and moral theologians need to articulate with clarity the "limits," a focus on legalism within sex can often obscure the deeper meaning of the conjugal act. The Church needs to articulate clearly and without hesitation the morality of specific acts, but perhaps it would also be good to place an emphasis and focus on the respect and tenderness between spouses, and particuarly as this can be expressed in the conjugal act. Pius' insistence on tenderness is not unlike Karol Wojtyla's in Love and Reponsibility, where tenderness is a necessary element of interpersonal relations, and a safeguard against a utilitarian mindset--which can even subconsciously enter into the dynamic between two spouses.

Dives in Misericordia

2009-08-31T16:42:00.002-04:00

Ted Kennedy

The weekend was troubling. It is certainly true that Senator Edward Kennedy was a giant. There is no doubt that he has left his mark forever on American politics. Certainly he stood for important causes and values. Yet one thing that I cannot understand was his continued support for, rather, active crusade, for unlimited abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and gay marriage.

For all Catholics, this record cannot be ignored, and it ought to certainly leave an uncomforatble distaste in our mouths. The man meant so much, was loved by so many, and is now being hailed by the media and the country as a national hero, and has been buried in Arlington, alongside some of the nation's heroes. Cardinal McCarrick read at his funeral from the correspondence between the senator and the Holy Father.

Here in South Bend, I just learned of another correspondence between the senator and another member of the hierarchy. Bishop John D'Arcy, our belvoed bishop of South Bend and Fort Wayne, was the auxiliary bishop of Boston before he was transferred here. Himself a descendant of the very devout Irish Catholic community in Boston, it comes as no suprise that he knew Senator Kennedy, and many of his friends and colleagues. He told us today at staff lunch about some of thier last correspondences, in which the bishop assured the senator of his prayers for him and for his family.

These touching personal stories, and an examination of conscience on my part, leaves me with two things to say:

1) Kennedy's legacy will be remembered for the good, the bad, and the ugly. His death signals the death of an era, an era of confused Catholic politics, which came about as a result of the Hyannisport Congress in 1964 when the Kennedy family met with leading moreal theologians of the time, Fr Charles Curran, Fr Richard McCormick, Fr Milhaven, and others who justified to him that one could in fact hold the teachings of the Church in private, and separate them from their political actions in the public. Unfortunately, this position, together with that one articulated by Gov. Cuomo in his famous ND speech in 1984, has created the problem we have today, of Catholic politicians who do not act for the common good by placing the teachings of the Church at the forefront of their agendas. Kennedy's sad legacy and horrible record on life issues cannot be forgotten, and must be remembered as a huge taint on his character and public record in office.

2) We must trust in the mercy of God, and remember that the justice of God is also the mercy of God. There is no such thing as the "God of justice" and the "God of mercy." We believe in a God who is merciful, and who in being merciful, manifests his justice as a result of his love, which is wholly Other. We can hope and pray for the senator, and beg God to be merciful on this flawed and deeply misguided man. The mysterious and imperceptible workings of grace can so easily be judged by us, who while recognizing the flaws and horrible consequences of the man's politics, can ourselves be quickly moved to judge his soul.

Let me conclude with some words from von Balthasar's book, Credo, that I think have helpled me sort out my thoughts on the situation:

"The Exalted shares in the authority of the Almighty, for the Father "has given judgment to the Son, that allmay honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. (Jn 5:22)." Which power could be greater than that of judging what is most intimate and most hidden in every human being and allocating to him or her eternal destiny accordingly? Almightiness consists much less in that which human beings imagine it to be, namely, changing things in accordance with one's will--Jesus proved, through his miracles, that he could do that too--than in exerting an influence on the freedom of human hearts without overpowering them. Enticing forth from them, through the mysterious power of grace, their free assent to the truly good.

The Church Fathers used to say that God's grace works not through force bu throguh "persuasion," in that it suggests the choice of the better and gives the weak human will the strength to assent to that out of its own conviction and strength. Up to what point the sinful will can continue to resist this inner force of conviction exerted by the good--perhaps to the very last?--is only something for the Almighty Judge of all hearts to know." (p. 65)

We can pray that God moved Senator Kennedy's will to respond to his grace, given especially in those moments of suffering, difficulty, and proximity to death.

Theology of the Body Explained

2009-08-21T14:15:00.003-04:00

I just discovered a new commentary on the Theology of the Body. One of the only comprehensive commentaries out there in English is Christopher West's Theology of the Body Explained, Michael Waldstein's Introduction to Man and Woman He Created Them.

The one I have found, is unfortunately, in Polish, and is entitled O Jana Pawla II Teologii Ciala (About John Paul II's Theology of the Body). This commentary is unique, as it contains a series of essays by very prominent scholars, including:

Andrzej Szostek, MIC: "Conscience: Witness and Guardian of the Salvific Truth about Man."

Tadeusz Styczen, SDS: "Man's Self Portrait: The Adequate Anthropology of Karol Wojtyla-John Paul II."

Mieczyslaw Krapiec, OP: "The Body as the Constitutive Element of Man."

It promises to be an important and much-needed work. In Poland, the "theology of the body," and John Paul II in general, is taken as a serious theologian and philosopher, whose thought has shaped and directed the future course of the Church. Unfortunately in this country, many people see the "theology of the body" as a popular phenomenon, for the married couples of the parishes throughout the country.

As the essays in this commentary show, however, the thought of the "theology of the body" affects many more areas than just marriage ministry, and needs to be seriously considered by moral theologians and philosophers alike.

I Saw God Today

2009-08-19T13:37:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, much modern popular music is full of immorality, esepcially when it comes to love. Most songs about love are actually about lust, and abotu borken hearts, hurt relationships, and jealousy, anger, and resentment. It is int he country music genre, however, that there continue to exist great songs (although increasginly less!)

I love this song by George Strait, since it is a beautiful reminder of the most important things in life. Very rarely do we have a popular song that affirms the truth of human love, and that children are really a "supreme gift" from God, who blesses a couple with the ability to co-create life with Him! There is nothing more beautiful than a new baby, who can remind us of the innocence, wonder, awe, and childlike attitude that we all ought to have in relation to God, our loving Father.

Our Anniversary

2009-08-18T13:52:00.003-04:00

Our GQ Pose

It is hard to believe that two years ago today was the day of our wedding! how quickly time flies. Although no ontological change took place, a new existence came about when we entered into marriage--it's hard to even imagine what life was like before this!

I married the most beautiful, holy, wonderful, and deep woman who has taught me the ways of the Lord, and encouraged me to be a saint. This is what one of the beautiful aspects of marrying young--to "grow up" together with your best friend, who is also your sister in humanity and your spouse!

Please pray for us as we week to live the reality and truth of Christ's love for us, which is to be a model of His love for the Church, and God's love for creation. Please pray that we may do what John Paul II calls alled marriages to: "Spouses are therefore the permanent reminders to the Church of what happened on the cross." (FC, 13). What a a mystery and a profound calling to live up to!

Objective vs. Subjective Dimensions of Love

2009-08-07T11:04:00.004-04:00

"Tobias and Sarah," Jan Steen (1626-1679)

Throughout the recent Christopher West debates, to which I have already alluded earlier, I think that one element of the Theology of the Body has been left out, although David Schindler alluded to it in his discussion of the objective nature of concupiscence.

I have been reading JPII's commentary on the Song of Songs and the Book fo Tobit, all found in TOB 108-117b. One of John Paul II's beautiful points is the synthesis of these two books, from which he draws out both the objective and the subjective dimensions of marital union as a language of the body confirming the sign of covenant and grace. What struck me in this read through this section of the TOB is John Paul II's repeated insistence on the priority and importance of the objective dimensions of the "truth of living in communion."

He notices that the Song of Songs speaks powerfully of the "subjective dimension of the truth of human hearts," but that the "prayer of the new spouses in Tobit seems certainly to confirm the [objective dimension] in a menner different from the Song of Songs, and also in a manner that is undoubtedly more deeply moving." [116:4]

John Paul's analysis here seems to reflect the Thomistic idea of love as goodwill, which is based on friendship and expressed through concrete acts and tasks. In Love and Responsibility, John Paul II speaks of "love as desire," "love as attraction," "love as friendship/goodwill" and "betrothed love." Here in TOB, it appears that he is continuing the reflection on the interplay and relationship between his "four loves," and shows particular the necessity to fuse the erotic, love as desire, experienced suibjectively within the human heart, and the agapeic love as goodwill. The fusion of these two loves, the purification of desire through goodwill in friendship, results in a deeply moving and beautiful betrothed love. This, John Paul II points out, is the essence of the spirituality of marriage.

It is popular these days to speak of the "spirituality" of things: work, the priesthood, marriage, nature, etc. Rather than giving some sort of banal answer like "the spirituality of marriage consists in making your spouse happy by random acts of kindness," (an answer you could find in countless self-help and therapy books out there), John Paul II proposes that the spirituality of marriage consists in making yourself, with your spouse and for her, a "sacrifice and offering acceptable to the Lord." Yes, through their sexual lives spouses speak a "language of the body," which expresses the total self gift promised in the vows, but also through their entire common existence, spouses are called to speak a "liturgical language." (TOB 117b:3) "In the daily life of the couple, acts become tasks, and tasks acts. These acts--likewise also the obligations--are by nature spiritual, but they are still at the same time expressed by the 'language of the body.'"

Three things come to mind:

1) My fear about West's presentations is a lack of enough emphasis on the objective dimensions of living in a communion of persons. Real love is not just about the beautiful longing, love, and poetic romance expressed in the Song of Songs. Real love also means the performance of conrete tasks, day in and day out, for your spouse, modeled on the love of Christ for His Church. This helps one keep in mind that when the times are tough and the "subjective" element of the "dimension of the heart" might be lacking, this is ok. I think it is important, especially for young Catholic married couples to keep this in mind, since there exists a not too uncommon phenomenon of the "perfect, young, orthodox couple" getting married, then disillusioned, and then seeking an annulment. True love, as expressed by the theology of the body, is not just about speaking the sexual language of the body, but the "liturgical" language of the body.

2) Speaking the "language of the liturgy" with one's body means uniting oneself to the sacrifice of Christ, and to the original covenant of God with man. Man was created as cosmic priest, to rule over himself, and creation, and to say to God, "We offer You these gifts from your own gifts in all and for all." Christ came fully revelaed to man how to live according to this original plan, and as Pope Benedict tells us, we are all called to become "true liturgists of Jesus Christ." This means that we develop a liturgical worldview by which each act we perform becomes sanctified as it is done by God's grace and for His glory. In marriage, the spouses speak this "litrugical language" through their acts of duty and faithfulness to their given tasks, speaking with their acts always the language of tenderness in self-giving love.

3) These points are in radical continuity with the early Wojtyla, who recognized and argued that man fulfills himself through the performance of his own acts, and this is done most fully through the performance of acts in community, as this provides the possibiltiy of living out a gift of self, acting in solidarity with and for others.

Thus, the objective dimension of love, expressed through a living in communion of persons based on speaking a "liturgical language," as expressed in the prayer of Tobit (Tob 8:5-8) needs to always be emphasized by anybody who seeks to popularize the theology of the body, as it does a great disservice to mislead people through an overly optimistic (though admittedly, beautiful) emphasis on the subjective dimension of love in the human heart as experienced by two spouses living according to God's plan.

L'Osservatore Popolano (ie: The common people's observer)

2009-07-17T12:43:00.002-04:00

Here are come further comments about my gripe with LOR. They are spurred on by some confusion people had regarding my original comments abotu the issue.

OK, I don't REALLY think that somebody should burn down L'Osservatore Romano. What I do think is that the editor, Giovanni Maria Vian, needs to be replaced. Why?

1) He, as I mentioned, has come on TV in Italy saying that Obama is not a "pro-abortion president." What this indicates to me is that

1) either he is ignorant of Obama's policies and anti-life record as president, in which case he is simply being a less-than-impressive journalist, who is unable to keep up on international politics;

or 2) he has an agenda by which he is tyring to adopt Obama's tactics of appealing to Catholic voters by trying to downplay the real issues at hand and adopt the rhetoric of "common ground." Unfortunately, there are some issues that are either black or white, and it is impossible to compromise. Thus, the only common ground that we can share with the pro-choice people is the desire to "reduce abortions." The problem is that while claiming that this is their goal, which Obama has said many times, he has also appointed one person after another (the new surgeon general being the latest) who is radically in support of his policies regarding "reproductive rights," which include abortion and contraception. For the editor of the pope's quasi-official newpaper to go on record saying things like he has, speaks to me of something fishy...either he is deliberately trying to sow confusion, and has bought into the European fascination with Obama (or rather, with anybody that is not Bush), or he is simply ignorant of Obama's real record.

2)Vian is right in saying that Obama's first 100 days could have been "worse." They always can be. He could have started a new war with Iran, he could have appointed a much more radical judge to the Supreme Court, he could have pushed for FOCA...

However, Vian made the point specifically about life issues...my point is that actually, Obama's first 100 days mark the most radical changes in policies and issues related to life in the shortest period of time ever. Period. We know that he has appointed pro-choice Catholics to very prominent positions (ie: Health and Human Services secretary, one of the assistants in the same office, the surgeon general, Judge Sotomayor (who while not having a cleaer record on abortion is highly praised by NARAL etc.), Miguel Diaz (who is not pro-choice, but espouses a logically incoherent position realted to life issues), and on and on and on. Not to even mention the speech at Notre Dame (which was also downplayed by the LOR). So the point is, the editor of the Vatican's nespaper has no right to publish such pieces when they are clearly contradictory to the reality, and are simply bait for a liberal media in this country that is only seeking to support Obama and make it appear that faithful, orthodox Catholics are fanatical and radical.

3) About Michael Jackson...rather than praising him and saying things like "His judicial ups and downs following allegations of paedophilia are well known. But no charge, even as bad and shameful, was sufficient to diminish his legend among the millions of fans around the world," if the LOR ought to comment at all, it should focus on the tragedy of his life. The man is a tragic figure who never truly experienced love in his childhood, which led to his many identity crises, and led to his creation of himself as an idol...rather than continuing to treat him as an idol as the rest of the world, Jackson deserves to be treated as a person by somebody. Shouldn't the Church, which upholds the dignity and value of every person, treat him in this manner? Furthermore, ignoring the controversies (ie: "bad and shameful charges") associated with him diminishes the gravity of the immoral acts he may have committed (I say "may," since he was never found guilty, but then again, neither was O.J.)

4) I will withhold further comments about Harry Potter, since I am not qualified to speak about the books or movies, as I have not read them. I do point to the scandal, however, and maintain it as such, that the editor of LOR, which ought to support the work and mission of the Holy Father, is shooting him in the foot. In 2003, Ratzinger said in a letter to a German author, reagrding her critique of Potter, that, "It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly." Ratzinger's point is that the unsupervised and undiscussed acceptance of the content in Harry Potter can work very strongly on a child's imagination, which is innocent and attune to the existence of moral good and evil. This capactiy of every child to possess an awareness of these deep truths, however, must be carefully nurtured and directed by its parents according to the faith, so that it does not develop a thwarted vision of reality. The problem with Harry Potter therefore is not that it really deals with things imaginary, but rather that it imaginatively deals with reality. (How's that for a Chestertonian phrase?)

The point is, if Ratzinger has said something publicly about the issue, the LOR should not contradict him, if it seeks to be faithful to its own mission, among which is:

1 - to reveal and to refute the calumnies unleashed against Rome and the Roman Pontificate;

5 - to inspire and promote the veneration of the august Sovereign and Pontiff;

I'm just pointing out the contradictions between the mission of the paper and its recent activities.

Polish Christian Artist

2009-07-16T14:23:00.001-04:00

Magda Aniol sings a really cool song about John Paul II. The refrain is, "there is nobody better than John Paul II," until the final part of the song (still in rhyme) begins singing "we have a new (pope), Benedict XVI."

I think it is a beautiful example of how so many young people in the so-called "John Paul II" generation in Poland have shown that their faith is not only based on a national/cultural attachment to the "Polish pope," but rather, that the faith is based upon the love of Jesus Christ and His Church, out of which comes a great love for our current (German!) Holy Father.

While obviously the Church in Poland has its own struggles (such as lustration in the post-communist era), one very admirable and beautiful quality about the faith there is its simplicity and fidelity to the Magisterium and its love for the Petrine Ministry. Obviously, not all Catholics in Poland actually take to heart what they externally profess (such is human nature), but if I were to generalize (never a very good thing to do), I would say that the admiration for the Holy Father has to do with his upholding of traditional moral values and the value of the family and relationships based on Christian charity in a community, all essential aspects of the "fully developed and integrated human life" that the communists sought to destroy. Hence, in the pope was (and is) not only the Vicar of Christ and successor of Peter, but more concretely, one who understands that human life can only flourish when emphasis is placed on the true and unadulterated dignity of the human person. In this sprit, I hope to offer some upcoming reflections on the new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate.

Back from Vacation

2009-07-14T12:18:00.002-04:00

John Joseph enjoys the mile-high view!

Sorry about no posts in awhile. We are finally back from vacation, which included a sweeping tour of the West, while visiting family.

We were at the Grand Canyon a few days ago, and today I learn that a man drove off it!

Corpus Christi: Krakow Today

2009-06-16T10:59:00.004-04:00

Cardinal Dziwisz Venerates the Altar at the beginning of Mass
Participants and Onlookers

One of the Stational Altars

Cardinal Macharski

Cardinal Dziwisz Gives the Final Blessing

The tradition of the Corpus Christi procession in Krakow continues in this day, pretty much as it has for centuries. The celebration begins with a Mass celebrated by the Archibishop of Krakow outside of the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Wenceslaus and Stanislaus, on Wawel Hill, and then processes down the hill to four stational altars. The altars are located at the corners fo the main market square, and at each altar, one of the many auxiliary bishops of Krakow preaches and gives a reflection.

This year, the theme was the 30th anniversary of the visit of John Paul II to Poland in 1979, which as Cardinal Dziwisz recently pointed out, was the beginning of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The texts used at the altars were taken from the words of John Paul II to the Poles of thirty years ago, and are certainly as applicable today, as they were then. John Paul II emphasized the relationship between Christ and the history of Poland. Indeed, the very first words of his first encyclical were "Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of Man, is the center of the universe and of history."

With this message, John Paul II arrived in Poland, to the trembling of the communist authorities, and encouraged the people by preaching the truth about the course of human events and of the history of Poland: from its inception, Poland began as a Christian nation with the baptism of Mieszko I, a pagan tribal chief, in 966. From that day, Christianity has survived, flowered, and blossomed in Poland, and has played a role in the very heart and soul of Poland for a longer time than the ancient Orthodoxy of Kievan Rus or Muscovy. With that momentous decision in the backwoods of north central Europe in 966, a Christian nation was born and the blood of the martyrs began to flow through the lifeblood of Poland. This is the truth that the Marxists sought to deny. They sought to understand man through materialistic and economic worldviews, and Poland through the eyes of an anti-religious dialectic. What they failed to account for is the instrinsic connection between the Christian faith of the Poles and the transcendence and dignity of the human person, the capability of the human spirit, and in this case, the Polish spirit, to only understand itself fully through reference to the truth about the good.

This is the message that John Paul II came to preach, and only his words can express it most perfectly:

" It is right to understand the history of the nation through man, each human being of this nation. At the same time man cannot be understood apart from this community that is constituted by the nation. Of course it is not the only community, but it is a special community, perhaps that most intimately linked with the family, the most important for the spiritual history of man. It is therefore impossible without Christ to understand the history of the Polish nation—this great thousand-year-old community—that is so profoundly decisive for me and each one of us. If we reject this key to understanding our nation, we lay ourselves open to a substantial misunderstanding. We no longer understand ourselves. It is impossible without Christ to understand this nation with its past so full of splendour and also of terrible difficulties. It is impossible to understand this city, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, that undertook in 1944 an unequal battle against the aggressor, a battle in which it was abandoned by the allied powers, a battle in which it was buried under its own ruins—if it is not remembered that under those same ruins there was also the statue of Christ the Saviour with his cross that is in front of the church at Krakowskie Przedmiescie. It is impossible to understand the history of Poland from Stanislaus in Skalka to Maximilian Kolbe at Oswiecim unless we apply to them that same single fundamental criterion that is called Jesus Christ.
The Millennium of the Baptism of Poland, of which Saint Stanislaus is the first mature fruit—the millennium of Christ in our yesterday, and today—is the chief reason for my pilgrimage, for my prayer of thanksgiving together with all of you, dear fellow-countrymen, to whom Christ does not cease to teach the great cause of man; together with you, for whom Jesus Christ does not cease to be an ever open book on man, his dignity and his rights and also a book of knowledge on the dignity and rights of the nation.
Today, here in Victory Square, in the capital of Poland, I am asking with all of you, through the great Eucharistic prayer, that Christ will not cease to be for us an open book of life for the future, for our Polish future.

We are before the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In the ancient and contemporary history of Poland this tomb has a special basis, a special reason for its existence. In how many places in our native land has that soldier fallen! In how many places in Europe and the world has he cried with his death that there can be no just Europe without the independence of Poland marked on its map! On how many battlefields has that solider given witness to the rights of man, indelibly inscribed in the inviolable rights of the people, by falling for "our freedom and yours"!
"Where are their tombs, O Po-land? Where are they not! You know better than anyone—and God knows it in heaven" (A. Oppman, Pacierz za zmarlych).
The history of the motherland written through the tomb of an Unknown Soldier!
I wish to kneel before this tomb to venerate every seed that falls into the earth and dies and thus bears fruit. It may be the seed of the blood of a soldier shed on the battlefield, or the sacrifice of martyrdom in concentration camps or in prisons. It may be the seed of hard daily toil, with the sweat of one's brow, in the fields, the workshop, the mine, the foundries and the factories. It may be the seed of the love of parents who do not refuse to give life to a new human being and undertake the whole of the task of bringing him up. It may be the seed of creative work in the universities, the higher institutes, the libraries and the places where the national culture is built. It may be the seed of prayer, of service of the sick, the suffering, the abandoned—"all that of which Poland is made".
All that in the hands of the Mother of God—at the foot of the cross on Calvary and in the Upper Room of Pentecost!
All that—the history of the motherland shaped for a thousand years by the succession of the generations (among them the present generation and the coming generation) and by each son and daughter of the motherland, even if they are anonymous and unknown like the Soldier before whose tomb we are now.
All that—including the history of the peoples that have lived with us and among us, such as those who died in their hundreds of thousands within the walls of the Warsaw ghetto.
All that I embrace in thought and in my heart during this Eucharist and I include it in this unique most holy Sacrifice of Christ, on Victory Square.
And I cry—I who am a Son of the land of Poland and who am also Pope John Paul II—I cry from all the depths of this Millennium, I cry on the vigil of Pentecost:
Let your Spirit descend.

Let your Spirit descend.

and renew the face of the earth, the face of this land.
Amen.

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that fateful day on Victory Square in Warsaw, the victory of truth over falsehood, of freedom over slavery, of transcendence over conformism began, and the history of the world changed forever.

Corpus Chrisit Procession: Krakow 1937

2009-06-16T10:58:00.001-04:00

This is the Corpus Christi Procesison in Krakow in 1937, when Prince Adam Cardinal Sapieha was the Archbishop of Krakow, before World War II. Karol Wojtyla was only 17!

Segments of the (Faithful) Church Working with Obama

2009-06-12T15:15:00.003-04:00

I recently opened up two of the newspapers to which I subscribe: Today's Catholic and the National Catholic Register. Both of the newspapers ran stories that were re-printed from other news agencies, such as the Catholic News Service, and L'Osservatore Romano.

I have almost come to the point of desperation and am tempted toward hopelessness: not only is the American liberal media in a love affiar with President Obama, but so also is the Catholic press, and even the Vatican. Why? Obama has brilliant political strategists: he knows that a slim majority of Catholics voted for him, based on his presentation of social policies and an agenda that fits some aspects of Catholic social teachings. He knows that he needs to maintain and count on support from Catholics in order to further his agenda and goals. So begins the onslaught against faithful Catholics who believe in the Church's teachings on the dignity of each human life, and the hierarchy that accompanies the gravity of certain moral issues in relation to others:

-the Notre Dame affair: a speech through which Obama deludes many Catholics with his conciliatory rhetoric and appealing notion of "common ground" in a politically and socially divided nation. He is met with applause and warm congratulations by Fr. Jenkins, who has demonstrated compelte disregard for millions of Catholics in this nation.

