For The Day That's In It....

A few memories of that momentous day for the Church. When he walked out on the balcony did we ever suspect that the "man from a far country" would achieve so much? His legacy is extraordinary, may it enrich the Church and each one of us.

"Holiness Is Fitting For Your House"

Two Saints: St John Paul II and St Maria de la Purisima meet during the Pontiff's visit to Seville

There are so many things we could reflect on today, the feast of St John Paul II. Given recent events we could launch into his teaching on marriage and the family, his theology of the body, his reflections on the nature of sex and its theological significance. However, there is one thing missing from all the talking at the Synod and it is that theme which was central to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, the reason for the Church, the motivation of the Church and the element which was to inspire the laity, clergy and religious to renew and was the basis of renewal: the universal call to holiness. 

The more I read St John Paul's writings on the nature of man the more I see him pointing in one direction - to sainthood - not as an unreachable ideal but as the ordinary state of a human being: anything less than that is not fully human. A theme the Synod should have looked at is the family as the seed-ground of holiness, the forum in which spouses and children learn authentic heroism. The Christian Marriage is all about heroism, hence Christ's seeing the need to make it a sacrament.

As a Pole John Paul loved his Saints, and I suppose that is another reason why God chose him to be Pope. His philosophy and theology were no mere academic ruminations, but the fruit of prayer, observation, listening and reflection. As he listened to the experiences of married couples he could see their joys and struggles in the context of faith and our human destiny, and he realised that it was all about holiness - the struggle for holiness, rejoicing in holiness, celebrating holiness, propagating holiness through word, example and, yes, sacrifice. It was the Pauline race for the laurels that never fade, it was carrying the disciple's cross to the summit, it was being transformed through vision of Mount Tabor accessed through prayer. 

St John Paul II encouraged us all to strive to be Saints, not to engage in a fantasy, but to finally open our eyes and see what Christ was getting at. "Can you not see?", he said to his disciples time and time again - not that they had to see that we are weak and need to wallow in that weakness and cry mercy as an excuse, but rather we see that we can be strong in faith: we need to get up off our beds, open our eyes, lose the baggage and open ourselves to the grace that transforms. Sadly, so many Christians do not see this. Comfortably wedged into the bare minimum or, worse, respectable Christianity, we have lost the ability to see. 

To celebrate St John Paul's feast well, we need only remember that where he has gone we are called also to follow. As the psalm says "Holiness is fitting for your House, O Lord" and indeed it is: the Church is the House of the Lord and it is to filled with holy people, and if we are not holy yet, then we must strive to be, and support each other on that path. I am beginning to think that the greatest enemies of the Church are actually those within who discourage holiness, who tell people that they just fine as they are because God loves them. They are wrecking Christ's plan of salvation for all of us. Yes, we all fall, but we must get up if we are to have any chance. To be fully human is to be a Saint.

Happy feast day to you all.

St John Paul and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

A Few Thoughts On The Synod

To be honest with you I was not looking forward to this post because it would require a few thoughts on what has been happening since I took my break. But what can you say? The landscape of the Church has changed so radically in such a short time many of us are left breathless. Well, perhaps, not changed, but things have been brought to a head so decisively. Many are scratching their heads and wondering what to do, others are deeply worried and some on the edge of despair. To all of them I say: "Have Faith". 

The Lord did not found the Church to allow her fall beneath the whims of churchmen and women of any given time and fashion. Nor will she become a pawn of the world, an instrument to confirm all that is wrong with the world through a corrupt reading of the Gospel. The Lord will not allow it, his permissive Will will permit the Church to be brought to the edge, and we are getting near the edge, but she will not fall over or be pushed - "Thus far and no further!" God will intervene as he has in the past and will in the future for as long as the world lasts. The Church is Christ's sacrament of salvation in the world, his Bride, he is not going to give up on her, he will defend her. This is a moment of testing for us and we must rise to the test and be found worthy. Now we pray, fast, offer penance and seek renewal, because God is speaking to us in this crisis. And what is he saying?  Well, we have to discern that. 

