The Sevenfold Gifts of Grace

If there's such a thing as a "season of hope," friends, this is it.

Sure, the weather's warm again (and not soon enough), the trees and flowers are back to life, the days are longer, etc.... but this is the time of year when, more than any other, God's projects among us -- not as predictable as those of nature, but just as designed -- come to fruition in spades.

Truly, in the fullest sense of the word, it's "Vocation Season." Just look around -- graduations, weddings and, of course, ordinations... each the end of years of discernment and preparation, each a new beginning sprung from a definitive "yes," each taken up as much for the good of those around us as our own, all intended to go forth with joy and bear fruit all around, whether the commitment at hand is building a family, building up a profession or charism, or in the selfless service of orders.

Receiving a Roman parish council last spring, B16 observed to the group that "Every person carries within himself a project of God, a personal vocation, a personal idea of God on what he is required to do in history to build his church, a living Temple of his presence."

Got yours?

Hopefully you've found it already... and if you haven't yet, no worries. Just keep looking -- whatever it is, it's out there. And it's waiting. For you.

In the meantime, church, these are joyous days: in the morning, a dear friend's being ordained to the transitional diaconate, next week my sister graduates from college, and another longtime friend's getting married next month. Many others among us, many of you, are either approaching these life-giving steps or cheering on loved ones who are in the weeks to come.

Whether we find ourselves close by or far from these annual rites of a new springtime in our midst, remember everyone preparing for one of these moments in your prayers -- across the board, their faith and courage are great, and whatever their mission ahead, they deserve all the support they can get from us all.

And for those of you who'll be seeing your "project" into reality and entering into the new life that comes with it, every best wish in the world. As your new journey begins, may every gift of joy, strength and fulfillment be yours always... and may your "yes" open the door to everything you hoped for and then some.

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"Pastoral Action"

The latest pro-choice Catholic politician called out in this year's edition of the "Communion Wars" is Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Backed by the bishops of the state, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City publicized his request that Sebelius refrain from the Eucharist in his weekly column for today's edition of the archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven.

Naumann said he took the step after "prayer and reflection" over the governor's recent veto of a bill that would've placed restrictions on abortions, and her breach of the archbishop's heretofore-private insistence that she not present herself for Communion without, he wrote, having "made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life," including a "public repudiation" of her pro-choice stance.

A product of Catholic education, Sebelius -- who offered the Dems' response to President Bush's State of the Union address in January -- is currently a year into her second and final term in office.

Fulltext:

On the day of my return (Monday, April 21) from the exhilarating experience of participating in Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the United States, I learned that Governor Kathleen Sebelius had vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act (HS SB 389), which had been passed by significant majorities in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. Last week, an attempt to override the governor’s veto failed in the Senate by two votes.

Governor Sebelius in her veto message claimed: “For years, the people of Kansas have asked their elected officials to move beyond legislative debates on issues like abortion.” From her veto message, I received the impression the governor considered it a waste of the Legislature’s time to pass a statute that attempts to protect some women by making certain they have the opportunity to be well-informed: 1) about the development of their unborn child; and 2) about abortion alternatives available to them. Evidently, the governor does not approve of legislators devoting energy to protecting children and women by making it possible to enforce existing Kansas laws regulating late-term abortions.

The governor’s veto message demonstrated a lack of respect to the members of the Kansas General Assembly who had carefully crafted and resoundingly passed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, as well as to the many Kansans who find it more than an embarrassment, in no small part due to several previous vetoes by Governor Sebelius of earlier legislative efforts to regulate abortion clinics, that Kansas has become infamous for being the late-term abortion center for the Midwest.

What makes the governor’s rhetoric and actions even more troubling has been her acceptance of campaign contributions from Wichita’s Dr. George Tiller, perhaps the most notorious late-term abortionist in the nation. In addition to Dr. Tiller’s direct donations to her campaign, the governor has benefited from the Political Action Committees funded by Dr. Tiller to support pro-abortion candidates in Kansas.

In her veto message, the governor took credit for lower abortion rates in Kansas, citing her support for “adoption incentives, extended health services for pregnant women, providing sex education and offering a variety of support services for families.” Indeed, the governor and her administration should be commended for supporting adoption incentives and health services for pregnant women.

However, the governor overreaches by assuming credit for declining abortion rates in Kansas. Actually, lower abortion rates are part of a national trend. Our neighboring state of Missouri has actually had a steeper and longer decline in its abortion rate.

Governor Sebelius’ inclusion of public school sex education programs as a factor in the abortion rate decline is absurd. Actually, valueless sex education programs in public schools have been around for years, coinciding with increased sexual activity among adolescents, as well as increases in teen pregnancy and abortion. On the other hand, the governor does not acknowledge the significant impact of mass media education programs, such as those sponsored by the Vitae Caring Foundation, or the remarkable practical assistance provided by Crisis Pregnancy Centers which are funded through the generosity of pro-life Kansans.

What makes the governor’s actions and advocacy for legalized abortion, throughout her public career, even more painful for me is that she is Catholic. Sadly, Governor Sebelius is not unique in being a Catholic politician supporting legalized abortion.

Since becoming archbishop, I have met with Governor Sebelius several times over many months to discuss with her the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions by which she has cooperated in the procurement of abortions performed in Kansas. My concern has been, as a pastor, both for the spiritual well-being of the governor but also for those who have been misled (scandalized) by her very public support for legalized abortion.

It has been my hope that through this dialogue the governor would come to understand her obligation: 1) to take the difficult political step, but necessary moral step, of repudiating her past actions in support of legalized abortion; and 2) in the future would use her exceptional leadership abilities to develop public policies extending the maximum legal protection possible to the unborn children of Kansas.

Having made every effort to inform and to persuade Governor Sebelius and after consultation with Bishop Ron Gilmore (Dodge City), Bishop Paul Coakley (Salina) and Bishop Michael Jackels (Wichita), I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.

Recently, it came to my attention that the governor had received holy Communion at one of our parishes. I have written to her again, asking her to respect my previous request and not require from me any additional pastoral actions.

The governor has spoken to me on more than one occasion about her obligation to uphold state and federal laws and court decisions. I have asked her to show a similar sense of obligation to honor divine law and the laws, teaching and legitimate authority within the church.

I have not made lightly this request of Governor Sebelius, but only after much prayer and reflection. The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: “The church’s teaching on abortion is optional!”

I reissue my request of the faithful of the archdiocese to pray for Governor Sebelius. I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions. At the same time, I pray this pastoral action on my part will help alert other Catholics to the moral gravity of participating in and/or cooperating with the performance of abortions.

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Toward the Spirit

Courtesy of the ConcordPastor, today's installment of the Pentecost Novena:

FROM TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.

You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7--11


FOR WHOM, FOR WHAT, SHALL WE PRAY?

- For restless hearts, burdened with doubts,
for those who live with anxiety and depression,
and for those whose nights are long and sleepless...

- For those who do not trust,
for those whose trust has been abused,
for those who lack confidence in their own faith,
and for the broken hearted...

- For those who are lost and cannot find the way,
for those who stumble on the path of holiness,
for those whose tears have no end,
and for those who seek the comforting embrace
of God's peace...


PRAYER

Come, Holy Spirit of God!
Calm our restless hearts with the peace
that you alone can give.
Soothe and comfort us
when we are troubled in mind and heart
and let serenity be your gift to us.
Grant us sound sleep and dreams
that lead to morning's dawn.