-the appointment of Kathleen Sebelius as the HHS, as well as Alexia Kelley (from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good) as an adviser in this department

-the appointment of Miguel Diaz as the new US Ambassdor to the Vatican. Dr. Diaz was on the Catholics for Obama steering committee, donated $1000 to the Obama campaign, and signed a petition in favor of Sebelius' nomination. He is a Rahnerian theologian who is interested in liberation theology (not that there is anything wrong per se either of the two).

--the nomination of the reverse-racist and liberal Justice Sotomayor for the Supreme Court position.

Why has Obama not selected pro-choice atheists or liberal Protestants for any of these positions? The Catholic Church would be better off.

Two things come to mind.

First, a spiritual persepctive: The devil is at work in our culture and our society, perhaps right now in a way more than ever before. One of the dangerous and effective ways in which the devil works is in small and unnoticeable ways, seemingly insignificant things that, after a period of time, contribute to the downfall of the good and the creation of scandal so as to sow discord. If one looks at the specific choices of these liberal Catholics, we can see the hand of the devil at work. Sure, on the surface, some of these persons will be "nice people," say they are "faithful to the Church," and even claim to be pro-life. But all one has to do is look at the president whom they support, and to whose campaign they have contributed time and money. So as a good friend of mine who is a priest said to me not too long ago, we would definitely see a great rise in the influence of evil working subtly if Obama were to be elected. To put it logically:

The devil hates the Catholic Church and will seek to destroy it.
The Catholics chosen for these posts support policies detrimental to the witness of the truths proclaimed by the Church.
These persons have been chosen by Obama.
Obama is cooperating with the work of the devil.

I am not saying Obama is possessed, but that there are certainly evil influences guiding his actions. I think this is his deliberate strategy, because he knows that the more he can break up the Catholic Church, the more divided will be the voice of opposition to his abysmal pro-life record.

Second, why in the world can't the Catholic media undestand this?

For weeks now, the editor of the L'Osservatore Romano has been defending his soft stance on the Obama administration's policies, even going so far as to say on Italian television that "I don't believe that Obama is a pro-abortion president."

Are you kidding me? Do you actually live in the United States? Why in the world is the editor of the quasi-officialVatican newspaper even involving himself in making political statements like this?

Then, I find out that Archbishop Pietro Sambi thinks Diaz is "an excellent choice because he knows very well the United States and because of his background in the Catholic Church." Furthermore, he thinks "Latin Americans should be very proud." Since when is evertyihg a racial issue? Why need the ambassador be selected on the grounds of his race?

The, I find out that Obama's speech in Cairo, in which he cites the Koran and offers a "we will now work with all of you together to find common ground" content, is praised by the local hierearchy of the Middle East. "It's the beginning of a new process, a new era. Obama really wants to change things, and the image of the United States will benefit from it," said the Chaldean bishop of Cairo.

Are you kidding? Why in the hell does a Catholic bishop care about the 'image of the United States?"

The only image I can think of that our country is projecting is that we do not value human life, but place a price on the hierarchy of its worth (utilitarianism): if you're alive, great. If you're alive and handicapped, that's too bad. If you're old, your life sucks. If you're not born, we can decide what to do with you. If you're not alive, we can bring you to life. Now let's export this mentality to Africa and South America through the UN and programs such as USAID.

As Michael Novak has said, we ask Rome for a sip of water, and they give us a bag of stones.

Maybe I am particularly sensitive to the issue, since I am a double domer and was heavily involved in ND Response to protest Obama. But the fact of the matter remains: the Catholic hierarchy, even within high levels in the Curia, are expressing themselves in a manner that undercuts and undermines the efforts of faithful, pro-life Catholics to expose the truth of the Obama agenda. I don't care if statements have to be made for political or for reasons of politeness: say something, but don't praise Obama, don't suggest your agreement with his policies, and for heaven's sakes, don't undercut the work of many good and faithful Catholics who already find themselves in a very difficult position to defend human life at all stages.

Theology of the Body and the Need for Beauty in Catechesis

2009-06-10T15:38:00.002-04:00

VS.

Here is a talk that I gave not too long ago at a conference on catechesis in our diocese:

Since the beginnings of our Western intellectual tradition, philosophers, poets, and artists have expressed the universal human longing for beauty. Humans all desire beauty, long for it, and cannot live without it. An encounter with a beautiful landscape, piece of art, or person leads us to transcend ourselves, and carries us into the realm of the eternal, the unknown, the mysterious, and the sacred. Dostoevsky wrote that the “world will be saved by beauty.” How true it is that an encounter with a truly beautiful person (not necessarily only physical beauty), can carry us into a new dimension of existence, can bring joy into our day, and inspire us to do the good. This is because such a person lives out the truth of their humanity. We think of Mother Teresa serving the poorest of the poor, in spite of fifty years of spiritual darkness. We think of Maximilian Kolbe, sacrificing his life voluntarily for the life of a stranger, and thus living out the truth of his human person, to live as self-gift. The saints are beautiful people because they witness to us the truth about the human being.

True beauty is in reality authentic love, living out the call to holiness. “Man cannot live without love; he remains a being incomprehensible to himself,” wrote John Paul II in his inaugural encyclical, Redemptor hominis. “Beauty is the splendor of truth,” wrote Plato. It is this “splendor of truth” that John Paul II discussed throughout his life, in his academic works from the period before his papacy, and in his encyclicals and papal documents, even titling one of them with this very phrase.
Unfortunately, we live in a world often devoid of beauty, truth, and goodness. The walls of the dark halls through which our culture passes are plastered with images of the grotesque; the immoral and the evil is often presented as good; there is a contempt for truth, as expressed in the “dictatorship of relativism,” in which objective and transcendent truths about creation, and most especially, the human person, are presented as socially constructed, malleable norms which have changed and continue to change over time.

The dignity of the human person is trampled upon through wars, poverty, materialistic consumerism, and most especially through attacks on the dignity of men and women, and the gift of human sexuality. It is difficult to see how Saint Irenaeus could have said that the “glory of God is man fully alive.” What does it even mean for “the human person to be fully alive,” when even many members of our own Church pass through life apathetically, distracted by the pursuits and pleasures of this world, without placing their thoughts, hopes, and dreams in the world to come? How are we called to live beautiful lives, in conformity with the truth about our existence as human beings? How can the Church minister to its young faithful, who are often hopeless, disillusioned, or apathetic about their lives?

A calling to be “fully alive,” to live out the deepest and most authentic human vocation, seems difficult if not impossible. We have lost our vision of what it means to be “fully alive,” to possess life “abundantly” here on this earth, in anticipation of the world to come. Our world espouses an attitude that seeks to build a utopia on earth. Such an attitude, a lack of an eschatological perspective, is seen in a particular way in the prevalent attitude toward sexuality. Sexuality is seen as a commodity to trade, and the desire for “great sex” is an important part of many peoples’ lives. Just look around in the magazine stands in the grocery store. Though original sin is a reality in the course of human history since the Fall, in a particular way, the twentieth century was especially characterized by these attitudes towards sex and the human person, which we will call heresies.

The nature of a heresy, according to Chesterton, is that it is at best a half-truth, a fragment of the truth that is exaggerated at the expense of the rest of the truth. It is so insidious because it is so attractive. Many “heresies” have been spread about the nature and meaning of human beings and their gift of sexuality. One writer said, “I would go even so far to state that there is no other source of true contentment or understanding of life values than that which comes from the realization of love in marriage…” Pretty good words. These are from Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. She goes on to say, “Through sex mankind may attain the great spiritual illumination which will transform the world, which will light up the only path to an earthly paradise.” Sanger recognizes the sacredness of sex, that sexuality has spiritual dimensions, that sex can be a great source of joy and fulfillment, and it is realized in the love of marriage. At the same time, she proposes that sex is a beautiful thing whose end is to build up a utopia on earth. Since she believes there is no eternal end for human beings, this great sacredness of sex can be the key to an earthly paradise. This leads her to conclude that sex is a primary end of human existence, and therefore unlimited access to this commodity, made possible through birth control, can “break women’s bonds…and free her to understand the cravings and soul-needs of herself and other women. It will enable her to develop her love-nature separate from and independent of her maternal nature.”

This author’s ideas are alive today in the spirit of the sexual revolution, which is built upon the heresy that sex is sacred and must therefore be used by an individual, and that an individual can use others to obtain it. If a woman espouses these views about herself and her sexuality, Sanger proposes, then she will come to see men as “veritable gods…worthy of the profoundest worship.” Michael Waldstein asks whether this attitude has truly turned men into “veritable gods,” or whether such a philosophy has developed a culture of “users and consumers,” who can dispense with their sexual objects once the thrill and “erotic excitement ebbs away?”
This example of a modern “heresy,” which reduces sexuality to a commodity to be traded and a means for using other people to gain one’s own satisfaction, lies at the foundation of many of the problems we face in our cultural edifice today, in which women especially have suffered greatly as a result of the confusion regarding sexuality. At a more fundamental level, this outlook contradicts the proper ordering within and meaning of a human person.

Sanger died just over forty years ago, and her ideas seem to have taken hold of a good portion of cultural attitudes. Thousands of miles away, behind the Iron Curtain, another contemporary philosopher reflected upon the meaning of human sexuality and human love. This man had suffered much in his early childhood, and lost his entire family by his mid twenties. Life brought him many challenges and tests of human love, but by the 1940’s, he wrote that he had “learned to fall in love with human love.” As a young priest, this philosopher was placed in a parish and his pastoral assignment was to minister to college students and young married couples, whose hopes, dreams, failures, and struggles under a communist regime he had quickly come to appreciate.

These experiences, the desire to help young families grow in love in the midst of anti-family pressure from the government, widespread encouragement of abortion, rampant alcoholism, and economic policies that sought to break down the family, led this man to compile a book that would encourage young people to live their humanity to its fullness. In this book, entitled Love and Responsibility, which our philosopher Karol Wojtyła published in 1959, he sought to discuss human love from a philosophical perspective. He asked, “What can we know of the human person and the universal phenomenon of love, based on experience, reason, psychology, and sexuality?” Drawing upon his discussions with philosophers, psychologists, and mostly his conversations with the young friends to whom he ministered, Wojtyła argued that the opposite of love is not hate, but “use”: using another person as an object, as a means to an end. The key to this authentic understanding of human dignity lies in Wojtyła’s personalisitc norm, which can either be presented in a negative or positive way. Fundamental to the protection of human dignity is the insight that a “person is the kind of good which does not admit of use and cannot be treated as an object of use and as such the means to an end.” Wojtyła reformulates this philosophical principle and points out, “the person is a good towards which the only proper and adequate attitude is love.”

Furthermore, this attitude of love must be understood in a personal way, taking into account that we are all sexual beings. Love itself, as Pope Benedict points out in Deus Caritas Est, can be a confusing term, especially for us anglophiles who only have one word for the concept. Wojtyła proposes four kinds of love. Love as attraction is a type of love, by which we are drawn to the sexual values of another person. These values reside in a specific person. “The attraction on which love is based must originate not just in a reaction to visible and physical beauty, but also in a full and deep appreciation of the beauty of the person.” So we arrive back at our universal longing for beauty. We are all attracted to beauty, and physical beauty is a valid and important attraction, but it is not enough. We must learn to desire a person.

Desire, the second type of love, is “of the essence of love” because we are all limited and finite human beings, who are not self-sufficient and therefore “need other beings.” This explains why we can all become lonely, and sometimes feel an inexplicable longing in our hearts. Augustine realized that this longing to “be with” another can only be fully satisfied by God, when he said, “My heart is restless until it rests in You.” Desiring after another person can be authentic when we realize that a person is a “good for me.” Thus, it is good for a husband to desire his wife, who brings the best qualities out in him. It is using her when he desires her simply because he wants to get his pleasure and satisfaction. Love as desire is therefore not complete. “It is not enough to love a person as a good for oneself, one must also, and above all, long for that person’s good.”
To truly love another person is to desire their good. For this reason, parents sacrifice their time, money, and leisure for the care of their children. A priest starts adoration at his parish for the spiritual good of his parishioners. Love as goodwill is therefore “selflessness.” In Wojtyła’s view, therefore, true and fully authentic love consists in the sacrificial and unselfish love in which a person makes a gift of his person to another. For a man and a woman, authentic love “cannot but be love as desire, but must as time goes by, move more and more in the direction of unqualified goodwill.”

Finally, “Love finds its full realization” not in the individual, but “in a relationship between…persons.” Betrothed love consists in self-giving, which differs from “desiring the good” for another. Death to self serves as the foundation of this highest form of love. Though a doctor, pastor, or teacher might give of herself, this might only be the result of circumstance, goodwill, or friendliness. Betrothed love, however, is self-surrender to a “chosen person.” This is the most perfect, sacrificial love that each human being is called to.

These key insights about human love and about a utilitarian mindset that entered into our cultural understanding of human relationships and sexuality, in a particular way, from the early days of the twentieth century, as seen in the writings of Margaret Sanger, form a foundation of Wojtyła’s thought. Love and Responsibility, became a “bestseller,” and Janet Smith has proposed that this work belongs on the list of the classic books of western civilization, alongside Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Dante: “The pope’s book belongs in this group, since I think generations to come will read his book — they certainly should do so, for if they do they will find that it boldly confronts questions we all have about life and offers a way of viewing human relationships which, if accepted, would radically alter the way in which we conduct our lives.” The book was so popular that the philosopher-priest (a bishop by this time), decided to write a sequel to this book, examining the human vocation to love from a theological perspective.
In a particular way, he sought to address some of the important developments in the Church and society since the publication of Love and Responsibility, especially the promulgation of Humanae Vitae and its aftermath. Karol Wojtyła desired to articulate clearly the “adequate biblical anthropology” necessary for a complete and comprehensive understanding of the encyclical and its implications. He thus wrote this book, largely a commentary on the Book of Genesis, the Gospels, and the Letters of Saint Paul, and titled it, “Man and Woman He Created Them,” a “theology of the body.” Before the volume was published, however, Wojtyła, as we all know, ascended the throne of St. Peter. Since at the time, it was not customary for a pontiff to publish a book, John Paul II decided to convert his work, written in Kraków, into a series of catecheses, given at the weekly Wednesday audiences. Thus, the first five years of his catechesis as pontiff was born.

This catechesis formed the foundation of his pontificate, and throughout his encyclicals, documents, speeches, homilies, letters, and other works, the pope referred to the concepts he had introduced in the theology of the body, as a result of his many years of pastoral experience and philosophical and theological training. Vatican II reminds us that, “Preaching and catechetical instruction…always hold the first place” in a bishop’s activity (Christus Dominus 13). In these catecheses, though written before he was elected pope, the pope speaks as (1) pastor of the universal Church; (2) in a form central to his office; (3) on a topic central to the faith (human and divine love). They can therefore be considered authoritative and to hold primacy of place in the ordinary Magisterium of the Bishop of Rome as pastor of the universal Church, to which the catecheses are addressed.[1]

These catecheses seek to provide a lens through which to view the Catholic Church’s teachings on morality, sexuality, the human person, nature, grace, and indeed, as George Weigel has written, theology of the body “will compel a dramatic development of thinking about virtually every major theme in the creed.” John Paul II re-orients us to the “beginning” of the Book of Genesis, and the “beginning” of human existence as created by the Trinitarian God. John Paul II himself points out that the themes in theology of the body, among others that we are created to dwell in communion with one another, as an image of the communion of Persons in the Trinity, and that true love consists in self-gift, the relationship that characterizes the Persons of the Trinity, are meant to remind us of “the final and grandiose goal of all evangelization.” (3/10/1987, Buenos Aires).

That human beings are beautiful, that we are created to love with a total self-surrender and in a gift of our whole selves to another, and that we can one day participate in the very life of the Trinity itself, a foretaste of which can be had here on earth, are central themes of this work. In a particular way “the Church addresses [these] to the young, who are beginning their journey towards marriage and family life, for the purpose of presenting them with new horizons, helping them to discover the beauty and grandeur of the vocation to love and the service of life.” (Familiaris Consortio 1)

Of course, the Church always recognizes that the domestic church is the primary place of catechesis of the young. “The Christian family, in fact, is the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him or her, through a progressive education and catechesis, to full human and Christian maturity.” (FC, 2) The theology of the body is therefore fundamentally important for families, and the domestic church is to become a school of prayer, of love, and of primary education in the faith. However, the pope recognizes that “In so far as the ministry of evangelization and catechesis of the Church of the home is rooted in and derives from the one mission of the Church and is ordained to the upbuilding of the one Body of Christ,(128) it must remain in intimate communion and collaborate responsibly with all the other evangelizing and catechetical activities present and at work in the ecclesial community at the diocesan and parochial levels.” (FC, 53)

It is therefore not only the work of individual families to take seriously the pope’s teachings presented beautifully in the theology of the body, and in the accompanying papal documents, but it is a task of the entire ecclesial community. At World Youth Day in Toronto, the pope encouraged young people, and indeed all Catholics, to “not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart…You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society.” (Message for XVII World Youth Day)

It is time to once again re-propose wholeheartedly to those around us, in particularly the young, with whose spiritual formation we have been entrusted, to always strive for what is good, beautiful, and true. We have seen from the saints, human beings who have been fully alive, that the world will truly be saved by beauty, in the splendor of its truth.

[1] See Catechesi Tradendae, 7 for JPII’s understanding of catechesis. In the audiences, he is commenting on the Catechism, providing a lens through which to read it.

Trinity Within

2009-06-09T13:07:00.002-04:00

Pope Benedict's angelus address yesterday, during this week after Trinity Sunday, was unusually beautiful and clear. This is another exmaple of this pope's ability to preach about the most complex and deepest of the Christian mysteries in a manner that is accessible to all and inspiring to even those without any theological education.

I have not been able to find the entire text online in English (for the Italian, see here), but Zenit has excerpts from the address:

Christ revealed that "God is love 'not in the unity of a single person, but in the Trinity of a single substance,'” the Holy Father said, quoting the preface."The Trinity is Creator and merciful Father; Only Begotten Son, eternal Wisdom incarnate, dead and risen for us; it is finally the Holy Spirit, who moves everything, cosmos and history, toward the final recapitulation," the Pontiff explained. "Three Persons who are one God because the Father is love, the Son is love, the Spirit is love. God is love and only love, most pure, infinite and eternal love.""The Trinity does not live in a splendid solitude," he added, "but is rather inexhaustible font of life that unceasingly gives itself and communicates itself."Benedict XVI said one could get a sense of the Trinity simply by observing nature from the most elementary cellular levels to the planets, stars and galaxies."The 'name' of the Most Holy Trinity is in a certain way impressed upon everything that exists, because everything that exists, down to the least particle, is a being in relation, and thus God-relation shines forth, ultimately creative Love shines forth," he said."All comes from love, tends toward love, and is moved by love, naturally, according to different grades of consciousness and freedom," the Pope affirmed."Every being," he continued, "by the very fact of existing and by the 'fabric' of which it is made, refers to a transcendent Principle, to eternal and infinite Life that gives itself, in a word: to Love." Benedict XVI affirmed that there is proof that human beings are made in the image of the Trinity, because "only love makes us happy, because we live in relation, and we live to love and be loved.""Using an analogy suggested by biology," he concluded, "we could say the human 'genome' is profoundly imprinted with the Trinity, of God-Love.”

This gives me great ideas about our own presentations to eighth graders. Part of our job consists of presenting chastity to eighth graders, and it is impossible to speak of chastity without reference to the Trinity. Why is this so? Simple.

We've all heard that we "look like our mom" or that we "look like our dad." By looking at a child, we are able to understand something about its parents, and by looking at the parent's features, we are able to understand that the child has its "father's nose" or its "mother's cheeks." We are, in a certain sense, made in the image and likeness of our parents.

We've also all heard from the very beginning of the Book of Genesis that we are made in the "image and likeness of God." Well, if we are made in the image and likeness of God, and God is Trinity, and God is also Love, then it is impossible to understand who we are as human persons without reference to the mytery of the Three Persons of the Trinity who dwell with each other in a communion of self-giving love. This, I think, is one of the deepest insights that has been at the forefront of the teaching of both Pope Benedict and of John Paul II. It is certainly a fundamental insight, and "thesis" of the Theology of the Body. We are made in the image of the Trinitarian God, three Persons who dwell in a relation of self-giving love with and to one another, and we can only find ourselves through the living out of this gift of self (see Gaudium et Spes 24).

Thus, Pope Benedict is reminding us --and this is one of the important features of the Trinity Sunday--that when we think of being in the "image and likeness" of God, it is not just through our ability to think and to choose, reason and intellect, but also, and perhaps more importantly, in our ability to enter into relationship with one another, in the midst of a community of love. We are therefore called to live out God's image by living in a communion of love, with our spouses, our children, at the parish level, and even in the relationships we establish in the professional arena.

I find Pope Benedict's speech fascinating, since many modern biologists (mostly atheistic materialists) are also arguing that human beings are pre-programmed genetically with a "morality gene." I don't find a problem with this. It simply is further scientific proof that we, as human beings, have the first precept of the natural law written into our very genetic strucutre: to do good and avoid evil. As Christians, however, we understand that love is the fulfillment of the law, and the only way to live out who we are to be is to be governed by thi self-giving, relational love of which Benedict speaks.

I will write more about this later, especially as it relates to the Christopher West debate--although this has been raging on the blogs, I hope to contribute my own thoughts about it, from a persepctive that I do not think has been raised by either West, Schindler, Smith, or Waldstein. More on that later...

I'm back for good

2009-06-08T13:58:00.001-04:00

Wow! I did not realize that it's been over a year since I have posted anything on this blog. Life has moved forward in many amazing ways, and I hope to start publishing here more frequently, especially since I am not a student anymore, and have more time on my hands.

Return...er, continuation in glory

2007-10-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

Fr. Tom Blantz, CSC elevates the host in
the Chapel of St. Charles Borromeo

The Tridentine Mass is back...under a new name: Pope Benedict's "Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite."

Yes, the first official one since the 1960's returned to campus on Sunday, to make up for an otherwise dreary day in South Bend. The Alumni Hall Chapel was filled with close to about 150 people, mostly from the Notre Dame community. Fr. Tom Blantz, CSC offered the Mass in a new basilica vestment, made especially by the wonderful seamstress at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The Mass took the form of a Missa Recitativa, permitted by Pope Pius XII, in which the congregation recites the parts of the altar boys along with them. Such a Mass was the Mass which the late Fr. Karol Wojtyla instituted in Krakow at St. Florian's Parish, where he was parochial vicar. The Mass drew many young people, who were interested in participating as fully as they could in the Mass. It is truly a beautiful form of the "full, active, and conscious participation" for which Sacrosanctum Concilium called for in Vatican II. If anybody telld me that this Mass does not allow for this kind of participation, I would point out that the congregation actually says more than it does in the Mass of Paul VI.

Either way, we are all happy that this form of the Mass is back on campus. It speaks of the great size of our faith, a Church which is able to fit many different things under the canopy of its umbrella. Pope Benedict has rightfully and thoughtfully requested that the Mass of the Extraordinary Form not be thrown out from under the umbrella, nor that it try to poke holes in the umbrella. It is where it belongs, because it shows that our Church believes in the "her,eneutic of continuity" of which Pope Benedict writes in his Motu Proprio. We have much to learn by humbly accepting his decisions, no matter which side of the liturgical wars we tend to sympathize more with. There is no doubt that the Extraordinary Form seeks to build gater unity--and it certainly has here on campus, except maybe among the liberal and never quite happy contingent of aging professors. When else have members of staff, faculty, and students from all clubs, majors, and extracurricular activities come together to worship as one Christian community? This Mass now offers a chance for the more tradition-minded orthodox Catholics to share something that they hold dear with the more "evangelical" and orthodox Catholics, and also a time for the more evangelical Catholics to show the traditional Catholics that action stems from the Liturgy. Indeed, it is the fount from which the activity of the Church flows.

Thus, rather than being a sign of contradiction or rupture, this Mass now provides a chance for all of the Notre Dame community to gather as one, and pray for and with the Church, partaking in the one Liturgy, which is Christ offering Himself to the Father in sacrifice out of love for us.

Mormon Theology 101

2007-10-16T09:33:00.001-04:00

Mormon Theology 101

2007-10-16T09:30:00.001-04:00

This is a great fundamentals of theology video about the Mormon doctrines; it is very accurate to the best of my knowledge. This post is inspired by Fr. Erik, who did a great job on EWTN's Journey Home last night.