We may enter a serious crisis, but we have been there before, and such moments actually assist the Church to strengthen her faith and understand the teaching of Christ in a deeper way. If it was not for the Arian Crisis and the Christological heresies we would not have had such a rich understanding of the Lord's nature. In this present crisis it is the very nature of man and woman that is disputed, the new heresy seeks to redefine man, woman, marriage, sex and family and is trying to pull the Church into its way of thinking and part of this heresy's modus operandi is to deny the reality of sin. But we already have the antidote to this corruption - the Gospel, of course, but also the teachings of St John Paul the Great. Though we recognize how important these teachings are, we have yet to plumb the depths - his philosophy and theology of man, woman, sex and marriage contain the Church's answer to the anthropological heresies that seem to be prevailing in the world and in the Synod hall. This crisis, among other things, will help us recover and understand in a deeper way who we are as human beings, created and redeemed. 

The Communion issue, the dissolution of the Church issue are part of this bigger picture, not mere unpleasant diversions, but an indication that something is wrong that needs to be set right. The Church is called to be prophetic - to face the world and proclaim the truth about humanity. I think when this Synod ends our orthodox bishops and cardinals will realise just how prophetic they need to be, that they can no longer take a back seat or fall into complacency: the rot is in the Church as it is in the world and it has to be dealt with. And I think this will ultimately benefit the New Evangelisation (which has fallen off the radar for many these last few years). As more and more human beings fall victim to the sexual revolution, as they seek not just the meaning of life and the meaning of existence, but the very significance of being human, it will be the Catholic Church which will have the answer. In the future we will not only proclaim Christ, but also the true nature of humanity in relationship with Christ.

For now, we need to hold firm, and pray for the Pope, Cardinals and bishops. It may well be a hairy ride and we will have to parse very carefully what everyone is saying, but at the end of the day we have the truth in the Scriptures, the Catechism, and, on the issue of marriage and the family, in the teachings of John Paul the Great: let these be your guides.

Dottore Subito!

St Gregory of Narek is now officially a Doctor of the Church, following a ceremony in St Peter's today. I note with interest a post by Fr Z, in reality a petition to Pope Francis, to declare St John Paul II a Doctor of the Church. Father is certainly zealous and daring: he asks for it to be done on Divine Mercy Sunday next year, and even suggests a doctoral title: Doctor Misericordiae, the Doctor of Mercy.

This time last year I was at the canonisation, and after it I sent a tweet saying that now we had him canonised, the next process is to get him declared a Doctor, so I am in total agreement with Fr Z on this. 

So, dear faithful, what can we do? Well, Fr Z has shown us: we petition the Holy Father - that's how it starts. The faithful, and then of course theologians, preferably groups of them, send formal requests to the Pope that a particular saint be considered for the honour. If there is merit in the requests, an investigation is opened in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. As we know from incidents since his election, Pope Francis takes great interest in his post, so we have no excuse. Off we go. 

Dottore subito!

Taking Life

If you have been following the recent debate about certain Catholic media's call for an end to the death penalty, you'll know things are quite heated. 

I'll put my cards on the table: I do not support the death penalty. I do not see that there is now a need for it since modern incarceration is so good. In principle I have a difficulty in ceding authority to the State to take the lives of its citizens because it can be abused, and it has. That said, I accept the teaching that is in the Catechism (CCC 2267), that there may be cases where, in order to protect human lives, certain offenders may be put to death, although as I write that I am uneasy. I know, having studied psychology, and with an interest in forensic criminal psychology (it comes in handy for Confessions!), there are some individuals, usually serial killers, who pose a very serious risk and may (may) fall under the need for the death penalty.

Anyway, the point of this post is to bring Dr Ed Peter's view on this to your attention. He reflects on the Catechism and St John Paul's teaching in Evangelium Vitae. It is worth reading. Whatever you think about it, this issue will always be controversial and we'll be discussing it for decades if not centuries to come. But, as we discuss it, I pray that such discussions and debates will always be dictated by charity, and decisions regarding the death penalty will be taken with due regard to authentic justice and mercy.