Mend the brokenness of our broken trust
and with your Spirit's strength
make firm our faith when we doubt.

Give us your wisdom and counsel
when we are confused and know not
where to turn.
When we stumble on the path of holiness,
let your fiery presence light our path.

Teach us to delight in your Word
and to hunger for its truth.
Give us joy in our sorrow
and gently wipe every tear from our eyes.

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your people
and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created
and you shall renew the face of the earth...

["...of this earth!"]

Our Father...

Hail Mary...

Glory to the Father...

Amen.

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Around the Beat

A couple quick notes from these pages' core competence...

• Having just seen the Patriarch of the West (OK, the title's currently in abeyance, but still...), a spiritual father of the East is about to roll onto these shores. Next week, the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir begins a weeklong Stateside swing in New York, with subsequent stops in Philadelphia, Houston, and Washington; along the way, the 88 year-old head of the 9 million-member global fold will meet with both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and (for the second time) President Bush. Among other highlights, Sfeir -- officially "the 76th patriarch of Antioch and and the Whole Levant" -- will celebrate a Pontifical Maronite Liturgy in the River City's Latin-rite Cathedral-Basilica and receive an honorary doctorate from Villanova University, join a roundtable discussion on the Maronite church in Houston, meet with youth and young adults of the church and offer the Eucharist for the communities in each of the cities on his schedule. The US trip is but one part of the patriarch's monthlong foreign tour, which began earlier this week at Qatar's first church before taking him to South Africa. After the States, Sfeir touches down in Spain, where he'll meet with King Juan Carlos on the way back to his base in Beirut. Home to 3 million Maronite Catholics, the US has two eparchies for the community: the longstanding outpost of St Maron in Brooklyn, founded in 1966 and, since 2000, a western hub based in Los Angeles. Between the two, American Maronites can count close to 70 parishes and missions, two monasteries, two convents, a seminary in the capital, and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, located in North Jackson, Ohio. A key intermediary and force for reconciliation amid the recent gridlock in Lebanon that's still failed to produce a successor to President Emile Lahoud, the former head of state called Sfeir "the patriarch of all Lebanon, not only of the Maronites," comparing the patriarch's role to that of the president as a figure of national unity.
  

• Speaking of father-figures, the de facto patriarch of American Catholicism's conservative wing has gotten an even fuller plate, courtesy of B16. Already a member of the Apostolic Signatura -- the church's top court where, as a priest, he became the first US native to serve in one of its top posts -- Archbishop Raymond Burke of St Louis was named on Tuesday to the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and, even more significantly, the Congregation for the Clergy. With the Signatura's top post seemingly about to open given the long-rumored appointment of its prefect, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, as the Pope's Vicar for Rome, some have been led to wonder whether yet another shoe is still to drop.... Regardless, as of this writing, the celebrated canonist best-known for his brushes with controversy has more Curial appointments to his name than last November's class of new cardinals, who are still basking in the longest "honeymoon" (i.e. red hat minus Roman responsibilities) in memory. While Tuesday's nods saw the shepherd of the onetime "Rome of the West" joined at Legislative Texts by Archbishop John Myers of Newark -- whose sci-fi homage Space Vulture hit the shelves in recent weeks -- it'd take a good bit of effort for either to equal the most intense Curial commitment shown by a resident US prelate: namely, Burke's predecessor in St Louis, now Philadelphia's Cardinal Justin Rigali. Named to the all-powerful Congregation for Bishops -- where he previously served as its second-in-command -- last fall, Pharaoh's made an assiduous homecoming to the table of the Vatican's "workhorse" dicastery... literally -- while prior American cardinal-archbishops assigned to Bishops would normally phone in their terna votes, Rigali's religiously been on-site for the congregation's fortnightly meetings, the latest of which took place earlier today. In other things Burke, the archbishop recently zapped the local faculties of Fr Tom Doyle, the longtime advocate for abuse survivors, after Doyle acted as canonical counsel for two members of the (schismatic + excommunicated) board of renegade St Stanislaus parish.
  

• Keeping with the theme of crowded calendars, just on this side of the Pond, the traveling circuit is about to experience the kind of overload it hasn't seen in years: five ordinations, two installations... and a Ted with a Golden Jubilee. In other words, just in time for summer, party time is back, and in a big way. Starting in earnest on 19 May in Shreveport for the ordination and installation of Bishop-elect Mike Duca, the wave then moves to San Fran for auxiliary-elect Bill Justice's ordination on the 28th, Des Moines for Bishop Richard Pates' installation on the 29th, Bishop-elect Jim Conley's big day the next day in Denver, new auxiliary Oscar Cantu's 2 June rites in San Antonio, Little Rock's welcome for Bishop-elect Tony Taylor three days later, and finally (at least, for now) to Mobile, where Archbishop-elect Thomas Rodi will be installed on the 6th. In the midst of it all, arguably the marquee event will come in the capital on Visitation Night, as an international phalanx of well-wishers descends to honor DC's Cardinal Theodore McCarrick on the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination. To mark the milestone, Uncle Ted -- who's stepped up his international humanitarian work since "retiring" two years ago this week -- will celebrate a public Mass in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, followed by an open reception. Looking forward, with at least a couple more appointments visible in the distance before the wheels wind down for Roman Summer, the chaos shows little sign of easing up; of course, the celebrations head across the Pond at June's end for the "end of school" that'll see at least three newly-named American archbishops -- Rodi, Baltimore's Edwin O'Brien and the Twin Cities' John Nienstedt -- receive the chief symbol of their office, the pallium. With a late entry or two likely in tow from these shores, the traditional 29 June conferral of the lambswool band on the new metropolitans appointed within the last year will be prefaced by B16's opening of the worldwide Pauline Year the evening before in the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls. Yet while it's celebratory all around from late month on, the current reunion cycle starts on a low note on Monday as Bishop Donald Montrose of Stockton is laid to rest. Head of the NorCal church from 1986 until his retirement in 1999, the native Angeleno died early yesterday -- the 59th anniversary of his priestly ordination -- aged 84.
  

...and for all the rest, as always, stay tuned.

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At the Grotto

Last week, the French bishops announced that, after a quick stop in Paris, Papa Ratzi would be spending three days at Lourdes in the early fall.

Marking the 150th anniversary observances of what's arguably the world's most-famous Marian shrine, the 12-15 September pilgrimage will be Benedict's first major undertaking after the summer... and his first visit to France as Pope.

For all the special sesquicentennial events -- including 12 global missions to highlight the various aspects of the shrine's dominant spirit -- the past days saw one of the calendar's big mainstays return to the grotto: the annual pilgrimage of the US-based Knights and Dames of Malta. Among the chaplains in attendance was America's Jim Martin SJ, who filed his impressions of the experience on the mag's blog:

This year is also a "Jubilee Year" in Lourdes, marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous, a poor girl living in squalor in the small town in Southern France. Signs of the Jubilee were everywhere--mainly in the gargantuan number of people. Yet despite the massive crowds, life in Lourdes was, as always, cheerful, calm and well organized. (Compare that, as I did, to my first sight of Penn Station in New York yesterday afternoon, where, despite far fewer numbers, people seemed much grumpier, and your appreciation for what happens in Lourdes deepens considerably.)