The Contiued Decline of Western Europe

2007-10-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

Photos: Closed Cafeteria

So the trend in recent awful European church architecture continues with the dedication of the new Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Fatima. I had the opportunity to make a pilgrimage there two years ago, and wanted to cry when I saw the new church going up. Little did I know what the final result would be like...

I'm not sure what I want to say when I see it. It kind of looks like a large, modernist symphony hall. But then there's the weird crucified stick man outside--pilgrims' money probably contributed to paying for something that I could have drawn on my MacDraw program in 1989, when I first started using a computer, and when I thought it was really cool that I could actually draw stuff on a computer. It was mostly stick figures and circles---clearly the architect of this new church must have learned his comuter design on the same program I did. But never got much farther...

No honestly, though--I don't understand what the deal is with modern Catholic church architecture. I've seen many nicer things built by Protestants that are so much better! This church has no iconography (besides the "crucified AOL man," as Fr. Erik Richsteig called him), no verticality (it looks like a pancake), and no transcendence. It is cold, horizontal, and ugly. I'd rather sit and have Mass in my living room--at least I have some religious images.

Perhaps modern Church architecture in Europe reflects the general sentiments of the continent. Europe has grown cold--with perhaps the exception of Poland and parts of the former Eastern bloc. Portugal, as was recently seen in the debates in the EU, is slowly going the way of the modern secular humanism that has created a dictatorship over the lives of the common citizens. Apparently the Portuguese can no longer build any more churches to express their fervent and fiery devotion to Our Lady, who chose their country in a special way to bear the good news of God's love, mercy, and justice to the world.

Europe is cold--materialism plagues the lives of the young, the old have become increasingly shut off into their homes, left to lament and resent the past. This church is evidence of the fact that elements of the Church seek only to dialogue with the modern world by adopting the (ugly and empty) language of the culture. The Church is not called to adopt the language of the world, but rather to function as a leaven within the world. It is called to radically stand in the world, and yet not be of the world--to rather present a liberating message of the warmth and love of Christ. Christ came into the world to bring the world into Himself--to enter into the cold, dark, and dreary culture that men lived in, in order to bring reveal the passionate and fiery love of God the Father. The Incarnation--God becomign Man, changes our perspective on everything. Our faith, lived out and expressed in the Sacred Liturgy, the mingling of the sacred and the mundane, the human and the Divine, occurs in a church. The domus Dei, the porta caeli, calls us to enter into the reality that lies behind this earthly reality.

Does this church call us to enter into the heaven on earth, and reflect upon the Sacred Mystery of the Incarnation, which has kindled the love of God in the faithful for centuries--or does it say, "Christians, you are no different than the world. You need to adapt your ways to the modern culture, and fit in." Because I can tell you that Jesus didn't "fit in." He was crucified. And he was not an AOL guy.

Gipp Exhumed

2007-10-13T16:49:00.000-04:00

ESPN and CNN have spread some controversy recently by reporting on the exhumation of George Gipp, one of the most famous All-Americans.

Why would anybody seek to do DNA testing on the remains of this football player? He was not known for his "mild" behavior, and did die, after all, after catching pneumonia when he had been locked out of his dorm for coming back too late, and spent the cold night on the roof of Washington Hall on campus. Are there other parts of his life that nobody has heard about until this point? Who knows...perhaps there will be more news soon...

Nice reflection

2007-09-19T16:47:00.000-04:00

Here is a reflection from Dr. John Cavadini, our Theology Department chairman, in his journal about the recent beatification of Basil Moreau, CSC. It is dated September 16th:

_____

We arrived at the parish church of Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix, Our Lady of Holy Cross, at about 3:30 pm, a half hour before a service of evening prayer in thanksgiving for the life and legacy of Father Moreau. The church was already packed with people, praying and singing. Everything was jubilant, with daylight streaming in through the windows, sprays of dahlias and zinnias from local gardens, and the candles and votive lights in the sanctuary and at the tomb of Fr. Moreau. The service was conducted in French and English, alternating, for the benefit of the participants who had come from the United States and Canada, Africa, Asia, Latin America, as well as from the parish itself and from around France.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs; and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

The service opened with this reading from the Gospel of Matthew. The commentary in the service book mentioned “the tiny seed, planted in Le Mans,” that had “grown and become a tree which is an image of a family.” And yet my mind had been going back and forth between the vibrant, crowded ceremony and the seeming indifference, as far as I could tell, of the rest of the city of Le Mans, which seemed to go about its business with scant notice or even curiosity regarding Fr. Basil Anthony Moreau. Perhaps tomorrow, at the beatification ceremony in the stadium outside of town, it will seem different. But in the city there were no celebratory signs or flags, and the crowd in the church, though it filled its relatively small nave, did not flow out onto the plaza.

I found myself looking for the large “tree,” but the more I looked, the more the parable from Matthew seemed to present the “tiny seed,” “the smallest of all seeds,” instead. That, I took as an image of holiness, of the sanctity we celebrate in a beatification ceremony. For someone like myself, always seeking the verification, the external and glorious, self-evident fruit that will obviate the awkward need for faith, the parable served as a reminder that the essence of holiness is always hidden, always invisible, and always presented to faith and never, fully, to exterior inspection.

To read the story of Basil Anthony Moreau is to read the story of a “tiny seed,” a movement of the will, of love, sown deeply in a field of suffering that never seemed to abate, the kind of suffering that comes when vision collides with institution, when love seems ambiguously incarnated in a nexus of ambition, of competition for notice and privilege, of a desire for an instant and obvious big tree that can be claimed as one's own.

The “tiny seed” of holiness must have seemed completely invisible in the field of abandonment and disillusion in which it ultimately found itself hidden, at the end of Moreau's life. That it did not become gnarled into a twisted shrub of bitterness is the miracle of holiness, which is hidden, and yet which sends forth a “tree,” capacious and welcoming, which those looking for a home, for a “nest,” can find. This large tree is the tree of the Cross, of love and compassion undefeated by rejection, misunderstanding, or anything else–Love itself, in which alone are there branches suitable for a true home worthy of living creatures.

This tree of compassion, the Cross, is, as the motto of Holy Cross reminded us in the service, our “true hope.” If we are placing our hope in the verification of the large edifice of acclaim and prestige, the seed of holiness will always seem invisible to our vision. If we are true to the vision of the founder of Holy Cross, our hope is in the coherence of vision and grows into a gracious and welcoming tree of compassion and love to which all the birds of the air, in a world full of suffering, will gladly flock.

“Moved by his life given over to Christ, let us give thanks to the Lord for such marvelous deeds” (from the hymn, “Hommage a notre Fondateur,” sung during the service.)

Prof. John Cavadini
University of Notre Dame

Two Special Blesseds

2007-09-19T16:40:00.000-04:00

Blessed Stanislaw Papczynski

I must say that I am doubly happy--not only was Basil Moreau beatified, but so was a new Pole--Fr. Stanislaw Papczynski, the founder of the Congregation of Marian Clerics (who run the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA.

------->

After praying the Angelus on Sunday, the Pope mentioned the beatification in Poland of Father Stanislaus Papczynski.

Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone celebrated the Mass of the beatification, and the Holy Father sent his greeting to the faithful gathered there, saying Father Papczynski was "a priest who was exemplary in preaching, in the formation of the laity, a father of the poor and an apostle of intercessory prayer for the dead."

The Polish priest died in 1701 at the age of 72. He was the first founder of a men's congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, long before the dogma was defined, the Congregation of Marian Clerics.

In his homily, Cardinal Bertone highlighted the Marian devotion of the priest, "an authentic friend of Christ, and his tireless apostle."

He recalled what Father Papczynski said: "A man without charity, a religious without charity, is a shadow without sun, a body without a soul. Simply, he is nothing. What the soul is for the body, charity is for the Church, for religious orders and centers."

ND Saint...almost

2007-09-19T16:33:00.001-04:00

Blessed Basil Antoine Marie Moreau, CSC

This past weekend was a special weekend for all of us at Notre Dame, as the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross was beatified in Le Mans, France. Here is the official page set up by Notre Dame to commemorate this special event. Now we have one more saint interceding for Our Lady's university, and to whom we can officially pray!

From Zenit:

The Pope recalled Father Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau, who was beatified Saturday in Le Mans by Cardinal Saraiva Martins.

The French priest, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, was 73 when he died in 1873.

Cardinal Saraiva Martins said he "was a Christian of great spiritual stature, and at the same time, a man of action. He dedicated himself to the missions among the people, to the education of youth, to works of charity, and to the foreign missions."

"He contributed to the growth of the Church in the United States, to the foundation of the first Catholic schools in Algeria and to the first rural orphanage in Rome," the cardinal said. And he was in France, "one of the pioneers in the fight for the freedom of education," and contributed to the "rebirth of the Church in France after the revolution."

The Pope concluded his reference to the three newly beatified, saying: "I entrust in a special way to the intercession of these newly beatified their spiritual sons and daughters, that they follow with ardor the luminous testimony of the prophets of God, who is Lord of every life."

Tropical Pope

2007-09-18T13:37:00.000-04:00

Whoever the liturgist is who chose these vestments needs to be shot, or hired by TY.

Caption contest:

Who can come up with the best description for these vestments?

All I can think of is:

"The beanie baby mania having died down, TY decides to make a line of plush popes. This tropical pope comes with aquamarine vestments, to reflect the Spirit gently blowing like a sea breeze."

Sitting on the Rock, basking in the sun,
Is this Pope's idea of fun.
Cross and Mitre, shoes and Chair,
His life is so perfect without a care!

Publicity...

2007-09-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

Rae from Quo Vadis has written up a very positive review of this blog. Thanks Rae!

Apparently my descriptions of my travels are a "virtual immersion experience."

Pro-Life Government

2007-09-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

A poster warning of the death penalty for any Poles who would harbor and protect Jews during World War II.

Despite disappointing opposition by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his government to the recent push in Poland to outlaw all abortion without exceptions, it is very encouraging to see Poland's steadfastness in standing up to the secular-minded E.U. Here is a link to an article about the recent move to make an Anti-Death Penalty day celebrated in Europe.

The problem with such a celebration throughout Europe, though I do not support the death penalty, is that it exhibits an inconsistent ethic of life. As Catholics, we must seek to be consistent in our defense of human life, and we should refuse to compromise on such essential points. If we oppose the death penalty, we should oppose abortion, euthanasia, contraception, and all the other forms of modern manipulation of human life. This is something that the liberal secularists in Brussels do not undersand--and by seeking to promote one aspect of the pro-life cause in the name of justice and freedom, while ignoring so many others just serves to show that like most EU decisions, this one is a politically-motivated cause. Again, the stronger and more vocal and powerful members of the (dis)Union are seeking impose their agenda on conservative and Catholic nations. Fortunately, Poland has not caved in, like Portugal did.

(Update: I just found out that today marks the 26th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty by guillotine in France. Which, I might add, was never legal in Poland...)

Latin and Ukrainian Catholics Dispute Church

2007-08-11T03:16:00.000-04:00

Church of the Presentation of Christ, Lviv, Ukraine

(Warsaw)Ukraine's Eastern-rite cardinal has written his Latin-rite counterpart in an effort to resolve what church sources say is the first intra-Catholic dispute over a church building....Read more here.

This is the continuation of a series of disputes that have arisen over the fate of former Latin-rite churches in the city. As a once predominantly Polish (and therefore Roman) Catholic city, Lwow (Lviv) now must face the uncomfortable decisions that are the results of sixty years of communist goverments. When are confiscated churches to be returned? To whom are they returned? Who pays for the costs of remodeling (some were converted into concert halls, others into basketball arenas, and others into libraries and office buildings). For any adventurous architects out there, now is the time to go there to help everybody sort these problems out.

What is truly needed is a massive effort on the part of both the Ukrainian Church and the Roman Church to leave past grievances behind, and to move forward in order to build a strong, Christian Ukraine. The seeds of the New Evangelization were sown by JPII in 2002 during his visit--and I saw the thousands of Ukrainians at Pope Benedict's meeting with youth in Krakow last year. These young and zealous Catholics must not give up their faith and bend to the lures of secularism, and must seek to strengthen their faith particualrly through their unique religious heritage.

Back...I think

2007-08-11T02:54:00.000-04:00

So after much debate, I think I decided to continue blogging on this site, even though I have long since returned from my journies abroad, and am back in the United States for at least the next little while.

I may not be blogging for the next few weeks, as there are some important events coming up in my life--however, I expect to be back by late August, hopefully with a new, updated, and more continuously managed blog!

In the meantime, I will be scouting the Polish and Catholic world for info and news!

Be back later

2006-08-01T00:59:00.000-04:00

I will be away on vacation for the next two weeks, so expect a post in mid-August. God bless you all and keep you, and I will be back soon...and some blog housekeeping changes are coming your way...

John Paul II Speaks Up

2006-07-26T01:51:00.000-04:00

Click here for the John Paul II Random Speech Generator, courtesy of Fisheaters.

Back in Utah

2006-07-26T01:22:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of recent postings. It's summer, so sometimes I don't feel like the Internet beckons. That or a 56k dial-up is really annoying...

I went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Sunday, which happened to be the parish Feast Day, of St. Mary Magdalene. The Cathedral Choir and Choristers were present, and sang amazing pieces by Palestrina, Alonso Lobo, and Gabrieli. I have realized what a truly wonderful and beautiful treasure we have here in this otherwise Catholic desert.

Coming back from Krakow, a place that one could argue is the heart of Polish Catholicism, I have truly realized how much of a mission land this state still is, and how much the hope and good lies ahead for the history of the Catholic Church in this state.

As you may know, the Diocese of Salt Lake City is bishop-less, after Bishop George Niederauer became the Archbishop of Sodom, ummm...I mean San Francisco. Let's pray for a great, holy new bishop, who will guide this local church into the bright future ahead, and who will respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit with the coming of the New Evangelization.

Crisis in Polish Church Architecture

2006-07-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

Christ the King Parish, Gliwice, Poland

Recently I read an article in the Polish weekly, "OZON," which confirmed all of my observations about the state of sacred architecture in Poland. It seems that after the fall in 1989, there is a great lack of creativity and tradition in the design of Catholic churches. While the lack of building materials and money during the PRL (Polish People's Republic) times may excuse the current appearance of some steel and concrete churches, it is hard to understand why today there is such a lack in beautiful church designs. From the Divine Mercy Shrine, to the Church of St. Jadwiga in Krakow, to this Church of Christ the King in Gliwice, there is an overall confusion in trying to create a modern sacred space. One exception seems to be the recent Shrine of Our Lady of Lichen , built in a traditional domed basilica style, alluding to St. Peter's in Rome (though seriosuly lacking the pleasing proportions of the Italian Baroque).

Scary

2006-07-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to some really scary liturgical abuses. I can't say I agree with the authors of the blog in classifying all of them as severe abuses. There is a difference between, say Lednica, a gathering of youth on the Eve of Pentecost, to pray, sing, and dance. When the Sacred Liturgy is profaned, however, we are speaking of a much more serious abuse.

Lwow Open Air Market

2006-07-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

Not exactly up to American hygiene standards...the picture doesn't show the flies and the sun, both directly on the "meat."

More Ukraine

2006-07-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

July 3rd, 2006

On Sunday morning, I attended Mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, together with the doctoral student whom I met, and who was also staying with us. I got to know him a bit better, and found out that he is actually a history teacher in a middle school in Silesia. Though he does not like to come to Lwów for reasons of personal hygiene (!), he had to come to work in the city archives. We had much to talk about, as it turned out, because he is a deep Polish patriot, and we shared many common experiences about the city, where the Polish soul and Polish culture had left an almost indelible mark.
After we attended Mass, we went to visit what is probably one of the most famous Polish cemeteries—the “Cmentarz Orląt,” or the “Polish Eagles’ Cemetery.” This historic cemetery is located in the back parcel of the Łykaczów Cemetery, an place known for the graves of the Zamoyski family, one of the most famous Polish noble families, Maria Konopnicka, the nineteenth century Polish writer, Stefan Banach, the Polish mathematician, and “Ordon,” the military hero whom Adam Mickiewicz writes about.
It was at this cemetery that I learned a little about the state of Polish-Ukrainian relations. I was shocked to enter this pre-dominantly Polish cemetery (all of the graves before 1939 are Polish), and yet, I found not one single sign in Polish. All of the signs are in Ukrainian, and not a single one points out the direction towards the “Orląt” cemetery, which is the reason why many Poles come to visit the place. Upon entering, one can only find a sign that directs people to the cemetery for the fallen Ukrainian heroes who fought for Ukrainian independence. The most famous Polish graves, in every case, are hidden by the tactical location of Ukrainian graves, which usually stand in front of them, or make the Polish tombs hard to access. Strolling up the hill and through the woods, we finally reached the Polish “Orląt” cemetery. I was struck by the size of it—later I found out that it contains over 2,500 graves. The graves mark the resting places of the Polish children, teenagers, and students who were killed during the civil war which broke out after the First World War. The Bolsheviks and partisan Ukrainians wanted to spread the revolution in this city, while the Polish civilians and military officers fought for its independence. The reality of what had happened struck me upon finding the grave of a ten year old boy, whose grave it well taken care of by an 80 year old woman, who comes to leaves flowers and light a candle regularly. In the chapel, located at the top of the sweeping and expansive neo-classical catacombs and stairs, I found a small picture display of the cemetery from the 1970’s. Built in the 1920’s, the cemetery lasted through both World Wars, only to be deliberately destroyed by the local communists and people sympathetic to them, who pulled down the colonnade and chiseled off the angels from the walls near the catacombs, simply because it was Polish. The catacombs were turned into a stonecutter’s shop, which produced Ukrainian tombstones for the locals. The graves grew over with trees, bushes, and were often deliberately destroyed. Only in the 1970’s did the local Polish population, small though strong, begin to care for the heritage and the history of the cemetery. Only in 1989 did the “changes” allow for a full cleaning and rebuilding of the cemetery. However, much anti-Polish sentiment still remains, and political reasons make it impossible to rebuild the entire colonnade at this point. The cemetery was, however, officially re-dedicated last year, with the Polish president taking part in the ceremonies. Each year, the two local Metropolitan Archbishops (Roman and Ukrainian rite) hold a day of reconciliation and unity in prayer there, to pray for an end to sectarian hatred and nationalistic ideologies.
These ideologies seem to be deep-seeded, however. Just beyond the wall of the Polish cemetery, stands a large Ukrainian monument, dedicated to the “national heroes of Ukraine” (from what I could gather, the Ukrainians who were killed by the Poles who lie across the wall). The cemetery that is in the process of being built next to the monument seems to be a deliberate anti-Polish statement, and it is quite sad to see such official animosity existing between the two cultures, even though it is mostly one-sided. The aging Polish population has to suffer much, yet courageously and bravely endures all of the anti-Polish, pro-Ukrainian policies.
After visiting the cemetery, my new friend led me to a nice, cheap, and clean restaurant that he had found, called “Puzata Hata,” or “fat house.” It was wonderful, because the food was good (an assortment of local Ukrainian specialties), the prices were Ukrainian ($4 for a full dinner), and the atmosphere was clean and pleasant. Perhaps that is why I ended up eating there three more times…
Now, it was time to head out to the airport—more on that later!

2006-07-06T15:58:00.000-04:00

July 3rd, 2006

While I was at the Greek Catholic Cathedral, I was able to visit the tombs of their patriarchs, whose tombs are in the crypt under the main altar. There lies Cardinal Szeptycki, whom I later learned is seen as a national and religious hero. It was he who was responsible for strengthening the position of the Eastern Church in the early 20th century, and who founded the Lviv Theological Academy, which is now the Ukrainian Catholic University.

On my way back from the cathedral, I was able to find a beautiful old Roman Catholic Church, the neo-gothic St. Elizabeth’s Church. Clearly neglected during the years of the USSR, the church has recently been re-opened, after the interior was gutted, and serves as an Eastern Catholic Church. It is very interesting to see an iconostasis and Eastern Catholic interior furnishings within the long, gothic nave. This, of course, was the first of many old Roman Catholic churches that I would visit, which since the end of the Soviet Union, have been returned by the government to the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The afternoon was filled with another adventure. I decided to go to find the Ukrainian Catholic University, on “Sventitskoho 17a,” which I later figured out translated into Polish as, “Świencickiego.” The whole time I was in Lwów, it was fun to read the names of streets on my Polish map, and then try to decipher what the heck they were in Ukrainian—all of the street signs are in Cyrillic. I decided to walk towards the university, which is located about twenty minutes on foot away from downtown. It is a nice stroll that takes one down Iwana Franka street, one of the main boulevards going south from the center of the city. On the way, I passed by a local market, and decided to step inside—in order to get an experience of the real life of the local people. What I saw absolutely shocked me, though it was not completely foreign. I was greeted by the smell of raw meat, which was displayed on large blood-soaked pieces of cardboard. The sun-soaked raw meat was also covered with flies, which must have been enjoying the pig intestines, pig’s head that was chopped in half, as well as the cow liver that I saw (from which people could slice off pieces according to the desired size). Next to the meat section of the market, I saw piles of various fruits and vegetables—from pineapples to black currants, which were all sold for incredible prices. I am not sure how the local people can afford to eat fruit or vegetables, which are very expensive. Perhaps that is why it seems that there is not much to choose from in this area in the restaurants. The market brought back memories of Poland in the early 1990’s, combined with recollections of pictures that I had seen in National Geographic magazines, of street markets in developing countries. Here, I could buy laundry detergent, a pig’s brain, and bananas—all in one spot!

Having seen enough of the market, I worked my way towards the university, which, although the address is on Sventitskoho, was actually not located on this street, but on the one parallel to it. I was going to the university to see if I could meet up with some friends of mine, who would be teaching at the Ukrainian Catholic University’s Summer School of English. All of this seemed a little surreal to me—here I was in Lwów, with the possibility of meeting a Notre Dame friend, whom I had not seen for about a year. It really made me aware of how small our world is really becoming. Although I could not meet him then, I finally found out over a telephone with one of the organizers of the school, that my friend would be coming the next day…so off I went, back to the city. I decided that I would surprise him and meet him at the airport, where he wouldn’t expect me at all.

Upon returning to the city, I visited the Lwów Opera, one of the most famous opera houses in Central Europe, and known especially at the time it was built as a cultural gem. The opera house itself is not that old—it dates to the late nineteenth century, when it was built by the Austrians, who were in charge of the city at the time, as it was the capital of the Independent State of Galicia, an Austrian puppet state carved out of the Habsburg part of the Polish partition. Although what is supposedly the world’s most beautiful theater curtain was pulled up, I did get to see the rest of the interior. The seating hall with levels of balconies is simply breathtaking, and is complete with wonderful private viewing booths, which surely served many a wealthy city aristocrats of the era. The hall of mirrors, which is located at the top of the colorful marble and wooden grand staircase, is painted with images of the Muses and other mythical figures, which adorn the ceiling and look down upon the bronze busts of famous local actors.

The day ended with strolling through the narrow (and dirty) city streets, where I visited many Orthodox Churches, and was awed by the beauty of the Baroque Eastern Catholic Churches. One of the most amazing churches that I visited was the Church of the Holy Eucharist, the former Dominican Church in Lwów, which was attached to what was once the largest Dominican Abbey in this part of Europe. Unfortunately, with the coming of the Soviets and the Germans, most of the Poles were either deported from the city into Siberia or fled to the western parts of Poland. This dramatic Polish depopulation, of course, ended up in the “de-Romanization” of the city, because most of the Poles were Roman Catholic. With the departure of the Poles, the Roman Catholic orders left as well, and left behind them their churches—silent witnesses to a sad and dramatic history. During the communist times, of course, most of these churches were desecrated and destroyed (the Carmelite Sisters’ church was changed into a basketball gym). Currently, the government is returning the churches to the Catholic Church, however, only to the Ukrainian Church. Thus, the former Carmelite Church is now the church of St. Michael the Archangel, and is run by the Studite Monks. The Bernardine (Franciscan) Church is now run by the Order of St. Basil the Great. The Jesuit church is closed to this day, although it was just officially given to the Ukrainian Church. St. Mary Magdalene’s Church functions to this day as the local symphony hall. It will surely be a long process before all of the church buildings are returned to the Catholics.

After a long day out in the city, I returned back to my lodging, just in time to make it before the city water is shut off in the evenings at 9:00 p.m. Of course, then I had to watch the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

BISHOPS BLOG!!!!