Chesterton's Iceberg Floats Along

I know I have written a lot on Chesterton the last few days, but the debate presently going on about him is interesting: it provides us with an opportunity to explore the idea of virtue, what it means, how we live it and the part it plays in our sanctification. For one thing we might actually realize that virtue is not as rarefied as we may think it is and how it is actually meant to be a part of our basic human experience. In God's plan we were meant to be naturally virtuous, sin was to be an alien thing, sadly that was undone by the Fall, but our lives here on earth are meant to be a reversing of the unnatural dynamic and God gives us grace to help us in that process.

Anyway, a quick post to bring another article to your attention. Dale Ahlquist, that great Chestertonian, has written a response to Steven Drummel's piece on Chesterton's lack of temperance. It is a spirited defence of the man, well argued and informative. It is worth reading. I hope the priest conducting the preliminary investigations include this one in his file and takes note of what Ahlquist has to say.

Some interesting points of information in it. I didn't realise that St Pius X liked snuff, and I doubt Blessed Pier Giorgio was impressed when some Vatican official airbrushed his pipe out of the beatification picture. I heard somewhere that the Ven. Pius XII stopped a Cause when he heard the candidate liked to smoke - anyone hear that? If true that is ironic given that it is said that Pius like a cigarette himself. Other saints with habits: St John Paul II liked the odd cigar and he had a very sweet tooth which he liked to satisfy with very sweet Polish desserts. St John Kemble, the English martyr, was puffing his pipe when news of his execution arrived, he decided to have another pipe before preparing for his end. And in case you haven't heard St Therese of Lisieux asked for an eclair as she was dying and ate it and enjoyed it! Chesterton would approve. 

Happy Feast Day

Today, for the first time, the Universal Church celebrates the feast of St John Paul II. May he bless us all from the House of the Father, hear our prayers and encourage us to live the Gospel faithfully.

Special greetings to all in the Fraternity on the feast of our Co-Patron.

Papal Heroism

The Holy Father's condemnation of the Mafia has had considerable coverage around the world. As you all know Pope Francis said that those in the Mafia were not in communion with God, but excommunicated. Strong words rightly expressed at demonic organisations that have had too much power and influence in Italy and beyond for far too long. There are some questions which are being asked.

The first: can the Pope excommunicate an organisation? Yes and no. An organisation is not a person so it cannot be excommunicated, although it can be proscribed, condemned and shown to be operating in opposition to God and his teachings. However members of an organisation can be excommunicated for being members of that organisation simply by joining it. The best example of this is that of the Freemasons - once a Catholic joined the Freemasons they incurred an automatic excommunication.

The second: are the members of the Mafia now formally excommunicated? Well, that's a question for the canon lawyers, but it seems to me that they are not formally excommunicated because the Holy Father has not (yet) issued a formal decree proscribing the Mafia and placing an automatic excommunication on those who join it or cooperate with it. The Holy Father was given an exhortation and in it he was condemning the Ndrangheta and telling its members that they have broken communion with God and the Church through their activities.

Concerns have now been expressed for the safety of the Holy Father: will the Mafia retaliate? There is a possibility that they will, but I do not think they will attack the person of the Pope, such an action would probably lead to serious tensions with the ordinary people who tolerate or turn a blind eye to their activities but whose silence protects the mafiosi. To kill a popular Pope like Francis could have nightmare consequences for the killers. 

That said, we cannot rule out some sort of retaliation: denunciations and condemnations by previous Pontiffs were greeted with revenge attacks including a bomb in St John Lateran's. Pressure might also be applied to local bishops and priests. The Mafia cherish honour and for the Pope to publicly offend that honour will have touched a raw nerve. The Mafia also like to use the local church as a means of maintaining respectability within a community - the Pope has undermined that, and perhaps he has even sent a message to priests and bishops who out of fear facilitate the mafiosi - it has to stop. The mafiosi are very careful and calculating, so they will weigh up very cautiously how they will respond.