Lourdes is a marvelous mix of pomp and simplicity. For the former, there are few places outside Rome that can match the pageantry of the Pontifical Masses celebrated in the vast underground concrete church (excuse me, The Basilica of St. Pius X). That worship space, the site of the largest Masses in town, is saved from looking like a 1960s parking lot only by the immense banners with pictures of saints from around the world. (I seem to forever find myself seated under one of St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei.) Besides 25,000 pilgrims (yes, you read that number correctly) hundreds of priests and deacons, the assembled hierarchs included Cardinals Pio Laghi and Roger Mahony, not to mention Archbishops George Niederauer of San Francisco and Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, and Bishops William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., William Murphy of Rockville Center, N.Y., and Michael Cote of Portland, Maine [sic -- a native of the Lobster State, Cote is currently bishop of Norwich].... At Sunday's Mass, Fra Matthew Festing, the Order's new Grand Master, offered the prayer of the Order of Malta, in Latin, and though the good-natured Englishman confessed that his command of the language was no better than that of an "idle schoolboy," it sounded good to me.

As in the rest of the Catholic church, in Lourdes the personal lives alongside the public, and the powerful rubs up against the powerless (though who is who is always a good question). At the center are what Bishop William Curlin, retired bishop of Charlotte, N.C. always calls "our beloved malades." (The term, which means the "sick person" is not pejorative in Lourdes.) On our pilgrimage this year I met dozens of faithful malades, their families and friends, as well as the Knights and Dames of Malta, who were there to help lead the malades to the baths, push their carts so that they could get a good spot in the Grotto of the Apparitions for Mass, fetch them a drink of water, make sure that they got their coffee and croissants in the morning, and, most of all, pray with them....

The best part of the trip? That's easy: being with the generous Knights and Dames, the volunteers and companions, and especially the malades. All the malades came to Lourdes for different reasons and were at different places with their illnesses (this year I heard anger for the first time, which struck me as bracingly honest and real). But all were hoping for some sort of healing---physical, emotional or spiritual. With all the good humor and faith of the malades, it's easy for me to forget the deep emotions that lay just underneath the surface, but conversations can quickly turn serious over breakfast, lunch or dinner, or while you're waiting in line for a bath. Tears come quickly at Lourdes and flow as fast as the River Gave.

Spiritual healings come frequently at Lourdes, but people always ask me about any physical ones? So: any miracles? Yes, though maybe not as dramatic as the 66 authenticated ones. For example: One man in our group had suffered from the injuries that occurred during the first Gulf War, and had come to Lourdes for healing. His eyesight, never good, had deteriorated since being injured. As he told me while in line for the baths, as soon as he landed in Lourdes it somehow got even worse. Someone suggested he take off his eyeglasses to let his eyes rest. A few minutes later, he told me, he could see perfectly well. "Look," he said, "I can read your nametag from here." And he did. "I haven't been able to see that well for 25 years!"

* * *

Long the dominant place of prayer in the land termed the church's "eldest daughter," Lourdes has some newfound company.

At the weekend, the apparitions of Our Lady of Laus -- whose Alpine shrine was founded after a young shepherdess reported visions stretching between 1664 and 1718 (and at the rate of about one per week, to boot) -- were formally recognized as being of "supernatural origin":

About 6,000 Catholics, including more than 20 bishops and cardinals, attended a solemn Mass at the sanctuary of Benôite Rencurel – who was 16 when she first reported seeing the Virgin Mary in 1664.

The shepherdess was described by one observer as the French champion of apparitions, because she saw the Virgin Mary around 2,500 times over 54 years – averaging once a week.

Hordes of pilgrims already go to the site in the hope of salvation or a cure. Most recently, a Belgian woman insisted that she had been miraculously cured of a slipped disc after visiting the shrine.

Church authorities in the southeastern town of Gap had long struggled to convince the Vatican to beatify the shepherdess – a request it refused as recently as 2003....

The bishop denied that the official recognition was a marketing ploy on behalf of the Catholic Church.

He said: "You're not obliged to believe in apparitions, even official recognised ones. But if they are a help in your faith and daily life, why reject them?"

PHOTO: AFP/Getty(2)

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Music: the Great Bridge

At the close of last night's hourlong performance by the China Philharmonic in the Paul VI Hall, B16 offered the following remarks, as released by the Holy See Press Office:

Dear Friends!

Another high-quality musical performance sees us gathered once again in the Paul VI Audience Hall. For me and for all of us here, it takes on a particular value and meaning. Since it is offered and performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House Chorus, it puts us in touch, as it were, with the living reality of the world of China. I thank the choir and orchestra for this generous tribute and I congratulate the organizers and the artists for their skillful, refined and elegant performance of a musical work that forms part of the artistic heritage of all humanity. In a group of such accomplished artists, we see represented the great cultural and musical tradition of China, and this performance helps us to understand better the history of the Chinese people, their values and their noble aspirations. Heartfelt thanks for this gift! Thanks also for the music that is about to be performed! I extend sincere thanks not only to the promoters and the artists, but to all those who, in different ways, took part in arranging this truly unique event.

It is worth emphasizing that this performance by Chinese artists of one of Mozart’s greatest works brings together their own musical talent and Western music. Conductor Long Yu, with his orchestra, the soloists and the Shanghai Opera House Chorus have comfortably risen to the challenge. Music, and art in general, can serve as a privileged instrument for encounter and reciprocal knowledge and esteem between different populations and cultures; a means attainable by all for valuing the universal language of art.

There is another aspect that I wish to emphasize. I note with pleasure the interest shown by your orchestra and choir in European religious music. This shows that it is possible, in different cultural settings, to enjoy and appreciate sublime manifestations of the spirit such as Mozart’s Requiem which we have just heard, precisely because music expresses universal human sentiments, including the religious sentiment, which transcends the boundaries of every individual culture.

I should also like to say a word regarding this place where we have come together this evening. It is the great hall in which the Pope receives his guests and meets those who come to visit him. It is like a window opening onto the world, a place where people from all over the world often meet, with their own personal stories and their own culture, all of them welcomed with esteem and affection. In greeting you this evening, dear Chinese artists, the Pope intends to reach out to your entire people, with a special thought for those of your fellow citizens who share faith in Jesus and are united through a particular spiritual bond with the Successor of Peter. The Requiem came into being through this faith as a prayer to God, the just and merciful judge, and that is why it touches the hearts of all people, as an expression of humanity’s universal aspirations. Finally, as I thank you once again for this most welcome tribute, I send my greetings, through you, to all the people of China as they prepare for the Olympic Games, an event of great importance for the entire human family.

(in Chinese) I thank you all and I offer you my best wishes.

PHOTO: Reuters(1); Getty(2)

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The Postmodern Church

The current America takes its lead from the mag's Jesuit confrere Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan now in retirement in Jerusalem.

The fulltext is subs-only... but as a public service, here are some snips:

What can I say about the reality of the Catholic Church today? The theme is enormous and so much more difficult for me, living as I do in Jerusalem, with little contact with the daily life of our church communities. I am inspired, however, by the words of a great Russian thinker and man of science, Pavel Florenskij, who died in 1937 as a martyr for his Christian faith: “Only through immediate experience is it possible to perceive and value the treasure of the church.” To perceive and value the treasures of the church, one must enter through the experience of faith.