2006-07-06T04:21:00.000-04:00

Sweet. Even the bishops have started...blogging. Check out this blog, which (though in Spanish), is a running blog of thoughts and impressions of various bishops from the World Meeting of Families in Valencia, where Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass on Sunday!

More Ukraine

2006-07-06T04:09:00.000-04:00

Here's an aerial shot of the Latin-Rite Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest church in Lwów, and the site of one of the most famous events in Poish history. In this church, in 1656, King Jan Kazimierz made his vows to Our Lady, entrusting the entire Polish nation to her, and declaring her the patroness and Queen of Poland. This act was in thanksgtiving for the Miracle at Jasna Góra, when the Swedish Deluge was miraculously stopped at the foot of the monastery in Czestochowa, the home of the Black Madonna.

This "Archcathedral Basilica" is the oldest church in Lwów, ironically, since it is now also the only Latin-rite church left in the predominantly Ukrainian Catholic city.

Aerial Shot

2006-07-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

Here is a view from the top of "Wysoki Zamek," the highest hill in Lwow, Ukraine. The large dome is the former Dominican Church, now the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Holy Eucharist. The tall tower is on the left part of a XIV century Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Day 1 Continued

2006-07-04T14:59:00.000-04:00

So.... I finally found the AMAZING Gothic-Renaissance-Baroque cathedral, the siteof many poetic inspirations, and most famous for the 1656 vows of King JanKazimierz, who entrusted the Polish Nation into the hands of Our Lady, afterthe Swedish Deluge. The image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in themain altar, a tiny image painted on canvas, most likely, which is surrounded byfat cherubim and pompous patriarchs, who dominate the Roman Baroque altar.Above and around, the polychromy of the Polish artist Jozef Mehoffer glories inMarian-themes frescoes and paintings--strikingly similar to his work in the Franciscan Basilica in Krakow.

Upon entering the church, I was greeted by traditional Polish piety-- a packed church participating in a Eucharistic Procession around the three-naved church,led by flower girls, banner-carrying teenagers, and a large statue of the Sacred Heart. Thinking it was still 6:00 p.m., and hoping to attend Mass after theprocession, I joined in and followed around the gray, incense-filled nooks and chapels of the cathedral. I felt so at home--the traditional hymns were the same as in Warsaw, or in Krakow--a pleasant, perhaps nostalgic feeling, very welcome after a few hours of a foreign language, and a feeling of complete helplessness due to my Cyrillic illiteracy! After the procession, I asked if there would be Mass, only to find out that it had already been celebrated, and that there had been a time change when I crossed the border! Oops. So, here we go. I prayed that something would work out for the night, since I was still homeless, and the sun had set and dusk was slowly giving way to darkness, the period of stillness, as the day crowds have gone inside, and the night-partiers have not yet emerged from their dens. I was immediately met by an alcohol-breath Ukrainian, who spoke broken Polish, and asked if I wanted aroom--no thanks, creepy...

I wandered around a bit, and found the Polish Association--a group that helped Poles in the Ukraine to find places to stay, etc. But it had closed an hour before, since I still thought it was six, and not seven. Going back to the church, I knew that I had to find something soon--Our Lord would not havegotten me here, only to be left out in the street. So, dodging a few more street peddlers and beggars, I finally asked a sister of the Family of Mary,which I took as a sign, since this is the order which my great-great-great-grand-uncle, Blessed Archbishop Felinski, founded. The sister recommended that I ask "the man who is always outside the cathedral asking if people need rooms," which I was relieved to hear. Indeed, the creepy Ukrainian had been an honest person, and after the sister's recommendation, I went out and found him again. He led me about 100 feet down the road, into a rowhouse that, upon entering, I thought would collapse at any moment. Climbing to the second floor up the used, wooden, creaky, stairs, accompanied by thesmell of dampness and what seemed like urine, we came to a door--number 5. An old Polish-Ukrainian lady opened, and led me in--finally, a place to stay, with what seemed like a nice family. I was immediately led into conversation with a Polish doctoral student of history, who, let's just say, was very starving for conversation with a Pole, after being in Lwow for a week. I found my bed--inthe same room, with him, and next to another room that had an additional six beds in it. Here I would take up my humble abode for the next few days. Only to find out about the running water situation, and about the toilet that does not flush well...

My night was very good, surprisingly. All the people in the city must have watched what was a quite embarrassing loss by Ukraine to Italy, in the quarterfinal of the World Cup. The streets were surprisingly quiet after the 3-0 loss. Too bad--I wish that this country that appeared for the first time this year in the World Cup would have made it further with an upset.

This morning, I attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady--the above-mentioned Roman Church. Holy Mass, celebrated in a local Polish dialect, was followed by the pipe-organ-accompanied singing of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Immaculate Conception. I stayed for this, and then walked the 30 seconds back to my lodging. Packing up for the day, I was able to leave my stuff there, and only take what I needed. The couple I am staying with is very nice--and I can understand their living situation. The average retirement pension here is $60 per month, and with prices not much lower than in Poland, it is a very hard life--forcing many older ladies into the street to beg for a daily living, simply enough to buy medicine and basic good .

I went immediately to McDonald's, after hearing not-so-good stories of what happens after one eats the local food--and since I can't read Cyrillic, it's easier to go there and look at the pictures! So, I had an unprecedented nine piece chicken nuggets and French fries, with Fanta and Coffee for breakfast--and the ability to use a fairly clean restroom!! This was definitely a relief ;o) After McDonald's, I decided to walk in the direction of the Cathedral of St. George, which, from what I eventually figured out, is the Greek Catholic Cathedral in Lwow, and also where the Holy Father stayed when he was here in 2001. The rectory is very nice, and newly renovated. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic clergy and Cardinal Jaworski do not have such nice accommodations--from what I gather, a few rooms attached to the sacristy ofthe cathedral.

The day has been filled with taking in the sights, sounds, and sometimes not-so-pleasant smells of this beautiful renaissance, Baroque and neo-classical city--much of which is still the way it was built by the Austrians in the 18th and 19th century. I have visited many churches, a synagogue, and am wandering around--glad to finally have found this Internet cafe!

Lwow--Day 1

2006-07-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

In the past four hundred years, this city has changed names constantly--from Lwow, to Lviv, to Lemberg, and also Leopolis. It has been under the possession of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Habsburg Empire, theIndependent State of Galicia, the Republic of Poland, the Ukrainian SocialistRepublic, the USSR, and finally an independent Ukraine!

I finally arrived last night after a ten-hour journey! This seems proper to such asubjectively long journey, into a different country, but I have only really traveled about 200 miles! The train from Krakow arrived without any problems, and I had an hour and a half to walk around Przemysl, a beautiful Polish city near the eastern border. I found Jesus exposed for Adoration at the local Franciscan Church, and began to pray the Rosary there, as I made a short pilgrimage to the various other historic churches. When I walked into the cathedral, I found the tomb of St. Bishop Jozef Pelczar, who was canonized recently! I didn't know that he was buried there!

I was able to catch a bus (for $6), and four hours later, I was in Lwow. This, of course, was a VERY long period of time, since it was only about 60 miles from Przemysl. However, due to the fact that we were leaving the EU, and that much smuggling happens on the border, we sat in the no-air conditioning bus forabout an hour and a half before they let us through, and after the "amerikanin'' was called out of the bus (me!) Apparently, the bus driver did not give the people my VISA form that I had to fill out at the border, and they were wondering where it was, and what I was doing. So, I finally climbed over the bags of onions, cucumbers, pantyhose, and whatever else was being taken over theborder and stored in the aisle of the bus, and made my way back to my seat--heavily laden with an odor of fresh kielbasa from the market, which apparently must be cheaper in Poland than in Ukraine, for the lady next to me was taking back about ten pounds, at least!

Well, finally all was ready to go, and we began our ride through the countryside of the Cossacks, the wild pagans and Orthodox Christians responsible for the martyrdom of St. Andrew Bobola, and the attacks upon many Polish and Ukrainian Catholics. As I looked out the window of the bus, while driving along the pot-holed main "highway,'' I saw many cottages with roosters, hens, goats, and cows wandering randomly around the yards, as laundry that had been hung up to dry was again soaked by the falling rain, and where babushkas chatted to their grandchildren in the potato fields. WOW! It is amazing difference a simple border can make--what was once the same land, inhabited by the same people, has no been separated off, and a separate "world" within a world exists here. As one person that I met later noticed, a Pole here in Lwow, mentioned, "it's as if everything stopped in the 1930's.'' I would generally agree with this, although I think the state of the city was better in the 1930's. The churches, now-turned offices or into the symphony, at least drew large crowds of faithful. The water utilities worked fine. Now, the city has no running water at all, except between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m., and between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. The old Polish waterworks are still in place, and due to water breaks, rusted pipes, and the fact that the city is on a hill, far from any water; there is a severe shortage of water, with no end of the plight in sight, at least in the near future. Water to the city is pumped from about 60-70 miles away, uphill! Back to my journey, though--I arrived at the main bus terminal here, a clear remnant of once-prosperous Soviet times, when the block socio-realism was in style, and when a hotel was a rare commodity. Now, the communist hotel is closed and abandoned, and the bus terminal is falling apart--steel pipes androds protrude from the walls, and broken glass covers the ground, where people line up to buy their bus tickets. Mafia-run taxi companies park their cabs nearby, with the hopes of ripping off hapless and confused tourists (like me). At least, I knew that this was the case, and stayed away from these ''unofficial'' taxis. I was in a predicament, however--imagine being placed in the middle of a city larger than Krakow, without knowing the language, or the alphabet!! I thought that at the MAIN BUS TERMINAL, they would have at least have signs in English--yeah right! After wandering around hopelessly, notknowing which number of trolley-bus to take to downtown (the bus terminal islocated out in the fields outside of the city, in the middle of communistapartment buildings), I finally walked up to a city taxi. Luckily, Slavic languages are all related, and between me talking Polish and the man speaking Ukrainian, we figured out a rate ($5), to take me to the middle of the city, to the ''Latin cathedral.''

Driving about seventy miles an hour, going through a few red lights, and barely missing a few trolleys and busses, while near to losing our undercarriage on the cobblestone roads, which were still ''paved'' by the Poles in the 19th or 18th century, and are now full of potholes, we finally made it to theBernardine Church, near the cathedral. Here began another series of novenas and acts of trust--Lord, help me find somebody and somewhere to stay! I looked into the Flemish Baroque Bernardine Church, now the Church of St. Andrew and Greek-Catholic Church run by the Basilian order, since the Byzantine chantpouring out of the doors was just too much to stop me from walking bynonchalantly. I was struck by the amount of faithful--young, old, babushkas, nuns, and scantily clad girls all attended the Marian Devotion, which includedbanners, flags, lots of incense, chant, and icons!

I then walked down the street (oh yeah--forgot to mention that I DID find a Polish map of the city at the bus station) to the Latin-rite Cathedral.

Rocks and Water

2006-07-04T13:41:00.000-04:00

June 28, 2006

On Saturday, I decided to finally make a trip that I had been planning for a very long time, but had never been able to. The weather was beautiful, and so I took the opportunity to go out on a bike ride through Kraków, to Zakrzówek, an area on the south bank of the Vistula, located in the “Skałka Twardowskiego Nature Preserve.” Since I bought a book back in February, entitled, “Kraków: City of My Life,” I have been trying to visit most of the places described. The book documents events from the life of Karol Wojtyla, from his life as student, bishop, and cardinal in Kraków, and describes all of the places that have something to do with his studies, his ministry, pilgrimages, etc.

This time, I chose to finally make it out to “the quarry,” called “Zakrzówek,” where young Karol Wojtyla worked in 1940-1941 as a manual laborer. During the war, the Germans required all men of working age to provide documentation of their employment, otherwise they would be taken to one of the Nazi work camps in Germany. In order to have this documentation, and to provide for himself and for his sick father, Wojtyla worked in the rock quarry, which provided limestone for the Solvay Soda Factory, in southern Kraków (where he also worked later in his life as a student). It was here, that he worked blasting, digging, and on the narrow-gauge railroad. In what would be a formative experience for the rest of his life, here he learned the value and dignity of human labor, and the time even became an inspiration for some of his poems (such as the aptly named Quarry.) Seeing his bright intellectual future, his fellow workers sought to aid him by relieving him of his load, so that he could read the books with which he could constantly be found.

This time in Wojtyła’s life has always been an inspiration for me, and so I especially wanted to visit this place where so much sweat had poured out from the hard work in the midst of the war. The quarry ceased functioning after the Second World War, when the Solvay Factory was closed. Eventually, the factory was torn down, and the Church of Our Lady of Victory stands on the spot.

Arriving by bicycle to the nature preserve that now surrounds the grounds of the former quarry, I was shocked by the little enclave of peace and quiet within the hustle and bustle of the city. Located only about four miles in a direct line from downtown, the park is a much-needed and well-loved place of relaxation for many people, who come there to tan, to jog, to read, or simply to get away a little from the noise of the city. Perhaps one of the most popular activities is the “illegal” swimming, since officially it is not allowed, but all of the police officers and officials must pretend they don’t see it happening. In the middle of the park lies a blue-green lake, in perhaps one of the most picturesque settings I have seen. In the early 1990’s, the ground water from the old rock quarry pit rose, and the entire old quarry was filled with water, creating a large lake, surrounded by white limestone cliffs and beautiful scenery. The views are breathtaking. I rode my bike up a trail that led through the marshy areas of the outskirts of the nature preserve, and suddenly, I reached a fence, which separated me from about a 150-200 foot drop, at the bottom of which glistened the aquamarine water, lit by the summer sun. Needless to say, going down to swim in it was a very tempting proposition, but I refrained and decided to ride my bike around the perimeter of the lake. Just to have an idea of how big the quarry was, the lake that know fills it is about a half a mile in diameter, and about a mile and a half in circumference.

Though a fence surrounds the entire area, in typical Polish style, many people climb it or find holes in it, in order to go to the very edge of the cliff, or to climb down the lower parts to the edge of the lake. It was amusing to see one person lying on a big air mattress in the middle of the lake, tanning in the sun. I know that many people have drowned at the lake, due to odd currents that sometimes create funnels that pull people down. Apparently, these are not the only dangers there, since upon continuing around the lake, I found a memorial plaque on the fence, which was surrounded by candles and flowers. Sadly, a Ukrainian student from the Kraków Music Academy had been there with his father last year in May, when he fell to his death from the edge of the cliff. Apparently, he was one of the most promising young voices at the academy, and had a bright future ahead of him. The sad reality reminded me of the true fragility of life, and how one can really be taken from this world at any moment!

Continuing on, I eventually passed “Elvis Presley Way,” a small asphalt path in the trees, named for the American for some odd reason. This north side of the lake was the most heavily wooded, and part of the original nature preserve that had been planned there already in the 1930’s. Exiting from the dark and deep woods, which I definitely enjoyed for the shade, I came out into the open fields again, which provided a beautiful view of the southern parts of Kraków, including the Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, as well as the new apartment complexes that are quickly rising as the city expands.

Returning back to the place where I started, I rode up another hill, and there I spent a few hours, enjoying the beautiful view of the entire city. Before me stretched the Vistula River basin, with Wawel Hill and the Royal Castle dominating the landscape in front of me. A bit farther, rose the uneven twin towers of St. Mary’s Church, the ancient guardian and protector of the city, from whose tower the bugler plays his melody every hour. To my left, stretched Blonia Park, the ancient pasture land, now the largest open meadow in any European city, and the site of multiple papal pilgrimages and Masses. As if to crown the fields, the Kosciuśko Mound rose above them, topped with people, like little ants on their anthill. To my right, stretched the hills of Kraków, and if the smog were not as thick further out, then I would be able to see the peaks of the Tatra Mountains, a mere sixty miles south, and in a completely different, snowy world of their own.

I could imagine the young man who would be the pope working down there behind me, somewhere at the bottom of the current lake, sanctifying his work and learning about the dignity of man through direct experience with the physical suffering of hard labor. It was from this incredible spot that he had taken away so many memories and formative experiences. Would it be the same for me? I had come to Kraków, as I think I put it back in February, “to grow closer and deeper in my faith life, particularly coming to better know the saint of our modern times, Karol Wojtyła, in whose beloved Krakow I will be studying.”

It appears that this visit to the quarry, which formed young Wojtyła may be one of the last places outside of downtown related to his life in Kraków that I may be able to visit. This week I am traveling, and am currently in Warsaw. I will be going to Lwów (Lviv, Leopolis), Ukraine, next weekend, hoping to visit and see this classic and culturally Polish city. More news to come…

American Meets Cardinal

2006-07-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

June 28th, 2006

The week that followed the hiking was quite intense, and included my last exam, in my Theology of the Body course, which is taught by Fr. Jarosław Kupczak, a Polish Dominican who studied at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C. My exam went well, and with it, I finished up the official schoolwork for the semester, which was quite surreal, and it took a while for me to realize that I am done! I guess it didn’t really hit me, since I am not going home yet, until July, and so while I am still here, I still feel a little as if I am “studying abroad.” Indeed, I do have a lot of things to do still, but not really related directly to school and exams!

After my exam on Wednesday, I was able to take my friend out to breakfast, to an American restaurant called “Jeff’s.” Apparently, it is a chain in Florida, and the one in Poland has a license to operate under their name. I was actually quite surprised when I walked in to find the walls plastered with license plates, random paraphernalia, TV’s playing CNN Headline News, and rock music in the loudspeakers. I have to admit, that it was actually kind of nice to feel a little bit like “back at home,” in a restaurant that was similar to Chili’s or T.G.I.F.’s. What did also strike me, though, was the complete emptiness of our materialist, consumerist culture. This restaurant was truly like any American restaurant, and after being away for so long, I guess I grew unaccustomed to the “American style.” It was interesting to reflect on how American culture must be received in Poland, and in other countries as well. If our country’s modern culture is what I was seeing here, then, honestly, “no, thank you.” Yet, why did I have such a reaction when seeing all of this? I had eaten countless times in places like this, and greatly enjoyed going out to eat at them.

Yet here, there was an aura of falsehood. It was all fake—here in Poland, the land of kings, of churches, of a thousand year history, this 1960’s pop culture restaurant just does not fit. What was even worse, was the dress of the waitresses, who all seemed to have the same “dress” code, or rather, lack thereof. Let’s just say that my shirt might have weighed more than their total attire. It was really sad to see this—is this the image that we Americans project to the rest of the world? Or is this only a misinterpretation of our culture, which is not all based on skimpy dress, bad music, and television? I would hope that it is the latter, since I tend to rather be a strong American patriot, and know that our country does have more enduring values than those that are projected abroad. Yet, it is no wonder that many people have a stereotype of Americans as the immoral, materialistic, obese, and obnoxious people that only some of them are. The pop culture is so strongly projected, that Britney Spears becomes the model of every American girl, and recently, in the wake of all of Chuck Norris jokes, he has become the American man—brutal, tough, and uncivilized.

Honestly, I was very satisfied with my American French Toast, my maple syrup and ham, and my American mug of coffee, but I was also quite relieved to leave the place. It is such a foreign concept here in Poland, that I am surprised that the place actually has customers—of course, there is still a sort of concept that views everything American as good and worthy to be imitated (unlike in Western Europe, where we are not exactly perceived the same way!) What happened later the same day, of which I had no idea, however, would redeem the experience of the morning.

In the early afternoon, I had to take some papers to the Cardinal’s secretary at the Metropolitan Curia. After finally getting in through the double sets of doors, and waiting my turn, I approached Fr. Raś, the secretary, and gave him a my packet of papers, only to be shocked by his question, “You know, perhaps the cardinal himself would like to talk to you. Then you can explain what exactly it is you need. Why don’t you come back in about an hour and a half?”

My mouth dropped—I would be able to see Cardinal Dziwisz, perhaps one of the best-known cardinals in the world, for his forty years of service at the side of Bishop Wojtyla, and then Pope John Paul II? Wow. Lord, what are you doing to me? So, I ran back home to grab my camera (typical American, right?), and then came back. Walking past some dignitaries from the Polish government, as well as new reporters, I walked up to the secretary’s office, and rang the doorbell. A few minutes later, the secretary walked out, looked around, and took my in—leaving the rest behind. Leading me through the cream-colored room, to another similar one, overlooking the courtyard of the Curia, he asked me to sit down and wait on a red tapestry Victorian sofa. Countenances of popes and cardinals watched me from their gold-framed spots on the walls, and the deep voice of Cardinal Dziwisz could be heard from the other room. In a moment, he walked out of the room, and looked at me, signaling that I would be next—only to get stopped by Fr. Nęcek, the press secretary, who had a pressing issue with “Father Cardinal,” as he is known in Polish. So, sitting down to wait again, I went over and over what I wanted to say to the cardinal, who would come out momentarily.

Returning out of his office, Cardinal Dziwisz came towards me. I expected that he would lead me to his office, where I would probably be seen from behind his large desk—but now, he came over to me, and grabbed my arm. “What can I do for you?” he asked, as I knelt to show the proper sign of respect for a Prince of the Church. Holding my hand with his firm, fatherly, fist, he led me over to the couch where I had been sitting, and asked me to sit down. Pulling up a chair next to me, and sitting about a foot and a half across, he began to ask me questions about who I was, where I was from, what I was studying, what I planned on doing in life, who had taught me this semester, etc. Somehow, all of the things that I had planned to say slipped from my mind, as my heart pounded out of temporary shock that this was actually happening. Even though this man had served at the side of John Paul, had been one of the most televised and photographed people in the world, because of his assistance to the Pope, and is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, he still had the time and interest to talk to me, a simple student! As I noticed by his simple presence in March, at the Ingress to the cathedral, he is a man of deep humility and sincere simplicity. I am sure that much of this is also due to the fact that he is from a small Polish village, Raba Wyżna, in the hills south of Kraków. He has never lost the ability to simply communicate on a very personal and direct level.

After talking to me for a few minutes, his secretary came in to take him away to what were more pressing and urgent matters, I’m sure, but I couldn’t complain. What had started as a day on which I would be taking my final exam, turned out to be the day that I would personally meet on of the Princes of the Church, a voting member of the College of Cardinals, and perhaps a future pope. Ok, that may be complete speculation, but it’s possible…I was definitely reminded of the well-known saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him what you’re doing tomorrow.” We may plan our lives, but God manifests His blessings in very unexpected ways, and makes Himself known in our lives in very visible ways at certain times!

Hiking et al.

2006-07-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

June 28, 2006

Again, the month of June seems to have flown by, and here I am in Warsaw, thinking about all that has happened in the past few weeks. The weather has turned from the cold, damp, and windy late spring that seemed to plague the beginning of June, to hot and humid continental weather. It’s been in the 90’s recently, although I can’t complain too much, since the humidity level has been not very high, which is definitely an unusual situation here in the summer. Being from Utah I am used to dry heat, so while others are complaining about the weather right now, I can only rejoice and be glad that summer is finally here!

A week-and-a-half ago, I went hiking to the Polish Beskidy mountains with some of my friends from my residence. Our destination was Babia Gora, “Grandmother’s/Old Maid’s Mountain,” which is the highest peak in that mountain range, and is actually a long ridge, which stretched across the Polish-Slovakian border. The highest of the peaks is aptly named, “Diablak,” something to the extent of “little devil,” since the top is known for its hurricane-force winds, sudden changes of temperatures, and steep ascent.

In order to get to the mountain, we had to drive through a series of Polish mountain towns, including one of the highest towns in Poland, Zawoja. After driving through this last in a string of towns, we entered a national park, “Babiogorski Park Narodowy,” a beautiful and pristine wilderness, full of lush aciduous trees and small streams. A mere two hour drive from Kraków, one of the largest cities in Poland, I found myself in a completely different world—the world which inspired the poems of Karol Wojtyla, which speaks of God’s grandeur, and which even drew Emperor Franz Joseph there during the Austrian partitions. Here, the world was quiet, yet filled with the chatter of birds, the trickle of streams. Here, where there was no civilization, was a world of a different kind. The green ferns that provided a ground cover provided safe-haven for various life forms, the open skies were perfect for the keen eyes of the raptors that circled above, and the streams provided fresh mountain water to deer that wandered through the forest.