Pope Francis has shown great courage in saying what he said, many bishops and priests would have avoided such a naked denunciation on the grounds of prudence, but Francis knows that as universal pastor he has to speak out against this evil and dainty words don't quite hit the target. He is not the first to do so. St John Paul II was even more forthright in his condemnation of the Mafia. During his visit to Sicily following the murder, now martyrdom, of the Palermo priest Blessed Pino Puglisi, St John Paul went out with all guns blazing. See the video below for part of his condemnation. Notice Archbishop Marini, the Papal MC, he looks like he's having a stroke with anxiety as the Pope rails against the Mafia. Papal officials were terrified during and following St John Paul's condemnation, they were convinced they would be slaughtered before they left Sicily.

In a similar vein Pope Benedict launched a stinging attack on South American drug dealers during his visit to Brazil in 2007. People were stunned that quiet, mild Benedict should attack such powerful and vindictive forces in their own backyard. Again as the defender of the flock Benedict had to speak up.

These are three examples of Papal heroism in the face of great evil at work in the world. The shepherds defending the flock of Christ from the wolves. As the flock we must pray for these heroic shepherds, so we must keep Pope Francis in our prayers that the Lord may protect him, and then watch over all those who live under the shadow of the Mafia and similar evil organisations. I would urge you to invoke our new martyr, Blessed Pino Puglisi, a faithful priest who was martyred by the Mafia. They tried to silence him, to stop his work, but instead their killing him led him to a crown of glory and have given the Church a powerful intercessor. So let us commend the Holy Father into Blessed Pino's care. See my pieces on Blessed Pino here and here.

Blessed Pino, protect our Holy Father,

pray for the flock of Christ

St Joseph the Worker

Happy feast day to you all. Let us commend to St Joseph the Worker all those who labour, that they may recognise that the Lord is with them and blesses them in their work.

St John Paul learned of the dignity of work in his time working in the quarry. To celebrate this day of work, the new Saint's poem on work:

Material

1

Listen: the even knocking of hammers,

so much their own,

I project on to the people

to test the strength of each blow.

Listen now: electric current

cuts through a river of rock.

And a thought grows in me day after day:

the greatness of work is inside man.

Hard and cracked 

his hand is differently charged

by the hammer

and thought differently unravels in stone

as human energy splits from the strength of stone

cutting the bloodstream, an artery

in the right place.

Look, how love feeds 

on this well-grounded anger

which flows in to people's breath

as a river bent by the wind, 

and which is never spoken, but just breaks high vocal cords.

Passers-by scuttle off into doorways, 

someone whispers: "Yet here is a great force."

Fear not. Man's daily deeds have a wide span,

a strait riverbed can't imprison them long.

Fear not. For centuries they all stand in Him, 

and you look at Him now

through the even knocking of hammers.

2

Bound are the blocks of stone, the low-voltage wire

cuts deep in their flesh, an invisible whip--

stones know this violence.

When an elusive blast rips their ripe compactness

and tears them from their eternal simplicity,

the stones know this violence.

Yet can the current unbind their full strength?

It is he who carries that strength in his hands:

the worker.

3

Hands are the heart's landscape. They split sometimes

like ravines into which an undefined force rolls.

The very same hands which man only opens 

when his palms have had their fill of toil.

Now he sees: because of him alone others can walk in peace.

Hands are a landscape. When they split, the pain of their sores

surges free as a stream. 

But no thought of pain--

no grandeur in pain alone.

For his own grandeur he does not know how to name.

4

No, not just hands drooping with the hammer's weight, 

not the taut torso, muscles shaping their own style, 

but thought informing his work,

deep, knotted in wrinkles on his brow,

and over his head, joined in a sharp arc, shoulders and veins vaulted.

So for a moment he is a Gothic building

cut by a vertical thought born in the eyes.

No, not a profile alone, 

not a mere figure between God and the stone,

sentenced to grandeur and error.