It would be very easy to draw up notebooks of complaints, full of things that are not going very well in our church. But this would be to adopt an external and depressing vision, not to see with the eyes of faith, which are the eyes of love. Of course, we should not close our eyes to things that are not going well, but we need to understand the overall picture in which the problems to be resolved are situated.

As I consider the present situation of the church with the eyes of faith, I see especially two things.

First, there has never been in the history of the church a period as fortunate as ours. Our church has its greatest geographical and cultural spread and yet finds itself substantially united in the faith, with the exception of Lefebvre’s traditionalists.

Second, in the history of theology there has never been so rich a period as the last era. Even in the fourth century, the era of the great Cappadocian fathers of the Eastern church and the great fathers of the Western church, like St. Jerome, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, there was not so great a theological flowering....

To seek a fruitful dialogue between the people of this world and the Gospel and to renew our pedagogy in the light of the example of Jesus, it is important to look closely at the so-called postmodern world, which forms a backdrop for many of these problems and which conditions the solutions.

A postmodern mentality could be defined in terms of oppositions: an atmosphere and a movement of thought that stands opposed to the world as we have known it until now. This mentality willingly distances itself from metaphysics, Aristotelianism, the Augustinian tradition and from Rome, considered as the center of the church, and from many other things.

This mindset keeps its distance from a former platonic Christian world, in which there was taken for granted the primacy of truth and values over feelings, of intelligence over the will, of the spirit over the flesh, of unity over pluralism, of asceticism over life, of the eternal over the temporal. In our world there is a spontaneous preference for feeling over the will, for impressions over intelligence, for an arbitrary logic and the search for pleasure over an ascetic and prohibitive morality. This is a world in which sensitivity, emotion and the present moment come first. Human existence, therefore, is a place where there is freedom without restraints, where a person exercises, or believes he can exercise, his personal empire and creativity.

At the same time this movement is also a revolt against an excessively rational mentality. From literature, painting, music and the new human sciences (in particular psychoanalysis), many people no longer believe they live in a world ruled by rational laws, in which Western civilization is a model for the world to imitate. It is accepted that all civilizations are equal, whereas previously we insisted on the so-called classical tradition. Nowadays there is a little of everything on the same plain, because there are no longer criteria by which to verify what is a true and authentic civilization.

There is opposition to rationality, which is seen as a source of violence, because people believe rationality can be imposed because it is true. There is acceptance of every form of dialogue and exchange because of a desire to be always open to another and to what is different, to be suspicious of oneself and to mistrust whatever wishes to affirm its identity through force. That is why Christianity is not easily accepted when it presents itself as true religion. I recall a young man who said to me recently: “Above all, don’t tell me that Christianity is true. That upsets me, that blocks me. It’s quite something else to say that Christianity is beautiful....” Beauty is preferable to truth.

In this atmosphere, technology is no longer a means at humanity’s service, but a milieu in which someone perceives the rules to interpret the world. There is no longer an essence of things, but only the use of things for a certain end determined by the will and desire of each person.

In this atmosphere, the refusal of sin and redemption is always present. It is said, “Everyone is equal, and each person is unique.” There is an absolute right to be singular and to affirm oneself. Every moral rule is out of date. There is no more sin, nor pardon, nor redemption, nor self-denial. Life can no longer be thought of as sacrifice or suffering....

To teach the faith in this world is nonetheless a challenge. To be prepared one must take to heart the following attitudes:

Do not be surprised by diversity. Do not be frightened by what is different or new, but look upon it as something in which is found a gift from God. Prove that you can listen to things quite different from what we usually think, but without immediately judging the speaker; try to understand what is being said and the basic arguments put forward. Young people are very sensitive about an attitude of nonjudgmental listening. This attitude gives them the courage to say what they really feel and to begin to distinguish what is really true from what only appears true. As St. Paul says, “Examine everything with discernment; keep what is good; keep your distance from every trace of evil” (1 Thes 5:21-22).

Take risks. Faith is the great risk of life. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but the one who loses his life for my sake will save it” (Mt 16:25). Everything has to be given up for Christ and his Gospel.

Befriend the poor. Put the poor at the center of your life because they are the friends of Jesus who made himself one of them.

Nourish yourself with the Gospel. As Jesus tells us in the discourse on the bread of life: “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:33).

To help develop these attitudes, I propose four exercises:

1. Lectio divina. This is a recommendation of John Paul II: “It is especially necessary that the listening to the Word becomes an essential meeting, following the ancient and present-day tradition of lectio divina, enabling us to discover in the biblical text the living word that challenges us, directs us, which gives shape to our existence” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, No. 39). “The Word of God nourishes life, prayer and the daily journey, it is the principle of unity of the community in a unity of thought, the inspiration for continuing renewal and for apostolic creativity” (Setting Out Again From Christ, 2002, No. 24).

2. Self-mastery. We need to learn anew that the frank opposition to desires is sometimes more joyful than endless concessions to everything that seems desirable but ends in boredom and satiety.

3. Silence. We need to move away from an unhealthy slavery to rumors and endless chattering, from characterless music that only makes noise, and find each day at least one half-hour of silence and a half-day each week to think about ourselves, to reflect and pray for a longer period. That may seem difficult to ask, but when you give an example of the interior peace and tranquility that result from the exercise, the young take courage and find it to be an unprecedented source of life and joy.

4. Humility. Do not think that it is up to us to solve the great problems of our times. Leave room for the Holy Spirit, who works better than we do and more deeply. Do not wish to stifle the Spirit in others: it is the Spirit who breathes. Rather, be sensitive to its most subtle manifestations, and for that you need silence.

Even as this week marks the third anniversary of L'Affaire Reese, love it or not, America remains, bar none, the flagship of American Catholic publications... and now, it's upped its web cachet to the point where electronic subscriptions to the mag -- archives included -- are going for $12 a year.

For the record, this isn't a paid plug... just a friendly bargain-alert.

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Split at the Font

The Catholic Controversy of the Week (well, the most-prominent one) involves what you see above.

That's a Mormon baptismal font, and in a move that sent the religion beat into overdrive -- and threatened to put a damper on the tip-top relations that just saw two top leaders of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints attend an ecumenical prayer gathering with the Pope for the first time -- an early April letter from the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy urged the global church to withhold parish registers from LDS, citing the Mormon practice of posthumous baptisms.

The story was first reported by CNS last week:

The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.

Posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for the Latter-day Saints -- commonly known as Mormons -- for more than a century, allowing the church's faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife, said Mike Otterson, a spokesman in the church's Salt Lake City headquarters.

In a telephone interview with CNS May 1, Otterson said he wanted a chance to review the contents of the letter before commenting on how it will affect the Mormons' relationship with the Catholic Church.

"This dicastery is bringing this matter to the attention of the various conferences of bishops," the letter reads. "The congregation requests that the conference notifies each diocesan bishop in order to ensure that such a detrimental practice is not permitted in his territory, due to the confidentiality of the faithful and so as not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."...

Father Massa said he could see how the policy stated in the letter could strain relations between the Catholic Church and the Latter-day Saints.

"It certainly has that potential," he said. "But I would also say that the purpose of interreligious dialogue is not to only identify agreements, but also to understand our differences. As Catholics, we have to make very clear to them their practice of so-called rebaptism is unacceptable from the standpoint of Catholic truth."