It was upon arriving here that one of the first things we saw was a sign, which commemorated “Cardinal Karol Wojtyla’s last hike before he was chosen as the successor of St. Peter.” This sign only made me laugh to myself—how many times did I go somewhere and unexpectedly run into something that had to do with that man’s life? But then again, I thought that if I had seen so much in a short five months, then of course it must be possible that he, as a person who lived there his entire life (or at least fifty eight years of it), must have been everywhere. Seriously. No matter where one goes, throughout the various streets of Kraków, or in the sharp and rugged Tatra Mountains, or here, in the rolling Beskidy mountains, there are always signs that relate stories from different “phases” of the man’s life. Of course, now that I am here in Warsaw for the week, the streets are also pasted with plaques and memorials that can even commemorate something like “Pope John Paul II prayed here on June 6th, 1979,” or something to that extent. And rightly so. Poland has much to be proud of in this son, who, as one friend of his put it, “was to great of a man to remain in Poland.” Or as Fr. Stan raps, “what a shock, Polack, from the eastern bloc…”

Starting at the memorial plaque, we climbed the mountain in what probably turned out to be record speed. Though all maps and other signs and indications specified a hiking time of two and a half hours to the top, we made it up in an hour and fifteen minutes! Of course, there were side effects of such a grueling pace. Not to get into the nasty details, but we were so sweaty, that swarms of flies kept attacking us for the entire way up! I am not kidding when I say that I have not seen so many flies in one spot at the same time (actually, now that I think about it, I think only the brine flies on the beach of the Great Salt Lake exist in larger numbers…but then again, the Great Salt Lake is really nasty, so what does one expect?) Having reached the top, we all finally breathed a sigh of relief when the wind picked up and blew the flies away—the constant and excessive buzz around our ears had become quite a nuisance!

Upon reaching the top, I found—what do you expect—another monument commemorating John Paul’s last “visit” to the top of the mountain, when his helicopter circled above it in a fly over in 2002. He had climbed the mountain many times, and wanted to see it for one last time when he left his homeland for what would be the final time. This monument was located on the Polish-Slovak border, which runs across the top of the mountain—so one side was in Slovak, and the other side in Polish.

We chose to return back to our car via another route—the steep and sometimes fatal trail, known as “Academic Ridge,” probably for the large number of college students who choose to either ascend or descend via this route. Though technically not too challenging, the main danger lies in the steepness of the slope, which can very easily become very hazardous during a slight rainstorm, or with snow cover. After the initial part, though, we did reach a few cliffs, were we had to climb down with the help of metal chains and ladders that had been permanently placed there by the park service. Having descended on these, we reached a few last snowfields, were we had to have the initial snowball fights. These all were fine, until I accidentally through an ice ball at my friend camera! Luckily, after it all dried out, it was fine and kept being able to document our journey!

One of the best things about Poland, and especially “Little Poland,” which is the southern region of Poland, are the small distances between everything. It’s still hard for me to get used to the fact that everything is so objectively close, yet seems to be far away. Coming from the western United States, where one has to drive twenty miles to Church, and easily commutes over a hundred miles a day, it is still hard to get used to the fact that sometimes within very small distances, there can be a very diverse number of climate changes, different towns, and local customs. Having descended from the mountain, we reached our car and saw that we still had a few hours, so we decided to go to Wadowice for a dinner and, of course, papal cream pastries. Without a car, especially, it would seem that these two places were very far from each other, and very separated both by climate and by culture. The one being a small industrial town, and the other being a semi-remote national park, it would seem that they would not all be within about thirty or forty miles of each other.

I was shocked to learn that two of the friends that I was with had never been to Wadowice, which was ironic, since I was the one from the U.S., and I had already been there a few times. So, we decided that they needed to go there. We were able to visit the main church, St. Mary’s Basilica, and pray at the baptismal font of the little “Lolek,” which was followed by eating up probably all of the calories that we had burned up on our hike—two cream pastries a person! Seeing that I have not recounted this story before in this journal, perhaps I should share it, since not all readers will know what “papal cream pastries” are and why Wadowice is now famous for them.

The Holy Father’s visit to Poland in 1999 was perhaps one of the most memorable, since it included many situations in which the Holy Father improvised and digressed from the written speeches that he had prepared. This was especially true in Wadowice, where he reminisced about his childhood days, naming some of the friends he remembered from school, and recounting memories from those times of his childhood.

“Over there on the corner is where we would go for “kremówki,” (cream pastries) with my friend, after we finished high school,” recalled the Holy Father with a wide grin and smirk on his face. Upon seeing the crowd’s reaction, he also laughed, and leaned over to the side to laugh discreetly.
What people learned later was the full story—Karol and his friends used to go to the pastry shop and make bets on who would eat the most “kremowki.” They did this not only for the taste of the delicious and fattening pastries, but also because they had rum in them, so in reality, one might say that they wanted to see who would get a little boozed off of them first. Realistically, this would not be very easy, and I’m not sure how many one would have to eat, but the future pope lost the bet, since he “only” ate seven.

Needless to say, after this improvisational commercial for all of the bakers and pastry shops in Wadowice, “Papal Kremowki” became a huge and popular success, and now every shop in Wadowice sells the “original” papal cream pastries. (I hear that the same is starting to happen in Marktl am Inn, where the local pastry shops have been baking “papal chocolate torte,” apparently a favorite of Joseph Ratzinger. It will be interesting to see if this is mentioned when he visits his hometown in September).

After this long day of hiking, of visiting, and of eating, we finally came home in the evening, satisfied, if not a bit tired, but thankful for a wonderful day—a sort of unexpected pilgrimage in the footsteps of Karol Wojtyla. The fact that we were tired, though, did not mean that we refrained from having a traditional Saturday night grill, with chicken and Polish kielbasa, with all of our friends from the residence, and others as well.

Ironic

2006-06-08T07:43:00.000-04:00

Mormons claim that Jesus came to teach among the people of North and South America after His resurrection. Notice the nice pagan pyramids in the background!

So, at the main train station in Krakow today, I ran into a bunch of Mormon missionaries, from, of all places....Utah! I was walking away, when I saw a group of four people, two men with the title of "starszy," (elder), and to women with "siostra," (sister). Kind of ironic, since I am a Catholic from Utah, and the Mormons are even here in Krakow (I have seen them before). I decided to stop and talk with them for a while, and they were happy to meet another fellow American. It turned out that I have a mutual friend with one of them. Perhaps we will meet again to talk about their faith...I wonder what it must be like for them here in Krakow, where about 99% of the people are Catholic, and most of them practicing, at that...

Pope in Poland

2006-06-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

Summer seems to be in full swing here in Krakow, until the Holy Father came, and the weather decided to turn cold and ugly. However, that did not dampen the Polish spirit here during the historic visit of our Holy Father.

Though it has been a week and a half since the visit of Pope Benedict, happily, people are still talking about the importance of his visit, as well as the lasting effect that it will have on the country as a whole, and on him as well. The visit was amazing, and even trying to describe it in anything less than book-length format is quite impossible. From the profound clarity and simplicity of his messages, to the amazing turnout of 700,000 youth from around the world at the “mini-World Youth Day” on Saturday night, to the rainbow at Auschwitz, to the profound and radiating joy from the face of Pope Benedict, it is impossible to capture the entire visit in a single phrase, or with a single description. One that may perhaps be adequate is “venit, vidit, vincit.”

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, the Vicar of Christ and the “Peter of our times” came to Poland, in the “footsteps of his beloved predecessor.” Here, in the heart of ancient Slavic culture, the German pope experienced the profound movement of the Holy Spirit in the fresh faith of a European country surrounded by neighbors who are withering away in their rationalistic secular humanism. Here, in the city of John Paul II, Pope Benedict’s faith and hope were strengthened. This phenomenon was amazing and visible, since the Holy Father began his visit quite awkwardly and uncomfortably. By the time he arrived in Krakow, however, and especially at the youth rally, he was clearly moved by the energy and the rapport he had with the youth on Blonia Krakowskie, the gigantic meadow in the middle of the city. Here, on this ancient marshland and grazing pasture, now turned into a city park (the largest open meadow in any major European city), the Holy Father met with the young people of Eastern Europe and of the world, where he encouraged them to “build their life on the rock,” with the strength and hope of their faith, which requires them to not be afraid to be unpopular. In an age of moral relativism and of secular humanism, so many people think that their faith somehow prevents them or inhibits them from experiencing the fullness of their human condition. Yet, repeating his inaugural homily, the Holy Father reiterated that, “Christ takes nothing away.” It is only in Christ that man experiences the fullness of his humanity.

Himself encouraging the youth to “remain strong in the faith,” the Holy Father was encouraged by their zeal and their spirit. Now, as a person who attended both World Youth Days in Toronto and in Cologne, I can say that I have never seen this much energy and excitement in a crowd with the Holy Father. The Holy Spirit was definitely present, as was the communion that makes up the Church. Present were Ukrainian Catholics, Catholics from Belarus, Slovakia, Croatia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Russia, Sweden, Chicago, as well as some Chaldeans from Iraq! Here, not only the “future of the Church” was present, but also the “present of the Church.” For we know that Pope Benedict reminded us, also in his inaugural homily from April last year, that “the Church is young…the Church is alive.” And it was with these words in my mind that I took in all that was happening before me. I was, once again, blessed to be able to be part of a historic event, an event in which the Vicar of Christ, Christ Himself, asked the Polish Church to “be an example” and to “share the gift of its faith” with the rest of Europe and with the world.

Of course, the focus of the pilgrimage was the life of John Paul II, who was present with Pope Benedict throughout the trip, in his visits to places important in the life of the beloved pope, such as Wadowice, Czestochowa, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and the “papal window” in the Metropolitan Curia. It was at this window that we greeted the Holy Father when he arrived in Krakow on Friday, where thousands of youth gathered and awaited the “unplanned” and “spontaneous” appearance that everybody knew would occur. This, of course, was simply a continuation of the tradition that was set by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who would greet pilgrims from this window, a tradition that he continued later as Pope John Paul the Great. The growing impatience of the crowd prompted the chanting of, “Cardinal, let the pope out,” as well as “Come to the window, come to the window!” The minute the Holy Father stepped out, we were able to see that this was already a different Benedict, much more at-ease, and clearly excited to be with this crowd in Krakow. These feelings of mutual attraction and sympathy continued throughout the visit.

Thus, Pope Benedict, came, but he also saw. He saw the faith of the young “Generation JPII.” He saw that there is a growing number of movements within the Polish Church which are seeking to be attached sentimentally to John Paul, but are also trying to incorporate the beauty of his teachings into their daily lives. This was evident in the fact that many, many young married couples with large families were invited to give their testimonies both before the Vigil on Saturday, as well as the Mass on Sunday. In a country where simply surviving economically is becoming very difficult, where the gap between the very rich and “the rest” (who are basically poor) is widening, and where various consumerist and western materialist mentalities have taken hold, the married couples encouraged young Poles to “not be afraid,” and to give their lives over completely over to the Divine Mercy, and to pray, “Jesus, I trust in you.” Young priests were also invited to give their testimonies about the beauties of the celibate life. Ironically, these were less important, since there is surely no vocational crisis to the priesthood or religious life in Poland. Rather, there is an increasing attack on the dignity of marriage, both through the media, as well as from an economic standpoint, which often makes it impossible for young couples to get married and raise a family.

Yet, the Holy Father was able to see the rising number of young people who refuse to give into the mentality that has taken hold of the West, and is causing an increased dissatisfaction with life and leading young people to grapple with the question of the meaning of life. Fortunately, the faith remains strong in the young generation here, though not without its own problems. Yet, the witness of these young people gave great encouragement and much hope to others, and showed that Poland does not need to go the way of the West. The Holy Father himself reminded the Polish youth that their faith is a great treasure, and that they need to “build their house on a firm foundation,” refusing to give into the relativism of the modern world, which creates a shaky foundation and only leads to destruction and despair. John Paul II so often taught about the meaning of true freedom, which can only come through love, which requires great sacrifice. Freedom without sacrifice, freedom without love, is not true freedom, and leads to a confusion of the very meaning of freedom itself. Man seeks to liberate himself by casting off Christ and the moral natural law, thus cutting himself off from the very source of that freedom which only Christ and His law can give.

While the Church in the West struggles through a lack of vocations, deep interior problems which will require much purification and healing, the Church in Poland is alive—and now the young Catholics in Poland can live out their faith in order to build a just society, that their faith in Christ may become a fountain of life and a source of Truth in a modern society that often seeks to cast off the existence of truth itself. Thus, Pope Benedict saw the problems that the young face here, and was encouraged in his own faith. The Holy Spirit is alive here in Poland, in a very unique and unimaginable way, and the Church has to respond with an open heart and be prepared for the struggle ahead, yet the “JPII Generation” has received all that it needs in order to build a just society, based on truth and on love.

Having come and seen the faith of the Poles, Pope Benedict also conquered. He was won over by the faith of the Poles, but he also conquered the initial uneasiness and shyness on the part of the Poles. Many Poles wondered what the visit would be like. Would he speak Polish? Would he try to imitate John Paul II? What was he going to say, as a German pope visiting the Polish nation? Would he understand the cultural situation? Yet, as the newspapers said, this pope “won over the hearts of the Poles” in a way that nobody had expected.

When the Holy Father returned to his residence at the Curia after the evening vigil on Saturday, he mentioned to Cardinal Dziwisz that he was “amazed by and infatuated with” with Polish youth, and the warmth with which he was received. He realized that the love that they showed him was the same love that they showed to “their” John Paul, but in reality, it was a love for the Petrine Ministry, for the Vicar of Christ. Their love and joy at seeing the Holy Father does not stem from the fact that they are seeing Pope John Paul, or Pope Benedict, but rather, Peter himself, who was given the task to “tend Christ’s sheep."

Not only was Pope Benedict inspired and won over by the enthusiasm of the crowd, but he also won over the crowd, in a mutual exchange of love and of joy. Of course, the most exciting were the “unplanned” visits at the papal window, where on one night, the pilgrims remained until at least 1:00 a.m., singing and chanting. At the end of the Sunday Mass, Pope Benedict was to walk off and turn right, to enter the popemobile and exit the field. Instead, he caught his security off guard, and turning left, he descended the steps of the stage and walked down among the crowd of pilgrims, meeting with them and blessing them. To me, this was an amazing moment, because I recalled the Holy Father’s wish to “come down, and to look into every person’s eyes and to meet them.” This was not some sort of sentimental wish of an elderly man, but rather, a genuine desire to meet the people among whom the faith of John Paul II ripened, matured, and flourished. Clearly moved by the beautiful Liturgy, Pope Benedict broke protocol and came down to be among his flock. Only a few minutes later, after walking a considerable distance, did he enter the popemobile and leave “his beloved Krakow.” Later, at his farewell from the papal window, he wished thanked everybody for the wonderful reception in Krakow, and left with the words, “see you in Rome, and if God allows, again in Krakow.” Clearly, he intends to come back and to teach and strengthen the faith of one of the few remaining Catholic countries in Europe.

Clearly, Pope Benedict XVI came to the land of John Paul II, saw the vibrancy and freshness of the faith, and conquered the hearts of the Poles, through faith, hope, and love. This historic visit was, of course, marked by many amazing “miracles,” such as the appearance of a rainbow at the moment when the Holy Father was praying in Auschwitz, asking for forgiveness for the crimes which took place there. In order that there would be no confusion, God sent a rainbow, as “a sign of his eternal covenant,” showing the people in a dramatic way that the prayers of his faithful servant were heard. All that remains now, after the visit, are the muddy fields, were the feet of one and a half million pilgrims trampled the grass, the occasional papal flags (which seem to be appearing more often in recent days, and are put up permanently, even in such places as the public university), and the memories and photos which adorn shops and streets. Yet, the task that has been assigned by this Holy Father is that the nation learns to love, that people learn to love one another and contribute, together, to the building of a just society, a “civilization of love,” based on charity, as Pope Benedict reminds us in Deus Caritas Est. The memories may last, the exciting time has come and gone, but the Holy Father has reminded us that “being a Christian is a beautiful thing,” and there is not a moment in the life of the Christian that is not exciting. Now the plant that has been further nourished by this apostolic visit must grow and mature, in order to produce an abundance of fruit. A great task lies ahead, and we must pray that Poland will be ready and willing to complete it.

Venit, Vidit, Vincit

2006-05-29T18:26:00.000-04:00

Need I say more?

Miracle Picture

2006-05-29T18:12:00.000-04:00

The Holy Father's prayer in Auschwitz-Birkenau is already being hailed as a miracle. Immediately upon praying for reconciliation forgiveness for sins against humanity, the sun came out after a cold and rainy day, and the sky looked like this:

Genesis 9:9-17:

"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."
God added: "This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds,
I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings.
As the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and recall the everlasting covenant that I have established between God and all living beings--all mortal creatures that are on earth."
God told Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all mortal creatures that are on earth."

Amazing.

Welcome to the Papal City

2006-05-27T05:26:00.000-04:00

The Holy Father arrived here in Krakow last night, and addressed the thousands of youth who gathered under the "papal wondow" at the Archbishop's Palace.

At this very moment, the Holy Father is in Wadowice, and has just visited the home and parich church of the young Karol Wojtyla.

What greater confirmation of the holiness of John Paul the Great, than the Holy Father himself coming to visit and "follow in his footsteps."

The official sign on the market square in Wadowice says, "John Paul II the Great." Unbelievable.

I think any long reflection will have to wait, but I will keep you all updated. Pictures are forthcoming!

Witamy Ocja Swietego

2006-05-25T17:03:00.000-04:00

Polish President Lech Kaczynski greets Pope Benedict XVI

More pictures here.

WELCOME POPE BENEDICT! NIECH ZYJE PAPIEZ (LONG LIVE THE POPE)!

The Holy Father is finally here, and has arrived to remind Poles to "remain strong in the faith," a motto that refers to a famous speech by John Paul II, which he gave in 1979, and instructed Poles to "be strong with the strength of faith.

The German pope has to come to the most Catholic nation, his neighboring nation, to encourage reconciliation and to light the fire anew in the souls of Poles, who "have not been afraid, throughout history, to publicly proclaim their faith as a nation."

I will be trying to keep updates as current as possible, but for understandable reasons, I will be out and about, at the meetings with the Holy Father! More news to come...

Pictures from Procession

2006-05-15T18:07:00.000-04:00

Hello, Your Eminence (Cardinal Macharski)

The street better be shut down for these guys!

Primate Glemp looks a bit confused.

Although I can't complain about his stole!

Saint Stanislaw Procession

2006-05-15T17:55:00.000-04:00

Lots of Bishops and Cardinals...yay!

I cannot believe that time is passing by so fast here. It seems as if I was just in Rome for Easter, and then was with George Weigel here in Krakow, but those events were almost a month ago. In fact, the Church celebrated the Resurrection a month ago, tomorrow!

Time seems to really be flying by—especially with the end of Notre Dame’s school year, and graduation only a few days away, for all of my friends back home, “under the Dome.” To those seniors who will be graduating, know that you’re all in my prayers and in my thoughts, as I myself am nearing final exams, which linger in the future deceptively distant future!
In his famous poem, Stanislaw, the poet Karol Wojtyla writes:

Stanislaw may have thought: my word will hurt and convert you,
You will come as a penitent to the cathedral gate,
Emaciated by fasting, enlightened by a voice within,
To join the Lord’s table like the prodigal son.
The Word did not convert, the blood will:

Perhaps the bishop had no time to think,
Let this cup pass from me.

Reflecting here deeply on the martyrdom of St. Stanislaw, Karol Wojtyla reflected upon the deep and painful reality of the sufferings of Poland throughout the ages. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow reflects on the legacy of his predecessor, the main patron of Poland, and a foundation of Polish Catholicism throughout the ages.

A sword falls on the soil of our freedom;
Blood pours onto the soil of our freedom;
And which weighs more?

Known for his deep devotion to St.Stanislaw, whose place of martyrdom our archbishop and poet would visit quite often, it was here that he deepened his understanding of the meaning and the price of freedom. Each year, he led the St. Stanislaw Procession through the streets of Krakow to Skalka, the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, where the ancient Bishop of Krakow was martyred by Boleslaw the Bold, while saying Mass. It was on the feast day of his holy predecessor that Karol Wojtyla would preach homilies against the regime’s persecution and squelching of human rights. Just as the bishop of old had paid with his life for his faith, and for the true freedom that living the divine moral law brings, so he encouraged the modern Poles to “not be afraid” to stand up for the Truth, for true freedom can only be found in the Truth.

Yesterday, I had the blessed opportunity to attend this year’s St. Stanislaw Procession, which was moved from the feast of the bishop, to the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Arriving at the foot of Wawel Hill around 9:00 a.m., I was surprised by the number of people already processing by—representatives of schools, traditional guilds, government representatives, and parishes. Life-size, and larger-than-life size statues of Mary and the saints made their way past me, as I gazed with awe and wonder at some of the traditional and official costumes. The Order of the Holy Sepulcher processed by in its traditional capes, accompanied with representatives of various Krakow brotherhoods, some which donned traditional Cracovian dress-the long blue overcoat, the white blouse, and feathered-hats, which are very good representations of the traditional Polish noble dress of the 17th century. After the procession of guilds and associations, a virtual “parade of nuns” processed by (our famous “nun parade” at Notre Dame during last year’s Eucharistic Procession pales in comparison)! There were Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and many other sisters—close to a thousand, by my estimates! Following them, were representatives of the various male orders in Krakow, such as the Dominicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, Bernardines, Capuchins, Jesuits, etc. You name the order, they were there! After this procession of the Church militant, there came the Church Triumphant—huge gold and silver reliquaries of the patron saints of Poland and Krakow. Various orders carried their patron saints. Taking part in the procession were St. Hyacinth, the friend of St. Dominic, who brought the Dominicans to Poland; Saint Jadwiga, the Queen of Poland and wife of Grand Duke Jagiello; Saint Brother Albert, a nineteenth century Polish saints, and founder of the Albertine sisters and brothers; St. John Cantius, the professor and saint of the Academy of Krakow; St. Jozef Bilczewski, the professor of the Jagiellonian University, and archbishop of Lwow, who was canonized in October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. At the end of the procession, of course, were the relics of St. Stanislaw, the Cracovian “proto-martyr.”

At the end of the procession of the Church Triumphant, finally came the priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals of Poland! In attendance were Cardinal Dziwisz of Krakow, Cardinal Macharski of Krakow, Primate Jozef Glemp, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw-Gniezno, and Primate of Poland, Cardinal Gulbinkiewicz, the Archbishop of Wroclaw, and Cardinal Marian Jaworski, himself a good friend of Karol Wojytla, the former President of the Pontifical Academy in Krakow, and now the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lwow. Not to even mention Archbishop Kowalczyk, the papal nuncio, and a host of other Polish bishops, from throughout the entire country!

The procession followed the ancient “path of King Boleslaw,” retracing his steps from Wawel Hill to the Church where St. Stanislaw was martyred. Walking in the procession was an awesome and overwhelming experience. This was the very same procession that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal Adam Sapieha, and the many other famous bishops of Krakow had walked throughout the centuries. Walking the path was like walking through time, recollecting the death and life of the saints. Nova et vetera, ever ancient, ever new, I think, may be the only way to describe my experience. I will go down into the chronicles of time as one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have come together to worship and celebrate the death and glorious witness to the faith of such a great saint. Here, the laity came together with the princes of the Church—making the communion of saints so much more tangible.

The Mass was celebrated outside, in front of the quaint, Baroque church that is now built on the spot of the martyrdom. The altar had as a backdrop a huge Polish flag, in which was hung an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa—the very same one which adorned the altar during the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaw, during his first pilgrimage here in 1979, as Pope John Paul II. “Remain strong in the faith,” the motto on the backdrop reminded us, referring to both the witness of St. Stanislaw and St. Archbishop Bilczewski, and alluding to the theme of the upcoming pilgrimage of the Holy Father to Poland. Primate Glemp gave an amazing and powerful, direct homily about the dangers of the modern ideologies of secularism and consumerism. “Was this just a conflict between two personalities?” asked the cardinal, “between a stubborn bishop and a prideful king? Or is there something deeper here? Was it just about the conflict and tensions between the Church and the State? No, because we see that the two can co-exist side-by-side, and work for the common good.” Then, there must be something more behind the bloody murder of the bishop by the king, the cardinal reminded us. “This conflict was a conflict about the Truth, and the painful reality that the Truth requires action and needs to be defended.” Throughout the history of Poland, there were numerous examples of unjust regimes and people who persecuted the Truth—the Swedes during the “deluge” of the 17th century, Hitler and Stalin in the not-so-distant past. “But who is the enemy now? Can the enemy only be a person, or a group of people? Or can it also be an ideology—an ideology which appears positive on the outside, but is in its deepest core an ideology of an anti-Truth?” The cardinal blasted the modern and often-heard (and often debated) terms of “freedom, tolerance, and justice.” It is precisely behind such terms that evil can lurk, presenting itself as good, and taking many people along with it. Now, more than ever, Poland must stand true to her Christian past, and to live with the bravery and courage of St. Stanislaw, who was willing to put his life on the line by reminding the king about the immorality of his actions.

After the incredible Mass and homily, the procession began its way back to the seat of the Polish kings and bishops, Wawel Cathedral—only to be interrupted by a German-accented voice, speaking in Polish, “I greet all of the Poles gathered here today. Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the assassination attempt on our beloved John Paul II, who was saved by the guiding hand of Mary…” Yes, Pope Benedict once again showed his proficiency and newly-learned skill of speaking Polish, by addressing the Poles on St. Peter’s square, and linking to Krakow via satellite, encouraging Poles to remain faithful to the same Mother that had protected this nation throughout the ages of history. I don’t know how this happened, but somehow I ended up in the front of the procession, right BEHIND the cardinals—and when I mean right, I mean about three feet away. All of the cardinals, but particularly Cardinal Macharski and Cardinal Dziwisz kept walking over to bless little children, the sick and the elderly. Seizing my chance, when he was coming back to file in the procession, I grabbed Cardinal Dziwisz and asked him for a blessing. I think my heart about stopped, since I was here, touching and being touched by a man who had held the Holy Father in his hands, during his dying moments. I was being blessed by the man who himself had lived under the same roof for over forty years with the greatest man and saint of our times. I felt the same way that I did in the cathedral during Cardinal Dziwisz’s ingress—my heart was pounding, I was completely overtaken with excitement and joy, and struck by the interior humility and magnanimity of the cardinal. I was most especially moved when he stopped to accept some flowers from a girl in her first communion dress, who had just received first communion, and who was able to get her picture with the cardinal.

Wow. I have come from Utah, a Mormon state, currently without even a bishop, to a city that has three cardinals, and which regularly attracts many more for events such as this one. I am truly learning what it means to be catholic—to be surrounded by a culture that is bigger than the mere addition of all of the churches and sacred places in town. It is a culture that is shaped and formed by the people who have come in the past, who are here now, and who will be here in the future. Being Catholic means being part of one great family, called to participate in the final and eternal communion with the saints, who accompany us on the journey, like they did in the procession. Being Catholic means being part of the family, the communion, in which all are children of God, and in which cardinals, children, the sick, and the young, are all journeying on a different road to the same place. The dock is the same, but some arrive by motorboat, some by sailboat, and some by swimming against the tide, until they are picked up and towed to shore. As Wojtyla expresses in the above-mentioned poem, we are all part of the Church where “the hidden breath of the Spirit will unify us all.” This Holy Spirit was present yesterday in the procession, through the witness of the saints, the participation and piety of the people from all ages and walks of life, and in the presence of the People of God (not to mention the windy, gusty day, which held off the rain until the minute I stepped into the trolley after the procession!

The witness of St. Stanislaw teaches us that we need not ever fear professing the Truth, with our words and with our actions. We may offend some people, but this has happened in the past. We may pay for it, maybe even with our lives. Countless saints have already traveled this path. For this is the nature of the Church. The Polish Church has learned this particularly well, expressed by Fr. Popieluszko’s famous saying, “If you were to take a handful of Polish soil and squeeze it, it would drip with the blood of the martyrs.” For the Church is not an authoritarian dictator, but rather, the guardian of the Truth. And it is for this Truth that many people fear taking a stand. Yet, the saints have shown us that it is worth it. For my Church is a Church which is my

Root which I thrust
Into the past and future alike,
The sacrament of my being in God,
Who is the Father.

Let us never forget that it is in the Church that we learn to stand up for freedom. It is only in the Truth that we are set free. A sacrament is a sign, and this Church points us to our “being in the Father,” Who we cannot and will not fear. St. Stanislaw knew this, and he paid with his life. Are we ready to follow in his steps?

Planned Parenthood

2006-05-09T16:49:00.000-04:00

Margaret Sanger: eugenist, feminist, racist, and founder of Planned Parenthood

I originally wrote this piece for a campus newspaper about three years ago, hence all of the Notre Dame references, but I think it still pertains. Just thought that I would re-post it, since Planned Parenthood is still a formiddable force, and the battle for Notre Dame still continues.

Sex. From MTV to Hollywood, from books to magazines, relationships and human sexuality dominate today’s culture. In fact, they are a part of human nature and have dominated every civilization in the past as well. All one has to do is to look in the Bible, or in the Greek epics to see teachings and attitudes about sex.

Recently, many events at this university have sparked people’s dialogue and discussion on the topic. Last year, controversy surrounded the performance of the “Vagina Monologues” on Ash Wednesday on this campus. (Various groups are once again scheduling to perform this offensive show on campus this year). Recently, two topics of the new “Theology on Tap” series held at Legends on Wednesday nights have been “Relationships” and “How Far is Too Far?” A short time ago, during National Respect Life Week, the Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s Right to Life club displayed a Cemetery for the Innocents on South Quad. This display graphically showed the sheer reality of the three thousand and six hundred children killed in abortion every day in the United States. In fact, 43,350,000 babies have been surgically aborted in the past thirty years. This is one third of our generation. A reason for widespread abortion our society is due to the support it receives from prominent organizations that are intent on promoting a cultural mentality aimed at eliminating the poor and the minorities in the name of “woman’s choice.”

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), contrary to popular belief, is the nation’s single largest abortion provider. This is not surprising however, when one looks at the origins of this evil organization. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a racist, a eugenist, and like Hitler, she was on a quest to create a perfect human race.

Margaret Higgins Sanger was born the sixth of eleven children into a large Irish family. Her mother died of tuberculosis at the age of fifty. Margaret blamed her mother’s death on the large number of pregnancies that her mother underwent. Later in her life, Margaret married and became the mother of three children that, according to her own writings, she should have killed. “The most merciful thing that the large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it” (Woman and the New Race, 1920).

While she was studying to become a nurse, a career path that she never finished, she came to the conclusion that there are two parts to the human race, “fit” and “unfit.”

Free maternity care to the poor will encourage the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of the unthinkable and indiscriminate fecundity of others…a dead and human waste. (Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, p. 177). [Emphasis added.]

The attentive reader would notice that Sanger seems to place herself in the “normal” sector of society, even though she came from a poor peasant family. The same reader cannot help but feel sorry for Sanger, who must “shoulder the burden” of the “unfit” people, clearly the “human waste” of society (the same people in which Blessed Mother Teresa saw the face of Christ).

In 1920, Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League (ABCL). To promote this organization, she used such ingenious slogans as, “Birth Control: To Create a Race of Thoroughbreds” (“Birth Control Review,” November, 1921, vol. V, no. 11; p. 2). This slogan surely attracted a large following!

In 1930, Sanger changed the name of the ABCL to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. This organization promoted, held to, and taught Sanger’s philosophy of the human race, which she developed in 1932 in a work entitled “Plan for Peace.” She presented seven points and methods that she believed would bring about communal peace and create a unified and “fit” human race. Among these points were ideas to close immigration to aliens who were “feebleminded” and “idiots.” She also promoted a policy of sterilization and segregation to those whose traits might be deficient. Apportioning land to segregated persons under “competent instructors” was another on of her brilliant ideas to create the perfect human race. (See the sidebar for her complete policies).

According to Sanger, anybody who promotes sterilization and segregation should be seen as a hero. In fact, the Planned Parenthood website publishes a quote that praises her efforts, “There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sanger’s early efforts…Our sure beginning in the struggle for equality through nonviolent direct action may not have been so resolute without the tradition established by Margaret Sanger and people like her” (www.plannedparenthood.org/about/thisispp/sanger.html, October 27, 2003).
Surely, abortion is a direct action. The “nonviolent” aspect of it might be questioned however, when a human body is either ripped or crushed apart by the surgical forceps of the abortionist. Clearly, Sanger established a great tradition in which sterilization, racism, eugenics, contraception, and abortion should be promoted.

Not only did Sanger believe in the inferiority of the lower classes, as is clearly evident in her prior quotes, but she was also a racist. In the April 1933 issue of the “Birth Control Review,” Sanger stated that, “blacks, soldiers, and Jews are a menace to the race.” Knowing how unpopular her beliefs were, however, she stated that, “We do not want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro Population” (Letter to Clarence J. Gamble, M.D., December 10, 1939).

Planned Parenthood clearly follows its founder’s principles, even today. As much as the organization would like to be seen as a benevolent organization dedicated to women’s care, it is a covert operation that is dedicated to genocide and racial and economic cleansing. Planned Parenthood tries to conceal Sanger’s real views and to justify them through “historical context,” yet to see the truth, all one has to do is read her books, Woman and the New Race or Pivot of Civilization, (which are available online at http://www.all.org/stopp/sanger.htm) to see for herself what kind of “benevolence” Sanger advocated.

Clearly, Margaret Sanger, the “heroic” champion of “women’s rights,” was not such a gallant figure after all. She was a hypocritical racist who was intent on purifying society and building a culture of “fit” people who would dominate the poor and the social outcasts. Perhaps what is even more disturbing is that the American taxpayer, whether or not he wants to support racism and murder, does so. The PPFA received $240.9 million in taxpayer money last year (http://www.all.org/stopp.htm, October 27th, 2003).

Isn’t it time that we start to stand up to face this behemoth? People are dying because of the dark agenda of Planned Parenthood. Isn’t it time that young people start to take a stand for their faith and their beliefs? We will not stand for racism, death, and social or economic discrimination. As Blessed Pier Giorgio Frasati, the patron of young people, stated so wisely not too long ago, “To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live, but to ‘get along;’ we must never just ‘get along.’” Aren’t we the Fightin’ Irish? Perhaps we should ask ourselves how this heritage applies to our lives, other than just football. Surely, the “Fightin” refers to more than just a game of football.Let us, “that American youth always so ready and eager to throw themselves wholeheartedly into every worth and noble venture and for whom obstacles are but a challenge to their courage, may [we] seize the torch of faith and carry it full-flaming to the ends of the earth until all men may see and know Jesus Christ!” These words from Pope Pius XII can certainly direct us today. Attend events like Theology on Tap. Become active in promoting a culture of life. The opportunities at Our Lady’s University are endless. It is time that faithful Christians unite and stand against the Planned Parenthoods of our society.

Heretics All

2006-05-08T11:59:00.000-04:00

Since the recent trend in blog poems has turned to Hillaire Belloc, (see the Holy Whapping) here's one of his that I like!

Heretics all, whoever you may be,
In Tarbes or Nimes, or over the sea,
You never shall have good words from me.
Caritas non conturbat me.

But Catholic men that live upon wine
Are deep in the water, and frank, and fine;
Wherever I travel I find it so,
Benedicamus Domino.

On childing women that are forelorn,
And men that sweat in nothing but scorn:
That is on all that ever were born,
Miserere Domine.

To my poor self on my deathbed,
And all my dear companions dead,
Because of the love that I bore them,
Dona Eis Requiem.

Tischner Days

2006-05-06T10:25:00.000-04:00

Fr. Jozef Tischner

This week, the 6th annual Tischner Days will be held in Krakow, celebrating the work of Fr. Jozef Tischner, the philosopher and friend of JPII. Though I couldn't find an English site for this year's events, here is some information on those of years past.

Work and Freedom

2006-05-01T15:01:00.000-04:00

Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko Celebrates Mass in 1982

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and also May Day. While the mandatory attendance at the communist party marches is now a thing of the past, the day is still a national holiday, turning into “Europe’s longest weekend.” May 3rd is also a national holiday, the anniversary of the passing of the historic Constitution of May 3, 1791. Mane people, especially in the United States, where knowledge of Polish and Central European history, in general, is at a miserable low, do not realize that this constitution was the second written constitution in the world, and the first in Europe. At the time, it was hailed by such people as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as an amazing act of bravery and hope for the cause of freedom and democracy.
These days are a great time to reflect in the blessings of freedom, and to be thankful for what we have in the United States. Yesterday, I was in Warsaw, and visitied a place that I have come to be very attached to—the 1930’s, “Modernist Gothic” church of St. Stanislaw Kostka, in northern Warsaw’s Zoliborz neighborhood. Though the church is nestled into a block of apartments, and remains largely unnoticed by many people who pass by, it is perhaps on of the most important places in the Polish fight and struggle for freedom in the 1980’s, which led to the fall of communism throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
As one walks into the church yard, through the front gate, his sight is immediately drawn to the grave in the right hand side, which bears the name of “Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko: Murdered October 19th, 1984. Lived 37 years.” Here lie the mortal remains of one of the most beloved and widely hated priests in the Polish People’s Republic of the 1980’s. His body lies under a giant marble cross, which upon examination, one realizes that it is the cross of a Rosary, which surrounds it, made of stones that are connected by giant steel chain links. The grave steadily draws hundreds of people a day, both from Warsaw, and from outside of the city. John Paul II came to pray at the grave in 1987.
Born in 1947, at the height of some of the most turbulent times in the history of modern Poland, Adam Popieluszko was known to be a quiet and simple boy, born on a farm in a small Mazovian town. His parents instilled in him a sense of piety, and instructed him in his faith as a young boy. His contemplative nature soon led him to realize that he might have a vocation to the priesthood, and he joined the seminary at a fairly young age. In the 1950’s, the Polish Church was at the height of its persecution, as the communist authorities sought to dominate it by persecuting and arresting clergy. A dramatic moment came when Stefan Cardinal Wyszinski, the “Primate of the Millennium,” was placed under house arrest by the authorities, who tapped his phone lines and kept their eyes on him. Only by the end of the decade was there a “thaw,” when the Polish Church gained more rights, after the authorities realized that it would be impossible to battle with an institution that was the very soul and spiritual strength of the nation.
By the late 1970’s, Fr. Jerzy had been ordained, and was known for his quiet and simple ministry, both to the poor, and to young people. He always brought great joy to the sick in the hospital, where he was a chaplain. Never a very social person by nature, he enjoyed taking solitary kayaking, hiking, and skiing trips on his own, where he was able to experience the quiet majesty of the Lord in His Creation.
The 1980’s were marked by the now-famous rise of the Solidarity trade union, which was the beginning of a breath of freedom in the nation that had become accustomed to the iron grip and absurdity of a false ideology. The government realize that their ideology could not take hold in the hearts and souls of the Polish nation, so they sought to use any means necessary to suppress rebellions or movements for freedom. This fear if losing power, of course, was seen in the now-famous declaration of martial law by General Jaruzelski on December 13th, 1981.
It was during these difficult times that Fr. Popieluszko was inspired to begin saying a Mass for the Nation once a month, from the temporary altar that was set up on the balcony in front of the church. From this location, high above the thousands of Poles who would gather to pray for freedom and an end to violence against the dignity of the human person, Fr. Jerzy would preach firm, but peaceful, homilies, condemning the unjust actions and persecutions of the government. It was from this balcony that Poles could hear about the freedom that they longed for, and be inspired to pursue it. “Conquer evil with good,” Fr. Jerzy would repeat after St. Paul, always condemning the use of force against the injustice.
His homilies revealed the power of an idea. Never encouraging anybody to fight with violence, and always encouraging to act prudently, resolutely, and justly in resisting the government, the authorities grew nervous about the possible loss of power, and about this simple “priest” who darted to challenge the state. His preaching of the Truth made the communist government ever more nervous and determined to protect their lies and falsehoods.
Throughout 1984, Fr. Jerzy was faced with many troubles. Although he believed that he was truly called to say this Mass for the intention of freedom, he grew tired of the continuous pressure by the government, which threatened him with jail, and other forms of punishment. The constant psychological stress made him consider leaving to Rome to study and rest, but in the end, he decided to stay with his people, even though several attempts on his life had been made. On October 19th, 1984, Fr. Popieluszko was asked to participate in a Mass and Rosary in Bydgoszcz. His last words at the Rosary meditation were, “Let us pray to be free from fear and fright, but first of all, from the desire for revenge and violence.” These words are striking, and were lived out by the man who spoke them.
On his way to Torun, Polish SB (secret police) officials stopped his car, dressed up as regular traffic officers. They then forced him to hand over the car keys. The driver was taken out, and he was arrested and taken to a police car. He was then thrown into the trunk, after being stunned by beating over the head. However, one of the officers became afraid, and he jumped out of the moving car. Car malfunctions also began to plague the “kidnappers,” and they realizes that Fr. Jerzy was also trying to set himself free. Upon stopping the car, Fr. Jerzy jumped out of the trunk and began to run for help. The kidnappers caught up to him, and beat him to the point of unconsciousness, throwing him again into the trunk. Coming back to consciousness, Fr. Jerzy began trying to set himself free, once again. The officials parked the car near a forest, and began to beat him with sticks, threatening him with a gun. After he lost consciousness once again, they bound his arms and legs and proceeded to drive a few miles down the road again. Once again stopping, they beat him again, and tied a noose around his neck, connected to his legs, so that when he tried to move his legs, he would begin to choke himself. He was still alive, though not conscious.
Deliberating what to do next, they decided to stop at the Wloclawek Dam on the Vistula River, where the threw Fr. Jerzy into the river to drown him. It is not known whether he was still alive at this time or not.
The nest day, the official television report informed the country that Fr. Jerzy had been “kidnapped,” though nobody believes the report. Ten days later, his body was found in the river, and he was hailed a martyr and a true hero.
Fr. Jerzy’s process for beatification is moving forward, and he has been declared “venerable.” He is only one victim of a regime that sought to limit the freedom that man is called to. This freedom, as John Paul II stated, “is not only given as a gift, but also as a task and responsibility.”
So many people take the gift of freedom for granted, and do not appreciate the sacrifices that have been made in order to secure its blessings. How many times, do people take for granted their freedom to worship, to criticize a government, to speak about the Truth? There are many Catholics in the United States who take their faith for granted, and do not realize that people in the MODERN WORLD are dying for their faith!
These questions are all worthy questions to ponder and to reflect on as we celebrate this weekend in Poland, and as Memorial Day nears back in the United States. Perhaps we can all appreciate in a new way the faith that has been given us as the greatest gift, and which we so often take for granted!

Revolutionary Scheming

2006-04-27T14:20:00.000-04:00

Supporters of Gay Rights at the 2004 March in Krakow

And the corresponding reaction of Polish conservative youth.

April 28th in Krakow marks the celebration of the “Day of Democracy.” Who declared this day a holiday remains a mystery, and the use of the word “democracy” in relation to the planned events is questionable. Namely, for the second time in four years, there will be a protest march through the streets of the Old Town, which is being organized by the “Social Democratic Party” of Poland, self-advertised as the “new leftist party of a young Poland.” In reality, the party does not represent anything new, for it was formed by a few former members of SLD, the dominant post-communist party that had been in power until the last elections, when a young Polish anti-communist conservative party swept the elections.

The Law and Justice Party is headed by Lech Kaczynski as the president, even though many people claim that the real power lies in his twin brother, Jaroslaw, who is the head of the party. The party has taken upon itself to purge the government and all government institutions of former members of the PZPR, the Polish communist party, many of whom have high positions in the state-run media, and in the various branches of government. Naturally, a post-communist, liberal media has not been sympathetic to a conservative, anti-communist, pro-life, pro-marriage, Catholic president, whose Prime Minister wears a Rosary ring and is seen regularly at public Masses (I have been to four with him in the past few weeks). Perhaps they also fear that the purge is coming their way, with the passage of a new bill on media reform.

As in the United States, and in Western Europe, one of the major debates in Poland right now is the debate about the “persecution” of homosexuals. Three weeks ago, the Human Rights Watch, a New-York based group, declared that an official “homophobia” exists in Poland. Statements such as this, and extreme pressure from the pro-homosexual European Union, of course, only further encourage the Polish minority of homosexuals to “battle” with the Polish government, the Church, and with the traditionally Christian culture of this country. The most notorious “fighter” is Robert Biedron, the president of Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia, who thinks that the Kaczynskis are “medieval conservatives.” Of course, he seems not to recall the fact that homosexuals would have been tortured or burned in the Middle Ages, while now they enjoy full rights as citizens, and nobody is harming them in any way. Kaczynski’s justification of banning a homosexual parade as president of Warsaw, when he stated, “sexual orientation is a private matter and should be kept as such,” has been perceived as, “homosexuals should be kept silent and denied their rights.” Either way, there is great pressure in small sectors of society to make Poland a place “safe for democracy,” a country of “tolerance,” because the Polish constitution gives equal rights to all people.

Tomorrow, the march of gays and lesbians, and their supporters, will begin at the Barbakan, the old gate to the city, and then proceed along the streets, ending on the market square. In an ironic and perverse reversal, the famous gate that led to the royal city and the capital of Catholic Poland, will now be the gathering place of anti-Catholic liberals and homosexuals. To make things even more exciting, at the same time, the city authorities have issued a permit to the “All-Polish Youth,” an ultraconservative group of young people, often misrepresented as fascists and homophobes, who will also be gathering tomorrow on the market square in support of traditional Polish values. While the group is not a fascist group, as they are widely called, the group is not exactly known for its “peaceful” demonstrations. It will be interesting to see what will happen when the two groups meet on the main market square. As one blogger, clearly fed up with the debate, wrote, “I hope all of those idiots from both sides beat each other up.”

On the one hand, I see the justification of such a comment, since the debate in Poland has been present in the media for a few years, with the Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish paper similar in political outlook to the New York Times, publishing at least two or three articles daily about gays and their battle for rights in Poland. Nobody mentions the fact that, when in a country of forty million people, five hundred show up at a rally, it is a good turnout. I wonder how many will come tomorrow. From posters that hail “Krakow: City of Tolerance,” to newspaper announcements, the planned pro-gay “rights” protest has had a lot of media hype. Of course, there have also been posters calling for “STOP Deviations and Disorders.”

On the other hand, I think that the issue cannot be dismissed so cynically, and is very important to consider. This whole state of affairs reveals to us the workings of revolutionary groups, which seek to undermine established order. In his brilliant novels, and particularly in Demons, Dostoevsky’s characters give the reader much insight into the workings of revolutionary groups in Russia during the nineteenth century. Socialism, nihilism, rationalism, and other revolutionary philosophies were exported to Russia from the West, particularly France and Germany, and implanted into important and influential circles of the academic elites. Small groups of intellectuals gathered, having adopted these ideals, and planned to overthrow the existing social order by spreading the revolutionary ideals to the rabble, who would be responsible for carrying out the bloody changes.

Rather than seeking to dialogue with the established social order, and with the powerful Orthodox Church in Russia, the revolutionaries naturally saw religion and the traditions of their country as their number one enemy:

Firm the people stood,
For liberty, equality, brotherhood…
And when rebellion once was sparked…
To hold property as one,
And take their just revenge upon
Marriage, church, and family ties—
Evils in which the old world lies.

Here, Pyotr Stepanovich, in Demons, presents the plan of the revolutionaries. It seems that not much has changed in the modern culture war. In the name of “tolerance,” of “democracy,” and ultimately, in the name of “liberty, equality, and brotherhood,” the homosexual agenda is pushed. The Church, the family, and the marriage are all seen as “evils of the old world,” and are flatly rejected and undermined by radical activists. The people who actually struggle with homosexual tendencies, and feel the deep inner hurt and longing for love and fulfillment, have become victims of a few activists in a system which is proposed among the intellectual elites, based upon a faulty notion of “freedom” and human “rights.” This is evident in the invention of an entire discipline of studies to support their movements—studies in “gender” and in “queer theory.” These ideas are implanted into the ideas of young people, and then spur some, who may already have homosexual tendencies, on to live a homosexual lifestyle, while others are encouraged to fight with the traditional social order in order to make culture and society are more “welcoming” place, to create a pluralistic post-modern society of many individual truths.

The modern secular humanism that is prevalent in the West, and whose claws are tearing their way into Catholic Poland, does not differ much from the nineteenth century revolutions of which Dostoevsky speaks. There is an ingrained, unfounded, and prevalent suspicion of the Church and of traditional values. The homosexual movement in Poland argues its position by referring to the European Union. If the EU is progressive and enlightened, the guarantor of human rights, then Poland must be a country of the Dark Ages, a clerical theocracy in which the Church rules the state and tells people what they must do. Of course, the homosexual movement is not the only movement that insinuates distrust against the Church and misrepresents it. Other examples are the Da Vinci Code phenomenon, the rise of the New Age and interest in eastern religions, as well as the media bias. This of course, is no surprise. Four hundred years ago, Pascal observed, “Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid that it is true.”