While the LDS leadership has refrained from public comment on the letter -- which it was supposed to receive on Monday -- in an effort to contain the damage in the Mormon home-base, where Catholics and LDS have long enjoyed exemplary ties, Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City took to the local airwaves earlier today:

“I do think it’s important for people not to jump to conclusions,” said Bishop Wester. “It’s simply reminding us that our sacramental records are supposed to be preserved, taken care of and that they’re supposed to be kept confidential.”...

2NEWS’ Brian Mullahy asked Bishop Wester how he reconciles his words with the words of Father Massa.

“I understand what Father Massa is saying,” said Bishop Wester. “What he says is true, the Catholic and LDS Churches have two distinct theologies of baptism. We know that. We’ve always known that.”

The LDS practice of baptisms for the dead has also been condemned by Jewish groups who say that names of Holocaust victims are still in LDS genealogical database for unwelcome baptisms.

Like Jewish leaders in past, Bishop Wester met with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for a respectful conversation.

Bishop Wester says he wants to make sure that it is understood that the Vatican letter is not an attack on the LDS church and despite doctrinal differences; the two faiths can still live together peacefully, without straining relationships.

“Even though we have different theologies, we have found many ways to work together, we respect each other, we acknowledge the values we hold in common. That hasn’t changed,” said Bishop Wester.

While the rite of posthumous baptism is commonly understood to extend only to the non-LDS ancestors of Mormons, reports last year indicated that Pope John Paul II was just one of a list of notable names baptized that also included Hitler, Chairman Mao and Mickey Mouse.

Wait -- Mickey Mouse is dead?

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"Keeping Pace" with Papa

A pre-visit post highlighted the story of Linda Cacpal -- the Hawaiian dynamo who, amid dialysis treatments and not having hit Mainland in 20 years, was headed to New York to see the Pope.

Suffice it to say, she made it with bells on... and getting to see her as Friday night lit up the city was a highlight of my week.

At the urging of her diocesan newspaper, the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Linda kept a Pilgrim's Journal of her days in Gotham to see Papa Ratzi. Now posted, it's a priceless glimpse into the experience, so check it out.

Money quote, from her trip in: "My seat neighbor was a young man who started out in MY seat because he wanted the aisle. I offered to exchange and got my first NY 'Whatevah!' Oh, well, the only thing to do was to show some Aloha."

He might not have used the word, but "Aloha" was, in effect, the key of the Pope's message on these shores.

A bit more of it from us all, and the Main Event will have done its job.

PHOTO: Reuters

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Turning the Tide

At a recent conference on youth ministry in San Antonio, the founder of the wildly-popular Theology on Tap outreach offered some notable pointers on engaging twenty- and thirty-somethings to "reverse the hemorrhage" of the group from the pews:

Father John Cusick, director of young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said the church needs a savvy "new apologetics" and "satellite sites" away from the parish grounds where young adults can gather to form quality relationships without feeling pressure from the church....

"If Catholic youth ministry is so good, where are all the young adults? They're missing in action," he said. "For the moment (in their teens), they have a good sense of church, but then they fall off the end of the table."

When they come back temporarily for such events as baptisms and marriages or seek out the church in times of serious illness, death or life-changing decisions, Father Cusick said, the church needs to celebrate such moments of return rather than scold young adults for having stayed away.

Meeting the liturgical needs of today's young adults will require parishes to improve the quality of preaching, hospitality and music, he said.

"Don't say, 'As we read in today's Gospel.' I heard it the first time. Tell me how it works in my life. Young adults hunger for a Gospel that works for them on Monday morning when they go to work," the priest declared.

Although young adult Catholics hunger for the Gospel, they are cynical about the institutional church, Father Cusick said. Often, they drop their children off for religious education classes but act as if they themselves would get a social disease if they walked into the church, he said.

Many young adult Catholics have problems with official teachings on marriage and women's issues and official attitudes toward gays and lesbians, he added. They have gay and lesbian friends or co-workers, and they see the church as being anti-gay. They have difficulty integrating that with church teachings on loving one another, Father Cusick said.

"Satellite" sites for young adults would tap into the hunger 20- and 30-year-olds have for quality relationships, he said.

"One reason relationships are hard for them is that so many of their parents are divorced. I had a wedding where there were eight parents. Each of the four biological parents had been remarried. You have to know who is talking with whom and so on. I felt like I should have been a relational cop with a whistle and a nightstick," he said with a laugh.

Father Cusick said Chicago's Catholic churches aren't ministering effectively to second-, third- and fourth-generation young adult Hispanics because the huge influx of recent immigrants is overwhelming their ministry resources.

"It's such a huge issue. When you're dealing with fundamental issues of housing and jobs, there's just no time for these other kinds of issues like relationships and spirituality."

Along the way, Cusick plugged BustedHalo... whose crackin' work, of course, should need no introduction here.

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"Ut Unum Sint!"

This morning's General Audience saw more than one "Santità" present as the head of the Armenian Apostolic church, Catholicos Karekin II, sat in for Papa Ratzi's Wednesday gathering.

Greeting the "supreme patriarch" of the worldwide fold of 6 million, Benedict XVI noted the nation's history of "severe persecutions"; "Armenia’s many martyrs are a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit working in times of darkness, and a pledge of hope for Christians everywhere," the Pope said. Between 1.5 and 2 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman-led genocide in the years around World War I.

In his catechesis, the pontiff melded the twin themes of ecumenism and Sunday's celebration of Pentecost, praying that the Holy Spirit might "advance" the Christian family along the path to unity.

In the Easter season, Benedict said, "the Holy Spirit appears as the force for the forgiveness of sins, the renewal of our hearts and our lives; and so he renews the earth and creates unity where there was division.

"On the feast of Pentecost," he added, "the Holy Spirit reveals himself in other signs: the rushing wind, the tongues of fire, and the Apostles speaking in every language. This is a sign that the division of Babel, fruit of the pride that divides man, is superseded in the Spirit who is love and whose gift is unity amid diversity. From the first moment of its existence the church speaks in every language -- thanks to the strength of the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire -- thus it lives in all cultures, it doesn't destroy their various gifts, their many charisms, but takes them all into a great and new unity of reconciliation: unity and multiformity."

At the end of the audience, Benedict voiced his "cry of pain and help" for the people of Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis, which struck the country last weekend. "I invite everyone to open their hearts with mercy and generosity," the pontiff said, "that there might be relief to the suffering caused by such an immense tragedy."

According to Catholic Relief Services' current estimates, the CAT-3 storm's toll has left at least 20,000 dead, 40,000 missing, 100,000 homeless, with "tens of thousands" of homes destroyed; calling the situation "increasingly horrendous," the charge d'affaires of the US embassy in the capital, Yangon, said earlier today that the actual death toll could be as high as 100,000.

* * *

In other Vatican briefs, while all was gracious at Monday's meeting between B16 and the archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, one leading papal surrogate has called the Anglican Communion to a moment of decision.

In comments to the UK's Catholic Herald, Rome's top ecumenist Cardinal Walter Kasper expressed his hope that this summer's Lambeth Conference would serve as the moment when the fractured global body of 70 million would "clarify its identity."

"Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church," Kasper told the paper. "Where does it belong?

"Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -- Catholic and Orthodox -- or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions."

For its part, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said the Holy See hoped "that certain fundamental questions will be clarified at the [Lambeth] conference so that dialogue will be possible.

"We shall work and pray that it is possible, but I think that it is not sustainable to keep pushing decision-making back because it only extends the crisis."

At Williams' invitation, Kasper will speak at the decennial summit of Anglican bishops. However, in an unusual move intended to underscore its support, the Vatican's top hand in attendance will be the "Red Pope" Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Curia's top official on the missionary world.

And lastly, just two weeks after Italian President Giorgio Napolitano threw the Pope a concert to mark his 81st birthday and third anniversary on Peter's chair, B16 will return to the Paul VI Hall tonight for another, even more politically charged performance as the China Philharmonic plays for the pontiff.

While both Rome and Beijing are seeking to downplay the event's profile -- no diplomatic invitations have been issued -- the evening of Mozart's Requiem and traditional Chinese songs indicates a heightened commitment to what diplomatese calls "reciprocal contacts."

As the orchestra criss-crosses Europe in the run-up to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, conductor Long Yu even went so far as to compare the concert to the early '70s China-US ping-pong matches that paved the way for Richard Nixon's eventual visit.

Long might just be onto something. Statesiders might have a thing for sports... but the Pope's weakness for Mozart is far from a state secret.

Benedict will close the concert with an address.

PHOTO: Reuters

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A Pen for the President

Shortly after his historic victory in Paraguay's mid-April elections, President-elect Fernando Lugo -- the retired bishop suspended from ministry after he declaring his run for office -- received a courtesy call from the papal nuncio to the Latin American country, Archbishop Orlando Antonini.

While the Paraguay church's initial reaction to Lugo's expected defeat of its long-reigning Colorado party was little more than acknowledgment that it happened, Antonini called on the president-elect bearing a gift from B16: not a decree of excommunication, but a pen adorned with the papal coat of arms. The prelate-politico was reported to be emotional as he greeted the Vatican legate at his campaign headquarters.

As local media blared headlines that Lugo would use the Pope's gift in the exercise of his office, the bishop-emeritus of the country's poorest diocese appeared on a Catholic radio station to ask "sincere forgiveness" of those for whom his actions caused "sorrow." He likewise sought "pardon" from the Pope.

Zenit recently reported that "a unique solution" for Lugo is under consideration in Rome, as other sources held out the possibility that the onetime provincial of the Divine Word Fathers could return to ministry following the end of his five-year term in office.

The prelate will receive the presidential sash on August 15, Paraguay's patronal feast of the Assumption.

PHOTO: Reuters

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"Book of Life" Goes Live?

Recently, I had to make one of the few book-purchases required for the office: the worldwide church's annual directory, the Annuario Pontificio.

Total cost, with shipping: $158. Not something to be terribly enthused about, of course, which is why the bullet gets bitten only every third year 'round these parts.

Completely in Italian -- well, except for the translation guide in the first pages that's a triumph of brevity -- what's been nicknamed the "Book of Life" lists everything from the world's dioceses (residential and titular) and everything you'd ever want to know about each (e.mail addresses/private numbers included); the full lists of the Curial offices and their staffs, the religious communities, pontifical universities, diplomatic corps both accredited to and by the Holy See, episcopal conferences and every other sort of ecclesiastical institutions under the sun -- in other words, a lot of stuff you still, even these days, can't find online... including, as a historic courtesy in the index, the entire Papal Chapel (i.e. every monsignor on the planet... i.e. the "Purple Tsunami"...).

For one of the most strait-laced books you'll ever see, the Annuario's evolved notably even over recent years. Even now (as "Just One Look" hums in my head when recalling the moment), I can distinctly picture seeing it for the first time -- many moons ago in the famous Ancora bookshop at the edge of St Peter's Square -- when its dimensions ran closer to a thin phonebook. By 2002, as a "space-saving" move, the page-size was reduced to something closer to a pew-missal or breviary... which, in classic Italian style, ended up ballooning its thickness to well past 2,500 pages.

Despite the sticker-shock, the "Book of Life" always ends up getting very dated very quickly, given the scope it covers. Though the '08 Annuario only had its editorial "close" this past 31 January, CNS' John Thavis notes that 26 pages of updates have already been issued.

While that's nothing terribly new, what is is Thavis' brief that the Everest of Reference Books is on the verge of... going online:

The other day I phoned Msgr. Vittorio Formenti, head of the Vatican’s Centrla Office of Church Statistics (p. 1,294 in your Annuario) and asked him why they haven’t made the whole thing available electronically. As it turns out, Vatican higher-ups have been working on such a project since 1997 and, after a meeting in mid-April, are very close to making it happen.

Msgr. Formenti assured me that his office has had the technical means to offer an electronic version for some time. But he said the project also includes a proposal to offer searchable archived material — a major undertaking, since the Pontificio Annuario [sic] has been in print since 1839. The Vatican has to decide which office handles the additional work load, which server hosts the programs, how much to charge and how much historical information to include.

Msgr. Formenti said he expects the online version to be up and running by next year. Knowing how slowly carefully the Vatican proceeds when it comes to the Internet, I think that may be optimistic.

Here's hoping that, whenever the Annuario in Vivo gets around to dropping, it'll be a bit easier to find -- like clockwork, every late February sees a flurry of e.mails from chanceries and other offices asking how to simply nab a copy.

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Changing of the Guard

On this 481st anniversary of the Sack of Rome -- when 147 Swiss Guards gave their lives on the steps of St Peter's to protect Pope Clement VII from the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V -- the corps initiated this year's crop of 34 recruits this morning at the traditional ceremony in San Damaso, the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace.

A Vatican mainstay since 1506, the guard remains a highly-coveted assignment for young Swiss men; among other qualities, aspiring members must be between 19 and 30, unmarried, at least 174cm (5'9"), sterling in character and their practice of the faith. In return for remaining ramrod through papal ceremonies and being photographed by tourists and media almost as much as the Pope himself, each gets the experience of a lifetime, from duty inside the papal apartment and plainclothes service in the pontiff's retinue on the road, to lifelong friendships of every sort and all the perks of living behind the walls without the burdens of the clerical state.

These, however, are merely the peripherals of committed service. At their induction ceremony, the new recruits are administered the following oath:

I swear I will faithfully, loyally and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the See is vacant.

Furthermore I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors, respect, fidelity and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!

Each new guard then approaches the regiment's banner -- bearing the shields of both the reigning pontiff and its founder Pope Julius II. Holding the flag with his left hand and lifting his right "with three fingers open, as a symbol of the Trinity," he says aloud his name, swearing that he "will observe faithfully, loyally and honorably all that has now been read out to me! May God and his saints assist me!" While each guard is free to take his oath in any of Switzerland's four official languages: German, French, Italian or Romansch, the majority of recruits are usually German-speaking.

In advance of today's celebrations, B16 -- a staunch supporter of the corps -- received the guard yesterday, using its uniform to remind the community not just of its mission, but the importance of its members' example:

[The Pope] pointed out how, five centuries after the foundation of the corps, "the spirit of faith that encourages young Swiss to leave their beautiful land to come and serve the Pope in the Vatican remains unchanged."

"The love for the Catholic Church remains the same, to which you bear witness, rather than with words, with your bodies, which -- thanks to the characteristic uniforms -- are easily recognizable at the entrance to the Vatican and to pontifical audiences," he added. "Your historic uniforms speak [...] of your commitment to serve God by serving the 'servant of his servants.'"

Benedict XVI called on the new recruits "above all to assimilate this Christian and ecclesial spirit, which is the foundation and the motor of all the activities you will undertake."