It is quite astounding that the homosexual movement has so much media coverage, much to the credit of these minorities of people who often dedicate their whole energies to “fighting for the cause.” This is true at Notre Dame, where professors such as Gail Bederman can be found everywhere, questioning the traditional teachings of the Church, and seeking to fight for “equal rights,” with the full support and encouragement from the staff of the Observer and the liberal establishment. Professors such as Ed Manier correspond regularly with the Progressive Student Alliance, and ask advice of liberal students as to how best go about an issue on campus. In reality, then, we find ourselves in an absurd situation, where liberal students have a great say, and even Notre Dame Philosophy Professors take advice from the grassroots activists. In Poland, it is also a small group of radical activists who have the support of Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest newspaper in Poland, as well as the state-run television, which is headed by former communists. When a homosexual march took place in Krakow two years ago, EU member countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, sent homosexual activists to Poland to “educate” the Polish homosexuals about how to successfully create a lot of noise and attract a lot of attention.

What these people do not understand is that their movements have been proved wrong throughout the centuries. In fact, their fight for “equal rights” is not really anything new or progressive. Already two hundred fifty to three hundred years ago, the Enlightenment directed its attack against the Church, against marriage, and against the family. “Man was born free, but is everywhere in chains,” stated Rousseau, who fought against the “chains” of the Catholic Church and of the establishment. Voltaire hated the Catholic Church with a passion, and his one goal in life was to defeat it. Fundamental human institutions were also a target of his attack. “The teaching on the indissolubility of marriage is the most brutal and de-humanizing” form of limiting people’s freedom, wrote Voltaire.

Thus, what we see in this manifestation that is being organized by the party of the new “young Poland” is actually nothing new at all. The methods used by the homosexuals to push their agenda are not unfamiliar to us throughout at least the past three centuries. Dostoevsky noticed one hundred and fifty years ago:

We are assured the world is becoming more and more united, is being transformed into brotherly communion, by the shortening of distances, by the transmitting of thoughts in the air. Alas, do not believe in such a union of people…they distort their own nature, for they generate many meaningless and foolish desires, habits, and most absurd fancies in themselves. They live only for mutual envy, for pleasure seeking, and self-display.

In this world of the twenty-first century, we are confronted by arguments in favor of “equal rights,” of “brotherhood,” (Oops, forgive my non-inclusive word. Perhaps I should say, “solidarity,” a more “gender-neutral” word). Compassion is misunderstood, and becomes interpreted as something that gives one the responsibility to support any view whatsoever, as long as it is in the persecuted minority. “Love” is raped, and the idea of a self-giving sacrifice is violated by the concept of pleasure and fulfillment. Perhaps most ironically, in the name of “tolerance” for homosexuals, we must be intolerant of those who support traditional values. Dostoevsky warns that the more one gives into these revolutionary ideas, “the more he sinks into suicidal impotence.” Impotent or not, definitely not fruitful.

Fast Week

2006-04-27T14:18:00.000-04:00

Once again, another week has flown by since the last time I wrote anything. It has been a week filled with a lot of work, after my return from Rome, but also with a lot of interesting and unique opportunities.

This past weekend, George Weigel was in Poland to receive the “Gratia Artis” award from the Polish Minster of Culture, Minister Ujazdowski. He is only the second non-Pole to receive this medal, which is given for a unique and significant contribution to the preservation of Polish history and culture. Norman Davies, the British scholar who is a Polish historian (and happens to live next door), is the other non-Polish recipient of the award.

After receiving the award in Warsaw, Mr. Weigel came to Krakow in order to be present at the awards ceremony for the Papal Knowledge Contest, which was organized by the Tertio Millennio Institute, and whose aim was to continue the interest in the study of the life of John Paul II. High school students from all over Poland were able to partcipate, and the winning student received a trip to Rome for two people. Many of the finalists received books about the life of John Paul II, and George Weigel was there to also autograph the new Polish edition of Witness to Hope. I was very blessed to have been able to meet him and to spend some time with him, talking about the American Church, as well as about Polish history. Of course, he will be here again in the summer, as one of the lecturers of the annual “Summer Seminar Tertio Millennio,” organized for students from around the world. Its lectures and seminars focus on the role of a civil society in the modern world, and discuss the ideas in Centissimus Annus.

My classes have been going well, and I am realizing that I have a lot of work ahead, since final exams will begin to take place in the first weeks of June. Of course, May will be a very busy month, and the time for exams will come sooner than I expect. Next week is another week free from classes, since the first of May and the third of May are both national holidays. May 3rd celebrates the anniversary of the Polish Constitution of 1791, the second written constitution in the world, and the first in Europe. May 1st, though established as a holiday by the communists, has remained traditionally, and the two holidays have been connected by a day free from classes on the 2nd, creating the “longest weekend in Europe.” I am looking forward to traveling a little bit, with some Notre Dame friends, who will be coming to Warsaw and Krakow.
I am still adjusting to the system of education here. Whereas in Notre Dame, and most American universities, the student has tests and papers throughout the course of the semester, here, the final exam is the only determining factor of one’s final grade. Some of my exams will be oral finals, and some will be written. Though it provides greater freedom in planning out one’s own work, it is also a danger, of course, that one will procrastinate until the very end. We will see what the exams will be like, and how I will be able to talk about theology in Polish in front of my professor!

This weekend, I hope to be able to tour the Warsaw Uprising Museum in Warsaw, which is one of the newest and best museums in Central Europe. Though it may currently be under expansion, I would recommend to anybody that ever travels to Warsaw to see it. It tells the tragic story of how a city fought for its freedom, with the promise that it would receive western aid, only to be betrayed by the Red Army, and destroyed by the Germans. It is a story of great valor and heroism, as well as of tragedy and of disgust. If anybody would like to familiarize themselves more with the Uprising, Norman Davies recently published a book, Uprising ’44, which tells the story in much detail. I have yet to read it.

The weather here I Krakow seems to have jumped from winter to summer. This week, within the course of three warm days, all of the leaves have sprung forth on the trees and bushes, and all of the flowers have begun to bloom, creating a very green, fresh, and colorful environment. Though I am sure that we can still expect some rain and cold weather, the weather has been a temptation to do anything other studying. After the short, gray days of a Polish winter, the sunny and long days of a Slavic Summer are here. Only, I wish I had the time to be outside and enjoy it like I should! With the above-mentioned friends, though, we may be going to the mountains next week, in order to enjoy some free time and rest, for them, after their exams, for me, before my exams.

I do have a few more thoughts on an event going on in Krakow tomorrow, but I will gather those thoughts and write a separate entry…

Divine Mercy Sunday

2006-04-22T17:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Feast of Divine Mercy (at least over here in Europe)!

May our Merciful Lord watch over us and may we always rejoice in the great mercy that He has shown us, by suffering for us in order to reveal to us His glory, and the joy that we are called to!

Even though it's been over a year, let's pray for the quick and speedy canonization of Pope John Paul II, who passed away on the Vigil of this feast last year!

2006-04-20T14:15:00.000-04:00

Blogger is having problems with images, so please be patient as I will put more up later.

Pictures

2006-04-20T11:33:00.000-04:00

Click here to see some of my pictures from Rome. I will be updating them with time.

De Castitate

2006-04-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

Forgive my long silence on this side of the Atlantic, but the past few weeks have been incredibly busy, as the longing of Lent changed into the Easter joy, when we celebrate the redemption of man, and the profound truth that “God is love.”

The week before Holy Week, I took part in a symposium at the Jagiellonian University, sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Theology, entitled “Man as the path of the Church: John Paul II’s Theological Anthropology.” I cannot even begin to explain how amazing the lectures were.

With introductory remarks by His Eminence Cardinal Dziwisz, and participation from famous Catholic priests, such as Fr. Jacek Salij, OP, Fr. Maciej Zięba, OP, as well as lay professors, such as Marian Grabowski, the symposium was a serious, scholarly attempt to discuss and continue the thought of John Paul II. Professor Grabowski, a nuclear physicist who, in the words of Fr. Kupczak, decided to “occupy himself with more important things” and become a theologian and philosopher, gave an amazing lecture entitled, “Between Excitement and Being Moved: The Originality of the Image of Marital Love in John Paul II’s Writings.” Here are some thoughts, both based on his lecture, and on my own reflections.

John Paul II’s view of chastity is truly revolutionary. In our culture and in our Church, too, chastity is so often seen as a denial, as a negative expression of the person’s sexual life. It involves a “saying no” to sex, a limitation of freedom, and an “imposition” of a rigid rule. Not many teenagers are eager to go to a “chastity talk.” Why is this so?

Wojtyla’s understanding of chastity focuses on an “account of tenderness,” or an account of “perceptiveness of emotion.” In Love and Responsibility, Wojtyla seeks to combine the traditional Thomistic understanding with his phenomenological account of the “entire man.” Traditionally, the understanding of chastity has been removed from the deepest and most authentic desires of the human person, providing only intellectual and rigid definitions. There has been a lack of definitions in which the worth and depth of the human person have been taken into account. One cannot talk about chastity, about its true and beautiful meaning, without taking into account the feelings and the tenderness of the human heart. There has been a lack of phenomena that take into account the inner worth of the human person, and the mere account or idea of chastity, as it is commonly understood, does not move a human person’s heart or emotions. There is a lack of the “tenderness” that every human being needs.

Wojtyla argues that this impersonal understanding does not speak to the whole man, who is also made of feelings and emotions. He perceives that there needs to be an account of chastity that speaks not only to the mind, but also to the heart, which is the source of tenderness and emotions. It is in the heart that man can be fully convinced of the truth, about himself, and about the meaning of his sexuality. However, these emotions and tenderness cannot be a “soft tenderness,” but must also have a certain degree of firmness and steadfastness. A love that is full of “soft tenderness” is an immature love, a love that is inexperienced and out of touch with the human person. This is a love of emotions that are not tempered by the will. Rather, the model of tenderness is found in motherly tenderness. Paradoxically, this motherly tenderness is precisely the tenderness of fatherhood, of God the Father who loves his children as a “jealous lover,” and as a “bridegroom,” of which the Scriptures so often remind us.

Accompanying this emphasis on the human heart and the steadfast tenderness that is necessary when speaking of human love, Grabowski also focused on the distinction between “excitement (podniecenie),” and “being moved (wzruszenie),” the latter being a very difficult word to translate, due to the depth of the meaning it carries. It could be described as “being moved in the interior depths of the soul.” The difference between the two, as is seen in the very definition of the words, is that excitement is something shallow, something “sharp.” “Being moved,” on the other hand, describes a deep interior experience, a “tenderness” that is affected in the depths of the human being.

These two reactions can reveal to a person the state of his inner being, and allow him to understand the level of his own tenderness. Upon seeing a naked human body, a person can be both excited and moved. The difference in his reaction depends on the indescribable, interior dispositions of his heart. It seems that the common understanding of chastity, in the negative sense, seems to address this “excitement.” Rather, what is needed is an understanding of chastity whose subject is the tenderness that results from being moved. A person who truly lives chastity realizes that it is not about saying, “no,” but that it is about saying “yes,” to the entirety of the human person. In our culture, nakedness is not seen as something that individualizes the human person, but rather, sees him as an object. It is to this objective understanding of the human person that chastity in the negative sense can be applied. But in the positive sense, the chaste person sees another human being and is moved. Truly, how many things can evoke a feeling of tenderness in a man? Freckles on a female face, the weaknesses and fatigue a woman experiences at times, the reflection of the sun’s rays radiating from a woman’s hair--these are all situations that speak to the inner depths of a man, which stir up sympathy and tenderness in a man. The things move a man, and not merely excite him. They are evidence that there is an inner beauty hidden in each person, a beauty that cannot be explained through mere objective standards.

It is precisely in this concept of tenderness that Wojtyla can provide the answer to this deep mystery, the question of “What is it that moves me in these common situations?” The concept of tenderness is also the answer to the accusation, that ethics is simply a series of norms and rules that have to be blindly followed. How can one explain the “way it should be” without providing a concrete image or picture as an example? Wojtyla cannot provide the example, but points to the love of Christ as the example. In Him one can see Truth, Beauty, goodness, humility—but is there tenderness? It is hard to imagine a moment in the Bible where Jesus would exhibit the marital tenderness that husband and wife, lover and beloved, are called to. So where does this idea of tenderness come from?

Jesus is very intimate and tender, but He speaks the language of ordinary human gestures. He gives up the specific language of romantic love, and elevates every ordinary human gesture into an expression of love. His goodness speaks as a language in and of itself. How can one not see the tenderness of Jesus at the Wedding in Cana, when his mother comes to Him and asks Him to do something to help the bride and the groom, who risk embarrassment at their own wedding reception? Though it was not yet His time to perform miracles, Jesus is moved interiorly out of love for His mother, who places her entire trust and confidence in Him. He is moved because of the intimate confidence that His mother place in Him, which leads Him to fulfill His mother’s request.

How can one not see the language of tender love at the foot of the cross, when Jesus is moved by the presence of His mother? In the worst moment of his life, in the midst of his suffering and death, Jesus is excited and comforted, moved that His mother has come to share in the agony of His last moments on the earth. She who brought Him into the world will now accompany Him as He leaves to His Father’s house. His tender affection and his interior movement result in his entrusting his mother to his beloved and most intimate friend, and in giving His disciples to His mother. His suffering and death become an occasion to speak the language of love by entrusting to His mother the future of the entire Church, because he loves her tenderly.

One can also see this “firm tenderness” in the love that St. Joseph showed to his child. A father’s love for his son is not expressed through feminine tenderness, but rather, it is expressed through challenge. A man’s tenderness is apparent in his compassion for the weak and those in trouble. A father expresses his love to his sons by placing before them challenges, and thus enabling them to confront their weaknesses. Throughout these difficulties, when a child’s weaknesses are apparent, the father’s loving gaze rests upon his son, who tries to overcome the challenge on his own, all with the support and love of the father. Fatherly love helps the child to mature, and to gaze on the world with hope and with love, because of the confidence of love.

Perhaps one of the most moving moments in the Scriptures, which illustrates the tender love that moves the inner depths of the human person, is the gaze of Jesus upon Peter in the Gospel of St. Luke. In his First Letter, St. Peter describes the “patience of God.” This insight is no doubt the result of the heart-wrenching and self-revelatory look of Jesus, after Peter denied him three times. Jesus’ loving gaze revealed to Peter the true meaning of a patient love, and convinced him interiorly of the truth about Jesus, and about himself, which he already knew, but was too weak to live up to. Peter saw Christ and he remembered, he grieved for his denial, and became more convinced of his love.

Being convinced of love--this is the love and chastity that every man is called to. It is a love that is beyond mere excitement, but rather, it is a love that moves the very interior of a human person. This applies to all stages of one’s life, whether to a married couple or to a single person. Excitement, a natural human reaction, is only a shallow component of the true depth of the encounter between one human person and another. The language of tender love, spoken through ordinary human gestures, moves the person who is living chastity. Chastity sees the inner beauty, and moves one in the very depths of his being. For a chaste person, every encounter becomes a Petrine encounter, an encounter with the living God, Who convinces man of his highest and most noble calling, and “reveals man to himself.”

Roman Spring

2006-04-20T10:18:00.000-04:00

Scott Hahn once wrote a widely read book, Rome Sweet Home. Well, I feel like I can say “home sweet home,” after coming back from Rome. This is obviously not to deny the fact that, as a Catholic, Rome is my spiritual “home,” but rather a sigh of relief that the crazy week of traveling and seeing the most amazing churches and museums that I have seen in my life has come to an end. Now, I will have some time to reflect upon and soak up all of the experiences of my Holy Week in Rome!

First of all, and most importantly, our trip was a pilgrimage, to spend the holiest week of the year with the Holy Father. And did we! I went with a group of guys from Poland to the UNIV conference, a conference that has been sponsored yearly since 1968, whose focus is to provide university students from around the world a chance to meet each other, and discuss important topics facing the Church. This year’s focus was on the “Role of the Mass Media in Shaping Catholic Culture,” and was very interesting. As part of the conference, the UNIV participants are traditionally granted a special audience with the Holy Father. Ok, so I won’t be falsely humble—I GOT TO TOUCH POPE BENEDICT! I only share this because it was an amazing experience. In fact, as it turned out, it was one of the three times that I would be within one or two feet of the Holy Father, but it was the only time that I was able to shake his hand. There was definitely an outward “radiation of sanctity” which emanated from Pope John Paul II, when I was able to be near him. This charismatic gift inspired many to go out and evangelize, to “not be afraid” to “open wide the doors to Christ,” and to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This radiation of sanctity from John Paul was the Holy Spirit, the gift, who then led others to make gifts of themselves to the world. What struck me when I was near Pope Benedict was his simple humanity, and the silent, peaceful longing for interiority and contemplation. In a get-together with Bishop Javier Echevarria, the Prelate of Opus Dei, aware of the Pope Benedict’s character and personality, told us that he apologized to the Holy Father that so many people were trying to touch him, and that he understood if he felt overwhelmed. To this, Pope Benedict replied that he didn’t mind, because he know that the young people were reaching out, not to him, but to Christ, who is in their midst. How true—Christ is present in such a different way in this pope. One looks upon him, and having been sent on a mission by John Paul II, he is now reminded of the need for contemplation and prayer, which is the foundation of everything. It is only through prayer, and particularly in the Liturgy, that one can meet Christ in an ever-new way, and be refreshed to participate in the modern cultural dialogue the John Paul II called us to.

Of course, I refuse to play the game of “compare the popes,” and none of these reflections are meant to somehow say one pope is better than the other. They are simply personal reflections of the differences I have noticed in their personalities, and how their personalities both show us different aspects of the Christian life that must be emphasized.

What I never cease to be amazed by the mind of our Holy Father. Before the audience, we watched a video clip of his meeting with youth, on the Thursday before Pam Sunday. In this new tradition, the Holy Father met with youth and answered their personal questions about vocation, sexuality, and the crisis of culture. I was amazed by the Holy Father’s answers, which were not prepared before hand, but improvised on the spot. Or rather, they were the fruit of years of prayer and contemplation, as well as theological study. In his usual manner, he responded with flawless paragraphs of eloquent and deep prose, and left now question unanswered from a variety of different angles. We are so blessed to have a Holy Father who is a man of incredible prayer, deep reflection, and amazing intellect and wisdom!

In addition to the audience with the Holy Father, we were able to participate in all of the Papal Liturgies of the week—the Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, the Mass for the Institution of the Eucharist on Thursday Evening in St. John Lateran, the Good Friday Liturgy at St. Peter’s, the Papal Stations of the Cross, as well as the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica. (Oh yeah, and the Urbi et Orbi on Sunday on St. Peter’s Square). Though we didn’t have tickets to get into anything besides the audience, thanks to my awesome Notre Dame architecture friends who just happen to “have to” study in Rome for this year, we were able to get into everything, and have great seats, as well.

The week was definitely a crazy time of commuting to and from Via Aurelia, comparable only to the Las Vegas Strip, except with the amount of Catholic hostels, instead of casinos. On every block, there are at least a few houses or hostels run by one order or another. We were able to visit all four of the major basilicas, as well as a number of the famous churches in Rome. I’m sure that I will forget some, but right now I can remember the Gesu, Santa Maria Ara Coeli, San Agostino, San Luigi Re Fracese, San Stanislao Kostka, Santa Croce in Gerusalemne, Santa Trinita dei Monte, San Andrea della Valle, Santa Magdalena, Santa Maria Sopre Minerva, the Pantheon, and many others. These are most of the churches that we visited that house the relics of great saints, such as St. Ignatius in the Gesu, Saint Catherine of Siena and Blessed Fra Angelico in Santa Maria Sopre Minerva, Saint Josemaria Escriva in Santa Maria Della Pace, and the relics of the True Cross and the cross-beam of the cross of Dismas the Good Thief in Santa Croce. I forgot to also mention Santa Presetta, the 8th century basilica that houses the pillar upon which Christ was scourged. Obviously, a lot of people argue that these relics are a fraud and that they are not the actual ones.

First of all, even if they are not “the real thing,” they are places of veneration of the Passion of Christ that have been sanctified by the prayers of pilgrims throughout the centuries. There are man miracles associated with them, so whether they are the actual relics or not, they are still places of special grace. Secondly, it is very likely that these are the actual relics from Jerusalem, since Jerusalem was under Roman control in the late period of antiquity. Thus, if an emperor, such as Constantine, who was a Christian, was in control of Jerusalem, he could have easily brought the remnants of the relics associated with the passion of Christ to Rome. Hence the reason for the existence of the Scala Santa, as well as the other “artifacts” associated with the death of Jesus.

In addition to seeing many of these famous churches, I was also able to see many cultural and historical masterpieces, both works of art and architecture. Of course, we saw the Fontana di Trevi, which shocked me with its size. I never imagined the fountain to be so huge—the figures in it were at least twice life-size. In the Villa Burghese, a museum in the former family mansion of the famous Roman aristocrat Burghese family, we saw the most famous and well-known statues by Bernini, as well as paintings by Raphael, Caravaggio, and other masters of the Italian Renaissance. Bernini’s expression was absolutely amazing, particularly in his Apollo and Daphne, and in his David. Having never seen Bernini’s David, before, I was extremely impressed, and decided that I like it better than Michelangelo’s masterpiece. Whereas Michelangelo focuses on the idealism and sheer strength of man, by portraying David as a muscular and towering force, Bernini is more focused on the tension of the moment. He captures David in the split-second before he releases the sling with which he will slay Goliath. This produces an incredible tension and expression that is visible in the tense muscles of a young man, slender and realistically built. He is about to exert all of his strength in the one chance that he has to either save his people or be killed. The strength of the human spirit, of perseverance, will, and determination are all captured in this block of marble, which has been chiseled into perfection.

Of course, the Musei Vaticani also made a huge impression on me, where I was able to stand face-to-face with pieces of art, sculptures, and masterpieces that I have been reading about in textbooks since at least high school. I realized that it is one thing to read about a sculpture, or a painting, and another thing to stand in front of something that is 2500 years old (here, I am referring to the Lacöon Group). I was struck by the way that people more than two millennia ago were already able to express their spirit by creating masterpieces of art, which have lasted until today. Perhaps modern artists could learn something from these ancient and beautiful masterpieces, which have lasted for ages and are still admired for the beauty, because of their ability to capture and explore the fundamental truths of human nature!

It was quite frustrating to see all of the “tourists” in the Vatican Museums who had absolutely no clue about history or the tradition of the Church. Until one learns the medium, or at least about the medium, through which to view these works of art, it is as if he were only looking at the tip of the iceberg. It was sad to see all of the people who had no clue about what was painted in the frescoes, such as in the room with the Triumph of Christianity (I forget the name of the room). The most frustrating thing that I encountered there, and which I also often encounter here in Krakow, is when an English tour guide who is clearly not Catholic, and really has no clue about the tradition of the Church, seeks to explain to Americans or British about the art they are looking at, and has the job simply because he can speak English. Art is a dangerous thing, and one can either leave a place, having been brainwashed and misled to believing the half-truths which are so popular these days in pop culture, or he can truly seek to learn about what a painting really portrays, and the depth and importance of its meaning. Of course, which is easier?

In addition to seeing all of the beautiful churches and the works of both ancient and Early Modern Art, I was fascinated and greatly moved by my visit to the places of importance to the Early Christians, namely, the Via Appia Antica, and the Catacombs of St. Priscilla, in northern Rome. Entering into the catacombs, I was filled with images from the book Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkiewicz, probably one of Poland’s best-known modern authors, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this novel, which I think every Christian should read, he provides a fascinating account of the life of the Christians during the reign of Nero. Though the story is fictional, the book and the situations described are historical, and essentially, he was the creator of the historical novel genre.

As we descended into down the spiral staircase from the sunny courtyard, I was filled with anticipation—I would be visiting the tombs and meeting places of those who preceded us in the Christian faith by 1700 years! In this huge complex of tunnels and various levels (more than 13 km of tunnels on all levels!), we stopped at the tombs of various wealthier Christians, as well as those of the poor, who were provide graves by the Christian community. The rich and ancient heritage of our faith was here before my eyes. We saw the oldest image of Mary in Christianity, holding the child Jesus, much like in the images of Our Lady that we see today. We also saw one of the oldest images of Christ, the Good Shepherd. Accompanying the images of Christ and of Mary, we saw many images of Susanna, from the Book of Daniel, who was a symbol of the early Church. Just as she was unjustly persecuted and accused of crime, so were the early Christians persecuted and accused of many false crimes. Often, there images of the three young men, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, also from the Book of Daniel, who, though tried by fire by the pagan king, survived due to the protection of God, present in an angel in their midst. Likewise, the fires of the pagan Roman emperors tried the early Church, but the suffering Christ accompanied them in their trials.