"Always cultivate prayer and spiritual life, also by taking advantage of the crucial presence of your chaplain," he encouraged them. "Be open, straightforward and loyal. Learn how to appreciate the differences of personality and character that exist among you, because under the uniform each one is a unique and irreplaceable person called by God to serve his Kingdom of love and peace."

The Swiss Guard, the Pope affirmed, "is also a school of life," and he noted how during their period of service in the Vatican "many of your predecessors were able to discover their own vocation: to Christian marriage, to the priesthood, to consecrated life. This is a reason to praise God, but also to appreciate your corps."

PHOTO: AP/Alessandra Tarantino(1), Pier Paolo Cito(2); Reuters(3)

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The First Novena

When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying....

All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer....

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together....

In the liturgical calendar, these are always special days of grace: the period when the church prepared to "go out into the whole world."

But even more than usual, this year finds them carrying an added importance for the life and future of God's people in the United States....

I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Messiah, risen from the dead, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, and established as judge of the living and the dead. I have come to repeat the Apostle's urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country....

"Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!" The words of today's Responsorial Psalm are a prayer which rises up from the heart of the Church in every time and place. They remind us that the Holy Spirit has been poured out as the first fruits of a new creation, "new heavens and a new earth" in which God's peace will reign and the human family will be reconciled in justice and love. We have heard Saint Paul tell us that all creation is even now "groaning" in expectation of that true freedom which is God's gift to his children, a freedom which enables us to live in conformity to his will.

Today let us pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that same Spirit, and sustained in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel to a world that longs for genuine freedom, authentic happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations!...

We invoke the Holy Spirit upon the Church in the United States of America, so that firmly rooted in the faith transmitted by its fathers, profoundly united and renewed, it will face present and future challenges with courage and hope -- that hope that "does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us"....

By your personal witness, and your fidelity to the ministry or apostolate entrusted to you, you prepare a path for the Spirit. For the Spirit never ceases to pour out his abundant gifts, to awaken new vocations and missions, and to guide the Church, as our Lord promised... into the fullness of truth....

As we give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on all present!

Almost four years after John Paul II invited the first Cenacle's heirs in this land to undertake "an authentic self-renewal," in our own time and with even greater urgency Peter came among us to make louder his call for a new "birth from above" on these shores, that there might come among us "a new youthfulness and a new springtime" -- indeed, nothing short of a "new Pentecost."

Clearly, this call is no mere slogan or flashy, empty rhetorical device. Clearly, having come emphatically over two pontificates watching closely from afar, this call is not going away anytime soon; if anything, it will only get louder the longer it goes unheeded. Clearly, this call isn't one to continue the complacency of division, the despair of arrogance, ignorance or the "false sense of security" that is more of the same, but to something different and better -- to a new boldness of commitment, candor and cooperation, to a replenished identity, vitality and unity, to genuine examination and purification both internal and institutional, to true, joyful assent and obedience to the teaching of Christ, delivered by no less a messenger than His Vicar on Earth.

For us who believe, after all, this call wasn't merely his... but His. The only question that remains lies before each of us, its answer only found when, one by one, we find it in ourselves to take this call seriously... when we put aside whatever obstacles we've placed in its path... when, at long last, we allow ourselves to listen, to respond and, so, to rise to it.

Nobody ever said it was easy... but if you're thinking "no time like the present," well, you might just be onto something.

* * *

The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost are, of course, the period to which we owe the practice of novenas. Yet of the many that've become commonplace over the years, the original seems to get woefully short shrift.

To remedy that, underscoring the importance of this time and what it foreshadows -- both in the days behind and those ahead -- the ConcordPastor  has given his pages over to the Pentecost Novena... that, having been called anew to seek and receive it, the church (that is, all of us, gathered again "in one place together") might be open to the Spirit who burns to renew the face of the earth -- of this earth.


-30-

Peter and Augustine

For the second time in the last 18 months -- and only the sixth time since 1960 -- the Pope received the archbishop of Canterbury earlier today as Rowan Williams had a 20-minute sit-down with B16:

[The duo] discussed Christian-Muslim relations, inter-faith dialogue and the Pope's impression of his visit to the United States last month.

He described the visit, the second official meeting between the Pope and the spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, as "warm and friendly".

In March Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's top man for relations with Islam, criticized Williams as mistaken and "naive" for suggesting that it was unavoidable that some aspects of Sharia, Islamic law, would be adopted in Britain.

Williams's remarks, in a speech in February, sparked a storm in Britain and beyond and became part of a broader debate on how to integrate Britain's 1.8 million Muslims....

Relations between the Catholic and Anglican Churches have been strained over the past decade over the issue of women priests and homosexual bishops in the Anglican Church, which both leaders have acknowledged as obstacles to unity.

Unlike the present tandem's first Vatican summit on Thanksgiving Day 2006, today's visit took on a much quieter tone. No statement has yet been issued by the Holy See, and Pope and Primate didn't join in formal, public prayer this time.

Within his own communion, Williams faces the specter of this July's Lambeth Conference -- the decennial meeting of global Anglicanism's bishops -- which is expected to see fierce disputes over the blessing of same-sex couples and the consecration of Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, who has gone uninvited to the conference in the archbishop's hope of tamping down on the tensions.

In an interview with Vatican Radio broadcast earlier today, the primate said he hoped to update Benedict on the Lambeth plans, and "touch base with him about China." On Wednesday, Williams will preside at a service installing the new head of Rome's Anglican Centre, Dr David Richardson, whose role includes standing as the church of England's formal representative to the Holy See.

Richardson's installation will be held in the Basilica of S. Maria Sopra Minerva, the Roman church entrusted to the Catholic primate of England and Wales, the archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

SVILUPPO: In a sign of the Vatican's support for Williams amid the "battle for Anglican unity," a key Roman hand will be appearing at Lambeth:

As the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived in Rome yesterday for a private meeting with the Pope, it was announced that Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Indian prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, would be among the speakers at this summer's event, which brings Anglican bishops together in London once every 10 years....

Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, may also attend the Lambeth event....

Rev Keith Pecklers, a professor of liturgy at the Gregorian University in Rome, who has worked with the Anglican Centre in Rome on relations between the two churches, said: "Cardinal Kasper might be expected to attend, given his role, but Cardinal Dias's presence is proof that the Vatican wants to be supportive of Williams.

"The message is 'We're in this together and we are ecumenical partners, even if there are issues on which we disagree quite clearly,' " he added.

The meeting follows criticism by Vatican officials of Williams for suggesting that some aspects of sharia law in Britain were unavoidable.

But despite his conservative views on women priests and homosexuality, Pope Benedict appears determined to bolster Williams's leadership in the name of Anglican unity.

PHOTO: Reuters

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Rebuilding by "Confronting"

At its release last August in its author's native Australia, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus was described as akin to "Krakatoa."

Once a quiet, unassuming Sydney auxiliary, Robinson's expertise in the canons thrust him into leading the Aussie bishops' response to the outbreak of abuse scandals Down Under. The book is the result of Robinson's immersion in the crisis, an experience that led him to seek early retirement and got him reported to the Holy See for comments on the crisis' handling that, a decade later, ended up finding echoes in Pope Benedict's message on his American swing last month.

The prelate's mandate to handle the issue was, he said, the first time he confronted his own history as a victim of childhood abuse (an occurrence that, he emphasizes, unconnected to the church). Along the way, the combination of factors saw Robinson realize that his "problems with the church’s response to the revelations of sexual abuse ran deep and reached up to the highest levels of the church, for I was one of many people crying out for strong and compassionate leadership on this matter and trying to do my best without the support of that leadership." The church's top ranks had, in his mind, shown a "notable and extraordinary absence of guidance or direction" in its mishandling of the scandals.

Suffice it to say, recent events have seen the tide begin to turn and the bishop's harshest critique -- that of papal silence -- tackled. But with no small level of anticipation for Vatican action to back up B16's strong words on the crisis over the course of his US trip and the book's arrival on Stateside shelves after its first Australian printing sold-out within hours, Robinson's arriving on these shores next week for a monthlong speaking tour.

On 16 May, the bishop makes his first Stateside appearance at a Philadelphia symposium on "Rebuilding the Church." From there, the ten-stop calendar includes dates in LA, Boston, Cleveland, Seattle, and two in the New York area.

Named a Sydneyside auxiliary by John Paul II in 1984, Robinson's home-diocese has termed his efforts "an enormous contribution world-wide towards raising the consciousness of church leaders to their responsibilities" to heal the church, "and to developing appropriate and compassionate pastoral responses to those who have been hurt." In 2004, the bishop petitioned for early retirement from his administrative responsibilities. While ill health was formally cited as the reason for his departure, Robinson, 70 in August, later admitted on-record that his experience from the scandals birthed enough "reservations" on church teaching and practice that "I felt that I was not really being of total integrity if I was still standing up, speaking in the name of the church." Today, despite the frenzy that surrounded his charged tome, he maintains a low-key profile at home, serving as a curate in a local parish.

In an interview at the book's debut, the bishop said that he did "not believe we received good leadership from the one person within the Catholic Church who has the power to give that leadership." Now that said leadership has started to show itself, turning a key corner both on these shores and beyond, Robinson's response on American soil promises to be an event all its own.

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Coming Soon: Saint of Molokai

This Saturday marks the feast of Bl Damien deVeuster, the Belgian missionary who spent 16 years ministering to the leper community on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, dying of the disease in 1889 aged 49.

Beatified in 1995, it's been announced that the "Hero of Molokai" -- also the patron of HIV/AIDS sufferers -- has cleared the miracle necessary for his canonization:

A panel of Vatican theologians said yesterday that an Oahu woman's spontaneous cure from cancer was a miracle, linked to her prayers to Father Damien De Veuster.

The opinion brought the Catholic Church close to the final step of declaring the 19th-century priest, who ministered to leprosy patients at Kalaupapa, a saint. The cure, which was documented in the Hawaii Medical Journal in October 2000, was scrutinized earlier by a panel of Vatican medical consultants.

The announcement finally put Audrey Toguchi in the spotlight. She was identified by Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva when he announced the news on the local church Web page yesterday. Until then, her identity had been shielded by her doctor and church officials.

"Whenever I need help, I put everything in God's hands," said Toguchi, 79, of Aiea. "I just talk to him in my own words. I tell him, 'Here, Lord, help.' And I say thank you."

"I pray every single day," said the slight, soft-spoken grandmother. She retired in 1995 as an Aiea High School social studies teacher after 44 years of teaching in public schools.

"There is nothing spectacular about my life," Toguchi said. She said she lives a family-oriented life, in a modest home surrounded by spectacular flowers and plants, the work of her husband, Yukio, also a retired teacher. They travel whenever possible to visit their sons in Kona and Spokane, Wash., and three grandchildren.

When she became ill in 1997, with a lump on her left thigh that turned out to be cancer, Toguchi asked her sisters Beverly Plunkett and Velma Horner to go with her to Kalaupapa, to pray at Father Damien's grave. "I prayed that he would ask God to heal me."

After surgery in January 1998, Dr. Walter Chang told her that the rare form of cancer, liposarcoma, had spread to both lungs. "He said, 'I cannot do anything for you. No surgery is possible.'"

She continued: "I went back to Kalaupapa. I went to Mass and received Communion and then I went to Damien's grave. I said, 'Please, ask God to cure this cancer.'

"Doctor Chang took pictures of my lungs and every month, it was less and less until after four months, the cancer was gone. He was flabbergasted."

Toguchi said: "I didn't tell anybody about it. It's important to be humble."

Her family knew, of course, but "the subject doesn't come up," she said. "Life just goes on and you take care of your family."

Toguchi wrote to the late Pope John Paul II about her cure, setting in motion a process by which the Catholic Church determines if a person is worthy of sainthood. The cause requires a second miracle. The first miracle attributed to Damien was the spontaneous recovery of a terminally ill French nun in 1895, and he was declared "blessed" in 1995.

Toguchi's life, faith and medical history were scrutinized by church authorities. She was interviewed by a local panel and by Monsignor Robert Sarno from the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints. It was Sarno who notified her by e-mail yesterday that the theological officials agreed that it was a miracle.

Keep in mind, however, that two steps remain before Damien can be formally raised to the honors of the altar: first, the case-work and its conclusion must be approved by the cardinals and bishops who form the membership of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, then the approval of the "decree" of the miracle by Pope Benedict in a private audience to the dicastery's prefect.

As previously noted, canonization is likewise being sought for the "Leper Priest's" longtime collaborator and eventual successor as the island's lead caretaker: the German-born New Yorker Mother Marianne Cope, who was beatified in 2005.

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Seeing Red in Shreveport

As the church of Shreveport preps for the ordination of Bishop-elect Mike Duca a fortnight from today, this year's Red Mass for lawyers and public servants in the western Louisiana diocese saw a special guest star: the archbishop of New York... capping a week which had, of course, likewise begun in the public square.

The well-attended Mass was held inside the historic Holy Trinity Catholic Church downtown and was attended by most area attorneys and judges, as well as ministers of other faiths and members of the lay public, Catholic and otherwise.

[Cardinal Edward] Egan presided over the Mass and also served as its principal celebrant, even though [diocesan administrator Msgr Earl] Provenza was listed as the celebrant.

"Why not?" Provenza said after the Mass, when he, Egan and other celebrants talked with attendees and headed to a reception at the nearby Second Circuit Court of Appeal. "People see me all the time."

In his homily, Egan didn't talk much about ground zero or his recent experiences in New York City other than in passing but, instead, focused on the law and justice, morality and how those entrusted by God with "mind and gifts only a little less than the angels" must value human life and the awesome powers they have over their fellow men. For this, he drew on the Scriptures chosen for earlier readings, Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Corinthians 1:18-20 and 22-25.

Describing the law as "a splendid calling" and contrasting that with the view of it as a profession, he said people must be inclined to "love the law and embrace it" just as they must discharge it "so civilization may progress in a manner worthy of the children of God."

He did not shy from controversy, addressing the issue of DNA exonerating people falsely convicted of capital crimes, languishing on death rows, and on the meaning of human life from its earliest moments.

"There is nothing more precious than the life of a human being," he said, noting when it measures lives in its actions, "the legal community needs to look in the mirror."

He specifically decried dehumanization of life in the womb, noting photographic treatments that clearly presented sentient, thinking beings yet were described as "masses of tissue."

But Egan also displayed humor on several occasions, drawing chuckles from the crowd when he said they might regret Provenza allowin