One of the most interesting places in the catacombs was a large crypt, where the Christians would gather around the tombs of their relatives, and celebrate the Eucharist. Near it, there was a niche in the wall, with graffiti from US GI’s from the Second World War, who surely used the place as a hideout during the war. I was walking through history, but I was also touching the lives of thousands of people. Forty thousand people had once been buried in this cemetery, and thousands had come there before me, to be buried, to venerate the dead, or to seek shelter from dangers above.

In the same way, St. Peter once sought to leave the city of Rome, because of the persecution of the Christians. He believed that it would be safer for him to leave Rome and to guide his flock in safety, than to risk being killed and leave his flock abandoned. He decided to walk out of the city on the Via Appia, a seek shelter among the Christian outside the city. Here, in the midst of the green Mediterranean fields and the hot Roman sun, a bright light appeared, and Jesus stood before him—walking toward the city. “Domine, Quo Vadis?” (Lord, where are you going?), asked the shocked and dumbfounded Peter. “I am going to be with my flock,” replied Jesus, walking towards Rome. At this moment, Peter realized that he was not called to abandon his people, but that he was called to return to Rome, to suffer with them, and to die with them, should it come to this. To this day, the spot on which Jesus appeared is commemorated by the Capella Domine Quo Vadis on the Via Appia, near the catacombs of St. Sebastian. Inside, there is a rock in which are imprinted the footprints of Christ, to which faithful have come throughout the millennia, to venerate the spot which led Peter to his martyrdom for the glory of the cross.

I’ve been to this spot. It is true. This is the beauty of the antiquity of our faith. “The Church is alive,” Pope Benedict reminds us, and her liveliness comes from the centuries of Christians who have come before us, to witness to the faith and truth of Jesus Christ, and who have not been afraid to suffer and die for Him.

Krakow...From Above

2006-04-04T11:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, Krakow has the largest market square in Europe. Pretty amazing, for not such a big city, especially when the population was around 20,000 in the Early Modern Period.

We Remember

2006-04-03T17:01:00.000-04:00

JPII-WE LOVE YOU!

Thousands gather in front of the Metropolitan Curia's "Papal Window" in memory of John Paul the Great, who was tangibly present

The city is back to quasi-normal after an entire night of festivities and a vigil in memory of our beloved Holy Father. Last night, three of us left from our residence to go to the Stations of the Cross, which were to begin at 8:00 p.m. outside of St. Ann’s Church. Though we arrived outside of the Church around 7:40, there was absolutely no way to get to the front of the Church, were the procession was to begin. So, we decided to go straight to All Saints’ Square, in front of the “papal window,” where the procession would be ending, and Pope Benedict was to address the youth of Rome and Krakow at 9:37 p.m. Arriving at the square at around 8:15, we found the place packed full of people already. The usual pushing, shoving, and frantic scouting for a good spot accompanied the vigil—it seemed like the “Krakow version” of World Youth Day. I am not sure how many people were actually there, in the end, but the square is quite small. It probably fit nearly 20,000 people, while the others were forced to stand on the streets leading to the square.

After all the stations, beginning with the eighth station, were broadcast onto the speaker system, we eagerly awaited the end of the procession. Taking part in it were students from the various parish and campus ministries in Krakow, as well as Cardinal Dziwisz, bishops, and the Prime Minister (who actually carried the crucifix himself for the last station)! At 9:30 p.m., the procession finally made its way to our area. However, it seemed to pass in an instant.

Accompanying the lit candles, altar servers, and boy scouts, was a huge group of secret service agents, as well as soldiers, who formed a perimeter around the procession. I barely got to see over the tops of their heads, through all of the commotion. However, I finally did get to see the entire group once they ascended to the stage. The text used for the Stations of the Cross was the text that John Paul II wrote for the 2000 Good Friday procession in the Coliseum in Rome. Between each station, traditional Polish Lenten hymns were sung. Upon finally concluding the Stations of the Cross, Cardinal Dziwisz’s deep voice came over the loudspeakers, “And now, please, a few minutes of absolute silence as we remember the passing of our Holy Father.” The moment was surreal. I was overcome with emotion—I remember so vividly those last moments when the world kept watch, when he “looked for us, and we came to him.” Suddenly, the sound of applause broke out, and the thousands of people, who had gathered, celebrated and gave gratitude to the Father for the gift of this saint whom we knew and whom we cherished.

Zygmunt, the 500-year-old, eleven-ton bell in Wawel Cathedral began to toll, to remember the passing of the Holy Father from this life of suffering into eternal bliss with the One whose road to the cross he had traveled. Joining in a harmonious chorus, all of the bells in the more than one hundred churches in the old town area, and bells in churches of the entire city, began to ring their bells. The chorus was a sound of bells of sorrow, yet filled with the joy and peace of the knowledge that John Paul II is with us—and was there in a special way last night! Here, in the midst of the thousands of Poles, this family, gathered to remember him, pray to him, and pray with him, he looked down, from the “papal window,” and told us to “not be afraid.”

Immediately after the bells began to ring, the Polish applause joined that of the 100,000 gathered in Rome, who applauded for John Paul the Great, as his successor, the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, appeared to greet visitors and acknowledge the immensity of the occasion. He first addressed the pilgrims in Italian, mentioning that Cardinal Dziwisz was connected from Krakow live via satellite feed. After a few minutes of listening to the translation of the Italian text, he began to address the Poles in their own language. Now, I was at World Youth Day in Cologne, and Pope Benedict’s Polish was not nearly as clear. His improvement and our ability to understand him was yet another testament to this man’s great intellect and amazing mind. He reminded the faithful in Poland of the two words that can “sum up the life of our beloved Holy Father—faithfulness and complete abandonment.” He asked Poland to always remain faithful, to be “strong with the power of the faith,” citing John Paul II’s famous quote from his Krakow pilgrimage in 1979. Awaiting eagerly his pilgrimage to Poland, in the footsteps of his predecessor, the Holy Father asked Poland to always keep alive the great gifts that John Paul left behind.

I was stuck by the absolute intensity, the greatness of the occasion—the true, tangible, and real presence of John Paul, who was with us! Though he has passed to our Father’s house, he remains alive in his teaching, and through the witness of his radical life of holiness, of being open to the Holy Spirit at each moment of his life. Thousands of Poles joined over 100,000 Italians, and millions across the world, to remember the death of one man. One man who captivated, yet challenged, the heart and mind of modern man, and particularly the minds and hearts of young people. He has left to go home, and yet he is even more present universally, through the power of his intercession. People who have never seen each other before, and probably never will see each other again, united together, held hands, sang, and prayed together in the presence of a gigantic portrait of the Holy Father—the one used in Cologne in August, made of the thousands of individual pictures of people from around the world.

I recalled the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to Chile in 1982, when the atmosphere was especially tense in that country, where the Church was challenged by a repressive government that terrorized the people, and by liberation theology and Marxist movements within the Church. The power and fortitude of the Holy Spirit were physically, visibly manifest in the speech and demeanor of the Holy Father. In the front of a huge image of the Holy Face of Christ, John Paul II asked the people, “Who do we see when we look at that face? Do we see a reformer? Yes, but more. Do we see a holy man? Yes, but more. Do we see…yes, but more. Mucho mas. Mucho mas. Mucho, mucho mas! We see Life Himself!”

We can no longer see John Paul the Great the way we were so used to seeing him, and perhaps even too accustomed to. When we look at the face of John Paul, on the multitude of pictures, holy cards, books, and videos, whom do we see? We see a political figure who changed the history of Europe and the world forever, through his pressure on totalitarian systems. We see a man who sought unity among the many sad divisions among Christians throughout the world. We see a man who loved the outdoors, who felt at home, worshipping the Creator in the sanctuary of the natural world. We see a man who showed compassion for the poor and the suffering of the world, and fought for basic human rights wherever they were repressed. We see a scholar who was not afraid of pursuing the Truth through his teaching and academic pursuits. Yet, this is not all!

When we look at his face, we can see the face of Christ Himself. We see humanity in its fullness. We see the “glory of God—man fully alive.” Truly, John Paul revealed to us the true meaning of humanity, of participation in the life of the Triune God, in the Father through the Son and with the grace of the Holy Spirit. We see a man who was not afraid to say “yes” to Christ, without counting the costs or calculating the necessary sacrifices. We see a saint, somebody who was abandoned to the Will of God. His ordering his will to the Will was what led him to experience the radiant joy of Christ’s love. How can we not look to him and see the very presence of Christ emanating forth from him? Even the most secular person can see “something” in John Paul II that allowed him to be a charismatic leader and a great world figure. Christians call this “something” the “joy and peace of Christ Jesus.” And unless we heed this example of his, we will never truly know just “what” it was about the late Holy Father that was so inspiring. He revealed to the fallen world the redemptive power of the cross. He called people of all nations to live lives of radical holiness, in the midst of the world, transforming it from within.

It was just this that Pope Benedict reminded us about yesterday. We never have to be afraid to “open wide the doors to Christ,” for we know, and can see in the life of John Paul II, that Christ “takes nothing away,” and gives us gifts beyond anything that we can imagine. As we finish these final days of Lent, leading to the celebration and recollection of the great mysteries of our redemption, let us never forget what John Paul has shown us. Let us always imitate his example, and embrace the cross of Christ in our lives.

Cardinal Dziwisz blessed the gathered youth with the “reliquary cross,” the crucifix which John Paul II held in his hands one last time, during his final days on Good Friday of last year. Arturo Mari remarked that this was the “defining picture of his pontificate.” The suffering pontiff united himself with Christ, faithful unto death, on the cross that he has now entrusted to us, to be carried into the streets, workplaces, parishes, and all spheres of life in the whole world. Dziwisz reminded that the Holy Father, “both showed us how to carry the cross, and carried it for us. Now it our turn to answer his call of faithfulness to the cross.”

John Paul the Great, pray for us, and continue to teach us how to embrace the cross in our lives. Thank you for the gift of your life of radical holiness, filled with complete abandonment and faithfulness to the end. Intercede for the “John Paul II Generation.”

JPII Lives On

2006-04-02T12:56:00.000-04:00

JP II Lives On

Mass at the Divine Mercy Shrine for the Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul II

Candles Line the Street in front of the Metropolitan Curia

JPII WE LOVE YOU!!

2006-04-02T12:45:00.000-04:00

Cardinal Dziwisz Concludes the Rogatory Stage of the Beatification Process

JOHN PAUL THE GREAT, WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! PRAY FOR US IN YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE!

Celebrations of the anniversary of the passing of the Holy Father are still going on right now. All of Poland seems to be here, as well as many people from outside of Poland. All Saint’s Square, in front of the “papal window,” at the Metropolitan Curia, is filled with flowers, candles, prayer cards, and people. Young people, old people, priests, nuns, tourists, and locals have all come and are all coming to “see” John Paul. Some come because it is interesting, and some come to pay homage to and remember the man, whom many here personally knew. In addition to the huge “Thank You JPII” picture that was also present at WYD in Cologne, a whole collection of photos has been set up along Franciszkanska Street, which has been closed to all traffic. This evening, there will be a student Mass celebrated in St. Ann’s Collegiate Church, near the tomb of St. John Cantius. After the Mass, there will be a citywide celebration of the Stations of the Cross, based on John Paul II’s Good Friday reflections from the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
This morning, I was among the more than ten thousand pilgrims from across the country, who came to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in order to celebrate a Mass for the Beatification of John Paul II, concelebrated by the Papal Nuncio to Poland, Cardinal Dziwisz, Cardinal Macharski, Cardinal Nagy, and other cardinals and bishops. Also in attendance was the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, as well as Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz, and many other government dignitaries.
It was amazing to be at Mass in a Basilica that was dedicated less than four years ago by the Holy Father himself. Though I have never been a fan of the new basilica, which is very modern and quite plain, I was once again filled with awe and wonder at the greatness of the Holy Father. It was he who, as Bishop of Krakow, was instrumental in the spread of the Divine Mercy devotion throughout the world. Here I was, at the very back doors of the basilica, filled to capacity, looking at the portrait of John Paul II, the bronze letters on the white wall, which depicted John Paul’s Act of Entrustment of the World to the Divine Mercy, as well as the globe-shaped tabernacle. The universality of the church could be felt, since the shrine is the second most-visited shrine in Europe, and if it continues to grow at the same pace, it will soon surpass even Lourdes. The Mass began with sixteenth century polyphony, Laudate Domine, by somebody who sounded a lot like Palestrina. (There were no programs). Cardinal Dziwisz, as the homilist, focused on the words in the Holy Father’s Will in the light of this Sunday’s Gospel. “We want to see Jesus,” the Greeks told Philip. “How often our beloved Holy Father encouraged us to look at the face of Christ.” He encouraged us to look at the face of Him who suffered and died for us. It was He Who taught us the true meaning of love. Just like the “grain of wheat,” which must first die in order to produce fruit, so “John Paul II taught us that the vocation of the Christian is the vocation to sacrifice. To die to oneself in order to experience the height of love, the love of Christ on the cross.” So often, in our “complicated world, man tends to fill his life with distractions, with excuses,” with reasons to flee from Christ. Yet, John Paul Ii cried out to us, from the beginning of his pontificate, “Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ.” The saint is the one who experience the love of Christ on the cross, through death to oneself, and then is spurred on to share this love with others. This love enters into one’s life and becomes an infectious joy. Why was John Paul II, for us, such a charismatic and attractive personality? Because “a great saint lived among us. Yet, so often we became accustomed to his presence. We often overlooked his holiness.” Yet, the cardinal reminded, we “must look to him as somebody who opened wide the doors to Christ,” a saint among us who “relentlessly followed the will of God” at every moment of his life.
As if intentionally focused toward the government officials present, Cardinal Dziwisz reminded of the love that John Paul II had for his country. He was a “prophet of freedom,” who constantly reminded us “not to be afraid” to work towards a just society, a society which respects every human being, a society that is committed to serving the poor, a society that continues to be immersed in its Christian tradition. “The death of the Holy Father brought about a unity among us, a unity of prayer and love,” that we who experienced it will never forget. In his Will, John Paul wrote of the importance of always being prepared for the coming of death, to always live every moment as a gift from God. Quoting from John Paul’s Will, “serve one another through love,” (Galatians 5:13), Cardinal Dziwisz called each person to remember the true “vocation of the Christian—to love.” We must allow that unity of love and of our spirits which “we experienced in those painful moments one year ago today” to live on each day, in our lives, and in the life of our nation. More than ever, in this world of individualism, egocentrism, and chaos, we must “love one another,” which is the greatest commandment of all.
The Mass was televised live on Italian (and Polish television), and Cardinal Dziwisz also addressed the Italians who were watching in their own language. “Italy and Poland, Poland and Italy. Together we experienced those sad and tragic moments of the final hours of the Holy Father.” Yet, we knew that it was a cause for joy and for celebration, that the man who had given his entire being to Christ, the man who had responded to the graces and become “Christ Himself,” was finally at home, looking down from the “window of the Father’s house.”
More news to come…

HABEMUS CARDINALEM

2006-04-02T12:16:00.000-04:00

Cardinal Dziwisz Processes Out after the Solemn Ingress Mass

Cardinal Dziwisz gives the Body of Christ to the concelebrating Bishops.

Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat!

With these words, Stanislaw Cardinal Dziwisz made his solemn entrance (ingress) into the Royal Cathedral on Wawel Hill, the one thousand-year-old seat of the bishops of Krakow. As a result of a very interesting and unexpected meeting with a priest, I was able to attend the ceremony, which was open only for those with invitations. The Solemn Mass was attended by the “cream of the crop,” “who’s who in Krakow and Poland,” with many government dignitaries (again, Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz), as well as Church bishops, cardinals, and other members of the hierarchy. Somehow, I was able to find a spot very near to the main nave, near the front, by the high altar. Finding this spot, I had to make sure that I would not move, since the hundreds of photographers, and cameramen from newspapers from around the world, were acting in their typical journalist manner, trying to shove through to get the best possible spot to take a picture!

After the official ingress of Cardinal Dziwisz into the cathedral, he processed around the outer naves, and then into the sacristy, where he, Cardinal Macharski, Cardinal Nagy, and other cardinals and bishops prepared to celebrate the Mass for the Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul II. Since I was near the sacristy, which is located in the front of the basilica, near the high altar, I was able to be in the front row as the procession came by. I was overcome with emotion, and the only way I can explain it is to compare it to the emotion that I felt when I was able to be about five feet away from John Paul II at World Youth Day in Toronto. I was filled with so many thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and only after the procession came by, was I able to notice that I had stopped breathing and my heart was pounding. Here, about a foot away from me, passed Cardinal Dziwisz, the humble priest from the village of Rabka Wyżna, faithful servant of the Holy Father, and now elevated to the ranks of a Prince of the Church. And here he was in front of me, in all of his humble majesty. Donning the traditional “Vestment of St. Jadwiga,” the traditional vestment of the Archbishops of Krakow, which was placed over the Metropolitan’s Pallium, as well as an eighteenth century Roman chasuble, the cardinal passed by me.

Yet, I was struck by his humility, which I am sure that his short stature emphasized. I was surprised that, unlike Cardinal Macharski, whom I was able to greet and who is over six feet tall, Cardinal Dziwisz is a very short man—only about 5’8”, or a little bit more, but definitely not taller than me. (Of course, the medieval miter he was wearing made him look taller). Though he was next to me for about two seconds as the procession came by, the moment seemed like eternity. My mind was filled with thoughts of the late Holy Father, of the fact that this holy man who was in front of me, served a modern saint for over forty years! The aura of the sanctity of John Paul radiated from his personal secretary, who passed by in front of me, and reminded the congregation of Church officials and government dignitaries that “Pope Benedict has given a great gift to the Church of Krakow, a cardinal who is in great need of prayers and recommends himself to all of the faithful of the local church, asking for prayers.” Just as Pope Benedict XVI was called by the Holy Spirit to continue the radical call to holiness left behind by his predecessor, so Cardinal Dziwisz has been called to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, to shepherd the Church of Krakow and never cease to preach the Gospel of Modernity.

The Mass continued with a few opening statements from Cardinal Dziwisz, who was the homilist for the Mass. The Gospel for yesterday’s Liturgy could not have been better for the occasion. “Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, ‘This is truly the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But others said, ‘The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?’” (Jn 7:40-41). Just as people could not believe that the Messiah would come from Galilee, so also people could not believe on October 16th, 1978, that the Successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, would come from Kraków, Poland. And yet, he came and he reached out to the entire world, drawing from his experiences of suffering, of persecution, from his Polish experience, and sharing the liberating message of Jesus Christ, of the Word Who was made flesh, in order to truly reveal man to himself. In Poland, Wojtyla was forced to deepen his understanding of man, to struggle to understand the condition of man’s fallen nature, and the depth of the liberating redemption that only Christ can offer. In Poland, he realized the true meaning of a life in the Spirit, where he saw God the Father changing the lives of young men and women during an era of repression and intolerance of religion. In the darkness, he saw the light. And then, this same Holy Spirit with Whom Karol Wojtyla was filled, chose him to share the truly liberating message of the Gospel with the entire world, to go to the very far corners of the earth and to “teach all the nations.” Cardinal Dziwisz then reflected on his humble call to service to live alongside this great saint.

Though it was hard for me to see at times, since I was pushed out of the way by a French photographer (who decided to wear jeans to the occasion, and kept asking who was who among the bishops and cardinals), I was simply caught up in the greatness and historicity of this moment. Here I was, participating in the official ingress, or “installment” as Cardinal in Krakow of a man who has been forever entered into the pages of the book of history, as he “whom served John Paul the Great,” faithful unto his death. As archbishop, he is determined to make the legacy of the Holy Father continue in Poland and in the world, and has requested for the construction of the “Be Not Afraid John Paul II Center” in Krakow. The center will combine all of the elements of John Paul II’s teaching; a hospital will serve the sick and suffering, schools will form young men and women in the light of the Gospel, a museum will ensure that the Holy Father’s cultural legacy lives on, and classrooms and auditoriums will provide a place to carry on dialogue on important social and ecumenical issues in the modern Church and society.

At the end of the Mass, which was celebrated at the High Altar of St. Stanislaw, Bishop and Martyr, the cardinal and all of the bishops processed out. Once again, the procession encountered a “traffic jam,” forcing Cardinal Dziwisz to stop right in front of me! I felt like the moment lasted forever, again, and I wanted to reach out, to touch him, to grasp the hand which cared for John Paul II, the hand which John Paul II blessed in his dying moments. Yet, I felt that all I could do was to simply bask in the presence of the glory of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. I felt like I was the only one there, with the Cardinal, who emanated such grace and humility (even though I was practically trampled by a four-foot-tall older Polish lady, who wanted to give the cardinal a bouquet of roses!)

A few minutes after the recession, the second solemn event of the evening began, with the procession of the bishops, priests, and cardinals involved in the beatification process in Krakow. Yesterday marked the 29th and last plenary session of the Rogatory Tribunal in the beatification process, which was instituted in order to help the Diocese of Rome to gather information, testimonies, and the necessary legal requirements for a speedy beatification process. The delegate judge, Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, officially closed this first process with the announcement that an 800-page book of proceedings was complete, and now the beatification process could continue much more easily and swiftly. The official documents were signed by Cardinal Dziwisz, and then sealed in a special white container, in the presence of the notary, Fr. Andrzej Wojcik. After the documents were placed in it, the container was sealed with candle wax, stamped, and sent to the Archdiocesan archives, not to be opened in the future without specific permission of the Holy See. With the following words, the process was sent to Rome for the final stages before the Beatification can take place:

Et ego Notarius deputatus fidem facio ac testor supra relatas subscriptions, nempe illam Em.im Archiepiscopi, Iudicis, Iudicis Adiuncti, Promotoris Iustitae, Notarium Adiunctorum et Postulatoris, fuisse et esse an ipsis propiis minibus factas et sriptas in mea praesentia; atque ita testor et fidem facio hac die prima, mensis Aprilis, anno 2006.

ITA EST.

And so our beloved Holy Father is one step closer to being “officially recognize as a saint,” since “we already all know that he is in the Father’s house, looking down on us,” reminded Cardinal Dziwisz. After the official closing of the process, spontaneous applause broke out within the cathedral, acknowledging and thanking both the many, many people involved in the beatification process, but more importantly, in an act of gratitude for the great gift of John Paul to the Church.
In usual Polish fashion, the entire evening was filled with a mix of Polish patriotism and Roman Catholicism, as was evident in the closing hymn, “Boze Cos Polske,” which speaks of Divine Providence watching over Poland:

Oh Lord,
Who hast filled Poland with the splendor of Your power and glory throughout the centuries,
Who hast shielded her with the shield of Your might,
From the tragedies which were to dishearten her,
We bring before Your altars our cry:
Bless our nation with freedom, Lord.

The hymn was a solemn reminder to everybody of the necessity of living in true freedom. As John Paul II reminded in 1991, on the threshold of a new post-communist Poland, “Poland has found herself once again at an important moment, a unique moment, and perhaps even a decisive moment, which cannot be wasted for any reason whatsoever…This is a great gift from God, a kairos of our history, which has both been given, but also entrusted…I pray for you and with you for this ‘examination in freedom’ which lies before you…Dear brothers and sisters, I am one of you…I always was, and still am. I love my nation, and I was never indifferent towards its sufferings, its limitations of freedom, its plight. Now, I am not indifferent towards this new ‘trial of freedom,’ before which we all stand…I repeat to everyone: Be grateful to God, and never put out the flame of the Holy Spirit!”

Krakow Pomp and Circumstance

2006-04-01T05:59:00.000-05:00

Just a regular Sunday (Novus Ordo Latin) Mass at St. Mary's Basilica. Note the height of that miter!! No, he's not a bishop--just a mitered prelate.

Pictures

2006-04-01T04:54:00.000-05:00

More of my pictures can be found here.

2006-04-01T04:26:00.000-05:00

Entry to Wawel cathedral, seat of the Metropolitan Archbishop.

Patience...

2006-04-01T04:25:00.000-05:00

Be patient as I try to learn the ins and outs of blogging. Pictures are coming soon!

Pray for Cardinal Dziwisz today--I am attending his official installment as the Cardinal in the Wawel Cathedral; in attendence will be President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz!